This world is a mass of lies. It is good. We will smash it and deliver unto us the truth. Swami Nirmalananda rises like the phoenix from the ashes. Despite all the controversies of the court case involving him and the Belur Math, Nirmalanandaji continues to be Sri Ramakrishna's direct disciple by Thakur's own acceptance which no individual or institution, however exalted, may undo. He was a seminal monk of leonine stature, one who none other than Swamiji held out before the others as the model of a monk, the synthesis of many virtues, and whose contributions to the Ramakrishna Movement remains after Swamiji's almost unparalleled in several respects, especially in the work of the propagation of the message of his Master in South India with special emphasis on Kerala.
Sadly, however, there is a systematic attempt to bury Swami Nirmalananda in the quicksands of historical oblivion by sidelining him in every possible way and in an organised manner setting before all that Thakur had but sixteen monastic disciples of his and not seventeen. The exclusion of Swami Nirmalananda is deliberate and quite uncalled for at this distant date from that of the acrimonious legal dispute over the possession of the Bangalore Math. This omission of Nirmalanandaji from the list of Thakur's direct disciples is rendering the Ramakrishna Movement somewhat sterile for he was such an inspiring monk of dynamic attributes who could galvanise men into action for the noble cause that he represented on behalf of his divine Master. This is a great loss to humanity for Nirmalanandaji's life's achievements are phenomenal and remain untapped thus largely for seeking energy and inspiration from.
A recent decision has apparently been taken by the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple Trust to build the statues of the sixteen recognised direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, thereby leaving his leonine seventeenth disciple, Swami Nirmalananda, in the wilderness. How wonderful it will be if this comes about in the very abode where the embodiment of Truth, Sri Ramakrishna, had spent the best part of his life and pronounced that 'Truth is the austerity of this Age of Kali' ! Untruth will then be housed in the abode of Truth, how wonderful !
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo : Top -- The 17 direct monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna as per RKM's official photograph of an earlier version. Here Swami Nirmalananda is seen on the bottom left wing ; Bottom -- The 16 direct monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna as per RKM's official photograph of a later version which continues to this day. Here Swami Nirmalananda is not visible. His photograph is sadly missing from this album.
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