Sree Nārāyana Guru’s ultimate paradigm of a maharshi
Bodhānanda Swamikal (b:1883 - d:1928) was a respected sage who was inducted into the lineage of Sree Nārāyana Guru’s disciples. As the most creditable disciple and chosen spiritual successor to Nārāyana Guru, sage Bodhānanda did not however live long enough to inherit the great legacy and mantle bestowed upon him by Nārāyana Guru; as the mortal life of Bodhānanda Swamikal came to an untimely and abrupt end only three days after the ‘Maha-samadhi’ (merging with the Absolute) of his mid-life mentor Nārāyana Guru.
Early life
Bodhānanda Swamikal was born in 1883 (Malayalam calendar - Kollavarsham 1058, Makaram 10th under the ''Punirtham'' star) in his family’s ancestral home, Ezhuvanparampil, in Chirakkal village on the banks of Karuvannur River, in the erstwhile Kochi State of present-day Kerala. His childhood name was Velāyudhan and was also dotingly called Velukutty, until much later in life when he was conferred the name Bodhānandagiri on being ordained a sanyasi. His father’s name was Ekoaran and mother’s name was Cheroannu.
At the age of six Velāyudhan was inducted into the traditional learning curriculum under a village schoolmaster. Thenceforth he was educated in the customary texts such as 'Amarakośam' (Sanskrit lexicon) and subjects such as 'Neethisaaram' (law), mathematics and poetry. After a few years into his astute performance at school, however, under pressure from his father to assist in managing the family’s farmlands, Velāyudhan was forced to discontinue studies and attend to the family’s landed holdings. Despite the assigned responsibilities, Velāyudhan could never focus on the family’s affairs or agriculture, as his mind was set on reading books with a focus on acquiring spiritual knowledge. He was often observed deeply indulging in hymns that he learnt on his own.
In the hope that Velāyudhan would duly shoulder family responsibilities, against his will and ignoring resistance, his family pressurised him into marrying at the very young age of sixteen. His wife was Kothamma of the Madampikkattil family of Trichur. As the first two years of their married life went by without any detachment, they had a son by name Kesavan.
Start of an ascetic life
Not too long into the youth’s married life, Velāyudhan began to distance himself from the family and all worldly bliss; becoming more and more inclined towards a life of renunciation. Torn between the shadow of family ties and his strong urge for a spiritual path to fulfilling life’s mission, Velāyudhan left home moving on as a wandering ascetic to the northern parts of India. His journeys as a mendicant over the years took him to places like Vārāṇasī, Rishikesh, Badrinath and Haridwar. These years of his life were spent under austere and impoverished conditions and mostly moving from place to place on foot.
Ordainment, sanyas and learning
On one such journey, to a convention in Ujjain, the mendicant Velāyudhan became an acquaintance of Shri Iswarananda Mandaleshwar, the 'madathipathi' (monastic head) of the Uttarāmnāya matha, or northern monastery at Joshimath, one of the four cardinal pīthas established by Adi Sankara.
Over the days of their stay in Ujjain and as the acquaintance grew into appreciation and trust of the young mendicant’s potential, the madathipathi accepted Velāyudhan as a disciple and ordained him into sanyas, conferring him the name Bodhānandagiri.
Bodhānanda Swamikal spent over two years travelling with his guru Shri Iswarananda Mandaleshwar, and during this period engaged in learning Sanskrit grammar, literature, rhetoric and the Upanishads.
During his long journey of renunciation and spiritual quest, Bodhānanda Swamikal went for short visits to Chirakkal, his hometown in Kochi State, only to return each time for a few more years leading the lifestyle of a wandering sanyasi in search of truth through the process of observation, experiences, meditation and self realization.
Revolt against social evils
On the occasion of his final homecoming to his native place, Chirakkal, the village folk are said to have seen a totally transformed and illuminated Bodhānanda Swamikal, who soon began interaction with the local population, often playing the role of a spiritual advisor, soothsayer and social change agent.
Having gained a wealth of experience and exposure to various cultures and social practices, Bodhānanda Swamikal was moved and disturbed by the social practices that prevailed in the erstwhile states of present-day Kerala. The practices of untouchability, inapproachability (punishable by beating), segregation and communal discrimination in a feudalistic caste-Hindu dominated social order prompted him to organise a movement against these appalling social practices. For instance, he encouraged the Parayas to dine as equals with the Ezhavas. He encouraged all communities to socially interact and mingle with one another disregarding social stigmas that had divided society and corrupted social attitudes over centuries. He ‘launched several agitations against the monstrosities of caste and untouchability and he was joined by right thinking men belonging to the Nair community’.[1]
Pained by the atrocious social practice of beating and lynching of the Ezhavas and other non-caste communities in the name of inapproachability, Bodhānanda Swamikal established the 'Dharma Bhadta Sangam' (ധര്മ്മ ഭട സംഘം - Righteousness Army). This organisation was a self defence brotherhood of dedicated, trained and armed volunteer soldiers under a confidential oath not to carry out any offensive move unless first attacked. The soldiers of this brotherhood took initiatives to challenge those who removed Ezhavas and other oppressed communities from public places or physically abused them in the name of the untouchability or inapproachability.
His radical actions however did not go unnoticed. His movement soon gained popularity, on the one front, with a growing number of his followers in the Kochi and Malabar states, many of who he readily ordained as sanyasis. Whilst on another front, his actions also triggered fear and wrath of the traditionalists.
Same goal, but on conflicting paths
Bodhānanda Swamikal was engaged in social reform initiatives against class and caste discrimination primarily in Kochi and the Malabar states in the north, when, at the same time, the more senior Nārāyana Guru was at the peak of his spiritual and social reform campaign, principally in the southern Travancore State.
Although the two great spiritual seers were headed towards their common goal of demolishing the fences that divided society and discriminated the weaker sections, their paths were bound to cross and clash. Bodhānanda Swamikal professed against idolatry and encouraged the boycott of Hindu temples, whilst Nārāyana Guru was actively engaged in the building of new temples and encouraging the underprivileged sections of society to worship Hindu idols, thus upholding their basic right to spiritual freedom. Observers sympathetic to both these great men could foresee an impending conflict that lay in their paths to the same goal; and they feared that the good intent and efforts of both these social change agents would be watered-down by their opposing approaches to achieving the same end.
Encounter with Nārāyana Guru
It was at this juncture that in February 1908 Nārāyana Guru’s entourage was camping at Thalassery to consecrate the idol at Jaggannātha Temple. Bodhānanda Swamikal decided to go to the venue at Thalassery where, as usual, he was drawn into addressing a group of young people who had gathered around him. His discussions were on the lines of discouraging them from idol worship and against building of new temples, which could potentially foster superstitious beliefs. Under persuasion from well-wishers who feared a confrontation, Bodhānanda Swamikal agreed to meet Nārāyana Guru face to face to engage in discussion.
After he paid his due respects to Nārāyana Guru, his initial attempt to engage in discussion with the Guru turned out to be intimidating and disheartening. Although Nārāyana Guru closely observed Bodhānanda, he maintained a long spell of utter silence all through the encounter. The younger seer staggered and humbly took leave for the day without being able to prompt any reaction whatsoever from the older one. Later at night, however, Nārāyana Guru cheerfully befriended Bodhānanda and advised him against injudiciously ordaining new sanyasis without time-tested credentials. The Guru’s wisdom and warmth instantly awestruck and transformed Bodhānanda Swamikal. He humbly submitted himself to this new Guru.
On a new path to his life’s mission
The meeting with Nārāyana Guru was a turning point in the life and destiny of Bodhānanda Swamikal. From that point onwards he began sharing the vision of pursuing the path of upholding the fundamental right to spiritual freedom as a means to achieving social reform. Bodhānanda Swamikal fully aligned his life’s mission to the Sree Nārāyana movement. The outspokenness and rationale often demonstrated by Bodhānanda Swamikal differentiated him from others in the mission and won him the attention and appreciation of Nārāyana Guru. Circa 1911, shortly after Bodhānanda Swamikal participated in the ceremonies around the consecration of the Sharada idol at Sivagiri, Nārāyana Guru formally invited him to become a disciple. Bodhānanda humbly accepted.
Over the next two decades, working closely with his peer group of disciples of Nārāyana Guru, and in support of their shared vision, Bodhānanda Swamikal was involved in the consecration of various temples under guidance from Nārāyana Guru. He was also actively involved in various social and spiritual reform initiatives as follows:
While Bodhānanda Swamikal extended his unequivocal loyalty towards Nārāyana Guru, his life in the Ashram at Sivagiri and his relationship with other organised groups was not often a smooth sail. The rough edges that he came across was often a matter of personal stress. Some of the intolerance he encountered was presumably due his forthright approach and the short span of his rise as a trusted lieutenant of the Guru. In such situations it was not uncommon for Bodhānanda to take short breaks from Sivagiri.
Circa 1921 Bodhānanda Swamikal moved to live in the Nilgiri Hills. He initially set up a small hermitage in Ottupetty as his basic living facility. Through his interactions with the local community he slowly developed a following that assembled at his hermitage for prayers and sometimes in illness seeking his skills as a siddha medical practitioner. In the Nilgiris Bodhānanda established a school named Sree Narayana Gurukulam, bringing many of the first students, boys from known families of his native Trichur area of Kochi.
During Bodhānanda’s years in the Nilgiris, Nārāyana Guru used to take breaks to visit Nilgiris and spend time in the company of his confidant and disciple. While Nārāyana Guru accepted Bodhānanda’s long leave of absence from the Ashram at Sivagiri, Bodhānanda was often forewarned by the Guru that the time would come when Bodhānanda would be summoned back to take over responsibility at Sivagiri. Such a point of need arose in 1925 and the Guru sent word for Bodhānanda to return.
The reluctant heir apparent
On September 26th,1925, (Malayalam calendar – Kollavarsham 1101, Kanni 11th) the aging Nārāyana Guru formally honoured his chief disciple Bodhānanda Swamikal by nominating him as his successor and legal heir. The auspicious day of announcing his succession was celebrated as a momentous event at Sivagiri. A social historian observes that this nomination was the result of Sree Nārāyana Guru ‘realising his resilience, moral rectitude, unfailing equanimity and infinite compassion, exceptional organising abilities and spiritual attainments’.[2]
In the same year Nārāyana Guru executed his will and testament bequeathing all freehold properties including temples, ashrams and missionary, educational and industrial establishments to his heir Bodhānanda Swamikal. Interestingly, the will further stated that after the lifetime of Bodhānanda Swamikal these establishments would be inherited by Nārāyana Guru’s lineage of sanyasis represented by one sanyasi who is elected through a democratic process.
‘When he was selected as successor, Bodhānanda prophesised that he would not survive the Guru by many days, but the Guru reassured him that he would by then prove himself to be a unique model for his brethren’.[3]
Formation of Dharma Sangham
Bodhānanda Swamikal’s depth of spiritual knowledge, experiences, and above all his good natured personality apparently won him the trust and support of many spiritual men and social reform stalwarts who worked alongside Nārāyana Guru. He is said to have possessed good organizational skills and was also a fine poet and orator. So also Bodhānanda’s devotion to Nārāyana Guru was unsurpassed to win himself a high pedestal among the disciples of Nārāyana Guru.
In the realization of Nārāyana Guru’s long-time vision of creating an independent organisation for the sanyasis, the Sree Nārāyana Dharma Sangham was formed under the leadership of Bodhānanda Swamikal, who was first signatory to the formation agreement signed on 9th January, 1928. Nārāyana Guru ‘nominated Natarāja Guru to be the adviser of the Dharma Sangham’.[4]
The twosome merge with the Absolute
For most of the last year of his life Nārāyana Guru was unwell and under treatment by the best of both allopathic and ayurvedic physicians. Equally imperative was the incessant attention and nursing provided by his devoted disciples under the leadership of Bodhānanda Swamikal. Moving along with Nārāyana Guru from Sivagiri, to Palakkad, to Madras and back, while spending long and late hours of those months by his Guru’s bedside, Bodhānanda Swamikal had himself turned weak and ill.
Weeks before Nārāyana Guru’s Maha-samadhi (on 20th September, 1928) Bodhānanda Swamikal had taken seriously ill and was hospitalised on account of fatigue and blisters on his thigh. He moved to Sivagiri before the Guru’s Maha-samadhi but was bed ridden due to continuing illness and fatigue. Bodhānanda took the sad news of Nārāyana Guru’s passing while still in bed. The Maha-samadhi of his Guru further failed Bodhānanda’s recovery, as both his body and mind were apparently let to sink.
Having taken leave of his fellow sanyasins, the noble Bodhānanda secluded himself in a closed chamber in preparation of his own Maha-samadhi. During the early hours of 24th September, 1928, Bodhānanda Swamikal also peacefully merged with the Absolute.
By Sujit Sivanand
3 March 2008
References and acknowledgements
[2] S. N. Sadasivan, p. 579
[3] S. N. Sadasivan, p. 579
[4] S. Omana, p. 39 quoting Moorkoth Kumaran
Bodhānanda Swamikal (b:1883 - d:1928) was a respected sage who was inducted into the lineage of Sree Nārāyana Guru’s disciples. As the most creditable disciple and chosen spiritual successor to Nārāyana Guru, sage Bodhānanda did not however live long enough to inherit the great legacy and mantle bestowed upon him by Nārāyana Guru; as the mortal life of Bodhānanda Swamikal came to an untimely and abrupt end only three days after the ‘Maha-samadhi’ (merging with the Absolute) of his mid-life mentor Nārāyana Guru."Until the readings and research for this article, it had often puzzled this author as to why the ever-intuitive Nārāyana Guru did not have the premonition of Bodhānanda Swamikal’s imminent Maha-samadhi and bare existence as a successor. However, the enigma around that question has been laid open after a better understanding of the remarkable and steadfast life of Bodhānanda Swamikal. He was indeed Nārāyana Guru’s ultimate paradigm of a maharshi.
Nonetheless by this daring example of succession, Nārāyana Guru was telling the world that 'time' is only relative, be it 3 days or 30 years; recognition as an unblemished role-model is what triumphs in the rishis’ domain."
Early life
Bodhānanda Swamikal was born in 1883 (Malayalam calendar - Kollavarsham 1058, Makaram 10th under the ''Punirtham'' star) in his family’s ancestral home, Ezhuvanparampil, in Chirakkal village on the banks of Karuvannur River, in the erstwhile Kochi State of present-day Kerala. His childhood name was Velāyudhan and was also dotingly called Velukutty, until much later in life when he was conferred the name Bodhānandagiri on being ordained a sanyasi. His father’s name was Ekoaran and mother’s name was Cheroannu.
At the age of six Velāyudhan was inducted into the traditional learning curriculum under a village schoolmaster. Thenceforth he was educated in the customary texts such as 'Amarakośam' (Sanskrit lexicon) and subjects such as 'Neethisaaram' (law), mathematics and poetry. After a few years into his astute performance at school, however, under pressure from his father to assist in managing the family’s farmlands, Velāyudhan was forced to discontinue studies and attend to the family’s landed holdings. Despite the assigned responsibilities, Velāyudhan could never focus on the family’s affairs or agriculture, as his mind was set on reading books with a focus on acquiring spiritual knowledge. He was often observed deeply indulging in hymns that he learnt on his own.
In the hope that Velāyudhan would duly shoulder family responsibilities, against his will and ignoring resistance, his family pressurised him into marrying at the very young age of sixteen. His wife was Kothamma of the Madampikkattil family of Trichur. As the first two years of their married life went by without any detachment, they had a son by name Kesavan.
Start of an ascetic life
Not too long into the youth’s married life, Velāyudhan began to distance himself from the family and all worldly bliss; becoming more and more inclined towards a life of renunciation. Torn between the shadow of family ties and his strong urge for a spiritual path to fulfilling life’s mission, Velāyudhan left home moving on as a wandering ascetic to the northern parts of India. His journeys as a mendicant over the years took him to places like Vārāṇasī, Rishikesh, Badrinath and Haridwar. These years of his life were spent under austere and impoverished conditions and mostly moving from place to place on foot.
Ordainment, sanyas and learning
On one such journey, to a convention in Ujjain, the mendicant Velāyudhan became an acquaintance of Shri Iswarananda Mandaleshwar, the 'madathipathi' (monastic head) of the Uttarāmnāya matha, or northern monastery at Joshimath, one of the four cardinal pīthas established by Adi Sankara.
Over the days of their stay in Ujjain and as the acquaintance grew into appreciation and trust of the young mendicant’s potential, the madathipathi accepted Velāyudhan as a disciple and ordained him into sanyas, conferring him the name Bodhānandagiri.
Bodhānanda Swamikal spent over two years travelling with his guru Shri Iswarananda Mandaleshwar, and during this period engaged in learning Sanskrit grammar, literature, rhetoric and the Upanishads.
During his long journey of renunciation and spiritual quest, Bodhānanda Swamikal went for short visits to Chirakkal, his hometown in Kochi State, only to return each time for a few more years leading the lifestyle of a wandering sanyasi in search of truth through the process of observation, experiences, meditation and self realization.
Revolt against social evils
On the occasion of his final homecoming to his native place, Chirakkal, the village folk are said to have seen a totally transformed and illuminated Bodhānanda Swamikal, who soon began interaction with the local population, often playing the role of a spiritual advisor, soothsayer and social change agent.
Having gained a wealth of experience and exposure to various cultures and social practices, Bodhānanda Swamikal was moved and disturbed by the social practices that prevailed in the erstwhile states of present-day Kerala. The practices of untouchability, inapproachability (punishable by beating), segregation and communal discrimination in a feudalistic caste-Hindu dominated social order prompted him to organise a movement against these appalling social practices. For instance, he encouraged the Parayas to dine as equals with the Ezhavas. He encouraged all communities to socially interact and mingle with one another disregarding social stigmas that had divided society and corrupted social attitudes over centuries. He ‘launched several agitations against the monstrosities of caste and untouchability and he was joined by right thinking men belonging to the Nair community’.[1]
Pained by the atrocious social practice of beating and lynching of the Ezhavas and other non-caste communities in the name of inapproachability, Bodhānanda Swamikal established the 'Dharma Bhadta Sangam' (ധര്മ്മ ഭട സംഘം - Righteousness Army). This organisation was a self defence brotherhood of dedicated, trained and armed volunteer soldiers under a confidential oath not to carry out any offensive move unless first attacked. The soldiers of this brotherhood took initiatives to challenge those who removed Ezhavas and other oppressed communities from public places or physically abused them in the name of the untouchability or inapproachability.
His radical actions however did not go unnoticed. His movement soon gained popularity, on the one front, with a growing number of his followers in the Kochi and Malabar states, many of who he readily ordained as sanyasis. Whilst on another front, his actions also triggered fear and wrath of the traditionalists.
Same goal, but on conflicting paths
Bodhānanda Swamikal was engaged in social reform initiatives against class and caste discrimination primarily in Kochi and the Malabar states in the north, when, at the same time, the more senior Nārāyana Guru was at the peak of his spiritual and social reform campaign, principally in the southern Travancore State.
Although the two great spiritual seers were headed towards their common goal of demolishing the fences that divided society and discriminated the weaker sections, their paths were bound to cross and clash. Bodhānanda Swamikal professed against idolatry and encouraged the boycott of Hindu temples, whilst Nārāyana Guru was actively engaged in the building of new temples and encouraging the underprivileged sections of society to worship Hindu idols, thus upholding their basic right to spiritual freedom. Observers sympathetic to both these great men could foresee an impending conflict that lay in their paths to the same goal; and they feared that the good intent and efforts of both these social change agents would be watered-down by their opposing approaches to achieving the same end.
Encounter with Nārāyana Guru
It was at this juncture that in February 1908 Nārāyana Guru’s entourage was camping at Thalassery to consecrate the idol at Jaggannātha Temple. Bodhānanda Swamikal decided to go to the venue at Thalassery where, as usual, he was drawn into addressing a group of young people who had gathered around him. His discussions were on the lines of discouraging them from idol worship and against building of new temples, which could potentially foster superstitious beliefs. Under persuasion from well-wishers who feared a confrontation, Bodhānanda Swamikal agreed to meet Nārāyana Guru face to face to engage in discussion.
After he paid his due respects to Nārāyana Guru, his initial attempt to engage in discussion with the Guru turned out to be intimidating and disheartening. Although Nārāyana Guru closely observed Bodhānanda, he maintained a long spell of utter silence all through the encounter. The younger seer staggered and humbly took leave for the day without being able to prompt any reaction whatsoever from the older one. Later at night, however, Nārāyana Guru cheerfully befriended Bodhānanda and advised him against injudiciously ordaining new sanyasis without time-tested credentials. The Guru’s wisdom and warmth instantly awestruck and transformed Bodhānanda Swamikal. He humbly submitted himself to this new Guru.
On a new path to his life’s mission
The meeting with Nārāyana Guru was a turning point in the life and destiny of Bodhānanda Swamikal. From that point onwards he began sharing the vision of pursuing the path of upholding the fundamental right to spiritual freedom as a means to achieving social reform. Bodhānanda Swamikal fully aligned his life’s mission to the Sree Nārāyana movement. The outspokenness and rationale often demonstrated by Bodhānanda Swamikal differentiated him from others in the mission and won him the attention and appreciation of Nārāyana Guru. Circa 1911, shortly after Bodhānanda Swamikal participated in the ceremonies around the consecration of the Sharada idol at Sivagiri, Nārāyana Guru formally invited him to become a disciple. Bodhānanda humbly accepted.
Over the next two decades, working closely with his peer group of disciples of Nārāyana Guru, and in support of their shared vision, Bodhānanda Swamikal was involved in the consecration of various temples under guidance from Nārāyana Guru. He was also actively involved in various social and spiritual reform initiatives as follows:
- Encouraging Ezhavas to freely allow Pulayas and other socially backward communities to worship at temples owned and operated by the Ezhava community.
- Fund raising drive for establishment of the Advaita Ashram at Alwaye.
- Establishment of an Advaita Ashram at Trichur around 1912. He was involved in offering free treatment to patients. For this he employed his skill in traditional medicine acquired during his early ascetic days.
- Establishment of an organisation called Sree Nārāyana Bhaktha Paripalana Yogam (forum for the propagation of Sree Nārāyana devotion) in Trichur.
- Establishment of the Cochin National Bank at Trichur for raising capital and encouraging entrepreneurship among the Ezhavas of the erstwhile Kochi State.
- Establishment of the Kochi Ezhava Samajam circa 1914 (which was later merged into the SNDP Yogam).
- Travel to Colombo in 1918 as a prelude to Nārāyana Guru’s first visit to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Bodhānanda Swamikal presided over the grand convention arranged by the devotees in Ceylon on the occasion of Nārāyana Guru’s visit. He also visited Colombo on later occasions for fund raising in support of the social causes back in Kochi State.
- Establishment of the Sree Nārāyana Gurukulam school at Fernhill in Ootacamund.
While Bodhānanda Swamikal extended his unequivocal loyalty towards Nārāyana Guru, his life in the Ashram at Sivagiri and his relationship with other organised groups was not often a smooth sail. The rough edges that he came across was often a matter of personal stress. Some of the intolerance he encountered was presumably due his forthright approach and the short span of his rise as a trusted lieutenant of the Guru. In such situations it was not uncommon for Bodhānanda to take short breaks from Sivagiri.
Circa 1921 Bodhānanda Swamikal moved to live in the Nilgiri Hills. He initially set up a small hermitage in Ottupetty as his basic living facility. Through his interactions with the local community he slowly developed a following that assembled at his hermitage for prayers and sometimes in illness seeking his skills as a siddha medical practitioner. In the Nilgiris Bodhānanda established a school named Sree Narayana Gurukulam, bringing many of the first students, boys from known families of his native Trichur area of Kochi.During Bodhānanda’s years in the Nilgiris, Nārāyana Guru used to take breaks to visit Nilgiris and spend time in the company of his confidant and disciple. While Nārāyana Guru accepted Bodhānanda’s long leave of absence from the Ashram at Sivagiri, Bodhānanda was often forewarned by the Guru that the time would come when Bodhānanda would be summoned back to take over responsibility at Sivagiri. Such a point of need arose in 1925 and the Guru sent word for Bodhānanda to return.
On September 26th,1925, (Malayalam calendar – Kollavarsham 1101, Kanni 11th) the aging Nārāyana Guru formally honoured his chief disciple Bodhānanda Swamikal by nominating him as his successor and legal heir. The auspicious day of announcing his succession was celebrated as a momentous event at Sivagiri. A social historian observes that this nomination was the result of Sree Nārāyana Guru ‘realising his resilience, moral rectitude, unfailing equanimity and infinite compassion, exceptional organising abilities and spiritual attainments’.[2]
In the same year Nārāyana Guru executed his will and testament bequeathing all freehold properties including temples, ashrams and missionary, educational and industrial establishments to his heir Bodhānanda Swamikal. Interestingly, the will further stated that after the lifetime of Bodhānanda Swamikal these establishments would be inherited by Nārāyana Guru’s lineage of sanyasis represented by one sanyasi who is elected through a democratic process.
‘When he was selected as successor, Bodhānanda prophesised that he would not survive the Guru by many days, but the Guru reassured him that he would by then prove himself to be a unique model for his brethren’.[3]
Formation of Dharma Sangham
Bodhānanda Swamikal’s depth of spiritual knowledge, experiences, and above all his good natured personality apparently won him the trust and support of many spiritual men and social reform stalwarts who worked alongside Nārāyana Guru. He is said to have possessed good organizational skills and was also a fine poet and orator. So also Bodhānanda’s devotion to Nārāyana Guru was unsurpassed to win himself a high pedestal among the disciples of Nārāyana Guru.
In the realization of Nārāyana Guru’s long-time vision of creating an independent organisation for the sanyasis, the Sree Nārāyana Dharma Sangham was formed under the leadership of Bodhānanda Swamikal, who was first signatory to the formation agreement signed on 9th January, 1928. Nārāyana Guru ‘nominated Natarāja Guru to be the adviser of the Dharma Sangham’.[4]
The twosome merge with the Absolute
For most of the last year of his life Nārāyana Guru was unwell and under treatment by the best of both allopathic and ayurvedic physicians. Equally imperative was the incessant attention and nursing provided by his devoted disciples under the leadership of Bodhānanda Swamikal. Moving along with Nārāyana Guru from Sivagiri, to Palakkad, to Madras and back, while spending long and late hours of those months by his Guru’s bedside, Bodhānanda Swamikal had himself turned weak and ill.
Weeks before Nārāyana Guru’s Maha-samadhi (on 20th September, 1928) Bodhānanda Swamikal had taken seriously ill and was hospitalised on account of fatigue and blisters on his thigh. He moved to Sivagiri before the Guru’s Maha-samadhi but was bed ridden due to continuing illness and fatigue. Bodhānanda took the sad news of Nārāyana Guru’s passing while still in bed. The Maha-samadhi of his Guru further failed Bodhānanda’s recovery, as both his body and mind were apparently let to sink.
Having taken leave of his fellow sanyasins, the noble Bodhānanda secluded himself in a closed chamber in preparation of his own Maha-samadhi. During the early hours of 24th September, 1928, Bodhānanda Swamikal also peacefully merged with the Absolute.
By Sujit Sivanand
3 March 2008
References and acknowledgements
- ''Sree Bodhānanda Swamikal'' – Biographical book in Malayalam by Komathukāttil R. Bhaskaran – 1936
- "A Social History of India" by Dr. S. N. Sadasivan – 2000
- Sree Nārāyana Guru’s legal will and testament – 1926
- “Philosophy of Sree Narayana Guru” by Dr. S. Omana - 1984
- Author’s interviews with Mrs. Chintha Ramachandran and Dr. Ramachandran Kannoly (members of Bodhānanda Swamikal’s larger family) – 2007 and 2008
- Author’s interviews with Dr. Surendran Moothedath (member of Bodhānanda Swamikal’s larger family) – 2006 and 2007.
[2] S. N. Sadasivan, p. 579
[3] S. N. Sadasivan, p. 579
[4] S. Omana, p. 39 quoting Moorkoth Kumaran
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