Sugata Bose: July 2019

Wednesday 31 July 2019

THE SONG OF THE SOUL

THE SONG OF THE SOUL

A new utterance of the Divine is necessary today, a new music of the soul soaked in the rasa of bhakti, a new rendition of the old kirtana sung by fresher voices in a manner that will captivate the modern mind, caught as it is in the mire of muddling materialism. The Divine must be made manifest afresh, the ancient syllables uttered with a fresher force tinged with the colours of the love sublime painted on the canvas of the loving mind.

It is divine love that we seek amidst the strife of the day and it is the sublimity of divine love that will remove worldliness from us. Sri Ramakrishna had promised his return to the terrestrial plane and carry on with his sport of world-regeneration. It is time that such an appearance be made and parched humanity awaits for it with soul athirst. The divine nectar must flow, and flow it must, seeking channels of devotion. The Narada bhakti sutras must come alive in this new terrestrial incarnation as humanity quickens to this novel affirmation of the song of the soul.

Written by Sugata Bose

IN RESPONSE TO ANGSUMAN CHAKRABORTY'S COMMENT ABOUT THE UNREALISED SPIRITUAL STATUS OF JESUS CHRIST WHEREIN HE HAS CITED BIBLICAL TEXTS TO PROVE HIS POINT

IN RESPONSE TO ANGSUMAN CHAKRABORTY'S COMMENT ABOUT THE UNREALISED SPIRITUAL STATUS OF JESUS CHRIST WHEREIN HE HAS CITED BIBLICAL TEXTS TO PROVE HIS POINT

These are not the words of Christ. They are future additions as is the bulk of Christian doctrine which is entirely separate from the original teachings of Christ which are lost to history or are, perhaps, traceable in early Christian texts. Remember, there were no less than 30 Gospels to begin with.

The disciples of the Master, that is, the Apostles, did not quite comprehend his universal message and conflated his precepts with the Jewish traditional teachings of the Old Testament. The result was a confused mass of developing theology which has been one way or the other ascribed to Christ where significant doubts remain as to their authorship, as remain doubts about the historicity of Christ himself. However, nothing definite can be ascertained one way or the other about the historical Christ, and Swamiji, hence, entertained his own doubts, as you have rightly pointed out from the text of 'The Master As I saw Him', I reckon, and the ceaseless debate continues as to how much of Church doctrine may duly be ascribed to Christ himself, assuming for the hour that such a one did exist in some personality form or the other.

Therefore, I tend to go with the realisations of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda in this matter as to the spiritual Christ and his Avatarhood about which there are clear references in 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' and 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda', in multiple places in the latter. As to whether they were wrong in their suppositions about the spiritual status of Jesus Christ, I cannot comment, being of feeble understanding myself. I, therefore, have reposed faith in their words while maintaining my reservations about the Church doctrines ascribed to Christ, as in the Holy Bible. For my part I go with the assertions of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda in this regard while rejecting the Church doctrines about Christ.

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : 'The Last Supper' by Leonardo da Vinci

Tuesday 30 July 2019

IN RESPONSE TO SWAMI EKARTHANANDA PURI'S BRILLIANT IDEA ABOUT CHRIST-INCLUSION IN THE PANTHEON OF HINDU AVATARAS

IN RESPONSE TO SWAMI EKARTHANANDA PURI'S BRILLIANT IDEA ABOUT CHRIST-INCLUSION IN THE PANTHEON OF HINDU AVATARAS

Brilliant idea, Swami Ekarthananda Puri, that Jesus Christ be included in the Hindu pantheon of Dashavataras. Let this be the introduced verse in the Dashavataram Stotram then --- 'Keshava, dhrita Christasvarup, jaya Jagadeesha Harey, jaya Jagadeesha Harey.'

Sri Ramakrishna has authenticated the Christ Avatar and has said that Christ, Chaitanya and he himself, that is, Ramakrishna are One. Hence, there ought not to be theoretical hindrance to it. But that would also mean including Mahaprabhu and Thakur in this chronicled list of Avataras as well but there seems to be room for only one more which, as we know, is reserved for the Kalki Avatar. Hence, the predicament in terms of enumeration precision here. But your idea being inclusion of the vast following of Christians across the world within the fold of the Sanatan Dharma thus must make the inclusion of the Christ Avatar in this hallowed list first and foremost and theological considerations of the Christian Church thrust upon Christ apart, the move is most welcome, at least from the Hindu point of view. Only Hindus must first be taught the essential difference between the Christian doctrinaire principles and the eternal spiritual principles of the Vedas before such a massive move is attempted. Else, conflating the two conflicting ideas would result in misapprehension of both the Vedas and the Semitic faith of Christianity. A lot of research needs to go into all this, copious contemplation, before this grand idea of Christ-inclusion in the Hindu pantheon may be successfully attempted. But it must be done and so will it be one day by some great future Acharya as of the past when the Buddha was similarly included. In a like manner the essential teachings of all the sages and the saints which are in line with Vedic principles must be emphasised a hundred-fold to bring about amity and harmony in this faith-driven infernal world. Care must only be all the while taken that the eternal principles of the Sanatan Dharma are not compromised in its wake by trivialising such harmonic efforts philosophically. After all, the fundamental basis of it all is in the Vedic Dharma and remains the one hope of resuscitation of a world in material stupor despite the tallest claims of Semitic prophets lined up in aggression against it.

Written by Sugata Bose

GUARD YOUR HONOUR, DEVOTEE, IF RESPECT YOU WISH TO DESERVE

When a devotee is lying prostrate at the feet of a monk, paying obeisance to him, the latter ought to receive him with grace and not engage in conversation with someone else, apparently unconcerned about the one who is doing his devotions at his feet. And, yet, when the same monk is seen receiving a political personality or an industrialist of, so-to-say, social significance, he is at his concentrated best in doing personal reverences to the so-called esteemed one. This sort of double-standard in social behaviour, however well-meant, is disconcerting to the eye and antithetical to the spirit of sameness, so highly spoken of in the scriptures.

All, from the highest ranking dignitary to the citizen of meanest rank, ought to be given like treatment by the one who professes himself to be a monk. Unfortunately, this is palpably not the case with many an organisational monk and this sort of apparent disrespect or show of apparent unconcern for the, so-to-say, inconsequential devotee ought not to be even the occasional order of the day ever. That monks frequently do this is the experience of this writer and this is his lodged protest in defence of the lay citizens.

The best antidote to this will be for devotees to guard their own honour and not sell their self-respect by all the time chanting 'Maharaj', 'Maharaj', and laying their bodies at the blessed feet of these, otherwise, undoubtedly venerable ones. When the lay citizens learn to respect their own selves more, the monks who are culpable to this sort of negligent behaviour will also be forced to show similar respect to them. Ultimately it boils down to self-respect and this all should learn to cultivate even if, in the bargain, it amounts to not showing explicit reverence to an errant monk in terms prostrate.

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : Bhakta Rasik, at the hallowed feet of the peerless Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar who is, true to his reputed self, seen in this painting counting his mantras which he is chanting to invoke divine blessings on the pariah prostrate at his feet. Rasik, a sweeper, a devoted one, waited for long days before he could get to throw himself at the feet of Thakur and the merciful Lord raised him from the dust unto freedom. In his final hours Rasik was blessed with the vision of the Master as he passed into silence and transcended to the Ramakrishnalok.

Monday 29 July 2019

A REPLY TO RIYA BHATTACHARYA (Riya Bhattacharya) ON AN ABSTRUSE POINT RAISED

A REPLY TO RIYA BHATTACHARYA (Riya Bhattacharya) ON AN ABSTRUSE POINT RAISED

And, yet, you are in the very midst of it. Your very personal identity bespeaks of that discreteness amidst the myriad diversity of life. Apparent it is, as it is phenomenal, fleeting and only in relative appearance, while the Real lies as the substratum of all diversity in transcendent solitary separateness, the integrated basis of all this shadowy spectacle.

The objective of evolution is to arrive at this unitary basis of life and existence, this fundamental truth underlying phenomenal relativity. From the many to the One, thus, is the progression of life, the essential movement towards freedom --- freedom from the manifold miseries of life, from the multiplicity that haunts the human mind with its material mandate thrust upon it. Diversity at the surface and unity at the base, and all the gradations in between as layer by layer the deepening mind traverses through the progressively integrating phenomena till phenomena dissolve into the unitary nothingness, the summation of all opposite attributes and tendencies, all conditions contrarily disposed, the resolution of all forces tending towards opposite ends in the progressive phase but intent on the core content in the retrogressive. All radial lines meet at the centre whence they had issued and merge in their source at the end-point of their lives, swooning, so-to-say, in a final ecstasy unto blissful freedom.

But all this is the science of it. There is an art as well and that is the dance of Nataraj in trembling rhythms that career the course of the universe in undulating terms in unending cycles of progression and retrogression, the One to the many and the many to the One, in ecstatic euphoric form, in articulate inarticulate name, the seed symbol of the Divine.

Written by Sugata Bose

OCEANIC DIFFERENCE DESPITE OCCASIONAL APPROXIMATIONS

When superficial references are made to Sufi Islam as being approximate to the Sanatan Dharma, remember the essential difference between Sufism and the Sanatan Dharma. Theirs is Islam with its doctrinaire baggage. Ours is the body of saintly realisations chronicled collectively as the Vedas. Oceanic difference.

Theirs is a single life visit to planet earth to pass the terrestrial test taken by their God whereas ours is the continuous cycle of birth, life and death in the inward progression towards Self-realisation as opposed to heavenly God-approximation which is their aim.

Ours is the only philosophical system that is in consonance with the findings of modern science whereas theirs is the enforced down-thrust of medieval misconceptions about the higher truths of the Spirit apprehended aeons ago in India.

True it is, though, that a sect of Sufi Islam in India has absorbed certain elements of the Vedanta and approximated the Vedic Dharma largely while still holding onto Islamic essential doctrine necessarily, for they are bound by its original tenets.

Thus, facile posts online that tend to highlight superficial similarities between the dharma of the Rishis and the Semitic intolerant religions are better understood in the perspective of their doctrinaire background which have never accepted the sublime truths of the Sanatan Dharma and have merely plagiarised its precepts, principles and practices wherever they have suited them or where they have been overwhelmed by the Vedic Dharma's superior spiritual force spontaneously, for the latter has never infringed upon the rights of others to pursue their own evolutionary course nor imposed upon any race its own discoveries of the natural order of things obtaining in the realm of the Spirit.

Written by Sugata Bose

CAN WE SIT STILL?

My heart burns to see the misery of the people. The rich are aloof, monks remain satisfied in their meditations while the people suffer grinding poverty that daily kills. Projects remain pending as funds are hard to come by. Funds are not welcomed as monks remain indifferent. The Mission of the Master has gone to sleep in places as it suspends animated activity in the name of divine dependence. Overall, a bleak picture for a country growing by the day in numerical strength as poverty in proportion multiplies despite tall claims and pious protestations to the contrary. Swamiji had urged his disciples to plunge in to fill up the breach and so do I. Shall you not stand by me and lift the motherland to her pristine glory?

Written by Sugata Bose

LEVITY, THE SPOILSPORT IN VEDANTIC DISCOURSE

LEVITY, THE SPOILSPORT IN VEDANTIC DISCOURSE

Message dilution from a concentrated mind? Never. Such dilution invariably comes from a weak personality who resorts to humouring the audience in his bid to win their approval when the onus ought to be on driving home the message with a thunderous call to the Atman.

No wonder it is the rare speaker who leaves a lasting impress on the minds of his audience and triggers a change in some characters for good in the divine direction. The rest of the speakers come and go, and the gibberish they elaborately utter is laid by the wayside in course of time as the energy of the hour wanes leaving no trace of such flippancy in the guise of superior talk. The old inertia has its last laugh as the listeners depart to their dusty lanes overlaid with desires and the puerile preacher returns to the pulpit to try his luck again with his next set of listeners.

But so long as the speaker is not himself empowered with the capacity to effectively articulate subtle spiritual truths to his audience and continues to pander to the worldly vanities of his flock, the message attempted to be imparted is either still-born or is nipped in the bud and the listeners merely go through the motions without gaining an inch in the spiritual evolutionary course.

Hence, a general instruction ought to go out from the headquarters of the concerned Order that the preachers abroad do not lose fire in their speech in trying to be ultra-soft and sweet to the audience. The latter would be better off hearing in stronger terms the virile truths of the Vedanta than in paralysing pulsations stemming from the attempt to harmonise the highest truths of the Upanishads with everyday western worldly life. Such a watering down of the spiritual essence, such a lowering of the lofty ideals to commonplace levels, such fun and frolic that raises idea-deflecting laughter ought not to be the induced conditions where these Vedantic truths are being discussed and attempted to be understood and assimilated. Rather, the personality of the preacher should lift the audience to a higher realm, help them dive to a deeper dimension where they can envision these ideas of the essence of existence, consciousness and bliss.

Hopefully someone will one day meditate on these words and render due justice to the rendition of the sacred scriptures of ancient India. In it will lie its proper representation, in it will lie the opening up of vast vistas for the religion (dharma) of the Rishis.

Written by Sugata Bose

VEDANTA, THE OTHER WAY TODAY

Rare is the enlightened soul, so very rare, indeed. Most are mixing worldliness with spirituality, including the most famous preachers of the Vedanta in the West.

Audience taste need not alter the tenor of teaching of the Vedanta. What it really exposes is the levity of the preacher and his mental association with the worldly thoughts to which he alludes in illustrating an abstruse Vedantic point, the allusion very often being unnecessary and the manner of its delivery rather uncalled for. Suiting audience taste and, so, diluting the intensity of delivery of the spiritual message is counterproductive and need not be indulged in. No wonder Sri Ramakrishna said that without the divine commission it is futile preaching spirituality to people and the preacher makes a mockery of his sermon in speaking gibberish.

The speakers referred to by this author here obliquely are not doing so bad a job as the Master alluded to but are sure wanting in personality-gravity which would lend weight to their discourses. Undue levity interspersing the interpretation of abstruse texts may sure raise laughter and lighten the burden of understanding the philosophical content therein but it certainly deflects direction of the collective audience-mind as well, distracts attention, lowers the concentration level of the listeners and ruins the possibility of a deeper insight into the reality spoken of. Hence, the preacher must be more restrained in delivery of his discourse for maximising audience attention at the deepest level possible for planting the seeds of the Vedanta where they will sprout into saplings and grow into gigantic banyans in the fullness of time. Such an opportunity must not go abegging in trivialising discourse in the bid to cater to worldliness to which the audience is accustomed to. Let the pristine philosophy of the Vedanta shine in its own glory without worldly pollution at all.

Written by Sugata Bose

Thursday 25 July 2019

MUST YOU WEAR THE OCHRE CLOTH AND DISGRACE YOURSELF, O SELF-SEEKING HOUSEHOLDER, O PRETENTIOUS SAGE OF MIGHTY LINEAGE?

MUST YOU WEAR THE OCHRE CLOTH AND DISGRACE YOURSELF, O SELF-SEEKING HOUSEHOLDER, O PRETENTIOUS SAGE OF MIGHTY LINEAGE?

Wearing an ochre-coloured kurta while in the midst of ochre-clad monks of the Mission may suit the vanity of someone but is inappropriate, to say the least, for one has to deserve through absolute renunciation this garb of the spiritual person, the garb of the beggar, as Swamiji used to say. Sri Ramakrishna disapproved of this donning of the saffron by householders and Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi advised the wearing of the white cloth instead by spiritual aspirants who as yet remained within the householder's habitual ambit.

Written by Sugata Bose

YOU ARE THE SAGE I WORSHIP, O YOU COMMON MAN !

YOU ARE THE SAGE I WORSHIP, O YOU COMMON MAN !

Do not cower before a monk, however mighty spiritually ; do not shake in fear or in abject self-degradation in paying your reverence to the holy one. Never for a moment forget that it is your own spiritual insight that lends him all his holiness and nothing beyond it. It is your godhead that confers godhead on the seminal personality before whom you stoop in humble prostration, recognising godhead in him. Ever remember that you are the source, course, estuary of the river of spirituality which you behold through ignorance outside of you. You may right now be unaware, so to say, of it but you are secretly yet aware of it, for nothing subsists in phenomena outside the fold of your infinite consciousness.

Knowing this for certain, arise in the awareness of your own divinity and stop belittling your own self by paying humble reverences to the spiritual ones in a manner that offends your native self-esteem and strikes at the base of your own self-consciousness as a soul. This giant of a spiritual being you see outside of yourself, so to say, is your own shadow, the early projection of your own future manifested self, your potential spiritual state of this day, your status future without a shadow of doubt. So, stop abasement of yourself and start reverencing your own Self and in such mighty Self-culture, arise O spiritual giants of the morrow.

Written by Sugata Bose

হা ঠাকুর !

নির্দয় মানুষ কি ধার্মিক হতে পারেন ? গুচ্ছ গুচ্ছ রীতি ও আচারের মধ্যেই কি ধর্ম সীমিত হবে ? কুসংস্কারই কি ধর্মের নিমায়ক তবে ? কোথা বিবেকানন্দ ? কোথা দর্শন-বিজ্ঞান ? ধর্মের নামে কি অপমান মানুষের প্রতি ! ঘরে ঘরে নিত্যনিষ্ঠুরতা !

রচয়িতা : সুগত বোস (Sugata Bose)

REFLECTIONS

REFLECTIONS

Let the self expand till it bursts into the Cosmic Self and dissolves into nought.

The touch of the holy man transmits power, the profane touch defiles.

Purity is the precursor to the perception of the perennial principle.

Out of the aeons lived in unconscious pursuit of truth, there comes but a moment when the truth flashes in all its glory. This moment encapsulates the infinitude of experience.

Realisation, not faith, holds the key to spiritual life; freedom, not fear is the impelling force en route to truth.

If fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, then love of God is the end of it.

Who cares for the tinsel things of the world when the Lord within shines in resplendent glory?

What is piety if it lacks concern for the suffering all around?

How does man emerge from the noxious cycle of archaic indoctrination?

The Vedanta stresses on the inherent freedom of the individual and is most compatible with the civic ideal of democracy.

Written by Sugata Bose

VISHMADEV CHATTERJEE

VISHMADEV CHATTERJEE

The most extraordinary genius in vocal music in India in the last hundred years. My judgement is based purely on the basis of his raw talent honed to perfection but, alas, temperamental flaws and consequent psychological affliction followed by a harrowing experience of musical banishment in the Pondicherry Sri Aurobindo Ashram put paid to the fullest flowering of his rare genius and deprived the world of what would have been the Everest of attainment in music, the fulfilment of a promise that never came to fruition fully, an aspiration in sublimity felt but not quite realised, a blossoming dawn clouded untimely to mar the hues of the dewy sun, an unfulfilled dream of a musical marvel like the world has not since seen. Vishmadev Chatterjee remains emblematic of a musical realm that may rightfully be represented in verbal terms as Gandharvaloka. My prostrations at his feet and pleas for his grace.

Written by Sugata Bose

Wednesday 24 July 2019

READ VIVEKANANDA

Where lies strength? Where remains yet the hope of our renaissance as a spiritual race? It is in the golden works of Vivekananda that call forth our eternal soul into life and action. Come on, my countrymen, read Vivekananda and arise to the fullest play of your inherent power.

Written by Sugata Bose

SPEAK WITH FIRE

There must be fire in the voice and supreme confidence born of conviction from spiritual realisation in the preacher if he is to make his mark, leave his impress on the minds of his audience. Else, he is not fit to be a preacher, barring exceptional cases where the docile speaker, nonetheless, by dint of sheer spiritual sincerity, leaves his permanent impress on the people.

Written by Sugata Bose

AH, WHAT A WEAK FOLLOWING !

A tame 'like' from an ardent follower is rather disheartening, if that emotion could really be entertained. More vigorous participation would prove their moral fibre and give me the satisfaction that they are, indeed, ardent followers of the pristine principles of our dharma which I feebly attempt to preach.

Written by Sugata Bose

IN VAIN I EXHORT

It is useless telling the ones immersed in worldliness, in the vanity of learning or name and fame or money, that Vivekananda must be read diligently for manifestation of the divinity within. How impervious callous humanity is, how negligent the ones mired in materialism of a myriad kind ! And to talk of those 'enlightened' ones for whom Vivekananda supplies scant intellectual resource to spare any time for his 'Complete Works' ! Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Woe unto learning of such a preposterous kind that casually dumps Vivekananda in the waste-bin of intellectual neglect ! PhD, wake up ! American graduates from India, wake up ! Destruction is at hand if the Guru's instructions are neglected. Degeneration is certain if the Vivekananda Guru be not heeded even in terms of serious reading, much less than the following of his teachings which must follow in its wake.

Written by Sugata Bose

THE CLARION CALL

THE CLARION CALL

Swami Vivekananda categorically affirms that in his extensive travels through the Himalayas he came across no secret societies as is the claim of mystery-mongers and further avers that such secrecy finds no place in the Vedas which are of the nature of openness, light and strength. He continues that sleight-of-hand tricks are not necessary for the presentation of the grand truths of the soul, and magic, esoterics and induction of weakening, paralysing ideas destroy the capacity of the common man to think vigorously and leads to the debility and despicable degeneration of the masses, destroying the seeds of civilisation.

Miracle-mongering, thus, has no place in the dharma of the Hindus and superstitious affirmations of Himalayan secrecy neither finds place in it. The thunderous rolls of the Vedic mantras, sounding and resounding through the entire landmass of Aryavarta, will dispel these delusions and bring to the children of the Rishis the pristine spiritual culture of their ancestors whence they will find strength and succour to rise rejuvenated, a renascent civilisation, fit not only to defend themselves as a people but to conquer the world with these glorious ideas of the Vedas.

Swamiji, therefore, exhorts his countrymen, his beloved brethren, his spiritual children who are the rightful inheritors of these stupendous truths of the Atman, to rise resplendent in the realisation of the Self and, thence, to go forth into the wide world, preaching these pristine principles for which the world for ages is thirsting, but he warns us all not to carry one word of superstition beyond the borders of India. He repudiates all association of such superstition with religion and exhorts us to rid ourselves of all such self-hypnosis through the study of the grand language of our ancestors, the divine Sanskrit, whose very utterance sends strength coursing through the veins and makes of men gods. The dissemination of Sanskrit on the national scale will bring culture to the people, connection with its heritage and a self-regenerative pride which will raise India and the world.

Written by Sugata Bose

Monday 22 July 2019

SMASH THE DREAM

SMASH THE DREAM

A vast hypnosis has come upon whereby the Real seems the apparent. Conjuror's trick working wonders as the Self seems the soul, mind, matter. The One hides in the many as shadow conceals substance, thoughts streaming up cover consciousness and dream provides the playfield for puerile pastimes in life and death.

The essence is lodged within whose bubble-form the cosmos is. It is in the scheme of things that the search will begin when progression in desire has reached its limit. Then the mind reverts to seeking its source and the cycle reverses in the renunciation-phase. Experience of the manifold over, the mind recoils from sensory impressions and broods on its inner significance. Layers are peeled off as the core consciousness progressively shines brighter through the thinning screen of matter. Till, eventually, in a climactic moment of supreme discovery, the Self, shorn of material foliage, shines resplendent in golden glory, the sun of absolute consciousness whose lustre never dims with time, the transcendent being, the One that has no second, the peerless, the perennial principle whose retrograde refracted preserve is the pool of countless heavens, earths and hells. But the dream having ended, all such are swept away in a final cleansing act of all duality. Then man stands free of manhood, godhead and all concomitant consequence that dualism is heir to. It is freedom at last.

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : courtesy, a Facebook friend.

Saturday 13 July 2019

A PERTINENT QUESTION

A PERTINENT QUESTION

Why do you wish to build up the myth of your personality before the world at large when its very destruction is the cause of your spiritual freedom? Let the wave merge in the ocean and cease its separate minuscule existence. After all, even as the wave it is nothing but the ocean in its unreal apparent undulation. Let personality, likewise, cease and let principle emerge from under the cover of myriad Maya in its absolute state of the Being.

Written by Sugata Bose

Friday 12 July 2019

KNOW YOUR DHARMA

KNOW YOUR DHARMA

It is very important that erroneous ideas about the Sanatan Dharma should not be spread by the so-called learned men, the leading lights of the day. 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda' serve as ample guide to the depth-comprehension of Hinduism which is the latter-day verbal aberration of the pristine philosophy and practice of the dharma of the land, originally known as the 'Sanatan Dharma'. Let us then seek clarity from Swamiji about the essence of the Sanatan Dharma in all its phases.

Written by Sugata Bose

TWEETS, MORE TWEETS ... 1

1. Hinduism is not a religion. It is a philosophical-ethical system based on the spiritual realisation of countless sages. It is the dharma, the Sanatan Dharma.

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : Pravrajika Bharatiprana Mataji, first President of Sri Sarada Math and Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, and the last attendant and nurse of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi before she cast off her mortal coil in 1920.

2. প্রয়োজনের বাইরে যে সম্বন্ধ, তা প্রেম |

3. Does man have only 'a little intelligence' with which to explore the mystery of life or is that not also an arbitrary assumption?

4. अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येन च गृह्यते ||
By practice and renunciation, O son of Kunti, this is to be controlled.

5. Except for the fact that the speaker has neither scholastic nor medical proficiency worth the call to deserve the doctoral epithet...Sri (and not Dr.) Sugata Bose

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLVTgkXvGnI&feature=share

6. Those that worship the Avatar actually approximate the truest worship of God better than those who render service to an extra-cosmic imaginary being.

7. From the savage to the civilised is the flow of social evolution.

8. স্বামীজী পড়ুন, স্বামীজীময় হয়ে যান |

9. Technically proficient Indians resident in the developed West, return to India and help build your motherland.

10. Let go of your complications, the complex thoughts that trouble you, and take refuge in the Lord. Self-surrender will lead to Self-realisation. Simplify your life and live in peace.

11. হিন্দু, জাগো !

12. I exhort the monks of the Ramakrishna Order to massively preach Vivekananda.

13. The fate of humanity hangs in the balance. Spread out in the world and preach Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. This zeal is necessary.

14. The zeal to spread the Sanatan Dharma across the world is sadly missing among the major Hindu organisations. Time to rectify.

15. Swami Sumedhananda : Sugata Babu, never say that you wish to do Swamiji's work. Always remember that it is Mother's work and say so.

16. Lay devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, heavily participate in bolstering the spiritual movement ushered in by the Master and the Mother.

17. Guru Purnima is on Tuesday, 16 July, 2019. Get ready for the great occasion.

18. The Vedanta must not be preached in the West by pandering to human vanities but rather in thunderous tones bespeaking strength.

19. We must take off time to visit old people --- those who are ailing in the evening of their lives --- and bring succour to them.

20. My heart burns at the misery of the people but I am powerless to alleviate it. Let us combine forces. Devotees, join hands.

21. মাথায় চাপ নেবেন না, শুধু ঠাকুরের নাম করুন |

Start a fund for welfare work. Save every bit through personal sacrifice and spend it on the care of society.

Sri Ramakrishna is our leader, never forget.

24. Why should lack of sufficient funds hinder the welfare works of the Ramakrishna Mission? Devotees, copiously contribute.

25. বানান ভুল প্রায়ই করি | ধরিয়ে দিতে দ্বিধা করবেন না |

26. ঠাকুরই সর্বস্ব -- এই বুদ্ধিটি থাকলেই হল |

27. Love of Thakur must translate to love for the nation, that is, love for one's countrymen, never exclusively, though.

28. Love for Thakur must manifest in worthwhile service for his mission, concretely symbolised in the Ramakrishna Mission.

Love Thakur, love Thakur, love Thakur --- I have nothing more to say.

Don't drown God in adjectives and epithets. Let silence prevail. Let sincerity be.

Go direct to God. Let not organisation formalise your relation with the Divine. Let love be informal, unstructured, unrehearsed.

Looked at the far-off buildings --- there was no life. Looked at the leaves nigh me --- lo, there was life itself !

Our Gurudev. What more than to offer love?

The whole of life is but a moment of realisation.

If liberation will not be, then death will temporarily release till a fresh bondage binds one to earthly life.

আজ পবিত্র গুরুপূর্ণিমাদিবস --- গুরুদেবের শ্রীচরণে প্রণাম |

Sugata Bose : [@ Debaprasad Bhattacharya] Simply wonderful. Read it with delight. Such a fast-paced account of the content of the reviewed book kept me hooked on to it till in one breath, so to say, I had finished it. Succinct, apt, structured, yet, fluid, simply remarkable.

We have to discover the living God today in living humanity, not merely in the memory of saints and sages past.

You are the infinite soul in finite fetters.



আজ শ্রীমর জন্মদিন | শ্রীশ্রীরামকৃষ্ণকথামৃতের অমর লিপিকারের পবিত্র আবির্ভাব দিবসটি পালন করুন যথাযথ মর্যাদা সহকারে তাঁর স্মরণে, মননে, কথামৃত পাঠে, 'শ্রীম দর্শন' পাঠে ও মাষ্টারমহাশয়ের জীবনচরিত পাঠ ও আলোচনার মাধ্যমে | বিধান শরনীর ঠনঠনে কালীবাড়ীর বিপরীত দিকে অবস্থিত রাস্তা ধরে ১৩/২ গুরুপ্রসাদ লেনে পৌঁছতে পারেন শ্রীমর বাসভবন, 'কথামৃত ভবনে' | ওখানে শ্রীযুক্ত দীপক গুপ্ত মহাশয় আছেন, শ্রীমর প্রপৌত্র | দোতলায় শ্রীমর ঘর, তিনতলায় ঠাকুরঘর, পাশের বাড়ীতে রামকৃষ্ণ মঠ |

জয় ঠাকুর ! জয় মা ! জয় মাষ্টারমহাশয় !

41. Reaches the goal the one who is sincere.

42. 

বাগবাজারে 'মায়ের বাড়ী' হয়ে 'কথামৃত ভবন' হতে ফিরলাম | আগামীকাল শ্রীম এর জন্মদিন, জানালেন মাষ্টার মহাশয়ের প্রপৌত্র শ্রী দীপক গুপ্ত |

মায়ের বাড়ীতে অমল মহারাজ বললেন, "প্রসাদকক্ষ নির্মাণপ্রকল্প নিমিত্ত ১.৯ কোটি টাকা উঠেছে | প্রথম কিস্তিতেই প্রয়োজন ৫ কোটি টাকা |" আসুন, সকলে মিলে মায়ের বাড়ীর এই পুণ্যকর্ম সমাপনে যথাসম্ভব অর্থ সেবা করি |

আমাদেরই তো মা, আমরাই তো প্রসাদ পাবো এই বৃহৎ প্রসাদকক্ষে | তাই আমাদেরই দায়িত্ব এই নির্মাণকাজ সমাপনের | যাঁরা কলকাতাবাসী, তাঁরা একবার মায়ের বাড়ী হয়ে আসবেন | মন শীতল হবে |

44. Spiritual pride is not good.

45. Smash the dream and break free. No more heaven nor hell nor earth, nor body nor mind nor soul can bind you. Live in the Self.

46. Every face is the face of the living God, every form His palpable manifestation.

47. ক্ষুদ্রকে নিয়ে থাকলে আর মহৎকে পাবেন কী করে ?

48. Rare is the speaker today who inspires, but the one in whose name they all speak, the Swami Vivekananda, he still inspires.

49.

প্রণাম, নহে নমস্কার

--------------------------------

ছোটো, বড়, সাধু, ভক্ত, নামী, অনামী, সকলকে প্রণাম | কারণ সকলের মধ্যেই সেই শাশ্বত সত্য বিদ্যমান যিনি সকলের প্রণম্য | তাই প্রণাম জানালাম, নমস্কার নয় |

50. The more you read Vivekananda, the more power you get.

51.

বিদ্যার দেবী মা জননী ও বিরাট বিদুষী নিবেদিতপ্রাণা, আপনাদের প্রতিকৃতি নিয়েই ব্যস্ত ভক্তকুল, কীর্তির সংবাদে তাঁদের কাজ কি ?

52. Teacher: Take this Mathematics book and practise.

Student: Jai Maths!

Keeps the book away with roses.

Exam result: Grand failure. 

কি লিখি আর কি বোঝে ! বিড়ম্বনা !

আহা ছবি, কিবা ছবি, সবই মায়াময় |

অন্তরালে প্রভু ভাবেন, এমনও কি হয় ?

এ দেশ আর বেদান্তের নয়, এ দেশ বিগ্রহপূজার, তাও ওপর ওপর | জয়ধ্বনিই আছে, জয়লাভ নেই | মস্তিষ্কশূণ্য ভাবালুতামাত্র |

দাও ছবি | চাই ছবি, আরো ছবি | আমাদের ভগবান আজ শুধুই ছবি | আর আমরা তারই উদ্ভট প্রতিচ্ছবি | জ্ঞানচর্চা আবার কি হে ? সেটা কোন জিনিস ?



হায়রে স্বদেশ !

----------------------

এ কি দেশের হাল ! জ্ঞানবিজ্ঞানের চর্চা নেই, শাস্ত্র অধ্যয়নে ইচ্ছা নেই, মননশীলতায় পরাঙ্মুখতা, শুধু 'জয় ঠাকুর', 'জয় মা', 'প্রণাম মহারাজ', এই নিত্য ধ্বনিত মন্ত্র | এই কি অবতারলীলার ফল ? এই কি শ্রীভগবানের দীক্ষিত ভক্তকুলের রীতি হল অবশেষে ?

 Preaching of the Vedanta abroad must be done without pandering to the worldly vanities of the audience.

Re-conversion to Hinduism of those who have been perverted from it into Islam and Christianity ought to be our long-term agenda.

If you want to learn English, sublime and poetic, read Vivekananda.

Ramakrishna is the rallying point for our nation. And the sooner it is done, the better for our people.

There are stresses and counter-stresses that kill but desire is the root of it all. Destroy desire, re-channelise it to survive.
কে জানে কে ছোটো, কে বড়? শরীর তো উপযুক্ত উপদেষ্টা নন | কার বয়স কত? কতবার জন্ম হল? কে এগিয়ে, কে পেছিয়ে? তাই সকলের শ্রীচরণে প্রণাম |

If we cannot combine as a people,we will not be a power on earth and beyond. Unite, my countrymen,unite! Unto unity lies strength.

Spiritual solidity need not go hand-in-hand with intellectual shallowness. Here Vivekananda shows the harmonic way of mutual excellence.

শুচিতার নামে ছুঁৎমার্গ দূর করুন | অপরকে ঘৃণা করে ধর্মলাভ হয় না |
চোখের জলের মূল্য নেই কোনো | দূর্বৃত্তের সংস্কারসাধন কে করবে ? সন্ন্যাসীদের অনেক বেশী তৎপর হতে হবে | ভক্তকুল জাগুন !
Life is a constancy of undulating pulses where the dynamics is embedded in the body of an unchanging static Reality, a frozen mass of subliminal Self-consciousness.
Let the power come through the inner channel as it must and let outer help no more cause delusive expectations which will belie the pinned hopes once things stand against self-interest, as the soul faces the challenge of opening out into the vaster field of selfless service for the greater community.
Human help comes only after the physical body passes. One raises humanity through self-vibration.
This life is passing and the message is missing its conduits that will carry it forth into the broader terrain of expanding life.

Imposition is not love, freedom is.

Cry till thy tears be poesy.
Levity, levity and levity. How few, alas, speak the spiritual truth without diluting unduly the message with flippancy!

The destination of the spiritual path is this realisation that you are none other than God.

The Guru is the living link to freedom.

Genuine devotion to the Guru makes the spiritual journey largely free of obstacles which otherwise are insurmountable.



Guru = God is not a mere statement of sorts but is a profound truth to be contemplated, meditated on and realised in essence.

Rare is the enlightened soul, so very rare, indeed.
Oh, do not explain and elucidate bhakti in scriptural terms too much! You spoil the very poetry of it. Let love flow free.
Human love is the one invigorating spiritual principle under apparent material garb. Love, purified and raised, leads to freedom.

I met Biren Maharaj when he was at Balaram Mandir at 100 years old and at Belur Math when he was 102 years of age. Had very brief interactions with him which I cherish. He was the mantra disciple of Swami Saradananda. Some day, may be, I will put pen to paper and recount my experiences with the sages and saints of the Ramakrishna Order including Biren Maharaj.

How will you attain Self-realisation if miracle-mongers are to consume your attention in the name of spiritual subscription?



TEST BY THE 'RAMAKRISHNA STANDARD'

Sri Ramakrishna was the genuine spiritual personality of the Age. Counterfeits in the spiritual world must be measured by the Ramakrishna standard. Do this and you will be safe.

Written by Sugata Bose

Time flies and death approaches. There is no room for self-indulgence. 

The ' I ' has to be weeded out of our discussion if we are to keep it spiritual.

Look not upon man as a limited being bound in the body but as the infinite soul boundless. Behold freedom to yourself be free.

Gender-less is the Self. Hence, women have equal access to spirituality as men.

The Self has neither caste nor colour nor class.All are equally welcome into the mansion of the Self.The same Atman shines in all.

God and the Self are one.
The idea is to clarify conceptions by ceaseless chiselling of the neuro-sensitive mind. The mind-stuff purified, the nerves unclogged, revelation is at hand.
The life of the Spirit is the perception of the equality of all, from the worm to the sage. Love proceeds thence and service free.
There is neither theist nor atheist in this glorious display of the terrestrial drama. All are the Self in delightful disguise.
Limitless, lots, for in the realm of ideas the economic principle of 'limited means' holds not.
Good one. Humour spicing up the fact of things where fact fabricates the comedy -- alas, the tragedy in real terms -- of the selfish ego.
ঠাকুর ভগবান নিঃসন্দেহে, কিন্তু আপনিও কি ভগবান নন ? অনুভব করুন |
সামনে প্রকাশিত জগত আপনারই বিরাট রূপ | অনুধাবন করুন, অনুভব করুন | তারপর মহাপ্রেমে ধৌত, স্নাত, পবিত্র হয়ে বিপুল কর্মযজ্ঞে আত্মনিয়োগ করুন লোককল্যাণব্রত উদযাপনে |
আপনার মধ্যেই ধ্বনিত হচ্ছে বেদ-উপনিষদ | ওঙ্কারের সৃজন-প্রলয় ধ্বনি অনুক্ষণ প্রকাশিত, বিলুপ্ত আপনারই গহন চেতনে |
এ কেমন পরিচয় ? নিজেকে মানুষ বলি, আবার ঈশ্বরের সন্ততি-সন্তান | যদি তাই হয়, তবে আমরাও ঈশ্বরী-ঈশ্বর |
লিখতে লিখতে ভোর হয়ে গেল ; চৈতন্যের প্রতিঘাতে ঘুম ভেঙেছে |
প্রতি রবিবার মায়ের বাড়ী কিংবা বেলুর মঠ যান | নিয়মিত, ব্যতিক্রম যেন না হয় | ভক্তিলাভ হবে, মুক্ত হয়ে যাবেন, এমনই স্থানমাহাত্ম্য |
কথামৃত পড়, পবিত্র হও, মুক্ত হয়ে যাও | এবার সহজ উপায় |
মা নিজেই মহামায়া | দোর খুলে দিতে এসেছেন | এবার যে তাঁকে আন্তরিক 'মা' বলে ডাকবে, তারই চৈতন্য হবে |
ঠাকুর এবার এলেন সাম্রাজ্যের পত্তন করতে মাত্র | আরবার ভাবের স্রোতে প্লাবিত করবেন জগত | তখন মুক্তির ছড়াছড়ি |
সংগীত সেই সুরলোকের বার্তা বহন করে, যদি বিদ্যারূপ সংগীত হয় | নচেৎ, বিষবৎ পরিত্যাজ্য বিষয়রসে নিমজ্জিত বাসনাসংগীত |106. সত্ত্বগুণ শেষ | ব্রাহ্মমুহূর্ত পরিসমাপ্ত | দিনের কালক্রমণে এবার রজোগুণের পালা | চৈতন্যের রূপোর চাবিকাঠিটি স্পর্শ করে মা এবার দিলেন আচ্ছাদিত করে সূক্ষ্ম চেতনা | সব ঢাকা পড়ে গেল | মায়ার পানা নাচতে নাচতে আবার ঢেকে ফেলল স্বচ্ছ সলীল |
শ্রীরামকৃষ্ণের শরীরটি প্রকৃতির এক অত্যাশ্চর্য প্রকাশ | যে সকল স্নায়ুযোগে তাঁর ভাবসমূহ অনুভূত হত, তা জীবের ক্রমবিকাশের এক অত্যাধুনিক অধ্যায়ের সূচক |
সূক্ষ্ম, অতি সূক্ষ্ম স্নায়ুযোগে চৈতন্যের ক্রমবিকাশ | তাই ঠাকুর বলতেন প্রেমের শরীর, ভাগবতী তনুর কথা |
জপ আর কি ? চৈতন্যের দ্বারে বারংবার করাঘাত | দোর খুলবেই |
নিশীর ডাকের ন্যায় চৈতন্যের এই হাতছানি | ' জাগো, জাগো ' -- ধ্বনিত হয়ে চলেছে প্রতিনিয়ত, অনুক্ষণ | ঘুম ভাঙবে কোনো এক শুভক্ষণে |
আদর্শশূণ্য জীবন মর্মান্তিক | কিন্তু আদর্শটি সর্বোচ্চ হওয়া চাই | গভীর নিশায় নিদ্রাভঙ্গ হলে চৈতন্যের যে আভাস পাওয়া যায় ... |
জাগ্রত, স্বপ্ন, সুসুপ্তি --- কল্পনার তিনটি অবস্থা | এরই মধ্যে ব্রহ্ম শক্তিরূপে অনুস্যূত হয়ে আছেন | জেগে ওঠ, হে বীর, জাগো !
কল্পনা ! সবই তো কল্পনা, ব্রহ্মরূপকল্পনা !
By the Self is meant the Atman.
Feed the hungry, nurse the sick, care for the aged, spread the word that man is divine. Serve, serve !
IS THIS IT THEN ?
Need fulfilled, utility served, cast away the preceptor as so much garbage, for his hour is up. Is this to be the status of the pupil? Is this the L.C.M. of relations after all?

Written by Sugata Bose

In these days of easy technological connection those who fail to keep up communication are deliberate indeed in their distancing.

The ignorant have appropriated power. The people suffer for it. It is the wise alone who can lead. Predicament of people's power!

Even today our children eat baked grass cakes. O my countrymen, must you not arise to redress the situation? Can you stay aloof?

The knowledge of the Self dispels fear.

If fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, then love of God is the end of it.

Do not lower the ideal to suit convenience. Rather raise your self-status unto alignment with the ideal.

Character is to be formed by absorbing Vivekananda.

Love is the one binding force of the world.

The one that cares, shares.

Intelligent is the one that heeds the instructions of the wise.

महाजनो ऐन गता: स पन्था ||

A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED

If there is one truth that I have learnt in this life, it is this that few, alas, few stand by you in your hour of need. The one that does, loves you indeed.

Written by Sugata Bose

Learn to see things from the other person's perspective. This will help you expand as a soul. But lose not your self-assertion in self-defence.

Hate not any, love all. In it lies dharma, in it lies peace.

It is necessary to think independently. Creative thinking, original thinking is essential for self-evolution.