Just after Gurudev’s centenary celebration in 1987, Swami Ramswarupanandaji organized a retreat in Mussoorie for the devotees that had come from overseas. Pujya Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj also attended. At the same time Ramswarupji did not want to miss the opportunity to get people from all over the world to sit down to express their thoughts about Swamiji on video tape, and I was one of the ones that he asked to speak.

When I was speaking on tape, I said, “I know that most are going to speak on aspects of Swamiji that we could call divine—Swamiji’s compassion, goodness and so forth, but the thing about Swamiji that I have never been able to get out of my mind is what I would call the steel up his backbone—a virtue and a quality that we as seekers all require. At the same time I may have mentioned Swamiji’s first trip to the West. We now think of Swamiji being assisted on all sides by any number of assistants, but then, in 1959, he came to the West all on his own, a South Indian Brahmin coming into the very secular, meat-eating West. His first stay was in Milwaukee, and while they served him vegetarian meals, they were eating meat right in front of him. In many ways this was typical of that first trip. I remember saying to Swamiji one time, “You must be anxious to return to India.” He replied, “I am only anxious not to be anxious.”

It is this quality of stick-to-itivenesss that underlies his compassion and goodness. When you were in his presence he could be paying attention and doing what he should, but never, even by a fraction, would he vary from his duty and having his mind on the goal of the spiritual life. And so it is even today. At his age he could just retire. Whatever has needed to be done he has been done. Yet he is planning to come over this week, weak as his body is. He is still giving his utmost.

As seekers, we can’t help our intellect. It is whatever God has given us. And even gifts of the heart and compassion—we can do our very best, but Swamiji will always be way beyond us. But there is a third factor in the human being. There is the head and the heart, but there is also the will, the determination not to give up, to stick to it.

The truth is that no matter now good our intentions are, most of us have a tendency to give up. We don’t consciously want give up, but we want to take it easy: “I’ve worked hard enough, I’ve done enough.” As one very senior person in this ashram once said, “That’s enough for this birth.” But obviously that is not Swamiji. It is never enough till the last breath in the body. It is never enough.

We may not have the intellect of Swamiji, we may not have the heart, but we’re all equal when it comes to will. If we give up, that is our fault. If we don’t keep trying, that’s our fault. And so on this very happy occasion when most of us will be reminded of Swamiji’s goodness and compassion and all his divine qualities, there is also the divine quality of perseverance that Swamiji frequently reminds us of—never giving up.

One of Swamiji’s favourite expressions is, “Till the very last breath in the body.” And this has a very positive aspect as well as the sterner part of it. It means that it is never too late. It doesn’t matter how many times we have failed. It doesn’t matter how difficult the path is. Keep going as long as there is breath in the body. And as we think of Swamiji today, we can’t help think that he is an incarnation of that positive attitude: Never give up, and it is never too late!