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Swamiji’s Agenda
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Swamiji’s Agenda
Part 7
by Prof. P. N. Murthy
In the series of Swami’s birth, one can see a dominant aspect of Maha Kali (also of Shiva). He prayed to Bhavani in the Shivaji incarnation and Mother Kali as Sri Ramakrishna. One can say, however, that he prayed to Lord Rama in his incarnations of Tulsidas and Kabir. One can resolve this apparent contradiction in the following way. Behind every incarnation there will be a shakti and an associated mission. It is said that the shakti behind the Sri Krishna incarnation is Kali and behind the Rama incarnation is Tara. That is why Ramnam is called also Tarakanam. This fits with the declaration of Sri Ramakrishna referred to earlier that what was Rama and Krishna is Sri Ramakrishna. Sankaranarayan says in his book Dasa Mahavidyas that in Todala Tantra it is mentioned that Tara is a shakti of Lord Shiva. It is perhaps for this reason Swami did tapas in this incarnation as the disciple of Lord Shankara.
In Dasa Mahavidyas it is mentioned that for every mahavidya there is a root mantra and an associated rishi who has “seen” the mantra. Thus there is a shakti and a maharishi behind every avatar. These maharishis give the necessary power to the avatar to do their assigned work. Once Swami said:
“I am a maharishi. Maharishi is greater than an avatar. So maharishi does tapas and transmits that shakti to the avatar. There is no necessity for the avatar to do tapas. He gets the shakti from maharishis.”
In this incarnation, to which avatar is Swami going to give his shakti? As far as our knowledge goes, Kalki is the last avatar coming for the welfare of this earth. Swami is on this earth now only to give shakti to the coming Kalki. This does not seem to be an unreasonable inference.
We have seen how Swami’s birth series is dedicated to mold India into a great spiritual force similar to the bygone ages. How he laid the foundations to achieve this through the births makes interesting reading. He was working on the mission doing what is required by the times an relevant to the context. As Suka, he not only created the great devotional epic of Mahabhagavata, but revealed himself as a great maharishi to be emulated by the people of not only those times but for all time to come. He demonstrated what a true devotee to the Divine is as Namdev.
In India, the conflict between Hindu and Muslim is not of this day. This was extant since the day when Muslims entered this country. As Sri Chand, Swami laid the basic foundations for harmonious living of the two communities. As Guru Arjun Dev he created Guru Granth Sahib incorporating the devotional songs by various Hindu and Muslim saints. In the birth as Kabir, though born a Muslim, he worshipped Lord Rama, wrote several famous dohas (couplets) teaching communal harmony and devotion to the Divine. As Lahiripathy [Lahiri Mahasaya], he commanded his disciple Yukteswar to promote harmony between Christian and Hindu religions. Later it is common knowledge how Swami Yogananda, the principal disciple of Yukteswar, went all out to achieve this mission of unity and harmony in the U.S.A. In this incarnation, Swami’s method of dhyana makes no distinction between religions. It is universal and enhances any spiritual effort that is being made in any way by anyone. Such a universality is obviously basic to his great mission of resurgence.
Thus he laid the basic rules in various births. The Bhagavata of Suka is still read with tremendous feeling of devotional bliss even today. Ramcharitmanas created by the great poet saint Tulsidas is recited even now in every household throughout India. In the North of India, Manas Path is almost a daily ritual in every home. His Hanuman Chalisa is very popular. Guru Arjun consolidated all the work of his predecessor Gurus through compilation of Granth Sahib. He also constructed the most sacred shrine of Harmandir Sahib. Kabir’s dohas are sung everywhere. They have become part of common Indian repertoire of devotional songs. He came to Andhra Pradesh and inspired Ramadass, thus spreading the cult of devotion. While striving like this for all religious harmony, as Shivaji he raised the sword against the Muslim fundamentalist onslaught on Vedic Hindu culture even though it meant a deviation from the overall mission of spiritual regeneration without hurting any particular religion. He established the Maratha Empire to save Hinduism.
When the Vedic religion was getting distorted and becoming lifeless in the hands of fundamentalist pundits, he appeared as Buddha and breathed fresh life into the basic Vedic tenets. The general impression is, of course, different. People think that Buddha preached against the Vedic edicts. He only wanted people to revive thinking, experience and meditation. Even today, vipassana, the meditation he preached, is widely practiced. To save those roaming around as nomads in the deserts, addicted to vice and pleasure and living by the sword, he appeared as Mohammed. One is sorry to see the tremendous distortions entering into the later practice of that religion.
Even in this birth, one can notice many adventurous actions in Swami’s life. He never tolerated anyone who derided Vedic religion or put the country into distress. To discipline them, he never hesitated to take any kind of action. As Ramakrishna, what Swami did to reinforce Vedic religion is common knowledge. This is the incarnation which while promoting religious harmony, propagated the message of Vedas without fear throughout the world. Thus Swami has been sowing the seeds of great world movements in every incarnation. The same is happening in this incarnation also.
In Swami’s lives an important feature is his highly demanding tapas. Whatever may be the chosen path, may be devotional, may be gyan [knowledge], may be dhyan, in each he sped like a missile in the path in one birth. As Suka he attained unprecedented siddhi [mastery] of knowledge; As Kabir most strenuous siddhi of devotion; as Ramakrishna an incomparable siddhi of all religions; as Shivabalayogi the most strenuous, almost life consuming siddhi of tapas.
Investigating the time of each birth, one can notice that Swami was in several bodies at the same time, each body doing a different thing. Swami says that there is no surprise in this. One may be a body of dhyan, another may be a body of action. This is to inspire people into action through several methods. In the process, it might happen that these different bodies may develop individual personalities due to the intense tapas done in each and remain eternally as separate personalities in the cosmic hierarchy. There is no wonder if the enormous power of Maharishi Sanaka spreads in this manner.
In this way Swami has been ceaselessly and tirelessly pursuing the mission assigned to him by the Divine, through the ages through several incarnations. In this birth it is reaching its cosmic heights.