By Br. Aadi
“The Sannyasin is to love death. …We
must die, that is certain; let us die then for a good cause. Let all our
actions -- eating, drinking, and everything that we do -- tend towards the
sacrifice of our self." – Swami Vivekananda (Sannyasa
– Its Ideal and Practice, Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol III)
I arrived at the cremation of one senior Sannyasi in Belur Math, just as the
fire was beginning to tickle the air. At the same moment it began to rain. We
brahmacharins sat under a tarp roof and watched the fire grow as the rain
poured down heavily. Slowly, yet rapidly, the fire worked at the pyre. I
thought of the transience of the physical body as the logs crumbled, and simultaneously
thoughts of the immortality of the Soul arose as I saw the flames ascending
towards subtler regions and listened to the nice Bengali devotional music. We
all gathered around the pyre with a large bucket of ghee and with a blissful
solemnity poured in giant spoonfuls to the beatific and powerful chanting of
“Hari Om Ramakrishna.” When the brahmacharins got their turn with the 10-foot
ladle, they all piled on and could barely avoid spilling everything for
enthusiasm and poor coordination. Soon the Swami in the form of fire had
finished his meal.
