THE MAGIC OF MAYA
Tuesday 28 February 2023
Monday 27 February 2023
COMMENTS GALORE ... 20
COMMENTS GALORE ... 20
Sugata Bose @Biswadip Biswas : An aberration in a glorious career but certainly not a feature foul enough that can deny him the seminal status that would merit a Bharat Ratna in the light of his contributions to Indian cricket over a span of sixteen years with impeccable standards of patriotism exhibited on and off the field. [Reference being made to Gavaskar's 36 in 60 overs at Lord's in the inaugural match of the Prudential World Cup, 1975.]
Sugata Bose @Biswadip Biswas : I'll write in simpler English for all to follow but this, my normal style spontaneously flows out. I'll consciously write from now on in simpler English as an alternative mode along with my natural style of writing.
Sugata Bose @YouTube : Don Bradman alone was the god of cricket in the truest sense, not Sachin Tendulkar. This hyperbole latched onto Tendulkar makes a mockery of this sublime epithet. Good, perhaps, for selling your product but an untruth nonetheless.
Sugata Bose @YouTube [CNN IBN LEADER TALK -- interview of Ratan Tata and Kapil Dev by Rajdeep Sardesai] : Rajdeep Sardesai talks too much, interrupting the interviewees unduly, distracting the discussion and denying the interviewees talk time enough to express themselves better. His worst feature is that like a shallow journalist he tries to put words into the mouth of the interviewees. As a moderator Rajdeep Sardesai ought to exhibit greater moderation for a better execution of the programme.
Whose interview is this -- Rajdeep Sardesai's?
This programme ought to have been called 'Anchor Talk' instead of 'Leader Talk'.
Sugata Bose @Suvadeep Sen : The millenium-old battle for supremacy between these two violent proselytising Abrahamic faiths continues with what eventual outcome one curiously awaits to see. It has been Islam's tradition to target the polity's chiefs and convert them in their bid to bring their erstwhile flock into the Islamic fold as well with greater ease. This is the marketing strategy Islam in India historically adopted as well when they targeted our braahmans in order to weaken the Hindu samaj [polity, society in uniquely the Hindu way] and break its resistance to conversion. The same method was applied by Aurangzeb when he gave Guru Tegh Bahadurji and later Sambhuji Maharaj the option to convert in order to save their lives which both sturdy souls with disdain declined and attained the way of the valorous [Veergati]. The idea of offering this option stems directly from the Qur'an whose political doctrine deems it an effective way of expanding the Islamic polity [Ummah].
Today, in a world fractured by Western geopolitical aggression and neocolonialism, Islam is fighting its own war in jihad against it and utilising the opportunity to further its scripturally ordained cause of global domination through the dual mode of conversion of the infidel and, wherever it works, dealing the infidel death indiscriminately to secure the heaven [Jannat] of sensual delights, and this it is doing, as ordained in its scriptural trilogy, along multipronged channels carefully drafted to secure sure success. Hence, love jihad, speech jihad, literary jihad, ideological jihad, cinematic jihad, suicidal jihad, proselytising jihad and what not. The Christian priest has been its successful targeted victim, who knows? perhaps through heavy inducement, a deal done behind the scenes. Thus, the jihad with its gravitational endurance keeps pulling humanity inexorably down. It is most meet that men be made increasingly aware of its consequences, both short-term and long-term, for it is a death-deal for civilisation that it's ultimate objective is.
Addenda: If the converted priest was indeed a Catholic, he would have been celibate throughout. Now after conversion he will be able to marry multiple times. An added inducement! Heaven on earth for him! Verily, it is a true homecoming for him, homecoming to all of life's pleasures here and in the Hereafter. [Reference: US Catholic priest Father Hilarion Heagy converts to Islam to become Saeed Abdul Latif. After conversion he says, "It's like coming home."]
Sugata Bose @Dhyan Maneesha : This is the question Swamiji had posed about 125 years ago, seeing the existential threat to India's future. India was then under British occupation with all its colonial consequences affecting it. To top it, Swamiji being the visionary Rishi that he was, could see through India's future dangers at the hands of its enemies, both external and internal. India still faces those dangers and no less so than in Swamiji's times. With an ever-exploding population and shifting demographic balance, Pakistan and China breathing down fire and brimstone on our borders and deep within the State, fissiparous tendencies in the border states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and the North-east, rising unemployment, cost of living, declining mass culture, unprecedented levels of corruption in every sphere with the politicians and crony capitalists leading the charge, insufficient provisions of social security and a general loss of character in the polity, the prospects appear rather grim for settlement in ease and comfort. We are at the crossroads of our civilisational life where which direction we will take will determine the future of our nation. There are so many break-India forces at work within and without, from Anglo-American ones to Abrahamic ones that are attempting the destabilisation of our country for their respective ends, that this question naturally keeps cropping up within my mind: Shall India die?
Sugata Bose @Abhisek Metya : হ্যাঁ, ওই ঘরে গেছি | কিন্তু ঠাকুর ওই ঘরে কল্পতরু হননি | বিরাট প্রাঙ্গনে এক জায়গায় যেখানে বেলগাছ আছে, ওই বেলগাছের তলায় সমাধিস্থ হন গিরিশ বাবুর ব্যাসবাল্মিকীরূপ স্তুতি শুনে | তারপর সেখানেই ক্রমসমবেত ভক্তমণ্ডলীকে শুভাশীর্বাদে ধন্য করেন |
Sugata Bose @Rohini Jalan : Happy birthday, Rohini! This day has seen the birth of a great one, such a one in dedication and devotion as is seldom seen. In my life you have been the singular soul who has carried out my commandments to the hilt, and the harvest is now yours to reap. The seed sown has fructified. Now it shall be one golden harvest after another all the way. Such a deal of input there has been through your determined, almost superhuman, effort that the output must show up unfailingly. Have been with you all through these difficult years and will be through with you everafter in the sunshine that life has to offer you. Live for the world and eternal life is yours. Blessings. Happy birthday once again for happiness knows no end in reiteration. [Dated: 6 March, 2023]
Sugata Bose @YouTube [Launch of V.V.S. Laxman' book '281 And Beyond'] : Harsha Bhogle is a superficial, pretentious, sycophantic character whose levity makes a mockery of all the programmes he moderates. Would it were that he had some sense of decent gravity about him that would have allowed discussion to proceed along deeper channels! His rough unevenly deep voice coming through at times, despite careful camouflage with apparent soft tenor of speech, betrays his real nature which is for sure contrary to the soft, pussycat character he seemingly portrays.
Sugata Bose @YouTube Channel : Pandit Jasraj is an effort-singer and generally off-tune from the standpoint of puritanical tonal perfection which is to be expected of a musical maestro.
Sugata Bose @YouTube : This man (Krishnamachari Shrikanth) is a joker, nothing more. But he batted well and did so to victory in the World Cup for us in 1983. For that he is to be respected. But his histrionics before the camera are despicable, a terrible display of popular low culture.
Sugata Bose @YouTube [Gavaskar's 101 run out at Old Trafford, 1974] : You cannot blame Gavaskar for being run out thus after the rough treatment received by him from unthinking fans seeking momentary limelight before television when they mobbed and manhandled him by way of offering their congratulations for his century.
Sugata Bose @Chandra Kumar Bose : 33% of Bengal are patently communal by scriptural mandate.
Sugata Bose @YouTube : Shame on the Kolkata crowd! Unsportsmanlike as always. Right from the West Indies tour of 1966-67 to Wasim Akram's Pakistan team of 1998, the Kolkatans have been terrible in terms of civility. And to top it all, this was their behaviour in a World Cup semifinal match. Shame!
Sugata Bose @YouTube : Can't you conduct a programme without clowning it up? This is with reference to the anchor's stupid antics which is in sharp contrast to the more intelligent humour of Sanjay Manjrekar and company (Azharuddin and Venkatesh Prasad). The anchor's antics are as usual sycophantic, and superficially so, which has spoiled the show unduly.
Sugata Bose @YouTube [Akash Chopra interviewing Muttiah Muralidaran] : Akash Chopra, while interviewing someone you must prepare for the relevant statistics better. Brian Lara scored 688 runs in three Tests against Sri Lanka in that series and not 'close to 600' as you said.
Sugata Bose @YouTube [Sehwag's double century in Sri Lanka against Muttiah Muralidaran, Ajanta Mendis and Chaminda Vaas] : The Sri Lankan commentators are quite terrible, with their over-loudness and atrocious pronunciation, the latter attribute perhaps the inevitable consequence of their local language.
Sugata Bose @Sujoy Mukherjee : Very good post, Sujoy. Most perceptive. Will make devotees think afresh as to what the truth is. [Reference to Swami Nirmalananda being a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna]
Sugata Bose @This song obviously is a technology marvel but a massive failure on the part of the Nightingale of India to match up to the Prince Perennial of film music in terms of harmony, tonal quality, pitching accuracy, rhythm and melodic sense, and musical excellence in general. Kundalal Saigal at his best is miles ahead of Lata Mangeshkar who at the time of her recording was way past her prime. If the two had truly met in the recording studio when both were in their prime, the musical magic thus wrought would have been a perennial treasure for posterity to cherish. Alas, that could not be for they were born years apart!
N.B. The background orchestration is matchless. One wonders whether it was done by Raichand Boral or not. Simply superb! Over the years there has been a marked degeneration in this orchestration aspect of film music as the classical element, both western and Indian, has been replaced by modern musical extravaganza. This is regrettable which is what makes this piece, presented once more in a newer garb, so refreshing, reminiscent of the golden past, those early days of New Theatres and the subsequent Bombay film music at its pristine best.
Sugata Bose @Debaprasad Bhattacharya : It will not be harsh on our part to part with the Commonwealth for sure but if the Commonwealth members en masse quit the order, it will hit the British hard enough for her economy to feel its harshness. It will be harsh on the British economy, not harsh of the member states to leave the Commonwealth as such from an ethical standpoint. Britain will understand also for once what harshness means when she is relieved of the wealth of her erstwhile colonies or present-day dominions in fullest measure. But, perhaps, many member states are bound to the commercial conglomerate of the Empire by way of cooperative business benefit which they do not wish to forego in a world of economic uncertainties, especially when many such member states are not too developed to be entirely on their own.
Sugata Bose @Utpal Aich : So, it is not wrong of common critics when they call Gandhi an agent of the British. Right?
Sugata Bose @Sandhya Bhadury : Thank you for the invitation but I hope you are under no illusions about my identity as so many unfortunately are through no fault of mine. I am generally confused to be my namesake Prof. Sugata Bose, grandson of Sarat Chandra Bose and grand nephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, which I emphatically am not. If your identification has been right or has now been righted and if your enthusiasm for the invitation persists nonetheless, I shall be happy to consider it. I am myself interested in the resurrection of the direct disciple status of Swami Nirmalananda (Tulsi Maharaj) with respect to his divine Guru Sri Ramakrishna which goes against the grain of popular thinking as induced by the Belur Math authorities. To this end I have made and am making my feeble efforts and have met with some success. Awaiting your reply. Regards.
Sugata Bose @YouTube interview of Prakash and Deepika Padukone by Rajdeep Sardesai : Rajdeep Sardesai, do you seriously believe that the interviewer ought to talk more than the interviewee? Who is being interviewed here and who is the interviewer?
Sugata Bose @YouTube interview of Prakash and Deepika Padukone by Rajdeep Sardesai : Ten words by Rajdeep Sardesai and one word by the Padukones -- is that it, Mr. Sardesai with all your excitability, garrulousness and digressions that are at once superficial as they are giggly-stupid?
Sugata Bose @YouTube: This person [Mohanji] is not spiritual at all. Liberation is not that easy. It is not child's play and is attained only when all desires are burnt to extinction at their very root. All this puerile talk is so much material nonsense that has nothing to do with pure spirituality. This is gross materialism masquerading as spirituality. Alas, this is the decadent state of spirituality today and it has been so for quite some time. Materialism iz not bad as such but it ought not to fake itself as spirituality.
Sugata Bose @Dr Santimoy Mukherjee : That way even Swamiji was Swamiji's disciple because he had self-initiated himself into sannyas. So were all his other brother disciples his disciples for they also were initiated into sannyas by Swamiji. The argument that the Ramakrishna Mission forwards that Tulsi Maharaj himself used to proclaim that he was Swamiji's disciple falls flat on this ground. However, the Ramakrishna Mission does not quite say that. Their ambiguous stand makes Tulsi Maharaj nobody's disciple and by some queer conjunction Swamiji's mantrashishya or mantra-initiated disciple in the classical sense. Please read all the documents provided by Manoj Sivan. Thanks and regards.
Sugata Bose @Chandra Kumar Bose : National socialism? Meaning Nazism? And democracy in conjunction? Would that not be a contradiction in political terms? Moreover, national socialism, as history testifies, has plunged the world in war (1939 -- 1945). Should we again try to build such a narrow national interest at the expense of humanity as a whole?
Sugata Bose @Sujoy Mukherjee : First class refutation of superficial stuff!
Sugata Bose @Selva Murali : Simply brilliant. Congratulations on such a powerful denunciation of peddled untruth by direct quotation from Swamiji.
Sugata Bose @Manoj Sivan : But still we must refute them. It is important by way of spreading the message and driving the hammer home.
Sugata Bose @Kumar Utsav : Why does Tulsi Maharaj's name not appear then in the disciple list of Swamiji as published by Belur Math?
Sugata Bose @Chandra Kumar Bose : Your daily inputs are rationalising the political discourse along the right lines but, alas, humanity is as yet far removed from such an enlightened stance. Nonetheless, it is heartwarming to find someone immersed in this sanitising process.
Sugata Bose @Kumar Utsav : Does that matter more than Swami Brahmananda's legal statement in the power of attorney that he provided Tulsi Maharaj when deputing him for being his representative in South India? Does law not have greater validity? And, of course, I have read the book you have mentioned and read many more besides.
Sugata Bose @Narayanan P D Namboodiri : Yes, of course, you should. Dedication to Tulsi Maharaj must be total.
Sugata Bose @Rohini Jalan : You will. You deserve it. And that which you deserve must come to you. Nothing can take it away from you.
IT'S NOT CRICKET
IT'S NOT CRICKET
We have to be more civilised in the stands in foreign countries and not come on to the pitch to congratulate the centurions and, so, heckle them and disturb their concentration. This problem has been taken care of in India by raising the fencing in cricket fields but in foreign countries the fences are low for easy violation. This is not only a problem of subcontinental spectators doing so but West Indian spectators as well who can be quite unruly in adulation or in offence when upset.
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo: courtesy, Patrick Eager, Wisden.com
Sunday 26 February 2023
YOUR SWAMIJI
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 1
Have you heard of Swami Vivekananda? Yes? But have you heard of Narendranath Datta? I am sure most of you have not but some of you may have. Well, this little boy is the subject of our story which I shall begin narrating to you, children, from today.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 2
The Dattas were an affluent family who lived in North Kolkata at a place called Simla or Simulia. Rammohan Datta was the grand patriarch who had thrived in the legal profession and amassed a fortune. His sons, Durgaprasad and Kaliprasad, grandson, Vishwanath, were the immediate ancestors of Narendranath who grew up to become the world renowned monk, Swami Vivekananda. Durgaprasad excelled like his father at law but renounced life to become a monk at age between 20 and 22 after fathering a son. So, Kaliprasad became the head of the Datta family and as he was not upto earning a living, the Dattas' fortunes started declining steadily.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 3
Durgaprasad renounced between age 20 and 22. Shyamasundari, his wife of valorous virtue, took up to rearing baby Vishwanath amidst great difficulties as Kaliprasad was not sympathetic to their lot. When Vishwanath was three years old, Shyamasundari went on pilgrimage to Varanasi by boat. En route the playful baby fell into the Ganga. Instantly the mother, forgetting the fact that she knew not how to swim, dived into the surging waters and gripped the baby, so hard that it bore the mark for several years. A fellow pilgrim and a resident of the Datta household, indigenous physician Umapada Gupta, diving suit, rescued them and hauled them overboard. The pilgrimage carried on and holy Varanasi was reached in the fullness of time.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 4
Varanasi. The Ganga flowing by since time immemorial, sanctifying this city of Shiva. Thousands of temples of all kinds of deities thronging to get the worship of devotees who flock by the millions. The most ancient city of the world, dating 5000 years, now welcomed Shyamasundari and her little boy, Vishwanath.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 5
Shyamasundari went on her daily rounds of the temples in Varanasi. One day on her way to the seat of Lord Vishwanath, she slipped on the way and fell unconscious. A monk passing by picked her up, laid her on the temple steps and brought her back to her senses. When she came to her own she was astonished to behold her own husband as her rescuer. Overwhelmed by sudden emotion, the couple, now renounced to the world, went their way.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 6
Durgaprasad visited his hometown Kolkata once, probably en route to the Gangasagar, and put up with a friend. He requested confidentiality but the message leaked and he was accosted home by his family members where he was confined to a room with food and refreshments for three days. The monk, locked up thus, touched neither food nor drink for the said period and his relatives, fearing the worst, unlocked the door. The monk quietly slipped away thereafter and was never seen again. Later it was rumoured that he had become the head of a monastery in Varanasi but nothing could be ascertained with any degree of certitude. Vishwanath in his youth visited Varanasi in search of his father but failed to trace him. Thus disappeared the monk of sterling spiritual strength from the horizons of the Datta household till his gene reappeared in his redoubtable grandson, Narendranath, whose monastic future bore unmistakable marks of his predecessor, Durgaprasad.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 7
Vishwanath, deprived of paternal care and patrimony, grew up under the loving care of his mother, though amidst straightened circumstances. But a worse fate was awaiting him. At the age of ten he lost his mother. Now, orphaned and ill-treated by uncle Kaliprasad, Vishwanath took to the hard way of labouring through to life's success. He became proficient in several languages - Bengali, English, Persian, Arabic, Urdu and Hindi, and also learnt a smattering of Sanskrit in a classical Sanskrit Tol. He studied history in-depth, astrology enough to be able to cast the horoscopes of his children, and studied music under an Ustad. After completing secondary education he attempted business, failed and apprenticed himself under Mr. Temple, a British attorney. In 1866 he qualified as an attorney and set up shop with one Ashutosh Dhar under the name 'Dhar and Datta'. Soon his legal proficiency earned him independent status as attorney-at-law in the Calcutta High Court where his practice took off.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 8
Vishwanath's fame as a legal practitioner spread far and wide and he had to travel extensively all over India to meet up with his clients' cases. His income soared and so did his expenditure as he lived lavishly and gave liberally to seekers in need. His charity earned him the sobriquet 'Daataa Vishwanath' or 'Philanthropist Vishwanath'. He refused none and gave to all who were in need and even to some indolent relatives who abused his magnanimity by indulging in intoxicants with his money. Vishwanath lived for the day and saved nothing for the morrow, steered by the conviction that his sons, if well fed and well educated, would be able to make their way in life but that the hapless ones he helped were too weak to help themselves and, hence, needed help. The large heart of Vishwanath bled for all, perhaps so conditioned by his own stressful childhood in financial and psychological distress under an unsympathetic uncle. Anyhow, this was how he was and this liberal largeheartedness he bequeathed to his beloved sons, Naren in particular who even imbibed sterling virtues of head and heart from his mother Bhuvaneshwari.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 9
Well-versed in the Holy Bible and the Dewan-i-Hafiz and well acquainted with Hindu, Islamic and European culture and customs, Vishwanath had a universal outlook on life and living. Progressive in thinking but guarded in giving into new-fangled socioreligious movements of the day, Vishwanath was a precursor in some sense to the modern Hindu man as yet germinating in the womb of time. His illustratious son would set the seal on the mould that was thus being cast on the dawn of this new awakening of the ancient spirit whose crest bore the personality of Ramakrishna. But we are fast-forwarding the narrative thus which we must desist from. As of now we must remember that here was Vishwanath, caught in the cross-current of the three aforementioned cultures out of which he was fashioning his own perspective, his world-view, and setting them to print in the form of three books which he authored, namely, 'Shishtaachaar Paddhati' ('Canons of Good Conduct') in two volumes and a novel in his vernacular Bengali, titled 'Sulochanaa'. Vishwanath supported Vidyasagar's crusade for the remarriage of widows but refrained from participating directly in such social movements, busy as he was with his intensive legal practice. One more pointer about Vishwanath - he was an agnostic of sorts, irreverent of superstitious religious practices that kept people down but was never irreverent towards sublime principles of spiritual and moral thought which he tried to put into practice in his own life by way of alleviating the misery of the hapless ones he came across in his life's thoroughfare. This was then the father of the future Vivekananda.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 10
Hardly anybody recalls the name of Swami Vivekananda's maternal grandfather or the maiden surname of Swamiji's mother. That she was Basu and bore in her bloodstream the kshatriya valour of this clan from erstwhile Kannakubja (Kanauj) is forgotten in the name Narendranath Datta. But the great prophet bore in his arteries that strong blood which made him revolutionise India into rebellion against the British and break the citadel of global colonialism. Narendranath's grandfather on his mother's side was Nandalal Basu of Simla, North Kolkata, and his only daughter Bhuvaneshwari Basu, married to Vishwanath Datta, was his mother. Bhuvaneshwari, born to wealth and high culture, was aristocratic in temperament devoid of its vices and it was from her that the boy Bileh absorbed in his mother's milk that nobility of character that set him out as unique in the world of men, so much so that in later years in Paris he was mistaken to be a prince by a hotel boy who could not be convinced otherwise. Well, Bhuvaneshwari, wedded to Vishwanath at ten, mothered Narendranath as her seventh child and her first surviving son. But more of that later for here we are in the midst of the maturing of a modern Madonna for who else could hold in her womb the one whose eagle eye holds countless universes in harmonic play ? Let us dwell on this girl, Bhuvaneshwari.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 11
Bhuvaneshwari was wedded to conjugal life at the early age of 10 as was the custom in those days prior to the passing of the Age of Consent Bill. She bore fruit several times of which three died in infancy and she remained without a son yet. The pious girl prayed and fasted and exhorted an aunt living in Varanasi to offer prayers at the seat of Vireshwar Shiva in Kashi. Accordingly, every Monday special offerings were made there and they were reinforced by Bhuvaneshwari keeping her vigils and fasts here in Kolkata. The channel was thus being set up for the golden road that was to connect the ancient city and this modern metropolis, and when the pathway had been fully laid, Bhuvaneshwari dreamt of the meditative Shiva awaking from his seat of concentration and announcing His resolve to be born as her son. In ecstatic joy Bhuvaneshwari awoke from her divine slumber and fell prostrate at her chosen deity's feet, the adorable Umanath, who she had so ardently worshipped all these years. Bathed in tears of bliss Bhuvaneshwari felt saturated with the Lord's grace. Soon she felt that she had conceived.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 12
12 January, 1863. Makar San°kraanti Day. Millions of pilgrims were assembled at the estuary of the Bay of Bengal to offer oblation to the Highest when heaven itself descended to earth in the form of the infant who was to steer humanity onto a new course, setting the stamp of his divine personality on the unfolding age of light that was now waiting in the wings to emerge in full flight. The forest of this world was ready for this fresh efflorescence and the bud blossomed from the womb of Bhuvaneshwari six minutes before sunrise to send a thrill of joy through the Datta household. A son had been born, Bhuvaneshwari's long-cherished dream, the parched earth's long longing, humanity's hope of redemption from its decadent state. Vishwanath grew so blissfully excited that his charity broke all bounds this hour as he started giving away to whosoever came his way anything he could lay his hands on. Finally, he had given away the very clothes he was wearing, a la Emperor Harshavardhana of old, and had to borrow his wife's saree to cover himself. The boy was named by the mother Vireshwar after the deity who had fulfilled His promise to be born as the pious supplicant's son. Soon lingustic aberration changed it to Bileh and so was how the future Vivekananda used to be called by his loving mother even in his twilight years in Belur Math when the old lady proudly strutted about the precincts of the monastery in search of her son, calling loudly, "Bileh ! Bileh !" and the son would emerge from his room and descend the stairs to fall prostrate at his beloved mother's feet. But we have much advanced in our narrative in our flight of fancy and must revert to its fresh beginnings, for we have a full lifetime to cover. Right now the baby cries in its mother's arms. Or, does it blink in wonder at the strange world around ?
YOUR SWAMIJI ...13
The boy was Bileh at home, to the world Narendranath, a name that was, as if by divine sanction, to set its stamp upon the very world. An exceeding force seemed to well up within him making him irrepressibly naughty, playful, self-willed and at times given to fits of violent temper when he would even rampage his way through whatever he could lay his hands on, furniture et al. Mother Bhuvaneshwari, driven to her wit's end, would then in exasperation exclaim, "Alas ! I had prayed to Shiva for a son but He has sent me one of His demons instead." No amount of censure, threat or even inducement would work with the turbulent child and he had to be manned by two nurses constantly to keep him in a semblance of check. Finally, Bhuvaneshwari discovered a unique way of tackling the situation. When Bileh was in one of those moods, she would pour water over his head profusely while chanting the name 'Shiva'. She would further induce fear in him saying, "If you are naughty thus, Shiva will refuse you entry into His abode, Kailash, again." Like magic this would work and calm the boy and he would be his bonny self again.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 14
Now two very important features of the baby Bileh's personality were (a) his easy acceptance of all and sundry as his own and his consequent easing into anyone's arms who extended them to hold him, and (b) his submission to gentleness shown to him by any and equal revulsion of harshness by any in interaction with him. These traits manifest in the baby are worth meditating on as we attempt to unravel not only the secrets of the child-mind universally but also as we seek to plumb the divine depths of the future Swami Vivekananda, now, though, right in bud.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 15
Grandfather Durgaprasad's gene was very much manifest in Narendranath from early boyhood. He had a liking for mendicant monks and would give away alms freely to them. But he was just a small boy. What did he have that he could give? Well, he gave away his first piece of dhoti from round his waist to a sadhu. Likewise he gave away whatever he could lay his hands on to these pilgrims of the Spirit so much so that when any such appeared at their door he had to be kept confined in an upper storey room to keep him in bounds. But such ploys failed when Naren flung through the open window whatever was available to him in his cell to monks passing by on the road below. Such affinity for the renunciates was early signal of things brewing up in the heart of the Divine Mother orchestrating things from behind that was to fashion Narendranath's fate. A vast force was accumulating in the child that was to inundate the world in the days to come. And in this prophetic mission of his he was to bear not only the blessings of his divine Master but those of each and every monk who he gave and who in their turn blessed him silently from the depths of their hearts.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 16
Ebullient as he was, Naren was given to pranks galore. One of these was to tease his sisters and, when chased, to seek refuge in the open drain and makes faces and remarks such as 'Catch new! Catch me !' from there, knowing full well that they would not dare follow suit into the dirt where he lay. The future Vivekananda was worshipped in Kashi Kedarnath Temple as Shiva, was reverenced by a passing monk in the Himalayas as Shiva and venerated by many including his brother disciples like Swami Brahmananda as the same Lord Ascetic. In that sense he was Pashupati, the Lord of all animals, and to this effect he showed early signs by way of his affinity towards his pet animals. Lifelong this relation remained, even in his advanced years in Belur Math where he had quite a number of pets. The boy Bileh had a monkey, a goat, a peacock, pigeons, guinea-pigs, the family cow and his father's horse to keep him company. He with his sisters would bedeck the cow with garlands, mark her forehead with vermillion and reverence her on festive occasions. This easy relation with the dumb animals must have been a formative influence in the making of his future deep sympathy with the muted millions of his benighted motherland.
YOUR SWAMIJI ... 17
Naren's bosom buddy was his father's coachman. He spent hours in the company of the syce at the stable and nursed ambitions of one day becoming a syce himself. His intimacy with the syce drew the twain into close communication and imperceptibly lay open Naren's mind to whatever the former had to say to him. At noon every day the little boy was privy to the women folk's rendition of the Ramayana reading and with rapt attention he absorbed the epic tales which gradually endeared him to Sita and Rama. Soon he had bought from the market idols of the divine couple and with the help of a friend installed them in the attic and with floral offerings worshipped them to his child heart's content. This went on till the syce, himself victim to an unhappy marital life, criticised the very institution of marriage vehemently before Naren, thereby making the boy brood on its futility. He could no more now accept the fact that his divine ideals, Sita and Rama, were also one such married couple and in tears confided his predicament to his mother. Bhuvaneshwari instantly assuaged his grief by asking him from then on to worship the ascetic of ascetics, Shiva, instead. Naren was pacified but could not reconcile himself anymore to being in the proximity of Sita and Rama. Accordingly, he rushed to the attic, picked up his beloved idols and in the dark enveloping evening walked to the edge of the terrace railing and hurled down the images onto the road below. His ideal had been shattered, now he smashed the idols representing them. Next day he bought from the market a clay image of Shiva and began afresh his meditation on the Lord. However, Sita-Rama remained forever etched in his memory as his boyhood's first divine love and became a significant formative influence in his life and a perennial presence in his monastic life as well. Many years later he called every Indian the child of Seeta, that holy woman who unmurmering bore all her suffering in her all-encompassing love for her beloved husband, the divine Rama.
Written by Sugata Bose
(To be continued on some such dawn of renewed inspiration.)
MY MEMORABLE MATES [391 -- 400]
MY MEMORABLE MATES [391 -- 400]
GAME 391
White: Sugata Bose
Black: Anonymous
1. f4 d5
2. h3 e5
3. Nf3 exf4
4. d4 Be7
5. Bxf4 Bh4+
6. g3 Bg5
7. Nxg5 Qf6
8. Qd2 Nc6
9. Qe3+ Nge7
10. Nc3 Bf5
11. Nxd5 O-O-O
12. Nxf6
1-0
GAME 392
White: Anonymous
Black: Sugata Bose
1. d4 c5
2. dxc5 Qa5+
3. Nc3 Qxc5
4. e4 d5
5. exd5 Nf6
6. Be3 Qb4
7. a3 Qxb2
8. Na4 Qe5
9. Nf3 Qxd5
10. Nc5 e5
11. Bb5+ Nc6
12. c4 Qxd1+
13. Rxd1 Bg4
14. h3 Bxf3
15. gxf3 Rd8
16. Nxb7 Rxd1+
17. Kxd1 Kd7
18. Bxa7 Kc7
19. Ba6
0-1
GAME 393
White: Anonymous
Black: Sugata Bose
1. d4 b6
2. h3 Bb7
3. Bg5 h6
4. Bh4 g5
5. Bg3 f5
6. e3 Nf6
7. Be5 e6
8. c3 d6
9. Bxf6 Qxf6
10. Qh5+ Kd8
11. Qd1 Nd7
12. Bb5 Bxg2
13. Rh2 Be4
14. Nd2 a6
15. Bc4 Bb7
16. Qb3 d5
17. Bd3 c5
18. Qa4 b5
19. Qa5+ Kc8
20. b4 c4
21. Be2 Bd6
22. Rg2 Bc7
23. Bh5 Bxa5
24. bxa5 Nf8
25. Ne2 Ng6
26. Nf3 Nh4
27. Nxh4 gxh4
28. Rg6 Qf8
29. Rxe6 Rg8
30. Kf1 Qg7
31. Rg6 Qh7
32. Nf4 Rxg6
33. Nxg6 Kc7
34. Ke2 Rg8
35. Rg1 Bc6
36. Kf1 Be8
37. Nf4 Rxg1+
38. Kxg1 Bxh5
39. Nxh5 Qg6+
40. Ng3 hxg3
41. fxg3 Qxg3+
42. Kh1 Qxh3+
43. Kg1 Qxe3+
44. Kg2 Qxc3
45. Kf2 Qxd4+
46. Ke2 Qb2+
47. Ke3 Qxa2
48. Kd4 Kd6
49. Kc3 Qxa5+
50. Kd4 Qd2#
0-1
GAME 394
White: Anonymous
Black: Sugata Bose
Duras Gambit
1. e4 b6
2. d4 e6
3. c4 Bb7
4. d5 exd5
5. cxd5 Bb4+
6. Nc3 Qe7
7. Qe2 Nf6
8. f3 Ba6
9. Qe3 Bxf1
10. Kxf1 Bxc3
11. bxc3 O-O
12. Nh3 h6
13. Nf4 Na6
14. a4 Qc5
15. Qd3 Qe7
16. Qxa6
1-0
GAME 395
White: Anonymous
Black: Sugata Bose
Duras Gambit
1. e4 f5
2. exf5 Kf7
3. Qh5+ g6
4. fxg6+ Kg7
5. b3 hxg6
6. Bb2+ Nf6
7. Bxf6+ exf6
8. Qg4 d5
9. Qd4 c5
10. Qf4 Bd6
11. Qa4 Bd7
12. Bb5 Bxb5
13. Qxb5 Qc7
14. Nc3 a6
15. Nxd5 axb5
16. Nxc7 Bxc7
17. c3 Be5
18. O-O-O Nc6
19. Nf3 b4
20. c4 Rxa2
21. d4 Nxd4
22. Nxd4 Bxd4
23. Rhe1 Ra1+
24. Kc2 Rxd1
25. Rxd1 Re8
26. f3 Re2+
27. Kd3 Rxg2
28. h4 Rb2
29. Ke4 Rxb3
30. Kd5 Rxf3
31. Ra1 Bxa1
0-1
GAME 396
White: Anonymous
Black: Sugata Bose
Duras Gambit
1. e4 f5
2. Nf3 fxe4
3. Nd4 c5
4. Nb3 Nf6
5. Nxc5 e5
6. Nc3 Bxc5
7. Bc4 Bxf2+
8. Kxf2 Qb6+
9. Ke2 d5
10. Bb5+ Nc6
11. Ba4 Bg4+
12. Ke1 Bxd1
13. Kxd1 Qf2
14. Bb3 O-O
15. Nxd5 Nxd5
16. Bxd5+ Kh8
17. Re1 Qxg2
18. Bxe4 Qg4+
0-1
GAME 397
White: Anonymous
Black: Sugata Bose
Duras Gambit
1. e4 f5
2. exf5 Kf7
3. f4 Nf6
4. Bc4+ d5
5. Bxd5+ Qxd5
6. c4 Qxg2
7. Qf3 Qxf3
8. Nxf3 Bxf5
9. Nc3 c6
10. c5 Ne4
11. Nxe4 Bxe4
12. d3 Bxf3
13. Kf2 Bxh1
14. Kg1 Bd5
15. d4 Nd7
16. Be3 g6
17. Re1 Nf6
18. h3 Ne4
19. h4 e6
20. b4 Be7
21. Bc1 Bxh4
22. Rxe4 Bxe4
23. Kh2 Bf6
24. Kg3 Bxd4
25. Kg4 Bf5+
26. Kg5 h6+
27. Kh4 Bf2#
0-1
GAME 398
White: Anonymous
Black: Sugata Bose
Duras Gambit
1. e4 f5
2. exf5 Kf7
3. Qh5+ g6
4. fxg6+ Kg7
5. Qe5+ Nf6
6. d3 Nc6
7. Qc3 e5
8. Bg5 Bb4
9. Nf3 Bxc3+
10. Nxc3 d5
11. O-O-O Bg4
12. Be2 Bxf3
13. Bxf3 hxg6
14. Nxd5 Rf8
15. h4 Qd6
16. Nxf6 Rxf6
17. Bxf6+ Qxf6
18. h5 gxh5
19. Rxh5 Nd4
20. Be4 Qxf2
21. Rg5+ Kf6
22. Rg6+ Kf7
23. Rd2 Qe1+
24. Rd1 Ne2+
25. Kb1 Qxd1#
0-1
GAME 399
White: Anonymous
Black: Sugata Bose
A deadly attack
1. d4 f5
2. Qd3 e6
3. e4 fxe4
4. Qxe4 Nf6
5. Qf3 d5
6. Bb5+ c6
7. Ba4 b5
8. Nc3 bxa4
9. Nxa4 Qa5+
10. c3 Qxa4
11. Bf4 Qb5
12. a4 Qxb2
13. Rd1 Ba6
14. Bc1 Qb6
15. Qg3 Ne4
16. Qe5 Nxc3
17. Qxe6+ Be7
18. Rd3 Bxd3
19. Nf3 Qb4
20. Qe3 Ne4+
21. Nd2 Nxd2
22. Bxd2 Qb1+
23. Bc1 O-O
24. Qe6+ Kh8
25. Qe3 Bb4+
26. Kd1 Qc2#
0-1
GAME 400
White: Anonymous
Black: Sugata Bose
1. e4 f5
2. e5 d6
3. f4 dxe5
4. fxe5 Nc6
5. Nf3 e6
6. d4 h5
7. c4 b6
8. d5 Na5
9. b3 Bb7
10. Bd2 exd5
11. Bxa5 bxa5
12. Qd2 Bb4
13. Nc3 d4
14. O-O-O Bxc3
15. Qg5 Bxf3
16. Qxg7 Bxd1
17. Kxd1 Qh4
18. Qxh8 Qe1+
19. Kc2 Qd2+
20. Kb1 Qb2#
0-1
NONE CARES FOR THE MASTER'S PRINCIPLES
NONE CARES FOR THE MASTER'S PRINCIPLES
In the name of Sri Ramakrishna I ask, do we seriously believe that he is watching every action of ours, overseeing our every endeavour in his very name? Then would we dare violate every enunciated principle of his in the name of practicality, pragmatic modern-day economic thinking that is reducing spirituality to a farce? There is much that we must answer for unless we wish our grand movement to degenerate and decay like its many predecessors. A little reflection and not much soul-searching would reveal that the mission of the Master is gaining ground and losing goodwill even as a divine movement is being deliberately more and by compulsion less reduced to a human one with all its compromised courses.
Spiritual pragmatism cannot justify material compromise. That is a contradiction in terms. Yet, this is what has historically happened in all spiritual movements. So must it be this time with our Master's too? Does divinity stoop so low as to collude with the copper coin in the name of spreading the movement? Must there be no opposition to it, no well-intentioned criticism by devotees, no withdrawal of support for causes whose manner of economic execution are patently opposed to the Master's enunciated principles? Does God oversee the growth of commercial structures in His very name? Must slavish devotion and lowly cowering before authority replace valiant opposition to value-erosion among the very votaries of those values?
Swamiji had said, "Immense idealism with immense practicality." The bit of immense practicality we see today in bold letters but where is the bit of immense idealism upholding it save in hollow articulation by its insincere votaries? 'Money is mud, mud money' -- this cornerstone of the Master's life, this core carrier of his earthly mission, can any of its current proponents vouch for in all sincerity? None bothers to even mention it today, such has been the corrosive compromise with the copper coin.
Written by Sugata Bose
Saturday 25 February 2023
POESY
POESY
All that live
Have nought to fear from me.
I, who am the dying man
Of decaying form,
Of resolving remembrance,
Of dissolving thoughts,
Of self-immolation
Unto a higher transcendence
Whence there is no return.
Composed by Sugata Bose
POESY
POESY
Is this the world we were born into?
Has it changed?
Will it change further?
For better or worse?
Whither are we headed?
Whence were be born?
From what beginnings?
Unto what end?
Composed by Sugata Bose
POESY
POESY:
I slept through the long hours
And awoke to this end
That God alone is.
Composed by Sugata Bose
POESY: IT IS SELF ALL THE WAY
IT IS SELF ALL THE WAY
The poet composes free of self,
And yet,
It is the self seeping in.
Is it then self all the way?
It's the self you leave,
It's the self you hold,
And it's the Self you behold
When all else is gone.
It is Self all the Way.
Composed by Sugata Bose
Friday 24 February 2023
PLAYING TO THE GALLERY IN A PLUMMETING CULTURAL SCENE
PLAYING TO THE GALLERY IN A PLUMMETING CULTURAL SCENE
Playing to the gallery has come to possess us these days as ever-increasing superficiality seizes us 'in captive bonds' of seeking public adulation for deeds undeserving of such accolades. This slavish clinging to seeking appreciation instead of striving for excellence in any endeavour is lowering cultural standards by the day. Creative individuals of merit are becoming rarer by the day as mass mediocrity proliferates. The connoisseur has been replaced by the commoner in estimating talent and passing verdict thereon on the artistic merit of performers. The result is a heaping up of untalented individuals in those spheres of human activity where earlier outstanding men of merit shone and lit up their respective realms. Now the stage is there but the performer is gone. We must endure discordance where melody reigned once, cacophony where harmony once flooded the scene. We are at the nadir of artistic culture, at the trough of intellectual output, verily at the lowest point of civilisation unless, of course, the downward movement has baser depths to touch yet.
Written by Sugata Bose
ALAS, THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF GRAND TALENT!
ALAS, THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF GRAND TALENT!
We are no more producing such stalwarts in the realm of Hindustani classical music. Now it is less of sadhana and more of self-publicity with the aspiration to rise quickly in the competitive ranks irrespective of whether one merits the accolades that come with it from an undiscerning audience, remembering that the days of the kingly connoisseurs is gone for good. Now every Ram, Shyam, Jadu or Madhu on their own assume the epithets of Pandit and Ustad unlike the good old days when connoisseurs at kingly courts would assemble to listen to a musician before they passed their verdict in favour or against conferring the honorific of Pandit or Ustad. Now it is mediocrity that masquerades as being meritorious and the undeserving who by mutual consent appropriate titles of honour, though musically barren they remain lifelong. It is the age of discord.
Written by Sugata Bose
MUCH RALK AND LITTLE VALUE
MUCH TALK AND LITTLE VALUE
The way to improve the lot of the deprived and dispossessed is to respect them, to begin with, and to then follow it up with welfare programmes for their survival, sustenance, growth and flourishing. But they must, in being provided service thus, never be humiliated as exhibits who have come up by your charity, before those who are your potential donors, in much publicised programmes as is the wont these days.
There is no need to quote the scriptures while doing this work but there is need to live the principles enshrined therein. Communication need not degenerate to advertising. Good work builds up its own goodwill and attracts the right people for its furtherance. God never advertises but silently works ever without hope of return, for self-fulfilled He ever abides. The work itself will be its own return, its self-fulfilment.
Character and sincerity is the key, and purity of purpose the driving force. Courage of conviction will deter one from stooping to generate funds as the provisions will flow in if one is steadfast in one's mission. Chastity of the leaders is the moving force and high idealism the attribute that will check the infiltration of lowly means to achieve ends. Above all, the served ones must be venerated as Gods and Goddesses in truth and not merely in high-flown oft-quoted verbal terms. Worship who you wish to raise from the material mire of both impoverishment and hyperaffluence.
Written by Sugata Bose
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