After the partition of Bengal he came to West Bengal and joined
the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Calcutta and graduated with distinctions in 1955.
He rose to recognition swiftly as a prominent artist. Within a decade his paintings not only adorned
public and private collections, but also the Indian Parliament House in New Delhi and Indian
embassies in Brazil, Canada and the Netherlands.

Perhaps his aesthetic bent of mind and keen artist’s eye kept him ever searching for purity and perfection, not just in material forms, but in the inner Self. It was this search that took him on many sacred pilgrimages all over India and finally in 1958 to Solon where he met Shree Anandamayee Ma. He then followed Sri Ma for some time when she travelled throughout India. In 1960 he taught at an art school in Delhi. For the next few years he was in India and the West, with several exhibitions of his work there. Then in 1966 he returned to her again, renouncing his artistic career, after a divine revelation convinced him that it was She alone who could guide him on the path of Self-Realization. In 1968 Sri Ma bestowed upon him a new name on Her own Kheyal,and he became Satyananda: Bliss in Truth. It was a constant reminder of the ultimate goal of life, a confirmation of his ability to get there. In 1969 he returned to Europe and his wanderings ended when he reached Assisi, a most sacred place of pilgrimage in Christianity. He felt an inexplicable affinity for this place and set up Sadhana Ashram which was a place for all faiths such as Jainism, Buddhism, Samkhya or Yoga, and taking it further included Christianity, Judaism, Islam and all other faiths, creating a common platform for universal brotherhood and religious harmony in order to live together peacefully. Drawn by its uniqueness, many eminent personalities of diverse religions have visited or stayed at the Ashram since the foundation of this Oasis of Peace in the heart of the most important pilgrimage centre. 

Enthused by the acceptance and success of the Sadhana Ashram in Assisi, Satyanandaji also started a similar centre in Dehradun and named it Anandavan Ashram, an international centre for inter-faith religious dialogue at the foothills of the Himalayas.

Satyanandaji left his body on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailas  in September 2007, and was buried at Lake Manasarovar.

Sri Satyananda (far right) with other ascetics of Sri Ma.