This book is a miscellany of gems of wisdom gathered from Swamiji’s different booklets published earlier, strung together as a garland. Chances are that, at certain places, an impression of a repetition of thoughts might emerge, but omitting such repetitions in this presentation might leave yawning gaps in the garland. Besides, whatever passages appear repetitive are quite in place in their context. Moreover, such thoughts of Swamijis bear repetition, if only because they are so elevating and so well worth being given a chance to sink deeper in one’s mind. The last chapter of this book is a compilation of snippets-fragments from Swamiji’s miscellaneous writings -writing other than those covered by the earlier chapters -representing Swamiji’s random reflections.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Swami Nirmalananda
Swami Nirmalananda, the none-too-noticed sage of B.R. Hills, after quite some restlessness in his worldly life when young, sought and achieved eternal blessedness, wisdom and peace in the teachings of the most spiritual personalities of many different cultures around the world, his spiritual guest taking him all around the globe. Spiritual freedom, simplicity, sincerity, clarity of thought and mind, prayers and penance formed the guiding lights of his inner and outer self. In perfect freedom and beatification, he walked alone protected and spiritually nourished by the Almighty. Following an inner call, Swamiji, at the impressionable age of fourteen, made a deep study of the world's major religions. He was greatly influenced by the lives and teaching of Ramakrishna Pramahansa, Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Thoreau, Tolstoy, Schweitzer and many others. Like sanskracharya, Jesus and Buddha, he became a wandering monk, a Parivrajaka.' No place on earth was, to him, inaccessible, more specially when he was imbued with zeal and passion of spiritual conquest and outer renunciation. On his way to Europe, he visited all of West met and discoursed Israel. In Jerusalem met and discoursed with the existentialist, martin Buber. Buber reminded him of Jesus, both in looks and charisma. Turkey, Russia, England, Europe, America, Canada, Japan, and South East Asia were the places where he searched for an found his own true unsullied reflection as God in the people and things around him. He travelled far and wide, but all his wanderings, like those of saints and prophets of the world’s major regions, were the wanderings of a spiritually enlightened soul, searching for an discovering his own otherwise lost soul in the love and peace of Godlliness. Swamiji feels that his long, continuous and arduous life as a 'Parivrajaka' and his personal contacts with great philosophers and many people in different parts of the world have been the most exciting and unforgettable experiences that he ever had in his life. Ever since he returned to India in 1964, Swamiji has been living unnoticed in silence and seclusion in his quiet and solitary Ashram in the beautiful forests of B.R. Hills in Karnataka, doing sadhana. He is leading an intense spiritual life of immense value, guiding the aspirants who come to him or write to him for counsel and yet never going beyond the limits of the Ashram compound. He observed 'Mauna' for 11 years and even now is practically silent all the time expect when he interacts with tribals to whom he talks with a tender affection. In his Ashram, the atmosphere is completely calm and peaceful. Expect the songs of the birds, no other sound is heard. There is a pin-drop silence, and Swamiji is a part of this silence.
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