MESSAGES GALORE ... 53

MESSAGES GALORE ... 53

1. Doubt everything. Believe nothing without credible evidence.

2. এই অন্ধকার পৃথিবীতে ঠাকুর আলো | এমন মহাপুরুষ আগে আর কখনও আসেননি |

3. আজ গুরুদেবের জন্মদিন, তাঁর শুভ আবির্ভাব দিবস | আমাদের সশ্রদ্ধ প্রণাম জানাই | (4 October, 2023)

4. If Partition preceded by a thousand year slavery to alien rule has not taught the Hindus to order their polity, what will?

5. Who says we are no. 5 in GDP alone? We are no. 1 in population and fast increasing our lead over the rest of the world.

6. Muslims read the Qur'an and the Hadees. Do Hindus read their scriptures diligently? So many of them are patently anti-Hindu. Shame!

7. Narendranath Datta

Narendra Damodardas Modi

8. China, a poor 165 gold medals.

India, a smashing 18 gold medals.

So what? We lead them in population.

9. Hindus are spiritually leaderless today. Monetary corruption abounds everywhere. Thakur has been forgotten. His readvent alone can alter discourse.

10. When does a person enable himself for social service? When he has transcended the limitations of the self.

11.

श्याम बजाये आज मुरालिया ||

12. A finger has joints but the finger is one. Humanity has groups, sects, nations, castes and classes but humanity is one.

13. Now it is self above nation. Did Khudiram, Prafulla, Kanailal, Satyen, Jatindranath, Dhingra, Pingle, Basanta, Sachindranath, Sarabha, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Azad, Bismil, Lahiri, Ashfaqulla, Roshan Singh, Tegra, Pritilata, Masterda and countless others give up their lives for the nation to see this day?

14. You must read Ambedkar. What clarity of thinking! What forthrightness of expression! What uncompromising averment of fact, unhypocritical honesty in articulation! What depth of understanding, precision in analysis and what unerring judgement of system, situation or men, however exalted they may be, Mahatma or otherwise! Crystal-clear conception. Simply phenomenal.

15.

Accommodation has always been the element of the enlightened race, imposition that of the barbaric one. The Hindus have always been accommodating. The rest I need not say for history testifies to it in ruinous terms.

Written by Sugata Bose 

Photo: The great Guru Gobind Singhji who stood up to this savagery and forged a fighting front against it which was much much later largely undermined by rising passivity under Gandhi. The cowardice of the Hindus continues, a newfangled element that has come to characterise them of late, a diffidence in admitting the heresies of history and a reluctance to redress it in consequential terms.

16. God rewards the well-behaved.

17. Rudeness is an attribute of the ignorant. Intolerance is its sibling. Violence verbal is followed by violence real as all hell breaks loose. No wonder the scriptures say, 'Vidya dadaati vinayam.' विद्या ददाति विनयम् || Knowledge bestows humility. I add to it its converse aphorism -- 'Vinamrataa dadaati vidya'. विनम्रता ददाति विद्या || Humility bestows knowledge. 

18. Spiritual organsations charge money but God does not. Go to Him direct.

19.

The forgotten soul, বিস্মৃত আত্মা, কেউ শোনে না আজ যাঁর কথা | তাঁর নাম ভাঙিয়ে তাঁরই বাণীর নিত্য উল্লঙ্ঘন, প্রতিনিয়ত অপমান | এই তো চলেছে, নির্লজ্জ আদর্শহীনতা |

20. Submission and sweetness are wonderfully feminine virtues that beautify a woman, adorn her, lend her loveliness like nothing else can.

21. On the surface ISKCON'S impact on the world, especially the West, seems to be far more than that of the RAMAKRISHNA MISSION. Is this a correct assessment?

22. It is wrong to protect a single religion from criticism because it cannot bear it and invariably resorts to violence by way of redressal.

23. Read Sita Ram Goel and Ram Swarup.

24. 'Fortune favours the brave.' 'Veerbhogya vasundhara' -- the brave enjoy the earth. Do not be cowardly and seek God's mercy routinely.

25. Altered demography will destroy India. India will remain India so long as there is an overwhelming Hindu majority.

26. Demographic expansion must be countered by ideological challenging. Defeat the ideology and save India.

27. Hindus are declining in proportionate numbers. Alarming future!

28. Hindus must aggressively propagate their religion. Missionary zeal necessary. Swamiji wanted it. Survival first now. 🕉

29. Will the Ex-Muslim Movement wreck the body politic of Islam?

30. Why interpret medievalism in the modern way? Why not reject medievalism altogether and be modern?

31. Progressive while holding on nonetheless to regressive religious tenets? Why this succumbing to traditional trappings?

32. We need modern messiahs of reason, not medieval messiahs of religion.

33. If you are dated, you will die. Conquest of death comes with getting ahead of time, then transcending it.

34. Colour up your heart to feel the joy of life.

35. Scriptural sanction of antisemitism is unacceptable.

36. There is not a single Hindu state in the world. Strange because Christian, Muslim and Jewish states are there.

37. Secularists in the true sense are body-bound.

38. Sweetness, softness and gentleness are the three virtues of a loving wife.

39. Necessity punctuates life. So long as our relations are directed by necessity, we are animals.

40. Humanitarian disaster in Israel and Gaza.

41. 'যত মত তত পথ' তখনই ঠিক যখন অখণ্ড ব্রহ্মচর্য পালন করে, ভগবানকে অথবা মানুষকে ভয় না পেয়ে, কাউকে ঘৃণা না করে, স্বর্গ-নরককে জীবনের অন্তিম গতি না মেনে, জৈববাসনা সম্পূর্ণ ত্যাগ করে ঈশ্বরলাভ, আত্মসাক্ষাৎকার অথবা নির্বানপ্রাপ্তিকে ধর্মমতের চূড়ান্ত লক্ষ্য বলে পরিগণিত করা হয় | নচেৎ নয় |

42. We have to learn a modicum of musicality in speech. A rough rendering right now spoils discourse.

43. Human animals? What is that? How can a siege be laid that cuts off food, fuel and electricity? Is annihilation of Gazans intended?

44. Hamas has barbarously attacked Isreal. Now retribution is following. But the war is highly assymetric. The siege laid on Gaza that has cut off food, fuel and electricity will annihilate the local population. How many can escape? Is the annihilation of the Gazans the agenda?

45. Terrorists can be defeated only by defeating the ideology that inspires them.

46. Beheading babies? What sort of monstrosity is that? What ideology fuels such hatred?

47. 26/11 -- 10 Islamic terrorists; 7 October -- 1500+ Islamic terrorists. Now imagine the scale of terror unleashed on Israel.

48. What Israel has suffered afresh today, the Hindus have suffered for a thousand years and bleed even today.

49. Serving man is serving man.

50. Service is service, I don't care for God.

51. If the 'Divine' mandates the beheading of infidels in conflict, it is but natural that the devout will follow suit.

52. Far worse genocides have happened in India for 1300 years at the hands of this same ideology. And the saga continues in Israel.

53. Decentralisation is the plan of Nature, yet this ideology wants to centralise authority for all. An impossible proposition.

54. Pakistan terrorises India with impunity. Not so with Israel. The retaliation from Israel is devastating, the costs incalculable, the only way to combat this global toxicity.

55. Archaic Abrahamism, now grandson fighting grandfather. But experience wins, you see. So, the outcome is evident. It is a foregone conclusion but will be achieved at a terrible cost. A humanitarian catastrophe is in the offing. Should the war escalate, heaven help humanity!

56. Neither love nor learning can happen in absentia.

57. It is unbelievable how a toxic ideology can produce an unending stream of terrorists down the ages snuffing life out of men.

58. How long will Islamic patriarchy and misogyny survive in Iran? It will collapse despite its authoritarian control owing to rising womanhood there.

59. Swamiji was right when towards the end of his life he said, "I have not much faith in the monastic order." At all international crises we find them mute witnesses. Preaching about the Atman from the safe haven of America is fine but whither the courage of conviction that should impel the disembodied soul to visiting the dangerous terrain where war and intolerance reign? What is the use of preaching bombastic theories that have no exemplars in the real world such as in Ukraine, Israel, Iran or Gaza?

60. We are increasingly becoming a nation of tall talk and low expectations. We remain satisfied with flimsy achievements vis-a-vis vastly superior performance by other nations of repute. Our self-glorification with respect to the past while floundering in the present, our puerile preaching of unpractised principles, above all our growing levity leaves us far short of such fantastic claims that we are a world power and the spiritual preceptor of the world (Vishvaguru). We have become not a resurrected race but a delusional one dancing in the domain of a divine utopia while each day we populate our country more and more to our own detriment and the prospective collapse of our economy, other areas of national life being not mentioned for the while.

61. Nose says, "I am the body." Ear says, "I am the body." Tongue says, "I speak for all. I am the body." Body smiles, says nothing.

62. When I serve man, I serve man. I do not serve any imaginary God.

63. Swamiji also died with frustrated hopes having seeing his mission fail.

64. Are we not ashamed that through our indolence and claims to passive piety we daily insult our freedom fighters?

65. Tell a hundred lies and a million people will follow you. Tell the truth and they will all leave. And, yet, truth must be told.

66. Some people are so ill-mannered and indolent that they will not read Swamijji properly and yet vilify me unduly.

67. স্বামীজী জীবনসায়াহ্নে তাঁর এক গৃহী শিষ্যকে বলেছিলেন, "দৈবদুর্বিপাকে যদি বা দেহ হল কিন্তু কোনো কাজে লাগল না | মাথাওয়ালা ছেলেগুলো সব বে করে বসেছে, নয়তো মানযশখ্যাতির বশ, নয় শরীর অপটু | এই দেখে মন হতাশায় ভারাক্রান্ত হয়ে যায় |"

শিষ্য: কেন স্বামীজী? এই যে সব এত ছেলেরা আপনার কাছে আসছে |

স্বামীজী: কই আর আসছে? আর যারা আসছে তারা অধিকাংশই উচ্চ উচ্চ ভাবগ্রহণে সমুৎসুক নয় | তবে যদি ঠাকুরের কৃপা হয় তো এদেরই মধ্য থেকে কালে সব মহাবীরের জন্ম হবে |

উপরোক্ত কথোপোকথন স্মৃতি থেকে লিখলাম | সন্ধানে থাকব 'স্বামী বিবেকানন্দের বাণী ও রচনা' থেকে যাতে উদ্ধৃত করতে পারি পরে |

68. America is the crucible for developing the brightest of the human race. It is veritably a human laboratory where the best are offered sanctuary to carry on with their research into Nature and knowledge.

69. Towards the evening of his life Swamiji said to a householder disciple of his, "By quirk of fate though this body was born, it came to no use. The brainy boys have all committed themselves to marriage or are slaves to name and fame or of infirm constitution. Contemplating this the mind is filled with despair."

Disciple: Why Swamiji? What about all these boys who are coming to join your cause?

Swamiji: Who all are coming? Those that are coming are hardly enthusiastic about the lofty ideas and ideals that I preach. But if Thakur so graces it, then out of these ones alone in time to come great warriors of the Spirit shall be born.

P.S. The above conversation I have quoted from memory. So, minor linguistic discrepancies are possible. But more of less the text is the same. I shall have to delve into 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda' in Bengali once more to track this passage that I can present it to the reader as it is.

70. There is a tremendous amount of adulation of Swamiji but not much study of his lectures and writings as such. Even his detailed biography needs to be read thoroughly. Then comes practising his precepts and meditating on his philosophy to effect individual and collective change for the better.

71. স্বামীজীকে নিয়ে আগ্রহ বেশী, অধ্যয়ন কম |

72. Personal adulation has its problems. The person becomes prominent while the principles he espouses perish.

73. Unless you can eliminate this toxic ideology for good, terrorism sanctioned by it will also keep coming at you with all its evil.

74. Spirituality, morality and goodness are not limited to any land or religion. It is the common property of humanity.

75. Religious laws are all man-made laws and not God-made. God for His omniscience cannot be so unwise as to frame such stupid laws.

76. রুচিহীনতাকে স্বাভাবিক বলে মেনে নিলে সংস্কৃতির অবনমনকে প্রত্যক্ষভাবে প্রশ্রয় দেওয়া হবে |

77. Oh, what a terrible suffering in Gaza! May peace prevail! Retaliation that will reverberate through decades.

78. I am not partisan but I paint pictures that portray the scenes of all seen from diverse perspectives, statements of truth.

79. Might is right but ought not to be so.

80. Where humanity is missing, spirituality can scarce be.

81. The one thing that binds all of humanity is humanity itself. If that is lost, everything is lost.

82. Has there ever been a divine being born? All are human beings of lesser or greater illumination.

83. Progression is from animality to humanity,  and from humanity to divinity. Caught in this triad ensue the complexities of life.

84. Is peace possible when scripture itself preaches violence against the kafir?

85. Will adulation of Swamiji be limited to mere emotional exhibition or is depth-study of his works necessary?

86. Are we moving forward or backward?

87. Would to God people were to put full-stop at the end of a sentence! This surely is sentencing the sentence in an unfair way.

88. My posts are aimed often at triggering thinking. Most are spontaneous responses, though, to ongoing situations, others philosophical posts or cultural correspondences.

89. Why do Islamic terrorists invariably behead infidels?

90. Is the earth flat or spheroido-obloid?

91. ধর্মের আড়ালে মানুষ মরে | আর কতকাল?

92. He who uses time well prospers in life.

93. ফেসবুকটা যেন আত্মপ্রদর্শনী মেলা |

94. We must not be insensitive to human suffering. Meanwhile a human catastrophe is unfolding in Gaza.

95. Sri Ramakrishna is the ocean of peace. O people of this warring world, seek refuge in Him!

96. Irrespective of political and ideological considerations, even theological ones, humanity must prevail. We are one human family and cannot continue to divide ourselves along fractured lines we have inherited from the past. A new world order that must collectively combat global problems cannot be arrogantly nationalistic or theocratic but must be enlightened enough to understand that we either stand together and live or stand apart and die. The retribution of Nature is coming. Global warming will see no man-made divisions and will spare none. So, let us grow up and, leaving deep divisions aside, let us dive deeper in human sympathy, empathy, call it what you will, and unitedly forge a healthier future for all of us. This may sound utopian but this must be our destiny in life. Else, death and destruction shall be our collective fate.

97. Let us be a little more musical in peace and in war. Such prosaic violence breaking the stillness of the air hardly serves humanity right. Evolution which is the undercurrent of life is impaired and impeded by such violation of the spirit of man. A new order must emerge out of the rubble of the past where rubble is no more and peace is. May the ruins of history heal humanity by inspiring a higher holistic vision instead of further fracturing relations and disturbing this much-wounded mother, our earth, with war and violence, vice and wanton killing! May strength be guided by wisdom! May sound and fury be supplanted by music and love and light! May peace prevail!

98. When the national anthem is sung, we should pronounce the words of the song properly. It is BANGA and not BANGAA. It is TARANGA and not TARANGAA. If we for our 75 years of independence have not yet learnt to pronounce properly that which is the signature song of our nation, it is shameful indeed.

99. War crimes galore by way of indiscriminate retribution. Humanity has taken to flight. Situation grim. Catastrophic consequences waiting in the wings. The entire region may become for years a hotspot for future conflagration. Wisdom has vanished. If technological superiority is thus utilised to decimate civilian population by way of collateral damage, cyclic retribution may follow in future from the victims and their sympathisers and who knows what effect it will have on world affairs and what shall be the incalculable human cost. Ceasefire is the way out but that will neither solve the long-festering problem nor will continued military intervention bring peace to the region or security to the people of Israel. Statesmanship is missing right now and catastrophic consequences loom large. It is a carch-22 situation with hardly any solution to the situation right now.

100. As the world watches passively, Palestine is being systematically wiped out. Retribution of such a disproportionate order cannot be condoned. A ceasefire is the imperative now. Else, catastrophe will likely be the consequence. The Jewish state of Israel needs to be protected. But is this the way to realise that objective by wiping out a neighbouring people?