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Sri SWAMI VENKATESANANDA,
a direct disciple of
His Holiness Sri Swami Sivananda, who became himself a renowned
spiritual leader and founder of an Ashram in Mauritius, published
in an introductory note the following statement about his younger
Guru-Bhai Swami Omkaranandaji:
This intuitive genius possesses
the wisdom of a sage at a very young age. He has been literally
burning with such a fire of thirst for knowledge that at an astoundingly
early age of 25 he shines as a master of several fields of knowledge;
and in his insatiable eagerness to expand the frontiers of his
knowledge, he often exalts himself to heights of wisdom, from
where he is able to direct the gaze of the very authorities on
a subject to the truth in it that they missed. This intuitive
capacity has been made possible in him, not only by his penetrating
insight into men and things, but by an inborn ability to realise
within himself all that he perceives and desires to understand.
This ability to realise everything
within himself it was that lit within him the Lamp of Discrimination
and Dispassion while he was yet in his teens.
'I realised that even the life of a monarch or a millionaire
is not worth my aspiring for,' he said once. This realisation
was born of his actually living the life of a monarch or millionaire
within himself.
Endowed with this supreme dispassion,
Omkaranandaji shines today as a bala-Jnani, a great lover of
seclusion and solitude, with a fiery spirit of renunciation that
knowingly, willingly, gladly and constantly spurns all the enjoyments
of the universe as straw. Like Sri Sankara and Sri Jnaneshwar,
Swami Omkarananda has, even while he is so young, been guiding
spiritual aspirants all over the world with sublime and deep
wisdom born of his enlightened intellect. He hides himself and
you can hardly meet him; but his fame and his life-transforming
thoughts have girdled the earth today. Hard working and devoted
to the Master Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, Swami Omkarananda
blends in himself the best among Karma Yogis, the devout Bhakta,
the fiery Yogi and the resplendent Jnani. He is the best interpreter
of Sri Swami Sivananda's Philosophy."
Sri Swami Venkatesanandaji closes
his introductory note with a salute to the spiritual Light of
his Guru-Bhai:
May we all be enabled by Gurudev's
Supreme grace to walk in the footsteps of Swami Omkaranandaji
and thereby make our own lives blessed."
The present President of
Sivananda Ashram, His Holiness Sri Swami Chidananda Maharaj, introduced in his recorded message
his Guru-Bhai Swami Omkarananda with the following words:
... a holy spiritual brother
of mine, young Swami Omkarananda, whom Swamiji, our beloved master
Swami Sivananda, used to call Bala Yogi, or the 'Boy Yogi'. Swami
Omkarananda, a young boy Yogi, whom the master loved, and held
in high esteem for his great philosophical abilities, is coming
to you as a true representative of the spirit of Sannyasa, of
the holy men of India. He brings to you the fresh breath of the
Ganges and the Himalayas, and he is an embodiment of the silent
Sannyasin who teaches by the power of his ideal life preaches
through personal example more than through so many words."
Swamini SHIVAPREMANANDA, a disciple of Sri Swami Sivanandaji,
a well-known German Yoga Teacher and President of the Dorschhausen
branch of The Divine Life Society, stated in a letter to her
students (translation from German):
"Sri Swami Omkarananda
reached in very young years Self-Realisation, as was stated by
his famous teacher <Sri Swami Sivananda> himself. ... A
long cherished dream and deep longing to meet a selfless Yogi
of Self-Realisation coming from the solitude of the Himalayas
to us here in Europe out of love for the struggling humanity
has come true. ... Swami Omkarananda is the highest and finest
we can meet today on this earthly plane, in the fields of Spiritual
Arts and Science, Yoga, Vedanta, Philosophy, and so on."
We Need the Ideal of Swami Omkarananda
as presented by Dr. phil. Erwin R. Jacobi, UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH,
Switzerland:
"When Swami Omkarananda
came to us, he was of the very same age as Albert Schweitzer
was, when he first departed for Lambarene. We as the 'Underdeveloped'
and the 'Illiterate' of another type here in Central Europe than
the inhabitants of Equatorial Africa yet not less needy in our
poverty than they require and demand Swami Omkarananda's help
and services in a great and steadily increasing number, and this
in spite of the achievements of some of our big and powerful
organisations which seem so secure and unfailing. It is left
to the reader to continue this comparison in accordance with
his own experiences and lived events.
Not only do we need the Ideal
of an Albert Schweitzer in order to adjust our living and thinking
in the sense of his 'Reverence for Life', but we need also the
example of Swami Omkarananda, who by his very life and work is
called to teach anew Goethe's 'Being Pious' in order this Piety
may unfold and bear fruit in our hearts and lead us to real peace."
Dr. A. B. Maalakaraddy, M.D.,
Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka,
Bangalore, India, expressed
his deep reverence after his visit at Omkarananda Ashram and
its Temples, which was crowned with Swamiji's Darshan:
The day of our visit to Sadguru
Omkarananda Swamiji's holy Ashram shall always be remembered
and cherished in our memory. The profound knowledge of the disciples
at the Ashram, Sanskrit prayers and the ways of the practice
of spirituality at the Ashram has astonished us. By visiting
Paramapoojya Omkaranandaji's Ashram myself and my wife were enriched
beyond measure to say the least. Discussions with Sadguru Swami
Omkaranandaji has given me and my wife a new dimension for attainment
of peace. I have come to the conclusion that he is one of the
greatest
living seers who leads a perfect Vedic life of a Rishi. When
I saw him, my memories went back to the ancient Indian Vedic
times which have given eternal and imperishable truth to the
world. Sadguruji was extremely kind enough to Bless us and he
was kindness personified."
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