Sri Chandra Swami Udasin

You are the ground of all existence. The whole world is like waves in an infinite Ocean of Consciousness. You are that infinite Consciousness.

— Sri Chandra Swami

Sri Chandra Swami Udasin was born on 5 March 1930, in the village Bhuman Shah, near Lahore (now in the Punjab Province of Pakistan). Since childhood, Suraj Prakash – as he was named in his pre-monastic days – had a very deep love and attraction for Balyati Baba Bhuman Shah Udasin, a great mystic and sage of the 18th cent., and was blessed in abundance by his direct and unreserved grace. In 1947, he was initiated into the Udasin Panth by Mahant Girdhari Dass and his name was changed to ‘Chandra Prakash’. The urge for God-realization was so strong that he abandoned his post-graduate studies at the age of twenty-one and renounced all worldly ties. While in Haridwar in 1952, Chandra Prakash was initiated into sannyasa by a great contemporary sage of the Udasin Panth, Swami Krishna Das, who changed his name to ‘Chandra Swami’. From there, he set out on foot to travel in the Himalayas and have the darshan of various saints. He then passed eight years in seclusion and deep contemplation in Jammu and Srinagar (Kashmir).

Swamiji was 29 years old when the immutable, eternal Atman was realized as his essential nature and true Being. In 1961, he left Kashmir and went to live in a forested island on the Ganges, in Sapta Sarovar, near Haridwar, where he spent another period of over nine years of solitude. However, during the next four years, his realization of the Self expanded to include the whole manifestation. Finally, he had the ultimate and integral realization of the Divine at the age of 35.

Swamiji would spend half of the year in complete silence and isolation in his forest hermitage, and during the other half, he made himself available for darshan and satsang for one hour in the afternoons. Many seekers came to him for spiritual guidance. In 1970, at the request of his devotees, he moved to Sewak Niwas, a small ashram newly constructed for him in Sapta Sarovar. In the late 1980’s, the area around Sewak Niwas became more and more crowded and commercialised, therefore in 1990 the ashram was shifted to Sadhana Kendra in the remote Himalayan foothills near Dehradun, along the left bank of the Yamuna river.

Though Sri Chandra Swami has been observing an unbroken silence of the lips since 1984, his extraordinary profundity has attracted disciples and devotees in large number in India and all over the world. He is venerated by many as the living embodiment of the born-sage Baba Bhuman Shah Udasin.

 

Silence like Thunder

The whole universe comes out of silence and goes back into silence.

Silence is that permanent and essential state of one’s Being in which ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ disappear.

— Sri Chandra Swami

The spiritual seekers who approach Swamiji for the first time or those who have been living with him for many years, cannot but be fascinated by the divine Presence emanating from him along with a humble and unassuming nature. Amazingly they witness a rare and perfect conformity with the characteristic marks of a sage established in the Self as described in the well-known second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. Moreover, what deeply moves the souls of all is his silence like thunder, a silence that is not an austerity nor a practice, and that has no personal motivation behind it.

At a time when spiritual teachings have more and more to do with business and fame, the silence of Sri Chandra Swami is a strong reminder that the Divine cannot be talked of but can only be experienced through no-mind. Only the one awakened inwardly and whose mind is stilled can hear the Pure Silence of Truth which is beyond words and concepts.

 

The Importance of Sadhana

Awake! The time is running out. Remember the Divine. Realize the Truth before life passes into death.

— Sri Chandra Swami

Sri Chandra Swami has neither any teaching nor any mission in the common sense of these words. His guidance and answers to questions are more a sort of sharing, as he says, according to his knowledge and experience. However, the core message he imparts is the essential teaching of his Master Baba Bhuman Shah: “The true aim of human life is the Realization of the infinite, timeless, divine Consciousness. People of different faiths call this absolute Consciousness, ‘God’ and by other different names” [1]. To realize this ultimate goal of human birth, meditation and spiritual sadhana [2] are indispensable practices. Therefore, the main emphasis at Sadhana Kendra Ashram is the four daily sessions of group meditation and total dedication to sincerely follow the path of Truth.

 

Spirituality is One

A Buddhist sage, a Jain sage, a Jewish sage, a Christian sage, a Muslim sage, a Sikh sage, a Hindu sage, etc., all have the Realization of the one and same Truth. All spiritual lineages come out from timeless and spaceless Consciousness and go back and meet in timeless and spaceless eternal Consciousness.

— Sri Chandra Swami

Sri Chandra Swami unceasingly lays emphasis on the fact that all the different religions are like different paths leading to the Divine. Spirituality is one and is that which is common in all the religious traditions. Therefore, the Realized one does not teach only one path to all. Being established in the Supreme Spirit, he/she crosses the boundaries of all religions and can guide the seekers of every path. In fact, over the years, countless seekers and monastics of all religious backgrounds have been most warmly welcomed at Sadhana Kendra Ashram and have benefited from Swamiji’s spiritual guidance according to their own religious paths.

It has also been a most inspiring experience to accompany Sri Chandra Swami in his pilgrimages to the sacred places of other religions and to watch him become a devoted worshipper of any faith beyond traditional barriers. In those precious and blissful moments, universal Oneness becomes, as it were, absolutely tangible. .

 

Sri Chandra Swami Udasin is the President of Sadhana Kendra Ashram, Domet, Dehradun (Uttarakhand). He is the author of a small and comprehensive book on sadhana: The Practical Approach to Divinity, 2008³; he is also the author of Mirror of Bliss, op.cit., and Spiritual Gems (a series of spiritual sayings), 1999. Three compilations of questions and answers have been published under the title of Song of Silence: vol.I (1997), II (2003) and III (2010). His life has been narrated in a recent biography: Swami Prem Vivekananda, Chandra Swami Udasin: Footprints to Eternity (2016).

Read the Blessing of H.H. Sri Chandra Swami Udasin on the Inauguration Ceremony of Ajatananda Ashram, on 5 November 2006.

Read the Message of H.H. Sri Chandra Swami Udasin on the auspicious occasion of Swami Abhishiktananda Centenary Birth Anniversary, on 23 November 2010.

Read The True Meaning of Religion, a Message delivered to the Participants of the Interreligious Retreat-Seminar held at Ajatananda Ashram, Rishikesh, on 8 December 2013, by H.H. Sri Chandra Swami Udasin.

 

[1] Chandra Swami Udasin, Mirror of Bliss (Life and Teachings of Baba Bhuman Shah), Domet (Dehradun), 1994, p.51.
[2] A general term for spiritual effort which comprises a variety of different and complementary practices.