Swami – A Man of Pure Intent.
Some people walk into your life like a breeze—refreshing, effortless, and gone before you realize their profound presence. Swami was one such soul. The founder of IRIS Business Services, a relentless champion of MSMEs, a fearless critic, and above all, a friend in the truest sense of the word—Yaaron da yaar!
Swami didn’t just offer help; he embodied it. If you were in trouble, he wouldn’t just lend a hand—he would go the whole distance with you, silently, without seeking acknowledgment. You could stake your word on his support without a second thought, knowing that if the cause was just, Swami was already on your side.
Sunday mornings, when I sent out my blogs, Swami’s call would inevitably follow—almost like clockwork. He would debate, challenge, or acknowledge, weaving his perspective into mine. I could see his reference point, his Gestalt with mine—sometimes aligning, sometimes diverging, but always enriching the conversation. That was Swami—never indifferent, always present.
He was sharp, direct, and unfiltered—his honesty, often an uncomfortable truth for some, was his greatest strength. He spoke with passion about how IRIS stood its ground against IT giants and about what NASSCOM should be doing for MSMEs. His critique was never for criticism’s sake—it was his way of pushing boundaries, of making things better.
And yet, beneath that sharp intellect and fearless candor was warmth—a warmth that made his calls feel like a personal check-in from the universe. They were quick, to the point, and filled with a quiet care. The last time he called, it was just to share something nice an investor had said about our fund. He didn’t have to, but he did. That was Swami.
His calls always ended abruptly: “Accha chal,” and he was gone. This time, he left before I could say goodbye. And I just can’t.
Swami was like Bankei in the Zen story—his voice carried only what he meant. If he was happy for you, it was pure happiness. If he was concerned, it was pure concern. No pretense, no hidden tones—just Swami, as he was, inside and out.
As within, so without.
AFTER BANKEI HAD PASSED AWAY, A BLIND MAN WHO LIVED NEAR THE MASTER’S TEMPLE SAID TO A FRIEND: ‘SINCE I AM BLIND I CANNOT WATCH A PERSON’S FACE, SO I MUST JUDGE HIS CHARACTER BY THE SOUND OF HIS VOICE.
ORDINARILY WHEN I HEAR SOMEONE CONGRATULATE ANOTHER UPON HIS HAPPINESS OR SUCCESS, I ALSO HEAR A SECRET TONE OF ENVY.
WHEN CONDOLENCE IS EXPRESSED FOR THE MISFORTUNE OF ANOTHER, I HEAR PLEASURE AND SATISFACTION, AS IF THE ONE CONDOLING WAS REALLY GLAD THERE WAS SOMETHING LEFT TO GAIN IN HIS OWN WORLD.
‘IN ALL MY EXPERIENCE HOWEVER, BANKEI’S VOICE WAS ALWAYS SINCERE. WHENEVER HE EXPRESSED HAPPINESS, I HEARD NOTHING BUT HAPPINESS, AND WHENEVER HE EXPRESSED SORROW, SORROW WAS ALL I HEARD.’
MAN IS SPLIT. Schizophrenia is a normal condition of man — at least now. It may not have been so in the primitive world, but centuries of conditioning, civilization, culture and religion have made man a crowd — divided, split, contradictory. One part goes one way, the other part goes in just the diametrically opposite way and it is almost impossible to keep oneself together. It is a miracle that man is existing at all. He should by now have disappeared long before.
But because this split is against his nature, deep down somewhere hidden the unity still survives. Because the soul of man is one, all the conditionings at the most destroy the periphery of the man. But the centre remains untouched — that’s how man continues to live. But his life has become a hell.
The whole effort of Zen is how to drop this schizophrenia, how to drop this split personality, how to drop the divided mind of man, how to become undivided, integrated, centred, crystallised.
The way you are, you cannot say that you are. You don’t have a being. You are a marketplace — many voices. If you want to say ‘yes’, immediately the ‘no’ is there. You cannot even utter a simple word ‘yes’ with totality. Watch… say ‘yes’, and deep inside the ‘no’ also arises with it. You cannot say a simple word like ‘no’ without contradicting it at the same time. In this way happiness is not possible; unhappiness is a natural consequence of a split personality. Unhappiness, because you are constantly in conflict with yourself. It is not that you are fighting with the world, you are every moment fighting with yourself. How can there be peace? How can there be silence? How can you be for even a single moment at rest? Not for a single moment are you at rest. Even while you are sleeping you are dreaming a thousand and one things. Even while sleeping you are tossing this way and that — a continuous conflict. You are a battlefield.
You say to somebody ‘I love you’, and the more you say it, the more you have to repeat it.
It appears there is suspicion behind it. If you really love there is no need even to say it, because words do not matter. Your whole being will show your love; your eyes will show your love. There will be no need to say it, there will be no need to repeat it continuously.
You repeat to convince the other and at the same time to convince yourself – because deep down, jealousy, possessiveness, hatred, the urge to dominate, a deep power politics, are hidden.
Watch. Whenever you repeat a thing too many times, go deep within yourself. You must be carrying it. But you cannot falsify it, that is the problem. Your eyes will show that it is hidden behind.
Have you watched? You go to somebody’s house and he welcomes you. But there is no welcome in his presence. He says, ‘I am very happy to see you, glad to see you.’ But you don’t see any gladness anywhere; in fact, he looks a little anxious, worried, apprehensive.
He looks at you as if trouble has come to his home. Have you watched people saying to you ‘take any seat’ and simultaneously showing you a certain seat to take? They say ‘take any seat’ but they show you, in a subtle gesture, ‘take this seat’. They go on contradicting themselves.
Parents go on telling their children, ‘Be yourself,’ and at the same time they go on teaching how one should be. ‘Be independent’ — and at the same time they go on forcing the child to be obedient. They have their own idea about how the child should be and when they say, ‘Be yourself,’ they mean, ‘Be the way we want you to be.’ They don’t mean, ‘Be yourself.’
Continuously something else is there present and you cannot really falsify it. But man has become cunning about that also. We don’t look into each other’s eyes because eyes can show the truth, so it is thought to be part of etiquette to avoid eyes. Don’t look into somebody’s eyes too much or you will be thought a little uncultured — transgressing, trespassing. It is very difficult to falsify the eyes. You can falsify the tongue very easily, because the tongue, the language, is a social by-product. But eyes belong to your being.
You say something but your eyes continually show something else, hence in all the societies of the world people avoid each other’s eyes. They don’t encounter — because that will be looking into the truth.
But you can watch these contradictions in yourself and it will be a great help. Because unless your ‘in’ is just like your ‘out’ and your ‘out’ is just like your ‘in’, you can never be at rest.
In Tibet, in Egypt, they say, ‘As above, so below.’ Zen says, ‘As within, so without.’ Unless your within becomes as your without you can never be at rest because your periphery will continuously be in conflict with your centre. The problem is that the periphery cannot win. Ultimately only the centre can win. But the periphery can delay, postpone; the periphery can waste time and life and energy. If you go on living on the periphery and just go on pretending, not really living, you will have many faces but you will not have your original face.
I have heard.
Abrahamson had reached the grand old age of eighty and decided to celebrate. All his life he had been orthodox, had worn a long beard, black hat, black suit and black overcoat.
Now to celebrate his birthday the old man shaved off the beard, replaced his sombre black clothes with the latest style green checked suit, a burgundy tie and blue striped shirt and headed for the massage parlour.
As Abrahamson crossed the street he was struck by a truck and killed. In heaven he spoke to his maker, God, ‘Why me? I was a good husband, I gave to all the charities, I have always been a religious man.”To tell the truth,’ said the Lord, ‘I did not recognise you.’
And I would like to tell you even God will not be able to recognise YOU either. Abrahamson changed his dress only once and became unrecognisable and you change your periphery every moment, you change your dress every moment, you change your face, your mask, every moment. Forget about God — you cannot recognise yourself. You cannot say who you are.
In Zen they have a koan, a deep object for meditation, to find out one’s original face. The Master says to the disciple: ‘Go and sit silently and find out your original face.’ They mean the face you had before you were born or the face that you will have after you have died — because the moment the child is born, the society starts giving him false faces; the moment the child takes his first breath, corruption starts. The child has entered into the world of politics, falsification, untruth. Now, layer upon layer, there will be many faces.
And the clever man has many more faces than the simple man. So whatsoever the need he immediately changes his face. He adjusts his face.
Have you watched? You are sitting in your room and your servant passes by. You have a different face for the servant, a very indifferent face. In fact, you don’t look at your servant, he is not worth looking at. You don’t recognise that a man, a human being just like you, has entered the room. It is as if a mechanism has passed. You don’t recognise the humanity of the servant. But if your boss comes into the room immediately you are standing, wagging your tail, smiling — all smiles. You have a different face for your boss.
If your wife comes you have a different face, if your mistress comes you have a different face. Continuously you go on adjusting, manipulating. One has to understand otherwise one cannot find one’s original face.
A man who has an original face has a unity. He remains the same. Buddha is reported to have said that the taste of an enlightened man is just like the taste of seawater – wherever you taste it, whenever you taste it, it always tastes of the salt.
The enlightened person always shows one face. Not that he is monotonous…. Remember, don’t misunderstand me — he is not monotonous at all. In fact, you are monotonous because your faces are all dead. He is alive, growing, but his face is his. The face goes on growing, it goes on becoming richer and richer, it goes on taking on more and more awareness, it goes on becoming more and more radiant, alive, beautiful, a grace goes on increasing around it, it is surrounded by a light, but, it remains the same face. You can recognise it. There is a discontinuous continuity or, a continuous discontinuity. He changes yet he remains the same. He remains the same and yet he goes on changing. You can recognise the continuity and you can also recognise a constant growth.
Growth always happens to the original face — remember. False faces cannot grow, they are dead. They have no life in them, how can they grow? You can bring plastic flowers — they cannot grow. You can keep them, you can deceive people, but they cannot grow.
Real flowers grow. Only life grows. If you are not growing you are dead.
Remember that each moment should be a growth moment. One should continuously go on moving and yet remain centred, rooted in one’s being. Whenever, in whatsoever situation, you become one, a peace, a happiness, a bliss, surrounds you, arises in you. You feel fulfilled.
Osho: Dang Dang Doko Dang Chapter #3 Chapter title: ‘As within, so without’ (excerpts)
गुज़रे जो अपने यारों की सोहबत में चार दिन
ऐसा लगा बसर हुए जन्नत में चार दिन……………ए जी जोश
guzre jo apne yāroñ kī sohbat meñ chaar din
aisā lagā basar hue jannat meñ chaar din…………….A G JOSH
The days spent in the company of dear friends,
Felt like four days lived in paradise.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to experience true love and deep friendship in life, Those who do are truly blessed.
Swami was that rare gift—a friend whose loyalty and love were unshakable. His departure leaves an emptiness that can never be filled, but his impact, his kindness, and his unwavering friendship will forever echo in the lives he touched.
“Swami, my friend, your journey here may have ended, but the bond of friendship you left behind will always remain.”
I am reminded of a song that beautifully captures the spirit of true friendship—the kind that is rare, deep, and unforgettable. — “Yaaron Dosti Badi Hi Haseen Hai” – sung by KK for the Film: Pal (1999), lyrics by Mehboob and music by Lezley Lewis.