Swami Kalyandev

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name = Swami Kalyandev


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birth_date = 21 June, 1876
birth_place = Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh
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death_date = July 14, 2004
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Swami Kalyandev was born to Bhoi Devi, wife of Pherdudatt.

Early life

His probable birthdate was 21 June, 1876 and he was born in the village of Kotanae in the Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh, India, where his maternal grandparents lived. He grew up in the village of Mundbhar in the Muzaffarnagar district.

Kaluram travelled to Ayodhya and Haridwar, barefoot and begging along the way to sustain himself. At Haridwar, he heard of Swami Vivekananda's visit to Khetri. He travelled to Khetri to meet Vivekananda.

Career

On his return from Khetri, he became the disciple of Swami Purananda of Muni-ki-reti, Rishikesh. Purananda named him Swami Kalyandev. Kalyandev did tapasya in the Himalayas for a few years but then decided to help the poor people of his region.

Swami Kalyandev established almost three hundred schools and medical facilities for the villagers. His work covered western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and elsewhere. The institutions include technical and vocational schools, an ayurvedic medical college, middle schools, high schools, girls' schools, junior high schools, primary schools, clinics and dispensaries, eye clinics, Sanskrit schools, workshops, students' homes, dharmashalas, schools for the deaf and dumb, blind schools, yoga instruction centers, old age homes, asylums for old cows, orphanages, martyrs' memorials, and other religious and spiritual centers.

Swami Kalyandev also helped rebuild dilapidated and neglected religious and historical sites. For example, he renovated a monument in Shuktal, sixty kilometres north of Meerut, associated with the great sage Shuka, the son of Veda Vyasa and the narrator of the Bhagavata. There the swami also established the Shukadeva Ashrama and Seva Samiti. At Shuktal, there is an 80 foot statue of Hanumanji.

He also renovated parts of Hastinapur, the old capital of the Pandavas and Kauravas. Many places of pilgrimage in Haryana have also received his attention.

Swami Kalyandev met Mahatma Gandhiji in 1915. He was acquainted with luminaries such as Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Sampurnanand.

Later life

In 1982, he received the Padma Sri award, and in 2000, the prestigious Padma Bhushan. He was also awarded an honorary D.Litt. by Meerut University. In the late 1980s, Vishwanath Pratap Singh came to Shukatal to pray along with his wife and Swamiji told him to do his first rally near Bhayla. VP Singh's career had taken a nosedive and Swamiji's advice essentially brought him back to political centrestage culminating in his becoming the Prime Minister of India.

In 2002, Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then prime minister of India, had printed "The Seer of Three Centuries: Swami Kalyandev".

A reporter of Amar Ujala, a popular Hindi daily, while interviewing Swami Kalyandev for the paper's October 14, 2003 issue, enquired, 'Where did you get the inspiration to go from village to village and do social service?' The swami replied, 'In 1893, I met Swami Vivekananda in Khetri. He said to me, "If you want to see God, go to the huts of the poor. And if you want to attain God, then serve the poor, the helpless, the downtrodden and the miserable." To attain God through service of the poor is the mantra I received from Swamiji. I have never been able to forget it.'

Swami Kalyandev died on July 14, 2004 at the claimed age of 128.

ee also

* Longevity claims
* Longevity myths

External links

* [http://www.eng.vedanta.ru/library/prabuddha_bharata/May2005_swami_kalyandev.php www.eng.vedanta.ru]
* [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20001223/windows/main2.htm www.tribuneindia.com]
* [http://muzaffarnagar.nic.in/kalayand.htm muzaffarnagar.nic.in]