Pujya Gurudev's Mahasamadhi (Swami Chinmayandaji)

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

I thought I would pass this email along since Swami Chinmayandaji is considered

one of the great treachers of Advaita Vedanta as taught by Adi Shankara. I

know I am thankful to Him since the fruits of his work bloom right around the

corner

from me in the Tri-State Chinmaya Mission and I consider myself to be quite

blessed to have a Lord Shiva Temple so close I could walk to it if needed.

 

A short story... I drove past the Temple for over 10 years before I ever set

foot

inside. On my way to work, I would sometimes read the words on the sign, which

had

no meaning to me. I would often think to myself..."I wonder what they DO

in there?" Then I would shake my head and think..."Probably a bunch of

religious

fanatics." I would drive on and resolve that I was not about to go in there to

find out!!! Ah, the Lord works in mysterious ways :-)

 

Jai Gurudev!!!

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Pujya Gurudev's Mahasamadhi

 

After working tirelessly for four decades, during which time He conducted more

than 500 Geeta Gnana Yagnas, talked to thousands of school children, college

students, university professors, members of professional bodies and conducted

spiritual camps all over the world, when Pujya Gurudev attained Mahasamadhi on 3

rd August 1993 at San Diego, California, there was a moment of shock and

silence, but it was slowly replaced by soft soothing music, as the devotees

picked up the threads of the Master's work. Shree Chinmaya Sadgurave Namah

 

Despite all the challenges that His own body gave Him, Swamiji continued to

remind us, most of the time through His own example, that the body is not the

master. "Rise above it," He repeated in a variety of ingenious ways, "just as

you rise beyond your thoughts and emotions, to discover the real locus of your

identity within the purity of the Divine Self within." His own mental and

physical stamina - especially during the later years, despite all medical

indications to the contrary - is, by now, legendary. However, that single -

mindedness about the mind's superiority over the body was seen even during the

very early years of His work.

 

He once wrote in a letter to a devotee: I am a young fifty - five, not an old

fifty - five. Age has no meaning for a seeker.

 

You diligently learn to put your mind where your heart is, not where your body

is. This is laying the foundation for the temple of your spiritual life.

 

Yet, those around Gurudev who had grown to love not only His teaching but also

His physical presence could not keep their minds from focussing on the ailing

body of the Guru. Because of His obviously frail health, devotees were

constantly on the lookout for curing Him with new methods or for pampering His

body. Once when someone offered Him an aspirin to ease some ache, He said, "So,

all this time the body has been functioning without aspirin. You suddenly assume

that aspirin is necessary for it to continue working?" And He slapped His thigh

in glee as He roared His typical deep laugh. On another occasion He said, "I

take medicines just to please everyone."

 

A letter written to a devotee in Singapore in 1992 shows how He viewed the

role of the body within the larger scheme of things:

 

 

Made up of the five elements, the body is a nest of diseases and pains. To

cater to its demands can be a twelve - month, twenty - four hour job - and yet

it will suffer. Use it as an instrument for seva of others. Trees give fruits to

others; the tree eats none. The river never drinks, but its waters are meant for

plants, animals and humans. The sun, the wind - look around. In nature, man

alone wants to live for himself and perpetuate ! Leave it alone. Let the body

run its course. Let us live our life peacefully in Him, the Bliss. Look after

the body as a workman tends to his instruments.

 

 

As His physical condition deteriorated, people often urged Swamiji to stay in

or near large cities, not at remote places such as His ashram at Sidhbari in

Himachal Pradesh. His reply to such entreaties was : "Don't people die in Bombay

also?"

 

When devotees urged Him to take extra rest because He looked tired, His reply

at times was: " No. I'm always at rest." Or, at Sidhbari during a spiritual

camp, when once again He was being urged to give His body a much needed

reprieve, He said, "Four hundred people are out there waiting for me - so

samashti has to work."

 

 

WHAT BODY?

During his hospital stay in Sidhbari, two nurses came into His room with

bathing equipment and said, "Sir, it is time for your sponging."

 

"I am immaculate !" He said.

 

The nurses, thinking that He had not understood, explained, "Sir, we need to

wash you up now."

 

"I am pure," Swamiji replied. "I am immaculate."

 

They still thought that He had not understood them and explained again that

they needed to wash Him. Finally, Gurudev relented, "Never mind. You can wash

this body now."

 

 

IMMORTAL EXISTENCE

After His first ventricular failure, He made me a solemn promise, "I promise I

will never leave you. Remember that !"

 

Two years later, after more ventricular failures, I reminded Him of that

promise on a small note I sent to Him while He was in an adjoining room, as I

did not have the emotional strength to talk about it face to face. He put His

reply down in writing on my own note: "If I leave you, where is 'you' I am the

very Existence -- Sat."

 

Swami Tejomayanandaji, the present Head of the Chinmaya Mission Worldwide,

says of his Guru :

 

 

I saw him as a perfect Jivanmukta Purusha - a person liberated while living.

Many a time I have felt that it is easier to describe Brahman (the Supreme

Reality) than to describe a Jivanmukta. We find very many verses in our

scriptures in praise of such an enlightened soul. One such characteristic that

comes to mind is that the enlightened person is one who is free from worrying

over the past or being anxious about the future, one who is totally detached and

objective in dealing with the present. Pujya Gurudev Himself used to speak about

such a person as someone like a mir-ror. A mirror accepts everything, rejects

nothing, reflects everything, but keeps nothing ! Pujya Gurudev indeed was that

Jivanmukta Purusha.

 

 

 

Om Shree Chinmaya Sadgurave Namah

 

 

Excerpts taken from "At Every Breath A Teaching' by Rudite Emir