Akhandananda

‘I do not covet earthly kingdom, or heaven, or even salvation. The only thing I desire is the removal of the miseries of the afflicted.”

The idea expressed by these words of Prahlada, the great devotee, was greatly after the heart of Swami Akhandananda till his last day. Through his life these words found a true reflection.

Shortsighted people follow the path of the apparently pleasant, which leads to bondage; the far-sighted tread the path of the Highest Bliss, which leads to liberation. As an ant sifts sugar from a mixture of sugar and sand, so a calm soul discriminates between these two paths and follows the latter. Those who possess a pure character relinquish worldly pleasures and seek spiritual bliss.

Swami Akhandananda, known as Gangadhar Ghatak before his ordination into Sanyasa, was born in Calcutta to devout parents. Even in the days of his boyhood, Gangadhar was deeply religious and orthodox to the point of being dubbed as ‘oldish’ by Shri Ramakrishna himself. As a corrective measure Master introduced him to Narendra Nath (Swami Vivekananda) who was, for all outward appearance, very heterodox, but internally he had nothing but God. This was the foundation of his abiding love, devotion and allegiance to Swamiji, the hero of his life.

Gangadhar was a vivacious, handsome boy. His stoic attitude even as a small child amazed all. Gifted with prodigious memory, little Gangadhar mastered the English alphabet in one day. From his very childhood he had a compassionate disposition and was a strong moralist.

Gangadhar was nineteen when he visited Shri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar and in each of his subsequent visits there, experienced the silent transforming influence of the Master’s love and received practical instructions from him on spirituality. Shri Ramakrishna did not want his young disciples to be stuck in the obsolete customs of an older generation, yet at the same time he did not want to disturb their faith. He did not care for any kind of excessive behaviour in practicing religion; he freed them from spiritual vanity. His way of teaching was simple and natural, and he knew how to make religion interesting. He taught individually according to the temperament of each disciple. The Master was never dry or boring; he would make jokes even while speaking on the most exalted topics. During the illness of the Master, Gangadhar served the Master till the latter finally entered into Mahasamadhi.

When the monastery at Baranagore was started, though he did not join it immediately, he kept close contact with his brother-disciples there particularly with Swamiji. Fired with the ideal of leading the unfettered life of a wandering monk, for three years he roamed in the Himalayas and also visited Tibet three times. Due to his experience in the Himalayas, Swami Vivekananda induced him to join him in his sojourn there.

Swami Vivekananda’s intense feeling and burning words when he saw the crushing poverty and misery of the hungry masses of India also kindled in him, by then known as Swami Akhandananda, the desire to serve the poor and helpless masses. He realized that the appalling poverty of the masses could not be removed without proper education. He succeeded by strenuous efforts in the education of poor children both in Khetri and Udaipur. He also undertook great pains to start a Middle English School at Nathadwara, and founded at Alwar and other places of Rajputana a number of societies, which regularly discussed useful social, religious, and educational topics. He started an orphanage at the village of Sargacchi in the Murshidabad district of Bengal, where he had gone to conduct famine relief work.

The Swami, from the foundation of this institution to the last day of his life, bestowed his best attention on its improvement, and it proved instrumental in saving a good number of orphan children from starvation, illiteracy and degradation.

From being involved in nursing of hundreds of cholera patients to starting relief work during heavy floods or terrible earthquake, his whole life was full of such noble and philanthropic activities. To him all human beings were veritable divinities, and he found intense joy in serving those in distress. In this he literally carried out Swamiji’s behest: “The poor, the illiterate, the ignorant, the afflicted – let these be your God. Know that the service of these alone is the highest religion.” He loved to work silently and unobserved among the distressed masses, bringing succor into their lives. Highly appreciative of his work, Swamiji wrote to him: “I am getting detailed reports of you and getting more and more delighted. It is that sort of work, which will conquer the world…Work, work, work, even unto death! Those who are weak must make themselves great workers, great heroes – never mind money, it will drop from the heavens… It is the heart that conquers, not the brain. Books and learning, yoga and meditation and illumination – all are but dust compared with love. It is love that gives you supernatural powers, love that gives you bhakti  [devotion], love that gives you illumination, and love, again, that leads to emancipation. This indeed is worship, worship of the Lord in the human tabernacle.” Swamiji’s letter increased Swami Akhandananda’s spirit of service a thousand fold; with the resolution to carry out his purpose or lay down his body he submerged himself in a current of activity.

On the passing away of Swami Shivananda, Swami Akhandananda was elected as the third President of the Ramakrishna Order. The duties of this post required his presence at the Belur Math, but he preferred the solitude of Sargachhi, and was quite happy with his orphan boys, supervising the agricultural work and taking care of the trees and plants in the orchard. Routine work was distasteful to him. Though reluctant at first, during the last three years he blessed a good many earnest seekers with initiation. He insisted on their observing a high standard of purity and moral excellence in their everyday life.

Throughout his life he had a love for learning and gathered a great store of knowledge on diverse subjects. He had a prodigious memory, which, coupled with his strong power of observation and dramatic sense, made him a first-rate conversationalist. He also had a special aptitude for learning language. He had knowledge of the Tibetan language on account of which he had great opportunities in studying the people at close quarters in that country. While in Rajputana he mastered the intricacies of Hindi grammar. He knew Sanskrit as well as English, and his particular interest was in the Vedas. He was a forceful writer in his mother tongue and occasionally contributed to magazines. He was an extempore speaker too, though he was extremely reluctant to appear before the public in that role.

Above all, like many a great saint, he loved fun. In fact, the boyish element was uppermost in him so much that even in the midst of a serious conversation he could make his audience laugh with some droll anecdote. His brother-disciples, knowing this lighter side of his nature, would take delight by creating humorous situations, which he, too, relished. The love that the children of Shri Ramakrishna bore towards one another is indescribable. Swami Akhandananda was the favourite of all. Swami Vivekananda loved him particularly, and affectionately addressed him “Ganges” as his name was Ganga-dhar, and sometimes “Ice Father” as his skin had been burned with cold; but he did not on that account spare the young Swami when it came to indulging in practical jokes. The Master himself was a great lover of fun and used it as an effective means of imparting spirituality and all his disciples shared this attitude towards life. Even if the joke was at one another’s expense, it endeared them all the more to one another.

Swami Akhandananda, blessed with the capacity to feel others’ happiness and misery, made ‘the service of God in man’ his mission in life. For him the highest ideal was to love and serve others. To see God in all beings is the culmination of the Vedantic experience. Swami Akhandananda had that experience, so with love and sincerity he unceasingly and unreservedly served all as God.