Swami Prajnanpad

Svâmi Prajnânpad is a contemporary Indian master (1891-1974) whose teaching, rooted in the most ancient Indian tradition, sheds new light on the path of those who aspire to know the truth.

Trained in scientific disciplines, Svâmi Prajnânpad reconciles science and tradition, materialism and spirituality. In the interests of practical effectiveness, Svâmiji constantly refers to experimentation, rejects all recourse to any authority whatsoever, but does not hesitate to use all methods to free the disciple from emotional blockages.

Svâmi Prajnanpad never wrote a book or gave a lecture, but gave individual talks to a small number of people (including nine Frenchmen). He answered their letters. Some of his talks were recorded.

For all those who came into contact with him, he radiated love and intelligence. Here's what he had to say about his condition:
"In the life of the world, one always grasps a particular object. But what happens when you feel and realize that there is nothing to grasp? There's a complete disappearance of awareness of the world, and when this feeling crystallizes, you feel: "everything is mine, everything belongs to me". Awakening is nothing other than that."

Interview 5/8/1966.
"You feel: what I had to do, I did; what I had to obtain, I obtained; what I had to give, I gave" Interview 25/1/1963.
Book les formules de swami Prajnanpad with comments by Arnaud DESJARDINS

Biography of Svami Prajnanpad
Yogeshvar Chatterjee was born on February 8, 1891 in Chinsura, some 50 km from Calcutta, into a very poor Brahmin family. He studied brilliantly, with an interest in the physical sciences. In the 1920s, he discovered Freud's writings in the library of the University of Benares, where he taught. He found a Niralamba Svami master in 1922. He agreed to marry at his brother's insistence, but three months before the birth of his daughter, he resigned from the University and left for the Himalayas to become a monk.

Biography by Daniel Roumanoff
His brother came looking for him, and he resumed his position at the University. In September 1930, on the death of his master, he moved to the Channa ashram. In the meantime, he had found a sense of fulfillment that could not be disturbed. He is known to a small number of Indian disciples. Daniel Roumanoff met him in 1959. Svamiji visited France twice, once in 1966 in Bourg La Reine with Arnaud and Denise Desjardins, and again in 1973 in Normandy, invited by Daniel and Colette Roumanoff. He died on September 24, 1974.

Quotes (from letters and interviews)
"First of all, look with lucidity at what is, what you are, here and now: to do this, you must be convinced that comparison and value judgments are absolutely unfounded. Nothing is right or wrong, and so you are what you are, here and now."

"Everything is neutral, everything is absolute, everything is as it is. It is you who make it appear good or bad, pleasant or painful."

"He who doesn't see himself doesn't stop talking about others. He spends his time spotting and despising in others faults and weaknesses that are in fact camouflaged and repressed within himself."

"First accept yourself. When you don't accept yourself and imagine yourself to be someone else, a conflict arises between who you think you are and who you really are."

"You are responsible for your own happiness. You alone and no one else."