This is the album of photographs of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna that excludes that dynamic disciple of Thakur by the name Swami Nirmalananda (Tulsi Maharaj). This album is in wide circulation by official sanction and has succesfully permeated the myth among the devotees that Thakur had only 16 and not 17 direct disciples among which Tulsi Charan Datta (Swami Nirmalanada) did not figure.
Who was the Guru of Tulsi Maharaj then, may any informed devotee or monk of the Ramakrishna Order grace us with the answer? 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' by M and 'Life of Sri Ramakrishna' by Swami Nikhilananda, which has a foreword by Mahatma Gandhi, both name Tulsi Maharaj as Thakur's direct disciple. Are we then to assume that these early writings were flawed in their content? Must we then cease to have faith in the words of M (Mahendranath Gupta) who chronicled Thakur's life and was himself a lay disciple of Thakur? These books in their original and unaltered form were published by Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. Are we then to suppose that these early publications by men who knew Tulsi Maharaj were factually incorrect and the true facts only came to light thereafter once wiser ones surfaced, men who had never seen Thakur and had never had the opportunity or occasion to see Tulsi Maharaj in Thakur's proximity?
I wonder, and I wonder badly, and I wonder sadly at the degenerate developments of the age. Now it is no less than dharmaglaani (decline of virtue) that has affected society in every phase, a state of decadence which only Thakur reincarnate can redress. Jai Ramakrishna!
Written by Sugata Bose
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