IN RESPONSE TO ONE WHO DESCRIBED MY POST ON THE RELATIVE GREATNESS OF NETAJI AND SWAMIJI AS CHEAP AND PASSED ON ME HIS SUPERCILIOUS INJUNCTION THAT I SHOULD REFRAIN FROM MAKING SUCH POSTS IN FUTURE

IN RESPONSE TO ONE WHO DESCRIBED MY POST ON THE RELATIVE GREATNESS OF NETAJI AND SWAMIJI AS CHEAP AND PASSED ON ME HIS SUPERCILIOUS INJUNCTION THAT I SHOULD REFRAIN FROM MAKING SUCH POSTS IN FUTURE

https://www.facebook.com/groups/netaji.bose/permalink/2147309218771647/

To you, my friend, my initial rejoinder is that you are much mistaken as to the motive of the post and, hence, I categorically say this unto you and to all those who are like you that I shall continue to make such posts with redoubled frequency. Now to the subject matter of my defence.

Stop your supercilious advice. How do you ordinarily think if not by comparing and contrasting by your intellectual faculties? How do you recognise yourself as distinct from others if not by the same process? To ascribe cheapness on me also you had to compare my standard with your ideal of a standard, did you not? So, comparisons are welcome just like your superior advice by the same mode is, barring its derogatory ascription of my motive. The legendary Don Bradman used to compare batsmen of different generations to arrive at relative estimations. This was his favourite mental occupation. All our knowledge in the world is derived by experimentation and deduction in the light of facts already known and by comparing the results with the established laws of science. Your every moment's cognition of the universe about you is through this mode of comparing and contrasting. Nobody is so sacrosanct as to be absolved from human scrutiny, for that would be the death of progressive knowledge. If you deem yourself to be that knowledgeable, then deign to enlighten us about Netaji and Swamiji in relative terms without constraining yourself by such arbitrary self-injunctions. And if you are incapable of doing so, then refrain from restricting others in expressing themselves their way and recognising greatness in seminal personalities in the light of relative understanding. A final word. Read 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda' and the 'Netaji Collected Works' to find out if they refrained from making such comparisons about great men in their lives. One more thing. Hypersensitivity in discussing greats is not necessarily the sign of devotion to them and I, for one, can assure you that I have dedicated my entire life to the study of Swamiji and the practice of his precepts. Thank you.

Written by Sugata Bose