The interview took place on February 14, 2010, shortly before his death.
In late 1950 he took a boat from Marseille to Sri Lanka and India to find his master. His idea was to ask him for advice and then return to southern France, where he worked as a doctor. Eventually he stayed in India for the rest of his life – the following 59 years, of which he spent more than 10 years in total solitude in the Himalayas.
short biography
Swami Vijayananda (26.11.1914- 5.4.2010)
On November 26, 1914, at the start of World War I in eastern France, Vijayananda was born into a Jewish family and was to succeed his father, the chief rabbi of Metz. As a child he was very devout, but in his youth he studied philosophy and began to distance himself from monotheistic religious dogmas. He later studied medicine, initially following a spiritual teacher in Paris, a French psychiatrist influenced by Buddhism. In late 1950 he took a boat from Marseille to Sri Lanka and India to find his master. His idea was to ask him for advice and then return to southern France, where he worked as a doctor. He had hoped to meet Shri Ramana Maharshi and Shri Aurobindo but when he arrived in Chennai in January 1951 both had just died. He instead met Ma Anandamayi on February 2, 1951 in Varanasi and asked her if she could stay in her retreat for two or three days, which eventually turned into 59 years. He spent a long period of more than 10 years in total solitude in an ashram in the Himalayas because Ma Anandamayi, his spiritual teacher, sent him there. In 1985, after the death of Ma Anandamayi, she asked him to look after visitors to the ashram, which he did until the end of his life.
- You were a doctor in France and now living in India for almost 60 years, why did you never go back to France?
I have lived in India for 58 years; I came here to find the real teacher. I have found Ma Anandamayi. If I found what I was looking for, why should I go back? I miraculously found exactly what I was looking for. So there’s no reason to go back. Miraculously I found what I was looking for.
- You lived alone in the Himalayas for a few years.
Yes, for many years. Ma Anandamayi sent me there. It was a new ashram and nobody wanted to stay there. Ma told me Vijayananda you will go there. She wanted me to go there. There was no water there. I had to walk 1.5 miles to get drinking water. There was no food, no light, no electricity. I had to walk in the jungle at night with some kind of torch.
- Is your state of peace a constant state?
Peace is almost constant. When you are alone in the jungle, there are many reasons to be afraid of many things. So my goal was not to be afraid anymore, not to be afraid at all, to be completely free of fear – all the time.
- Your state of peace, is it the same as bliss – Ananda?
No, bliss is a far higher state. I experience bliss from time to time. Peace is a basic feeling.
- What can bring us peace of mind as we live in the world?
When you are in meditation and you experience the consciousness of unity and when you feel that you are divine consciousness and cannot die, you are immortal.
- What can we do to reduce our destructive feelings like hatred, desire, grief?
Fear, anger, sexual desire. Meditation, looking within, becoming aware of how the mind works. If you notice/understand how the mind works, you can control it.
- What is the difference between meditating with a mantra or observing the breath
Watching the breath is not proper pranayama. Proper pranayama is controlling the nadi. Watching breath is not the real thing. Just a help.
A mantra can be used as a support for the mind.
- What is the difference between a spiritual life and a worldly life?
Pleasure, frustration, turning inward, away from pleasure. The “Self” is the source. The inner self is the real cause of joy. People go everywhere in the world to find happiness and joy. If you find it within you, you don’t have to look for it outside. What you are looking for outside, in the world, you will find inside. What you are looking for in the world outside, you will find within yourself, inner peace. When you realize that everything is within you, then you don’t need to look outside, run outside.
- What’s the problem with looking for it on the outside?
If you feel it inside, then you realize that joy is not dependent on something outside. If you are outward oriented, have a girlfriend or boyfriend, and are dependent on them… Your inner joy is not dependent on anything, it is within you. The essence is within you.
- Is it essential to a spiritual life to withdraw from the world?
No, there are many paths, eg Karma Yoga. This also changes the attitude of the mind. You stay where you live and you change the attitude of the mind.
Explanation Torsten Liem: Karma Yoga is characterized by selfless service and action.
- If you live with a partner in a family. What is the path of a spiritual life?
You see woman as a divine mother, as a feminine god and tell yourself that you are serving God. And show respect to the feminine mother. This is the way for you as a man.
- Is there a relationship between spirituality and health?
You need a strong and healthy body if you want to meditate well. If you are weak, you cannot realize a good spiritual life.
When you eat healthy food you are strong and detoxify, cleanse internally. Don’t eat too much or you will get sick. But enough to have a healthy and strong body.