জাতিভেদবিষয়ক দুটি কথা

জাতিভেদবিষয়ক দুটি কথা 

যতক্ষণ মানুষ, ততক্ষণ জাতিভেদ | ব্রহ্মবিজ্ঞানে উপনীত হলে আর জাতি থাকে না | তার আগে সর্বত্র তা পরিলক্ষিত -- ধর্মের, অর্থের, সমাজের, বর্ণের, সংস্কৃতির ও প্রভাবপ্রতিপত্তির ক্ষেত্রে জাতিভেদ |

আর একটি কথা | মানুষ জাতির ঊর্দ্ধে একথা বলছেন বটে কিন্তু ভুলে যাবেন না যে জীবজগতে মানুষও কিন্তু একটি বিশেষ জাতি | একইভাবে মনুষ্যকুলেও প্রাকৃতিক বৈচিত্রহেতু অসংখ্য জাতি কিন্তু অন্তরতম প্রদেশে, যেখানে মানুষ স্বস্বরূপে বিলীন হয়ে আর মানুষ, এই নামরূপ হারিয়ে ফেলে, সেখানে আত্মার একত্বের পূর্ণতায় সমস্ত বৈচিত্র বিলুপ্ত হয় ও ব্রহ্মসত্তায় জাতি লোপ পায় | এই অর্থেই হয়ত ঠাকুর শ্রীরামকৃষ্ণ তাঁর অভিনব বাণী উচ্চারণ করেছিলেন, "এক উপায়ে জাতিভেদ উঠে যেতে পারে | ভক্তের জাত নেই |" কিন্তু আপাতদৃষ্টিতে সামাজিকভাবে জাতি উঠে গেলেও সৃষ্টির বৈচিত্রতাহেতু জাতিভেদ থেকেই যাবে মানুষের অবিদ্যা যতক্ষণ থাকবে | মায়ার রাজ্যে বিভেদ থাকবেই, জাতিও থাকবে তাই, সে যে ছদ্মবেশেই হ'ক না কেন | গভীর তাত্ত্বিক দিক দিয়ে দেখতে গেলে ঠাকুরের ঐ 'ভক্ত' আখ্যাটি শুদ্ধাভক্তিপ্রাপ্ত মহাপুরুষের ক্ষেত্রেই প্রযোজ্য কারণ ঠাকুরের মতে শুদ্ধ ভক্তি ও শুদ্ধ জ্ঞান একই বস্তু, শুধু প্রকাশে ভাষাগত, ভাবগত আপাতপার্থক্যমাত্র | শুদ্ধজ্ঞানে একত্ববুদ্ধি, অতএব তা জাতির ঊর্দ্ধে | আবার শুদ্ধাভক্তিপ্রাপ্ত মহাপুরুষ সমাধিভূমি হতে আপেক্ষিক স্তরে ফিরে আসার পর জীবের প্রতি, বিশ্বচরাচরের প্রতি মহাপ্রেমে আর বিভাজিতবুদ্ধি রক্ষা করতে পারেন না |

আবার আপনি সংগীতে স্বরসপ্তক আছে ও জাতি নেই, তাই সংগীত ঈশ্বরলাভের একটি মার্গ, একথা বলেছেন | কিন্তু সংগীতে তো অবশ্যই জাতি আছে | ভারতীয় শাস্ত্রীয় রাগসংগীত তো নানা জাতিতে বিভক্ত, একথা যে কোন শাস্ত্রীয়সংগীতশিক্ষার্থিই জানেন | সংগীতের পরম পরিণতি যে অনাহত ওঁকার 🕉 ধ্বনিতে, সেইখানেই জাতির প্রায়পরিসমাপ্তি আহতধ্বনির পারে প্রায়প্রাপ্তসাম্যে | একমাত্র ব্রহ্ম অবস্থাতেই জাতির পূর্ণ বিলুপ্তি হয়, অন্য কোন স্তরে নয় |

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

NEHRU -- HIS LIBERAL, LIBERATING TOUCH

NEHRU -- HIS LIBERAL, LIBERATING TOUCH

I do not like fanatics, even patriotic fanatics. I like the liberal way of thinking. I am a patriot, often a fierce and a vociferous one when it comes to defending my motherland and my Hindu religion and culture against organised assault by communists, Islamists and proselytising Christian bigots. But other than that when I may seem to be a bigoted Hindu which I am not -- for Hinduism is 'as vast as the sky and as deep as the ocean' (Swami Vivekananda's words in another context but pertinent here as well) -- I am a spiritual and human liberal, centred in Truth and seeking the Truth. Which is why I like a liberal like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru above all other national leaders other than Gandhiji, perhaps, at times and quite often so. Nehru liberates my soul labouring under the constant strain of defending the Sanatan Dharma and the motherland, and my struggle to fight the evils of organisation and popular perceptions steeped in half-truths owing to propagated cherry-picked quotations from the greats to perpetuate public allegiance despite decay in spiritual standards. Nehru comes as the great healer, the 'balm of my hurt mind' (Shakespeare). His balanced intellectual approach, at once human and pronouncedly sympathetic to all human developments -- viewed, as he does, in a supremely scientific light -- clears the dross of the soul and settles it. No wonder Hiren Mukherjee, the great communist Parliamentarian, hailed him in his biography of Nehru as 'The Gentle Colossus'.

I am not a politician, neither am I a member or remote affiliate of any political party. I am simply a lay person, an observer of day-to-day events, an ordinary student of history and a commentator on life whereby I give expression to my thoughts and reactions to the happenings of life around me. I swing from end to end of the pendulum of emotions and give vent to my feelings and people find it hard to locate my fixed stance which generally men have. But not I, for life itself is so unfixed, being borne up and down, hither and thither by the billows which are beyond our control. My only fixity is in my Self/Atman which is your fixity as well whether you know it or not. As I said, I am centred in Truth and am forever seeking this Truth in real and in the relative experience of life. A wayfarer am I through the thoroughfare of life, a progressive pilgrim unto perfection. As such I have no fixed abode beyond that which ever carries me in Its arms, the Divine Beloved, the Atman which in essence I am. 

Nehru liberates me, so does Swamjji. Because these are seminal beings who ever progressed without ideological fixation as such. Nehru was an agnostic but a seeker of Truth in his own way who studied human history and sought to understand its evolution, adjustments and implications for the future growth of humanity. We were blessed to have him amidst us as a leading light, a quasi-enlightened soul in the socio-historical context and a human being with profound sympathies for the common mass of humanity. I am not concerned with his personal life, although to many that may be the be-all and end-all of his being, neither am I here deliberating on his 'hundred historical blunders' as a book chronicles his doings. I am torn in my being by the conflicts abounding in society,  by the climate of violence in a world that has yet to emerge from barbaric ages, clothed as nations and cultures are with traditional and modern weapons of war, both material and psychological. I am rent asunder by the violence of ignoramuses and the egotistical affirmations which are worse violence of men and women of letters who spare none with their verbal tongue-lashing at every conceivable opportunity.

Spring is departing, the cuckoos will soon go into musical hibernation and the scorching summer sun will soon pelt down its radiant darts to reduce us further. Nehru comes here in my solitary study as the summer shower, the fragrant spring breeze, the autumnal blossom, the cool ice flakes of winter. He releases me from death unto life, from darkness unto light, from despair unto renewed hope. Such sympathy flowing in his words rejuvenates my soul. And therefore I read Nehru whose waterfall refreshes me.

Written by Sugata Bose

THE MISSION OF THE HINDU RACE ... 5

THE MISSION OF THE HINDU RACE ... 5

Organising the Hindus into a single body is vital for the survival of Hindus as a race in a subcontinental atmosphere vitiated by Abrahamic religious assault on them but organising Hinduism in a like manner with regimented religious and social practices dictated by a supreme body will kill the very spirit of Hinduism. Democracy of choice lost, Hinduism will stagnate and die. The freedom to choose the Ishta (Chosen Deity) is at the heart of Hindu religious practice. That must not be tampered with. Society must not be dictated in its actions by a set of conservative men holding traditional patriarchal views on life. Such strangulation will kill Hinduism. 'Freedom, freedom is the song of the soul,' said Swamiji, and this freedom of both acceptance and rejection, the freedom to choose one's way of life without violating others' ways which is essential to the Hindu way of living must be preserved. Broader consensus among the diverse sects of Hinduism must be found in the 'Common Bases of Hinduism' as expounded by Swamiji but too much of regulation in social terms will stifle society even more and prevent its progress unto a freer, happier structure. Hence, there are both the necessity and danger in the organisation of Hinduism and Hindu society. We must arrive at an enlightened synthesis, a golden mean of spiritual living in the light of the Vedanta rather than in the dictates of a supreme body of men in charge of Hindu society. 🕉 

Written by Sugata Bose

COMMENTS GALORE ... 9

COMMENTS GALORE ... 9

Sugata Bose @Abhisek Metya : You could not get access to sending friend request. So, I have sent you one. Only see to it that you do not address me in a peremptory tone as if giving an order when you ask me to check on details. Such irreverent behaviour has cost you time and again my Facebook friendship.

Sugata Bose @Sukumar Bandyopadhyay : Speaking the truth is a positive  thing. If you do not like it, you can forthwith unfollow me. Thank you.

I am not bound by your perceptions. Cherry-picking a particular post from a plethora of posts that I put up everyday and commenting thus, based on insufficient understanding of my intent and objective and even going to the extent of obliquely advising me as to my prerogative as a follower of Swamiji, is an exercise in futility, for your observation is superficial and unfounded on the realities that today abound in the pertinent situations. Hence, I will be obliged if you kindly keep your own counsel. I have neither tagged you nor posted anything on your profile that I should be troubled thus by your unwarranted supercilious suggestion. Whatever I write, I write on the basis of my life's factual experience. Hence, your advice is ill-founded.

Swamiji has asked us to uphold the truth at any cost and, as a sincere adherent of his being, I am doing just that. I wish my motherland well and tirelessly and joyfully serve her as an insignificant link in this great cause of her spiritual-cultural revival without reserving for myself rest or recreation in the understanding that we can ill-afford such personal pleasure at this juncture of her civilisational revival.

Thanks, nonetheless, for bothering to read my seemingly unseemly post. May the Lord of Truth, Sri Ramakrishna, bless you and yours!

P.S. : 1. Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die... Swami Vivekananda

2. Everything in the universe can be given up for Truth but for nothing in the universe can Truth be given up...Swami Vivekananda

3. Trust not the so-called rich, they are more dead than  alive... Swami Vivekananda [Would you call Swamiji negative for calling the so-called rich 'more dead than alive?]

These quotations are from my memory and minor discrepancies may have entered into their wording but the meaning is alright. Right now I have neither the time nor the occasion to locate these in the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. So, I beg your forgiveness on that count.

One more thing. A discerning person is not to be deemed negative in his pertinent critical observations where there is a pronounced organisational shift from original path. Swami Nityasvarupananda had to put up with a great deal of agony mounted on him by the authorities for his carping criticisms of organisational slip from the the original track laid down by Swamiji. Out of reverence I am refraining from divulging details but the observations that the octogenarian monk had made in the mid 1980s were not given due attention with consequential widening of the gap between the origins of the movement and its current status. There are instances galore that can be cited both from my personal experience and from historical readings which are better not detailed here, for superficiality of understanding is the order of the day. But if no one voices concern, then we are doing the movement a terrible damage despite protestations galore from the pious people at the helm of affairs and their blind devotees who refuse to think out of casualness and selfish leanings. 

Swamiji was an oceanic personality and in varied moods has voiced varied observations of his. If you quote one to specifically suit your interest, I can quote many to its contrary consequence. It is our duty as devotees to serve duly and conscientiously but never blindly like an observing mass of people despite it all. That is the surest path to the downfall of a society that has lost its spiritual moorings and must seek to camouflage its deflected course in selective quotations from Swamiji and through stubborn refusal to seek sanity in self-reflection and rectification thereof. I can understand the herd instinct but as Swamiji himself had said, "The majority are fools, men of common intellect." Herein lies our responsibility in terms of raising resistance to a gravitating fall otherwise from which it will take several Swamijis this time to help recover human society.

Lastly, do not forget what Swamiji had said regarding organisation. "Organisation breeds new evils...To organise or not to organise? If I organise, the spirit will diminish and if I do not organise, the message will not spread."

I have merely stated the instance of Swami Nityasvarupananda and refrained from citing countless others out of good sense, reverence and constructiveness of approach. But they are there, glaring in my memory, often with sore wounds from their needless darts that have hurt the heart and caused great distress from their implications in terms of loss of spiritual ideals. But the matter is not merely personal. It is organisational decay in terrible terms, a straying from original ideal with none but some such protesting monk or devotee who dares speak the truth and nothing but the truth  with due consequence waiting in the wings. Swami Purnatmananda has gone public about this general decline in spiritual values of both the laity and the monastic brotherhood vis-a-vis what decades earlier it used to be. Swami Sarvapriyananda has also voiced concern about some such thing regarding welfare work whose straying operational mode Nityasvarupanandaji of hallowed memory was one of the first to speak about. A blatant violation of Thakur's spiritual ideal of renunciation of 'gold' (kanchan) is rampant in his expanding organisation with sycophantic devotees galore applauding each such lapse that is eroding the goodwill bought over a century of hard renunciation. One must raise these issues to prevent a precipitous fall from divine grace.

Lastly, yet again. How about the abode of peace and tranquility being bombarded in the depths of the night by a twenty-one strong gun salute to honour a departed Abbot? These are unforgivable lapses that are being allowed to occur with organisational assent.

How about the very name and verbal mention of Swami Nirmalananda (Tulsi Maharaj) being erased from public memory by way of systematic avowal of only 16 direct monastic male disciples of Thakur as against 17 which it duly is? Swami Nirmalananda was a direct disciple of Thakur but has been reduced by organisation to a non-person as such. In the last four decades I have never once heard the mention of his name on the lips of a single monk of the Order. And this is by order from the highest hierarchy of the Order. Must we not protest on behalf on such a seminal monk, a fiery son of Thakur who enlivened the masses with his Master's message in South India, much more than anybody else other than Swamiji himself? About the initiated devotees and their passive acquiescence in all such activity the less said the better. 🕉 

Sugata Bose @Swami Samarpanananda : Maharaj wastes time too much in casual talk of little consequence, sign of obvious worldliness that dominates his mind despite the pretension that they pertain to society in general. There is wisdom in his words but the density of delivery of such is too low, most of the talk being ill-spent in giving vent to pent-up anger and uncharitable feeling towards perceived adversarial groups and people in the guise of staring the truth about such, carefully and cleverly toning down caustic remarks and indulging in doublespeak by way of softening harsh remark. What he says is nothing but the truth but it is a lot of wasted time thus in critical and coarse verbal indulgence, time that could be better spent in teaching the scriptural truths more rather than needless side-tracking. The taste that is left in the mind of the audience is that of a curious blend of the three gunas which fails to raise the mind even while the class is going on to any level higher than the mundane. Such a delivery, routinely repetitive along the same egotistically critical lines, leaves the audience bereft of any uplifting experience as is but expected when one associates with a monk of some excellence.

Sugata Bose @Swami Samarpanananda : Too fickle. Talks by stops and starts and frequent digression unto unnecessary critical terrain. It seems Maharaj is perpetually plagued by cross-currents of thought which has made his mind a battleground of conflicting forces. He has no peace it seems for he violates the code of conduct that is expected of a standard sannyasi, that of speaking wisely without undue fault-finding in others.

Sugata Bose @Swami Samarpanananda :  Pious lies are not good to say. They are not to be deemed as adherence to truth. Pretending not to know about someone or something and yet obliquely criticising such in clever terms is hypocritical. It is better to come out into the open and flatly say what you wish to say instead of clever manipulation of words, giving hints hither and thither and then backtracking under civil pretext. A monk must strictly adhere to truth, absence of pretence and must not hide under cover and fire darts. Such a political stance is unbecoming of one who supposedly has renounced all. To uphold Hindu interests one can preach Hinduism in valorous terms without such frequent resorting to aiming arrows at others while pretending civility. As for the core content of the lecture, the Swami's outstanding erudition is highly revealing. Hence, such needless distractions on his part as aforesaid detract from the brilliance of the Upanishadic message that he so incisively articulates.

Sugata Bose @Ranjan Mitra : Because capitalism is natural, being based on the third vice of human nature, greed. Marxism is not natural. It is a specific person's interpretation of the socioeconomic history of man and his solution thereof. It interprets economic exploitation well enough but provides a remedial transformation of the socioeconomic superstructure through violent force which is antithetical to the sensitive side of man and inevitably backfires in the long run. To maintain the single party's hold on power against rising social discontent, the Party has to perforce rule by force, thereby reducing citizens to slaves under police tyranny. As resistance builds up overtime and in evolving circumstance more propitious to vent public anger, counter-revolution breaks out dismantling the Marxist superstructure of society. Capitalism now returns with redoubled vengeance and your point is aptly illustrated in consequence. But the dialectics of socioeconomic evolution continues and who knows whither human destiny is headed in the final reckoning? As of now capitalism with all its exploitative ills rules, defeating Communism (Marxism) hands down for the while. The match, however, is a long one as it is the march of man towards freedom in all its phases that will determine its point of terminus, if ever there is to be one.

Sugata Bose @Jisnu Bhattacharya : The Moplah genocide of Hindus by Muslims preceded the founding of the RSS (founded in 1925) and the BJP (founded in 1980). The Partition of India was not caused by the RSS or the BJP. Get your historical facts right first before proceeding to provide fantasy stories. 1400 years back in 622 CE after the Hijrah (migration of Muhammad and his followers from Makkah (Mecca) to Madinah (Medina) political Islam began its genocidal saga. That has carried on unimpeded everywhere till date. The RSS and the BJP were not responsible for the 257 million people that have died from Islamic jihad (estimate given by US scholarly study). Country after country was ravaged, millions mutilated, civilisations destroyed, citizens mass-converted till they bore barely any trace of their former religious culture. Indonesia was no exception to this programme of mass Islamisation. Therefore, to quote fictitious statistics that reveals little, conceals much is a puerile practice not fit for responsible adults to display publicly. They may be the pastime of school children, not of grown-up people.

P.S. Estimates are of 80 to 100 million Hindus who have perished under the sword of the jihad in Islam's 1300 year occupation of India with its unspeakable savagery perpetrated on a highly civilised culture. The details every educated adult ought to know. So, I desist from detailing further.

Sugata Bose @Parnika Bubna : Nice to hear you are travelling fine. I am doing alright in my solitary cell where I nonetheless feel immensely free. Only there is none to talk to, to any who will listen to my ideas with sympathetic interest. Yes, there are one or two who listen and they are my sole solace. 

Sugata Bose @Nilanjana Chakraborty : No, but I have memories galore that flood my mind about this most progressive monk of a man. (Swami Yuktananda/Panu Maharaj)

Sugata Bose @Angshuman Chatterjee : You are right. Superficial foolish Hindus succumbing to the age-old trap!

Sugata Bose @Angshuman Chatterjee : One more thing. Hindus are more concerned about petty self-interest than in collective well-being. They have been historically hopelessly divided and the trend continues till date, although since 2014 there has been a marked reawakening and an urgency towards self-security. But still we have light-years to travel before we can arrive at Hindu solidarity. And time is ticking. The demographic balance is slowly but steadily tilting. It does not augur well for the Hindus, the motherland and the ancient Sanatan civilisation. The masses must be roused through their affirmative development. They are the great national strength. The Sanatan Dharma must be properly preached by intelligent and educated unselfish men and women. Unfortunately, business runs booming in its name. That is the sad plight of the Hindus today. But each one of us must play his or her part to bring about this grand awakening with clarity of conception, knowledge about the mischievous means and ends of the adversarial elements, and with intense sympathy for the masses groaning under human tyranny for ages.

Sugata Bose @Bhaskar Mukherjee : Problem is this 'whole soul' business will never fructify in real because of the accompanying avidya that will consume the artiste. One must practice absolute purity and renunciation along with such pursuits if Swamiji's words are to come true in practice. But that is one-in-a-billion case or even exponentially less.

Sugata Bose @Bhaskar Mukherjee : Then he will cease to be an artiste and will become a monk. Even such a great sangeet sadhak as Baba Alauddin Khan, by his own admission, failed to achieve perfection in music, leave aside perfection in the Self. And he was a sangeet Guru in the classical sense of the Gurukul, never charging anything for his lessons but maintaining his pupils at his own expense. But perfection? It was still a far cry.

Sugata Bose @Jukta Basu Mallick : O great one, the world awaits your arrival. All will be well. Hold your ground and selflessly work on.

Sugata Bose @Yes, Swamiji did say this. But this is a very poor translation into Bengali that gives quite a wrong intent to what he said and meant in English. His original words were far more nuanced with their idiomatic usage in English altogether apart from it has been rendered into its caricature in Bengali. 

Sugata Bose @Swapan Kumar Ghosh : Heartwarming write-up and a perfect prayer that Shankaracharya be reincarnated to rescue the Sanatan Dharma from its present pitiable state of decadence within and aggression from without. 

Sugata Bose @Swami Atmabodhananda YouTube : Why such a lengthy substanceless introduction? Is there a dearth of information that cannot fruitfully fill up the time? It is frustrating to hold one's patience for such an inconsequential beginning to a lacklustre lecture. Why keep on beating about the bush when speaking on such a contentious subject that involves two seminal personalities of the age? Why keep on dishing out the salad of discourse for so long that the appetite of interest having reached its quick crest dies a death in desperation, patience having been exhausted in the wasteful expenditure of hollow words meaning scarce anything. The content thus far has been abysmally poor and augurs not well for the remainder of this prospective tedious discourse. The speaker is ill-prepared to deliver his lecture, his diction is poor and content cipher. The density of thought is low, a lot of meaningless meandering doing routine rounds which bespeaks of low preparedness in data input in the speaker and leaves the listener in two minds whether to allow further wasteful attention to this worthless assemblage of words masquerading as a talk or to leave course midstream unto a safer harbour.

P.S. So far as Nicolas Notovich's book is concerned, Swamiji was well aware of the author's claims and repudiated them as spurious as they were unfounded in historical fact. Swamiji pointed out two disastrous errors in Notovich's claims. One such was where Notovich had written that Christ had gone to Jagannath Puri to study with the Brahmins there about Hinduism and was disgusted to discover idolatry there. 2000 years back during Christ's time, Swamiji contended, Jagannath Puri was, firstly, the seat of the Buddhists and not the Hindus and, secondly, it was the Buddhists who had introduced idolatry in India by then and not the Hindus (Brahmins) by any chance. Moreover, Christ's visiting Tibet to learn Buddhism was a preposterous proposition according to Swamiji because 2000 years ago Tibet had not yet come into contact with Buddhism, the first Buddhist mission from India to Tibet happening more than a thousand years later.

An adulterated talk more full of adjective and needless repetition with little content and much meandering, plentiful personal speculation of the speaker devoid of fact, unnecessary digression that tests the patience of the audience. It is a pity that the founder's following has fallen into such fallow ground. No wonder a spiritual movement, once vibrant, eventually rots as learning takes to flight and fantasy fills the void. This was the warning Swamiji had given about the perilous pitfall a spiritual order inevitably sinks into in the absence of a vibrant academic culture.

Sugata Bose @Deepanjan Mitra : Except Madhusudan's 'Meghnadbadh Kavya' which Swamiji greatly appreciated for its virile composition and considered it even superior to contemporary European poetry of the times.

Sugata Bose @Subhrajyoti Bhowmick : Is this photograph donning the wall of Swamiji's ancestral house? I have not been there in a very long while. Earlier it was not there. Seems to be a new addition. Perhaps, that is by way of attempting to include people of all religious persuasions to the universal religious fold espoused by the Ramakrishna Mission. It may also be to illustrate some of Swamiji's universal statements where he aspires for the future religion of all humanity that will harmonise and transcend all the religious sects of the world and draw all men towards that sublime goal of scientific-spiritual universality of the Being. These are early days and it would be puerile to pass judgement on Swamiji's aspirations or the Ramakrishna Mission's motives on the basis of current corruptions in the field of proselytising religions. History must bear out the validity or invalidity of these attempts to harmonise the diverse peoples of the world. As of now we are in the reactive mode and have our obvious reservations that go to encourage further Islamic aggression on the Hindus. But, perhaps, the Ramakrishna Mission deems otherwise. They have their interests in Bangladesh where they have 26 centres (inclusive of 7 sub-centres) which they wish to safeguard by buying the goodwill of the Muslims. May be it is a foolish and a weak stance to adopt but who knows? The future is difficult to plumb. Hence, one may view these happenings and make one's observations but cannot do so with absolute certitude. Social evolution consequent on the dissemination of science is going to run down Islam in the long run as it did unto Christianity post the European Enlightenment. The power of progress will overcome medieval superstition and force changes in human attitudes worldwide. Therefore, there are multiple ways of looking at these things and a cursory glance must not prompt us unto passing dogmatic judgement on the same. The Mission's views are not fixed and there are wide divergences within its body politic. I get the feeling that, perhaps, the Ramakrishna Mission has put up the picture thus to highlight Sri Ramakrishna's Islam sadhana (practice). How far this will align the Mission to popular Hindu sentiment or alienate them from the mass of the Hindus is to be seen. In its famous legal battle claiming for minority status the Ramakrishna Mission had declared itself as a non-Hindu sect, won at the High Court level and then lost at the Supreme Court which categorically affirmed its Hindu status. These are past controversies that rankle still. The Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission represent a complex movement beginning in India but aspiring to encompass the whole world of men. Hence, during its onward course there are hiccups that it experiences as each sub-generation of monastics try and reinterpret Ramakrishna-Vivekananda's philosophy and attempt to readjust their organisational position according to the exigencies of the times. On the one hand is its universal scope that ought to include all major religions of the world and on the other hand is its commitment to the recovery of Hindu civilisation and culture and its preservation against the aggression of Islam and Christianity. This is a delicate balance that Swamiji achieved in his lifetime which is why Romain Rolland called him, in a greater sense altogether though, the highest synthesis of human forces. But for the Mission this is an arduous task, although, despite failures owing to perfidious political pressure from the erstwhile Communist governments of West Bengal and the current complex political situation in the state (West Bengal) and at the centre, it has been conducting its overall affairs remarkably well. Ideologically there has been erosion in standards but that is inevitable, I guess. Situations change, governing bodies change, the exigencies of the times change and so does the Mission adjust its stance. However, thus far there has not been any major shift from Swamiji's original stance and the Ramakrishna Mission continues to be a spiritual organisation of lofty standards vis-a-vis the world, although, ideologically they have strayed a bit from Sri Ramakrishna's and Swami Vivekananda's set standards of perfection.

Sugata Bose @Satyanand Bhattacharjee : Yes, indeed. The lofty principles of our Sanatan Dharma are only in the pages of scriptural texts but hardly find application in day-to-day Hindu society. Here, though, the Hindu Dharma must be held as distinct from Hindu Samaj. However, here it is that work has to be done. Else, principles will bear us no good. But the principles of our Sanatan Dharma being lofty, we have a luminous guideline as to how we may best rectify our attitudes towards the fulfilment of the grand objective of achieving socioeconomic equality. The masses well cared for, the aggressive intent of Islam and Christianity will be far better foiled, for strength lies as the basis of self-defence and the masses are ever the strength of a body politic of whatever denomination or colour.

Sugata Bose @Swami Atmajnanananda (Arun Maharaj), now in Brazil : Receiving garments by way of alms and then selling them -- not a good proposition for a monastic order at all. Trading thus is not compatible with renunciation even if pragmatism impels one to do so. It is a degradation and here Arun Maharaj (Swami Atmajnanananda) seems to be blissfully unaware of the consequences of such pecuniary precipitation on the monastic order whose Master upheld radically opposed ideals lifelong and expected his following to do so. Sri Ramakrishna with his lofty ideals cries in the wilderness as his followers forsake daily his ideals without the slightest compunction of conscience. 

Sugata Bose @Swami Muktidananda : The questions are deep, the answers simplistic. But what a wise and humble sadhu you are, Maharaj, spiritual simplicity oozing from your being bred in innocence!

Sugata Bose @Swami Atmajnanananda (Arun Maharaj) : A quasi-westernised sadhu (Swami Atmajnanananda/Arun Maharaj) with the typical singsong way of western speaking, compromised ideals and superficial thinking, although, with a touch of apparent sincerity clothed in a layer of egotism and a certain camouflaged narrow self-sense.

Sugata Bose @Swami Sarvasthananda/Swami Satyamayananda (Ananda Maharaj)/Swami Atmajnanananda (Arun Maharaj)/Swami Muktidananda : I feel many of the Ramakrishna monks have lost the heart which the earlier monks had. Reference may be made to Swami Prabhananda (Ketaki Maharaj) whose heart bled for the Khasis for whom he lived his short life before he died for them. Now it is Ramakrishna Architectural Association rather than Swamiji's original Ramakrishna Mission whose ideals have been discarded as 'Taka maati, maati taka' has been replaced by 'Taka khanti, khanti taka'. Prasad (consecrated food) is being provided to devotees at the Belur Math after charging a basic monetary amount for it. This is regrettable even if practical considerations prompt the authorities to act otherwise. When the direct disciples of Sri Ramkrishna were living famished lives, they fed devotees free, and the tradition continued for so many decades. Now Swami Premananda's exhortations to that effect have been forgotten and devotees are being cheaply charged for having a feed at the Belur Math. This is trade when heavy donations are also coming in which are being gleefully accepted as well along with the compulsory charge for getting the prasad coupon issued for oneself. Swamiji's epic words that the downfall of a monastic organisation starts the day its monks start hanging onto the sleeves of the rich are proving ominously true. Thakur has majorly left the organisation it seems. He is due after a hundred years as per Holy Mother's open admission and the Mission is busy guarding itself against propagation of this admitted prophecy published in its own book, 'Sri Sri Mayer Katha -- Vol. 2'. Swami Chetanananda has even provided tortuous theories in his book 'How to Live with God' to debunk Thakur's words about his reincarnation after 100 years. Swami Vijnanananda has also said in 'Satprasange Swami Vijnanananda' that Thakur would reincarnate himself after 100 years. But the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are busy propagating the other prophecy of Swamiji of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission lasting 1500 years. This is the constant refrain of monks today in almost every other lecture. One more thing the General Secretary Maharaj harps on repeatedly that Sri Ramakrishna and the Ramakrishna Mission are inseparable entities, the latter being the gross body of Thakur as Swamiji had himself affirmed. But when the ideals that Thakur stood for are being violated at even Belur Math day in and day out, so much so that on 1 May, 2022 during the 125th foundation anniversary celebration of the Ramakrishna Mission the vesper service of Thakur was terribly neglected with the lecture loudspeaker blaring while the monk at the shrine conducted his vesper service to the enforced exclusion of the traditional vesper song, one wonders whether the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission today can anymore glorify themselves as being worthy repositories of Thakur's spiritual wealth. Thakur may remain as yet as the gross body of the Mission but surely is no more its spiritual self, for the Master cannot brook such neglect as has been heaped on him during the past few years. A final mention here. When Swami Atmasthananda passed into mahasamadhi, the Belur Math authorities amazingly allowed a 21-gun salute starting at 2100 hours during Thakur's nocturnal resting time at the behest of the Chief Minister of West Bengal. The gun salute went on for a full hour breaking the spiritual tranquillity of the Belur Math. Further, the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister have both made political speeches from the hallowed precincts of the Belur Math. These are being allowed by apolitical Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. So, there needs to be a lot of soul-searching by the monastic members, especially by those who are at the helm of affairs, who preach what they consistently do not practise. Last but not the least, truth and truthfulness have taken to flight in the lives of many of the monastic members. They take the name of Thakur-Ma-Swamiji but do not live by their precepts despite the tallest of pretensions to the contrary. This is my submission, albeit replete with a pungent scent but well-intentioned towards the well-being of the Mission. Do not forget that you may hoodwink the masses but not the Master who silently witnesses it all before making his corrective moves among which preeminent is his revisiting our earth soon. Who knows? he may already be among us.

Sugata Bose @Swami Satyamayananda (Ananda Maharaj) : Swami Nirmalananda (Tulsi Maharaj), another direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, had also done spiritual duty in the United States of America. It is a pity that his very memory has been deliberately erased from the mind of the masses for whatever purpose the Ramakrishna Mission knows best.

Sugata Bose @Swami Satyamayananda (Ananda Maharaj) : Swami Satyamayanandaji (Ananda Maharaj) give up egotism, learn to treat devotees in India well before you may be qualified to preached the pristine principles the Vedanta on the world stage as in America. It is spirituality that is missing in the Ramakrishna monks, what Thakur calls the unification of the mind and the mouth, which fails you in the West so badly. When you are rude to devotees in the very heartland of the Vedanta, that is, India, when you disregard them as so much worthless material, when you poohpooh Rabindranath Tagore as effeminate without having access to his literature in depth owing to your paucity of knowledge in Bengali, you prepare yourself for future failure as a preacher in the West. The Lord knoweth how to avenge the pain of his devotees. It were better if today's Ramakrishna monks followed the example of their illustrious predecessors -- in your case that of your most revered Shree Guru Swami Bhuteshananda -- it would serve their mission in dissemination of the message of the Vedanta better. Spirituality wom the day in Swamiji's case and absence of it is losing the case for you all. So, the solution is there for you. Rectify yourself before you vainly attempt to do so for others. When that is done, your over-abiding love will draw people to your fold. Swamiji hated plans but you, his follower, are making so many. These plans are all policies which will spiritually fail you. Give up these and return to Ramakrishna. Be as humble as him. Right now it is egotism that marks your every word in the desperation of failure.

Sugata Bose @Subhrajyoti Bhowmick : I have been taking a lot of pains since long to addressing your periodic questions on my posts which are invariably extraneous to their content. However, it has been your considered practice merely to question but not to acknowledge the detailed responses that I have invariably given unto them. This is a trifle unfair as it needlessly entails my labour and time to address someone's queries who then casually cares not to either read such or by way of courtesy offer thanksgiving. Therefore, such questions will not be entertained by me any further as it will be akin to showering seeds in the bamboo grove or weeping in the wild forest, as the Bengali adage goes. God bless you!

Sugata Bose @Ranita Indic : What a joke now Bengal has become as CM receives inaugural literary award!

Sugata Bose @Ranita Indic : That's quite a statement -- serious joke, the corrosive contradiction through which the 'cultured' Bengali travels as he resists integration into the Sanatan body politic of the nation. But poor Bengal! History will avenge past and present dereliction of duty and perforce assimilate it into the cultural mainstream of the motherland from which Lin Biao-like it has been for several decades staying away.

Sugata Bose @Diganta Sengupta But the truth of the observation of Swamiji remains nonetheless.

However, I do not think Swamiji needed to live more to estimate Rabindranath and his family's poetic propensities better and more accurately. He was a trikaalajna Rishi who could see through time. Hence, this inference, to my mind, falls flat.

Sugata Bose @Chandra Kumar Bose : The present leaders are wiser because of hindsight experience.

Sugata Bose @Chandra Kumar Bose : Full stop missing after century in caps. Seems the joke is still on.

Sugata Bose @Rishav Guha : Right. Ripe it was then. Now has been dealt a raw deal.

Sugata Bose @Niladri Banerjee : RSS members are nationalists far more than the others.

Sugata Bose @Niladri Banerjee : Yes, right you are there. It works both ways as usual in this dualistic world of diverse dispersal.

Sugata Bose @Surya Sarathi Roy : Akbar was a merciless expansionist in his earlier years but moderated much his attitudes in his later years with increased contact with his Hindu ministers. Curiously, Swami Vivekananda said that Akbar used to have a faint recollection of his past life and was, to Swamiji's reckoning, a Hindu brahmachari then which is why, I guess, he attempted to found a universal religion, Deen-e-Ilahi, which was more in line with the universal message of Hinduism and bore little resemblance to classical scriptural Islam. Historians, though, argue that it was more a religious ploy of his to secure the political consolidation of his sprawling empire. However, the early Akbar and the latter-day Akbar were markedly different, the bigoted Muslim evolving into the expansive Hindustani.

Sugata Bose @Surya Sarathi Roy : Surya Sarathi Roy Did Akbar attempt murder on Man Singh?

Sugata Bose @Surya Sarathi Roy : Grand. One more advance as the Sanatan Dharma steps out to conquer the world with its spiritual culture.

Sugata Bose @Surya Sarathi Roy : Did Akbar attempt murder on Man Singh?

Sugata Bose @Parnika Bubna : If you are so busy when Chief Minister, how will you find time for me when Prime Minister?

Sugata Bose @Biswadip Biswas : Study 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda' continuously for twelve years. It will totally transform your consciousness. Then will follow wonders.

Sugata Bose @Zee 24 Ghanta : What a stupid suggestion Sourav makes of remaking a Satyajit Ray film in Hollywood so that the world may see it on a much larger scale! Evidently, he is utterly oblivious of Satyajit Ray's quality reach worldwide.

Sugata Bose @Abhimanyu Saha : Please call only when you have sufficient time at hand to talk. Abrupt termination of call is disconcerting. When a discussion that is deep is thus called off midway, misapprehension develops about the intent of the inconclusive talk which can cause wrong notions, misperceptions about what I intend to say. Therein lies the danger which is why I have asked you in advance at the commencement of a conversation if you were free enough to converse.

Sugata Bose @Satyanand Bhattacharjee : Rebirth seems to be the only reasonable explanation to it. The belief or disbelief in the transmigration of the soul en route to attaining perfection does not determine the truth or falsity of the process. There are those verified cases of people recalling the memory of their past lives -- umpteen such instances -- which further tilts the balance in favour of the Hindu/Jain/Buddhist theory of the transmigration of the soul. Read Swamiji's 'Paper on Hinduism' with attention, the one he read out at the Chicago Parliament of Religions on 19 September, 1893. There he explains in clear, concise terms the basic idea and plausibility of this theory.

Sugata Bose @Satyanand Bhattacharjee : Well, read Swamiji's explanations in his Complete Works. Facebook is hardly the medium where I can enter into a detailed rational discussion. You are free to reject the theory but you accept your phenomenal existence nonetheless, although, you cannot rationally prove it without prior assumption of your existence. In other words, rationality presupposes material existence without being able to rationally prove it to be so. This is the original problem of reason where it proves everything on the basis of a fundamental assumption of existence. But existence can be realised by transcending the senses and we are free to experiment with due rigour and prescriptions proposed by yoga for the path to be able to realise the same in essence. Once realisation is reached, delusion falls off, the doubts are dispelled and the Truth is 'seen'. Such a seer we call 'Rishi' and their utterances are the Veda. The Rishis have thrown open the challenge to posterity to experiment and experience, then accept or reject. But mere intellectual cogitation will not solve the riddle of existence, neither its transmigratory cyclical terrestrial coming and going till all past momenta have been exhausted and the Wheel of Life stops to reveal the everfree, everstill, Supreme Self. "Reason is the helper and reason is the bar," says Sri Aurobindo.

Sugata Bose @Satyanand Bhattacharjee : I am always respectful of elders even if I disagree with them on contentious points of a conversation. The materialistic view and the spiritual, Vedantic view are at sharp variance on many counts, their methods of investigation being seemingly diametrically opposed to each other. But these are different phases of a single investigative process where due diligence will help resolve seemingly intractable issues and merge the twain in a grand harmony. Vedanta is not based on belief. Neither is science so. The methods are different but not disjoint. Both have their due processes of investigation. The Indian dharma traditions are realisation-based, the scriptures thereafter are rationalisation of the transcendental experiences of the seers unlike the Semitic religions which are entirely belief-based. Here distinction must be duly maintained, else, it will be tantamount to intellectual folly.

Sugata Bose @Satyanand Bhattacharjee : I thank you for thanking me thus. Others do not have the spine to do so. They are content to align themselves with organisational stance, style and flow, however straying it may be from its original course, and are complicit in this corruption through their active and passive support, a corruption in copper that has become endemic in the Master's Mission.

Sugata Bose @Satyanand Bhattacharjee : Yes, the goodwill of the Mission is being severely compromised through shameless pursuit of money which is quite contradisposed to Thakur's teachings, and the Mission despite rapid architectural expansion is gradually losing honour, credibility and public sympathy. The sooner this despicable degeneration is redressed the better. For us it is dharma to keep up public pressure to stall this progressive degeneration in the implementation of Thakur-Ma-Swamiji's ideals, especially by the present dispensation of Mammon-chasing monks.

Sugata Bose @Satyanand Bhattacharjee : We must keep up the public pressure but, alas, devotees are dead to this dangerous decadence! That is not serving the cause of the Mission right and is only encouraging its further decline. Where are the perceptive devotees who have the brains to think and the character to speak out against the degeneration that is eating into the vitals of the Mission? They are either silent spectators or complicit in the enactment of this steady decline. Sycophancy and cowardice, fear of authority and lack of ideals plague them as well.

Sugata Bose @Swami Brahmanishtananda : Not merely till the breath ceases in the nostrils but till the prana stops in totality and absolute stillness prevails. This supreme silence is the Self, ever brooding on Itself. It is not the stillness of an unconscious void but is the tranquillity of pure consciousness.

Sugata Bose @Suvadeep Sen : Brilliant quote! Hit the hammer on the head of the nail and driven home the point.

Sugata Bose @Baishakhi Dutta : What a superb lecture by Swamiji! He was veritably the lion whose roar roused the sleeping mass of Aryavarta.

Sugata Bose @Satwik Joglekar : Wish it was implemented today! Even in Belur Math compulsory amount is being extracted before issuing the coupon for prasad. I have personally experienced it. I rejected the move though and came away without partaking of the prasad as I thought the entire process had been vitiated with monetary toxicity. This happened on 16 August, 2018. There are so many instances of such organisational fall which have made these quotations from the lives of the original preceptors of the movement a travesty in practical terms today.

Sugata Bose @Alok Sarkar : The Mohammedans muster numerical strength, physical and vital power which with their indoctrinated intolerant minds they use to destroy all who refuse to accept or abide by Islam. This is their history and the trend continues even today. It is scripturally obligatory on them to subjugate or destroy the infidel (kafir).

Sugata Bose @Debaprasad Bhattacharya : The write-up was intended to draw one's attention to the fact that making a grand and expensive building complex by way of memorial to Swamiji and then proceeding to call such 'Centre for Human Excellence' makes it a travesty of truth as the very masters of these construction are devoid of the character that would merit themselves the epithet that adorns these grand memorials. Of course, you may argue that they are detaching themselves from such self-appropriation of the term and doing seminal service for posterity in the hope that future generations will yet arise to make good these grand titular affirmations.

Arguments work both ways and with equal efficacy. The question is whether one will take the apologist's stand ever or the constructive critic's as well to stall the steady decline in the application of the Mission's oft-preached original ideals with selective emphasis, though. I choose to do both. Where today I find gross -- and I mean, 'gross' -- violations of the Mission's original ideals and monasticism resorting to materialism of a profane kind, my soul rebels -- as opposed to in my earlier days of nobler monastic standards and lesser material contamination when my spirit revelled -- and I come out in forthright denunciation of this loss of spiritual vitality of the Mission. Each and every departure from original ideals that is taking place in the Mission's activities under direction from its highest heirarchical echelons, I can both defend and attack with pertinent quotes from the Holy Trinity and from the repertoire of reason. But 'conscience cannot be stilled or stifled' (courtesy, ironically, Stalin) by such verbal cover. Hypocrisy I cannot resort to and I pertinently react with my instant observations. Unless critical opposition is afforded thus to the Mission by devotees and by the perceptive citizenry, this organisational decline will carry on with accelerated velocity and the Mission's goodwill continue to suffer a terrible depreciation till the damage is devastating. Unto prevention of such a deadly derailment of the vehicle of Thakur from original track it is our duty to conscientiously point out the corruptions that have crept in thus far and under the present dispensation are being actively patronised unto a precipitous fall of the Mission's original ideals. In such criticism I offer my love and care for the Mission.

Sugata Bose @Debaprasad Bhattacharya : Did you delete your comment stream where Satyanand Bhattacharjee and myself, Sugata Bose, had expressed our views in response to your comments? Because the entire stream is now missing after I posted my comment in it. I have, therefore, reposted it but it now evidently lacks location and context somewhat, you can appreciate why. Such abrupt deletion of the comment at the head of a stream effectively deletes others' observations as well which is inappropriate to my reckoning as it means a destruction of others' labour and expressed thought, often gems of original thinking.

Sugata Bose @Ranajit Nandi Debaprasad Bhattacharya : This is the problem with people like you who are either blind followers or sycophants of authority and cannot brook criticism even when there are valid instances for such. Do you want a detailed exposure of such wrongdoings? Would that be better than discreet observations like these? Casual and superficial objection like yours to my pertinent points is typical of surface readers but a careful analysis of what is now going on in the name of all the violated yet professed ideals would reveal the truth better and would put the original propounders of such precepts to shame were they to be present on earth today. If you choose to remain blind to such distortions and corruptions on an organised scale, the fault lies with you, dear Brutus, and I can only go my way singing my minstrel tune to the contrary which would bring conscientious monks and men back on track from this derailed course of commercial and political corruption as is eating into the vitals of this seminal Mission of the Master.

Sugata Bose @Ranajit Nandi : Do not worry. Thakur had prophesied his reincarnation to redress current corruptions after a hundred years, and Swamiji and the other apostles would be accompanying him as well. So, rectification and redress at the hands of the higher law are at hand. Rest assured. The humour you have rather colloquially resorted to is caustic, sarcastic and toxic, ill-intended as it is. The titular tribute you have paid this 'someone' is indicative of your universal love learnt at the feet of your beloved masters who, however, are much better disposed towards him for they are civilised people and men of moderate renunciation, nonetheless, who can appreciate worth that you fail to do for obvious failings of yours.

Sugata Bose @Smita Mukerji : What a blasting, bold write-up! You are a courageous woman full of the fire of conviction. May the God of India's destiny (Bharatabhagyavidhata) guide you in your steps and preserve you in your crusade for upholding the best interests of the Hindus! God bless you, Smita Mukerji!

Sugata Bose @Smita Mukerji : But Thakur had been initiated into sannyasa by Tota Puri prior to his Advaita sadhana. He was, thus, both a householder -- as he remained in the celibate marital status with Ma Sarada -- and a monk -- as he was given sannyasa by his Guru Tota Puri --, a strange combination of sorts in the same person.

Sugata Bose @Dilip Raval : Ramakrishna Mission is completely anti-Communist in stance consequent on their protracted struggle to extricate their public institutions from the stranglehold of the erstwhile CPI(M) government which entailed a long but unsuccessful legal battle on their part.

Sugata Bose @Smita Mukerji : True enough. Swami Vivekananda ought to be considered the first President of the Ramakrishna Mission which in truth he was.

Sugata Bose @Dilip Raval : Communists are not illogical. They are bigoted to a supposed enlightened rational fault much like many others adhering blindly to their own ideological stance. Use your terms more accurately and with greater clarity. Else, what you wish to convey you will scarce manage to do through faulty verbal usage.

Sugata Bose @Surya Sarathi Roy :

That's the magic?

No, that's so tragic!

Sugata Bose @Aravind Venkata Mamidi : One is voted for while the other campaigns for his master in the land of our colonising enemy, England.

Sugata Bose @Aravind Venkata Mamidi : Ashish (Blessing) Ray (Judgement).

Sugata Bose @Aravind Venkata Mamidi : Not one but quite a few of that extended family of Netaji have long lost credibility and honour.

Sugata Bose @Suvadeep Sen: Nincompoop! Imagine him in any seat other than the one on which he is sitting while speaking this gibberish!

Sugata Bose @Suvadeep Sen : Apathy? No, no, veritably antipathy.

Sugata Bose @Suvadeep Sen : Yes, this is the truth. Let the critics of Shree Ramachandra come to terms with this and rethink their naming of Rammohan as their special Ram in the oft-quoted manner. The more one reads the Qur'an, the Hadith and the Sira, the more Islam's intolerant doctrines stand exposed before one. It is, thus, incumbent upon critics of Hindutvavaad to study the Islamic texts and their gory history before they form opinion and proceed to formulate their superficially sweet harmonic principles of acceptance of a violent cult as glorious and equally true as the Indian dharma traditions.

Sugata Bose @Prabir Banerjee : All 'Brahmajnanis' do not have the courage of conviction, though, to articulate truth like Swamiji did. So many of them are content to pretend that all roguish faiths, as they are, yet lead to the same goal of Brahmajnan, citing that oft-quoted verse 'Ekam sadvipraa bahudhaa vadanti'. It is sad to witness this falsification of a deep truth in superficial terms by monks who ought to know better and not mislead people, that is, the Hindus, into further confusion about their dharma whereby their self-defence against proselytising Islam and Christianity becomes even more compromised. Swamiji has been misinterpreted, is being misinterpreted and will continue to be misinterpreted by his very own following to suit organisational interest, whatever that may be, for who knows how it helps the organisation or the world to spread superficialities of every hue and shade in the name of the very embodiment of Truth? Only rigorous reading of Swami, deep cogitation and comprehension thereof followed by forthright rational exposition of one's conclusions may undo this collective misrepresentation. Science is universal today not by harmonising national scientific falsities but by discarding and transcending all such and arriving at its universal basis where regional quasi-sciences have disappeared entirely from its body politic. So must it in religion be and it has already been arrived at in the Upanishads ages ago, this unitary basis of universal religion which is the science of the Spirit. Why then these attempts by the Ramakrishna Mission to help perpetuate these ill-founded national religions, these tribal cults which have no clue to the universal basis of the Atman/Brahman and are located in their local loopholes on unalterable scriptural basis? They ought to face squarely upto Truth and articulate such without omission or commission to accommodate gross violations of the human spirit in the name of religious barbarism masquerading as sublimity of the Spirit. In such a stance alone will they qualify to be worthy representatives of the great Swami who would never mince words in stating what he knew to be true. Only then may the Ramakrishna Mission be deemed as living upto the highest ideal of apolitical truth-seeking as all this pretentious harmonising is un-Vedic and purely political in intent and practice despite the organisation not participating actively in national or international politics. But it is political management, nonetheless, and unworthy of those who have renounced not merely hearth and home but even their last earthly vestige in the fire of the Viraja Hom.

Sugata Bose @Dipankar Khasnabish : Because of long years of conquest and loot, especially by the British to the tune of 45 trillion US dollars. Till 1800 CE India along with China was one of the two richest countries in the world for the last nearly two thousand years past. Sarcasm on one's own religion, culture and country does not pay. Cultivate shraddha for your own heritage and civilisation. That will do India a world of good. Read Swami Vivekananda extensively, intensively to arrive at a deeper comprehension of India's greatness stemming from the benediction that the Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) has been. India's fabled fabulous wealth drew invaders for millenia to plunder the country among which the European imperialist-colonists were the last. The loot of Indian wealth has fed rising European civilisation and built it up to its present prosperity. There has been depredation of India's wealth by the British about which you may get a plethora of information in Shashi Tharoor's book on the subject.

Sugata Bose @Joydip Saha : Right. Good one. That ought to be the response to such repeated posts bearing the same refrain. Well articulated indeed in easy sarcastic terms. Kudos!

Sugata Bose @Abhijit Mandal : Looks terrible. No sense of beauteous proportion. Thakur so stressed on images of the Goddess being made beautiful. And here is another instance of his own image horrendously sculpted. Surely, he deserves better.

Sugata Bose @Abhijit Mandal : Of course. But an event that is great deserves greater perfection in execution. Aesthetics or the Sundaram Principle forms the bedrock of Indian culture. Why can't we make structures or sculptures to proportion so that this basic feature is upheld? Also, why is it that constructive criticism is absent among devotees? Whither discrimination? Why always cower and accept anything and everything that goes in the name of organisational activity? Are those who are discerning devotees who point out flaws that need to be avoided any less devoted to the cause of the great Indian awakening? In medieval and ancient times culture was paramount in the sense that any and every execution was not accepted but only the very best were allowed a place in the cultural space. Today, it is not so at all. With declining culture, eroding sensibility and proliferating mediocrity or less of the masses anything and everything is passing off as art, sculpture, literature, painting, music et al. This is not national awakening but is its very antithesis. Hence, the caution and the need for it. A person who cannot discern between a well-proportioned and perfectly executed piece of art can scarce ever approach that realm of spiritual perfection which purportedly is the objective of setting up all such structures and sculptures as is the subject of this discussion.

Sugata Bose @Subbhrato Dutta : Bengal will not rise unless it is less given to effeminacy and more to valour. Remember, even today there is no Bengal Regiment in the Indian Army. Only puerile pursuit of art and music, poetry and prose, dance and drama maketh not a race. Virility is necessary. Manhood and its effective restraint, brahmacharya (continence), is the crying call in Bengal. Sensuality and sensuousness are eating into the vitals of the race. Difficult days are ahead as Bengal refuses to respond positively to the challenges of the times and holds mere carping criticism of robust nationalism as its own brand of supranationalism. Till the day Bengal heeds the message of Swami Vivekananda in truth, it is doomed to this steady decline in every aspect of its community-conscious sectarian living. The solution is the manifestation of manhood in every Bengali, from man to monk. Only then will Bengal rise as equal partner in the community of races that are commingling to create a national order of philosophical and cultural solidarity based in the Sanatan Dharma.

Sugata Bose @Sanjay Choudry : Rash Behari Bose hurled the Hardinge bomb at age 26 years 7 months and not at age 19. Bose was born on 25 May, 1886 and threw the bomb on 23 December, 1912.

Sugata Bose @Őmķåř Šäčhăň : Largely their own fault. Hindus should awake to their dharmic responsibilities and gather all their scattered forces in a united resistive front. When they respect their own dharma tradition in a progressive, enlightened way, anti-Hindu religious dispensations will be forced to recognise it as well. If still the antagonists persist in their anti-Hindu aggressive ways, it will to be their own undoing which will further strengthen the Hindu cause. So, charity begins at home. Hindus must learn about their dharma themselves and equally so that of Islam and Christianity. Self-knowledge and knowledge about the adversary are both equally important in the pursuit of self-preservation.

Sugata Bose @Őmķåř Šäčhăň : When Hindus are a minority the Sharia will be imposed as in Islamic states and the last bastion of enlightened spirituality will have fallen. All these constitutional features of democracy, secularism et al are today there because Hindus are an overwhelming majority. But they will cease to be when the demographic scales are reversed. History bears ample testimony to it. Never believe all these constitutional pretences by Islamists whose only business is to subvert the national civil superstructure in the long run and impose the unilateral Islamic law that India has suffered for a thousand year subjugation at its hands before suffering the ultimate pain of physical dismemberment in 1947. Thereafter, what has befallen the Hindus in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Kashmir need not be recounted.

Sugata Bose @Sarat Kumar Gupta : But Gandhiji himself was a proponent of Hinduism. He used Hindu symbols for his political purpose and lifelong strove in his own way to realise God along his chosen path of the worship of Shree Ram.

Sugata Bose @Bharat Ek Khonj : The khayal had not been invented during Akbar's time. Drupad and Dhamar used to be sung then. Shyam Benegal ought to known better. Research about the period, in this regard it must be said, is sadly missing.

Sugata Bose @Satyanand Bhattacharjee : Aberration of the Vedanta. The Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) is not at fault but the Hindu samaj is. The pristine philosophy of the Vedanta has not been practised which is why there exist such degenerate divisions in society which have caused Hindus to be repeatedly invaded by foreigners leading to destruction of their heritage and culture, the loot of their wealth and the enslavement of the population. The masses have been reduced to beasts of burden instead of being venerated as divinities which the Upanishads enjoin us to do. This divorce between principle and practice is the root of all evil in our society and the solution lies in the proper implementation of the principles. The masses must be raised in every way and what is written in the scriptural texts must be given life in real terms. Only then may the Hindus rise and only then will there be due regeneration of the Sanatan Dharma in manifest form in every movement of life.

WHO WILL INSPIRE THE YOUTH ?

WHO WILL INSPIRE THE YOUTH ?

A handful of selfless young men and women can as yet shake up India to her spiritual foundations. The question is : where will these youths find a living ideal to emulate? Swamiji is too distant and gone for most in a world vitiated by sensory desires. The followers of Swamiji are failing to inspire quite for their failure to themselves live up to Swamiji's fiery ideals. If there is fire within one, it will ignite it in the hearts of others. But wither such sannyasis? The lay disciples are compromised into living lives of selfish dreams. Most of them care only for their personal well-being while entertaining vain hopes of personal salvation. These householder devotees along with the monks 'have become lifeless mockeries' of men who are content to pandering to their vanities while feigning genuine devotion to Swamiji's high ideals of national and world regeneration. The laxity we see in these in connection with living out Swamiji's ideals cannot but fail to inspire the youth. Hence, the youth are going astray when they could have been inspired to lead more meaningful lives of service and sacrifice were they to find effective role models whom they could emulate. This is the sad situation today. 🕉 

Written by Sugata Bose

A LONG LETTER TO SUBRATA SENGUPTA

A LONG LETTER TO SUBRATA SENGUPTA 

Really, this is laughably sad. Sri Aurobindo along with his Mrinalini Devi (Bose/post-marriage, Ghosh) had visited Holy Mother Sarada Devi at Baghbazar and took her blessings before making his grand escape to Chandan Nagar en route to Pondicherry. Mother gently touched his chin and exclaimed, "So, is this my brave son ('beerputra' -- in Bengali) who the Government ('Sarkar Bahadur') has employed so many guards to hold?" Mrinalini Devi had received initiation from Sarada Devi and when her husband was apprehended in the Alipore Bomb Case, she had rushed to Mother praying for her husband's safety. Mother had assured her of her husband's well-being and now that her husband was out and free, she had brought him to Mother's feet. Many years later in 1927, if I recall right, Swami Sundarananda who was the Swami in charge of Udbodhan (Mother's House/Mayer Badi) published in the Udbodhan magazine of the Ramakrishna Mission the entire account of Aurobindo Ghosh's visit to Sarada Devi with his wife, prior to his grand departure. Soon, from the Pondicherry Ashram came the rejoinder that Sri Aurobindo had never visited Sarada Devi in his life. This was the official statement of the Ashram and Sri Aurobindo remained mum on the issue, thereby affirming his approval of the statement. Swami Sundarananda was shocked. He was a spiritually advanced monk of unimpeachable character centred in truth. He immediately made a public statement that he was personally present in Mother's room when Aurobindo Ghosh and his wife Mrinalini were with Holy Mother Sarada Devi. There the matter ended.

Earlier, when Mrinalini Devi had received spiritual initiation from Sarada Devi and was paying frequent visits to her Guru, her husband in exile mildly chided her and asked her not to visit hither and thither (read : Holy Mother) but rather to do the meditative practices which he himself had taught her in Kolkata. This was a strange departure from the age-old spiritual practice of sitting at one's spiritual preceptor's feet and that too of such a spiritually exalted one as Sarada Devi. Anyhow, things were resolved in Mrinalini's death after a few years when it was on Aurobindo's insistence she visited Kolkata, contracted the then raging killer influenza and passed away.

This also is Sri Aurobindo, 'Avatar' to his followers, the great sage of supramental pretensions. 

P.S. Regarding Aurobindo's barbed criticism of Subhas Chandra Bose in the years prior to his grand departure to Europe and Aurobindo's denunciation of Netaji for his fascist alliance with Germany and Japan thereafter when he stopped to the dishonourable low of calling Netaji a traitor to the motherland,  citing due reasons to back his open offensive against the premier patriot, perhaps in self-reflection of his own earlier doings, I am not entering into now. That is another aspect of the 'Avatar of Pondicherry'.

WHITHER THE SPIRIT OF THE SWAMI VIVEKANANDA?

WHITHER THE SPIRIT OF THE SWAMI VIVEKANANDA?

In a world of scant character and idealism, confusing data deluge, insincere promises and camouflaging the reality of things cynicism is but the obvious output among the youth. Who will preach Vivekananda? Where lies character that can run through the system like wild fire and ignite the soul unto sharing the suffering of the masses, setting alight the hearts of the youth and dedicating them unto raising the masses? Vivekananda is preached but sleeps in the souls of the preachers. Who cares for what he cared for? Who sheds tears of agony for the apalling condition of the deprived, the dispossessed among men? The gods sleep as men make merry with ideals miscarried. Wish you to please the Mother with fine apparel, adornment and abode when her children starve, commit suicide when seeds are spent and there are none left to sow save those that are bought dear from crony capitalists at the price of precious lifeblood? Where is God? -- in marble sculpting? in stone image? in temples worth a treasure? or in the flowing blood of the starving mass of humanity, in the illiterate, the ignorant, the destitute and the diseased? The masses suffer and the few chosen children of the Lord rejoice in scriptural sport, in dabbling in architectural build-up of the House of God and in puerile pursuit of superficial charity that alters not the living condition of this suffering mass of humanity. Time for introspection. Time for change.

Written by Sugata Bose

WHEN ASSUMPTIONS GO BY WAY OF EULOGY

WHEN ASSUMPTIONS GO BY WAY OF EULOGY

Assumptions form a large portion of the flimsy side of ordinary devotion, attributes being laid on greats which, even if true, are products of eulogy in the minds of surface-devotees who magnify them out of compulsions of weakness of character and the drive towards seeking comfort in such myths conveniently concocted. Real devotion is founded on realisation direct and distinct which can stand on the bare feet of actual facts without a trace of myth added to bolster such. Devotion that is unfounded on fact is the selfish man's unselfish dream. Devotion that is genuine is founded on flowing love that bears not a tinge of excess in the form of superposed sincere lies. Realisation and not vain reporting is the essence of devotion.

Written by Sugata Bose

LIVE THE LIFE ... 1

LIVE THE LIFE ... 1

There is an utter paucity of idealism today in society which reminds us of Swamiji's thundering averment : 'Religions of the world have become lifeless mockeries. What the world wants is character.' Quoting Swamiji's prophecy off and on of the Ramakrishna Movement lasting 1500 years will not sell the wares anymore. The youth are intelligent. They cannot be bought by such hollow pronouncements anymore. They need to see Swamiji's followers living his ideals out fair and square rather than seeking shelter under the convenient cover of prophecies that have become sterile through articulate overuse. Our duty is to uphold Thakur-Swamiji's ideals through fiery living. Only then will we be able to inspire others, especially the youth, to live likewise according to such precepts and principles. Right now everything is in shambles as laxity in living pervades the spiritual atmosphere. Here work needs to be done. Once the spiritual fire is reignited, the moths will come of their own to shed their lives in spontaneous self-sacrifice. Else, all worldly means and measures to attract audience will fail. This is a point to ponder.

Written by Sugata Bose

HYPOCRITES THEY ARE

HYPOCRITES THEY ARE

Those who speak much about liberalism and attack the Hindutvavaadis are less liberal and more fanatical than you suppose. These are opportunists, selfish people with petty interests of the pocket and portfolio. Their agenda is anti-Hinduism, their interests opposed to welfare of the Hindus.

This is not a political statement but a statement of fact. I am completely an apolitical person but am an impartial observer of events and I detest this sort of crass anti-Hindu mentality among so many sense-bound materialistic men and women who are titular Hindus but are silent sinkers of the vast vessel that carries Hindu heritage and culture, Hindu children, women and men. These are not liberals but are hypocrites who dare not speak against other religious groups which are patently and perniciously political in their anti-Hindu stance despite pious protestations to the contrary, but have made it their business to criticise Hindutva parties so as to oppose the resuscitation of our age-old spiritual culture. If we get deluded by their sophisticated selective disparagement of Hindutvavaad with all its supposed ills, we will be rolling back the 'Yugadharmachakra' (The Wheel of Righteousness for the Age) which will imperil our survival as a race.

The Vedic Rishis had exhorted us to unite for the common weal. And so we must. Else, Hindus will be an extinct race before long, although Hinduism or the Sanatan Dharma, being essentially eternal in principle, will survive among alien hands, awaiting a tortuous rediscovery that may take millenia, remaining obscure for ages among peoples not yet cultivated enough for its cognition, far less realisation.

Hence, Hindus, unite cutting across petty philosophical and practical differences which are all, nonetheless, harmonised in the Vedas. 🕉 

Written by Sugata Bose

আবার আসিব ফিরে আমি

আবার আসিব ফিরে আমি

এত অসভ্য মানুষে ভরে গেছে সমাজ যে ভবিষ্যৎ ভারতের জন্য চিন্তা হয় | তবে এরই মধ্য হতে ভারতমাতা জাগবেন, ভাস্বর হবেন পূর্ণমহিমায় | বঙ্গসমাজের ভয়ঙ্কর অবক্ষয় দেখে চিন্তিত বোধ করি | এরকম শুদ্রজাগরণ তো স্বামীজী চাননি | তিনি সংস্কৃতিসম্পন্ন ভবিষ্যৎ ভারত চেয়েছিলেন | সত্যসংকল্প ঋষি -- তাঁর ভারত অভিলাশ পূর্ণ হবে বলেই বিশ্বাস করি | সেই যুগধর্মচক্র প্রবর্তনের কাজেই জীবন দিলাম, তাই আমৃত্যু দেব | তারপর,

আবার আসিব ফিরে আমি ;

এই ধরাধামে, এই পৃথ্বীতলে,

আবার আসিব ফিরে আমি |

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

EVEN I HAVE SELF-RESPECT, FORGET NOT

EVEN I HAVE SELF-RESPECT, FORGET NOT

Please do not attempt to humiliate me in my Facebook groups and conversations. If is highly unbecoming a practice even if such attempts are made in sophisticated, well-couched language and often with good intent and out of emotional compulsion. To publicly downgrade somebody, as recently a longstanding Facebook friend has done me, is unacceptable. Remember, it is each one's prerogative who he wishes to befriend or unfriend, obviously with due reasons that back such actions. I do not feel amused by someone publicly humiliating me in one of my conversation groups simply to vent his feelings out. Such attempts are an affront to my dignity and to any self-respecting person's dignity as well. To chase me on Gmail, Twitter, Whatsapp, Facebook, Messenger and finally in Conversation Group is deplorable, wholly humiliating and an irritant past recompense. To irritate me constantly with pleas to write appreciations about the said one's comments or posts is childish. I have obliged dozens of times but the demand has persisted for long. Now it has come to humiliating me before others in a conversation group started by me long back. This is not fair. Desist from this, else, blocking back will be the only alternative left to me.

Written by Sugata Bose