Swami Tapovan Maharaj was known as Himavat Vibhuti, the glory of the Himalayas. He was Pujya Swami Chinmayananda’s Guru who taught him the ultimate Truth and pushed him to the beyond. Swami Tapovan Maharaj left his body on January 16, 1957. Every year, we remember him with love and devotion for having shared the Knowledge of the Self and having lived every single word throughout his Divine Life.
Uttarkashi and the Grace of Swami Tapovan Maharaj
– Reflection by Brni. Shubhani from her stay in Uttarkashi from July-August 2022
*This article has been published by Tapovan Prasad, a Chinmaya mission magazine on December 2022.
Nestled in the Himalayas, by the flowing Ganga Maiya, surrounded by saints and seers, is Tapovan Kutia – the home of Param Guru Swami Tapovan Maharaj. It’s a special place for seeking and spiritual practice, an abode of serenity and a seat of wisdom. This past summer, I had the opportunity to spend some time here for my sadhana and wanted to share some special teachings that Swami Tapovan Maharaj had revealed to me.
I was very fortunate because right when I entered, the room that was given to me was in Tapovan Kripa and that was exactly the first teaching. Pujya Swami Tapovan Maharaj protects our sadhana. When we are right in front of him and we surrender at His feet, all we have to do is make a little bit of effort and he takes care of the rest. When one begins a certain sadhana, some doubts cross the mind like – Will I be able to complete this? Will I be able to wake up this early? Will there be any mosquitoes or disturbances? But, at some point in time, we just have to start. We just have to begin. We might now know how things will be or where we will end up but if we never start, we will never know. And through my own experience, Swami Tapovan really protected me in every which way. His grace kept me consistent and steady and reveling in the higher. I felt so blessed just to be in His presence and then slowly more teachings started to unfold.
The second teaching is austerity. Param Gurudev lived such an austere life. He used to live in this small cottage built of stone and mud and wake up every morning, have his bath in Ganga Maiya and begin his contemplation on Truth. As I re-read Isvara Darsana, I could understand why Swami Hridayananda didn’t want to give Swami Tapovan sannyasa! As a brahmachari, Swami Tapovan was known as Cidvilasa and he longed to take sannyasa so he approached Swami Hridayananda from whom he learned Yoga Darsana and Mandukya Karika. Swami Hridayananda said to him, “One should be initiated according to rules into sannyasa…But such rules do not bind you. You have already known all that is to be known. At your will, you can take up sannyasa…” 1 Swami Hridayananda didn’t want to accept the status of being the acarya who bestows diksha on Cidvilasa!
He eventually went to the river Narmada and prostrated to her as a child saluting its mother and bathed in her sacred waters. He performed all the necessary acts of worship and put on the ochre robes with a deep feeling of contentment. He had no possessions except his robe and kamandalu. He felt that for the ignorant, poverty is a source of sorrow but for the enlightened, it was a means to eternal peace and Self-realization. He called himself Tyagananda and he later received formal sannyasa and was known as Tapovanam.
In Swami Tapovan Maharaj’s simplicity and dispassion, one could see a true saint who kept his needs minimal and yet his heart maximum. I began to think life and how sometimes we fail to practice austerity because we have so many things in our fingertips. I find that the kind of austerity we have to practice is not so much begging for what we need but rejecting what we don’t. Many times, people come to us and give us so many things which we really do not need and which we really shouldn’t take because it obstructs our tapas and it takes our time and attention away from the Truth. The key is having the strength to say no to them. On top of that, we don’t know what to do and where to put all those things or sometimes who to give them to. I find that the best thing to do is to reject what we really don’t need or give it away to someone who does. There is such a beauty in physically living simply. I sometimes envy the life of sadhus who have no ‘stuff’ and hence, it takes literally five minutes to pack and five to unpack. Ah what freedom and fearlessness!
Swamiji had the freedom to wander wherever he liked as the birds of the air who never leave footprints behind. During one of Swamiji’s treks, two people bearing swords and spears came to him and repeatedly touched the rudraksh around his neck. They were robbers trying to find something to steal. However, Swamiji had no fear because he carried nothing valuable with him due to his vow of non-possession. As a result, the robbers couldn’t get anything from him. But lo and behold! Instead, they fed him! In his presence, even robbers became generous. 2
I now am beginning to understand why in Tattva Bodha Adi Sankaracharaya said, that titikṣa 3 means enduring not only sadness but happiness – which is our case is comfort. Sometimes, if we are around people, in a group setting, we have to go through what they go through and take on the comforts that they experience even if we aren’t used to them or even if we really don’t require them. That seeming ‘pleasure’ or ‘happiness’ has to be endured by those on the spiritual path. When Swami Tapovan Maharaj, went to Kailasa the first time, he was on his own and felt so much peace because he barely carried anything with him. The second time when he went with people, they carried many possessions, and hence there was a fear that they would be robbed. In Isvara Darshan, he said that he fully appreciated the difference between pilgrimages to Kailash with possessions and without them. The first journey was one of freedom and fearlessness depending solely on bhiksha. The second journey was with lots of provisions but with fear and a lack of freedom.
The third teaching is surrender. It’s amazing how when Swami Tapovan Maharaj went for his treks in the Himalayas or in the wild forests, he would often wonder – how will God take care of me today? Once, on the way back from Kailas, it began to rain like cats and dogs. Swamiji was bare foot, without any umbrella, his body was weakened by disease and he had no warm clothing and despite this, he kept moving. At one point, he felt like his body was numb and that he could fall anywhere…And just then, it started to snow! Swamiji just laid down in the surface of a rock. Instead of being afraid of what was going to happen, he simply wondered how God was going to deal with him that day. He had more curiosity than fear. He felt that there was no nook or corner where God’s helping hand wouldn’t reach. What a wonderful way to live! Then, three or four sannyasins approached him, gave him some food and helped him to a place of rest.
We often worry about where we’re going, what we’re going to do but we forget that neither does our body, mind nor life belong to us. Every single bit of us belongs to God. So if something is to happen, instead of thinking, how is this going to work, it’s so much more beautiful to think, I wonder how God will deal with me today?
At another time, Swamiji set out for Gangotri, enjoying the beauty of nature as he trekked. One day, he was sitting at noon time with immense hunger and began to think What is God going to do now? How is he going to feed me? Suddenly a brahmana came and prostrated before him and gave him a few boiled potatoes.
This attitude of Swamiji brings such a sense of surrender and adventure. Instead of us deliberating back and forth and wasting all our mental space on what could, should, would happen, why not just offer that to God and see what happens. Why not spend that amount of mental space just tuning into Divinity. I tried this practice and it’s so freeing and so beautiful to see how God lets everything unfold at the right time and place better than anyone could’ve ever imagined. He is truly a divine artist!
The fourth teaching is that Param Gurudev was so focused on his journey. Though Swami Tapovan Maharaj’s name naturally spread far and wide due to his depth of knowledge and austerity, he never lost his focus. He was always abiding in the Self and hence, he didn’t care about any name or fame. He was just focused on living true to the dharma of sannyasa and reveling in the Higher.
Neither did it matter to him what the others were doing. In Isvara Darsan, he speaks about how he felt saddened about the conditions of some of the sannyasins who were but wearing the garb to procure food or out of escapism. Or how some were so proud of their stature and met Swamiji to test him but when he talked to them, it turned out that they knew nothing. Hence, he himself never liked to give anyone sannyasa.
Instead of spending ample time criticizing others, he kept the standards for himself very high. Swami Tejomayananda writes in Tapovan Stutih that sannyasa was searching for an abode for itself and couldn’t find one, so the Lord told it to approach the noble youth in Kerala (then known as Subramania). 4
Swamiji was an ornament of the whole sannyasa dharma so much so that those very pretend-to-be sannyasins became ashamed of what they did. Many a times, we feel that we have to tell people off, criticize or complain about them but what Param Gurudev did instead was he lifted himself so high, to such an impeccable level that all were at a loss and recognized their own short comings. Just by seeing him, they started to change. It was Swamiji’s firm conviction that a sadhu can teach the Supreme Truth to the world by living it. He felt that this was the best way of commenting upon the verses of the scriptures.
The fifth teaching is his devotion. He is the seat of brahma vidya and a true advaitin at heart, yet he extolled the praises of Bhagavan Shiva in this Soumya Kasisa Stotram. As a child, he was a devotee of Shiva and would chant the pancakshara mantra. During one caturmasya season, he wished to worship Sri Kashi Vishvanath (form of Lord Shiva and presiding deity of Uttarkashi) in a special way. He took on a tapasya that from Guru Purnima everyday, he would compose a few stanzas in praise of Sri Kashi Vishvanath and read them after his morning bath at the temple before the Lord. This went on for two months and gave him great delight and satisfaction. The beautiful hymn that he composed consists of both devotional verses and the essence of sixteen Upanishads.
He also wrote the Hymn to Badrinath, Ganga Stotram and Glory of Gangotri. In his writings, one can really feel that he saw God everywhere – and not just that but he only saw God. He only saw this Truth because that is the only thing that exists.
There are many more teachings to be unraveled and I hope to take a deeper dive in the near future. I feel immensely blessed to meet Swamiji through his books, his adventures and his silence. He spoke directly to my heart and he touched me deeply because he lived every single word of what he said. May we keep reveling at the feet of our Param Gurudev so that He can continue to shower us with immense grace to realize in this very life itself.
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1 Swami Tapovan Maharaja, Isvara Darsana, 96.
2 Swami Tapovan Maharaja, Isvara Darsana, 158.
3 शितोष्णसुखदु:खादिसहिष्णुत्वम्
4 Tapovan Stutih verse 1