The Life Divine of Sri Swami Chidananda  Dr. Sarat Chandra Behera The story of Swami Chidananda has been a story of total divinisation of the human personality. It is a story of silent service and complete self-effacement. On the basis of the profound authority of his personal experience and direct realisation, therefore, this peerless saint of the Himalayas could proclaim to the world of seekers: “Yoga is not only in Nirvikalpa Samadhi. It is in every moment.” His life at every moment glows with an immaculate godliness. The life of Chidananda is a life of holy service. Service and sacrifice have been its cardinal features. His Samskara was such that high spiritual virtues were instinctive volitions with him. Thus, while in his teens, this saint of boundless mercy had already taken upon himself the awe-inspiring task of being a father and a doctor to the unfortunate lepers who were spurned and hated by all their fellow beings. Nobility, humility, purity and compassion came naturally to him. Thoughts of a prosperous material career never allured him. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and brought up in the purple. But riches and worldly status did not mean a thing to him. Even in adolescence he was far above the snares of the senses. Service and sacrifice alone made him happy. Association with saints comprised his only craving. Meditation was his only passion. Worship was his only pleasure. In the very prime of his youth this born Siddha felt that he was being roasted in the fire of Samsara. And so, when the opportune moment came, he promptly renounced his hearth and home. On a sacred full-moon day he met his Master by the side of the holy Ganga at Rishikesh. He took the ochre garb and linked himself to the hoary monastic order. For more than a decade he merged himself in intense Seva and Sadhana and shone as an illumined sage. For another decade during the life time of the Master, he carried the message of Yoga and Vedanta to the New World. Returning, he voluntarily sank into seclusion leading the life of an isolated wandering monk. He was indifferent even to the order of Sannyas. He moved freely like an Avadhut, free from all fetters, depending on God and blissfully dwelling in the plane of God-awareness. At this stage the Cosmic Will brought him back to the plane of Loka Sangraha, the highest spiritual service. The Holy Master Swami Sivananda threw off his mortal coil and had merged in the Absolute. The task of spiritual leadership of the Master’s divine mission, therefore, fell upon the shoulders of his chosen disciple. Thus the world renouncer grew into the most dynamic of the holy workers in the modern world. Chidananda serves, indefatigably, through all hours and all seasons. He serves the Lord in this cosmic form. He serves his Master through his divine mission. He lives in the world of Rama. How Rama came into his life is an instructive lesson to every seeker. To him in his childhood He came as the idol Kodanda Rama, whom he worshipped and in whom he had his whole being. At a later stage, He came to him in the shape of the unfortunate lepers. Then a time came when the Lord appeared before him in the form of the inspired words of Ramdas. Next, the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa rose before him as a beckoning ideal. Saints and mystics blessed him. At last, the Lord gave him Darshan in the form of his Sadguru. Sivananda entered into his very being. He was filled with devotion to Guru. Sivananda dwelt in him and he dwelt in Sivananda. The two became one. In the words of Swami Krishnanandaji: “The legacy which he (Chidanandaji) has imbibed from Sri Gurudev is hundred per cent. We see in him all the miraculous and wondrous character of Gurudev.” Sarvam Ramamayam Jagat. Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagat. Vaasudevah Sarvam Iti. Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma. These are the formulas of his living and the fundamental recipes in all situations in life. He beholds the whole world as the manifestation of divinity. The World is Guru. Life is discipleship. Therefore, one has to live one’s life to serve the world and learn wisdom from the world itself. This is the Dharma that leads to Moksha. This is the keynote of Chidananda’s message to mankind. He conveys this message both by personal example and ringing precepts. Therefore, the master in him has courted a life of humble discipleship. He ever considers himself merely as the servant of Gurudev. He considers his own disciples as the disciples of his Holy Master, nay Narayana Himself. He is the crest jewel among the saints of the modern times. But he bows down before everybody. He prostrates himself with the utmost reverence not only before his elders but before the lowliest of men. With inexhaustible compassion he serves and loves all living creatures on this earth. When he had reached the pinnacle of spiritual attainments, his heart melted at the sorry spectacle of his fellow-beings pathetically enmeshed in trivialities. Regardless of discomforts and difficulties he dedicated himself to the task of liberating them. He knew that men commit errors through ignorance. Therefore, he did not look down upon them or admonish them, but stooped with love to raise them up. His love is boundless. It stretches out to embrace beasts, birds and even insects. Chidananda is the pure prism radiating the rays of Sanatana Dharma. Being an absolutely immaculate holy personality and a realised soul he is endowed with incalculable spiritual force. His very presence constitutes an uplifting experience, dispels the doubts of struggling seekers and infuses into them a new spiritual vigour. Numerous are his disciples. Numberless are the people who, though not initiated, take him as their Sadguru. But this great master of love and compassion moves as an ordinary humble student among them all. He is a born Siddha but continues to conduct

The Greatness of Swami Chidananda When Swamiji used to visit Lucknow during Gurudev’s time, Gurudev always sent some books for me and Swamiji came by bicycle to deliver them. He was so simple, humble and polite! Even after he became the President of the Divine Life Society, there was no change in his attitude and nature. This was Swamiji’s greatness. In 1974 Swamiji came to Lucknow. I was in a very depressed state of mind, due to my father’s age and ill health. Swamiji of course noticed it and asked me the reason for my anxiety. I opened my heart and said, “Swamiji, my father has become quite old, and I don’t know how I shall cope, all alone, when something happens to him.” Swamiji quietly told me, “Don’t worry! When his end is near, I shall be with you.” Two or three months later, my father’s condition worsened and he went into a coma. During that time, Swamiji stopped over at Lucknow Airport and I went to meet him. He did not enquire about my father, and I returned home with a heavy heart. My father continued to remain in a coma and 4 months later, with Swamiji’s permission, I brought him from Lucknow to the Ashram. There was no improvement. One day his condition was so alarming that I thought the end was near. Swamiji was in Delhi at that time, and a message was sent to him. Swamiji replied, “Ask father to hold on and wait like Bhishma Pitamah on the bed of arrows.” Father’s condition became somehow stable, and a few days later Swamiji arrived at the Ashram. Swamiji made my comatose father sit in a chair near the window, put his hand on his head and made him look at the Ganga. When I approached, Swamiji asked me to step back, so that no feeling of attachment would be reawakened in father’s mind. Finally  he put his hand on father’s heart and, reciting mantras, helped him to peacefully leave the body. He even helped to carry father’s body to the cremation ground. I was overwhelmed by his love and care and asked Swamiji later, why he, as a sannyasi, carried out the duty of the eldest son. “Your father was a saint in white clothes!” he replied. Swamiji had promised to be near when the end came, and he fulfilled his promise.

The Great Awakener Cheer up. Be bold. I am by thy side. I dwell within thee as part of the eternal Antaryamin, the Supreme Indweller, with whom I am ever one in spirit. This is the thrilling assurance of Chidananda to the countless devotees all over the globe struggling to move in his care from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to Light, from the mortal to the Imperishable. He is a cosmic friend, a world teacher, a unique inspirer and a dynamic divine messenger, improving the lot of humanity through his infinite compassion, radiant purity, soulful Bhajans, and the solemn admonitions which constitute a sort of electrifying shock-treatment to the materialists of the modern age. Right from 1949, when he donned the ochre garb and assumed the office of the General Secretary of the Divine Life Society, he has given himself entirely to the colossal task of awakening the masses from inertia and heedlessness, and making them develop the right resolution and tread the right path for attainment of Self-realisation. The story of his epic efforts as a great awakener began rather innocently. As has been told earlier, Sivananda one day sent for him and asked him to proceed to Patna in Bihar to inaugurate a Branch of the Divine Life Society. It was only a simple mission incidentally thrust on his shoulders. But his visit had such electrifying impact on the masses that thereafter he was to have no respite. As the years went by, more and more people began vociferously demanding his gracious attention and he has continued to remain an itinerant messenger of God ever since. (Going over to Patna he came to know that one of the dedicated organisers of the Branch Mrs. A.K. Sinha was lying with high fever. He paid her a visit and to the great solace and surprise of everybody by the very touch of his healing hands she was absolutely normal the next day and took part in the proceedings with her usual zeal. The visit of Swamiji furnished a wonderful experience to the vast concourse of people who came to the Conference from far and near. The young Swamiji was so inspiring that the Governor of Bihar, His Excellency Mr. M.S. Aney who went to inaugurate the function was profoundly moved and invited him to the Governor’s House with great reverence and accorded him a very special honour.) Swamiji’s Patna visit, which ended as an extensive tour of Bihar, was followed by the epochal All-India Tour in the company of the Master. Seekers all over India soon realised Chidananda’s greatness and came to look forward to hearing his sermons and instructions as priceless things. At the Parliament of Religions at Rishikesh in 1953, he played the role of the prime mover on all the sessions. Through the persuasive power of his logic and intense spiritual fervour he brought home to the listeners the fundamental message that religion alone can unite humanity. Observing the impact he registered on the masses, the Holy Master felt the necessity of sending him out more and more frequently to do spiritual service of the people. He was the one to be always deputed as his personal representative to preside over the various Divine Life Conferences. (Gurudev had conceived the idea of spiritual Conference as a modern need for mass awakening. He announced that a Divine Life Conference in Kali Yuga tantamounts to a hundred Rajasuya Yajnas or Soma Yajnas. Being inspired by the Master, Dr. V.S. Mani organised the First All-India Divine Life Conference at Villupuram in the end of 1939. Subsequently six such Conferences were held at Salem, Venkatagiri, Rajahmundry, Rishikesh, Hyderabad and again at Salem.) When the eighth All-India Divine Life Conference was held at Kolkata, Swamiji was brought down by the Holy Master from Badrinarayan where he had been on pilgrimage and asked to proceed there to elevate the masses. His very first words of address at the Conference, calling the assembled seekers ‘Visible manifestations of the one ever-perfect, ever-pure, all-blissful Supreme Spirit, the One Almighty Being’ sent out a wave of thrill as had done Vivekananda’s words to the audience at Chicago. It is not so much the words as the palpable spiritual force and divine grace behind them that at once produced a magnificent impact. Solemn, radiant and penetrating, Swamiji went on to clarify that the prime purpose of the Divine Life Conference was to produce in the hearts and minds of men waves of Divine Bhav, the sublime spirit of Atmic unity, universal oneness, devotion, brotherhood and love. The Conference had nothing limitingly institutional about it. He held that it should be a springboard for designing a glorious new vision for the world of today that is rent by conflict and confusion. It was to bring forth a new humanity perennially oriented towards spiritual advancement. In his elevating discourses Swamiji applied himself to the task of impressing upon his listeners the necessity and ways of bringing about the evolution in the human character by helping it annihilate its lower, impure, egoistic self and realise the higher divine nature within. He held that all things in the universe manifest their true natures. Man alone was the offender. Man, the crown of God’s creation, His supreme handiwork, endowed with the grand faculty of intellect, was not true to his nature. His intellect was prostituted for self-aggrandisement. He had made himself the slave of his sensual urges and converted this world into a vale of sorrow and suffering. The garden of God had been desecrated. Swamiji made it clear to one and all that DiVine Life was not a mystery. He said, “Know the Divine Life to be selflessness, and Self-realisation, service of man and worship of God.” He wished that the Conference may carry this message into every home not only within the great city of Kolkata hallowed by the memory of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda but also in all parts of the world. His fervent message produced an indelible impress

The Faithful Apostle of Yoga-Vedanta Introduction THE large-hearted Sivananda during his last days listened to a melodious rendering of my magnum opus “The Bharata Shakti Maha-Kavyam”, the grand Epic of Superman. He gave it a brilliant preface, and remarked: “Bharata Shakti is the richest legacy you are leaving to humanity. You must translate it into English”. “Yes, I am preparing an English version of it and part of it was approved by Sri Aurobindo.” “Bring it out soon…” said Swamiji. “If God wills” I said, and demanded of him, “Swamiji, please tell me the immortal legacy that you would bequeath to humanity besides your books and buildings. Is it The Divine Life Society? Or is it the holy assembly of Sannyasins that you have trained?”. Swamiji was serious for a few minutes. He saw his works piled before him. He heard the press working. Prayers were flowing from the temple. Shivananda Nagar, cradled in the music of the Ganga, was busy with multifarious activities…But all these could outlive him only if there was a dynamic follower who could take up the onerous responsibility after him. Sivananda opened his mind after deep thought. “Of course, Chidananda–He is the living legacy I leave behind me to carry on, after me, the mission of Divine Life.” But at that time Chidananda, Venkatesananda and others were not in the Ashram. “He is coming soon” said the Master. He did come; but his spirit of renunciation and God-love prevented him from undertaking any responsibility that would bind him down to worldly occupations. He was resolved to go to Kedarnath for intense Tapasya. “I go” said he to the Master. The Master looked deep into his eyes and spoke seriously, “Chidananda, look here, it is for you that I have developed Shivanandanagar and you say now that you will leave all these and go away”. This stunning remark transformed the mind of the faithful disciple. “Let Thy Will be done” said he and remained by the side of the Master and the Master’s Soul entered into him and led him from victory to victory in his life dedicated to Divine Life. After the Mahasamadhi of Gurudev, Chidananda was elected President of The Divine Life Society by common consent. The Faithful Apostle The faithful apostle carried on the work of the Master victoriously from country to country, conference to conference. He spread the message of Yoga-Vedanta from home to home, soul to soul. He has enriched The Divine Life Society and brought it universal recognition. I have presided over many conferences of The Divine Life Society and addressed more than thirty of them. I observe with wonder the enthusiasm of the public increasing more and more. The Divine Life Conferences serve as free public education and spontaneous spiritual-culture training. I have travelled all over the world five times and wherever I went, I came by the books and pictures of Swami Sivananda and Chidananda, and friends who admired and adored them. The vision and mission of Master Sivananda have been amply fulfilled by Mahatma Chidananda. If at all the world knows something about Hindu Sanatana Dharma today the credit goes to The Divine Life Society; from Brahmajnana to bazar drugs, from how to realise the Self to how to enrich oneself, a plethora of knowledge and practical wisdom has been scattered all over the world by The Divine Life Society under the unostentatious leadership of Swami Chidanandaji. Sivananda’s disciples are the apostles of Yoga-Vedanta in every corner of the universe. Just like Asoka who sent abroad the missionaries of Buddhism, Sivananda blessed and sent his order of Sannyasins East and West, North and South, which he united in the vast horizon of his universal evangel. Thus Sivananda is everywhere today and Chidananda is adored as the unique apostle and torch-bearer of Divine Life. The conferences organised so fruitfully by Chidananda have created a spiritual stir and transformation, a Visva Rupantara. We are prompted to adore him as a Messiah of mass awakening. In conferences, he is the master-speaker and we serve as a parenthesis. He assimilates the thoughts of well-chosen saints that address the conference and delivers the message of his heart which is the throne of Gurudev Sivananda. Every Divine Life conference is a transforming force, a collective Sadhana, a la fois of Karma, Bhakti, Jnana, Hatha, Raja and Mantra Sadhanas. I am thankful to Swamiji for having given me the opportunity of addressing these conferences. Long live this messenger of spiritual culture! We give a vernal greeting to his 61st birthday and we wish to reverse the number and see him in the blooming health and vigour of eternal sixteen. Let the harp of his life feast us with entrancing rhythms of divine rhapsodies. Beaming Smile His face beams with the beauty of his heart and his heart shines with the love and light of his soul. His smile goes for miles and miles radiating peace and bliss. For thirty-two years his life was a sincere dedication to the service of Sivananda. Dropping down his personality the impersonal Sivananda disappeared into the unknown beyond; but his spirit, his inner genius lives in the heart of Chidananda and fulfils in full today, in the actual life of humanity, what he wrote for humanity for so many decades. Sivananda chalked out the Gospel of divine existence and Chidananda sparks it out. Sivananda left a gap in the spiritual world and we are now glad that Mahatma Chidanandaji has nobly filled it. The spirit of the Master impels his heart and brain to dynamic world-wide Divine Life service. It equally impels other chosen instruments of the Master all over the world. Shankara calls upon humanity to remember the Sivahood of souls beyond all mental notions of caste, creed, clime and language. The mission of Sivananda is equally universal, a cosmic-conscious mission. Now let us have a peep into the Divine Life mission of these great souls. What Vivekananda did after the passing away of Ramakrishna, Chidananda does after the Mahasamadhi of Sivananda. “Ye

See God in All Sri P. Ganesh Prasad Once Gurudev was standing alone with Swami Chidanandaji. Casually he asked his birthday. Swamiji said that it was 24th September. Immediately Gurudev responded, “My birthday is on 8th September and yours is on 24th September. It will be an inconvenience for the devotees to visit the ashram twice in the same month. Hence, from now on, your birthday will be celebrated on the 24th of June!” This conversation occurred in the month of June, and just days later, on June 24th 1954, Gurudev actually celebrated Swamiji’s 39th birthday. Gurudev gave Rs.50/- from his personal savings to an inmate and asked him to make all the necessary arrangements, because those were difficult days, and money was not available for celebrating birthdays. While preparations were being made for the celebration, it so happened that a very poor man approached Gurudev. This man used to sit on Vishwanath Ghat, near the small temples of Ganesha and Hanumanji, sellilng bottles of Ganga water to the passing pilgrims. He told Gurudev, “Maharaj ji, people call me Daulatram, but I am penniless. I am struggling to survive.” (Daulat is an Urdu word meaning power, wealth, good fortune.) Gurudev’s heart melted. Soon after this, during Swami Chidanandaji’s birthday celebrations, Gurudev had Daulatram sit on a bench alongside Swami Chidanandaji and had both of them garlanded. Many esteemed swamis spoke in praise of Swami Chidananda, and then Gurudev gave a short speech. He began: “Celebration of Swami Chidanandaji’s birthday is really worship of God. There is nothing in this world, but God. Everything is Brahman.” Now kindly stop for a moment and visualize the scene. A pitiable peddler seated next to a revered saint, both garlanded, and Gurudev’s divine teaching: There is nothing in this world, but God. At this time Nagarajan has only been in the ashram for 6 months. He is barely 20 years old and just beginning to understand the significance of it all. Now he is watching and listening to his divine Master honoring and speaking about the Swami he has been asked to serve. Imagine what is going through his mind as Gurudev continues to speak. “When you closely follow Swami Chidananda’s lectures, ” Gurudev continued, “you will find that all the Upanishadic wisdom is brought out in them, though he has not studied the Upanishads and does not even want to study them. He brings Upanishads from his heart. He is an embodiment of the Brahma Sutras and the Gita.” Then Gurudev’s instructions begin: “You have heard so much today about Swami Chidanandaji. He who has made the determination ‘I will try to become like Chidanandaji,’ he alone will be benefitted. But you always forget these important things in life. Maya is very powerful. You will think that you are all elevated now; but as soon as you get up in the morning, the mind will run in its old grooves…. “Constant remembrance of the Lord, that is most essential. Cultivate virtues. Of all virtues, compassion and humility are most important. You must be an embodiment of patience, humility and forgiveness. Even if people abuse you, you must stand like the yonder Himalayas. Keep a balanced mind always. That is spiritual strength; that is wisdom. Cultivate your will power through japa. Never forget this. Samadhi will come by itself. “Compassion and humility Swami Chidananda has got in abundance. In the previous birth itself he was a sannyasi; from the way in which he behaves we can find that out. Swami Krishnanandaji was a sannyasi. They must have been sannyasins in their previous birth. It is the wealth of previous samskaras that has enabled them to take to this path of Divine Life at such an early age. If you don’t have them, you must generate them now, through fasting, prayer and service, so that in the next birth you will be born a saint. It is not too late. Make a resolve. Cultivate virtues.” “People have described Swami Chidananda. He is a doctor of doctors. He is a doctor of lepers. He is full of mercy. You must cultivate mercy. If any man is lying on the road, you don’t help him. You say, ‘It is his prarabdha.‘Even if you are starving, you must give your cup of milk to that man. In this way, your heart will expand. Break all barriers that separate man from man, through selfless service. Selfless service alone will help you to attain cosmic consciousness. Share what you have with others. Give. Give. Give. You will unite at heart with the whole world. This is the secret of abundance. God takes care of all his children. Spend everything in charity. The whole world is in distress and affliction. Remove them and you will grow in spirituality…. Again and again hammer the mind with ideals like ‘I am the Self of all creatures.’ Practice compassion, service, humility and other virtues. Then shine like our Chidanandaji! This is my fervent prayer.” Be humble, serve one and all Then, with great humility, Swami Chidanandaji spoke. He thanked all those who had said such kind things about him. He said that whatever he was was due to the blessings of the Master only, that he was just an ordinary stone which Gurudev took in his own divine hands and shaped into a beautiful piece of sculpture and that if there was any beauty in the statue, the credit was to go to the sculptor. “You may give me credit for one thing,” he added, “I am trying to obey what Gurudev says. But that is my duty as a disciple.” He concluded by saying, “The divine engineer of Swami Chidananda is Swami Sivananda.” The programme ended with prasad. Swami Chidanandaji served refreshments to all those assembled there and, when they were finished eating, placed a basket on his head on which he piled up all the dirty leaf-plates and clay cups and carried them away. What struck young Nagarajan was Swami Chidanandaji’s humility. “He was so

My Experiences with Swami Chidananda How to describe an ocean of compassion, mercy, love and strength! Our beloved Swamiji Maharaj, our Sadgurudev, was all this and more. Every second of Swamiji’s life was flowing with Divine Consciousness. Every act was imbued with this feeling. There are many episodes imprinted in my mind, and I want to share just a few. We were doing eye surgeries in Uttarkashi. During this time Swamiji Maharaj came for his annual visit to Gangotri and stayed over in Uttarkashi. Early in the morning I heard a gentle knock on the door of the operating room. It was Swamiji Maharaj, asking if he could come in. Swamiji went straight to the end of the operating table and put his head on the feet of the poor old lady who was scheduled for the surgery. He thanked the Divine who had come in the form of this patient to give us an opportunity of serving the Divine. The patient, being blind due to total cataract in both eyes, was not aware of what was going on. Then Swamiji went to the head of the table and again put his head down and prayed for the patient! The inauguration of the Swami Sivananda Centenary Charitable Hospital at Pattamadai took place on 25th December 1987, and Swamiji was the first patient to be seen. He was there at 7 o’clock, as the hospital door was to be opened at 8 a.m. He stood outside the hospital and insisted on making a show that he was first in the queue. If anybody came he would say, “Go behind me, because I am first.”  Then of course the hospital was opened and he came forward and went as the first person to the Registration Counter. He behaved just like any ordinary patient. He asked for the form, paid his one rupee as donation which he had kept carefully. The person at the counter filling the form asked, “What is your name?” He said, “Swami Chidananda” – “What is your father’s name?” “Swami Sivananda” replied Swamiji. “Place of residence?” “Divine Life Society, Rishikesh” – “Profession?” “Swami” and so on, he answered all the questions. After that he went to the outpatient department and sat on the bench. He refused to sit on a chair. He waited and kept on complaining like any other patient, “I am waiting for the doctor. Where is the doctor?” All the doctors were delayed, but I happened to be there and so I examined him. He sat across to me and talked just like any other patient. He said that he had suffered from backache for so many years and that he had been taking Ibrufine and other medication. After the consultation was over he wanted the OPD ticket to be kept carefully. It was the very first record and he wanted to be the very first person who showed himself in Gurudev’s Hospital. That was his bhava. I had such a long association with Swamiji, but his real greatness I started to experience only in the last 2 or 3 years and that only by his grace. And I feel what I am experiencing is just a small part of it. He is much more than my experience!