GAHANANANDA 1

Some monks were on their way to the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama at Sarisha by car. En route the car broke down. A monk alighted from the car and quietly walked off beyond the green meadows by the wayside. After a couple of hours the car was repaired and the monks went in search of the aforesaid monk.There they found him seated unperturbed under a tree discoursing with some villagers about spiritual life. This monk was none other than Swami Gahananandaji Maharaj who later became the venerable 14th President of the Ramakrishna Order.

Swami Gahanananda was born Nareshranjan Roychoudhury on October 4, 1916, on the auspicious Durgashtami Day to Sukhamayi Devi and Rajkrishna Roychoudhury in a village called Pahadpur in Sylhet in the then undivided Bengal. They were four brothers--Rakeshranjan, Sureshranjan, Bireshranjan and Nareshranjan.

Naresh studied till Class 8 in Comilla and up to Class 10 in Narayanganj. Even as a boy he evinced a keen interest in Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature and was inspired by the glowing lives of a few monks of the Ramakrishna Order. Two of his cousins, Ketakiranjan (later Swami Prabhananda-Senior) and Pramodranjan (Brahmachari Pramod) left indelible impressions of renunciation and service on his sensitive mind which led him eventually into the self-same path.

Ketaki Maharaj had immersed himself in the service of the tribal people of Khasiya and Jayanthia hills.Excessive exertion ruined his health and he finally returned to Pahadpur where he succumbed to his illness prematurely at the age of only 38. Nareshranjan served the dying swami with utmost devotion.

After class hours Nareshranjan was in the habit of visiting his brother's shop at Tantania.It was called ' Swadeshi Shilpa Bhandar'. On the day of its inauguration it was Naresh who handed out the first cash memo to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. 

Naresh was privileged to hear Miss Josephine Macleod at the Albert Hall during the birth centenary celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna.Around this time he also was blessed with the "darshan" of Swami Abhedananda at Mechhuabazar.

Probably in 1938 Nareshranjan visited Belur Math and Dakshineswar for the first time. In his own words," I went to Belur Math on Vijaya Dasami day.Thakur's new temple was still under construction.From Belur Math we proceeded to Dakshineswar. I could not meet Swami Vijnanananda or other senior monks of the Order."

Naresh could no longer oversee his brother's business as his mind became increasingly absorbed in the thought of ameliorating the suffering of the afflicted, the poor, the sick and the downtrodden. Soon his brother became aware of the fact that he was frequenting the Advaita Ashrama at Wellington Lane. He told him, " If you wish to become a monk,then become a monk of calibre."

Adapted by Sugata Bose from Swami Gahanananda, a Belur Math publication, 16 November, 2007.

THE MISSION OF RAMAKRISHNA 1

The mission of Ramakrishna is founded on truth, truth temporal and truth transcendental. When Kshudiram Chattopadhyay refused to testify falsely in a law-court on behalf of the local landlord and was in consequence implicated in a false case by the latter which led to his eviction from his village, homeless and destitute with a dependent family to feed and provide shelter, the battle-lines were drawn for the tussle of ideology for the coming Age. This venerable Brahman hung onto truth despite the heaviest of odds having been pitted against him, the power of property and deceit, and the spectre of sudden destitution looming large with an uncertain future holding no promise save that of spiritual survival in the name of the family deity Raghuvir.

Ksudiram and his family did survive the ordeal as a dear friend in neighbouring Kamarpukur village offered them shelter and means of subsistence whereupon the Chattopadhyays settled down to living their virtuous lives centred around Raghuvir.

Incidentally, we see that the ideal of truth formed the basis of the development of the mythological figure of Ramachandra. He being the deity of adoration for the Chattopadhyays, truth formed the basis of their lives too. Kshudiram was a staunch practitioner of Hindu caste observances. Steeped in the Brahmanical tradition, he rose to spiritual eminence in his new home, Kamarpukur. His life was cast in the mould of the orthodox devout Brahman with unflinching faith in God and unfailing adherence to truth.

Into this household was born the Avatar of the Age, Sri Ramakrishna.

IN MEMORIAM ... 1

The greater the gravity of the soul, the faster the consumption of life's forces. In the final lap of this terrestrial run towards eventual fulfilment the soul wears a garb that is so finely attuned to the realisation of the higher self that it draws much of its energy along subtler nerve channels thereby causing severe physical energy depletion. Energy must be conserved and what one gains on the subtler front, one loses on the grosser front, and this is the reason why great souls suffer so much physical pain, sickness and, in the worst case scenario, an early exit from the stage of this world. Men of genius are known to have expended their physical energy resources rapidly in life even as they produced works of lasting greatness. The Energy Conservation Principle is ever at work, being the bedrock of all phenomena. Genius is, thus, often attended with hazards of health thrust on the system by erratic movements of creative energy. A regular orderly flow of energy is like the flow of a river along the plains but the irregular flow of energy in a genius is like the cataract coursing its way down the the mountainous slopes dancing to the rhythm of the gods. The placid flow of water does not generate electricity but the rapidity of a waterfall does. The average run of humanity are akin to the river flowing with its soft murmur to the sea while men of outstanding genius are like the river in its highland habitat, prancing, dancing to the rhythms of Shiva, Nataraja's dance. It is these latter children of the Lord who are the bearers of the symphony of the soul, the inner music that they hear and reproduce for lesser mortals to savour too. They are the harbingers of hope for all, the precursors to progress, the messiahs of men.

It is not given to all to rise to such stupendous heights of creative genius nor do common people immersed in their humdrum existence get to apprehend the rare flights of these supernal souls. They lead their matter-of-fact lives bereft of 'the agony and the ecstasy' of these marvels of the Mother-heart. For them it is the day-to-day social intercourse, the struggle for survival, the battle for bread. They too laugh in merriment, shed tears in sorrow, dream of life and love, share and care for dear ones but they escape the sublime stirrings of the soul which these children of light are privy to. These luminous beings shed lustre on life around and fill the air with the fair fragrance of their soul.

But everything that does come in life, comes but at a price. And fair fantasies of delight! You, too, must account for the harvest of your soul with the blood that courses in your artery of immortality. You, too, must pay your dues to this Cosmic Dream in daring to make a splash and awake the slumbering souls to life and action. 'tis 'a bridge too far' and the toll tax must be paid. Heaven's gates open only when all dues are met. What shall you offer, my friend, save the very fabric of your soul, the dying embers of your mortal coil that had lit up the pyre of puerile pronouncements of the past at such an early age, in the very blossom of your youth, your freshest efflorescence fraught with the innocence of the fruition to come. But before autumn sets in, the flower fades and the promise of future fruition lies fulfilled and unfulfilled as the river rises in spate to carry the boat to shores unknown. The sun sets and in the even-glow is seen the setting sun's last radiance as darkness engulfs all. The torch that had lit a thousand lamps shines no more.

And even in the womb of the deepest dark, out in the far, far reaches of forgotten space, a light shines fair and faint, a glimmer, beckoning whom?

MOTHER, O MOTHER!

The Mother of the universe, dear bereaved one, had assumed your earthly mother's form for a while that you may see the light of day. Now in the fullness of your efflorescence she has withdrawn herself to Her true habitat. She never was, she ever is, your mother, with you, around you, inside and outside of you, even as the space that envelopes everything and eventually melts into the Infinite. Free she is now of the mortal coil, freer still to gather you in like she had enwombed you in those first moments before time began. Who says she is no more? My friend, this is the one thing which is beyond even the Primal Power to bring about. She, the Infinite One, knows no death nor any of Hers may ever die. This is the eternal law. So, grieve not great one. Mother is with MOTHER, safe in Her lap, a child of immortal bliss. Now live this life, radiant and blissful, fulfilling her in service to all the mothers on Earth.

At heart with you,

Sugata Bose.

A LIFE LIVED TO PERFECTION ... 1

Margaret Elizabeth Noble, a name that evokes intense emotional responses in old-timers who have seen the plight of dependent India, who have stayed up whole night and hugged each other on the streets of free India on the 15th of August, 1947, who have thereafter seen days of hope and nights of disillusionment and despair, in the hearts of these countless Indians this name throbs with pulsations of love even today. This Irishwoman of Scottish descent chose India as her homeland and gave her life to it. She identified more with her culture than any other foreigner before or after, perhaps. She adopted India as her motherland, embraced her religion, became one with her people and gave her all for their emancipation. The intensity of her love for India endeared her forever to her people as they struggled to overcome the inertia of ages and throw off the British yoke.

Miss Noble met Swami Vivekananda in London on a cold Sunday afternoon in November, 1895. While the personality of the Swami did attract her and even his radically different Hindu mode of thinking set her on to new lines of observation, she did not at once subscribe to his philosophy but suspended her judgement on it till she realised its validity through actual experience. And then she surrendered to her teacher for good. Swamiji became her living ideal and she dedicated her life towards the fulfilment of his mission on earth.

In 1898 she came to India and stayed on to adopt this holy land as her own. Never in history, before or after, has there been another instance perhaps of such total absorption of an alien culture by a foreigner to the utter oblivion of the culture of the land of the great one's birth. This is the unique feature of Sister Nivedita's life as she carried out her Master's commandment to fulfilment in forgetting the very memory of her life before India.

And there she was, Margaret Elizabeth Noble, in the land of her dreams, the birthplace of her Master, Swami Vivekananda, the land that was suffering under the yoke of British subjugation, an Irishwoman with the fire of freedom within and the zeal to serve her beloved Master's queen of heart, India.

THE RAMAKRISHNA-VIVEKANANDA WAY 1

This life will pass at any rate. Inexorable is the passage of time, inescapable the end that is death. Why fruitlessly fritter away precious human energy chasing ephemeral dreams? Why not live for an ideal a golden life of service and sacrifice? Why go through the motions just because there seems to be no alternative to leading the sensual life? There is an alternative, a radically different way of living and thinking. This I call THE RAMAKRISHNA-VIVEKANANDA WAY.

Sri Ramakrishna has laid before us the highest ideal of God-realization. Through his superhuman austerities he not only realized the ultimate truth of life and existence but laid before us this supreme ideal to follow. His apostles travelled far and wide to scatter the germ of his thoughts. But after the demise of Swami Vivekananda there has been a lull in the activity level of the movement so much so that today Vivekananda is a forgotten name in the West. It may here be argued that the cause of this oblivion in the West is due to historical reasons which to a great extent it is but that cannot be sufficient reason for us, devotees of the Cause of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, to sit still and while away life's hours waiting for the resurgence of Swamiji in the West.

Human civilization is in peril today. Mass ignorance of the higher principles of life, dogmatic assertions of violent political philosophies, fanatical scriptural indoctrination, the imposition of might over right, subservience of humanity to hollow material culture have all degraded the soul of man till he has been reduced either to a beast of burden or, else, to a predatory being feasting upon brother man. What glory can there be for man when he measures his worth in terms of his material assets, when he venerates the billionaires of the world as demigods of the age and is unaware of the loss of his higher inheritance, his innate divinity hidden under the cover of his crass consumerism. On one side are the exploited, God's children despoiled of home and hearth, on the other, the exploiters, the crafty capitalists, mercenaries of men devoid of mercy save for their show of magnanimity when they indulge in so-called charity towards brother man and are lauded by sycophants operating in this pretentious society where man dares assume a superior position in offering a dole to his fellow man. A perverted culture where the human soul is daily sold for the copper coin is rampant today. Distorted values or utter absence of any value whatsoever save that of the almighty dollar and its like have brutalized life on earth such that millions suffer to produce the luxury of the few. The toiling teeming millions, they who produce the wealth of the world, have no hope of a decent existence while their Machiavellian masters loot the fruit of their labour reducing them to objects of pity fit only for a dole which they must accept to humour the vanity of these soulless beings.

This then is the stark reality of life as it obtains today in an increasingly materialistic world. There is no hope for the common man save to get ground under the wheels of this cruel machinery, the factory system, which produces goods out of human blood, draining mercilessly the vitality of the populace to satiate the hunger of the privileged few. They labour and they are looted. Is this economic justice? Is this fair share of the earth's resources that is the common property of all, yet, is today the exclusive possession of a few who know the tricks of the trade and use deceit, cunning and what not to get a stranglehold over the wealth of the world. Today, the irony is that the majority are marginalized and have been reduced to a state of neo-serfdom although the rich and the politically powerful the world over indulge in glorious oratorical flourishes of the freedom of man and his democratic rights. But the belly burns and the blood boils as billions fuel the social machinery of enjoyment for the few and sufferance for the many. And all this is just one side of the picture, the might of money ruling the roost. There are other starker realities as well that have plunged the world in inestimable grief but more of that later. For the while let us ponder if we shall address the issue at hand, this ruinous rule of the copper coin or shall we meekly succumb to its every force till we are an extinct race for spirits we are and as matter cannot long survive.

And here steps in Vivekananda with the gospel of his Master, the complete subservience of money to the might of man. Ramakrishna had famously uttered, 'Taka mati, mati taka.' (Money is mud, mud money.) This was so radical a statement in the 19th century that its significance was not fully comprehended then. Now, in the fullness of time, it seeks deliverance to come into being and wage war against Mammon. Godspeed unto the devotees of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda to preach their gospel of the divinity of the soul through the length and breadth of the wide world that humanity may be saved while yet there is time. Else, extinction looms large in the face of man. He has reached the end of the blind alleyway which he thought was the royal avenue of terrestrial delight and in the process has dragged innocent victims of his gluttony along. It is you, my friends, who must now gird up your loins to spring to action ' fired with the zeal of holiness ' and ' spread the gospel of equality, the gospel of salvation and the gospel of social raising-up ' to man that renascent humanity make strike against the citadels of this mercantile civilization and, so, usher in a glorious chapter in this book called 'Life'.

And what path shall we follow? Why, THE RAMAKRISHNA-VIVEKANANDA WAY. That is the royal avenue open to all of us and that is the path we must traverse as we advance Godward. And let this be our mission---that we will not eat the mango alone in secret but will share its slices with all in the full blaze of the sun, resplendent, free. May Sri Ramakrishna bless all!

IN DEFENCE OF THE CAUSE

Wonderful defence, dear devotee. This is the spirit. Idle speculations in the public domain like the aforesaid comment and the like are not only irresponsible and distasteful but are the result of gross ignorance about the great movement of Thakur-Swamiji to which Maharajji eminently belongs. But as they say, even animosity towards holiness is productive of great good for whosoever one thinks of, one tends to become like him. I invite respected Shree X to make an in-depth study of the Ramakrishna Movement and thoroughly study the lives of the great souls who form the the warp and the woof of the Order before hazarding comments which are profane and suffering from a certain sense of levity about which the great Swami Vivekananda had forewarned in his famous Calcutta address. My respects to all concerned for all are the children of our Mother.

P.S. : The happiness alluded to in the aforesaid comment may be the possession of any who takes the plunge for God in all sincerity with purity and unselfishness as the basis. I invite all in the name of Thakur-Swamiji to feel happy in their name and recollection rather than suffer from uneasiness on finding someone happy. The purity of monks is the simple cause of their happiness and not any pleasure-seeking which it seems is the purport of the aforesaid comment. Be pure and happy, this is a far better stance than to feel superficially critical, albeit, jokingly perhaps, for life is serious business when it comes to realizing its worth which is why we are here. May Mother bless all !

POESY 2 ... DOL

Rong jeno mor morme laage,
Amar shokol karme laage.

Mormo jethay karmahaara,
Jethay ronger utshodhara,
Shethay Prabhur purnopreme,
Ranjito hok nabin phaage.
Rong jeno mor morme laage,
Amar shokol karme laage.

THE PEERLESS PARAMAHAMSA 3

Gadadhar was given to spiritual moods as was evidenced on at least three occasions in his boyhood days. Once while crossing a paddy-field he witnessed a flight of white cranes against the backdrop of a darkening norwester sky. Instantly, the artist in him was overwhelmed by the beauteous contrast of colours and he fell unconscious on the field. The puffed rice tucked in a corner of his dhoti scattered all over as the spirit of the boy soared, a skylark in the limpid spaces of the Infinite. When he came to his outer consciousness, he seemed to manifest no physical debility or psychological aberration. After initial apprehensions thus, his parents were comforted by his manifestly good health.

On another occasion a play on Bhagavan Shiva was to be enacted when the person playing the role of Shiva fell ill. Gadai being a good actor, he was summoned to act as substitute to avoid the scenario of the play falling through. However, when he took to the stage in Shiva's attire and had to deliver the dialogues, he became so absorbed in the thought of Shiva that he stood transfixed as a statue in a profusion of tears, oblivious of his surroundings. When all efforts to recall him to a state of normalcy failed, the play was called off. The night passed in the state of ecstasy but Gadai was the same bonny child as before the following morning. This time also his parents were alarmed but on seeing him sunny again as before their fears were gradually assuaged.

A third ecstasy the boy Gadadhar experienced en route to Anur, a neighbouring village famous for the shrine of Vishalakshi Devi. Gadai accompanied the village maidens who doted on him, the daughters of Dharmadas Laha, the village landlord. But before the party could reach Anur, Gadai was possessed by the spirit of Vishalakshi Devi, so to say, and his companions in awe, considering their pilgrimage fulfilled perhaps, reverently retraced their steps back to Kamarpukur.

THE PEERLESS PARAMAHAMSA 2

Gadadhar or the boy Ramakrishna, was a bonny child given to much playfulness and pranks. He was contemplative by nature, was a beautiful singer, a good sculptor, a perfect mimic and a brilliant actor. He had an artistic temperament and was quite averse to formal academic training. Instead, he preferred the free and buoyant company of his friends in the enactment of a play in the orchard of the village landlord. He also had a pronounced dislike for mathematics. He had a great affinity for the mendicant monks that halted at Kamarpukur en route to Sri Jagannathkshetra, Puri. He served them in all possible ways and once even donned the sannyasin's garb much to his mother's consternation.

THE PEERLESS PARAMAHAMSA 1

In 1836 was born the Avatar of the Age in Kamarpukur, Bengal, to humble parents Kshudiram and Chandramani. The boy grew up to be the sage of Dakshineswar, a spiritual phenomenon unparalleled in history. There, on the outskirts of Kolkata, he lived an extraordinary life of the Spirit, realizing the truths of all the major religions of the world and pronouncing the epic statement : "As many faiths, so many paths." Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, in a lifespan of 50 years changed the contours of the spiritual history of the world whose fruition we are now witnessing in mute wonder and awe.

KASHIPUR GARDEN HOUSE, 16 AUGUST, 1886 ... 2

11:25 a.m.,16 August,1886. The peerless Paramahamsa passes away plunging His devotees in inconsolable grief. Kashipur Garden-house, the stage of the final sport (Antya-lila) of the Lord !

KASHIPUR GARDEN HOUSE, 16 AUGUST, 1886 ... 1

The divine drama draws to a close. The Master is about to withdraw Himself from his earthly abode. The eventide sets in. August 16,1886, Kashipur Garden House is left bereft of its very life as the peerless Paramahamsa passes away. His image looms large in the dewy drops shed by His devotees.

CYCLONIC MONK ... 3

THE BOY BILEH

The boy was born of prayers and offerings at Vireshwar Shiva temple in Varanasi (Kashi) and of vigils, fasts and unending austerities of Bhuvaneshwari at home in Kolkata. He was thus called Bireshwar, shortened to Bileh by playmates and family members. He was an ebullient child, buoyant beyond description, merry, playful and up to all sorts of antics that innocence could contrive. Bhuvaneshwari was at her wit's end to manage this little boy and finally, when all means of persuasion or policy failed, she would hold Bileh under a shower of water which would almost magically calm the boy. In later years Swamiji reminisced that in childhood it seemed to him as if there was an inexhaustible source of energy inside of him which would gush out in incessant currents making him so very hyperactive that his mother had to keep two nannies for him. 

KALPATARU 1

The Kalpataru (the wish-fulfilling tree) beneath which the Master had blessed his devotees on January 1, 1886 at Cossipore Garden House. Late afternoon that day Girish arrived. Sri Ramakrishna addressed him, " I hear you are saying things about me. Tell me, what you have understood about me that prompts you to speak thus." Instantly Girish knelt down and with great emotion exclaimed," About whom Vyasa and Valmiki have failed to extol enough, how much more have I said, I, insignificant Girish ? " Struck by these words, the Master instantly passed into Samadhi. Returning to normal plane, his bounds of divine grace broke down as he blessed all the devotees assembled with spiritual visions and ineffable bliss. And the mute witness of this divine saga was this tree, the Kalpataru. Even today millions flock under its shade as they visit this place of pilgrimage, the Master's abode in his final phase of earthly sport, with the firm conviction that he will bless them with light and knowledge and freedom.

FORGIVENESS 1 ... SARADA DEVI ... THE EMBODIMENT OF FORGIVENESS

Forgiveness is austerity. This simple message of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi carries in its womb the seed of future world peace to be effected in her name and thus is the message most profound. She, the Mother of the universe, has had to endure the unbearable pain of her children annihilating each other down the ages. Yet, she will not overly interfere with the cosmic process of self-evolution and thus has, more often than not, left humanity to work out the problems of terrestrial evolution to itself, herself merely overseeing the worldly process and suffering silently the pain of her children for, eventually, it is always the mother that suffers the lot of her offspring. Political reconciliation between nations over past differences is not merely a matter of diplomacy and policy but is founded on the moral-ethical-spiritual principle of adjustment, acceptance and forgiveness. If past differences continue to plague present relations, the world may never see peace. World War II was effected in the wake of disastrous differences between the victor and the vanquished at the end of World War I. If the Allied Powers had been not so very severe in their treatment of Germany in the Versailles Treaty and had been more merciful, who knows whether Hitler would have ever been able to muster the critical mass of national support to promote his evil designs? Had they listened then to the feeble voice of a frail old lady in dependent India, the history of the world would have been different. Today, that voice of truth is gaining amplitude. It is time now to heed Holy Mother's Word : ' Forgiveness is austerity.' Shall we lend our ears to her and change the human condition? Or shall we persist in our past inertia and keep 'settling' things along the old line of blood and violence? A recent unique historical illustration of the reconciliation of the majority blacks with the minority whites in post-apartheid South Africa should set all of the world to think along similar lines of forgiveness of past sins in the bid to build a better future. What Nelson Mandela achieved in South Africa may be achieved elsewhere as well for uniformity is the rigorous law of nature and history does repeat itself. Mandela was profoundly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's personality and teachings and Gandhiji in turn has acknowledged his indebtedness to Swami Vivekananda's teachings. And who was Swamiji but the child of the Divine Mother, our mother Sri Sarada Devi? Thus, quite imperceptibly, Holy Mother's divine influence is working in the world to bring about peace and harmony among her children. And this message,'forgiveness is austerity' will be the bedrock on which inter-personal relations as well as international relations will be built to usher in a new age of prosperity, peace and progress even unto the divine.

Jai Ma!

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RAMAKRISHNA 3

What more shall I say after the passage of yet another birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna than to reiterate that life is precious and must not be squandered chasing ephemeral dreams ? Did not the Master say that life is for God-realization ? Then why wait ? Are not his words the ultimate commandment that demand immediate execution, freely and wholeheartedly from us, his devotees ? Are they not the giver of the highest good, the seed of the final fruition of life ? Then why delay ? Let us all hearken to the call within right away where the Master even today can be heard, " O, where are you all ? I can scarce stay anymore without you. Come ye, my children, tarry no more, come in haste, the hour passes by. "

GURUDEV 5

Chant your mantra to glory. The mantra is the seed word that will open the gateway to the highest heavens for you. Know for certain that your Guru is divine and the mantra implanted by him in the depths of your consciousness is fraught with tremendous spiritual potency. The initiation you have received is with the sanction of God whose visible embodiment is your divine Guru. There is no greater religion than absolute devotion to the Guru and no greater work in life than his service. All energy must be directed to doing his divine bidding, carrying out with perfection his spiritual instructions and ever engaging yourself in seeking to please him. The Guru being pleased, God is pleased. Therefore, ever remember that the Guru is God-incarnate. Unless you have this perception of your Guru and revere him accordingly, your spiritual progress will be impeded at every point. And, if this reverence for the Guru is spontaneous in you, then blessed are you, O devotee! For you the path is clear. The razor's edge will have sufficiently broadened to carry you home into the arms of the Beloved and the inaccessible mountainous terrain en route to the summit of realisations will be a valley of flowers, fragrant and beckoning you higher and deeper into the core consciousness of your being where all is one. There, your spiritual master, your Chosen Ideal and you will have met in the oneness that defies description, in the union that is perennial, blissful, radiant, all-absorbing. Godspeed my friends, the Beloved can scarce tarry anymore!

Jai Gurudev! Jai Sri Ramakrishna!

RAMAKRISHNA 2

It is a singular fortune for a person to realize while yet time is that God-realization is the goal of life and that life should not be frittered away in pursuit of sense pleasures, hollow and insubstantial as they are. Peace and happiness we all seek, do we not ? But are we anywhere close to achieving these when, driven by dreams of desire, we desist from living the spiritual life making God the focus of our existence ? All our life we weave the web of desire only to be befooled in the end when we find life slipping away leaving us beggared in body and soul, despairing a lost opportunity and fervently wishing to alter the course of the inevitable. But alas, that is not to be and the flame of life is put out before fruition of life has come, and this is the saga of our terrestrial existence time and time again.

RAMAKRISHNA IS THE WAY.

The sage of Dakshineshwar tirelessly stressed that God-realization is the goal of human life and that a person should renounce attachment to lust and lucre to attain to the bliss of Brahman. Bhakti or devotion to God is the primary requisite and not the pursuit of pleasure. The fulfilment of life is in loving God as one's very own and life is to be lived in serving all knowing them to be God-incarnate. Youth is the season when God must be discovered and must not be wasted in worldliness.

So, there is the message for all of us. Let us be up and doing in this grand act---the discovery of God, the grandest discovery of all. In this we may all turn out to be true scientists, and that too, a scientist of the highest order.

Jai Ramakrishna !

ARISE INDIA 36 ... CHARACTER-FORMATION, THE BEDROCK OF CIVILISATION

It is character that is most wanting in society today. People are generally engaged in self-serving without realising for a while that self-interest is best served by striving for collective good. 'Myself last' --- this is the principle Swami Vivekananda has laid down before us and this is the principle, therefore, that we should adhere to if we are to be truly spiritual. Humanity is largely barbaric where it holds on to the reverse principle --- 'Myself first'. Thus are wars ceaselessly fought to create as well as attempt to resolve issues. If lasting peace is to be achieved, then unselfishness must be the way ahead. An integrated world-view based on the Vedantic vision of the oneness of existence can solve the problems that beset human society today and will surely be soon recognised as the one civilised course open before humanity for its survival as a species.

On the personal plane, sincerity, truthfulness and purity, the three prime requisites for character-formation, must be the attributes that must be there in large numbers of people if a collective impact for the betterment of the human condition is to be made. Service for self-uplift and not mere work for wage is the watchword. This indecent profit-motivation as the propelling force in work that is the bane of the industrial age must be given up in the higher light of understanding of the divine principle of oneness of all that is. How can I cheat you, how may I profit from you if I know for certain that you and I are one? The sense of separation gone, love will overflow for all and then only will humanity witness the golden transformation of society. We must all strive hard to cultivate character that such a day may soon dawn on us. Till then let us not rest. Let us exert ourselves utmost towards the fruition of such a renascent day.

Jai Sri Ramakrishna! Jai Ma! Jai Swamiji!

LOVE ... THE LORD 3

Worshipful service is the key to unlocking the inner chambers of the heart where God resides. All work must be done in the spirit of service to God, your Chosen Ideal ( Ishta-Devata ). Then work will not seem a labour but will be a blissful exercise. Gradually such service will purify the mind-stuff and clarify the soul. Prolonged service will increase the sattwa ( the divine element ) in the system and upgrade it. Then the mind will be restful, peaceful and full of bliss. The process may be accelerated by pouring in a lot of love for your Chosen Ideal as you perform your work knowing it to be service to your Divine Beloved. Love will smooth out the rough course that life is and making your sojourn on Earth a heavenly experience. But this love has to be directed to God and not to any human being for the former will free you while the latter will bind. Expect nothing in this giving of love. Be free of all human expectation and the return will come in the fullness of time from God. What man can give, can God not give and infinitely more besides ? So far you have befriended man and what have you gained thereby ? Now for once repose your trust, your faith in the One that has been waiting for you since time immemorial. Love Him and Him alone and see what a transformation comes in your consciousness, in your life. It is springtime now. May your divine love effloresce ! May the blossoms fulfil themselves in fruition ! May your life be the playhouse of the Lord where all is sublime, radiant and blissful !

ARISE INDIA 35 ... THE NIGHT-WATCHMAN CALLS, "AWAKE! AWAKE!"

So long as the thirst for material gain persists in the mind, God is a distant dream. Futile are the prayers and propitiation if unattended with unalloyed love. What profit is in prayer for persistence of the perishable life when the yawning chasm of death will spare nor prince nor pauper? What fulfilment do you seek in transitory pleasures which are so fraught with pain? What bliss is greater than the bliss of God which perishes not with time? Then why, O man, seek ye not the infinite treasures of the Atman which is thy divine inheritance, nay, the very fabric of thy being? Human life is so very precious and to waste it so in a barren chase, O what folly, what folly! Awake, awake great souls and reclaim thy dominion over all that is, over all that ye are and stand erect and free in the sunshine of thy illumined life. Tarry not lest the hour passes by and the tide fails to carry the anchored boat. Godspeed then my brethren, my friends Godspeed! Freedom's the call, freedom's the end, freedom's the means and freedom's the way.

Jai Ramakrishna!

GURUDEV 4

Initiation is an imperative in spiritual life. The Guru quickens the spirit of the disciple through the power he infuses at the time of initiation. He sets the disciple on the royal avenue of Truth. The disciple has only to follow the instructions of the Guru to the letter to progress fast along the spiritual path. He must have utmost reverence for the Guru knowing him to be none other than God-incarnate. The disciple must on no count have human ideas about his Guru but must regard him ever as one with his Chosen Ideal (Ishta Devata). Such reverence will help him manifest his own divinity and make his spiritual progress sweeter.

There must be great purity and perseverance in the disciple. Chanting the holy mantra will help manifest these traits. The Guru or the spiritual preceptor must be an adept in spiritual realizations and must be utterly holy and devoid of desire of gain from the disciple. His is a free gift of initiation for his disciple born out of compassion for the latter, a benediction, a selfless act of divine love that seeks no return.

Such then is the relation between the Guru (spiritual preceptor) and the shishya (disciple), a bond eternal and undying, selfless and divine that defies human description and can only be called love ethereal, sublime.

Jai Gurudev! Jai Sri Ramakrishna!

ARISE INDIA 34 ... THE RAMAKRISHNA-VIVEKANANDA WAY 4

The Word must be spread but without dilution, the Word of Sri Ramakrishna. The whole world must hear of the appearance of God just the other day (1836) in Kamarpukur in the guise of a poor Brahman this time. We, the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna must consider it our bounden duty, nay, our highest privilege to be able to spread the news that God has not forsaken us but has in His infinite mercy again trodden the soil of India and sanctified this Earth that we have so defiled. We must propagate His message and help bring souls to proximity of the Order founded by Him. This is our dharma and we must not fail in its performance. We are so fortunate to have had the grace of Sri Ramakrisha but where is the joy in eating the mango alone ? In sharing this joy lies our highest bliss and we must help the Mission in all its endeavours that it may bring about a spiritual renaissance on Earth.

Any developmental work requires man-power and monetary resources. Let us serve the Cause of the Master by devoting ourselves heart and soul in its fruition. Let us individually and collectively help the Cause in all its phases. We may do the following :
1. Read Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature.
2. Chant the mantra of our spiritual initiation unfailingly and as often as we can as per our Guru's instruction.
3. Volunteer to serve the Mission on special days of celebration at the different centres of the Order.
4. Help the Cause with financial support.
5. Live exemplary lives upholding the principles of the Mission and thereby inspire others with its noble ideals.

Jai Sri Ramakrishna !