A Prologue

This prosaic poem is an humble effort on our part to express our deep respect and gratitude to our very beloved Jeanne Genêt as we saw her and we dedicate it with parting tears as a token of our love for the sweet departed soul.

An Epilogue

We have had the great fortune to know late Jeanne Genêt rather closely since 1965 during the time of revered late Swami Pavitranandaji Maharaj through the time of our dear revered Swami Tathagatanandaji Maharaj.

After many years of interval, as we moved to California, we revisited her in May 1998. She seemed to be very happy to see us, as reflected in her heavenly smile. We did not realize, that was destined to be our last respect to the beautiful soul, We are blessed.

---Bereaved, Ramananda and Anjali Sinha, Bakersfield, California, September 9, 1998
 

A life above the ordinary and the search for fulfillment in one's higher self has been the quest for many gifted souls who often become the silent creative leaders of mankind. Ideas govern and inspire life, and the direct way for elevating the nature of one's life is by elevating one's ideas of a noble life. The hallowed examples of the genuine illumined souls ignite the divine spark within and nourish the mind with lofty spiritual ideas. These ideas serve to form one's principles, philosophy and idealism in life and ennoble the mind. When watered by the spring of loving devotion, the ennobled mind then becomes the very soul of dedicated action. The following is a brief account of a noble family who, inspired by the spiritual idealism of the great luminaries, Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, silently dedicated their lives to the service and cause of Vedanta.

Jeanne Genêt and her younger sister, Rolande, were born to a well-to-do French-Canadian family in 1906 and 1907 respectively. Their father held a good government position and the family was comfortable and prosperous. As was a common custom of the time, the two sisters attended school as boarders in a Catholic convent. From their early days, the girls felt a pronounced love and admiration for the convent life they witnessed and enjoyed attending the school. By nature, Jeanne was the more introspective, reserved and quiet, while Rolande was jolly, zealous, self-reliant and fearless. When the young vivacious Rolande was asked if she would like to become a nun, the Sister told her, "My dear, girls like you make the best nuns." Meanwhile, charmed by the sweet angelic repose of the elder Jeanne, the nuns once selected her to play the part of the baby Jesus in their school Christmas play. Their father passed away while the girls were still young. Their mother, known as Maman Genêt, who was a well-informed and progressive thinker, subsequently took a bold decision. Apprehensive of the girl's coming under too great an influence of convent life, she first removed the girls from the convent school and had them privately tutored. Later, in the 1920's, she moved the family to the big city of New York where she felt the girls may have better opportunities to develop their careers. However, despite Maman's best intentions, the two sisters were inevitably destined to lead ideal spiritual lives, though not within the formal enclosure of a convent.

Gifted in piano and violin, Jeanne pursued a musical vocation, while Rolande became an expert dancer. The two sisters were the best of friends and deeply shared and confided in each other's thoughts. At the height of her career, Rolande especially felt that most contagious modern disease---emptiness. She was not to be deceived by the brief blaze of superficial popularity. Rather, she found herself gripped in the search of a meaningful existence. Her life was a saga of daring, pluck and self-confidence, but behind this genial personality, there was a steel frame of discipline and loyalty to the higher calls of life. Amidst the glamor, her noble mind yearned for truth. Rolande was in this state when she was inexorably led to Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. Reading the book, Prophets of New India, by the French writer, Romain Rolland, which gave the life accounts of these two great souls, Rolande was drawn from the bustling concourse of friends to the deep holy communion of her inner life. Jeanne Genêt, collective and serious in her life and vocation, was also profoundly moved and inspired by this book. In Sri Ramakrishna and his beloved disciple Swami Vivekananda, the girls found the eternal soul of India, radiant, calm and majestic, with a "unifying, pacifying love for all beings." These two messengers of Truth blew like a fresh breeze over the stagnant pools of religious life. The genuine purity, strength and catholicity of their lives and the eternal message of Vedanta for which they stood---the oneness of existence, the divinity of life, the harmony of religions, the universality of Truth and direct intuitive experience of that Truth entered the souls of the two sisters, string them to their inmost depth; both found themselves in the momentous throes of radical renewal from within. Steadily, their inner lives were being wholly transformed. They came to accept the broad principles of Vedanta, as exemplified in the hallowed lives of Shri Ramakrishna and Swamiji, as their own treasured idealism in life.

In Vedanta, the realization of the One Supreme Truth is recognized as the ultimate aim of life. The Supreme Reality, called Brahman, is of the nature of pure spiritual consciousness-self-effulgent, indivisible, immutable, pure bliss and absolute knowledge---the one unity behind the apparent multiplicity of the world. The world is seen as a projection of Brahman or God, who is both impersonal and personal, transcendent without name and form, as well as immanent with name and form---beyond all attributes as well as with attributes when thought of as our dearest friend, affectionate mother, benevolent father and most loving savior. Vedanta is non-dogmatic, non-credal and non-historical and presents a total way of life for realizing the Truth within one's self. The essence of our self is called the Atman, and this reality behind the human personality and the reality behind the universe is to be experienced as one and the same abiding Supreme Reality, as it was in the hearts of the Vedic mystics of old. In the present age, Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda bore witness to this eternal Truth in their holy lives and teachings. Caught up in the power of their divine magnetism and the lofty message of Vedanta, the two sisters were soon to devote their entire beings to its service, and to the realization of Truth in their lives.

With keen interest, the girls discovered a church listing for The Vedanta Society of New York, founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1894, in the New York Times. It was 1933, and one Sunday both Jeanne and Rolande came to the Society on West 71st Street to hear Swami Bodhananda, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, give a lecture on Vedanta. Swami Bodhananda had come to New York in 1906, the year of Jeanne's birth, and became Head of the Society in 1912. Their acquaintance ripened into a soul- enriching friendship. Gradually, the Swami became for them a true spiritual father--their best friend, philosopher and guide. He was a strong man with a singular aspiration. His nature was austere, simple, and enduring; fitted to grapple with difficulties, and to die for a cause. His purity of vision and innate saintliness kindled a sincere enthusiasm in their hearts for a holy life. Under him they applied themselves to spiritual practice, studied the teachings of Vedanta, learned Sanskrit, and even played an occasional game of chess. Their minds were uplifted high above the ordinary way of life, and they felt that they had truly found their true home at the Vedanta Society.

To be nearer to the Society, the family shifted its residence to an apartment on the same street of the Society. As time passed, Rolande felt drawn to more closely and fully serve the Society. Swamiji's message of selfless service was coursing through her very veins. She weighed the heavy anchor of domestic love and personal ambition and then took a momentous decision to follow her heart's calling. It revealed the first glimmer of her selfless dedication. The Society was in need and Rolande responded completely. Everyone was struck by her transparent sincerity, her disarming frankness, breath of vision, fervor for the cause of Vedanta and enthusiasm for a dedicated life. She stood like a rock behind the Society and served her teacher with unflinching devotion till the very end of his life.

Swami Bodhananda passed away in 1950, after which, Maman Genêt naturally tried to persuade Rolande to return to a comfortable way of life at home. She could not at that time visualize the depth and dimension of her child's spiritual outlook. But before Rolande's fire of faith and dedicated service, her revered mother's steel reasoning and loving entreaties melted away. In the name of humanism, friends and well-wishers also tried their wits to dissuade her from the cause of Vedanta. Rolande, however, was well-grounded in Truth and was gifted with a native spiritual strength and vitality, together with an invincible will to follow her chosen path. Humanism has its Center in man and its circumference in society, while Vedantic idealism has its Center in God or the Supreme Truth and its circumference in humanity. Rolande valiantly held fast her ground and refused to be dislodged in spite of veiled threats, disparaging remarks and social boycott.

The Society passed through a very trying period upon the Swami's demise. For a time, there was no spiritual leader, and sympathy and finance were lacking. Under such circumstances, the aspirations of genuine friends for the sake of Truth have to be summoned. Truth must be served out of love, not out of fear. The very nature of nobility will meet rebuffs of fortune with cheerful courage and undying faith. Rolande was such. She was never more content than when she found herself in some trouble which obliged her to have recourse to God. She was prepared to face oceans of woe, despair and agony for the most life-giving cause of Vedanta. Her entire being was completely identified with the Society, and her love for it burnt like a flame in her heart. She felt no weariness even though the living situation in the Society's ground floor where she resided was most unsatisfactory at the time. To help financially, some rooms in the Society's building were rented, as was the custom in New York City, brownstone, and Rolande's was most ascetic. Nonetheless, her patience, forbearance, stoicism and enthusiasm for the life never flagged. Rather, she was energized to the highest pitch of activity for the sacred work of the Society. She always felt that there was not enough she could do to show her eternal gratitude to the source of spiritual fulfillment which she had found in Vedanta.

Rolande's spirit was infectious and Jeanne was wholly inspired by her sister's dedication. She was verily a spiritual cinder waiting for a spark from the divine fire to be set ablaze. Maman, who was innately noble in character, loved her daughters dearly. Seeing their zeal and determination, she did not prevent them from pursuing that path in which they were finding true peace and happiness. In 1951, Swami Pavitrananda, a disciple of the first President of the Ramakrishna Order, Swami Brahmananda, was sent from India to serve the Society as its spiritual leader (which he did till he breathed his last in 1977). After some time at his invitation, both Maman and Jeanne came to live with Rolande in the Society's building and gave up their apartment up the street. This was another memorable moment in the history of the Society. If the arrangement was already difficult for one person, imagine the difficulty for three sharing the same quarters, particularly for Maman who was accustomed to comfort and wealth. At first, she did not share the attitude of her daughters, but because she was dedicated to them she also gradually followed in their wake. Maman possessed depth in thought, a clam strength, heroic courage and a capacity for and pleasure in good work. Kindled by the contact of the flaring glow of love and sincerity in her daughter's hearts, her motherliness finally triumphed, and she came to share in their daily lives and the life of the Society. So that Rolande and Maman could freely give their time fully in service to the Society, Jeanne took it upon herself to support the family. She gave away her piano in charity when she moved into the Society and pursued a secretarial career. This, however, proved to be invaluable experience for Jeanne who was to become the future Secretary of the Society---a devoted service which she has faithfully and efficiently rendered to this day.

The two sisters simply loved the Society, and the Genêt family gladly accepted the obligations of the Society as their very own. The worth of a person may be seen by the manner in which difficulties are surmounted and responsibilities are met. The picture of their lives was noble and exemplary in every way. A truly dedicated life is never, vague, but is most decisive and distinct. It is a cheerfully accepted life of self-denial and self-forgetfulness; it does not expect any personal gain, even spiritually, for so enwrapped does the heart become in having the good fortune, and sacred privilege in serving its cherished idealism that it does not find any mood or time to even think of its own salvation or freedom. It is lost in the, quiet joy and fulfillment of loving and serving what it understands to be the highest and best. This was the spirit of the Genêts. It may not be out of place to mention that being caught by their personality, many female workers came on different occasions to render services to the Society. "Many are called but a few are chosen." Of the few one name comes prominently to our mind--Mrs. Courtenaye Olden, our present treasurer, who loved them, worked with them and took care of them almost from the early fifties. She is indeed a rare soul in singular depth, loyalty, dedication and sincerity. Swami Pavitrananda used to especially refer to the, small kitchen where Rolande cooked for the Society as "Rolande's shrine". Many a weary heart has been comforted and freshed over a hot cup of tea which the Genêt family graciously offered to friends of the Society. They felt the warmth of 'home' fraught with the fragrance of home dwelling joys that cheers up the drooping spirit, as the touched of genuine inspiration will sometimes bring fresh encouragement to the depressed pilgrims of the spirit. It was indeed the time of inspired living--the time for spiritual boost up, not merely by the fire of hospitality in the kitchen, but by the genial flame of sincerity in their heart.

Swami Vivekananda's fearless message of strength and service in the name of Truth possesses a remarkable capacity for generating an undying enthusiasm in sincere spiritual aspirants. His message severely tested the Genêts' labour of love for the Society and their love of dedicated labour. But they each remained pure and true to the message of the prophet, steady and bright till the very last. Even when Rolande became fatally ill, she did not waver, or flinch in her selfless service to the Society, but worked heart and soul to the end, enchanting others by her quiet delight of living so closely with God. Something of the universal love of God shone through her, giving her lovely features a noticeable luminosity that was clearly manifest, even when she breathed her last. In 1960, at the age of 53, on Good Friday, she passed away in full consciousness at the Society leaving behind her a magnificent record of silent service for 27 years. Maman and Jeanne followed and maintained the blazing trail. In due course Maman became a pillar of the Society. Her inner experience transformed her entire outlook, widened her horizon and enlarged her heart. It endowed her with the power to translate her rich experience into action. Her enduring love and genuine sense of fun made the ground floor of the Society a second home for many. She passed away peacefully in April of 1977 at the age of 95, and like Rolande, remained active till the very end.

Meanwhile, Jeanne continues to carry the banner of the Genêt legacy. She is a picture of dedication, serenity and enlightenment, sweetness and kindness itself, yet is the very soul of unshakable strength and fortitude a constant reminder of the spirit for which the Vedanta Society stands and upon which it was founded by Swamiji. Her face seems to bear the mark of every holiness of mankind. The superiority of her charm is felt and acknowledged by the people who come in contact with her. She speaks in tones of infinite softness. She is well known for her unassuming gentleness and winning softness of her manner. She is a rare blend of the strength of steel and the softness of dew, an unique personality. She appears like some tender plant of the orchard, blooming accidentally in the midst of the rugged plants of the field. She represents a noble idea and a philosophy of life, and has become an institution in her own times. Love for idealism is kindled within us when we come in contact with those who carry that burning flame of devotion within them.

Together, Rolande, Maman and Jeanne offer radiant examples of spiritual life and dedicated love in action that will ever be a well of inspiration to others. The mind is like a musical instrument which will produce good music only when properly tuned. We hear the music of Truth, knowledge, bliss and consecration out of a wonderful family who labored for and achieved sublimity in head and heart. To those of us struggling for full identity with spiritual idealism, the Genêt legacy burns with a saintly brightness, full of grace and truth. Reflecting on the genuine warmth and nobility of this family, our spiritual winter finds renewal in the vital spring of their true spirituality and devotion to Vedanta. In our moments of depression, when drooping hearts need fresh encouragement, they seem to guide us as the polestar, counseling us to be self-reliant in spite of all provocation.

The Genêts are respected and loved for their strength and beauty of their evolved character, free from any idea of possessiveness. No personal fulfillment in secular life may be compared to this inner strength acquired by them through their certitude of conviction in divinity which gives purpose to our lives. To us, this is the true basis of real fulfillment. This is the alpha and omega of all possessions that belong to a person.

In this way, their memories has been both a blessing and an inspiration for all of us. Their sacred bequest to humanity is one paean of genuine devotion expressed through their daily lives.

Jeanne Genêt passed away peacefully on August 28, 1998.

Written by:

Swami Tathagatananda
Vedanta Society of New York
First Published, Durga Puja, 1988
Second print September, 1998