Brahmamurthi Sri Odia Baba (1875–1949) was a Paramahamsa—a supreme sage—firmly established in the non-dual state of Self-abidance. He was born on Bhadra Krishna Saptami of Vikram Samvat 1932, which coincided with Smartha Krishna Janmashtami, in August 1875 C.E. This year, Smartha Krishna Janmashtami falls on August 15, marking the 150th Jayanti of Baba. To commemorate the occasion, a week-long festival is being held at Sri Krishnashram, his Ashram in Vrindavan.

This blog post is a humble offering at His holy feet, on this sacred occasion of his sesquicentennial anniversary.

For over thirty years in the early 20th century, Baba lived along the banks of the Ganga, moving from place to place. One may wonder how this supreme sage of the Jnana marga came to be associated with Vrindavan, the sacred abode of Prema. In this context, I share here a few passages drawn from the writings of Maharajshree Swami Akhandananda Saraswati (from his works Pavan Prasang and Brahmamurthi Odia Baba) and Brahmachari Sivanand Anjaneya (from his biography Hamare Maharajji). Originally written in Hindi, these selections have been rendered here into English.

Here goes…

Maharajshree writes:

“Sri Odia Babaji Maharaj used to recount that when he first came to Vrindavan, he never had any particular inclination to wear ochre robes. Ever since he had given up carrying the danda (staff), there was nothing like a rule that he must wear ochre clothes. Someone had once draped a shawl over him, and wearing that same shawl, he went to meet Baba Ramakrishnadasji (a prominent saint who lived in Vrindavan, known for his deep devotion to Lord Krishna and his mastery of scriptures).

Ramakrishnadasji assumed he was some Vaishnava. As they began talking, he asked Baba: “Mahatmaji, do you give primacy to personal effort (paurusha) or to the grace of the Lord (bhagavat-kripa)?”

Babaji, being from the region of Ganga, replied: “We give primacy to personal effort — meditate and become one with the object of meditation, then you meet the Lord.”

Ramakrishnadasji looked at him intently and said: “Have you come from somewhere along the Ganga?”

Babaji replied, “Yes, Maharaj, I have come from the banks of Ganga.”

Then Ramakrishnadasji said: “Then you should go back to the Ganga’s bank and study the Upanishads thoroughly. When your work there is complete and you feel, ‘I have no duties left, no sense of doership; whatever happens is solely by the will of the Lord,’ when you have taken complete refuge — full sixteen annas — in His grace, then come to Vrindavan. Come here only when your faith in the grace of God is complete. This is not the abode of personal effort; this is the abode of divine grace.”

That was the first spark of Vrindavan. After spending several decades on the banks of the Ganga, he moved to Vrindavan in the 1930s, where Shri Krishnashram was established as his residence. His close association with Hari Baba—a staunch proponent of the Bhajana Marga—may well have influenced his decision to settle in Vrindavan.

Of his decision to move to Vrindavan, Sri Anjaneyaji writes:

“For years, Shri Maharajji had been saying, “Let us go to Vrindavan, to Goloka-dhama. There, we will take a small corner from Sri Bihariji, build an ashram, and live there.” This was, in truth, nothing other than the Vrindavan-lila dwelling in the very heart of Sri Maharajji, quietly revealing itself. Moreover, we should clearly understand that just as the planetary periods often, without our knowing, bring about the right circumstances, society, and connections, so too the lila-devi of Mahapurusha —full of wonder—brings forth astonishing plays and manifests extraordinary strength and prowess. In accordance with these divine plays, the holy abode (dhAma), the circle of lila-companions), and all that is needed also naturally come into being.

That blessed day had now arrived. When he first came to Vrindavan, the renowned saint there, Shri Ramakrishnadasji, said, “Here, on every leaf and stalk, there is Shri Krishna; what place is there here for Brahman realized chiefly through renunciation?”

But the heart-core of this Poornananda-Brahman was Shyama-Brahman (Krishna, the Absolute Reality) alone. That very essence manifested as Shri Krishnashram and as the divine play that unfolded there.”

Describing the grand and sacred inauguration festival of Sri Krishnashram, Anjaneyaji writes:

“The auspicious moment of entering this abode of Rasa took place on Basant Panchami, in the company of many saints. For the Blessed Lord has said, “’ऋतूनां कुसुमाकर: – Among the seasons, I am the flowery spring,” thus declaring spring to be His own manifestation.

The foundation of Shri Krishnashram was laid by the Gandharva-avatara Shri Gwaria Baba. This too was a clear indication that this ashram would resound and overflow with the waves of Gandharva-vidya (the celestial art of music).

Accounts of that extraordinary celebration are spoken of even to this day. In their lifetime, people had never before witnessed such a grand festival. This celebration lasted from Magha Shukla 2 to Phalguna Shukla 2 in the year 1932 CE. In addition to other programs, it also included fifteen days of uninterrupted sankirtan.

Shrimaharajji and nearly six hundred members of Pujya Hari Baba’s circle were engaged in sankirtan. Thus, in the kirtan assembly, at least a hundred people would be singing at all times. Accompanying instruments included one ghanta (bell), one nagada (kettledrum), one dholak, one harmonium, and twenty-five pairs of jhanj (cymbals). Pujya Hari Baba would lead collective sankirtan in the early morning from about four to five, at midday from eleven to twelve, and in the evening from six to seven. While leading, he would play the ghanta, dancing in various ways. At that time, hundreds of kirtankars, chanting the holy name, would fill the sky with resonant sound. Divine Bliss was there for all to loot. During these times, Shrimaharajji would stand to one side, absorbed in sahaja samadhi.

Inside the ashram, a very large pandal had been erected. There, in the mornings from eight to eleven, there would be recitation and discourse on the Shrimad Bhagavatam. From two to five in the afternoon, the program of katha and pravachan continued. At night, after the collective sankirtan, from eight until ten or eleven PM, the sacred Raaslila was performed.

In Shri Vrindavan, Raaslila programs take place at many locations, but it is the near-unanimous experience of all that the bliss found in the Raaslila at this place was unlike anywhere else. The reason lay in Shrimaharajji’s subtle infusion of divine rasa and Pujya Baba’s extraordinary steadfastness in the lila.

So many people were fed in the bhandara that, due to lack of space inside the ashram, rows had to be arranged on the streets all the way to the Dawanalkund and up to the railway line nearby. That day, about one hundred and twenty man (4.5 tonnes) of flour was baked. There was no restriction for anyone, and yet, even after feeding everyone, a large amount of food remained. It was as if the store had become inexhaustible. Even after distributing for several days, it did not diminish. At the time of farewell, everyone was given prasad to take home. Prasad was also distributed in all the schools and pathshalas of Vrindavan. Uncooked provisions were sent to the residences of Vaishnava saints.”

Maharajshree notes : Shri Maharajji took great delight in the act of feeding others. Whenever festivals or religious observances were held, large crowds would gather. Shri Maharajji was deeply attentive to ensuring that no one in that gathering remained hungry and that no one was deprived of any item. He would say, “The joy of eating is the joy of Jeeva; the joy of feeding is the joy of Ishvara.”

On Baba’s life in Sri Krishnashram, Maharajshree Swami Akhandananda Saraswati notes::

“From morning 3 AM till night 11 PM, the stream of satsangha would flow nonstop at Shri Krishna Ashram. The dignity of Raasa-Leela that was maintained in the Ashram, is remembered till today. There were all arrangements for both methods of spiritual discipline – the realization of Formless God, and that of God with form. Shri Maharajji (Odia Baba) would be personally present in all the Ashram programs. When discussions on Brahmavidya took place, it seemed that Shri Maharajji was the very embodiment of Brahman. When sankirtan happened, he would be immersed in prEma-samAdhi. When seated in the Raas, he would be absorbed in it entirely. When discourses were going on, he would relish them as the chief listener.

Even the disciples in his inner circle failed to understand the secret of what he was. Was he a Shaiva or Shaakta? Was he a worshiper of Rama or Krishna? Was he a Vedanti or what?”

Indeed, how can one define a sage who is beyond all definitions, free from every limiting identity and untouched by duality?

Śrī-Puṇyaśloka Pūrṇānanda Tīrtha Mahārājñāṁ pādāravindayoḥ praṇamāmi punaḥ punaḥ.

Bowing again and again at the lotus feet of Punyashloka Sri Poornananda Teertha Maharajji, I conclude this post with a re-share of Maharajshree’s Stava.

Click here to view ‘Sri Poornananda Teertha Stava’ on YouTube

Happy Krishna Janmashtami to all!

It is also the commencement of the 150^th Jayanti year of Odia Baba, Swami Poornananda Teertha, who was born on Krishna Janmashtami, Krithika star, Monday, Vikram Samvat 1932 – corresponding to 1875 CE.

My introduction to Baba’s Holy name and presence was through Swami Govindananda Saraswati of Vrindavan, who gifted me a copy of ‘Paavan Prasang’, the holy biography of Maharajshree Swami Akhandananda Saraswati. Maharajshree was a disciple of Odia Baba, and has composed a sublime Sanskrit hymn, titled ‘Sri Poornananda Teertha Stava’, on His Guru. I have often heard Swami Govindananda chant verses from this hymn, especially when we visited Odia Baba’s Ashram in Vrindavan. By Maharajshree’s Grace, I was blessed to gradually render this hymn into English, for my own Sadhana, over the years 2007 to 2012. The Sanskrit hymn, along wih the English rendering, were later included as part of the book Ocean of Divine Bliss – Selections from the Talks and Writings of Maharajshree Swami Akhandananda Saraswati. (Click here for my earlier blog post about this book).

In the ‘Ocean of Divine Bliss’, Swami Govindananda Ji writes:

” ‘Sri Poornananda Teertha Stava’ by Maharajshree Swami Akhandananda Saraswati shines as a crest-jewel among his compositions on the experience of the Supreme, Non-dual Truth. It is also an expression of absolute surrender to his Guru, Odia Baba Swamishree Poornananda Teertha.

Pujya Maharajshree has remarked, ‘This hymn of adoration is not solely about Odia Baba Swami Poornananda Teertha. All Sadhakas can have the darshana of their respective Sadgurus in the verses of this hymn.’

Indeed, this hymn is worthy of daily recitation, especially as the first of morning prayers, by all seekers of Jnana.“

*

Maharajshree invariably sang a verse or two from Sri Poornananda Teertha Stava at the beginning of all his discourses. His deep voice and melodious chanting would bring listeners into a state of profound silence and meditative attention.

Emboldened by the ever-present grace of Ishvara, I felt impelled to make an audio recording of the complete Sanskrit composition, which I am blessed to share on this holy day of Krishna Janmashtami and Odia Baba’s Jayanti. I have attempted to chant this in the traditional tune, as sung by Maharajshree and Swami Govindananda Ji. A short flute prelude has been added, which the flautist has set to and played in the Raaga ‘Vrindaavani’.

Click here to view ‘Sri Poornananda Teertha Stava’ on YouTube

Om Sri Poornanandaya Namo Namah!

Happy Krishna Janmashtami to all!

And now, let us take a brief look at the story of Pandit Dhanaraja, as narrated by Sri Bhagavan Das. He writes:

“What I have gathered from Pandit Dhanaraja Mishra about his life is as follows :

He was born about 1873 a. d. in the village of Belhar Kalan, Post Office Menhdawal, Tahsil  Khalilabad, District Basti, United Provinces of  Agra and Oudh, India. Ilis father was Nepal  Mishra, uncle Patiraja Mishra, and grandfather  Haragovinda Mishra. He had an elder brother,  Chandrika, who died at the age of sixteen or  seventeen. Dhanaraja  lost his eyesight from small-pox when he was  two and a half or three years of age.  

He had a phenomenal memory from his earliest childhood. When he was seven or eight years old, he could commit to memory many hundreds of shlokas in a single day. His brother Chandrika was even better endowed. The family of Dhanaraja were grammarians. His grandfather kept a kind of private school (or day-pathashala) and taught deserving vidyarthis (‘seekers of learning’, students). Dhanaraja early exhausted his family stores of modern Samskrt grammar and grew more and more dissatisfied and inquisitive.

Many Sannyasis (wandering ascetics) used to visit his grandfather. One of them was specially attracted by Dhanaraja’s wonderful memory and inquisitiveness, and told him that he should study the Maheshvariya-Vyakarana, with the Naradiya-Bhashya on it, if he wanted his grammatical difficulties solved and his curiosity satisfied. Dhanaraja was eager to learn, and the Sanyasi put him on the track. He told him the names of the Pandits and the places from whom and where he would get what he wanted.

Dhanaraja ran off from his home, accompanied and helped by a companion. His phenomenal memory, precocious intelligence, and developed inquisitiveness, were ready certificates of desert, and served as passports to the confidence of the Pandits mentioned by the Sannyasi, and he began his astonishing career of memorising.

He went from one Pandit to another, from village to village, and district to district, obtaining clues to each successive house of learning from the previously visited one, all being occupied by members of the same ancient fraternity.

(There is little doubt — as I have learnt from independent sources also— that old and valuable MSS. and great learning do exist in the country “beyond the Sharayu” forming the districts of Gorakhpur and Basti, and that there is a race of Pandits dwelling scattered over that tract, who, unlike the Pandits of most of our cities, are not forced to make of their knowledge their sole means of livelihood, but, possessing independent means, as small landowners or large cultivators, prosecute their studies amongst themselves in that right spirit of love and reverence of learning for the sake of learning which is its best and tenderest fosterer, though most unfortunately under the vow, it seems, that they will not impart their knowledge to any other than a Sharayu-parina Brahmana. We may and do regret the vow in the interests of the world at large, but I cannot but admire the principle that prompts it.)

In this way he committed to memory some hundreds of thousands, almost millions, of shloka-measures of literature (one shloka-measure being equal to thirty-two syllables) . He wandered about thus for eight or ten years, and then felt surfeited. In the course of his wanderings he seems to have heard from some Pandits, who had been tried and found wanting, about Pandit Parmeshri Das’s unanswerable questions. Here was a congenial spirit. In the spirit of the old Upanishad stories, he went to Pandit Parmeshri Das to answer his questions. What followed has already been described above…”

So, here we have a blind genius, who has more than a million verses of ancient Sanskrit works stored in his memory. Examining the question of genuineness of the treatises that Pandit Dhanaraja dictated from memory, Sri Bhagavan Das writes (in the context of the book ‘Pranava-Vada’):

“But one thing remains to be mentioned in this connexion, of which the reader would ordinarily not have an opportunity of judging, and which I therefore add here as matter of personal experience. It is this : Pandit Dhanaraja, from what I have seen of him, has no more the power of creating this work out of his own intelligence than he has of creating the solar system. He lived with me for five months. I sat in his company for many hours almost every day of these months, with one break of three weeks. And I know that he does not understand some portions of the book, which are not unintelligible to the student of theosophy…”

“Also, as collateral facts in support of the view that the Pranava-Vada existed in Pandit Dhanaraja’s memory as a completed whole, before he began dictating it to me, may be mentioned these : — Before beginning the work, I asked him what its extent was in shloka-measures, in order to calculate the total amount of time needed, and to regulate my daily routine accordingly. He unhesitatingly mentioned 16,000 shloka-measures, and my manuscript, on completion, bore out the truth of the statement. This manuscript consists of 535 pages of ruled foolscap, each page containing thirty-four lines of writing, and each line from twenty-five to thirty-two letters, or on an average twenty-eight letters, thirty-two letters making one shloka-measure. Again, from time to time, as we completed one section or chapter or part, he stated the progressive total of shloka-measures reached, and also stated beforehand the shloka-measures in the next section or chapter. All these statements have been justified by the manuscript. Moreover, when I was reading over to him the previous day’s work, he frequently made small corrections, and more than once asked me, incidentally, to refer back to such and such a place, in order to verify the consistency of the correction with a previous statement in the text, and he directed me to that previous statement by saying how far back, in approximate shloka-measures, I should refer. Also, the Author’s Preface, dictated to me after the text of the work was completed, contains a fair and orderly table of the contents of the whole…”

***

Let us leave the story of Pandit Dhanaraja here. We began this series of blog-posts with Maharajshri Swami Akhandananda Saraswati’s mention of this Pandit. And that was in the context of the meaning of ‘Om’, in his discourse on the Kathopanishad. It would perhaps be fitting to conclude this series by going back to that. And to that end, I am sharing herewith the first two paragraphs of the Sri Bhagavan Das’s Preface to his translation of the book ‘Pranava Vada’.

THE NATURE OF THE PRANAVA-VAADA

A tradition, common all over India, is that the  world is derived from Veda (which etymologically means Knowledge and which contains all knowledge whatsoever), that the essence and  source of the Veda is the Gayatri with certain  Maha Vakyas and that these, finally, are born from the Aum. Consequently the Pranava (which  is the name of the sound Aum, pronounced as  Om) is the most sacred of sounds. Such is the tradition. But what the reason for it is, is not  quite clear. The Mandukya, the Tara-Sara, and other Upanishads, the Gopatha Brahmana, and  Tantra-works give many elaborate and instructive interpretations of the three letters A, U  and M, of which this sound is made up ; but  none seems sufficient to justify such an all-comprehensive claim as is made by the  tradition.

The Pranava-Vada justifies it. It explains that A stands for the Self, U for the Not-Self and M, for the relation of negation which exists between them. It is obvious that these three factors, or rather two factors and the nexus between them, exhaust the All without leaving behind any remainder…

***

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं

The details given below have been extracted from the Preface to Sri Bhagavan Das’s English book, ‘The Pranava Vada of Gargyayana.’

Sri Bhagavan Das writes:

“I came across Pandit Dhanaraja, at the house of Pandit Parmeshri Das, a practising lawyer and pleader for Government in the Court of Wards Department, a grey-haired fellow-member of the
Theosophical Society (repeatedly mentioned in Colonel Olcott’s Old Diary Leaves) and a dear friend who has now passed away (in October 1908).”

“I took down from his mouth, systematically, for this introduction, a complete account of his experiences from the very beginning up to date, on the 25th October, 1903, when he was in Benares, on a short visit. He gave the account in Hindi, from which I put it in English.”

Pandit Parmeshri Das Narrative

I first began to take an interest in the Samskrt language in 1894, so far as I can remember, when I was about fifty years of age, after coming across an account, in a newspaper, of a lecture by Mrs. Besant, delivered in Calcutta, wherein she strongly advocated the study of Samskrt.  

My beginnings were very modest. I began, indeed, with Devanagari and the Hindi vernacular, which I did not know well, having studied Urdu and Persian at school and college. From Hindi and Devanagari I passed on to Samskrt, taking up the Bhagavad Gita begin with,  naturally, as will be easily understood.  

The difficulties I met with in properly understanding the language of the Gita compelled me to think of studying Samskrt grammar. I   went to a Shastri, teaching in a local school, and promptly got by heart the first fourteen  sutras of Panini, reported by tradition to have  been received by him direct from Shiva after  much penance and propitiation, and forming  the foundation of the rest of Panini’s grammar.  

But now arose a difficulty. The misfortune of having been a practising lawyer for over twenty years, at the time I engaged the Shastri to help me across the depths of Samskrt grammar, compelled me to ask him why there were only fourteen sutras and not fifteen or thirteen ; why there were only so many vowels and so many consonants, and not more or less; why, even amongst those that were enumerated in these aphorisms, the particular order observed had been followed, why ‘a’ preceded, and ‘I’ followed and ‘u’ succeeded, etc.

The Shastri came to a standstill. I tried to pull him along a little further; but our mutual perplexities became more and more tangled every day. I sought other help. The same results. My collection of Samskrt grammars, old and new, eastern and western, grew more and more complete. So did my discontent with them. The thing weighed on me like a nightmare. Why were there only and exactly fourteen aphorisms and forty-two (or counting also the repetition of one) forty-three letters enumerated in them, and why were they arranged in that particular order? My very sleep was affected. My daily prayers began to include a petition for help on this particular point!

Months passed. It was June of 1894, 1 believe, and I was still rubbing my eyes in bed early one morning, preparatory to getting up, when I was informed that two men had arrived at the house, one of them blind, and that they wanted to see me. Against my usual custom, I went straight from my bed to the doorway of the house. I saw two men. One was under twenty, possibly not more than eighteen, blind of both eyes, one eye sunken, the other bulging with a sightless, distorted and swollen eyeball. The other man was of almost the same age. Neither had anything else on than a loin-cloth. I asked them who they were and what they wanted.

“We want a meal and enough money to carry us to Cawnpore.”

“Are you literate?”

The blind man said: “Yes.”

“What have you studied ?”

” Samskrt. ”

“Why are you going to Cawnpore ?”

“I hope to get some work there in connection with the Arya-Samaj.”

“What emoluments ?”

“Rs. 5 or Rs. 7 mensem for a teachership.”

“Do you know the Siddhanta-Kaumudi?”

“Yes”

“All right; I will see you again; rest and eat in the meanwhile.”

The blind man gave his name as Dhanaraja and that of his companion as Chandra Bhaala.

I saw them again in the afternoon, and we had some little talk on Samskrt grammar. We met again in the evening. Then I could not wait any longer and propounded my standing difficulty.

The blind man said: “Yes, I can answer all your questions.”

“Out of your own intelligence, or from some old book?”

“From old books.” This was good news. “But,’ he added, “I have not got the books; I only know them by heart.”

A few days later, after he had settled himself in the house, I began taking down to his dictation a series of Samskrt verses, mostly in the anushtup metre. I took down about 1,500. They constituted a dialogue between Shiva and Parvati, in which the latter asked the very same questions that had been puzzling me, and the former answered them in a way that was quite satisfactory to me, at least, and at the time.

I do not now remember whether he mentioned the name of this work, hut he said that it was complete in those 1,500 couplets. He added, however, on further inquiry, that if I wanted more details on Samskrt grammar I should find them in complete fulness in the Naradiya-Bhashya on the Maheshvara-Vyakarana.”….

“My next manuscript-enterprise was more ambitious. I began writing to Dhanaraja’s dictation the Naradiya-Bhashya, which he said, extended over 60 or 62,000 couplets, all verse. I took down about 500 or 600 of these.

Then I began to question him about the Maheshvara-Vyakarana (of which the Naradiya Bhashya was said by him to be an extended commentary). He began to dictate and I to write. To the best of my recollection, he said there were 5,000 aphorisms in the work, I wrote down about a thousand…”

*

Thus proceeds Pandit Parmeshri Das’s narrative.

To be continued…

Maharajshri said:

“In our Basti district (east Uttar Pradesh), there was a Surdas (Ed.: an appellation used to refer to saintly persons who are blind). I have seen him. He claimed that all the Shastras that have existed, exist, and will come to be, are fully stored in every cell of his inner faculty. And he was totally blind…

You could ask him anything… Indeed, several books of Shastra available in the market nowadays are those that were published based on his dictations! For example, he was asked if there was any ancient Sanskrit text that dealt with ‘shastraastra’ (weapons). He said, “Yes, there is. Samaraangana Sutradhaar” (Ed. – a voluminous treatise of more than eighty chapters, attributed to Raja Bhoja, that deals with a variety of subjects, including weapons of the Gods. A treatise on the design and architecture of temples, palaces, etc., it also has descriptions of machines, including robots and aircrafts. An incredible text.) And he dictated the whole treatise from memory. In this manner, he brought to light many ancient treatises that were not known to be extant in the world… He dictated texts of lakhs of verses…

Now, you would have heard of Dr Bhagwan Das. Father of Sri Prakash, who was the State Governor, here… Dr Bhagavan Das went to the blind scholar, with a question…

[Ed.: Time, the all-swallower, conceals many a treasure. I knew nothing about Dr. Bhagwan Das, and my guess, dear reader, is that neither do you. Upon looking up the Net, I came to know that he was one of the very great Indians of the last century. Here are some details about Dr. Bhagwan Das, sourced from Wikipedia and other online sources.

Dr. Bhagwan Das was one of the great philosophers, writers, and thinkers of modern India. Having served as a deputy collector during British rule, he resigned to pursue academics. He then became associated with Dr. Annie Besant, in collaboration with whom he founded the Central Hindu College in Kashi. This institution developed in time into Banaras Hindu University. Later, he founded the Kashi Vidya Pith, a national university, and was its head for a number of years. He wrote more than 30 books, a number of them in Sanskrit and Hindi. A majority of his works concern philosophy and ancient Indian lore. He studied other religions, as well as diverse subjects like psychology and socialism. He led a life of such distinguished service and scholarship that he was bestowed the highest civilian award of India, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. One of the most prominent roads in New Delhi, in the vicinity of the Supreme Court of India, is named after him. The government also issued a postal stamp in his memory in 1969.

His son, Sri Prakash, was an Indian politician, freedom-fighter and administrator. He served as India’s first High Commissioner to Pakistan from 1947 to 1949, Governor of Assam from 1949 to 1950, Governor of Madras from 1952 to 1956 and Governor of Bombay from 1956 to 1962.]

Dr. Bhagwan Das went to the blind scholar with a question. He said, “In my view, I consider as correct that line of quest in Tattvajnana (knowledge of Absolute Reality that underlies all existence), which proceeds with the approach that ‘aham etat na’ (अहं एतत् न) – i.e., ‘I am not this.’ For, when we mix up our identity with all that exists in the world, we lose sight of our own distinctiveness (विशेषता). And when we inquire into the real nature of the Self, and proceed by negating all that we perceive with our mind and senses as ‘Neti, Neti’ (not this, not this), we realize the distinctiveness of our true Self; then, just as we did with all other objects, we negate this distinctiveness as well. (Ed.: What remains is pure consciousness, non-dual, existence-awareness-bliss.)”

“Is there any ancient treatise that specifically elucidates such a line of Self-inquiry?” asked Dr. Das.

To this question, the learned Surdas answered that in ancient times there was a book named ‘Pranava Vaada’ written by Gaargyaayana Rishi. He mentioned that it comprised several thousand verses.

At Dr. Bhagwan Das’s request, the blind scholar started to dictate the verses. It was a massive exercise, and some very learned scholars wrote it down. Dr. Bhagwan Das, Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. Ambar Das Shastri, and Mahamahopadhyaya Sir Ganganath Jha (Ed.: the great scholar who is considered to have probably translated the most Sanskrit philosophical texts into English) collaborated and wrote down the entire treatise as dictated by Surdas. Dr. Bhagwan Das then translated this book of 16,000 verses into English, and the book was published in Madras. The book also has a detailed introduction written by Dr. Bhagwan Das.

The essence of the book is that (in the Pranava, Om) अ means अहं, i.e., the Self, “I”. उ means एतत्, i.e., This. And म means ‘not’. Thus, ॐ this implies अहं एतत् न; अहं एतत् देहादिरूपं यदात्मानम् अनुभवामि तत् अहं नास्मि – i.e., I am not this; I am not this body-mind etc., that I experience my self to be.”

*

So that was the second explanation about ‘Om’, conveyed by Maharajshri. He goes on to elaborate on this and also shares many other explanations.

In this discourse of Maharajshri, I was very intrigued by the story of the blind scholar. Wanting to know more about him, I located the book by Dr Bhagwan Das, the English translation of ‘Pranava Vaada’, printed by Annie Besant in 1910 CE. A brilliant translation, spanning multiple volumes. A work of over ten years effort, it is a humongous labour of love that only a sincere, selfless scholar is capable of. In this book, he also shares some details about our Surdas.

Surdas had a name. His name was Pandit Dhanaraja.

Of him, Dr Bhagwan Das writes: “An Old-World Pandit…. Pandit Dhanaraja is blind of both eyes; he is scarcely twenty years old ; yet it is calculated that he carries in his memory a mass of Samskrita literature equal to about thirty Mahabharatas in bulk…”

Do your math. That’s around 3 million verses!

Amazing, right?

More about Pandit Dhanaraja in the next post!

The Upanishad narrates a ‘dialogue with death’ that young Nachiketa has with Yama, the Lord of Death, where Nachiketa insists on knowing the Highest Truth. In verse 1.2.15, beginning his elucidation on ‘Om’, Yama says:

After chanting this mantra in his melodious voice, Maharajshri said (in Hindi… freely rendered in English herewith):

“Now, regarding Omkara, I shall share a few concepts with you. Omkara is the essence – ‘sangrahENa braveemi, Om iti Etat’ … Sangraha implies brevity, essence. For attaining Parabrahma Paramatma (Supreme Brahman, Supreme Self), for lighting the lamp of Jnana (knowledge), for sparkling the jewel of Jnana, and for making the Sun of Jnana dawn – among all the means to attain this, the greatest is OM. Sangraha means ‘brief’. Om! Now, you cannot get briefer than that. Ekakshara – one syllable, Om. All Shastras are contained in the Veda. The whole Veda is contained in the Gayatri Mantra. And the whole Gayatri is contained in Omkara. What, then, can be greater than Omkara?

Now, some tidbits about Omkara. When we need to analyse something, we split it and study its constituents. Let us do likewise with Omkara. Om consists of A, U and Ma. Now, take all the things that are perceived in the waking state… Family, money, property, men, women, animals, birds, yajna, dharma, modes of worship, temples, coming, going, length, breadth, age etc. The things. All this that is known in the waking state… All these, and ‘That’ which is the Knower of these – the entity which cognizes these – is known as ‘A’. Consider next, the dream state. All that you see in the dreams – elephants, horses, rivers, directions, past, present, future, this, that, heaven, hell… All these and the knower of these is known as ‘U’. And next. The utterly peaceful state of deep-sleep or samadhi, when nothing at all is known, the cognizance of knowing nothing, and the one who knows nothing, is known as ‘Ma’; the one who witnesses this ‘not knowing’ is known as ‘Ma-kaara.’  These three correspond to the triads of ‘Vishwa, Taijas, Praajna’ , ‘Viraat, Hiranyagarbha, Ishwara’.  And the ‘amAtra’ (the immeasurable) that is hidden in this ‘Om’ is Atma, Self, Turiya (the fourth; the true, absolute nature of the Self), Absolute Purity, Witness, non-duality, Brahman. And in that, there is neither waking, dream, or deep-sleep; nor is it called as Vishwa, Taijas or Praajna; it is One, Non-dual, Brahman. This forms-states-triad of Vishwa, Tiajas, Praajna, and the one who identifies with these, and the entire scenery of these names, forms, states – if we gather all of these – know that the basis, witness, substratum, self-radiance, absolute-fullness, indestructible, non-duality (that is the Absolute Reality on which all this forms-states-triads are seemingly superimposed) is prayak-chaitanya abhinna brahma ((Brahman that is non-distinct from the innermost awareness, pure consciousness)… And ‘That’ Brahman is spoken of as ‘OM’.

That was one tidbit. One explanation of OM. Now, here’s another one.

In our Basti district (east Uttar Pradesh), there was a Surdas (an appellation used to refer to saintly persons who are blind). I have seen him. He claimed that all the Shastras that have existed, exist, and will come to be, are fully stored in every cell of his inner faculty. And he was totally blind…”

Thereby hangs a tale. Continued in the next post. As the modern phrase goes, ‘Subscribe and press the bell icon!’.

In this blog site, I have shared several posts about my visits to Vrindavana and about Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

Swami Akhandananda Saraswati (1911-1987) was a venerated sage of Vrindavan. Known fondly as Maharajshri, he was a shrotriya-brahmanishtta, a sadguru, an Advaitin and a total Krishna bhakta… Some months ago, my English rendering of a Hindi book that contained a collection of his writings was published. The original Hindi book, titled ‘Ananda Rasa Ratnakar’, is a ‘daily-reader’. It has a collection of 366 articles, one per day of the year, selected and edited from over 80 books of Maharajshri. The English rendering, titled ‘Ocean of Divine Bliss’, was released on 4th Dec, 2023 by revered sage Sri Karshni Guru Sharananandaji Maharaj at Ananda Vrindavan Ashram, Vrindavan. This was during the inauguration of a week-long 36th Aradhana mahotsava of Maharajshri.

For his words of great compassion about the book and the English rendering, please see from 3 hrs 36 minutes or so till end of the YouTube video, embedded below

The book is available in Amazon. Click https://www.amazon.in/Ocean-Divine-Bliss-Ananada-Rasa-Ratnakar/dp/9395056983 .

And now, the article.

The spiritual life of a sage is a great inspiration for all seekers. I am happy to share my article, ‘Experiencing God’, on the ‘Sadhana’ and God-abidance of Maharajshri Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

You can download the article below.

Adios for now, and hope to post some more soon.

Finding Shangri La is a magnificent gallery of art… The subject is mystical… The landscape is vast, mysterious, icy, ascetic… Time itself stands still… And Mahendra Singh brings it all across with skill of a Carl Sagan describing intergalactic space.

When you see the magnificent photographs spreading across the large book, you are literally transported there. You just stop and gaze. Kinnar Kailash range at sunrise, sunset at Sangla valley, icy waterfalls created by melting snow, Maitreya Buddha lording over the landscape, cave monasteries, dragon-magic murals, snow leopard on the rocks, agricultural fields in the colors of a Van-gogh painting, Bactrian camel shedding its winter coat, pashmina goat with ‘soft gold’ coat, beautiful natives of different races, lion figures and cham dance moves, mysterious manuscripts in ancient monasteries…. And so much more… This is a coffee-table picture book at its best…

And the flow of words… Mahendra Singh is as good an author, as he is a photographer. A natural story teller, he has a penchant for history, nature, wildlife, sociology, and more… Traversing time with ease, he relays a running commentary on the plate tectonic movements of a hundred million years ago, the tensions of a culture whose land cuts across different countries, the incredible story of Colonel Chhewang Rinchen, who was the youngest soldier – in the history of India – to be decorated with the Mahavir Chakra…Which he went on to win twice… The story of the ‘glacier man’ Chewang Norphel; the mysterious origins of a tribe with Caucasian features; the story of Rinchen Zangpo (958 – 1055 ) who established 108 monasteries and temples… The Kargil war memorial… And the world’s highest post-office, at 14567 feet…

Indeed, there is so much information packed in this book that you wish there was index at end. Which wish you then retract… Best to leave it just as it is… For you cannot index the valley of flowers, can you?

Buy the book…

Om mani padme hum !

Happy to share with you, my narration of the first parva of the greatest of epics… The Adi Parva of Mahabharata. 

31 Audio recordings, of around 50 minutes each..

Pl check the YouTube link to the Adi-Parva playlist below.

Also sharing a pdf that contains all the links, in one file…

May the Force of Bheema be with you ! Enjoy the epic.

Jaya!

Happy to share that my new book ‘Upadesha Saarah – Tattvabodhini’ was launched this month. The book was first released by offering it to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, by placing it at the holy shrine of Ramanasramam. The first copy was received by the Asram President, Dr Venkat S. Ramanan.

The book was then formally launched by Ramanacharanatirtha Sri Nochur Venkataraman and Sri V Ganesan, in an online function by the ‘Voice of Rishis’ channel of YouTube.

Embedding the launch video below. The video has an introductory talk by me in English, followed by talks in Tamil by Sri Nochur Venkataraman and Sri V Ganesan. The video ends with the song ‘Prapatti Ashtakam’, a composition of Sri Jagadeeshwara Shastri.

This book includes the Sanskrit treatise ‘Upadeśa Sāra’ of Ramana Maharshi, along with Tattvabodhini, a Sanskrit commentary by Atmavidyabhushanam Sri Jagadeeshwara Shastri, a great scholar of Vedanta and one of the foremost disciples of Sri Ramana Maharshi. English rendering of the treatise and commentary, along with explanations and notes, is by yours truly. Also included is a brief life-sketch of Sri Jagadeeshwara Shastri.

Books can be ordered online from http://www.eganesha.in

Or email : publications@ramanacentre.com