If ever you desire to meet a great Saint, an ideal Yogi, a pure Bhakta, a true Sage or a Jeevanmukta, all at a time, spend a few minutes with His Holiness Sri Swami Chidananda Maharaj and your thirst should be quenched. He has quenched the thirst of many such spiritual aspirants the world over. Described as a realized soul by a spiritual illuminary like Sri Swami Chinmayanandaji Maharaj, Swami Chidananda is the peak of Indian spiritual culture.
This great country Bharatvarsha is a blessed land and notwithstanding widening of gap between man and man, nation and nation, agonizing barriers, deadly wars and increasing influence of the west on the Indian fabric of social and spiritual ideologies consequent upon the advancement in Science and Technology, India has witnessed spiritual renaissance under the guiding light of visionaries like Sri Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramtirtha, Sri Aurbindo and saints like Swami Chidanandaji have kept the candle of spiritual light burning for ever.
We cannot think of Sri Rama without thinking of Hanuman, or cannot remember Sri Krishna without remembering Arjuna. In the same way do Buddha and Ananda go together as do Christ and St. Paul. Even such is the link between Holy Master Sri Swami Sivananda and Sri Swami Chidananda for the latter has successfully followed the divine mission of the former.
Born on 24th September 1916 at Mangalore with a silver spoon, Swami Chidananda, then Sridhar Rao manifested the inherent divinity from his very Childhood. When asked a milion dollar question, "What would you like to be ?", he did not give a traditional and established reply like a doctor, an engineer or a philosopher. Instead he courteously asserted,"I shall be a Rishi, I will be a Yogi". The intrinsic spiritual seed was nurtured and nourished by the tales told by his grandma, mother Sarohjini Devi and his uncle. Moreover, a beautiful idol of Sri Rama-Kodanda Rama occupied a prominent place in his puja. He used to sit down at the feet of Kodanda Rama and offer loving prayers and worship prior to taking any food.
Further, his spiritual propensity was boosted with Swadhaya and Satsanga with saintly persons. His quest for Lord was escalated when he read the first work of Swami Ramdas 'In Quest of God’. At the age of 16, Sridhar Rao came under the influence of Swami Sivananda through his articles appearing in the magazine titled ‘My Magazine.’
Education in missionary school at Madras and Mangalore in Western style, his oriental being did not change a wee bit. Instead, his tender plant of Spirituality only bloomed tending towards the full growth of strong and sturdy tree with the advent of adolescence and youth. The prayer of Saint Francis "O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace…" was accepted by him as a Guru-mantra.
Service to the poor and sick was a passion to him. It made him happy and joyous. His service to the lepers has been especially great and exemplary. He used to walk barefooted in the colonies of lepers, pet them, serve them with sweets and offer prays of their well being. He intensely served the lepers after becoming an inmate of Sivananda Ashram and lepers’ Sanatorium of Brahampuri is his creation. Gurudev Sivananda remarked that "Rao Swamiji was not a man but the very embodiment of compassion – Dr. Rao surpassed Dr. Sivananda".
Spiritual nature in him fully manifested and his divine personality and spiritual soul took possession of his entire physical being. He became a renunciate and renounced the World in quest of God realization on 6th March 1943,the sacred day. After a short solitary journey, he came to Rishikesh. On 19th May,1943 on the auspicious day of Buddha Purnima, Sridhar Rao met his Guru Swami Sivananda in Sivananda Ashram in the evening who eventually accepted him to become his successor or promoter of his mission- the Divine Life Society established in 1936. While Ganga was glitterning under the soothing moonlight, the future full moon of the Divine Life Society saluted the wisdom light of Ananda Kutir. Sridhar Rao presented the Sugar candy at the lotus feet of his Master as a token of his sattwic and humble submission. Sridhar Rao thus found his anchor to enable him to tread the path of divine. Lord Kodanda Rama manifested before Sridhar Rao in form of Sivananda. Sivananda dwelt in Him and He dwelt in Sivananda.
Sridhar Rao stayed with Gurumaharaj since then and established himself in selfless service and intense sadhana for God – realization. He excelled in his multifaceted endeavours like serving in the hospital, delivering the discourses and guiding the spiritual aspirants. He founded the Yoga Vedanta Museum and later became the Vice-Chancellor of newly instituted Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy in 1948. Rao Swamiji entered the holy order of Sannyasa on 10th July 1949 and became Swami Chidananda Saraswati.
Gurudev Swami Sivananda himself declared that "Swami Chidanandaji is Adhyatma Jnana Jyoti". While Swami Chidananda believes that only grace of his Guru has brought him down to this plane of earth for the spiritual elevation of mankind, to him his Master’s word was absolute (law). He performs all the activities including giving Mantra-Diksha and Sannyasa in the name of Sivananda dwelling in him. An author of many spiritual books and an intuitional rather than an intellectual orator in his own right, he has been extensively travelling through the length and breadth of India disseminating the message of Divine life propounded by his Master Swami Sivananda. One can also describe him as a roving ambassador of Sivananda.
He was chosen as disciple, deputy and foremost person during Bharat Yatra of his Guru in 1950. During the Yatra he was called upon to speak on Vedantic truths and Yoga practices, chant Jai Ganesh Kirtan and explain Sivananda’s English speeches in Hindi. He offered commentaries on Yogasana film shows. His participation in the Yatra was a part of his Guruseva.
On 2nd November,1959, Swamiji left by air for America and toured the parts of the West till December 1961 disseminating the gospel of Divine Life. He preached the essence of all religions and spirituality, truth and non-violence. His motives, speeches and actions all tend to indicate that he was an embodiment of the ideals of his Master Sivananda viz Serve, Love Purify, Meditate, Realise. Be Good, Do Good, Be Kind, Be Compassionate etc.
Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji passed away in 1963, and on his shoulders fell the gigantic responsibility of executing Swami Sivananda’s mission. But if anyone was capable of performing, it was he as he had the brain and brawn for it. The Divine Life Society has continued to propagate its mission an flourish under his able Presidentship. Inaugurated and blessed by him the Sivananda Ashram at Jodhpur Tekra, Ahmedabad, vibrant with several socio-spiritual activities is a glaring example. A total of 333 branches of the Divine Life Society functioning the world over and a band of committed Sannyasis like Swami Adhyatmananda, Swami Jivnmuktananda, Swami Yogaswarupananda and others, speak volumes of his spiritual expediency.
"Chidanandaji was a great Yogi and saint in his previous birth itself; this is his last birth. Chidanandaji is a Jeevanmukta, a great Saint, an ideal Yogi, a pure Bhakta and a great Sage. Swami Chidanandaji is this and much more. Chidananda, Chidananda, Chidananda Hum" says worshipful Sri Swami Sivanandaji.
It will be just appropriate to describe him as a living legacy of Sri Swami Sivananda or Sivananda incarnate.
Such a service full and soulful self has a right to live long to enlighten the mankind with the divine truth that he enshrines, divine light that he bears and divine perfection that he holds in his inner self. Long live Swami Chidananda.
