Lakshman Joo
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Swami Lakshman Joo |
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|---|---|
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| Native name | لکشمان جو رینا |
| Born |
9 May 1907 Srinagar, Kashmir |
| Died | 27 September 1991 Srinagar, Kashmir |
| School | Kashmir Shaivism |
Swami Lakshman Joo Raina (9 May 1907 – 27 September 1991) was a mystic and scholar of Kashmir Shaivism or Trika. He was known as Lal Sahib ("Friend of God") by followers.
Lakshman Joo was born in Srinagar, Kashmir. He was the fifth child in a household of four boys and five girls. His father Naraindas Raina (also known as Nav Narayan) was the first man to have introduced houseboats in Kashmir. His mother's name was Arnyamali.
He was introduced to the path of spirituality and to the principles of Kashmir Shaivism by his family priest Ram and later by his disciple Mehtab Kak. At the age of 20, it is said, he experienced self-realisation. Shortly afterwards he left home, as he wrote, "in search of the Supreme" and moved to the famous ashram of Sadhamalyun (Sadhuganga) in Handwara. Persuaded by his father to return to Srinagar, he continued to study Sanskrit and Shaiva philosophy under the guidance of a scholar named Maheshwar Razdan.
In 1934-35, he moved to an isolated place above the village of Gupta Ganga near Nishat suburb of Srinagar where his parents built him a house. This was a place where Abhinavagupta had lived nine centuries before. In 1962 he moved down the hill to a place closer to the famous Dal Lake a few hundred metres from the Nishat Gardens.
Around the age of 30 he travelled in India, spending time on a Bombay beach and a short time with Mahatma Gandhi at Sevagram and then with Aurobindo at Pondicherry. From there he found his way to Tiruvannamalai to meet Ramana Maharshi. There he spent some weeks and later commented; "I felt those golden days were indeed divine".
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