His early days and taking sanyas.
His Divinity Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, lovingly called Shree Swamiji by the devotees, was born in January, 1929 on saphala ekadashi, the eleventh moon night (that falls in December or the first week of January, according to the lunar calendar) in a religious and respectable Brahman family of Ayodhya, India. In his childhood once he heard the story of Radha Krishn, Gopis and maharas. It stuck to his heart. Since then he longed for Radha Krishn and desired to go to Vrindaban where They did maharas.

Keeping his devotional feelings deep in his heart, Shree Swamiji continued his formal studies. At the age of twenty-one, in 1950, he renounced the world and went to Joshimath in the Himalayas and then in 1951 he took the order of sanyas. Seeing his esteem of renunciation and deep feeling of God consciousness, in 1952, he was offered to be the successor of Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Joshimath which is one of the most renowned religious thrones of India. He very politely refused by saying, “My final desire is to go to Vrindaban. I have given my life for the service of Radha Rani, so I cannot live forever in the math.”

Following the strict discipline of sanyas, he lived in the Himalayas (Joshimath, Badrinath, Rishikesh, and Haridwar, etc.), the forests of Amarkantak, near the Narbada river, Allahabad, and Kashi etc., for about four years.

Amarkantak is the origin of the river Narmada. For about six months he traveled and remained nearby Narmada in the dense forests of central India, which stretches up to hundreds of miles and is inhabited by tigers and leopards whose sparkling eyes in the night pierce the dense darkness of the jungle. He went up to Onkareshwar Mahadeo and then returned to Allahabad.

Later on Shree Swamiji went to Badrinath (Himalayas) in 1953. When he was there, someone told Swamiji about Swargarohan hill where King Yudhishthir was escorted to the celestial abode in a celestial chariot. Swamiji thought of going over there out of curiosity. Normally people don't go there because the journey is rough, no village nearby, no food or water available on the way, and no proper tracks to proceed. Just indications of hills are there to follow. It becomes inaccessible and very dangerous after the first snowfall which could happen any time in October.

It was the month of October when Shree Swamiji went towards that hill. He was never alone. He felt the presence of God near him. He walked for three days and it took again three days to walk back, enjoying the sereneness of the places that he came across, he walked through the dangerous track. He had one blanket and a pot (kamandal) of water, which he used for five days.

Shree Swamiji stayed in Badrinath for more than a month. Afterwards he came to Haridwar, and then to Allahabad. From there he went to Kashi.