Dear Editor,
The resonances of ugliness currently engulfing the Guyana Sevashram Sangha and its young administrator, Swamiji Shivashankaranandaji Maharaj (Cove & John Ashram) are offensive to all right-thinking Hindus, especially those who revere the works and memories of great departed saints, Guruji Swami Vidyanandaji Maharaj and Ashram founder and paramount Guruji, Swamiji Purnanandaji Maharaj.
The ambience of the Ashram, once so sublime, is quickly dissipating, because this quintessential site for the pilgrimage of Hindus of Guyanese descent has been desecrated because of nebulous rumour-mongering and unproven allegations.
I have been closely affiliated to the Ashram in general, and Swamiji Shiv in particular for approximately a decade. During that period I have had in-depth discussions with Guruji Swamiji Vidyanandaji Maharaj and other visiting saints, and their complete dedication to their Sangha seemed unquestionable and unshakable, so I am flabbergasted by the current actions of some very revered persons to depose Swamiji Shiv from a position and responsibilities entrusted to him by his Guruji. Besmirching the relatively newly-ordained young saint in a very public manner redounds in a very negative way on the Ashram itself.
I have witnessed first-hand the sacrifices and hard work this young man puts into fulfilling his mandate as administrative head of the Ashram; his care and dedication to the welfare – spiritually, physically, emotionally and academically, to the Gurukul boys at the Ashram, and his respect for his elders and mentors – and especially his absolute propitiation of his Guruji, whose final charge he is intent on honouring.
When he was first assailed in the media I was shocked and unutterably saddened, because I know the humble, simple person that he is, and I am aware that he is not worldly enough to defend himself. I called a senior, respected person in the society, who is closely affiliated to the Ashram. Although this person assured me that he would ensure that Swamiji is provided with legal representation if necessary, the fallout from this unfortunate fiasco is multi-dimensional and multi-faceted, and has had severe repercussions on the functionality of Swamiji, especially where the celebratory aspects of the Ashram’s anniversary activities are concerned. There is too his personal distress at being so publicly reviled, humiliated and repudiated by an institution to which he has committed his entire life by subsuming his own personality and personal desires.
The life of a sanyasi is unutterably difficult and this imbroglio that is now consuming the life of the young Swami would make other young men think twice, then maybe reject any intention of entering such an austere existence of renunciation.
Swamiji rightfully rejects the enforced departure that some are trying to force on him. He feels that he would be betraying the trust his Guruji, that truly saintly being, reposed in him. Guruji trained Swamiji and placed the Guyana Sevashram Sangha in his charge. Despite being very sick, until the very end Guruji returned to Guyana on an annual pilgrimage to celebrate the auspicious Shivraatri festival at the Ashram. If in any way, shape or form he had doubts about his young protégée he would have immediately replaced him, because the Ashram was his heartland – the very seat of his lifelong penance and seva to the divine supreme Guru.
Guruji Pandit Prakash Gossai used to comfort me when unfounded rumours and vindictive persons hurt my personal and professional reputation with the adage, delivered in his usual simple and humble style, “Baba, nobody pelts an empty mango tree.”
It is the most painful and disillusioning experience when an institution that you have served loyally almost all your life turns against you and even maligns you, merely on the basis of rumours and allegations. When I asked Swamiji why he did not defend himself his response to me was to the effect (paraphrasing) that he would not dishonour his Sangha with publicizing and/or discussing internal matters relating to a divine religious order that he has served with dedication and commitment in obedience to the strictures of his Guru. It is Swamiji’s conviction that if he allows these persons who are assailing him, some of whom he still reveres, to prevail in their attempts to deprive the Guyana Sevashram Sangha of his services then he would be derelict in the execution of the charge and unworthy of the trust that his Guruji reposed in him. Swamiji adamantly declares that, while acknowledging that no-one is indispensable or irreplaceable, his interest lies not in properties or acclaim, but in the discharge of the trust reposed in him by his Guruji and the devotees of the Guyana Sevashram Sangha. Swamiji avows that he is sworn to live a circumspect life of rectitude and self-abnegation and will never divert from that path, and nor has he ever done so.
Thanks to some devotees of the Ashram, it is unlikely that the conspirators will prevail in this instance.
Yours faithfully,
Parvati Persaud-Edwards
