Swami Krishnananda Shashtyabdapurti Mahotsava Commemoration Volume
A Souvenir released on Swami Krishnananda's 60th Birthday
Guess Who?
by Sister Vandana
On the occasion of the Shashtyabdapurti of revered Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj in 1976, Swami Krishnanandaji described the first step towards renouncing a life that tethered a person to a local family, community or society, towards leading a life of unfettered freedom—in these words which, I think, sums up and well describes the life of a true Sannyasin: "A life that belongs to all in the name of the all".
Renouncing Renunciation Itself
One often imagines that a Sannyasin's life is free—free in the sense that any given moment he can wander away to the forests or mountains—since he is not supposed to owe any obligations to society, not supposed to care for anything or anyone. Sannyasa means renunciation or setting aside (Sam: perfect; nyasa: setting aside). And, true renunciation, as the Gita teaches, is the setting aside of the self or Ahankara. This may often imply, in practice, renouncing renunciation itself—setting aside and denying to oneself even that desire of running away and hiding from all men, going to the cave to be alone with the Alone. Thus, "A life that belongs to all in the name of the all" implies what the Lord Jesus required of his disciples: "Anyone who wants to follow me, must put aside his own desires and conveniences and carry his cross with him every day and keep close to me" (Luke 9.23. The Living Bible Translation). It means a daily renunciation, a constant renewal of the promise the Sannyasin makes at his Diksha: "I have renounced all the worlds". It implies gladly persevering in the seemingly unending drudgery, so to speak, demanded of one. Only so can the true Sannyasin live out that daring protestation made when he started treading that "ancient narrow path" (Br. Up. 4.4.81. "I have risen beyond all desires...desires for any Loka whatever." He has made himself a stranger to all Lokas but one. The only Loka in which he should himself "at home" is the Atma-Loka (Br Up. 4.4.22). But, where is this Loka to be found?
When the love-longing for his God grows too strong in the heart of the Sannyasin, he recalls, perhaps nostalgically, how, when as a candidate for Sannyasa he had gone about a hundred paces (Satapatha-Narada-Parivrajaka Up. 4.38), the Guru giving the Diksha called him back, "Tishtha, Tishtha Mahabhaga!" and conferred on him the insignia of Sannyasa—the Kamandalu, the Danda and the Kaupina with a saffron cloth. Only the cloth seemed to be with him now. Oh! Where is the Kamandalu? Where the Danda? How he would love to pick these up and depart—into solitude, into the Himalayas, with holy ash on his body and deer-skin for his Asana. But, instead, he now hears: "Tishtha, Tishtha, Mahabhaga!". Halt, and return to your endless papers, letters, documents to sign; to your room-allotments, reception-office problems and the nitty-gritty of the daily routine of trying to run the administrative and domestic life of the Ashram smoothly, teaching others to have a higher and more efficient standard of integrity, authority, spirituality. With this comes into the mind of this Sannyasin the words of his extraordinary and broad-minded Master:
"Make
Desirelessness your Danda,
Dispassion your Kamandalu,
Modesty your Kaupina,
Purity your Kavi-covering,
Meditation your holy ash, and
Viveka your deer-skin."
"Let us see Thee in all these names and forms.
Let us serve Thee in all these names and forms."
This is what this sage and savant, this philosopher-Sannyasin knows. He practises what he preaches on Vedanta and Yoga, though in his lighter moments he may joke: "No longer am I having anything to do with God or religion or spirituality—so absorbed am I in material occupations and preoccupations!".
"A life that belongs to all in the name of the all" means that everyone's problems become his problems. No one remains a foreigner, stranger or outsider, as in the case of his Master who had taught and practised this gospel of cosmic love. A thousand requests, demands, questionings, pleadings—all are answered with integrity, humour and compassion out of a "heart filled with the unique experience of the Self". (Na. Pa. Up. 4.38)
Integrity, humour and compassion: These seem to me to characterise the Sannyasin. If a grunt or a mutter, a brisk or even a brusque gesture escapes him, which might surprise or puzzle a newcomer, it would be quickly repaired. No one who has really got to know him is afraid to approach him. "Abhayam S'arva-bhutebhyo", says the Narada Parivrajaka Upanishad. "Let no creature have fear of me." (Na. Pa. Up. 4.38) Is not the Sannyasin supposed to be able to say that to all' When an others want punishment or justice meted out to some culprit, the Sannyasin says spontaneously: "I am a Sannyasin. I am not here to condemn, but to show him that he is in Avidya". This same integrity of mind and compassion of heart are seen. day in and day out—in spite of an ailing body which can eat or sleep little—whether his deep and genuine concern is shown to a sick person, to a foreigner's food troubles. to two women having to come to him from a nearby village in the early morning biting cold wind, or to someone who desires or needs a book, some money, or spiritual alms for a serious Sadhaka's anguished search for God. His capacity for fast-reading. critical grasp of the essentials, and an amazingly retentive memory are matched only by his sense of humour, which enables one to see things in proportion and therefore in truth. Thus, when his room is so littered with papers and files that the floor can hardly be seen, he uses this God-given wit to cheer himself and others up. "Come into the Officer's Mess; I am the officer and this is the mess!" A chuckle or a laugh intermittently assures one that he is human and sane and lovable, though many may think of him primarily as a scholar or a Jnani far-removed from the ordinary run of men.
But Who is a Jnani?
Is he not one who realises that "no one is different from or other than myself"? (Na. Pa. Up. 4.38) He surely is not a Jnani who can merely quote Shakespeare or Shankaracharya, discourse on Hegelian dialectics or Inter-faith Dialogue, philosophise on death and deathlessness. He is a Jnani who continues to be fully aware of himself and of all around him—even if he seems to interrupt the normal flow of the Spirit. Unmindful of criticisms he does, helps, supports whomever and whatever seem to him to come from the One Spirit—irrespective of caste, nationality, sex or religion. Having passed beyond his 'own' self, his 'own' life, his 'own' being and doing (for, is he not a renunciate who has set aside precisely all these precious things?), he finds peace and Ananda only in the Self alone, the only Real Self, the Paramatman, the Holy Spirit who is LOVE, for "God is Love" (I John 4.8) and Love is all. This, then, is "a life that belongs to all in the name of the all".