The Chinmaya International Foundation was conceived during the concluding days of the third International Spiritual Camp of Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda,which was conducted at Cochin, Kerala on 26th December 1988. Over 800 delegates from all over the world participated in this Camp. The delegates were of the unanimous view that the world wide Chinmaya movement must establish an International Foundation for disseminating the Vedanta Philosophy of Adi Sankara and thus help to establish the essential universality of the human kind and assist in ushering a world free of strife and turmoil. As an expression of their conviction, devotees committed donations to establish the foundation.

Three months later, on 24th April 1989, The Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) was registered as a Trust in Cochin, Kerala, India. It is more than a happy coincidence that, CIF the Center For Advanced Sanskrit Research And Indology was established during the birth centenary of Parama Pujya Swami Tapovan Maharaj (Swami Chinmayananda's master from Uttarkasi, at whose feet he acquired the wealth of Vedanta) and in the city associated with Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji's childhood and youth, Cochin. Of added significance is the decision of the Foundation to acquire the ancestral maternal house and birth place of Jagadguru Shri Adi Sankaracharya, the Melpazhur Mana, for housing the CIF.

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