Swami Ramdas (1884-1963)
Beloved Papa Swami Ramdas of Anandashram, Kanhangad, Kerala, is one of the great saints of India from a time when this land gave the world Mahatmas like Sri Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Rama Thirtha and many others, not to mention Mahatma Gandhi.
When Swami Ramdas shuffled off his mortal coil in 1963, shortly after the passing of another great saint, Swami Sivananda Saraswati, the founder of Divine Life Society and Sivananda Ashram, Swami Chinmayananda, founder of the Chinmaya Mission said, “We are left alone like orphans. Swami Sivananda, who was working very hard, who made a mark in this era, is no more. So was Swami Ramdas of Kanhangad, who had indeed made a ‘temple of Sadhana’ in his own Ashram. They are no more with us.”
“As man begins to discover the Universal Spirit, of which he is a form, he begins automatically to see the Divine in all his fellow beings and creatures. Ultimately, the whole world appears before his transformed vision as the veritable embodiment of the Spirit. He sees on the face of every man the light of God. Truly, he sees things not as they appear to be, but as they really are.” — Swami Ramdas
In 1920, disenchanted with the worldly life, and armed only with the Divine Mantra imparted to him by his father, Sri P. Vittal Rao, as Beloved Papa Swami Ramdas was known in his Purvashram life, ‘threw himself out’, as it were, to test his total reliance on his beloved Ram — the Subtle and Mysterious Power. Over the next couple of years, surrendering himself totally to Ram’s will, wherever it many lead him he embarked upon what became a pilgrimage across many great shrines and Ashrams of this ancient land, right from the deep South to the magnanimous snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas in the North.
In 1920 prior to leaving Mangalore, where he was residing before the dawn of his new life and its unfoldment, a distant glimpse of Mahatma Gandhi gave Beloved Papa, as stated by him, “the first spiritual touch.”
Guided by an inner calling, Vittal Rao ventured out ‘in quest of God’ on December 27, 1922. Yet, he frequently mentioned that he had attained the goal even prior to this momentous step. It was on the banks of the river Kaveri that he donned the ochre robes and accepted the name ‘Ramdas.’ Subsequently, during his visit to Tiruvannamalai, he had a profound encounter with Sri Ramana Maharshi, a meeting he eloquently detailed in his 1925 book titled, ‘IN QUEST OF GOD’. In this encounter, Bhagwan Ramana wordlessly bestowed his grace upon him.
Swami Ramdas travelled all the way up North into the Himalayas, traversing through Rishikesh, Kedarnath and Badrinath. Later, returning South, also meeting on the way Sri Siddharudha Swami of Hubli, he founded the Ashram at Kanhangad in 1931.
All throughout, it was the chanting of the Ram Mantra — Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram — that sustained him. To this day, the chanting of the Divine Nama is the mainstay of Anandashram — a centre where the approach to spirituality is not based on the age-old traditions of ritual or icons, apart from Aartis performed in praise of the Divine.
Come discover his universal message, beyond religion, caste, creed or nationality, and see how the chanting of the Divine Name can show you that there is indeed no divide between the spiritual and the worldly. It gives you a glimpse into the integration between us and society, with the nature outside and with our own mind. This enables us to have harmony in our family, professional and social life, which in turn empowers us to be more creative and productive not only within ourselves, but also with all beings and things in the world. Swami Ramdas’ spiritual vision encompassed all lives and all things in the universe. Ram is all — everything and everybody, and also everywhere. Swami Ramdas’ timeless and universal message takes us along on this path…
Quotations from Swami Ramdas
“Ram is form, Ram has assumed form.
Ram is with form. Ram is without form.
Ram is being. Ram is non-being….
To strive to approach, and understand Ram
is to recede from the world of vanishing forms, because
Ram is the only Truth — the only Reality.
Ram is a subtle and mysterious power that
pervades and sustains the whole universe…
He is present in all things and all creatures
who only appear as separate entities
due to their ever-changing forms.”
“Spirituality that cannot be applied in actual life is no spirituality.
God is in the world and is acting through every one of us.
God-realisation does not mean disappearing
into some unknown realm beyond the world.
True spirituality consists in our living in this world,
moving in it and serving all beings,
all the time being conscious of the Divine
within us and everywhere around us.”