RAJA MAHARAJ ... 1
Prince among the Apostles of Ramakrishna, cowherd-boy of the Krishna Leela in Vrindavan, Ramakrishna's spiritual son, Raja Maharaj (Swami Brahmananda) reigned over the Ramakrishna Order as its first President like a veritable monarch from 1897-1922. Childlike in his simplicity (he used to play with children wearing masks), supremely exalted in his spirituality (he used to say that between him and the Absolute there was but a very fine glassy layer which he could, if he wished, smash through any moment and merge in the Absolute but Ramakrishna was preventing him from doing so), Maharaj was a powerhouse of spirituality quite akin to his spiritual father. He radiated spirituality like a tangible force, could illumine aspirants with a touch or a wish and sat godlike in the precincts of the Belur Math, awakening the spiritual consciousness of man. Many a devotee mistook him to be Ramakrishna from behind and the fortunate ones even envisioned Ramakrishna in him, such was his spiritual altitude and identification with the Master.
The unique feature of Raja Maharaj was that even as President of the Order he would engage in apparent frivolities like fishing and playing hide and seek with children, leaving more important organisational matters to the care of his brother disciples like Sarat Maharaj (Swami Saradananda), Baburam Maharaj (Swami Premananda) and others but whenever an emergency arose, he would diffuse the crisis in his own inimitable way of raising the consciousness of the errant monks by making them all engage in collective mediation and devotional singing in his hallowed presence. This method was invariably successful in resolving many a crisis and the best illustration of this was the one that brewed up in the Varanasi Ramakrishna Mission centre where a large number of monks were in fratricidal feud over some issues. When the Secretary of the Order, Swami Saradananda failed to settle the differences between the monks, the President visited the centre and smoothed every difference with his palpable spiritual presence and his engaging the monks in collective spiritual practice in his presence. When Swami Brahmananda left the Varanasi Ashrama after a couple of months, the atmosphere there was surcharged with a divine spiritual presence that maintained lasting peace and harmony there.
The direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna who had renounced the world were a part and parcel of Thakur's divine form. This was explicitly stated by Thakur and Ma both. As such, exalted personalities like Raja Maharaj had descended from a higher spiritual plane to take up earthly embodiment. Theirs was a descent of the divine into human clay and not an ascent of the human into the divine. Their spiritual practice was, thus, only by way of illustration for man mired in materialism and for energising and, so, uplifting the collective consciousness of humanity unto the spiritual realm. Every action of Raja Maharaj must be seen in this light.
These spiritual children of Thakur lived on the borderline that separated the realm of material existence from the spiritual and had to perforce keep their mind on their mortal coil by engaging in frequent frivolities mentioned above. Else, they would have merged in their eternal state of the being and given up their earthly forms. This is the reason why Swami Brahmananda played with children 'hide and seek', fished and played his terrific pranks on his brother disciples like Gangadhar Maharaj (Swami Akhandananda) and others. But more of that later.
End of Part 1
To be continued...
Written by Sugata Bose
Prince among the Apostles of Ramakrishna, cowherd-boy of the Krishna Leela in Vrindavan, Ramakrishna's spiritual son, Raja Maharaj (Swami Brahmananda) reigned over the Ramakrishna Order as its first President like a veritable monarch from 1897-1922. Childlike in his simplicity (he used to play with children wearing masks), supremely exalted in his spirituality (he used to say that between him and the Absolute there was but a very fine glassy layer which he could, if he wished, smash through any moment and merge in the Absolute but Ramakrishna was preventing him from doing so), Maharaj was a powerhouse of spirituality quite akin to his spiritual father. He radiated spirituality like a tangible force, could illumine aspirants with a touch or a wish and sat godlike in the precincts of the Belur Math, awakening the spiritual consciousness of man. Many a devotee mistook him to be Ramakrishna from behind and the fortunate ones even envisioned Ramakrishna in him, such was his spiritual altitude and identification with the Master.
The unique feature of Raja Maharaj was that even as President of the Order he would engage in apparent frivolities like fishing and playing hide and seek with children, leaving more important organisational matters to the care of his brother disciples like Sarat Maharaj (Swami Saradananda), Baburam Maharaj (Swami Premananda) and others but whenever an emergency arose, he would diffuse the crisis in his own inimitable way of raising the consciousness of the errant monks by making them all engage in collective mediation and devotional singing in his hallowed presence. This method was invariably successful in resolving many a crisis and the best illustration of this was the one that brewed up in the Varanasi Ramakrishna Mission centre where a large number of monks were in fratricidal feud over some issues. When the Secretary of the Order, Swami Saradananda failed to settle the differences between the monks, the President visited the centre and smoothed every difference with his palpable spiritual presence and his engaging the monks in collective spiritual practice in his presence. When Swami Brahmananda left the Varanasi Ashrama after a couple of months, the atmosphere there was surcharged with a divine spiritual presence that maintained lasting peace and harmony there.
The direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna who had renounced the world were a part and parcel of Thakur's divine form. This was explicitly stated by Thakur and Ma both. As such, exalted personalities like Raja Maharaj had descended from a higher spiritual plane to take up earthly embodiment. Theirs was a descent of the divine into human clay and not an ascent of the human into the divine. Their spiritual practice was, thus, only by way of illustration for man mired in materialism and for energising and, so, uplifting the collective consciousness of humanity unto the spiritual realm. Every action of Raja Maharaj must be seen in this light.
These spiritual children of Thakur lived on the borderline that separated the realm of material existence from the spiritual and had to perforce keep their mind on their mortal coil by engaging in frequent frivolities mentioned above. Else, they would have merged in their eternal state of the being and given up their earthly forms. This is the reason why Swami Brahmananda played with children 'hide and seek', fished and played his terrific pranks on his brother disciples like Gangadhar Maharaj (Swami Akhandananda) and others. But more of that later.
End of Part 1
To be continued...
Written by Sugata Bose
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