Blessings of power
Swami Akhandanandaji, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and a spiritual dynamo, was in charge of our ashrama in Sargachhi. When young Swami Ranganathanandaji was in-charge of the Students’ Home in Bangalore Ashrama, he once went to Belur Math and visited Sargachhi to seek Swami Akhandanandaji’s blessings. After offering his pranams he said, “Maharaj, I am in charge of so many young men in the hostel. They want to hear from me about Swami Vivekananda, Holy Mother and Thakur. Please bless me so that I can speak to them effectively.” Swami Akhandanandaji blessed him from his heart saying, “Yes, you will certainly speak to them, you will certainly speak to them.”
By the power of this blessings, Swami Ranganathanandaji became as it were, an honorary ambassador of Indian culture and went around the world spreading the message of Swami Vivekananda in particular and Ramakrishna Mission in general. People would be charmed by his speech and remain spellbound forgetting time for one whole hour. He has spoken in almost all the important universities in America and in many universities in India, receiving appreciation from eminent intellectuals. I myself experienced his powerful spiritual presence while staying with him for several years. That was the power imparted by Swami Akhandanandaji. The then Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, President Dr. S Radhakrishnan and others were his great admirers.
— Swami Gautamananda
Sangha is everything
In 1972 summer, Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj was resting in our Kankhal Ashrama. He had just come back from the West after delivering Convocation Addresses at Moscow and Princeton University. Luckily I happened to be at the Kankhal Ashrama then. One day after noon prasad I was in his room; he was lying on his bed. I started massaging his feet, and said, “Maharaj, would you mind if I ask a question?” Maharaj simply replied, “Ask”.
So, I asked, “Maharaj, now you have become so big, are you in need of the Sangha’s support any more?” Immediately, Maharaj sprang up and said, “What are you saying? Without Sangha I am a zero.”
When he was elected as the President of the Sangha, one day at 3:00 P.M. while walking in Belur Math campus, he said, “At Belur Math I feel, I am a PPTC brahmachari—so rich is the magnitude of spirituality here.”
Interestingly, from a month before his mahasamadhi, Maharaj used to say, “I will again come back as a brahmachari and serve Guru Maharaj.”
— Swami Suhitananda
Service and inner peace
At Belur Math, one day some doctors came to Maharaj to seek his blessings. They were leaving on a short trip to nearby villages to conduct medical camps and serve the villagers. On knowing the reason for their visit, Maharaj smiled and asked, “Why do you need my blessings. Any work done in the form of service is in itself a blessing.”
I was surprised. Maharaj would generously bless everyone; but to these doctors who were going out for such a noble cause, why was he refusing to give his blessing?! Sensing my curiosity, Maharaj said, “Why does anyone need blessings? It is for inner peace. This peace does not fall from the sky or cannot be found beneath the earth. It is inside us. Any kind of service brings out joy, that is a blessing.”
We all go to the temple to worship the murti there which is a living presence of the Lord. But we should not neglect God in his incarnation as living human beings. He who is there in the temple is also present in our heart as the inner Self. So, our worship should not stop at the temple. We should on coming out of the temple, worship God residing in all living beings. This message is straight from the life of Sri Ramakrishna, who taught us to see God with eyes closed in meditation and see Him with eyes open in our daily life. Therefore, the service of the common man in those remote villages and worship of God inside the temple are not two different things, but form one integral part of inner peace.
— Swami Asimatmananda
Preparation to serve the Lord in man
It was sometime during 1988-89. Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj had come to Belur Math and was staying in the ground floor of Trustees’ Building located behind the main temple at the Math. I was at that time in the Probationers’ Training Centre, a centre where brahmacharis of the Ramakrishna Order undergo training for two years. I was in the second year. Whenever we used to get an opportunity, it was customary for some of us to visit Maharaj and listen to him speaking.
One day we 3-5 bramacharis entered his room after the noon – prasad. Maharaj was reclining on his cot and there were two young sadhus and one brahmachari standing beside Maharaj’s cot and talking to him. One of the younger swamis asked if Sri Ramakrishna’s idea of Shiva jnanae jiva seva can be really practised, and what was Maharaj’s guidance in this matter. Maharaj listened carefully and after a pause simply got up from his reclining position and sat on his bed and pointing out with his hand to a calendar on the wall which had a picture of Neelakanta Shiva — Shiva with blue neck — said. “Do you see the picture of Nanjunda Shiva on the calendar there. Nanjunda means one who could take the poison and in return give nectar.” Explaining further Maharaj said “If you want to really practice Shiva jnanae jiva seva you have to be like that Nanjunda Shiva. You have to take all the difficulties, ridicules, and obstacles and in return you must be able to give only love and something good to the person and the people, considering them as the embodiment of Lord Shiva and serve them. However, this is not as easy as we talk. We need to seriously reflect over the concept of divinity of man and practice it in our day to day life.”
— Swami Muktidananda
Mangoes and Atma-vikas
Once, Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj visited our Narendrapur Ashrama and spoke about his experiences in the West to the students and teachers in our college. The same evening, he was to speak before a gathering of our school students from the Bengali section. I was eager to know how he would talk about the Atman to such small children and how he could cross the language barrier. He spoke in Bengali – Hindi mixed language.
Maharaj narrated the story of children playing and a man coming with a basket of mangoes to the outhouse. He called one of the boys and told him to eat a mango. The boy took the mango, cleaned it, cut it to pieces, ate it all by himself and rushed back to join the game. The man then called another boy and told him to eat the mango. But this boy was different. He cleaned all the mangoes, cut them to pieces, took it out running towards the boys who were playing and told them, here are mangoes, let us eat these and then play. Maharaj stopped and asked who had atmavikas. The idea of atma-vikas was thus imprinted on the minds of the young boys. This was the amazing ability to raise or lower himself to the level of the hearers.
— Swami Satyapriyananda
Sri Ramakrishna’s Will
After my two years’ training at the Training Centre for brahmacharis, I had the opportunity to serve Swami Ranganathanandaji as one of his sevaks. One day, while having lunch, he was talking about the exodus from Burma when because of political turmoil, all Indians had to leave that country. Then, one of his devotees, who happened to be a government official had come to meet Maharaj with the offer that he could arrange for him an air ticket to India. Without a moment’s hesitation, Maharaj asked him if he could arrange tickets for all the people with him. When the official demurred, Maharaj told him that he preferred to walk back to Calcutta with the rest of the evacuees. Hearing this, I asked, “Maharaj, were you not afraid of such a perilous journey?” Maharaj looked at me and said, “Fear? I thought if Sri Ramakrishna wants to save me, then nothing can kill me; and if he wants to kill me, nobody can save me.” Such was his tremendous faith in Sri Ramakrishna. (Similar incident: Tyaga immortalised)
— Swami Satyaprabhananda
The joy of Atman
That Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj’s mind was always glued to the thought of AtmanBrahman can be known through the following incident. Sometime in 1987, he came to Delhi Ashrama to receive the first Indira Gandhi National Integration Award and deliver his Acceptance Speech. It was evening and he was proceeding towards the waiting vehicle to go to Vijnan Bhavan, the venue of the programme. A young volunteer, unaware of the fact that revered Maharaj was in hurry, came forward to offer his pranams right on the pathway near his room. As was his practice, revered Maharaj stood still, aligned his both feet, as if ready to receive the pranams (which he always did as a mark of respecting the Divine present in those who touched his feet) and graciously accepted the young man’s pranams. After touching his feet, the young man said to revered Maharaj with a smile on his face, ‘Pranams, Maharaj.’ Looking at his smiling face, Maharaj spontaneously remarked, ‘Ah, the joy of Atman is on your face!’ Seeing a sparkle of Atman everywhere! This unexpected remark left a deep impression on the youth’s mind.
Swami Ranganathanandaji found in even trivial events the idea of the all-pervading and joyful nature of man — Atman.
— Swami Atmashraddhananda
Constructive bombs
I was in-charge of the sales section at the Hyderabad Math. One day Ranganathanandaji Maharaj said, “I am going to a college to give a lecture. Be ready at 4 P.M. You will have to arrange a book stall there.” I replied, “Today is a holiday for our book-stall. No worker or volunteer is available. How can I manage all alone?” Maharaj said, “Why? I am there. I can ask some students to help you. See, if they only listen to my lecture, they will soon forget what I told them; but if they purchase books it will remain with them. Somebody else will also read the books in their house. Swamiji’s literature is like a time-bomb. If not today, at some time in the future, they will explode. These bombs are not destructive; they are constructive bombs.”
Whenever and wherever he went to give a talk, Maharaj always carried books with him and at the end of the lecture he would speak about the importance of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature.
— Swami Shrikantananda
Pinpricks in life
It was in the year 1989. Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj had contracted Pulmonary Tuberculosis and was recuperating at Arogya Bhavan, Belur Math. His blood sugar levels were fluctuating. Br. (Dr) Devendra Maharaj (Late Swami Varishthananda) and I had gone to Maharaj to check his blood sugar with Glucometer. We told him “Maharaj, we are going to check your blood glucose. We are going to prick your finger a little with this needle. It will be a little prick and it will not hurt you.”
Though not in sound health then, Maharaj replied humorously, “My boys, go ahead and prick as you like. I have had so many pinpricks in my life. I was not perturbed by them at all.” After we finished our work, Maharaj said, “Criticisms are like these pinpricks. We must learn to take criticism in the right spirit and move ahead. We must not be cowed down by these pinpricks of criticism.” A very important lesson for some of us who become very sensitive and just cannot take criticism.
— Swami Satyeshananda
Lesson in self-dependence
When we were in the Training Centre for Brahmacharis at Belur Math, I was given the responsibility of escorting Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj, then the President of our Order, to the Training Centre. Maharaj was walking and I was holding the umbrella over his head. I had been cautioned again and again that under no circumstances should I allow Maharaj to hold the umbrella since it would surely cause severe pain in his hand. When we were taking a rightward turn in front of Sri Ramakrishna’s Temple, Maharaj became conscious of my holding the umbrella over his head. He immediately held the handle of the umbrella with his left hand and emphatically said, “Leave it, leave it. Why should you hold it over my head? I am quite accustomed to holding an umbrella.” I tried my best to resist him, but he finally almost snatched the umbrella out of my hand and continued walking as before – as if giving me the message, ‘So long as I am capable of doing my own business, why should I unnecessarily take the help of others?’
— Swami Tattwasarananda
Don’t find faults
Many times some sadhus and even devotees would criticise others in front of Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj. Sometimes they also complained to him. Maharaj solved this problem very tactfully. On a cardboard, he got printed Holy Mother’s last message and hung it on the wall of the dining hall. After the Bramharpanam Brahma Havi mantra, all the diners also repeated that saying in one voice: “If you want peace of mind do not find fault with others; rather see your own faults. Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child, the whole world is your own.” After this message was put up, within no time everybody stopped complaining to Maharaj and tried to give up the habit of fault-finding.
— Swami Shrikantananda
Priorities
It was the late 50’s of the last century. Guwahati Ramakrishna Seva Samity (presently Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama) was located in the Chhatribari area of the city, with the temple in a make-shift structure. At that time, it was still a private Ashrama. It was decided by the Committee members and devotees to construct a new temple for Sri Ramakrishna. My father was responsible to find donors for the project. Sri Ramesh Saraswati, Commisioner Guwahati Municipality, agreed to donate a good amount for the temple. Another gentleman, Sri Muralidhar Saraf, a businessman by profession, agreed to sponsor the boundary wall.
Swami Ranganathanandaji was scheduled to visit Shillong. The Committee planned to invite Maharaj to lay the foundation stone for the temple on his return journey from Shillong. When on his way to Shillong, Maharaj stopped in Guwahati overnight, he was informed of the plans. He then came and saw the current temple, the home for the poor and orphan students, and the bathroom and kitchen of the Ashrama. He was saddened to see the very poor plight of these facilities. He agreed with the plans for the boundary wall, but was not at all happy about the idea of constructing a new temple. To everyone’s surprise he said the temple should not be built now. He advised the Committee members that the first thing they ought to construct was a toilet; second drinking water facility and bathroom; third, a good kitchen; fourth, a students’ home; and if money permitted, a dispensary should also be built. Only after all these were ready, they should think about constructing a new temple! He said, the makeshift temple was far better than the poor condition in which Sri Ramakrishna used to stay at Kamarpukur. As a very young boy, I had the privilege to be present when Maharaj gave this wise counsel.
When the donor came to know about this, he was heartbroken that his money would be used to build a bathroom and kitchen. So, he was brought to meet Ranganathananda Maharaj. Maharaj convinced him with his sweet words about how when building a home, we first built kitchens and bathrooms, and rooms for our kids, before building the temple or puja room. Sri Rameshji, was not very thrilled, but still he agreed to donate the money for the construction of these facilities.
This is how the boundary wall and the bathrooms and student home of the Ashrama were built. The temple at Chhatribari was built much later. In 1968, Belur Math took over the Ashrama. In 1988, when the Temple was shifted to the new campus in the Ulubari area, the old temple was restructured into an outdoor hospital, which at present is a very active hub for patients from the low-income group. Thus the final dispensary idea of Ranganathananda Maharaj too became a reality.
— Sri Ajoy Kr. Dutta
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