Arise Bharat

Pujya Swami Amaranandji

(जन्म : 15 जुलाई 1918, निधन : 4 दिसम्बर 2005)

PLACE:: CHATTISGARH

Revered Swamiji who relentlessly worked for the upliftment of the tribal community, is not amongst us today – but his memory, inspiration and spiritual consciousness is still alive today. The result of this is that even today whenever one goes to Jashpur Centre, it seems as though we will definitely have darshan of Swamiji.

Swami Amaranand ji’s childhood name was Sitaram. He was born on 15 July 1918 in Moregaon, Maharashtra. Mother’s name was Saraswati bai and father’s name was Bhalchandra Upakhya Bapu Inamdar. He completed his Intermediate studies and in 1939, during the Second World War, he joined the Army as a supervisor in the vehicle workshop. But this job did not appeal to his patriotic mind, hence he resigned from the job after the end of the war.

After this, he actively joined Ramakrishna Ashram in Nagpur and took the initiation of Sannyasa. After initiation, he was accorded the spiritual name of ‘Swami Amaranand’. As a Sanyasi, revered Swamiji visited various places in the country and with the inspiration of the then Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, respected Guruji, he arrived in Jashpur in 1972. Swamiji always used to relentlessly tour the tribal villages. Initially, this tour was carried out by motorcycle and later by jeep – the work of creating public awareness was going on.

An incident occurred years ago when Shriram Sharma Acharya of Gayatri family once came to Jashpur. Gayatri Shaktipeeth was inaugurated. After that, the work of Gayatri Parivar also increased in every village. When Amaranand ji used to travel to rural areas for work, rural workers Sonu Bhagat, Fakira Bhagat of Bumtel, Jariga Bhagat of Kujri, and other active rural workers would tour together. Once there was a discussion among the workers as to how many sects there are in our Hindu society!

Question arose whether Swami Amaranand ji, akin to what the Gayatri family started years ago, will not be starting a new work of Ramakrishna Mission? When this issue came to Swamiji, he, as a monk of Ramakrishna Mission, completely stopped the external daily worship. From that day onwards revered Swamiji started implementing the mantra of ‘Nar Seva Yeh Narayan Seva‘ embodying the Hindu philosophy of ‘Service to Mankind is Service to God’ in his daily life. To mention it, is a small thing but in essence it is a big decision, especially for a sannyasi monk. The effect of his conduct was visible everywhere.

When he was in the Jashpur Ashram premises, many tribal dwellers would come to meet him. This monk, who ignited the ‘awakening’ of strength and faith in oneself, had made his place in the hearts of the tribals – the forest dwellers. Even today many tribals remember him with great emotional fervor and devotion.

Swamiji took sannyasa but not just for his self-realization of the highest goal of life. He saw God in the entire society, he worshiped the social man as God till the last moment of his life. After doing this work for 33 years, Swamiji passed away on 4 December 2005.

Swami ji, who was working for the upliftment of the tribal society, is not among us today. But his memory, inspiration and spiritual consciousness is still felt even in the present times. The result of this is that even today whenever we go to Jashpur Centre, it seems as if Swami Ji will give his darshan. Jai Hind.

Hindi Source : VanBandhu.

Translation by Abhishek Dadu.