This is a select compilation from Swami Ranganatha-nanda'svoluminous and diverse writings on his birth anniversary by a disciple of his. Swami Ranganathananda embodied the high aspirations of scholarship from India'sgreat civilisational heritage. Blessed with deep insight into the human condition and mind and as an explorer of both personal and social predicaments of our time, he wrote as he spoke?with passion and conviction bred of lived experience and empathy with the sufferings of others. The editor admits that no selection can do justice to the Swami but it can at least offer a flavour; in any case for a real taste the reader will have to delve into the writings themselves.
Born as Shankaran Kutty in a tiny hamlet of Trikkum in Thrissur district of Kerala on December 15, 1908, he read the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna followed by the works of Swami Vivekananda that gave a new direction to his life. He joined the Mysore branch of the Ramakrishna Mission and received his final vows from the legendary Swami Shivananda after serving as his personal attendant, cook, secretary and librarian. He spent a large part of his life as India'sspiritual ambassador to other countries till his death on April 25, 2005.
He was formally initiated into sannyasa by Swami Shivananda, one of the eminent disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and the second president of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. He was an internationally acclaimed speaker and showed stirring eloquence which captivated thousands of people in India and abroad. In 1986, he was awarded the first Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.
As a gyan yogi, Swami Ranganathananda'sspiritual and intellectual quest knew no boundaries. While exploring the inner journey to human perfection and self-knowledge that liberates in the highest traditions of the Vedanta, he was equally at home exploring the predicaments of the contemporary householder, the education of children or the qualities of a good manager as also in the latest discoveries in modern science and the teachings of other religions. He consistently advocated a moving away from an obsession with ourselves and from the obsessive pursuit of our narrow self-interests to a commitment to serving others.
Swami Ranganathananda said that the Bhagwad Gita achieved the synthesis of the mystical and non-mystical religious elements of the ?Shintoistic? and ?Buddhistic? elements of all religions in a comprehensive spirituality based on the metaphysics of the Upanisads. The Gita, according to him, discovered two different manifestations of a spiritual life – one in the form of social ethics which the Gita broadly designates as dharma; the other in the form of trans-social spiritual striving, which it designates as amrita. Vedanta very aptly designates these two forms of world religions as pravrtti dharma and nivrtti dharma – religion of social action and religion of inward contemplation. Vedanta holds that every man and woman has to pass through the disciplines of these two dharmas in order to achieve spiritual fulfilment. The Upanisads describe life as a dynamic movement and use the symbol of the chariot and its horses and driver to illustrate its dynamic nature.
Swamiji said, ?Be and make??be man yourselves and help others also to become men. This should be the basis of our politics, society and education. He added that without criticising, without abusing any other organisation but just by trying to live up to Vivekananda'sideas, try to be good and do good. Swamiji repeatedly said, ?Don'tcriticise. Everybody is doing some good. But give what little you can to improve the human condition around you. Don'tcurse darkness, but bring in a little light. This is the surest way to destroy darkness.?
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