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SWAMI MUKTANANDA

Life

Swami Muktananda, fondly referred to as Baba Muktananda, exemplified the importance of ‘Guru Bhakti’ and its vital role in spiritual advancement. His monumental exposition on ‘Guru Bhakti’ is a valuable reference for all seekers: “The devotee, by concentrating his heart and mind on the beloved Guru, gradually comes to see ‘him’ in all living beings and then, sees ‘him’ pervading the entire Universe. This brings about an attitude of surrender and love and finally the experience of Absolute Non-duality. This one-pointed concentration on the Guru takes considerable discipline and steadfastness. However, ‘Guru Bhakti’ is not ‘roses all the way’. The true devotee, accepting all as the Grace of Guru, finds equal delight in the thorns as well as the rose petals. Ultimately, faith in the Guru is the master-key to unlock the boundless treasure of Eternal Bliss. My Gurudev, Bhagavan Nityananda used to say, ‘There is no greater God than ‘faith’ !”

Swami Muktananda was born in 1908 near Mangalore in Karnataka, in a prosperous family. His name was Krishna Rau. At a very young age of 15 years, Krishna Rau met Bhagavan Nityananda, a wandering avadhoota (a naked sadhu) who profoundly changed his life. Krishna Rau left home and began his search for the experience of God. He studied under Siddharudha Swami at Hubli, where he learned Sanskrit, Vedanta and all branches of Yoga. He took sannyasa in the Sarasvati order of the Dasanami Sampradaya. He was given the name : “Swami Muktananda”, meaning, ‘the one ever dwelling in the Bliss of Liberation’. Mataji Krishna Bai was initially spiritually guided by Siddharudha Swami. A number of great persons of that time had received powerful guidance from this Saint of Hubli. The Mahasamadhi of Siddharudha Swami, made Swami Muktananda wander in India -- walking and staying with many Sages and Saints.

After more than 20 years of search -- throughout the length and breadth of India -- in 1947 Muktananda went to Ganeshpuri to get the darshan of Bhagawan Nityananda, the Saint whom he had met, when he was in his teens. Bhagawan Nityananda gave Swami Muktananda the Shaktipat initiation in the early hours of 15th August 1947. Muktananda often said that his spiritual journey didn't truly begin until he received Shaktipat from Bhagawan Nityananda. About his profound and sublime experience, Baba Muktananda said :

“Bhagawan Nityananda stood facing me directly. He looked into my eyes deeply. Watching carefully, I saw a ray of light entering me from his pupils. It felt hot like burning fever. Its light was dazzling, like that of a high-powered bulb. As that ray emanating from Bhagawan Nityananda's pupils penetrated mine, I was thrilled with amazement, joy, and fear. I was beholding its color and chanting ‘Guru Om’. It was a full unbroken beam of divine radiance. Its color kept changing from molten gold to saffron to a shade deeper than the blue of a shining star. I stood utterly transfixed. He sat down and said in his aphoristic fashion, "All mantras... one. Each..from “Om”. Om Namah Sivaya Om... should think, Sivo'ham, I am Siva... Siva-Siva...Sivo'ham...should be internal repetition. Internal...superior to external.”

Swami Muktananda spent the next nine years meditating in a little hut in Yeola. He wrote about his sadhana and kundalini-related meditation experiences, in his autobiography : “GURU - Play of Consciousness ”. In 1956, Bhagawan Nityananda acknowledged the culmination of Muktananda's spiritual journey, and gave him a small piece of land at Ganeshpuri, instructing Muktananda to create an Ashram there.

Between 1970 and 1981, Swami Muktananda went on three World tours, establishing a number of ‘Siddha Yoga Ashrams’ and six hundred Meditation Centers, spread over many countries. Swami Muktananda became very popular as a “Shaktipat Guru”, since ‘Kundalini’ awakening occurred so very easily in his presence,

His ‘Siddha Yoga Path’ teachings were :

“See God in each other.’

“Honour your Self. Worship your Self. Meditate on your Self. God dwells within you as you.”

The list of well-known celebrities who sought spiritual instructions from Swami Muktananda included California Governor Jerry Brown, John Denver, Isabella Rossellini, Diana Ross, James Taylor, and astronaut Edgar Mitchell.

Swami Muktananda being blessed by his Guru: Swami Nithyananda

Reverend Eugene Callender, a Presbyterian minister in New York City, described his meeting with Baba Muktananda for the first time at Carnegie Hall, in 1979 thus: "Baba Muktananda said something that I had never heard in all my years in Church, all my years in Sunday school, in Seminary, in Ministry: "God dwells within you as you." I sat there dumbfounded. These words were very powerful. Before this, I had only heard that God was somewhere up in heaven. God was up there, out there, somewhere, but not in here, not in my own heart. And now, here I was being told that God is in me too. I was astonished... For the first time in my life, I began to feel the presence and the meaning of being “created in the image of God”, and of God's “Holy Spirit” dwelling in me... I was filled with Bliss."

A person who chose to remain anonymous -- a PhD in Religious Studies – wrote, describing his moment of Shaktipat, when he was 19 years old, conferred by Baba Muktananda, with a wand of peacock feathers, in 1975:

"I almost jumped when the peacock feathers, firmly but with a soft weightiness, hit me repeatedly on my head, and then gently brushed my face as Baba Muktananda powerfully pressed one of his fingers into my forehead at a spot located between my eyebrows.... I'm somewhat reluctant, to write about what happened next, because I know that whatever I say will inevitably diminish it, will make it sound as if it were a mere one more "powerful experience." This was not an experience. This was the ‘event’ of my spiritual life. This was full ‘awakening’. This wasn't "knowing" anything, because you only know something that is separate from you. This was being the Ultimate - a fountain of Light, a dancing, ever-new ‘Source’. Utter freedom, utter joy... Completely fulfilled, completely whole, no limits to my Power and Love and Light...”

To seek the blessings of Swami Muktananda, earnest devotees, seekers and aspirants from all over the World – all the time of the year – flooded ‘Gurudev Ashram’ at Ganeshpuri. Baba Muktananda too was unhesitatingly showering them all with his unique ‘Shaktipat’ initiations. The Ashram was always busy -- it abounded with the most ancient form of ‘Kundalini’ teaching and also affording the most modern amenities catering to the needs of its hundreds of Western devotees ! Everyone was getting what they were seeking for. The ‘Gurudev Ashram’ was the most popular of all Ashrams in those days !

Swami Muktananda attained Mahasamadhi in 1982.

Before his Mahasamadhi, Baba Muktananda appointed as his successor ‘Swami Chidvilasananda’, who continues to head the spiritual legacy of Muktananda. She travels all over the World and continues to spread Baba Muktananda’s ‘Shaktipat’ teachings.

SAYINGS OF BABA MUKTANANDA

“A ‘Guru’ looks like a ‘human being’ to the physical eyes, and it is very difficult for an ordinary person to see ‘God’ in that ‘human body’. Ordinary people say, ‘He eats like us, he drinks like us, he sleeps like us, he laughs like us and has fun like us’. But, in a Guru’s body, there is this ‘Shakti’ – this ‘Divine Force’ that is completely ‘alive’. That is what makes a ‘Guru’. As you follow the words of the Guru, one day that ‘Shakti’ transforms your very being into the ‘Being of the Guru’.”

“Within every person, there is this ‘Shakti’. It is the ‘Divine Power’. God’s Power. And, it is only because of this ‘Power’ that we live. This ‘Power’ is also known as the ‘Self’ or ‘God’. As long as you do not know the ‘Self’, no matter how much you try to improve on the outside, you cannot really improve.”

“People would ask Gurudev Bhagawan Nityananda, ‘O Gurudev ! I want to see God !’ Gurudev would reply, ‘Just look around ! Every one is God ! Every thing is God !’ “

“Every one of you experiences this, but you do not understand it. You do not know how He resides within. When you are awake, you perform so many actions – but, there is ONE within, who witnesses all your actions. When you go to sleep and dream, there is ONE within, who remains awake and watches all your dreams. If you know that ONE, if you know that ‘KNOWER’, then you know everything.”

“Ultimately, meditation makes us aware of our own ‘true nature’. It is this ‘awareness’ that removes all suffering and delusion, and this ‘awareness’ comes only when we see -- face to face -- our own inner Self.”

“The Sages have said that ‘Shakti’ is the Soul’s own energy. The purpose of Shaktipat is to awaken this energy in one, in order that one attains one’s highest potential, which is ‘Divine’.”

SWAMI MUKTANANDA AND ME

Swami Muktananda (centre), with Ashram President T.N.Venkataraman and Arthur Osborne

When Swami Muktananda visited ‘Sri Ramanasramam’ in December, 1965, Arthur Osborne and my father, the Ashram President, received him. Mr. Osborne had met Swami earlier when he had gone to Bombay to preside over a celebration of ‘Ramana Jayanthi’ being held there. Swami Muktananda too had participated in it. Swami was being taken around the Ashram and when they reached Sri Bhagavan’s “Nirvana Room”, Mr.Osborne described to Muktananda the last moments of Sri Bhagavan and of how Sri Bhagavan merged with Father Arunachala, in the form of Light (Jyothi). Swami was solemnly absorbed in a state of total silence and reverentially prostrated to the picture of Sri Bhagavan, kept there on the sofa. When they came out, Swami Muktananda recalled with emotion what his Gurudev, Bhagawan Nityananda had told him about the highest spiritual state of Bhagavan Ramana : “My Gurudev extolled Maharshi Ramana being beyond body-consciousness, beyond all attributes and beyond all the dualities” !

On that occasion, I had the opportunity of being with Swami Muktananda and Arthur Osborne, as they talked about Sri Bhagavan. Mrs. Pratibha Trivedi, the ‘Mother’ of Baba’s Ashram at Ganeshpuri, who accompanied Baba, acted as the translator. I was enthralled to listen to Swami Muktananda spontaneously glorifying Sri Bhagavan : “Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was a great Saint who always occupied a high place of reverence in the minds of holy people. His Divine Personality endeared him to all beings, as well. The word ‘Ramana ' means ' One who plays' (ramate iti ramana). You may call him 'Atman' or 'Guru' : both are synonyms indicating the same ‘Divine Power’ of which this Universe is a ‘game’, is a ‘play’. Maharshi Ramana was a divine soul, completely detached, beyond all differences, highly self-restrained and playfully living in the Ocean of Transcendental Consciousness -- the state of Turiyatita.

“I had the good fortune to be in the sacred presence of Sri Bhagavan for three days. Even during that very short stay, I found that any one entering his presence even for a moment, would experience a state of mental peace free from all thoughts. This shows that he was a fully realized soul in a Transcendental State, beyond all thoughts. Some believed him to be a Siddha or great Saint and some believed him to be an Incarnation of God. From the Vedantic point of view all are one in essence. God Himself appears in the world as Siddha. So, Siddha is God and he is the entire Universe. Therefore everything is the manifestation of Bhagavan Ramana, the ‘Spirit at play’.

“Any one going even once to Maharshi Ramana felt as if the Maharshi belonged to him. This was because he really belonged to every one and every one to him. Wearing only a loincloth, he used to sit relaxed on the sofa; but still he looked more attractive than even the most richly attired Prince because, as my revered Gurudev Nityananda used to say, Maharshi Ramana was ‘beyond body-consciousness, beyond all attributes and beyond the dualities’. This indicates that he was on a plane far above bodily pain and pleasure, a plane inaccessible to ordinary mortals.

“Realization of the Self was all important in his teaching. To every one who asked, he unhesitatingly gave the guidance to meditate on the Self, worship the Self and be the Self. This is because, according to Vedanta, there is nothing worth knowing, hearing or seeing except one's true Self. One who was and is ‘Ramana ’ is this Eternal Truth beyond all time, having neither beginning nor end. Therefore the path in quest of Truth shown by him will remain accessible to all for ever, because he proclaimed the Absolute Truth which remains unobstructed at all times, in all places and under all conditions. His message appears to some the oldest among the old, to others the newest of the new. Actually it is ancient and modern at the same time, because the concepts of old and new are imposed on the Self by the mind, while it is really ageless and eternal. Some people call the present times a new age, but according to the Maharshi all things, old or new, are projections of the same eternal Truth.

“Those who loved the Maharshi got from him the true Supreme Bliss attained by means of Jnana (Knowledge), Yoga (spiritual discipline) and Bhakti (devotion). This means that from him one got the essence of all spiritual practices. That is why I call him ‘one who plays’. He is the ever adorable Great Soul.”

When the Ashram President, my father, visited the Gurudev Ashram at Ganeshpuri, he was warmly received by Baba Muktananda. It was reported that they needed a large portrait of Sri Bhagavan to adorn their Meditation Hall. In due course it was prepared by Saidas and me; and, I took it to Bombay. N.D.Sahukar, the General Manager of the GODREJ Group of companies and his wife Smt. Mani Sahukar, took me and P.V.Somasundaram, carrying with us the portrait of Sri Bhagavan and presented it to Swami Muktananda. This large portrait of Sri Bhagavan now adorns the Meditation Hall at the Gurudev Ashram. At the time of presentation of the portrait of Sri Bhagavan to Baba Muktananda, I kept myself completely in the background, as Smt.Mani and Sahukar were ably handling the whole operation. However, the Swami was very kind to me and expressed that he wanted to spend some time with me, exclusively. On my return to Bombay, I requested Sunil Damania, another very staunch devotee of Sri Bhagavan, to take me back to Baba, which he willingly did.

On behalf of Sri Ramanasramam, N.D.Sahukar and Smt.Mani Sahukar, presented a large coloured photo of Sri Bhagavan Ramana to Swami Muktananda Maharaj, at Sri Gurudev Ashram, Ganeshpuri

Swami Muktananda welcomed us and requested Mrs.Trivedi to be the interpreter. Baba wanted me to narrate to him what all I knew about his Gurudev, Bhagavan Nityananda – especially, how in his teen age, his Gurudev got spiritual guidance from Sri Bhagavan, which was not recorded anywhere else. I assured Baba that what all I was going to narrate to him, were all gathered by me from the Old Devotees of Sri Bhagavan – Kunju Swami, Viswanatha Swami, Dr. M. Anantanarayana Rao, Madhavi Amma and T.P. Ramachandra Iyer.

The following is what I shared with Baba :

“Swami Nityananda, as a village lad used to practice ghusti – a form of Indian wresting. He was an adept in it. He used to challenge whoever wanted to pass through the street where he lived, to do ghusti with him. Only then, he would permit them to pass through. The whole village knew about it. One day, a very old sadhu with a very fragile body came into the street. As usual, the lad engaged him in his favourite play. The sadhu pleaded his inability citing his fragile body. On the boy not relenting, the sadhu pretended to do gusthi and rolled three times across the street embracing the boy. And wonder of wonders, with his physical touch, the sadhu passed on all his psychic powers to the lad. When the sadhu got up and walked away, the boy too walked behind him. They climbed a small hillock. Suddenly, the sadhu turned back and told the youth that he had passed on to him all the siddhi he possessed - that was the purpose of his visit. He further advised the lad that there was no use in following him any further and that he would get the spiritual direction he needed from the Sage of Arunachala.

“The boy, Nityananda, reached the presence of Bhagavan Ramana at Arunachala. How many days he spent there was not reported. But, he did get specific instruction from Sri Bhagavan to go to Kasargod. The lad was already in a state of unmatta - spiritual madness. He walked all the way.

Pancha Pandava Caves at Kadri : “…..he built caves himself and meditated in them…..”

“At Dharmapuri, he fainted; his body was lying down by a street. That night, when Dr. Anantanarayana Rao, a veterinarian, was returning home by car, he happened to see the prone figure of the boy. He lifted him up, took him home and treated him with devotion by giving him a bath, food, medicines. Dr. Anantanarayana Rao’s son, M. Ramakrishna Rao, had shown me a few photos of his father keeping the ailing boy on his lap. Suddenly, a few days later, the boy disappeared. He reached Kasargod, built caves himself on the hill and meditated in them.

Dr.Anantanarayana Rao

Madhavi Amma

“Madhavi Amma – wife of Dr. P.C. Nambiar -- told me that while she lived at Kasargod, she heard of the Swami who was then living in a dilapidated fort outside the town. People dreaded to go there, for, he would discourage visitors by hurling stones and making frightening sounds. Not deterred, she went to see the Swami. He was up a tree, and tried to frighten her away by shouting and throwing twigs down at her. She however approached him, undaunted. Swami came down, looked at her with compassion and asked her where she was coming from. “From Ramana Maharshi’s Ashram,” she replied. Swami smiled and said, “That’s why you have no fear.” He then enquired about the Maharshi.

“T.P Ramachandra Iyer, a lawyer devotee of Sri Bhagavan, told me that after Sri Bhagavan’s Mahanirvana, he went with a group of Ramana-devotees from Bombay to have the darshan of Swami Nityananda at Vajreshwari. Swami had locked himself inside a room and had not come out for months. The group got permission to sit outside the door, where they began chanting Sri Bhagavan’s Upadesa Saram. Suddenly, the door opened and Swami Nityananda appeared. He sat on the threshold, beating time with the singing, the very picture of Bliss. Many of his own devotees, who had not seen him for a long time, rejoiced at seeing him again. After the chanting, Swami touched the offerings brought by this group, and made indecipherable sounds and signs. Then, Swami went inside and bolted the door. His devotees told the group that they had been instructed by Swami to offer them food before seeing them off.”

T.P.Ramachandra Iyer

I narrated all this to Baba Muktananda who listened with rapt attention and thanked me for sharing it with him. Seeing the depth and intensity of Baba Muktananda’s Guru bhakti, an intense reverence for Baba welled up in me.

In 1982, I happened to be in Bombay on Ashram work, and came to know that Swami Muktananda had attained Mahasamadhi at Ganeshpuri. Thanks, again to Sunil Damania, I could go as a representative of Sri Ramanasramam. I also got the privilege of offering flower garlands to Swami Muktananda while his body was being interred into the sacred tomb.

* * * * *

I feel it is now the apt moment for me to pay a tribute to A. Ramana, the founder of AHAM Center. The simple but profound reason being that it was Swami Muktananda who spontaneously addressed the American, Dee Wayne Trammell, as ‘Ramana’ during a public audience! Swami Muktananda must have known that Mr. Trammell would be the person who would be teaching Sri Bhagavan’s ‘Self-Enquiry’ in North America.

Perhaps, it was Baba Muktananda’s predictive protection and inner guidance that powerfully guided A. Ramana to start this spiritual institution, ‘AHAM’ Center – totally dedicated to the Direct Teaching of Sri Bhagavan – first, at Greensboro and then, shifted to it’s own premises at Asheboro. He used to say: “I ventured this endeavour with a total capital of an ‘old typewriter’, plus ‘$75’ donated to me by Elizabeth McDonald. We both worked very hard and built it up into it’s present position of strength and splendour.”

Baba assuredly must have blessed this beautiful institution, “AHAM” Center and it’s dedicated staff who constantly teach Sri Bhagavan’s ‘Self-Enquiry’ – “ I AM ” !

* * * * *

Dee Wayne Trammell : ‘Ramana Baba’

When he was five years old, A. Ramana had a true spiritual experience. A hot pot of water fell on his lap and scalded his leg. A mystic living around -- Uncle Billy -- moved his hand above the boy’s body back and forth, a few times. He touched the boy’s heart and murmured something, which the boy couldn’t remember. Snap, just like that, the pain was gone. In Ramana’s own words: “I was floating in the room, as it were. I felt myself as ‘Being’, and that the ‘Being’ was ‘I AM’. As a child, I could not explain it. It was going on. I stayed in that state, for about two or three years. It was extremely delightful!”

The same spiritual experience, repeated itself only when he was 44 years old. It happened inside a book-store in Houston, when he was looking at a picture of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi – the frontispiece of a book on the Life and Teaching of Sri Bhagavan – and, its very first chapter entitled ‘Who Am I?’. A. Ramana writes, “Seeing the picture of Sri Bhagavan and the title of the opening chapter, ‘Who Am I?’, re-awakened me fully. I was back to the awareness of ‘Being’ -- the same state that I had been in, when I was a child.”

It was around that time that Baba Muktananda was extensively touring America and giving experiences of Shaktipat by his mere touch. While other teachers were only explaining the depth of spiritual truth in words, Muktananda could help them experience a ‘beyond-the-body’ ecstasy. Mr. Trammell was drawn to Baba and he went to him with some friends. The moment Baba saw him, he put his hand on his head and said, “You are ‘Ramana’. That’s your name. You are playing in God, revelling in God. That’s what ‘Ramana’ means!”

‘Ramana’ became his name, from then on.

When Mr. Trammell visited Sri Ramanasramam in 1980, he called himself only as ‘Raman’. Though Swami Muktananda specifically named him ‘Ramana’, Trammell felt it not proper to have his Guru’s name in full and hence had removed the last syllable ‘a’ from his name. We both became very good friends and spent time together up on the Hill exchanging our adoration of Sri Bhagavan and the greatness and depth of his unique teaching of ‘Self-Enquiry’ – “I AM”.

During one of those sessions, I pleaded with him to go back to the original name given to him by Baba Muktananda, as the word, ‘Raman’ would refer to Lord Rama. He agreed. Yet, after a few years, he again faced a problem. Whenever he delivered a talk on Sri Bhagavan, he was referring to Sri Bhagavan as ‘Ramana’, while his name was also ‘Ramana’. Also, there was a need for an initial for every person in America, in all official matters.

It was my privilege to suggest to him: “You were kind enough to put a suffix ‘a’ to your name ‘Raman’. Now, I request you to add a prefix ‘A’ to your name ‘Ramana’. Let your name be ‘A. Ramana’.” He was happy for he took it to mean, ‘Aham Ramana’. However, I wanted him to put his full name as ‘Arunachala Ramana’ ”!

During one of my early annual visits to AHAM Center, Asheboro, to give talks on Sri Bhagavan, A. Ramana privately requested me about what he could do for his ‘Guru’ Ramana as an expression of gratitude to him. From my heart came the spontaneous response, “You should drop your body on the sacred earth beside the Holy Hill!” He said, very firmly : “Yes, I will do it!”

During his last days, however, I used to address him only as ‘Ramana Baba’ ! Thus, his name was embedded with the names of both Sri Bhagavan and Swami Muktananda, who was widely addressed as ‘Baba’ !

When he came to Arunachala in 2010, he was very sick. His admirers in America urged him to fly back. ‘Ramana Baba’ was brave and flatly refused, thereby fulfilling his avowed prayer “to drop the body on the sacred earth beside the Holy Hill” -- Arunachala. I had the great privilege of interring his body in the tomb within the premises of “AHAM” Ashram, situated at Tiruvannamalai. His samadhi-tomb there, is serene and peaceful; and is, now being well-maintained.

‘Ramana Baba’ was truly a ‘dheera’ (the courageous one) – a fully surrendered devotee of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi !

My obeisance to BHAGAVAN RAMANA !

My obeisance to BABA MUKTANANDA !

My obeisance to RAMANA BABA !

AHAM Meditation Retreat and Training Center - Asheboro, USA