Sample from the Winter 2003 issue of Integral Yoga Magazine
by V.P. and Shanta Dhananjayan
“Work is God and the place of work is a place of worship”
“There is no religion higher than truth”
These phrases are imprinted deep in the hearts of us from childhood and implicitly we followed these principles in life. So we never had the necessity to turn towards temples or spiritual Gurus. Teachers who lead us to life with a great profession in Dance divine, are whom we always considered as true Gurus, until we met Swami Satchidananda in 1987 at his abode Yogaville. Padmarani Rasiah was instrumental in making this great meeting possible. We are indeed ever thankful to our dear disciple Padma for making this Mahatma walk into our life, literally walking into our hearts.
“Easeful, peaceful, truthful and useful” – a personification of these words qualifies Swamiji to be one of the most adorable human beings in this world. Sri Krishna’s connotations in Bhagavat Gita of simple, humble and noble virtues of a great man fits him perfectly, thus we can certainly call him the ‘Mahatma’ the great soul. Listening to his Satsang while he answers questions is so valuable to us and I would never miss any session while at Yogaville.
With simple language, anecdotes, stories, anybody would love to hear him whether you are 8 or 80 years. Most fascinating was the puns he makes of English and Tamil words and I was amazed at the vocabulary and verses he quoted from Tamil and Samskritam literatures extempore from his childhood memories. At 88 he was just 8+8. Any subject you ask, he has it in his fingertips and on the tip of his tongue.
His simplicity and implicit love for all wins over. He would be the one, first to call on us each year when we arrive. He never gave a chance to go to him. “Ask and it shall be given” is what Bible says, but Swamiji did not wait to be asked. In July my elder son Sanjay and his wife Preeti had come to visit us for a day. Having known Swamiji for long they wanted to pay their respect to him, but Swamiji was busy preparing for his sojourn to India in next couple days. Swamiji walks into our trailer at 4 p.m to meet my son and his wife. Can one imagine such simplicity from any celebrities. They were blessed and the last pictures with Swamiji were taken at his command. Shanta made him a cup of tea and then we did not realize that would be the last “tea” we will have with him…
Read the rest of this article in the Winter 2003 issue of Integral Yoga Magazine .
