Brahmananda Saraswati (20 December 1870 - 20 May 1953) was the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, a revered spiritual title in India, from 1941 to 1953.[1]
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Early life
Brahmananda Saraswati was born into a Brahmin family in the village of Gana, near Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, India. He was called Rajaram in his younger days and was also known as Maha Yogiraj.[2]
At the age of nine, Rajaram left his home unannounced to follow a spiritual path of renunciation but was soon after returned to his parents by a policeman.[3] Upon returning home, he asked his parents for their permission to leave home and begin the life of a recluse. His parents wanted him to marry and live the life of a householder and asked their family guru, or panditji, to convince Rajaram to forget his dream of a recluse life. However, the family guru was so impressed with Rajaram's advanced state of wisdom and spiritual evolution, that he gave up any attempts to change the boy's mind. The parents then also acquiesced and gave their permission for Rajaram to leave. Two days later, Rajaram formally renounced his family life and left his boyhood home in search of solitude in the Himalayas.[3]
Rajaram traveled by foot to the town of Haridwar and then on to Rishikesh, the gateway to the Himalayas. Here he began the search for a suitable guru or spiritual master.[3] Rajaram met with many wise sages, but none of them met his requirements of life long celibacy and an intimate knowledge and experience of the Vedas.[3]
Five years later at the age of fourteen, in a village in Uttar Kashi, Rajaram found his chosen Master and became a disciple of Dandi Swami Krishnanand Saraswati.[3][4] At that time, Rajaram was given the name of Brahma Chaitanya Brahmachari. He then became the favorite disciple in his master's ashram and, according his master's instructions, he retired to a cave, resolving not to emerge until he had attained enlightenment.
Adult life
At the age of twenty-five (25), having achieved his goal, the Brahmachari emerged from his cave and permanently rejoined his Master at his ashram.[3]
In 1904, at the age of thirty-six (36) Brahmachari was initiated into the order of "Sannyas" by his Master at the great Indian celebration called Kumbh Mela.[5] At that time, Brahmachari was formally ordained in the ascetic order and given the name Shri Swami Brahmanand Saraswati Maharaj.[3]
Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math
In 1941, at the age of 70, after repeated requests and decades of meditation and living alone in silence in the forests and mountains of India, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati accepted the position of Shankaracharya (spiritual leader) of Jyotir Math, a position that had been vacant for about 150 years.[2][3]
The Adi Shankara (c. 8th century CE), the great reviver of Vedic Sanatana Dharma, had set up four principal seats of learning in India.[3] Shankara's four principal disciples, Padma-Pada, Hasta-Malaka, Vartika-Kara and Trotaka were assigned to these four learning centers in the north, south, east and west of India, with the Jyotir Math learning center in the north being the most highly regarded of the four.[1]
On various occasions Brahmananda Saraswati was visited by public figures such as Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the president of India and philosopher Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, who succeeded Prasad as President of India.[2][6] In 1950, President Radhakrishnan addressed Brahmananda Saraswati as Vedanta Incarnate (the embodiment of truth).[2][6]
Disciples
Shantananda Swamiji Maharaj
Five months before his death in 1953, Brahmananda Sarawsati had created a will naming one of his disciples, Shri Swami Shantananda Swamiji Maharaj as his successor.[7]
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi became a devotee of Brahmananda Saraswati shortly before Brahmanda Saraswati was installed as Shankaracharya in 1941. The Maharishi later became the Shankaracharya's personal assistant. The Maharishi wrote a essay on Brahmananda Sarawsati, whom he revered as Guru Dev (greatest teacher), saying: "In the English Language, his devotees felt that the expression "His Holiness" did not adequately describe this personified Divine Effulgence; and so the new expression "His Divinity" was used. With such unique adoration of newer and fuller grandeur, transcending the glories of the expression of antiquity, was worshiped the holy name of Guru Deva, the living expression of Upanishadic Reality, the embodiment of the transcendent Divinity." This essay was included later in the 1955 book Beacon Light of the Himalayas.[8]
Devotees of the Maharishi also respect and revere Brahmananda Saraswati as their "Guru Dev" and as an outstanding representative of the Vedic tradition. It is in recognition of Guru Dev as the modern custodian of the Vedic tradition that a puja ceremony is performed by the Transcendental Meditation teacher during personal instruction. An explanation of the purpose of the TM puja ceremony, the Sanskrit text of the ceremony, and its English translation was written and published by the Maharishi in the pamphlet, The Holy Tradition.[9] The court in Malnak v Yogi, quoting and citing The Holy Tradition, found that this ceremony involved the making of offerings to a "deified" Guru Dev.[9][10][11]
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in his farewell message on January 11, 2008, announced the establishment of the Brahmananda Saraswati Trust, named in honor of his teacher, to support large groups totaling more than 30,000 peace-creating Vedic Pandits in perpetuity across India.[12]
References
- ^ a b Love and God, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Age of Enlightenment Press, 1973 p. 9
- ^ a b c d Love and God, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Age of Enlightenment Press, 1973 p. 5-9
- ^ a b c d e f g h i The Whole Thing the Real Thing, Prem C. Pasricha, Delhi Photo Company, 1977 p. 59
- ^ Love and God, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Age of Enlightenment Press, 1973 p. 6
- ^ 'The Life & Teachings of 'Guru Dev' Paul Mason
- ^ a b The Whole Thing the Real Thing, Prem C. Pasricha, Delhi Photo Company, 1977 p. 68
- ^ The Whole Thing the Real Thing, Prem C. Pasricha, Delhi Photo Company, 1977 p. 71
- ^ Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh, Beacon Light of the Himalyas 1955, p. 65.
- ^ a b Malnak v Yogi, 440 F.Supp. 1284 (D.N.J.1977)
- ^ http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/592/592.F2d.197.78-1882.78-1568.html Malnak v. Yogi, 592 F.2d 197, 203 (3rd Cir., 1979)
- ^ Rosenblum, Nancy L., Obligations of Citizenship and Demands of Faith: Religious Accommodation in Pluralist Democracies Princeton University Press (2000)ISBN 069100708X, 9780691007083 p. 210
- ^ Maharishi's Obit
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