 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The teachers of The Sadhana Society are available to do lectures
in your area. If you are interested, please contact
us. Also, you can click on the links below to visit the Shrines of these spiritual teachers. "I stopped keeping track of that (age) in 1939, when I
took vows as a Swami. That's part of the vows," he says.
"It's not forgotten, but it's not important." The
Swami took his vows in India, where he spent a total of about
eight years with the Gandhi people. "In the process I became
a Swami," he says. "The purest translation (for Swami)
in English might be Teacher. People like to put fancier things
to it. In India, a teacher is a teacher, whether teaching mathematics
or religion. In our society, titles can put you in a bad position
- they can keep you from being human. "I'm fortunate. I've
been with and known an endless number of great people, historic
people, well known people and the ones l held in highest esteem
were the one's who were most human - human enough to have failings
along with greatness. People like Gandhi, Rabindrinath Tagore,
Swami Yogananda, Krishnamurti and Swami Prabhavanada, Aldous
Huxley and Alan Watts. While in India, he met and traveled with
Gandhi. "He had a lot of idiosyncrasies, but that's what
made him marvelous." Swami Ramananda studied with Gandhi.
"I was there at the assassination. Two days later, I came
home," he says. There were about 50 to 60 people in the
group who followed Gandhi at that time. "We were devastated,
but we expected it. He was trying to keep India a single unit.
It was going the other way. The Muslims wanted it divided. During
his years in India, Swami Ramananda also spent time with Rabindrinath
Tagore, a Noble Prize winner for literature. Tagore gave Ramananda
a copy of his book "Sadhana" with the wish that it
could be used as a textbook in America. Swami Ramananda has
been teaching from this book for over 50 years. Gandhi and Tagore
were the teachers who influenced him most. Other teachers who
had no famous names like his grandmother, also had their influences.
The Swami's grandmother was a full-blooded Mohawk. "In
my reading, I began to realize the things she talked about -
the legends, the stories, the traditions - there were similarities
in Eastern religions." As a boy, the Swarni spent most
of his childhood in bed. "I was born with a bad vertebrae
that never joined. I had all the childhood diseases and couldn't
walk until I was 18." When he was 18, he began to crawl,
then walk with crutches, then walk with a cane until he walked
strong and sure. Since then he's walked seven times across the
continent of India and walked all over the United States. "Sixty
years of walking - it s almost a hobby with me." As a child
he read books on religion and philosophy. At age 4, he completed
reading "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman. Born and
raised in the Roman Catholic Church, listening to his grandmothers
Native American stories, reading avidly about all religions,
studying with Gandhi, and in experiencing his own life, Swami
Ramananda realized there is a "Unity within Diversity".
As a teacher, he has dedicated his life to helping others discover
their own unique Spirituality through the pathway of direct
experiences. He lives and teaches at the Sadhana Sanctuary in
Skull Valley. "In most of Western philosophy, there is
a distinction a line is drawn, between animate and inanimate
objects. "Everything is Being. Everything created is Being.
A rock is a Being. A rock has built-in information that we as
human beings have long forgotten. "In the crystallisation
of a rock, there is a kind of dance that takes place. Like the
dance of DNA in the human body. Each rock has its own DNA. Crystals
break down exactly like DNA. Rocks, have a life of their own."
In Native American tradition God is called Great Spirit, the
Swami says. "Great Spirit is the Unknown Source. The Great
Spirit is God, the Ultimate Mystery in all things. There is
no ending to the Unknown anymore than there is an ending to
Creation. "In Native American tradition, when Great Spirit
dreams his dream, it became a Great Power, a visible aspect
of the Unknown. It got everything moving. It got light to create
shadows, and shadows to create shapes and forms. "In creation,
everything is created perfectly. The purpose of the human being
is to be a co-creator - to continue this perfection. "Humans
must try to expand perfection. The creation of everything -
Humans, trees, flowers, blades of grass - is ongoing, becoming
something greater. "In creation story of the bible, God
says 'It is Good.' But He never says 'It is finished.' A misinterpretation
over the ages implied it meant it is finished. "Human beings
are co-creators. This is our whole purpose for being. We are
the co-creators we are continually expanding creation. "There
is nothing out there in the universe that we're not part of.
The human bag of bones has no limitations. If the physical side
of us is filled with possibilities, think of the possibilities
in that Mysterious Something within each one of us. "One
cannot breathe the breath of life without being on the brink
of great achievements. "To fully live one's life, there
is no such thing as a passing hour that isn't filled with wonder
and mystery. "Who said self-realization can't be fun!" What happened next? What does Devi mean? What do you teach? Talk about the newspaper columns that you write. Kerani Marie Devi, your articles are playful and humorous.
Thanks, Kerani Marie Devi. It is time for my interview
with Swami Shankarananda. What did you discover, Shankara? What events in your life forged that focus? How has this dissatisfaction guided you? Is this why you have been initiated in practices from
several different lineages? I notice in the temple several Tibetan Thangas along
side Kachinas on a Native American altar, next to the Vedic
Om Symbol hanging over the main altar. How are you able to reconcile
all of these? Sounds like your spiritual practices also do not fall
under the norm! What advice would you have for those seeking the Spiritual
Path? |
