Swami Gautamananda Maharaj has been the president of Sri Ramakrishna Math in Chennai since 1995 and a trustee of the Ramakrishna Math & Mission since 1990. He joined the Ramakrishna Math in 1955 and was ordained into sannyas in 1966. For 20 years, he worked among the tribals in Meghalaya, in Arunachal Pradesh and in Madhya Pradesh, helping bring them into mainstream national life through values-based yet modern education.

He has served as the general and executive member of the Central Board of Secondary Education and of the National Council for Education Research and Training, New Delhi, two national bodies of the Government of India. Swamiji speaks and writes on the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda philosophy and on Indian culture. He has lectured extensively on Vedanta throughout India and abroad.