Western Vedantins very often
seem to be more sturdy than us.
Take the case of Brahmachari Anandachaitanya who passed away on 12 September
2014.
He was 93 years old.
Orval a.k.a. Dell took
initiation from Swami Ashokananda (a disciple of Swami Vivekananda like Paul
was a disciple of Jesus). He joined the Order under his Guru in San Francisco
in 1949 but shifted to Sacramento in 1951. He remained here for the
rest of his life. He had Brahmacharya ordination in the year 1959 and received
the name Anandachaitanya (Ananda Chaitanya) from his Guru. He was a master of
many things and played a key part in the construction of the shrine and all the
buildings that came up in the Sacramento centre. His official Obituary states :
'All who came in contact with him were drawn by his gentle, quiet and
unassuming manners and his utter dedication to the work of the Order'. He
seemed to have felt that his Guru had given him everything in his initiation and
ordination as a lifelong Brahmacharin. He never took monastic robes. Like Jnan
Maharaj, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, he chose to remain a Brahmachari all
his life.
May his tribe thrive ! May we
have more and more Western Vedantins like Swami Atulananda, Swami
Vidyatmananda, Br. Nityachaaitanya and Br. Anandachaitanya.
