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Ganendranath Bandopadhyay popularly known as Ganen Maharaj was a devoted disciple of Maa Sarada and Sister Nivedita. Under the influence of Sister Nivedita, Ganen Maharaj became a silent background supporter of the Indian Freedom Movement. He was a supporter of Anushilan Samiti and was in touch with Barin Ghosh. Ganen Maharaj earned Sister Nivedita’s confidence and played an important role of a trusted mediator between the revolutionists and Sister Nivedita. He was associated with Aurobinda’s Vande Mataram Patrika.

Once, Ganendranath accompanied Nandalal Bose in Ajanta. Ganen Maharaj was carrying a bulletin paper named Dharma and Jugantar in his cigarette box. British police spied over this Bengali artists’ troop and got information about Ganen’s carrying these banned periodicals. Influential persons like Sister Nivedita and Jagadish Chandra Bose saved the team from suffering worse.

Ganendranath was born on 28.03.1887 at Nariya village of Faridpur. His father was Nabin Chandra Bandyopadhyay. After his mother’s death, Nabin Chandra remarried another woman which led Ganendranath to lead a shelterless, struggling childhood. Tap water and footpaths served as his food and shelter. Sometimes, he used to spend his nights in the slum areas with his friends there. When denied, he used to sleep in front of Natyaraj Girish Chandra Ghosh’s house. One day, Girish Ghosh noticed this young chap and heard about his life story. He started providing Ganen with food every day. Impressed with Ganen’s honesty, Girish Ghosh took him to Maa Sarada’s house at Bagbazar, Kolkata which changed the direction of Ganen’s life. Ganen started to stay there as a worker of Udbodhan. He became the son of both Maa Sarada and Sister Nivedita. He devoted his life to the service of Maa Sarada and Sister Nivedita.

One day Sister Nivedita was walking with Dinesh Chandra Sen and Ganendranath. Suddenly a holy bull came to attack Nivedita. Ganen took bamboo and stuck the bull and led it to flee from the spot. Ganen’s ness and courage saved Sister Nivedita that day. Sarat Maharaj appointed Ganen as Nivedita’s all-time guard after that.

It was said that Sister Nivedita and Ganen Maharaj helped Sri Aurobinda to escape from the British-ruled area of Kolkata to Chandan Nagar. However later after the transformation, Rishi Aurobinda declared that neither Sister Nivedita nor Ganen Maharaj knew about his escape that night.

A few years before his death, he was exempted from all his duties related to Ramakrishna Math, Nivedita School, and Udbodhan Patrika. His membership was cancelled and he had to leave Belur Math.