He was an ascetic, a nationalist, and a peasant leader of India.
Although born in North-Western Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh), his social and political activities focussed mostly on Bihar in the initial days, and gradually spread to the rest of India with the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha.
He had set up an ashram at Bihta, near Bihar carried out most of his work in the latter part of his life from there. He was an intellectual, prolific writer, social reformer, and revolutionary.
On hearing of Saraswati's arrest during the Quit India Movement, Subhash Chandra Bose and All India Forward Block decided to observe 28 April as All- India Swami Sahajanand Day in protest of his incarceration by the British Raj.