An Eagle’s Flight: A Yogi’s Spiritual Autobiography
As we prepare for the upcoming publication of Swami Nirmalananda’s newest book, An Eagle’s Flight: A Yogi’s Spiritual Autobiography, we are sharing a series of reflections from a newly-added appendix, Blessed Memories.
In these heartfelt remembrances, Swamiji recounts his personal encounters with great saints, sages, and spiritual souls during his time in India in the 1960s and beyond.
Each short piece offers a glimpse of the sacred people and moments that left a deep impression on the mind of a spiritual aspirant.
One of the most valiant leaders of Sanatana Dharma in the outrageous war waged on India and dharma by the Nehru dictatorship (1946-1964) was Sri Prabhudutt Brahmachari. Knowing that Nehru had no higher nature to appeal to, Prabhuduttji met him on his own territory: politics. He became himself a candidate for Prime Minister and campaigned intensely and successfully. Nehru beat him only by a tiny margin, which was the Brahmachari’s intention, having no real interest in political office.
Immediately after the election, he went to Nehru and told him that unless he stopped his attacks on dharma and the real India, he would oust him in the next election and end his career permanently. In fear, Nehru stopped his more overt persecutions, which even included persecution of homeopathy because it was disapproved of as “unscientific” by the West. (See the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy as “a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine.”)
Pilgrimage to Chitrakut
While Sri Rama was exiled in Chitrakut, his younger brother, Bharat, was proclaimed king of Ayodhya. But Bharat refused, and went to Chitrakut and brought back the sandals of Rama which he put on the throne and, sitting on the floor by the throne, ruled as his substitute until Rama eventually returned to reign. Therefore, for some years Prabhuduttji led a massive annual pilgrimage from the mountain of Chitrakut to Ayodhya, carrying on his head replicas of Rama’s sandals.
One year I accompanied Sri K. Bose, the General Secretary of the Anandamayi Sangha, to Prayagraj, the confluence of the sacred Saraswati, Yamuna and Ganges rivers, to meet with Sri Prabhuduttji on his way back to Ayodhya from Chitrakut.
When we arrived, Prabhuduttji was engaged in worship, so we waited in the room next to where he was doing the puja. When the door opened and he entered, a tremendous field of tangible spiritual power and light was surrounding him.
As soon as he saw us, he pranamed and said, “Please bless us, please bless us,” so the pilgrimage would be completed successfully. On his hands joined in pranam were rings made of sacred kusha grass, implements of ritual purification, and indications of his total dedication to Sanatana Dharma and its total, traditional observance. We just stood there basking in the inner light coming from him, then bowed before him and he left.
Prabhudutt Brahmachari in Bhimpura
In a subsequent pilgrimage I went with Anandamayi Ma to Bhimpura, a small town in Gujarat, a state in Western India. Arriving there, we learned that Prabhudutt Brahmachari was staying there in the famous Ganganath Temple.
One evening he came to meet with Ma, and the moment he entered the ashram grounds he began boisterously calling, “Where is my American brother? Where is my American brother?” It was a happy and blessed reunion. Truly he was one of those sacred beings who are immortal even while in the mortal body.
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Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke)
Swami Nirmalananda Giri, founder of Light of the Spirit Monastery, has spent over six decades immersed in the study and practice of Yoga and and the spiritual traditions of East and West. He is the author of more than 30 books on meditation, practical spiritual life and Sanatana Dharma.
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