Today is the day Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati, one of the greatest exponents of Advaita Vedanta in the 20th century attained mahasamadhi 10 years ago.
It was on 16th September 2015 that I met him for the last time, when he blessed me and asked me to work hard “Bharat Ke Liye” he said.
My first one-on-one meeting with him was back in 2010. He encouraged me to be a passionate social entrepreneur. For five years I used to meet him regularly and talk about advancing Advaita globally. He always lovingly indulged my naive questions. He also took me on the Board of one of his Trusts.
I also had the opportunity to celebrate my 50th Birthday at the Anaikatti ashram. We had a private lunch with him after the homam at the Dakshinamurthy temple. At the end of the lunch he genuinely thanked me for choosing to spend my milestone birthday with him !
Some important lessons that I learnt from Pujya Swamiji, which I have embodied and which reflect in my work at INDICA, are:
A. Importance of advancing authentic teaching and also providing a structure
B. Tradition must adapt to changing times and we should not be prisoners of the same.
C. Focus on training teachers and allow them to do their own thing to find their path.
Let me elaborate.
He pioneered the systematising of the teachings of Advaita Vedanta into a 3-year course with a specified syllabus and method of unfolding this wisdom. Starting the first course at Sandeepany, Mumbai, he went on to teach several such courses over the course of his life at different locations. He trained more than 300 teachers who carry on the teachings of Adi Shankracharya in a form that it was intended to be disseminated.
Our tradition did not allow for women to become sannyasis. He was the first to ordain several women as sannyasis. In other words, he adapted the tradition to the changing times.
He did not seek to build a holding-subsidiary kind of relationship with his disciple-students who completed their 3-year course. He allowed them to blossom on their own and, should they choose, they could remain loosely affiliated with their parent organisation. This structure is very unique and resonates with me very strongly. He focussed on instilling the teachings and allowing Ishvara to play its role.
I initiated a memorial lecture back in 2019 and could only continue for two more years. I sought to get a very high-profile disciple of his for the fourth year but was unable to do so. Since then, for no specific reason, I was unable to organise his memorial talks in the subsequent years. A great failing of mine.
I remember him with gratitude and reverence. He was a modern day Rishi, who laid a strong foundation for a spiritual Bharat. He also identified and mentored the political leadership that you see today. In other words he left his legacy both spiritually and politically.
If you are a student of Vedanta, do remember him today.
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