Early Days of Ashram Life

by

Sri Swami Chidananda

This article is from the book Swami Sivananda: Saint, Sage and Godman.

Now his daily practice: Siva gets up at 3 a.m. and meditates for three hours…
He again meditates and retires at 11 p.m.
—Swami Krishnananda.

Just enough of food to survive, just enough of cloth to hide the shame and just enough of a habitation to shelter.
—Sri A.B.N. Sinha.

In the early forties Gurudev used to come to the upper side of the Ashram for an evening walk. It was a sight to see him coming up in the summer evenings. He loved to be on the banks of Gangaji. The breeze blowing over the waters is cool like an air-conditioner’s breeze. After leaving the Kutir he used to come to the office first. It was at the present Post Office. He used to enter the office from the Ganga side, step in and sit in a small sofa immediately to the left hand side of the door. When I first came here in May 1943, there used to be only one person in the office, Brahmachari Poornabodh Chaitanya, belonging to the Avadhoot Parampara of Lord Dattatreya. He was not yet fully initiated (He entered Sannyasa on Sivaratri, in 1947 and became Swami Poornabodhendra.). He would always be in the office when Gurudev came. He was so short that if he stood by the side of Gurudev, he would perhaps come up to Gurudev’s waist only. He was a jack of all the trades. He was the cashier and the typist as well.

The visitors had to sit on the floor. There would be a little table between them and Gurudev. There was a cloth which covered the table and went down reaching the floor. Gurudev never allowed anyone to touch his feet. I have seen persistent Punjabi ladies put their hands inside the cloth and try to touch his feet. But Gurudev would retract his feet as far as possible.

In Rishikesh, the summer is terribly hot and the winter terribly cold. In the summer, Gurudev’s morning office hours were 6.00 to 7.30 a.m., before it became hot. Before that he used to finish his bath in Gangaji and all other morning routine. He was a tall figure with a stick and a very thin borderless Dhoti and a small Muradabadi towel (Gamchha) to hold the Dhoti in place. He used to tie it on the Dhoti because he had a very rubbery type of body and belly. There would be another Gamchha on his shoulder. Like that only he used to come and sit in the office. Someone had to keep fanning him otherwise he would perspire profusely. Latest by 8.00 a.m. he used to go back to his Kutir. Now we wonder how he could live in that Kutir. By 9.00 a.m. one could not step out of it without sandals, because the Kutir veranda was a bare open cement platform open to sky without any roof or covering. If it rained, the platform became drenched and if there was sunshine, it became burning hot. His Sevak was living in the first room. So Gurudev would come down the steps, go round the platform and then enter his Kutir, go inside and close the door. Thereafter, no one, not even his Sevak could enter his Kutir until he would unbolt the door, open it and say O…m…, O…m… There was no bell even.

In the summer, he would come out again only after 5.30 p.m. in the evening. Then also it was blazing hot. There was no post office at that time, but there was only a branch post office, manned by a Swamiji. He was known as Dak-khanawale Swamiji. He would go to Rishikesh to bring the Dak (mail) and would hand over Gurudev’s letters to his secretary. When I came here, his secretary was Swami Krishnanandaji (He hailed from coastal Karnataka and worked as the General Secretary, as well as, the editor of ‘The Divine Life’ till May 1944 when he left Ashram for seclusion.) and his mother-tongue was also the same as our Swami Krishnanandaji’s mother-tongue. You can think of the volume of the mail. While the mail came at mid-day, Gurudev came to the office in the evening and saw the letters. The Swamiji brought the letters with the typed replies also and kept them before Gurudev. There was such a rapport between them and Gurudev that people could not distinguish their language from Gurudev’s. Gurudev would go through them and if he wanted to add something, he would add a couple of lines with a green ink pen and all were posted the very next day. Very rarely have I seen him sending back a letter saying, ‘Retype it’ or ‘Write like this,’ very rarely.

After the office was over, he majestically climbed the hill. Three-fourth of present Ashram area was forest. There were many Bael trees and the remaining trees were all jungle trees. At that time, there was no way where we have big steps now; the only way was whence the car is now coming, in the form of a narrow jungle-footpath. So Gurudev used to come along the bank of mother Ganga, came past Ramashram Dharmasala and then there was a steep climb. The Devaprayag-Badrinath road went past Swami Akhilandeshwari Amma’s room, Ganesh Kutir and it continued at that level right up to the Darshan Mahavidyalaya. After that it was very steep and inclined. Gurudev had to come via Ramashram Dharmasala, and then a very steep-climbing started. It was a zig-zag footpath up the hill. Gurudev always carried his stick. He used to go to the upper Ashram and inspect the progress of the construction work. In the previous year the Bhajan Hall had just been completed and the only other buildings that existed at that time were the four rooms of the Yoga Sadhana Kutir and the four rooms of the press building and two more rooms where Master Satchidananda Maithaniji and Swami Suryadevanandaji are living. The rest was all jungle.

When the construction work of the Vishwanath Temple started, Gurudev used to come to see the progress and the only way for coming up was that very steep footpath. It was the war-time, so everything had to be obtained through permit only. Fortunately we had not much difficulty here. This area belonged to the Tehri-Garhwal Durbar and so we had to go to Narendra Nagar only.

When Gurudev came a little early and he had more time, he would go round and see the Temple construction and afterwards would do some exercise. The exercise was a little funny. You know there is a big bell outside the Bhajan Hall, which gives the hour-bell. He used to catch hold of that iron post and do some pull-ups. Then he would gently trot around the Bhajan Hall. After a few rounds of running he would walk around it. It was a delightful sight to see. In summer, there were mosquitoes and flies. So he used to shake that thin towel (Gamehha) to ward them off. He would never hurt even an insect. But at the same time, he could not afford to allow them to sit on his body and sting him. An elephant swings its trunk constantly and sometimes keeps a little branch of a tree in its trunk. Likewise Gurudev used to walk around majestically swinging along the thin towel.

After all that, Gurudev would come down and that was a wonderful sight to see. It would be semi-dark. One disciple would walk in front of him with a lantern. Gurudev would follow him majestically with his big stick.

In the winter, the platform outside the Kutir would become very cold. It was quite reverse of the summer. In the winter, Gurudev would come to the office at about 10.00 or 10.15 in the morning and he had to put on some warm clothing. He would come and sit in the office chatting with the people, sometimes till mid-day or 12.30 or even 1.00 in the noon. But the moment he entered his Kutir, finished. No one had any access. Even though it was an open platform, no one dared to go there. In the evening he came out for a very brief period, for less than an hour only. In the winter, days are short, nights long, the sun sets early. He would come out at about 4.00 p.m. and sit for half an hour or sometimes even for an hour. He would then go to his Kutir or sometimes sat on the bank of mother Ganga on that platform. But even though he was sitting in the open, no one could go near him and disturb him at that time.

He came out for the third time for the evening Satsanga. He would come half an hour after the commencement of the Satsanga. When the opening Kirtan-Bhajan were over, he would come and take his seat. In those days, he sat completely straight and rigid, listening to whatever was going on Something was read daily and he would listen to it carefully. He did only the concluding Kirtan towards the end of the Satsanga. He then met those who missed him in the morning and evening office hours. Thus the entire schedule changed according to the climate and the season on of the year. Even his dress too changed according to e climate. In winter, sometimes, he wore a long-coat and occasionally even a turban.