by Peter Holleran

   Swami Brahmananda (1863-1922), born Rakhal ("the shepherd boy"), was the second-most famous disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, and considered by many to be his spiritual son. As a child he was fond of "playing church" with his companions, in which he would mold a clay image of the Divine Mother and worship Her. He loved music and enjoyed singing the praises of the lord. Two of his more favorite pastimes, which he continued throughout life, were gardening and fihing. Rakhal did not do well in school as he neglected his studies, more often than not, in favor of prayer and contemplation. He met his close friend, Naren (later Vivekananda, at a local athletic club when they were both twelve years old. Their temperaments were very different, for Naren was always the supreme rationalist, not content without getting to the bottom of things, while Rakhal was from birth more devotionally inclined. Of course, this was all but on the outer level, for Ramakrishna said that the two were both born with God-knowledge and belonged to the class of the "Ever-perfect."

   When he was still in his teens Rakhal met Sri Ramakrishna, who recognized him as the pure-hearted companion he had prayed for and seen in a vision. Rakhal began spending much of his time with Ramakrishna, and his father, in a last-ditched attempt to save him for a worldly life, had him locked in the house. This was to no avail, however, for at the first chance the boy slipped away to be with his Master. Several days later his father went after him, but this time, seeing the unusual affection with which his son greeted him, had a change of heart and let him stay.

   In his early days with Ramakrishna Rakhal was in ecstasy much of the time. Even so, he once begged his Master for the power of transcendental vision. Ramakrishna was silent at first, and then spoke to Rakhal very harshly, causing him to be angry and hurt. Later on Ramakrishna revealed that there had been a purpose in provoking his pain and anger, saying that "medicine acts only after the sore has been opened." At other times he spoke of the need to "lance the boil." Shortly thereafter Rakhal went into samadhi (in this instance, superconscious trance) for the first time.

   After Ramakrishna's death, Rakhal (now Brahmananda) plunged himself into spiritual practices. He became the first head of the Ramakrishna Monastic Order, taking charge of many of his Master's disciples, and also went on pilgrimages and spent much time in contemplation. Swami Prabhavananda tells us that, while Brahmananda developed spiritually under Ramakrishna's guidance and grace, perpetual samadhi was not his possession until ten years after his Master's passing, as a result of intense spiritual effort fueled by profound dispassion towards the world, and the final touch of an aged Vaishnava saint in a temple in Brindiban.(1) In this respect he was similar to Swami Vivekananda who also spent significant time with another guru after Ramakrishna’s death, and under whom he felt he reached his highest realization.

   During this period Brahmananda described himself as, even in periods of normal consciousness, having "a fullness of God in his heart, and all around him nature vibrating with joy." Elsewhere he referred to the Mundaka Upanishad for his view on samadhi: "The knot of the heart, which is ignorance, is loosed, all doubts are dissolved, all evil effects of deeds are destroyed, when he who is both personal and impersonal is realized." This hints that he may have gone beyond nirvikalpa to jnana or even sahaj Samadhi, but of the this we cannot be certain. The fact that he said he had a "fullness of God" in his heart, even in periods of 'normal' consciousness, suggests that most of the time he was not in normal consciousness, and was, perhaps, defined by the tendency for mystical ascent common among Indian yogis. Even so, of nirvikalpa samadhi he remarked, “some say that that state is the end of spiritual experiences, but I believe it is the beginning."(2) Sages such as PB and Ramana Maharshi might have taken this one step further and say that the true beginning of spiritual life is the realization of sahaj samadhi, or union of the mystic with his divine soul, and not the intermittent realization of nirvikalpa.

   Brahmananda was a great soul, held in the utmost respect by Vivekananda as well as his own disciples. Of all Ramakrishna’s disciples he most embodied the devotional ideal of bhakti.


1. Swami Prabhavananda, The Eternal Companion (Hollywood, CA: Vedanta Press, 1970), pp 46-48