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.)

A BINDING DUTY FOR US

A BINDING DUTY FOR US

Hindus who convert to Islam or Christianity have a very flawed understanding of these two religions and a very poor understanding of their own owing to proliferating crass religious culture. Study Ramakrishna-Vivekananda to avoid this precipitous fall unto alien religiocultural perversion.

The monks of the Ramakrishna Order and the devotees of the same have a special duty in preventing the perversion of Hindus to Islam and Christianity, and this cannot be brought about by pandering to the vanities of these two proselytising faiths that are doctrinally enjoined to convert the entire world to their own fold, especially Islam which cannot tolerate the polytheistic, idolatrous Hindu and must destroy his religion and impose itself.

Written by Sugata Bose

ON THE EVE OF THE CONCLUSION OF THE YEAR-LONG CELEBRATION OF THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION

ON THE EVE OF THE CONCLUSION OF THE YEAR-LONG CELEBRATION OF THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION

Why read from writing displayed on a screen in front? That is deception. Rather read directly from a notepad in view of the camera. That is simplicity, practice of spiritual rectitude.

Sri Ramakrishna's great saying 'Taka mati, mati taka' you for obvious reasons forgot to mention. Also, 'Satya kathai kalir tapasya.'

Swamiji had cautioned the Mission monks against advertising their achievements. His motto was silent work. Today, in the name of communication of news of welfare activities to the public, the executive authority is much given to that very advertising and self-proclamation that was forbidden by Swamiji.

Truth in perfection of observance has been forsaken in the Ramakrishna Mission ever since the day Tulsi Maharaj's (Swami Nirmalananda's) name was erased from its publications and public discourse by a systematic design. This has not been in keeping with the principle 'Satya kathai kalir tapasya.' The Mission mentions only 16 direct monastic male disciples of Thakur, leaving the 17th one, Tulsi Maharaj, out, when the truth is that Thakur had 17 direct disciples. This is amply evident from the earlier publications of the Mission. Read Brahma Gopal Dutt's book 'Swami Nirmalananda---A Disciple of Sri Ramakrishna---A Focus on Facts and Facets' to come to a comprehensive understanding of the actual truth as opposed to the projected untruth.

Politics? There is no active involvement of the Mission in actual politics, true, but there is an increasing hobnobbing of the highest executive authority in the corridors of political power which is an eyesore. Political speeches have been given from the Belur Math precincts twice, once by the Chief Minister and once by the Prime Minister with the Mission remaining mute over the spectacle on grounds of fabled Indian hospitality.

Swamiji wanted democracy in time in the Mission but overtime it is being perceived even by the public that there is an increasing concentration of power in the hands of a select few of the trustees with absolute paramountcy of the Chief Executive, the General Secretary, who is unduly eulogised by all and sundry within the Math's monastic brotherhood openly to the shame of the Mission's glorious tradition. Such sycophancy is contradisposed to genuine spirituality. 

There is a tightening of executive control today, true, but a slackening of spiritual values and a deflection from original ideals and intent which form the bedrock of Thakur's Order. This is a dangerous trend which, if unchecked and not rectified forthwith, could derail the Mission's movement despite pompous proclamations about Swamiji's prophecy of the Mission surviving 1500 years of glorious growth that will inundate the world with a spiritual tsunami resurrecting humanity and setting it on a divine evolutionary track.

The Mission's growth and welfare activities have been glorious over the last decade, true, but the payment given to its employees, from what one gathers, is exploitatively low. This needs redress as well. The Mission should set standards of non-exploitation of labour rather than give in to capitalist culture despite it being overwhelmingly well-funded today.

These are well-meaning observations made by one who genuinely deems the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission to be the kohinoor in the country's crown and fervently hopes that the dazzling diamond is not lost to marauders like the one in history which now adorns the plunderer's crown. All glories ahead to the deeds of the Holy Trinity of Thakur-Ma-Swamiji who for sure will salvage the situation and set their organisation right. At least one hopes so unless, of course, as prophesied by Thakur, he reappears on earth to set up a new Mission yet again whose life will last the remaining term of 1500 years.

P.S. When Swami Atmasthananda, the 15th President of the Ramakrishna Order, died, the West Bengal Government characteristically honoured him with a 21 round gun salute from 9.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. within the Belur Math precincts near Swamiji's Temple which broke the silence of Thakur's hour in repose after his dinner and sullied the sanctity of the hallowed grounds trodden by Holy Mother, Swamiji, Raja Maharaj, Mahapurush Maharaj and a host of other spiritual luminaries. Why was permission given for such a violent tribute that broke the silence of the night, disturbed the birds sleeping in their nests, causing them perhaps in fright to suddenly take to flight, thereby losing track in the deep dark night and coming to grief? The gun is an instrument of violence and certainly not a holy tool used to honour spiritually illumined souls in memoriam. Why then this sacrilege of the Belur Math in May, 2017? Will this be the order of the day then even in the Order? These are ruminations worthwhile one hopes the misdirected authority today deems worthy of attention. 🕉

Written by Sugata Bose

P.S. : Why delete comments that you find critical of your unspiritual stance like you have deleted mine? This is why religion becomes static and an agency of control by the ruling dispensation. Let criticism flourish. Otherwise, where will you get another Vivekananda? How would you have got the original Vivekananda, your founder, were he not constructively critical of the dispensation then that inspired him to found the Order whose 126th anniversary you are about to celebrate tomorrow ?

REFLECTIONS ON THE SANATAN DHARMA AND THE HINDU POLITY ... 1

REFLECTIONS ON THE SANATAN DHARMA AND THE HINDU POLITY ... 1

We, Hindus, worship the cow and do not eat it. That is why we are the most civilised spiritual race in the world and the least violent. Our problems are internal, limited to within our complex social fabric where indeed we find tensions and inequalities, sometimes even of a vicious kind. But we do not extend them to beyond our boundaries. We do not persecute other peoples, other races, religions, cultures. We are a peace-loving people content to solving the riddle of existence rather than busying ourselves in cutting the throats of people who differ with our religious realisations, beliefs and practices. We have learnt from ancient times the sanctity of life. Hence, we are non-violent. But when infringed upon too much, we also know how to deal a telling blow in self-defence. 

Our dharma differs from the Abrahamic concept of belief-bound faith. It is based on the discoveries of spiritual principles by spiritual scientists or seers called Rishis. These principles are beginningless and endless, subtle as they are and transcending time. Hence, their conglomerate collection called the Vedas are also beginningless and endless and are co-equal with God in some sanctified sense, although not absolutely so, God in the Vedic sense being the highest development of these ideas and the unmanifest-manifest Being.

Our dharma is a tradition in much the manner of the scientific tradition. As such no dogma binds it or its adherents. Investigation into truth in all its relative complexities and its absolute transcendence is its life force and rational scepticism backed up by intuitive insight its method. Where it goes a step further than science is that dharma keeps its doors of investigation open to both the external and the internal world. Modern psychology also does somewhat the same but does not go as deep as the psychology of the Sanatan Dharma. The latter dives deep into the internal world of man and attempts to arrive at the very root of consciousness which is also the root of the Being, dubbed the Brahman in the universal sense and the Atman in the sense individual. Essentially, though, Atman = Brahman, for in transcendence of the mathematical web of Maya there is but the solitary existence, call it by whatever you will.

Written by Sugata Bose 

Photo: Swami Madhavananda, ninth President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, disciple of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi who had, when apprised of the young Nirmal's (Madhavananda's) academic brilliance and ascetic propensities, famously compared him to a tusker's tusk rimmed in gold. She had in delightful benediction exclaimed, "ও বাবা, এ যে দেখছি হাতির দাঁত সোনা দিয়ে বাঁধানো !"

ET TU VIVEKANANDA?

 

ET TU VIVEKANANDA?

Meek men preaching the Vedanta can never 'make the lion of Vedanta roar.' Here is the one who was strong enough to propagate the Vedanta without a tinge of cowardice or hypocrisy attending such preaching. He made no compromise with coarse religions that preach hatred. Mercilessly he pulled down the facade of falsehood and exposed the doctrinaire diabolism of these religions. And where he went soft on them despite his knowledge of their dastardly nature, it must be attributed to his magnanimity of spirit or to the austere compulsions that existent circumstances laid on him. Anyhow, to the extent Vivekananda compromised with these fanatical cults, allowing them a status they deserve not by doctrinaire stricture, to that extent he failed to live up to truth. He went against his own stand on truth being uncompromising and failed the ideal in his pursuit of pragmatic results which must have mattered more to him. For who has ever stood up to the Devil after all and challenged him in the face? History allows the thrust of truth against untruth but only as far as it deems expedient. And men, even messiahs, abide by it.

Written by Sugata Bose

SWAMI NIRVEDANANDA---A MONK EXTRAORDINAIRE

SWAMI NIRVEDANANDA---A MONK EXTRAORDINAIRE

Swami Nirvedananda, formerly Surendranath Mukherjee, popular in Ramakrishna lore as Anadi Maharaj, was the founder of the Ramakrishna Mission Calcutta Students' Home, Belgharia. Born on 19 July, 1893 when Swami Vivekananda was being reborn in a different setting in America, Anadi grew up to be a brilliant student, graduating in Physics from Presidency College in 1913 and achieving his Master's degree in English in 1916. By then he was presumably well-versed in the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature, erudite as he was otherwise, and inspired by the ideal of 'renunciation and service' as upheld before the day's youth by Swamiji, quit home to start a coaching class and a shelter for bright and needy students, offering them a spiritual ambience to pursue education in a city that was rocked by feverish political turmoil.

Soon he came into close contact with five of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, namely, Swami Brahmananda who spiritually initiated him with the Ishtamantra (sacred sound symbol of one's Chosen Deity), Swami Shivananda who later ordained him into sannyas (monasticism), Swami Saradananda who he promised lifelong association with the Calcutta Students' Home which he fulfilled to the letter till his earthly demise, Swami Premananda and Swami Turiyananda. Such holy association set aflame his innate spiritual tendencies and what remained as the ashes of the blaze was the realised soul, Swami Nirvedananda, whose very memory is hallowed today and serves as a perennial source of spiritual inspiration amidst the general decadence of the times. John Keats had penned that immortal line 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever.' Indeed, Anadi Maharaj lives on in the hearts of so many as such a divine act of beauty, a masterpiece by the Master himself in his hour of beauteous repose. 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram' was hardly ever better exemplified in a human as in Swami Nirvedananda who in spirit had become one with his divine Master.

Anadi had started his first coaching centre soon after graduation in 1913 at a rented house on Jeliapara Lane in Boubazar, Kolkata, with just two students, shifting residence multiple times through Corporation Street, Banka Rai Street, Halder Lane, Abhay Halder Lane, Gouripur, Hasnabad, Garpar Road, Upper Circular Road and Harinath Dey Road before finding permanent residential roots in Belgharia in 1954. His motto 'Maximum freedom, minimum restraint' drew on the best resources of the students in his care whose academic and spiritual lives he nourished in a manner that they not only matured into fine citizens but quite a few felt inspired to embrace monastic vows in the Ramakrishna Order to perpetuate the legacy of the mission they had in their days at the Students' Home been imbued with almost imperceptibly. Several such come to mind immediately---Swamis Vagishananda and Shivamayananda who grew up to become Vice Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order and Swami Atmasthananda who adorned the seat of the 15th President of the Order. Swami Gambhirananda had also arrived one day at Belur Math from Burma to join the Order there with a baggage of books, only to be redirected to the comforting care of Swami Nirvedananda at the Calcutta Students' Home from where he embarked on his remarkable spiritual journey, scholarly erudition and pathbreaking authorship on the history of the Ramakrishna Movement till he had sublimated his self unto surrender at Sri Ramakrishna's lotus feet as the 11th Abbott of the Order.

Swami Nirvedananda expanded the activities of the Students' Home in diverse directions with meticulous care and precision, and a perfection in execution that was innate to him. He was a remarkable scholar and left behind his thoughts on education in several books penned by him that bespeak not only of his erudition but of his innovative deep ideas as well. Anadi Maharaj had initiated the 'Vidyarthi Vrata Homa Ceremony' in the academic institutions run by the Ramakrishna Mission. He was an active participant in the establishment of the Ramakrishna Mission Deoghar Vidyapeeth and much later in 1954 the Sarada Math at Dakshineshwar which is the women's monastic organisation centring the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. For his stainless character, actualisation in glowing deeds the Math's motto 'Atmano mokshartham jagaddhitayacha' ('For one's own liberation and the welfare of the world'), tireless service to humanity in the fledgling youth of the day, his unblemished monastic life, his invigorating inspirational leadership to the youth, innovative contributions to the Order and for a host of other saintly virtues, Swami Nirvedananda was made a trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and  member of the Governing Body of the Ramakrishna Mission. His seminal thinking on education and policymaking thereof paved the way for the birth and growth of golden academic projects of the Mission which have ever since transformed the face of emerging India.

Swami Brahmananda visited the Calcutta Students' Home on 24 December, 1920. Holy Mother had passed away barely five months earlier and it was Raja Maharaj who was in all respects at the helm of the Order. His visit sanctified the Home and secured for it the perennial blessings of the Holy Trinity of Thakur-Ma-Swamiji whose presence there as the guardian of the institution had been prophesied by Swami Turiyananda. Nirvedanandaji jotted down that night in his diary, "As if the Son of God descended and 'baptised' this infant Students' Home."

Mahapurush Maharaj was so endeared to Nirvedanandaji that he in a lofty mood of inspiration once said to him, "You have become one with us." What greater laurel may mortal man aspire for than such an averment in divine love, a benediction in immortality?

Like the gentle water that flows on, giving life and nourishment to all till it finds its sanctuary in the sea, Anadi Maharaj's life flowed on in rippling streams of benediction to students whose lives he moulded en route to his destination in the Divine whence there is no return. On 15 November, 1958, at the age of 65, Swami Nirvedananda's spirit rose from its earthly habitat to unite with his beloved Master Sri Ramakrishna who he had in living form served thus far in his terrestrial abode. Belur Math became poorer that day for never has such a one been born again to grace the gardens of the Divine Gardener.

Anadi Maharaj lives on in lushgreen memory as fresh aspirants are inspired into contemplative life and fruitful action, tracing the footprints laid on the sands of time by this solitary pilgrim of the soul.

Written by Sugata Bose

Comments:

Indibar Gurdas Mukherjee @Sugata Bose  : He is my grandmother's youngest maternal uncle,the other day I uploaded a photo of his in the Facebook. And your tribute is priceless.Very familiar,as from my childhood days I heard these things about him.

Sugata Bose @Indibar Gurdas Mukherjee : I am moved to know about your familial relation to this heavenly soul, verily a blossom of the fabled Garden of Eden brought home on earthy earth. We have all been sanctified by the perennial presence of this perfected soul in our meditations, in our dreams and in our idealised actions.

ঠাকুরের রূপ

ঠাকুরের রূপ

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ঠাকুরের সাধনকালের চেহারা আমরা কল্পনাও করতে পারি না | স্বর্ণকান্তি, তপ্তোজ্জ্বল, দেবপ্রভা---এমন রূপ যে ঠাকুর জগন্মাতাকে বলছেন, "মা, ঢুকে যা, ঢুকে যা ভেতরে | নইলে বিষয়ীদের ভীড়ে টিকতে পারব না |" শ্রীশ্রীমা বলেছিলেন, "তখন ঠাকুরের গায়ের রং এমন হয়েছিল যে সোনার কবচের সাথে এক হয়ে যেত |" আজ হঠাৎ কেন জানি প্রেমেশ মহারাজের বার্ধক্যের এই দিব্যরূপ দেখে ঠাকুরের যৌবনকালের দিব্যকান্তির কথা মনে পড়ে গেল | ছবি তো নেই, তাই কল্পনাসহায়ে সে যুগে গমন | পরে ঠাকুরের রং মলিন হয়ে যায় | দীর্ঘকাল ধরে পেটের রোগে ভুগে শরীরের সৌন্দর্যের মধ্যে শুধু দেবশিশুসুলভ কোমলতা ও এক অপার্থিব পবিত্রতা রয়ে যায় | বাকি সব তাঁর অন্তরের গহনে---যাঁর প্রতি তাঁর কৃপা, তিনি দেখুন তাঁর প্রেমনেত্র দিয়ে |

রচয়িতা : সুগতবসু (Sugata Bose)

MASTER MAHASHAY

MASTER MAHASHAY 

The realised soul chronicles 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna'. Mahendranath Gupta (M), the sage chosen for the purpose by the Avatar of the Age, who completed his proof-correction of the fifth and final volume of the Gospel before retiring once and for all on the lap of his Gurudev and Mother.

A regular keeper of diaries since the age of thirteen, Mahendranath had perfected the art of recollecting the day's events long before he in adulthood met his Master at Dakshineshwar. His phenomenal photographic memory with a knack for detail made him the ideal instrument for recording the day's proceedings at his Master's place or wherever he visited devotees in Kolkata or in the suburbs.

At the age of five Mahendranath had lost his way on a visit to the Dakshineshwar Temple complex with his family when a luminous young man had comforted him and found him his parents. Later Mahendranath reckoned that it must have been Sri Ramakrishna, then 23 years himself and in the storm of his sadhana, who had rescued him.

A brilliant student, Mahendranath stood third in the Matriculation Examination, then graduated and post-graduated from Calcutta University with first class marks and securing second rank. Thereafter, he took up the professorial job and entered family life which proved unhappy. So unhappy that the young erudite professor contemplated suicide. On a fateful night in February, 1882, Mahendranath set off on his suicide mission with his young wife, Nikunja Devi, who he thought he would keep in the care and custody of her cousin Ishan Mukhopadhyay before plunging himself in the sacred waters of the Ganga and ending his life's misery.

But fate decreed otherwise. A relative, Siddheshwar (Sidhu), took him along to the Dakshineshwar Garden nearby where stood the stately Kali Temple of Rashmoni and where lived a Paramahamsa who altered the course of Mahendranath's life. The professor's wish to end his material life was fulfilled though, but in a different way. This fateful meeting with his would be Master so spiritually transformed him that he at any rate died a material death, his links to aspirational life severed and sundered forever and his suffering ended for good. But that was as yet years apart. For the present let us dive into the Gospel to discover what happened.

M had been born in 1854 and now stood full 28 years tall in February, 1882 when the fateful evening saw him arrive at Dakshineshwar in the cowdust hour when the vesper service in the temples was about to begin. After preliminary exchanges with the solitary sage in his room, M retired, only to arrive at his feet a few days later on his second visit.

This was a seminal occasion with hoary India meeting young India at the crossroads of civilisation, at a momentous intersection of history when the future course of the country was being set and out of the clash and conflict of Occidental and Oriental culture a grand synthesis was being fused, a new age being ushered in by the peerless Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar and his would be protégés in Narendranath, Mahendranath et al.

The preceptor had spotted the pupil although the pupil was as yet unaware. From his physical features the Master had known him to be a perfected yogi who had temporarily left his ethereal seat of meditation to assist him in his earthly mission. Thus, when apprised of the fact that Mahendranath had married and had fathered a son, the Paramahamsa lamented the loss of such a one to familial bond which greatly agonised M. Further, on attempting to argue against the validity of image-worship, M was chastised by the Master with a plethora of illuminating utterances which have now become staple to spiritual conversation in the Ramakrishna Movement across the world.

The next three visits to Dakshineshwar found M amidst a mart of joy with young Narendranath being imperceptibly given the cue for his future life as preacher of the Vedanta across the world and the behavioural guidelines thereof by way of self-preservation, with the Master's prophetic vision penetrating through the mist of time. It was prophetic indeed as the future course of events in the Swami's life would testify, he surviving a barrage of calumny cast at home and abroad by adversaries who could scarce bear his eminence and influence over the perceptive public, enthralled by his 'oratory by divine right'. Right now neither he nor M nor any around had an inkling, though, about future developments. But the Master knew.

On his fourth visit to Dakshineshwar M witnessed a strange sight. The Master had passed into a state of spiritual superconsciousness which is termed 'samadhi'. M was awestruck by it and had been absorbed into the spiritual ambit of the Master for good. The rest was a series of visits to Dakshineshwar and elsewhere, wherever the Master graced by his presence, as in Kolkata and its environs. It was mainly on Sundays and during school holidays -- M then worked in Vidyasagar's 'Metropolitan Institution' -- that M visited the Master. Sometimes he stayed at Dakshineshwar overnight, once staying for a continuous stretch of 25 days, occupying the upper floor room of Nahabat from where he could view the Ganga on a moonlit night and meditate on the infinite beauty of the Beloved whose earthly incarnation Sri Ramakrishna was, to his reckoning.

Household troubles were laid aside as M absorbed with meticulous care and concentration every word uttered by his Master, his every manner and means, recording them in cryptic form at night in his diary for meditation during the week when he would miss his Master in person owing to the intervention of his professional work. He would read these notes and ruminate on the day's proceedings, once discovered in the act by dramatist and co-devotee Girish Chandra Ghosh who requested from M his diary for perusal but was politely refused on the ground that the notes were entirely for his personal recollection of the Master's words. In this way M, the mother eagle, protected his fledgling infant notes from the prying eyes of the world for future inundation of the world one day when the Master's words in cascading flow would bring bliss and peace to all and sundry.

Thus four and a half years passed and the Master passed away in August, 1886, plunging the devotees and disciples in inconsolable grief. The young eagles of Ramakrishna, under the protective patronage of Surendranath Mitra, Balaram Basu, Girish Chandra Ghosh and Mahendranath Gupta, took refuge successively in Baranagar Math and Alambazar Math from where they later shifted residence to Nilambar Babu's Garden House in Belur and finally to the permanent location in Belur Math which has ever since remained the Headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. M on his part took refuge in his diaries and secretly started transcribing his cryptic notes into narrative which he first published as 'The Condensed Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' in English. Swamiji was overjoyed on reading the first two published leaflets of the same and blessed M's endeavour in exuberant terms.

Girish Babu requested M to record the Master's words in the original Bengali and thus began the publication of 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita', a graphic description of the Master's pastimes and, incredibly, an almost stenographic recording of his actual words in their proper setting which has in hagiographic literature now occupied a seminally unique place.

M was initially reticent about publishing, having been criticised by Baburam Maharaj (Swami Premananda) for the inadequacy of his experience with the Master as he was with him only on weekends and other holidays and, so, had missed the Master's company and conversation in the major, his glowing words on absolute renunciation uttered in private before his would be monastic disciples. But Holy Mother Sarada Devi encouraged him,  saying that when M was reading out to her the Master's words one day, it had seemed to her as if it was the Master himself speaking those words. Thus reassured, M proceeded with his publication, a task in totality which he completed just before breathing his last. He had material for the publication of at least twelve volumes of the Gospel, though, but could by his Master's grace publish only five such, the rest remaining undeciphered and undecipherable in his diaries as his once recorded cryptic notes. Thus, like all things on earth, the Gospel too sought completion in its incompleteness.

Many years later when Paul Brunton, a British journalist and seeker, in his wanderjahre through the sacred resorts of India came to Master Mahashay's presence, he described him thus:

['A venerable patriarch has stepped from the pages of the Bible, and a figure from Mosaic times has turned to flesh. This man with bald head, long white beard, and white moustache, grave countenance, and large, reflective eyes; this man whose shoulders are slightly bent with the burden of nearly eighty years of mundane existence, can be none other than the Master Mahasaya. He takes his seat on a divan and then turns his face towards mine. In that grave, sober presence I realize instantly that there can be no light persiflage, no bandying of wit or humour, no utterance even of the harsh cynicism and dark scepticism which overshadow my soul from time to time. His character, with its commingling of perfect faith in God and nobility of conduct, is written in his appearance for all to see. He addresses me in perfectly accented English.

"You are welcome here."

He bids me come closer and take my seat on the same divan. He holds my hand for a few moments. I deem it expedient to introduce myself and explain the object of my visit. When I have concluded speaking, he presses my hand again in a kindly manner and says: "It is a higher power which has stirred you to come to India, and which is bringing you in contact with the holy men of our land. There is a real purpose behind that, and the future will surely reveal it. Await it patiently."

"Will you tell me something about your master Ramakrishna?" 

"Ah, now you raise a subject about which I love best to talk. It is nearly half a century since he left us, but his blessed memory can never leave me; always it remains fresh and fragrant in my heart. I was twenty seven when I met him and was constantly in his society for the last five years of his life. The result was that I became a changed man; my whole attitude towards life was reversed. Such was the strange influence of this god-man Ramakrishna. He threw a spiritual spell upon all who visited him. He literally charmed them, fascinated them. Even materialistic persons who came to scoff became dumb in his presence." 

"But how can such persons feel reverence for spirituality -- a quality in which they do not believe?" I interpose, slightly puzzled. 

The corners of Mahasaya's mouth pull up in a half-smile. He answers: "Two persons taste red pepper. One does not know its name; perhaps he has never even seen it before. The other is well acquainted with it and recognizes it immediately. Will it not taste the same to both? Will not both of them have a burning sensation on the tongue? In the same way, ignorance of Ramakrishna's spiritual greatness did not debar materialistic persons from 'tasting' the radiant influence of spirituality which emanated from him." 

"Then he really was a spiritual superman?" 

"Yes, and in my belief even more than that. Ramakrishna was a simple man, illiterate and uneducated. He was so illiterate that he could not even sign his name, let alone write a letter. He was humble in appearance and humbler still in mode of living, yet he commanded the allegiance of some of the best educated and most cultured men of the time in India. They had to bow before his tremendous spirituality which was so real that it could be felt. He taught us that pride, riches, wealth, worldly honours, worldly position are trivialities in comparison with that spirituality, are fleeting illusions which deceive men. Ah, those were wonderful days! Often he would pass into trances of so palpably divine a nature that we who were gathered around him then would feel that he was a god, rather than a man. Strangely, too, he possessed the power of inducing a similar state in his disciples by means of a single touch; in this state they could understand the deep mysteries of God by means of direct perception. But let me tell you how he affected me.

"I had been educated along Western lines. My head was filled with intellectual pride. I had served in Calcutta colleges as Professor of English Literature, History and Political Economy at different times. Ramakrishna was living in the temple of Dakshineswar, which is only a few miles up the river from Calcutta. There I found him one unforgettable spring day and listened to his simple expression of spiritual ideas born of his own experience. I made a feeble attempt to argue with him but soon became tongue-tied in that sacred presence whose effect on me was too deep for words. Again and again I visited him, unable to stay away from this poor, humble but divine person, until Ramakrishna one day humorously remarked: 'A peacock was given a dose of opium at four o'clock. The next day it appeared again exactly at that hour. It was under the spell of opium and came for another dose.'

"That was true, symbolically speaking. I had never enjoyed such blissful experiences as when I was in the presence of Ramakrishna. So, can you wonder why I came again and again? And, so, I became one of his group of intimate disciples, as 

distinguished from merely occasional visitors.

"One day the Master said to me: 'I can see from the signs of your eyes, brow and face that you are a Yogi. Do all your work then, but keep your mind on God. Wife, children, father and mother, live with all and serve them as if they are your own. The tortoise swims about in the waters of the lake but her mind is fixed to where her eggs are laid on the banks. So, do all the work of the world but keep the mind in God.'

"And so, after the passing away of our Master, when most of the other disciples voluntarily renounced the world, adopted the yellow robe, and trained themselves to spread Ramakrishna's message through India, I did not give up my profession but carried on with my work in education. Nevertheless, such was my determination not to be of the world although I was in it, that on some nights I would retire at dead of night to the open veranda before the Senate House and sleep among the homeless beggars of the city, who usually collected there to spend the night. This used to make me feel, temporarily at least, that I was a man with no possessions.

"Ramakrishna has gone, but as you travel through India you will see something of the social, philanthropic, medical and educational work being done throughout the country under the inspiration of those early disciples of his, most of whom, alas! have now passed away too. What you will not see so easily is the number of changed hearts and changed lives primarily due to this wonderful man. For his message has been handed down from disciple to disciple who have spread it as widely as they could. And I have been privileged to take down many of his sayings in Bengali; the published record has entered almost every household in Bengal while translations have also gone into other parts of India. So you see how Ramakrishna's influence has spread far beyond the immediate circle of his little group of disciples."

Mahasaya finishes his long recital and relapses into silence.

As I look at his face anew, I am struck by the non-Hindu colour and cast of his face. Again I am wafted back to a little kingdom in Asia Minor where the children of Israel find a temporary respite from their hard fortunes. I picture Mahasaya among them as a venerable prophet speaking to his people. How noble and dignified the man looks! His goodness, honesty, virtue, piety and sincerity are transparent. He possesses that self-respect of a man who has lived a long life in utter obedience to the voice of conscience.

"I wonder what Ramakrishna would say to a man who cannot live by faith alone, who must satisfy reason and intellect?" I murmur questioningly.

"He would tell the man to pray. Prayer is a tremendous force. Ramakrishna himself prayed to God to send him spiritually inclined people, and soon after that those who later became his disciples or devotees began to appear."

"But if one has never prayed -- what then?"

"Prayer is the last resort. It is the ultimate resource left to man. Prayer will help a man where the intellect may fail."

"But if someone came to you and said that prayer did not appeal to his temperament. What counsel would you give him?" I persist gently.

"Then let him associate frequently with truly holy men who have had real spiritual experience. Constant contact with them will assist him to bring out his latent spirituality. Higher men turn our minds and wills towards divine objects. Above all, they stimulate an intense longing for the spiritual life. Therefore, the society of such men is very important as the first step, and often it is also the last, as Ramakrishna himself used to say."

Thus we discourse of things high and holy, and how man can find no peace save in the Eternal Good. Throughout the evening different visitors make their arrival until the modest room is packed with Indians -- disciples of the Master Mahasaya. They come nightly and climb the stairs of this four-storeyed house to listen intently to every word uttered by their teacher. And for a while I, too, join them. Night after night I come, less to hear the pious utterances of Mahasaya than to bask in the spiritual sunshine of his presence. The atmosphere around him is tender and beautiful, gentle and loving; he has found some inner bliss and the radiation of it seems palpable. Often I forget his words, but I cannot forget his benignant personality. That which drew him again and again to Ramakrishna seems to draw me to Mahasaya also, and I begin to understand how potent must have been the influence of the teacher when the 

pupil exercises such a fascination upon me.

When our last evening comes, I forget the passage of time, as I sit happily at his side upon the divan. Hour after hour has flown by; our talk has had no interlude of silence, but at length it comes. And then the good master takes my hand and leads me out to the terraced roof of his house where, in the vivid moonlight, I see a circling array of tall plants growing in pots and tubs. Down below a thousand lights gleam from the houses of Calcutta. The moon is at its full. Mahasaya points up towards its round face and then passes into silent prayer for a brief while. I wait patiently at his side until he finishes. He turns, raises his hand in benediction and lightly touches my head. I bow humbly before this angelic man, unreligious though I am. After a few more moments of continued silence, he says softly: "My task has almost come to an end. This body has nearly finished what God sent it here to do. Accept my blessing before I go."

He has strangely stirred me. I banish the thought of sleep and wander through many streets. When at length I reach a great mosque and hear the solemn chant, "God is most great!" break forth upon the midnight stillness, I reflect that if anyone 

could free me from the intellectual scepticism to which I cling and attach me to a life of simple faith, it is undoubtedly the Master Mahasaya.

Before long I was apprised of his death.']

Overcome by the vision of this venerable sage and mesmerised by his prophetic presence, Paul Brunton was glued to his audience over the next few days as narrated above, meeting Master Mahashay in his rooftop rendezvous with devotees every evening. These encounters with a timeless teacher he wrote of along with memoirs of other sages in his book 'A Search in Secret India' which became an instant bestseller.

The sage who had thus enthralled a sceptical British journalist traversing through India in search of Truth, had also held enthralled a small group of devoted followers for decades in his rooftop conferences on his Guru, an experience that was in turn chronicled by a monastic follower, Swami Nityatmananda, who penned down M's conversations in his sixteen volume magnum opus 'Srima Darshan' ('শ্রীম দর্শন') in a like manner after M's own 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita'.

Master Mahashay was so saturated with the spirit of his Guru Sri Ramakrishna that he hardly ever spoke anything that did not refer to him. He was imbued with the one idea and the one ideal that permeated his being, and that was the Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar who occupied every inch space of his self, leaving no room for him. Egoless and full of God-consciousness, he moved on in this world like a divine child of the Blissful Mother and slaked the thirst of parched souls with the nectarine water of Ramakrishna. Monk and lay, they all flocked to him. He was after all the Master's chosen apostle for the great work of preserving for posterity his words and he was the Mother's (Sri Sarada Devi's) initiated disciple by the Master's commandment postmortem. Equally belonging to both -- in essence an integrated, indivisible divine entity, though -- M was like his Master and the Mother the exemplar of renunciation to both householder and monk alike. However, to keep up the ideal of the Master's absolute renunciation of 'woman and gold' ('kaminikanchan'), M accorded special reverence to all the monastic members visiting him from Belur Math and always encouraged young and unmarried aspirant men to visit Belur Math instead and associate with the monks there. In this way M was directly responsible for many a youth joining the Ramakrishna Order and many many more did so after having read 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna'. According to Swami Virajananda, 80% of the monks who had joined the Ramakrishna Order had done so after having read 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna'. Incalculable has been, thus, M's contribution to the bolstering of the Master's movement. He has left humanity in perennial debt.

And a final fact or two that cannot but be mentioned. Many of Sri Ramakrishna's young disciples and devotees were brought into contact with the Master by M acting as intermediary. Thakur even entrusted M with giving spiritual instructions to some of these young ones and to facilitate their coming to him in Dakshineshwar from their Kolkata residence. M was veritably the lone link between these lads and the Lord. Which is why boys like Purna owed their heartfelt gratitude to Master Mahashay for he had paved the way for their meeting their beloved Lord.

When Narendranath's family fell on evil days after the sudden demise of his father, with creditors at their doorstep demanding payment of their loans afforded to the extravagant Vishwanath, and relatives cheating them of hearth and home that left Bhuvaneshwari and her children refugees at her mother's, and, to compound matters worse, when Narendranath turned a renunciate at the behest of Thakur, leaving a starving family at the mercy of hyenas and wolves, it was the silent, secret monthly benevolence of Master Mahashay that had kept the family alive, a fact never disclosed to the future Vivekananda who has written about it that he remained in eternal debt to an unknown benefactor who had helped his family tide over those difficult days. M continued to provide a monthly allowance of rupees ten for decades that saved Swamiji's family from starvation. Of course, later Swamiji's disciple, Raja Ajit Singh of Khetri had supported the family on a monthly basis as well. But in those early days of destitution Master Mahashay was the lone star that gleamed in a darkened sky of hunger and hopelessness.

Thakur had passed away in August 1886. Then began a period that saw the birth of his Order amidst what labour pain! Swamiji in America had recounted their ordeal in his now celebrated lecture, 'My Life and Mission', how a million hands had risen to crush the fledgling fraternity, how homeless, penniless beggars with big ideas, ridiculed and reviled by society, like literal outcastes they clung to the Master and his ideals and dreamt of propagating his message through their exemplary living and blazing renunciation which they hoped would transform human society for good and relocate deflected humanity in its proper channel of historical evolution that led upwards to the Divine. Enemies abounded on all sides. Sympathisers were few, detractors were many and outright adversaries hell-bent on their destruction were a legion. Amidst these crushing circumstances stood out a few householder devotees of Thakur who stood by them. One was Surendra Mitra, another Balaram Basu, a third Girish Ghosh and a fourth the great chronicler of the Gospel, the prophetic patriarch in the making who Paul Brunton saw in his fertile fullness, Master Mahashay of modest means and a magnanimous spirit. To meet all ends he worked in three academic institutions, apportioning his income equally among his family, monastic brethren and the poor and the needy. Living like an itinerant monk with no thought of the morrow, Master Mahashay spent his days in loving remembrance of his Divine Master.

His days were now drawing to their end. The shadows lengthened as youthful vitality gave way to a solemn luminosity and the grand patriarch set about tying up the loose ends of his terrestrial life. The fifth and final volume of the Gospel was about to go to print after he had finished with his final proof-reading. The fateful day arrived. He had first seen the sun 77 years 10 months and 20 days ago on 14 July, 1854. Now, so many summers later, it was 4 June, 1932. It was 6 a.m. in the morning when M, the secret chronicler of the Gospel, finished with the proof-reading of its final page. Out there Sri Ramakrishna had also just finished his proof-reading of his disciple's 'Book of Life'. Both had complemented each other's work thus far and now both had completed their labour of love. M laid down his manuscript, bowed in reverence and uttered, "গুরুদেব, মা, আমায় কোলে তুলে নাও |" ["Gurudev, Mother, take me in your lap."] M's head, bent low in devotion, bent a little lower. All was still. The soul that had served had ascended into limpid spaces of freedom whence there was no return. Master Mahashay had united with his Master. The earthly chronicler and the divine chronicler had become one. All that remained was 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita' whose fifth and final volume went into print.

Hari 🕉 Ramakrishna!

Written by Sugata Bose

POESY BENGALI অন্তরার অন্তরায়

 

অন্তরার অন্তরায়

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হাহা করে হেসে হে,

গরমেতে কেসে কেসে,

দেখা যাবে অবশেষে,

পরিক্ষা আগতপ্রায় |

ওরে, ওরে,

Messenger ছেড়ে তুই

Whatsappey আয় |

পড়াশোনা কর বাবা,

বেলা বয়ে যায় |

ফাজীল হবি বা যদি,

মস্করা মহানদি,

সঠিক সময় বোধি,

তাও হওয়া যায় |

এলোমেলো চলিলে,

লঘু কথা বলিলে,

কালের কিলের চোটে

হবি ধরাশায়ী |

তাই বলি ত্বরা করি,

পাঠে তপোরূপে বরি,

শ্রবণে মননে স্মরি,

পড়া করে আয় |

ফল যদি ভালো হয়,

কপাল না কালো হয়,

হৃদে সদা আলো রয়,

কে পাইবে তায়?

তাই বলি পড়া কর,

ছিপ ফেলে মাছ ধর,

গৃহের প্রচীর গড়,

মনোরূপ রথ,

ওযে চারিদিকে ধায় |

সব ছেড়ে লেগে পর,

দিবানিশি পড়া কর,

নইলে উঠিবে ঝড়

শেষ লহমায় |

এখনও সময় আছে,

তুই Whatsappey আয় |

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

TULSI MAHARAJ, THE MUCH-WRONGED DISCIPLE OF THAKUR

TULSI MAHARAJ, THE MUCH-WRONGED DISCIPLE OF THAKUR 

Tampering with literature to suit organisational ends is a disservice unto truth and cannot be condoned. More so when such tampering is tantamount to erasing the due status of Swami Nirmalananda (Tulsi Maharaj) as direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. This sort of heinous defiling of the sacred preceptor-pupil (Guru-shishya) bond in truth by suppression of fact and insinuation of unsubstantiated preceptor-pupil relation can hardly be deemed an ethical act. It is an insult not only to Swami Nirmalananda but to his divine Guru as well.

Generations are being kept in the dark about this seminal sage whose dynamism galvanised the Ramakrishna Movement in its early phase and secured for it a strong foothold in southern India. Tulsi Maharaj had also preached in America where he was sent to assist Swami Abhedananda, a feature over which a veil has been drawn by the official chroniclers of organisational history. Tulsi Maharaj had by the grace of Thakur established well over a dozen Ashrams which invigorated southern India. This was in the aftermath of the rift over the Bangalore Case. Prior to it he had served the Ramakrishna Mission with his life's blood in its formative stages but there is hardly much mention of his unique achievements in either any book published by the Order today or in lectures delivered by the preachers of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. He has been well and truly, and wrongfully so, excluded from the rank of Thakur's direct disciples which including him number 17 but is wrongly propagated as 16 for no valid reason given save some wild assertion that he by self-admission was Swamiji's disciple, an averment he emphatically denied during the proceedings of the Bangalore Case, citing legal document (Power of Attorney from Swami Brahmananda, President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, to represent him in South India) to prove his point. Which, perhaps, explains this strange silence over this spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna, ostensibly to bury the dead past with ugly, unholy bearings.

But a past that is buried by heaping falsities on it can hardly produce any spiritual good which has only pure truth for its pious parentage. Hence, it is of utmost moment that Tulsi Maharaj be accorded his due status as direct disciple of Thakur and the long rift at length be bridged to restore peace once and for all. In upholding the truth blessings will be showered on the organisation by the heavenly powers that be and the goodwill of the Mission increased manifold in the eyes of discerning devotees. No damage to organisational reputation will take place for truth itself will be its finest preserver. Also, this course correction will have a cascading effect in correcting erroneous executive action elsewhere as is unfortunately the wont today.

"Organisation breeds new evils," Swamiji had said prior to organising the Ramakrishna brotherhood into its present missionary order. Swamiji had brooded much over the pros and cons of organisation and had opted for it to secure the spread of his Master's message if even at the cost of a certain inevitable dilution of spiritual standards in course of time. That such a dilution has today reached preposterous proportions is alarming and needs redress. That Tulsi Maharaj has fallen victim to such a dialectical development of the Order is unfortunate but as per dialectical progression it is high time to restore him rightfully to his due status as Thakur's direct disciple. Upon this course correction or otherwise depends the goodwill of the Order with far-reaching consequences either way. How the Mission's highest individual and collective authority will respond to the specific issue centring Tulsi Maharaj and to the general aberration affecting it in terms of deviation from original principles which form its foundation will determine the character and longevity of the Mission as a spiritual entity as distinct from its identity as a welfare organisation built on material principles.

Time, indeed, it is to retrace steps to the peerless Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar and to his prophetic protégé in the seminal Swami who rocked Chicago and the western world. Time, indeed, it is to settle the dust over unholy happenings of the past by pouring the Ganga water of truth over it. May Swami Nirmalananda emerge truly and securely from the mist of myth shrouding his personality into the sunshine of light and freedom that he is spiritually heir to! The deliberate denial, fictitious thrust and complete apathy regarding his spiritual parentage ought now to be done away with and peace and sanity restored amidst the affirmation of the apostolic integration of Thakur. After all, Thakur had 17 direct monastic disciples and not the propagated number of 16 such, the 17th being Swami Nirmalananda, our beloved Tulsi Maharaj. 🕉 

Written by Sugata Bose

MESSAGES GALORE ... 41

MESSAGES GALORE ... 41

1. Scholarship when pursued in a pure spirit is itself asceticism.

2. The child of love is the child of joy.

3. গুরুভক্তির চেয়ে বড় সাধনা আর নেই । ওই ওতেই সব পাওয়া যাবে ।

4. Conversion is cultural conquest as well which is why it is so dangerous. Conversion, thus, is a violent imposition of alien culture aimed at a nefarious political conquest en masse eventually once the demographic balance has tilted in favour of the aggressor.

5. 

A brilliant man with a devastating wit and a disarming smile, a scholar par excellence, a revealer of stunning facts that unfolded horizons before the Indians and made them realise the dastardly nature of Partition and its pernicious religiopolitical cause, a no-mincer of words, articulate and erudite, alas, Tarek Fatah will be sorely missed! His legacy lives on. 🕉 

6. When one sees the vast service network of the Ramakrishna Mission, one is simply swept into an enduring amazement.

7. The whole of literature is an aberration of the soul for the word can scarce express the essence.

8. Truth, be Thou my leading light!

9. কাজ না করলে ব্যক্তিত্ব তৈরী হবে কি করে?  Work is the foundation of character.

10. A wait in love is love itself. Remember Shavari's lifelong wait to behold Bhagavan Rama.

11. যত কম তত বেশী |

12. The whole world is false save for the love within.

13. Lie locked in love within and without. That is the way to bliss. That is the way to freedom where bond is and bondage is not, where the One and the Many have merged with a trace apart to savour the nectar of love.

14. ঘরবাড়ী গুছোনো, সুন্দর হবে | পারিপাট্যে ভগবান |

15. Realisation and not faith. That's where the Sanatan Dharma differs from the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

16. As culture plummets worldwide, religious fanaticism will be on the rise. The way ahead is the propagation of the liberal Vedanta.

17. সংস্কৃতিতে অনেক কিছুই যা আমরা বিদ্যামায়া বলে চালিয়ে দি, তা পরিবেশনার ন্যূনতম ব্যভিচারেও অবিদ্যামায়ায় পর্যবসিত হয় |

18. নাস্তিকরা যুক্তিবাদী | ভগবান যে আছেন তার প্রমাণ চান | এইটিই কিন্তু সনাতন ধর্মেরও সত্যসন্ধানের আদি ভাব, আদি পদ্ধতি | পার্থক্য এই যে সনাতন ধর্ম বহু জড়বাদীর মত প্রপঞ্চময় জগতকেও মেনে নেয় নি প্রমাণ ছাড়া | বিষয়বিশিষ্ট ইন্দ্রিয়গ্রাহ্য জগতকেও যুক্তির কাঠগোড়ায় দাঁড় করিয়েছে, এমনকি জিজ্ঞাসুকেও | সনাতন ধর্ম কোন কিছুকেই যুক্তি ও অতিন্দ্রিয় অনুভূতি ছাড়া মেনে নেয় নি |

বেদান্তই যথার্থ যুক্তিসঙ্গত ধর্ম ও দর্শন | আধুনিক বিজ্ঞানও সেই পথেই ধাবমান, তবে এখনও অন্তর্জগত সম্বন্ধে প্রায় অচেতন | কিন্তু বিজ্ঞানের যুক্তিপদ্ধতি সঠিক | শুধু প্রগতির অপেক্ষা | সনাতন ধর্মের যাথার্থ আধুনিক বিজ্ঞানের সাহায্যেই অচিরেই প্রমাণিত হবে |

19. যে দেশের মানুষ চিন্তা করতে শেখেনি, সে দেশের আধ্যাত্মিক ভাবসম্পন্ন হওয়ার সময় এখনও আসে নি | স্বামীজী বলেছিলেন সান ফ্রানসিসকোতে দেওয়া তাঁর বিখ্যাত বক্তৃতা 'Is Vedanta the Future Religion' এ, "Let men be thinkers." ["মানুষ চিন্তাশীল হোন |"]

20. কেন ঠাকুর ভগবান ? কারণ দেহাবসানের দুদিন আগে নরেন্দ্রনাথকে সর্বস্য দিয়েও তিনি নিঃস্ব তো হলেনই না যেমন ভাবানুরাগে বলেছিলেন, বরং পূর্ণমাত্রায় পূর্ণই রইলেন |

21.

প্রতিযোগিতা অপরের সাথে নয় | প্রতিযোগিতা নিজের সাথে---আত্মোন্নতির প্রচেষ্টা | আমি ভাল, আরও ভাল হব | আমি শক্তিমান, আরও শক্তিমান হব | আমি চরিত্রবান, আরও চরিত্রবান হব | আমি মেধাবান, আরও মেধাবান হব | আমি হৃদয়বান, আরও হৃদয়বান হব | এই ক্রমান্বয়ে নিজের সাথে নিজের প্রতিযোগিতা শ্রেয় | এতে ঈর্ষা, দ্বেষ, কলহ, দ্বন্দ্ব---এর কোনটাই নেই | আছে শুধু শ্রেয়ের পথে গমন | পরিশেষে, আমি আমিত্ববুদ্ধিপ্রাপ্ত, আমি নিরহঙ্কার, বিনম্র, শ্রদ্ধাবনত, ঈশ্বরে সমর্পিতপ্রাণ হব |

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

আলোকচিত্র : কিংবদন্তি সন্ন্যাসী, বেলুড় মঠ বরেণ্য স্বামী প্রেমেশানন্দ |

22. যাই হোক না কেন, বেলুড় মঠে প্রসাদের জন্য টাকা নেওয়া উচিত নয় । এতে ভারতবর্ষের আতিথ্যের সনাতন আদর্শ ও ঐতিহ্য যা ঠাকুরের সাক্ষাৎ শিষ্যরা বজায় রেখেছিলেন শত দারিদ্র্য সত্ত্বেও, তা খর্ব হয় ।

23. The body is the interface between the divine and the divine.

24. The debit and the credit of karma must match. The Guru takes upon himself the bad karma of the disciple to absolve him of his sins. This is the law of grace, eternally balanced by transference of karma.

25. Organisation necessarily leads to politics. This is the cause of a spiritual organisation's eventual downfall as ideals are sacrificed at the altar of congregational convenience, pragmatism perverting original principles.

26. কৃপা বাতাস (loo) তো বইছেই । আয় তোরা সিদ্ধ হবি ।

27. শ্রদ্ধাভরে একটি প্রণামই পর্যাপ্ত । কোটি প্রণামের প্রয়োজন কি ? সংখ্যায় কি শ্রদ্ধা বাড়ে ? অত্যুক্তি বিভূতিবিশেষ, যোগের পথে বিঘ্ন ।

28. Always have been, always am, always will be. I am the beginningless, endless Self in whom time is born, lives and dies. Comprehensive concept, difficult to conceive though while remaining trapped in bodily bounds.

29. 

It's true that the greatest minds are in science, not in religion. Science is universal, not local like religion. The Vedanta may not be deemed religion. It is the universal science of the Spirit.

30. সলিলম রামকৃষ্ণম ।

31. চিন্তাশীলতা অহংশূণ্যতার সাথে সংযুক্ত হলে আধ্যাত্মিকতার সূচনা হয় |

32. 

পরিশেষে কাশীপুরে ঠাকুরের বেহিসেবি বাঁধভাঙা কৃপা |

33.

আমি নিখে লিখে ক্লান্ত,

এঁরা ছবি দেখে ক্ষান্ত |

34. Know love at its purest to be God.

35. Exploitation is the norm of the rich and the powerful institutions on earth. Their charity cloaks their underlying draining mechanism, often using such philanthropy to seduce people into submission to their accumulative designs. Alas, the heart is rendered dry as charity cloaks capital gains!

36. I belong to no organisation save that of the moving mass of humanity with all its imperfections and aspired for perfection in its evolutionary drive to the destination divine. I am a simple pilgrim of the Soul in earthly encounters as I wend my way towards the goal.

37. 

Proof of prophecy about Thakur's prospective return after 100 years.

38. The masses are the collective body of God and they must be served to realise God.

39. Religion is dated. Science is progressive. But science often is blind in its pursuit of ends it then knows not how to control. As technology progresses, man is increasingly becoming subservient to the inventions of his scientific ingenuity. Artificial intelligence is on the horizon in a menacing manner, so much so that the future man may become a tool in the hands of the tools he has invented. The future of humanity amidst such a blind pursuit of material knowledge is uncertain. Here religions that are belief-bound cannot be of much avail but Vedanta which is the synthesis of the science of the senses and that of the supersensuous can rescue man from his perilous predicament.

40. Love is the L.C.M. of life.

41. প্রাণ কাকে বলে? যা আকর্ষণ করে তাই প্রাণ ।

42. Compared to the Vedanta the Abrahamic religions have a very limited conception of God, almost bordering on archaic superstition.

43. He who worships God has missed God. He who has become God has found God.

44. If I mortgage my thinking, how on earth can I be spiritual?

45. Science thrives on critical thinking. Religion suppresses it. Dogmatism characterises much of religious faith.

46. When I go about the streets, do I wear a placard over my person stating that I am a human being? No, I don't for I am convinced about my human status. Then why does the Mission constantly advertise that it will as per Swamiji's prophecy last 1500 years? Are they not confident about their present status and prospective longevity in the light of organisational developments?

47. This is spirituality. Monastics of pompous proclamations, learn; devotees of gregarious adherence with mortgaged minds, learn. 'Fame...That last infirmity of noble mind.' [John Milton] --- [Reference: Richard Feynman speaking of his discomfort with honours heaped on him.]

48. ধীর না হলে বায়ু স্থির হয় না | চঞ্চল মন বাসনাসংযুক্ত, আধ্যাত্মিকতার অনুপযুক্ত |

49.

'Sambhavami yuge yuge' signifies the 'Law of Recurrence' operative in evolution in dialectical terms from within the mass of humanity and not from without by way of spiritual descent as is commonly understood. Spirituality need not be associated with alien assumption. Rather it must be apprehended in terms of dialectical development from within the complex web of organic evolution where the line of demarcation between matter and spirit may not be drawn with any degree of precision but is rather blurred, matter refining into spirit as it were with periodic quantum leaps in its evolutionary cyclical progression.

50. 

How is it that our saintly monks still have vision of gods and goddesses with archaic arms while we humans have developed sophisticated weaponry that can easily defeat them in war? Have the gods remained static in a dynamic world? Is it time then to update the weaponry of our worshipped ones? Who then should be worshipping whom? Time indeed to outgrow mythology and adhere to the Divine within who reigns as Existence Absolute, Consciousness Absolute and Bliss Absolute. 'Let the lion of the Vedanta roar.'

51. চিন্তা করতে শিখুন | চিন্তাশীলতাই শিক্ষার সার, অন্ধ অনুকরণ অথবা বোধবিযুক্ত অনুসরণ নয় |

52. The first half of our lives we are indoctrinated into superstition and the next half we struggle to overcome the damage done. Most, though, are content to continue grazing on the pasture of prophets and messiahs till kingdom come.

53. We have survived as a species thus far because a few unlike the masses were inclined to thinking. The future of thoughtfulness, though, is uncertain and so is the future fate of man.

54. Ding Liren, the new World Chess Champion.

55. Assert your independence within legal bounds at any rate. Overcome self-hypnotism and declare your freedom. There is nothing nobler than such averment except its true realisation thereof.

56. Declare your freedom. Announce your arrival on the stage of life. Let none, nor organisation nor authority compel your submission.

57. The animal submits to Nature. Man rebels and breaks free of all authority. Now consider on which side you are.

58. Submission? No way. That is not the way to God-realisation. That is the way to perpetual slavery.

59. Don't have to worship any God that frightens you into submission. Affirm your own godhead instead and stand free of all such fetters that bind you to superstition.

60. No sleep through the deep dark night. We are verily birds of dawn.

61. স্বামীজীর বাণী দিকে দিকে ছড়িয়ে দিন | এতেই জাতির উত্থান | এতেই জগতের ধ্বংস হতে রক্ষা পাওয়ার আশা | স্বামীজীর বাণী বেছে বেছে সংঘগত সুবিধামত প্রচার করবেন না | সম্পূর্ণ অকপটে তাঁকে পূর্ণরূপে প্রচার করুন | তবেই ত্রাণ পাবে জাতি, রক্ষা পাবে বিশ্ব |

62. Let there be fire in your speech, burning idealism in your message and a glowing life backing it all up. Then will you catch the imagination of the masses.

63. Read Swamiji, think Swamiji, dream Swamiji. That is the way to salvation.

64. তিনি ৬৪ কলা হলে কি হবে, তাঁর সংঘ ৬৮, অর্থাৎ, ৬৮% | এরই নাম প্রগতি | সংঘাত্মা আর সংঘশরীর এক নয় | 🕉

65. ভাগ্যিস বেশী দূর বিদ্যে নেই ! অন্যের মোট বয়ে বেড়াতে হত সারাজীবন | লোকে দেখলেই ডাকত, "এই কুলি !"

66. ঠাকুরের ভক্ত না সুন্দর ছবির ভক্ত? সাকারে সেরেছে খেলা | নিরাকার, তুই পালা ! যা জানি, তাই জানব | অন্য কিছু জানব না |

67. বুদ্ধির বিকাশের সাথে সাথে রসবোধের বিকাশ ঘটে | আমাদের সমাজে আজ তার উল্টো | তাহলে ? দাঁড়ালোটা কি ?

68. Swamiji had a devastating sense of humour. Clap! Clap! Clap! Mr. X has a superb sense of humour. Silence!

69. Optimisation of expression will maximise power.

70. Constant reading of 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda' will definitely manifest manhood in man and make men out of lumps of desire.

71. Ramakrishna-Vivekananda came to deintoxicate inebriated man.

72. What is manhood? That which struggles to overcome Maya coming in all shapes and forms.

73. True enough. ['Religions of the world have become lifeless mockeries. What the world wants is character.' -Swamiji]

This indeed is the prevailing situation.

74. Where words become bombshells, there character fires.

75. Every decade Hindus are decreasing at the rate of 2% of the total population of India and Muslims increasing at the rate of 2% of the same. The demographic gap is decreasing at 4% per decade. Where lies the future of India? Is India slowly but surely getting Islamised? This is 2023. What will be the scenario in 2123? Will India lose her heritage of dharma, culture and civilisation to Islamic imposition?

76. ভক্ত, 'জয় ঠাকুর', 'জয় স্বামীজী'রূপ স্বপ্নবিলাশ থেকে জাগো | সিংহসাহস প্রদর্শন করো | নইলে অচিরে বিনাশ |

77. তেজ চাই, তেজ | কাপুরুষতা আধ্যাত্মিকতার পরিচায়ক নয় | সাহস, বীর্য, পৌরুষ---এই হল দিব্যত্রয়ী |

78. Optimal expression of beauty is art.

79. Do not believe that you were born or that you will die. Life is an unceasing affair with temporary interludes. Behold in totality the infinitude of your own existence.

80.

Be happy. Be secure. Behold the luminous Presence of God within you.

Photo: Swami Nirmalananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, with his divine parents looking on.

81. Religions of the world divide humanity into warring groups. The Vedanta with its universal message of the divinity of all unites it.

82. Science is universal. Religions are conflicting.

83. How senselessly men fight each other like tribal brutes who have forgotten their divine roots!

84. Do not indoctrinate your child with religious beliefs that have no basis in evidential truth. Spare this rod and you will not have spoilt your child's freethinking capacity.

85. If God created the universe, who/what created God? The universe may have been self-existent ever and may remain so as well way into the infinite future despite its periodic bangs and collapses like a day ended and fresh started at dawn.

86.

https://belurmath.org/

The Belur Math website shows Tulsi Maharaj (Swami Nirmalananda) standing second from right beside Swami Niranjanananda on the extreme right as a monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna whose photograph is placed above this particular frame. Sceptics about Tulsi Maharaj's direct discipleship of Thakur, are you now satisfied?

87. The prospective dangers from AI [artificial intelligence] can be met only by activating DI [divine intelligence].

88. Love is the essence of life.

89. Appreciate the idea, not the idol.

90. 

ঠাকুরের কিছু ভক্ত জুটেছে আজকাল ! বোধবুদ্ধিরহিত ! যতই প্রমাণ দিই যে তুলসী মহারাজ তাঁর সাক্ষাৎ শিষ্য, অর্বাচীনের দল কিছুতেই তথ্য, যুক্তি, প্রমাণ মানবে না | বোধবুদ্ধিরূপ গয়না স্যাঁকড়ার দোকানে বন্ধক রেখেছে | আর বাকিগুলো সব কাপুরুষ | সত্য স্বীকার করবে না কিছুতেই | সব দলপতির দাস, একত্র সম্মিলিত মেষসমূহ, চলেছে দণ্ডধারীর আজ্ঞাবহ হয়ে অবিদ্যাসাগরে অবগাহন করতে |

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

91. My ancestors were tribals way back millenia. And I feel proud of them as I do feel about my tribal sisters and brothers today. 🕉

92. 

শ্রীমৎ স্বামী গহনানন্দজী মহারাজ না বলে শুধু স্বামী গহনানন্দ বললে কি কম শ্রদ্ধা করা হয়? শত কোটি প্রণাম মুখে না বলে বা পাতায় না লিখে শুধু একটি প্রণাম ভক্তিভরে করলে কি কম ভক্তি করা হয়? বিশেষ্য বা বিশেষণের বহুধা সংযোজনে ভক্তি বৃদ্ধি হয় না | বলিষ্ঠ অকপট আত্মপ্রকাশে ভক্তি স্বাভাবিক ও স্বচ্ছন্দগতি হয় যা গুণগত উৎকর্ষে বড় কম নয় |

Photo: courtesy, Belurmath.org

পুনশ্চ: জন্মবর্ষ ১৯১৬, ১৯১৭ নয় | তথ্য ভ্রান্ত | স্বামী গহনানন্দের জন্ম ৪ অক্টোবর, ১৯১৬ |

93. Learn, love, serve.

94. দেশে যদি চিন্তাশীল সভ্য মানুষের সংখ্যা বাড়ে তো দেশের কল্যাণ হয় |

95. ভক্তিতে ভাঁটা? সে আবার কি? যদি ভক্তিতে হয় উত্থান পতন, তবে সে তো ভক্তি নয়, সে ভান | গিরিশকে ঠাকুর বলরাম মন্দিরে ওঁর দ্বিতীয় দর্শনে বললেন, "ভান নয় গো, ভান নয় |" গিরিশ ভক্ত হলেন পাকাপোক্ত |

96. যেখানে জীবন, সেখানে ঈশ্বর |

97. Science is always updated. But religion continues to be dated.

98. Humility saves energy.

99. Do not destroy a grand oration with superficial thanksgiving and summarising of its content subsequent to the lecture. It completely takes the flavour away from the spiritual atmosphere pervading on account of the talk.

100. 

মায়ের তিন মহারথী মন্ত্রশিষ্য---কথামৃতকার মাস্টার মহাশয় শ্রী মহেন্দ্রনাথ গুপ্ত, স্বামী যোগানন্দ ও স্বামী ত্রিগুণাতীতানন্দ | এঁরা তিনজনেই শ্রীরামকৃষ্ণের শিষ্য বলে পরিচিত এবং ন্যায্যতও বটে কিন্তু তিনজনেই শ্রীমা সারদা দেবীর কাছ থেকে মন্ত্রদীক্ষা প্রাপ্ত হন | এর থেকে পরিষ্কার হয় একটি বিষয় যে মন্ত্রদীক্ষাই দীক্ষাদানের মূল পদ্ধতি হলেও অন্যান্য উপায়ও আছে দীক্ষাদানের ও শিষ্যত্বে বরণের |