In
the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita,Lord
Krishna describes His divine glories in many ways: Among the non-moving, I am the
Himalayas; among the rivers, I am the Ganga; amongst all types of knowledge, I
am spiritual Knowledge, and so on.If the Lord had to speak in the present
context, he would have said,“Amongst sannyäsins,
I am Swami Tapovanam.” In TapovanaShatkam,
Swami Tapovanam is extolled as Brahman
and as Ishvara – Shri Soumya Kaasheesha Maheshvaraaya Tasmai Namah Swami Tapovanaaya. As Brahman,
he is indescribable,but the form that he took and the way he lived is the very
epitome of sannyäsa and tapas.
Pujya
Gurudev once told a brahmachari
studying in Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Mumbai, “The very air you are breathing is
due to the grace of Swami Tapovan Maharaj.” Gurudev always believed that the
entire work of Chinmaya Mission is nothing but the grace and glory of Swami Tapovan
Maharaj. Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda has also said that the tapas done bySwami Tapovan Maharaj forms
the very foundation of Chinmaya Mission.[1]
In
his composition Tapovana Anjali, Pujya Guruji
describes the glory of our Parama Guru Swami Tapovanam. In the very first verse,
he personifies Sannyäsa who
is searching for an abode, and not finding a befitting one, approaches the Lord. Bhagavan
gives a place to everybody; even sleep has an abode – satsanga! He tells Sannyäsa that
in the land of Kerala there is a young person who is a fit abode for him. He
could reside there and worship the young man, because he would lend glory to sannyäsa.
Right
from his birth, Swami Tapovanam lived a life of utmost dispassion and
detachment. He studied the Mandukya Karika
under Swami Hridayananda, who remarked that Tapovanji did not need initiation
into sannyäsa by anyone else; he could
embrace sannyäsa on his own. Swami
Shantyananda, who had taught him the scriptures earlier, had also told him that
he was fit for a life of renunciation. After giving it due thought, at the age
of thirty-four years, he performed the prescribed rituals of sannyäsa all alone on the banks of the river
Narmada and adopted the name Tyagananda. His ideals for taking this step were
Buddha, Vivekananda and Swami Rama Tirtha– all of whom had taken sannyäsa by themselves. As for Tapovanji Maharaj,
he was an embodiment of tyäga (renunciation),
tapas(austerity) and sannyäsa(asceticism).
In
the Gita three types of tapas are mentioned – Sharirika(physical), mänasika
(mental) and väk (speech). Swamiji practised
all the three, and all the virtues mentioned in the scriptures manifested in
his life. No wonder, as he was born on Gita Jayanti Day, with the blessings of
Mother Gita!
Shareerika Tapas: Tapas at the physical level consists of worshipping the Lord, brahmanas, the teacher and other wise men,
cultivating the qualities of purity, straightforwardness, celibacy,
non-violence etc.[2] Tapovanji Maharaj had deep devotion to Lord Siva right from his childhood and
worshipped Him regularly. He took every opportunity to visit various temples
all over the country. He would try to meet the mahätmäs in such places and have satsaìga
with them. In fact, the first half of his biography Ishwara Darshan narrates all his pilgrimages. He had not formally
studied under one particular teacher alone, but tried to obtain knowledge from
all the mahätmäs he met. Later in
life, as a realized mahatma also, he
went to the Saumyakasi temple in Uttarakasi every day, carrying water from the
Ganga for abhisheka. It was during
such visits that the Saumyakasisa Stotram
was composed. After the worship everyday, seated in the temple, he would
compose a few verses as a prayer. Thus was born the Saumyakasisa Stotram, a gist of many Upanishads.
Even
during his young days in Kerala, he used to wake up at 3 a.m. and go for long
walks every day. After praanaayaama,
he would bathe. Then he would be lost in samädhi for
long spells. This habit he continued even in Uttarakasi and Gangotri. He lived
a very straightforward and simple life. He was born in a very rich family, but never
took anything from his father except the basic necessities.After his father passed
away, he took care of the property as a trustee and discharged his duties,
educated his brother and finally handing over everything to him, went away to
the Himalayas.
After
that, he never encouraged any correspondence from his family members though he
was very compassionate by nature. When he took sannyäsa, he got his sketch prepared and sent it along with a note
to his family members, without mentioning his address. Explaining the
importance and glory of sannyäsa,
he advised them not to grieve. Till about seventeen years after he left home,
the family did not know his whereabouts. Finally, when they came to know where
he was, they expressed a wish to correspond with him. Tapovanji Maharaj replied
that they may write to him only if they had spiritual queries.
Gurudev
reminisced that Swamiji used to have only three pairs of clothes with him. Even
if gifted with an extra pair, he would give it away to somebody. His clothes
would tear because he wandered in the jungles and this would be mended
repeatedly. Sometimes his robe would be stitched up at so many places that it
looked like patchwork, rather than one single piece.[3] Sometimes,
while washing his Guru’s clothes in
the river, Gurudev would let it flow away and report that Gangaji had washed it
away. He said once, “Mother Ganga and I would conspire so that Tapovanji
Maharaj would wear a new robe.”
As
we see it even today, his kutia did
not have anything except a few books and blankets, the bare minimum. To live a
life of brahmacarya at the physical
level itself is a great strain for a beginner, and at the mental level it is
very difficult, almost impossible for many. In the earlier years, people tried
to persuade him to marry, but Tapovanji Maharaj shunned it all, and remained ‘immovable
like a mountain and majestic like the sea’.[4] He remarked
once that he would get married, and when they saw whom he married, they would
not regret it. He was married to the Lord, wedded to the life of asceticism. He
was the personification of brahmacarya; brahmani carati
iti brahmachari – his mind always revelled in Brahman.
Absolute
ahimsa or non-violence is not possible at the
physical level, but it is possible at the mental level; one can eschew all
intentions of hurting anybody. Tapovanji Maharaj maintained that as far as
possible, even sannyäsa
must be taken without hurting anybody. This was the reason why he waited till
his brother was settled in life. However, even while living in the house, after
performing his worldly duties he spent the rest of the time in sädhanä and samädhi.
Seeking solitude, he would go deep into the forests, oblivious to the dangers
therein. Thus he was very conscious and alert about practising the values of brahmacarya and ahimsä.
There
are several examples of his physical tapas
(austerity). During his last days, when he was very sick, he used to lean
back against the wall while sitting. Someone offered him a pillow and he
refused it. On further persuasion, he rested on it for a short while. But from
the next day onwards, he stopped taking the support of the wall against which
the pillow was propped up.Another instance is when on a bitterly cold day, people
were sitting around a fire for warmth and asked Tapovanji Maharaj to join them.
But he did not go near it as he considered even that a sense pleasure. Imagine
his concept of sense pleasure and compare it with our definition of it!
Swami
Sundarananda, who served him in his last few years, once asked Maharaj for 25paise to
buy salt. Maharaj retorted, “Namak khäne ke liye
sädhu
bane ho kyä?(Have you taken sannyäsa
to eat salt?) He wanted him to curb his sense of taste. In fact, before eating,
sädhus used to tie the food in a cloth and dip
it in the Gangaji to remove all the spices and flavour. This was done to
develop control over the taste.
Even
when his health was deteriorating in the last few years, Tapovanji Maharaj would
not visit a doctor. He would not show undue concern for the body, knowing well
that it is perishable by nature. In his final days, when he was very sick, Gurudev
requested him to come to Delhi for treatment. But Tapovanji Maharaj refused, posing
a question, “Don’t people die in Delhi?”Further, he said,“The Himalayas are so
peaceful. I have lived here all my life. Why should I not leave my body here?”He
explained patiently that after all, Lord Death had waited for 68 years for him
to finish his work. Now it was time to meet Him.
Many
of us think that the intellectual exercise of contemplation is a tapas by itself and there is no need for
any other physical tapas. But
Tapovanji Maharaj lived a life of physical, as well as mental austerity. He
never allowed the body to dictate terms. He undertook the arduous pilgrimage to
Kailas twice. The King of Nepal offered all facilities, but he chose to travel with
the minimum basic resources, often walking barefoot and at times going without
food. The yäträ was so strenuous that
he wondered at many points whether the body would survive. Once he was out in
the snow for a full night, and finding himself alive the next morning, he felt
there was some purpose which the Lord wanted to fulfil through his body, because
of which he had survived. As seekers, we should also try to do some tapas. Only when there is physical tapas, tamas can be destroyed. And tamas
– ignorance – is the cause of our sorrow. Tamas
is expressed in the form of laziness,
indulgence, lethargy etc.
Once
Tapovanji Maharaj came to the Himalayas, he never went back to the plains. He
would remain in Uttarakasi, Gangotri, Gomukh, and beyond that in Tapovan and
Nandanvan. In the earlier days, he used to come down to Rishikesh, but stopped it
later when the place started drawing crowds.
When
he embraced sannyäsa, alone on the banks
of river Narmada, there was no one to offer him bhikshä. He went to the place where the poor were fed, for his first
bhikshä. Till his glory was known, there were
times when he was turned away and rebuked, and on some days he went without a bhikshä. But he would be peaceful. He suffered
diseases, but the mind never came down to the body level. He slept only for
three or four hours. For him sleep was also an obstacle to sädhanä. This
was the level of his Shaaririka tapas.
Väk Tapas: There is a tapas of speech also – väk tapas.In the Gita it is said that one should speak words which do not cause
agitation; our words should not hurt anyone, they should be true, pleasing and
beneficial –anudvegakaram väkyam, satyam priyahitam ca yat.[5] Once
a few brahmins came to meet his Guru Swami Shantyananda. At that time Tapovanji
Maharaj was known as Chidvilasa, a name conferred on him fondly by Swami
Shantyananda. The brahmins, in the
course of their conversation, contended that being a non-brahmin he was not entitled to sannyäsa.
Tapovanji Maharaj explained to them with the permission of his Guru that a mind desirous of seeking the
Truth, wanting to know God alone, is surely entitled to be called a brahmin. He explained the qualities of a
brahmin with reference to the
scriptures. The brahmins then argued
that he had not studied the Sästras in the traditional way. This would
set a wrong example in society. Tapovanji Maharaj agreed very humbly that he
had not studied in the prescribed manner, but had come to Swami Shantyananda exactly
for that purpose.
The
second yäträ to Mount Kailas was
undertaken with a well-equipped group of sädhus.
On the way, some merchants from Bhutan joined them. In those days, the yäträs were very dangerous, as people would be
attacked by dacoits and robbed of their belongings. One such thief from a gang
spied on them and found that the merchants were carrying some valuables. He struck
up a conversation with Tapovanji Maharaj, understanding him to be a genuine sadhu with no possessions. Maharaj invited him to take a seat and treated him in a
very friendly way. Before long, the robber was converted into a devotee. He
convinced the leader of his gang that Tapovanji Maharaj and his group were not
ordinary yätrés. They were great mahätmäs and should not be disturbed. Thus Tapovanji
Maharaj was able to avert the danger for the whole group because he could deal
with the situation without any kind of fear and speak to the thief in a way
that was both pleasing and beneficial.
The
above-mentioned verse from the Gita continues
to detail the austerity of speech thus: svädhyäyäbhysanam caiva
– practice of the study of the scriptures is also called vaangmaya tapas. The essence of this practice is
the remembrance of the Lord at all times. In his book ‘Guidance from the Guru’, which is a set of letters to a householder
couple, Maharaj advises repeatedly,“Don’t stop taking the name of the Lord.
Begin the day with the Lord’s name and at the end of the day take the Lord’s
name. Keep repeating the Lord’s name.” And he practiced it himself. Gurudev has
said, “Out of purity and silence come words of power.” In Tapovanji Maharaj’s
life we can see that very clearly.
Tapovanji
Maharaj has written about an experience in his pürväshrama,
when he was known by the name ‘Subramaniam’. During a pilgrimage to the
important temples in the South, he went to Arunachala also. He climbed up to
the cave where Ramana Maharshi lived. He had taken along some bananas and kept
them in front of Bhagavan who was sitting there peacefully. Ramana Maharshi
smiled at him and then for the next hour both of them sat quietly. Slowly, the
monkeys came and took away the bananas. No words were exchanged; there was
complete silence, yet there was total communion between them.
Tapovanji
Maharaj had complete control over speech and never entertained worldly
conversation. Gurudev used to recall that Tapovanji Maharaj would advise people not
to waste their time in worldly talk,but to engage themselves in contemplation
on Brahman. This was one of the
reasons why many disciples could not stay with him for long.
Gurudev
narrated an incident about a devotee who brought his rebellious son to Tapovanji
Maharaj. The young boy wore clothes of the latest fashion and sat in front of
him. Tapovanji Maharaj started talking with him about the latest films and
actors,about his hobbies and friends. After befriending the youngster thus,
while he was leaving, Tapovanji told him very gently to go for a walk every
morning for fifteen minutes,then sit quietly for five minutes and then
sleep again if he wished to. After a year, the boy came back – this time wearing
traditional clothes and holy ashes on the forehead. He prostrated to Tapovan
Maharaj. What a transformation after just one meeting with Tapovanji Maharaj!
This was the power of his speech and tapas.
Gurudev
writes that Tapovanji Maharaj would not entertain too much discussion even on Vedanta. His only advice was: “Go and
meditate.” He had once asked Gurudev, “Why do you need peace to contemplate?
Contemplate where you are, right in the middle of all the disturbances.”
Mänasika Tapas: The Gita says that serenity of mind, good-heartedness, silence,
self-control, purity of nature – these are said to constitute mental austerity.[6] All
these were found in abundant measure in Swami Tapovan Maharaj. He was always
calm, peaceful and cheerful. The Gita also
states that a cheerful mind makes the intellect sharp. This is essential for
scriptural study and contemplation on the Truth. This state of peace is
attained through karma yoga and prasäda buddhi – accepting everything as His
grace.
Tapovanji
Maharaj’s life is a beautiful example in the balanced combination of karma, upäsanä and jïäna.
The first thirty-four years of his life were spent in karma yoga, fulfilling his duties. He educated his brother and set
him up in life. He edited a magazine and wrote articles for general edification.
He did his upäsanä (spiritual
practices) regularly and always remembered that whatever came his way was by
the grace of the Lord. His mind was always steady (sthairyam). Right from childhood, he was steadfast in holding on to
the thoughts of renunciation and austerity and lived accordingly. He never ever
thought that the world could give any pleasure.
He
faced many obstacles,but remained steady, as his mind was filled with viveka (discrimination) and vairägya (dispassion). In Ishwara Darshan he has said that the mind will be tempted and the
only way to handle it is through constant discrimination and dispassion. We
cannot take it for granted that the mind will become steady and never fall
again. Because of past tendencies, there will be ups and downs. The only way is
the continuous practice of viveka and
vairägya. In his case,because of the merits of
his previous lives, the mind was steady in the thoughts of the Lord.
Tapovan
Maharaj had complete control over his mind (ätma-vinigrahaù), which
had become extremely single-pointed because of the constant disciplining. And
he expected the same quality of mind from his students. One day, while he was
taking a class, a crow sitting on a nearby tree started crowing loudly. Immediately
a student looked up at it. Maharaj responded, “The class is over. Such
inattentive students can’t learn Vedanta.”The
scriptures declare that if one listens to this knowledge with complete
single-pointedness, one can realize the Truth here and now. Hence his
insistence on the mental concentration of students.
Tapovanji
Maharaj had such purity of mind (bhäva-samshuddhi)
that merely by looking at a bird in flight or a tree swaying in the wind, he
would go into a trance. In the introduction to the book ‘Wandering in the Himalayas’, Gurudev writes:
“Swamiji
once stopped in the middle of a walk to point out to me a spot in the distant
sky where the golden colour had suddenly changed, in a mighty stroke of
inscrutable inspirations, into a blue splash! On another occasion he cried, ‘Why
can’t man see the Divinity behind that mad Painter who has painted this
inspired beauty?’ In a thousand such instances he always directed my attention
to see: a tiny crab returning to its hide-out or a spider weaving its web,
sometimes the mighty pines whispering to each other, sometimes the majestic
peaks of the snow-capped mountains divinely glistening above the lower hills. But
alas, immature, unpoetic, and intellectually sophisticated as I was then, I
must have sadly disappointed him.But I knew what he had felt, for I had watched
him as he stood dissolved in divine harmony with Nature. At such inspired moments,
an unearthly tranquility used to descend around him.”
Tapovanji’s
purity of mind was such that he knew many things intuitively. Once, during his
stay in Badrinath, where many learned people used to have satsaìga with him, one Swami Krishnamacharya expressed his intention
to go on a yäträ to Kailas.
Intuitively Tapovanji Maharaj understood that it was not good for him to go and
tried his best to dissuade him, but to no avail. So the Swamiji left and within
a few days the news reached them that he was attacked and killed by robbers on
the way.
Once
he came down from Gangotri to Uttarkasi fifteen days before his scheduled date.
People wondered at his decision. But in the next 3-4 days there was very heavy
rain and the cave in which Tapovanji Maharaj had stayed in Gangotri was wrecked
by the rocks and boulders that came crashing down.
A
pure mind does not mean it is dry and incapable of affection or the finer
emotions. Tapovanji Maharaj had so much affection for Gurudev that at times he
would wait for him to come. One day the students had gathered, but he would not
begin the class.When asked why, he replied, “My disciple is yet to come.”And
Gurudev arrived within a short while.
Gurudev
used to say that pure mind is Brahman
itself. The Upanishads say that a
mind not bound to sense objects is a pure mind. We have to make an effort to be
free of attachment to objects and cultivate purity of mind; in his case such a
question did not arise because he was purity itself!
Conclusion
Such
was the tapas of Swami Tapovan
Maharaj at the levels of body, speech and mind. His intellect was constantly engaged
in contemplation upon Brahman. Once
Gurudev saw a sädhu standing in the
Ganges the whole day, facing the sun and offering worship. He told Tapovanji
Maharaj about this and remarked that he would not be able to do that kind of tapas. Maharaj replied that the sädhu would not be able to do the kind of tapas and contemplation that Gurudev
did. It seems that he told Gurudev to go and find out from that man the reason
for his tapas. To his surprise, he
discovered that the man’s motive was to become the headman of his village so
that he could marry the girl he loved! To Tapovanji Maharaj, tapas meant constant contemplation on
the Truth.
In
the Gita it is said that one whois
not tempted by any sense objects, who does not have a restless urge to work and
does not think that the source of happiness lies outside, is eligible for sannyäsa. Tapovanji Maharaj fulfilled all these
conditions. It is said that he was once offered the headship, to become the mahant of Brahmananda Ashram. But
Tapovanji Maharaj declined very politely, saying that he did not have the bent
of mind for any administrative work. He wanted to contemplate and revel in the
glory of the Lord constantly. In fact, the Gita declares
that action, if done in the right spirit and dropped at the right time, can
liberate us. Tapovanji Maharaj did both – for thirty-four years he lived the
life of a karmayogi fulfilling his
duties and then dropped it effortlessly, never to take it up again. He had no illusions
of imaginary pleasures in the world.
Though
he had taken sannyäsa by himself,
when people insisted that he should get formal initiation from a Guru to keep up the tradition and set an
example, he respected their opinion and accepted sannyäsa dékñä from Swami Janardana Giri of Kailas Ashram and
was given the name Swami Tapovanam.
He
was a great sannyäsi, who lived in this
body referred to as a city of nine gates, with the attitude that ‘I am neither
the doer nor do I cause any action’ – navadväre pure
dehé naiva
kurvan na kärayan.[7] Tapovanji
Maharaj’s life was a crowning glory to the sannyäsa äshrama.
Swami
Sundarananda says that in his last days, many mahätmäs came to see him. They were curious to see how a jévan-mukta leaves the body. On the final
day, Tapovanji Maharaj got up at 3 o’clock. Swami Sundarananda brought coffee
for him. He took two sips of coffee and gave it back. He said, “Isvar ko dhanyaväd ho. Ab main
chaltä hün.
(God be praised. Now I will leave.)” And consciously he exited the body the way
it has been described in the eighth chapter of the Gita. He went silently, while all the people were sleeping.
Tapovanji
Maharaj actually came to the world as a sannyäsé,
lived as a sannyäsé and left the world as
a sannyäsé. During this tenure,
he underwent the formality of sannyäsa dékshä.
We are fortunate to be in the lineage of such a great master.We should pray to
have atleast a small part of his vairägya and
knowledge seep into us.
Swami
Sivananda said of him, “He is verily a tapovanam
-- not a wild vanam or jungle
with the rough growth of dry austerity and cynical seclusion. He is rather a upavanam full of the fragrance of the
flowering of Vedanta and filled with
the fruits of his mature realization. It is an upavanam where countless bees in the form of seekers, sädhakas and sannyäsés crowd to drink the honey of true wisdom. “
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