COMMENTS GALORE ... 21

COMMENTS GALORE ... 21

Sugata Bose @YouTube : Why do we, Indians, all speak together to create a cacophony? And why do we so lack in clear rationality that makes for the forward movement of a discussion?

Sugata Bose @YouTube : Ravi Shastri is too loud as a commentator. He evidently lacks in musical sense so very essential for commentating. This hyper-excitement borne on a discordant overloud voice perhaps comes from the lack of harmony in Indian classical music in sharp contrast to Western classical music, the latter's harmonic influence having percolated into Western society and consequently into Western diction even in common parlance, leave alone public speaking which as an untrained Indian commentator Shastri is making a mess of through his undue inharmonious loudness of expression. Alas, few are discerning enough to point these deficiencies out where they do exist in an unseemly manner!

Sugata Bose @Durga Prasad : Shallow explanation of something very profound. Any extract from Swamiji is to be interpreted in accurate terms without diluting the ideal of absolute continence that must accompany any such subject-object intended change. The philosophical or even scientific assumptions here are flawed and needed a more rigorous rational basis. Unfortunately, surface thinkers indulge in such seemingly deep discussions, making a mockery of philosophy which is grounded in deeper truth. Indian rationality is at its nadir now.

Even the RKM monks of esteemed public stature are making a mockery of rationalisation of the Vedanta when they are patently flitting from idea to idea without filling in the deep gaps, the yawning intellectual chasms that ought to absorb their attention when they are addressing such profound truths about God, Nature, Self and Truth. We are yet to produce a number of profound thinkers who can give depth to discussion. Most of the modern messiahs preaching high-flown philosophy are half-bred intellectuals without a clue to their shortcomings which is why our Vedanta does not even create ripples in the world despite its potential to raise real tidal waves in the mind of man.

Sugata Bose @A devotee : I am in bliss. Read Kathamrita whole night till dawn put me to sleep. And I awoke to freshness thence.

Sugata Bose @YouTube : The Don is streets ahead of Tendulkar. Simply no comparison. Sachin pales into insignificance before the Don. Bradman's phenomenal concentration, uncanny sense of line and length, astute judgement in shot selection, insatiable appetite for runs, nonpareil footwork using the full space between wicket snd batting crease, prodigious intelligence, rapid reflexes, superb hand-eye coordination and unorthodox grip on the bat which invariably kept the ball on the ground made him nearly twice as good as the best of batsmen in cricketing history making a global panel of renowned journalists come to the considered conclusion that he was not only the greatest batsman and cricketer in history but the greatest sportsperson in the history of recorded modern sports of all hues. In no other sports has there been a champion player who was nearly twice as good as the second best. But the Don was exactly thus. Hence, it is a case of comparison. If the Don is substance, Tendulkar is his penumbral shadow and no more. This is by no way to demean Tendulkar's great gifts and his prodigious career output but it is to set the record straight. We must in eulogy not lose balance of judgement. That's all.

Sugata Bose @Amitabha Dutta Majumdar : Of course I am and so are other well-intentioned opposers of injustice, though they be few and far between. And it is not a case of being the exceptional one but rather being one who chooses to stand up in defence of what one considers to be right and good for the common weal. Hence, your question, whatever be the concealed intent in it, falls flat and bears no more meaning than either being a jibe at the author or a lazy inquisitiveness with the purpose of irritating him rather than standing in alliance with him for the greater good of society, at least in terms of awakening public consciousness. Sad to behold the decline of intellectual and moral culture in our society as your undue questioning seems to bear ample testimony to unless, of course, I have read too much into it. Seems not to be so, though, as the summary nature of the question, as if in supercilious terms, apparently indicates.

Sugata Bose @Suvadeep Sen : Thanks for the post. These ones must be posted over and over again to drive the menace of surface nonsense in the name of devotion away. But, alas, yours as well as mine is a lost cause as the shameless protagonists of what Swamiji warned against will keep on at their verbal drill with their characteristic irrirating persistence!

Sugata Bose @Abhijit Mandal : The ancient Hindus, that is, our ancestors then, practised a different version of high philosophy which sadly got mixed up with later superstition, accretion that has altered the very character of the Hinduism practised today. Buddhism in its pursuit of popularity brought about image worship in this land which has now become the main course of Hinduism with all its dualistic debility of dependence. As history unfolded and the once virile race weakened overtime, we moved away increasingly from our roots and adopted a hybrid of ritualistic practices which now form the fabric of what we call practised Hindiism. The Upanishads form the philosophical fountainhead of our Dharma and the Upanishads were what Swamiji attempted in vain to popularise among us. We have failed him but we ought not to anymore. This common devotion in superficial verbal terms that we encounter en masse by the day speaks volumes for the shallowness of our spiritual culture today and we have work at hand here. Moreover, Hinduism has got mixed up with feudal devotion to the potentate whose legacy we behold in the slavish cringing of the commoner to the monk, minister and the moneyed man. This is a loss of character we must address. Here again, drinking deep of the Upanishads will release us into the realm of strength and blessedness and unto self-respect and self-dependence. 🕉

Sugata Bose @Amitabha Dutta Majumdar : Thanks for your encouragement. Bespeaks of the high idealism of the old guard who had appeared in pre-independence days. Alas, ideals are lacking these days and their practice an exercise in hypocrisy. Tall talk and hollow intent -- this is the order of the day.

Sugata Bose @Bhaskar Sen Sharma : What about Sri Ramakrishna getting duped by Semitic ill-intent carefully camouflaged by selective preaching of its tenets to him?

Sugata Bose @Bhaskar Sen Sharma : Imaginary God. Brahman is Witness in quite a different sense, having no link with Maya whatsoever and, hence, incapable of observation of relative phenomena. Mahamaya is cooking up all these toxic features in a percinious play that has an evening up in end-terms though. Tragedy throughout with comic relief at times but with eventual freedom when the soul sees through Her crafty designs. Renunciation wins in the end for the individual as the diabolical God designs fresh traps for humouring His idle hour. Busy indeed in work and work indeed at that!

Sugata Bose @Bhaskar Sen Sharma : Face the crowd one day that in the name of faith converts or kills by scriptural commandment and you will come to reason. The other faith craftily converts by economic and other inducement, its European flock having deserted it during the days of the Enlightenment.

Sugata Bose @Bhaskar Sen Sharma : Comforting self-interpretation, of little use when Hindus are persecuted by Abrahamic ill-intent.

Sugata Bose @Bhaskar Sen Sharma : Read Sita Ram Goel and Ram Swarup. Deliberate denial of historical fact needs no more rebuttal. Read Swamiji in-depth and come to reason. A cursory glance isn't enough to pass pronouncement on such seminal issues. When Nivedita had been so intransigent regarding the Union Jack, Swamiji had called such adherence to perverse patriotism 'wicked'. This is by way of an altered reference to unfounded intransigence in general.

Sugata Bose @Bhaskar Sen Sharma : Read the Qur'an. Good sense will prevail after that. The misty eye will see better.

Sugata Bose @Soham Pain : The reason why the capital 'G' has been used is because this particular God is thought by followers of this faith to be the only true God but by its detractors as not so and as yet another invention of the medieval man as he set about to interpret the riddle of existence and assign a divine being to explain its causal source. Hence, both the use of the capital 'G' to denote the so-to-say Almighty God and its precedence by the indefinite article 'a' to signify that this particular God is after all not deemed by all to be so.

Sugata Bose @Debaprasad Bhattacharya : The basis itself, though, calls for increase in its numbers. Hence, the two features cannot be separated here. Sure enough, though, that is a temporal political movement rather than a spiritual religion as such.

Sugata Bose @Bhaskar Sen Sharma :You are cut off from both scriptural knowledge pertaining to this faith and the historical reality thereof. When there is such a factual inadequacy in one's assertios, it is an exercise in futility to argue a case with him. Imagination and verbal effusion do not cover argumentative ground enough. Hence, it is a point of no return as always to settle a debate with such a one.

Sugata Bose @Bhaskar Nath : Conversion has its scriptural basis too. It has a historical tradition steeped in human blood. Proselytising is politics after all.

Sugata Bose @Krishnan Hariharan : The trouble they have caused thus far and continue to do so even today across the world is a cause of grave concern for it concerns the security and safety of the infidel under attack. Hence, education about the theological and political principles they espouse is an absolute necessity for it alone can reveal their true intent, otherwise carefully camouflaged. Their scriptures outline, often detail, their beliefs, the divine injunctions upon them and their obligation to carry them out in real life to secure for themselves a berth in high heaven. And history bears testimony to this dastardly proselytising that has reduced the world to a war zone for well over a millennium. Both Islam and Christianity have played havoc with world civilisation in their proselytising play and their act is not yet over it seems. Europe is fast turning into a cultural war zone and our subcontinent seems to have been done with already. Unless all progressive people rooted in liberal principles -- not the politically motivated pseudo surface-liberals -- join hands to defend freedom of spirit as the Sanatan Dharma in all its universal scope embodies, we are in for troubled times.

Sugata Bose @YouTube [Swami Balabhadrananda] : স্বামীজী দ্ব্যর্থহীন ভাষায় অন্যায়ের বিরুদ্ধে সোচ্চার হয়েছিলেন | আপনারা যাঁরা স্বামীজীর অনুগামী, যাঁরা তাঁরই পদাঙ্ক অনুসরণ করে চলেছেন, তাঁরা তৎসত্তেও পৃথিবীর দুর্নীতির বিরুদ্ধে, অন্যায় অবিচারের বিরুদ্ধে সমভাবে সোচ্চার হননা কেন? এতে তো স্বামীজীর আদর্শ যথাযথভাবে পালন হচ্ছে না, সংঘ অর্থানুকুল্যে জাগতিকভাবে অধিকতর শক্তিশালী হলেও নৈতিক ও আধ্যাত্মিকভাবে দুর্বল হয়ে পড়ছে ক্রমশঃ |

Sugata Bose @Shaon Malik : Absolutely so. Few read. Fewer understand. Fewest care to act upon it.

Sugata Bose @Krishna Dhan Das : তাহলে তো আরও গভীরে গিয়ে বলতে হয়, "আমি জীব," আরও গভীরে, "আমি ব্রহ্ম," আরও গভীরে, নিশ্চুপ, নৈঃশব্দ | 'মানুষ' উপাধি শুনতে শুনতে কান ঝালাপালা হয়ে গেল | মানুষই হোক আর অমানুষই হোক, তাদের দিয়ে জগতের কোন লাভ নেই |

Sugata Bose @Bipul Adhikari : গণতন্ত্রে প্রকল্প জনতার, নাগরিকসমূহের, কোন দিদি-দাদার নয় |

Sugata Bose @Debaprasad Bhattacharya : Read Ramendrasundar Bhattacharya's interview in this regard (Prabuddha Bharata August issue, 2006). According to him Thakur had shown himself up as Rama and Krishna in real form before dissolving those forms in himself once again. It was only then that Narendranath was convinced. Swami Lokeshwaranandaji had said to us to the same effect, having spoken of it first in a Kathamrita class at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture and a week later reiterating the same to a group of devotees upon being requested by me to narrate the incident once again. He said that it was a closely guarded secret in Belur Math and had been passed on from one generation of monks to another. Now it is available both in an Udbodhan Issue of 1976 and the Prabuddha Bharata August issue of 2006.

Sugata Bose @YouTube ['I am Bose' of  Kunal Bose] Tarun Goswami the interviewee/speaker :

হেমচন্দ্র ঘোষ, হেমচন্দ্র দত্ত নয় ।

মিস জোসেফিন মাকলাউড য (১৮৫৮--১৯৪৯) ৯৪ নয়, ৯১ বছর শরীরে ছিলেন । তিনি স্বামীজীকে দর্শন করেন ১৮৯৩ সালে ৩৫ বছর বয়সে । যদি তখন থেকে তিনি তাঁর বয়স গণনা করে থাকেন তো মৃত্যুকালে তাঁর বয়স সেই হিসেবে ৫৬ বছর হওয়ার কথা, ৪৮ বছর নয় ।

অনেক ভুল তথ্য নাগাড়ে পরিবেশন করেছেন বক্তা ।

In his superficial analysis of Swamiji the speaker has made a mockery of understanding the seminal personality of Swamiji. Absolutely a travesty of terms in every sense.

ঈশ্বরলাভ মানে মানুষের সান্নিধ্যলাভ? আজ ঠাকুরের কথার এই ভাষ্য শুনতে হবে? Trivialising Ramakrishna and Vivekananda in a despicable way.

বিশ্লেষণের ব্যভিচার !

আলাসিঙ্গা পেরুমল স্বামীজীকে select করেছিলেন? এ তো ভারী অদ্ভূত, উদ্ভট বিবরণ ! How audacious of the interviewee to utter such a thing!

Sri Aurobindo did not say that Vivekananda took the 'universe' between his two hands but had said that he took the 'world' in a like fashion.

Too many factual errors. Too shallow a personality the speaker is. Making a mockery of Swamiji in trying to colour the man and his message after his own manner, however farfetched from truth it be. Worst of all is the observation on the love Nivedita supposedly bore Swamiji. Who gives permission to the interviewee to speak on the sublime emotions of such an exalted individual as Nivedita from a base level full of material dispositions where the speaker is located in?

A quotation hither and a quotation thither. One from Freud, one from Marx. Another from Bertrand Russell and another from Aurobindo. Then comes Plato and then comes Bernard Shaw. Just frothy observations skimming the surface without delving deep into any line of thought. It seems more like water-skiing than depth-diving. Alas, the state of decadent Bengal and its decadence in intellectual culture!

Sugata Bose @Jaya Mukherjee : This is a cautioning of Hindus to be not so dependent on lofty idealism alone but to practise realpolitik where necessary. There is no confusion in the minds of perceptive readers as to what I have said. Those who wish to read shallow should introspect as the diehard trouble-avoiding dreamily idealistic devotees so often are. Hindus who are daily suffering brutality at the hands of adherents of intolerant religions, as we in many parts of the Indian subcontinent are, will surely understand the true import of my post and stand by it. Upon sufferance comes realisation of hard facts that are not understood by those who have been not so fortunate to experience it. 🕉 

Sugata Bose @Chandradeb Mukhopadhyay : Avatar as Swamiji understood. I am too ignorant a person to know anything about Thakur. So, I accept him as Swamiji has taught me.

Sugata Bose @Chandradeb Mukhopadhyay: This is a nice ploy -- throwing back the question upon the questioner. Good one. Leaving the ball outside the off-stump in the corridor of uncertainty is often wicket-saving but exhorting the batsman to hit a straight drive at one is a little risky for one's head bereft of protective gear. All in good humour please. Do not mind this comment made in affability.

Sugata Bose @Sanjay Choudhry : You mean not a godman by current popular understanding?

Sugata Bose @Suvadeep Sen : He (General Dyer) is just the face of imperialism at one of its worst low points. But behind it all is the slow and often rapid bloodsucking by the colonial-imperial sophisticated machinery. Not just in India from where the maximum material and human wealth was drained but throughout the world the British did it which prompted a prophecy from the lips of Swamiji while lecturing in America that the Chinaman was the vengeance of God and of history that would descend upon the British in the fullness of time by way of evening up their karma.

SOME ARE BORN MONASTICS

SOME ARE BORN MONASTICS

Some are born monastics. They never find happiness in family. Thakur's disciple, Purna, was one such. He was an Ishwarkoti in the eyes of Thakur. His spiritual consciousness was ever at the fifth plane. He died early as prophesied by Thakur. 

Never at ease with his father over his association with Thakur, Purna Chandra Ghosh used to stealthily meet his Divine Master and receive grace, love and spiritual instructions. M, the chronicler of the Gospel, used to often arrange for these meetings. Purna's father was violently opposed to Sri Ramakrishna mentoring his son spiritually which he viewed with current customary sceptical alarm. Accordingly he tried every means to dissuade his son but to no avail.

When Sri Ramakrishna died, Purna was spiritually orphaned like the others but carried on with his domestic marital life like a lotus floating on water but never sinking in it. The Master had been gracious in life and in death. Sometimes Purna used to visit his brother disciples in Belur Math and share memories of old with them. Sometimes he would stroll in the northern hills amidst the peacefulness of Nature and recollect his days of bliss at the feet of his Master. Thus Purna's life passed till in his forty sixth year he passed away peacefully at home to unite with his Master wherever he beckoned him.

But his days are not over in this terrestrial plane. Cometh the Master, cometh his entourage. We eagerly await Purna's earthly homecoming once more, albeit in whatever incarnate role he may be drawn in by his beloved Guru. 

Written by Sugata Bose

IF TRUTH INDEED IS GOD

IF TRUTH INDEED IS GOD

If Truth is God, why align with untruth in the name of God? Why not fight for the rightful resurrection of the direct disciple status of Tulsi Maharaj (Swami Nirmalananda)?

Devotees, come alive. Awake to the truth and help it triumph over propagated untruth. How can you allow decadence in the Order and even accentuate it with your tacit support? You owe it to Thakur to adhere to truth and struggle for its rightful establishment in the very heart of his movement where the truth regarding Tulsi Maharaj's spiritual lineage has been forced into exile.

"Organisation breeds new evils," Swamiji brooded when as yet unsure whether to organise his Master's mission or not. Must you side with such a lapse that has seen its unfortunate entry into the structural scheme of things? There are other glaring lapses as well but suffice it to address this issue first. Why are you silent supporters of untruth? Is this devotion? Is this spirituality? Or is this the spineless attitude of the compromising coward who leads a gellyfishlike earthly existence? Resurrect Tulsi Maharaj, I say, and with it resurrect your self in the pursuit of truth.

Written by Sugata Bose

🎶 SONG 🎵 ON ANTARA

🎶 SONG 🎵 ON ANTARA

There was a star

That lit up the sky.

It waxed in the heavens

And wafted through space nearby.

Oh, the light streaming through,

The glow gleaming nigh.

Solitary stellar being,

Waltzing through the vault up on high.

Composed by Sugata Bose

(a) লকের পেছন লক |

তার পেছনেও লক |

আর তার পেছনেও লক করে

মারছে যত টক |

(b) Ki Gurui paile? Fazil Guru!

(c) Whole day I write.

How many do you read?

Why should I give credence

To what you want me heed?

MESSAGES GALORE ... 38

MESSAGES GALORE ... 38

1. It were better if truth were to pay a visit than the President to the once hallowed precincts of the monastery. And if money were to make a holy exit!

2. Unholy is the association of money with monasticism if even organised unto welfare work. Money invariably corrupts.

3. Swamiji wanted to free devotees, not enslave them to organisation. If devotees confuse Thakur to be his Mission, then they will have failed the Swami in terms of right perception of his famous statement that called the Sangha as the veritable body of Thakur. Remember, the body of Thakur and not the soul, and the affirmation has its validity and expiry in time as also has been explicitly enunciated by Swamiji.

4. Is there a moderate who was once not an extremist and who will once more not an extremist be? Life is a moderation between extreme ends.

5. আচ্ছা, ঠাকুরের ১৬ জন সন্ন্যাসী শিষ্য, কথাটা কি ষোল আনা সত্য? তুলসী মহারাজ (স্বামী নির্মলানন্দ) তাহলে কে? কার শিষ্য?

6.

রামকৃষ্ণ মিশনের ভক্তদের অবশ্য কর্তব্য তুলসী মহারাজের (স্বামী নির্মলানন্দের) শ্রীরামকৃষ্ণশিষ্যরূপে যথাযোগ্য স্থান মর্যাদাসহকারে পুনঃপ্রাপ্তির জন্য মঠ কর্তৃপক্ষের কাছে সমস্বরে আবেদন করা | বৃথা ভক্তি যদি এই সত্যসংস্থাপনে তাঁদের অনীহা দেখা দেয়, লজ্জাকর কাপুরুষতা যা স্বামীজীর একান্ত ঘৃণিত ছিল | তুলসী মহারাজের প্রতি এই অবিচার অবিলম্বে বন্ধ হ'ক |

7. 

এই বইটি পড়ুন | সব বুঝতে পারবেন তুলসী মহারাজ (স্বামী নির্মলানন্দ) কার শিষ্য ছিলেন |

Read this book. You will come to a clear understanding as to whose disciple Tulsi Maharaj (Swami Nirmalananda) was.

8.

লকের পেছন লক |

তার পেছনেও লক |

আর তার পেছনেও লক করে

মারছে যত টক |

9.

যে কৃপায় জন্ম হয়েছে,

সে কৃপায় মুক্ত হব |

10. The very grace that has engendered me is the grace that shall liberate.

11. How much of spirituality can exist in this material world? Mighty little because Matter rules here while the Spirit sends currents from unseen quarters. All earthly matters are bound in money.

12. 

বাড়ীর লোকই অধিকাংশ ক্ষেত্রে সর্বাপেক্ষা ক্ষতি করে | এটাই সত্য | তাই মা সহিষ্ণু হতে বলেছেন সকলের সঙ্গে, সহমর্মী হতে বলেছেন স্বামীজী |

13. Non-resistance for the sannyasi. This the highest virtue.

14. এত ব্রত উপবাস জপ তপ করে হিন্দুর এই অবস্থা ? কর্মকাণ্ডে পড়ে আছে ? এর নাম কি চেতনা ?

15. আত্মশুদ্ধি আবশ্যক | আত্মসংস্কার প্রয়োজন |

16.

যখন ছিলাম একা,

পেয়েছি দেখা

নিজের মাঝে, অন্তরে |

17. কৃতির সার্থকতা কীর্তিতে আর সাধারণের সার্থকতা মৃত্যুতে | তার আত্মত্যাগই ভূষণ |

18. কে বুঝবে কি লিখি ? নথি রেখে গেলাম না তো |

19. Even suffering can be spiritual. Silent suffers the soulful man.

20. The root of all suffering is this vile ego.

21. When death strikes, strikes the rod of God.

22. When all have abandoned, out of the dark emerges a luminous arm.

23. Roughness knows no love.

24. Little are the limits within which man confines himself. Swamiji has thus said, "Man, the infinite dreamer, dreaming finite dreams."

25. You don't have to call. None need call me. I am happy by myself, alone biding by time till the last moment comes as welcome relief to the pain of earthly existence.

26. কর্ম শুধু চিত্তশুদ্ধি, আত্মবিকাশের জন্য | ফলের কামনায় কাজ কি ? ফলাকাঙ্ক্ষা বৃথা বন্ধনের কারণ হয়ে পরে | বিড়ম্বনা !

27. একা ছিলাম | একা আছি | একা থাকব |

28. We live not a life. We suffer it.

29. যার যত চেতনা কম, তার কষ্ট তত বেশী |

30. There are many who mistreat me and the number swells by the day. Such is the tribulation of life.

We all live in our islands. None to communicate with. So so many spend their lives and so have I so often. I am happy by myself, alone biding by time till the last moment comes as welcome relief to the pain of earthly existence.

31. For years have I spent alone and years more to come. Thus one passes through life friendless, without a soul to sympathise, devoid of resonance and destitute of possessions till death embraces one in its loving ❤️ arms.

32. The life of the individual is the life of the nation. How inextricably the twain are linked!

33. We are growing at 18 million a year. If this population explosion continues, we are in for dangerous times ahead. There will be a total collapse of the national system unless urgent measures are adopted to address this population boom.

34. The intolerant can never be spiritual. Hence, spirituality is well nigh absent in political cults masquerading as religion.

35. The plight of man is that he knows not what to do with his intelligence. Mischiefmonger this intelligence is.

36. When life dries up, death seizes. When death has taken its toll, life afresh releases.

37. Our collective life today is in the hands of a few individuals. And this is the tragedy we have brought upon ourselves in having neglected our democratic duties. Now we are at the mercy of the merciless.

38. The dictator takes the guise of the democrat with seductive speeches and insincere intent even as dictatorship slowly replaces democracy. As population booms and ignorance proliferates, democracy wanes.

39. Exercise your intelligence to combat corruption at every level of national life. Charity must begin at home though.

40. Public servants must not behave as monarchs and queens. They must be shown their place through effective public response to their misdemeanours.

41. The mind of man revolves round the Self and spirals into it in much the same manner as celestial bodies fall into their source. The universe is a case of collapsing consequence unto its very origin.

42. We love to live the life of man but how easy to be rendered into beasts that fight.

43. We seek the one that seeks not.

44. Expression comes easy when the heart is full. Fullness is the source of spontaneity.

45. The sense of the self the less we have, the nearer we are to the Self.

46. মূল্যবোধের অবক্ষয় দেশের সর্বস্তরে ছড়িয়ে গেছে | এর প্রতিকারের উপায় আত্মত্যাগ, চরিত্রগঠন |

47. In England they play a lot of cricket. Cricket is famously 'a gentleman's game'. Yet, the English have been most ungentlemanly in their colonial consequences. It wasn't cricket after all.

48. Caste has had its benefits too. It has resisted conversion. Were it not for the rigidity of caste, Hindus would have been en masse converted to Islam and Christianity.

49. 

হৃদয়ের সম্প্রসারণই ধর্ম, সংকোচন অধর্ম | স্বামীজী এই কথাটি আরও বিরাট তাৎপর্যময় করে বলেছেন, "সম্প্রসারণই জীবন, সংকোচন মৃত্যু |" তাঁর যোগদৃষ্টিতে সমস্ত জীবনই ধর্মাধর্মের ক্রীড়াক্ষেত্র | একইভাবে শ্রীঅরবিন্দ বলেছেন, "সমগ্র জীবনই যোগ |"

50. যে নিজে গা বাঁচিয়ে চলে, তার ভগবানলাভ কখনও হবে না |

51. Hard work pays. Of course it does. Dreams are built upon hard mental work and hard labour following, ever the labour of love.

52. Do what you love to do, and do it well.

53. Whenever in doubt or despair, just love ❤️. Intensity of love should be such, so one-pointed, so concentrated that life's vicissitudes are overcome with ease. This makes labour fruitful, work conducing to welfare, health wholesome and the mind merry even as the vagaries of life at any rate take their toll.

54. Attachment is the mother of misery.

55. There comes a time when the nerves are too hyper-strung to allow any further load of desire. Then the mind recoils from the senses unto the Self.

56. Death looming large as the pyre blazes. In a moment of insignificant bliss all knots will be cut asunder and the Spirit released into the limpid spaces of infinite freedom.

57. Sometimes the soul seeks solace in solitude.

58. Thakur weeps as we neglect him to our own downfall. And yet, as Sri Aurobindo says, "The Divine may lead but does not drive."

59. Great is the one who is detached.

60. Allow others a bit of space to breathe. A crushing proximity so often suffocates. Let there be airspace between for distinction to delight.

61. Light up your life with the love of Thakur. But for that you have to think of him constantly, through the day, every hour, every minute, every moment. Then the blissful vision shall be.

62. ঠাকুরের বিষয় ছেড়ে চিন্তা করলেই গেল ! সব গেল !

63. There is Maya all around. Enmeshed we are in it. Whosoever the Mother casts Her gracious glance on, unto him/her belongs liberation.

64. There is mischief in Maya and it is in this apparent assigning of personality with all its sensory limitations to the Impersonal Being.

65. The private man has now become public. And there's the difficulty.

66. Help thyself. Who else can help thee?

67. Labour. But not as slave. Like a master work.

68. If today we sow, tomorrow we reap. Let's get to work right now.

69.

তুলসীগাছে জল তো দিতে হবে | তাতে শুকোতে তো দেওয়া যায় না | যাঁরা সম্পর্ক শুকোতে চান, তাঁদের সিঞ্চনকর্মে অনুপ্রাণিত করা আমাদের দায়িত্ব, আমাদের কর্তব্য -- এই ভাবটি রাখলেই জয় সুনিশ্চিত | আসলে, এও তো সেই মহাভারতের সংঘাত, পারিবারিক অন্তর্দ্বন্দ | কিন্তু এবার প্রণামমন্ত্রে জয়লাভ | তাই শ্রদ্ধার ভাব অক্ষুণ্ণ রেখেই এগোতে হবে | নইলে ইষ্টসিদ্ধির মার্গে অনিষ্টসাধন হয়ে যাবে যে যা কখনই অভিপ্রেত নয় | সত্যরক্ষা করতে গিয়ে যেন অসংস্কৃত না হয়ে পড়ি আমরা | তুলসীগাছও ওই একই বৃন্দাবনের অমৃতফলদায়ী বৃক্ষ | তার জীবনজাহ্নবীও ওই একই পরমহংসের পদযুগল হতে নিঃসৃত | এ বিষয়ে অকাট্য প্রমাণ আছে একাধিক, তা ক্রমশ প্রকাশ্য |

70. Develop spiritually. That is the one thing permanent in an ephemeral world.

71. Our axis of earthly rotation is the Self. Like the axis is immaterial about which material bodies rotate, so is the Self pure Spirit about which the material personality rotates as it traverses the cycle of lives till it spirals into spiritual perfection. भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ||

72. বৈভব আর ভগবান একাসনে বসেন না | যেখানে বৈভব, সেখানে তাঁর আসন শূণ্য |

73. ভগবানের গতি সূক্ষ্ম | মহাবায়ু তিনি | কেউ তাঁকে পার্থিব ধন দিয়ে বেঁধে রাখতে পারেন না | অপার্থিব প্রেমের বশ তিনি |

74. Break free from all earthly associations if you wish to be spiritual. Divinise relations and approach your very own Self with abounding purity.

75. The weight of others hangs on your soul. First detach yourself and be free. Then work to help free others.

76. When love lubricates philosophy, it becomes bhakti.

77. It is an eternal frozen moment that has never dilated. All time is imaginary oscillation in a magically wrought mind.

78. The gold standard is the Self. Everything earthly and unearthly are to be judged in terms of that.

79. For the sake of a dinar I missed the dinner. Must wait on guests and gather tips now till the next dinner is served.

80. 

A final benediction when these great ones depart, and it is the purity of the moment.

81. Each soul has a fundamental force, an input energy as its capital which breeds its interest overtime and compounds as life's output. From the worm to the sage the energy multiplies, intensifies as life evolves till perfection in a final outburst is reached.

82.

Sukheshu vigataspriha

Dukheshu nirudvignamanaa

Beeta raaga bhaya krodhaa

Sthitadheer munir uchyatey

Translation by Sugata Bose :

In happiness not exuberant,

In sorrow undisturbed,

Having gone past attachment, fear and anger,

The sage of settled intelligence abides.

83. I am neither this nor that. I am I.

84. The less of self, the more of success.

85. There is so much to do for the world, so little to think about ourselves.

86. আত্মসম্মানজ্ঞানহীন কৃপাভিখারী হওয়া ভক্তির নিদর্শন নয় | ভক্তি মানে স্বাবলম্বন | তারপর নিঃস্বার্থ আত্মনিবেদন | পরিশেষে বাসনাবিমুক্ত নিষ্কলঙ্ক অপার্থিব প্রেম |

87. টীকা মা লক্ষ্মী নয় কিন্তু | ব্যবহারে অপরিহার্য বটে কিন্তু ওই পর্যন্তই | এর বেশী হলে অলক্ষ্মীর কারণ |

88. God does not desire. He fulfils desires.

89. We are all uniquely endowed. It is for us to find out our special inclination and work on it. Never underestimate any. They may spring on you the greatest surprise in the fulfilment of their achievements.

90. Personality is a myth. Impersonality is the Truth. The Impersonal Being through the must of Maya appears disintegrated as distinct personalities, though not quite so in real. Hence, overlapping occurs which is the meeting of minds and bodies and of the soul sublime, leading to the fusion of the disintegrated parts and their coalescing into the original integrated whole.

91. We must develop the sense of beauty in work a bit more for us to pride ourselves as a developing nation. Else, it is merely a vanity of sorts.

92. ভারতবর্ষ পেছোচ্ছে | এর জন্য জনসংখ্যা দায়ী, আর কেউ নয় |

93. Too much claim in the name of divinity, too little truth to it. Religion feeds on the superstition of people en masse. Rare is the Spirit evident amidst masses of material accretion.

94. Swamiji had once manifested character and had exhorted its awakening in others. We await such an arrival in us through our labour of love.

95. Stop calling yourself 'bandaa'. We are not the servants of God. We are God ourselves.

96. God is neither one nor many. Spirit knoweth no count.

97. 

'টাকা মাটি, মাটি টাকা' -- এইটি যুগমন্ত্র |

98. 

শৌর্যবীর্যপবিত্রতার প্রতিমূর্তি, বুদ্ধি ও প্রেমের যুগ্ম সমন্বয়, উদার বিশ্বহৃদয়, প্রাতঃস্মরণীয় পুরুষ |

99. Life is so short there is no time to complain. Every moment is pure gold that must be made use of, gemstones chiselled and fitted to adorn life.

100. Perfection, my countrymen, is sadly a feature of the past. Now work is a massive output that caters to commerce alright but cares not for detail or a becoming beauteous end.

WHAT AWAITS US?

WHAT AWAITS US?

Surface harmony of religions is unnecessary. Rejection of dogma and affirmation of humanistic principles purely on the basis of common sense and depth-feeling for fellow beings can largely reduce sectarian tensions and induce social harmony. With the passage of time greater rationality and a broadening of perspective will inevitably leave religious dogma behind and make for a more compatible human society that will be governed by altruistic principles. The ground for the Vedanta will have then been made and from thereon spirituality as the Vedic Rishis knew at its highest will take over and evolve humanity unto its next higher order of phenomenal existence, the spiritual being.

Written by Sugata Bose

WHO CARES FOR TULSI MAHARAJ AFTER ALL?

WHO CARES FOR TULSI MAHARAJ AFTER ALL? 

Spiritual growth for worldly people? Yes, snail's progress, perhaps. No amount of initiation, keeping company with organisational monks who do not stand up for truth, or bearing allegiance to organisation that propagates untruth about its foundational element (Swami Nirmalananda/Tulsi Maharaj) and denies justice to his seminal personality can be of avail before the uncompromising eye of Truth that is commonly called God. 

Swamiji had famously said, "Organisation breeds new evils." And how right he was! After all he was an omniscient Rishi, in his own words which are being quoted here, 'the intelligent man who can see through the next four yugas.'

Tulsi Maharaj has been orphaned by organisation as nobody's disciple, certainly not Thakur's, as officially maintained for some queer misgiving, and we have taken up the charge to resurrect his due status. Those that will join us, I call them intrepid warriors of the Spirit, the type of devotees Swamiji had dreamt of. Come on, join us and do justice to Tulsi Maharaj. 

Written by Sugata Bose

গা বাঁচিয়ে কদ্দূর?

গা বাঁচিয়ে কদ্দূর?

------------------

গা বাঁচিয়ে সত্যরক্ষা করা যায় না, সত্যের জন্য সংগ্রাম করাও যায় না | এ কাপুরুষের কর্ম নয় | স্বামী নির্মলানন্দের (তুলসী মহারাজের) গুরু যে শ্রীরামকৃষ্ণ স্বয়ং, এ বিষয়ে লড়তে হলে সাহস অবলম্বন করতে হবে | আড়াল থেকে বাণ চালালে চলবে না, নিজের স্বার্থ দেখলেও হবে না | অসত্যের মুখোমুখী সটান দাঁড়াতে হবে সম্মুখরণে | তবে বলি রামকৃষ্ণভক্ত | নচেৎ, অমন কাপুরুষ দুনিয়াভর ঢের মেলে | তারা কি আর ভক্ত?

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

AN OPEN OFFER TO VOUCH FOR TRUTH

AN OPEN OFFER TO VOUCH FOR TRUTH

Let me see some devotees of the Ramakrishna Mission openly admit that Swami Nirmalananda (Tulsi Maharaj) is Sri Ramakrishna's direct disciple. If they can, they will have stood up to the test of truth and affirmed their devotion aright. But if they shy away from this offer, they will have exposed themselves as inadequate, insincere followers of Sri Ramakrishna who was the very embodiment of Truth. Here goes the challenge then. Let's see how bold and honest devotees are or how cowardly and hypocritical their piety is.

Written by Sugata Bose

POESY: 6 AUGUST, 1958 (THE FIRST TWO LINES WERE COMPÒSED THIS DAWN IN A DREAM---AND THEN ON WAKING UP)

6 AUGUST, 1958 (THE FIRST TWO LINES WERE COMPÒSED THIS DAWN IN A DREAM---AND THEN ON WAKING UP)

My son died the other day

And died with it my hopes,

Died with it my dreams.

And yet the shadows lengthened,

Yet life lingered on

Till in mellow eve at cowdust hour

Or deeper in the night perhaps

I hope to see his morning face

In distant dreams,

In some stellar beams,

Up somewhere in the heavens above

Or deep down in my heart.

My dawn broke,

It broke me apart.

But now we three will fuse again

Souls suffused with early love ❤️

To once more be whole.

Composed by Sugata Bose

Dated: 25 March, 2023

A WRONG READING

A WRONG READING 

It is wrong to discount Gavaskar's 732 Test Match runs including four Test centuries in 1978-79 against a secong-string attack after the Packer-lift of West Indies' first string of bowlers, namely, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner. Remember that even this second-string attack comprised top-class bowlers like Sylvester Clarke, Malcolm Marshall in his debut series, the veteran Vanburn Holder and Norbert Phillip. Marshall made it big later on in the reunited side post-Packer and Clarke also featured in the full-strength side sometimes. Holder's reputation need not be stressed and Phillip was a good bowler as well

Gavaskar's three Test centuries down-under against Australia on 1977-78 are also likewise thought of lightly but one must not forget that even the depleted Aussie attack was spearheaded by none other than Jeff Thomson. So, to discount Gavaskar's extraordinary batting exploits on this ground is proof of wrong-reading of the game as it were.

And forget not that Gavaskar besides these had scored five more centuries against the famed West Indian pace attack [leaving aside his first four Test centuries in his debut series against Sobers' side in 1971] and a 188 in his final encounter post-retirement with Marshall and Hadlee at Lord's in the MCC Bicentennial Match in 1987, an innings which was lauded by Alan Davidson as a perfect exhibition of batsmanship against genuine fast bowling.

Gavaskar faced the fiercest fast bowling in cricket history to notch up 34 Test centuries. Some of the genuine fast bowlers he faced have been listed here. They are as follows: John Snow, Bob Willis (England); Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lillee, Len Pascoe, Rodney Hogg, Merv Hughes, Craig McDermott (Australia), Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Wayne Daniel, Sylvester Clarke, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Winston Davis, Elaine Baptiste (West Indies), Imran Khan, Wasim Akram (Pakistan) and Richard Hadlee (New Zealand).

'অন্ধ, জাগো'

'অন্ধ, জাগো' 

--------------

অন্ধ ভক্তগুলোই সংঘের বড় শত্রু | এঁরাই সর্বনাশের বৃহৎ আয়োজন করেন | কিন্তু সংঘের মাথা যাঁরা, তাঁরা এঁদের প্রশ্রয় দেন কেন? নিছক সংখ্যা বাড়ালেই তো আর আধ্যাত্মিক শক্তির প্রসার হয় না | শুধু ভৌতিক প্রভাবেরই বিস্তার ঘটে | এর বেশী কিছু নয় |

সংঘের শক্তি ক্রমশঃ বিপথে চালিত হয়ে পরিশেষে তা এমনই নেতিবাচক পর্যায়ে পর্যবসিত হয় যে মানবকুলের পুনরুত্থানের জন্য শ্রীভগবানকে পুনরায় ধরাধামে অবতীর্ণ হতে হয় |

আজ এমনই দিন সমাগত | ঠাকুরের পুনরাবির্ভাবের লগ্ন সমুপস্থিত | আমরা মর্তলোকে তাঁর পাদস্পর্শের প্রতীক্ষায় অধীর আগ্রহে ঘোর উৎকন্ঠায় আছি | 

আর দেরি নয় | অনেক ক্ষতি হয়ে গেছে | আদর্শের হত্যা বড় হত্যা | তাঁর আদর্শ আজ অনাদৃত, অবহেলিত, উপেক্ষিত, অবলুন্ঠিত | 'টাকা মাটি, মাটি টাকা' -- এই মূলমন্ত্র আজ মন্ত্রণাকক্ষে ব্রাত্য | 'টাকা খাঁটি, খাঁটি টাকা' -- এই মূল্যমন্ত্রই আজ কতিপয় কর্ণধারের কর্মানুষ্ঠানের অনুপ্রেরণা | 

তাই ঠাকুরের আবির্ভাব আসন্ন | সত্যভক্ত তাঁর আসার আশায় দিন গুনছেন | আর যাঁরা সংঘবদ্ধ নীতিভ্রষ্ট প্রতাপশালীদের আশ্রয়ে ভগবানকে অর্থের বিনিময়ে কিনে বসে আছেন বলে বোধ করছেন, তাঁদের রুচি নেই অবতারের পুনরাবির্ভাবে | এমনই হয়ে থাকে | এঁদেরই ঠাকুর ঐহিক ভক্ত ও মোসাহেবের দল বলতেন | জয় রামকৃষ্ণ !

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

আলোকচিত্র : ঠাকুর, মা ও ঠাকুরের ১৭ জন সাক্ষাৎ সন্ন্যাসী শিষ্য |

ঠাকুরের সন্ন্যাসী পার্ষদের তালিকা :

১) স্বামী বিবেকানন্দ ২) স্বামী ব্রহ্মানন্দ ৩) স্বামী প্রেমানন্দ ৪) স্বামী যোগানন্দ ৫) স্বামী নিরঞ্জনানন্দ ৬) স্বামী সারদানন্দ ৭) স্বামী রামকৃষ্ণানন্দ ৮) স্বামী শিবানন্দ ৯) স্বামী তুরীয়ানন্দ ১০) স্বামী অভেদানন্দ ১১) স্বামী অদ্ভুতানন্দ ১২) স্বামী অদ্বৈতানন্দ ১৩) স্বামী ত্রিগুণাতীতানন্দ ১৪) স্বামী অখণ্ডানন্দ ১৫) স্বামী সুবোধানন্দ ১৬) স্বামী নির্মলানন্দ ১৭) স্বামী বিজ্ঞানানন্দ |

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, Seeta-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.)

WATER THE ROOTS PLEASE

WATER THE ROOTS PLEASE

What's the use of tending to the stem when the root is rotting? An urban polity that has reduced itself to a vast mass of fools responding hysterically to crass consumerism coming in the form of degenerate advertising culture can scarce contribute effectively to the development of the nation. And to top it all with the cartoon-leaders at the helm of affairs, and we have our picture perfect.

Our country is going down the drains in every sense despite pervasive propaganda about its fictitious rise which every fool in delusion will accept but not the discerning who for sure can see through. Corruption, levity, lack of a sense of perfection and lack of the aesthetic sense are reducing human quality in the country and making men mere pawns in the chess game of power-brokers, be they in the business realm or in that perverted sphere of politics. Add to that the common degeneracy and the desperate situation only evokes despair.

But here we have work at hand. Work at the roots and shoot not reforms at the shoot which shall be of little consequence. And instead of depending upon the cartoon-leaders of our country for improved prospects, let us set ourselves in our individual and collective capacities to turning the wheel of our nation's fortune in the right direction. 'Myself righted, the nation will be righted' -- let this be the motto.

Written by Sugata Bose

WHY WE REVERE WHO WE REVERE

WHY WE REVERE WHO WE REVERE

Man instinctively bows down before men of character. Where he sees a shortcoming in himself, he pays obeisance to one of richer resource, as if by way of recompense for failing to actualise in his own life what seemed possible in the realm of dreams. Now fulfilment of sorts he seeks in adoration of the great ones in whose lives he finds the fulfilment of his failed aspirations. Thus, reverence wells up from the inner recesses of the heart in intuitive apprehension of one's future fulfilment, now realised vicariously through appreciation of attributes in another that one sees as one's own in the making indistinctly. This is the science of adoration at its spiritual-psychological causal level.

Written by Sugata Bose