ANNA means “Big Brother” in Tamil, one of the languages spoken in South India, specifically Chennai. Naganarasimhan Subramanian, later to be known as ANNA, entered the world on September 20, 1895. His mother Arundhati was the only daughter of Krishna Sastri who had the privilege of being at the Guru Kulam at Sringeri along with the young Sri Narasimha Bharati Swamigal. His father Naganarasimhan was an Elementary school teacher and later village karnam. Born into a poor family in Tiruchengodu, Salem District, Tamilnadu, India, no one could imagine or predict the glory that he would achieve in his lifetime.

 Sri ANNA was the eldest son/child born to a huge family consisting of himself, five brothers and three sisters in Tiruchengodu, Tamilnadu, India. By sincerely devoting his time and energy into his studies, ANNA was able to enroll in the Ramakrishna Mission Home, which later enabled him to go to college. In no time the Mission became his new home and he became involved in every aspect of it that he possibly could. He claimed himself to be the living proof of the Biblical saying, “Blessed are poor,” because if he had not been poor, he would have never come to know of the Ramakrishna Mission. Unlike any other student though, ANNA did not just pass through the Mission on his way to college, but rather, as many others have said, “The two became inseparable.” ANNA was determined to give back to the Mission as much as it had given him; not only out of gratitude, but out of love too.

The lucky woman that he married was Smt. Visalakshi (at the age of 12), an extremely hard worker, amazing cook, and a kindhearted soul who loved children. After a few years, three beautiful daughters came into their life, all of whom turned out to be amazing role models and sources of comfort for their grandchildren.

After retiring from working at the Ramakrishna Mission Home, Sri ANNA continued to teach students about the Indian culture. He also began to write, translating many ancient Indian scriptures and writing many other books. He was a fluent writer in English, Tamil, and the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit. To this day, some of his translations are still in demand.