He was the conscience keeper for his brothers in profession and for thousands who were in touch with him.
SAJI P MATHEW OFM
Swamy Dayanand Was Unapologetic
Swamy Dayanand was the first Franciscan I consciously met. It was 1991 and I was Fifteen and half years old. Swamy had taken a padayatra to Rishikesh, at the foothills of Himalaya and had retuned. He made many journeys across India in search of himself and ways to follow his God in an authentically Indian way; in one of such journeys he walked into my house.
I, growing up in an uncomplicated and orthodox Christian family, had thought that everything was sorted and clear; had well defined and flawless religious and social practices; knew the meaning of the word 'perfection'; comprehended God, his colour and gender; and knew the well cutout path to Him. My family like any other families around there knew the well-defined mannerisms and dress codes a catholic priest must follow.
Swamy Dayanand walked in to my house. He was unapologetic about his long unkempt beard and hair; he was unapologetic about his torn, rugged, brown habit/gown, he was unapologetic about his sling bag and in it the Bible and a begging bowl, he was unapologetic about coming to a house uninformed and uninvited. With a couple of hours of his arrival, without speaking much, without arguing or oratory, he challenged my household’s idea of God, idea of path to God, ideas of being a priest, and so on. Eventually I joined the Franciscans.
Thereafter I have seen and heard of Swamy Dayanand entering thousands of families unapologetically and challenging them to a more humane life. He has walked into our provincial policy making meetings and other important gathering and celebrations unapologetically with his rugged brown or saffron habit, and has challenged us every single time. He was a conscience keeper for us friars, and for thousands of families he visited in Bellary and elsewhere.
On 22 January 2023, when Swamy Dayanand breathed his last, we not only lost a brother, but a keeper of our conscience. He was a man of extraordinary intellect, integrity, and invincibility against the forces of hatred and division. He was tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who suffer poverty and injustice.
Swamy Dayanand Was An Embarrassment For Many
Swamy went around begging. He ate what he got day-to-day. He brought what he got through begging to the ashram in Bellary and distributed it to everyone there. He used to say that he begged to crush his ego. He wanted to consciously live by the providence of God. He used to fall at the feet of even a child to receive blessings. By his clothing, begging, and modest living Swamy has embarrassed his family, friends, other priests and religious, and us. Every enterprise and civilisation goes from the present to the next through a bit of embarrassment. Save the embarrassment, we remain the same and in the same.
Once he was travelling in a bus in his religious habit. Near him was seated a poor woman with a child. As the journey progressed the child, suffering from travel sickness, threw up on to the habit of Swamy. Others travelling in bus, some may have been Christians too, felt unduly responsible for Swamy’s state and began to yell at the woman. Swamy, to their utter embarrassment, calmed them down, he himself cleaned up the mess from his dress, and began a conversation with the woman to make her comfortable. The woman was in tears.
Swamy Dayanand Lived A Spontaneous Life
Being spontaneous is a Christian quality. In Mark 3 Jesus had become very popular. When hisdisciples informed him that there were many looking for him, Jesus told his disciples, ‘come let us go to the next town’, and just left. Elsewhere when Jesus was extremely popular and large crowds followed him, Jesus would dismiss the crowd and withdraw to a lonely place to pray. Swamy Dayanand had the same spontaneity of Jesus.
It was a practice for brothers who were becoming religious or priest to come and spend a month or more with him in his ashram at Bellary. A batch of brothers arrived;as usual he gave them inputs and occasionally took them along with him while visiting the villages etc.The season of Lent was approaching, and he without any prior indication announced to the brothers that he is going up the huge hill near ashram for forty days of prayer.
Brothers were clueless what to do. They went up the hill to listen to him, when they went they also carried a small tiffin box full of food for Swamy. They were afraid something would happen to him if he went without eating for long. When one of those brothers was narrating it to me I was amused at what happened next.
Hearing that Swamy was on the hill praying, people began to come up the hill to listen to him, he continuously spoke to them in groups switching languages according to need. Swamy could speak fluently Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, and of course English. People who came up brought food and fruits for him. The brothers who went up taking a small tiffin box for Swamy now had to carry down basket full of food and fruits; and distribute to the poor and the ashramites. If he were to continue on the hill, he would have become a cult by himself, he had so much following. He came down, and travelled to other villages and towns to spread the message of peace and goodwill.
Like Jesus, like St. Francis of Assisi, like Gandhiji Swamy lived a modest life, and his life was his message. We bid farewell to one of the finest Franciscans our province had, and one of the finest priest in India. Wewould truly miss him. May his soul rest in Peace.
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