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.
One fascinating fact about Swami Brahmananda was that Sri Ramakrishna had revealed him, to have been a playmate of Lord Krishna and one of the shepherd boys of Brindavan, in a previous incarnation.
At the time of occurrence of the following incidents, Swami Brahmananda was visiting the holy region of Brindavan, accompanied by Swami Turiyananda, another direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.
The year was 1893, and the two Swamis had just bid goodbye to their fellow monk Swami Vivekananda, who had set sail for his historic journey to the United States.
The Swamis arrived in Brindavan – which thousands of years ago, in the times of the Mahabharata, used to be a forest, where Lord Krishna played as a child. It has since transformed into a holy town.
After spending a few days in the holy city, the Swamis decided to retire to the shores of the Kusum Sarovar lake, situated some distance away from town. The lake being a sacred spot, sanctified in ancient times, by Mother Radha’s worship of Lord Krishna on its banks, the Swamis decided to meditate there.
The two monks settled down in huts, on the shores of the lake, and lived there for some months, immersed in God contemplation and cut-off from the outside world. It was during this time that two interesting events took place, which have been beautifully narrated in the book: The Eternal Companion – Life and Teachings of Swami Brahmananda (page 51-52). These are presented below:
Incident #1 – The Distressed Spirit Who Tried to Catch Swami Brahmananda’s Attention
For several nights in succession, as Swami Brahmananda (Maharaj) sat down to meditate, he was disturbed by peculiar noises and by the falling of pebbles and dust around him.
At length Maharaj saw a spirit standing before him. “Why are you disturbing me like this?” he asked.
The spirit answered that he had been trying to attract the Swami’s attention and begged Maharaj to liberate him from his pitiful condition. Maharaj replied that he did not know how to do this.
“You are a holy man,” the spirit told him. “If you will just pray for my release, I shall be liberated.” Maharaj did as he was asked.
Incident #2 – The Luminous Saint Who Prodded Swami Brahmananda to Meditate
During his stay at Lake Kusum another intriguing incident took place. Swami Brahmananda (Maharaj) had the habit of rising at midnight and spending the rest of the night in meditation.
One night, however, he felt tired and overslept. After a while, someone gave him a push and aroused him. At first he thought that this must be Swami Turiyananda. Then he saw a luminous figure, in the dress of a Vaishnava saint, standing beside him and counting his beads. After this the figure appeared almost, every night, at midnight, and joined him in his meditation.
Later, in describing this incident to his disciples, Maharaj remarked: “Many holy men, after leaving the physical body, live in subtle, spiritual bodies and help earnest spiritual aspirants in different ways.”
~ Pulkit Mathur
