Gist of a speech delivered by Sri Swami Sadananda

Swami Venkatesananda is noted for his untiring energy for work. It is absolutely impossible to find another to work as continuously as himself without even the least appearance of exertion. Even tbe best stenographer would require rest. In the Legislative Council one would take shorthand for some time and then another would continue. Here he alone is available for the purpose, and lectures will go on for five or six hours. I have never seen him feeling tired in doing work. I have seen him using his typewriter in a wonderful fashion. Even when there is no light at all, he can insert carbon papers properly and can feel when the paper is about to finish. I have myself dictated and he has done the work in such circumstances. That is ability. God has given him sufficient energy to carry out His task. I think a human being requires ordinary amenities. Swami Venkatesananda does not even go to the latrine when he does work That is Ekagrata, a most wonderful thing that has to be achieved in Raja Yoga. He does not think of anything else when engaged in work. After the work is over, he lies down and falls asleep. Nothing can disturb his sleep. Only then you can understand his fatigue.

Another point to be noted is his unrivalled loyalty to the Guru - unimaginable loyalty. You cannot find many as loyal to Guru as he. When he thinks of Swamiji, he thinks of him along with the mission that Swamiji is having in his mind. Therefore, all the things that he is receiving from Swamiji are intertwined with the vibrations that Swamiji is emanating for the good of this world.

Swami Venkatesananda has got a very sharp intellect. He can penetrate it to any subject in no time. A stenographer in a commercial office may feel out of place if he goes to another office. It will require time for him to learn his new work, because his mind is not capable of adjusting itself. A sharp intellect is needed. That Swami Venkatesananda has. Whatever be the subject, whether it is new to him or old, he will be familiar with it in half a minute. Whether the lecture is in Hindi, or Tamil, Saiva Siddhanta or Vaishnavism, he will be able to take down notes in English. He is very quick to understand things and to note them down.

His will power is unshaken. He has got a very strong will. When he takes a decision, nothing can change it. When he has formed an opinion, nobody can alter it. And it will be an opinion always of our Swamiji. Nothing can shake him. Apart from that, when he decides upon pursuing a course of discipline for himself, he will do it with a will which nobody can equal. When he came here in 1945, he decided to lead the life of a humble Sevak. He came here to be a Sevak and his ideal is to remain for ever as a Sevak. He came here to practise Karma Yoga. If any cow had scattered its dung anywhere near the temple, he would quietly remove it. Many people, when they do these things, would like themselves to be seen by others. But Swami Venkatesananda used to do such work whether he was being observed by others or not. When I came here with a heavy box, it was he who carried it to the Yoga Sadhana Kutir. When I was here, I had asked a friend of mine at Delhi to send me certain things. Swami Venkatesananda had to go to Delhi to settle his affairs and on his return he carried my things also with him. From the railway station he did not engage a tonga to carry these things. He himself carried them on his head. He had settled up his affairs and was bringing so much money with him. The whole of it he handed over to Swamiji. He did not spend any money out of it, for he felt the money belonged to Swamiji, and he carried my things himself on his head. That is willpower.

Another thing is his absolute indifference to praise and censure. Censure nobody would brook, but he is absolutely indifferent to censure. This indifference to censure is very difficult to obtain.

Another point I have noticed in him is his unerring judgment, of situations and persons. He is always correct in arriving at a judgment of a situation or person. The right judgment comes to him. Nobody will know the judgment formed by him, because he does not reveal it, except when responsible people ask for his judgment.

Swami Venkatesananda has been very useful to Swamiji and to us. We have no place in this world to go to and think of except as part and parcel of Swamjii's mission. Those who have come here to stay have no business to think of anything else than allegiance to Swamiji, for they live only for his mission. I merely want to emphasise the fact that we ought not merely think of our allegiance to Swamiji; if we want to benefit from his presence, it is for the purpose of co-operating with him in his work that God has sent us here today. The degree of success that we are likely to achieve in the part we have to play in our association with Swamiji depends upon the complete emptying of our heart, purging it of all the narrow, individual, local, Ahamkaric ideas. In that respect our leader is Swami Venkatesananda. It is only he who has laid aside completely all that belongs to himself, so that every vibration coming from Swamiji might enter into him, animate him, motivate him, infuse him with energy to carry out the part that he has to play.

Again another point that we have to learn from him is that when he has laid himself aside, no that his heart might be filled with Swamiji's vibrations, he has acquired the highest position in the matter of cleansing his heart. That is, he has succeeded not merely in understanding the mind of Swamiji, but in receiving vibrations directly from that very source from which Swamiji is drawing his vibrations.

One member of our Ashram, Swami Omkarananda, has written a pamphlet about Swami Venkatesananda. In it he says that Swamiji's and Venkatesananda's are twin-minds. I go a little further. Supposing it is a twin mind, what would happen would be that Swamiji would be receiving direct inspiration from God, and therefore the plan will be in Swamiji's mind and without talking to Venkatesananda, he would be communicating it to Venkatesananda. But what I mean to say is that when Swamiji gets his vibrations directly, he spares himself the trouble of planning it for himself, quietly switches on to Swami Venkatesananda so that the planning is done by Swami Venkatesananda. That is why his letters are as brilliant as when Swamiji writes.

When the vibrations are received in anybody's mind, they are subjected to certain limitations. Human mind is a complex of intellect, emotion and will-power. These three are the limitations. In space and time, the higher vibrations are limited by the above three factors of the individual, however high a level these three factors may have reached. Therefore, the full force of the vibration would not be there in the mind after it has been received. From Chit-Sakti, it is given in a reduced form. And when it is transmitted there is a still further reduction. Therefore, when Venkatesananda receives the vibrations, he will be receiving them with less force. Swamiji quietly switches on and therefore Venkatesananda receives the vibrations without any reduction in force. It is not transference of vibration from one mind to another, but the switching on of the vibration from the source itself.

If I would be permitted to draw a simile, Swamiji represents the Sun and Venkatesananda the Full Moon. Just as the Full Moon takes the lustre direct from the Sun and gives it to us, Swami Venkatesananda takes light from Swamiji and gives it to us. When Swamiji went on his tour in 1950, he took away brilliant youngsters from the Ashram, and we, old people, remained here. We were so anxious to know what was taking place outside. And we continued our Satsang with even greater desire than ever before, yet we were feeling that we did not have the happiness of knowing what was happening there. But every three days, Venkatesananda's report would come. It would be from eight to ten pages of typed matter. The whole audience would read them. Thus, we were having the vibrations of Swamiji indirectly like the light of the Full Moon.

I regard our Sivanandashram as a spiritual power-house. A spiritual power-house has two functions. To generate the power here and also to transmit it to other parts. And therefore these two functions have to be discharged. First of all there should be generation of power. Of course, we know that all power comes from Swamiji. But even if it comes from Swamiji, there must be a base upon which the power can be centered. Unless we have a bulb, we cannot have light. There must be dynamos and turbines, but the mightiest of all turbines in our electric house is Swami Venkatesananda. It is he who assists even in the generation of power, for there is switching of energy direct from the source. At the same time he is also the chief instrument for distributing the power to all parts, not only in India, but in the whole world. We know that he is the mightiest of turbines. But the people in foreign countries may not know that he is the person.

Therefore, I believe that he is like a diaphragm in a wireless set or telephone or radio. Supposing the diaphragm goes out of order in your radio, it will be of no use. He is the diaphragm in the wireless set of Swamiji, because he gives the proper tone to the messages and letters. The diaphragm in the transmitter of Swamiji is Swami Venkatesananda. Because, the manner in which knowledge has to be presented is looked after by Swami Venkatesananda. The manner in which he discharges that duty discloses that he is working as the agent of Swamiji directly, and indirectly of the Lord. Swamiji lives only for the purpose of establishing peace in the world. Only the person who enjoys peace can give peace. The administrators in foreign countries do not enjoy peace, and what is the use of some administrators joining together and talking about peace? Ultimately it can come only from people like Swamiji.

There are many other things also in Venkatesananda. I am only giving you a warning: his occasional ebullitions of comical extravagances ought not hide him from the reality which he is. That is what I want people to understand. He is a natural humorist. Therefore, he will be going on playing like a child. But we should remember that the child is only his outer surface, and inside him there is God Himself.