Our beloved Swami Veda Bharati’s 90^th Birthday (24 March 2023) comes as a moment of loving remembrance and marks the beginning of a new era for all of Swamiji’s devotees, initiates and students. Swami Ritavan Bharati has named this new era as the ‘Decade of Loving Transformation: 2023-2033’, until Swamiji’s centenary birthday celebration in 2033, which would be marked by a large gathering at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG) ashram.

We gather here at SRSG and around the globe, in solemn remembrance and in joyous celebration, recalling the teachings of the lineage through our Gurudeva and through the life of our beloved Swamiji.

We all cherish and embrace the loving sentiments Swamiji shared saying: “Tonight you filled me with such love. Everything that you have given me tonight, I will keep it filled inside me. But I have one desire yet unfulfilled. If you really wish to honor me, wish to love me, do two things for me. This, I am saying to my students. First, love each other. You all love this Swami, but you don’t love each other. If you want to love me, love each other. Secondly, make yourself adhikarin so that the knowledge coming down from thousands of years of tradition can be passed on and can continue. And the third condition, if you want to love me, meditate. That is our true relationship. Silent love is the best love in the universe. And my master, Swami Rama said ‘Love is the Lord of All.’ And today you have shown that love. But I would be happy when you show that love to each other. I thank you all, thank you all from the depth of my heart. God bless you.”

On this 90th Birthday anniversary tribute, an initiate shared the following sentiments of gratitude and aspiration to live through the example of Swami Veda’s life –

Beloved Swamiji

So gently you stole into our lives, like a whisper upon a breeze. And before we knew it, you were in our hearts. Perhaps, you were always there, and we did not know.

In asking where your eternal seat is, is to place limitations upon your Self, beloved Guru. Yet, the heart longs to know just as it yearns for a brief glimpse of that smile that lit up a thousand suns and let us bask in the warmth. Everyday thoughts of you course through the mind, wondering what would have been had we more years of your loving, physical presence. Now and then, a message from you un-veils giving a deeper meaning like a precious gift. One turns again and again to those precious few moments with you upon this Earth, gone all too soon, and wonders with awe at the grace bestowed. Will i ever understand the extent of your presence, your meaning in our life, of your many gifts, of your total acceptance of our human frailty? Passing on from this life, will i qualify to rest at your lotus feet?