Tripti Chatterjee (born 1950 in Calcutta, India), received the sannyasi name Samhita Prana when she was initiated (1979) by Swami Paramananda, but is widely known as Tripti Ma.
Short biography:
From her childhood Tripti was a Truth-seeker and her parents would always find her in one of the neighbouring temples when she didn’t return home after dark. While working as a teacher in Calcutta, she came to Swami Paramananda in 1979 at the very beginning of the Paramananda Mission in Burdwan District of West Bengal and was the first woman at the centre. After that she spent two years in meditation in the Himalayas and one year isolated in intense meditation in the Mission’s main centre close to the village of Banagram, which, by the blessings of Paramananda, she completed successfully. She was active in this centre for a number of years working with orphan children. On account of her great ability to gather and unite people, and because of her good organizational abilities, Swami Paramananda asked her to set up and lead a centre for women in Karimpur, Nadia District, West Bengal and she was busy with this in the two years leading up to her departure from India.
In 1990 she came as a representative from the Paramananda Mission to Shantibu in Alvdal, Norway to help with establishing the Mt.Tron University of Peace. She quickly transformed an area of barren mountain forest land at an altitude of 700 metres into a unique rich and colourful flower garden. Tripti Ma has been a Norwegian citizen since 2000 and holds an Indian "green card". From India she holds a Masters Degree in Philosophy, and in Norway she has passed Norwegian language exams and educated herself in child and youth care.
Every day she lives and works at Shantibu in Alvdal, the seat of the "Swami Sri Ananda Acharya Trust" and of the "Mt.Tron University of Peace Foundation" on whose board she sits. She is also a board member of the newly established Mt.Tron University of Peace Estate Inc. (2010). Throughout the year she is the hostess of innumerable guests and visitors to Shantibu from all over Norway and abroad. She likes to discover the preferences of each and every one and then serve these to them, and she is renowned for her good cooking. In addition she is more than willing to teach them yoga or to give good advice about health and diet and spiritual life. Triptima holds a Certificate of Honour from the Paramananda Institute of Yoga, and has 21 months of teacher education training in yoga from there between 2010-13.
In September 2003 she was invited to participate in an international symposium of peace in Brisbane, Australia, leading a workshop on non-violence. Whenever she is asked what her religion is, Tripti Ma answers “the religion of Humanity”!
Contact Tripti Ma on sanghitaprana@gmail.com