Tag: Swami Brahmananda

The following incidents occurred in the life of Swami Brahmananda, one of the 16 monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. Fondly called as “Maharaj” by others, he was a divine soul, who had attained to the highest state of spiritual realization (Nirvikalpa Samadhi, or complete union with God), just as his brother disciple, Swami Vivekananda had done.

The following excerpt has been taken from the book Spiritual Teachings of Swami Brahmananda (Free). In it Swami Brahmananda explains the necessity of a God Realized guru for an aspirant pursuing the spiritual path. For those not familiar with Swami Brahmananda – he was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who under the able guidance of his guru had attained to the highest Nirvikalpa Samadhi, just like his brother-disciple Swami Vivekananda had.

Whenever the word Tapasya (penance, austerity) comes up, most of us imagine some sort of severe mortification of the body such as not eating food for months, or meditating while standing on one leg, or praying while immersed in a frigid lake. The numerous Amar Chitra Katha pictures which we have seen in our childhood immediately come to mind! However, as Swami Brahmananda, who was a God-realized sage and a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna has explained below, real tapasya is not about torturing the body, but is about reforming our inner nature by controlling the mind and rooting out its negative tendencies such as selfishness, greed, fear, anger and lust.