IT IS TEATIME AND TIME TO HAVE A BIT OF SPIRITUAL SNACKS TO SPICE UP THE AFTERNOON
Academic discussion about God is fine when one's financial resources are flowing but a bit of practical demonstration of spirituality in terms of social charity would be worthwhile as well. With one's belly full and family under secure protection of the earth's resources gathered under one's own roof, it is easy to indulge in idle talk on religion and the seminal sages of the past like Swamiji. It is even an extravagant exercise in self-indulgence to shed tears on the sufferings of Ramakrishna's wife and children while remaining unconcerned about their present incarnations in the millions that suffer all around.
Mother suffered like none in her exalted position as consort to the divine incarnation of the age has historically been subject to, eking out a subsistence by threshing paddy and getting her wages thereof in a like kind to live her days in quiet contemplation on her divine husband and spiritual master. Ramakrishna's young eagles suffered starvation, privation of all kinds, insult, persecution and vilification by adversaries who ever tried to nip their fledgling organisation in the bud. Swamiji himself suffered from juvenile diabetes for which he neither got treatment nor the correct diet that he could live beyond forty. That he did live so long is a wonder, plagued as he was by multiple organ malfunction. All of the early disciples of the Master and Mother had to live spartan lives that cut many of them off in the prime of their youth and middle age and wasted so much of precious human resource that with a bit of social help then would have helped India stand more secure than she does now.
The Belur Math was the poor man's mansion where the mad men of God collected to contemplate on their earthly impermanence even as they plunged into the maelstrom of life to assuage the difficulty of their poor countrymen. The Ramakrishna Mission was set up by Swamiji to be a lever for the welfare of humanity but it itself till the 1980s suffered from severe economic hardship.
And we watched. And even today we must keep watching and engaging in idle talk about God while the blood of humanity keeps flowing. Ours is a house well kept. Ours is a family well maintained. Ours is an economy flourishing. What need we in keeping others well? What need we in tending to our hapless brethren? What need we in helping others flourish as well? We have our selfish selves, our selfish God and our selfish talk on Him to amuse us in our selfish leisure hours. That is it and that is all there is to life. So, shut up, Sugata Bose.
Written by Sugata Bose who refuses to shut up, though. His shop remains open for all to come and receive help from.
Academic discussion about God is fine when one's financial resources are flowing but a bit of practical demonstration of spirituality in terms of social charity would be worthwhile as well. With one's belly full and family under secure protection of the earth's resources gathered under one's own roof, it is easy to indulge in idle talk on religion and the seminal sages of the past like Swamiji. It is even an extravagant exercise in self-indulgence to shed tears on the sufferings of Ramakrishna's wife and children while remaining unconcerned about their present incarnations in the millions that suffer all around.
Mother suffered like none in her exalted position as consort to the divine incarnation of the age has historically been subject to, eking out a subsistence by threshing paddy and getting her wages thereof in a like kind to live her days in quiet contemplation on her divine husband and spiritual master. Ramakrishna's young eagles suffered starvation, privation of all kinds, insult, persecution and vilification by adversaries who ever tried to nip their fledgling organisation in the bud. Swamiji himself suffered from juvenile diabetes for which he neither got treatment nor the correct diet that he could live beyond forty. That he did live so long is a wonder, plagued as he was by multiple organ malfunction. All of the early disciples of the Master and Mother had to live spartan lives that cut many of them off in the prime of their youth and middle age and wasted so much of precious human resource that with a bit of social help then would have helped India stand more secure than she does now.
The Belur Math was the poor man's mansion where the mad men of God collected to contemplate on their earthly impermanence even as they plunged into the maelstrom of life to assuage the difficulty of their poor countrymen. The Ramakrishna Mission was set up by Swamiji to be a lever for the welfare of humanity but it itself till the 1980s suffered from severe economic hardship.
And we watched. And even today we must keep watching and engaging in idle talk about God while the blood of humanity keeps flowing. Ours is a house well kept. Ours is a family well maintained. Ours is an economy flourishing. What need we in keeping others well? What need we in tending to our hapless brethren? What need we in helping others flourish as well? We have our selfish selves, our selfish God and our selfish talk on Him to amuse us in our selfish leisure hours. That is it and that is all there is to life. So, shut up, Sugata Bose.
Written by Sugata Bose who refuses to shut up, though. His shop remains open for all to come and receive help from.
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