Volume 2, Track 6
I once asked the remarkable karma yogi known as Swami Krishnananda, whom I had surprisingly heard referred to as Saint Krishnananda in Gujarat, India, whether he had ever seen a human body flying through the air. He answered no. “Had he known anyone who had ever seen a body flying through the air,” I persisted. The answer was still no. “Did he know of any time in history one had flown through the air?” The answer was again negative. Now he was not negating the well-known phenomenon of astral travel but simply emphasizing that the physical body is subject to physical laws.
Swami, or Swamiji as he is affectionately known, once went to Africa for a number of years because he read in the paper that 1,500 people a day were starving in the African Congo, and he took that as a command from God that he should go there to feed them — this despite the fact that as a renunciate, he did not touch money. Some of the stories he told me of that experience and the cruelty of the colonizers were horrifying, but he fed starving people there for a number of years, giving spiritual teaching to those who wanted it.
Swamiji is a strong man, straight and firm in his mid-80s. He often takes a small group, including doctors, to poor villages where he helps scrub floors and give medical treatment, drinking the contaminated water of the natives. “This work will kill me,” he sighed one time while we were conversing. “Swamiji,” I replied dryly, “You’ve made it this far, so I think you’ll get along all right.”
He is almost the last of the karma yogis, those who practice spirituality with their helpful deeds. One time, I asked this question of Swami: “Someone sends you a plane ticket to go to a South American country, and taking this as a command from God, you take off with almost no baggage and no money. Arriving at the airport, you find that no one has come to call for you. What do you do?” “I sit on the ground and chant, thanks to God,” was his reply. “That’s all very well,” I continue, “but let’s say three days have passed and you haven’t eaten. What do you do now?” “I sit on the ground and chant, thanks to God,” was his indomitable answer.
When I went to visit his Vishwa Jyoti Universal Light Ashram outside Baroda, India, I was surprised that no road led to the ashram. I was forced to walk across the field, stepping over the cow dung on the way. Pointing this out to Swamiji, along with the fact that I detected no sanitation or refrigeration at the ashram, his reply was, “The name of God is being chanted in this place 24 hours a day.” What can overcome such a man?
When Swamiji wants to help somebody, he marches into the office of an Indian businessman and proclaims, “$1,500 is needed immediately.” “Sure, Swami,” stutters the wealthy one who is afraid of Krishnananda and what he stands for. “But what is it needed for?” “This man is sick and has to have an operation in London,” is the thunderous response. Swami, once a well-known judge in India, is not above bullying the affluent to help the poor. You can be sure the businessman gave him the money. He’d be afraid not to. May Swamiji have many successful years ahead of him.
To listen to Justin reading Spiritual Stories of the East, click here.