Incidents from the Life of Swami Vijnanananda

On that day the Master said to me (Swami Vijnanananda): “Never get involved with women. Always be careful. Let there be no stain on your character. Never look at a woman, even if she is made out of gold. Do you know why I am saying all this to you? You belong to the Divine Mother, and you will have to do a lot of work for Her. A pecked fruit cannot be offered to the Mother. So I tell you, be careful.”

Once during my college days when I (Swami Vijnanananda) went to visit the Master at Dakshineswar, I asked him, “Is God with form or without form?” The Master replied: “God is with form as well as without form, and again he is beyond both form and formlessness.” Then I asked, “If God is all, is this cot also God?” He answered emphatically, “Yes, this cot is God, this glass, this utensil, this wall — everything is God.” As he spoke, I experienced an inner transformation and was lifted beyond the realm of ordinary consciousness. My heart was illumined, and I saw the light of Brahman everywhere.

During my youth I (Swami Vijnanananda) had read the philosophies of Kant, Hegel, and other great philosophers. One day I said to the Master: “Sir, what do you know about philosophy? Have you read the works of Kant and Hegel?” He replied: “What are you saying? Throw away all those books. Knowledge of God is not in any book. Those books are all products of ignorance.” What a great statement the Master made! Later, finding no way out, I gave up arguing. In the beginning we need faith for God-realization.

Once at Dakshineswar the Master gave me an English book and asked me to read and explain it to him. It was stated in the book: “Speak the truth. Do not covet what belongs to another. Control your senses.” On hearing this, the Master felt elated like a boy and expressed his great delight. The Master’s joy even now is deeply impressed in my mind. I think that his expression of great delight was due to the fact that if a person attains perfection in those three disciplines, he is sure to reach God. Whenever he heard any discussion about God, he would go into ecstasy.

When the Master was blessed for the first time with the vision of the Divine Mother, he thought, “If this vision of mine is true, then let this big stone [which was in front of the nahabat] jump up thrice.” Immediately, the stone did in fact jump thrice. Whatever he thought came to pass. Seeing this, the Master was fully convinced of the genuineness of his vision.

Hari Prasanna was not able to spend a great deal of time with the Master, but the unbounded grace of his guru filled his heart. Towards the end of Sri Ramakrishna’s life, pointing to his own picture, he told Hari Prasanna: “Look, I dwell in this picture. Meditate on me.” “Yes, I will,” replied Hari Prasanna.

In 1887 Hari Prasanna graduated from Patna College and then went to the Poona College of Science to study civil engineering. He was a brilliant student and was greatly loved by his professors and classmates. In those days at the College of Science those who secured first and second places in their examinations would immediately get jobs either in the State Government of Bombay or in the Government of India. One of Hari Prasanna’s classmates, Radhika Prasad Roy, a poor and meritorious boy, needed a job badly. Hari Prasanna knew that he would secure one of the top positions, so a few days before the final examination he said to Radhika Prasad: “Brother, the financial condition of your family is not good. If you can get one of the two top positions in the examination, you will definitely get a government job. So I have decided not to appear for the examination this year.” He was true to his word. Although Radhika Prasad did not place first or second, he remembered Hari Prasanna’s greatness all through his life.

During his years of government service he kept in close contact with his brother disciples and donated sixty rupees every month to the Ramakrishna Monastery. Sometimes the disciples visited him and stayed with him when they were sick, and he served them with loving care.

One hot summer day, while supervising the construction work of the embankment at Belur Math, Vijnanananda became thirsty. He noticed that Vivekananda was enjoying a cold drink on his upper veranda. Presently, one of Swamiji’s attendants carried a glass to him and said, “Swamiji has sent this cold drink to you.” Vijnanananda took the glass and found only a few drops at the bottom. He was disappointed and piqued by Swamiji’s practical joke. However, he drank those few drops as prasad and, strangely enough, his thirst was instantly quenched. He was dumbfounded. In the evening Vijnanananda saw Swamiji, who asked with a smile, “Did you drink the cold juice?” “Yes, I did,” replied Vijnanananda. He then described his experience after drinking it, and Swamiji was pleased.

Towards the end of his life, he was translating Valmiki’s Ramayana from Sanskrit into English, but this was left unfinished. He later said of this experience: “When I sit down to translate the Ramayana, I forget the world. I see Rama, Lakshmana, Sita, and Mahavirji in front of me.”

—–

On 8 March 1938 Vijnanananda returned to Allahabad; he continued his last task — translating the Ramayana from Sanskrit into English. Unfortunately, he could not complete it. One day he was joking with a devotee: “Do you know the meaning of the word rum? [In Bengali it sounds like Ram, i.e., Lord Ramachandra.] It is a kind of liquor. You cannot know it unless you drink it. Similarly, you cannot know the glory of God’s name unless you chant it.”91 He decided to spend his last days chanting the name of the Lord. He refused medical treatment and gradually stopped eating. From time to time he drank some mineral water, tea, or lemonade.

In Barisal he said to the devotees: “Only a few people can realize or understand God. This is not possible without purity of the heart. One should be extremely careful: Bad thoughts are like poison.”

—–

Then he mentioned the nature of the Soul, or the Atman: “The Soul is not matter. The Soul is beyond birth and death. The Soul is eternal. The individual soul is subservient to the Supreme Soul [Paramatman].”

From 1919 to 1920 he supervised the construction of the Vivekananda Temple at Belur Math. After breakfast he would go to the construction site to guide the workers until 1:00 p.m. and return again in the afternoon. He always maintained his calmness during intense activity; he was truly a karma yogi. He reminded the labourers: “Look, work carefully. You are building the temple of Lord Shiva.”

After becoming vice-president, Vijnanananda travelled widely and initiated many people. About initiation, he remarked: “When people come to me for a mantram, I take them to the Master’s shrine and introduce them to him. Afterwards the Master will do what is necessary.”

Once while at Belur Math Vijnanananda went to visit Kalighat in South Calcutta. There he had a mystical experience that he later narrated: “I was taken inside the temple. I saw and touched the Divine Mother’s image; then while I was circumambulating the deity, the Mother, out of Her infinite mercy, revealed Herself unto me. She roused my kundalini [the serpent power that resides at the base of the spine] to the sahasrara [the thousand-petalled lotus on the crown of the head] and illumined it quickly.”

On another occasion he had a vision of Lord Shiva in the Art Studio of Calcutta. He described this experience: “I went alone to the studio and saw a beautiful picture of Lord Shiva. He was in a standing posture and had matted locks and a beard. A standing portrait of Shiva is rare. I gazed at it intently and was soon filled with ecstasy. The picture became living to me, and I felt that Lord Shiva would talk to me. I still vividly remember that sweet divine mood and I feel joy whenever I think of that picture.”

Sometimes after talking about his visions he would realize that some of his audience were sceptical. He would then change the topic and speak in a lighter vein: “You see, Rakhal Maharaj and I had all sorts of visions. Both of us had little sleep at night, so we used to see all those things. You are all young Bengalis; you do not have to believe in them.” (Source: God Lived with Them)

Sometimes the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna would tease each other or have fun with the young monks to ease the rigid routine of the monastery. Once a young monk expressed a desire to give a lecture. Brahmananda arranged a meeting on the veranda and asked all monks to be present. The speaker was formally dressed and had also put on a nice turban. Then Brahmananda announced, “I propose that Swami Vijnanananda take the chair and preside over the meeting.” Immediately Vijnanananda got up and announced, “I now dissolve the meeting.” All laughed and the meeting ended.

In the early part of 1938, Dr. Carl G. Jung, the celebrated European psychologist, came to Belur Math. He asked Vijnanananda, “Did Swami Vivekananda give you the idea to build this Ramakrishna Temple?” “Yes, he did,” replied the swami. “I made the first plan based on his ideas, but he did not like it. I revised the plan a couple of times and Swamiji approved the last one.”

On 19 April a devotee came from Assam for initiation. Vijnanananda immediately initiated him while sitting in a chair. His voice and facial expression changed while initiating the devotee and no one could believe that he was on the verge of death. The swami once said, “As long as I have a little strength in my body, I shall distribute the Master’s name.” He fulfilled his promise.

Swami Vijnanananda’s life verified that God is not a myth, and that religion means the realization of God. His spiritual experiences silenced the speculation of those who only talked of religion, and removed the doubts of many agnostics and atheists. Once a prominent barrister of Calcutta said to the swami, “Maharaj, we don’t understand God; we understand money, property, and the material world.” Swami Vijnanananda listened to him with closed eyes. Then, placing his hand on his own chest, he said: “Whatever you say is true from your standpoint, but I have experienced the one pervading consciousness behind this manifested world. I have seen it with my own eyes.” The barrister was speechless.

Another time a monk asked the swami, “Do you see the Master even now?” Pointing to the picture of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vijnanananda replied: “The Master is there. He is always near me. Of course I see him, whenever it is necessary. He is guiding me.”

Share the Article with Friends and Family!

Additional menu