Swami Omkarananda - His Life

Swami Omkarananda Saraswati, a God-centred Saint and
a Sage of Universal and Transcendental Knowledge

Sri Swami Omkarananda Saraswati is a born Sage, Mystic and Genius. Already at the age of thirteen and fourteen his life was flooded with numerous spiritual experiences of the omnipresent and omniscient God. Under the dictates of these experiences, he left his home city in South India for the Himalayas, where the world-renowned Sage Sri Swami Sivananda recognised in him an embodiment of the high spirit of renunciation, profound divine wisdom, touching purity of heart, made him known as Bala Yogi, Bala Jnani, titled him as Adhyatma Kavita-Bhaskara and crowned him with Sannyasa-Diksha at the age of seventeen.

No one knew and no one could know of the inner life of this solitude seeking and in seclusion living ascetic, wherein he nurtured under the witnessing eyes of the Divine Mother, his intimate inner relations with the Infinite and the Eternal. His intense devotion gave to that Infinite and that Eternal a visible Form, bhavana-murti, the Divine Mother. Goddess Meenakshi of Madura bestowed on him the Sri Vidya Mantra Diksha, and he was initiated into the science of Vedic Yagnas by a 105 year old Siddha Purusha, in the presence of a 700 year old Maha Yogi, who is invisible to all except to that Siddha Purusha and to Swamiji. It is a phenomenon that requires to be explained to seeking aspirants after Truth-experience. He obtained from a Yogi of Siddhis Swami Nityananda the secrets of higher Tantra Yoga in which there is in all the world and in all the creation only one woman, the immanent Divinity, the individual Self, seeking restlessly union with the transcendent Divinity, the Absolute Reality.

In the same year in which Jagadguru Swami Sivananda gave him Sannyasa-Diksha, his first book (The Story of an Eminent Yogi, 1947) was published and internationally appreciated and valued. He is the author of numerous publications, and several Professors of the Universities and other prominent personalities around the world, esteem him as an intuitive philosopher, a versatile genius, a profound scholar of universal knowledge, a brilliant writer and a charismatic and inspired orator. He was the right hand of Swami Sivananda for over a decade and wrote among other works on Sivananda two monumental publications dealing with Sivananda Literature.

The renowned Mahapandita SRI VISHNU VASANT SHASTRI PANSHIKAR, Leicester, England, the Chief-Acharya of Omkarananda Ashram, adores, as thousands around the world do, Swami Omkarananda as an Incarnation of God, and in adoration of his Divine Nature composed on him highly inspiring and immortal Bhajans, Hymns, Stotras, Aratikyams as well as the Srimad Omkara-Atharvashirsham.

Many are the Saints of India who pay their Homage to Swami Omkarananda. Among them, His Holiness SRI SATYAMITRANANDA, the builder of the Grand Bharatmata Mandir in Hardwar and a spiritual leader with a vast following both in United Kingdom (Great Britain) and in India, visited Omkarananda Ashram in Switzerland. He was enchanted by what he saw, and with reverence and awe exclaimed: "This is the Benares of Europe!"

Swami Omkarananda and His Guru Swami Sivananda

The opulent literature of Swami Omkarananda on Sivananda bears rich evidence that Omkarananda's own spiritual realisations enabled him to verify and describe by a direct personal inner knowledge the most luminous states of divine Consciousness that informed and inspired the phenomenon of the covert and overt life of the great Saint Swami Sivananda and the Light of the divine Knowledge in him. A magazine published from Madras, the Call Divine portrayed with deep insight the relationship between these two spiritual giants: "What sweetness is to sugar and what fragrance is to a flower, Swami Omkarananda is to Swami Sivananda; because, the former is as wonderful as the latter."

The Lineage of Omkarananda Sannyasis and Disciples

Our lineage, our Guruparampara, runs in this Order: Lord Narayana, Brahma, Dakshinamurti, Dattatreya, Four Kumaras, Vyasa, Vasishta, Gaudapada, Shankaracharya, Sivananda, Omkarananda. Our roots are in the Vedas and the Upanishads. Our Heart is Srividya; the Soul of our Being is Sri Yantra. Our Ishta Devata is Parabrahmaswaroopini Sri Mahatripurasundari. We are at the same time Siva Bhaktas and Vishnu Bhaktas because Siva and Vishnu are two of the many Faces of Parameshwari Tripurasundari. And because of our deep spirituality which is the quintessence of all religions, we belong to all religions of the world. We appreciate them, serve them, unite them and further the growth of the inner light in them.

From Sri Sadgurudeva Paramahamsa Omkarananda, sincere seekers of the Divine, no matter to which creed, caste, colour, race they belong, can obtain, if they earnestly so desire, Shuddhi- and Nama-Karana, Upanayana Sacrament, Mantra- and Sannyasa-Diksha, practise Yoga of Synthesis, belong to our lineage, become universal personalities of intense Devotion, divine Wisdom and experience the ultimate Truth, the goal of all great religions of the world. Over 170 disciples have received Sannyasa-Diksha.

Swami Omkarananda's Activities today;
His Ashram is a Myriad Faced Hinduism in Action!

Be it in the Himalayas or in the cities of Western Europe, Omkarananda Saraswati lives his life in seclusion, solitude and silence, far removed from publicity and propaganda. How detached he is even from persons staying closest to him can be seen from the fact that he never during the entire period of thirty-one years of his total absence from Himalayas wrote a single word, or phoned, or sought any kind of contact with the wonderful Swami who is taking care of his Kutir in Sivananda Ashram adjoining Omkarananda Ashram in the Himalayas. In consonance with this feature of his life, his Austrian Ashram on the top of a Hill with its own forests on three sides, and a valley down, commanding a view of the snowy Alps, affords him sceneries identical with the interior Himalayas. In spite of this fact, he is in the very midst of the multifarious activities of his Ashram. Notwithstanding his activities, he is always what he has always been, a Non-Doer allowing the Divine Will and Divine Grace to express themselves through the instrumentality of his charismatic personality and an institution that is self-born. Through correspondence, personal audiences, talks, speeches, phones, faxes, E-Mail, special prayers, this towering Sage serves seekers from all sections of mankind. He is the guiding Presence behind all the cultural, religious, spiritual activities of his Ashram and Ashram's Temples. There are two publications on the activities of the Ashram.

Mahamandaleshwar Swami Omkarananda Saraswati's Ashram is a myriad-faced Hinduism in action. All phases of Hinduism can be seen and experienced in his European Ashrams and Temples. The daily Rudra Abhishekas find additional recitations of Rudri on Mondays. Every day Devi Puja of different types are conducted: Tripurasundari Puja with Trishati recitation; Lalita Sahasranamavali Archana; Durga Puja with Chandi recitation. Every morning Satyanarayana Katha Puja, Sri Lakshmi Puja with Sri Suktam and Sri Lakshmi Sahasranamavali. Everyday Sarva-Devata Yagna. Navagraha Shanti Homa. Gayatri Mantra Yagna forms one of the most important Yagnas conducted in our Ashram. On Fridays special Pujas are performed for Subramanya Swami. On Saturdays Hanuman is specially worshipped and Hanuman Chalisa is recited.

All the Twenty-four Hours of everyday, Agni Devata is present in our Ashrams. For the good and well-being of all mankind, all Nature, all beings, a 24-Hours a day Akhanda-Sarva-Devata Hawana is being maintained since 1974 (in 1996 now, it is a non-stop 22 year-Hawana). From the year 1974 to the year 1987, Akhanda Mahamrityunjaya Japa was maintained for the welfare of the whole world and for the health, long life, freedom from accidents and spiritual Enlightenment of the needy and seeking aspirants. Since 1987 it is continuing 12 Hours a day.

In all the three Satsang and Meditation Classes of everyday, we recite Purusha Sukta, Narayana Sukta, Durga Sukta, Bhagya Sukta, Medha Sukta. Etc. etc. Periodically Shiva-Parvati Kalyanams are performed. Omkarananda Bhajan Mandali conducts Bhajans to the accompaniment of instrumental music. We use all Mantras, Vedic, Pauranic, of all Devatas of the Hindu Pantheon, not only of Devi and Bija Mantras. Natya and Sangita Sections give their recitals before the Deities. And so on and so forth. All Hindu Festivals are celebrated. Every Thursday Guru Puja is performed, and on Guru Purnima the Festival assumes a highly festive mood with recitation of the Guru Gita and the conducting of colourful ceremonies. All the Parampara Gurus are worshipped.

The all-day, all-time lovers and servers of God, bearing purity of heart, deep devotion and spiritual knowledge, the Priests of the Omkarananda Ashram are invited as Pandits by prominent persons, families and institutions, for performing Yagnas and Pujas, purifying houses and conducting Grihapravesha ceremony, bestowing sacraments on the deserving and so on and so forth. There are numerous Temple publications of our Temples, circulated on limited scale.

Lovers of Truth from all over the world, and amidst them leading Indian Acharyas, Pandits, Swamis and most holy men and women, have visited the Omkarananda Ashram and its Vedic temples in quest of divine inspiration. Their statements show how they were filled with admiration for the divine works in Omkarananda Ashram.