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Answer: Our Ashram is not planned and founded and organised by any enlightened human will. It is a spontaneous manifestation of the divine Will and divine Grace. No power of the world however great can affect or damage its existence. It survives every challenge and executes its functions so long as that divine Will and that divine Grace will it. Omkarananda Ashram first came into existence in March 1965, with the construction of the Yagna-Shala in the premises of the Vital Mandir and Ashram adjoining the now Omkarananda Ashram's main Building in the Himalayas. Most powerful Yagnas were conducted, in the Presence of Swami Omkarananda, two immortal Sages, the Divine Mother Herself and other Divinities, by Siddha Purusha Swami Durgananda. Swami Omkarananda has no personal Will and no private Life. It is decreed by Mahatripurasundari, Parvati Parameshwari, that no matter where in the world Swami Omkarananda resides in a Building or a House, that Building or that House is granted by the Gods and Goddesses the status of a Temple. Notwithstanding its outer appearance, such a Building or House is indeed in its interior a real Temple. Of the future, the past and the present of Omkarananda Ashram, you have to address your question to that divine Will and that divine Grace if your position on the scale of your inner spiritual evolution affords an access to them. Successors are not trained. Successors are born. Saints are not made. They are born. By the purity of their heart, by their untiring selfless services, by their following in the footsteps of Swamiji, and above all by the divine Grace successors constitute themselves. If you wish, you can interview any of the persons living in Omkarananda Ashram, and watch their purity, their selflessness, their devotion, their service. Speaking from the standpoint of the organisation, we have two main Registered Trust Societies to guarantee the survival, growth and expansion of the Services of the Omkarananda Ashram, for decades and perhaps for centuries to come: one, Omkarananda Charitable Trust, two, Omkarananda Dharma Samsthan. The next elected President of the Trust Societies will be the successor of their present Founder-President.
b) Who is the successor? Try to interview him. Answer: The very person whom the representative and journalist of the HINDUISM TODAY, Mr. Malik contacted and to whom he dictated the questions on Omkarananda Ashram, is the Vice-President of Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati's Four Trust Societies, which are functioning for, and through, Omkarananda Ashram Himalayas, Sri Swami Vishveshwarananda Saraswati. His Name signifies the Happiness of Lord Siva Vishwanatha of Varanasi, of Sivananda Ashram's Vishwanatha Temple and of Omkarananda Ashram's Dipeshwara Temple. He is an Akhanda Brahmachari, one who has embodied in himself from childhood and youthhood unbroken principle of Brahmacharya. He has received Sannyasa Diksha from Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati. Pancha Tantra says, He is not a Saint in truth, who is not a Saint in youth." Vishveshwarananda is a Karma Yogi by temper, character and choice and bears in his heart uncompromising and total Devotion to his Gurudev. From 1967 to 1982 he has rendered distinguishing services to Omkarananda's European Ashrams. In 1982 he was sent to Himalayas, Muni-ki-Reti, Rishikesh. Within a short time he has created a large new field of activities the Ashram Temples for the Sadhakas, schools for the students, and buildings for the resident Swamis, Teachers and Professors. In a hilly region, which is a world of Sadhus, Sannyasis and Mahatmas, he discovered education as the greatest need, and has been ably fulfilling this need much to the joy of over a thousand families. He is self-effacing and has no ambition to be the succeeding President from his present Vice-President Position. Yet from the standpoint of the institution, he is the successor. Such is his Devotion to the Gurudev that he always wants to be Hanuman and not Lord Rama. He is not only Hanuman but also Bharata. With absolute physical absence of his other-worldly Mystic and Sage Sadgurudeva Omkarananda from the Ashram, since the last 30 years, Swami Vishveshwarananda has been since he took up the Management of the Ashram, ruling the tiny kingdom of the Ashram just with Guru-Padukas on the Throne of the Ashram. A team of Omkarananda Saraswati's monastic disciples, who are also Members of the Board of Omkarananda Trust Societies Swami Satchidananda, Swami Gaurishankarananda, Swami Vishvarupananda and Somashekhari (Somashekhari has also got Sannyasa-Diksha and is a monastic disciple, but has been ordered by Sadgurudeva Omkarananda to be in civil dress so long as she is the Director of Natyakala Academy and Sangit Samsthan and has to teach these Arts to students and has to give public performances) are greatly helping Swami Vishveshwarananda. In the spirit of the Veda Mantra, they are serving Sarva-Devata and the public as one Heart, one Mind, one Will. The Grace of Guru, Gayatri, Ganga, Gita, Tripurasundari is visibly operative in their lives. |
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