These two formative decades came to an extraordinary finale as Master was ordained with his formal monastic vows on 27 May 1959 by a wondrous monk of India—an erstwhile Shankaracharya of international repute—the great mathematician Bharati Krishna Tirtha. Only a Shankaracharya could ordain Master with a different monastic last name. Master chose the Giri name instead of the Tirtha order to honour his connection with Swami Shriyukteshwar. The monastic name of Hariharananda was agreed upon by the Shankaracharya based on Master’s Jyotisha details. Therefore the two decades of training which rested upon a nurturing joint family upbringing bore fruition, giving rise to a monk with a potential amalgamated personality. The monastic name summed up the burgeoning double traits of Master that I had the opportunity to behold during my intimate years with him.

The Hari-Hara Personality

After Master’s passing, the lingering reminiscences in my three years of seclusion and pilgrimage further convince me that my time with Master was a dream reality manifested in another dimension, as if I did not age but only grew in wisdom. For it is not possible to use words or aphorisms to describe a genuine Master, neither is it possible to adequately gauge the depth of the teachings at the time when they are first delivered. One thing is certain, a Master of such calibre exemplifies how to lead one’s life according to the scriptures; such a life is simply divine.

My recollections of this divine dream subtly point to a unique aspect of our Baba—‘the revered father’ as many call him. This subtle aspect of his personality was perhaps not so easily apparent. His divine madness, loving playfulness, swings of his subtle feelings, portrayal of moods and sudden stern admonitions showed this other side of him. I have seen Master exhibit a character true to his name: the Hara or the knowledge aspect alongside the Hari or the devotion trait. A divine call that was to amalgamate this prospective Hari-Hara personality perhaps took him to the proximity of the Lord Jagannath Temple.

Indeed Master cultivated the subtle feelings of Lord Vishnu in his Hari aspect, and yet at the same time carried the subtle traits of Lord Shiva in his Hara aspect. So magical was this living up to the name, that Master could be, at times, seen switching between these two subtle aspects. The admixture of love and logic never left his teachings. A kind of fierce grace bore down on close disciples and especially on those who showed promise for a spiritual life. The love of a mother was bestowed with the oft-needed sternness of a father. Although such subtle rendering might have seemed mutually antithetical to many a disciple, it bore all the signs of the divine madness that were embodied in the name Hariharananda.