By Swami Chinmayananda

Sri Swami Tapovanam was unique in that in spite of his inordinate erudition and scholarship, deep devotion and highest spiritual realization, he chose to remain in his humble, mud-plastered one-room kutia with a small verandah at Uttarkashi. He lived ever retent from the hubub of life, reveling in His own Self. He hated all ostentations, physical and mental.

He recommended study, reflection and attempts at direct experience. The birth of such a Master should be celebrated not with cheap tinsels and noisy crackers, high sounding talks or bell-ringing rituals. We must learn to lift our minds to meet Him wher He is in our own hearts.

A scholarly pundit from Jaipur who was Sri Gurudev's lifelong ardent devotee had composed a prayerful hymn upon Sri Gurudev, composed in the very vocabulary of the Upanishads, invokes the Supreme Self and the poet identifies that Self Divine with Swami Tapovanam. We must all come to realize that the infinite substratum for the entire universe concretized for blessing us all is Sri Gurudev, the Lord of Soumyakashi, Sri Swami Tapovanam.

I wish all our BalaVihars,CHYKS, study group members and all other devotees will chant this hymn (Tapovan Shatkam) everyday of the year. Let us invoke Him through this mass chanting to bless our country and all our efforts in reviving it's sacred culture. Let this hymn be sung throughout the world in all our centers in the same tune and in a chorus of sheer faith and pure devotion.

Hari Om