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Swami Lakshmanjoo Biography
Lakshmanjoo Raina was born at Namchibal in Śrinagar (Kashmir) on May 9, 1907. He was the fifth child in a household of four boys and five girls. His father was Narayandas ("Nav Narayan") Raina and his mother was Arnyamali Raina.
At the age of five he was introduced to the path of spirituality by his elder brother Maheshvaranath. Up to the age of eight his spiritual progress in the lineage of Kaśmīri Śaivam1 was monitored by his family priest, Pandit Swami Rama Joo, from the tradition of the Tantric Monism of Kashmir (Trika System).
Just before entering mahāsamādhi2, Swami Rama Joo entrusted the seven years old Lakshmanjoo to his disciple Swami Mahtab Kak. At sixteen, Lakshmanjoo was initiated by his Guru, Swami Mahtab Kak.
At the age of nineteen, Lakshmanjoo experienced a clear taste of Self-realization. Shortly afterwards he left home, as he wrote, "in search of the Supreme" and moved to the famous forest ashram of Sadhamalyun (Sadhuganga) in Handawara, Kashmir.
Persuaded by his father to return to Śrinagar, he continued to study and engaged Pandit Rajanaka Maheśvara to teach him Śaiva Śastra at home. He also studied Sanskrit grammar and the other schools of Indian philosophy at full length. He edited the Bhagavadgītā with its Sanskrit commentary by Abhinavagupta and wrote important footnotes to it. This was published when he was about twenty-five years old.
In 1934-35, he moved to an isolated place above the village of Gupta Gaṅgā near Nishat suburb of Śrinagar where his parents built him a house. This was a place where Abhinavagupta had lived nine centuries before. In 1962 he moved down the hill to a bungalow built by his parents, closer to Dal Lake, a short distance from the Mogul garden of Nishat Bagh.
Adjacent to Lakshmanjoo’s location, Śri Jia Lal Sopori of Śrinagar built a house for his daughter Sharika Devi, who, after taking a vow of leading a celibate life, took Brahmacāri Lakshmanjoo as her preceptor. Deviji learned Agama Śastra from him and practiced Śaiva-yoga under his guidance. Overwhelmed by her experience, she lost mental balance for a few years when she had to be moved to her parent's house.
Later, Lakshmanjoo who went to see her, gave her a grape to eat, and then she started improving and then regained her normal condition. Lakshmanjoo also initiated Prabha Ji, the younger sister of Sharika Devi. Sunday classes started at the āśrama that attracted increasing number of devotees.
Around the age of 30 he traveled in India, spending time on a Mumbai beach and a short time with Mahatma Gandhi at Sevagram and then with Śri Aurobindo at Pondicherry. From there he went to Tiruvannamalai to meet Ramaṇa Maharṣi. There he spent some weeks and later commented; "I felt those golden days were indeed divine". Upon returning to his āśrama he wrote a Hindi translation of the Sāmbapañcāśikā, adding important hints as footnotes to it. This was published in 1943.
He went into strict seclusion for several months. During that period, he concentrated on the Kramastotra from the Tantraloka. He made an exposition of the twelve forms of Śaiva Yoga in Hindi preceded by the original Sanskrit text in a small book that was published in 1958. Lakshmanjoo propagated the Śaiva teachings and people started seeking him, both from his own country and from abroad.
Around 1957 Lakshmanjoo disposed of his estate and started to live in a small house newly constructed near Gupta Ganga Temple in Ishaber village. “Ishwara Āśrama” was the name given to the āśrama and the disciples began to call Swamijī Īśvara Svarūpa 3, that later became the headquarter of Īśvara Āśrama Trust.
Little was known about the Swami for almost three decades (1930-1960), as it was his habit to spend the winter months in silence and seclusion. Still, in the summer he had occasional visits from both scholars and saints. The Indian Spiritual Master Meher Baba visited his ashram in 1944.
In 1948 Lilian Silburn from the National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris, visited the Swami. She would return regularly for the next ten years, during which time she studied the major texts of Kashmir Śaiva philosophy, all of which were published in French. It was through Silburn that André Padoux, another prolific scholar of Kashmir Śaivism came to meet the Swami.
Paul Reps, the American artist, author and poet came to the Ashram in 1957 and with Swami Lakshmanjoo he studied the ancient text of Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra, and later published the 112 practices of transcending in the fourth chapter of his book Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. This teaching also influenced Osho and formed the basis of The Book of Secrets.
It was a few years later, in 1965, after attending a Sanskrit conference in Varanasi, chaired by the renowned Sanskrit Tantra scholar Gopinath Kaviraj, that the word quickly spread that the tradition of Kashmir Śaivism was alive and well, and fully embodied in the person of Swami Lakshmanjoo.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi visited the Swami each summer from 1966 to 1969. The two saints formed a lasting relationship.
Baba Muktananda, of Siddha Yoga also visited on two occasions. Until his death on 27th September, 1991, Swami Lakshmanjoo freely taught, giving weekly lectures on the mystical and philosophical texts of Kashmir Śaivism. Many of these lectures were audio recorded by John Hughes and later published.
Lakshmanjoo's interpretation of Kashmir Shavism attracted the attention of both Indian of western Indologists. The Swami has correspondence with Professor Giuseppe Tucci of the University of Rome La Sapienza, and his regular visitors included scholars, such as, Jaideva Singh, Professor Nilkanth Gurtoo, Acharya Rameshwar Jha, Jankinath Kaul "Kamal", Raniero Gnoli, Alexis Sanderson and Mark Dyczkowski.
In 1991 the Swami traveled to the United States and established the Universal Śaiva Fellowship where he designated John Hughes and his wife Denise to continue publishing his teachings of Kashmir Śaivism. In India the teachings of Lakshmanjoo are carried on by Ishwar Ashram Trust, an organization founded shortly after his death.
According to late Pandit Shri Jankinath Kaul, “Though Swamiji was a master of occult powers, he never made a display of those powers. Swamiji was against their being used as he was convinced that the use of occult powers was an impediment on the spiritual path. He was the master of self- control and care.
However, he appeared to have made use of his divine power sparingly and with great caution. Not only his close disciples but also un-acquainted people of different beliefs, from far and near, some of whom had not even met the Swami in person, were convinced of his powers which he might have used un-assumingly for their upliftment.
Certain comtemporary saints of the country have said that Swami Lakshmana Joo had been strictly guarding his earned treasure of powers and, if at all, he used those scarcely.
His awe- inspiring sight and proverbial sympathy drew people of all walks of life near him with their problems to which he was often sharp in giving decisions. It was also observed that he gave a healing touch to those who needed it.
Common people believed him to be a redeemer from evils. Some persons of pure heart felt a current of mysterious joy running through their body while receiving his touch on bowing at his lotus feet.”
Footnotes
1. Kashmir Śaivism or more accurately Trika Śaivism refers to a nondualist tradition of Śaiva-Śakta Tantra which originated sometime after 850 CE. Though this tradition was very influential in Kashmir and is thus often called Kashmir Śaivism, it was a pan-Indian movement termed "Trika" by its great exegete Abhinavagupta, which also flourished in Oḍiśā and Mahārāṣṭra. Defining features of the Trika tradition is its idealistic and monistic pratyabhijñā ("recognition") philosophical system, propounded by Utpaladeva (c. 925–975 CE) and Abhinavagupta (c. 975–1025 CE), and the centrality of the three goddesses Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā.
While Trika draws from numerous Śaiva texts, such as the Śaiva Agamas and the Śaiva and Śakta Tantras, its major scriptural authorities are the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra, the Siddhayogeśvarīmata and the Anāmaka-tantra. Its main exegetical works are those of Abhinavagupta, such as the Tantrāloka, Mālinīślokavārttika, and Tantrasāra which are formally an exegesis of the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra, although they also drew heavily on the Kali-based Krama subcategory of the Kulamārga.
Kashmir Śaivism claimed to supersede Śaiva Siddhanta, a dualistic tradition which scholars consider normative tantric Śaivism. The Śaiva Siddhanta goal of becoming an ontologically distinct Shiva (through Shiva's grace) was replaced by recognizing oneself as Shiva who, in Kashmir Śaivism's monism, is the entirety of the universe. (Wikipedia)
2. The great and final samādhi, is the act of consciously and intentionally leaving one's body at the moment of death. A realized and enlightened (jīvanmukta), yogi (male) or yoginī (female) who has attained the state of nirvikalpa samādhi, will, at an appropriate time, consciously exit from their body and attain Paramukti. This is known as mahāsamādhi. This is not the same as the physical death that occurs for an unenlightened person whose death comes when it may. In Hindu or Yogic traditions mahāsamādhi means that a realized master has consciously left their body; often while in a deep, conscious meditative state.
3. Īśvara: inner God; Svarūpa: essence; the true essence of God
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