At the foothills of Himalayas, the first sight of the mountain and river Ganges thrilled Richard (now Radhanath Swami) beyond imagination. The sight was like a spark that detonated an explosion of emotions. He spent some days at ‘The Divine Life Mission’, the ashram of the renowned Himalayan saint, Swami Sivananda. Richard was blessed to get the association of Swami Cidananda, the successor to Swami Sivananda. Swami Cidananda was born of wealthy landowner parents in South India. At the age of twenty he heard a calling of God and gave up all material comforts to serve God. Richard was struck by his call for practicing spiritual life. Swami Cidananda said that life is meant for the realization of God. “If you die without attaining God-realization, your life is in vain. You have wasted away this precious gift of human birth given to you by God.”
Richard is now Radhanath Swami and his message to humanity is to make the best use of this precious human life. “To explore higher and deeper levels of happiness, we need to understand that humans are a very special species in God’s creation, and they are capable of experiencing a much more satisfying and purposeful life.” Quoting his guru, Srila Prabhupada, Radhanath Swami says that humans and animals have the basic similarities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. And the human society is endeavoring to make these four activities better each day. However we can be truly happy only if we explore the crucial difference that humans have in comparison to animals. That difference, Radhanath Swami asserts is our ability to enquire about the cause of our suffering and about the actual destination of our lives.
Initially I tended to think that the difference between us and animals is that animals can’t logically think reason, question or use intelligence. These are special gifts awarded to humans alone. However on carefully trying to understand Radhanath Swami’s teachings and on closer inspection of nature, it’s obvious that animals also use intelligence. For instance have you seen a cat sneak into the kitchen when nobody is watching? She knows exactly when to enter and she also knows where the milk is kept. Once, while staying in a monastery of monks, we were each given a couple of hangers to use for hanging our shirts. Since we dried our clothes in an open space, we left our shirts hanging in the terrace of the ashram. Slowly all fifty residents of the ashram lost their hangers and we all wondered who could have stolen them and when. As weeks passed we forgot the incident and one day as I was standing in the terrace, i saw something shocking. On the top branch of a tree facing the ashram was a beautiful nest of a crow family. What left me startled was that the nest was entirely made of our cloth hangers. I called the other inmates and we all saw in amazement the skills of these simple birds. Where did these birds learn to make a nest, leave alone an expert one made of hangers? We haven’t heard of any birds studying Civil engineering at the premier Indian Institute of Technology. This shows animals and birds also have intelligence; however the difference is they can’t think or use their intelligence beyond the four propensities of sleeping, eating, enjoyment and defending.
Therefore Swami Cidananda and Radhanath Swami are perfectly right in imploring humans to make the best use of their lives, and not waste it in pursuits of bodily pleasures.
“Go to India” a sweet but commanding voice; spoke up in the heart of young Richard (later Radhanath Swami) who was immersed in meditation, his search for meaning in life has brought him to the Isle of Crete. Today he was ordered to go to India. Born and raised in the middle class suburbs of Chicago, Radhanath swami grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s era when popular musicians protested war, prejudice and social injustice. Radhanath swami would listen to these songs again and again, but their lyrics referring to God stirred his soul. Peter, Paul and Mary- the folk trio from Greenswich village sang in their debut album
“Early in the morning, about the break of day
I ask the Lord, to help me find my way”
This simple prayer was to guide Radhanath swami in the coming years of his life........
‘The Journey Home - Autobiography of an American Swami’ Book is an engaging, humorous and heart-warming account of a young nineteen year old’s quest for spiritual enlightenment. The reader follows Richard Slavin (Now Radhanath Swami) from the suburbs of Chicago to the caves of Himalayas as he goes through a variety of exciting adventures; some near-death encounters and many spiritual experiences. Regular reading of this all-time classic has helped me draw spiritual lessons and seek constant inspiration in my own spiritual journey.
Very nicely explained with humor – Animals do have intelligence , however only for eating,sleeping , mating & defending & not beyond.
“To explore higher and deeper levels of happiness, we need to understand that humans are a very special species in God’s creation, and they are capable of experiencing a much more satisfying and purposeful life.”… Thank you Radhanath Swami for making us realize the rarity of human form of life consider this gift of God with utmost seriousness for self-realization.
Radhanath Swami has been influenced by Srila Prabhuapad, Swami Sivananda & few others and now he is influencing thousands on behalf of his guru. This is bonafide disciplic succession. Thank you Maharaj.
Special thanks to the writer for this enlightening article. I especially appreciated his conclusion “animals and birds also have intelligence; however the difference is they can’t think or use their intelligence beyond the four propensities of sleeping, eating, enjoyment and defending”. This makes it absolutely crystal clear what is so special about a human being.
Hari BOl
Amazing story. it shows how similar the human and animals are.
How many of us are visiting Himalayans every year?? How many of us are hearing such words of wisdom regularly?? But how many are able to gear their life in complete surrender to the Supreme Lord?? Common sense says: ‘Such souls are rare and special’…and so for us who are still struggling to make perfect use of this percious human life, its best to follow these SPECIAL souls (Those who are still in doubt, please read ‘The Journey Home’ book). Following their instrucitons, serving them will attract Lord’s mercy and we can then make gradual advancement on spiritual life.
A very nice and logical meditation on importance of Human form of life.Thank you very much.
Rightly said that human form of life is very precious.It is a rare gift of God that should be utilized for self-realization.
Very beautiful and thoughtful realizations of the words of such saints like Swami Cidananda and Swami Radhanath. Thank you!
great realization by radhanath swami,
v beautifully explained.thank u
If you die without attaining God-realization, your life is in vain. H.H.Radhanath swami teaching us the important of human life.
Nice!!!
This was an amazing story about the crow nest. Yes, we all need to take our spiritual life very seriously, as lese we are wasting this opportunity we have been given. Thank you HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj.
Wonderful. It’s so important to know the difference, without knowing this difference humans are just like more civilized animals.
Its very true difference between animal and human. Without understanding this we can not know preciousness of human life.
Radhanath swami quoting very powerful thought.
Thank you Maharaj !!!
each and every words and sharing from radhanath swami are very inspiring and life transforming,
Radhanath Swami asserts is our ability to enquire about the cause of our suffering and about the actual destination of our lives.Thank you radhanath swami.
Very nice explanation, and the difference between humans and lower species of life! When we understand that we are wasting this life in sleeping and other things, it’s scary. But it feels natural to waste; not feeling the urgency and it’s hard to change. These type of articles and the instructions of Saintly persons helps us to remind of our ignorance and try our best to get out of it. Thanks for the nice article.
Ths article is really very instructive & thought provoking……thanks
HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj. so clearly explained
Thank you Maharaj
A fundamental point being made here is that we are all animals unless we inquire about our final destination. Very nicely explained.
Full of realisations….Thank you Radhanath Swami…
Thank you Radhanath Swami for showing us the importance of this human life
Radhanath Swami so wonderfully presents the beauty of the human form of life.
Many thanks to Radhanath swami for these wonderful lessons on how we need to make the best use of the human form of life.
Nice message by Radhanath Swami. This human life is very rare and if we don’t make use of it with all sincerity, seriousness, we would lose this wonderful opportunity.
We still do not realize the value of human life that we have got. Thank you Radhanath Maharaj for emphasising and reminding us again and again.
The Vedic shastras glorify the human birth. In fact there are countless examples of how the soul transmigrates through innumerable species of life to finally reach the human form of life. Therefore it is indeed unfortunate if one then wastes it in mindless pursuits. Therefore we must thank gurus like Radhanath Swami who go out of their way to teach us these basic truths about life.
Thank you very much for sharing
Very Inspiring, thanks for sharing deep lessons…
Very instructive article bringing out the importance of the precious human life.
Thank you Radhanath Swami for being so compassionate to share your realisations in this book.
Wonderfully Narrated. The human form of life is meant for realization of the absolute truth.
Amzing article!
Great teaching by Radhanath Swami
A great spiritual adventure…
Wonderful Article!!!
“To explore higher and deeper levels of happiness, we need to understand that humans are a very special species in God’s creation, and they are capable of experiencing a much more satisfying and purposeful life.”
Wonderful!
nature of world is that we forget imp of human form , that is why require to hear frm such a great person
wonderful article thanks for sharing
When we do not understand the actual goal of our life then there is no difference between the humans and animals..The animals have no intelligence about the goal of life.They cannot read and write.So many other things that they cannot do and we can do.But if we behave in the way as the animals then the humans are two legged animals.Thank you maharaj for beautiful meditation.
Thank you Maharaj for explaining us again n again about the value of human life.wonderful article.
Amazing!! and very instructive message of “LIFE”
Thankyou dear Maharaj
very thouthful article.