He had it up in his sleeves and he had it well hidden. He fooled them all, cctv included.
Was it the right thing to do have done? Well, the debate goes on ..and on and on ..
.. a year and a fortnight have passed since he puled the wool over many eyes. If he had been around now, we may safely guess that he would be lying bed-ridden somewhere, doing a slow steady slog and deteriorating at too slow a pace for his liking.
It would be a Shewag attempting to play like Dravid. There had been instances when Dravid played like Shewag but I cannot recollect anything like the other way round. So in hindsight, it seems okay that Damodarananda ji did what he finally did.
I was told that his body was found somewhere off the Jagannath Ghat; not near Swamiji's Ghat as some would have it, nor on the other side of the Ganga as Swami Atmarupananda ji reported,but he did swim that pre-dawn. He had it on his terms and accomplished his purpose and swimmingly so; swimming for a creditable distance, considering his age, though it might not have been about the half-way mark of Ganges as it was initially thought by some.
His spirited pottering about all over the Belur Math grounds, good natured greetings and conversations, his scores of day-to-day sweet mannerisms, will stand out in memory for a long time.
Hari Om Ramakrishna
From http://www.belurmath.org/news_archives/tag/obituary/
Swami Damodaranandaji (Shrinivas Maharaj), aged 95, breathed his last on the morning of 13 July. Till the previous evening he was quite happy and followed his daily routine cheerfully. On the 13th, he was missing from his room in the morning. After a search his dead body was found floating on the Ganges near Swamiji’s Ghat at about 9.45 am. An initiated disciple of Swami Virajanandaji Maharaj, he joined the Order at Bangalore Math in 1940 and had Sannyasa from his Guru in 1950. Besides his joining centre, he served at Lahore and Rangoon Society centres (formerly our branch centres), Delhi (for a short period), Vrindaban and Singapore centres. Thereafter, he was sent to Fiji centre in 1976 as an assistant. In 1985 he was appointed head of that centre and served there till 1999. Subsequently, he was engaged in preaching Vedanta in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, etc for about 8 years (2000-2001 and 2004-2011). He had been living a retired life at Ulsoor and Belur Math for the last three years. Meticulous in his monastic routine, he endeared himself to all by his cheerful and sweet nature.
