You will have Nirvana
Swami Nirvanananda Maharaj was a persona, who was always immersed in the bliss of Nirvana; he was literally worthy of the name i.e., Nirvanananda. Maharaj was popularly known as Surya (Brahmanandaji lovingly used to call him as ‘Sujji’) Maharaj. Swami Brahmananda, Sujji Maharajji’s hallowed Master, once bestowed his grace upon him by saying, ‘You will have Nirvana’. In his later days Swami Nirvananandaji used to say, “My Nirvana is not that one which people usually think it to be. My Nirvana implies that I shall seek refuge at the feet of Raja Maharaj and serve him for eternity. Raja Maharaj is the only disciple of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna who came with all the previous incarnations. Whenever Raja Maharaj descended on the earth, I came with him for serving him. In future also, if Raja Maharaj comes to this earth, I shall surely come to serve him.”
In another context, Swami Nirvananandaji said, “Everybody speaks of Raja Maharaj’s blessings on me. Everybody knows it because Raja Maharaj blessed me in the presence of others. But at first I was consecrated by Baburam Maharaj.” Swami Premanandaji (also known as Baburam Maharaj) professed that Surya Maharaj would have Brahmajnana in due course of time. Swami Saradanandaji too bestowed his grace by saying, “You do not know about yourself! One day you will have Brahmajnana.” Last in the row was Mahapurush Maharaj, who also blessed Swami Nirvananandaji saying, “Maharaj blessed you that you will have Brahmajnana. I also bless you that you will have Brahmajnana.” Thus, Swami Nirvanananda Maharaj was adorned with divine aura and belonged to that awe disseminating class!
— Swami Suvirananda
Reading the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Swami Nirvananandaji used to read Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (translated into English as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna) every day. In his late 60s, he even used to explain the purport of the Gospel to the novices of the Training Centre at Belur Math. On one such occasion, Swami Atmasthanandaji came to offer his pranams to Maharaj. But Maharaj was so absorbed in reading the Gospel, that he did not take note of Atmasthanandaji’s presence. Atmasthanandaji waited silently. After some time, when Nirvananandaji noticed the silent presence of Atmasthanandaji, he enquired when he had come from Rangoon. Swami Atmasthanandaji was then the head of the Rangoon Centre. After some time, when Atmasthanandaji was about to take leave, he asked Nirvananandaji, “Maharaj, even now you read Kathamrita every day so attentively?” Swami Nirvananandaji burst out saying, “What do you say? All through my life, I read the Gospel; but now only I have started understanding the real meaning of Sri Sri Thakur’s words.”
— Swami Suvirananda
Sri Ramakrishna’s Will
After my Training Centre period was over, I was posted to Along (Aalo) Centre in Arunachal Pradesh. I went to Nirvanandaji Maharaj to offer my pranams and take leave. Seeing tears in my eyes, he asked, “Why do you have tears in your eyes?” I replied, “Maharaj, you are so aged, and I am going to Along — such a distant and remote place. I am not sure if we will meet again.” Maharaj then affectionately murmured, “If Sri Sri Thakur wills, we shall certainly meet.”
And by sheer divine destiny, I happened to be by Maharaj’s bedside on the day of his Mahasamadhi! At midnight, when the physician came out of his room, we anxiously enquired about Maharaj’s health condition. The doctor said that clinically speaking he did not expect Maharaj to survive more than an hour. But the doctor was surprised that even in that critical state, Maharaj had asked him, “How are you?” The doctor had replied, “Maharaj, I have come to see you! How are you, Maharaj?” Pointing at the photographs of Sri Sri Guru Maharaj, Holy Mother and Swamiji, Maharaj had said, “Ask them.” After that, the end came peacefully.
Even now, his words ring in my ears — “If Sri Sri Thakur wills, we shall certainly meet.” We met each other on the last day of his mortal life. The rest is: “One who hath ears to hear, can hear, eyes to see, can see!” After this I did not have an iota of doubt that I had the privilege of sitting at the feet of a real Brahmajnani! Even now, somedays at midnight I stand in awe and try to ruminate on those words of my revered and beloved gurudev: “If Sri Sri Thakur wills, we shall certainly meet!” I also remember how infallible was the word of his guru Swami Brahmananda Maharaj.
— Swami Suvirananda
The desired blessing
I joined the Order in 1970 at Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago and was there for some years under Swami Bhasyananda. Later I served in India for some years. At the end of 1981, after seven years, I went down from Mayavati to Belur Math to take leave of the authorities. By that time Swami Nirvananandaji was suffering from hardening of the arteries and a consequent loss of memory. I had always had a deep love for him, and so I went to him to make pranam and bid farewell. After prostrating I asked him to bless me that I be a good sadhu. He looked at me in the most loving way I had ever seen from him, though I knew he was suffering from memory loss, and said, “I bless you from the bottom of my heart, I bless you that Sri Ramakrishna …” And then he said something which caused me to think, but not express in words or on my face, “I wish he would change the expression slightly: that would give me so much satisfaction.” And at that he stopped mid-sentence, looked closer at me, and said, “No, I bless you …” and he said exactly what I had just thought. And thus I knew that spiritually he was not affected at all by memory loss.
— Swami Atmarupananda
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