A Man with a Message to Humanity (The Story of an Enlightened Guru with Autobiographical Notes, Letters and Messages)

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Swami Vaidyanathan (1913-1990) was an awakened and extraordinary individual of the modern age; a rare combination: master of music (both Indian and Western), science, and philosophy. True to the wisdom of the Upanisads, he was awakened by the sheer questioning of the meaning of the word ‘young’. He pondered, “What is young?” He looked at the photo of his childhood in his mind and then looked at his present body and questioned, “Who is me, this or that?” His deep deliberation took his mind backwards in time and at one point he went beyond where there was no sun, or moon. This happened when he was 23 years old, studying the atom under Lord Rutherford in Cambridge, England. Later, overpowered by compassion at seeing the world’s suffering, he dedicated his life to assuage the suffering of people and unite humanity He found a solution and called his thesis, Masquism. He did not compromise on his principles even in trying circumstances. He lived as a walking messenger of God with the message that made him a world Guru. He loved humanity as a father would love his family, leaving his message as his offering and contribution to human welfare and unity. This book gives an overall biography of Remaji with his insight, struggles, and his last two years of letters to the author.

Meera Grimes is a disciple of Swami Vaidyanathan and the custodian of all his writings. She was awarded the prestigious title Kalaimamani by the Tamil Nadu Government in 1983 for her outstanding performances on Harikatha. She is the author of two books: Harikatha and Offspring of God and the Flay of God. Nowadays she spends all her time is preserving and editing Swami Vaidyanathan’s writings.

Meera Grimes was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, and was under the tutelage of Swami Vaidyanathan for about twelve years. But her great spiritual turn came in 1987, when she was in California, and since then she has totally dedicated her life for her Guru Swami Vaidyanathan’s work. She published a book on the Swami’s teachings, Offspring of God and Play of God in 2002. She is a spiritual story-teller, a Harikatha performer from her childhood. She has given numerous public performances and was awarded the Tamil Nadu Government’s prestigious title, Kalaimamani, in 1983. She published a book on Harikatha (Indica Books, Varanasi. 2008) and also several articles in various journals including Sangeet Natak Academy Journal, Government of India, Delhi. A graduate in History, Vidwan in Music, and a Bharata Natyam dance teacher. She is a rare combination of art and spiritual wisdom and a dedicated disciple of Swami Vaidyanathan. She spends most of her time in preserving, classifying and editing the manuscripts of her Guru and distributes her time between USA and Chennai.

Meera Grimes has recently constructed a web page dedicated to Swami Vaidyanathan and his teachings: www.masquism.com.

“I wish that the identity of my writings, its terminology and its special concepts, be kept intact and also I would like the world to know, this is what he said, this is what he wanted to convey”, said Swami R. Vaidyanathan (1913-1990), who was also known as Remaji. He was one of the greatest independent and deep thinkers of modern India and a true well-wisher of humanity. He was a unique personality with the combination of a musician, a scientist, and a philosopher in all their full depth and width. His mental biography is a breathtaking one, and his physical biography is a heartrending one, which places him among the great promulgators of religion and philosophy of the world.

Remaji was a Self-Awakened Guru; however, he did not belong to any religion or society. He was all by himself, totally independent, inwardly and outwardly, attached to none, but loved all. He was a man of lofty character, utterly sincere and a child at heart. Out of compassion for humanity he dedicated his life towards the reduction of human suffering and to advance world welfare. He never married; did not involve himself in monetary transactions or in mundane life; he did not do any other work in his life except thinking independently from the depth of his being on the man versus man problem, i.e., individuals inflicting suffering on other individuals; writings his thoughts, and then polishing his writings, and contacting people to support his findings. He never planned his outer life but left it to the Divine disposal. He never compromised on his principles for personal benefits. He stood by his principles even in very trying situations. He left this world in 1990 leaving his work and his life’s story.

Remaji underwent a remarkable change at the age of twenty- three. From then on he became a universal person mentally. I say so because of the principles that he followed throughout the rest of his life. He stood for all. He wanted all or nothing and nothing in between. Whatever he wished for himself he wished for all. Entirety or ‘All’ became his blood and breath after his awakening. But life became hard for him because he stood on those principles and he could not find anyone with sincerity for similar principles. However he has put his message in a systematic all-embracing exposition that is not based on any book, person, symbol, or religion. Nowadays people talk about the need for such a presentation of religion, and he has provided one. It is truly universal.

The essence of his message is this. The world is God’s sculpturesque drama that is democratic in nature. Every individual is God’s impersonation-al self or creative role, serving Him to evolve His conception or drama, but so far unconsciously. Now God expects human being’s conscious cooperation to further evolve His Historical Evolutionary Play. In the process of Conscious Cooperation the human beings not only will know the world as God’s Creative Conceptual Drama, but also earn their knowledge of their true identity, which they are so far ignorant of. Remaji explains how the obligation on human beings to live cooperatively with God derives from the truth of the constitution of the world, and the human being’s place in it. He named his message as Masquism, because it fits with his theory that the world is God’s impersonation. It is a new view and a way of life according to a true principle. He has said that his message is God’s invitation, through him, to the humanity. This book does not deal with his thesis in depth, but gives only the essence of it along with his biography.

The message has two versions: one is addressed to evolved outs and the other is directed to all others. However they are not contradictory to each other. In fact there is yet another one (which is a branch of the former) addressing the atheists. He has given an Indian name for the later version as Isvara Putra Isvara Lila Siddhanta, meaning offspring of God and the divine play of God.

Apart from this, he has written on almost all spiritual topics and also on scriptures like Sri Bhagavad-Gita. He has also written on politics, education, affects, personality development, behaviour enhancement and so on. He has given a plan or a blue print, to conduct two institutions that would help people and promote human welfare. All his ideas are interwoven and oriented towards the same goal, which is world welfare and individual perfection. There are more than 20,000 pages of his writings. In a way (he himself would say) what he is saying is nothing new, but only a restatement of the Eternal Wisdom in his own way and in his own words. There is newness in his presentation and also some special concepts that will be helpful in modem times.

Vaidyanathan (The Lord of Medicine) was his given name; his family members called him Chinnamani (little jewel); he named himself Rema (the Ray of God); his students addressed him as Swamiji (the one who is established in his Self); I called him Remaji. So, I will be using the name Remaji throughout this book instead of Swami Vaidyanathan (though I have titled this book: Swami R. Vaidyanathan: A Man with a Message to Humanity).

Remaji was from Madras, now known as Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. In his younger years people praised him for his deep knowledge in music and his outstanding brilliance in academics. There was an expectation that he would be a future star in music as well as a leader in India with his scientific knowledge. This was because in the field of music he was a child prodigy. He had the knowledge of absolute pitch at the age of three and he mastered South Indian classical music and played the violin at the age of eleven. At the age of eighteen he passed the advanced grade exam in piano of the Associate Board. Side by side, in the field of academic education, he obtained his Msc, degree from the Presidency College, Madras, a the age of twenty. He was recommended by the Indian Nobel Prize winner SIR C.V. Raman to obtain a seat in Cambridge England, to study the atom under Lord Rutherford. He joined Cambridge in 1934 at the age of twenty-one and stated working to obtain his doctorate, and was aspiring to become a Nobel Prize winner. However, he was destined to leave both music and science for the sake of the Divine. The saying, “man proposes and God disposes” became indisputably true in his life.