MANOJ SIVAN, CRUSADER FOR TRUTH, THE RESURRECTION OF SWAMI NIRMALANANDA

Unique effort Manoj. My heartiest commendations to you for your gifting a copy of the biography of Swami Nirmalananda to Shree Narendra Modi, our honourable Prime Minister, who is an ardent devotee of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. The way you are propagating the life and message of Swami Nirmalananda and trying against all odds to resurrect the lost position of this leonine Apostle of Ramakrishna in the pantheon of the Master's direct disciples deserves the highest praise and I am sure in the long run society will recognize your sterling contribution towards the achieving of this noble aim when in the not too distant future Nirmalanandaji will be accorded his due place despite all organizational attempt to distort history for whatever queer motivations impelling such endeavour. Success seems imminent and you may take heart from the fact that truth cannot be hidden for long being the 'corrosive substance of infinite power' (Vivekananda) and it is time that the truth of Nirmalanandaji's discipleship should surface. At any rate, it seems the Master is behind your noble endeavour and as such, who can turn the course of His will? Swami Nirmalananda will be recognized once more as the direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and we, devotees, will rejoice at it. Long live your effort and long live you too, dear brother, for having introduced us to this truth hid behind the cover of collective convenience that cannot be condoned at all! May your service to the cause of the restoration of historical truth remain as a beacon in our turbulent times when distortion of history is commonplace and reaches even the highest echelons of society and venerated ones we look up to also collude with the forces of falsity to concoct fantastic fabrications! Dear Manoj, it is devotees like you who are the salt of the earth and who keep the flag of freedom of the soul flying high above the follies and foibles of mortal man, however cloaked in holiness they be, and who indeed by their sacrifice and warmth of love set aglow sympathetic flames in the hearts of others to veritably advance the very Cause for which the Master and His children descended on Earth. I sincerely hope that Nirmalanandaji will set aflame Modiji's mind and the nation will benefit by its fruition. Thanks a million, friend, for this yeoman service you have rendered to the Motherland. May Mother indeed bless you in Her own inimitable way is the prayer of this utterly humbled friend of yours! Jay Thakur! Jay Ma! Jay Swamiji! Jay Nirmalanandaji!

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS

Wars have been fought enough. Now give peace a chance. The children of the world do not deserve the violence perpetrated by irresponsible adults. Let the children live. Problems political have always been there and always will be. That does not mean people will keep on fighting like primitive brutes. No one has the right to create war or dictate terms on the basis of the abominable principle of 'Might is right'. Let governments take heed wherever they be that enough is enough and that the awakened masses wish to live and not merely to die in the flower of their youth. Culture demands, civilization urges that there be dialogue, discussion, deliberation and not diabolic designs of destruction to resolve international issues. Let the Nobel Peace Prize be not politicized and let it be awarded solely on the basis of merit and not political expediency. World leaders, first form your character and then proceed to resolve larger issues that affect us all. First learn to look beyond your selfish national or organizational gains before you even venture to take decisions that affect the lives of billions, the larger humanity most of whom possess brighter and holier character than you.

The past of the world is littered with the debris of the ephemeral achievements of dictators and despots. Mankind has suffered untold misery at the hands of a handful of partial philosophers or megalomaniacs and it is time to wake up to the call of civilization to take matters into our own hands through massive public opinion against war and enforcement the world over. The people of the world must be educated about the fact that their fate is not solely in the hands of a few usurpers of power but  that their future they themselves can shape and must shape through enlightened living if humanity is to survive beyond today. The morrow beckons us to take up a united stand for peace the world over and it is our serious responsibility to discharge our duties in this direction wisely and efficaciously. We cannot stand as mute witnesses to the massacre of millions in the name of racism, radical religious fanaticism or political ideological brutality and yet absolve ourselves of all responsibility for such heinous murderous perpetration. Therefore, citizens of the world, look beyond your national interests and have a global vision of peace and goodwill and so build up a movement of massive public opinion which is the essence of democracy to thwart malicious governmental designs of spreading war for political or economic interests. Businessmen, bankers and industrialists also beware!Your profits must no more be earned by selling devices of death, weapons of warfare and through the creation of economic embargo against hapless nations that know not how else to get out of their shackles than to surrender themselves to the primrose promises of dictators who devastate them.

Let us all hearken to the call of the Divine within ourselves and help each other build up a prosperous world-order and not merely a prosperous nation or a group of allied nations. Let us realize that peace alone can ensure prosperity and happiness for humanity despite the many obvious iniquities that abound everywhere. This is no shirking of responsibility towards the weaker sections of humanity nor is it a covert alignment of stance with the exploitative powers that have for ages been sucking the life-blood of the millions in all nations. This is the civilized way, the only practical solution to the age-old problems that have beset humanity whose solutions have never been found in violence or warfare which has only aggravated them, and it behoves us to remember that we must extricate ourselves from the vicious cycle of violence and address our human problems in a human way through scientific, rational thinking and an enlightened approach of an integrated vision where the heart must never be sacrificed for what the head dictates. In other words, whatever be the magnitude of the malady menacing our lives, we must be merciful in our dealings and never malicious. Problems are there only to be resolved and like scientific problems are intelligently dealt with and not by diabolic death-blows, so must human problems be faced square on but with a vision steeped in spiritual values that help all and harm none. Even if it be argued that such a suggested mode is over-simplistic and can never work in today's global scenario, let it be remembered that this is our only hope, else their may be no tomorrow.

May all beings be peaceful!
May all beings be healthy!
May all beings be blissful!
May all beings move towards the One which is their essence, Existence Absolute, Bliss Absolute, Knowledge Absolute!
Om! Shanti! Shanti! Shanti! (Om! Peace! Peace! Peace!)
   

A CLARION CALL TO STUDENTS ... 1

I urge you all to study hard and excel in your lives which ought to be consecrated to the service of humanity. Our Motherland needs premier souls who shall dedicate themselves to nation-building and thus usher in a golden age of humanity. This is the hour and let it not pass by in idle, decadent pursuits which debilitate the nervous system and bring about the utter ruination of character. Live pure lives full of sincere aspiration and effort that your future may be secure and with it the future of the world about you. The children of the world are humanity's best hopes and I exhort you to realise this that upon your present actions lies the future of the world, upon your deeds of the day will be built tomorrow's citadel. Therefore, take guard and onward with the mission of life-building, character-formation and world-welfare, my children. Humanity hangs by a hinge. On one side is immortality, infinite consciousness and bliss and on the other is death, desolation and disaster, oblivion. Choose now the path that is for the wise to follow and discard decadent habits fostered through tradition or personal pollution. Give up vain frivolity and immerse yourselves in the serious pursuit of overcoming life's greater challenges. Excellence is the motto, will-force the means, silent study and meditative retirement the method. Then will come the power to co-operate and co-ordinate effort for collective well-being and organisational efficiency. Upon individual and collective effort of a fine order does the fulfilment of the greater destiny of the human race depend. My young friends, now no hour of rest. The river floweth by, slake your thirst by drinking of its waters before the moment perishes and you are left stranded, marooned in your Isle of 'I'. Take charge of your life and leave nothing to fatalistic fascinations. This is the command coming down from the highest heavens like rushing torrents of the Ganga onto its Himalayan heights. Fulfil the will of the Rishis who were the architects of human destiny in the ages gone by, men who had not hazarded opinions or theories based on half-baked realisations but sages who had transcended the limitations of the senses and having ascended the pinnacle of spiritual realisation, had arrived at their conclusions about the destiny of humankind and the ways and the means to achieving it. And this is their dictum---'Be strong, be pure and conquer Nature, external and internal.'
  

WHY EXPUNGE SWAMI NIRMALANANDA FROM THIS GROUP PHOTOGRAPH?

It is preposterous to discover how Swami Nirmalananda's photograph has been expunged from the main body of the original group photograph as has been so well exhibited by respected Manoj Sivan. One wonders what could be the illumined reason behind such an act of deliberate deletion when it is on record that Swami Nirmalananda was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. And if he was not such, may we be illumined as to whose disciple he was? Can any proof be adduced to support the oft-repeated arbitrary claim that he was Swami Vivekananda's disciple? We would be obliged to rectify our stance of considering Swami Nirmalananda as Sri Ramakrishna's direct disciple if such proof be furnished at the earliest convenience for it does not behove anyone to be in the dark regarding the authenticity of direct discipleship of the Prophet of Truth that Sri Ramakrishna was and centering whom this now five-decade long political struggle to muffle truth is continuing. Let us all be made aware of the relevant documents which prove that Swami Nirmalananda was not Sri Ramakrishna's direct disciple or else let the leonine Swami be given his due historical recognition. At any rate, truth will soon surface for in this age of de-classification of secret documents, the tide of the times will turn against those who have deliberately distorted history and continue to do so for whatever ends one knows not and the records will be set straight. May truth triumph as it surely will!

LIFE OF SWAMI BRAHMANANDA ...1

Swami Brahmananda was born Rakhal Chandra Ghosh on 21 January, 1863 in Sikra, Kulingram, a place 57.6 km to the north-west of Kolkata. Rakhal had a spiritual inclination from early boyhood and was given to the practice of meditation. This is a singular feature in all great souls of the spiritual realm in that they exhibit early symptoms of their future glorious adult life thus. This was especially true of Swami Vivekananda, Rakhal's great future compatriot. The same may be said about Sri Ramakrishna's boyhood as well. It seems as though these souls have a memory of their life before terrestrial birth or their past terrestrial incarnations whence habits have descended unto the present birth in the form of 'sanskaras' (embedded impressions in the subtle body/mind).

SILENCE, O LET THE SELF SPEAK

We've come for a brief stage-show. Let us play our parts creating as less stir as possible so that the enactment of the roles of others may not be hindered. This is real charity, non-violence, if you wish to call it so, this, the genesis of true love. What a commotion is created by some that they may live their lives their way, though such living may not be conducive to social harmony! Time it is to ponder that we must no more behave like 'colliding units', to quote Bertrand Russell, that we must behave as responsible human beings with a positive social commitment and never, purposefully, a negative one. Ours is an opportunity to live in a civilised world in society with fellow human beings so that we may fast evolve into maturer souls through experience. And this experience is broadened in canvas by the relative leisure offered through the mechanism of social organisation based on mutual help and co-operation as opposed to competition and conflict as is so often the case when barbarism raises its ugly hood to suppress human aspirations of a more refined mode.

Life is a brief spectacle for the individual and let each play his part free of fear, spontaneous, true. The Divine Director does not dictate terms once the play is on. So, let none else usurp authority to do so. Life ought to be a free play of diverse forces, democratic and civilised, cultured and humane, once evolution has reached the human plane, and the animal principle of evolution, that of survival of the fittest, ought not to be the governing principle of human society. Evolution of the human species is quickened along humane channels following genuine spiritual principles and greatly impaired by enforced doctrinaire training founded on irrational assertions of prophets or philosophers or dictators. The human mind is highly pliable and prone to influences of all sorts and care must especially be taken to save-guard children from these nefarious doctrinaire cults that they may be free of the trappings of dubious traditional injunctions based on personal authority as also of equally gripping modern extreme theories of hate in the name of philosophy. A sensitive, rational, humane education imparted to children the world over may save the world from its present ills in the coming generations but to achieve this task seems an impossible dream given the global situation. The world is caught in the snares of age-old practices and beliefs and it will take some doing before these archaic modes are given up by the vast majority of people for the world to progress towards a more enlightened path.

Be that as it may, all social changes have as of now been highly volatile and consequently society has had to progress and often retrogress as well through a deluge of blood and senseless destruction of culture. However, over the centuries, with the evolution of technology and more effective means of communication, violence in ushering in changes has been on the decline as was evident from the almost bloodless counter-revolutions in Eastern Europe and Soviet Russia in 1989-90, in sharp contrast to the classical bloody revolutions in France (1789) and Russia (1917). This augurs well for the future although such extreme illustrations cannot however underplay the persistent harm caused to civilised human living by the constant excitation and stir created by the boisterous elements of society merged in malicious intent that spare not any from their malignant web. A new culture needs to be evolved where human rights will be respected and not so easily infringed all the time on the basis of dubious claims of religious or political theory. The sacredness of life and living ought to be accepted as the fundamental basis of social existence which no text, however holy, may violate on whatever prophetic so-called inviolability.

Society forges its own way in its path of evolution. Let this progression be one of peace, this movement one of conjoint action full of concord and not violent, disruptive discord where the ideal is lost in the din of the day and the babble remains the vestige of an eternal circuiting on the same plane we so often in error call human progress. The less the verbal fury, the better; the less the whipping up of passions, the better. Frenzied movement of the mind is contra-disposed towards sane, rational, free thinking essential for any forward movement of the human species, be it in the domain of the Spirit or in the terrestrial realm of social adjustment. The forces at play are locked in a titanic struggle for supremacy, quite a tangle of energy-bundles which require deft handling and not barbarous dealing for their disentanglement or resolution. Else, a precipitous free-fall of human society into primitive chaos will be the natural corollary of any theorem of violent social reconstruction as was evident in the two World Wars and the repression of humanity in Communist dictatorships.

Life is a splendid spectacle when left undisturbed by raucous elements. The variegated distribution of energy which manifests as this panoramic existence on Earth is in no need of 'superior' intelligence of The Chosen One or a chosen few to guide its destiny. It is a self-driven mechanism, beautifully functioning if left free to guide itself for each of the elements of nature is coded with the imprint of the Self within it to lead it to its safe haven. None needs to lose sleep over the salvation of his fellow-mate. Let each keep his own counsel and so let others do the same. This is the way to individual and collective peace. Each one realise your own truth beating in your own heart and limit your own actions thereof only to the domain of peaceful, civilised, cultured service to your fellow-beings without in any measure disturbing their own peace and inner equilibrium by your proselytisation and aggressive posturings thereof. This is the surest solution to the world's multitudinous ills as they are now manifest and as they ever keep manifesting. The path is long and tortuous, the movement an ascent into uncharted terrain. It is a razor's edge that we traverse. Let us help each other, fellow pilgrims in this adventure of the soul. Let us hold hands to secure our advance through the blizzards and the avalanches that threaten to sweep us all. We shall triumph for we are made of the stuff of which gods are made and of even wondrous stuff. Let us then pledge brothers that we shall help each other and not hinder, make pathways for progress through the tide of times and not career civilisation backwards, and that we shall ever remember that though Absolute Truth be one, the approaches towards it are many. Bearing this in mind we shall advance and let others advance, each along his radial line of evolution onto the common centre where all radii eventually converge to become one with the Cosmic Mother-heart. Peace be unto all.
            

REPLY TO A BROTHER INDIAN 1...REF. AWAKE MY COUNTRYMEN, AWAKE, NOW NO HOUR OF SLEEP

How lamentably true your observations are Debjyoti Chatterjee and what a pity we Indians are so callous about our individual and national duties! My friend, work hard for the redemption of India, if even by a small measure. Let our conjoined efforts reap the sweet fruits of service and help make our beloved Motherland a little stronger, if, as I said, even by a small measure. Good luck in your endeavour my friend and good luck to mine too! Jai Hind!