Swami Krishnananda
Encyclopedia
Sri Swami Krishnananda Saraswati Maharaj (April 25, 1922 – November 23, 2001) was a Hindu
saint
. He was a foremost disciple of Swami Sivananda
and served as the General Secretary of the Divine Life Society
in Rishikesh, India
from 1958 until 2001. Author of more than 200 texts, and lecturing extensively, on yoga
, religion
, and metaphysics
, Krishnananda was a prolific theologian and philosopher.
Swami Krishnananda was President of the Sivananda Literature Research Institute and the Sivananda Literature Dissemination Committee. He served as editor of the Divine Life Society’s monthly paper, Divine Life, for 20 years.
The eldest of six children, Swami Krishnananda was born on April 25, 1922, into a highly religious and an orthodox Madhva
Brahmin
family. He was named Subbaraya by his parents. He had his high school education at Puttur, Karnataka.
By the study of Sanskrit works like the Gita, the Upanishads, the Vedas
, etc., Swami Krishnananda became rooted in Advaita Vedanta
philosophy, though he belonged to the traditional Madhva-sect (Dvaita
Vedanta), which follows the dualistic philosophy. In 1943, Subbaraya took up Government service at Hospet in the Bellary
District, but it did not last long. Before the end of the same year, he left for Sivananda Ashram
, where he arrived in the summer of 1944 at the Divine Life Society
.
(Hindu monasticism
) on the Indian sacred day of Makar Sankranti, January 14, 1946, and he was named Swami Krishnananda.
of Sivananda's were typed by Swami Krishnananda. He confined himself mostly to literary work and never had any kind of relation with visitors; people who came from outside never knew he existed in the ashram. It was in 1948 that Sivananda asked him to do more work, along the lines of writing books in philosophy and religion, which he took up with earnestness. From that year onwards he was absorbed in writing, conducting classes and holding lectures, as per instruction of Swami Sivananda. During these early years at the ashram, Krishnanada experienced the heights of God-consciousness and became a perfect Jnani.
An excerpt of an article that was published in the December 2001 edition of Divine Life entitled "His Holiness Sri Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj Attains Mahasamadhi" read:
The last rites were carried out on Sunday, November 25. Many devotees and most of the local people came to pay their last respects. Thousands of people were present. Krishnananda's body was carried in a sitting position in a palanquin covered in flower garlands. He was carried in procession to the Samadhi
Shrine, the Viswanath Mandir, and the Bhajan
Hall of the Sivananda Ashram, then along the road to the Sivananda Ghat where abishek was performed.
As Swami Krishnananda was being taken in the boat to be immersed in the Ganges, three large flocks of birds appeared in the sky, each flock in a V formation. They were flying in the direction of Badrinath, the abode of Lord Narayana and the holiest temple in India.
Swami Krishnananda was a highly respected philosopher, especially in the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics
. Though he valued and was a scholar of Western philosophy
, he was an exponent of Advaita Vedanta philosophy, the most influential sub-school of Vedanta. Vedanta is one of the six orthodox philosophies of Hinduism, chiefly concerned with knowledge of Brahman
, the universal supreme pure being. Advaita Vedanta is the monistic arm of the philosophy, based on the unity of the Jiva
(individual soul) and the Atman
(universal soul).
The Indian philosopher Adi Shankara
(788 CE – 820 CE), the one largely responsible for the initial expounding and consolidation of Advaita Vedanta, wrote in his famous work, Vivekachudamani:
Though Advaita Vednata is ultimately a philosophy of monism (that is, Idealism
), it does not, according to Krishnanada, categorically deny the existence of the world independent of the mind
. For it does not hold the world to be the projection of any one particular mind—as do some forms of Idealism, but rather the projection of the ONE universal mind, of which the particular minds are contents. This universal mind is Isvara (God
), the manifest form of Brahman. Here Advaita Vedanta provides for the existence of the world independent of the human mind, and thus of a God on which the world is dependent. But when the dependent particular
mind ceases to identify with the world, it becomes identified with the independent universal mind, and thus realizes its true nature as Brahman. Here the world and a God have no meaning. In Vedanta, this state is termed Moksha
or Self-realization
. Krishnananda maintained throughout all of his work that every being innately longs for this Absolute, perfect experience, and that such longing is the ultimate motive behind the action of all beings.
ing, and deep sleep—and their relation to each other, it could be deduced that Brahman—pure, transcendental
consciousness—must exist, and that we, in essence, cannot be different from Brahman. For in the state of deep sleep it can be seen that when recognition of the mind, body, and the world—all that constitute the individual—ceases, the individual still exists, as is testified by the following experience which identifies the person who has woken up with the person who slept previously. According to Krishnananda, “the existence of the Self in the condition of deep sleep was one of awareness of nothing, an awareness together with nothingness, which means mere awareness, as nothingness has no value.” Therefore, he concludes that since the existence of the Self is corroborated by the subsequent remembrance of the existence of oneself in deep sleep, and since remembrance is not possible without previous experience, and experience never possible without consciousness, the Self exists in deep sleep as mere consciousness—that is, pure, transcendental consciousness. According to him, “this consciousness exists in the waking state as the unchanging basis of the changing mind and senses,” and “in the dreaming state as the synthesizer of mental functions,” the only difference between which two being that in the former experience is the effect of the function of the mind aided by the senses, while in the latter experience is the effect of the function of the mind alone. Because this consciousness is proved to exist in deep sleep also, Krishnananda arrived at the conclusion that this ONE consciousness “endures without even the least change in itself in all states of experience, without a past or a future for its existence” and is therefore eternal and infinite.
, because thought, which presupposes existence as we know it, is itself a process which begins and ends, becomes rather than is. But the Vedanta holds that existence is consciousness, and to, for clarity’s sake, correct the said notion to the contrary, philosophers such as Krishnananda are forced to express this assertion, though referring to only one thing, with two words, namely “Sat-Chit,” Sanskrit for “Existence-Consciousness”:
Therefore “Sat-Chit,” though appearing by linguistic convention to represent a duality, is in fact representative of a non-duality, a perfect unity, the state of which is bliss; for, in perfect unity there can be no limitation, and thus no desire. This is signified by the addition of the word “Ananda,” Sanskrit for “bliss,” to “Sat-Chit.” But according to Krishnananda, even as “Sat-Chit” is not representative of two things, the addition of “Ananda” to "Sat-Chit," though appearing, again by linguistic convention, to construct a duality, in fact does not so, for:
To Krishnananda, then, “Sat-Chit-Ananda” is not multilateral, but unilateral; not a proposition of what are the extensions or attributes of Reality, but the very essence thereof.
Thus, "Sat-Chit-Ananda," each of the three components of which being representative of an infinite property, and thus implying the other two, means one state, the nature of which according to the Vedanta, is infinite existence, infinite consciousness, and infinite bliss. But even this concept, to Swami Krishnananda, is only the “ideal other of what we here experience […],” the “logical highest […],” a mere “intellectual prop”. Krishnananda ultimately holds, then, that nothing accurate can be said about the Absolute. However:
, and since we are, in actuality, not different from Brahman, we have free will, and only appear to be determined, due to our acceptance of limited, imperfect individual existence, the nature of which creates desire, which is the motive for action, which is governed by causal law, which determines everything. In other words, within the realm of phenomena, there is no free will; outside of the realm of phenomena, there is free will. Krishnananda maintained, though, that freedom was a relative concept. To him, while there could be no freedom per se within the realm of phenomena, there could be freedom experienced to lesser and greater degrees, in accordance with the degree to which an individual is attached to the objects of the world. That is, the greater is the attachment, the greater is the bondage; the lesser is the attachment, the lesser is the bondage. According to Krishnananda, “The Bhagavad Gita is this much: No action can bind you, provided that the vision of the cosmos is before you.”
, Plato
, Aristotle
, Plotinus
, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke
, George Berkeley
, Hume
, Kant
, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, William James
and A.N. Whitehead.
Fundamentally, Krishnananda did not believe that Western philosophers added to the Vedanta, but he did believe that “they help[ed] in fortifying it with a powerful weapon against onslaughts from ill-informed sources.” He was particularly fond of Plato, Kant, and Hegel and referenced their work numerous times throughout his own. Krishnananda maintained that Western logic was a good companion to the knowledge of the East, and cautioned against being “too eager to cherish either a fanatical adherence to what is ours or a contempt for what is alien.” In his autobiographical essay, My Life, he wrote:
, The Study and Practice of Yoga, is widely regarded by Hindu scholars as a milestone in the history of the Hindu religion.
6.8.7, "tat tvam asi
," Sanskrit for “thou art that.” In Krishnananda's thought, this is understood to mean that the subject is not distinct from the object. That is, if the only thing outside of the subject is the object, when the subject declares itself as “that,” all quantitative and thus qualitative differences dissolve and the subject becomes “That”—the Absolute. This is one of two principal methods of jnana yoga
to realize Truth as the Vedanta sees it, the other of which being that of denial or renunciation of object by subject. In either case, identification with objects ceases. Krishnananda maintained throughout his writing and teaching that the realization of the truth of this proposition, which he held to be “logically proved and also corroborated by intuitional declarations,” is the fundamental desire of every person, and that—whether consciously or unconsciously—every person is striving for its fulfillment, in every place, and at every time.
. According to him, there could be only one reality, as anything relative to reality would be unreality, and since consciousness—with which we are endowed—is the presupposition for anything and everything, that one reality—Brahman—must be us.
In addition to Shankara’s deep sleep proof, Krishnananda accepted, endorsed and expounded a number of other arguments for the existence of God
, including Saint Anselm
’s ontological proof and Descartes’ variation thereof, Cogito ergo sum
; the Quinque viae as expounded by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica
; Leibniz’s principle of sufficient reason
; and the cosmological argument
.
is the word used to describe the phenomenon of untruth. Often illustrated with the snake-and-rope analogy (i.e., a rope appearing as a snake), Maya refers to the world and the means by which the world is created. Krishnananda described it as the “baffling mystery of the decent of the ONE into many.” If Brahman is truth, and if truth cannot come from untruth, but only untruth from truth, then untruth—Maya—can only be conceived of as an attribute of Brahman. This, though, limits Brahman; therefore, it cannot be true. According to Krishnananda, logical analysis brings us to the conclusion that there must be truth, and that truth must be ONE, but fails in giving us any answers as to how or why there appears to be untruth, as logic is part of the untruth and, being separate from truth, cannot contact it. To him, “Our greatest intelligence lies in admitting that we cannot understand anything, finally.”
, time
, or causality (karma
), and thus remains as a detached witness to the Jivas which are affected by space, time, and causality. But ultimately, in his thought, there is no real difference between the Jiva and the Atman. Brahman, through means unknown to us (i.e., Maya) creates the Jiva, and in which process appears to become the Atman, which while distinct from, is also identical with, the Jiva. The ensuing causal chain of events—the creation of more and more Jivas—is the expanse of the universe, the motion of which is sustained by reciprocity in space and time, viz. the “veiling” and “projecting” aspects of Maya. Throughout his work, Krishnananda referred to the Jiva as a "reflection" of the Atman.
, or the “trinity” of Gods, (i.e., Brahma
, Vishnu
, Shiva
) is interpreted both literally and figuratively. As a Vedantin, Krishnananda held only a figurative view of the Trimurti, as such a concept taken literally would, according to him, be incompatible with the non-dualistic philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. He maintained that the concept was merely a way of explaining the manifestation of Brahman on the universal level, at stages of creation, preservation, and destruction; and that each stage corresponds to the manifestation of Brahman on the particular level, at stages of birth, life, and death. In the Philosophy of Life he states: “A universe with many gods cannot be governed harmoniously, for there would be conflict of purpose among them."
and reason
. On the contrary, he maintained that reason was necessary to justify faith in Truth, as Truth, according to the Vedanta, cannot be experienced by empirical means. He believed that reason would ultimately concur with the longing of the human heart, that they were “unanimous in ascertaining that the One Absolute Brahman alone is the Reality.”
, Christ, and Buddha
alike; he saw no conflict in their doctrines. In one lecture on Buddha, Krishnananda makes reference to Buddha's elightenment, "What Nirvana is Buddha did not say, and no one can tell you," while in another, on Krishna, he stated, "Bhagavan Sri Krishna is regarded as Purna-Avatara [...] He is considered to be a complete manifestation of God, not a partial expression of the power and the glory of God." In his article A Sacramental Life, Krishnananda refers to Jesus Christ as the son of God
: "The suffering of the son of God, Christ, is a brilliant example of how the incarnated symbol of the eternal bears witness to its source." He clarifies this seemingly contradictory acceptance of multiple incarnations
of God—and thus, religions—in a 1994 lecture that he gave on Jesus Christ, in which he stated that the principles of Christianity
were not exclusive to Christianity because the concept of “incarnation” was not exclusive to Christianity:
was a practical implementation of philosophical truth in daily life. In In The Light of Wisdom he writes:
, a method of yoga he learned directly from Swami Sivananda. It combines the four main paths of the discipline - Karma Yoga
, Bhakti Yoga
, Raja Yoga
, and Jnana Yoga. This is reflected in the crest of the Divine Life Society, which is, "Serve (Karma Yoga), Love (Bhakti Yoga), Meditate (Raja Yoga), Realize (Jnana Yoga)." According to Swami Sivananda, “Integral perfection can be had only when you combine service and devotion with Jnana.” Swami Krishnananda was a master of the Yoga of Synthesis as propounded by Sivananda.
, especially in light of the enormous discoveries of the latter, reducing concrete matter
to mere space-time, and suggested the implications of this for the observer of phenomena located within space-time: "The distinction between knower, knowledge, and known breaks down," and the “individual merges, as it were, into the vast indivisibility of the [space-time] continuum.” He viewed philosophy as an "intensely practical science," a "necessary means for the possession of the higher knowledge of the Self."
Swami Sivananda wrote of Krishnananda when he was still a young man:
In his Yoga as a Universal Science, Krishnananda states that all human suffering is ultimately the result of the perception of separation from Brahman, and that people erroneously try to relieve this suffering by interacting with objects through the physical senses. Our cultivation of these sense experiences, he says, is nothing more than the outer expressions of the Self attempting to relieve suffering. However, he explains that the relief we are really seeking is to become one with, or more accurately, to realize that we already are, Brahman, and that it is only through Maya that we desire for and attempt to have sense experiences instead. This misconception, he says, not only perpetuates the predicament but results in lost energy.
As a remedy to this, he says that people must gradually, through careful discrimination and cooperation, cease to look at the world as being "outside" of or separate from themselves. Rather, people should unite themselves with the "outside world" and become ONE with it.
The work can be classified under the following categories:
, charity
, chastity
, meditation, realization—embodied in the mission, teachings and practice of the Divine Life Society, which from the year 1936 has been built up by Sivananda and his disciples to its present day status as a spiritual, religious and educational outreach to the world. For 73 years the Divine Life Society has disseminated spiritual knowledge to the world, trained and educated spiritual seekers, established and run educational institutions, established and run medical organizations, and helped countless poor and needy.
The Divine Life Society’s headquarters in Rishikesh, India maintains and implements many bodies and causes, including its Charitable Hospital, which renders free medical service to the public; its common kitchen (the Annapurna Annakshetra), which feeds about 600 permanent residents, daily visiting guests and pilgrims; its Guest House, which looks to the needs of its many daily visitors and guests; the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy, which trains spiritual seekers and aspirants; its monthly periodical, Divine Life (in English and Hindi
), which puts out articles on philosophy and spiritual guidance; its well-known Leprosy
Relief Program; and its Social Service Wing, which attends to the needs of the world’s poor and needy. The Temples of worship at the Divine Life Society hold prayers for the peace of the world and conduct regular worship of the Lord. They also conduct continual, 24-hour-a-day, recitation of the Lord’s name.
Swami Krishnananda served as this institution's administrator for more than 40 years, and represented it with his many works of theological and philosophical literature.
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
. He was a foremost disciple of Swami Sivananda
Swami Sivananda
Swami Sivananda Saraswati was a Hindu spiritual teacher and a proponent of Yoga and Vedanta. Sivananda was born Kuppuswami in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He studied medicine and served in Malaya as a physician for several years before taking up monasticism...
and served as the General Secretary of the Divine Life Society
Divine Life Society
The Divine Life Society is a religious organization and an ashram, founded by Swami Sivananda Saraswati in 1936, at Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh, India...
in Rishikesh, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
from 1958 until 2001. Author of more than 200 texts, and lecturing extensively, on yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, and metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, Krishnananda was a prolific theologian and philosopher.
Swami Krishnananda was President of the Sivananda Literature Research Institute and the Sivananda Literature Dissemination Committee. He served as editor of the Divine Life Society’s monthly paper, Divine Life, for 20 years.
Early life
Madhva
Madhva may refer to:* Madhvacharya, Vaishnavite saint and founder of the Dvaita school of thought, at Pajaka, Udupi in Karnataka, India* Madhwas, a person belonging to the Dvaita school of thought...
Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
family. He was named Subbaraya by his parents. He had his high school education at Puttur, Karnataka.
By the study of Sanskrit works like the Gita, the Upanishads, the Vedas
Vedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
, etc., Swami Krishnananda became rooted in Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
philosophy, though he belonged to the traditional Madhva-sect (Dvaita
Dvaita
Dvaita is a school of Vedanta founded by Shri Madhvacharya....
Vedanta), which follows the dualistic philosophy. In 1943, Subbaraya took up Government service at Hospet in the Bellary
Bellary
Bellary is a historic city in Bellary District in Karnataka state, India.-Origins of the city's name:There are several legends about how Bellary got its name....
District, but it did not last long. Before the end of the same year, he left for Sivananda Ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
, where he arrived in the summer of 1944 at the Divine Life Society
Divine Life Society
The Divine Life Society is a religious organization and an ashram, founded by Swami Sivananda Saraswati in 1936, at Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh, India...
.
First meeting with Swami Sivananda
When he first met Swami Sivananda, Subbaraya fell prostrate before him and the saint said: "Stay here till death; I will make kings and ministers fall at your feet." In later years, Krishnananda came to realize the prophecy of the saint's statement. Swami Sivananda initiated the young man into the holy order of SannyasaSannyasa
Sannyasa is the order of life of the renouncer within the Hindu scheme of āśramas, or life stages. It is considered the topmost and final stage of the ashram systems and is traditionally taken by men or women at or beyond the age of fifty years old or by young monks who wish to renounce worldly...
(Hindu monasticism
Monasticism
Monasticism is a religious way of life characterized by the practice of renouncing worldly pursuits to fully devote one's self to spiritual work...
) on the Indian sacred day of Makar Sankranti, January 14, 1946, and he was named Swami Krishnananda.
The young scribe
Swami Sivananda found that Krishnananda was suitable to do works of correspondence, letter writing, writing messages and even assistance in compiling and editing books. Later on he was given the work of typing up the hand-written manuscripts of Sivananda, which were brought to him daily. For instance, the entire two hand-written volumes of the Brahma SutrasBrahma Sutras
The Brahma sūtras , also known as Vedānta Sūtras , are one of the three canonical texts of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. A thorough study of Vedānta requires a close examination of these three texts, known in Sanskrit as the Prasthanatrayi, or the three starting points...
of Sivananda's were typed by Swami Krishnananda. He confined himself mostly to literary work and never had any kind of relation with visitors; people who came from outside never knew he existed in the ashram. It was in 1948 that Sivananda asked him to do more work, along the lines of writing books in philosophy and religion, which he took up with earnestness. From that year onwards he was absorbed in writing, conducting classes and holding lectures, as per instruction of Swami Sivananda. During these early years at the ashram, Krishnanada experienced the heights of God-consciousness and became a perfect Jnani.
General Secretary of the Divine Life Society (1958 -2001)
When it became necessary for the Divine Life Society to co-opt assistance from other members in regards to management, Swami Krishnananda was asked to collaborate with the Working Committee of the institution. It was at this time that he received a position of secretary, concerned especially with the management of finance. He continued this work until 1961, when, due to the extended absence of Swami Chidananda—the President of the Divine Life Society from 1963 to 2008—Sivananda nominated him as General Secretary of the Divine Life Society. Krishnananda served in this capacity until his death in 2001. He was the longest serving General Secretary in the history of the institution.Sivananda Literature Research Institute
Due to his considerable literary skill and understanding of the entire gamut of the works of Sivananda, numbering about 300, Swami Krishnananda was appointed President of the Sivananda Literature Research Institute, by Sivananda himself, when it was formed in 1958. Krishnananda was also appointed as the President of the Sivananda Literature Dissemination Committee, which was formed to bring out translations of Sivananda's works in the major Indian languages, simultaneously. In 1961, Swami Krishnananda was made Editor of the Divine Life Society's monthly publication, Divine Life. He held the position for 20 years.Death
On the morning of November 23, 2001, Swami Krishnananda related to those attending on him a dream he had the previous night in which it was indicated that he would soon leave his body. He had further said that his cook and the doctor from Rishikesh who had been attending on him must be paid their dues that very day. According to those close to him, Krishnananda was very cheerful that day and met with Ashramites and visitors as usual. He also talked very freely to the persons attending on him. In the afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Krishnananda asked for a copy of the Bhagavad Gita with the commentary by Swami Sivananda to be kept by the bedside. When the holy scripture was brought, Krishnananda began to read it periodically. Around 3:30 p.m. he had his usual light supper. At 4:25 p.m. he felt a little difficulty in breathing and asked his attendant Swami Satyakamananda to recline him on the bed indicating that the last moment had arrived. He died at 4:30 p.m.An excerpt of an article that was published in the December 2001 edition of Divine Life entitled "His Holiness Sri Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj Attains Mahasamadhi" read:
"Our Guiding Light over the past five decades, His Holiness Sri Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj, whom Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj used to call as our 'Dakshinamurti' and 'Sankaracharya', has merged in the Cosmic Being. Revered Swamiji Maharaj, who has been our General Secretary since 1958, our guide, administrator, philosopher, mentor and much more, entered Mahasamadhi on Friday, the supremely auspicious and holy Gopashtami day, the 23rd of November 2001, at 4.30 p.m., in his Kutir in Sivanandashram on the banks of the sacred Mother Ganges, in Shivanandanagar, at the foot of the Himalayas.
The Divine Life Society records its deep reverence to the towering stature of the Spirit of Worshipful Swamiji Maharaj as well as its heartfelt gratitude to a sublime career of unremitting labour of love that came to a glorious close in that momentous afternoon.
Though Swamiji Maharaj had not been keeping well for quite some time, the END came rather suddenly. Swamiji was conscious till the very last moment."
The last rites were carried out on Sunday, November 25. Many devotees and most of the local people came to pay their last respects. Thousands of people were present. Krishnananda's body was carried in a sitting position in a palanquin covered in flower garlands. He was carried in procession to the Samadhi
Samadhi
Samadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....
Shrine, the Viswanath Mandir, and the Bhajan
Bhajan
A Bhajan is any type of Indian devotional song. It has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad or kriti with music based on classical ragas and talas. It is normally lyrical, expressing love for the Divine...
Hall of the Sivananda Ashram, then along the road to the Sivananda Ghat where abishek was performed.
As Swami Krishnananda was being taken in the boat to be immersed in the Ganges, three large flocks of birds appeared in the sky, each flock in a V formation. They were flying in the direction of Badrinath, the abode of Lord Narayana and the holiest temple in India.
Vedanta
Swami Krishnananda was a highly respected philosopher, especially in the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
. Though he valued and was a scholar of Western philosophy
Western philosophy
Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies and the varieties of indigenous philosophies....
, he was an exponent of Advaita Vedanta philosophy, the most influential sub-school of Vedanta. Vedanta is one of the six orthodox philosophies of Hinduism, chiefly concerned with knowledge of Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
, the universal supreme pure being. Advaita Vedanta is the monistic arm of the philosophy, based on the unity of the Jiva
Jiva
In Hinduism and Jainism, a jiva is a living being, or more specifically, the immortal essence of a living organism which survives physical death. It has a very similar usage to atma, but whereas atma refers to "the cosmic self", jiva is used to denote an individual 'living entity' or 'living...
(individual soul) and the Atman
Ātman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
(universal soul).
The Indian philosopher Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
(788 CE – 820 CE), the one largely responsible for the initial expounding and consolidation of Advaita Vedanta, wrote in his famous work, Vivekachudamani:
"Brahman is the only TruthTruthTruth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
, the spatio-temporal world is an illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self."
Though Advaita Vednata is ultimately a philosophy of monism (that is, Idealism
Idealism
In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
), it does not, according to Krishnanada, categorically deny the existence of the world independent of the mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
. For it does not hold the world to be the projection of any one particular mind—as do some forms of Idealism, but rather the projection of the ONE universal mind, of which the particular minds are contents. This universal mind is Isvara (God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
), the manifest form of Brahman. Here Advaita Vedanta provides for the existence of the world independent of the human mind, and thus of a God on which the world is dependent. But when the dependent particular
Particular
In philosophy, particulars are concrete entities existing in space and time as opposed to abstractions. There are, however, theories of abstract particulars or tropes. For example, Socrates is a particular...
mind ceases to identify with the world, it becomes identified with the independent universal mind, and thus realizes its true nature as Brahman. Here the world and a God have no meaning. In Vedanta, this state is termed Moksha
Moksha
Within Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...
or Self-realization
Self-realization
Self-realization is a self-awakening.Self-realization may also refer to:* Self-Realization Fellowship, worldwide spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda...
. Krishnananda maintained throughout all of his work that every being innately longs for this Absolute, perfect experience, and that such longing is the ultimate motive behind the action of all beings.
The Upanishads
As a philosopher, Swami Krishnananda was an expounder, not a formulator. He did not develop any kind of new or personal philosophy. Rather, typical of most Hindu philosophers, he expounded and built upon the philosophy contained in the Upanishads. The Upanishads are commentaries on the Vedas, a large body of sacred texts originating in ancient India, which according to Hindu tradition, are “not of human agency.” The Upanishads constitute the core teachings of Vedanta. Krishnananda wrote in-depth commentaries on all of the principal Upanishads.Krishnananda's main suppositions
Krishnananda proposed and expounded the following points throughout his work:- God exists.
- There is only one God.
- The essence of man is God.
- The essence of God is Absolute.
- The Absolute is Brahman which is RealityRealityIn philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
or Truth. - There is a personal God so long as the individual exists, that is, so long as there is recognition of phenomena.
- There is no personal God once the individual has transcended his or her individuality, that is, once the individual ceases to recognize phenomena.
- Death is not the end of the recognition of phenomena, but merely an event in the exposition of the universeUniverseThe Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
, the state of which is evolutionary, forward-moving transmigration towards the Absolute. - The end of the recognition of phenomena is achieved by the extinguishment of the flames of all desire, by consciously realizing, through meditationMeditationMeditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
and rational, logical discrimination, that there is nothing for which to desire, as we are already Absolute and perfect in nature. - Desire does not exist on the universal level because there is complete knowledge.
- Desire exists on the particular level because there is incomplete knowledge.
- Desire is the feeling of incompleteness resulting from the recognition of, and subsequent identification with, phenomena, which, by nature, are incomplete.
- Recognition of phenomena is the seed of all pain and suffering.
- Transmigration, or the movement of subject towards object, continues, in accordance with causal law (karmaKarma in HinduismKarma is a concept in Hinduism which explains causality through a system where beneficial effects are derived from past beneficial actions and harmful effects from past harmful actions, creating a system of actions and reactions throughout a soul's reincarnated lives forming a cycle of rebirth...
), so long as there is desire. - Subject and object are different quantitatively, that is, within the realm of phenomena.
- Subject and object are non-different qualitatively, that is, outside the realm of phenomena.
- Reality or Truth does not provide for subject-objectSubject-object problemThe subject–object problem, a longstanding philosophical issue, is concerned with the analysis of human experience, and of what within experience is "subjective" and what is "objective."...
duality, as it is not permissible to posit multiple “realities” or “truths.” - Brahman cannot be known through psychological process; it can only be known through direct experienceDirect experienceDirect experience generally denotes experience gained through immediate sense perception. Many philosophical systems hold that knowledge or skills gained through direct experience cannot be fully put into words.You cannot grasp it;Nor can you get rid of it....
. - Brahman is SatchitanandaSatchitanandaSaccidānanda, Satchidananda, or Sat-cit-ānanda is a compound of three Sanskrit words, Sat , Cit , and Ānanda , meaning Existence , Consciousness, and Bliss respectively...
—infinite existenceExistenceIn common usage, existence is the world we are aware of through our senses, and that persists independently without them. In academic philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, being contrasted with essence, which specifies different forms of existence as well as different identity...
, infinite consciousnessConsciousnessConsciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
, and infinite blissBlissBliss can be a state of profound satisfaction, happiness and joy, a constant state of mind, undisturbed by gain or loss.The word can also refer to the following:-People:* Aaron T. Bliss , U.S...
; - thus, the goal of life is to realize Brahman.
Deep sleep as a proof for the existence of Brahman
Krishnananda was a proponent of the "deep sleep proof" for the existence of Brahman as expounded by Adi Shankara in the 9th century. He asserted that by analysis of the three states of consciousness—waking, dreamDream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
ing, and deep sleep—and their relation to each other, it could be deduced that Brahman—pure, transcendental
Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New England region of the United States as a protest against the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian...
consciousness—must exist, and that we, in essence, cannot be different from Brahman. For in the state of deep sleep it can be seen that when recognition of the mind, body, and the world—all that constitute the individual—ceases, the individual still exists, as is testified by the following experience which identifies the person who has woken up with the person who slept previously. According to Krishnananda, “the existence of the Self in the condition of deep sleep was one of awareness of nothing, an awareness together with nothingness, which means mere awareness, as nothingness has no value.” Therefore, he concludes that since the existence of the Self is corroborated by the subsequent remembrance of the existence of oneself in deep sleep, and since remembrance is not possible without previous experience, and experience never possible without consciousness, the Self exists in deep sleep as mere consciousness—that is, pure, transcendental consciousness. According to him, “this consciousness exists in the waking state as the unchanging basis of the changing mind and senses,” and “in the dreaming state as the synthesizer of mental functions,” the only difference between which two being that in the former experience is the effect of the function of the mind aided by the senses, while in the latter experience is the effect of the function of the mind alone. Because this consciousness is proved to exist in deep sleep also, Krishnananda arrived at the conclusion that this ONE consciousness “endures without even the least change in itself in all states of experience, without a past or a future for its existence” and is therefore eternal and infinite.
The fourth state
In The Realisation of the Absolute, Krishnananda observed that—whether in the waking or dreaming states—we are always conscious of something other than the Self, and that it is only in deep sleep that we “practically become one with the Absolute”—the Self. However, he asserts that we are prevented from experiencing Brahman in deep sleep due to the “presence of ignorance, the store of the potential objective forces existing in an unmanifested state.” Krishnananda goes on in the book to assure that deep sleep, then, which according to him is tantamount to an “unmanifest inert condition,” is not Reality, but that rather “Reality is dynamic Consciousness.” He refers to it as the fourth state of consciousness, which includes and transcends the other three states—waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. According to him, this state is unimaginable.Sat-Chit-Ananda
A duality of existence and consciousness, considering the nature of these, implies a consciousness of existence, that is, a consciousness of oneself existing as an object, by identifying with an object of consciousness, namely the mind and the body. According to Swami Krishnananda, we are accustomed to thinking of existence in this way, as an action, a process which begins and ends, a becoming rather than a beingBeing
Being , is an English word used for conceptualizing subjective and objective aspects of reality, including those fundamental to the self —related to and somewhat interchangeable with terms like "existence" and "living".In its objective usage —as in "a being," or "[a] human being" —it...
, because thought, which presupposes existence as we know it, is itself a process which begins and ends, becomes rather than is. But the Vedanta holds that existence is consciousness, and to, for clarity’s sake, correct the said notion to the contrary, philosophers such as Krishnananda are forced to express this assertion, though referring to only one thing, with two words, namely “Sat-Chit,” Sanskrit for “Existence-Consciousness”:
Therefore “Sat-Chit,” though appearing by linguistic convention to represent a duality, is in fact representative of a non-duality, a perfect unity, the state of which is bliss; for, in perfect unity there can be no limitation, and thus no desire. This is signified by the addition of the word “Ananda,” Sanskrit for “bliss,” to “Sat-Chit.” But according to Krishnananda, even as “Sat-Chit” is not representative of two things, the addition of “Ananda” to "Sat-Chit," though appearing, again by linguistic convention, to construct a duality, in fact does not so, for:
To Krishnananda, then, “Sat-Chit-Ananda” is not multilateral, but unilateral; not a proposition of what are the extensions or attributes of Reality, but the very essence thereof.
Thus, "Sat-Chit-Ananda," each of the three components of which being representative of an infinite property, and thus implying the other two, means one state, the nature of which according to the Vedanta, is infinite existence, infinite consciousness, and infinite bliss. But even this concept, to Swami Krishnananda, is only the “ideal other of what we here experience […],” the “logical highest […],” a mere “intellectual prop”. Krishnananda ultimately holds, then, that nothing accurate can be said about the Absolute. However:
Refutation of the proposition that Brahman is non-being
Krishnananda frequently made reference to the distinction between becoming—movement of subject towards object—and being—a state which, according to him, cannot be comprehended by the human mind, as it is the presupposition of the human mind. In The Realisation of the Absolute Krishnananda refuted the common argument that a non-dual Brahman is, due to its lack of motion, tantamount to “nothingness” or “non-being”:On free will
Krishnananda held that, since Brahman obviously has free willFree will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
, and since we are, in actuality, not different from Brahman, we have free will, and only appear to be determined, due to our acceptance of limited, imperfect individual existence, the nature of which creates desire, which is the motive for action, which is governed by causal law, which determines everything. In other words, within the realm of phenomena, there is no free will; outside of the realm of phenomena, there is free will. Krishnananda maintained, though, that freedom was a relative concept. To him, while there could be no freedom per se within the realm of phenomena, there could be freedom experienced to lesser and greater degrees, in accordance with the degree to which an individual is attached to the objects of the world. That is, the greater is the attachment, the greater is the bondage; the lesser is the attachment, the lesser is the bondage. According to Krishnananda, “The Bhagavad Gita is this much: No action can bind you, provided that the vision of the cosmos is before you.”
Interest in Western philosophy
In addition to the Vedanta, Swami Krishnananda was also a master of practically every system of Indian thought and Western philosophy. Throughout his exposition of the Vedanta, namely in The Realisation of the Absolute, The Philosophy of Life, and The Philosophy of Religion, Krishnananda brought together Eastern and Western philosophies with surprising ease and efficiency, to create a synergy of thought rarely encountered in modern philosophy. In his Studies in Comparative Philosophy and The Philosophy of Life he did comparative studies of the Vedanta and most of the prominent Western philosophers, including SocratesSocrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
, Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, Plotinus
Plotinus
Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
, George Berkeley
George Berkeley
George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...
, Hume
David Hume
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
, Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, William James
William James
William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
and A.N. Whitehead.
Fundamentally, Krishnananda did not believe that Western philosophers added to the Vedanta, but he did believe that “they help[ed] in fortifying it with a powerful weapon against onslaughts from ill-informed sources.” He was particularly fond of Plato, Kant, and Hegel and referenced their work numerous times throughout his own. Krishnananda maintained that Western logic was a good companion to the knowledge of the East, and cautioned against being “too eager to cherish either a fanatical adherence to what is ours or a contempt for what is alien.” In his autobiographical essay, My Life, he wrote:
Theology
Hinduism
Krishnananda expounded practically all of the major scriptures of the Vedanta through his extensive lecturing at the Divine Life Society; and he wrote in-depth analytical commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Brahma Sutras, all of which have illumined and made more accessible those sacred Hindu texts. Krishnananda's The Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita and The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad are considered classics of theology. His epic 600-page exposition of the Yoga Sutras of PatanjaliYoga Sutras of Patanjali
The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali are 194 Indian sūtras that constitute the foundational text of Rāja Yoga. Yoga is one of the six orthodox āstika schools of Hindu philosophy, and Rāja Yoga is the highest practice....
, The Study and Practice of Yoga, is widely regarded by Hindu scholars as a milestone in the history of the Hindu religion.
Thou art that
To Swami Krishnananda, the central message of the Upanishads was crystallized by the famous Vedantic proposition, originally occurring in the Chandogya UpanishadChandogya Upanishad
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" Upanishads. Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it ranks among the oldest Upanishads, dating to the Vedic Brahmana period....
6.8.7, "tat tvam asi
Tat Tvam Asi
Tat Tvam Asi , a Sanskrit sentence, translated variously as "That thou are," "Thou are that," "You are that," or "That you are," is one of the Mahāvākyas in Vedantic Sanatana Dharma...
," Sanskrit for “thou art that.” In Krishnananda's thought, this is understood to mean that the subject is not distinct from the object. That is, if the only thing outside of the subject is the object, when the subject declares itself as “that,” all quantitative and thus qualitative differences dissolve and the subject becomes “That”—the Absolute. This is one of two principal methods of jnana yoga
Jnana yoga
Jyâna yoga or "path of knowledge" is one of the types of yoga mentioned in Hindu philosophies...
to realize Truth as the Vedanta sees it, the other of which being that of denial or renunciation of object by subject. In either case, identification with objects ceases. Krishnananda maintained throughout his writing and teaching that the realization of the truth of this proposition, which he held to be “logically proved and also corroborated by intuitional declarations,” is the fundamental desire of every person, and that—whether consciously or unconsciously—every person is striving for its fulfillment, in every place, and at every time.
Brahman
Krishnananda viewed Brahman as the Ultimate RealityUltimate Reality
Ultimate reality is a term used in philosophy to indicate the underlying nature of reality, see:*Absolute *Reality*Brahman*God*Haqq*Dharmakaya*Mysticism...
. According to him, there could be only one reality, as anything relative to reality would be unreality, and since consciousness—with which we are endowed—is the presupposition for anything and everything, that one reality—Brahman—must be us.
In addition to Shankara’s deep sleep proof, Krishnananda accepted, endorsed and expounded a number of other arguments for the existence of God
Existence of God
Arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...
, including Saint Anselm
Saint Anselm
Saint Anselm may be* Saint Anselm College - a Benedictine, Catholic liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire.* Saint Anselm of Canterbury* Saint Anselm of Lucca the Younger* Saint Anselm, Duke of Friuli...
’s ontological proof and Descartes’ variation thereof, Cogito ergo sum
Cogito ergo sum
is a philosophical Latin statement proposed by . The simple meaning of the phrase is that someone wondering whether or not they exist is, in and of itself, proof that something, an "I", exists to do the thinking — However this "I" is not the more or less permanent person we call "I"...
; the Quinque viae as expounded by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica
Summa Theologica
The Summa Theologiæ is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas , and although unfinished, "one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature." It is intended as a manual for beginners in theology and a compendium of all of the main...
; Leibniz’s principle of sufficient reason
Principle of sufficient reason
The principle of sufficient reason states that anything that happens does so for a reason: no state of affairs can obtain, and no statement can be true unless there is sufficient reason why it should not be otherwise...
; and the cosmological argument
Cosmological argument
The cosmological argument is an argument for the existence of a First Cause to the universe, and by extension is often used as an argument for the existence of an "unconditioned" or "supreme" being, usually then identified as God...
.
Maya
In Hindu philosophy, MayaMaya (illusion)
Maya , in Indian religions, has multiple meanings, usually quoted as "illusion", centered on the fact that we do not experience the environment itself but rather a projection of it, created by us. Maya is the principal deity that manifests, perpetuates and governs the illusion and dream of duality...
is the word used to describe the phenomenon of untruth. Often illustrated with the snake-and-rope analogy (i.e., a rope appearing as a snake), Maya refers to the world and the means by which the world is created. Krishnananda described it as the “baffling mystery of the decent of the ONE into many.” If Brahman is truth, and if truth cannot come from untruth, but only untruth from truth, then untruth—Maya—can only be conceived of as an attribute of Brahman. This, though, limits Brahman; therefore, it cannot be true. According to Krishnananda, logical analysis brings us to the conclusion that there must be truth, and that truth must be ONE, but fails in giving us any answers as to how or why there appears to be untruth, as logic is part of the untruth and, being separate from truth, cannot contact it. To him, “Our greatest intelligence lies in admitting that we cannot understand anything, finally.”
Isvara
Krishnananda held the concept of Isvara (personal God) to be man’s attempt at contemplating upon Brahman, but as such, governed by the laws of process and action, and therefore, essentially a proof that God is not personal, as a God bound by law could not really be God—it would be just another phenomenal being, albeit the most powerful. In the Realisation of the Absolute he states, "the pure Indivisible Being cannot be the object of the understanding working through the phenomenal categories," and thus "Ishvara is an appellation for Brahman viewed from the standpoint of the relative universe." However Krishnananda did not believe that a personal God was opposed to the impersonal Brahman, but rather only a way for us, as persons, to understand it. To him, a personal God was valid so long as the individual was valid; for if God were to be denied, the individual could not be valid, as it is always contingent upon something outside of it which can never truly be known, and thus, only described as God.The Atman and the Jiva
According to Krishnananda, the Atman is the universal soul (God) and the Jiva is the individual soul. The one Atman is the essence of the many Jivas. Since the Atman is not particular, it is not bound by spaceSpace
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
, time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
, or causality (karma
Karma in Hinduism
Karma is a concept in Hinduism which explains causality through a system where beneficial effects are derived from past beneficial actions and harmful effects from past harmful actions, creating a system of actions and reactions throughout a soul's reincarnated lives forming a cycle of rebirth...
), and thus remains as a detached witness to the Jivas which are affected by space, time, and causality. But ultimately, in his thought, there is no real difference between the Jiva and the Atman. Brahman, through means unknown to us (i.e., Maya) creates the Jiva, and in which process appears to become the Atman, which while distinct from, is also identical with, the Jiva. The ensuing causal chain of events—the creation of more and more Jivas—is the expanse of the universe, the motion of which is sustained by reciprocity in space and time, viz. the “veiling” and “projecting” aspects of Maya. Throughout his work, Krishnananda referred to the Jiva as a "reflection" of the Atman.
The Trinity
In Hinduism, the concept of the TrimurtiTrimurti
The Trimurti is a concept in Hinduism "in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahmā the creator, Vishnu the maintainer or preserver, and Śhiva the destroyer or transformer," These three deities have been called "the Hindu triad" or...
, or the “trinity” of Gods, (i.e., Brahma
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
, Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
, Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
) is interpreted both literally and figuratively. As a Vedantin, Krishnananda held only a figurative view of the Trimurti, as such a concept taken literally would, according to him, be incompatible with the non-dualistic philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. He maintained that the concept was merely a way of explaining the manifestation of Brahman on the universal level, at stages of creation, preservation, and destruction; and that each stage corresponds to the manifestation of Brahman on the particular level, at stages of birth, life, and death. In the Philosophy of Life he states: “A universe with many gods cannot be governed harmoniously, for there would be conflict of purpose among them."
Faith and reason
Swami Krishnananda did not see a conflict between faithFaith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
and reason
Reason
Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
. On the contrary, he maintained that reason was necessary to justify faith in Truth, as Truth, according to the Vedanta, cannot be experienced by empirical means. He believed that reason would ultimately concur with the longing of the human heart, that they were “unanimous in ascertaining that the One Absolute Brahman alone is the Reality.”
Interest in comparative religion
The Hindu religion is concerned primarily with the human situation, not the Hindu situation. As a Hindu, Krishnananda accepted all of the world’s major religions as valid pathways to God, and did not condemn or discriminate against any person on the basis of their religion. He expounded the teachings of KrishnaKrishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
, Christ, and Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
alike; he saw no conflict in their doctrines. In one lecture on Buddha, Krishnananda makes reference to Buddha's elightenment, "What Nirvana is Buddha did not say, and no one can tell you," while in another, on Krishna, he stated, "Bhagavan Sri Krishna is regarded as Purna-Avatara [...] He is considered to be a complete manifestation of God, not a partial expression of the power and the glory of God." In his article A Sacramental Life, Krishnananda refers to Jesus Christ as the son of God
Son of God
"Son of God" is a phrase which according to most Christian denominations, Trinitarian in belief, refers to the relationship between Jesus and God, specifically as "God the Son"...
: "The suffering of the son of God, Christ, is a brilliant example of how the incarnated symbol of the eternal bears witness to its source." He clarifies this seemingly contradictory acceptance of multiple incarnations
Incarnations
Incarnations can refer to:*Incarnation of supernatural or religious entities*Incarnations of Immortality, a book series by Piers Anthony*Incarnate , a character class in a role-playing game...
of God—and thus, religions—in a 1994 lecture that he gave on Jesus Christ, in which he stated that the principles of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
were not exclusive to Christianity because the concept of “incarnation” was not exclusive to Christianity:
Yoga
To Swami Krishnananda, yogaYoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
was a practical implementation of philosophical truth in daily life. In In The Light of Wisdom he writes:
Yoga of Synthesis
Swami Krishnananda taught and practiced Yoga of SynthesisYoga of Synthesis
Swami Sivananda's approach to yoga was to combine the four main paths - karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga and raja yoga along with various sub-yogas such as kirtan and hatha yoga. This is reflected in the motto of the society that he formed, the Divine Life Society...
, a method of yoga he learned directly from Swami Sivananda. It combines the four main paths of the discipline - Karma Yoga
Karma Yoga
Karma yoga , or the "discipline of action" is a form of yoga based on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Sanskrit scripture of Hinduism. Of the four paths to realization, karma yoga is the science of achieving perfection in action...
, Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga is one of the types of yoga mentioned in Hindu philosophies which denotes the spiritual practice of fostering loving devotion to a personal form of God....
, Raja Yoga
Raja Yoga
Rāja Yoga is concerned principally with the cultivation of the mind using meditation to further one's acquaintance with reality and finally achieve liberation.Raja yoga was first described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and is part of the Samkhya tradition.In the context of Hindu...
, and Jnana Yoga. This is reflected in the crest of the Divine Life Society, which is, "Serve (Karma Yoga), Love (Bhakti Yoga), Meditate (Raja Yoga), Realize (Jnana Yoga)." According to Swami Sivananda, “Integral perfection can be had only when you combine service and devotion with Jnana.” Swami Krishnananda was a master of the Yoga of Synthesis as propounded by Sivananda.
Jnana Yoga
Krishnananda's approach to yoga was ultimately that of the integral Yoga of Synthesis, but due to his prolificacy as a theologian and philosopher, he is widely known as a jnana yogi. Jnana yoga or "path of knowledge" is one of the types of yoga mentioned in Hindu philosophies. Jnana in Sanskrit means "knowledge" or “philosophy.” While Krishnananda valued and stressed the importance of direct experience above all else, the sometimes-held notion that philosophy is an abstract thought process, while life is concrete and substantial was, to him, a mistake. He saw both metaphysics and physicsPhysics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, especially in light of the enormous discoveries of the latter, reducing concrete matter
Matter
Matter is a general term for the substance of which all physical objects consist. Typically, matter includes atoms and other particles which have mass. A common way of defining matter is as anything that has mass and occupies volume...
to mere space-time, and suggested the implications of this for the observer of phenomena located within space-time: "The distinction between knower, knowledge, and known breaks down," and the “individual merges, as it were, into the vast indivisibility of the [space-time] continuum.” He viewed philosophy as an "intensely practical science," a "necessary means for the possession of the higher knowledge of the Self."
Swami Sivananda wrote of Krishnananda when he was still a young man:
Message of Swami Krishnananda
Consistent with Advaita Vedanta philosophy and the Yoga of Synthesis methodology, Swami Krishnananda’s message was that of wholeness and unity, which is, according to the Vedanta, Reality or Truth.In his Yoga as a Universal Science, Krishnananda states that all human suffering is ultimately the result of the perception of separation from Brahman, and that people erroneously try to relieve this suffering by interacting with objects through the physical senses. Our cultivation of these sense experiences, he says, is nothing more than the outer expressions of the Self attempting to relieve suffering. However, he explains that the relief we are really seeking is to become one with, or more accurately, to realize that we already are, Brahman, and that it is only through Maya that we desire for and attempt to have sense experiences instead. This misconception, he says, not only perpetuates the predicament but results in lost energy.
As a remedy to this, he says that people must gradually, through careful discrimination and cooperation, cease to look at the world as being "outside" of or separate from themselves. Rather, people should unite themselves with the "outside world" and become ONE with it.
Authorship and lectures
Most of his lectures have been published in text form, and include commentaries covering the philosophy, psychology, and practice of the various disciplines of yoga. Additionally, Swami Krishnananda is the author of more than 50 books and 160 essays and articles on yoga, religion, and philosophy, many of which have been translated into multiple languages.The work can be classified under the following categories:
Commentaries
Under the first category are Krishnananda’s expositions of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, the most notable of which being his Commentary on the Brihadaranyanka Upanishad, Commentary on the Chhandogya Upanishad, and Philosophy of the Bhagagvad Gita. Philosophy of the Bhagagvad Gita is a celebrated work which has evoked praise from scholars and seekers as being one of the best revelations of the true import of the Bhagavad Gita.Monographs
Krishnananda’s monographs are primarily works in metaphysics, epistemology, and psychology, and on the study and practice of yoga, in light of the Upanishads and the writings of Swami Sivananda, and are frequently comparative to Western philosophy. These works include The Philosophy of Life, The Ascent of the Spirit, Essays in Life and Eternity, The Philosophy of Religion, The Realisation of the Absolute, and Yoga As a Universal Science.Dialogues
Among Krishnananda’s dialogs are The Problems of Spiritual Life and Your Questions Answered. The former volume consists of a series of lively conversations held over a period of several days between Krishnananda and a Canadian lawyer, in which Krishnananda furnishes replies to the man’s philosophical queries. The latter consists of a large collection of informal dialogs between Krishnananda and a wide range of visitors to the Sivananda Ashram that touches upon practically every aspect of spiritual inquiry, analysis and contemplation.Influence
Swami Krishnananda did not travel extensively, and he did not promote, nor profit monetarily from his writing or teaching. However, his influence on the world has been considerable. His legacy to the world is that of Swami Sivananda’s—service, loveLove
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
, charity
Charity (virtue)
In Christian theology charity, or love , means an unlimited loving-kindness toward all others.The term should not be confused with the more restricted modern use of the word charity to mean benevolent giving.- Caritas: altruistic love :...
, chastity
Chastity
Chastity refers to the sexual behavior of a man or woman acceptable to the moral standards and guidelines of a culture, civilization, or religion....
, meditation, realization—embodied in the mission, teachings and practice of the Divine Life Society, which from the year 1936 has been built up by Sivananda and his disciples to its present day status as a spiritual, religious and educational outreach to the world. For 73 years the Divine Life Society has disseminated spiritual knowledge to the world, trained and educated spiritual seekers, established and run educational institutions, established and run medical organizations, and helped countless poor and needy.
The Divine Life Society’s headquarters in Rishikesh, India maintains and implements many bodies and causes, including its Charitable Hospital, which renders free medical service to the public; its common kitchen (the Annapurna Annakshetra), which feeds about 600 permanent residents, daily visiting guests and pilgrims; its Guest House, which looks to the needs of its many daily visitors and guests; the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy, which trains spiritual seekers and aspirants; its monthly periodical, Divine Life (in English and Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
), which puts out articles on philosophy and spiritual guidance; its well-known Leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
Relief Program; and its Social Service Wing, which attends to the needs of the world’s poor and needy. The Temples of worship at the Divine Life Society hold prayers for the peace of the world and conduct regular worship of the Lord. They also conduct continual, 24-hour-a-day, recitation of the Lord’s name.
Swami Krishnananda served as this institution's administrator for more than 40 years, and represented it with his many works of theological and philosophical literature.
Selected bibliography of Swami Krishnananda
All of Swami Krishnananda's books, essays and articles are available free of charge in PDF or HTML format at the website Swami-Krishnananda.org. His books are also widely available for purchase in print.Books on Yoga, meditation and spiritual practice
- Yoga, Meditation and Japa Sadhana
- The Yoga of Meditation
- Sadhana The Spiritual Way
- The Attainment of the Infinite
- The Yoga System
- An Introduction to the Philosophy of Yoga
- Yoga as a Universal Science
- The Light of Wisdom
- The Study and Practice of Yoga
Books on Bhagavad Gita, Vedanta and Hinduism
- Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals
- Daily Invocations
- A Short History of Religious and Philosophic Thought in India
- The Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita
- Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita
- The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita
- Moksha Gita
- The Philosophy of the Panchadasi
- The Realisation of the Absolute
Books on the Upanishads
- Lessons on the Upanishads
- Essays on the Upanishads
- The Secret of the Katha Upanishad
- Commentary on the Kata Upanishad
- The Essence of the Aitareya and Taittiriya Upanishads
- The Mandukya Upanishad
- The Mundaka Upanishad
- The Chhandogya Upanishad
- The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
- An Analysis of the Brahma Sutra
Books on mysticism
- Sri Swami Sivananda and His Mission
- The Heart and Soul of Spiritual Practice
- Self-Realization, Its Meaning and Method
- To Thine Own Self Be True
- The Struggle for Perfection
- The Philosophical Foundations of Religious Consciousness
- The Philosophy of Religion
- Interior Pilgrimage
- Fruit from the Garden of Wisdom
Books on metaphysical philosophy
- Religion and Social Values
- Resurgent Culture
- The Development of Religious Consciousness
- The Vision of Life
- The Ascent of the Spirit
- Studies in Comparative Philosophy
- The Philosophy of Life
- Essays in Life and Eternity
- The Epistemology of Yoga
Poetical writings
- The Epic of Consciousness
- The Song of God Almighty
- Hymn to the Mighty God
- The Divine Ambassador
- On Man
Selected essays and articles
- Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda Maharaj’s Mission in this World
- Swami Sivananda and The Spiritual Renaissance
- Lord Sri Krishna, the Majesty of the Almighty
- Bhagavan Sri Krishna
- Sri Krishna - The Purna-Avatara
- Christ-Consciousness
- A Sacramental Life - Discourse On Jesus Christ
- Sankara - The Genius
- Social Implications of Acharya Sankara's Philosophy
- Siva-The Mystic Night
- The Vision of Buddha
- What is Religion?
- The Gospel of the Bhagavadgita
- The Doctrine of the Upanishads
- Hinduism and the Vedanta
- The Ontological Argument in Philosophy, A Critique to the Argument, and Replies
- On the Nature of Philosophy
- On the Transition from the Empirical to the Absolute
- On the Concept of Righteousness and Justice
- The Search for Truth
- The Search for Reality
- The Organism of Administration
- The Process of Samadhi
- The Philosophy, Psychology and Practice of Concentration and Meditation - Part 1
- The Philosophy, Psychology and Practice of Concentration and Meditation - Part 2
External links
- Swami-Krishnananda.org Official Website