Swami Shriyukteshwar
If you have in your mind an image of saints as mild-mannered, gentle, and smiling, the story of this saint will rid you of this notion. Shriyukteshwar as he came to be known was 6 ft 3 inches, weighed over 220 pounds, practiced open-eyed unblinking meditation most of the time, and never hesitated in pointing out the flaws in the behavior of his disciples or visitors. His most prominent disciple, Paramahamsa Yogananda, once called him the “Tiger Of Bengal”. He surely was not somebody you would trifle with. Here is his story.
He was born on Friday 10th May 1855 and his parents named him Priyanath. His father was a landlord and a successful and wealthy businessman. Priyanath was the only child of his parents. Once when he was still a young child his mother forbade him from entering a dark room, warning him that there were ghosts inside. Instead of being fearful his curiosity was aroused. Priyanath promptly entered the room and investigated it thoroughly and reported back to mom that there were indeed no ghosts there.
At an appropriate age Priyanath was enrolled in school where he excelled. He was very good at math and always scored the top grades in this subject. But he was a very bold and independent thinker and studied the subjects for his intellectual curiosity, not for getting grades or passing the class. He never blindly accepted anything and only after all his questions were answered would he accept something.
While Priyanath was still young his father passed away. Priyanath was raised by his mom. Soon he was able to get admission into a prominent catholic school by passing the entrance test successfully. Because of his admission here, and his innate curiosity, he studied the Holy Bible thoroughly. He was one of the few saints of that era who had a thorough understanding of both the Bible and Hindu scriptures. Later in his life he wrote commentaries that would bridge these two thought streams.
After graduating from school Priyanath enrolled in an University. One day while in a science class he was not satisfied with the answers regarding human anatomy that he got from the British Professor. Eventually in frustration his professor told him, “You must first go to a medical college and then attend my class.”
To everybody’s surprise Priyanath proceeded to do this immediately. He dropped out of his college and joined a Medical college instead. Here he studied physiology and anatomy of human body thoroughly. After two years of this, his curiosity satisfied he dropped out of medical college as he had no intentions to become a doctor. Sadly he felt no urge to rejoin his old college and his academic career came to an end.
Soon he got married, had a daughter, and began looking after the family business and also his ancestral property. He did not have much of a business touch and had to quickly shut down his business due to losses. For the rest of his life he sustained himself on the income from his ancestral property. He did take up fulltime employment occasionally, but would give these up because he found them to be intellectually unfulfilling.
Priyanath allowed himself to be taken where his curiosity led him. He studied Homeopathy and Naturopathy from a German scholar and soon excelled in it to the extent that he could treat patients and cure them of their ailments.
He also began studying scripture and mastered the Sanskrit language. He was proficient in Sanskrit, English, Hindi, and Bengali (his mother tongue). He also became proficient in astronomy and studied astrology thoroughly. Later in life he would become a very proficient astrologer.
Up to the age of 28 Priyanath had lived an ordinary life. Then everything suddenly changed. First his wife died and then his only daughter passed away too. Only his mother remained. Though this was a terrible shock it was the first step in his yogic journey. He now became spiritually inclined and began visiting saints and yogis. One day he heard about the renowned Saint Shri Lahiri Baba and decided to go to Kashi to visit him. After some difficulty in locating the address he finally got in the presence of the great yogi. Immediately when he saw Shri Lahiri Baba he knew that he had found his guru. There were many other disciples in the room and Priyanath decided to take a seat quietly in the corner of the room. As the evening progressed, one by one all disciples left and when he was alone he approached the Saint. As soon as Shri Lahiri Baba cast his eyes on him he realized that this was no ordinary person and immediately accepted him as a disciple. He was soon initiated into a system of yoga known as Kriya Yoga. Priyanath practiced Kriya Yoga diligently and made rapid strides in it.
About 11 years after his initiation into Kriya Yoga, in early 1894, Priyanath attained realization and some of the highest states of Samadhi. He decided to visit Kumbhmela in Allahabad. This is regarded as a very auspicious event by Hindus and happens once every three years. Millions of people attend this event along with thousands of ascetics, saints, and sages. The day after he reached there he was passing by some temporary hermitages when he heard a voice calling out, “Swamiji, Swamiji”. As he was not initiated into monkhood (and the title Swami or Swamiji is reserved only for those initiated into monkhood) he paid no heed. But the person calling out to him ran up to him and addressed him, “Swamiji, an old saint in the hermitage over there wants you to come to him.”
Priyanath was intrigued and followed the man back to the hermitage. When inside he was surprised to see a young man instead of an old saint. But the divinity shining forth from this young man was unmistakable and Priyanath prostrated before this divine being. The saint said, “Swamiji, please take some rest and then I have something to say to you.”
Priyanath protested, “Why do you call me Swamiji? I am not an initiated monk!” The saint was not fazed by this and replied, “Those on whom I am divinely directed to bestow the title of Swami never cast it off.” Since Priyanath’s wife and daughter were no more and because he was spending most of his time on his spiritual practice, he was truly living the life of a renunciate and not a householder. Priyanath decided to sit before this saint without further argument. As time passed he realized that the saint before him was none other than the deathless Mahavatar Shri Babaji, guru of his own master Shri Lahiri Baba.
After some time Shri Babaji turned towards Priyanath and addressed him, “I want you to write on the philosophies and metaphysics of East and West by which many people in the West will be benefited. This will help them progress on the path of spirituality.”
Priyanath expressed his inability to accomplish such a great undertaking. But when Shri Babaji insisted Priyanath relented and accepted the challenge. But he did so on one condition, “On completion of the book you have to appear and bless me!” Shri Babaji immediately replied, “Do not worry. We will meet again as you wish.” Soon Shri Babaji made preparations to leave, he turned towards Priyanath and gave him a message to be delivered to his guru.
After the Kumbhmela was over, Priyanath hastened to Kashi full of excitement to narrate this incident to his guru. Shri Lahiri Baba was overjoyed to hear the account of Priyanath’s encounter with Shri Babaji. But when Priyanath delivered the message to Shri Lahiri Baba his face grew pale and he fell silent. Only after a few hours Shri Lahiri Baba became his normal jovial self. The meaning of the message for Shri Lahiri Baba was that it was time for him to depart and true to this, Shri Lahiri Baba attained Mahasamadhi and passed away on 26th September 1895.
After his return from Kumbhmela Priyanath began addressing himself as Priyanath Swami. This was a humble gesture of acceptance of the title of Swami bestowed on him by Shri Babaji.
Soon he began in earnest the project of writing the book as commanded by Shri Babaji. He decided to write the book in form of aphorisms in Sanskrit, similar in form to well known documents such as Yoga Sutras. With the help of a couple of his disciples he was able to complete the book in a few months before the end of 1894. He called it “Kaivalya Darshan” and it consists of the core philosophies of all religions. It is an unifying document that shows the essence of major religions of the world is same. In his introduction he said, “The object of this book is to point out the harmony underlying various religions, and to help bind them together.” The book was later translated by his disciple Paramahamsa Yogananda into English and is known as “The Holy Science”. It became the foundation of the later work done by two of his most prominent disciples: Paramahamsa Yogananda and Paramahamsa Hariharananda.
At the age of 51, in 1906 Priyanath was officially initiated as a monk. He was given the name Shriyukteshwar and was known as Swami Shriyukteshwar from that point on. The word Shriyukteshwar means “one who is united with God”. The Tiger was fully awakened. The prophecy of Shri Babaji had come to fruition in his achieving the title of Swami. The name he was given was recognition by his peers on his achieving the highest yogic states.
Next week: The story continues- A miraculous end.
Related: The Story Of Paramahamsa Yogananda: The Prophecy
Credits:This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.