Swami Krishnananda Shashtyabdapurti Mahotsava Commemoration Volume
A Souvenir released on Swami Krishnananda's 60th Birthday
Swami Krishnananda as an Author
by Dr. R.K. Sullery
When one reads the works of an outstanding author like Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj, he is easily carried away by the presentation of ideas and is amazed by the depth of his wisdom. In such a condition, it is not easy to be critically observant of his mode of writing and presenting ideas. His articles and books need to be read again and again with concentration before a reasonable grasp of the import of his teachings is obtained. I am not well read in this sense and am not really competent to be able to write on the subject matter in hand. However, I have been reading his articles and books for the past few years and have been attracted by the beauty, precision and grandeur of his writings. Thus in spite of my obvious lack of qualification, I would present some views on the little study that I have made.
It has been my rare privilege to have sat seeing with Swamiji from time to time during the past few years. These have been very happy moments of my life and these give me an opportunity to see him talk and teach the philosophy of life. I have found him very simple and unassuming. His presence makes the atmosphere is so lively that one forgets his presence whatever anxieties and tensions that he may have. I have personally experienced this. Everybody will be kept cheerful in his presence by his wit and sense of humour. He will not be provoked under any circumstance and it is impossible to make him criticise any person. Even the instructions are imported by him in a fashion that will never hurt the feelings of anyone. However, with all this, he is always very serious in what he says. His words are measured and at once very profound and significant. They match and correspond with the ideas expressed in his writings. One cannot fail to notice his impersonal and dispassionate approach in dealing with various matters, which approach also characterises his articles. Thus, he is an author who illustrates in his life the teachings and the implications of Vedanta and Yoga philosophy. Perhaps I am not competent to say any more about him.
The subject of his writings is basically the philosophy of Vedanta and Yoga. However, according to him, Vedanta and Yoga comprise within them various branches of philosophical studies such as metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, psychology, axiology and mysticism. Metaphysics deals with an extensive reasoned discussion of the natures and relations of God, world and the individual soul. It also includes the concepts of space, time and causation as well as the philosophical basis of modern physics and biology. Epistemology deals with various theories and processes of the acquisition of right knowledge as well as with the nature and possibility of wrong knowledge. Aesthetics is concerned with the significance and the natures of beauty. As ethics, philosophy engages itself in the ascertainment of the nature of right and wrong, good and bad. Under psychology, the constitution, function and behaviour of the mind is discussed. Under axiology, philosophy establishes the nature of values in different stages and views of life such as psychical values, aesthetic values, moral values and religious values. Mysticism mostly concerns itself with the interrelation of the individual to the Eternal Being and with the various techniques of the ascent of the soul and the fulfilment of its religious and spiritual aspirations. I have enumerated the above themes of philosophical studies to indicate that Swamiji's writings deal with all the above subject matters which are within the scope of Vedanta and Yoga.
Swamiji is well informed about the scientific discoveries in modern physics. Interestingly, he makes the implications of modern physics and psychology as the starting point for his subsequent presentation and discussion of Vedanta philosophy.
Philosophy, according to him, is spiritual realisation expressed in logical language, while passing through the mill of reason. While the intuitional truths are rationally explained by philosophy, it does not pretend to prove the nature of these truths through intellectual or scientific categories. Philosophy, to him, is not the achievement of the unaided reason walking independently of the non-dualistic intuition, but is only the rational articulation of the super-rational realised in integral intuition. His emphasis on intuition as the superior-most means of knowledge is obvious.
Swamiji attempts in his writings to lay the foundations of that impersonal meaning on which the personal forms of philosophy and religion are constructed. The supremacy of the absolute and the paramountcy of love and unselfishness have been again and again emphasised. His concern is more with the essence rather than with outer forms of philosophy and religion. When he discusses about Sadhana, he lays more stress on the spirit of Sadhana rather than on the detailed forms it can take. His writings are addressed to human nature in its completeness and not merely to a side of it. He presents a synthesis of approach to life with a blending of the best in different sections of life and pointing to a perfection which is integral.