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Swami Rudrananda

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Swami Rudrananda
Personal
Born
Muthukrishnan

(1901-04-11)April 11, 1901[1]
Manalmedu village in Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India
DiedJune 30, 1985(1985-06-30) (aged 84)
Fiji
ReligionHinduism
Organization
OrderRamakrishna Mission
PhilosophyVedanta
Religious career
GuruSwami Shivananda

Swami Rudrananda (11 March 1901 – 30 June 1985), born Muthukrishnan, was an Indian Hindu monk, a disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna's direct disciple Swami Shivananda.

Born into a wealthy family in the village of Manalmedu in Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India, he was the first son of Kothandaraman and Bhagyam.[1]

Early life

His interest included social reform, the congress party of India and poetry by Subramanya Bharathi. He also followed the work of Swami Vivekananda.[1]

In 1923, Mayavaram faced a heavy rain and subsequently flooded. As a flood relief measure Saints from Ramakrishna Mission reached the local area which were affected by flood. They needed a local person to interact effectively with the flood affected people to measure the severity of flood. As Muthukrishnan knows Tamil, Telugu and English, he helped them. In that time he was very much attracted towards the Ramakrishna Order. And in the age of 25 he decided to join Ramakrishna Order. And his mother was fully supportive of his idea. Whereas his father was shocked. But sooner due to his mother's support his father also supported his idea.[1]

Childhood Friend

Kalki Krishnamurthy was his childhood friend. And to Kalki, his friend Muthukrishnan was a very courageous boy who supported him when he was threatened by other boys.[1]

Editor

He worked as an editor for Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam magazine for some time. During that time, as per Swami Rudrananda's request, Kalki Krishnamurthy translated the book "Our Mother Land" of Swami Vivekananda in Tamil.[2]

Works in Fiji

Rudrananda was sent to Fiji by the Ramakrishna Mission in 1939, as Swami Avinashananda moved to Sri Lanka, to assist the Then India Sanmarga Ikya (T.I.S.I.) Sangam in its religious and cultural activities. Swami Rudrananda consolidated and expanded the activities of T.I.S.I. Sangam based at Sangam Ashram in Nadi.

Swami Rudrananda was fondly called as "SarkkariSami" by people as he was working for the betterment of sugar cane workers in Fiji.[2]

In his first meeting itself several decisions were taken. The primary one was that Sangam will work for all people instead of serving only the south Indians. And saffron color flag was designed for Sangam. Education and Temple constructions were considered as primary needs.[2]

Swami Rudrananda was the first to introduce multiracial and multicultural activities in Fiji to bring the different ethnic groups together. He made sure that the Sangam schools and Sri Vivekananda High School were open to all ethnic group children. And Swami Rudrananda organised interfaith services also.[3]

And he also acquired properties for Sangam. These included freehold land at Savusavu (130 acres) and Madhuvani, Rakiraki (1037 acres). The Sangam Sarada Printing Press was started, on 15 August 1948, to cope with the educational needs of the community at large.

Publications like Sangam in Tamil, Pacific Review in English, Jagriti in Hindi, and Na Pacifica in Fijian were published and circulated to give vent to the voice of the Indian community as a whole.

Although Rudrananda had initially refused to take part in union or political activities, he worked with A. D. Patel to help found the Maha Sangh. During the 1943 strike, the government restricted his movements and there were calls for his deportation to India. He also remained an active member of the Federation Party.

In this 1943 strike time, he was sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour along with A.D.Patel. They were kept continuously under supervision by the police.[4]

In 1951, Rudrananda attempted to amalgamate the Sangam and Ramakrishna Mission into a single organization. This was seen by some South Indians as an attempt by the mission to take over the assets of the Sangam. There was widespread protest, although the founder of the Sangam, Sadhu Kuppuswami, supported Rudrananda. A compromise was reached when the Sri Vivekananda High School was transferred to the Mission and the Sangam ran its own schools.[citation needed]

Tirukkural in Fiji

He got Dr Berwick to translate the Thirukkural into Fijian language.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam; November 2014 page 34
  2. ^ a b c "Ramakrishna Math Media Gallery | Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam - Chennaimath.Org". www.chennaimath.org. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  3. ^ a b "And now, Thirukkural in Fijian". Indian Weekender. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  4. ^ A Vision for Change: Speeches and Writings of AD Patel, 1929-1969. ANU Press. ISBN 9781921862335.
  • B.V. Lal, A Vision for Change: A.D. Patel and the Politics of Fiji, Australian National University, 1997
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