Glorious Fifty Years of Wisdom and Service
A Souvenir released on Swami Krishnananda's 50th Birthday
The Light of Sivananda Mission
by Sri Indrajit Sharma, Simla
"Wisdom is the name God gives to religion, so telling the world, what it will hardly believe, that the two great things which so engross the desire and designs of both the nobler and ignobler sort of mankind, are to be found in religion, viz, wisdom and pleasure, and that the former is the direct way to the latter, as religion is to both," so said the well-known philosopher of South. It is wisdom born of discrimination of Reality from unreality, that gives man the highest pleasure, nay, the sublimest bliss. Real religion provides both wisdom and pleasure. An ignorant person engulfed by darkness of stupidity and cupidity, can never know what bliss and mental peace are. One of the greatest tragedies of the modern life is that moral and spiritual values are being ignored mercilessly and deliberately for pursuing the path of the pleasant objects, which in reality hide the most poisonous sting of tremendous pain. But look at the apparent folly of the man, even pain is taken to be as pleasure and vice versa! A sort of mental perversion and a spiritual collapse has plagued the mind of the modern man. Just like unto the blindfolded bullock, the passionate man perambulates round the altar of stupidity and lustful vanity, it is only the rarest few who escape the clutches of Maya. They are the luckiest persons who disconnect themselves from humdrum mundane activity.
One such person is Swami Krishnananda. He is one of the most prominent and illustrious disciples of H. H. Sri Swami Sivananda of Ananda Kutir.
Swami Krishnananda is now completing 50 years of his precious life. He is a short-statured, proportionally built and a very smart and active monk. He puts on only a few clothes just to cover his body. He is very humble, gentle and noble person. He is a man of few words. He is very serious aspirant for Moksha. He is very fond of taking regular baths in the Ganges. During my stay on many occasions in the Sivanandashram, the only person who impressed me most, next to Gurudev Sivananda and Chidanandaji, of course, with his saintliness and sagely scholarship, is Swami Krishnananda. He is a very learned philosopher, with sublime gift of originality and clarity of thought.
Swami Krishnananda is a well-known writer on spiritual subjects. Gurudev Swami Sivananda has spoken very highly of his literary brilliance and mental fecundity. He is a spiritual gem of high quality. Swami Krishnananda has written a first-rate commentary on his Master's monumental work entitled, "Moksha Gita"—the book that imparts knowledge of Supreme God. Another excellent book that he has written for the benefit of Yoga and Vedanta students is "The Realisation of the Absolute". Any person who bothers a little to go through this book will be convinced beyond doubt of the author's wide scholarship and shining wisdom. Still another book that has emanated from his pen is “Essays on the Upanishads". Need it be stated that he is unexcelled in expounding the wisdom of the Upanishads to the modern world. Another pamphlet, called "Search for Reality", is the production of this brilliant person, but a very wise saint.
Another beautiful trait of Swami Krishnananda is his ringing oratory. He can deliver inspiring lecture extempore. Several books owe their birth simply to these lectures delivered by Swami Krishnananda to the students of Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy at Ananda Kutir. Swami Sivananda has called him "the modern Dhakshina Murthi". Indeed, he is so. Out of his lectures comes the fragrance of flowers of purity, devotion and kindness that richly grow in the garden of his heart.
Swami Krishnananda is primarily a Jyana Yogi and a practical Vedantin. He is very fond of meditating on Vedantic formulaes, viz., "Aham Brahma ami" (I am God ), "Tat Twam Asi" (Thou art that). "Brahma Satya Jagat Mithya", (God is the only Reality, World is false), etc. etc. He is a person pre-eminently fit to carry on the spiritual researches in the laboratory of his own heart. He lives, moves and has his being in that Supreme Silence whom we call GOD. He is properly equipped with a sharp, subtle, exploring, penetrating and probing intellect so very essential for a student of Vedanta and Jyana Yoga. I really appreciate his way of looking at things from the spiritual point of view. Swami Krishnananda is the light of Swami Sivananda's Mission and the most deserving person to go abroad for interpreting Swamiji's philosophy and Mission.
I convey my good wishes to Swami Krishnananda and pray for his health and long Life.