HARMONY OF RELIGIONS ... 2

HARMONY OF RELIGIONS ... 2

I wish Swami Sampurnananda would talk reason and refute my points on a rational basis rather than throw verbal tantrums like this. Had Ramakrishna-Vivekananda been the most effective harmoniser, which they are to an extent based on their spiritual realisations and philosophical articulations thereof, it would have been a grand world of harmonic co-existence that would have been here and elsewhere in the world. Unfortunately, despite their best intentions, they, like you, could not achieve the impossible as they were unable to alter the texts of Semitic religions as mentioned in the post and for the reasons cited therein. Thus, Partition took place on religious grounds. Riots have been rampant in India throughout with mass murder across communities an unceasing affair. These could not be addressed and will not be addressed in the foreseeable future as well unless deep thinking goes in as to how unalterable texts may be finally relegated to the margins of human attention as has been the case in Europe since the Enlightenment with regard to Christianity. Nonetheless, despite the so-called harmonious co-existence, proselytising in India by Christianity and Islam has gone on unabated and one needs only to read Vivekananda well to get to know the horrors perpetrated by invading religions for a millenium in India. To comprehensively brush under the carpet all such instances is to be untruthful both in intent and articulation and serves no good purpose for the real redress of the situation if it shall ever be. Perhaps, it is in the DNA of the human species to be intolerant this way or the other as Swami Sampurnananda's sudden diatribe bespeaks of so eloquently and proves the stated point.

My series of essays searching for solutions to this problem, which even Chicago, 1893, could not achieve, will continue in real earnest and I hope it will contribute in some small measure to clarifying conceptions about this persistent problem that has dogged humanity for at least two thousand years now.

Written by Sugata Bose

P.S. : The above text has been by way of my articulate response to Swami Sampurnananda's comment on my earlier post in this series. The comment was as follows and has been presented here for the readers' benefit in the exact form as it was :

Swami Sampurnananda : Harmony has always been there among real practitioners of religion. They tend to back their occasional ounces of talks with tonnes of practice. So their talks had strength. Ramakrishna Vivekananda has thus been the most effective harmonizer.

Harmony has been less among mere talkers of religion. Unfortunately we have more such talkers now and they hound the internet too.

Let is practice a bit more. Our words would then tell.

God bless us.

HARMONY OF RELIGIONS ... 1

HARMONY OF RELIGIONS ... 1

This talk of the harmony of religions is mere sophistry. How can harmony be if some of the world's major religions are exclusive by divine dictate and by fundamental principle hold themselves to be the only true religion, the only path to godhead and salvation? Might as well harmonise fascism, communism and democracy. Is that possible?

We often hear liberal lecturers on religion speak of the harmony of religions humanity should work for. But these inter-faith dialogues -- welcome no doubt as first initiatives for peace -- invariably fail to produce any such intended harmony. The simple reason is that while Hinduism accepts all religions as valid paths to God, the Semitic religions all reject any such idea. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all hold their respective paths as the only true path to God and cannot on the basis of fundamental doctrine accept other religions as true. Islam goes one step further to say that it is the inviolable and final word of God. This would mean that all religions coming after Islam are fundamentally false. So, where will Sikhism, Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Brahmoism and the like stand? How then is harmony going to be achieved?

Is it not then that harmony is possible in the future only if exclusive religions drop the fundamental tenets that make them exclusive and amend some of their doctrinaire basis before they can in all sincerity become compatible for spiritual harmony with other faiths? But in the light of theirs being the revealed word of God, they can hardly be expected to do so without going against the very commandment of their God which is heretical for them even to consider. Can religious harmony then ever be possible?

Written by Sugata Bose

BREAKING NEWS : SWAMI NIRMALANANDA (TULSI MAHARAJ) IS A DIRECT DISCIPLE OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA

BREAKING NEWS : SWAMI NIRMALANANDA (TULSI MAHARAJ) IS A DIRECT DISCIPLE OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA

Manoj Sivan has brought to our notice the following extract from 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' which conclusively proves that Swami Nirmalananda was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. The extract is as follows :

[ 'The Gospel of Ramakrishna' - Pg 976, Chapter 52 - After the Passing Away (Indian Edition, 1996, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai)

The younger Gopal brought the Master's bed and other articles of daily use from the garden house at Cossipore. The brahmin who had been cook at Cossipore was engaged for the new monastery. The first permanent member was the elder Gopal. Sarat spent the nights there. In the beginning Sarat, Śaśi, Baburam, Niranjan, and Kāli used to visit the monastery every now and then, according to their convenience. Tārak, who had gone to Vrindāvan following the Master's death, returned to Calcutta after a few months and soon became a permanent member of the monastery. Rākhāl, Jogin, Lātu, and Kāli were living at Vrindāvan with the Holy Mother when the monastery was started. Kāli returned to Calcutta within a month, Rākhāl after a few months, and Jogin and Lātu after a year. The householder devotees frequently visited the monastic brothers and spent hours with them in meditation and study. After a short time Narendra, Rākhāl, Niranjan, Sarat, Śaśi, Baburam, Jogin, Tārak, Kāli, and Lātu renounced the world for good. Sarada Prasanna and Subodh joined them some time later. Gangadhar, who was very much attached to Narendra, visited the Math regularly. It was he who taught the brothers the hymn sung at the evening service in the Śiva temple at Benares. He had gone to Tibet to practise austerity; now, having returned, he lived at the monastery. Hari and Tulasi, at first only visitors at the monastery, soon embraced the monastic life and thus completed the list of the Master's sannyāsi disciples *

* The monastic names of the Master's intimate disciples who renounced the world soon after his death were as follows: Narendra — Swami Vivekananda, Rakhal — Swami Brahmananda, Jogin — Swami Jogananda, Niranjan — Swami Niranjanananda, Latu — Swami Adbhutananda, Baburam — Swami Premananda, Tarak — Swami Shivananda, Hari — Swami Turiyananda, Sarat — Swami Saradananda, Sashi — Swami Ramakrishnananda, Kali — Swami Abhedananda, Gangadhar — Swami Akhandananda, Gopal (elder) —Swami Advaitananda, Sarada Prasanna — Swami Trigunatitananda, Subodh — Swami Subodhananda, Tulasi — Swami Nirmalananda ]

Written by Sugata Bose

Comments :

Bruce Ananta Hilliger He was never not a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna just as we are never not the Self...OM Tat Sat

Sugata Bose True enough in principle and in textual corroboration at places, Bruce. But the vast majority of devotees have been given the idea and impression that Thakur had sixteen monastic disciples whose photographs adorn the walls of the Ramakrishna Maths including Belur Math where the President Maharaj's room has this glaring absence of Swami Nirmalananda's photograph where all the remaining sixteen monastic disciples find their pride of place.

Bruce Ananta Hilliger Sugata Bose yes I understand that and it’s politics as usual even with in the Ramakrishna Order, bless their hearts, they can make or break many things, I saw it at the Chicago Center too, humans with preferences

Debaprasad Bhattacharya I learnt from a senior monk of the Order that it was only after Sw Nirmalanandaji declared himself a disciple of Sw Vivekananda in an affidavit that the authorities of the Order removed the former's name from all books and other places.

Sugata Bose Debaprasad Babu, where is the documentary evidence for that senior monk's assertion that will prove the veracity of Belur Math's stated stance? And, if so, then why does Belur Math not declare Nirmalanandaji as a disciple of Swamiji in their books on the same? Nirmalanandaji is absent from the list of Swamiji's disciples that have ever till date been officially declared in print by Belur Math.

Debaprasad Bhattacharya Sugata Bose I have already started that I have only heard.

Sugata Bose Debaprasad Babu, I am not questioning you on that but am merely affirming my stance on the statement of that monk in like terms.

Debaprasad Bhattacharya I think it is within the Order's principles not to highlight or even comment on controversial subjects, e. g. Sw Abhedanandaji's separation.

Sugata Bose Could be, Debaprasad Babu, but, if so, then how is it that such a controversial subject as the Mission's court case with Swami Nirmlanananda has been in such great but one-sided detail been provided in Swami Gambhirananda's book 'History of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission', a book that was published by the Advaita Ashrama?

Subrata Saha As I understand, Swami Abhedanandaji could not find a place in Belur Math when he came back from America. He had so many books with him!.. ....anyway he established another Math. It all sounds strange but maybe this was Lord's wish.

Sugata Bose Debaprasad Babu, restraint no doubt but one-sided detail without presentation of the other side's status regarding the same. But then it may be said in his defence that he was chronicling the history of the Order in which this was but one of the significant happenings and not the only one to deserve any more space and elucidation. Debatable that, though.

WHY DO WE AS HOUSEHOLDERS COWER BEFORE MONKS AND CANNOT STAND UP TO THEM IN CIVILISED DEBATE OVER CONTENTIOUS ISSUES?

WHY DO WE AS HOUSEHOLDERS COWER BEFORE MONKS AND CANNOT STAND UP TO THEM IN CIVILISED DEBATE OVER CONTENTIOUS ISSUES?

It is servile behaviour on the part of devotees to cower before a monk and accept his version of an episode as gospel truth while rejecting the same story told by a lay devotee earlier. Does the ochre robe allow special privilege to a person in the eyes of truth or is evidence the yardstick by which people ought to be guided in their inferences about the validity or otherwise of a statement? Does the court of law observe the status of a person when it delivers judgement or is it observant of the Constitution and its principles and laws in doing so? Does it behove devotees to be ever so biased in their judgement as to the veracity of whether Swami Nirmalananda (Tulsi Maharaj) was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna or not and ought they to alter their professed stance suddenly just because a monk of the Order supposedly says that he was so? Does evidence count for nothing? Is spiritual authority everything in the establishment of temporal truth as well? Then ought the western world not still to abide by the geocentric theory of the universe propounded by Aristotle and upheld by the Christian Church? Copernicus then must remain a horrible heretic whose remains ought to be exhumed and delivered a delayed cremation by lighting the fire of the Inquisition once more.

Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda are great because they lived in truth transcendental their temporal lives and became one with the same. However, they were great not because they were inherently so --- for there is no way to know what their inherent status was beyond their self and mutual affirmations and beyond the affirmations of devotees based on their exclusively personal realisations which are but poor indices for objective evaluation and judgement thereof --- but because their lives coincided so beautifully with the supreme truth with which they became almost identified. Thus, while absolute truth is sacrosanct on account of it being transcendentally singular and, hence, inviolable, even divine incarnations cannot be held so on strictly logical grounds. Therefore, the integrity of monks notwithstanding and their affirmations thereby holding value, devotees must cultivate the objective spirit of unbiased judgement based on evidence and rational rigour in thinking rather than blind adherence to what monastics say.

This objective spirit was the crowning glory of our nation once when it spearheaded world civilisation with the grandest discovery till date, that of the Self (Atman / Brahman). The Vedas and the Upanishads are replete with rational references where doubts have been expressed about the possibility of even God knowing the destiny of phenomena. Not a voice was raised in objection to this line of thinking beyond civilised disputation of the rishis (perfected or near-perfected sages) regarding the matter. That the line did go into the Veda to survive till this day proves irrefutably the rational traditions of Aryavarta / Bharatvarsha / India and shames us in the face direct when we lose composure and cannot counter a monk in civilised debate but straightaway accept his word as inviolable truth. In so doing we not only belittle our own status as respectable individuals but also betray the rational traditions of the race.

...to be continued...

Written by Sugata Bose

 — with Swami Sampurnananda, Bhaskar Mukherjee, Susanta Mullick and Manoj Sivan.

WHAT A MARTYR!

WHAT A MARTYR!

Had Bhagat Singh been spared the death penalty --- for there were discrepancies in the Lahore Conspiracy Case as Mohammad Ali Jinnah as legislator had pointed out --- and had he lived on --- for he would have then again attempted dangerous revolutionary exploits for which he might have been convicted again and executed thereafter --- he would have been a serious challenge to the likes of Nehru and Netaji in national leadership in all probability, for mercurial he was and a born leader with sterling strength of character and conviction and a vision of social transformation far beyond his years. This, today, can only be a conjecture and no more than, perhaps, fanciful imagination of the born idealist and dreamer, but I truly wonder where Bhagat Singh's meteoric rise to political prominence could eventually have led him. Remember, he did not fight merely for political independence but, being a committed communist, he aspired for a total social revolution in the wake of freedom that would emancipate the masses from the thraldom of age-old tyranny by the privileged classes.

And all this maturity of thought from this intrepid inquilaabi (revolutionary) at such a young age when the blossoms of spring had not yet seen their fullest efflorescence and were awaiting the scented breeze to blow into them the thrill of mature blooming. Bhagat Singh died when he had barely lived and in his death he lives on in us forever.

P.S. : There was a time when it is reported that Bhagat Singh's popularity matched Mahatma Gandhi's and this was no mean achievement considering Gandhiji's mesmeric influence on the masses.

Written by Sugata Bose

HOW TO DEAL WITH A MISCHIEF MAKER

HOW TO DEAL WITH A MISCHIEF MAKER

This fellow (name withheld to save his honour) I thought was a good sport and I received him in the right spirit. But he has been trying to hog the limelight somehow in every Vedanta post of mine and attempting to foist his dubious philosophy, flawed as it is with facile logic bearing no rational rigour, on all and sundry who are accessible to him in the comment box. He thus takes the attention of many readers away from the post content and tries to redirect it into his own pet philosophical channel. In this way he has been hijacking each and every post to his favoured dubious destination.

I have till date been greatly irritated by his continuous presumptuous comments and have lost valuable time and energy in answering this incorrigible irritant of an individual who never quite sees reason to accept even the utterances of saints and sages of the spiritual altitude of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda and has the temerity to laugh at our collective perception and wisdom about matters spiritual which he seemingly regards as his exclusive domain of understanding. I have repeatedly engaged in conversations on the comment stream and have caught him napping in logic but he refuses to see reason and keeps on at his favourite pastime of engaging men of work in combating silly assertions of his that bear no rhyme or reason in Vedanta terms.

Of late he has been sending messages in the inbox to engage my attention even more and helping waste my time and energy further. After a couple of irritating messages that I was forced thus to read, I blocked his message option with me. But he continued to keep my readers engaged by commenting against their viewpoint at the drop of a hat. This seems to me to be a policy of his and he had to be checked. I asked a reader to stop replying to his comments to get rid of this perverse development that is such a bother. But good words, appreciation of his viewpoint as being his and sincerely original at that (which I thought it was so at that point of time, although, logically flawed), and essays written in countering his arguments, all fell flat as he resorted finally to mocking me. Of course, he has a right to do so but has little chance of a continued friendship with me who he has started pooh poohing. Hence, as the ultimate recourse that facebook provides us to be rid of unwholesome elements from our association on the same, I decided to take the course of blocking him. Now let my erstwhile opponent while away his time in the wilderness while I continue to serve you all, my readers, with the delight of words and images fraught with the sense of the divine.

May the God that he describes in dubious terms have mercy on him and lead him to reason by dispelling his self-delusion that he is a self-realised soul of nirvikalpa samadhi attainment even though he has never bothered to renounce earthly pleasure which he calls spontaneous sense engagement that cannot cover his self-consciousness after all! I further wish this. May Sri Ramakrishna bless all deluded fools like him who are the offspring of the dharmaglaani (degeneration of dharma / spiritual degeneration) that has overcome this land of the Vedas of late and lead them along the path of genuine renunciation and service for eventual enlightenment that is true and not a figment of imagination coloured in prismatic dispersion of the real ray of the one sun that never sets!

Written by Sugata Bose

SELF-DELUSION AND SOPHISTRY ... 1

SELF-DELUSION AND SOPHISTRY ... 1

This atheism in the name of the Vedanta is not vanity fair but is vanity foul. It is nothing but a misinterpretation of the ancient texts by ordinary sense-bound creatures masquerading as philosophers with all the baggage of their flawed reasoning. Verily have the shastras (scriptures) said :
शब्दजालामं महारण्यमं चित्तबिभ्रम कारणम ||
The web of words is a forest vast that befuddles the mind.

This, indeed, is the case with shallow men trying to pose as philosophers with all their base sense associations and appetites having their spontaneous sport in enjoyment, their mind not under the minimum of control as ought to be the case with realised souls and their arsenal consisting only of self-confusing words and half-baked ideas to stun them into self-hypnosis of an ulterior kind that misconceives it as the realisation of the absolute truth.

The vast network of words and their corresponding images leave most bewildered and in the consequent confusion that reigns in their brain they come to facile conclusions about their spiritual status. One such stupendously fallacious inference drawn is that they are realised souls by birthright simply because the texts declare that they are in essence Brahman. They may be engaged in carnal activity whenever it suits them to do so, impelled by impulse which they call natural and spontaneous and, so, perfectly compatible with their living free status. This spontaneous marriage of carnality with consciousness absolute is what these neophytes are preaching these days to gain the favour of the masses who are thus being given a comfortable religion to follow, quite in keeping with their ordinary sensate life and with nothing to renounce except that old fool, humility.

These new age Gurus, with mind mired in materialism which they hide under sophistry, are the current corruption that afflicts a sizeable section of the polity composed of gullible souls who can scarce pick the grain from the chaff when it comes to specious argument. Consequently, a vast number of Hindus are being led astray by charlatans that change colour like the chameleon in order to preserve their malefic hold on their duped desirous flock.

Having read the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, these pretenders to piety, these false prophets gather information enough which they mould in the modern tongue to fool the masses. The gift of the gab is not spirituality, neither is crafty but fallacious reasoning so. Digesting material from Vivekananda, interspersing it with scriptural aphorisms and presenting the delicacy as neo-spirituality may suit commercial considerations but not fulfil the requirements to become acceptable as valid truth. Delusion is a disease that affects all except the genuine self-realised souls of rare occurrence, and delusion affects most these pretenders to realisation who preach gibberish in the name of high-sounding philosophy. The common man's delusion will go one day but woe unto these false philosophers who deceive for theirs is the cartload of consequence to bear!

Christ had warned his followers thus : "Beware of false prophets!" Indeed, false prophets did arrive in course of time. But the forewarning had been given and sounds even today to keep us from falling into falsity in the name of the spirit. Guru Gobind Singh had warned his followers the same and to preempt any such happening that could precipitate future trouble, he declared the sacred scripture of the Sikhs their eleventh and last Guru. Thus, the Guru Granth Sahib has since then been recognised as the ultimate Guru, the combination of the wisdom and realisation of all the preceding ten Gurus beginning with Guru Nanak and saints and sages like Kabir and kindred exalted souls.

This is the common ploy used to prevent future contamination and corruption of the original message of the spiritual master(s). This method preserves the pristine purity of the message of the master, true, but it has a great defect as well. It prevents the future growth of the religion in terms of evolution of the original idea as per new findings of the unfolding ages and altered circumstances. Man keeps growing but the religion remains stagnating in its dated form.

Hinduism is free from this defect. It is fluid and flexible and free to be reaffirmed or negated through fresh findings by the pilgrims of the spirit. Nowhere is there a bar to the discovery of new principle, to the amendment of old ones or even outright rejection of the old on the basis of coherent and persuasive argument backed by a life full of the realisation of the newly discovered principle. Thus, there is tremendous freedom of thinking and affirmation of the ideas conceived, their validation in the light of the Vedas or even in contravention of it when a non-Vedic religion comes into being like Jainism and Buddhism and flourishes when backed by sterling character and purity of its founder and adherents. However, the classical Indian tradition of debate must be followed when the founder of a new sect attempts to establish his foundational principles in debate with an adversary adhering to a different viewpoint. It cannot be a blatant self-assertion and crude thrusting of opinion on the people having no sanction from the learned and the wise of society. Such is the civility that the Indian spiritual tradition has ever been observing since remotest antiquity where world civilisation dare not peep.

However, this freedom that Hinduism, or more correctly, the Sanatan Dharma offers is being badly abused by quack Gurus, charlatans and self-declared saints and Avatars, godmen with no character or moral uprightness and with only the impelling motive to fleece the gullible public for their material ends. In earlier centuries whenever a new wave of spirituality arose, there was a man of sterling character attributes and erudition in the scriptures who would often resort, nonetheless, to scriptural text-torturing to establish his philosophical thesis. But, nowadays, these unholy men of flesh and cash who masquerade as spiritual luminaries have neither the erudition nor the purity of character that can establish them before the masses as men of God. They, thus, resort to all sorts of cunning and crafty manipulation of the gullible mind of the commoner to suit their selfish ends. Some of these godmen know a smattering of Sanskrit which they selectively quote to gain ground while some others have the gift of the gab and a sufficient diction to carry them through their campaigns of untruth. The people at large are fooled --- all for some time, some for all time but not all for all time, as the saying goes.

This is a pernicious problem plaguing Hindu society these days more than ever before. This corruption of the spiritual discourse is by no means new, for charlatans have ever been there to spice up the proceedings the vicious way, but its frequency and magnitude is gaining ground by the year in a booming economy where spiritual fraudulence can earn enormous sums in a dubious way with impunity and ease. And herein major difficulty of rooting out this corruption for it is coupled with material greed and the easy availability of resources for appeasing this gluttony in an economy that is thriving ever more.

...to be continued...

Written by Sugata Bose

আপনারও কি ধর্মসঙ্কট ? তবে শুনুন সংলাপ |

আপনারও কি ধর্মসঙ্কট ? তবে শুনুন সংলাপ |
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স্বামিজী : দ্বাদশ বর্ষ অখণ্ড ব্রহ্মচর্য পালনের দ্বারা মস্তিষ্কে মেধানাড়ীর জন্ম হয় | ওই নাড়ীর সহায়ে অতিসূক্ষ্ম তত্ত্ব উপলব্ধি হয় |

আধুনিক ভণ্ড গুরু : ব্রহ্মচর্য চেষ্টা করে হয়না, হওয়া কাম্যও নয় | স্বতঃস্ফুর্তভাবে হলে হবে, নইলে নাই বা হল | ব্রহ্ম তো তুমি আছোই | আলাদা করে আবার ব্রহ্মচর্যপালন করার কোনো প্রয়োজন আছে কি ?

স্বামিজী : দেখ বাবা, কামকাঞ্চণ ত্যাগ না করলে কি হয় ?

আধুনিক ভণ্ড গুরু : ত্যাগ কেন করবে ? সে তো প্রকৃতিকে ল্ঙ্ঘন করার সামিল | কিচ্ছু ত্যাগ করতে হবে না | স্বাভাবিক ভোগ চালিয়ে যাও | শুধু জানো, বোঝো যে তুমি সেই মুক্ত পুরুষ | তোমার আবার সাধন কি ? আর কেই বা সাধন করে ও কারই বা সাধন করে ? তুমি তো নিত্যমুক্ত |

স্বামিজী : জানবি, ত্যাগই মূলমন্ত্র | त्यागनैके अमृतत्व मानसु | ত্যাগ ব্যতীত অমৃতত্ব লাভ হয় না | আর জনবি বাবা, brahmacharya is the key and cornerstone of religion and it is the key and cornerstone of education as well --- এই ব্রহ্মচর্যই ধর্ম ও শিক্ষার প্রাণস্বরূপ |

সুগত বোস : এই হল আজকের অবস্থা | আধ্যাত্মিক জগৎ দুর্বৃত্ত দ্বারা পরিবৃত, পামর ও পাষণ্ডে পরিপ্লুত | ধর্মগ্লানী উপস্থিত | এ অবস্থায় কাকে অনুসরণ করবেন ঠিক করলেন --- স্থিতপ্রজ্ঞ স্বামিজীকে নাকি এই আধুনিক ভণ্ড গুরুর দলকে ?

রচয়িতা : সুগত বোস (Sugata Bose)

WHITHER CULTURE? WHITHER CIVILISATION? WHITHER HUMANITY? ... 1

WHITHER CULTURE? WHITHER CIVILISATION? WHITHER HUMANITY? ... 1

When persecution is right in your home and takes the shape of legal bond to substantiate itself, decline of religion is at hand and the Avatar is due to come. Such a state has now obtained in so many homes to my knowledge and, sure enough, Thakur is in our midst. Dharma, where is dharma anyway? All that prevails is rampant ritual in the name of religion with scant respect for humanity. There is no room for culture, no space for God. All that is there is a blatant self-assertion which is the antithesis of dharma.

In the last year of his life on earth Swami Vivekananda had rued thus : "By quirk of fate though this body came into being, it did not serve any purpose. Contemplating this at times, the mind is overcome with great despair." ... "No one is able to comprehend the great ideas that I enunciate. The boys who are intelligent have married or have become slaves to name and fame or are of weak physical constitution.'' ... ''Those that are coming to join the Order cannot quite understand my ideas.'' ... ''Where do they understand, say? However, if Thakur wills it, out of these ones only, in time, great heroes will be born."

India failed to receive Swamiji and the world failed to do the same, too, with catastrophic consequences. Swamiji foresaw this impending fate of mankind and tried to help humanity avert it. When he saw it coming and could not do anything about it, he lamented that had another Vivekananda been there with him, he could have done something to carry his message through across the wide world in a much more effective way and so brought about significant changes in the world at large. But, alas, that was not to be. So, Swamiji felt resigned to the resolution of collective human karma and felt depressed at the prospective fate of the world. He said, "The world will rise, but oh, at what a cost, at what a cost, at what a cost!'' Two world wars are over. Did Swamiji foresee a third one coming?

Hari Om Ramakrishna!

Written by Sugata Bose

POESY : MOTHER

MOTHER

Bhakti?
Is it a small thing?
While millions in hunger fast it out, 
You feast in the name of God?
Is She the Mother of the rich alone
And nothing to the poor?
You did not give Her food to eat
When She was in the body,
And now do you shed crocotears
To appease Her for good?
This will not work, son.
Shed selfishness, pure and clean,
Like Swamiji did.
Only then may God grace you so,
Else, She will forbid.

Composed by Sugata Bose

'জয় গুরু!'

'জয় গুরু!'

সবাই চায় গুরু হতে,
কেউ হবে না শিষ্য |
তাইত গুরুর ছড়াছড়ি,
শিষ্যরা সব নিঃস্ব |

কেউ বা আবার বদগুরু,
নাম নিয়ছে সদ |
কেউ বা চাঁদের অমাবস্যা,
রবির কিরণ রদ |

কেউ বা বাপু, কেউ শ্রীশ্রী,
কেই মাতা, কেউ সাঁই,
কেউ ভগবান, কেউ অবতার,
কেউ তো ভক্ত নাই ?

এক যে ছিল পরমহংস,
তার নেইকো জুড়িজাড়ি |
কর্তা, বাবা, গুরু বললে
গুটোতো পাততাড়ি |

তার সে চেলা, বিবেকভায়া,
মস্ত বড় ঋষি |
বলে, দেখব গিয়ে কালীর খোকা
পাগলা বামুন দিশী |

আমি হলাম মিল, স্পেন্সর,
হ্যামিলটনের সাধক,
জানে কি ওই বৃদ্ধবামুন
এ নরেন সিমলেপাড়ার বাদক?

পারে যদি জবাব দিতে,
ওটা বাঁচবে তাহলে |
না পারলে বাছাধনের
কানটি দিব মলে |

শুনেছি, জানে ওটা ব্রহ্মতত্ত্ব,
শিখে নেব তাই |
এর বেশী আর কিই বা দেবে ?
ওর কিছুই তো জানা নাই |

এইটি ভেবে বাবু নরেন
দিলেন কালীধামে পারি |
দেখি কেমনতর পরমহংস,
ও তার কোন প্রদেশে বাড়ী |

পশ্চিমের ওই দরজা দিয়ে
অালুথালু বেশে,
কার খোঁজেতে আত্মস্থ,
এলো নরেন শেষে |

আচম্বিতে প্রশ্ন হানে,
"মশায়, দেখেছেন ঈশ্বর ?"
মুচকী হেসে ঠাকুর কহেন,
"তোকেও দেখাব এরপর |"

এই না বলে, ঘরের পারে
দখিণ বারান্দায়,
নিলেন ঠাকুর হাতটি ধরে
অসীম করুণায় |

''বাছা, এতদিন পর এলে?
জানি তুমি নরঋষি, নরনারায়ণ,
জীবের দুঃখে এসেছ মর্তে
করিবারে নিবারণ |"

পাগল ঠাকুর কাঁদে |
নিজের হাতে খাওয়ায় মিঠাই,
নরেন পড়ে ফাঁদে |
বলে, "যাই, ঘরে যাই |"

"মিঠাইগুলো দিন তো হাতে,
বন্ধুসমেত খাই |"
"আরে, ওদের জন্য রাখা আছে,
তোর ভাবনা কোনো নাই |"

নরেন ভাবে মনে |
একি পাগল দেখতে এলাম, সপ্তঋষি কয়?
এবার পেলে ছাড়া অার
এদিকপানে নয় |

পাগল ঠাকুর ঘরে ফিরে
সহজ হলেন তায়,
ভাবের গতিক একটুও নয়
চরম সীমানায় |

নরেন ফেরে ঘরে |
মগজটা যে গুলিয়েছে তার
পরমহংসের তরে |
এখন মাথায় বড় ভার |

এই ভেবে সে একক এবার
হংসপথে যায়,
মনের ধন্দ নিরসনের
এবার অভিপ্রায় |

হাঁটতে হাঁটতে বেলা গড়ায়,
গলদঘর্ম কায় |
পথ হারিয়ে আসে শেষে
পরমহংসের পায়ে |

এবার মজার খেলা শুরু |
এবার বুঝি ঠিক হবে
কে শিষ্য কে বা গুরু |
বাবাজীবন, এই তো শুরু সবে |

হঠাৎ ঠাকুর দিলেন ছুঁয়ে,
সব শূণ্যে মিলায় একি ?
দিগ্বিদিক যে বিলয় হল
মরছি যে হায় দেখি !

ওগো তুমি করো একি,
বাপ মা আছে ভাই |
পাগল ঠাকুর হেসে বলেন,
তবে এখন আর কাজ নাই |

দিলেন হাত বুলিয়ে বুকে |
যেমন সব ছিলো আগে,
তেমনি আছে সুখে |
নরেন সাম্ভবিরূপ জাগে |

এবার তৃতীয় অবস্থান |
নরেন লয়ে ঠাকুর চলেন
যদুর বাটি বাগান |
সম্মোহনে বলেন,

বল দেখি তুই কোথায় ছিলি
কোন মুলুকে ঘর ?
কেনই বা তায় হেথায় এলি
কি করবি অতঃপর ?

রইবি কদিন মর্তধামে,
ফিরবি কবে বল ?
সঠিক সবের জবাব দিল
বিগ্রহ অচল |

নরেন, ও তার ইন্দ্রীয় বিকল |
হেদোর গেটে মাথা ঠোকে,
বলে, "ব্রহ্ম কি তুই, বল ?"
অবাক হল লোকে !

এই ভাবেতেই চলল কয়েক
মাসের ঠিকানা,
যুক্তি গেল তলিয়ে,
ও যে হংসনিশানা |

পরমহংসের সমাধি হয়,
ভাবল ফিটের ব্যামো |
তাইতো শিবে বেহেড বলে,
বলে, বাস্তবেতে নামো |

সেই সমাজে নরেনবাবু
করেন যাতায়াত,
কন্ঠ মধুর, ব্রহ্মগানে
আসর করেন মাত |

এবার পরমহংসের পালা --
খণ্ডবুদ্ধি নরেন
হল মস্ত বড় জ্বালা |
বলে মশাই, কোন ভাবে কি করেন ?

বলে, মনটা তোমার ভুলো
সব দেখেছে ভুল |
তাই তো এবার বিচার করে
করব তা নির্মূল |

হয় কি প্রভু মাটির পুতুল ?
তাই কখনো হয় ?
ও সব তোমার মাথার খেয়াল,
জানিও নিশ্চয় |

ওরে লরেন, মাটি কি রে ?
মা যে চিন্ময় |
লড়েন, চড়েন, কথা করেন,
তাই তো অমন হয় |

না, না, মশাই, ও কিছু নয়,
ও সব মনের যত ভুল |
স্নায়ুর চাপে আছেন,
ও তাই ভ্রান্তি সমতুল |

ঠাকুর গেলেন কালীঘরে |
মা, লরেন তো সত্য কথা কয় |
তবে কি মা জীবনভোর ভুল দেখলাম,
এই কি পরিচয় ?

না রে না, ও ছেলেমানুষ,
কি বা বোঝে ও ?
মানবে সবই সময় হলে,
সত্য খোঁজে ও |

তাই শুনে ঠাকুর,
স্বস্তি ফেলেন শেষে |
বলেন, শালা কথা তোর আর
মানব না নিমেষে |

নরেন তবু ছাড়ে না তার
পরিক্ষকের পালা,
রাখল টাকা তোশকতলে,
দেখবে ধাতুর জ্বালা |

পরমহংস জানে না তার
তোশকতলে কি,
বসেই খাটে উঠল জ্বলে
অতি শুদ্ধ তনুটি |

বলেন, এ শালা ওই নরেনের কাজ,
বাজিয়ে নিতে চায় |
টেস্টো করবে নানান ভাবে,
মানবে তবে তায় |

REALISATION OR DELUSION ... 5

REALISATION OR DELUSION ... 5

How are we to distinguish between the man of spiritual authority to guide and the unqualified person of mere pretence who wishes to make a profession out of preaching for pecuniary and other ends? It is very simple. First we must ourselves be sincere in life and true to others. If we are ourselves insincere and false, we will naturally tend to lodge where insincerity and falsity abides. But if we are sincere and true ourselves, then we will gravitate to the right place where spirituality, true and pure, abides.

The next step is to be adequately intelligent in our dealings in life. We ought not to trust anybody and everybody who claims realisation simply at face value. We must judge their actions, their status in life, their level of attachment to material things, their level of purity with regard to the opposite gender, their behaviour in general, their language, modes and manners, their associates and comrades-in-arms, their knowledge of the scriptures and their attitudes and attires.

The next step is to equip ourselves with sufficient scriptural knowledge learnt from qualified teachers who are neither quacks nor frauds. An easy way will be to read the Bhagavad Geeta, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. It may take time but it will be an enriching experience far better than getting second-hand knowledge from a pretender.

Finally, it will be better to trust a reputed organisation such as the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission or the Bharat Sevashram Sangha to receive spiritual initiation from rather than from any and everyone who claims qualification as a Guru. But before receiving initiation one must watch the actions of the Guru long enough so as not to regret later even as the Guru requires to read the prospective disciple for his qualification to receive the spiritual life in the Ishtamantra (sacred spiritual verbal formulation).

Finally, it is best to repose faith in an Avatar as God rather than in an ordinary human being who poses to be one. Rama, Seeta, Krishna, Sri Radhika, Mahavira, Buddha, Christ, Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya, Guru Nanak, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda provide a sufficient number of worship-worthy incarnations of God for us to feel despondent about. Any one of these, if worshipped ardently, can lead us to freedom. So, let us do so instead of pursuing perverted godmen and getting so perverted ourselves into believing fanciful flights of the mind to be actual realisation of the highest spiritual Truth.

...to be continued...

Written by Sugata Bose

REALISATION OR DELUSION ... 4

REALISATION OR DELUSION ... 4

There are so many who claim to be realised souls but so few actually are. I am inclined to believe that even the famous ones among them are deluded souls or are hypocrites who pretend realisation to get a following, and I include here historical characters of eminence from the recent past as well. The Babas and the Matas abound even as their followers proliferate. Hinduism has been held to ransom in the global market by fraudulent individuals who profit by people's gullibility.

For a Guru to claim that 'I am That' (Aham Brahmasmi) or to say to a disciple that 'That thou art' (Tat tvam asi) is easy but to actually realise the principle rather difficult. Between saying something and doing it, between doing something and realising its essence lies a gulf that is often not bridged despite tall claims so effortlessly made. Pretence is one, perception another ; perception is one, realisation quite another ; realisation is one, to help another realise so very much another. This is the truth and must be clearly understood.

...to be continued...

Written by Sugata Bose

REALISATION AND DELUSION ... 3

REALISATION AND DELUSION ... 3

The common man clings to sense pleasure and the commercial Gurus provide them that only well-packaged in scriptural misquotations and part-quotations.

Every person has two elements in his being. One is the psycho-physical element and the other the spiritual element. The former craves for sense pleasure while the latter acts as the conscience and keeps on urging him to refrain from it. The tussle continues and constitutes what we call life. It is here that the Gurus of the day with their mercenary motivations play their part.

The Gurus offer an easy avenue to the attainment of spirituality so that their followers can carry on with their sense indulgence while blissfully imagining that they are on the fast track to godhead. This suits both disciple and deceiver. The disciple goes about with his unprincipled way of living, of earning the bread of dishonour and the deceiver in the shape of the Guru goes on accumulating the resources which he asks his disciples to offer by way of charity to a good cause. The disciple's conscience in misdeeds is, thus, cleared and the Guru's conscienceless life flowers as well. Renunciation flies through the window as 'realisation' hops in through the door. After that it is a hop, skip and dance all the way!

...to be continued...

Written by Sugata Bose

REALISATION OR DELUSION? ... 2

REALISATION OR DELUSION? ... 2

Today we see so many Gurus posing to be realised souls. They are resorting to all sorts of tricky articulations and leading the common man astray. This is dharmaglaani (decline of dharma). The innocent, the gullible, the ignorant are being led into delusion by their crafty preceptors (Gurus). Some are even being given the idea that they are realised souls. After all, if the disciples are to be appeased, what better way to do so than to give them quick nirvana? Only then can the Guru claim to be a super-nirvana soul, a la Buddha, is it not?

The Sanatan Dharma (Hindu) scriptures are so fluid that one may misinterpret them by sectional quotation in any manner. And herein lies the pitfall for Hindus. Ordinary men, ignorant of such slight of mind practised with clinical efficiency by these crafty Gurus, are led into dubious channels of so-called spiritual practice where they are given to understand that they can faith-heal people from a distance, have super-auras about themselves that are tangible proof of their spirituality, that their kulakundalini shakti has been raised to such and such levels, that they need not renounce lust and gold but need to remain unattached to them --- whatever that may mean ---, that they need not practise restraint of the carnal impulses as such --- for that would tantamount to repression --- but need to give into the natural impulses so as to best contain them within reasonable bounds. And for all these liberties allowed, they will still realise the bliss of spirituality for they are ever free souls, children of light and heirs to immortality. This is the commercial cocktail of Indian spirituality that is flooding the market and sending the rishis to despair.

... to be continued...

Written by Sugata Bose

REALISATION OR DELUSION? ... 1

REALISATION OR DELUSION? ... 1

There are some in society who claim that they have had nirvikalpa samadhi (non-dual absolute realisation of the Self / Atman). But one must not be deluded into believing that one is realised if one is not able to preserve perfect continence (brahmacharya) despite so-called realisation. This is the proof of the pudding (perception). Whether one is suffering from delusion of the brain or not can best be understood in this light. What is the state of one's attachment to the body? Does one feel inclined towards the opposite gender in carnal terms however sublimated? Has one conquered the sex-impulse altogether and arrived at the beautiful sublimation of all carnality? Has the feminine charm in terms of quickening a physical reaction of a base kind completely been overcome? And, if so, is one being honest about it? This is with reference to a man. The same applies to a woman in the altered order of gender. Has all monetary association been given up in terms of attachment? Does one feel universal love that so floods the system that one is no more capable of attending to personal duties any more and feels driven by a cyclonic thrust to go beyond societal limits and live a free man in the arms of Nature? All these are pertinent points that need mature meditation on before one may subscribe to fleeting misdirected flights of psychic imagination and come to the understanding that one has had the experience of nirvikalpa samadhi. Hiding behind flawed arguments does not suit the purpose of self-realisation. Well has the Upanishad said : Like the blind leading the blind etc.

...to be continued...

Written by Sugata Bose

WOE UNTO THE MIND THAT HAS LOST ITS POWER TO THINK

WOE UNTO THE MIND THAT HAS LOST ITS POWER TO THINK

Our intellectual standard is at an abysmal low today and daily declining. I urge all to engage in the culture of the head and the heart both. Instead of blaming others for this degradation, let us assume self-responsibility to redress this situation. At the very outset we may read any of these authors : (a) Vivekananda
(b) Tagore (c) Aurobindo (d) Gandhi (e) Nehru (f) Netaji (g) Bankimchandra (h) Nazrul (i) Michael Madhusudan ((j) Ranganathananda. These are but a few names that came readily to mind and I laid them before you by way of suggestion. Surely, you may have other avenues of intellectual culture as well and you are welcome to such reading. But do read. Mere marvelling at photographs attached to posts scarce suffices to fill up this lacuna that today stifles self-consciousness and creative thinking.

How can adults engage in frivolous talk about the polity whole day without even bothering to delve a little deeper into any matter that they discuss? This is not a very wholesome situation and must be addressed at the base at the school level. Children must be encouraged to question arbitrary assumptions and must not be brainwashed at home into believing all sorts of archaic religious dogmas and doctrinaire nonsense that have no basis in evidence or rational rigour whatsoever. A defective system of blind adherence to what is taught results in this sort of uncritical approach to the real issues of life where people move by herd instinct and are not guided by reason. This seems to the sad state of the masses among which the bulk of the educated middle class is as well enrolled.

It is not good enough to improve grass roots education but the University level education will also have to be improved hugely. The Chief Minister's state patronage of these institutions notwithstanding, one must say that cosmetic changes in renaming colleges as universities with minor facility improvement and still more minor domain expansion in real terms does not augur well for the state's future academic possibilities. The same applies for all other states. Even the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University needs to be provided huge governmental assistance before it is able to come up to the standards envisioned by Swamiji over a century ago. Here the government must grant liberally its funds for the result is assured in terms of excellence thereby achieved. The Ramakrishna Mission is one institution that is still working excellently despite the decadence prevailing in society all around.

...to be continued... 

Written by Sugata Bose

ভাবী সম্ভাবনা

ভাবী সম্ভাবনা

ঈশ্বরোপলব্ধি দেহতত্ত্বের বিষয়, ধর্মমতের নয় | এটি বিজ্ঞানবিষয়ক সিদ্ধান্ত যা হিন্দুরা যুগ যুগ আগে বুৃঝেছিলেন | এরই মধ্যে নিহিত ভবিষ্যতের সর্বমত সমন্বয় | তাই স্বামিজী বারংবার জোড় দিয়েছেন বিজ্ঞান ও বেদ, এই উভয়সাধনার ওপর | এই দুই চিন্তাধারার অগ্রগতির ওপর রচিত হবে ভবিষ্যতের সভ্যতার সৌধ | মিলনের সেই ইমারত বিজ্ঞান ও ধর্মমতের, দর্শন ও কাব্যের, বিশ্বাস ও উপলব্ধির ভিত্তিতে গড়ে উঠবে | সকল মতের শ্রেষ্ঠতম উপাদানগুলির সহাবস্থানে সুন্দর হবে মানবকুলের এই ভাবী সম্ভাবনা যার ভিত্তি হবে বৈদান্তিক একত্বানুভূতি, ঊর্দ্ধনির্মান বিজ্ঞানকেন্দ্রিক ও আভ্যন্তরীন কারুকার্য সকল মানবপন্থার সমাহার | রামকৃষ্ণ-বিবেকানন্দ তারই অগ্রদূত | আসুন, এই মহান দুই জীবনের অনুধ্যানে নিবিষ্টচিত্ত হই ও সভ্যতার আগামী সম্ভাবনার দিকে অগ্রসর হই | সমন্বয়ই ধর্ম, সত্যানুভূতিই বিজ্ঞান, অতিন্দ্রীয় উপলব্ধিই বেদ | সত্যমেব জয়তে নানৃতাম্ !

রচয়িতা : সুগত বোস (Sugata Bose)

YET ANOTHER WASTEFUL DAY AND A WOEFUL DAY, TOO

YET ANOTHER WASTEFUL DAY AND A WOEFUL DAY, TOO

The bandh is over and has caused a great deal of stress to some, a little stress to many and has given political mileage to the ones that called for it. The ruling party has denounced it. But the ruling party also has called for bandhs frequently in the past when they were not in power and they thought they were justified in doing so. This is the sad tale of it that has vitiated our corrupt polity of reckless individuals and an irresponsible mass of opportunistic followers who are taking our country backward by the day. The financial losses apart, massive inconvenience is caused by halting the civic machinery for twelve hours. It cannot be justified under any pretext and I say this with full conviction born out of experience and from a totally apolitical stance in life.

To stop work is to entertain tamas, the lowest quality of the human system. It is work that builds a system and abstinence from it merely degenerates it further. Thus, the calling of bandhs are not only unproductive but fail in their so-called mission to achieve the objective of making a sufficient protest against misgovernance of any kind. It is a still-born babe that breathes not the vital air of life and freedom.

A democracy is ruled by the people's mandate. But elections are held every five years, although, there are multiple tiers of the governmental set-up that require elections to be held periodically which makes for a more frequent people's mandate at these different levels. Despite this, it becomes necessary for all political parties to sense the pulse of the polity by calling for frequent strikes (bandhs) when they can gauge arithmetically their hoodlum hold on the masses. After all, in underdeveloped and developing countries this is the typical way to find out where a party stands in terms of its eventual election management. In developed nations this pulse of the people is fed in regularly to all by market research organisations whose data gathering and analysis thereof keep the parties well informed as to the latest trends in the polity with regard to popularity of politicians and their parties.

However, such an enlightened way of data feeding and management of the election campaign thereof has not yet become the norm here in India where old-fashioned methods are resorted to that stall life for a day causing inordinate difficulty for all.

'Bandh' may be a post-independence term but the phenomena dates back to pre-independence times when Gandhiji used to frequently paralyse the civic administrative machinery of the British and the nation with it by calling for a 'hartal' which was basically a strike or a 'bandh'. This he did to lodge his protest against certain measures adopted by the alien government of the day or by way of part of his broader campaign of civil disobedience to attain to self-governance for India. India, dependent and reeling under the crushing heels of a corrupt, gluttonous and malevolent colonial government, was morally obligated to resist the draconian laws that were in operation then and this she ought to do by refusing to comply with such unjust laws. This was the line of argument of Gandhiji and his rationale for the 'hartal' for a day. The Mahatma was convinced that such civic pressure of non-compliance would bring the government to its knees and compel it to consider the just demands of the subjects of the Crown regarding greater autonomy and eventual sovereign self-rule.

But those were different times when a nation, crushed under foreign yoke, was seeking deliverance unto freedom. The call to halt all activity that helped the colonial machinery to function in potent suppression of native aspirations was morally justified and the whole nation saw no wrong in responding to the call of the Mahatma. The British ruthlessly suppressed all such seditious activities under the cover of their draconian laws and put tens of thousands behind bars. But the Gandhian movement kept gaining ground for it had an ideology, a philosophy and a sublime objective inspiring it and guiding it. But times have changed now and what obtains in the name of 'bandh' today defies those noble aspirations of pre-independence days.

...to be continued...

Written by Sugata Bose