SWAMI NIRMALANANDA --- LIFE AND ACTIVITIES IN BRIEF ... PART 1
(Source : Swami Nirmalananda -- His Life and Mission by Thulasiteerthan [pseudonym for Dr. Achutan])
(Free rendering done by Sugata Bose)
Swami Nirmalananda was born on 23 December, 1863 in Kolkata as Tulsicharan Dutta. When he was ten years old, he lost his mother. and four years later at the age of fourteen, he lost his father. In 1878 he completed his schooling in Benares and returned to Kolkata. During his years in Benares, Tulsi had had the occasion to have 'darshan' of the famous Trailanga Swami several times and received consecrated food (prasad) from his hands. At school Hariprasanna, later Swami Vijnanananda, was his classmate and bosom buddy.
In 1880 Tulsi passed the Entrance Examinations of the Calcutta University with distinction. Then came the great event in 1881 that changed the very course of his life, his meeting with the Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar at Balaram Bose's house. After a few such meetings at Dakshineshwar, Sri Ramakrishna gave him spiritual initiation. Between 1881 and 1886 Tulsi met Sri Guru Maharaj frequently at Dakshineshwar and at the Cossipore Garden House.
In 1886 Tulsi joined the Baranagar Math where he received informal sannyasa from Swami Vivekananda on 24 December, 1886. The years 1886 to 1889 he spent at Baranagar Math.
In 18889 Tulsi, Swami Nirmalananda now, left the Baranagar Math to embrace the like of a mendicant monk. In his travels he met Pavhari Baba of Ghazipur and his old classmate, Hariprasanna Chatterji.
In 1892 Nirmalananda Swami returned for a short while to the monastery whereupon he left once again for spiritual practice and pilgrimage.
Towards the end of 1896 Swami Nirmalananda returned to the Alambazar Math after seven years of spiritual austerities in the Himalayas and the sacred sites of the land.
In 1897 Swami Vivekananda made his triumphal return from the West and the monastery shifted in 1898 from Alamabazar to Nilambar Miukherjee's Garden House in Belur. Swami Nirmalananda was here eyewitness to Swamiji's revolutionary enterprises such as conferring the sacred thread to non-Brahmins belonging to the kshatriya and the vaishya varnas, conferring the vows of brahmacharya to an Irishwoman named Elizabeth Margaret Noble who then on came to be known by her new name, Sister Nivedita, and the plague relief service conducted by the Ramakrishna Mission under Swami Sadananda and Sister Nivedita which left an indelible impression on his mind and later inspired him to undertake similar service activities in Southern India.
In 1899 Swami Nirmalananda became the 'Acharya' of the Belur Math along with Swami Turiyananda and taught th Vedanta to the young brahmacharis. The same year he toured Rajputanana to supervise the Mission's famine relief work there. He was also the Swami-in-charge at the Math during the period of Swami Saradananda's absence.
In 1901 Swami Nirmalananda was unanimously elected Assistant Secretary at the first meeting of the Trustees of the Belur Math. Thereafter, he again left for austerity in the Himalayas towards the end of the year.
1902 Swami Vivekananda passed away on the 4th of July. Nirmalananda, grief-stricken, returned to the Math.
Between 1903 and 1906 Swami Nirmalananda spent his life in the United States of America as a preacher of the Vedanta. He went there to assist Swami Abhedananda. His wonderful work in the States greatly endeared him to the American devotees and they were fain to let go of him when he set sail for India in 1906.
From 1906 to 1909 Swami Nirmalananda worked in Assam , Eat Bengal, Kashmir and elsewhere in North India. At Chamba he entered into a brief period of intense spiritual austerity.
In 1909 Swami Nirmalananda was sent by Swami Brahmananda to South India as President of the Bangalore Ashrama. Here he spent 26 years till 1935 and inspired countless devotees with the message of the Master.
In 1911 Swami Nirmalananda visited Haripad in Kerala for the first time. Holy Mother visited Bangalore this very same year.
In 1912 Swami Nirmalananda visited Badagara in the Malabars for the first time.
In 1913 the first Ramakrishna Ashramas in Kerala were established at Haripad and Tiruvalla.
To be continued...
(Source : Swami Nirmalananda -- His Life and Mission by Thulasiteerthan [pseudonym for Dr. Achutan])
(Free rendering done by Sugata Bose)
Swami Nirmalananda was born on 23 December, 1863 in Kolkata as Tulsicharan Dutta. When he was ten years old, he lost his mother. and four years later at the age of fourteen, he lost his father. In 1878 he completed his schooling in Benares and returned to Kolkata. During his years in Benares, Tulsi had had the occasion to have 'darshan' of the famous Trailanga Swami several times and received consecrated food (prasad) from his hands. At school Hariprasanna, later Swami Vijnanananda, was his classmate and bosom buddy.
In 1880 Tulsi passed the Entrance Examinations of the Calcutta University with distinction. Then came the great event in 1881 that changed the very course of his life, his meeting with the Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar at Balaram Bose's house. After a few such meetings at Dakshineshwar, Sri Ramakrishna gave him spiritual initiation. Between 1881 and 1886 Tulsi met Sri Guru Maharaj frequently at Dakshineshwar and at the Cossipore Garden House.
In 1886 Tulsi joined the Baranagar Math where he received informal sannyasa from Swami Vivekananda on 24 December, 1886. The years 1886 to 1889 he spent at Baranagar Math.
In 18889 Tulsi, Swami Nirmalananda now, left the Baranagar Math to embrace the like of a mendicant monk. In his travels he met Pavhari Baba of Ghazipur and his old classmate, Hariprasanna Chatterji.
In 1892 Nirmalananda Swami returned for a short while to the monastery whereupon he left once again for spiritual practice and pilgrimage.
Towards the end of 1896 Swami Nirmalananda returned to the Alambazar Math after seven years of spiritual austerities in the Himalayas and the sacred sites of the land.
In 1897 Swami Vivekananda made his triumphal return from the West and the monastery shifted in 1898 from Alamabazar to Nilambar Miukherjee's Garden House in Belur. Swami Nirmalananda was here eyewitness to Swamiji's revolutionary enterprises such as conferring the sacred thread to non-Brahmins belonging to the kshatriya and the vaishya varnas, conferring the vows of brahmacharya to an Irishwoman named Elizabeth Margaret Noble who then on came to be known by her new name, Sister Nivedita, and the plague relief service conducted by the Ramakrishna Mission under Swami Sadananda and Sister Nivedita which left an indelible impression on his mind and later inspired him to undertake similar service activities in Southern India.
In 1899 Swami Nirmalananda became the 'Acharya' of the Belur Math along with Swami Turiyananda and taught th Vedanta to the young brahmacharis. The same year he toured Rajputanana to supervise the Mission's famine relief work there. He was also the Swami-in-charge at the Math during the period of Swami Saradananda's absence.
In 1901 Swami Nirmalananda was unanimously elected Assistant Secretary at the first meeting of the Trustees of the Belur Math. Thereafter, he again left for austerity in the Himalayas towards the end of the year.
1902 Swami Vivekananda passed away on the 4th of July. Nirmalananda, grief-stricken, returned to the Math.
Between 1903 and 1906 Swami Nirmalananda spent his life in the United States of America as a preacher of the Vedanta. He went there to assist Swami Abhedananda. His wonderful work in the States greatly endeared him to the American devotees and they were fain to let go of him when he set sail for India in 1906.
From 1906 to 1909 Swami Nirmalananda worked in Assam , Eat Bengal, Kashmir and elsewhere in North India. At Chamba he entered into a brief period of intense spiritual austerity.
In 1909 Swami Nirmalananda was sent by Swami Brahmananda to South India as President of the Bangalore Ashrama. Here he spent 26 years till 1935 and inspired countless devotees with the message of the Master.
In 1911 Swami Nirmalananda visited Haripad in Kerala for the first time. Holy Mother visited Bangalore this very same year.
In 1912 Swami Nirmalananda visited Badagara in the Malabars for the first time.
In 1913 the first Ramakrishna Ashramas in Kerala were established at Haripad and Tiruvalla.
To be continued...
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