He was a fulfilled Yogi and a many-splendoured personality, the like of whom has not been born in this country for a long time now and who, in sheer spiritual eminence, was comparable to the mighty men of knowledge of whom our ancient works speak. He was known to his disciples as Sriranga which is short for Srinivasa Ranga and was familiarly called by his friends and relatives as Rangaswamy. He was born on the 19th of September 1913 in a village called Hedathale which is about twenty – one miles from the historic city of Mysore. His parents were Sree-Vaishnava brahmins. His father, Thirumalacharya, lived in conformity with the traditions of the Sree-Vaishnava faith, performing his Sandhya three times a day, worshipping the household gods and following such other duties and obligations as are laid down by that religion. Sriranga’s mother, Rukminiyamma, was her husband’s second wife. We have not seen a more highly gifted and talented lady. She was a wonderful cook, and whatever passed through her hands became immensely tasty and palatable. She was highly charitable by nature, and her generation, had it been alive now, would have vouchsafed for the liberality of her heart and hand. Her father was a knowledgeable Vaidya of the older school and she had inherited from him a marvelous skill in herbal medicine. In those days, when there was no hospital in the village, she was a source of great help to the people in their bouts with disease and ill-health.