News from the Source of Satyananda Yoga:
Stepping Into New Shoes - The Abhishek of Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
By Shantachittam

Most of us have no idea what happened during the Abhishek of Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, a sacred ritual performed by the pandits of Varanasi on the occasion of Swami Satyananda’s Bhu Samadhi and the first day of the 15th Sat Chandi Mahayajna. And even if the details were explained to us, the intellectual understanding would be mostly meaningless. Words require the rational, logical, intellectual part of the brain. But when something of this significance happens, it’s very difficult to describe in words. Those who were there describe it as a pure experience, without the involvement of the intellect. Swami Muktidharma remembers only “a beautiful moment when I put flowers on his head.” Swami Karma Karuna describes being absorbed by the strength of the moment, just being fully present and where she needed to be with her camera – but with no memory of taking the photos. Everyone described feeling the honour and the blessings to have been present for this special moment.

The significance of this event is that Swami Niranjanananda will now step fully into the role of a Paramahamsa, just as part of the ritual he stepped into a new set of clothes and shoes, dropping all of his responsibilities in the external world to focus on his own sadhana. This is what he has inherited from his Guru – not the love of devotees, not the mission to teach, but the spirit of a sannyasin and the responsibility to work to strengthen the tradition of sannyasa. Swami Satyananda once jokingly told him that it wasn’t the yoga institution that would be Swami Niranjan’s inheritance, but his loincloths.

At the request of Swami Surya Prakash, who now heads the Bihar School of Yoga, as Swami Satyananda did for Swami Niranjan, so Swami Niranjan has agreed to a gradual withdrawal, while continuing to offer his presence and his wisdom to all through the Satsang programs. But already more and more he has been unavailable, engaging in intensive sadhanas and pilgrimages. As of 2013 he will withdraw completely from public life. And his request to his followers is only for support, that he may fulfil this mandate given to him by his Guru. 

“There is a difference between a sannyasa order and a sannyasa tradition. Those who enter the sannyasa order and live the life of sannyasa with sincerity, truth, honesty and integrity enter into the sannyasa tradition. They are very few because sannyasa life is not an easy life. Maintaining those values in the face of all those difficulties, you acquire a certain calibre. That is going to be recognized today.” -Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati

Read a full copy of the satsangs given on this occasion by both Swami Satyasangananda and Swami Niranjanananda at http://www.yogavision.net/ly/inspire.htm

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