Brahmananda Swami

One day Sri Ramakrishna saw a vision which threw his whole body into a shiver. He saw that the Divine Mother pointed out to him a boy as being his son. How could he have a son? The very idea was death to him! Then the Divine Mother consoled Her disconsolate child and said that the boy was his spiritual son and not a son in the worldly sense. Sri Ramakrishna breathed a sigh of relief. Afterwards when the same boy came to him as a disciple, Ramakrishna at once recognised him to be the one he had seen in his vision. He was later known as Swami Brahmananda.

The early name of Swami Brahmananda was Rakhal Chandra Ghosh. He came of an aristocratic family in a village not far from Basirhat in the district of 24 Parganas. His father Ananda Mohan Ghosh was a zemindar. His mother was a pious lady and a devotee of Sri Krishna. Perhaps it was she who gave her son the name Rakhal (meaning the boy-companion of Sri Krishna) when the latter was born on 21 January 1863. Unfortunately, the mother died when Rakhal was only five years old. Soon after, his father married a second wife who brought up Rakhal.

Rakhal grew up a very healthy and fine-looking boy. There was something in his very appearance which endeared him to one and all. His education began in the village school which was started by Ananda Mohan chiefly for the sake of his son. During those days the village schoolmasters were famous for using their rods. Rakhal would feel pained if any of his classmates had to undergo corporal punishment. This attracted the notice of the teacher, who afterwards gave up the practice of caning altogether. As a student Rakhal was remarkable for his intelligence. But even as a boy he had varied interests in life. Physically he was much stronger than the average boy of his age. His companions found it hard to cope with him in wrestling or at play. He would take part in many village games and show unsurpassed skill in them. But play and games did not absorb the whole of his attention. Nearby was a temple dedicateds to the Goddess Kali. Often enough, Rakhal would be found in the precincts of the temple. Sometimes he would play at Mother-worship along with his companions. Sometimes he would himself make a beautiful clay image of the Mother and remain absorbed in worship. Even at an early age Rakhal had great devotion to Gods and Goddesses. During the time of Durga Puja in the family, he would be found seated still and calm witnessing the ceremony, or at the hour of darkness, when the evening service was being performed, Rakhal would be seen standing before the Deity in great devotion.

Rakhal, from his boyhood, had instinctive love for devotional music. When begging friars sang songs in praise of Krishna, the flute-player of Vrindavan, or when anyone sang songs about the Divine Mother, he would become lost to himself. Sometimes he would repair with his companions to a secluded spot in the midst of the field close to the village, and they would sing devotional songs in chorus. In the course of singing, he would occasionally lose almost all outward consciousness, his mind soaring up to a higher region.

After he had finished the primary education, Rakhal was sent to Calcutta in 1875 and admitted into an English High School. In Calcutta he came in contact with Narendranath, afterwards known as Swami Vivekananda, who was then leader of the boys of the locality. Narendra, with his dynamic spirit and born leadership, cast his influence over others and carried them along the path he thought right. Rakhal, meek, quiet, and soft-natured as he was, easily came under his spell, and there grew a close friendship between the two which culminated in a common discipleship at Dakshineswar and bore far-reaching results.

Rakhal and Narendra practised physical exercises in a common gymnasium along with their other companions. And it was Narendra who took Rakhal to the Brahmo Samaj, where they promised not to worship any image. Rakhal’s inborn religious tendencies began to unfold themselves more definitely at this stage. He would be found brooding over the mysteries of life and death, and his mind longed for the realisation of the Eternal Verity. He was intelligent and sharp, but he now lost all interest in his school work. His guardians became alarmed at his indifference to studies. At first they tried to change his attitude through loving persuasion. When that failed, they became stern and strict. But as all measures proved abortive, Rakhal’s father got him married, thinking that thereby his interest would turn towards worldly things. Such, however, was the irony of fate that this marriage itself brought Rakhal into contact with the one who afterwards changed the whole course of his life.

Rakhal married the sister of Sri Manomohan Mitra of Konnagar, an important village up the Ganga on the right bank, a few miles from Dakshineswar. Both Manomohan and his mother were great devotees of Sri Ramakrishna. After this marriage, one day in the middle of 1881, Manomohan took him to Dakshineswar to meet the Master. When Rakhal bowed before the Master, the vision the latter had seen came before his mind, and he was swept by a wave of joy, but he did not give vent to his feelings except by the fact that he treated Rakhal with utmost kindness. Rakhal was charmed with the wonderful love of the Master and thought that he had never received such affection from anybody before. Naturally, the thought of the Master haunted his mind even after he had returned home.

As a result, some time afterwards, Rakhal one day went to Dakshineswar alone. The Master was in ecstasy at the sight of Rakhal, and the latter stood dumbfounded.

With Sri Ramakrishna

Rakhal now frequented Dakshineswar as often as he could. He began also sometimes to stay there. Though a young man of eighteen or nineteen, in the presence of the Master he felt like a child of four or five, and he actually behaved that way. In the Master, Rakhal found the deep affection of his long-lost mother and the tender care of his father, only in a degree infinitely more intense. The Master also treated him exactly as his child. He would feel concerned for him as for a helpless infant. Whereas other disciples attended to the comforts of the Master, the latter himself would often take care of Rakhal. And there was such a spontaneity and naturalness in this strange relationship between the two, that a bystander would rather enjoy it than feel astonished at it. Whereas other disciples would consider it a great favour and privilege if they were allowed to do the least service for the Master, Rakhal would sometimes refuse point­blank to perform work which he was called upon to do by the Master. Instead of being annoyed, Sri Ramakrishna was rather amused at such behaviour; for it indicated the intimacy which had developed between them. But Rakhal would usually be eager to attend to all the comforts of the Master. He was more than a personal attendant to him. A son does not serve his father with so much loving devotion as Rakhal served the Master. And in addition to such services, he would carefully guard the body of the Master when the latter’s mind was lost in samadhi. At times, when the Master would walk about in his ecstatic moods, Rakhal would guide his footsteps by holding his body and giving loud directions about the things to be guarded against.

When Rakhal’s visits to Dakshineswar became frequent, and sometimes he began to stay there to the detriment of his studies, his father was annoyed and afterwards alarmed. He tried his best to persuade Rakhal to be mindful of his future worldly career, but it was impossible for Rakhal to think of his future in terms of material happiness. Persuasion having failed, Ananda Mohan kept Rakhal under surveillance, but Rakhal managed to escape and run to Dakshineswar. When all measures failed, Ananda Mohan gave up the case of Rakhal as hopeless. Rakhal now felt relieved that he could stay with the Master without any interference from home.

Rakhal received from the Master not only the tender affection of a parent, but also the guidance of a spiritual guru. It was the unsurpassed love of the Master which at first drew Rakhal to him, but the latter soon found that behind that human affection there was a spiritual power which could transform lives by a mere wish or thought. Through the Master’s incomparable love, Rakhal began to undergo a great spiritual transformation.

The Master was very keen in regard to the spiritual training of his beloved son. If need be, he did not hesitate to scold Rakhal for the least failing noticed in him. One day when Rakhal came before the Master, the latter asked him why there was a shadow of darkness over his face. Was it the result of any wrong he had committed? Rakhal gaped in wonder. He could not remember to have done anything wrong. But after long cogitation he recollected that he had told a fib in fun. Then the Master cautioned him not to tell a lie even as a joke.

One day the Master went with Rakhal on invitation to attend a religious festival. But the organisers of the festival were busy with rich and influential people and showed scant courtesy to the Master. This was certainly more than young Rakhal could bear. Like a petulant boy he asked the Master to leave the place at once. But the Master would not listen to his counsel, and put up with any amount of indignity. Afterwards he told Rakhal that if they had left the place in resentment that would have caused harm to the master of the house. Rakhal saw the depth of meaning even behind the trifling acts of the Master, and himself got a lesson in humility and self-effacement.

Sometimes in a spiritual mood Sri Ramakrishna would quite unexpectedly bestow the highest gifts on his chosen disciples. Once Rakhal was in meditation in front of the Kali temple when the Master arrived on the spot. Finding him seated in meditation, the Master accosted him and said, ‘This is your sacred Word and this is your Chosen Ideal.’ Rakhal looked up and was vouchsafed the vision of his Chosen Deity. He was beside himself with joy at this unexpected stroke of favour.

As he continued his stay with the Master at Dakshineswar Rakhal’s spiritual life began to progress rapidly. There were many occasions when he would be so much absorbed in meditation that he would lose all consciousness of the sense-world, and the Master had to come to his aid to bring his thought down to the plane of ordinary consciousness. The Master was so much pleased with the spiritual progress Rakhal was making that he would sometimes publicly praise him. In those days Rakhal would be constantly in communion with God. He would day and night repeat the Holy Name, and his moving lips would betray what was going on inside. The very sight of this would now and then throw the Master into ecstasy. Out of the fullness of joy at having such a worthy disciple Sri Ramakrishna began to teach Rakhal the intricacies of Yoga and various forms of spiritual practice. But Rakhal hated any publicity in these things. He would undertake his spiritual practices as secretly as possible. But his appearance, modes of thought and conduct, and, above all, the radiating sweetness of his nature would indicate the inner transformation he was undergoing.

Spiritual life is not, however, all smooth-sailing. There are ups and downs even there. Rakhal also had to pass through difficulties. One day Rakhal sat for meditation in the music hall of the Kali temple, but however much he tried, his mind wandered about till he got exasperated. He was filled with remorse and self-disparagement. He had received the blessings of a saint like the Master and everything in the atmosphere was favourable to spiritual progress, and yet such was the condition of his mind! Perhaps he was not fit for spiritual life. Such stormy thoughts assailed him, and in sheer disgust and agony he left the seat of meditation. By a strange coincidence Sri Ramakrishna was just then passing that way. Looking at Rakhal he inquired why he had got up from his seat after such a short time. Rakhal in all frankness narrated what was passing through his mind. The Master looked grave and pensive for a while and then asked Rakhal to open his mouth. While muttering some indistinct words, the Master wrote something on his tongue. It had the instantaneous effect of unloading the burden of Rakhal’s mind. He felt relieved, and an inner current of joy flowed through his mind. The Master smiled and asked him to try to meditate again.

Rakhal was having a blissful time with the Master at Dakshineswar. But trouble came. He began to have repeated attacks of fever, which made the Master very anxious. At that time the great devotee Balaram Bose was about to go to Vrindavan. With him Rakhal was also sent for a change of climate. There again Rakhal fell ill. That made the Master all the more anxious for he had known in a vision that Rakhal was a companion of Sri Krishna in a previous incarnation, so that he was apprehensive of Rakhal’s giving up his body if the recollection of the past came to his mind. Hence he prayed piteously to the Divine Mother for his spiritual son, and was not relieved till he got an assurance from Her. After three months Rakhal returned to Dakshineswar much improved in health, and the Master was glad beyond measure to receive him.

The number of devotees and young disciples who were attracted by the personality of the Master was steadily on the increase. Some of the young disciples were Rakhal’s old friends and acquaintances; so he was happy to have a tie of common discipleship with them. But they were not to enjoy the holy company of the Master long. For he fell ill of throat trouble which developed into cancer. He was removed to Shyampukur, Calcutta, and then to Cossipore for facilities of better treatment. Under the leadership of Narendranath, Rakhal and others threw themselves heart and soul into the work of nursing the Master. These were days of service to the guru as well as of strenuous spiritual discipline. Rakhal was by nature introspective, but now he grew more and more serious and indrawn. One day the Master said, ‘Rakhal has the wisdom and capacity to administer a vast kingdom.’ Narendra understood what it meant. The young disciples held Rakhal in great esteem, because he was so much loved and admired by the Master. One day Narendra suggested to his brother disciples, ‘Henceforward let us address Rakhal as “Raja”(meaning king).’ Everyone gave a spontaneous assent to the proposal. When the news reached the ears of the Master, he was glad and remarked, ‘Indeed it is an appropriate name for Rakhal.’

The disciples were hoping against hope that the Master would recover. But his health was gradually turning from bad to worse. One day Rakhal in agony asked the Master to pray to the Divine Mother for recovery. But it was impossible for the Master to pray for any particular thing against the will of God, much less for his health. He simply replied, ‘That rests with God.’ Yes, God’s will prevailed against all human efforts. In spite of the best medical care and treatment, the Master began to sink and passed away on 16 August 1886.

Austerity and Pilgrimages

After the passing of the Master, Rakhal joined the monastery at Baranagore along with the other young disciples. Subsequently they took sannyasa ceremonially and changed their names. Thus Rakhal became Swami Brahmananda. but his brother disciples preferred to address him as ‘Raja’, as a mark of deep love and respect, and in subsequent years, he was known in the Order as Raja Maharaj or simply Maharaj.

If the period of stay in the company of the Master was one of supreme bliss, the days at Baranagore were of hard tapasya. The young disciples were ready to lay down their lives, as it were, in search of the great Unknown. They did not care about physical comforts, they did not care about food and drink; the one supreme thought of their lives was how to realize the Self or rather how to make the realisations they had in the presence of the Master a permanent factor in their lives.

After some time even the life at Baranagore seemed to them too secure for their spiritual growth. They wanted to be lost in the wide unknown world with no help and guide excepting God. Some of them began to go to places of pilgrimage to practise tapasya in seclusion. Maharaj (Swami Brahmananda), spurred by such a spirit of renunciation, went to Puri. He stayed there for some time begging his food here and there and passing his days in the thought of the Lord. The devotees and disciples of the Master could never bear the idea that Maharaj should suffer any hardship, for was he not the special care of the Master? So when Balaram Bose, who had a big estate in Orissa and a rich establishment at Puri, heard that Maharaj was undergoing great austerities, he began to press the latter to stay with him in more comfort. Maharaj, finding thus that at Puri he could not follow his own way of life, returned to Baranagore, but was seized with intense longing to make harder efforts to realize the goal of life. He expressed his desire to go to North India and to practise tapasya somewhere there. The leader, Narendranath, reluctantly agreed to allow his beloved brother disciple to embrace the wandering life. But he directed another brother disciple, Swami Subodhananda, to accompany him, so that ‘Raja’ would not have to suffer much inconvenience. Swami Brahmananda went to Varanasi via Deoghar and stayed there for some time. From Varanasi he went to Omkarnath on the bank of the Narmada. It is said that while practising tapasya on the bank of the holy river, he was once, for six days at a stretch, in an ecstatic mood, almost oblivious of the outward world. After Omkarnath he, with his brother disciple and a devotee visited other places of pilgrimage like Panchavati, holy with the association of Ramachandra and Sita, Dwaraka, where there is the famous temple of Sri Krishna, Porbandar, Girnar, Ajmer, and so on, and afterwards returned to Vrindavan. For a soul like Swami Brahmananda, visiting these holy places did not simply mean the satisfaction of the idle curiosity of a sight-seer, but at every place he would identify himself with the deeper spirit of the environment. As a result he was constantly absorbed within himself, and though his lips were closed, his face indicated the spiritual fire within. Many were the persons who were attracted to him merely by his placid countenance and indrawn look. They would feel it a privilege to be of some service to him, and pressed Maharaj to receive it, but one whose mind was soaring high was altogether indifferent to any material comfort. It was difficult, if not impossible, to persuade Maharaj to accept any gift. If extremely pressed, Maharaj would agree to accept something, but that would be so little and of such a trifling nature that it would cause more astonishment than pleasure to the giver.

In Vrindavan and Hardwar

It was for the second time that the Swami came to Vrindavan. Here he passed the days in severe spiritual practices. He was burning with a desire to reach the ultimate goal of life, and in the attempt to realize this desire any price was not too great for him to pay. Throughout the day he would be engaged in one or another form of spiritual practice. Swami Subodhananda was there with him. But they hardly talked. Swami Subodhananda would fetch food for him; but sometimes he would eat it and sometimes be oblivious of it. The great saint Vijay Krishna Goswami, who had seen Rakhal at Dakshineswar and knew how he had been loved by Sri Ramakrishna, was at this time staying at Vrindavan. When he saw the severe austerities Maharaj was undergoing, he asked him: ‘What necessity have you for so much austerity? Has not the Master given you all that is covetable in spiritual life?’ To this Maharaj simply smiled and replied, ‘What I got from him I want to make a permanent possession.’ After some time Swami Subodhananda left for a pilgrimage to Hardwar, and Maharaj lived alone. This gave him greater freedom of life and an opportunity to practise harder tapasya.

At Vrindavan he heard the news that the great devotee Balaram Bose had died. This upset him so much that he left Vrindavan and went to the Himalayan region at Hardwar for greater solitude. He stayed at Kankhal near Hardwar for some time. Afterwards he would say that the atmosphere of Kankhal was very favourable for spiritual growth. While he was living there, Swamiji (Vivekananda), with Turiyananda, Saradananda, and Vaikuntha Sanyal unexpectedly came from Almora to meet him. The joy of such a meeting can be better imagined than described. Swami Vivekananda feared that perhaps Swami Brahmananda would impair his health by hard tapasya and living alone; so he compelled him to accompany him on his way to Meerut. After some time, when Swamiji left his brother disciples in order to wander alone, Swami Brahmananda, accompanied by Swami Turiyananda, started on a pilgrimage to Jwalamukhi and from there he visited various other sacred places in Punjab, Sind, Bombay, and Rajputana. At Bombay they met Swamiji who was then preparing to sail for America to attend the Parliament of Religions at Chicago. With the Swami they travelled up to Abu Road Station, from where they returned to Vrindavan. Here both of them gave their time entirely to spiritual practices, Swami Turiyananda also taking care of Maharaj. They had a very enviable time at Vrindavan, both of them being absorbed day and night in communion with God. Afterwards they would very delightfully recount many happy incidents of their lives there.

While the two brother disciples were enjoying spiritual bliss in the holy atmosphere of Vrindavan, the news reached them that a tremendous success had attended the mission of Swamiji in America. They were very glad to see that the prophetic utterances of the Master with respect to their leader had come true. Swamiji was constantly writing to his gurubhais to plunge themselves into work for the regeneration of India as well as for the welfare of humanity. Repeated requests began to come from Swamiji, as also from the monastery which had now been removed to Alambazar from Baranagore, asking the two brothers at Vrindavan to return to Bengal, so that all might organise themselves together into a band for future work. At first Swami Turiyananda returned, and he was followed also by Maharaj at the end of 1894.