RAJA MAHARAJ

RAJA MAHARAJ 

The first President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Brahmananda, the spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna. A spiritual powerhouse, the eternal playmate of Sri Krishna, cowherd boy of Vrindavan during Krishna's earthly pastime, Raja Maharaj was deemed by Swamiji to be of higher spiritual status than even him. His very presence sanctified the atmosphere so, that 'kumbhak' (holding of breath) was spontaneous among the brahmacharins, according to Swami Lokeshwaranandaji who said so to us during a Kathamrita class in the mid 1980s.

Raja Maharaj devised multiple ways of bringing his soaring concentration down to the earthly plane. One such was his pastime of fishing. Another was of playing cards. A third one was playing hide and seek with little children in which he once wore the mask of a tiger and mock-frightened the kids.

His was a spirit that was beyond the grasp of even his illumined brother disciples who beheld him as the veritable representation of Thakur.

During his long tenure as President of the Order he stabilised it on the firm foundation of routinised practice of spiritual disciplines even as the Order spread its branches across the length and breadth of the country. Verily, although Swamiji founded the Ramakrishna Mission, it was Swami Brahmananda who secured its prolonged life by giving it due basis in practised spirituality. 

Written by Sugata Bose