IN THE HEARTLAND OF HEARTLESSNESS, JUKTA BASU MALLIK

I am muted by the monstrosity of our negligence of our very own flesh and blood. Gives a new purpose to my living, a new vision for the implementation of Swamiji's programme of national development as enunciated copiously in his lectures and letters. You are a dynamic young woman who has by the will of Thakur been located in the heartland where he himself suffers the most in his myriad guises. Know it for certain that it is his will that beckons you to serve him and this is also his grace on you. May you be humbled by the effort which is your service, your adoration of the divinity in the human form and may the least tinge of selfishness not mar this exercise in sublimity! May all grace of the trinity of Thakur-Ma-Swamiji ever attend on you is my earnest prayer at their hallowed feet and may I audaciously add on my heartfelt good wishes for you along with such divine company!
P.S. The way itself reveals the light and the light then reveals the way in turn. Thus, the saga goes on through alternate shifts till the truth unfolds in all its finality. Glory unto you that you have been chosen to be the instrument of this divine dispensation for social good and justice long over-due for these hapless children of the motherland. Remember, it is not everybody's good fortune to be afforded the privilege of serving one's brethren in circumstances as tragic as this where the slightest work done brings forth richest dividend for the doer and the done upon. Herein lies the perfect setting for the practice of Vedanta in real terms, for the exercise of the best principles of Karma Yoga, for out there in the field where the sun scorches the soul of man, there is neither substance nor solace for the children of the Lord and the only hope they have is born of fortitude evolved through the sufferance of thousands of years of tyranny, of misery unending with every day challenging the very essence of one's existence and failing to snuff out yet the fire which holds these valorous ones battling out their daily survival for countless aeons. Heaven indeed, dear Jukta, that hell is at hand when human sympathy reaches its lowest ebb, when the viciousness of a consumerist society forgets basic humanity towards those who consume baked grass for bread and yet know no bitterness for all the ills that have been visited upon them by the decadence of the spirit in man, for such are the times when the erosion of all human values quickens the souls of intelligent ones like you and lights up the fire of a new social adjustment, of a new human order based on equality and justice, and of an enlightenment that surges humanity ahead in the tide of times. May your labour be of love, your service sanctified by sacrifice and your ardour full of the fire of the undying Atman that animates all of existence! May success be yours at every step in this mission of fulfilment of the hopes and aspirations of the hapless ones who, may be, are looking at you with longing eyes for the stray straw that will help them stay afloat in this ocean of unequal existence! It breaks my heart to pen these words thus, for I know their very utterance is an insult in exposure of the indignities our brethren bear, a denuding of their selves before the glare of the world they are unfamiliar with and a humiliation in hindered habitat owing to the encroachment of heartless humans intent solely upon offering lip-service to the afflicted and the suffering. And it is here that you are such a refreshing change for them, such a source of sustenance, both in material terms and in human terms, for I know the enormous good the Tatas do in the field of social development and I also know the level of involvement you have for this cause from the core of your being. May all good attend on you as you battle to bring about healthy social changes that may set these impoverished ones on the royal avenue of national life en route to eventual enlightenment! Jai Hind!