Thursday, January 30, 2014


 

Swami Ranganathananda
Born
Shankaran Kutty
(1908-12-15)15 December 1908
Thrissur, Kerala, India
Died
25 April 2005(2005-04-25) (aged 96)
Belur Math near Kolkata
Guru
Swami Shivananda
Philosophy
Vedanta

Swami Ranganathananda (December 15, 1908 – April 25, 2005), born Shankaran Kutty, was a Hindu monk of the Ramakrishna Math order. He served as the 13th president of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission.[1]

Contents

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Biography[edit]

Ranganathananda was born in December 15, 1908 in a village called Trikkur near Trichur, in Kerala.[2] As teenager, he was attracted by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna and joined the Mysore centre of Ramakrishna Order as a Brahmachari in 1926.[2][3] He served the Mysore Centre for 9 years and was under Swami Siddheswarananda and another 3 years under him in the Bangalore centre. He was initiated as a Sannyasi (monk) in 1933, on the 100th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda's birth by Swami Shivananda, a direct disciple of Ramakrishna. Between 1939 and 1942, he served as the secretary and librarian at the Rangoon branch of Ramakrishna Mission.

He then served as the president of the Karachi centre of Math from 1942 to 1948 until the partition of India, after which the mission found it difficult to continue its activities at Karachi.[4][5] At Karachi, L.K. Advani came in contact with the Swami and used to listen to his discourses on the Bhagavad Gita.[5] Advani said that Ranganathananda was a "great influence" during his formative years. According to Advani, at Karachi, Mohammed Ali Jinnah had once listened to Ranganathananda's lecture on Islam and Prophet Mohammed and remarked, "Now I know how a true Muslim should be."[4][6]

From 1949 to 1962, he served as a secretary at the Delhi centre. Then from 1962 to 1967, he served as the Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata, director of School of Humanistic & Cultural studies, editor of mission's monthly. The swamiji became president of the Hyderabad branch in 1973, where he developed Vivekananda Vani School of Languages, a temple, library and delivered spiritual discourses.[7] He was elected to the post of vice-president of Ramakrishna Math and Mission in 1988.[2][7] In 1998 he was elected as the president of the mission.[8]


Ranganathananda was chosen by the Indian government for Padma Vibhushan award in 2000. He declined the Padma Vibhushan as it was conferred on him in his individual capacity and not for the Mission. He accepted the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in 1987 and the Gandhi Peace Prize in February 1999 as both were conferred on the Ramakrishna Mission.[2][9][10]


Since his residence in Bangalore in the 1930s, Ranganathananda has been a popular teacher and lecturer on Indian spiritual culture. By the mid-1950s he was known within India as an authority on practical Vedanta.[2] Since the 1960s he made nearly annual lecture tours to Western Europe, the United States, Australia, and Singapore. He also lectured in Iran and in the Soviet union.[2] Ranganathananda is noted for this contributions that bridges Western science and Vedantic spirituality.[2][11][12]


Raganathananda lived the last days of his life in the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission at Belur in West Bengal. He died at Woodlands Medical Centre, Kolkata, at 3:51 p.m. on Monday, 25 April 2005, owing to cardiac arrest. He was 96. His mortal remains were kept for darshan at Belur Math (near Kolkata) on that day, and were consigned to flames at 12.30 p.m. on 26 April 2005. India Post released a postage stamp in the denomination of Rs 5 to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of Swami Ranganathananda, during December 2008 at Kolkata.[13][14]


Ranganathananda was regarded a great scholar and teacher.[10][15][16] He has authored over 50 books. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan has published around twenty-nine of these books.[10] His famous book includes Eternal Values for a Changing Society and commentaries on the messages of the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads.[15][17] He was known as a good orator.[17] His weekly classes and public lectures were popular among the followers. Ganapathy, a correspondent of The Hindu writes that "In all his lectures, Swami Ranganathananda had stressed on the philosophy of eternal religion, a practical Vedanta, which teaches universal acceptance". Ranganathananda conducted moral and religious classes for the prisoners in the Bangalore and Mysore jails. In Delhi, Swami Ranganathananda organised social services at hospitals and worked for the relief of leprosy patients.[15] Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh described Swami Ranganathananda and Swami Vivekananda as "leaders with a modern mind and scientific temper."[18]

Quotations[edit]

  • "Are you growing spiritually? Can you love others? Can you feel oneness with others? Have you peace within yourself? and do you radiate it around you? That is called spiritual growth, which is stimulated by meditation inwardly, and by work done in a spirit of service outwardly."
  • "I am not alone in the world. . .We belong to a world. . .The vast world is around us. We cannot do without it. We cannot become human without a human world around us. How much we owe to the world of other human beings around us!"[19]
  • "Efficiency and energy comes from emotion, not from intellectual knowledge, which can only direct that emotional energy. But the real impulse comes from emotion. It makes you work at your best."[20]
  • "So, work hard; perform all duties; develop yourself; then come and surrender to the highest. Do a whole day's honest work, then sit and meditate; then resign yourself to God. Otherwise, that meditation has no meaning or value. Meditation at the end of a lazy day has no meaning; but the same at the end of an active day, filled with good deeds, has meaning, and is rewarding."[21]
  • "How can we find joy in work? By working for oneself? No; it is not possible to find that continuous joy in work through selfish motivations. Frustration and ennui are the end of all selfish motivations. Frustrations and nervous breakdowns are the end of a self-centred life. The first advice of modern psychiatry to such people is to get out of this prison of self-centredness, and to find a genuine interest in other people. Everyone has to learn the lesson some day that, the best way to be happy is to strive to make others happy. So wherever you find frustration, you will always discover that the person concerned had been too self-centred, and the only hope for him is through learning to take interest in other people, to find joy in the joy of other people. This is the royal path that makes for health, for strength, for efficiency. This great truth---universal and human---we should apply to the world and to our life in it."[22]
  • The great new mantra today is "Work" and 'Hard Work'; along with Hard Work, intelligent work co-operative team work. All great undertakings are product of team work. We can meet the challenge of freedom only when we have learnt this character-efficiency involved in team work, and intelligent hard work. This is the philosophy which we have to learn consciously, not unconsciously, somehow stumbling into it.[23]
  • Work from ego point of view is all tension. But behind ego, there is an infinite spiritual dimension. When that is realised even a little, then extra work won't make one feel that it is heavy. Even ordinary experiences will tell you: Whenever there is love in the heart, the worker doesn't feel heavy. When there is no love in the heart, even a little work makes one feel very heavy. As soon as you have love for a particular cause, you can do anything; do hard work, but have a spirit of detachment based on a larger love.
  • Work is no work at all. It is a question of agency and attachment. When these two are not there, work ceases to be work, it becomes a play, it becomes spontaneous, and it becomes natural. When you become thoroughly detached, then all that tension goes away. You are working, but you don't feel that you are working. What a beautiful idea!"[24]
  • Work is drudgery; Sri Krishna will not allow that attitude. There is joy in work also. Do not abandon work; go on doing work; but, mentally renouncing all actions. It is a wonderful state of mind-working, and yet not working.
  • Those who work, work with a zest and with joy and in work, learn calmness and the serenity of the human mind and heart; what a wonderful joy it is to work in such a way!
  • When science insists on studying things from the point of view of the objects themselves by eliminating the personal equation, it is in effect, emphasising the sakshi-bhava or sakshi point of view (witness attitude); for, the limited and circumscribed vision of the ego gives place to the unlimited and universal vision of the sakshi, by the practice of scientific or intellectual detachment.[25]
  • The endeavours and conclusions of the sense-bound intellect can not be the last word in man’s search for truth. An intellectual approach to truth will end only in agnosticism; and often in cynicism. But the whole being of man seeks to experience truth, to realise it. … This rising above rationalism to direct experience and realisation, this growth of man from the sensate to the super-sensual dimension, is the special message of Indian spiritual tradition.[26]
  • Mysticism, studied seriously, challenges basic tenets of Western Cultures: a) the primacy of reason and intellect; b) the separate, individual nature of man; c) the linear organisation of time. Great mystics, like our own great scientists, envision the world as being larger than those tenets, as transcending our traditional views.[27]

Notes and references[edit]

1.       Jump up ^ "Ranganathananda birth centenary to be held today". The Hindu. 14 December 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2009.

2.       ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Ranganathananda & Elva Linnéa Nelson 1991, p. xiv

3.       Jump up ^ Siddheswarananda; William Buchanan (1998). "Letter of Appreciation". Hindu thought and carmelite mysticism. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 13. ISBN 978-81-208-1510-0. Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)

4.       ^ Jump up to: a b Staff Reporter (3 September 2007). "Advani calls for spiritual renaissance". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 May 2009.

5.       ^ Jump up to: a b Venkatesan, V. (Volume 22 - Issue 13, 18 Jun – 1 July 2005). "Image and reality". Frontline. Retrieved 22 May 2009. Check date values in: |date= (help)

6.       Jump up ^ "Blogger Advani defends Jinnah comment, again". Screen. 10 January 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009. [dead link]

7.       ^ Jump up to: a b "Swami Ranganathananda’s birth centenary celebrated". The Hindu. 15 December 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2009.

8.       Jump up ^ "National Events in September 1998". The Hindu. September 1998. Retrieved 22 May 2009. [dead link]

9.       Jump up ^ Venkatesan, V. (Volume 17 - Issue 03, 5–18 Feb 2000). "Republic Day honours". Frontline. Retrieved 27 May 2009. Check date values in: |date= (help)[dead link]

10.    ^ Jump up to: a b c "Ranganathananda kept alive spirit of Vivekananda's legacy". Chennai: The Hindu. 30 May 2005. Retrieved 22 May 2009.

11.    Jump up ^ Menon, Sangeetha (2006). "Saints, Science, and Spiritual Quest". In Philip Clayton, Zachary R. Simpson. The Oxford handbook of religion and science. Oxford University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-19-927927-2.

12.    Jump up ^ Indian Science Congress Association (2003). The Shaping of Indian Science: 1948-1981. Orient Blackswan. p. 936. ISBN 978-81-7371-433-7.

13.    Jump up ^ "Seminar & stamp to mark monk centenary". The Telegraph. 13 December 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2009.

14.    Jump up ^ "Stamps 2008". India Post. Retrieved 27 May 2009. [dead link]

15.    ^ Jump up to: a b c Ganapathy, T. N. (3 June 2005). "He empowered through discourses". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 May 2009.

16.    Jump up ^ Special Correspondent (27 April 2005). "Kalam, Manmohan condole Ranganathananda's death". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 May 2009.

17.    ^ Jump up to: a b Saradesāya, Manohararāya (2000). A history of Konkani literature. Sahitya Akademi. pp. 315–316. ISBN 978-81-7201-664-7.

18.    Jump up ^ "Liberal view of the outside world is vital: Manmohan". The Hindu. 4 March 2007. Retrieved 22 May 2009.

19.    Jump up ^ Universal message of the Bhagavad-Gita 1. p. 178.

20.    Jump up ^ Universal message of the Bhagavad-Gita 2. p. 412.

21.    Jump up ^ Eternal Values for a Changing Society 1. p. 379.

22.    Jump up ^ Eternal Values for a Changing Society 4. pp. 150–151.

23.    Jump up ^ Eternal Values for a Changing Society 4. p. 331.

24.    Jump up ^ Universal message of the Bhagavad-Gita 1. p. 431.

25.    Jump up ^ Eternal Values for A Changing Society 1. p. 106.

26.    Jump up ^ Eternal Values for A Changing Society 2. p. 326.

27.    Jump up ^ Eternal Values for A Changing Society 1. p. 437.

Bibliography[edit]


  1. Philosophy & Spirituality
  2. Great Spiritual teachers
  3. Education for Human Excellence
  4. Democracy for Total Human Fulfillment

  • Ranganathananda, Swami (1971). The message of Upanishads. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. ASIN B000GSMRE8.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (1974). A pilgrim looks at the World (Vol. I & II). Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. ISBN 978-0-85655-463-6.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (1990). Swami Vivekananda and Human Excellence. Advaita Ashrama. ASIN B000KB3U2E.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (1991). Vivekananda : his Humanism. Advaita Ashrama. ASIN B001JJGEOM.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (1978). Science and Religion. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-7025-0062-6.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (2004). The essence of Indian Culture. Advaita Ashrama. ISBN 978-81-85301-17-4.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (1997). An introduction to the study of Gita. Advaita Ashrama. ISBN 978-81-85301-11-2.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami. The charm and power of the Upanishads.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami. Bhagawan Buddha and our heritage.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (1969). The Christ we adore. Ramakrishna Mission Inst.of Culture. ISBN 978-0-7025-0159-3.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (1996). Practical Vedanta and the Science of values. Advaita Ashrama. ISBN 978-81-7505-052-5.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami. The Indian vision of God as Mother.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (2004). Essence of Indian Culture. Advaita Ashrama. ISBN 978-81-85301-17-4.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (1998). The approach to Truth in Vedanta. Advaita Ashrama. Unknown parameter |adin= ignored (help)
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (1996). Democratic administration in the light of Practical Vedanta. Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math. p. 277. ISBN 978-81-7120-724-4.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (2000). Universal message of Bhagavad Gita (vol I to III). Advaita Ashrama. ISBN 978-81-7505-213-0.
  • Ranganathananda, Swami (2005). Message of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Advaita Ashrama. p. 740. ISBN 978-81-7505-267-3

Swami Ranganathananda - a monk with a mission


by Swami Sunirmalananda
A great monk passed away on April 25 2005. India lost a great son. "Mother Saraswati will dance on your tongue," was the blessing of Swami Akhandananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, to this monk. And the blessing became true. A true disciple of Swami Shivananda of the Ramakrishna order, Swami Ranganathananda became the head of this holy order like his own guru and led a movement of spirituality from the forefront till his passing away.
"They alone live who live for others. The rest are more dead than alive," declared Swami Vivekananda. In Swami Ranganathananda one could find an example of those who lived only for others. Here was a complete personality. But such personalities aren't widely known. Our print and electronic medias usually pay little attention to spiritual greatness. Yet great men never stop serving the world. Thus we had a personality, who was totally dedicated to working silently for the good of the humanity.
It was not so long ago. We were in Bangalore. Swami Ranganathananda, then in his seventies, arrived at Ramakrishna Ashrama Bangalore, to deliver a series of lectures.
With him, came a small "tiffin box", which could contain food enough for a Kindergarten child. When he arrived in Bangalore, it was late at night. He entered the Ashrama, and after exchanging greetings, sat on a bench, and ate from his little box. All along his life he suffered from digestion problems. Put in simple language, he could hardly digest anything.
Anyone else would have broken down and remained bedridden for long. But not Swami Ranganathananda. In spite of such a debilitating health problem, he was always strong and steady, and ready to serve. Even in his nineties he walked straight, with the gait of a lion.
Wherever he went, he delivered discourses on numerous topics and inspired people. And what grand lectures they were! One day he spoke on Srimad Bhagavata, a well-known Purana, for instance, in Bangalore Ashrama. In about two hours of a thrilling lecture, he taught the audience the essence of the whole of Bhagavata.
There was no place to sit in that big ashrama - thousands were listening enraptured. Such was his erudition. Apart from scholarship, his heart was always panting to serve the poor and the needy. After the lecture, someone came to talk to the Swamiji. That man said he had been suffering from severe blood pressure and other health problems because he was not receiving his pension for the past five years. Immediately, the swami phoned some official, discussed the problem, and the matter was settled then and there.
Between 1946 and 1972, Swami Ranganathananda travelled to over fifty countries of the world, alone, without much help, and totally depending on God and what chance might bring. He as the spiritual ambassador of India to the West. He pierced through the Iron Curtain, he faced the Second World War, he has seen communal violence at its worst, and he endured hardships by the hundred. How many interesting anecdotes he had!
There are interesting incidents to show how even cold countries had seekers of Vedantic knowledge, and when Swami Ranganathananda spoke, hundreds heard him with awe and wonder. It was because of his inspiration that several centres of the Ramakrishna order sprang up in different parts of the world.
Since his childhood, the Swami was a great student. Though he did not have much of secular learning, he was a miracle of God because of his immense scholarship. He was an embodiment of learning. He had studied Sanskrit and English, and Vedas, Gita, Indian and Western philosophy, comparative religion and so on, very deeply. The swami could deliver lectures in several languages and speak in many more.
A senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order, who had travelled with Swami Ranganathananda once, reported that Ranganathananda never wasted a single moment in his life. Whether it was in train or bus or flight, he would continue reading, making notes, thus utilising his time fruitfully. He had a huge collection of personal books, all of them having been read thoroughly, and highlighted with his delightful observations. He has furnished several libraries by gifting his personal books. And being a monk of the great order of Sri Ramakrishna, Ranganathananda was naturally enough a deep spiritual aspirant too.
The combined force of spiritually and philosophical wisdom par excellence made Swami Ranganathananda a fit instrument to embark upon a mission: that of spreading the glorious message of the ancient sages of India to the world. India's mission was his mission.
The mission of Vivekananda was his mission - that of awakening the world to spirituality. It was thus that he became the spiritual ambassador of India to the West, moving from country to country, meeting people, speaking about the glories of Vedanta, solving problems by the hundreds, and inspiring one and all to lead lives of enlightenment.
Whether it was the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavata, Ramayana, modern scientific knowledge, social developmental ideas, or any such subject, Swami Ranganathananda would deliver master discourses, which would touch the hearts of the listeners and inspire them to lead wonderful lives.
As a Sanskrit couplet says, 'vidvan sarvatra pujyate'. This sage of learning and enlightenment was indeed venerated everywhere. People in far off countries like Brazil remember with gratitude the inspiration that they received from this swami as long back as 1967.
It is said that during his days as Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi, stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru would squat on the lawns of the Missions to listen to his enthralling discourses. Swami Ranganathananda had admirers from all walks of life. It is a well-known statement that Swami Ranganathananda knew only to make friends, and never to lose any.
Apart from being a world-renowned speaker, the swami was also a great writer. Among his greatest works are the message of the Upanishads, 'A Pilgrim Looks at World' (2 vols), 'Bhagvad Gita', 'Brihadaranyaka Upanishad', 'Spiritual Life of the Householder', and so on.
His books have been translated into many languages, and millions of copies have been sold out. These apart, the swami was also a great administrator. He worked as secretary and librarian at the Ramakrishna Mission Centre at Rangoon from 1939 to 1942 and thereafter as head of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in Karachi from 1942 to 1948, then as head of New Delhi Center till 1962, was Secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture in Kolkata for several years, and headed the Hyderabad centre for 30 long years.
He was one of the members of the Board of Trustees of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission for over forty years. Wherever he served, he built that ashrama into a great center of learning and spirituality. New Delhi and Hyderabad centers, for instance, stand as living examples of this statement.
When India became politically free, he was in Karachi, as head of the Ramakrishna Mission centre there. Partition painfully halted the progress of the Vedanta activities in Karachi, and the Missions had to be closed down. The swamis there had to come back to India under stressful conditions.
All the same, Swami Ranganathananda managed to collect a huge quantity of rice and send it to the impoverished masses. During his lifetime, Swami Ranganathananda helped countless individuals and organisations in every way.
During his long tenure as Vice-President of the order and then as the President, Swami Ranganathananda inspired thousands of spiritual seekers to lead spiritual lives. He was a great admirer of Swami Vivekananda, and had read his 8 volume complete works at least 75 times! His disliked weakness and sorrowful faces. Even till the age of about 80 years he could be seen playing volleyball. Such was his spirit. A true sannyasin that he was, he shunned awards and accolades, though deserving much more than they wanted to give him.
Swami Ranganathananda thus embodied the ancient and eternal Indian spirit of a harmonious combination of physical vitality and mental strength, deep intellectuality and spiritual dynamism, intense practicality and profound idealism. Such persons are born not always on this earth.
India alone can produce such sons who become living demonstrations of spiritual vitality combined with down-to-earth practicality. Swami Ranganathananda, as everyone knows, was a gift of Kerala to the world, in which state he was born on 15 December 1908. He lived every moment of his 96 years on earth, breathing life into everyone he met till the end.
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