While studying at Saint Anthony High School in Visakhapatnam, he was always looking for answers on religion and traditions. Guruji’s questions were numerous.
“What is the difference between sleep and death?”
“What is the significance of divine visions?”
“Why was he getting those divine visions?”
“Was it just him or did others have similar experience?”
Guruji never received any definitive answers to his questions from his parents, teachers, elders, or kids his age.
Though he was fully aware that there was a strong meaning and significance to all this, unfortunately no one was able to explain it to him. Any answer provided did not satisfy Guruji either! Things unseen by human eyes and unheard by human ears always evoked strong emotions in him. Guruji always kept hearing strange sounds deep from inside.
But he was unable to understand the meaning or the origins of these sounds. He knew well there was some untold significance but unfortunately Guruji did not have any proper guidance at that young age to help him explore and understand these sounds. If that had happened was it possible that he may have found answers to all his unanswered questions?
There were multiple things and situations that created a lot of inquisitiveness, and thereby restlessness as Guruji was unable to get the answers to these unanswered questions. He resigned himself to the fact that no one knows answers to his questions, nor did he have the ability to find the answers on his own. He made up his mind to take his sister’s suggestion and give up thinking about God, creation, and all these unanswered questions.
He thought, “I can start thinking about these after I am 40 years old, and not bother about them until then!” And from then on, Guruji completely ignored spiritual pursuits just as his sister suggested, and was focused on his studies.
Maybe it was God’s will that Guruji got a taste of normal worldly life before fully delving in great
depths of spirituality, and so that spirituality and divinity never got in his way. Guruji excelled in his studies. Upon the advice of his brother Sri Nishtala Somayajulu, he completed his Master’s degree in Nuclear Physics.
As mentioned earlier, Guruji’s family was not well-to-do. Yet, they could make a decent living and were never at a shortage of basic needs, or to shower hospitality on friends and relatives. Right from a very young age, worldly pleasures never fascinated Guruji. He was happy he had wonderful parents, who showered him with love and affection and took good care of him! Studies were his prime responsibility, and he was fulfilling his responsibility. So what else did he really need to think or be worried about? If analyzed, this is the basic characteristic of a genius mind. But how can it flourish? Only when the doubts get cleared and one has a definitive answer to each of one’s unanswered questions.
Even though Paramahamsa Yogananda had attained the pinnacles of spirituality, he always asked his spiritual master
Sri Yukteswara Giri, “When will you show me God?”
Sri Yukteswara Giri always responded, “You have already seen God. What else can I show?” That in turn conveyed the entire essence of what was pursued by one and all.
Right from the olden days of Vedas to the days of rishis, to those spiritually inclined with a quest to attain God, it was made possible by showing a well defined path or by example. But over a period of time, this approach got sidelined and eventually vanished. Patience, dedication, and knowledge to attain God also diminished over period of time.
Rather than agreeing to the fact that one is illiterate in these endeavors, it has become a habit for an elder to impatiently shout, “Why do you bother us with these unnecessary questions? Go and play!” This was an easy way out for elders, and thereby the quest to attain this knowledge eventually diminished. Adding insult to injury, parents’ focus on professional education got utmost importance.
It was in this same fashion, Guruji’s quest for knowledge, spirituality, and God was always put down by one and all every step of the way. Getting involved in scientific studies further distanced Guruji from his aspired path, and his questions remain unanswered.
Guruji’s specialization in Nuclear Physics was closely associated with nature at a micro particle level. Guruji, in his eagerness, with all his enthusiasm, questioned others on how water, air, sky, sun, moon
stars, clouds, and nature in general functioned. Guruji’s only hope remained that if not all, at the least, a few of his questions were answered.
Guruji strongly believed that trying to understand spirituality was a form of penance, and so was trying to understand sciences. In addition, he also understood that there was one major difference between the two in its outlook. To understand the deep meaning of spirituality requires self-introspection of one’s thoughts, beliefs, and nothing more than that.
At the same time, Guruji was also fully aware that to get a better understanding of science, scientific equipment and labs along with relevant scientific knowledge was essential. Even though these clearly defined the borders and limits of science, Guruji never discounted the notion that science can equally be considered a penance in its own form.
On the other hand, Guruji was clear in his thoughts that in case of spirituality, there can be no limits or boundaries defined to curtail the depth to which one can delve into seeking selfrealization. At the end of the day, Guruji was of the firm belief that both were great in their own ways.
Discoveries made in science, and inventions and innovations made in technology have provided comforts to mankind. But at the same time, these have contributed to mankind’s behaviour in very many complex ways. Mankind may attribute greed, aggressiveness, anger, jealousy, and many similar unwanted desires due to these advances. At a personal level, it became more a question not of what one had, but more about what one did not have.
Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore once said, “Man made weapons to win the worlds, and the weapons defeated him!”
Guruji once said, “Science can never stop such disasters from happening! Man must change! His thought process must change! For this to happen, spirituality is the only path!”
The beauty of Guruji’s life has been that right from a very young age, his involvement in spirituality and thinking about God never changed even as time progressed. It just remained the same even after he mastered science.
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| Swami Jnananda |
During those days, Prof. Swami Gyanananda was the Head of the Department of Nuclear Physics. Though he was an ascetic by nature, he was also a great scientist. Some say that it was our first Prime Minister Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru who requested him to head this department in Andhra University. Prof. Swami Gyanananda was a Kshatriya by birth. He had received his doctorate from Germany, and had taught at Oxford University before joining Andhra University. Upon his return to India, he went away to Himalayas to meditate. He had spent 18 years in the Himalayas, and was considered to have spiritual powers.
During the days he spent in the Himalayas, it was said that many saints would keep themselves warm by placing their hands on his warm body. He was known to have such a great internal spiritual strength in him.
Once he returned back from Himalayas and started leading a common man’s life, people started calling him 1008 Sri Gyanananda Swami. It literally meant that people would prefix his name with “Sri” 1008 times before calling him by his name. He was also considered an expert in Kundalini Yoga.
Sri Gyanananda Swami always wore orange robes. He was around 65 years old by the time he became Head of Nuclear Physics at Andhra University. Guruji had gone to Sri Gyanananda Swami’s house once. It was not a house exactly. It was more like a small cottage or a hut in an ashram. Guruji was extremely fascinated by a picture he saw at that place. This picture had two intertwined snakes with a lotus flower in between them. With immense curiosity Guruji asked Sri Gyanananda Swami what this picture implied.
Sri Gyanananda Swami laughed and said, “Oh! Looks like you are interested in these things too! But the time is not yet ripe for you to know about these things! Don’t worry! You will come to know about these things when the time is right.”
Sri Gyanananda Swami was an excellent teacher. In his first batch, he had only 3 students: Sri Nishtala Prahlada Shastri (Guruji), Sri Bhagavatula Nageswara Rao, and Sri Kandula Seetharama Shastri.
Sri Gyanananda Swami delved into spiritual aspects along with Nuclear Physics and this gave Guruji a preliminary insight into topics of his interest. Though Guruji was determined not to probe spiritual aspects until a later stage in life, how could one block or control the urge and inner desires? Being closely associated with Sri Gyanananda Swami as a student, these unfulfilled answers and thoughts continue to expand day by day in Guruji’s mind.
There were many occasions when Guruji realized that answers to many of his questions were in close proximity and yet unattained. This caused an unexplainable commotion in Guruji’s mind. In certain aspects, Guruji was able to derive the correlation between science and spirituality, and this amazed him. In the process, Nuclear Physics turned out to be Guruji’s favorite subject.
Under the guidance and blessings of his Professor Sri Gyanananda, Guruji successfully completed his studies. At the same time, Guruji also felt some strong unknown force had energized him to probe and seek new frontiers in his spiritual growth.
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