My Swamiji

By Divakar Rao

I am deeply indebted to Swami Rudranandaji Maharaj (Swamiji as he was known) for it was through him that the Sangam brought my parents and me to Fiji at the outset of the Second World War. Both my parents were recruited from India to teach Telugu in their schools. I still recall the drizzly September morning in 1940 when we stepped down the gangplank of the Matson Liner ‘S.S. Monterey’ on to Suva wharf and into a huge throng of people. Amongst them was this imposing, saffron-clad monk who greeted my dad in Telugu and led us to a waiting car and himself drove us to a ‘pandal’ somewhere in Samabula where even bigger crowds were waiting for our arrival. This was my very first encounter with Swamiji at the age of five.

For the next ten years I remained in very close proximity to Swamiji. He always called me by my pet name ‘Abbai’ (small boy in Telugu). My dad soon became the Headmaster of Nadi Sangam School when the incumbent, N. Ramakrishnan, joined the Civil Service. Our house was located close to the primary school and Swamiji’s Ashram was about a kilometre away. At least once a fortnight Swamiji came to our home for dinner and my mother always cooked a number of special dishes on these occasions. I always looked forward to these dinners with Swamiji. My mother was an excellent cook and Swamiji really appreciated his visits and so did I.

Swamiji had a very soft spot in his heart for us little children. He had a small car the roof of which could be slid down. It was a Sunday ritual in those days for us youngsters to pile into this small vehicle, sometimes a dozen or more and go for a spin into the countryside with Swamij as our chauffeur. He would tell us interesting stories en route and our first introduction to the epic tales of the Ramayana and Mahabharata came from these excursions.

Swamiji lived in the Ashram next to the Nadi Bridge and when we first arrived our house (owned by Unni Sardar) was next to it. I always used to dart in and out of the Ashram and sit by Swamiji at lunch time. Swamiji used to live upstairs and Sadhu Kuppuswami downstairs of this building which was donated to the Ramakrishna Mission/Sangam by the philanthropist M.N.Naidu. He had an ardent devotee as his cook cum handyman by the name of Krishna Iyyer. Iyyer (as we used to call him) was a very gentle, caring person and we all loved him.  Swamiji was very fond of gardening and the Ashram was surrounded by beautiful shrubs and flowering plants right up to the banks of the river. There were a few chairs and tables in the back courtyard where visitors would sit and discuss matters with Swamiji. The front part of the building had a room which served as a library where works by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda were prominently displayed besides other Hindu scriptures. This is where I read the first ‘Thus Spake’ books by Vivekananda and Paramahamsa.

In early 1942 Swamiji summoned an indigenous Fijian by the name of Joeli to the Ashram. Joeli was married to a South Indian woman and he was another devotee that Swamiji trusted implicitly. At that time A.D.Patel, a famous lawyer, was a close friend and confidant of Swamiji. Because the Americans had built an airport in Nadi and were bringing in supplies and ammunition, it was believed that Nadi would be the target for a Japanese attack. Patel, Swamiji and their friends including my father decided that they should take shelter in the mountains beyond Vuniyasi. Joeli was made the captain of the exodus to the Marasa Hills with the families of P.B. Patel, Appasami Pillai, Ganeswara Rao (my father), Swamiji and Patel in tow. We camped in the caves for over two months and Swamiji kept our courage alive with recitations from Bhagavat Gita.

Swamiji regularly attended the annual concerts at the Nadi Sangam School. One of the concert items in a concert that he attended was a Buddhist Prayer that my dad taught me and two of my classmates. This first line ran like this: “Buddham, Saranam, Gachhami”. Swamiji was so impressed with our performance that he made me recite this prayer time and again when I went to see him at the Ashram.

The Ramakrishna Mission in Madras sent Swamiji to Fiji in 1939 to help Sadhu Kuppuswami in his work with the Sangam. In a short period time, he and A.D. Patel got inexorably drawn into politics of the country because of the inequity of the British Colonial system then prevailing in Fiji. He was fearless in his approach and fought tooth and nail to safeguard the interests of Indians in general and South Indians in particular. He and A.D. Patel organised strikes by the Indian cane farmers against the CSR Company for better cane prices and working conditions. He was a source of great strength to A.D. Patel in his political campaigns and helped him to become a member of the Legislative Council of Fiji. Swamiji was Patel’s right-hand man and chief consultant in his presentations to Lord Denning. The Denning Report was laudatory of Patel’s submission and awarded in favour of the farmers. Swamiji also did sterling work for the farmers as a member of the Sugar Cane Growers’ Council. His lasting impression in the history of Fiji will be in realm of education. He was responsible for the proliferation of Sangam primary schools throughout Fiji and for the foundation of the first non-government secondary school in the country – the Shri Vivekananda High School. In order to make this a viable institution, he had the foresight and perspicacity to staff this school with the very best teachers he could get from far and near. It is trough Swamiji’s generosity that I could serve in his school for four years (1960-63) along with great educationists like P.N.D. Moosad, Bhaskaran Iyyer and Balaganapathi Pillay.

Swamiji, Patel, Prabhudas and my father were very close and used to meet regularly at Mr. Patel’s house in Martintar. My father used to take me to these meetings. One day Swamiji told Mr. Patel that his addiction to smoking cigarettes is detrimental to his health and that he should quit. Mr. Patel was a chain-smoker and he had acquired this habit whilst studying for his law degree at Middle Temple in London. A.D. had great respect for Swamiji and he immediately crumpled his packet of cigarettes and threw it into the rubbish bin. From that day onwards he never touched a cigarette in his life. Swamiji could be very persuasive in his subtle way.

Swamiji lived a very simple life. He was a complete vegetarian and was fond of fresh fruits. He also liked classical South Indian music. My mother was an accomplished Telugu classical musician who sang and played the harmonium. She was a shy person and never sang in public until one day Swamiji heard her sing at home. Somehow Swamiji managed to persuade her to sing in larger public gatherings after that.

The compassionate side of Swamiji is illustrated by this act of his. Two young children, a brother and a sister, by the names of Janaki Ram and Eeshwari, got orphaned suddenly and there were no relatives to take care for them. Swamiji took charge of them and raised them into adulthood at the Ashram’s expense. Eeshwari got married to Papaiya’s son, Raman and now lives in the United States. Janaki Ram became a businessman with a store in Howell Road, Suva.

During the time I knew Swamiji, he was most kind and loving towards me. In fact I owe my whole career to him. In 1952 I had applied for a Government of India Cultural Scholarship and was called for an interview in Suva. Swamiji was one of the panels of 15 interviewers. I have no doubt in my mind that Swamiji would have supported my case (hopefully on merit!) and eventually I won the scholarship. Unfortunately my parents were rather poor at the time and could not pay my fares to India. I approached Swamiji for help and he had no hesitation in advancing me enough money to pay for my fares, new clothes, shoes and other travelling paraphernalia. In fact he also arranged for me accommodation at the Peoples’ Palace in Sydney, Ramakrishna Mission in Mylapore and at Belur Math in Calcutta. One of the Swamis at Mylapore accompanied me on the train to Calcutta, then to Banaras because I was very young (a little over 16) at that time. All this happened because of Swamiji. All he asked me to do in return was to prostrate myself before Guru Maharaj at the Mylapore Math when I first saw him. This I did the old-fashioned way – lying full flat on the ground with outstretched hands.

Of course there was one other condition – that I would return to Fiji at the completion of my studies and serve the Ramakrishna Mission as a teacher at the Shri Vivekananda High School. At the age of 25 I returned and worked at the school under P.N.D. Moosad and Mr. B.G. Pillay and fully repaid my debt. Whilst at SVHS I used to see Swamiji at regular intervals and participate in the religious and cultural activities organised under his auspices. He decided that there should be a hostel for SVHS students (boys only) somewhere in town. The old girls’ hostel behind the primary school was chosen and I was appointed the hostel master as I was still single at that time. Satendra Nandan, another teacher at SVHS, assisted me. When the boys’ hostel was near the old Subramaniam temple they subsisted on a purely vegetarian diet. We decided that the overall health of the students was of paramount interest and so introduced eggs and fish on the menu without seeking Swamiji’s permission. I was always afraid that Swamiji would come to know about this transgression and chide me for it. To this day I do not know whether Swamiji knew about this as neither he nor the Principal broached me on the matter.

When I got married in 1963, both Mr. A.D. Patel and Swamiji attended the reception and gave speeches on my behalf. Their kind words of praise are eternally treasured in my memory. Fiji lost two of its greatest social workers and politicians of high moral calibre when A.D. Patel passed away in 1969 and Swamiji found solace in the

Heavenly Father on 30 June 1985. They are irreplaceable stars in the galaxy of Indo-Fijian patriots.

Divakar Rao is a former teacher and educational administrator who rose to become Chief Education Officer (Curriculum and Advisory Services) with the Ministry of Education, Fiji; subsequently he taught in New Zealand and the Cook Islands; he lives in retirement in Perth, Australia.