The serenity of the place, the Mahasamadhi Peeth of Swami Nirmalananda - Tulasi Maharaj, is palpable even through the photograph. This indeed is proof of Swami Nirmalanandaji's spiritual altitude and the perennial grace of Sri Sri Thakur on him. He was an outstanding monk, literally charged with the Mission of spreading Thakur-Swamiji's message across the world. A DIRECT DISCIPLE of SRI RAMAKRISHNA, SWAMI NIRMALANANDA was veritably a lion among men, a Karma-Yogi of the highest order who wielded Jnana and Bhakti as well. He carried the message of the Master across the oceans to America. On his return home, he worked indefatigably in Southern India establishing a series of Ramakrishna Ashramas in Kerala and the neighbouring States. The Neo-Vedanta preached by him through his talks, discourses and lectures captured the imagination of the common man and the ruling class as well and help came to him to set up his Ashramas and their allied activities. However, the lapse of time has changed things significantly and this Hero of the Spirit lies, unknown to most, unrecognized as one of the 17 direct monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna for it is in vogue for reasons best known to Thakur that devotees should be misled to bear in mind that the Master had only 16 direct disciples among which Tulasi Maharaj (Swami Nirmalananda) is conspicuous by his absence. The feud over executive authority regarding the Southern Indian Ramakrishna Ashramas had triggered a series of unfortunate incidents whose unwholesome sequel is the gradual and progressive erasing from public memory of the true identity of Swami Nirmalanandaji as the 17th direct disciple of the Master. Time it is to resurrect the truth of this valiant soldier of the supreme embodiment of Truth in this Age, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who could never brook falsehood of any kind even in jest or in play. Swami Vivekananda would never compromise with 'every black falsehood' or stoop so low as to obliterate his own beloved Tulsi who he lavished praise on as being a model of a monk in terms of dexterity in work coupled with tranquillity in meditation. Time is the healer of past wounds and I sincerely hope that the process of rapprochement will begin soon in real earnest to settle the dust of battle for good and reinforce the Ramakrishna Movement with the vigour of those halcyon days when the Apostles of Ramakrishna met at the feet of their blessed Master under the banyan shade of Dakshineswar to witness the ecstasy of the Divine and float in the luminous atmosphere of their spiritual preceptor. The Master's children are ever bonded in love and no earthly conspiracy or connivance can succeed in separating these loving souls each of whom, to quote Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, has come out of the sacred body of the Master, fractions of him as they are. Thakur has been mutely watching this divine drama enacted in parts in a most undivine way for such is the way of the Lord who has measureless patience with fallible man. But devotees must not be misled and Tulsi Maharaj's sterling contributions to the Ramakrisha Movement as its Apostle extraordinaire must be recognized for the secure advancement of the Movement itself as also for the establishment of Truth which is the central purpose of the descent of the Divine. My prostrations at the feet of those valiant souls who carried on their crusade for justice in the dark days when their beloved Tulsi Maharaj was a forgotten hero, a monk lying in oblivion as an outcast from the rank of being a brother disciple of the great Swami Vivekananda and a child of Ramakrishna, his anointed one into whom he had breathed in the breath of life, the sacred divine mantra whose fruition was the efflorescence of the Life that was Nirmalananda or Thakur's Tulsi who he was so fond of for these souls came to him in the freshness of their youth, untainted by lust or lucre, fragrant flowers of the Divine. To such a day when the sun will shine on all and none may feel that truth hurt their interests I send these lines to all who have dedicated themselves to Ramakrishna and, in especial, I send these lines to my brethren who love Tulsi Maharaj more than their dear ones, even themselves, and who have been waiting in silent expectation across half a century to see the redress of things pernicious in the wake of the split in the consciousness of the divine mission centering Thakur over things material which are ever so fraught with the entrapment of delusive Maya. May good sense prevail on all! May all that is true and worthy of the light of day emerge from the dark recesses of history and may none feel the poorer for it! May Sri Ramakrishna who was the veritable embodiment of Truth guide us all in this harmonization process when brother will embrace brother and it will please Mother and Father most!
Jai Sri Ramakrishna! Jai Ma! Jai Swamiji! Jai Tulsi Maharaj! Satyameva Jayate!
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