THAKUR'S TULSI

The peerless protege of the Paramahamsa, proselytiser of the philosophy dubbed neo-Vedanta in distant America and then south of the Vindhyas throughout the peninsula, especially in Kerala, got embroiled in legal controversy with the Belur Math authorities in the latter half of the 1920s which led to a formal schism in the ranks of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission and caused much unpleasantness despite the inner union of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna among whom Nirmalanandaji was one of the initiated ones. A lion-soul, a spirit dedicated to the Master whose photograph at the Alambazar Math shrine he embraced in his breast during the terrible earthquake of 1892 which saw the destruction of the Baranagar Math, to save it from hurt for he envisioned the living presence of his Guru in the image, Nirmalananda was effusively praised for his sterling qualities as a monk by none other than Swami Vivekananda who held him out as an exemplar of true monasticism before his other brother monks.

Over 80 years have passed since the days of the courtroom battle over custody of several of the Southern centres of the Mission, the dust has settled over much that was dug deep and was on display before the prying eyes of the world and yet, a strange controversy still reigns. Was Swami Nirmalananda, after all, Sri Ramakrihsna's disciple or was he a disciple of Swami Vivekananda? The Belur Math authorities officially proclaim that Thakur had 16 direct monastic disciples and do not accept Nirmalananda Swami as one of them nor do they accept him to be the 17th direct disciple. But there are the disciples of Swami Nirmalananda and his grand-disciples who claim that Nirmalanandaji was for sure a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and they cite official documents, legal papers to validate their point. Now, countless devotees of Thakur are in a quandary as to where lies the truth of this matter and, so, I earnestly request any who may be in a position to illumine us in this matter, to do so for clarifying the case. After all, this is a matter of historical significance and cannot be allowed to rest till it is resolved free and fair once and for all.