Interview with Gopal Maharaj

By the time The SPH was 16, Yogananda Puri, Vibhutananda Puri, and the other Gurus, decided that it was time for Him to publicly declare His mission for reviving of Kailasa through re-establishing the enlightened civilization. His body was prepared and ready for the humongous task ahead. On 24 May 1994, His guru, Mathaji Vibbutananda Puri, organized the Yoga Pattabhishekam, where with the witness of the most esteemed enlightened beings in India, HDH was coronated as the incarnation of Paramashiva, the beacon of Light that has landed to guide humanity to enlightened living. With the momentous occasion, Their divine mandate was fulfilled and by 1995, all of them attained mahasamadhi (shedding the mortal frame and returning to original Cosmic existence).

HDH intensely started His tireless work to bring superconscious breakthrough to humanity one person at a time. He volunteered at the Sri Ramakrishna Mission in Mylapore, Chennai and demonstrated the most dedicated and joyful responsibilism (the space of taking responsibility) for multiple projects which He led including Publications, editorial and enreaching of the monthly magazine and Annalaya (free food serving satvic kitchen). He gave a breakthrough to each with His hard work, sincerity, devotion and will-persistence.

Series of interviews with Gopal Maharaj who was Swami’s roommate at the Ramakrishna Mutt in Mylapore (1995, 1996)

Gopal Maharaj: Our Swami was the annadatha (Kitchen head).

Ramakrishna Mutt had a manager, a President, an accounts department, a cashier, and a library. None of these departments worked on Saturdays. It was a holiday for all these departments. For all other occasions such as Ramakrishna Jayanthi, Vivekananda Jayanthi, Ramakrishnanandar Jayanthi these departments would be on leave. But these two departments, that is my department which was the temple department and Swami’s department which was the kitchen department, would never get any leave. This is because puja has to take place everyday, food has to be served everyday. Everyday everyone has to eat! In fact, on these special occasions or functions there would be more work for these two departments. For all other departments the work load would reduce on these occasions.

The people in the other departments would wear new clothes, come to the temple in a jolly mood, do pranam (pay obeisance) and go away. They would be in a relaxed mood because on these occasions it would be a holiday for their department. Also, all of them would get a good three hours’ rest in the afternoon everyday. In Swami’s department there would not be any scope for relaxation. At least in my department I would come and lie down for sometime after closing the temple after the morning pujas. But if you take Swami he has to wait till the last person eats. He would have work until then.

If you look at the time he comes to our room after the last worker has his food, it would be almost 3pm. I will finish my temple work by about 12 noon. I would come and lie down. Till about 1 o’clock I would simply rest. After that my work would begin again only at 4pm. For Swami, his work would resume at 4.30pm for tiffin. He would come in this 1 hour gap and offer worship to the small deity that he had in his room. He would have all the materials related to his sadhana (spiritual practice). If he reads a book he would bring all the things related to the sadhana mentioned in that book and practice it sincerely.

Swami Vivekananda used to have a stick with him. So Swami also got a stick ready! He would practice walking like Vivekananda. In this one hour gap that he gets he would not rest. He would be doing something or the other. That stick would be just like the one Vivekananda had. Swami had made it just like the one Vivekananda had. Swami would just walk around like Swami Vivekananda in the same bhava (body language and mood). All this would simply amuse me!

Interviewer: Interviewer: He would walk like Vivekananda!

Gopal Mhj: He would walk as Vivekananda not like Vivekananda. He would walk like this outside also. Remember I had mentioned about the verandah outside? Since that was a private area he would do his walking there. No one would come that way. He would wear only wooden sandals. He would never wear rubber slippers. He would say, ‘I am a sannyasi.’ And he would make the ‘tak tak’ noise with those sandals and walk with those sandals. It was a disturbance for all of us since these wooden sandals made a lot of noise. We would say, ‘He does not listen even if you tell him. He continues to behave in this manner.’ Swami would simply be in that bhava all the time.

Even when you enter his room when he is not there you can feel the energy field. Even when he enters his room he will not enter it immediately. He would feel the energy field of the place before entering it. He would absorb the entire energy field of that place with his bhava and only then enter the room. Once he enters the room you can feel the energy of that place in his presence.

All this happens in the afternoon. In the night after he is done with his work it will be even worse. His kitchen work would finish last. My work will finish early. All other departments would finish work by 6 pm. The office would close by then. They would go to have their food. They would go for dinner. But for Swami, as soon as the evening arati finishes, he has to begin cooking dinner. He has to get all the bowls for the naivedya (food offering to the deities) ready for me to offer to Guru (Sri Ramakrishna) at the temple. All the dishes for this offering right from payasam (sweet dessert) and the other dishes have to be done and sent to the temple under his supervision.

In most of the other departments if something goes wrong it can always be rectified later. But in the kitchen department if something goes wrong severe action will be taken. If anything goes wrong in the kitchen department the complaints would come to me. If one of my poojaris (temple priests) say that the payasam does not have sugar, they will bring the payasam as it is and serve it to the head. So Swami has to be there in the kitchen and supervise everything that is done very closely. But Swami will never do anything in a haphazard way for the sake of doing it.

When Swami joined (the mutt) he was not in this department. When he joined he was staying with four other brahmacharis in a hall. Remember he was in that photo – with Duraipandian and some others. Even when he came into the ashram he came in with a lot of intensity. He said that he must do a lot of sadhana. He was under the impression that all the people in the Mutt were Sri Ramakrishnas. He thought that if he also came and joined, he would also become Sri Ramakrishna. He thought that all of us here were already blessed with the darshan of Sri Ramakrishna. All the outsiders would think this way – that all those in the mutt were blessed with the darshan of Sri Ramakrishna and that if anyone from outside goes and joins the mutt they would also be blessed with the darshan of Sri Ramakrishna. Only after coming in and being with us he realized that we had not done much sadhana. He realized that none of us were enlightened.

As soon as he realized this he began his spiritual practices. He began reading many spiritual books. He began his sadhana with great intensity. All the time he would either be in meditation or he would do japa (mantra chanting). More than japa, he was really at the peak of mediation practice. If he was not in meditation he would be practicing the bhava – the bhava of Vivekananda. He would walk just as Vivekananda did. Or else he would be walking as Sri Ramakrishna. Or he would be talking like the siddhars (mystics) that he had met earlier. He would always be in that bhava. After this if he comes into the room he will not sit simply. Either he will read some books or he will decorate the deities; or he will be in meditation or he will be practicing some bhava and walking within the room.

He would never let these spiritual practices come in the way of his work time. Whenever it was time for him to do his department work he would come down and do that work. The moment he goes to do work he would laugh and make merry and be in a jolly mood. At the same time he would be very detail-oriented in his work and pay keen attention.

After work hours when he joins the other brahmacharis he would be a totally different person! When he works he would work as a worker. When he was with us he would be a blissful sannyasi! He would scold us, ‘You fellows! Should you not be full of bliss? Why are you all so sober? Come, let us dance and be blissful! We have already renounced everything in our life and we are going closer to God. So come, let us be jolly and blissful!’

But we would say to him, ‘Rajashekaran Maharaj, don’t do all this. All this looks very crazy. Why are you wasting money buying this walking stick? What is the need for this stick? Just by keeping this stick can you immediately become Vivekananda? Can you become him? Is all this needed for you?’ We used to oppose him in this manner and question him. But there was one group of people who accepted everything that Swami did. They would say, ‘Hey Rajashekaran will be a very famous person in future. He is very intense in his sadhana.’

If he comes into the room at 9 pm in the night, till about 11 pm he would decorate the deities and do his meditation. By the time he finishes his mediation and goes to bed it would easily be around 1 or 2 am! I would be fast asleep at that time. He would hear the tinkling sound of anklets at that time. There was no scope for any ladies to come into the ashram at that hour.

At that time Swami was an ardent Sri Vidya devotee. He had worshipped Rajarajeshwari and Sri Vidya at that time. It was the anklets of this Goddess that were heard at that time. He could hear it. I could also hear it. He would wake me up and ask me to listen to the sound of these anklets. I was really scared when I heard it. I would simply say to him, ‘Maharaj, just sleep. Who is going to come here at this hour of the night?’ This is because there was no scope for ladies to come to the ashram at that time. The road was on the other side. Our campus was a fairly huge campus.

I do not know when he would retire to bed after finishing all his pujas. But he had to be up early in the morning to do the next day’s work. The cows would come to the ashram to be milked. He would go and sit with the cowherd. These cowherds would never leave the cows in the ashram. They would always take these cows with them when they leave. This was because there was no one to take care of these cows.

But Swami was always very fond of animals. If he comes outside no cow would simply stand. He would go and milk the cows! That was such a wonder! And the cows would also give milk without any hesitation. We brahmacharis have never milked cows before. Swami would teach us how to milk the cows. He would say, ‘You have to be gentle with the stem in the udder of the cow, otherwise it will get strained. You have to pull the stem very gently.’ Swami would say, ‘The morning offering for Guru Maharaj (Sri Ramakrishna) is being taken to the temple. We ourselves must milk the cows and send this milk along with the offering for Guru Maharaj. We have to supervise the offering personally.’

He would never have any worldly thought. He would talk only about spirituality. Even if we talk about animals, he would immediately connect it to spirituality. He would say, ‘This cow did all these things. That is why it is connected deeply to Guru Maharaj. In Tiruvannamalai this is what happened with a cow…’ Generally, everything he talks about would be about spirituality.

We had a Vinayagar Agaval book (A book on Lord Ganesha) with us. We would all be busy. He would also have come there on some work. But the moment he sees this book, he would immediately start talking about this book. He would say, ‘All this is mentioned in this book maharaj. Practice this sadhana. I have done this sadhana.’ We would say, ‘Rajashekaran would always be talking in this manner. He has no other job. All these sadhanas are not practical.’ He would still persist, ‘No maharaj, Avvaiyar (Lady Saint from Tamilnadu, South India) got all this as a vision. Avvaiyar has seen it. We can practice yoga in this manner.’ After this he would start talking about Vinayagar Agaval.

There would be some Swamis who would have many doubts. In the night, all these Swamis would be around him and they would clear their doubts with him. The others would either leave or watch the television, or they would go and do something else. Some others would retire to bed. Some others who do not wish to interact with others would pretend to sleep in their rooms, while the remaining Swamis would call our Swami and hold discussions with him.

Always wherever Swami is, he would be the center of attraction! You could say he had the charisma. Everyone would feel shy to sing. They would not have a good voice. They would make fun of me. They would sing in Tamil or Sanskrit. In both Swami would be the best. He would sit in the corner. This was because he was a junior bramhachari. Guatamanandar the President would sit there. Gautamanandar would call out from there, ‘Hey Rajashekara, start the show!’ Just that one word from the President was enough for Swami. He would motivate others also in this way. He would say, ‘Arunkumar sing! Gopal sing!’ But none of us would open our mouth because we were shy.

Swami would begin singing. The whole place would simply vibrate with his singing. That was the only effect. Even if we call him for dancing and ask him to start, it he would dance so beautifully and finish it off. When he dances, it would be as if Lord Shiva himself came and danced. Even if there was any program that called for dressing up as Lord Shiva, we would call Swami and he would do it beautifully.

During that time there were restrictions saying that the sannyasis should not represent only Hinduism. So they were not allowed to put the sacred ash on their forehead in three lines or put vermillion on their forehead. Swami would say, ‘I am a person who has seen Shiva himself in Tiruvannamalai. This is how I will be.’ His hair would fall on his face in front. He would lift that hair up and put three thick lines of vibhuthi (holy ash) on his forehead and come and stand in front of everybody in this grand manner. Kamalanandar was another person who would also put vibhuthi in this manner. But he was an old monk so nobody would say anything to him.

Swami would put vibhuthi on his forehead in this manner and go everywhere. He would stand in front of Guru (Sri Ramakrishna). Many residents of the ashram would put vibhuthi in this manner only when they go to the shrine of the Guru and pray before going to work every morning. Swami would put vibhuthi on his forehead in three lines and come and stand before the Guru shrine. It would be as if Guru and he are in deep communion talking to each other. We would all stand a little away and make fun of him. We would say, ‘Look, here he comes. Now he won’t budge from that place for ten minutes. Call Guru Maharaj, ask him to come out and meet him quickly!’ We would refer to Guru as Maharaj among ourselves. If we happen to come into this zone where Swami is in communion with the Master, there would be total silence. On the contrary, if he begins to dance, the whole place would be vibrating with his dance. Both he would create – the silence and the vibration! Same with music… he would create a vibrant mood with his music.

Then a center (Ramakrishna mutt branch) came up in Kanchipuram. This center was the one Swami referred to as his first center! In the beginning this center was in the city. Since there were some issues with the ashram being within the city, the ashram was moved to the outskirts of Kanchipuram. This site for the ashram was just a field covered with wild grass. Snakes were found there. There was nothing there. Only four huts were built. One hut was the dining and kitchen area. In one of the huts the sadhus (sannyasis) stayed. The other was the temple. All four were huts. There was nothing else there. None of the devotees would even come to the ashram. Even when the ashram was in the city the number of people who came there were very few. Now nobody came to this ashram in the outskirts.

At that time we were building a new temple in Madras (Chennai). At that time it was decided that all bramhacharis in the order of seniority would take turns and go and stay in this Kanchipuram ashram for one month. This person would be in charge of all the temple activities. In that order everyone would take turns to go there.

Swami was 10th in the order. I would be first. I went there first for one month. Since I was the poojari or priest of the temple here I knew what had to be done. So I went and stayed there. One month was coming to an end. Nobody who was after me like Susendran or Duraipandian wanted to go there. This is because there was less work in this Madras ashram! And these material comforts like a bed, a fan etc were there in the Madras ashram. So we could sleep there comfortably. In Kanchipuram ashram all this would not be there.

Swami lived with very minimal things when he was my roommate. If you came into my room it would be as if only I was the sole occupant of the room. This is because he hardly had any belongings. He would have just two dhothis. He would hang it. I would hang my dhothi also there. So it would be as if only one dhothi is hanging. He never had any suitcase for himself. I would have many personal belongings.

In our room there would be many things that the ashram needed. There was a cupboard full of things like soap and other supplies that the residents of the ashram needed. This is because Swami was the one who was in-charge of supplying these things to the residents. But if you see Swami, he did not have any personal belongings! I would sleep on the bed, but he would sleep on the floor. Since he slept on the floor no one would even know he also shared the room with me!

Swami volunteered to go to the Kanchipuram ashram and take on the responsibilities there. The stipulated time was only one month but Swami stayed there for three months. In those three months that he was there he did not just stay quietly after doing the pujas for the deity. That was the time when it was Navarathiri (9-day festival for the Universal Goddess Mother). The deities that you see today were all made by Swami himself.

Nobody would be in the ashram most of the time. 1516

After Swami came to Kanchipuram it was only him. There was some work going on in the ashram. There was some construction work going on. He had to supervise this work, do the daily puja and take care of the kitchen work all by himself.

SPH as Anna Dhaata

Interviewer: Would Swami cook?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes, he would cook. He knew all the methods of cooking. We just had to put in one word to him, ‘We need to cook for Guru Maharaj.’ He would do it in a beautiful way. Anything… if we just tell him he would do it, since he knew all the jobs well. Swami would cook by himself in that ashram and offer it to God.

Some others would come there in transit for a week or so, stay there in that ashram and leave. That one week that they stay in the ashram, they would complain about Swami. Actually the temple puja will take only 1 ½ hours maximum. If we do it quickly we can finish in 1 hours’ time. Even if we take maximum time, it would take that much time only. But if the puja begins at 7 am Swami would be in the temple at 6 am. He would slowly and with great devotion do it till 3 or 4 pm in the evening! So the others would complain about this. He would look at Guru Maharaj and Sharada Devi with great devotion and do the puja at length.

There are some methods for puja. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa insisted on the bhava method when doing the puja. Swami would be immersed in this bhava. It would be as if he is in total communion with the Guru. When he offers the naivedhya he would offer it and sit there for some time. It would be as if he is waiting for Sri Ramakrishna to eat.

He would take his time to cook. This slow cooking on the fire would make the dishes he made very tasty. When others taste his cooking they would complement him saying, ‘The food tastes really good today Rajashekar Maharaj.’ He would work in this manner. During those three months only Durga puja festival was also there. He created a history there by doing it in a very grand manner. So many people attended this festival.

1656 When I was there during my turn at the Kanchipuram ashram, the President Rajakrishnanandar told me, ‘Nobody comes to this ashram. So you tell the neighborhood that you are going to do free teaching for children in the evening; then at least some of the neighborhood kids will attend and during the arati time in the evening at least it will look like some people are present.’ I tried to do this. Since Swami’s turn followed soon after my turn I was not able to do much. I still remember those ten children who started coming to the ashram. These children just started coming to the ashram. Soon after that it was Swami’s turn, so I could not do much and I left.

I told the ashram in Madras that Rajashekaran needs help in that ashram since he is going to be doing the Durga puja there. They also told me to leave immediately for Kanchipuram. 1724 When I went and saw there, I was surprised by what I saw. The first ten children that I found were there. They were so fond of Swami. Not only that, there were about 100 more children sitting there! So many children and so many adults also began to come to the ashram.

Earlier, nobody would bring flowers to the ashram. But when I went there I saw so many lotus flowers in the ashram. All this I saw with my own eyes. I do not know how to describe this in words. All this will be hard to believe. But I saw all this happen in front of my eyes. On seeing this I exclaimed, ‘Rajashekaran what have you done! Even a single flower won’t come to this ashram! Now so many lotus flowers are here which these children have plucked from a nearby pond by themselves!’ The children said, ‘These flowers must be offered to Guru Maharaj!’ Lotus flowers are expensive. Each costs about Rs 2/-. These flowers were in bunches. There is a pond nearby. Each child claims that he or she got into the pond and plucked these flowers on their own. The children told me, ‘Maharaj said that he needed flowers for Guru Maharaj. So we went and plucked these flowers for the Guru.’ Now, you are taking his word as a command. Even in those days this was the case! They would bring flowers.

Whatever Swami needed they would bring it. They would bring fruits. These children would bring their parents to the ashram. Nobody would come to the ashram when I was there. Now if you see, a group of people started coming.

Swami got another transfer. Both of us were going to leave together. All the children began to cry. They began to ask, ‘Does this mean that we will not be able to see you any more? Maharaj shall we also accompany you? Shall we come with you to the Mylapore ashram? We will also come with you to Chennai.’ I asked Swami, ‘What have you done to all these people! Have you cast some spell on them or what? Why are all the children crying so much?’

Even there if you see, after everything was over, it was a holiday. He told me, ‘See all the work is over here. The puja is also over. Come, let us go and see Goddess Kamakshi at the main temple in Kanchipuram.’ 1908I told him, ‘We should not go out at this hour of the night. People may think otherwise.’ Swami said, ‘What maharaj! We will take the permission of God and go come let us go.’

At that time the streets were empty. There was no one there. We went in that hour of the night and took darshan of Kamakshi. Even when we go there to the temple it was the same thing. He would stand near Goddess Kamakshi and he would take his time and pray. Whether he was talking to the Goddess or what he was doing, I do not know.

He would know very thoroughly about all the temples. The moment we talk about Tiruvannamalai, he would come and talk to us in a joking way. I was the only one from Madurai. If you see all the others, some of them were from Calcutta, some from Chennai. But we would all sit and talk as a group. Swami would hastily walk and come to us. When he hears us talking about each of our hometowns he would also begin to speak about his hometown Tiruvannamalai.

He would say, ‘Maharaj, I am from Tiruvannamalai.’ We would address each other as Maharaj. He would continue, ‘You know what we would do in Tiruvannamalai? Every time I get down from the bus in Tiruvannamalai I would touch the earth and smear that soil on my forehead. He would ask, ‘Maharaj would you do the same?’ All of us were from urban cities. We would never understand the significance or devotion in all these actions. But he would not bother, He would excitedly say, ‘Tiruvannamalai is a Shiva kshetram (spiritual nerve center). You were born in Madurai. In Madurai, Shiva has come down on that land 64 times and divine play has happened. We must do this and express our devotion. We must show great love for Lord Shiva, Maharaj.’ He would add more. ‘Maharaj, my father’s name is Arunachalam. My mother’s name is Lokanayagi. See! Shiva and Parvathi are combined! I was born to them. Tell me your parent’s names.’ I told him, ‘My father’s name is Ramanathan. My mother’s name is Muthulakshmi.’ He immediately said, ‘See Maharaj, Ramar and Muthulakshmi… it is complete. I told him, ‘Maharaj that is Vishnu’s name.’ He would say, ‘That does not matter. It is still very apt.’ In this manner he would talk and be in an intense way all the time. He would talk and entertain everybody.

If any sadhu from our ashram leaves, we will not entertain him in the future. We would not call him back to the ashram. We would say that we should not even speak to him. There was a swami by name Thanmanandar who went out of the ashram. When he returned, Swami gave away all that he had – his dhothi and his few belongings, to him. Not only would he give but he would also inspire others like Duraipandian to also give him what they had. He would say, ’Maharaj he is a sannyasi. He is going on Parivrajaka (spiritual wandering). Give him all this. Call him and give him food.’ He would take his clothes and give it to him. He would honor him in this manner.

When we were sharing the room he ran away two times on parivrajaka. We would never call back the people who have gone away like this. Once they leave the ashram without informing us, we would never call them back. When he went he never had any money in his hand. When he came in to the ashram the first time he told us, ‘I will not touch money any more with my hands.’ We all would make fun of him then. We would say, ‘Wait and see once they give you work we will see how you will manage it without touching money. Then you will straighten out.’

In the kitchen department many expenses were there. In the office, money would come in. Even then he would not touch money for meeting the expenses. He had an assistant by name Radhakrishnan. He would call him and say, ‘Now come on, make all the settlements. I will look into the accounts but you give the money. I will not touch money.’ Even in those days he lived without touching any money. This is the way Sri Ramakrishna lived. There is a record of all this. Swami also lived in this bhava. He lived in the same way. It was hard for us to believe this. Even now he lives this way!

Interviewer: For how many months was Swami the annadatha?

Gopal Maharaj: Swami was the annadatha for over a year. He continued for more than a year. For one year he did this. Even when he went and came back, he again got this kitchen department. He was not just the annadatha. He was guest-in-charge also. This guest-in-charge department was running as a separate department. But this department was also handed over to Swami. This was because he would talk to all those guest sadhus in such a loving manner. So the management told him, ‘You take on this department also’ and handed over this department also to him.

Then he would also help the other Swamis like Kamalathmanandar. He would talk about navapaashanam (an ancient Siddha elixir) to all of us. Now he called me and showed me that he had made the navapaashanam. He claimed that he knew how to make navapaashanam even earlier. We would all merely laugh at him. We would say, ‘Why are you saying all these lies. These lies are not necessary.’ But he would say, ‘Listen to this. The first person who made navapaashanam is Gokarna Maharishi. He has made idols from this. The last person who did this is Vallalar. Vallalar also did this the correct way. Now I also know how to do it maharaj. Siddhars are helpless after him because there is no one to make this now. When the ninth herb is mixed with the other eight herbs, it will become stone-like. All the nine herbs are poison by itself. But when mixed together it becomes navapaashanam.’

Then he said he was going to do it. Now he is saying he has done it. I cannot believe all this. It is a wonder even now to me. First I thought he was lying. Now he says he has made it. Even earlier he said he was familiar with the method to do it. Now he is doing it! So I have to believe it. All the work to do this is going on here.

At that time, he used to talk about various things. He used to talk about various methods of puja. He would talk about Saiva Siddhanta. He knew how to make deities. Many would come to him to clear their doubts. Class would go on in the night. In this class he would be the center stage of discussion. He was the youngest. But everyone would talk to him like a senior. They would say, ‘Hey, you know what Rajashekaran did today? He did puja in this manner. You know what he did today? He did this practice…..’ In this manner we would be joking about him.

In the morning there would be another class. That class was about yoga. The night class we had to simply read a book and discuss it. This class in the morning was about yoga. A senior Swami would come and take this class. He would simply make fun of Swami. He would say, ‘For Rajashekaran all these things would happen. He will go to Vaikuntam. He would go to Kailasam. A peacock will land here and he will go on that.’ We all would be in splits of uncontrollable laughter. He would say, ‘Maharaj, you leave from here. You have got your ticket to go.’ He would only talk about Swami all the time. He would say, ‘Rajashekaran is a born sannyasi. All the impossible things will happen to him.’ All the time he would only talk about him. After this in the yoga class if he had any clarification Swami would clear it for him.

One day it was decided by the ashram management that everyone must only converse in English. This was because we were soon going to go to the training center, so we had to be able to speak English. So it was announced that all classes would also be taken only in English. All of us were asked to speak only in English. Jananadhar made this announcement in his class. After the class was over Susendran, Duraipandian and the others were discussing about this announcement saying, ‘How can they do this suddenly? We will not go to class from tomorrow. How can we adapt to English suddenly?’ Even at that time Swami said, ‘We studied in English, wrote our exams and passed it in English. What is there in speaking in English?’

He further added, ‘Come, let us study Sanskrit. The Bhagavad Gita is in Sanskrit.’ After Swami inspired him to learn Sanskrit, Susendran began learning Sanskrit. Now he is a big Sanskrit Pundit. Swami would say, ‘Come maharaj let us sit together and learn Sanskrit. Let us practice all this.’

In the evening Swami would take his mat and go to the temple. The place where they were building the temple was just wilderness. We would hesitate to go there because at times there would be snakes there. In the Kanchipuram ashram also, Swami would go there I do not know for what reason. Maybe he went there to practice yoga or to be in meditation. He would go courageously and sit there. When he came back from there he would be beaming.

Not one day have we seen Swami crying or sad. This, even others in the ashram will acknowledge. In these two years of service I have never seen him like that. If someone is upset or is crying when they are with Swami, he will make sure they come out of it. He would crack jokes in the way they would like. He would make fun of someone. He would say, ‘Look at that sadhu, maharaj. When he can be happy why not you? Come on now, tie your dhothi properly. Come let us dance!’ He would talk to them in this intense way and bring them out of their low mood.

If someone was going to be fired by somebody, Swami would go to this person to protect him. If the fault was on him he would simply blast them. He would never hesitate to point out the mistakes of others. This was because he was very just. So whatever he said would always be right.

An Example of Guru Bhakti

Swami showed us by his example what Guru bhakti is, what Ramakrishna bhakti is. Ramakrishnanandar was the Swami who actually began this ashram. He is from Bengal. He was named Ramkrishnanandar because of the bliss he experienced just thinking of Sri Ramakrishna. But actually Vivekananda was the one who wanted to keep this name. This Swami’s name was Sathya Maharaj. He was given the name Ramakrishnanandar because of his great devotion. The devotion that this Swami showed, our Swami showed in just two months of joining. If Swami read any of the books of Ramakrishna he would follow every practice that Ramakrishna followed.

There is an incident in Ramakrishnanandar’s life. It shows how he served Ramakrishna with great devotion. The ashram building was very old. So one day when it rained heavily, water started seeping in through the roof and it began to leak inside the building. Immediately Ramakrishnanandar held an umbrella over Sri Ramkrishna’s picture so that the rain water would not fall on it. When Swami read about this incident he too held an umbrella over Ramakrishna’s photo that night.

I asked him, ‘What is this Maharaj?’ He replied to me, ‘Maharaj, only if we bring the bhava of Sathya Maharaj into our lives we can reach our Guru. Bring the bhava of Sathi Maharaj into your life.’ His intensity affected me also. I was astonished. Has he gone mad? I was not able to understand what he was trying to do! But now I understand the significance of his words and his behavior. He would bring the bhava into everything that he did.

When he brought naivedhya for the guru he would say to me, ‘Maharaj, this is an offering to the Guru. Remove your footwear. Stand before him. He is going to eat.’ Before this we would just take it and bring it back like a ritual. Invariably it would be late by the time the naivedhya comes for Guru Maharaj. If we are supposed to take the naivedhya at 11 am the brahmachari in charge of bringing this offering on time will never take care to bring it on time. He would go on some other work. When Swami was in charge of bringing the offering for the Guru he never missed to be on time even once. He would bring it right on time.

Swami was always in bliss and when it came to work he would always do it correctly. Even in his sadhana he was very correct. All these three would go on simultaneously without any break. He has never failed in any of these three. Sometimes we would think that he was just talking of sadhana but he would not do it. But there would be ample proof of all the sadhana he undertook. For example, if he did some puja, then the place where he did it some things would have changed positions, showing that something has been done. Sometimes that whole area where he has done the puja would have a light glow!

Interviewer: You mean that place will glow?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes. It will have a glow. I have seen this happen in my room. I have seen the deities in our room after Swami does his puja. I have brought some brahmacharis with me and shown them these deities after the puja also. Since he and I shared a room and the room would always be open I showed the others this. I brought them and showed them this and told them, ‘See! Rajashekaran has done puja and gone. The whole place looks different and shaken.’ They saw this and commented, ‘These kinds of things have never happened here before.’

We all do the puja upstairs in the temple. The pujari maharaj refused to teach Swami the puja methods. This was because only brahmins were entitled to learn these puja methods and Swami was not a brahmin. We do not know how Swami learnt these methods. He is doing so many different pujas even now. He has taught so many of these methods to you all and you are all doing this even now! So all this is still a wonder to all of us.

To learn this simple puja method it took me six months. Swami learnt all these dhyana mantras, these manasa puja mantras, very easily and did all these pujas in Kanchipuram not for one or two days but for three whole months! This is because this temple was under his responsibility at that time. At that time in the Kanchipuram temple swami did the Durga puja also. Durga puja of all the pujas was considered the toughest to do. Swami learnt this puja also and did it.

When I joined the ashram, I was the youngest. I was 17 years of age. Swami joined the ashram two years after I joined. Swami came in search of work but directly joined the ashram. He had the same intensity when he joined and after he went on his parikrama and came back to the ashram. Even if he spoke angrily to someone the other person would never be upset with him. This was because Swami would easily forget his anger.

He would not hold anything against anybody. He would forgive and forget very quickly. They would say, ‘If Rajashekaran scolds us, no problem. Any time we can go and talk to him and make up for it.’ People would take the liberty of asking Swami when they needed something. If they wanted to decide on something they would take the liberty to show it to Swami and make a decision based on what he says.

Spiritual Pilgrimage to Tiruvannamalai

Once Swami took all of us to Tiruvannamalai… the whole ashram family. Till date there has not been a single brahmachari who has taken everyone to his hometown. It was only for Swami’s sake that we all went. Swami took us to his home and asked them to serve us food. All of us have never had this kind of experience before. Swami made his folks offer paada pooja for all of us. In our history this has never happened. The President would come and sit. If the people wished they could fall at his feet. That was as much as what was done before this.

Washing all our feet with water was all unheard of. But Swami when he took us to his home he made us all to sit in a line and paada puja was offered for each of us. Then a new born baby was brought in our midst and we were asked to name the baby! All this was impossible for us. Even today everyone would refer to this trip and make fun saying when we went to Rajashekaran’s house they even asked us to name a newborn! We have never gone on a trip like that.

Interviewer: Oh! So you never went into society?

Gopal Maharaj: No we did go into society. But we have never done these things that swami did on this trip. Normally sannyasis would thank God and say a small prayer before they ate every meal. When we go out into society we do not do this. Swami told one of his relatives to say the prayer so all of us could eat. Then each of us said the prayer and offered our thanks and then ate our food that day.

When he went to a temple he would explain, ‘Shiva was right here. It is here that he did the penance.’ He would take us around and show us the entire temple.

Interviewer: He would go around every deity in the temple

Gopal Maharaj: He was always like this. Whenever we go with him to temples he would do this. Once I had been on my own to Tiruvannamalai. After I returned he asked me, ‘Maharaj, did you see Shiva there? Did you see this when you went around the temple.’ He would say, ‘That is the place where I did my tapas, Maharaj.’ I was a senior brahmachari at that time, so I would think, ‘He does not have any other work, this Rajashekaran. He would simply be saying things like this.’ We would all make fun of him in this manner. We would all say, ‘We just have to mention the word Tiruvannamalai and Rajashekaran will appear from nowhere and start talking about Tiruvannamalai.’

When we had been on this trip with swami to Tiruvannamalai we could feel the energy after this trip. Everyone felt charged. Everyone felt the intensity. We all sang and danced. We have never been on a trip like that before. We came back at 8 pm in the night. None of the Swamis wanted any food that night. We had asked the ashram to make food for the night for all of us. But it got wasted. It has never happened like this before.

Even the senior Swamis when things had to be bought in bulk they would take Swami and go to do the shopping. They would say, ‘Rajashekaran would know what to buy. Come, let us take and him and go shopping.’ They would go shopping and buy what was needed and come with Swami. So in this way Swami’s presence would spread the intensity amongst all of us when he was with us.

He practiced yoga. He had tremendous bhakti (devotion). He would sit in meditation for fourteen hours at a stretch. If he sits he will sit steadily for a long time. In the morning there would be mangala arati at the temple at 4 am. Only if the President is around, we will all go for the arati. This was because the President had to pass by this side to go to the temple. If all of us do not turn up for the arati the President would make a note of the members who did not turn and he would take them to task.

But whether the President is there or he is not there, Rajashekar is the only one who would go for this arati without fail. He would take a mat or aasana to sit and go away to the temple.

Interviewer: At what time would he go?

Gopal Maharaj: He would go at 4 o’clock itself.

Interviewer: In the morning?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes in the morning. In the night even if he goes to bed at 2 am, he would still be there for the arati at 4 am in the morning. Irrespective of whether the President is there or not or irrespective of whether there is a function there or not he would be sitting there in the morning. Then we would all remark, ‘Rajashekaran is really mad. If you see the sadhana that he does it appears to be crazy.’ We would talk about him in this manner. But Swami would go there, spread his mat sit on it do meditation and return from there only around 6 am. Then he would come and do all the pujas. After looking at him I got motivated to do pujas.

Interviewer: Would he do the puja alone in the room or in front of the Guruma?

Gopal Maharaj: It has to be done in front of the Guru. In the morning at 4 am there would be the mangala arati. In the Ramakrishna Mutt the puja you do in your room is secondary. We are more interested in seeing if you follow our puja routine in the ashram. Swami was very motivated in following this ashram puja routine. It is not necessary for them to teach you to do this. If I have to follow this routine I will first check if the President is around. If he is not there I will go and lie down. Even the seniors there would do the same. Even when Swami was about to become a senior he followed this routine. Even when he was a junior he followed it.

For the mangala arati in the morning even during the December month when the early morning dew is heavy he would be there for the arati. Even the poojari who is in-charge of the early morning pooja would do the arati and go down and sleep. Mangala arati is just an arati that is done. After the arati the poojari would go back to his room and sleep but Swami will be sitting there. Only after 6 am he will get up and go to do his work. Where all there is work he will attend to it.

Being Inspired to do Spiritual Practice by SPH

I was also inspired by Swami. Just as he would have many deities of Gods in the room he told me one day, ‘Maharaj, you should not sit simply, even if you do not do sadhana.’ After he told me this I bought a deity of Vinayagar and started doing abhisek (holy bath) for it. Immediately he said to me, ‘Do you know what the meaning of this is? All the obstructions in your path have been removed from now on. From now on you will spontaneously be inspired to do meditation.’

Swami would never be without inspiring every person around him. Be it lady devotees or volunteers, or devotees they would all listen to what Swami says. They would be ready to do the sadhana he recommends. He would make people do all this. Whether it is the sadhana in the night or in the morning or it is arati time Swami will be there. Swami would be the only one who would sit in the temple till 6 am in the morning. So in this manner swami would be perfect in every way.

If a lot of work is there for a specific puja then the following day will be rest for everyone. Swami would never relax and take rest. The very next day he would be there as usual and do his work as usual.

Interviewer: Even now if you see Swami after he finishes darshan, and public address, it would be around 2 or 3 am in the morning. We would all be waiting to go to sleep. We would wake up late. But Swami would be there early. Even now he is the same.

Gopal maharaj: That quality has never changed in Swami. From those days to the present times he remains the same!

Interviewer: Which are the other departments in which Swami worked?

Gopal Maharaj: Swami particularly looked into 3 departments. One is the puja department.

Interviewer: How many months did he look into this department?

Gopal Maharaj: He looked into this department on and off. He did not look into it entirely. First he did not look into it. Then in the next one year he looked into it on and off. He was there in the ashram only for two years. In that time he looked into it on and off. This is because he was not allowed to do the main puja. He cannot do the Mylapore puja, since only brahmins were allowed to do it.

He would come and do this puja in the room. He would follow all the shaiva sidhanta ways of puja. As soon as he comes to the room he would immediately begin his sadhana. We do not know how he came to know of all these puja methods. We do not know who taught him all this. From where did he learn all these methods? Who taught him all this? He would say, ‘Even when I was outside this ashram it was the same.’

As a student in Gudiyatham (polytechnique) he used to be correct with his work. Looks like some others who were with him would never study. They used to drink a lot. Before entering his room they would be so afraid. They would always ask, ‘Swami is it ok for us to come in?’ He would mention this and say, ‘Even there it was the same. People would simply be afraid at the sight of me. They would never come in. I would simply push all of them outside and lock the door. They would beg me, ‘Swami please open the door. Please open the door.’ They would beg in this manner through the night. I never liked this drinking habit even then.’

Another incident that happened with him… I had a FM radio with me. I got it as a gift. I used to listen to it quite often and Swami would do his sadhana. This radio would disturb his sadhana often. He would open his eyes and wonder why he was getting disturbed. I would be listening to this radio in one corner of the room. Since I was his senior I would never bother about him whatever he did. He would ask me, ‘What are you listening to?’ I would reply, ‘I am listening to songs on God.’ He would simply say, ‘Oh! is that so!’ I knew this was disturbing him. But only now I am able to understand why it bothered him. Since it was FM radio only cinema songs will be played. Bhajans will not be played. Since the vibrations that this creates would be different, it would disturb his sadhana. Then he got used to it and would say, ‘Oh! You are listening to this!’

Then one day when we were chatting he asked me, ‘How do you turn this on?’ Then I showed him the knob and told him that if he turned this on the small red light will come on showing that it is on and then the songs will come on FM radio. While showing him without my knowledge by mistake I increased the volume.

Swami realized that it was cinema songs that were being played. Then he said, ‘Maharaj, all these days I was thinking why I was getting disturbed. It is because you are listening to cinema songs!’ The vibrations from the cinema songs are different and the vibrations of his meditation are different. So they cross each other and cause disturbance. He said, ‘So you have been listening to cinema songs all this while?’ I said, ‘Yes maharaj’. He said, ‘In future you should not listen to cinema songs.’ I used to listen to it after that incident when he was not in the room. As soon as he came into the room I would switch it off.

As soon as he feels disturbed he would stare at the radio where the red light would burn. He would see if the light is burning when I keep it near my ears. If he sees the red light, that is enough; he would stop all his sadhana. He would stop doing his japa. He would get up and say, ‘Maharaj, first give me that. Let me throw this away. Are you going to switch it off? Otherwise I will not be able to sit here.’ So it would be full of comedy. It would be very funny. Still I am unable to understand how he was disturbed when I was listening to the radio. If we keep it near our ears and listen how will it disturb the others? The volume would be very low. Only once when I increased the volume it would have disturbed him.

Actually I got his permission before I started using this radio. I told him that I have this small unit. He said, ‘You keep whatever you want and do whatever you want to do.’ When I told him that I would be listening to songs on God he immediately said, ‘You do all that. You listen to that music, and I will do my sadhana.’ And he continued doing his sadhana.

Often when I listened to the radio it would disturb him and he would look up in a puzzled manner and wonder why he was getting disturbed. But he was not able to find out what caused the disturbance. But that day when the volume was slightly increased he found out the reason. He knew I was listening to cinema music all the time. From then on he would always be on the lookout. He was not even bothered if I was listening to cinema music or if I had the radio near my ears. He would not even believe me if I told him the cassette was being played. The moment he saw the red light he would get angry. Then after sometime it got lost. So in this manner many incidents where he has inspired us at the same time done his sadhana have happened.

He would show many examples to show that the same Shakti is at work. It is the same Shakti that worked in Shri Ramakrishna and Sharada Devi that is working here as well. In the kitchen he would work just as how Sharada Devi would work. How Sharada Devi would work in the kitchen showing affection to everybody, he would do the same. Swami would never leave out even a single devotee. He would attend to each and every one of them. Till the end whether they are good or bad he will attend to them till they finish their food and leave.

Then there was a senior Swami in the ashram. His mother used to frequent the ashram. We used to call her the ‘maya’ of the ashram. This was because she used to control the entire ashram. She would overpower all the bramhacharis. Her domination on us would be too much. So we would never get along with her. We always considered her as our enemy.

Swami used to love sannyasis whether they were fake sannyasis or poor sannyasis, whatever the case. Even though this lady’s son was only a sannyasi she would wear saffron robes and come into the ashram like a sannyasi. She actually lived outside the ashram as a householder would do with her grandchildren but she would wear saffron robes and come into the ashram. Many people who frequented the ashram thought that this lady was a senior sannyasi and they would bow down to her and listen to her advice.

One day this lady came to Swami. I was watching all this. Two more bramhacharis were with me. Swami would simply adore anyone who came in sannyasi clothes. As soon as this lady came he paid his dues respects as a sannyasi to her. He gave her food and served her so well. This lady and we were always clashing. I stood there just to see what this lady was going to do. All the bramhacharis were there watching this. When Swami truly thought her to be a bramhachari and put both his hands together and did namaskar to her she felt miserable. She was doubtful if Swami was really a bramhachari. Swami had never seen her before or known her. Swami gave her prasad and sent her home.

Ever since that day, whenever this lady came to the ashram after that incident she would put both her hands together and do pranam to Swami first. She would be angry if she saw us and we would be angry when we saw her. Now it was different. She would ask Swami, how he was in a concerned way. To that extent she had changed after that one interaction with swami. We said to her, ‘There is a maya for this mutt. That maya has left you. You have won over that maya. Swami was surprised and asked us, ‘Maharaj, this lady used to scold you is it? Oh! I was not aware of that. If I had known about it earlier I would have scolded her.’

Interviewer: How many months did he look into this department?

Ever since that day, whenever this lady came to the ashram after that incident she would put both her hands together and do pranam to Swami first. She would be angry if she saw us and we would be angry when we saw her. Now it was different. She would ask Swami, how he was in a concerned way. To that extent she had changed after that one interaction with Swami. We said to her, ‘There is a maya for this mutt. That maya has left you. You have won over that maya. Swami was surprised and asked us, ‘Maharaj, this lady used to scold you is it? Oh! I was not aware of that. If I had known about it earlier I would have scolded her.’

Gopal Maharaj’s Relationship with SPH Today

There is a story called Kuschela Bagyanam. Let me tell you who Kuschela was…

In the Bhagavatam, there is a story called Kuschela Bagyanam. The Bhagavatam is divided into many chapters. Each chapter is devoted to one event or happening (in Lord Krishna’s life). Krishna’s birth is given as one chapter. When Krishna was born the Bhagavatam says, ‘When the birth-less One was born…..’ All this I have read. But I have not put into practice what I have read.

A doctor had read all this and was putting into practice what he had read. He was running a medical shop keeping in mind all these values. I had seen this. Since I had read about all this I could understand the basis on which he was running the show. I know the other side as well.

In the Bhagavatam there was a story called Kuschela Bagyanam. Among all the books that talk about Krishna, the Bhagavatam is one of the main books. Many have praised the Bhagavatam. This is because it is written by Vyasa’s son Sukha. Sukha was an enlightened person. Since the story is told by an enlightened person it is an important book for all devotees. It does not talk about anything else. It talks only of the story of Krishna. It talks of Krishna in the second chapter. It talks about when Krishna was born, how he lived, his life history in general. There are many stories about how Krishna killed Kamsa a demon, how he danced with the gopis, all the leelas (divine play) he did in Brindavan, all the demons he killed. After all this there is this story about a boy with whom Krishna studied.

At that time, Krishna was a king. Since he killed Kamsa he became the king of Mathurapuri. Kuschela was his school mate. There were many other schoolmates but only Kuschela is mentioned in the Bhagavatam. Kuschela comes to see Krishna one day after he became the king of Mathurapuri. The story Kuschela Bagyanam is about why he came to see Krishna.

While Krishna had become a king, Kuschela had gone to his village and married an ordinary girl. He had twenty seven children. With twenty seven children he was very poor. He was called an unjavruthi bramhanan. In those days if you were a brahmin you had to beg your food or you had to collect all the fallen rice grains in the fields and bring it home, husk it and cook that and eat it for your daily food. That is why these people are called unjavruthi bramhanan. Kuschela lived in this manner.

Kuschela’s wife came to know that Krishna was Kuschela’s school mate, and that both of them were friends who stayed together. She also came to know that Krishna was the king of Mathurapuri, while they lived a poor livelihood in a remote village of Mathurapuri. She would urge Kuschela everyday, ‘Why don’t you go and visit your friend Krishna? Why don’t you seek his help? Why don’t you go and see him?’ Kuschela was very shy by nature. He thought to himself, ‘Krishna is a big man now. If I go and see him now I do not know if the palace guards will allow me inside. I do not know if Krishna will see me. Then we were roommates. We studied together in the same gurukul. We would put our hands around each others’ shoulders and walk around. Now he is a big king. I don’t know if I will be allowed inside the palace. How will I be able to see him?’

But he could not take the pressure from his wife anymore. So he decided to go and see Krishna. He thought, ‘I will go and let Krishna take care of the rest.’ His wife told him, ‘You have to ask him for plenty of money. If you come empty handed I will be mad.’ When she said this Kuschela did not know what to take as gift for Krishna. There was some beaten rice that he gathered in his sleeve to give for Krishna and left.

Kuschela reached the palace. As soon as Krishna heard that Kuschela had come to see him he was overjoyed. He came down from his throne and went personally to welcome Kuschela. He took him into the palace and made him sit next to him on the throne and attended to him. He noticed the beaten rice. So he asked Kuschela, ‘Kuschela looks like you have brought something for me.’ Kuschela was ashamed and shy and thought to himself, ‘How can I give this little beaten rice to such a big king?’ Thinking so he answered Krishna, ‘No I have not brought anything for you.’ But Krishna simply took the beaten rice from him and put it in his mouth. He is about to put another handful in his mouth when Lakshmi the goddess of wealth stopped him and said, ‘No my lord already plenty has gone to Kuschela.’ Understanding this Krishna stopped himself from eating more.

Krishna took Kuschela out and showed him how much Mathurapuri had changed. Kuschela’s joy knew no bounds. He was shocked to see the way Krishna treated him. He thought to himself, ‘What is this. Krishna seems to be the same person that he was in his childhood days. He is the same Gurukula Krishna. Although he belongs to the royal family he is still the same.’ Krishna arranged a carriage for him to go back home and bid farewell to him.

When Kuschela arrived at home he could not find his home. In the place of his hut there was a modern mansion. In the time that Kuschela was in the palace, Krishna understood his predicament and arranges for all the comforts for his day to day living.’ His wife comes out of the mansion and greets him, ‘Come, come this is our family!’ Each child comes out to greet him with new clothes. All this happened just by going and seeing Krishna.

Krishna did not forget his friend Kuschela even when he became king. He was the same old gurukula friend. As far as Krishna was concerned he may have killed Kamsa, he may have gone here and there, he may have many achievements to his credit, but Kuschela was still his old friend.

When I think of this story I feel may be even I have come to see Krishna who is the form of Swami now. This is because he gave me his word. Pranananda was also there when he said this. I came here to ask for help from Swami. I asked him, ‘Swami, will you help me? I have switched jobs?’ We were talking only casually. Swami told me at that time, ‘The same shakti that works within me will help you.’ Without understanding his words, I again asked him, ‘Swami you will not let me down right?’ He said, ‘That shakti that works within me will not let you down.’

When Swami refers to the shakti or energy or power within him, he is referring to the Existential energy. Swami is referring to the same shakti that took form as Buddha, Shri Ramakrishna, all the incarnations, and did all these leelas. Then also Swami looked at this way. Now also Swami looks at this in the same manner. The same shakti is there within him now also. He said, ‘That shakti will not let you down.’ I came to hear this. And I have been reassured. I came to see that shakti. I know that when he was Rajashekaran, the same shakti was functioning within him. Even after he became Nithyananda the same shakti is functioning within him. I got this opportunity to see Swami and hear these words, so I am very fortunate.

In the same way if you look at the temple opening, Swami would take the brick and lay it down with his own hands. If you look back at the history books, this has happened in the period of Mohamud Nabi. He has built the dharga himself. That is why every Muslim has deep faith in the dharga and is eager to go there and do worship, since it was built by an enlightened Master with his own hands. That is in the Islamic religion. Now Swami has done this.

In the same manner our Swami has also done all this work with his own hands. When we were in the Belur Mutt, Sri Ramakrishna has never been there. All the other senior Swamis have been there.

If you look at the Dakshineshwar Kali temple it is as if it was built just for Sri Ramakrishna. Now Bidadi has been created just for Swami. If Swami came to the Ramakrishna Mutt and stayed there for some time, it is because he came there to show us how to conduct ourselves and how to live in this mutt. He came and inspired all of us there in the mutt. But we never paid much heed to his words. If we had taken up what he said seriously and followed it, we would be very spiritually elevated by now.

Even now what all he said then is happening now. He said there would be a temple here. He said that this would be here. Even before things took place he predicated all the happenings. He told us then, ‘I am going to do all these things.’ And he has done it now within a very short time span. I am not able to believe that all this has happened!

There were two groups in the ashram then. One group would say, ‘Hey Rajashekaran will become a great jnani in future. We have read that, ‘Bramhavid, bramhiva…….’ When incarnations come down to earth continuously, they will walk in a separate path. They will not walk in the path that we have made for them. They will have an exclusive path which will be brilliant. We agreed upon this and agreed at that time that Rajashekaran was one of them. But the very people who declared this are now not in a position to come and see him because of many restrictions in the place they live.

So I have had this fortune of coming and seeing Swami. They all do not want to come. Susesdran is still there. Duraipandian is there. Many others who were there then are still there now. All of them are stuck within the conventions of that ashram. So they all are walking a different path. They were the ones who first said, ‘Swami will be a great person one day.’ But they are unable to come and see him now. The people who declared that he will be a great person, the first ashram or center that he began in Kanchipuram and the children who came to that ashram are all there even now. All these people had great love for the old Rajashekaran Maharaj.

Here is another comedy that happened that I recall about Swami’s grandmother. His grandmother was a home bird. She did not know how to go anywhere outside of her home. One day we had gone out – Swami and I. When we came back we found a visitor card for Swami mentioning that his grandmother was there to see him here. Swami mentioned that his grandmother has never stepped out of the house. She has never gone anywhere. So she does not know anything of the world outside of home. She kept a dog as a pet in the house. His name was Mani. She would be with that dog most of the time.

Since we were all sannyasis we would always have this feeling that we should not respect householders. We would make fun in this way. Swami himself has said about his grandmother that, ‘These people will not even respect God. They will not take an interest in God. She will only go behind that dog calling him, ‘Mani, Mani’. The dog was her life. She did not know anything about life outside of home.’

A woman who has lived such a life came all the way from Tiruvannamalai to see Swami! But Swami had not forgotten her. He called her in an affectionate manner, made her sit down, spoke to her and served her. It seems this grandmother cannot be without seeing Swami. Then he called for a volunteer and told him to escort his grandmother to the bus stand and put her on a bus to go to Tiruvannamalai. He made all these arrangements and then came to me and said, ‘This grandmother does not know anything. And she left Tiruvannamalai alone and has come all the way to see me! What is this maharaj? This is truly a wonder!’ After this he also spoke about the love his family had for him.

Interviewer: How much love Swami must have shown his grandmother that she came all the way to see him?

Gopal Maharaj: A similar story again comes in the Bhagavatam. It is a story about Brahma and Krishna. Krishna’s fame spreads all over. Everybody utters, ‘Krishna, Krishna’ all the time. Everyone says, ‘Krishna said this. Krishna did this.’ All the cows and calves in Gokulam, as soon as they wake up they would go to see Krishna and only then give milk. Only after the cows see Krishna, they are milked and then the calves drink milk from their mothers. Only after this the gopis would go to their houses to do house work.

Brahma did not like the popularity of Krishna. He was very angry. He tells himself, ‘All the time everyone is uttering, ‘Krishna, Krishna.’ I am the creator of the world, but no one is respecting me. I have to do something about this. I have to put Krishna in his place.’

One day Brahma takes everyone – the gopis, the cows, the calves, except Krishna and puts them in prison in Brahmaloka. He says, ‘If Krishna comes and asks him for pardon then he will release all the prisoners.’ One year passed in this manner but nobody came to ask what happened. There were no complaints. Everyone behaved as if nothing had happened.

Now Brahma himself became afraid. So he decided to come down to earth and see for himself what is going on in Gokulam. When he came down to Gokulam he saw the same gopis, the same cows and the very same calves that he had taken to prison with him. The set up remained the same. Brahma was afraid. He thought that they may have escaped from prison. So he goes immediately to Brahmaloka to confirm this. When he goes there, he finds another Brahma sitting in his seat! In the time he came out of Brahmaloka another Brahma has been created there. It is then that Brahma becomes really afraid!

Brahma realizes and feels, ‘Krishna, you are God. I made a mistake. Please pardon me.’ All the gopis and cows and calves are still there. In Brahma’s seat there is another Brahma! That Brahma looks at this real Brahma and asks him, ‘Who are you sir?’ Brahma became very afraid. He tells him, ‘I am Brahma’ and runs back to Krishna and asks for pardon. He says, ‘Krishna, please forgive me. Unknowingly I took them all to prison with me.’ Krishna says, ‘I am God. You are only in charge of Creation. I gave birth to you. Everyone will respect me. I will take care of everyone.’

During this time what has happened is that Krishna has taken numerous forms. Krishna came to know that Brahma had captured everyone. So he became the calves. He became the gopis. He became the cows. As a result, the habit of everyone commencing their work only after seeing Krishna was not there anymore since everyone was Krishna himself.

If it is 6 am in the morning the cow would begin to give milk. The cows would go to graze in the fields. The gopis would be in their homes. Nobody would go to see Krishna since everyone was Krishna.

Only the devas came as Gopis. Only these devas have been imprisoned. Now nobody needs to see anybody. Everyone remained where they were. All these incidents have happened in the life of Krishna. So what happened in the Bhagavatam is happening even now.

When Swami was surprised that his grandmother had come to see him I did not understand the significance. Now looking back at this story in Bhagavatam I am able to relate to this incident. Though this grandmother did not know the way she still came to see him. Two or three children from the Kanchipuram ashram also came to see Swami. They used to constantly ask their parents to take them to see Swami in Chennai. They would urge their parents, ‘Come let us go and see Swami.’

Interviewer: Oh! They would come to see Swami at the Mylapore ashram?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes! They would come. Immediately Swami would take care of them well. There was a Ramakrishna Sangam. That was meant for children. Just to see Swami they would come to see Ramakrishna. This is because Swami would take care of them individually. When they leave after the program he would pat them on their back and give them some sundal or kesari. He would give them each something, when he was the annadhatha.

All those children will never forget Rajashekaran even today! They would want to see Swami. They would go and ask the senior Swamis in the ashram that they want to see Rajashekaran Maharaj. This would make the senior Swami angry. They would ask these children, ‘How come you don’t come to see me but you want to see Rajashekaran Maharaj?’ Wherever he goes this was how it was.

I have told him many times, ‘Maharaj this is not necessary. Anything can happen. Since these children come alone to see him if anything happens you will earn a bad name.’ Till the end Swami would say, ‘Maharaj these children have come. Till the end these poor children have not eaten. It is we who have to feed them. We must give them prasad. These children have come to see us. All the people who have come, we cannot let them go empty handed Maharaj.’ When he did all this it all seemed so simple. Only now after seeing his mission and how it has spread that quality of caring for others and the compassion and love for people was there even then in those days. It was not something new that came to him. He was the same then. He is the same now.

They would all fight. But all would agree that what Swami says is right. They would have so much love for Swami. All of them there had that love for Swami.

Interviewer: There would be fights?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes there would be fights. That is if Swami feels that something is not right, immediately he would tell that to the person concerned. The other person would never think of Swami as his enemy even if Swami points out his mistake. They would have that love for Swami. Even though their association with Swami may have been recent still they would never be angry with Swami if he points out their mistake.

Interviewer: Within them, all the Ramakrishna mutt brahmacharis will have the desire to see swami today right?

Gopal Maharaj: I look upon this as my fortune to be able to come and see Swami. Swami selected me as his roommate. Initially when Swami joined the ashram he stayed with four others. Till the end Swami was my roommate.

The four people with whom Swami stayed were Duraipandian, Susendran, another brahmachari and himself. That room was very hot. It was centrally located opposite the kitchen. Susendran was an office worker. Duraipandian was a store worker. Both of them would come to the room in the afternoon to take a nap. But Swami was different. If he is not able to sleep or do sadhana he would simply start walking with that stick. That would make a noise ‘tak, tak’. If he walked like this in the room this noise will make them angry. So they would constantly be controlling Swami.

At that time a brahmachari by name Manivannan left the ashram. He was not able to stay in the ashram and he was not able to do anything. The department that that brahmachari was looking into came into Swami’s hands now since he had left the ashram. Normally this department would only be handed to a senior. It was the kitchen department. This post of annadatha is normally given only to a senior since the person in-charge of this department would have a link with everybody in the ashram and would have to interact with everyone. If the President Maharaj comes the annadatha has to take care of him. Right from the President of the ashram it is the annadatha who has to serve them their food.

The store department is not like this. Duraipandian was in-charge of that. Whether books sell or not there would be volunteers and workers. Duraipandian had to just keep track of the accounts. He does not have to do anything other than that. The set up was already there.

But the kitchen department is very different. It is a day-to-day activity. You need to buy many things. You need to give the cooks all the ingredients. If a Swami has to leave urgently say his flight is at 6 am in the morning you need to give him his horlicks. You need to get his tiffin ready. Nobody will be there to help at 6 am in the morning. If the Swami says he will not eat any food outside and his train is at 5 am in the morning, Swami has to get up and get everything for this Swami. This department came to Swami’s hands and he did the job very efficiently.

There was no one there to scold Swami or to correct him or to find fault with him as far his work in the kitchen was concerned. This is because Swami was very correct in his work. At that time since my room was vacant, Swami came and stayed with me.

I was in-charge of the temple department. Who eats or does not eat the naivedhyam for Sri Ramakrishna had to come on time to the temple. No matter who comes or not no matter which work is not finished this had to be done. Sundays was a holiday for other departments. Everyone would wake up late. But these two departments – the temple and the kitchen had no holidays. Since both our departments were related and my room was big enough, Swami decided to stay with me. He told me, ‘Maharaj I will come to your room and stay with you.’ I never had any roommate before. Till now I have only stayed alone in the room. His is because of the nature of my work. I was always doing the temple work. Since all felt that I should not be disturbed, I was left to myself.

Both of us went to Gauthamanandar and asked for permission. I introduced Swami and said he would like to share my room with me. Gauthamanandar said, ‘If it is not a problem for you, let him stay with you.’ Swami also told me, ‘This is the right place for me. This was because the kitchen was right opposite it. And the department that you are in-charge is connected to my department, work wise.’ Since Gautamanandar said, ‘If it is not a problem for both of you then you can stay in his room’ Swami came and stayed with me. This was the room Swami himself chose. There were other vacant rooms available. This room only Swami felt was appropriate for him to stay. This room was straight below the temple the shrine with Guru Maharaj was directly above this room.

Sri Ramakrishna’s asthi (ashes collected after the last rites) was there above. Normally in big mutt like this one the asthi of the Guru would be kept. Maybe he had some old connection with that or some other mystical reason I do not know for choosing to stay with me in this room. All the deities that he kept with him were directly below the shrine. Also the place where he sat for his sadhana was just below. That is all this was just below Sri Ramakrishna’s idol in the shrine above. I would sleep in one corner of the room. He would sleep there and do his sadhana there. Maybe Swami chose this room just for its location. I do not know. He was in this room till he left the Mutt.

Interviewer: When he stayed with you did he talk about mystical things?

Gopal Maharaj: Mystical means … Yes he would talk about spiritual topics. Whenever he began talking about this he would become a totally different person. We would feel a different person is talking through him. We would not feel it is the old Rajashekaran bramhachari talking. It would sound like a different person talking. So that itself would differentiate him from the others. But as far as we are concerned we will look at him always as our old Rajashekaran. Now how he has that same bhava he had even then. He would walk only with that bhava. He would sleep with that same bhava. We thought, ‘He is simply playing the fool. He cannot sit simply for a minute.’ We were all able to be normal and ordinary.

Interviewer: He would go on doing something or the other?

Gopal Maharaj: Actually we had a chance to see the intensity of the sadhana. Now I think back and feel, ‘Maybe we could have also been more intense in our sadhana. Swami told us to be more intense. He was intense and he has achieved. This is the truth. We are seeing that it has happened. He is an avatara purusha (incarnation). We are seeing the path of an avatara purusha.

I saw one more thing in Swami’s website. When the temple was being built, both of us were there – myself and Swami. When the temple construction work was going on, Swami would finish his kitchen work, I would finish my temple work and we would go to this construction site to walk over there. The others would be sleeping. Whether Swami talks about the material world or the spiritual world, both would be very motivating.

Interviewer: It will be fulfilling and motivating.

Gopal Maharaj: Yes, that is how it would be. The ashram had bought three lorries to transport stones for the site. Swami took me to one of the lorries and made me sit inside and switched on the engine. He taught me how to drive the lorry. I would ask him, ‘Maharaj what is this key for, what is this for?’ He would jokingly reply, ‘If you pull this up then you have to stop before a strong and solid tree for the vehicle to hit the tree.’ He would ask me, ‘Maharaj you know why they do this? You know why all this is happening? Do you know why they have stuck a cloth here?’

Interviewer: He would question in a scientific manner?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes, he would explain everything scientifically. He would show everything and explain it. Now just as he has built his ashram he would explain why other ashrams are built. These explanations would be wonderful and astonishing to listen to.

Interviewer: From where did he get to know all this? Would he read a lot?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes, he would read any book.

Interviewer: How many days would he take to read one book?

Gopal Maharaj: He would read it very quickly. He never had any time exclusively to read. Most of the books Swami reads will be related to sadhana. Whether it is Tamil or English he will take it and read the book. He would read Ramakrishna, Sharada Devi and Vivekananda books. After reading it he would practice everything that they practiced. He would urge us also to do the same. He would also do it. There was a very senior Swami by name Thiayarajanandar. Swami would go to him and give him explanations for Bhagavat Gita. He would quote from Arunagiri Nathar and say that all these lines are there.

Interviewer: In the Puranas..

Gopal Maharaj. Yes, from the Puranas. How it is in Shaiva Siddhantha, how it is in Tamil books, the same thing that has been said there (in the Puranas in Sanskrit) is here (in the Tamil works). What has been said here is there. He would explain all this and show us. He would tell us the possibilities of all those can become yogis. He would tell me, ‘Maharaj, if you practice this you will become this yogi. If you do this sadhana you will become this yogi.’ We would only read these books and discuss lightly but Swami would come and join in the discussion and take it very deeply and he will beautifully put it across in a practical way. He would say, ‘Do all this maharaj. Do it in this way.’ And take the conversation in a different direction beautifully.

He would show us what guru bhakti is. I told you that Swami had been to Calcutta right? After that he had come here once. When he came here…

Interviewer: Was this when he came for training?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes, when he had come for training, the temple was half built. I had not seen him after he came. Everyone had seen him. I went to the room to check if he was there. I was looking for him thinking, ‘Where did he go? I don’t see him anywhere.’

I was able to see him only in the afternoon. He was so inspired and enthusiastic. He said, ‘Gopal Maharaj you have come? Come on in.’ I told you right about the temple being half finished. It was a very small place. He told me, ‘See, come here. We are building it this way. We are going to consecrate the main Guru deity here. We are going to do this here.’ He began this way. I thought he would stop with that.

I had got a watch from the Guru and deeksha. I showed him the watch and told him that I got it from him who was then the President of the ashram. Swami immediately said, ‘If it is his watch I will take it. Come to my room and have a look. Many people have given me all this. Please take whatever you want from this and give me that Guru’s watch.’ That was the Guru bhakti he showed. Now he is giving training to all of you.

In the exchange he gave me two big lamps that someone had given him. He did not accept it. It was lying in his room. Even now if you go to old devotees houses they would say, ‘This was what Rajashekaran Maharaj gave to us.’ Even if the person is a volunteer he would never send them away empty handed. He would hand them some fruits.

Interviewer: If he gives away all that, won’t they question in the ashram?

Gopal Maharaj: He was the kitchen in-charge right?

Interviewer: If you are the department head you can give away anything to anybody is it?

Gopal Maharaj: He would only give away the excess remaining that might go waste if not given away. The others who were in charge of this department will not give others and it will get wasted also.

Interviewer: Oh!

Gopal Maharaj: Either he must give money to bramhacharis like us or make a fruit salad out of all the excess fruits and serve it to us. When this comes under his control Swami will see to it that nothing is wasted. If a poor man comes, immediately he will give him something. Swami will always give to others what has to be given to them.

This aspect of Swami is practical life, not even mystical or spiritual aspects. There was a worker by name Anthony. Swami made him do all the sadhana and gave him prasad and Anthony who was a Christian became a Hindu. Swami was like God to him. Early in the morning his job was to sweep. He would commence his work only after coming and seeing Swami and doing pranam to him. He would come and look for Swami to do this everyday.

Interviewer: So swami had disciples from then itself……

Gopal Maharaj: We would all make fun of him and say, ‘Hey, your disciple has come.’ Anthony would come do a pranam, take Swami’s blessings and then commence his work. Anthony was a well-built person. Only if he began his day this way he would feel like he has done his job for the day. I do not know what leelas Swami did to him.

Interviewer: So you were so many of them there in the ashram?

Gopal Maharaj: Brahmacharis were about twenty five in number.

Interviewer: Twenty five?

Gopal Maharaj: Twenty five people formed one group. Then there would be other brahmacharis who visit from other ashrams. This way almost everyone there would know about Swami. The entire order would know about him.

Interviewer: The people who stay there now know Swami?

Gopal Maharaj: The people who stay there now, the people who were there when Swami joined and the people who joined earlier than that, all of them know Swami. This is because Swami was such an influential personality. His influence is not after he became known to the world. That influence was there even then. He did not show any big miracles at that time. If he revealed to us that he was an avatar at that time we would not have let go of him at that time. He showed us the way of life. He showed us how to do sadhana. When we saw him do all that sadhana, we ourselves who saw him would ask, ‘Why is he doing all this?’

Interviewer: You felt that he was doing too much and you all were not doing anything?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes, we felt we were not doing anything. Swami would do the sadhana well. He would show us how to do it. Swami would do all this. This was there within him even then. But what I find surprising even to this day is swami’s body is okay now. During those days, swami used to be very thin. During that period I used to make fun of him, ‘Maharaj, the way you are working you are going to become bed ridden. They are going to drive you out of the ashram. There is no need for such intensity in your sadhana. This is not good for your health.’ We used to tease him in this way. Even the other devotees would have great reverence for him. Since he was with us all the time we never thought of his greatness. We would tell him, ‘Don’t do all this. All this is wrong. Don’t do it.’ We would say all this.

There was another place. Children used to come there. He would never send them back empty handed. There was no necessity for him to take care of them. He would stay with them and take care of all their needs. Even if there were 100 children he would talk to each of them separately. All the hundred would know him. Each of them would have a personal relationship with him. The other Swami would bless them all as a group and would walk away. He did this in the Kanchipuram ashram. He did that here also. So this quality or personal touch that he had with each one that he came into contact with was there even then.

Interviewer: Was Swami involved in any publication activity.

Gopal Maharaj: He would help here and there. But his main department was the annadhatha department, the kitchen department. There were other departments like the guest department where he had to take care of the guests of the mutt. These additional responsibilities were in some way connected to his main department. Since he was very intellectual and very well read and knew everything, people consulted him on various matters. He would do everything.

I heard something else about Swami also. When he came out of Ramakrishna ashram he stayed somewhere else in Calcutta. I heard about this from Radhakrishnan. Swami wanted to go to some other place so he came to the Calcutta railway station. There an ardent devotee approached him and said, ‘You look like a very great saint.’ I do not know how Swami learnt Bengali there. I do not know if this man knew Bengali either. He told Swami, ‘You must come with me. You please be a member of my Trust. You must only oversee the Trust activities. You be the person in-charge of everything.’ Swami went along with him and developed the Trust and its activities.

Swami told him that he would function only independently and he would not affiliate himself with any Trust. He said, ‘I will have my own ashram.’ Like how Palani Murugan said, ‘This is my place. This is my kingdom.’ Swami said, ‘My people will come. I will stay only with my people.’ Looks like this man who offered this Trust is an ardent devotee of Ramakrishna. He has told Swami that only Swami must take on the Trust and run it. This devotee has spoken thus to Swami.

Even in his early days Swami began to get offers. As soon as he came out of the mutt offers came in. Ramakrishna never let down Swami. That is because Swami himself is Ramakrishna! He got a property worth 1 ½ crore. Radhakrishna told me this. I was with Radhakrishnan in the ashram at that time. Swami had come out of the Ramakrishna ashram. Only I was still there in the ashram then. I was in Bangalore at that time. Then Radhakrishnan was in Ulsoor. When he was at Ulsoor he told me this. He said, ‘Rajashekaran is a great man! As soon as he came out of the Ramakrishna order, property was offered to him. But Rajashekaran refused that offer and went away! If he refused a 1 ½ crore property offer, what kind of a man he must be!’

The news that property worth 1 ½ crore came his way and he refused it was a shock to our order. We were not able to even collect 5 or 10 rupees at that time. But 1 ½ crore worth property was offered to him and Swami asked the person who offered it to keep the property with him. The person who offered it to him said, ‘This school, the Trust, all of this belongs to you. You can change anything you want.’ Even then Swami said, ‘No you keep it. I am going to do more sadhana.’ Swami said this and came away from there.

After going on parivrajaka, after coming to Bangalore I heard all this about Swami. I was so surprised.

Interviewer: You heard about all this?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes. The people who stayed with me told me about all this. Even now news about Swami comes to the ashram all the time. The look, the talk about Swami, everything is sweet about him. There is a song called ‘Mathurathipathae’ where it says ‘Everything about God is sweet – his talk, his look, his actions.’ It says, ‘We are not able to understand your actions. We are not able to understand how you conduct today and how you conduct tomorrow.’

Many brahmacharis have gone out of the ashram and their life has gone to the dogs. In the ashram they always tell you, ‘Do not go out. If you go out your life will be destroyed. You will not be able to live.’ But as soon as Swami came out he was offered a property worth 1 ½ crore! He refused that! He says, ‘No, I am going to do more sadhana. My own place will come up soon.’ He could have stayed in Bangalore. But he did not stay there. He came here. He could have stayed in Chennai. But he did not stay in Chennai. So all this is truly a wonder!

Truly if we see this side and see the other side, it is very surprising. The Swamis who are there, most of them will have their main aim as, ‘Oh I want to get this senior post. Next I want to go abroad. I must go abroad and settle down in that ashram.’ Now some of the Swamis who were with us have all gone and settled in ashrams in other countries.

Swami never had this as his aim. Even then he would say, ‘Why should I go to America? The American people will come after me.’ Sometimes people would say about some of the Swamis in the ashram, ‘This Swami is going to go to France. What for him… He is an intellectual, so he will go abroad.’ But Swami would say, ‘People abroad must come in search of us, Maharaj. We are the people who should oversee. Watch, foreigners will come in search of me.’ We would think, ‘Okay again he has begun to blabber like a mad man. What is going to happen because of his words?’ But now all that he said is happening! Foreigners are coming in search of him. They come by any means of transportation, come and see him.

He said this at that time itself. He said, ‘You don’t go abroad.’ Two or three people who were with him and who learnt from him have gone abroad. At that time itself Swami used to come and tell me, ‘Why are these Swamis so crazy about going abroad? If they do their sadhana properly here in India, all that is abroad will come here soon! Won’t that happen?’

Whenever Swami reads a book or he reads something that he knows about already, he will always undertake to do the spiritual practices mentioned in those books fully. He feels the main aim of life should be to reach God. He feels that if one lives without realizing the divinity within them then their whole life is a waste. His whole life would only be centered on divinity. His words and his actions all of it would be centered only on divinity. To realize the divinity within him he would do everything possible. He was determined to be enlightened. That was his main aim in life to realize the divinity within him. Whether he goes to the temple to pray or undertakes to do any task it will only be to reach God.

During Aruthara Darisanam (festival where Lord Nataraja dances for His devotees), abhishekam (holy bath) is done for Lord Nataraja in the Kapaleswarar temple in Mylapore, Chennai. This abhishekam is done only in the night. We can go to the temple and pray to Lord Nataraja at 4 o’clock in the morning again. The temple would open at 4 in the morning.

After the mangala arati is over in the ashram he would motivate me and say, ‘Maharaj, at the temple they would have done abhishekam for Natarajar through the night. We must see that abhishekam in the night. Today is poornima. They have performed the abhishekam.’ He would talk as if the abhishekam was done on him. He would say, ‘These are the places where the abhisheka water would have flown down. Lord Nataraja would be so cool now after the abhishekam. If we see the Lord now we will get all the power! Go and see from this spot and you will be able to see well.’ He would tell me this and take me to the temple.

As soon as he reaches the temple he would be an entirely different person. He would take his time and never rush. If we enter the temple premises at 4 in the morning we would be out only at 8 am. The temple is not a very big temple. Swami would pray deeply in front of the Nandi deity (sacred bull of Lord Shiva) and then in front of the Kodi Kambam (temple flag staff). He would sit and meditate for some time. Then he would prostrate before the idol. He would be in total communion with Lord Shiva, looking at him and talking to him. He would finish all this and come very slowly.

The others in the ashram would hesitate to go to any temple. They would feel that they should not go and pray in any other shrine other than Ramakrishna. Swami was the only one would not fail to go to any temple. Swami had a special attraction for Shiva. The moment we even utter the word ‘Shiva’ it is enough. Just if we utter the word ‘Arunachala’ it is enough. If we casually mention the word, ‘Tiruvannamalai’ or ‘Arunachala’, he would simply jump up the moment he hears it. It would be like an echo. His response to these words would be like how he would respond when his name was called. When we saw all this we would feel that his behavior was mad. We would think, ‘If I utter ‘Arunachala’ why should he also utter ‘Arunachala’? If I say ‘Annamalaikku (To Lord Anamalayar)’ immediately he would say, ‘arohara (hail!)’.’ He would have that kind of intensity. This kind of behavior was very different for us.

Interviewer: Swami would never get tired and sit down even for one day?

Gopal Maharaj: I have never seen him cry or being tired or being sad. I have never seen him like that. When he fights he would fight angrily. Sometimes the other person would not be convinced and still would blame him for what happened. Swami would still fight with him and come away. The next time he meets this person whom he fought with, he would smile and talk to them. He would not hold that grudge. He would simply let go.

Every time he went on his parivrajaka and came back he would be full of intensity and fully energized. He would go for one month on parivrajaka and come back. Even when he came back he would be the same old Rajashekaran. He would come back and talk and laugh as usual.

The senior Swami would be angry with him for going away without informing the authorities. He would tell Swami, ‘If you go out like this against the orders of the mutt, we will simply send you out of the ashram.’ Swami would sit down and say, ‘Yes Swami, I understand.’ As he is listening to the senior Swami he will without the senior Swami’s knowledge change the topic. We would all be watching this whole scene. Swami would ask the senior Swami, ‘Swami have you done this sadhana before? Have you gone to the forest sat down alone and held your nose stilled your breath like this and done pranayama? Have you practiced breath control?’ The senior Swami hearing this will feel shaken and he will become quiet and begin to listen to what Swami is saying. Being eager to listen to more he would ask, ‘Why don’t you tell me some more about various sadhana methods.’

Swami would come out of the room and meet us. This senior Swami is much senior in the order of monks so we cannot really question him. After coming to the room he would make so much fun of the senior Swami to us. We would all make fun of Swami and ask him, ‘So you changed the subject and got away with it!’ Swami would say, ‘Yes now if you go and check him in his room he will be holding his nose and doing the pranayama that I told him about.’

So he would hog the show even then. Even at that time he knew how to bring each person into this spiritual fold. He had those leadership qualities. He would interact with us very freely. He would say, ‘I have told that swami all about spiritual practices.’ Since I was his roommate he would tell me about many things. He would say, ‘Maharaj, I have put across all these practices to him. Now if you go and see in his room, he will be standing upside down.’ There are Swamis who do the head stand here as well.

Among us the room allocation was like this: All the senior Swamis had separate rooms. Senior brahmacharis were four people in a room. Both of us – Swami and me, shared one room. If we have taken sannyas then we will be given a single room. Even these sannyasis, Swami would be able to make them listen to him, since he was much more intense in his sadhana.

This particular senior monk who took him to task stayed in a single room. In single rooms generally water will not be kept. So the resident would bring their water jug to the kitchen and get it filled with water. Since Swami’s department was the kitchen he would be there. Sometimes I would also be in the kitchen. I would have some work related to the kitchen. We would be finishing up the work or we would have all eaten and we would be standing together and chatting.

Then Swami would tell us, ‘I have pulled up this Swami and told him how to do sadhana.’ The other senior Swami would come to the kitchen to get water in the jug. As he enters, at the corner of his eye he would glance up at Swami take the water and go away. We would all be watching this. Immediately we would know what Swami said was right. We would understand that Swami had given it good to this senior Swami that he needs to do more sadhana. So what Swami said was true. Swami has spoken to him and pulled him up to be more intense in his sadhana.

Many senior Swamis would approach our Swami and ask him questions to clarify their doubts on how to do certain things. They would ask him where a certain type of sadhana would end. Right from how to celebrate the pongal festival, they would ask Swami all kinds of questions and doubts. They would ask, ‘How sugarcane plant has to be planted,’ ‘Why should we offer sugarcane on Pongal’ etc.

In our ashram we never did anything for Pongal festival. Only after Swami came, he started celebrating Pongal festival. He would say, ‘Come let us keep pongal for Lord Surya. Let us cook pongal outside and offer it to Surya.’ At our homes we would simply make this pongal in the cooker in the kitchen and offer to Lord Surya outside. Swami would say, ‘See in our homes we used to cook the pongal outside and offer it to Surya. Come, this is also our home. Let us offer pongal to Surya outside. We are all Ramakrishna’s children. Come let us celebrate Maharaj.’ Everyone would say, ‘Come Rajashekaran has said it, let us all celebrate. The senior Swami would announce, ‘Today Rajashekaran would sing and make pongal and we will celebrate this festival.’ Swami would bring sugar cane and offer to the Sun god.

If we involve Swami in something he would take on the entire responsibility for that event and see it through till the end. He would do it with total involvement, dance, make merry and have so much fun! Somehow to do these things he would be given permission from the seniors. Whether it is giving lectures or anything for that matter he would take it up and do his best.

Swami took up the editing for Ramakrishna Vijayam magazine. He would talk about how to make Navapaashana (ancient mystics’ elixir). He would talk about siddhars. He would narrate a separate story for each siddhar. Whatever Swami said they would record it fully. Paramathmanandar would write whatever Swami spoke about. Swami would take up and do anything.

Swami would do yoga for 14 hours. He would sit in meditation for 14 hours at a stretch. I have seen that.

Interviewer: He would not go to the department is it?

Gopal Maharaj: As for department work some days we would all go out. We would all go for a tour outside some times. During these times and some other times he would not have kitchen work. His supervision would not be necessary. It is during these times that I have seen this. He would sit for long stretches. In fact Swami had the desire to sit for 24 hours in meditation! During that time we had a volunteer come in. Swami would sit the entire night that would account for twelve hours. He would continue to sit in the morning as well. He would give instructions to the kitchen department the night before as to what had to be done. Volunteers would come in and he would tell them what to do. So this would account for 14 hours that I am talking about.

At that time we had a volunteer who would closely interact with Swami. He told Swami, ‘Me and my son have got back pain. Both of us are going to a yoga master. This master is the best yoga teacher in Chennai. He has been practicing yoga since his father’s days. We have been doing yoga for some time now.’ When he said this Swami was excited. He came to me and said, ‘Come, let us go and see. Let us learn yoga. Let us learn from this master how to sit for longer hours in meditation.’ I told him, ‘I am not interested in learning all that. If you want to go you go and learn.’

So Swami and this devotee’s son went to this yoga master. When they came back this devotee’s son looked very disturbed. I asked Swami ‘Did you go to the yoga master?’ Swami said, ‘The master said he did not know any posture that will help him to sit for extended hours of meditation. He said he does not know anything about this. It was a waste of time going there.’ After saying this Swami just went about doing his work.

After that I called that devotee’s son who went along with Swami and asked him, ‘What happened at the yoga master’s house? Why are you looking so disturbed?’ He replied, ‘What is this? Swami is going to this master and asking him how to do yoga for 24 hours! That master was simply taken aback!’ He told the master, ‘I am doing meditation for 14 hours now. How can I extend that to 24 hours? What posture would help me to sit that way? Please teach me that posture.’ That master was shaken. He told Swami, ‘I have only sat for meditation for two hours. At the most I can sit for 4 hours. So I don’t know about all this. I never do this.’ He said this and sent us away.

This boy asked me, ‘Is it true that he sits for such long hours in meditation?’ If Swami sits in the night for meditation he sits for 12 hours. If not, he will sit in meditation during other times. At other times he will be in that meditative state or bhava all the time. This is the way Swami’s life was.

Interviewer: So far whose bhava would Swami practice?

Gopal Maharaj: He would practice Vivekananda’s bhava. He would also practice Ramakrishna’s bhava. He would be just like Sharada Devi. There will not be anything to practice there as far as Sharada Devi is concerned since he would be just like her! That love she had for others would be there with Swami also when he is like Sharada Devi. If you consider Vivekananda’s bhava, you can’t even say Swami is practicing his bhava. It is a majestic and royal bhava! His very face will radiate that majestic nature when he walks with the stick in his hand. Swami would always be in that spiritual state.

If he is not in that state he will be laughing and full of life. He would come and tell us, ‘I made fun of this Swami. That Swami told me this. I am a sannyasi who knows everything. That Swami came and said this about me. I have seen Issakki Siddhar. Do you know who he is maharaj? He is an enlightened master. We should follow his footsteps maharaj. We should do these things that he has advocated.’ We would be in a totally different space. These things that Swami says would not interest us. He would simply be telling these kinds of things.

Our own sannyasis do not know of all this. He would go and ask them, ‘Do you know a way to reach God?’ When he asks such questions the very persons to whom he asks would not have seen God! They would simply respond, ‘Rajashekara, please do not ask us these kind of questions. We do not know the answer to these questions.’ He would sometimes ask, ‘See maharaj these type of sadhana practices are recommended. Why don’t we do it here in the ashram?’ They would simply say, ‘These practices do not go well with this ashram rules and culture. You should not question all this.’ They would simply say this and close the topic. The senior Swamis would simply avoid talking about all this. Swami was the only one who would question all this and do all types of sadhana. He would do all these practices and he would have tremendous clarity about everything.

Interviewer: When he talks he will talk with great depth about everything, right?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes. Anything he talks about he will go in great depth about it. You just have to start Swami on spirituality whether it is in the class or outside, he would be in a different world all together! He would be in a different plane and sitting in a different space altogether. Then we have to literally shake his head and bring him back to this world. We would tell him, ’Swami it is 1 o’clock. You have work to attend to. It is one o’clock. That maharaj asked for some tea at 3 o’clock. So go maharaj, you have some work to attend to.’ Only we have to remind him and bring him back to this world. Otherwise we would not know how the time passes when swami begins to talk.

When he was my roommate his intensity inspired me and I had a vinayakar deity with me. All the senior Swamis visited our room. After seeing all the poojas that Swami and I did in our room, he mentioned about the poojas to everyone in class one day. He said to the class, ‘In the company of Rajashekaran, I think even Gopal will become a sannyasi!’ We would have big deities in our room and we would do pooja for them. People said, ‘These two people being roommates have begun to do all this worship in their room downstairs. There is already the temple above, now there is a temple below as well.’ This temple below was called ‘Rajashekaran temple’. People never referred to it as a room. We used to refer to this room as Rajashekaran temple only!

Interviewer: You mean the room itself was referred to as Rajashekaran temple only?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes. It was referred to as Rajashekaran Temple only. They would say, ‘They already have a deity of Vinayagar and they are doing puja for it. Don’t know where all this is going to lead. I used to put all the devotional songs from the radio in the room. Swami used to do all the puja, meditation and prayer and he used to dress the devi deity in a saree and do the decoration for the idol. Swami used to do all this beautifully.

I had only a Ganesha deity, so there was not much to decorate. I used to switch on the radio when I had to do abhishekam for Ganesha. I used to hear it with the headphones. Hearing all these songs, that Swami came into our room. The senior Swami came to class that night and said, ‘Looks like you are running a separate temple below. By looking at the temple above they have started this temple below.’ Since there was the ashram temple above, all the puja items would be available there. So for the puja below we would take everything from the temple above. Using all these items Swami used to perform his own puja below. That is why it was called, ‘Rajashekaran Temple’. If we were not able to find Swami everyone would say, ‘Go to the temple below. Go and look there, he would be sitting there only.’

Interviewer: Would he take care of his health?

Gopal Maharaj: Yes, that is what I am coming to. At least now the Rajashekaran I see looks healthy and has little muscle on him. During those times when he did all that sadhana he used to be a very lean and thin brahmachari. Whenever he does these sadhana we would tell him, ‘See you are going to be bed ridden soon. Soon they are going to send you away from the ashram. They are going to send you away.’

See the person sitting right here (in this photograph)… his name is Susendran maharaj. The one who is bending his head is Duraipandian. Duraipandian was the one who declared that Swami will be a great person one day. He was Swami’s first disciple. Remember he ran away from the ashram as soon as Swami asked him to leave and go to Tiruvannamalai for more spiritual progress. This was taken when he came for the temple opening. This picture was taken during that time. Swami was in-charge of the guests. Arranging rooms for the guests was swami’s work. At that time Duraipandian would be afraid to even sit in front of Swami. Both of them – Susendran and Duraipandian were my batchmates.

Swami was two years junior to me. You can see he is sitting cross legged. Duraipandian would hesitate to sit in front of Swami. He had so much of bhakti (devotion) for Swami. He felt if Swami said anything it would happen. Duraipandian predicted that Swami would be a great person one day. That is why you can see that he is bending down and sitting in front of Swami.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ycf5Umwmbppx-6JUrdIM4u_HoQdnU18a/view?usp=sharing

Swami showed this photo only and said, ‘See, this photo only Swami mentioned that it was his first center in Kanchipuram.’ I still have a copy of this photo. The building behind that you see in this photo is Mother’s (Sharada Devi) shrine. This place was just a small hut. All these deities you see here were made by Swami.

Gopal Maharaj: Once Swami had put this reaper plank and nailed a cap on top. I too thought at that time, and the person who was with me also thought at that time, ‘Why would Swami keep doing something foolish like this all the time.’ After seeing this work, many others passed comments on his work. The Bengali Swami commented, ‘This looks like the statue of Hanuman?’

This deity that he had made was taken on the streets of Kanchipuram! All the people were saying, ‘This deity must come in procession to our street.’ The very ashram got a lot of publicity because of this event. Otherwise before this event hardly any people came to this ashram. Nobody would bring flowers to the ashram. The building behind this was the Mother’s shrine. That was the only thing there. All three were in one shrine- Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Mother and Vivekananda. This was because this ashram was begun in the early days. Only after Swami went there, flowers, garlands and children came to the ashram!

==SPH and Swami Ranganathanandaji These pictures were taken during the trip. All these pictures are pictures from that trip. This Jnananandar is the one who is wearing a cap. This Ranganather was the president of the ashram when we were there. He was a world famous person. But Swami would argue even with this Swami very boldly. The person walking in the corner is Raj Maharaj. This maharaj also used to tell me, ‘Rajashekaran will be a great person one day. Remember this and be on the lookout for him always. Moreover he is your roommate. Be helpful and cooperative with him. He will be a big mahan (Seer) one day.’