A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS 

The neglected Swami of the Order. Swami Nirmalananda (Tulsi Maharaj) whose name, form, work, message and life have been erased by the Order in a systematic manner from the literature published by them, the photographs printed by them and from any mention in the lectures delivered by them so that the seminal Swami's memory today lingers on only in the minds of a handful of devotees who by familial connection or by association otherwise have been brought into the orbit of this direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. And even they are generally unconcerned about propagating Tulsi Maharaj's life and message in a sustained, vigorous manner barring that lone living exception, Manoj Sivan, who has dedicated himself utterly to the cause. We have lessons to learn from this intrepid, uncompromising soldier of the Soul. My salutations to both Tulsi Maharaj and the fruit of his making, Manoj Sivan. Would it were that more such took up the cause more actively for the propagation of the life and message of Swami Nirmalananda and fought for the resurrection of his true status as the direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, the Avatar nonpareil of the Age and, perhaps, of ages yet to come.

In resisting untruth dharma is maintained. In silent acquiescence to injustice and the propagation of falsehood we play the Devil's part of subverting the divine cause of truth, justice and fairplay. Our conscience activated, we can never side with organisational propaganda that conceals truth and projects a fictitious state of things in the name of the very embodiment of Truth, Sri Ramakrishna. It clearly is a case of individual and collective convenience to thus remain apathetic to this injustice that has been historically meted out to Tulsi Maharaj, an organisational aberration that needs to be rectified forthwith to prevent further weakening of its initial impulse, a trend that unfortunately is on the rise in every sphere of its proliferating material expansion. Alas, Tulsi Maharaj has been erased by the concerned ones and spirituality lost in the process by them with corresponding consequences on the Order! 

If anyone professes to be a devotee of the Order, it is the bounden duty of such a one to resist this decline (a) by exemplary living to the best of one's ability, (b) by protesting against progressive commercialisation of the Order's service activities and (c) by dissociating oneself from all such individuals and their enterprises that go to downgrade the organisation's one-cherished lofty ideals of spitituality.

May Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and Swami Brahmananda bless all those who have strayed from original course, and shower sanity on them, not of common currency  though, in material seeking but of spiritual right thinking that amends aberration and corrects course unto rectitude! 🕉

Written by Sugata Bose