Religion- Its Universality

Swami Ramdas, who was known as P Vittal Rao during his pre-Sannyas days, was leading an ordinary life till God's grace descended on him in or about the year 1920. Then he was made to think deeply on the futility of worldly pursuits and the necessity of pursuing the divine path and realising one's identity with the Supreme Being, which alone can lead one to 'Peace-eternal.' He placed himself totally at the altar of God. At this time his father initiated him with the holy and all-powerful Name of God - RAM MANTRA. He took to ceaseless chanting of the holy Name. When the prompting came from within to renounce the worldly life, he took to a wandering mendicant's life. Fiery aspiration coupled with intense practice to attain the Highest, hastened his spiritual progress and, in a short time, he could behold his Beloved God everywhere, both within and without. He thus showed how absolute surrender to God, arising from His constant remembrance by chanting of His name could lead to ultimate Realization quickly and to getting established in unending Bliss.

Having thus attained spiritual liberation and God-vision, he started on his mission to awaken mankind to the awareness of God. In 1931 he and Mother Krishnabai, his foremost disciple and a Self-realized soul, founded Anandashram with the object of propagating the ideal of Universal Love and Service. This spiritual centre offers every kind of facility for spiritual regeneration of the soul so that it may realise its pristine divine nature.

Swami Ramdas attained Mahanirvana in July 1963 and Mother Krishnabai in February 1989.

The books authored by Swami Ramdas which come from the depth of Reality continue to inspire innumerable devotees both inside and outside India.

**Sample Pages**