Swami Ramdas

Sri Swami Ramdas, who was known in his pre-sannyas life as Vittal Rao was born at Hosdurg, Kanhangad, North Kerala, on Thursday, the 10th April, 1884. It was a day of the full moon and it happened to be Hanuman Jayanthi, i.e., the birthday of Hanuman, the greatest devotee of Sri Rama. This happy synchronization seemed to augur very well for the great future of the child born that day to Srimati Lalita Bai and Sri Balakrishna Rao. The one remarkable thing about him, that people who saw him then observed, was the extraordinary lustre of his eyes.

Vittal was not overfond of school or books, and so he came in for a large measure of his teacher's wrath. He often played truant, but in vain did he hide himself in the bathroom or in the loft of the cow-pen, for his ubiquitous teacher was well aware of the favourite haunts of his recalcitrant pupil. His High School career too was marked by extreme indifference to studies and supreme dislike of text-books. Although he refused to be cramped by the school curriculum, he became a voracious reader and read all the books of general interest he could lay his hands upon. His taste for literature enabled him to acquire even at so early an age a remarkable facility in his English style. His intelligence even as a student was of a high order. Whatever he read once, he made his own. He was even then a good conversationalist and had inherited from his father an unequalled sense of wit and humour. He would raise roars of laughter in his listeners by the unique manner in which he related incidents from his own life or observations. The humour always lay more in the narrative of an event than in the event itself and he knew it. Whatever be the situation he was placed in for the time being, it was the lighter side of it rather than the serious one that appealed to his keen sense of the comic and the ludicrous in life.

As could be expected, Vittal lagged behind in his studies with the result that he could not get through the Matriculation examination. He then joined the school of Arts and took a course in drawing and engraving. Though his progress here was remarkable, as the future prospects that this course held out were none too bright he discontinued the course and joined the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute of Bombay and took up the Textile Engineering course. At the end of the three years' course at the VJT Institute, Vittal Rao received his diploma in Textile manufacture.

When he was employed as Spinning Master in a cotton mill at Gulbarga, he was married to Rukmabai in the year 1908 and a daughter, Ramabai was born to him in 1913.

After a chequered career of several years he finally came down to Mangalore in 1917 and joined his father-in-law in his business. It went against his grain to stoop to any of the "tricks of the trade." Inevitably this led to a clash with his father-in-law and he soon severed his connection with the business and started his own business in dyeing fabrics and printing sarees. But he was too honest to be a businessman and the financial condition of the business was drifting from bad to worse. His domestic life also was none too happy.

Throughout his life in service, brief periods of employment were followed by longer period of unemployment and idleness. Before he had hardly settled down at one place depending upon the appointment he had secured, circumstances so seemed to work up that he lost the post for no fault of his and he had once again to embark on the quest of securing some fresh means of livelihood. Thus, for him, continued domestic felicity was not to be; and the sweet pleasures of a home of his own were denied to him.

Slowly and imperceptibly external circumstances were helping Vittal Rao's spirit of dispassion gain an added strength and impetus. Every evening he spent an hour at the house of his brother, Sitaram Rao, whose children would be engaged in Bhajan before the image of Sri Krishna. During the Bhajan, Vittal Rao would lose himself in a blissful state of self-forgetfulness. It was at this time Vittal Rao started chanting the Lord's name "Ram" and the repetition of the name brought him great mental peace and joy. He kept up a ceaseless flow of the blessed name on his tongue and its humming would automatically issue from his lips even when he was at work or was walking in the streets. He gave up the night meal and other petty comforts of the body. His wife got thoroughly frightened at the strange turn her husband's life was rapidly taking now. No persuasion, appeal and protest either from her or from his child could induce him to alter the course he was now made to follow. Because he felt very strongly that he was set upon this path by that Highest Power which he was struggling to attain and realise.

At this stage his father came to him one day and gave his initiation of the holy Mantra, Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram, assuring him at the same time that if he repeated the Mantra constantly, he would be blessed with eternal happiness. This was a great moment in the life of Vittal Rao. His progress from then was quicker and so was his detachment from the world. He was preparing himself for the final plunge.

Very soon (in December 1922) he bade good-bye to his worldly life and left Mangalore. Two days later he reached Srirangam. There, after bath in the holy Cauvery, he changed his clothes to ochre, took the vows of Sannyas and assumed the name "Ramdas" (servant of Ram) as commanded by his Master Ram. Shortly afterwards he was standing in front of Sri Ramana Maharshi praying for grace. Bhagavan nodded his head as if to say that he had showered his grace on this earnest aspirant.

Now the new Swami Ramdas’ whole body trembled with emotion. On leaving the Maharshi he went to a cave in the Arunachala Hill and spent twenty days in constant chanting of Ram Nam, taking only a little rice which he himself had cooked. At the end of this period he was blessed with a new vision. He saw his beloved Ram everywhere. In that ecstasy he embraced anything and anybody he saw. He was literally God-mad. In that condition he travelled all over India visiting holy shrines and Mahatmas. A year later his wife and daughter, coming to know that he was staying in the ashram of Sri Siddharudha Swami at Hubli, went there and with permission of Sri Siddharudha Swami took him back to Mangalore. But Swami Ramdas, instead of accompanying the mother and daughter to their house, went straight to the Panch Pandav Cave at Kadri. He stayed there for over three months. The stay was very significant in that it afforded Swami Ramdas opportunity for undisturbed meditation and enabled him to get higher experiences. According to him, he first entered the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi while he was in the Panch Pandav Cave.

Again his wanderings took him many times to all parts of India and he had a large number of admirers and followers. Vivid descriptions of his itinerary as a mendicant have been written down by him in his own lucid style and published as ‘In Quest of God’ and ‘In the Vision of God’.

After a few years' wanderings he again came back to Kasaragod and started a small ashram. It was here that Mother Krishnabai first came into contact with him and after a couple of years chose to dedicate her entire life to the service of Swami Ramdas and his mission.

It was God's will that Swami Ramdas was not to continue in that little ashram long. God prompted some miscreants to create trouble which made Swami Ramdas and Mother Krishnabai, submitting to His will, leave the ashram for good. Soon after, the Anandashram in Kanhangad came up and the opening ceremony of it was done on the 15th May, 1931. Though it was started in a very humble way, the ashram has considerably expanded over the years. Anandashram has been a very powerful spiritual beacon and thousands of ardent devotees have been visiting it every year, carrying home with them the torch of light, love and service lit at the feet of the Great Master.

Swami Ramdas, whom his devotees and followers lovingly called ‘Papa’, was bubbling with joy always as the result of his realisation of God in all His aspects and the consequent opening of the floodgates of joy in his heart. He reached the heights of realisation only by taking to the chanting of the Mantra, Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram ("OM" was added by him after he got initiation of the Mantra). This constant chanting of the Mantra enabled him to remember and feel the presence of God within him and everywhere about him, to realise that the entire universe was the form of God. This naturally brought him to the absolute state of surrender, i.e., accepting that whatever happened, happened by the will of God and he finally realised his oneness with the Supreme Being. He, therefore, taught everybody, who sought advice from him, to take to the chanting of God's name constantly and submit to His will in all matters. This practice, he assured, would bring them eternal happiness. And they had no reason to doubt the authenticity of this statement because he himself was a living example of what spiritual heights Ram Nam could take an aspirant to.

Swami Ramdas and Mother Krishnabai visited many places in India at the invitation of devotees every year from 1949 to 1957. Wherever he went, Bhajan with the chanting of God's name was the main feature. He was not inclined to give long lectures though he gave short talks and answered any number of questions that were put to him on spiritual subjects. In 1954 he undertook a tour around the world where many friends from the European countries, America, Japan, Malaya, Singapore and Ceylon had the rare opportunity of meeting him and conversing with him. He wrote many books in English and started in 1993 a monthly called ‘The Vision’ to carry his message of Universal Love and Service based on cosmic vision.

The universality and largeness of his outlook can be seen from one of his frequent utterances, quoted below:

"Ramdas does not belong to any particular creed. He firmly believes that all creeds, faiths and religions are different paths which ultimately converge at the same goal. The very sight of a Mohammedan reminds him of Mohammed; of A Christian, Jesus Christ; of a Hindu, Rama, Krishna or Shiva; of a Buddhist, Buddha; of a Parsee, Zoroaster. All the great teachers of the world are from one God – the first eternal cause of all existence. Whether it be in the ‘Gita’ or the ‘Bible’ or the ‘Koran’ or the ‘Zend Avesta’, we find the same note insistently ringing, viz., self-surrender is the supreme way to liberation or salvation."

Swami Ramdas entered Mahasamadhi on the 25th July 1963 at the age of 79. Though not present in the flesh, he continues to inspire and guide his spiritual children and earnest aspirants wherever they are and his work divine goes on.