Swami Venkatesananda and Homoeopathy

Transcription

1 Swami Venkatesananda and Homoeopathy Swami Sivananda ( ) became a medical doctor at Tanjore in [1908?] and practiced for ten years before he became a swami. However, he had faith in the efficacy of natural healing, beginning with yoga asanas, and alternative treatment as well as conventional medicine. His primary concern was in making sick people well. Prior to building Sivananda Ashram at Rishikesh in 1934, Sivananda practiced medicine there in his Satya Seva Ashram Dispensary at Laxman Jhula on the Ganga for four hours each day from He also opened an ayurvedic pharmacy in 1945; the Sivananda Homoeopathic Dispensary in 1947; the Sivananda Charitable Hospital in 1950, administered by Dr. Swami Hridayananda (previously Dr. Chellamma); and the Ratan X-ray Clinic in 1953, the first x-ray clinic in the Himalayan district, including diathermy and ultraviolet treatment, physiotherapy and a clinical laboratory. This was followed by Swami Hridayananda s own eye clinic in 1956, as well as frequent travelling medical relief camps called Drishti Dana Yajna and first aid training courses. The 30-bed hospital, administered by devotee and

2 London graduate Dr. Devaki Kutty, continues to provide medical treatment to more than 500 patients every day for free and an outpatient service for the poor and bedridden nursing facility Sivananda Home. A devotee, Major-General Sharma, founded the Sivananda Medical Organisation to spread medical relief to the rural poor and the Sivananda Charitable Dispensary to treat them. A Colonel Shankla started Sivananda mobile dispensaries. The homoeopath, Swami Achintyananda (YEAR OF BIRTH? - YEAR OF DEATH?), [OF THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION AFTER THE DEATH OF SWAMI SIVANANDA - SAME ACHINTYANANDA?] settled at Sivanandashram at Rishikesh in [YEAR? WAS HE A SIVANANDA SANNYASIN?]. Sivananda encouraged him to set up the homoeopathic clinic in Swami Venkatesananda, Sivananda s personal assistant, was an exemplar of self-knowledge. When Swamiji developed an interest in a subject, he pursued it with focused concentration and discipline until he understood it thoroughly. Thus, Swamiji came to study and master homoeopathy with Achintyananda in [YEAR?].

3 They operated the the Sivananda Homoeopathic Dispensary at the ashram from [YEAR?] to [YEAR?]. Achintyananda taught this magnificent healing art to Swami Venkatesananda. The homoepathic clinic was reestablished by Dr. Brij Nanda Prasad in Swami Venkatesananda did not leave for Africa until Although we have no corroboration, it is likely he was also involved in the clinic. Master Sivananda s message was spreading yoga around the world. He sent many of his disciple swamis abroad. Swami Venkatesananda s first overseas posting was to South Africa, a country which had which had large immigrant Indian communities. He spread yoga teachings there from 1961 to 1964, resulting in his 1964 book, Three Years in Africa. Swamiji started his yoga teaching in Durban. There he met Norma Harman who attended one of his early lectures in Swamiji shared his knowledge of homeopathy with Norma and other devotees who were keen to use homoeopathy as karma yoga practice in service to all. Swamiji initiated Norma into yoga practice, giving her the spiritual name Narayani.

4 He encouraged the people in this satsang to look to homoeopathy as the treatment of choice. Homoeopathy was inexpensive for poor locals and did not have the many side effects related to the normal allopathic drugs of conventional medicine. Narayani started seeing patients at her home, 66 Chelsea Drive in Durban North. Local devotee Bobby Reddy also offered a room in his home in the Redhill district for a homoeopathic clinic. When a course in homoeopathy was offered in Durban in 1977, Swamiji encouraged Norma to take it. Norma graduated as a homoeopath in Swami Sahajananda ( ) founded the Divine Life Society in South Africa and remained its spiritual head until his death. His guru, Swami Sivananda, called him the African Chhota Guru and he was lauded by Nelson Mandela. With Sahajananda s encouragement, homoeopathic clinics were opened in some Indian communities of Natal, in Chatsworth, an Indian suburb of Durban, the province s secondlargest city, Pietermaritzburg, industrial

5 Merebank, as well as in rural Tongaat, nearby Stanger, and the farming community of Estcourt. All patients in need were treated regardless of race, colour, caste, or religion. Narayani then taught homoeopathy to devotees who were keen to learn her system. Jean [SURNAME?], Kalyani McAlister, Denise Bunton, Humesh Kapitan, Balakrishna Lodhia, Girdharlal Makan (later Swami Anandananda), Doug & Beverly Oates, Pamela Price, and Roslyn [SURNAME?] studied with her the science of likes. When Narayani was completely satisfied with their progress, she handed over all the clinics to the newly dedicated homoeopathic team. Swamiji had also been assigned by Sivananda to spread yoga to Mauritius. He had assembled a group of devotees to teach a few people homoeopathic treatment so they were able serve people on poor-feeding day. He brought [CORRECT?] Narayani to Mauritius along with six homoeopaths from the Durban group. A Malcolm Rae radionics machine and remedies were sent by ship and by air to Mauritius in June 1979.

6 Narayani s first class had 59 students who sat an exam after four months. Their certificates were presented by the serving Mauritius Minister of Health, the Honourable Dr. Beergoonath Ghurburrun. He informed the successful students they were not allowed to practice without a supervising physician in charge as homoeopathy was not yet covered in Mauritius law. Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed Mansoor, a medical doctor and local friend of Swamiji s, volunteered to supervise the new homoeopaths. As they had no place to establish a clinic, a devotee, Maganlal Desai, visited his father in India who was told of our need of land in Mauritius. He offered his land on condition that, if the project failed, the land must be returned to him with its building. The land was transferred to Swamiji s homoeopaths who built a clinic there in By 1979 Swamiji suggested Narayani go to Rishikesh to start a clinic at Sivananda Ashram. Swami Chidananda opened the clinic s first class in homeopathy. Chidananda s disciple, a medical doctor [NAME?] from Gujarat was one of a class of about 30 students. When the class finished, a clinic was opened in Swami

7 Madhavananda s old office on the Ganga riverbank. [WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE NEW CLINIC?] [QUERY RISHIKESH ABOUT THIS] Swami Venkatesananda arrived in Rishikesh in [YEAR?]. During his visit, Shivnarayan Kapoor, an ardent devotee of Gurudev from Bombay [WHO IS HE?] suggested the homoeopaths conduct similar courses at Divine Life Society branches throughout India. As was his habit, Swamiji clapped his hands in delight and told them to start immediately. By April [YEAR?], when the Rishikesh clinic was running smoothly, Swamiji suggested [WHO?] start homoeopathic [TEACHING? CLINICS? BOTH?] in Bangalore. Before arriving in Bangalore, however, the homoeopaths [WHO?] stopped at Swami Omkarananda s Sri Shanti Ashram at Totapali Hills in East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh, teaching homoeopathy to the residents for about six months. [CORRECT?]. Swami Omkar ( ) was a gifted healer and had started life named Venkateswara. Swami Sivananda himself had been resident at

8 the ashram, serving the sick in his early years of sannyas. It was here at Sri Shanti that Swami Omkar gave sannyas initiation to Norma Harman and Girdharlal Makan on [DATE?]. Norma became Swami Narayaniananda and Girdharlal became Swami Anandananda. The Sivananda homoeopaths arrived in Bangalore in June [YEAR?] hosted by local devotees M.M. Subramanyam and Sita Ram [WHO ARE THEY?]. They arranged classes for [HOW MANY STUDENTS IN EACH CLASS?] students. [NUMBER?] homoeopaths were graduated who continue to serve the poor around Bangalore today. The homoeopaths [MATAJI & ANANDA?] then traveled to Bombay where Mr. Kapoor and Dr. [FORENAME?] Suchak had arranged for them to prepare remedies and see patients. After [HOW LONG?] some time in Bombay, they continued their teaching and clinic programme to Gujarat, visiting Baroda, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Rajkot and finally settled in Narmada at Tilakwada, some 60km from Baroda [WAS THIS CLINIC ALREADY CALLED SOHAM? WHAT YEAR WAS THIS?]. The new sannyasins [CORRECT SPELLING?]

9 practiced homoeopathy there from [YEAR?] until [QUERY SWAMI ANANDA: DID YOU REMAIN IN INDIA AT SWAMIJI S DIRECTION?] Narayani returned to South Africa a swami in 1986 [CORRECT?]. Swami Narayani started her clinic from a one-bedroom flat on Global Road in Durban [?] and then moved shop to Pretoria and then to Atlasville (Benoni) near Johannesburg. The seeds of homoeopathy Swamiji had sown with Swami Narayani in Durban began to blossom into Soham Sanctuary, a fully operational homoeopathic medical clinic and training institution [CORRECT?] Although she returned to visit India in 1986 and again in 1992 [CORRECT?], Swami Narayani ran Soham Sanctuary from [YEAR?] to [YEAR?]. She was so highly regarded, she became Mataji (Mother) to all. Mataji was nominated for the Albert Schweitzer Award for Humanitarian Work awarded by the Open International University for Complementary Medicine in Colombo. She was

10 invited to present a paper on her experiences in homoeopathy at the 1989 World Congress in Athens and was awarded a gold medal for her service by the Congress for Alternative Medicines. Mataji was born on January 17, 1924 and passed away on April 6, 1995 at [WHERE?]. [HOW MANY?] years a homoeopath because of Guru s grace. Following Mataji s death, her graduate homoeopaths, Bob Govender, Humesh Kapitan, Nelson Moodley, Eve van Volten, and Kalyani McAlister continued to operate the Health Awareness Clinic in Berea. However, by [YEAR?], some doctors decided to spread homoeopathy elsewhere. [PLEASE DETAIL WHERE THE DOCS WENT]. Humesh Kapitan and Balakrishna Lodhia immigrated to Canada at Swamiji s suggestion to spread homoeopathy there. A survey of Mataji s homoeopathic legacy worldwide may be found here: clinicinformation.htm. Her 215 specialist remedies are administered today showing great efficacy in India, South Africa, Mauritius, Italy, France, and Canada.

11 This short account of Swami Venkatesananda s interest, study, training, teaching and promotion of homoeopathy, was a group effort of those who knew and loved Mataji, Swami Narayani Ananda. Her homoeopathic books co-authored with Swami Ananda are an excellent resource for study and treatment. Humesh Kapitan, Toronto <hdkapitan@gmail.com>, Sadasiva - CJ Hinke, Bangkok <cj@tu.ac.th>, Swami Anandananda, Baroda <swamiji75@gmail.com>. <sohamfoundation@gmail.com>,