M, A MARVEL IN MEMORY
It was a stupendous achievement for Mahendranath Gupta (M) to reproduce the words of Sri Ramakrishna verbatim at a distance of decades, a fact that was recognised by none other than Holy Mother when she commended M on his memory, in his absence, though. When someone remarked that even Swamiji had such a memory, Mother said that Naren's memory was of a different kind from M's. This settled the matter and set the seal of divine sanction on this attribute of this great lay disciple of Thakur who, incidentally, was the mantra disciple of Mother herself at the express commandment of the Master.
The diary notes that M kept of the Master's conversations were highly abbreviated and difficult to decipher in their fuller context. M published five volumes of the 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita' from those notes and at the time of his passing away in 1932 had material for another seven volumes in his great grandson Sri Dipak Gupta's estimation. This the latter told this writer in the 1980s.
There used to be in the 'Kathamrita Bhavan' suspended from the wall outside the shrine a framed page of the Master's conversation with Vidyasagar and there one could see how M made super-short notes of the words that fell from the lips of the Master and his associates. M who used to intently listen to all that was said and observed all that happened including the direction of the flow of the Ganga on a particular day at a particular hour, later wrote them down in his diary in the aforementioned highly condensed form and then meditated on them. He later expanded the notes to their original form and out came the magical words of the Master before the wide world in the translated form of 'The Condensed Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' in the beginning and then in the pristine form as 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita' in Bengali later on at the express request of devotees. This was later translated into English again by Swami Nikhilananda for M's original translation was only a partial one and was never completed after he set to writing the words of the Master in Bengali. Swami Vivekananda had read the first two pamphlets originally written by M in English and had highly commended them but Swamiji had never had the occasion to read the Bengali version which was published after his death.
On reading the English pamphlets of 'The Condensed Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna', Swamiji was ecstatic and showered praises on M saying that he had achieved what even Plato had failed in his chronicling of the dialogues of Socrates. Swamiji said, ''Socratic dialogues are Plato all over. You are entirely hidden. Moreover, the dramatic part is infinitely beautiful. Everybody likes it, here or in the West.'' Swamiji further said, ''My heart leaps in joy and it is a a wonder that I do not go mad when I find anybody thoroughly launched into the midst of the doctrine which is to shower peace on earth hereafter.'' These were at once words of appreciation from the sage as they were words of benediction and foretelling of the future course of the spiritual evolution of the world.
M was, thus, blessed by both the Holy Mother and Swamiji. He remained steadfast in his task of reporting to the world what he had himself witnessed of the Master and his divine play and only lay on the lap of the Divine Mother after finishing with his proof-reading of the fifth and final volume of his life's work, 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita', a work that will endure the ravages of time and bring men everywhere closer to God.
Our prostrations at the hallowed feet of this teacher of mankind, his Master's chosen one for the special mission that he was commissioned to execute and which he did by his Guru's grace so admirably like no one had ever done before in the history of humanity.
Written by Sugata Bose
It was a stupendous achievement for Mahendranath Gupta (M) to reproduce the words of Sri Ramakrishna verbatim at a distance of decades, a fact that was recognised by none other than Holy Mother when she commended M on his memory, in his absence, though. When someone remarked that even Swamiji had such a memory, Mother said that Naren's memory was of a different kind from M's. This settled the matter and set the seal of divine sanction on this attribute of this great lay disciple of Thakur who, incidentally, was the mantra disciple of Mother herself at the express commandment of the Master.
The diary notes that M kept of the Master's conversations were highly abbreviated and difficult to decipher in their fuller context. M published five volumes of the 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita' from those notes and at the time of his passing away in 1932 had material for another seven volumes in his great grandson Sri Dipak Gupta's estimation. This the latter told this writer in the 1980s.
There used to be in the 'Kathamrita Bhavan' suspended from the wall outside the shrine a framed page of the Master's conversation with Vidyasagar and there one could see how M made super-short notes of the words that fell from the lips of the Master and his associates. M who used to intently listen to all that was said and observed all that happened including the direction of the flow of the Ganga on a particular day at a particular hour, later wrote them down in his diary in the aforementioned highly condensed form and then meditated on them. He later expanded the notes to their original form and out came the magical words of the Master before the wide world in the translated form of 'The Condensed Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' in the beginning and then in the pristine form as 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita' in Bengali later on at the express request of devotees. This was later translated into English again by Swami Nikhilananda for M's original translation was only a partial one and was never completed after he set to writing the words of the Master in Bengali. Swami Vivekananda had read the first two pamphlets originally written by M in English and had highly commended them but Swamiji had never had the occasion to read the Bengali version which was published after his death.
On reading the English pamphlets of 'The Condensed Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna', Swamiji was ecstatic and showered praises on M saying that he had achieved what even Plato had failed in his chronicling of the dialogues of Socrates. Swamiji said, ''Socratic dialogues are Plato all over. You are entirely hidden. Moreover, the dramatic part is infinitely beautiful. Everybody likes it, here or in the West.'' Swamiji further said, ''My heart leaps in joy and it is a a wonder that I do not go mad when I find anybody thoroughly launched into the midst of the doctrine which is to shower peace on earth hereafter.'' These were at once words of appreciation from the sage as they were words of benediction and foretelling of the future course of the spiritual evolution of the world.
M was, thus, blessed by both the Holy Mother and Swamiji. He remained steadfast in his task of reporting to the world what he had himself witnessed of the Master and his divine play and only lay on the lap of the Divine Mother after finishing with his proof-reading of the fifth and final volume of his life's work, 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita', a work that will endure the ravages of time and bring men everywhere closer to God.
Our prostrations at the hallowed feet of this teacher of mankind, his Master's chosen one for the special mission that he was commissioned to execute and which he did by his Guru's grace so admirably like no one had ever done before in the history of humanity.
Written by Sugata Bose
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