Book Reviews Swami Swahananda A Profile in Greatness
The Vedanta Kesari
42
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Published by Advaita Ashrama, 5 Dehi Entally Road, Kolkata 700 014. Email: mail@ advaitaashrama.org. 2018, paperback, pp.231, Rs.80.
wami Swahananda was born on June 29, 1921 in Habiganj, in what is now Bangladesh. His father, Nirmal Chandra Goswami, had received initiation from the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi in 1908. Thus, a great spiritual atmosphere was part of the family and his early life. Later, as a senior sannyasi of the Ramakrishna Order, he was the spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of Southern California from 1976 to 2012. It was here that the writer of this book Malay Das, a medical doctor by profession, first encountered this great sadhu. In the Preface the writer says that, for all his inexperience in spiritual life, he could see straightaway that he was in the presence of someone remarkable and rare. ‘He radiated purity and compassion…’ This meeting was in the spring of 1995, just a month after the author’s father had passed away. Submerged in grief, he was feeling rudderless when he got a vision of his parents. In the vision, they assured him that all would be well. Both of them were no strangers to Sri Ramakrishna, having been initiated by Swami Nirvanananda; this vision motivated Dr. Das and his whole family to visit the Hollywood centre. After this first visit, drawn by Swahanandaji’s spiritual benevolence, Dr. Das became a regular
visitor to the Centre and in turn Swahanandaji graced Dr. Das’ home on several occasions over the next few years. In the guru-shishya relationship that developed between them, Dr. Das’s perspectives on life underwent a change and this book is a description of this relationship with a sense of awe, reverence, and filial adoration. Incidents and meetings are recounted with precision and care for detail to illustrate Swami Swahananda’s great compassion and love for everyone around him and the consideration he displayed even when seriously ill with cardiac and neurological problems. Dr. Das’ clinical training is evident: passages of intense concern are followed by the clear thinking that an attending doctor must possess. In other parts of the book, the writer brings out the training Swami Swahananda gave him and the manner in which he liberated him from promises he had made to himself which had become impediments to spiritual progress. Every action whether temporal or spiritual or however small is important to Dr. Das. Far away from their home country, both Swami Swahanandaji and Dr. Das and his family recreate a very special bond that exists between a guru and his sishya - paternal concern and authority from the one, obedience and reverence
PA G E D O N O R : S R I A J AY R A N A , G U R G A O N
August 2021
by Malay Das
