Sugata Bose: November 2020

Monday 30 November 2020

WHEN ANGLICISING BECOMES THE NORM AND MEN TAKE PRIDE IN IT

Audrey Hepburn, while announcing the awarding of the Lifetime Oscar to Satyajit Ray, could pronounce his surname the way it is pronounced in Bengali but our Bengali journalists till date take pride in mispronouncing the film maker's surname in a manner that makes him kith and kin to the 'Suryavangshees' (members of the Solar dynasty or the Ikshvaku dynasty). To pronounce Ray (to be correctly pronounced 'Raaye') as 'ray' is to demean him for he was not just a ray of the sun but the veritable sun itself. And he was no kinsman of Bhagvan Raamchandra !

Written by Sugata Bose (Sugata Bose)

WHEN POLITICIANS LIE AND MEN TAKE IT LYING DOWN

How politicians fool the masses with their pretentious talk ! All that they care is to cater to the crony capitalists at the expense of the masses who vote them to power. Yet, the masses get deluded by the crafty talk of seasoned politicians who have mastered the art of duping people. Ideology here, promises there, lies everywhere -- this is the range of their offer to the people as they fail to fructify ideology in its beneficial form in practice and fulfil promises made just to gather votes, but they do succeed in lying very well which is their trademark after all.

So, believe in no politician beforehand but only judge them strictly by their actual performance. But you have to gamble on these insincere ones while casting your vote. So, educate yourself to be discerning in judgement. An educated polity is less liable to be fooled, although, very often the opposite has been historically found to have been true. But the maxim holds nonetheless.

Written by Sugata Bose

AT THE CROSSROADS OF HISTORY ... 1

Indian culture is today a fusion of so many historic cultural flows that to attempt the imposition of any one of them over all the others by force would be impossible. The Indian soul has evolved as the commingled synthesis of so many modes and manners, so many strands of thought that to attempt isolating any one would be impossible. Unity in diversity is the very soul of the Sanatan Dharma and this is borne out by the concept of the 'Ishta Dev/Devi' where each individual may follow his spiritual vocation by worshipping his Chosen Deity who is the special manifestation of the Absolute Godhead for that particular individual or sect, as the case may be. Swami Vivekananda is on record saying that the concept of the 'Ishta Devata' (Chosen Ideal) is the very soul of the Sanatan Dharma and if this is thwarted, Hinduism will die. 

Written by Sugata Bose

HINDUISM, BUDDHISM, JAINISM, SIKHISM, UNITE UNDER THE BANNER OF THE ETRENAL SANATAN DHARMA

Although Buddhism and Jainism reject the inviolability of the Vedas, they are Indian schools of philosophical thought and are Indian dharma traditions. Hence, I like to include them in the vast body of the Sanatan Dharma whence in revolt they had once sprung into existence and, so, extended the frontiers of the Sanatan Dharma even further.

The dharma in the Buddhist and Jain traditions are not, to my mind, in essence different from the Sanatan Dharma, although, they appear to be so on the surface and are averred by adherents of these dharmas to be distinctly different. However, whatever may have been the historical differences, time it is to bridge the gaps in understanding of the underlying oneness of these three great spiritual traditions that sprang in ancient India, and to forge fraternal bonds between them for the strengthening of dharma as such. After all, all three dharma traditions subscribe to the theories of karma, the trans-migratory cycle of temporal existence in birth, life, death and rebirth culminating in spiritual perfection in the last birth when Brahmajnana / Atmajnana / Nirvana / Moksha is attained which frees the soul forever from phenomenal ignorance unto the beatitude of transcendental knowledge (as in Hinduism) or extinguishes the flame of phenomenal desirous life (as in Buddhism) or leads to perfection (as in Jainism).

Even Sikhism cannot be called so very distinct from Hinduism as to exclude it from the fold of the Sanatan Dharma. It draws its philosophical principles from the Vedas and emphasises the worship of the Saguna Nirakar Brahman. Sikhism subscribes to the theory of karma and rebirth as well. 

Hence, to forge unity among the various strands of the Sanatan Dharma we must make efforts. This will intensify our spiritual thrust in the world and strengthen our nation in every way, for at the heart of every development of eternal India has always been this strengthening of the national spiritual character.

Written by Sugata Bose

Sunday 29 November 2020

ACHARYA JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE ... 1

ACHARYA JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE ... 1
Immersed in thought, the savant, the sage of science, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose (30 November, 1858 - 23 November, 1937) pioneered the scientific spirit in this modern age in India. One of the most outstanding and versatile scientific geniuses the world has seen, Jagadish Chandra made significant contributions to both physics and botany and was an accomplished writer as well.
Jagadish Chandra Bose was a modern rishi in the classical expanded sense of the term and had great philosophical insight as well which prompted him to seek the unifying link of all life-forms in a physiological way. In consequence he discovered the response mechanisms of plant life to external stimuli and for this purpose he exhibited exceptional skills as an inventor of the required tools for the demonstration of his discovery, devices such as the crescograph and the morograph. Jagadish Bose even went to the extent of discovering the responses of metals to fatigue, that is, long use, which prompted Swami Vivekananda to call him a genius who was intent on making even dead matter come to life. The admiration was mutual which is evident from the glowing tribute Jagadish Chandra paid Swamiji after his mahasamadhi on 4 July, 1902.
A lifelong friend of Rabindranath Tagore, the scientist and the poet built up a great academic platform in suppressed India those days through their respective institutions in the 'Bose Institute' and the 'Vishwabharati Vishwavidyalaya' which gave resurgent India a new lease of intellectual and cultural life, creating in the process the foundation for future independent India's emergence as a nation where the diverse currents of thought and light would find a harmonic home.
But genius is best tested in adversity and when things went against the scientist in a bad way post colonial discrimination against him and alleged lifting of his scientific material by another famed scientist of Europe, it was a European lady who gave refuge to his sinking spirit, his drooping heart that found solace nowhere else. It was the Irish disciple of Swami Vivekananda, Margaret Elizabeth Noble, the unforgettable Sister Nivedita, who stood rock-like behind this towering scientific genius in dire straits in every possible way. Nivedita organised funds for the scientist by securing generous contributions from Sara C. Bull, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, edited his works, pruning up the English of his impending publications, working tirelessly from morn to night months on end so that the light of India would shine resplendent in the firmament of world science. And when her health broke down and Nivedita had passed into silence in his Darjeeling abode then, Jagadish Chandra paid his homage to the great spirit by getting a bas-relief of a woman bedecked with prayer beads and holding a lamp in her hand erected in his 'Bose Institute'. It was sculpted after Nandalal Bose's painting on Nivedita titled 'The Lady with the Lamp'.
Lamp, indeed, nay, blazing sun each one of these titanic beings as Nivedita and Jagadish Bose, Tagore and Vivekananda, Aurobindo and Nandalal was. And today we are basking in their sunshine either in reverential memory or in utter oblivion of their existence ever. Either way we owe everything to them still.
Written by Sugata Bose

Comment :
Sugata Bose @Amrita Bhattacharyya : I will be writing serially on him. Today's short essay was but a brief introduction and the first in a series that is coming. Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose was a Brahmo which, if you wish, you may call a sect of the Sanatan Dharma, and hence a Hindu with a difference in terms of philosophical leanings. He was an extraordinary person of not only exceptional scientific merit but also humanitarian instincts. His devotion to science and humanity, his deep philosophical quest and insight into the inner nature of all forms of life and even inanimate matter like metals into which he almost infused life, as it were, in the words of Swamiji, do make him out as a devout person of sorts, though not in the common understanding of the term. It is difficult to define these seminal beings in rigid terms, in contours that thrust our finite conceptions on them, for they transcend ordinary limitations of thought to embrace the universal where borders are blurred and the infinite unfolds its realm in the very real. The works of these beings are but the fringes of their lives which in turn is but the feeble, fractional manifestation of their ever-expanding consciousness. Suffice it then to say that we may enter the mansion of their life and works to gaze in mute wonder at the breath-taking array of their insights and attainments and, if we are perceptive enough, absorbing enough critically, we may as well be induced by their thought-field into engaging in some worthwhile creative activity and emerging thence with some like achievement.

Saturday 28 November 2020

DIVE DEEP, RAMAKRISHNA SAID, BUT MEN STRIVE FOR HARMONY SUPERFICIALLY STILL

Religious harmony will never come in this world through the puerile preaching of superficial thinkers, men who refuse to address the core scriptural issues that hinder the peace process. Neither does the solution lie in the wholesale destruction of religion as communism proposes. The world will have to as yet wait long, perhaps, many centuries till human beings critically evolve in understanding and mature in strength to delete these nefarious scriptural influences from their lives. Then the wonderfully universal message of the Vedanta will gain ground and release man unto sunshine and freedom. Till then these bitter struggles in political ascendancy of a particular theological or ideological world view will continue and men continue to bleed en masse in ignorance.

Written by Sugata Bose

Friday 27 November 2020

ROOT REFORM NECESSARY IN DOGMATIC RELGIONS AND NOT PRETENTIOUS INTER-FAITH MEETS TO ACHIEVE REAL COMMUNAL HARMONY AND NOT A MAKE-BELIEVE ONE

Sentimentalising realities to obscure the true facts of life is unhistorical. This, however, is the approach to reaching communal harmony which is, thus, never reached, for the central doctrinaire issues of dogmatic religions are never vigorously countered and overcome in essence. This is an insincere approach, the method of the coward, the opportunistic and the shallow-minded.

Fanciful ideas entertained do not change harsh realities but robust resistance does so. Intellectuals who fear reprisals as consequence for fundamental work done in the plane of scriptural principles that can really root out roguish fundamentalism for good, must not venture into offering unsound advice as to what the nation ought or ought not to do by way of fostering communal harmony, for their views are likely to be biased, frivolous and weak that can serve no purpose in the said regard. Thus, professors may preach in university campuses and academic meets tall principles of harmonic community-living but unless they muster the courage to attack aggressively archaic absolutist scriptural principles which split communities apart on the basis of belief, their works of wisdom will be valueless in achieving their aspired end. Hence, intellectual frivolity of the academic elite and muddled sentimentality of the masses, neither of these will bring communal peace. Unless some valorous souls from within the concerned community take earnestly to changing course for the same by either reinterpreting scripture and modernising it for harmonic living -- if that is possible in the light of the fact that explicit instructions are given to the contrary in the scriptural verses --  or neglecting wholesale the practical use of such principles as divide the polity, the situation as of now will not improve and simmering intolerance will occasionally seek expression in violent activity that can hardly be deemed harmonic. It may take time and effort, may lead to violent backlash, but it will have to be done sooner than later for the achievement of lasting communal peace on the secure foundation of real and not imagined humanity.

A final word and it is this that pretentious inter-faith meets, where the core intolerant issues are left out of the discussion and only benign verses are highlighted to mischievously and untruthfully show how all religions preach the same peace and universal brotherhood and goodwill, will be counter-productive in this mission of fostering communal harmony. Smiles and greetings exchanged under the spotlight over, roguish intolerance will raise its ugly head again to tell the truth about these fanatical cults, facts that had been carefully for the while brushed under the carpet to suit the requirements of pretentious peace conferences. Hence, sincerity is the key to addressing these problems and it can only come from within the community proper. May God bless all such sincere souls and empower them to make the necessary adjustments to their creed which is beyond the power of unprincipled intellectuals !

Written by Sugata Bose

QUOTE SWAMIJI BY ALL MEANS BUT DO SO ACCURATELY

Swami Vivekananda must be quoted correctly. It is best that quotations be verified from 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda' before posting.

If I make any mistake while quoting Swamiji from memory in an essay of mine, do feel free to point out the error and I shall, with a sincere apology, rectify the error forthwith. For I write in a flow and do not have the occasion to then immediately get to verifying the said quotation. Hence, errors are possible but, perceptive readers, do bring such lapses to my immediate notice, that is, at your earliest convenience.

The quotations must not only be correct word-wise but placement-wise as well. Also the punctuation must be correct. After all, Swamiji must be presented in the pure state and not as and how we like. In case of errors the same should be rectified forthwith.

Nowadays, a lot of online observations are doing the rounds in the name of Swamiji which were never uttered or written by him, in so far as we get to know from authentic books that contain his writings, conversations and speeches. These observations are mostly silly mundane stuff and are let out in the name of Swamiji to get wider circulation. This is very wrong as it deludes the readers about Swamiji's real message and misguides them. The Ramakrishna Math, Belur, has officially made an appeal to devotees and well-wishers to resist this online menace. It is our duty to do so and, therefore, it becomes very wrong on our part to misquote Swamiji inadvertently. Hence, this write-up by way of a reminder to all, beginning with myself, so that Swamiji may be presented and read pristine pure by all and sundry.

Written by Sugata Bose

Thursday 26 November 2020

MONUMENTAL REVOLUTION AND COMMUNISM, A AFCT OF HISTORY CONVENIENTLY FORGOTTEN

Communists raise a hue and cry over the destruction of a monument in India (regrettable indeed) but conveniently forget Lenin's 'monumental revolution' to wipe out Czarism where he had destroyed all the statues of the Czar that adorned the cities of the empire to be replaced by Lenin's followers with statues of the Communist leader and his successor Stalin. Strange it is that such amnesia afflicts such wise political philosophers who deem their founding fathers to have been the ultimate in human evolution and, thus, necessarily the most perfect pronouncers on political conduct ! But the Russian masses, the proletariat who had suffered untold misery under a tyrannical regime that had deluded them with false promises and failed to deliver except the dead bodies of their kith and kin, executed by the orders of their dreaded dictators, did not so forget. And when the time came and the delusive game was up, history took its sweet revenge as Lenin, Stalin and their siblings, carved in stone, were likewise demolished, ground to the dust where they belonged in the fullness of time.

Indian communists, who dare call others fascists all the time, ruminate on these historical 'fair plays' which you have orchestrated, and rectify course. Return to the Sanatan Dharma and be righteous once more as your forefathers, who you have forgotten, were.

Written by Sugata Bose

INDIA -- THE WAY AHEAD ... 2

The greater the freedom in society, the better it flows and the brighter become its prospects in every sense. One cannot make society better by restricting its spontaneous movement, hindering its free flow. The only way it can be bettered is by individuals living exemplary lives which will draw others into their pool of influence and inspire them to emulate them, and, so, build up a movement whose gradual progression will accelerate to eventually transform society. May the atmosphere of India be free and fair for all spontaneous cultural currents to survive and flourish whose end result will be the renaissance of our civilisation !

Written by Sugata Bose

INDIA -- THE WAY AHEAD ... 1

What India needs today is that her youth will reverentially study Vivekananda and put into practice his proposed policies for the resurrection of the nation, long suppressed by alien tyranny. Her civilisation, whose movement had decelerated during its thousand year slavery, must be accelerated now for the preservation of not only India but the whole of humanity. In this grand mission only those people will be of use who have 'shraddha' (reverence tending to perfection) for the nation's heritage and are willing to observe the trinity of virtues enunciated by Vivekananda, namely, purity, patience and perseverance. Those who are willing to observe these, come along.

The motherland awaits the sacrifice of a thousand heroes, so said the Swami. Ours is to sacrifice and serve, not seek self-glory and limelight by getting others to focus on us. Silent work, free of expectation of anything in return save the good of the motherland, will be our arsenal in refashioning the nation's course and setting it along the trajectory laid down by the ancient rishis (seers of Truth) and the modern sages like Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and Aurobindo, to name but three of the long list of illustrious pathfinders of our nation.

So, let us in real earnest set out to work. I exhort you, O young aspirants, come and join me in this crusade for course correction of our motherland, in this mission for her reconstruction along modern lines with ancient reference.

Written by Sugata Bose

Wednesday 25 November 2020

HINDUISM -- THE WAY AHEAD ... 2

When children from mixed marriages, where either parent is a Hindu, are cleverly converted to Islam and Christianity by the non-Hindu parent, why does nobody protest? Is that not a violation of basic human principles, a breach of spiritual trust, gross bigotry that believes in increase in numerical strength for a deeper and more sinister political end to be achieved in the long run? Is it quite democratic to indoctrinate innocence thus and detach them from their ancestral religious roots to which legitimately they belong at least 50% ? Hindus, awake to resisting such deceitful designs ! 

Written by Sugata Bose

HINDUISM -- THE WAY AHEAD ... 1

The intellectual culture of the Hindus has been traditionally their strong point but seems to be floundering now. This ought to be revived in the rightful way once more. For this, free and fair criticism of Hinduism even by adherents of other religions must be listened to and arguments afforded them by way of refutation, wherever necessary, in a civilised manner.

Imperviousness to others' opinions is detrimental to one's own improvement and cocksureness about one's status is never conducive to any good. Hence, within the fold of Hinduism the scientific spirit must be encouraged with scepticism and questioning being given primacy as in science. Only then will Hindus learn to think clearly, intelligently and with a discerning mind that will equip them not only to hotly debate the contents of their scriptures but to study them duly in the process as well.

Our Sanatan Dharma stands on the eternal foundation of the Vedas and no devout Hindu needs to be apprehensive -- as adherents of absolutist religions are so often made to feel by their clever clerics when confronted with rational opposition to the absolutist principles of their scriptures -- about it sinking in quicksand when struck hard by rational disputations. Therefore, it is meet that Hindus train themselves in rational reflection on their scriptures so that they may emerge stronger from the exercise. But that wonderful element of 'shraddhaa' (reverential attitude tending to perfection) must not be lost. Only then will rationality lead to that which is supra-rational and transcendental in core and content.

Written by Sugata Bose

OH, TO BE A HINDU !

Liberals, be liberal. Do not call other liberals not agreeing with you, fanatics. Liberalism demands patience, forbearance and a broad sympathy for all which you demand from others but do not exhibit yourself. Let the following points be brooded upon : 

1. To call a liberal like Nehru a womaniser when the subject under discussion is his marvellous writing skill in 'The Discovery of India' is surely not the sign of either civility, enlightenment or liberalism, especially when those who criticise care not to go through the text of the book also.

2. To defend Hinduism is to be dubbed being :
(a) a Sanghi -- not that one necessarily dislikes it or takes an affront at being dubbed thus ;
(b) a fascist -- these name-callers have never lived in a real fascist state to know the difference between the real and the labelled.
(c) a polariser of politics so very detrimental to the polity's future.

3. To write about Marx or Lenin is to invite the epithet 'commie', a queer derivation of the original term.

4. To talk about the genocide and enforced exodus of 500,000 Kashmiri Hindu Pandits from the Valley is to be inevitably pitted against the Gujarat Riots of 2002 and countered thus.

5. To speak about Gandhiji's greatness is to immediately invite vicious attacks on the great man's personality and character and dwell only on his failings without even a passing reference to his monumental contributions to mass movement which principally galvanised the nation to the end-state where Netaji and the INA could make the final thrust for freedom and help attain it with circumstantial derivatives.

These are only five points that I have raised for rumination on liberals, liberalism, seculars, secularism, tolerance, acceptance et al. Now think.

Written by Sugata Bose 

THE SELECTIVE PORTAYAL OF FACTS AND THE CLEVER ANALYSES

These days few are neutral in their views. Most take up a political stand on issues, forgetting that truth demands neutrality and impartiality of observation, the statement of fact and inferences thereof.

Realisation of the absolute unity which underlies the manifoldness of phenomena is a far cry for most but being non-partisan in views is not that difficult, provided the necessary education is there to arrive at correct conclusions in the light of historical happenings and untrammelled by articulated theological and ideological principles. But even here polarisations are huge as Samuel P. Huntington has so well illustrated in his book, 'The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order'.

The point that I wish to make is this that truth must be stated freely and fairly. Otherwise, it is not truth. But in social living fractional representations are always the case even as truth suffers its sorry fate at the hands of menacing fanatics who wish to suppress it. Thus, liberals, seculars, communists, fascists, religious bigots - all of these carry with them their individual agendas in portraying truth after their fashion which deflects more than it depicts, conceals more than it reveals, and deludes more than it illumines, as the misled masses are led into lines of observation which evolution allows them access to.

Fanatics are called liberals and liberals fanatics nowadays. This is a queer state of affairs as hypocrisy and harakiri have become siblings in the Hindu's destruction. Would it were that more studied Vivekananda and Aurobindo in depth ! Alas, when will such a state of affairs be when enlightenment will follow real education and not random guesses, misconceptions thereof and pronouncements pernicious about one's heritage and culture?

Written by Sugata Bose 

Tuesday 24 November 2020

FACEBOOK NEW MESSAGES AND TWEETS ... 18

1. Gandhi's mobilisation of the Indian masses for the preservation of the Islamic Caliphate in Turkey is baffling.

Uncle Jo, mentor Ulyanov, victim Bronstein - the trinity of virtue and compassion !

3. Tweet to Taslima Nasreen : Why do you always cheapen discussion? Are you intoxicated with the desire to be in the limelight at any cost, if even by frivolous talk? What about some genuine literary stuff coming from your pen once more? Awaiting it.

'Fast unto death' we have heard from several freedom fighters during the struggle for independence but one actually did it, right till the very end when supreme self-sacrifice had been consummated. Jatin Das lives on yet in shining memory.

5. Diego Maradona is no more but lives on in our hearts and will live on as long as the 'beautiful game' is played the world over.

6. Conversion from Hinduism to both Christianity and Islam by clever manipulation is a reality and must not be.

7. We must keep our houses clean. Only then will we learn to keep our temples clean. After all it is the abode of God.

8. I love the saffron colour. It is the colour of renunciation, that of awakened spiritual consciousness.

9. From the Buddha to Vivekananda all wore the saffron cloth, the symbol of awakened spiritual consciousness. Glory unto the saffron!

10. I welcome all those who have been perverted from the Sanatan Dharma through misinformation back to the fold of the Mother.

11. Communists are welcome back to the fold of the Sanatan Dharma as Vedantists should they like being rational by way of continuance.

12.

The inexorable flow of time none can stop. All are drifting to the icy chill of death. Let us love each other while the warmth of life be still there.

13. This (saffron) is the colour of renunciation running down the ages in eternal India.

14. The Hindus are the most patient and gentle of all races. They are also the most accepting of all faiths and ideologies.

15. Shall the Sanatan Dharma die in the land of its birth? Then that land will die as well with it.

16. Another Vivekananda is necessary today to guide the world 'to life and freedom'. But the old one must be the guide of the new one.

17. Communism, atheistic as it is, is unsuited for India. It will never get a foothold in India, never.

18. Indian intellectuals going abroad and defaming India in foreign universities. How wonderful is that ?

19. Joke it is when communists call others fascists. Is communism any better than fascism except for its high-flown justification of revolutionary and later state violence to achieve its barbaric materialistic ends at such a terrible cost to everything that may be deemed human?

20. Oh, how our food gets tainted by touch ! When will Hindus take their religion out of their kitchen?

21. I welcome all Indian communists back to the fold of the Sanatan Dharma. This will do them and the world a world of good.

22. We need to respect each other for we are all Indians, even if located across the ideological spectrum in distinctive phases of it.

23. Intellectuals may have brains but often lack the character that can inspire respect.

24. Intellectual but a hollow man ! So is this hired historian, biographer of Gandhi.

25. Those FB friends who become vocal whenever a juicy post is on, I ask them to give their views even when enlightening ones are on.

26. I've been taunted by FB communist friends for writing that I love the saffron colour. So, I reiterate that I love the saffron.

27. The whole of India bows before the saffron, yet to affirm it seems so very unsavoury. Why? I love the saffron. I am a proud Hindu.

28. The saffron, symbol of awakened spiritual consciousness, of renunciation, service and sacrifice, is the ideal of the Hindu race.

29. My communist friends, read Vivekananda as your stalwarts of old did.

30. 

Swami Balabhadrananda is a wonderful sadhu. Please listen to his discourses.

31. Those who abuse our Hindu culture, I request such to study the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda and then come to conclusions.

32. Unless the study of Sanskrit is made to flourish in India, this country will continue to produce hordes of Hinduphobes.

33. There is a lot of fog that obscures vision today as to who is a Hindu and who is a Hindutvavaadi. Throw some light on this please.

34. The devoted disciple conquers life and conquers death too. Such is the power of devotion. The preceptor in mute wonder witnesses.

35. The capitalist ought to limit profit to practise piety. Else, his religiosity is a sham.

36. Why is India so divided?

37. Hold nation above party politics please.

38. Allegiance must be to India, if you are an Indian citizen, and not elsewhere.

39. 

Satyajit Ray's last film is 'Agantuk', to be pronounced 'Aagontuk' and not 'Agaantuk'. It is a shame that Indian journalists so mispronounce Indian names.

40. The level of civil discourse is going down alarmingly with each passing day. The cultural decline is steep and widespread.

41. Can patriotism be induced in the ordinary individual by constant propaganda conducted on a massive scale and that too by people devoid of soundness of intent who conveniently befriend the powers that be for personal gain, however much they may delude themselves with the idea that it is for the nation after all?

42. How many of you are for Netaji's birthday being declared a national holiday?

43. Am I a patriot? Am I a nationalist? These are questions that are being thrust at us these days from all sides and making us think.

44. Wherever one has to go, one has to go. Why fear in this wide wold anything? Why fear anything beyond, too, in the deep universe?

45. 

Tagore was a great, great man !

46.                        ?

How far is this permissible in a polity?

47. In the chaos of the current times the sane voice of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda seems the way out. Proletariat rampage is on the way.

48. Politicians must be men of deep sympathy for the poor. They must all study the works of Swami Vivekananda daily. Only then will they emerge real leaders of men. Else, they will remain  rogues out there to loot the nation in connivance with crony capitalists. And, beware ! This is no song of mine in praise of the Communist International.

49. Hope is the harbinger of freedom from earthly shackles, the flight of the soul unto its own beatitude.

50. Spread the word of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, my young friends, and douse the flame that will otherwise consume us unto oblivion.

51. Students, study harder. Let study be austerity unto realisation of the Self. Let sacrifice and service be its twin offspring.

52. Today, there seems to be only one leader who is acceptable to all and that is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

53. Never judge a person in haste unless you have the eagle eye of a Ramakrishna to do so, for you will repent at leisure.

54. A deep pall of ignorance hangs over the land as directionless men direct the masses to their doom. The Lord must now manifest.

55. 

Is there a way to arrive at the harmony of faiths and ideologies in India ? There is. Follow Swami Vivekananda and his rightful heir, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. In their life and message lies the solution.

56. 

Mother Kali became incarnate as Sri Ramakrishna. When Thakur passed into mahasamadhi, Holy Mother grieved over his form thus : "Ma Kali mine, where have you gone?" What a unique perspective on one's husband, unparalleled in the history of the world !

57. People are wearing masks alright but not maintaining the required distance of more than a metre from each other. This is dangerous. So many do not even wear their masks at this critical time of the pandemic. It is gross irresponsibility on the part of citizens.

58. We should have a sense of belonging to our country. We must respect its culture and heritage. We must serve our motherland.

59. When foreign forces want to break us as a nation, we must stand together. Our internal issues we must solve ourselves and not allow foreigners to meddle in.

60. This film (Mahapurush) by Satyajit Ray is a gift unto all the fake Gurus of the day who are daily cheating the people, gullible as they are, complicit as they are in this deceitful deed daily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGbAgkbHzfY

61. We are one people, one human family with vast cultural differences within the framework of a standard evolutionary growth.

62.

Each and every monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna is a model for humanity.

63. Let me see some of you joining me in spreading the word of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda in these days of proliferating fake Gurus.

64. How far did Nehru and Netaji differ in their thinking on nation-building?

65. One must watch Satyajit Ray's 'Shatranj Ke Khilari' to appreciate the rich Islamic culture of India. This is Hindustan.

66. What a blasting Satyajit Ray has given to the English in his film 'Shatranj Ke Khilari' !

67.

The Partition of India was the biggest defeat the freedom fighters suffered at the hands of imperial Britain. But Britain will have to pay for it one day. Indians ought to have no sympathy for that race of roguish robbers.

Photo : Tantia Tope

68.

On this day was Khudiram Bose born. (3 December 1889 – 11 August 1908) Such a one shall never be again. Birthday pranam.

69. Indian soldiers in British military uniform conquered India. What a self-oblivion !

70. Title return which is called 'wapsi' these days, who did it first in India?

71. The glory of Hinduism is in its universal philosophical reach, its affirmed catholicity that embraces all and rejects none.

72. Strange are the ways of man. He can never stay straight, practise rectitude, but must ever lean left or rove right of the neutral.

73. Focus must not degenerate to fixation. Focus is the concentration of forces leading to learning and light, fixation the random pummelling of the target with obsessive inclination and intent.

74. Sick music that sends us to sensory delusion, the sentimental grave -- product of genius ? Come on, sing it in a robust style.

75. Why is this government facing so much protest on so many fronts?

76. Whither Swamiji today? Everybody takes his name but who follows him?

77. Educate your children rather than converting them to your creed.

78. Hindus, spread the message of your religion globally but only after having learnt it yourselves.

79. Today, I feel I have become truly cosmopolitan. I have embraced the whole of humanity. But humanity is for me to manifest towards all.

80. Appeasement cannot win fanatics over. It plays into their hands. Strength alone can subdue subversive elements. Fanaticism then dies its own death.

81. The ideological battle must be won and often it is an outright war that one has to wage to set humanity on the right track. But where is the enlightened discussion that is so needed?

82. ব্যবসা তো নয়, চুরির চূড়ান্ত ! নাটুকে নেতা সব, দেশী ডাকাতের দল !

83. How many of those who are vocal about Hindutvavaad either way, for or against, have read 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda' ?

84. It is absence of character in men of power and position, in the politician and the preacher that is killing the hopes of a nation.

85. The word 'secular' is a misnomer in so far as India is concerned, for Indian spirituality deems every movement of life sacred.

86. Spirituality is the raising of the mind to above the level of the body, to at least the fourth plane of consciousness, that of the heart (the anaahata chakra).

87. Swami Vivekananda, in the propagation of his message, must not be diluted and delivered. Tell the whole truth please.

88. Do not indoctrinate children and retard their growth. Let them bloom into fragrant flowers breathing the sunshine of freedom.

89. It is violence in parents and relatives to teach children exclusive, hateful religious doctrines and then downright pretentious to aver that they will grow up into enlightened citizens. This barbarism at home must stop so that barbarism in society may follow suit.

90. Indian children must not only be soft and sweet but strong and sturdy also.

Children, you are the way !

Hindus, read the scriptures of other religions as well and come to your own conclusions about them. But do not prefix judgement. Be contextual and historically oriented. Then alone due understanding will flow. Else, it will be a pursuit in confirmation of prejudice and not an enlightening exercise that can strengthen human bonds.

Shed superstition, be scientific.

Unless the fire of renunciation is in the heart where all other desires save the realisation of God have been cremated, the power to move the people to any degree of permanence does not come to the individual. Hence, all preaching founded in the flesh are of no avail.

Call you an Indian and yet convert the gullible to Islam and Christianity?

Hindus, shed superstition, clean up your temples, remove caste distinctions, expand your heart and study the scriptures. Unite !

How charitable to your child are you being when you deprive her/him of her/his Hindu heritage (reference : Hindu-Muslim mixed marriage) while slowly converting her/him to Islam? Why indoctrinate and convert in this progressive modern world? Why not allow your child to absorb the best of both religious cultures while preserving the freedom to be as cosmopolitan as she/he can be? Why deny him? Why deprive? Why?

Hindus are being regularly converted to Islam and Christianity. And not one Muslim or Christian objects. Liberal indeed !

What is the future of India?

The anniversary of a dear one dawns as an occasion to celebrate the union of spirits whose end is absorption in God-consciousness.