Sri Saipadananda Radhakrishna Swamiji

DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS OF REVERED MEMORY Smt. R. PADMASINI (1918-1985) And Prof. S. RANGACHAR (1908-1995) WHO INSTILLED IN ME A DEEP SENSE OF LOVE FOR OUR SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE R.Narayana Iyengar

TEACHINGS OF SRI RADHAKRISHNA SWAMIJI IN HIS OWN WORDS

Prof R Narayana Iyengar Raja Ramanna Fellow, IISc Dean, Division of Yoga and Humanities, SVYASA

Swami Vivekananda Yoga Prakashana #19, Eknath Bhavan, Gavipuram Circle, Kempegowda Nagar, Bangalore - 560 018.

Teachings of Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji: A book on spiritual and cultural heritage of India written by Prof R Narayana Iyengar, published by Swami Vivekananda Yoga Prakashana, #19, Eknath Bhavan, Gavipuram Circle, Bangalore - 560 019. pp 334 + xii, pb, 1/8th Demy.

© Reserved First Edition : April 2007 Print

: 1000 copies

Price

: Rs. 120/-

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FOREWORD Among many saints and yoga masters, Prof A Satyanarayana Shastry and I met during our combined search for Reality, Radhakrishna Swamiji was found to be a most unique sthitaprajna right in our neighborhood. This fact fascinated us. We visited him several times and had with him more than just discussions. His simplicity was the hallmark of his elevated state of consciousness. His loving serenity and periodic spells of deep silence (seemingly going into samādhi of immaculate bliss) featured a life akin to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa whom we had no opportunity to meet. If Sri Ramakrishna would slip into Bhāva samādhi each time he heard the name of Rāma or Krishna or Kālī, Radhakrishna Swamiji went into samādhi of silence with beaming serenity and bliss whenever he was alone or completed the Vishnu Sahasranāma chanting or after his brief talks. The life of Swamiji shows that he imbibed all the requisite qualities of not just a Jīvanmukta but also of a teacher par excellence. A great guru in the path of spirituality is described as Shrotriyam Brahmanistham. Swamiji was both Shrotriya and Brahmanishtha. His satsang portrayed his depth of knowledge on one hand and attunement with divinity on the other. Every such satsang took a small group of his devotees to higher levels of calmness, serenity and silence. He knew the secret that Vishnu-sahasranāma chanting can systematically calm the mind (even the most rājasic brilliant mind) and lead it to deep silence. He also understood that mantras such as Lalitā-sahasranāma stimulate rajas and could increase prāna shakti. But this shakti, if not properly harnessed, can endanger the devotee. One has to exercise great caution while using such mantras. We had heard that Ramana Maharshi spread the serenity of jnāna around him. Similarly an aura of silent devotional bliss pervaded Swamiji’s nice āshram when we first entered it in 1968. His bhakti was sāttvic and it defused all stresses and tensions in persons around him. This was an illustration of Patanjali’s saying ahimsāyām pratishthāyām tatsannidhau vairatyāgah; a person established in nonviolence creates an atmosphere free of all enmity. He was the typical person described in the Bhagavadgīta as yah sarvatrānabhisnehah tattatprāpyashubhāshubham| nābhinandati na dveshti tasya prajnā pratishthitā|| Radhakrishna Swamiji in that trpta sthiti rightly promoted simplicity and universal love, inspiring in devotees selflessness and self-satisfaction. Saibaba of Shirdi the Great Master was his inspiration and guide. His vision of Dattātreya infused in him the spirit of learning from one and all. Though he

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professed the teachings of Saibaba of Shirdi he was magnanimous in looking at other paths and devotees with equal respect. Simple stories from the Bhāgavata, epics, Purānas and Upanishads were used by him to illustrate a point or to bring out a change in the understanding of the devotees. He effectively used stories to cleanse the devotees from the bondages of kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and mātsarya and further to infuse in them shraddhā. Highlighting how to discriminate sat from asat through simple examples, he developed in his listeners the power to decipher good from bad, right from wrong, dharma from adharma. Yet he taught that all opposites are manifestations of the same divine and hence we should accept them in others without hate or nausea. His teachings encompassed a wide gamut of topics ranging from Hanumān, Guru, Avatāra, Dattātreya, Baba, pilgrimage, temples, festivals, women, children to antarindriyas, shama-damādi sādhana, Jnāna, Bhakti, Kundalinī, Mantra, Prānāyāma, Dhyāna and Samādhi. He also covered topics such as selfless service, right politics for right governance, social work, nation building and heaven on earth. It was a rewarding learning experience each time I met Swamiji. And I marveled at his simplicity of expressions and actions which can be a solution to problems of the modern society. Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by M has been a great inspiration to all devotees of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Great are the people who have that grit to keep recording day after day the happenings in the lives of such great saints. Prof. Narayana Iyengar has to be congratulated for presenting us this wonderful Gospel of Radhakrishna Swamiji. It is fascinating to see the author bring out a lively picture of Swamiji with several dimensions of his day-to-day life. The author is a faculty at our University SVYASA. This is his first book and we are happy to bring this out as a publication under SVYP. I believe such documents would go a long way in illustrating the concept of sthitaprajna and also inspire aspirants in the path divine. Students would find in this book a practical application of Bhakti Yoga and Nāda Yoga in daily life as propounded by our ancients.

H.R. Nagendra Vice Chancellor, SVYASA University Prashanti Kutiram, Bangalore

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PREFACE Bhārata, our motherland is famous for its ancient Rishis and sages as well as for its modern saints and philosophers. It is no exaggeration to say that Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji was a saint of the first order that India in general and Bangalore in particular has seen in recent decades. The present book is an attempt to record the teachings of Swamiji in his own words. This disciple was fortunate to have had close association with Swamiji during 1974-1980, which happened to be the last six years of Swamiji’s earthly life. This book is based on the diary and notes maintained by the present writer as a witness to the happenings around Swamiji during the above period. It is difficult to describe Swamiji, his lifestyle and his way of doing things; simple as they were, their inner meanings remained hidden from our eyes. His world view was different from the one we get from the westernized news media and university-based education widely prevalent in India. Not that he was against modern thoughts and innovations. On the other hand he welcomed scientific progress but had no great regard for intellectual interpretation of human experience exclusively based on the five senses. For him the ageless, genderless, imperishable ātman in associative relation with the human body was the basis for cognizing the experiential existence of the external world. This was not a mere article of faith, but a reality, which he invited others also to experiment, experience and enjoy. To write about such a person is a daunting task, prone to errors of omission and commission. To avoid possible subjective elements creeping in, an attempt is made in this book to present Swamiji in terms of what he said and did, as heard and seen by the author. A brief life sketch of Swamiji may not be out of place here. If nothing else this would help the reader to understand the contents of this book in a historical and cultural context. Swamiji was born on 15th April 1906 in a village called Poyyamozhi or Poyyamani near Tiruchi. His parents were Lakshmi and Venkatarama Iyer. He was born with a silver spoon as the saying goes. Immediately after his birth, his grand parents adopted him and he automatically became the heir apparent to a vast amount of landed property in Ooty (Udakamandalam) and other places. He was a millionaire by birth. We do not know much about his childhood and youth other than what he revealed now and then. He was brought up in a

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traditional family with an all-pervasive ambience of orthodoxy. He had his early school education at Tiruchi. As far as it is known he did not complete his college graduation. But he had a good command over English and was wellinformed in several modern subjects. Also he was trained in Sanskrit and was well-read in the Shāstras. Once he told this writer that he had toyed with the idea of going to Kashi to pursue Vedanta studies. He was a good musician and could play on the violin. He was fond of acting and took part in dramas. He wore fashionable western style dress and lived in Ooty in a spacious house near the palace of the Maharaja of Mysore, whom he knew personally. He moved in elite circles, played tennis and also worked at the Race Club for sometime. At the insistence of his elders he got married but remained a celibate by choice. All through his childhood and youth, thirst for spiritual enlightenment nagged him continuously. This probably was not always an enjoyable experience. He himself once mentioned that the depression of having not understood the meaning of life was so unbearable he had planned to end his life. It is evident, an unseen divine hand shaped Swamiji towards a higher life. Some- time in 1922, when he was still in his teens, he was travelling by train from Poona to Bombay. He had heard about the caves near Kharjat and impulsively got down at that station. Once he saw the caves he had an urge to remain there for fortyeight days in penance. He lived there in seclusion with no contact with his relatives and friends. He sustained himself on the roti and milk, the nearby villagers brought voluntarily. It appears Swamiji had thought that he would leave his body in the caves on the 46th day sitting in meditation. But his destiny was different. Lord Dattātreya appeared in front of Swamiji and asked him to live in this world helping others. This link to Dattātreya remained with Swamiji all through his life in various shapes and forms. Five years later in 1927, Sri Bet Narayana Maharaj, a well-known saint of yester-years, initiated our Swamiji into Datta Mantra. Details in the life of Swamiji till 1942, when a turning point occurred, are not known. In 1942 he was destined to meet his Guru Narasimha Swami in a dramatic fashion. Sri B.V. Narasimha Iyer (1874-1956) was a famous lawyer in Salem. Sri Iyer, a colleague of Rajaji, was a staunch follower of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and an active participant in the Home Rule movement of Annie Besant. He was one of the representatives sent to England in 1917 to argue for Home Rule, when the Imperial British interned him and his two colleagues at Gibraltar

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during the First World War. Twice elected by popular vote to the Madras legislature, his bio-data was already extraordinary in the early decades of the twentieth century. But his pinnacle of glory was after he renounced his home in 1921 triggered by a personal tragedy. He went out on a spiritual voyage first to Ramana Maharshi and later all over India. As per his own statement he found the ultimate truth for his satisfaction at Shirdi in 1936, as he sat meditating on the Samadhi of Sri Sai Baba the mystic saint who had passed away in 1918. Narasimha Swami took up broadcasting Sai Baba’s life and teachings as his aim and went about establishing Sai-mandirs, which, culminated in founding the All India Sai Samaj (AISS) Madras, in 1941. The eventful meeting between the Guru, and the disciple took place when Narasimha Swami visited Ooty on his Sai mission. Radhakrishna, dressed up to the neck in his suit with a tie, was going to see the adventure film David Livingstone. As he was going to the theatre some of his friends on the road requested him to stay at the venue, till they could bring Narasimha Swami from the bus stand. As providence would have it Narasimha Swami came from a side street to the school and found only a lone person there. A stickler to punctuality he asked our Swamiji whether he was ready. Radhakrishna did not know what to reply other than diplomatically saying yes. Narasimha Swami took out Baba’s photo from his bag, kept it on a chair and asked Radhakrishna to do pūjā. The future disciple was in a fix. Not that he was against doing the pūjā, but befitting his orthodox Brahmin upbringing he thought he should have been at least wearing a dhoti instead of presenting himself in a western suit. Narasimha Swami laughed away the situation and said ‘Baba never looks at the external cover; what he wants is your mind. You do the pūjā.’ This is how the first meeting between the two Swamis got initiated. While Narasimha Swami walked out of the school to board a bus to his next destination, Radhakrishna followed his future Guru to put the question: what could be the reason why I am named Radhakrishna? Narasimha Swami thought for a moment and said, ‘If you come to Madras I will let you know the meaning.’ Radhakrishna gave up his job at the Race Club. He accepted Narasimha Swami as his Guru and got immersed in intense sādhanā, in the form of Japa, Pārāyana, Dhyāna and Bhajan. Swamiji was asked by his Guru to participate in Divya-nāma-sankīrtans to develop his devotional nature to its fullest extent. He was introduced to Sai Baba by his Guru, so much so he could realize the inner essence of Baba. Several spiritual experiences, the details of which are too long to be mentioned here, convinced Swamiji that he had found his mission

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and goal in life. He travelled far and wide with Narasimha Swami in spreading the message of Sai Baba. In 1952, as per the wishes of his Guru, he came to Bangalore to look after the already set up Sai-mandir at Ulsoor. The cultural ambience of south Bangalore, where there were already quite a few Sai devotees, made him shift his residence to a small room in NR Colony near the Rama-mandir. He was a member of the Managing Committee of Shirdi Sansthan and had to travel to Bombay once a month. This brought him in contact with a large number of Sai devotees as also a few direct disciples of Sai Baba. In 1953 he started a satsang group at the residence of Sri M. Subbaramiah on South End Road that eventually became the Sai Spiritual Centre. This was initially a loose congregation of a few like-minded people, but quickly gained strength under the spiritual dynamo that Swamiji was. Way back in 1943, a certain Domlur Krishnamurthy, who worked as Asst. Comptroller of Finance in the erstwhile Mysore State, had earmarked a part of his lands for the specific purpose of propagating the life and teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi. In 1962 Sri V.S. Shastry, an Income Tax Officer holding this land in trust, was more than happy to gift the same to Swamiji for Baba’s work. From 1965, a small room on this land became Swamiji’s āshram. The Sai Spiritual Center with a large hall and a shrine for Baba became a registered body in 1970, with Swamiji as its Founder President. At this time, his admirers and devotees in Chennai (Madras) prevailed upon him to become the President of AISS, which was without proper leadership after the passing away of Sri Narasimha Swami in 1956. Thus, in the last ten years of his life, Swamiji spent his time roughly equally between Chennai and Bangalore. Till his last breath on 14th January 1980, Swamiji toiled to spread the message of his Guru. This was nothing other than the Shubhra-mārga, the clean path of Sai Baba of Shirdi. As per his own narration, Baba asked him in 1954, in a vision, to propagate the three aksharas; Aa, U, Ma which together form Om, the Brahman. At the worldly level these were explained as the Bhagavadgīta, the Vishnu-sahasranāma and Satsang respectively. Swamiji took interest in the construction and consecration of temples in many parts of the country. Within Bangalore, he was the inspiration behind the Anjaneya temple at Ragi-gudda. He laid the foundation stone for the Devagiri Venkateshwara temple. Swamiji was responsible for the Rama temple at Vivekanagar.

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Swamiji was the embodiment of simplicity and compassion. He disliked exhibitionism in all forms. In his earlier days in Bangalore he would wear a long dhoti and a long shirt. In his later years he gave up this for a coarse khādi dhoti as a wrap around and a top cloth. In inclement weather he would after some coaxing agree to put on a shawl. He had been presented with a set of ochre robes, to be worn by a sanyāsi, by no less a person than Sri Chandrashekhara Bhārati, the Head of the Sringeri Shāradā Pītham. But like his Guru, he preferred white to saffron. He was of short build with a supple body. He had a broad forehead, a prominent nose and bright, but somewhat, withdrawn eyes. His long flowing hair and beard made him every bit an ancient Rishi out of the Upanishads. For all practical purposes he ate only once in the morning. This was a frugal meal sent by one of his devotees. In the night he would take one or two idlis or a dose sent by another devotee. He had taste for good coffee, which he took in small amounts twice, occasionally thrice. He had exquisite taste in maintaining the small garden at his āshram, which he tended personally. In line with his subtle taste he named the place Parandhām and called his dwelling Hamsaniketan. The main hall in which he took great pleasure in chanting the Vishnu-sahasranāma continuously was named Nāmayajna-vaibhava mantapam. For people near him every day was a joyful celebration. He was never serious. Occasionally he would crack harmless jokes at close devotees and make everyone laugh. All types of people came to him seeking solutions to their mundane and spiritual problems. Everyone irrespective of his or her religion, caste, creed and social status received equal attention from Swamiji. There were no secretaries, no managers and no appointments to be fixed up. Anyone could simply walk into his presence and bask in his divinity. The simple children of the nearby school would come to shake hands with him or to touch his beard out of curiosity. The rich and the powerful came in limousines with costly gifts seeking his blessings for success in their business or elections. He was neither pro-rich nor pro-poor. He was naturally neutral. His approach was to put people at ease by talking to them, consoling them. When someone with a highly agitated mind came to him, he would invariably close his eyes and chant the sahasranāma, which would easily take twenty minutes. Many a disturbed soul would calm down and voluntarily chant the great mantra with him. But it happened; some visitors seeing his closed eyes would go away. He was not bothered in attracting such people to him. Devotees came on their own or as Baba used to say, if they belonged to him, he dragged them somehow.

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His life was his teaching. He wrote two books, one on his Guru and another, a booklet of stories for children. He wrote his inspired thoughts as ‘Spiritual Recipes’ serially published in Sai Sudha, the official monthly journal of AISS, Chennai. His poems, songs, messages and translations of some Upanishads are yet to be published. The present book contains mainly conversations, this disciple had with Swamiji during 1974-1977. This also includes some public lectures of Swamiji and dialogues others had with Swamiji. Swamiji generally spoke in Tamil with a heavy mixture of Sanskrit words and verses. Whatever was discussed, heard and seen was written down from memory on the same night or the next day. It was easier to recollect and write the talks in Kannada than in English. However, large parts of the writings were translated into English during the lifetime of Swamiji for his reading and approval. Swamiji used numerous technical words and quoted extensively from the Bhagavadgīta. To make the reading of the text easy an appendix listing the quoted verses with meaning and a glossary of technical words are provided at the end of the book. About the diacritical signs, only the long vowels are indicated. It would not be difficult for the reader to know the correct pronunciation of the Sanskrit words from the context. The author owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. H. R. Nagendra, who introduced Swamiji to him way back in 1972. Dr. Nagendra kindly consented to write a foreword and also volunteered to get the book published under the banner of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Prakashana (SVYP). The untiring zeal of Dr. Nagendra to spread the cultural and spiritual heritage of India has made the publication of this book possible. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the cooperation the author has received from Sri Natesh Babu, Sri Nogendra Jain and Kum. Rukmini Shastry in bringing out this book on time. This happens to be the centenary year of Swamiji’s birth. It is hoped that the present book would be welcomed not only by those who personally knew Swamiji but also by aspirants desirous of knowing how a modern day stitha-prajna lived, talked and walked amongst us.

Tvadīyam Vastu Svāmīji Tubhyameva Samarpaye R. Narayana Iyengar

2203/N, 24th Cross, BSK 2nd stage Bangalore 560 070 email: [email protected]

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CONTENTS Foreword Preface 1. Divya-nāma-sankīrtana

1

2. Shraddhā and Satsanga

15

3. Rama Temple, Vivekanagar

33

4. Sat-Asat Vastu Viveka

39

5. Childhood Reminiscence

49

6. Rādhā-kalyāna

54

7. Mysore Visit

60

8. Trip to Madurai

79

9. Sri Rangam and Gunashekharam

103

10. Seshadri Swami

116

11. Deha, Buddhi, Chidākāsha

121

12. Social Work, the Three Gunas

135

13. Real Wealth

142

14. Women and Bhakti

154

15. Narasimha Swamiji and Sai Baba

160

16. Vaikuntha Ekādaśī

167

17. Māruthi Temple, Ragigudda

172

18. Baba Holds an Enquiry

178

19. Dattātreya Jayanti

181

20. Ānjaneya, Love, Ānanda

189 xi

21. Visit to Alambagiri and Kaiwara

205

22. At IIT, Bombay

215

23. A Function at the Ganapathi Temple

220

24. You Look at Me, I Look at You

225

25. Manas the Horse, Buddhi the Dog

238

26. Avatāra

245

27. Advice to a Professor of Philosophy

251

28. Guru-pūrnimā Inauguration

264

29. Bhakti and Prapatti

273

30. Bhakti is Jnāna

282

31. Navarātri and Baba Mahāsamādhi Day

291

32. Recollection of Previous Births

295

33. Who am I?

305

34. Epilogue

310

Appendix

314

Glossary

325

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