By Jacob Peenikaparambil

Indore, April 25, 2020: Today, April 25, is the fourth death anniversary of Swami Sadanand, the first Catholic priest in India to donate his body to medical college.

After his death on April 25, 2016, the body of the member of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate was handed over to All India Medical Sciences, Bhopal.

Let me share an incident from my fond memories of Swamiji. I was in Rural Development Service Society Silwani, Madhya Pradesh from 1983 to 1993. Swamiji was a close collaborator of the society and a close friend of mine while he was in Guru Nivas Tada, 18 km from Silwani.

Whenever we were in any crisis Swamiji appeared without any information from our part as a guardian angel and stood with us like a strong pillar. In fact he was a sankat vimochak (crisis liberator). As there was no phone connection between Silwani and Tada those days, we could not communicate with him over phone, but he appeared like angel in all our troubles.

In 1989, the Central Social Welfare Board entrusted our society the task of training crèche workers (teachers of Shishu Vihar) of the creches supported by the board. The training was for a period of one week. Batch after batch of creche workers was sent by the Board to our place for training. The RDSS team did not have any prior information about the participants other than their address because the selection was done by the Board. Sr. Bincy (of Franciscan Clarist Congregation) was in charge of the training.

As far as remember, in November a trainee from Jabalpur developed breathing problem one day. Sr. Bincy, being a nurse, tried her best to help the patient, but couldn’t succeed. We immediately rushed her to the Public Health Centre, Silwani. It was about 10 pm. Before we took her to the hospital Swamiji had come to RDSS and he drove the ambulance.

In any crisis situation there was no need for asking Swamiji for any help; he volunteered. The condition of the PHC Silwani was very pathetic. Because of the persuasion of Swamiji the duty doctor instructed the nurse to provide oxygen. We had a sigh of relief. But to our dismay within half an hour the patient died. Later we came to know that there was no sufficient oxygen in the oxygen cylinder.

All of us were in a shock, but Swami could regain equanimity immediately and he got a death certificate from the doctor. He told us, “Let us take the body to Jabalpur. I shall drive the ambulance.” Swamiji drove the vehicle from Silwani to Jabalpur about 260 km. Sr. Bincy and I accompanied Swamiji in the ambulance.

We were frightened of the difficulties on the way and especially of the response of the family members. “What would be the reaction of the family members when the dead body of a beloved one is brought home without any prior information,” we asked ourselves. We could not inform family members, as there was no phone connection to the family. But Swamiji was not at all worried. He was imparting courage to us through his supporting and encouraging words.

As the road was in bad condition those days, it took about 8 hours to reach Jabalpur. It was 10 am by the time we reached Jabalpur. In order find out the house we first went to the school of Montfort Brothers in Jabalpur. The principal was very sympathetic. He assured us all hep and guided us to find the house of the diseased. With lot of anxiety and fear we reached the house.

After stopping the vehicle on the roadside we went to meet the family members. We shared with them what happened. They all started crying. To our surprise no one reacted with anger. It was a great consolation for us. It was Swamiji who spoke to the family members and he could convince them that we did our best to save the life of the woman.

We stayed with the family members for about an hour, consoling them and Swamiji proved to be an adept in handling such delicate situation. With their permission we returned to Silwani after giving the family members a small financial contribution to meet the expenses of last rites. I felt that the arrival of Swamiji at a crucial juncture was nothing less than a miracle.

Today I reflected how Swamiji could handle a very critical situation with composure. What I could see in him was extraordinary self confidence and courage and he could instil the same in others. Now I understand that he was a person who could realize, actualize and maximize the Divine within him.

The two ways he used for realizing and maximizing the Divine was 1) contemplation and 2) constant touch with the people, particularly the needy: prisoners, estranged couples and family members, persons who were in crisis, the poor and the sick, and understanding their life situation. The content of his contemplation was the stark realities of life. As a result he became a Karma Yogi on the model of Jesus of Nazareth by synthesizing within him Karma Marga (action) and Dhyana Marga (contemplation).

As a result people who came in contact with Swamiji could see and experience in him pure altruism with zero percent selfishness, compassion to the core, extraordinary courage, astonishing creativity, total availability and absolute integrity.

For me Swami Sadanand is a saint, a source of inspiration. I always look at his ever smiling face with pure white beard whenever I am in my room. His picture is on my table, always challenging and inspiring me to become a Karma Yogi.