Swami Chinmayananda Ji was not just one of the greatest saints of the 20th century, but a towering spiritual giant, a social reformer, a missionary, a freedom fighter, and a Vedantic teacher of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Geeta par excellence. He brought about an unprecedented awakening, a renaissance in Hinduism. The Upanishads were a hidden treasure for most of the Hindus till they were simplified and unravelled to the educated English speaking elite of the world. He appeared on the scene when India was still ruled by the British, and the colonial impact of mental slavery was so strong on Indian minds, that almost all Indians wanted to ape the west as they were made to believe that they were uncultured uncivilised people and anything and everything British was worth graduating to.
Born in a highly placed aristocratic family, with a post-graduation degree in English and Law, he first joined The National Herald as a brilliant young journalist in Lucknow. Possessed with an extremely sharp mind and a questioning intellect, he rebelled against all unexplained, seemingly illogical traditions and ritualistic practices of Hinduism. His fiery young mind was restless and refused to practise seemingly meaningless pujas, japas, and havans etc. He found a certain intellectual honesty in atheistic thought. In his own words to me, he once said, “I used to write regularly against Hinduism. Some of the most vitriolic attacks on Hinduism have been made by me.” So, as a journalist, he reached Shivanand Ashram in Rishikesh and even told Swami Shivanandaji that he had come to do an expose on the ashrams and Swamis, and “how they keep up the bluff among the masses.” Swamiji invited him to stay at the ashram, watch all the activities closely so that he can uncover the “inside story”. So, while working on the ‘inside story’ for his paper, the ‘outsider ‘ became a true ‘ insider’. The ordinary journalist, Bal Krishna Menon, slowly evolved into the world revered saint Swami Chinmayananda. He taught tirelessly for decades even while his body had to have oxygen support, he worked for a renaissance in Hinduism. He opened the eyes of Hindus to Hinduism. He infused new meaning in Hindu thought, that was sustainable, logical, and easily comprehensible. Thus, acceptable to modern man, helping him to rise, evolve, and then help others to lift themselves out of centuries of inferiority, and slavish thought. He helped so many people to pull themselves out of the dense darkness of ignorance into the life endowing light of our scriptures.
His contribution to the world of modern spiritual thought is profound yet highly practical. His advice was always in sync with the Geeta teachings. “Roll up your sleeves and work hard in the world…. the lord loves the smell of sweat.”
This unique sanyasi taught by example, working and teaching tirelessly till the last. A few months before his Maha Samadhi (leaving his body) he was very sick in Bombay. The doctors advised him not to speak at all and get admitted to the best Bombay hospital. Gurudev was ready to conduct a camp of 600 youngsters in a remote village in Sidhabari, a small hamlet of Himachal, where there was barely any medical aid. When the doctors warned him that the trip to Himachal could prove to be fatal, he shot back, “ Why? Does no one die in Bombay?” Nothing happened to him in Sidhabari, where he took two talks a day on the Geeta. After the talk, he used to be wheelchaired off the stage with oxygen clamped on him. After about a month, he gave up his body in the USA, in one of their specialised hospitals under the care of a renowned heart surgeon. Even with his last breath, he taught: The body will fall when and where it has to!
Prarthna Saran is the President of Delhi Chinmaya Mission.