THE LIGHT OF A MILLION SOULS

This inimitable monk of sterling strength of character was hardly ever ruffled even in the thick of political trouble in West Bengal that rocked the Ramakrishna Mission in the 1970s and 1980s, and maintained an evenness of temperament so uncommon among men that one wonders if this is what is meant by the term 'sthitaprajna' (of stable realisation) in the Bhagavad Geeta. Swami Gahanananda was a jewel of the Ramakrishna Order and, like many of his predecessors who he emulated, he has also left behind a rich heritage for us to emulate and so uplift ourselves to supernal heights of spiritual glory whereby we may duly serve the Mission of the Master, that of rejuvenating the whole human race with the pristine ideals of the Upanishads made flesh in the very fabric of our being and actualised in our everyday intercourse of life. In later life when he blessed over 142,000 devotees with spiritual initiation, Swami Gahanananda's spiritual prowess became evident. He silently transformed these lives forever and countless more who had the occasion to interact at length with him. Such a karma-yogi rarely visits our earth and it has been a privilege for so many of us to have seen him from close quarters and witness the effulgence of that Spirit that was ever engaged in the work of the Master, salvaging souls from the mire of material existence and setting them on the royal avenue of godhead.

Swami Dayananda had founded the Shishu Mangal and had found in Swami Gahanananda an able lieutenant to carry forward the Hospital Project and give it final fruition in the form of the Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan, a 550 bed General Hospital which has now expanded with a Paediatric Section to a 600 bed hospital. The tireless efforts of Swami Gahanananda, his fortitude and vision, have given shape to this premier centre of health-care and so set up new standards of hospital service in Kolkata, worthy of emulation by like institutions.

Swami Gahanananda, despite being an indefatigable worker for the cause of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, ever stressed the importance of spiritual practice and contemplation as the primary source of vitalisation of the system whereby great labour of love for the cause may be effected. He always reminded monastic and lay workers that the centre and focus of their lives was Sri Ramakrishna and it was his work that they were privileged by his grace to be doing. Therefore, it was binding on everyone to humbly perform their duty to the best of their ability and leave the fruits of their labour to the Master to determine. There was no reason to panic or get stressed over work, for essentially the work was Thakur's and he would get it done in his own inscrutable way in the fullness of time. However, this was not a prescription for laxity in work for it was a divine injunction that soldiers of the soul were bearing in Ramakrishna's name and it was their utmost obligation to render justice to the cause.

As the Centenary of Swami Gahanananda draws near every passing day, it becomes an imperative for his disciples and devotees to cast in their lot to celebrate his great life and works and to dedicate their own lives, which were so very much shaped by him, for the great cause of Sri Ramakrishna as exemplified by his leonine son, Gahanananda.