THE DECADENCE THAT WILL SIMPLY NOT LEAVE BENGAL

THE DECADENCE THAT WILL SIMPLY NOT LEAVE BENGAL

Tagore composed sublime songs, grand compositions, divine, celestial, call them what you will. But the singers of Tagore songs have made the songs appear as if they were compositions intended to inject the poison of sense pleasure into the body politic of Bengal. Shame unto such degenerate rendition of such sublimity in musical poetic terms !

It is a bad and a sad reflection on the culture of sense pleasure rampant even now in Bengal, a trait Swami Vivekananda had much castigated in his talks about the prevalent sense culture in Bengal, then manifesting in society as the decadent 'vamachara' or the degenerate left-handed worship of the Divine. It is time to manifest a fair degree of manhood in the youth of Bengal, now totally given to frivolities and puerile pastimes, all catering to titillation of the nerves leading to eventual nothingness.

Let Tagore be sung the way he would have sung or would have liked his compositions to have been sung, and let Bengal give up the pretence of intellectualism where there is none and culture where all that abounds is a terrible submission to the lowly senses. Youth of Bengal, arise and manifest a modicum of manhood !

Written by Sugata Bose

FAREWELL, OLD YEAR, AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NEW YEAR !

FAREWELL, OLD YEAR, AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NEW YEAR !

The earth moves along a helical path as it makes its seemingly elliptical orbit round the sun that itself surges ahead while orbiting the galactic core. It is a curvilinear path for the earth that never retraces its steps ever but gives the impression that it does so. The sequential change of seasons is all a part of this helical scheme of things and the movement of the year is the cyclical movement of this helix as well. It is in this context that we must view the passage of the year 2018 and the advent of the next one that is knocking on the door, 2019. Farewell, Old Year, and happy birthday, New Year !

Written by Sugata Bose

PRACTISE TO PRESERVE THE SUBLIME SANATAN DHARMA

PRACTISE TO PRESERVE THE SUBLIME SANATAN DHARMA 

The best way Hindus can influence the world into accepting the universal principles of the Upanishads is to practise their religion well instead of clamouring cacophonous over the weaknesses of other faiths. While defending Hindu rights is justified, the best defence would still remain being religious about one's daily practice and leading a life of principled purity. Precept fails to teach where practice sure makes its mark. In witnessing devout Hindus practising their faith, people from other faiths will be attracted to the Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) and accept it as their own spiritual habitat as well.

The reason why after over a thousand years of Islamic and later Christian occupation in India (here spoken strictly from the angle of religious affiliation of the invaders) the Hindus, despite massive conversion to Islam and Christianity, could not be totally wiped out as a religious force and even today maintain such a huge following crossing a billion is on account of the constant appearance on the national scene of Hindu saints, sages, seers and savants who through their ardent practice of the faith kept alive the flame of the Vedas. These spiritual luminaries have been the living lights of Hinduism and have saved it from utter annihilation at the proselytising hands of Islam and Christianity. They created their spiritual movements and gathered millions of fresh adherents to their sects. These followers in turn, rejuvenated by the inspiring message of their spiritual masters, obeyed their instructions and practised the faith which kept Hinduism in all its diverse fold vibrant and alive.

It, thus, stands to reason for us, modern Hindus, to emulate the instance of our forefathers and practise our faith with ardour so that we may spread its influence across the wide world and help usher peace and harmony in our strife-stricken world. In doing so we will do Hinduism a far greater service than we are wont to doing now en masse through our collective cacophony about rights lost and freedom infringed and religious space transgressed by aggressors in diverse ways. May we follow in the footsteps of our great sages and fulfil their expectations of us and only then call ourselves Hindus, otherwise not ! May Sri Ramakrishna, who was the embodiment of the Vedas, whose life was the highest commentary on the Upanishads and who was a veritable Ganga of spirituality himself, bless us all in our common endeavour to enliven ourselves spiritually and with it vivify our ancient religion, the grandest ever man has discovered in his spiritual odyssey thus far ! May the Sanatan Dharma through our collective creative active endeavour triumph over those inimical forces that are trying to crush it in its onward course !

Written by Sugata Bose

LOVE, LIMITED AND LITTLE BUT LOADED WELL IN WORDS, YES, WORDS ALONE

LOVE, LIMITED AND LITTLE BUT LOADED WELL IN WORDS, YES, WORDS ALONE

The sympathy of sectarian devotees is limited indeed. Religion and organisation hold them in chains of abject obedience devoid of self-respect and the least capacity for critical thinking. Such passive subservience may hardly be termed devotion but is a form of servility that is the characteristic of the subjugated, a feature which was very much evident in colonial times of European conquest. A conquered nation that far outnumbered the conqueror, yet failed to rise up in rebellion to free itself from colonial shackles primarily because of this characteristic servility which remains embedded as the national character even today.

Be it subservience to a dynastic political dispensation in New Delhi or a like servility to a spiritual organisation that would be better served through active devotion rather than passive pretentious piety, the narrative of narrow allegiance and obsequiousness beyond what may be deemed self-respecting remains the same. And when such devotion assumes centre-stage and attempts to muzzle the voice of truth, it turns decadent and noxious and needs a decent burial then.

Such, my friends, are the predicaments of the times when millions of cowards flock the mansion of the Lord and, mercenaries that they are in seeking the grace of the Mother by copious coaxing and cajoling her but carefully avoiding engagement in any endeavour that may necessitate of them any pecuniary sacrifice to serve Mother's children in distress, they do disservice to a spiritual movement with seminal beginnings and an ever-broadening scope of charitable activity for all. May these weaklings discover their roots in the mighty message of the Master and his Messenger and come clean of all their hypocrisies and serve the cause better ! May Mother deserve more virile children than these, her debilitated devotees adept in self-deception ! 

Jai Ramakrishna !

Written by Sugata Bose

CAPITAL AND ITS CONTRADICTION

CAPITAL AND ITS CONTRADICTION

Capitalism today is a necessary evil that will build the economic system on its quicksand basis founded on greed and will then sink at its height owing to its own contradictions. What is needed, though, is an alternative system that is just and fair and not based on totalitarian principles as applied Marxism-Leninism-Maoism have been.

Theory may be fine but it is in the application that human attributes make or mar a system built on such theory. Here India shows the way of character-formation based on the pristine principles of the Vedas. An amalgamation of socialism and spiritualism of the Indian dharma tradition would be the ideal future system for amelioration of much of the current evils of society.

The socioeconomic development must be along spiritual philosophical lines so that power and authority does not spell the doom of handsome theory of elimination of the evils of capitalism. It may not be long before such experiments start being made and it will then usher in a golden age of scientific-spiritual culture for humanity to flourish along its future path of evolution.

Written by Sugata Bose

I MAKE NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN AND MAN BASED ON SPIRITUAL ASSUMPTIONS

I MAKE NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN AND MAN BASED ON SPIRITUAL ASSUMPTIONS 

I do not make any difference between the initiated and the not initiated devotees or laymen for I have had ample experience of good and bad people among both categories of people. In fact, my experience has led me to believe that those who are not stamped with formal initiation from reputed spiritual organisations are simple people who have a greater humanitarian spirit and contribute more to spiritual and social causes than those who are touting as initiates of great Gurus of great spiritual orders. This democracy in the demographic distribution of good people in the world gives me great hope for its future and underlines for me the essential divinity of the human species irrespective of national, cultural, religious, denominational and organisational affiliation. Hence, the necessity of convincing and converting people to my fold vanishes into thin air and leaves me with ample space to fruitfully interact with people across the human spectrum provided they are civilised enough to engage in such human interaction without imposing their beliefs or prejudices on me in any way. May God bless all my sisters and brothers across the wide world ! 

Jai Ramakrishna !

Written by Sugata Bose

IN DEFENCE OF MYSELF WHEN UNDER ATTACK FROM UNSEEMLY QUARTERS FOR THERE IS NONE ELSE TO DEFEND ME AS I CAN CLEARLY SEE

IN DEFENCE OF MYSELF WHEN UNDER ATTACK FROM UNSEEMLY QUARTERS FOR THERE IS NONE ELSE TO DEFEND ME AS I CAN CLEARLY SEE

Let me reiterate, I do not seek name or fame which, for what it is, I detest, nor do I seek to run down any. All that I stand for is truth and that is all that I pursue as well in my bid to bring about the welfare of my brethren everywhere here on planet earth in this 'brief sojourn' (to quote Einstein) we call terrestrial life. Beyond that my feeble vision does not let me peer into nor can I see clearly what lies ahead even here in this earthly life but it is amply clear that truth must be the secure foundation of all my movements for human welfare. Hence, truth it is that I owe allegiance to and not to any organisation, however exalted seemingly or in real, and truth is my ideal that I aspire to achieve and I personify in human terms as Thakur-Ma-Swamiji-Gurudev. Their graces are ever showering on me and I seek none other. Whether I receive abundant human support or not, it bothers me not for I know the flimsiness of human relations, fraught as they are with loads of self-interest.

So far as my mission to pursue truth my own way is concerned, I have myself as my support and some sympathisers as well, devoted as they are to the cause we hold as our common cross to bear, only, we do so not out of the sense of glorification of suffering but out of the impulsion to manifest all that is good and noble and elevating in the human spirit in a concerned labour of love. In so far as this mission of mine is concerned, help slowly is coming as followers flock in single file one by one but I depend on none, knowing the capricious nature of the selfish mind.

This is my not so humble a submission after all for I do not believe in false humility, pretentious and puerile, that reveals more of vanity than it obliterates ego in any sense. May truth be ever my guide, my Guru, my God, and in this I have found my anchor secure in my spiritual master, Ramakrishna.

Written by Sugata Bose

BBC, ARE YOU LISTENING ?

BBC, ARE YOU LISTENING ?

BBC reports Venezuelan hunger. What about a film by BBC on Bengal hunger in 1943 when Churchill stage-managed the show to starve Bengal to one of the greatest human catastrophes of the twentieth century? Approximately 4.3 million Bengalis died of hunger, a calamity that was inflicted on us to create buffer stocks for British soldiers in Europe and to feed the population in England.

My mother was witness to this calamitous event of human history and has in tears given graphic description of what she saw. There was this woman who begged of her, ''Phyan dao, Ma, phyan dao,'' (''Give me starch, mother, give me starch,'') and before my mother could even respond, she fell at her feet and died. The event has left such an impact on my mother that now, ailing and paralysed in bed with speech impaired and a host of ailments limiting her, she beats her forehead when reminded of the Great Bengal Famine of 1943. The woman who died at her feet did not even ask for rice or food of any kind but simply the starch that people would drain off the rice bowl once it had been made. This was the situation and BBC has forever remained mute.

Hail Britannia ! You have civilised the world, indeed, with your beneficial colonial control of the savages across the world ! Hail the Kings and the Queens of England who have revelled in their royal pastimes at the expense of the miserable wretches across the world they have through their kicks and sleight of the commercial hand saved from perdition ! And hail us, Indians, Macaulay's children, who never raise a hue and cry over this but quietly enjoy the coronation ceremonies of one of the worst dynasties in human history whose path of glory is besmirched by its gory deeds, the blood spilled from the arteries of their sub-human subjects who were just fit to be ruled and brought out of savagery thus !

Vande Mataram ! Jai Hind !

Written by Sugata Bose

JUST A BIT OF A BIG HEART, PLEASE

JUST A BIT OF A BIG HEART, PLEASE

Sugata Bose : It requires a big heart to admire and appreciate other people's talents. Fault finders can scarce do it. Simple people appreciate.

Sanjib Bhattacharyya : Very true, our ego is coming between our feelings and intellect to do the damage.I am always trying hard to omit the 'E' and walk with 'GO'.....Hope with Thakur's grace I will succeed one day, Bhakti is the key factor here which seriously I am lacking very.🙏

Sugata Bose : So much is not being called for. Just a bit of a big heart to appreciate others, applaud them in their achievements and encourage drooping spirits who are talented enough but lack the space for self-expression, instead of engaging in hair-splitting arguments with criticism being the main agenda in one's bid for self-establishment at the expense of the other which is what brings out one's jealous carping where sympathetic applauding would have done infinitely better.

Simple people, they who are less endowed in the special gifts we call talent, it has been my experience that they are the ones who are guileless enough not to see the fault in others so much as the ones who are intelligent to a fault, if I may use the expression, who are ever intent on running others down somehow with clever logic hither and shrewder ploy thither. The common mass of humanity may be less gifted in terms of head and other adornments but they are the ones who have the magnanimity of spirit to say a kind word or two by way of their simple acknowledgement of whatever may have given them aesthetic pleasure. They suffer neither from a sense of competition nor from a sense of insufficiency when they are faced with a work of artistic grace and are happy to enjoy it with a supplementary note of appreciation to boost the morale of the artist. This is purely a thing of the heart and has no great philosophical connotation appended to it. Feel good when you see others doing well and encourage them sincerely so that they do even better. That is all.

P.S. : Your comment is very profound and it is at a very much higher plane that covers the whole scope of human behaviour. Thank you, Sanjib Bhattacharyya.

IN RESPONSE TO GARGI SENGUPTA'S RIGHTFUL DOUBT AS TO THE VERACITY OF A STATEMENT ON KARMA MADE BY ME

IN RESPONSE TO GARGI SENGUPTA'S (Gargi Sengupta's) RIGHTFUL DOUBT AS TO THE VERACITY OF A STATEMENT ON KARMA MADE BY ME

Sugata Bose : If you cause suffering to others, suffer shall you in turn. This is the inviolable law of karma.

Gargi Sengupta : কতটা ঠিক জানিনা।

Sugata Bose : It plays out over innumerable lifetimes and is a rather complex process that often does not show up in ordinary linear terms. Hence, the effect of deed done remains often inscrutable but the resolution of karmic forces must have their full play-out for it is the rigorous law of karmic causality that binds it to be so.

The same principle in a variant way holds true in the world of physical Nature as well where determinism at the macroscopic level plays its due part. But at the microscopic level of particle behaviour this strict causality gives way to probable occurrences following quantum principles.

Transferring planes now, even karma has both causal and probable aspects to it. Otherwise, the concept of divine grace cannot be admitted. Also, there are loopholes, Sri Ramakrishna said, in the workings of Maya, and here he may have foreshadowed future developments in science as scholars of the morrow will read into and discover. However, coming back to your doubt about the veracity of the statement made by me, ''If you cause suffering to others, suffer shall you in turn. This is the inviolable law of karma.'', there is a case to be made about it and I have underlined my position on it in the light of the above explanation or, perhaps, its lack of it.

SUFFICIENT UNTO THE DAY IS THE EVIL THEREOF

SUFFICIENT UNTO THE DAY IS THE EVIL THEREOF

I am an individual who belongs to no institution, organisation, enterprise, party, anything of that kind. I am the friend of all.

Name and fame I do not care for nor have I ever done so in the past. The future looms large with the spectre of the icy chill of death where no name or fame will sustain me. Unto me belongs only the holy company of Thakur-Ma-Swamiji-Gurudev and none else other than my earthly parents who are the embodiment of the divine as well. My family, my relatives, my friends genuine and not pretentious, they all belong to me and so do belong all those who I love and who love me. That is all.

Written by Sugata Bose

TRANQUIL SHINES THE YOGI

TRANQUIL SHINES THE YOGI 

Ultimately, the calmer the man, the more patient the man, the more selfless work he accomplishes. So, let these be our forte. Gurudev was the perfect exemplar of this. His whole life was a demonstration of karma yoga, work performed in the most trying of circumstances in the Seva Pratishthan at a time when the political climate of the State of West Bengal was precariously poised towards anarchy in the name of communist revolution and the Mission found its welfare activities hindered at every step by political proponents of an extreme kind. But his fortitude, calmness, steely resolve and superb strength of character saw the hospital through the turbulent day unto a brighter morn. Let us, his disciples and devotees, imbibe this spirit of tranquil resignation unto Thakur as we wend our way through the vicissitudes of life.

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : Swami Gahanananda

RETURN TO CHRIST

RETURN TO CHRIST 

Love thy neighbour as thy own and convert them at your convenience. This has been the historical agenda of Christianity but this was never Christ's message. Go back to Christ as Swamiji had said.

The Christ Hindus worship is the Avatar at whose fountainhead stands Krishna. He, for all his universal love, would have had nothing of all this cheap shop-keeping in his name. He who said, ''Ye cannot serve God and Mammon together,'' would never have allowed all this barter, all this fraudulence in his name. I do not subscribe to the recorded or revealed scripture but believe in only that which is the subject of my realisation. Go back to Christ and stop perverting Hindus from their dharma by ducking them in Indian waters doing proxy for the Jordan.

Awake, my Christian brothers, especially the ones that proselytise ! The Nazarene would have had none of your pretentious piety in his name and would have driven you from your house of conversion you call the house of God like he drove the Jewish money-changers from their synagogue.

The only hope you have of the survival of your religion is to befriend Hinduism and strengthen at its spiritual fountainhead the philosophical basis of your doctrinaire faith instead of foolishly waging this one-sided conversion war against the grandest of all spiritual systems, for the Hindu will never retaliate and attempt to convert you, my Christian sisters and brothers, for it is against the very tenor of Hinduism, that thrives on the concept of the 'Ishta' or the 'Chosen Deity', to do so.

Christianity is the distant daughter of the Sanatan Dharma today. Stay no more apart and come close. 'Drink of the eternal fountain of the Vedas', as Swamiji had said, and replenish your spiritual resources that you may arise a spiritual force that will conduce to the well-being of the world instead of tricking innocents through fraudulent means into leaving their own spiritual path and accepting yours. In this lies your own well-being and in this lies the well-being of the world as well

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'

DO ALL RELIGIONS LEAD TO THE SAME GOAL? ... 1

DO ALL RELIGIONS LEAD TO THE SAME GOAL? ... 1

A religion that places God above man does damage to man in the name of God. In effect it damages God, too, for it hinders through absolute scriptural injunctions the growth of the conception about God or its amended evolving application in religious life. Only a religion where man at his highest is at the focus does justice to both God and man for it allows the free flow of evolving thought its fullest play en route to the summit of realisations where the multiplicity of phenomena resolves out to unitary Self-consciousness. This is the fundamental difference between Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the three religions of the Abrahamic tradition on the one hand, and Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, the three ancient dharmas of the Indian dharma tradition on the other. The former is focused on an arbitrary absolute divine despot that grants and inflicts infinite rewards and punishments for finite deeds done in a single earthly life while the latter revolves round the uncovering of the latent divinity of the being, although, Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism differ in the terminology associated with the process and the description of the end-point reached at the summit of realisation. The absolute will and whim of a merciless, merciful, capricious God of the Abrahamic faiths dispensing justice, so to say, is in sharp contrast to the principle of karma evolving a God out of the lowest life-form over millions of lifetimes. The goal in the former is heaven or hell, as the case may be, but the goal in the latter is freedom from name and form and freedom from the cycle of birth, life and death in an absolute state of consciousness, bliss and existence. Thus, these two religious traditions are entirely different with contrasting ideals, means adopted and ends aspired for, and to say that all religions speak of the same thing and lead to the same goal is to expose one's shallowness of knowledge about them and to misrepresent truth.

Now comes the major argument as to why Sri Ramakrishna had said that all religions are valid paths for the attainment of God and if he was right or not in his affirmation.

To be continued... 

Written by Sugata Bose

A POINTLESS REMINDER, A BARREN CHASE !

A POINTLESS REMINDER, A BARREN CHASE !

There is a deplorable lack of commitment to the Ramakrishna cause on facebook despite it being potentially such a powerful medium for social change. My exhortations, repeated and unwearied, invariably fall on deaf ears and, now, do not for heaven's sake preach detached action to me from that oft-quoted verse of the Geeta which should instead better serve you to gear yourselves up for some collective effort for the Mission whose graces only we seek in a servile manner but for which we cannot quite muster strength of character enough to ourselves plunge into selfless service. May Thakur hold patience, which he will, while I lose mine !

Jai Ramakrishna !

Written by Sugata Bose

SELFLESSNESS, THE CALL OF THE HOUR

SELFLESSNESS, THE CALL OF THE HOUR

Can we never combine? Are we all so individualistic in our attitudes that we can never shun the petty ego and combine for a greater good, a nobler cause that will conduce to the well-being of the many? Let us then make a change in this self-centred attitude itself and dedicate ourselves to selfless collective cooperative work for the welfare of the many, for the good of humanity. I exhort the monastics and the laity to come forward in this enterprise initiated by me on the group 'JUST FOR THE MONASTICS OF THE GREATER RAMAKRISHNA ORDER'.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/370178797072779/

Written by Sugata Bose

IN RESPONSE TO NAVEENA CK'S QUERY ABOUT A VEDANTA POINT

IN RESPONSE TO NAVEENA CK'S QUERY ABOUT A VEDANTA POINT

Sugata Bose : Explore deep into man and you will find God. Explore deeper still and you will find the Real Man. And then the trinity will coalesce to become one, the one indivisible being which is beyond description, for who will describe then and to whom?

Naveena CK : Why a God is necessary between man and Real man? God is himself real man.

Sugata Bose : Here by God is being meant the dualist's conception of God and by Real Man is being meant man's non-dual perceived Self with the faintest trace of ego left as locked up residue whereby he can climb down the ladder of life to the phenomenal plane of terrestrial living again. The one indivisible being is the final Self without a trace of ego left where there is neither coming nor going but an existence-consciousness absolute that is transcendental to a fault and is even beyond the witness zone of the Self perceiving the shadowy infinite string of bead-like universes hung about the necklace of worded life.

Naveena CK : Fair enough from a dualist's perspective. Viveka Chudamani speaks almost the same.

Sugata Bose : My perspective is neither the dualist's nor the non-dualist's. It is not even textual but the standpoint in verbal terms from personal realisation. It has agreed with the scripture and has been doing so, and I am happy for that.

Naveena CK : From a Monist's perspective, a God as an intermediary is not necessary. He and His Real Self is sufficient to explain.

Sugata Bose : Simplistic misapprehension of scripture. 

Naveena CK : which one?

Sugata Bose : The trinity of man, God and Brahman cannot be done away with for it is the fundamental feature of trinitarian life. Acceptance of the apparent man is automatically acceptance of God or Nature or whatsoever Being with attributes. Add unto it the Real Man and you have the set of the trinity complete. But the Self beyond all description and cognition, so to say, is the coalesced essence of everything and nothingness, too, the state of 'videha mukti' which simply cannot be brought within the ambit of descriptive language. You may call it Real Man as Swamiji has done in his London Lecture 'The Real and the Apparent Man' but it defies all sense, sensibility, cognition, definition, nomenclature, linguistic or mathematical description. It simply cannot be defined or named but ever is the essence like the non-existent existent axis of manifested reality.

THE DECLINE AND DEMISE OF THE DOCTRINAIRE FAITHS

THE DECLINE AND DEMISE OF THE DOCTRINAIRE FAITHS

Why do the Abrahamic faiths not admit this simple truth that they are all exclusive and to the extent they are so, they are all terribly violent? Intolerance being inherent in these faiths, how on earth can these religions ever be agencies of peace? No wonder so much historical violence has been done in the name of these exclusive 'revelations' of 'God'.

It is time to review the role of these religions in the modern world, how far they are any more relevant to thinking humanity and to what extent they can reform themselves to suit the requirements of enlightened living in a modern society that is increasingly questioning the validity and utility of these exclusive doctrinaire cults for all their supposed truths and claims to redemption, salvation et al. If these faiths have to survive, they will have to die first and be reborn in the mould of the Indian dharma traditions with emphasis not on unique revelation but on individual realisation possible for all, not on blind unquestioning faith but on reasoned, cogitated acceptance or rejection of principles, free of human imposition or divine injunction to abide by. Else, these Abrahamic faiths will all die their natural deaths in the coming decades and centuries. In their place humanity will accept the grand Vedanta which raises and deifies man itself.

Written by Sugata Bose

IT IS CHRISTMAS EVE AND THE RAMAKRISHNA ORDER ENLIVENS INTO BEING

IT IS CHRISTMAS EVE AND THE RAMAKRISHNA ORDER ENLIVENS INTO BEING

It is a dark wintry night and the brothers are assembled before the blazing fire in the garden of Baburam's house. The stars above send messages unto these modern messiahs, these 'choice and master spirits of the age', these future 'fishers of men'. Narendranath is seized with a divine inspiration and eloquently starts speaking on the glorious renunciation of the Master of Galilee. The fire blazes outside but inside these children of Ramakrishna are being swept away by the current of their leader's talk. Outside a preacher of the Salvation Army calls, Bible in hand. The disciples of Ramakrishna are now aware that it is Christmas Eve. A fervour seizes all of them and they line up before the fire and take informal sannyas from Narendranath. The deed is done, the fate sealed, the brethren bound by the monastic vows and by the bond of fraternal love. The Ramakrishna Order takes its first infant step towards the future.

Written by Sugata Bose

MIRACLES, THE CURSE ON THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

MIRACLES, THE CURSE ON THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT 

Miracles are exceptional events that defy natural law as known till date. I do not subscribe to them as being part of spirituality. They are more magic than pure pursuit of the truth and are in 99% of the cases fraudulent exercises to dupe the gullible masses and also some educated fools who wish to be duped or else play a part in the entire drama staged by the miracle mongers.

These people 'cure' others of incurable diseases but require for themselves in advanced age super-speciality hospitals. They then require medical help when their divine resources in old age are at an ebb. It is a shame that people believe in these charlatans who hobnob with politicians, rich and powerful people, and celebrities to gain access to power while ever putting up the pretence of divinity to cloak their ulterior motives of mass deception. The miracles they perform have been proved to be done by trickery and evidence of such are on YouTube where these god-men stand exposed.

I ask you, better be rational atheists than desirous fools intent on self-deception and in proliferation of this culture of mass hypnosis through propagation. Be it however eminent a so-called messiah, messenger or prophet, I reject all of their miracles as so much misreporting and the very fact that they were ever attempted by these so-called luminous beings renders their spirituality sterile in my eyes. How you will look upon these fanciful imaginations, these malefic deceptions and these retrograde propagation of material gibberish masquerading as spiritual stuff is entirely up to you. For my part, I wash my hands off all such degenerate practices aimed at perpetuating the already over-abounding human weaknesses that have retarded and threaten to further retard the progress of civilisation. 

Written by Sugata Bose

AN OBSERVATION OF MINE FROM A COMMENT THREAD OF SWAMI EKARTHANANDA PURI

AN OBSERVATION OF MINE FROM A COMMENT THREAD OF SWAMI EKARTHANANDA PURI (Swami Ekarthananda Puri)
https://www.facebook.com/swami.ekarthananda/posts/1721777991299593

Sugata Bose : Subash Dhar, is this last comment not saying what Islam speaks of, that God is above, that the Creator and creation are in no way one, and that adherents of a faith must be God-fearing? Hinduism is liberal to a fault (in a good sense, I say) and Hindus hardly have these injunctions stringently laid on them which they may have acquired at a superficial level owing to environmental influences. But your point about the essential principles of the proselytising Abrahamic faiths, Christianity and Islam, is true and your analysis about the motivations and the zeal among their adherents to convert 'heathens' to their fold is also absolutely accurate.

This, unfortunately, is the sad story but truth holds in the end and the enlightened way of tackling intolerance, bigotry, proselytising perversions et al will be the way suggested by Swami Sampurnananda. Hindus must be taught en masse the principles of their religion, made literate in Sanskrit as Muslims are in Arabic and the universal fellowship among Hindus must be fostered. This may seem to be a tall order to achieve but this is the way ahead, through education and enlightenment to forge forward.

And why Hindus alone? Let the doors of education on Hinduism be thrown open to the wide world and, as in the days of yore, let preachers and not not charlatans, I aver, go forth into the world with the message of the rishis and bring home to all the children of light the glad tidings of their innate and imperishable divinity. Brother, here itself let us begin with this grand task and Swami Ekarthananda Puri and Swami Sampurnananda will bless us for it. Let our practice preach the principles and draw people unto the fundamental feature of their beings, the Atman that shines undimmed in all despite proselytising perversions of millenia. Like science made its inroads through strengthening its own investigations and bringing its fruits to humanity at large, let the science of the Self, the Sanatan Dharma, also do the same and bring its blessings on all of humankind.

Written by Sugata Bose

QUESTIONS ... (ANSWERS SOLICITED)

QUESTIONS
(ANSWERS SOLICITED)

1. Why did Swamiji resolve to take spiritual initiation from Pavhari Baba of Ghazipur despite having attained to the highest illumination under the guidance of Sri Ramakrishna?

2. Why do Hindus keep saying that all religions speak essentially the same thing when that is a wholly incorrect assertion? The Indian dharma traditions have an entirely different take on spiritual issues from the ones adopted by the exclusive Abrahamic faiths.

3. What is the significance of Christmas Eve in the Ramakrishna Movement?

4. On 24 Dec., 1886, who all were there at Baburam Maharaj's house at Antpur that embraced informal sannyas?

5. 

WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE EACH TIME !

WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE EACH TIME !

Each time I read Swami Nirmalananda, I feel humbled by the depth of his knowledge, his straightforward articulation, his uncompromising addressing of issues and his tremendous insight into the heart of things. Truly, he was a monk extraordinaire as Swamiji had rightly pointed out years before his fullest flowering when he was in bud yet and was preparing for his great future blossoming.

Alas, what a loss has it been to all of us and especially to the Sangha in having kept him sidelined from the mainstream of the work of propagation of the Master's message in so far as references to the past Swamis are concerned. The sooner this state of things is rectified, the better. In it shall be the resurrection of buried truth, in it shall conduce all that is good and great.

May the Sangha recognise the seminal services of this great sage ! May Tulsi Maharaj bless us to carry on with our crusade for justice in a civilised and enlightened manner without malice or rancour but with the vigour of the soldier of God who will not wait in the wings till kingdom come for truth to reveal itself !

Jai Ramakrishna ! Jai Ma ! Jai Swamiji ! Jai Tusli Maharaj !

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : courtesy, Manoj Sivan

SWAMI ATMASTHANANDA

SWAMI ATMASTHANANDA 

Swami Atmasthananda (Satyakrishna Maharaj), the 15th President of the Ramakrishna Order, who was a beacon in the dark sea of human despair, one who guided countless souls through the turbulent sea of sorrow and led them to beatitude at the blessed feet of the Master. His seminal work in the Order will be long remembered and many years hence when his crowning accomplishment in the rationalisation of the Mission's relief services will have been forgotten, countless beneficiaries will yet bless him for his selfless contribution to the cause. The Rajkot Temple will bear testimony to his presence there once upon a time in distant 20th century and so will the Myanmar Hospital -- now no more under the Mission's care -- and the Ranchi Sanatorium bear unto him eternal gratitude. Volatile, ebullient, scintillating personality that he was, Satyakrishna Maharaj, nonetheless, charmed all who came within his immediate ambit with his childlike simplicity, rectitude and the infectious sparkle of his character. My prostrations unto his memory.

Hari Om Ramakrishna 

Written by Sugata Bose

SHUBHAMITA

SHUBHAMITA

Subhamita, a girl with enormous potential for self-evolution along the path laid down by Swamiji. The closed eyes of the child are incidental but are indicative of the essential spiritual quality of the Indian race. Swamiji had entertained high hopes for the future children of India, especially the girls who he wished would grow up to Gargis, Maitreyees, Leelavatis and Udaybharatis, and like the Brahmavadinis of yore. However, economic deprivation often comes in the way of the proper flowering of these children as also the lack of sufficient awareness and opportunity which hold therm back. It is hoped that this girl who is bright and of a cheerful disposition will make her way through life and create opportunities for many more like her as well when she matures into the fullness of her being.

Written by Sugata Bose