GURUPRANAMAM: June 2009

Prepared P.N.BALAKRISHNAN NAIR

INTRODUCTORY.

India is the land of the sages, and the great Rishis of ancient India have had a decisive role in firmly establishing the cultural heritage of India, which has its foundation on spirituality and religion. In fact, spirituality is the backbone of India’s culture and national life. The history of India has proved that a nation which holds steadfastly on to its cultural traditions will never fall. In the hoary past, India had passed through numerous vicissitudes at the hands of foreign invaders who had attempted to uproot India’s culture and civilization. Later, in the Nineteenth century, with the advent of British rule, the spread of western civilization, coupled with the campaign of conversion started by the Christian missionaries had virtually initiated a conquest over the Indian culture by the foreign culture. However, every time when India had faced a spiritual or cultural crisis in its national life, on account of internal problems or foreign intervention, there had been born a saint or a prophet who could save the land from the impending danger and restore its pristine glory. After Lord Krishna and Lord Budha, Adi Shankara, GuruNanak,ChitanyaMahaPrabhu, SreeRamaKrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Maharshi Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi and many other saintly personalities had fulfilled this mission according to the requirements of the period during which each of them lived.

In the southern most corner of India, the second half of Nineteenth century and the first half of Twentieth century, found the princely state of Travancore in such a critical stage, where even the very foundations of Sanatana Dharma were apparently in shambles. The caste-system as ordained by the scriptures, dividing the members of the society into four classes on the basis of their innate qualities (Gunas) and vocational aptitudes(Karmas) was grossly misinterpreted by the so-called “high caste Hindus” for their own selfish interests.. The system, which envisaged a harmonious co-existence among the different classes of the society through mutual service and co-operation, was misused as an excuse for oppressing the so-called “low caste Hindus” and imposing unfair practices like discrimination and untouchability against them. Not only that study of the scriptures and entry into temples were denied to them, but even listening to the recital of scriptures and going near temples by them were declared as punishable offences. It was at this stage, that the great sage Parama Bhattaraka Chattampi Swami, and his disciple and contemporary, Sree Narayana Guru Swami made sustained efforts to educate the masses about their rights and to eradicate all discriminations in the name of caste, colour and creed. Following their footsteps, Swami Abhedanandaji Maharaj, who had been inspired by Sree Chattampi Swami at a very young age, made his appearance like a lode-star in the spiritual horizon of South India, spreading the message of universal equality of mankind, non-differentiation between man and man, and unadulterated love of God. On the authority of the Vedas, Swamiji declared that the worship of God and study of scriptures is the birth-right of every human being. To quote Swamiji’s own words:-

“Man comes from God; lives in God; and finally returns to God. Some of us know this truth; others do not. God is the only one relative and kinsman for all of us. In other words, God is the one and only existence which consists of all beings in this world. When we realize this truth, our life will become godly. In fact, godliness is our true nature. Because we have forgotten this truth, we are unable to see God in ourselves, and in others. This is the reason for all the differences in this world. When we start worshipping God with a pure heart, we naturally return to our innate nature of godliness.”

Swamiji did not remain satisfied by mere preaching. He took his message to the masses; lived with them and freely mingled with them. He traveled by foot all over India singing Bhajans, chanting the divine Names of the Lord, and induced people to sing with him in chorus. He talked to them on Gita and Bhagavatam. He taught them to read and recite Gita and Vishnu Sahasra Nama. He organized congregational prayers in the form of ‘Akhanda Nama Japa’. He conducted collective worship in the form of ‘Laksharchana’ and ‘KotiArchana’ at various places. About KotiArchana Swamiji had said:-

“The first ‘Koti Archana’ was conducted at Madras (now Chennai) in 1958. Nobody had heard about anything like ‘Koti Archana’ at that time. Koti Archana means the collective worship of God by all the devotees assembled at a place, reciting the holy names of the Lord, one Crore times. The system of Koti Archana was conceived as a tool for uniting the Hindu community which had gone mad under the spell of evils like untouchability and discrimination in the name of caste and creed, caused by the multiplicity of castes and sub castes within the caste. The scriptural sanction that every human being has the right to worship God was taken as authority for evolving the concept of Koti Archana. In fact, the inspiration for Koti Archana was a God-given gift, to break the fetters of caste-system without revolution and to induce the people to love and worship God collectively. When it was announced that every man and woman, young and old, can participate in the Koti Archana irrespective of caste or creed, right-thinking devotees of God rejoiced. People from far and wide came in large numbers and participated in the Archana. Orthodox Hindus, who clung to the caste-system for their own selfish interests became furious. But the Koti Archanas went on successfully with the full support and co-operation of the re-awakened masses.”

Swamiji established two Abhedashramams, one at his native village of Arayur, in Neyyattinkara Taluk, Trivandrum District in 1946 and the other at the capital city of Trivandrum, Kerala in 1955. The hallmark of both these Ashramams is the incessant recital of the Maha Mantra of Kali Santarana Upanishad

“Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare”, day in and day out, by devotees in turn, (which changes every hour), holding a Tamburu in hand and circum-ambulating a lighted lamp (which is never put out ) inside a sanctum sanctorum known as “Akhanda Nama Vedi”. Because of this, the Abhedashramams are, also known as ‘Maha Mantralayas’. After Swamiji’s Maha Samadhi in 1983, another Ashramam was established under a separate Trust at Khankhal, Haridwar where the mortal remains of Gurudev were immersed in Holy Ganges as Jala Samadhi. Gurudev had repeatedly clarified that the name Abhedashramam does not signify the name of its founder, but it stands for the principle of non-discrimination on which Abhedashramams are founded.

The Lord has declared that His abode is neither Vaikunta nor the inner realms of Yogis, but He always abides at the places where His devotees chant His divine Names and sing in praise of His glories. This has come true in both Abhedashrams where the Lord has made His presence in different forms. In Trivandrum Ashramam there are the shrines of Lord Sree Balakrishna and Sree Radha Devi facing each other, along with the shrines of Lord Ganesha, Lord Anjaneya, Lord Subrahmanya, Lord Ayyappa, and Parama Acharya Sree Chattampi Swami. At Arayur Ashram there are the shrines of Holy Mother and Lord Shiva, besides a Sree chakra Meru.

The Abhedashramams at Arayur and Trivandrum were being managed by ad-hoc committees till 1963, when Swamiji executed a Trust Deed surrendering both Ashramams with all their properties to Lord Sree Balakrishna Swami and entrusted their management to a registered Trust named ‘Abhedashramam Sree Balakrishna Swami Devaswom Trust’. There are 25 members in the Board of Trustees which is dedicated to the service of the Lord.

Swami Abhedanandaji, had devoted the whole of his life for the propagation of Bhakti cult through Nama Sankeertanam. He traveled throughout the length and breadth of India several times, singing the glories and spreading the Divine Names of the Lord. He has, there fore, been verily acclaimed by the devotees all over India, as the re-incarnation of Sree Krishna Chaitanya Maha Prabhu.

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FAMILY AND PARENTAGE.

Towards the middle of Nineteenth Century, there lived in the village of Parassala, in Trivandrum District of the erstwhile princely State of Travancore , a rich middle class Nair family known as Kodivilakam of which Sri.Krishna Pillai was the head. The ancient family house was situated on the side of the road leading to the main road from the eastern gate of the famous Mahadevar Temple of Parassala. As the head of this family was traditionally the chief man of the village, he commanded the respect of all villagers. In the case of Krishna Pillai, who was employed as a clerk in the Registration Department had an added distinction, as the service under Government was regarded as a very respectable position in those days.(The history of Travancore is that Marthanda Varma, one of the earlier rulers of the kingdom ‘Venadu’ had conquered all the neighboring small kingdoms in several battles and formed the state of Travancore. In order to atone for the sin involved in killing men in the battles, the Maharaja surrendered the state of Travancore to Lord Sree Padmanabha, the family deity of the royal family. There after he resumed the rulership of the state on behalf of Padmanabha, and declared himself to be Padmanbhadasa-the slave of Lord Padmanabha. The name Padmanabhadasa has ever since been the title of honor for the ruling dynasty of Travancore. So also, any one who served under the Government of Travancore used to be held in great esteem, as a person receiving Lord Padmanabha’s money)

According to the matriarchal family system prevalent at that time, two brothers and a sister younger to Krishna Pillai were living with him in the Kodivilakam family. It was a usual scene in many such joint families for the Head of family to squander away the common properties of the family for the benefit of his own wife and children and the other members to revolt against it. But Krishna Pillai was an exception to this, as he remained unmarried for a long time and worked hard for the general welfare of the family. Through his untiring efforts, he could recover most of the family properties which had been alienated during the time of his predecessors. So all the members of his family loved and respected him much more than any other head of a joint family would have been respected by its members. He was a chronic bachelor till the age of fifty years. Thereafter, he married a lady named Lakshmi Pillai, from a family known as Panayil Veettil in the nearby village of Arayur. Smt. Lakshmi Pillai was a most suitable wife for Krishna Pillai by virtue of her birth in an equally rich and affluent family and her inherent noble qualities. Although she had not received any formal higher education, she had a fair knowledge in literature and music and was well versed in the Hindu epics and Puranas. The first born child of this couple met with an untimely death at a very tender age. Thereafter, they spent a long time in penance and prayers at the famous Subrahmanya Swamy temple at Kumarakovil, at the foot of the sacred Veli Hills near Thuckalai in South Travancore.(now in Kanyakumari District ,TamilNadu ) Even today, people in this region believe that any one who prays ardently to Lord Subrahmanya at Kumarakovil will definitely be blessed with a male child. This came true in the case of Krishna Pillai also at the appropriate time. The child born to Sri.Krishna Pillai and Lakshmi Pillai with the blessings of Lord Subrahmanya is the one, who came to be renowned as Swami Abhedanandaji Maharaj, who later blessed the world through his melodious Bhajans, discourses and other spiritual activities over three quarters of a Century.

Padmanbha Pillai, the youngest brother of Krishna Pillai, who was living with him, was a great scholar well versed in Sanskrit and Indian music. He was leading the life of an ascetic, fully immersed in spiritual practices. He was a staunch devotee of Lord Anjaneya and was believed to have possessed many super human powers derived from the blessings of Anjaneya. As a result of his divine disposition, everyone who knew Padmanabha Pillai used to address him reverently, as Swami.

One day, a neighbor came to Padmanabha Pillai and complained that his buffalo was neither taking any food or drink, nor passing urine or dung for the past few days and its belly had enlarged to such an extent that it might die due to suffocation at any time. Padmanabha Pillai, accompanied the neighbor and on seeing the pitiable condition of the poor animal, he stared at it for a few seconds, and patting gently on its back, gave a strict command “pass urine and dung”. As soon as these words came out of Padmanabha Pillai’s mouth, the buffalo with a sudden jerk, passed a little dung and along with it there appeared the tip of a cloth through its anus. The Swami continued to pat the animal and asked the onlookers to pull out the cloth. By the effort of three or four strong men, a shawl of about one metre length was pulled out and a large quantity of dung and urine followed. Soon the animal started to eat and drink. Without a word, the Swami went his way.

He used to give scholarly discourses on Sreemad Bhagavatam and other holy texts, which usually attracted a fairly large crowd of enlightened audience. In those days, only oil lamps were used for lighting the stage for such discourses. On one occasion, the lamp on the stage was running short of oil and Padmanabha Pillai took the can kept near him and poured the liquid contained in it to the lamp. Suddenly the onlookers cried, “Swami, it is water and not oil”. But the Swami remained calm and replied, “Keep quiet, it will continue to burn”. And it did so!!!

On another occasion, one of the audience complained that his pocket watch was missing. The interruption annoyed the Swami; but he calmly said, “the watch will come back” and sat in meditation for a few seconds. Soon a man came running, as if he was being lashed by some one, fell at the Swami’s feet, placed the watch before him and begged for forgiveness. The Swami forgave the culprit and handed over the watch to its owner.

The close association with Padmanabha Pillai during the childhood days of Swami Abhedanandaji had a very significant role in shaping his spiritual life in the later years. Some more mention about this extraordinary personality will, therefore, appear in the coming chapters of this narration.

III. Birth and Boyhood.

The blessed hour that was anxiously awaited by Krishna Pillai and Lakshmi Pillai arrived at last. On that memorable day, the 8^thof April,1909 when the morning sun was rising in the eastern horizon of Arayur village, a child as radiant as the rising sun was born in Panayil Veettil family. The arrival of child born by the blessings of Lord Subrahmanya of Kumarakovil was also on Visakhom day, which is believed to be the birth-star of Lord Subrahmanya. This coincidence had made the parents and other relatives of the child to believe that it as really an incarnation of the Lord.

Celebrated astrologers predicted that the child would become a great scholar and leader of men; he would be respected and held in high esteem even by kings and that he would become a yogi and Sannyasin of great renown. The delighted parents completed the birth rites of the child in due course. Krishna Pilai named the child Velayudhan, in deference to the blessings of Lord Subrahmanya of Kumarakovil. His parents and close relatives lovingly called him ‘Velukutty’. Even as a small child, Velukutty had some special qualities of his own. A bright and radiating face, sweet smile, polite and gentle behaviour, obedience and above all, fearlessness were some of the special characteristics which attracted the attention and admiration of every one who came into contact with Velayudhan.

When Velayudhan was five years old, his paternal uncle Padmanabha Pillai initiated him to the world of letters. Along with formal education at Parassala Primary School, Velayudhan was taught Sanskrit and introduced to spiritual education at home, by his uncle Padmanabha Pillai. By 1918 when Velayudhan had completed the first four classes of his primary education, World War I had started its adverse impact on the lives of villagers. Heavy increase in the price of essential commodities and inadequacy of income from agricultural resources had made it difficult for the villagers to make both ends meet. Many of them had to seek alternative sources of income to earn their daily bread. Kodivilakam family was also faced with the same problem and the joint family was divided and each member had to find out his own living. After division of the family properties among its members, Krishna Pillai shifted his residence to the state capital Trivandrum in order to seek a suitable livelihood and to provide proper education for his precious son. His unmarried brother Padmanabha Pillai also accompanied Krishna Pillai. After retirement from government service, Krishna Pillai took up the profession of a stamp-vendor and document writer at Trivandrum.

After coming to Trivandrum, Velayudhan continued his education mainly at the SMV Government School. Padmanabha Pillai took special interest and continued to teach him Sanskrit at home. In the school also, Velayudhan opted for Sanskrit as his second language. In those days, children who opted for Sanskrit where mainly from Brahmin families and so Velayudhan’s teachers and classmates were mostly Brahmins. Some of the teachers were scholars in Sanskrit and Indian music. They observed and encouraged the inherent talent for music latent in Velayudhan. Side by side, Padmanabha Pillai also gave intensive practice in classical music. Within a short time, Velayudhan earned the love and admiration of his teachers as well as classmates because of his quiet and lovable nature, his extra ordinary brilliance in studies and his unparalleled talents in music and dramatic performance.

Padmanabha Pillai used to take Velayudhan also with him for the spiritual discourses conducted by him at various places. Consequently, Velayudhan had to absent himself from school frequently. As the teachers had great confidence in Velayudhan, they did not take his absence seriously in the beginning. But one day when the class was going on in full swing, the teacher noticed that Velayudhan was leaning forward with his eyes closed and resting his face on the desk without listening to the class. Suspecting some illness, the teacher went near Velayudhan and asked him what happened. Velayudhan stood up as if he was in a trance. And what he said had stupefied every one including the teacher. On the previous day his uncle was narrating the story of Sree Krishna playing games with his companions in Vrindavan; that picture does not fade from his memory; so it has become difficult for him to look at or listen to anything else; that is why he was keeping his eyes closed and seeing the scenes at Vrindavan through his mind’s eyes. The teacher said nothing and allowed Velayudhan to sit down. But he mentally admired the boy for his sincere devotion and good fortune to have the vision of God at such a young age. Probably, the teacher must have seen a future saint in the boy!

Under the guidance of Padmanabha Pillai, Velayudhan learned to read Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam,Ramayanam and also the important Upanishads. During the discourses on Ramayanam and Bhagavatam conducted by Padmanabha Pillai, Velayudhan was at first engaged to read the texts. The recital of the textual verses by young Velayudhan in perfect musical tunes had surprised everyone. Later on, Padmanabha Pillai when asked Velayudhan to give small speeches on selected topics he used to perform the task with the adeptness of a mature philosopher.

Swamiji used to refer to his paternal uncle as the first Guru. Once when asked to tell something about him, Gurudev had said:-“He was a great Mahatma and a devotee of Sree Hanuman. He was highly proficient in music and possessed deep knowledge in the Shastras and skill to interpret them. As he preferred loneliness and disliked disturbance from others, he used to put on an appearance of short temper in order to keep people at a distance. But he was every thing for me. He was my first Guru. Our relationship as master and disciple was not confined to mere mantra upadesha. An unbounded mutual love very much beyond the limits of the love between a paternal uncle and his nephew existed between us. The first lessons of spirituality were learned from him.”

At home, Velayudhan used to sit before the lighted lamp and do his daily prayers and recital of sacred books every morning and evening under the guidance of Padmanabha Pillai. It was quite evident that devotion and quest for knowledge were developing in the boy day by day. This trend found in his nephew, delighted Padmanabha Pillai and he encouraged him as much as possible. He told him stories of the great saints of our land and spoke about the sacredness of Ganga and the ethereal beauty of the Himalayas. Whenever he got an opportunity to meet the wandering monks from North India, Velayudhan made use of it to gather as much information as possible on spiritual subjects.

When Velayudhan was 14 years old, he was able to read and understand Sanskrit works including those of Kalidasa and other poets. Besides he had great fascination for poetical works of old and contemporary writers in Malayalam also. He had an extra ordinary capacity to remember any complicated poem by reading it one or two times. This was evident from the practice followed by Swamiji in later years to quote profusely from the works of famous writers in Malayalam and Sanskrit during Satsangs.

Velayudhan’s quest for knowledge was growing by and by; and the company of his uncle was encouraging it. But the spiritual seeker in Velayudhan was not contented as the ultimate Truth still remained beyond his reach. He was convinced that the all-pervading Truth could be realized only through constant Sadhanas(spiritual practices) and this would be possible only through a wandering life, free from all the worldly bondages, and observing the various phenomena in the God’s creation. So, one day while he was still a school-boy, Velayudhan left home for a trip to Kanyakumari without informing anyone. The frightened parents made a frantic search through their relatives at various places and brought him back. But he prevailed upon his parents and got their permission to visit the temples at nearby places. On another day the visit was extended to a distant place and ended at Palayamkotta in TamilNadu. While wandering along the streets of that town he was noticed by a policeman who was attracted by the manners and gait of the boy. The policeman happened to be a friend of Velayudhan’s uncle who was notified immediately. The uncle promptly came and took him back to his parents. Earnest entreaties by his parents made Velayudhan to remain with them as a dutiful and obedient son. During school vacation Krishna Pillai engaged his son to assist him in his profession as stamp vendor, on the assumption that such a pre-occupation would prevent him from running away. But this did not affect his association with Padmanabha Pillai, with whom he continued to attend spiritual discourses regularly.

One day Padmanabha Pillai was conducting a discourse on Sreemad Bhagavatam at the famous Shastha temple at Thycad, Trivandrum in front of an elite audience. During the first three days Velayudhan was also with him. On the fourth day by some reason or other, Velayudhan did not accompany his uncle. The discourse was proceeding in full swing and the audience was listening in rapt attention to the narration of an episode charged with divine love of the Lord. Suddenly some one among the audience cried out:-“Swami, the light will go off now”. This interruption annoyed Padmanabha Pillai, who retorted that “I am not her to brighten your lamp” and quickly stood up and left the place. All attempts made by the organizers of the function to pacify him failed and Padmanabha Pillai never turned back. He walked and walked and reached the beach; remained there alone for two or three days and disappeared. When and where to, nobody knows. Thereafter, he had made his appearance in Trivandrum as a mendicant on three or four occasions. Swamiji himself had an opportunity to see him in the form of an Avadhoota, during one of his wanderings after taking Sanyasa.

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IV -- MEETING THE GURU

Although Velayudhan was taught the first lessons in spirituality by his uncle Padmanabha Pillai, Swamiji had firmly installed in his mind, the image of Parama Bhattaraka Chattampi Swami, the great spiritual master as his Guru. This is evidenced by the fact both the Ashrams founded by Swamiji at Arayur and Trivandrum have been named as memorials of Sree Chattampi Swami.Besides, when Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna was started at Trivandrum Ashram in 1955, the flame to light the Akhanda Deepam was brought from he SamadhiTemple of Sree Chattampi Swami at Panmana, Kollam District. Above all, a separate shrine has been constructed at Trivandrum Ashram and the image of Sree Chattampi Swami installed therein is being offered regular worship every day.More over, Swamiji had on several occasions referred to Sree Chattampi Swami as ‘Gurunathan’. As Swamiji is very reluctant to speak about himself, he has not said much about this meeting also, which took place in 1923 when he was 14 years old. Once when asked about this incident, Swamiji recalled this much: “That was the first opportunity for talking to Swami. When the idea of starting an Ashramam near Parassala was considered, the first thing that came to memory was this meeting with Sree Chattampi Swami and the ‘inspiration’ given by him at that time”. The value of this ‘inspiration’ in the life of Swamiji can very well be imagined by the readers from this reference. The meeting with the Guru was a short and casual one; but the amount of spiritual power transferred to the disciple by the guru on that occasion was immeasurable.

For the information of readers from outside Kerala, it may be necessary to give at this stage, a brief description of Sree Chattampi Swami. His Holiness was one of the great social reformers of Kerala during the nineteenth century. Born in an ordinary Nair family, he had his primary education with a local school teacher. His name was Ayyappan, but his parents called him Kunjan, which literally means child. Kunjan was an extra ordinarily brilliant child and the teacher made him the monitor of the class. The Malayalam equivalent for monitor is Chattampi, and so he came to be known as Kunjan Chattampi, and later Kunjan Pillai Chattampi and finally Chattampi Swami. In those days Sanskrit education learning of Vedas were considered to be the privilege of Brahmins and the Sanskrit scholars were mainly Brahmins .They did not allow children of lower castes to attend their classes. But Kunjan who had an inherent thirst for knowledge, used to hide outside a nearby Brahmin family where a pundit was giving lessons in Sanskrit to the children of that family. One day the pundit asked some questions on past lessons which nobody in the class could answer. But Kunjan unwittingly called out from his hiding place the correct answers. The astounded pundit asked him to come in and thereafter he was allowed to study along with the Brahmin children. It is believed that at a very young age Lord Subrahmanya appeared before him in the form of a mendicant and initiated him to spirituality by giving the powerful “Bala Subrahmanya Mantra” as upadesa. Even from that young age he engaged himself seriously in spiritual practices. With the blessing of Lord Subrahmanya he came in contact with many great teachers and acquired from them a vast amount of knowledge in Vedanta and all other fields of spirituality. He had deep knowledge in classical music and the use of musical instruments and was an adept in Ayurvedic treatment. In short there was nothing under the sun which was not known to Chattampi Swami.

It was a time when social inequalities in the name of caste and creed were rampant in Travancore. Chattampi Swami was the first person to launch a one-man war against this evil. He used to take food from the houses of the so called low caste people and asked his disciples also to do so. This had paved the way for a radical reformation in the social order of the land. One of his major works known as “Vedadhikara Niroopanam” written in Malayalam had authoritatively refuted the false belief that only Brahmins were eligible to study Vedas. When Swami Vivekananda visited Travancore, in 1918, Chattampi Swami had met him and during their conversation explained the significance of Yoga Mudra scientifically on the basis of Brihadaranya Upanishad. Swami Vivekananda had recorded in his diary that he could meet only one Sannyasin in the whole of India and that was Chattampi Swami. He had a number of disciples, both sannyasins and house-holders. But Chattampi Swami had not assumed formal Sannyasa under any order in the DasaNami system. So he had never worn saffron clothes as the insignia of Sannyasa. The position of Chattampi Swami was indeed beyond all such limitations created by man. He had realized the Supreme Reality and had become one with the Supreme Self. Every creature in the world from small ants to fierce wild animals, and even plants used to obey to his commands because of his oneness with the Supreme Self which pervades every thing.

Chattampi Swami had an impressive physical outfit too. Though short in size, his body was sturdy and strong due to yogic and spiritual attainments. Slightly bald head with white hairs reaching up to the shoulders, broad forehead smeared with holy ash, a smiling face with merciful shining eyes, beautiful nose, a garland of Rudraksha around the neck, a lush white beard spreading all over the chest and reaching up to the belly, long arms reaching up to the knees, an iron ring on the forefinger of the right hand, and a white towel covering up to the knees wrapped around the waist - these were the physical features that made everyone who came across that great Yogi to bow before him in great reverence. There was no parallel for his quick-wittedness and the capacity to present highly complicated Vedantic propositions in a jovial mood, through simple but thought provoking stories, often with a touch of humour.

One day, having heard that Chattampi Swami was resting at a house near the school in which Velayudhan was studying, he made his way to that house, prompted by an irresistible desire to see the Swami in person. When he reached there, the Swami was relaxing on an easy chair in the front hall of the house with his eyes closed, rolling his head slowly on either side and slapping gently on the belly with the forefinger of his right hand ,making a rhythmic melodious sound which reverberated all over the place. When Velayudhan entered the room, the Swami opened his eyes and looked at the boy, who with folded hands bowed down in obeisance to the Swami. In reply to the Swami’s query, Velayudhan introduced himself as the nephew of Parassala Padmanabha Pillai and disclosed the fact that he had come with the desire of seeing the Swami in person. Chattampi Swami was pleased with the boy’s humility and spiritual radiance reflected on his face. After speaking to him for a while, the Swami placed both his hands on Velayudhan’s head and gave him a piece of fire-cooked tapioca, which he reverently received and took as Prasadam. Finally, when Velayudhan was about to leave, the Swami told him, “you must study well and don’t go after the bearded guys”. These words of the Guru have come true in the disciple as is evidenced by his future life. He studied well and learned everything that was needed to fulfill the mission of his life; never had he to go after the bearded guys, but there have been many bearded guys to go after him.

As the Guru, so was the disciple. Chattampi Swami was an adept in all forms of art including music. So also, was Swamiji. The master was a worshipper of Lord Subrahmanya. Swamiji also started his spiritual life with the worship of Lord Subrahmanya. The master’s skill in using folk stories and humorous episodes while talking about complicated spiritual topics was evinced by Swamiji also in his conversations. Chattampi Swami had the whole world under his command; but he had no worldly possessions. So also Swamiji, in spite of having two Ashrams established by him and a great number of followers all over India, never had anything of his own. Every time Swamiji set out on long journeys, he used to go with a free hand, without carrying anything for himself.

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V - IN SEARCH OF GOD

The spark of spirituality inherent in Velayudhan which had been ignited by his uncle Padmanabha Pillai was kindled into a burning fire by the ‘inspiration’ he received from Chattampi Swami. Constant association and guidance of Padmanabha Pillai had been constantly fostering Velayudhan’s thirst for knowledge. So the sudden departure of Padmanabha Pillai from the scene created a vacuum which could not be filled up easily. Velayudhan realized that whatever knowledge he had acquired so far was incomplete and the knowledge of absolute Truth was far ahead. It also became clear to him that all the great seekers of our country had reached their goal only by leading the life of a monk, wandering about, observing and studying the various manifestations of the Absolute Truth, in the form of men and matters all over the country. Therefore, a desire to leave home and travel through Tamilnadu, a land rich in its heritage of spirituality and Bhakti, became strong in Velayudhan’s mind. One day when he was just seventeen years old, Velayudhan left home without anybody’s knowledge.

Whenever some one asked Swamiji about the experiences during this period, ‘nothing remarkable’ was the only polite reply that was received. However, inquisitive enquiries by close devotees had occasionally unearthed some of the incidents relating to this period. From the memories recalled by them, it is evident that Swamiji had spent not less than four years in Tamilnadu and gained invaluable knowledge and experience from his contacts with great spiritual masters of that time.

In the beginning, Velayudhan used to engage himself in Pranayama and other yogic practices learned from his uncle. Because of his mastery in Indian music and gifted voice, he was able to sing Bhajans and other devotional songs in Tamil melodiously. Whenever he could meet scholars and great men, he used to learn from them various hymns and songs made by famous Tamil authors. As most of such songs related to Lord Muruka (Subrahmanya) and Velayudhan was inherently a devotee of Muruka, he had assumed the name of Murukanandan and was wearing saffron clothes during his perambulations in Tamilnadu. Because of his young age people used to address him as ‘Chinnaswami’ meaning small swami. Wherever ‘Chinnaswami’ went, he was a welcome guest, speaker and singer in local religious congregations, which invariably attracted big crowds.

It was his practice never to remain at a place for more than one or two days, so that there should be no attachment towards any particular place or person. In order to mitigate the agony his parents on account of the escapades of their only son, Velayudhan had made it a point to visit them occasionally. Thus it became a usual habit of Velayudhan to leave home and come back after some days at his will and his parents also took it as a routine affair and stopped worrying.

During this period Murukanandan had the opportunity to visit Ramanshram of the famous saint Ramana Maharshi of Thiruvannamalai.At that time his age was about 20 years. On seeing Ramana Maharshi, Murukanandan experienced a special elation in his spirit. Raman Maharshi also was attracted by this young yogi. Even though he chose to stay outside, Murukanandan was regular in attending Satsangs at Ramanashram and clearing his doubts on spiritual matters from the Maharshi. At that time he used to practice Yoga and Pranayamam intensively. One day Ramana Maharshi saw Murukanandan engaged in such a severe practice and convinced him that it was not necessary to strain body and spirit in this manner to attain God-realization. This was a great turning point in his spiritual progress. The relationship with Ramana Maharshi had been so intense that in later years, Swamiji had spoken of his experiences at Ramana Maharshi’s Ashram as unique and referred to Ramana Maharshi as Gurudev. The intensity of Swamiji’s closeness with Ramana Maharshi was evident from an incident that occurred on April 14, 1950 on which Maharshi attained Maha Samadhi. Swamiji was camping at Hyderabad at that time. By about 7.30 PM Swamiji experienced an unusual unrest in his mind which kept him awake during the whole of that night. The next day’s news papers carried the news of the Maharhi’s Samadhi on that night. Like Ramana Maharshi, Swamiji had never used the pronoun ‘I’ to speak of himself.

Like a bee gathering honey from flower to flower, Murukanandan moved from place to place meeting great men and learning the wisdom that he wanted to fulfill his life’s mission. After leaving Ramanashram, and visiting many famous temples in Tamilnadu, Murukanandan reached the sacred hill-top Siva temple at Thrukazhukunram. The hill on which the temple is situated is known as Vedagiri. At first he used to stay with another Sadhu at the foot of the hill and go to the temple daily and to live on the limited food offered by the devotees visiting the temple. As he did not carry any vessels with him, he used to receive only a handful of food and that only once a day.

One day a cave on the hill-top came to his notice and on examination it was found to be a quiet place more suitable for prayer and meditation in solitude. Taking it as a god-given gift, Murukanandan cleaned the cave and started living in it. As the mouth of the cave opened to a pathway used by pilgrims to circum ambulate the temple and the hill, an occasional passer by would give some food to the young yogi when he came out of the cave. On other times Murukanandan used to remain in the cave fully engaged in prayer and meditation.

At that time, Muniswami Reddiar, a rich merchant from a village known as Nedumpuram in Chenkalpet District was camping at the temple praying for the Lord’s blessings to get a child for them. As a part of their offerings, Reddiar and his wife were giving free food to devotees and Sadhoos visiting the temple. They had noticed a young Sadhoo taking food from there, but unlike the others, he never came before the hosts to accept money offered as Dakshina. One day Reddiar happened to see this yogi in front of the cave and recognized him. Some unknown power prompted Reddiar to prostrate before the yogi, who was surprised at this act and suddenly lifted him up. By this time tears were rolling from Reddiar’s eyes. He told the story of his misfortune of not having a child to the young yogi and asked for his blessings to fulfill his desire. Murukanandan listened to him with the natural smile on his face and comforted the couple by saying that the Lord will definitely hear their prayer and the desire would be fulfilled soon. There after, Reddiar used to visit Murukanandan also after Darsan at the temple and give him some food. Finally when it was time for Reddiar to return after his prayers, he earnestly requested Murukanandan to accompany him to his native village. Murukanandan could not reject this invitation, because of the sincerity involved in it and accompanied Reddiar to his native village Nedumpuram.

When Reddiar and Murukanandan reached Nedumpuram the villagers gave them a pompous reception. Reddiar allotted a separate small house belonging to him for accommodating Chinnaswami. Although Murukanandan was desirous of cooking his own food, Reddiar did not allow that and arranged for sending the food to him at the appropriate times. After Chinnaswami’s arrival, Bhajan, Satsang, talks on Holy texts and other spiritual activities were regularly conducted at his residence. In a short time, these events became famous and attracted a large number of devotees. Soon Chinnaswami became the apple of their eyes for the people of Nedumpuram.

Murukanandan, whose desire was to continue his spiritual practices in solitude, was disturbed by the increasing crowd and wanted to leave the place as early as possible. But he could not ignore the loving entreaties of Reddiar and was, therefore, compelled to stay there for some more time.

But the omniscient Lord dwelling in everyone knew the inner struggle of Murukanandan and provided an opportunity to leave the place without any resistance from Reddiar or the villagers. The world is multifaceted. When there were people at Nedumpuram who worshipped and adored Chinnaswami, there were some others who envied him for the fame and respect earned in such a short time and wanted to send him away from the village ignominiously. They hatched a plan for this and arranged a young woman of doubtful morality to trap Chinnaswami. One moonlit night, the woman went and knocked at the door of the house in which Chinnaswami was living alone. The young and handsome yogi had just finished his food and was about to start his meditation before retiring to bed. On hearing the knock at the door, Chinnaswami opened the door. A beautiful young girl, well dressed and spreading the intoxicating smell of jasmine flowers worn on her hair, stepped in and placed some offerings in front of the Swami. On seeing this, Chinnaswami, said with the unfading smile on his face:-“Why daughter, at this untimely hour?” Hearing these innocent words of Chinnaswami, her heart felt the sweetness of divine love. So far she had met only human beasts who used to pound upon her for her flesh. This was a different and unusual experience for her. She regretted her foolishness in having come to pollute this divine presence at the instigation of those wicked men. She humbly prostrated before the yogi, weeping all the while. He consoled her and allowed her to go and gave her some sweets as Prasadam. She ran away from the room like a lunatic, crying all the while and cursing those who had sent her on this dastardly errand. The miscreants who were waiting outside to catch Chinnaswami ‘red-handed’, fled from the scene as if they had vanished in the air.

Next day the story reached the ears of Reddiar who became furious at the outrage against Chinnaswami. He initiated steps for punishing the perpetrators of this atrocity. But Murukanandan, who took this incident as a blessing in disguise, requested Reddiar not to take any action against them. After a few days, Murukanandan expressed his desire to leave Nedumpuram, when another devotee named Gopala Reddiar invited him to his village of Perumkuzhi. Naturally, Muniswami Reddiar or other devotees of Nedumpuram could not deny Murukanandan’s desire to go. But before leaving the place, Murukanandan obtained an assurance from Muniswami Reddiar that he would not take any action against the offenders.

This was Swamiji’s attitude throughout his life. He could not hate even those who had wronged him. Similarly he could not ignore the sentiments of those who loved and cared for him. Nor was it possible for him to hurt the feelings of anyone, even if he himself was subjected to insult or injury at the hands of others. An instance narrated by Swamiji’s mother is worth mentioning here. Once there was a small altercation between Swamiji’s mother and a neighborly woman. Velayudhan heard it and felt very bad about it. After some time, there was a writing on the wall of the house with a piece of charcoal which read as follows:-Love those who hate you; bless those who curse you”. Velayudhan was not to be seen anywhere in the vicinity of the house. He returned only after several days. On another occasion he saw his mother trampling a cluster of ants under her foot which caused unbearable pain to the tender heart of Velayudhan. He left home on the same day and returned only after a few months. His irresistible quest for Truth, and such instances at home that disturbed his mind compelled Velayudhan to run away from home frequently, without telling anybody. But it was his practice to leave some message, to mitigate the anxiety of his parents. Gradually, it became a regular feature and Velayudhan’s parents and relatives were convinced that it would not be possible for them to tie him down to the mundane word for too long.

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VI- NEW EXPERIENCES

The life of Murukanandan at Perumkuzhy was more or less similar to that at Nedumpuram. Gopala Reddiar who took him as his guest, was a local chieftain and had arranged a big procession to welcome Murukanandan at Perunkuzhy village. He had also allotted a small bungalow close to his own residence for Murukanandan’s stay. Murukanandan used to spend most of his time in solitary prayer, meditation and study of scriptures. Every day two or three hours were set apart for Bhajan, Satsang and religious discourses in which members of the public were allowed to participate. Street processions accompanied by Bhajan were also conducted regularly . All these programs led by Murukanandan attracted a large number of devotees and his name and fame spread far and wide. It was Murukanandan’s desire to cook his own food, but Gopala Reddiar did not favour that and the devotees vied with each other in sending food for their Chinnaswami to his residence by turn. In order to allow maximum convenience for Chinnaswami to pursue his own solitary prayers and Sadhanas, Gopala Reddy had imposed a ban on outsiders visiting him except during the time of Bhajans and Satsangs. More over, Reddiar did not keep it a secret that it was his desire to convert the bungalow into an Ashram with Chinnaswami as its Acharya. But Murukanandan did not give any reply to this suggestion except his usual smile. However, the arrangements made by Reddiar were most helpful for Murukanandan to pursue his Sadhanas intensively. During this period Swamiji had adopted a lifestyle in which he never lay down to rest or sleep, which practice stood him in good stead later, when he had to live in forests after assuming Sannyas where such ordeals were unavoidable.

Velayudhan had an in-born talent for music and acting. During his journeys through various parts of Tamilnadu, he had opportunity to witness several devotional Tamil dramas enacted by different dramatic troupes. But such dramatic performances were unknown in that small village of Perunkuzhy. The young men of that village had, however, developed a crude form of dramatic performance which was staged in public street-sides in front of the villagers. Once, Murukanandan happened to see one such performance and the inherent actor in him became active. He organized the young actors of the place, wrote a play named “Krishnarjuna Vijayam” in Tamil by himself, trained the actors, brought down from Madras all the required materials for equipping a perfect drama stage, and presented the drama for public exhibition. It was a great success and appreciated by one and all. Thereafter, some more devotional dramas were enacted at that place under the direction of Chinnaswami. Thus Chinnaswami who was already the spiritual leader of Perunkuzhi, came to be recognized as a playwright, actor, musician and drama-director.

Murukanandan’s skill and deep knowledge of classical music was evident from his Bhajans which often gave the listeners an unusual spiritual experience. Similarly good music with a devotional outfit would very often raise Murukanandan to a state of trance. On one occasion, a good musician who attended the Bhajan was asked to sing a particular devotional song. He delivered it in such an exquisite style that when he recital reached its climax, Murukanandan fell into a trance, his breathing stopped and his body became motionless. The music stopped abruptly and the people became anxious. Except for slight warmth felt on the body, there were no symptoms of life pulsating in it. A local physician was brought there, who after checking the pulse which had stopped, applied some medicines through the nose and made all efforts to resuscitate the body. Somebody sprinkled cold water on the face and the devotees chanted Narayana Nama loudly. When everything failed, the physician declared that Chinnaswami was dead. This state continued for more than twelve hours and finally Reddiar gave orders to prepare a suitable pit for placing Chinnaswami’s body in Samadhi in accordance with the scriptural injunctions. When the arrangements were completed almost 24hours had elapsed after the stoppage of breathing. But when the rituals were about to start, slight signs of life appeared on the body; breathing restarted feebly, eyes which had become deep red were slightly opened; and a slight movement of the hand signaled for water. Some milk was dropped into his mouth by the physician. By and by, Chinnaswami regained consciousness and the crowed dispersed. Murukanandan did not give any detailed account of this experience, except that a total vacuum was felt.

After this incident Murukanandan, left Perumkuzhy and went to Chenkalpet as the guest of a rich merchant of that place. There also all arrangements for the comfortable stay of Murukanandan had been made by the host. As usual, daily Bhajans, Satsang, and discourses continued regularly and attracted large crowds. Among the participants, the daughter of the host, a young and beautiful lady, who was well educated, cultured, good natured, skilled in dance and music, became very much attracted towards ChinnaSwami’s deep knowledge of the scriptures, his sweet voice and skill in music, his handsome features and straight forward speech and behaviour. She used to approach Chinnaswami very often with intelligent questions on religious and spiritual matters which impressed Chinnaswami very much. In course of time she became very close to Chinnaswami and gained the freedom to see him at any time. One day her freedom exceeded all limits and she disclosed her love for him, with a suggestion to elope with her to some other place. Chinnaswami was taken aback; but in a few seconds he regained his equilibrium and told her in a determined voice that he was prepared to leave the place with her, if she would come prepared for it at the next midnight. Overjoyed at this, she ran out of the room and disappeared.

Murukanandan closed his room and entrusted the keeper of the bungalow not to allow any body in during the entire day and no food was to be sent to him as he was observing fast. Thereafter, he took an overdose of a local drug, which taken in the prescribed dose would be a laxative and its overdose would result in excessive purgation which may result in death also. As a result of this, not only a large amount of fecal matter but a large quantity of blood was also discharged from his bowels. Chinnaswamy had collected all the discharged matter at one place and covered it with a cloth. Due to the excessive loss of fluid and with it, the essential components of the body-material, Murukanandan’s body had became vey weak and famished beyond recognition. He was not even able to move. He lay down on the floor of the room a little away from the ‘waste matter’.

At the appointed time, the girl came in unobserved by anyone, carrying a bundle of her ornaments and clothes, well prepared for the elopement. As soon as she entered, she searched for her lover. On seeing some unfamiliar person lying down on the floor, and experiencing a foul smell all over the place, she asked, “Where is Chinnaswami?” The ugly human form pointed to the ‘matter’ covered by cloth. When she tried to remove the cloth some of the filthy matter touched her finger and a stinking odor pierced into her nostrils. She looked at the ugly human form in a rage .That form smiled and said, “Dear child, that is matter within the body which you loved; when that has gone out, this is the body remaining , mere skeleton and skin. You can choose between these two.”

Murukanandan’s words touched the girl’s heart. Her eyes opened. She realized her fault; begged forgiveness and became a true disciple of the infallible Yogi .The Guru initiated her formally to Mantra deeksha. After prostrating at the feet of the Guru, she departed and herself became a Yogini in course of time.

A few days after this incident Velayudhan’s inner conscience prompted him to go back and see his parents at once. One day, with the object of catching a train for Trivandrum, he reached the Maduranthakam Railway Station where he met a previous acquaintance from whom he learned that Gopala Reddiar was in his death-bed and longed to see ChinnaSwami before death. Hearing about Reddiar’s condition, Velayudhan straightaway proceeded to Perumkuzhy and met Gopala Reddiar whose was delighted to see his beloved Chinnaswami again. At the request of Reddiar Chinnaswami remained with him to fulfill his last wish and attended on him like a son. By telling stories of the Lord and chanting the Lord’s Names, Chinnaswami elevated the departing soul to the highest realms of bliss and finally in the midst of incessant recital of the Holy Names of the Lord, Reddiar breathed his last. Reddiar’s body was placed in Samadhi in the same pit that was prepared a year ago to place Chinnaswami in Samadhi. All the funeral rites were performed under the supervision of Murukanandan. A temple was also constructed over the tomb of Reddiar and a Sivalingam installed in it by Murukanandan on the forty-first day. After prescribing the procedure of daily worship in the temple, Murukanandan proceeded to Trivandrum by the next train, with the satisfaction of having fulfilled his obligations to Gopala Reddiar.

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VII. Father’s demise and thereafter.

On reaching Trivandrum, Velayudhan found that his father was laid up with serious illness. Velayudhan promptly took up the responsibility for nursing his sick father. But the condition of his father was deteriorating day by day and soon he bid farewell to the world in the presence of his son. Velayudhan performed all the funeral rites of his father dutifully. It would appear that Velayudhan’s sudden journey to Trivandrum after a long absence from home was inspired by some unknown power, evidently for enabling him to perform his filial duties at the time of his father’s death.

After the death of his father, Velayudhan’s mother became too anxious about her son’s habit of running away from home frequently and pleaded with him to stop doing so. She even told him that if he does so, it will certainly result in her death. Velayudhan’s reply was simple. He told his mother, “Amma! Didn’t you call God at the time of giving birth to me? By doing so, you have already given me to God”. We don’t know whether that mother understood the significance of this statement at that time. But she used to recite this incident frequently in later years.

When KrishanaPillai was alive, his friends and relatives used to advise him to get his son married in order to put an end to his habit of running away from home. But Krishna Pillai, who was aware of his son’s prospect of becoming a Sannyasin in future, did not want to compel him for a marriage. But after the death of Krishna Pillai, interested parties began to put pressure on his wife to get her son married without delay.

At the time of Krishna Pillai’s death some of the family properties at Parassala were in litigation and money lent by him to several people was pending recovery. For the facility of concluding these cases Velayudhan and his mother shifted their residence to their family house at Parassala. Velayudhan managed to settle all cases relating to the properties without resort to court litigation. As regards the moneys due from his father’s debtors, Velayudhan compromised himself to accept whatever amount they were able to pay and close their account. His father’s friend Padmanabha Pillai assisted him to settle all cases amicably.

Now the responsibility to look after his mother fell on the shoulders of young Velayudhan. Padmanabha Pillai advised him to marry a suitable girl and live a settled family life. His mother and other members of the family also continued to persuade him to get married as early as possible. Velayudhan tried to resist all pressures, but ultimately he had to give in. He agreed to marry on condition that he would not lead a family life for more than two years. The bride chosen was Rugmini Amma, a niece of Padmanabha Pillai. The marriage took place in1933, when Velayudhan was 24 years old. After marriage Velayudhan, with his mother and wife started living at Trivandrum in a house belonging to his wife.

Even after marriage there was no change in Velayudhan’s habits. He did not engage himself in any profession or vocation for earning his livelihood. Most of the time, he used to go out from home and sit under a tree in some solitary place and meditate for long hours. A few months passed by and one day Velayudhan left home for some unknown destination without telling anybody. The young wife was all in tears; but she was consoled by her mother-in-law and Padmanabha Pillai who knew Velayudhan’s habit well. Soon afterwards, Velayudhan’s mother went back to her family house at Arayur and lived there with her daughter-in-law.

One day, a previous family acquaintance Shankara Pillai happened to see Velayudhan in saffron clothes wandering at Kumara kovil and persuaded him to accompany him to his house. Yielding to the friendly entreaties of Shankara Pillai, Velayudhan went back to Arayur and again started to live with his mother and wife. During that period, his paternal uncle Padmanabha Pillai, who had left home long ago, took every body by surprise and appeared at the family house one evening after sunset. He was wearing the attires of a mendicant. On seeing his Guru, Velayudhan fell at his feet reverently. After having dinner together, they talked for a long time. Next morning, Padmanabha Pillai departed from there after blessing Velayudhan and his wife; but without telling anything about his destination.

While living at Arayur Velayudhan got acquainted with a rich and noble Brahmin family known as Choozhal madom at the nearby village Kollenkode. The head of the family, Agramaru and his younger brother Narayanaru became close associates of Velayudhan. Agramaru was a very pious and Sattwic Brahmin who spent a large part of his time and money for the sake of poor feeding, Satsang, Bhajan and spiritual discussions. Birds of the same feather flock together, and naturally when Velayudhan and Agramaru came to know each other, they became very close friends. This friendship lasted throughout their life. At the time of establishing the first Ashram at Arayur, Swamiji nominated Agramaru as the first President of the Ashram Committee. Velayudhan was a regular participant in all the spiritual activities at Choozhal Madom. Although he was the youngest among the participants of Bhajans and Satsangs conducted there, it was mostly Velayudhan who dominated the stage .He used to give lucid talks on Gita and other religious texts. If some one asked questions either due to genuine interest or for testing Velayudhan’s knowledge, he used to give satisfactory answers in a simple and friendly manner. At Bhajans, Velayudhan was the only person who had expertise in both vocal and instrumental music. In course of time, Velayudhan earned the respect of every one and became the centre of attraction at such congregations. But Velayudhan always maintained his humility and friendliness to one and all. He was, therefore, admired by every one and was addressed as ‘Swami’ even at that time.

During this period, some young artistes of Arayur village who had heard about Velayudhan’s artistic talents approached him to organize a dramatic club and present a few dramas locally. Velayudhan promised all his assistance for that and as a first step wrote a drama in Malayalam. It was the story of a vagrant woman who was reformed by her association with a young Yogi whom she tried to seduce, but failed. The name of the drama was ‘Santhimayam’. At the request of his friends, Velayudhan himself took the role of the young Yogi. The success of Santhimayam encouraged the youngsters to attempt another drama. Accordingly, Velayudhan wrote a drama named ‘Shankaravijayam’ based on Adi Shankara’s life and started preparations for staging it. But one day Velayudhan left the place unexpectedly and returned only after several months. Velayudhan’s mother and wife were panicked by this unexpected change in his attitude. They left Arayur and went to Trivandrum where Velayudhan’s relatives were living.

This has always been the nature of Swamiji. Whenever he felt that the local conditions would tie him down to mundane worldly affairs or local engagements would cause hindrance to his spiritual practices, he used to leave the place unobtrusively and remain in some unknown place or places until he feels like returning. But because of his inherent dislike to speak about himself, the places visited and the experiences in such journeys are still not known to us. But from casual references made in the course of conversations, it can be assumed that Swamiji had spent several months in secluded forests, eating only the fruits and roots of wild plants and drinking only the water from wild streams. Instances of meeting wild animals face to face had also been mentioned at times. From his own personal experience, Swamiji had said that wild animals do not attack anyone unless they are threatened and the language of love is better understood by animals than humans. After several months of wanderings in unknown places, Velayudhan returned home one day and joined his mother and wife at Trivandrum. Then again, the same routine of remaining in lonely places and engaging himself in prayer and meditation continued as before.

Mean while, Velayudhan’s wife gave birth to a girl child in 1935.One day when the child was about 9 months old, Velayudhan suddenly disappeared from home. After a few days Rugmini Amma received a letter from her husband .The contents of this letter showed that Velayudhan was in quarantine at Tuticorin port, on his way to Colombo in search of a job to support his family. As soon as this letter was received, Rugmini Amma’s brother went to Tuticorin and brought Velayudhan back to Trivandrum. Now Velayudhan decided that his wife should be settled at her native village Pallipuram with her relatives, so that she would be safe and secure in his absence. For this purpose, he sold a part of his father’s properties and bought a house at Pallipuram and settled down there.

Velayudhan’s mind must have been in a state of vacillation at that time. His natural urge for God-realization on one side and the awareness of his duty as a house holder towards his wife and child on the other were pulling against each other. Duty as a house holder required him to earn a livelihood. As the formal educational qualification that he had acquired was not sufficient to get a good job, the only alternative open to Velayudhan was to make use of his talents in acting and music for a suitable vocation. Accordingly, he made some attempts at Madras (now Cennai) and Trichy(now Tiruchirapally) to act in films. During the course of such attempts, he came in contact with Assandas, a Calcutta-based film producer, who recognized the unusual capabilities of Velayudhan. He realized that with the help of this genius he could achieve great heights in the film world. It was the time when the famous singer cum actress K.B.Sundarambal was acting in the Tamil film ‘Bhakta Nandanar’. Velayudhan whose voice and proficiency as a singer attracted Sudarambal was given a chance to act in Bhakta Nandanar along with her. This acquaintance between Swamiji and Sundarambal grew into mutual appreciation and respect which remained throughout their life. When Sundarambal visited Abhedashram in 1958, the motherly affection displayed by her towards Swamiji and Swamiji’s response thereto in the manner of a small child had astonished every one.

After completion of the shooting of the film “Bhakta Nandanar”, Assandas proceeded to Calcutta for the preliminaries of another film in the offing. He took Velayudhan, his mentor and well-wisher also to Calcutta and accommodated him in his own residence. Assandas strongly believed that the reason for all his success was the presence blessings of ‘Swami’ and worshipped him like God. One day Velayudhan while entering into a moving tram-car fell on the track and suffered a wound on his head. He was taken to hospital in an unconscious condition and Assandas made all arrangements for his treatment. This accident followed by hospitalization must have given an opportunity for Velayudhan to reflect on his own life. After a few days, he was discharged from hospital and came back to live with Assandas who thought that it was shortage of money that made the Swami travel in the tram. He therefore directed his manager to give a fixed sum every month as pocket money to meet his private needs. But Velayudhan refused to accept it on the plea that Assandas was looking after all his needs and so he did not want any other money. This incident also prompted Velayudhan for more introspection; he could not sleep well during that night.

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VIII-Total Renunciation and Sannyas

After midnight, when Velayudhan was gradually dozing into a light slumber, it appeared to him as in a dream that an elderly person with white beard was standing before him and putting a series of questions about his past, present and future life, his life’s mission, and his duty to the world. The questions came in such quick succession that Velayudhan could not answer any of them. Suddenly awakened from the dream Velayudhan realized that he was sleeping in the luxurious bed inside the residence of Assandas. He got out of the bed and stood up. The vacillation which was hitherto disturbing his thoughts had vanished. The right path in his life was now very clear to him. Velayudhan wrote a letter addressed to Assandas, in which it was stated that his departure was inevitable and could not be resisted; no attempts should be made to trace him; and finally thanked Assandas for all the kindness and consideration shown to him so far. All the expensive dresses which Assandas had bought for him were relinquished there, and Velayudhan left the place quietly with one single cloth around his waist.

Without proper clothing and money, Velayudhan walked aimlessly, eating whatever was received as Bhiksha and sleeping wherever there was a shelter and finally reached the holy city of Varanasi. Velayudhan spent his days at Varanasi, following a routine of bathing in the Ganges and having darshan of Lord Viswanath, with a desire to find a suitable Guru and take Sannyas from him. He had lost his interest in films and music and had renounced the material world altogether. In the mean time he contacted a high fever and was admitted to the hospital run by the Sri Ramakrishna Sevashram at Varanasi. That gave him an opportunity to mingle with several Sannyasins and observe their life; but having been intoxicated by the love of God his mind craving for God-realization, he did not consider the Sevashram suitable for his life’s mission. After discharge from hospital he continued his journey and reached Rishikesh in the Himalayas.

The young seeker, visited almost all the Ashrams at Rishikesh in search of a Guru to guide him. In the course of this search, he came across a very old Yogi residing at the Kailas Ashram. At the very first sight, looking at the divinely face of the Yogi, the young Yogi felt that this must be the guru that he was seeking. Swami Swaroopananda Bharathi did not have an Ashram of his own and was therefore, living as an inmate of Kailas Ashram. He also noticed the youth who has been regularly attending the Satsangs conducted by him at the Ashram. One day Velayudhan met Swami Swaroopanandaji through a mediator and expressed his desire for taking Sannyas from him. The request was flatly turned down; but surprisingly, this did not make any visible change in the cheerful and radiant disposition of the youth, who withdrew from there without any qualm on his face.

He continued to attend the Satsang of Swaroopanandaji as if nothing had happened. The Guru was watching the disciple all along and one day Swaroopanandaji called Velayudhan to his side and told that his request for Sannyas could be considered, if he would stay at Kailas Ashram under his surveillance for some time. This announcement also did not evoke any change in the facial expression of the young Yogi. The calmness, composure and cheerfulness on his face remained the same when he first approached Swami Swaroopanandaji with a request for Sannyas, when his request was rejected and also when it was almost certain that the request would be granted. All the while, the Guru was studying the disciple and one day Swaroopanandaji told Velayudhan to get ready to receive Sannyas Deeksha. The disciple remained as calm as before without any special expression of delight. On the appointed day Swami Swaroopananda Bharati gave Sannyas Deeksha to Velayudhan and invested him with the name Abhedananda Bharati; a name that fits in with the immutable composure and calmness displayed by him in the most trying situation. The youngster who was hitherto known by various names like Velayudhan, Velukutty, Murukanandan and Chinnaswami has thus become a link in the ancient lineage of spiritual masters (Guru Parampara)

After taking Sannyas, Abhedananda left Rishikesh with the permission of his Guruand set out on an a pilgrimage to the holy places of the Himalyas, in accordance with the tradition of Sannyasins as dictated in the scriptures. The Guru and disciple had not met each other at any time thereafter. But the Guru had always been with the disciple as his inner self. When a worthy Guru grants Sannyas Deeksha to a worthy disciple, he transfers all his spiritual attainments and powers to the disciple, who thereupon becomes one with the Guru. Once this process is completed, the Guru will normally cast away his physical body within a short time. This was what happened in the case of Swaroopanandaji also who attained Maha Samadhi shortly after giving Sannyas to Swamiji. His body was merged in the waters of holy Ganges in Jalasamadhi. Swamiji came to know about the Samadhi of his Guru, during his wanderings in the Himalayas.

Swaroopanandaji had possessed many super human powers which were transferred to Swamiji at the time of giving Sannyas Deeksha. Swamiji himself had vouchsafed this once, despite his general reluctance to speak about or disclose his spiritual achievements. In 1958, Swamiji was resting at the house of a devotee on his journey from Salem to Sree Rengam during a journey by foot for the propagation of Lord’s names (Namapracharana Padayatra).After the reception, while Swamiji was talking to the devotees assembled there, an elderly person emerged fro the crowd and asked, “Swamiji! have you been at Sidhar Malai, about twelve years back? “Yes” said Swamiji with a smile. The old man’s joy knew no bounds on hearing this reply. He suddenly prostrated before Swamiji, stood up with folded hands and said, “Swamiji, that boy did come to life. Next day we all came to your place to see you and pay our respects. But you were not to be seen anywhere. All our attempts to find you out were in vain. It was our firm belief that God Himself had come in your form and saved the boy. Now, having been able to meet you here I consider myself most fortunate.”

The old man prostrated again and again before Swamiji, touched Swamij’s feet, face and all over the body and placed his hand on his own eyes. His expression of unbounded love and devotion surprised everyone. It was time for Swamiji to resume his journey; but the old man would not allow him to go. After consoling the old man somehow, Gurudev continued his journey. On the way, because of the persistent requests of the devotees who accompanied him, Gurudev revealed the story, which is summarized below.

Sometime around 1946, before the Ashramam at Arayur was started, Gurudev was living in solitude in a cave at the place called Sidhar Malai in Tamilnadu. One evening, a few people brought the ‘dead body’ of a boy before him accompanied by the parents of the child wailing with grief. The boy, the only child of his parents, was bitten by a snake and all the treatment given by traditional physicians and doctors of modern medicine had proved ineffective. The child’s body became motionless and a blue colour spread all over. Breathing stopped and the child was declared dead. It was brought before the young yogi as a last resort. Swamiji looked at the child and the parents. His heart melted. “Prem Easware, Preeti Vaishnave, Daya Jeeve (love towards God, friendship with His devotees, and kindness to all living beings); that was Swamiji’s dictum. He sat in meditation for a short while, took some holy ash from his small bag, put a pinch of it in the boy’s mouth and applied the rest on the wound at the spot where snake had bitten him. Then he smeared the holy ash all over the body of the “dead” child and handed over some more to the boy’s father and instructed him to smear it all over the child’s body repeatedly till the next morning. A warning was also given that the boy’s body should not be cremated even if signs of life did not appear till morning, but the smearing of holy ash should be continued and that when the boy opens his mouth and asks for water, he should be given some liquid food.

From the old man’s account, the boy came to life early in the morning and after giving him liquid food as instructed by Swamiji, the entire family went back to the cave where the savior of the child was living; but he was not to be seen any where. Gurudev’s version was that the holy ash was given only because the boy’s father asked for it, and the boy came back to life only because of the God’s grace. But he was sure that the people would unnecessarily attribute it to him and come with all sorts of formalities, which he wanted to avoid. That was why he left that place on the same night without informing any one. This had been the nature of Gurudev throughout his life. He shunned publicity and had no desire for name and fame. He wanted to remain as the humblest person on earth. He considered himself as the servant of all servants (Daasaanudaasan) in the world. Swamiji had no fascination for Siddhi’s (occult powers). In fact, it was his firm opinion that a true devotee of God, even if he possesses such occult powers shall not practice them because, by doing so he will be only losing his true spiritual power.

Swamiji took Sannyas in 1936; and the next three or four years constituted a period of intense spiritual practices, mostly in the Himalayas and the rest of North India. During this period he had visited Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gomukhi, Amarnath, Kashmir and many other holy places in the Himalyas. It must be remembered here that all the journeys were on foot and without the company of anyone except God. Full details of these journeys have not been recorded as Swamiji had always been averse to speaking about himself. However, in the course of casual talks, some fragments of his experiences had escaped from Swamiji’s mouth and some of them are being mentioned in the succeeding pages.

On his way to Gangotri in 1938, Swamiji had occasion to meet Swami Tapovanam, the renowned Yogi at Uthara Kashi. Swamiji had written an article about his meeting in a spiritual magazine published in 1957.In that article he recalls that : - “Any one who enters into the vicinity of that sacred place which retained the past reminiscences of our ancient Arshik culture in tact, will soon experience the presence of a new life-giving energy pervading all over there. It was in that hermitage, where Abheda first met that great saint, the renowned Swami Tapovanam, the beacon light for all spiritual seekers. The meeting was not of long duration. It was not in the wont of his holiness to ask too many questions. But at the very first sight, Abheda was fully immersed in the extraordinary brilliance of that divine light. Internal conflicts in this immature mind must have been understood by that omniscient divinity even without asking questions. This one had heard of the greatness of this sage even while at Rishikesh. Thus knowing each other, his holiness must have mercifully blessed Abheda; and all the changes that occurred in Abheda thereafter must have been the result of that blessing”.

On his journey by foot through the Himalayas, Gurudev had had many strange experiences. As all the journeys were alone, he had some times to satisfy hunger by eating the leaves of plants found on the way. He saw many unknown yogis, looking like skeletons, engaged in intense tapas within the snow-clad caves of the Himalayas for years together. At the time of his first visit to Kashmir, it was under the rule of a generous Hindu king who used to entertain the visiting Hindu Sannyasins in his palace for days together. One day by chance, the king found Gurudev on the road and took him to the palace. Gurudev went with the king and after food, bid farewell to him. The king was astonished to see for the first time, a saint who was eager to leave the palace while all others wanted to remain as long as possible. With great reluctance, the king gave permission to go after presenting a Kashmiri shawl to Gurudev.

When winter started, Gurudev went to Lahore, which was a part of India at that time. The Sikhs of Lahore used to give great respect to Hindu sannyasins. Their ladies received the sannyasins at home respectfully, washed their feet and gave food, whenever they came at the door and said, “Narayana Hari” or “Bhavati Bhikshaam Dehi”. Gurudev used to take food only once a day; but the people used to give him milk and fruits at the inn where he was taking shelter. But such extra food was often distributed among friends and other inmates of the inn. Except when he went out for Bhiksha, Gurudev spent all his time in japa, meditation and study of scriptures. While at Lahore, Swamiji had an opportunity to learn more about Swami Ram Thirtha and also to visit his birth place at Mowrivala. Besides, Gurudev was invited to preside over a meeting held in connection with the birthday celebrations of Swami Ram Thirtha, in which he spoke for about one hour in English. Ram Thirtha’s Worship of Omkar, and looking at everyone as Ram had attracted Swamiji very much.

After leaving Lahore, the next destination was Baluchistan. But the stay at that place had to be cut short as a group of religious fanatics who looked at every Hindu with suspicion was hatching a plan to do away with the newly arrived sannayasin. A good fakir who got scent of this plan acted quickly and sent Swamiji back to Lahore from where he went to Amritsar and stayed at the Golden temple for some time. Gurudev had later recalled that the notorious bloody massacre at Jalianwalabagh of 1939 had occurred while he was staying at Amritsar. With the out break of World War II, unrest and insecurity prevailed all over the land. So Gurudev decided to go back to the Himalayas and proceeded to Haridwar by train.

An interesting instance occurred during Gurudev’s journey from Lahore to Haridwar. Gurudev was carrying a small luggage which contained the shawl given by Kashmir king and some essential clothes to meet the daily needs. There were two or three youngsters as co-travelers in that compartment. They also had some luggage with them. At one point of time they started to make fun of Gurudev on the ground that a Sannyasin who carries luggage like others is in no way different from house holders, except for the colour of the cloth. Swamiji silently tolerated all the insult; but decided to teach them a lesson. When the train was crossing a river bridge, Swamiji picked up his luggage and threw it into the river and asked them to do so with their luggage, if there is no difference between them and a Sannyasin. The youngsters objected that they are mot mad enough to do such a foolish act. Other passengers who were watching these events supported Gurudev and insisted that the youngsters who insulted him should throw their luggage into the river. But Gurudev interceded and told that it was not necessary for the boys to follow his example; but they should understand that the difference between a Sannyasin and a house holder was not only in the colour of the cloth but also in their attitude to the worldly objects. He told them that a Sannyasin also has to meet the necessities of life like others; but a Sannyasin considers everything coming to his possession as a gift of God and does not consider it as his own. He has therefore no hesitation to part with it at any time. On the other hand, a householder considers everything in his possession as his own and is reluctant to part with any of them. He also told them that no one is free from faults and it is not good to find fault in others when we ourselves have the same faults. Our aim should always be to correct our own faults rather than criticizing others. The youngsters realized their mistake and apologized.

After traveling through various places like Haridwar, Rishikesh, Delhi, Agra, Mathura, Vrindavan etc. in the northern parts of India, Gurudev started his journey towards the south. Whenever there was money in hand Gurudev would travel by train or bus; at times some lorry drivers would give him a lift. Otherwise the entire journey was on foot. The sole accompaniments for all those journeys were one deerskin and an iron rod. At the end of that journey he visited the Muruka temples at Rameshwaram and Tiruchendur and finally reached Kumarakovil.

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IX—SWAMIJI COMES BACK TO SEE HIS MOTHER.

At Kumarakovil Swamiji met an old acquaintance who told him about his mother who was residing at Arayur, awaiting the arrival of her precious son. It was more than five years since the demise of his father; he had left home leaving his mother to the mercy of God. These thoughts must have come to Gurudev’s mind at that time. A Sannyasin can relinquish the entire world; but he cannot forget his obligation to the mother who gave birth to him. Accordingly Gurudev straight away proceeded to Arayur and reached home by that evening. The desolate mother was waiting eagerly for her son who had gone in search of a job to earn his living. His wife and child born to her were at Pallipurm where Gurudev had already bought a house for her. Old Padmanabha Pillai who had advised Swamiji’s mother to get him married as a check against his frequent escapades from home, came and advised him not to run away like that any longer.

After residing at the ancestral house at Arayur for some time, Swamiji shifted his residence to a rented house at Trivandrum. During his stay at Trivandrum, Gurudev used to impart yoga training to the youngsters coming to a nearby gymkhana. At that time, a school teacher named K.P.Prabhakaran Nair who was an athlete and a good wrestler was also giving physical training in the same gymkhana. Although they had studied at SMV High School at the same period of time, their acquaintance grew into a lifelong friendship only after meeting at the gymkhana. Prabhakaran Nair became a close associate of Gurudev in all his spiritual activities and was instrumental to the development of Arayur Ashram and also the establishment of an Ashram at Trivandrum. He later became the General Secretary of Abhedashramam Sri Balakrishna Swami Devaswom Trust. After working for several years in that capacity, he took Sannyas from Gurudev under the name of Swami Prabodhananda and became the President of the Trust after Swamiji’s time.

Although Swamiji came back and started living with his mother as a dutiful son, the ascetic in him could not remain attached to the materialistic world for long. He used to leave home frequently and undertake journeys to different parts of the country. The first departure was in 1941, towards the northern districts of Kerala and certain places in Tamilnadu. The journeys which were mostly by foot, took him to Guruvayur, Palani, and from there to Virudunagar. There was a Mutt at Virudunagr which provided food and shelter to wandering monks. The person who was looking after the welfare of the visitors of the Mutt was one Mariyappan, who was an admirer of Swami Ram Thirtha. On seeing a young Sannyasin, dressed like Swami Ram Thirtha, Mariyappan came near him and prostrated before him. Both of them were attracted to each other and Mariyappan requested Swamiji to remain in the Mutt for some time and give discourses on Gita and other religious texts.In a notice printed by Mariappan for this purpose the name of Swamiji was given as Swami Abhedananda Bharati,Gita Pracharak, Rishikesh. Besides the discourses, Gurudev conducted Bhajans also and many people attended in both. After two or three weeks Swamiji expressed his desire to go from there and Mariyappan made all arrangements for his journey. A large crowd assembled at the railway station to see off their “Smiling Swami”, who at the time of departure, said that there was enough space in his heart to accommodate all of them. Mariappan later took Sannyas from Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj of Rishikesh and associated himself with Gurudev in many of his spiritual activities.

By the time Swamiji came back after this journey, his mother had shifted her residence from Trivandrum to the ancestral family house at Arayur. After staying with mother for a few days Swamiji set out on another journey towards the north. After a short stop over at Pallipuram at the instance of his mother to see his daughter who was 6 or 7 years old at that time, Swamiji continued his journey and reached Ernakulam within two or three days. He took bath in the temple pond at the Siva temple and sat in front of the temple, meditating. No one paid any particular attention, but the flutist of the temple noticed the young Sannyasin sitting there even after the temple was closed. He asked Swamiji whether he had any food; but Swamiji’s reply was only his habitual smile. The flutist invited Swamiji to his residence. His wife was reading Ramayana at that time. At the request of the flutist Swamiji read a few pages from Ramayana and explained the meaning .Everyone who listened to Swamiji’s exposition was impressed by the young yogi’s deep knowledge of the scriptures and his devotion. From the next day, more people from the neighboring houses came to listen to Swamiji’s reading of Ramayana and his speech thereafter. When the crowd and publicity increased, Swamiji as usual, left the place without telling anyone.

Swamiji’s journeys from Ernakulam took him to Mysore via Coimbatore. While sitting at the Devi temple at Chamaraja Nagar, he was approached by a devotee who took him to his house and accommodated there. From the next day Bhajans and Satsang started there, and this again attracted a large crowd. As Swamiji expressed his desire to sit at a lonely place, the devotee pointed out a cave on a hillside, which was cleaned and used for Swamiji’s stay. Visitors were allowed to see Swamiji only on Sundays. About one or two months passed by and on one Sunday, when people went to see Swamiji, there was no Swamiji; the cave was vacant.

Gurudev never liked ticketless travel in trains. But in one of his journeys to Bombay, it some how happened that he was traveling without ticket. The ticket examiner who caught him ticketless harshly rebuked him and the entire clan of Hindu Sannyasins. Gurudev said nothing but remained calm and smiling. Swamiji had no money with him to pay the fine asked by the TTE. The enraged officer forcefully evicted Swamiji at the next station. It was midnight and the station was unfamiliar. So Gurudev sat on a bench in the platform, covering his body with a cloth to escape from cold. On seeing a lone passenger on the platform, the station master questioned him and Gurudev told him full facts without expressing any ill will towards the officer who evicted him. The station master was moved by the benign attitude of Gurudev and arranged for his onward journey to Bombay by another train leaving on next morning. He took special care to entrust Gurudev’s safe journey to a ticket examiner on duty in that train. At some other station the ticket examiner who had evicted Gurudev on the previous night entered the same compartment and saw Swamiji sitting him there. He started to shout and abuse Swamiji in English for entering the train without ticket. Swamiji remained calm and politely explained to him the circumstances in which he had again entered the train without ticket. By that time the ticket examiner on duty also came to the scene and defended Gurudev. The other person said nothing and remained silent till the train reached Kalyan station where he was to get down. Before getting down, he approached Swamiji respectfully and invited him to his house. Gurudev, who could see only the Lord in every one, did not refuse. On reaching home he made all arrangements for Swamiji to take bath and finish his daily prayers. After breakfast he took Swamiji to the railway station and handed over a ticket to Bombay. This is an instance in point to show how Gurudev could, easily convert even the most unfriendly person into a good friend. This is the greatness of the Satsang (association with godly men). The most interesting part of the story is that the person involved was a Christian)

In another journey Gurudev visited the famous Devi temple at Chottanikkara and stayed at an Ashram near the temple. He was allowed to conduct Bhajans and Satsang at the Ashram. But the stay at that Ashram had to be cut short abruptly because it came to the notice of Swamiji that the head of that Ashram was practicing alchemy for converting some base metal into Gold. As Gurudev had a natural antipathy towards all such unfair practices he left the place as soon as he heard about it from reliable sources.

The next destination of Gurudev was the famous Sree Krishna temple at Guruvayur where Swamiji met his first disciple. Ayarpully Raman Nair was a spiritual seeker who was earnestly in search of a suitable Guru for guiding him to the destination. When all his efforts had ailed; he was staying at Guruvayur praying to Lord Guruvayurappan to give him a Guru. Having reached the end of his tether, he had taken a wow on the previous night that he would observe total starvation until a Guru came to him and relieved his mental agony. The next day, when Raman Nair was aimlessly standing on the road side looking towards the temple, he saw a young Sannyasin, coming towards him with wet clothes after taking bath in the temple pond and looking for a suitable place to put them for drying. When the Sannyasin came near Raman Nair, they looked at each other and

Suddenly Raman Nair felt a spark of lightning within himself. He heard some one telling him from within, “This is the Guru that you are looking for”. Within no time, Raman Nair fell at the feet of Swamiji with tears rolling from his eyes. Swamiji lifted that middle aged man and consoled him like a child. After reaching Raman Nair’s residence they talked together for a long time. Gurudev cleared all the doubts which had been burning the mind of Raman Nair and blessed him by giving Mantra Deeksha. In 1957, after the establishment of both Ashrams, Raman Nair received Sannyas from Gurudev under the name of Hari Sharana Bharati and stayed at the Ashram till his Samadhi in 1967.The Shiva temple at Arayur Ashram was erected at the spot at which his body was cremated after Samadhi.From Guruvayur, Swamiji proceeded to the northern districts of Kerala. After visiting Anandashram of Swmi Ramdas at Kanhangad and darshan at Sri Mookambika temple, Kollur(Karnataka State) he returned to Trivandrum.

As usual, after staying with his mother for a few weeks, Swamiji left Trivandrum for another tour. This time his destination was Courtallam, a hilly town within the forest area on the border between Kerala and Tamilnad. Courtallam is a place which had fascinated Gurudev very much owing to its natural beauty and serene atmosphere conducive to a peaceful spiritual practice. There is an ancient Shiva temple and a Devi temple at Courtallam, situated in a thick forest area, which was infested with wild animals at that time. It is believed that may a sage of ancient India including the puranic sage Agastya had visited this place and had performed tapas there. Gurudev’s idea was to spend a few days there observing strict penances. He found a cave near the Devi temple and made it his abode for that purpose. Sitting in the cave, he spent hours together in prayer and meditation, and came out of the cave only once or twice for meeting the primary necessities of the body. For one or two days he could buy some fruits with whatever money he had. The next day, while Gurudev was remaining in the cave, totally engaged in prayer and meditation without any concern for food, a devotee who had come to worship at the temple accidentally saw him and waited out side till Swamiji came out. Learning that Swamiji was going without food, he bought food for both of them and partook of it jointly. Besides, he gave some money to the temple priest and entrusted him with the responsibility to give food to Swamiji everyday. How long Swamiji remained in the cave is not known clearly. But it is a fact that Swamiji used to avail himself of all possible opportunities to visit Courtallam.

During another visit to Courtallam, Swamiji had an occasion to meet with his paternal uncle Padmanabha Pillai, who had become an avadhhota sannyasin by that time.It happened on the road from Courtallam to Tenkasi, where the old Sannyasin was sitting on a rock by the side of the road. Swamiji saw him and on close observation, recognized that it was the same person, his paternal uncle and first Guru who had led him to the path of spiritual life. Soon Swamiji fell at his feet and the old sage lifted him up and embraced in his arms. Tears of joy rolled from the eyes of Swamiji. The local people, who knew Swamiji well, understood that the old Sannyasin was not an ordinary person and many of them made offerings in the form of fruits and money at his feet. But the Sannyasin did not pay any attention and started to go after about half an hour. Swamiji also followed him. On reaching a lonely place the sage stopped. Swamiji asked him, “May I also come with you?”

The sage, thought for a moment and said, “No, you have to remain here.” And he walked off briskly to some unknown destination.

These words of the Guru convinced Swamiji that the field of activity for him was his own birth place and surrounding areas. But his urge for journeys never ceased and a series of journeys to the northern parts of India were performed intermittently. In one of these journeys he had taken his mother also to visit various holy places in the north and south regions. Thus, after spending nearly ten years of wandering through the length and breadth of this vast country, visiting almost all the holy places in India, meeting holy men and learning the supreme knowledge from them and performing severe penances with total surrender to the Lord, Swamiji returned to his native place Parassala, some time towards the end of 1945 or the beginning of 1946, to turn a new leaf in his life.

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X- STARTING THE ASHRAM AT ARAYUR.

After returning from his extensive tour over the length and breadth of the country with a treasure of knowledge and experience, Swamiji used to spend most of his time under the eastern gopuram of the Mahadevar temple at Parassala. Many of Swamiji’s old friends came to see him and invited him to stay with them. But Swamiji excused himself from visiting any household except for the purpose of conducting Bhajans and Satsangs. This was a matter of great distress for his friends who tried their best to prevail upon Swamiji to start an Ashram at Parassala where he could live comfortably and carry on his spiritual activities. At first Swamiji did not favour this idea; but after persistent entreaties from his friends, he agreed to remain in an Ashram if one is started in the name of Chattampi Swami. A committee was constituted with Sri.Agramaru as President and Sri.V.N.Govinda Pillai as Secretary. Sri.Govinda Pillai was a very learned scholar and a great admirer of Sri.Chattampi Swami. After retiring from Government service as a Petty Officer in the excise department, he was leading the life of an ascetic, although not in saffron clothes. He had deep knowledge in Vedanta and had authored several spiritual books. Being a venerable old man he was endearingly called “VNUncle” by one and all. Swamiji had great regard for him and used to stay with him very often both at Arayur and Trivandrum.

When the question of starting an Ashram for Swamiji was discussed, it was VNUncle who suggested that it should be at Arayur where Swamiji was born, rather than Parassala where he had spent his boyhood. Again, it was mainly his untiring efforts that made the Ashram at Arayur a reality. After consistent efforts, he managed to get about 30 Cents of land donated by a local Brahmin landlord for constructing the Ashram. The land was taken possession and construction of Ashram Started on 14^th June 1946. Swamiji was at that time living with VNUncle. Swamiji’s mother who was living with her daughter-in-law at Pallipuram also came and joined him. As soon as the construction work of the Ashram started, Swamiji set out on a journey to various places in south Kerala and Tamilnadu, conducting Bhajans and Satsangs. Swamiji who used to give away all moneys which he received in his journeys to needy persons and come back empty handed, made it a point to send all such moneys to VNUncle for the construction of Ashram. Meanwhile, Swamiji’s mother sold all her gold ornaments and handed over the proceeds to VNUncle for the construction. On hearing about the construction of Ashram for Swamiji, devotees at various places where Swamiji was conducting Bhajans and Satsang during his tours also sent their contributions generously. Among them the names of Rangaswami Raja and his brother AlaguRaja of Rajapalyam are worth mentioning. They were the descendants of a royal group of warriors deputed to Tamilnadu by emperor Krishna Devaraj to establish the suzerainty of Vijayanagar over the territory of Tamilnadu. The word Ralajapalayam literally means military camp of kings. Even after the fall of the kingdom of Vijayanagar, they continued to remain at Rajapalayam and became the local rulers of that place. Swamiji’s acquaintance with the Rajas grew into a life- long relationship. Both Rajas and their descendents became staunch devotees of Swamiji and their participation in the establishment and development of Abhedashrams has been most remarkable. The Rajas contributed a substantial amount for the construction of the Ashram at Arayur.

It took more than a year for Swamiji to return from his tours. By that time, the construction of two rooms for the Ashram with minimum facilities had been completed. On 12^th of November, 1947, Swamiji and his mother occupied the Ashram without any fanfare. Not long afterwards, Swamiji initiated his mother to formal Sannyas and designated her as Ashram Mother. The next stage was the construction of a prayer hall facing east, with a small room at its western end to be used as sanctum sanctorum. This was completed and inaugurated on 16^th April 1948. A large mirror (5ft x 3ft in size) was installed in the sanctum sanctorum, in front of which was hung a silk curtain and a lamp fixed on the front wall, just above the front door. The lamp was not visible from outside, but when it was lighted and the curtain lifted, its reflection could be seen in the mirror. The worship was performed in front of this mirror which symbolized Atma pooja. Here, the invisible lamp represents Paramatma (Supreme soul); the mirror is Chitha(mind); the reflection of the lamp is Jeevatma (individual soul) and the curtain is Maya

(Delusive power of God).When concealed by Maya, Paramatma does not reflect in the mind; when Maya is removed, it clearly shines forth in the mind. This form of worship is being continued at Arayur Ashram till today, at the same place where Gurudev had installed the mirror, even though the prayer hall and the sanctum sanctorum have been reconstructed in their present form.

After the inauguration of the prayer hall daily Pooja, Bhajans and Satsang started at the Ashram. This attracted many devotees; some of them joined as inmates. Among those who joined the Ashram at that time were, Raman Pillai who later took Sannyas for Gurudev and became Ramananda: Swamiji’s maternal uncle Ayyappan Pillai; a musician named Thankappan Nair from Amaravila ; his elder brother Sadasivan Nair alias Appu, who remained with Gurudev as the most trusted follower and disciple throughout the rest of his life and took Sannyas from Gurudev and became Swami Bhajananda. As the number of inmates increased,more buildings came into existence for accommodating them and the expenditure of the Ashram also increased day by day. Donations from well wishers and devotees and a small grant sanctioned by Devaswom Board were the only sources of income for the maintenance of the Ashram. It was a matter of surprise for many as to how the Ashram could make both ends meet with this meager income. As far as Gurudev was concerned, who had dedicated every thing to the Lord, it was His job who had declared that “I would carry all responsibility” (Yogakshemam vahamyaham) to run the Ashram well. And needless to say, He did carry out His promise to the very letter at all times, as far as the running of Abhedashrams was concerned. It has been the experience of all those who were associated with the functioning of Abhedashrams that even in the most trying situations, help would come from unexpected sources and everything would go on well.

When the Ashram started to function in full swing, Swamiji desired that its management should be entrusted to a committee to be elected from among the local enthusiasts by whose efforts had the Ashram come into existence. Accordingly, the first managing committee of the Ashram consisting of 19 members was formed with Sri. Agramaru as President,V.N.Govinda Pillai as Secretary and Sri.Narayanaru (younger brother of Agramaru) as Treasurer. Swamiji’s maternal uncle Sri Ayyappan Pillai, who was staying in the Ashram was designated as Manager to look after the day to day affairs.

Even after starting the Ashram at Arayur, Swamiji did not get himself entangled in the mundane affairs relating to its management; but continued to concentrate on the work which was divinely bestowed upon him as his life’s mission. Swamiji had deeply inspired by the life and work of Chaitanya Maha Prabhu whose life’s mission was the spreading of the divine Names of the Lord. He had also been very much attracted by the Holy city of Pandharpur, the sacred abode of Lord Panduranga and the unique Bhajans performed there. Gurudev’s plan was to perform a journey to Pandharpur by foot, chanting the Lord’s names through out, resting at whatever shelter was found on the way and eating whatever food was received as Bhiksha. A dedicated group of devotees came forward to participate in the journey. It was decided to carry some vessels and make arrangements to cook food on the way using the rice and condiments which may be received as alms. Sadasivan alias Appu, Swami Ramananda, and Ayyappan Pillai were the main aides to Swamiji in this journey. There was a sizable number of participants; but the exact number is not known. When the other members of the team having tired by walking took rest, Swamiji found pleasure in cooking and serving food for them.

As the journey was very tedious in the beginning, some of the participants returned without completing it, while new members joined en-route. Gradually, the trend of the journey changed and many devotees in Tamilnadu and other places, who had known Swamiji previously, came forward and arranged food and accommodation for the pilgrims. Many of them entertained Gurudev and party after inviting them to their houses. The daily routine during the journey included recital of Vishnu Sahasranamam and Bhagavad Gita. In the evenings wherever the team was resting, Swamiji used to conduct Satang and lead Bhajans in which local people also participated in large numbers. At one stage, while the party was in Mysore, because of the heavy attendance in the Satsang and Bhajan sessions of Swamiji, a course of religious talks had to be postponed for want of listeners. This pilgrimage tour of Swamiji had thus created a new awakening in the minds of the people in all places visited by him. Swamiji and party spent a few days at Pandharpur, engaged in Bhajans and Satsang. On their return journey the party visited the Samadhi spots of Tukaram and Jnaneshwarji. The journey was concluded at Arayur Ashram by the middle of 1950, nearly nine months after it had started.

XI-- AKHANDA NAMA JAPA YAJNA AT ARAYUR ASHRAM

After return from the pilgrimage tour to Pandharpur, Gurudev’s attraction towards the path followed by Chaitanya Maha Prabhu for propagation of the Lord’s Names became more and more intensive. Swamiji could not remain satisfied with the recital the Lord’s Names confined to certain specified timings alone. His desire was that NamaSankirtan should be going on incessantly, in all parts of the world. As a first step, Swamiji conceived a plan to conduct an Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna during the next Chathurmasya period. (a period of four months commencing from the Ekadasi day of the bright fortnight in the month of Ashadha and ending on the corresponding day in the month of Karthika according to the Saka Calendar). Traditionally, this is the only period during the year allowed for the sages to remain at one place and engage themselves in spiritual practices. At other times, they are supposed to move from place to place and propagate Dharma for the welfare of the world.

Till then nobody had ever heard of such programme. Gurudev explained to the Committee members that a large lamp placed at the centre of the prayer hall will be lighted on the first day; a person holding a Tamburu shall recite the Lord’s Names loudly and others will repeat the Names after him and all devotees will be circum-ambulating around the lamp. This will continue round the clock, throughout the four months and the person holding the Tamburu will change every one hour and another person will take his place. At the time of changing hands, the person receiving the Tamburu will prostrate before the one holding it and after handing over the Tamburu he will prostrate the present holder. The concept is that one who is holding the Tamburu and reciting Names of the Lord becomes sage Narada for the time being. On hearing this, the first thought at which the Committee members shuddered was the expenditure involved. Gurudev assured them that any action inspired by God and started with a sense of surrender and without ego will be carried on to its success by God Himself.

It was decided to commence the Yajna on 5^th July, 1951.On hearing the news of this Yajna, Sri. Parameswaran Pillai an old classmate of Gurudev in the school days who was working as Government Contractor, came forward and put up a spacious Pandal in front of the Ashram with necessary decorations. All arrangements were completed in time, and early in the morning of the appointed day, Gurudev lighted the central lamp, performed initial poojas in front of it, prostrated before the lamp and the Tamburu kept beside it, gently lifted the Tamburu and started chanting the divine names of the Lord:-

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

which has been prescribed in the Kalisantharana Upanishad as the only remedy

for all the maladies of the age of Kali. After one or two hours, the Tamburu was

handed over to another devotee and it changed hands every hour so that the chanting went on continuously without break. As more and more devotees turned up and enthusiastically participated in this unusual event, the chanting gained momentum and the echoes of the Lord’s divine names, reverberated in the entire atmosphere of the Ashram and its surrounding areas. As the Yajna progressed, help in the form of money and materials started pouring in and there was no want in anything .This was a new experience for all the people who associated themselves with the conduct of the Yajna. All of them were now convinced of the veracity of Gurudev’s assurance that all unselfish actions carried on as a service to the Lord will be carried on successfully by the Lord Himself. Their faith in Gurudev also increased multifold. In that remote village of Arayur, more than fifty people used to attend the Yajna regularly on all days and all of them were served food at the Ashram. Gurudev used to take food along with the devotees and there was no discrimination in any thing for any one. This also earned the admiration of the participants who found in Gurudev a real Tyagi who had renounced everything for the sake of the Lord and surrendered himself totally at the lotus feet of the Lord.

After commencing the Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna, Gurudev wrote to the heads of all important Ashrams in India requesting for their participation and advice for the successful completion of the Yajna. Some of them actually came and participated, some others sent their representatives or sent messages and good wishes. Among the messages received, the one received from Swami Sivananda Saraswati of Sivanandashram, Rishikesh is note worthy, as it clearly brings out the importance of JapaYajna. That message is reproduced below for the information of the readers.

To The President, Forest University, Rishikesh

Abhedasharam 20-7-1951

Priya Atman, Salutation to you. Your kind letter dated 13-7-1951.

I am extremely delighted to know about your sacred samkalpa to conduct Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna during the whole of the ensuing Chaturmasya. “Among sacrifices I am Japayajna” (Yajnaanaam Japayajnoasmi) is what Lord Krishna has said in Bhagavad Gita. There is nothing like the Names of God to for us to remain in constant touch with Him. There is also no one better than God who deserves our love and devotion.

Utterance of the divine Names of God and praising His glories together constitute an easy path to God-realization. Every Mantra is a powerful source of energy and carries the full power of God. Japa gives peace and strength to the mind. Besides, it controls the mind from all its outward activities. It not only eradicates all evil thoughts from the mind but also destroys its tendency for such thoughts. It also acts as a strong inspiration and ultimately leads us to God-realization.

Mantra has to be chanted with utmost faith and concentration. It should be uttered with a love that comes from the innermost realms of our mind. Whenever we happen to remain without remembering God and chanting His names, we should feel the pain of His long separation from us. Being the children of God, love of God should become natural to us. We must always remember that God alone is Sat (that which really exists) and all the rest in this world are Asat (unreal, impermanent and ever changing). When we utter the names of God, we must also feel the presence of God within us.

Our life becomes fit for living only because of the mercy and love of God. We should put all our efforts to keep the doors of our hearts open for welcoming God and realization of the self within us. God is waiting for this. Shouldn’t we open the doors of our hearts to welcome our most beloved one? Are you searching for the key to that door? It is with you-between your lips. Yes, the sweet names of the Lord and nothing else. Start chanting the Lord’s Names. The door will be opened soon.

May His blessings be with you,

With Prem and Om,

Thine own Self.

The contents of this message were only a reiteration of what Gurudev had been preaching and practicing all along. Gurudev’s life itself was an elaborate commentary and a practical demonstration of these principles.

The Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna commenced in July 1951 was concluded in November 1951. Gurudev decided that the function should be ended with a Laksharchana to be performed on the day previous to the concluding day. The concept of Laksharchana was unheard of at that time and the organizers were again in dilemma as to how one Lakh Archanas could be performed in one day. Again, Gurudev gave detailed instructions for conducting Laksharchana. The Archana was to be performed by ten devotees sitting around the large lamp, each chanting the thousand Names in Sri Vishnu Sahasranama. This would complete ten thousand Archanas in one sitting of fifty minutes duration. There would be eleven sittings making a total of one lakh and ten thousand Archanas within a period of twelve hours including intervals. All the Archanas were to be done using Tulasi leaves only.

On the last three days preceding the concluding ceremony, religious conventions were held in which leading scholars and Sannyasins delivered enlightening lectures on the importance of Nama Japa and Bhakti Sadhana. On the day of Laksharchana Gurudev was to lead the Archana by chanting the Names in Vishnu Sahasranama one by one for others to repeat them and perform Archana.

By about 3PM the atmosphere was covered by rain clouds and heavy rain was imminent. Everybody became anxious of the outcome if the rain started. But there was no fear or anxiety on Gurudev’s face where there was only the never-fading smile. Soon the rain started; but to the surprise and solace of everybody, not a drop fell anywhere near the Ashram or the area surrounding it. This incident was taken as a miracle by some devotees; but Gurudev maintained that it was the sincere devotion of those who participated in the Yajna and the mercy of Lord, which made everything possible.

Arati was performed after sunset and thereafter Bhajan started. The members of a Bhajan troupe known as Panduranga Bhajan Samiti were also participating in the Bhajan that day. When Gurudev took his seat in the front of the stage, a devotee put a long garland of Tulasi around his neck. Gurudev started to sing Bhajan songs in his inimitable voice which was repeated in chorus by the others. Sweet Bhajan songs were flowing like nectar from Gurudev’s throat one by one. This went on for more than three hours. At about 10PM, Gurudev stood up from the seat repeating the sacred names “Vitthal, Vitthal” incessantly and all the others also stood up and repeating the same Names started dancing around Gurudev. No one knew what was happening as every body had their eyes closed and hands raised above their heads clapping. Every body was in a state of trance, or a state of God-intoxication. Tears of joy were flowing from the eyes of most of the participants. After some time Gurudev became silent and lowered his raised hands and held the folded hands in front of his face. He stood in that position without any movement and entered into a state of Bhava Samadhi. The members of the Bhajan troupe and other devotees continued to recite the sacred names “Radhakrishna,Gopalakrishna” and danced around Gurudev. This reminded the Rasaleela in which the Gopis of Vrindavan had danced around Lord Krishna, forgetting themselves and the entire world. At last Gurudev came back to the normal plane of consciousness and the Bhajan was closed by about 1AM.

The next day morning, Gurudev concluded the Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna.

Gurudev received the Tamburu, continued Japa loudly for half an hour and then gradually reduced voice and finally stopped Japa and became silent as if he had merged himself in the Nada Brahma. The Tamburu was placed beside the Lamp. Arati was performed for the lamp as well as Tamburu and Gurudev prostrated before both. The lamp which had been burning continuously for the past 120 days was put out with a bunch of flowers. Thus the first Akhanda Nam Japa Yajna came to a successful end, followed by “Narayana Pooja” at Noon.(Narayana Pooja is the name given by Gurudev for Annadanam or feast.)

After the successful completion of the first Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna, the next plan of Gurudev was a journey by foot towards Guruvayur. It was Gurudev’s strong conviction that a Sannyasin, being the messenger of God, is not expected to stay permanently at one place. It was the incumbent duty of the Sannyasin to travel extensively and spread the message of God. Several inmates of the Ashram and some of the local residents came forward and joined. A bullock-cart was engaged to carry the essential paraphernalia for cooking food and to keep the personal belongings of the participants such as dress and sleeping kit. The daily routine in all the journeys of Gurudev included the reading of Vishnu Sahasra Namam, Bhagavad Gita, Satsang and Bhajan. As a result, all the participants in Gurudev’s journeys would become proficient in reading Gita ans Sahahsranamam by the time they come back after the trip.

The journey started from Arayur, passed through Trivandrum, Kollam, Panmana,(where there is a temple at the Samadhi spot of Chattampi Swami0 and reached Sabarimala on 13^thJan 1952.After camping there for one night Gurudev’s party departedfrom Sabarimala. While climbing down the hills, Gurudev heard about the fire accident at Sabarimala which occurred on 14^th January 1952, and deputed two members of the group to go back and assist in the rescue operations there At Guruvayur, Gurudev and party camped for three or four days at the request of the local devotees including Anjam Madhavan Nampoothiri of Guruvayur (A well known devotee of Sree Guruvayurappan who was renowned for his proficiency in Bhagavatam and his untiring efforts for the propagation of the Lord’s name Narayana) The relation between Gurudev and Anjam, the two lovers of the Lord’s Names became more intimate after this visit and lasted throughout their life. On the return trip also Gurudev and party visited many famous temples en route.After the Guruvayur pilgrimage, Gurudev spent some days on a solitary trip to Kuttalam and some other places in Tamilnadu. It was followed by another long journey covering mainly Mathura, Vrindavan, Delhi and Benaras in the north and Sree Rangam Chidambaram, Rameswarm in the south.

By the time this journey was concluded, it was time for the next Chaturmasya and Gurudev desired that another Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna was to be conducted during that time. Accordingly, the second started on 4^th July 1952. This time the Siva-Shakti Vaishnava Mantra “Om hreem Namassivaaya, Om Namo Narayanaaya” was selected for chanting. It had been noticed that during this Yajna all classes of people, including the followers of other religions had participated in the Japa without any restrictions. This Yajna ended up as a better success than the previous one. There was another Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna the Chaturmasya of 1953 also. But instead of four months, it took more than ten months to complete this Yajna. We can see the reason for this in the next chapter.

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XII – MAN PROPOSES AND GOD DISPOSES

Saktaa karmaanyavidwamso yatha kurvanti Bharata,

Kuryadwidwam stathaasakta schikeershur loka samgraham.

(Bhagavad Gita, Chapter3, Stanza 25)

(Oh! Bharata! As the ignorant performs his actions with attachment, so should the wise perform his actions without attachment, desiring only the welfare of the world.)

Any one who has closely observed the life and actions of Gurudev will easily understand the meaning of these words of Lord Krishna because Gurudev’s life itself was a practical demonstration of this and many other teachings in the Gita.

Gurudev had successfully conducted two Akhanda Nama Japa Yajnas at Arayur Ashram. Just one month after the conclusion of the second Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna, one day Gurudev was found missing all of a sudden. Nobody knew where he had gone. What actually happened was briefly this: As usual Gurudev went out for a walk. On reaching the main road, Gurudev got into the first bus that came that way and reached Courtalam. From there, the aimless journey proceeded to Ambasamudram by walk, as there was no money left for using any mode of transport. On the way, a kind hearted lorry driver offered a lift to Trichy. After spending one or two days there, the aimless walk continued till another lorry driver gave a lift to Bangalore. Thus, by travelling free lift in lorries, Gurudev reached Shirdi within a few days. After reaching Shirdi, Gurudev sent a letter to the Ashram, intimating his whereabouts. On reading it, a representative from the Ashram went to Shirdi and accompanied Gurudev back to Ashram. As Gurudev said later, this journey was not pre-planned; but it was controlled and managed by an unseen hand. Even without any money in hand, Swamiji did not experience any difficulty any where. Otherwise, where is the question of difficulty for the one who has totally surrendered himself to God sees God in anything and every thing?

As soon as Gurudev returned to Ashram, active discussions ensued about the third Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna. This time, all the Ashramites were enthusiastic about it, because of the success of the previous two Yajnas. The Maha Mantra of Kali Santarana Upanishad was selected for chanting and the Yajna commenced on 3^rd July 1953. The Yajna progressed in full swing with the active participation of devotees and well-wishers from far and near. Meanwhile, the birth centenary of Chattampi Swami was being celebrated all over Kerala. The chief organizers of the celebration came to meet Swamiji and enlist his co-operation. The celebration was to conclude on the 100^th birthday of Chattampi Swami in September 1953.As the Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna was going on in the Ashram there was practical difficulty for Gurudev to participate in the celebrations taking place elsewhere. This did not, however, deter Gurudev from offering his support and co-operation. On the birthday morning, special poojas were performed in front of a large picture of Chattampi Swami placed on the dais at the Ashram. It was followed by a grand feast at Noon. In the evening, a special procession was taken out from Ashram. A decorated lorry in which the picture of Chattampi Swami had been placed, was leading the procession. A pilot car announcing the procession and carrying the flag of the Ashram moved in the front. The procession proceeded to Kollur in Trivandrum (the birth place of Chattampi Swami), receiving acclamation from the public all along the 30Km route from Arayur to Trivandrum. Gurudev and the Ashram Bhajan troupe seated on a platform in the lorry were conducting Bhajan through out journey. After reaching Kollur, Gurudev continued the Bhajan for some more time and after Arati, the procession dispersed. The organizers were very happy that

What is remarkable about this event is that, Gurudev took the decision to participate in the birthday function of Chattampi Swami in the above manner, without thinking of the means for it. But as soon as Gurudev’s decision was announced, offers of support started pouring in .Lorry, car, flowers for decorations, mike arrangements, rice and provisions for the feast and everything else required for the function were made available free of cost by various devotees and the function went on well. This was another instance which reaffirmed Gurudev’s strong conviction about divine intervention for the success of every action that is surrendered to God, and performed without ego-sense.

After the celebration of Chattampi Swami’s Birth Centenary, the question of the concluding the ongoing Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna was taken up. Sri.K.P.Prabhakaran Nair who had by this time become an active worker of the Ashram was of opinion that wide publicity should be given to this through the print media, giving necessary writes up and photos for publication. Gurudev, who is by his very nature, averse to publicity did not object, probably because he did not want to disappoint the proposer. Instead, Gurudev himself offered to fetch the photographer and asked the others to assemble at the Ashram by 4PM that day.

Everyone including the photographer reached the Ashram on time; but Gurudev was missing. The photographer said that Gurudev, after entrusting him to reach Ashram by 4PM, had gone to Trivandrum to buy milk powder and some other things. Everybody became anxious about Gurudev. At about six o’clock, a bus conductor brought a parcel to the Ashram and told that it was given to him by Swamiji who had gone to Nagercoil. As the Ashramites were used to Gurudev’s sudden disappearance in this manner, they did not feel anything unusual in it; but all were worried about concluding the Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna on the scheduled date.

Now let us follow Gurudev who had gone to engage the photographer. After buying everything required for the Ashram, Gurudev handed over the parcel to the bus conductor for delivery at the Ashram and entered a bus bound for Nagercoil. Gurudev’s further journeys were not at his will; but were performed under divine guidance as may be seen from the events described hereafter. A lorry driver offered a free lift to Madras (Chennai); but on reaching Trichy, Gurudev got down there and dismissed the lorry. Without trying to meet any acquaintances there, Gurudev continued his aimless walk, living on alms and sleeping under any wayside tree. After a few days Gurudev reached Madras city. The son of an old friend of Gurudev who met him on the streets and recognized, took him to Sri Ramakrishna Mutt where he was allowed to stay indefinitely. Gurudev’s Bhajans at the Ashram and at the Malayali Samaj attracted large crowds. Devotees offered new clothes and a good amount of money within a short time. Gurudev did not like to live in the comforts of the Ashram and also disliked the accumulation of money. So he decided to leave Madras at the earliest.

A Bank officer had been keeping the money thus offered by devotees. On hearing about Swamiji’s intention to leave for Calcutta, he bought a ticket for the journey; put all the new dresses and money in a bag and handed it over to Gurudev. He also wrote a letter to Arayur Ashram giving the whereabouts of Gurudev. But the will of God was so different that Gurudev did not reach Calcutta in that journey. Before reaching Vijayawada, all the belongings of Swamiji had been robbed in the train. Later on, when asked about this incident, Swamiji had said that he was lying awake when the thief took away the bag containing everything including the journey ticket; but did not want to stop him because he took it that Narayana Himself, coming in the shape of a thief, was taking away his possessions. Having been relieved of everything except the clothes worn, Gurudev decided to discontinue the ticketless journey forth with. So he alighted at Vijayawada and started walking again without any specific destination. Gurudev had always found pleasure in such empty handed journeys on foot, living on alms and sleeping under trees in strange places. At the end of this journey, Gurudev reached a totally strange and unknown place, Hyderabad.

Gurudev walked through the unknown streets of Hyderabad aimlessly and reached a temple. Taking bath in a nearby pond and engaging himself in Japa and meditation Swamiji spent two days there without being noticed by anyone. On the third day morning an old man came near him and handed over an apple. Swamiji cut it into peaces and distributed among all the people who were present there. This act of love touched the heart of the old man who invited Swamiji to his house. The old man was a business broker named Shivakar and had several business connections. That day Gurudev had his lunch with Shivakar. In the evening Shivakar took Swamiji to the house of another businessman named Ranganath Rathi, where there was Bhajan session after sunset. Swamiji, in his melodious voice began to sing Hindi Bhajan songs, which the local participants spontaneously repeated in chorus and the Bhajan became very lively within a few minutes. During the course of the Bhajan which lasted for more than an hour, Swamiji quote many stanzas from Gita and Bhgavatam and explained their meaning. Every body who listened to Swamiji was amazed at the mastery, devotion and knowledge of Gurudev. At the insistence of Rathi, Gurudev stayed with him for a few days, and participated in Bhajans and Satsangs at different houses belonging to members of his group. During day time Gurudev used to go out and nobody knew where.

One day Rathi took Gurudev for Bhajan arranged by one Gokuldas at a public hall. Gokuldas was a wholesale merchant at Hyderabad, a very pious gentleman, interested in Bhajan and Satsang. As a part of his humanitarian work, he used to issue passes from his business house to seven Sadhus every day for free food. Hearing this, Gurudev also went there and asked the manager for a pass. Unfortunately, all the seven passes had already been issued. As Gurudev turned back without any demur, the manager, as if inspired by some inner force, issued a special pass to Gurudev with the permission of Gokuldas. When Gurudev reached the house of Gokuldas together with Rathi, the host was dumbfounded. The same Sadhu to whom a special pass for free food was issued by him a few hours back, has been escorted by his friend to his house as a guest of honour. Gokuldas quickly expressed his regret in not having been able to recognise Swamiji’s greatness at that time. Rathi also felt miserable on his failure to take care of Swamiji’s food, because of which he had to go out and seek free food from elsewhere. Swamiji comforted both of them with his enchanting smile and brushed away their grief as if nothing had happened. They were astounded by the equanimity, cheerfulness and dispassionate attitude of Swamiji.

The Bhajan and Satsang went on well. Among the participants, there was one Joshi, a cloth merchant hailing from Gujarat. He was very much impressed by Swamiji’s Bhajan and Satsang in which he had played the role of Harmonist.. Next day Joshi and his wife Jamna Bhai came and invited Gurudev to their house. Gurudev accepted their invitation and the stay at Joshi’s house marked the opening of a new chapter in the life of Gurudev. There were a large number of Gujarati families, business houses and Gujarati schools in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Many Gujarati families visited Joshi’s house to meet Swamiji and participate in his daily Bhajan and Satsang, as if it were transformed into an Ashram within no time. Swamiji gave Upadesha Mantra to Joshi and his wife. A regular routine of spiritual activities started there. Their day started in the Pooja room at 5AM, with Sahasranama japam, reading of Bhagavad Gita, led by Swamiji. At 6AM all the members of their family and neighbouring families making a total number of not less than thirty persons would take out a street procession along the crowded streets, chanting the Maha Mantra(Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare , Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare).The procession would reach the prayer hall annexed to the house of Gokuldas by 7AM. Sahasranama Japa, reading of Bhagavad Gita, Gurudev’s speeches etc. will continue till about 9AM.In the evenings also there would be Bhajan and Satsang in which the attendance of devotees increased day by day. Those who participated in these programmes regarded Gurudev as an incarnation of God.

Days and months rolled on. More than four months had elapsed after Swamiji started living with Joshi’s family. As it was not his nature to stay at a place for too long, Gurudev shifted his residence to a separate house at a distance from Joshi’s house and was leading a secluded life there. But Gurudev was already thinking of means to leave Secunderabad at the earliest, as he could not get the desired solitude at the new premises also.Incidentally Swamiji came to know from Prof. Krishna Rao, a disciple of Swami Ramdas of Kanhangad, that the birthday of Swami Ramdas was being celebrated at Bombay. Swamiji accompanied the professor to Bombay without informing anyone about his departure. On reaching there he despatched a letter and parcel to Joshi; letter of apology for leaving the place unannounced, and the parcel containing the key of the building he was occupying. It was also mentioned in the letter that he was going to Ujjain to participate in the Rudra Yajna and thereafter to Kailas, together with a promise to come again to Secunderabad on his return trip.

Mean while, a Malayali officer, KVKNair with whom Gurudev had previous acquaintance recognised him and wrote to the Arayur Ashram about Gurudev’s presence at Secunderabad .As soon as this information was received, Ramaswami, an inmate of Ashram was urgently sent to Secunderabad .It was only when Ramaswami met Joshi and enquired about Gurudev that all the devotees at Secunderabad came to know that Swamiji was a Malayali, that he had an Ashram in Kerala and that his mother was alive there. Swamiji’s fluent speech in Hindi and the ease with which he sang Hindi Bhajans had made them believe that he was a North Indian. When they came to know of the way in which Swamiji had left his own Ashram, they had no wonder in his unceremonious departure from there.

Ramaswami wasted no time to reach Ujjain and find out Swamiji.When Ramaswami told Gurudev that the Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna was still going on, he agreed to return to Arayur Ashram. On the return journey which was routed through Secunderabad, Swamiji was given an overwhelming welcome. Joshi and others expressed their regret at Swamiji’s sudden departure; but his answer was only the usual enchanting smile which melted away all regrets. After staying there for two or three days Swamiji returned to Arayur with Ramaswami.The Akhanda Nama Japa Yajna,started in July 1953 was concluded after ten months.

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GURUPRANAMAM

My Master -Sadguru Swami Abhedanandaji Maharaj

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Life of Swami Abhedanandaji Maharaj

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