Swami Prameyananda - Belur Math

Swami Prameyananda was a member of the Committee formed at Belur
Math for re-arranging Swamiji’s Complete Works.
When Marie Louise Burke (Sister Gargi) had completed her marathon work
Swami Vivekananda in America—New Discoveries, Prameyananda was
very keen to get the books translated into Bengali. He entrusted the translation
of the first volume to Nalini Ranjan Chatterjee.
He was keen to know details about other countries in the world and would
often study maps of different nations and always kept a globe close at hand.
To further the Sangha’s work he visited many countries like Russia, the
USA, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Mauritius, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay
and several countries in Europe. When in America he was once requested
to address the audience at a centre. He then spoke earnestly about the early
days at Belur Math. He referred to Belur Math in that speech as the Vatican
and the White House put together; the Vatican because Belur Math was a
spiritual storehouse and the White House because Belur Math was also the
pioneer in the practice of ‘Service to man is Worship of God’.
Daily study was an integral part of his routine; he would feel out of sorts
if he could not do some reading on any day. Possessed of wonderful retention
capacity, he would often surprise some young monk by commenting
objectively on an article authored by the latter, which he had come across
in some magazine. He always encouraged people to write on a variety of
topics. It had been a tradition in the Ramakrishna Sangha to restrict one’s
writing to Sri Ramakrishna, the Holy Mother, Swamiji and the other direct
disciples. However, acknowledging that this could create a void in the
future about the history of the Sangha, Prameyananda encouraged others
to write about other senior swamis of the Order also. With this encouragement,
Dr. Satchidananda Dhar compiled a volume titled Sannyasir Smriti.
After serving as manager of Belur Math for long twenty-two years, Swami
Prameyananda was made a Vice-President of the Sangha on 27 February
2009. He continued to serve the Sangha in this capacity till his last breath.
In his role as Vice-President he gave mantra diksha to 13,066 aspirants.
The first initiation was given to 45 seekers at Jayrambati on 22 April 2009
and the last one to 93 persons at Rajarhat (the birthplace of Swami
Niranjanananda) on 24 May 2011. Four of his initiated young men joined
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the Ramakrishna Order during his lifetime. His initiated disciples include
3 non-Indians, 7 khasis, and 1 person from a scheduled tribe in Arunachal
Pradesh. Two non-Hindus have also taken diksha from him.
He toured Bangladesh from 20 October to 27 November 2009 giving
initiation to 1871 candidates in the branches of the Sangha at Chittagong,
Comilla, Dhaka, Dinajpur, Mymensingh, Narayanganj and Sylhet.
In November 2010 he complained of acute chest pain and had to undergo
angioplasty. Since this did not reduce his pain, Coronary Artery By-pass
Grafting (CABG) surgery had to be performed on 18 June 2011. Ever since
he experienced the first pain in the chest, he had an intuitive feeling that
his work was drawing to an end. Even when others were unaware of his
serious condition, Prameyananda was sure that his health was fast
deteriorating. A swami from Gujarat said to Maharaj in 2010, “Maharaj,
we are eagerly waiting for you. Please come to Vadodara.” Maharaj simply
replied, “Let’s see if the body lasts till then.” In September 2011 the editor
of the Udbodhan came to see him. Maharaj said to him, “Hello! How are
you? I have seen the Puja edition and have read a part of it. It has come out
well. I wonder whether I will be able to read it fully.”
Maharaj enjoyed a few bouts of good health, notwithstanding his occasional
suffering on account of hypoxaemia (diminished oxygen in the blood). On
9 October 2011, just two days after Vijaya Dashmi, he was admitted to the
Seva Pratishthan hospital in a serious condition. He then remarked, “I could
come to the Math and see the Durga Puja.” On the 11 October his breathing
was helped with the aid of a device which helps to breathe in oxygen and
also to breathe out carbon dioxide. On 17 October he was put on ventilator.
His health was steadily sinking and the end came at 8.25 am on 20 October.
An early morning bath (around 3 am) was his lifelong habit. So much so,
that even during his last illness at Seva Pratishthan he asked his sevak to
bathe him around that time. When the sevak argued against this, Maharaj
said, “This body will not last forever. I want to hold on to at least one
practice until the last. Won’t you allow me to do even this much?” After
a while when his body was sponged, he gave a contented smile.
As Holy Mother has said, Sri Ramakrishna’s crown jewel was renunciation.
This virtue seemed to manifest spontaneously in Swami Prameyananda.
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