PAKISTAN, A HELL FOR RELIGIOUS MINORITIES

PAKISTAN, A HELL FOR RELIGIOUS MINORITIES

Pakistan is doomed if it continues to persecute Hindus and Christians. Islam cannot be the sole religion in any modern country if it has to remain modern and not revert to medieval barbarism. The universal principles preached by seminal saints like Ramakrishna and Vivekananda can show the way ahead in these dark days of Islamic violence in Pakistan. Remember Ramakrishna had practised Sufi Islam and attained to illumination even through that spiritual path which is highly coloured by the Vedanta of the Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism). This fact has to be recognised by the youth in Pakistan who are enlightened through education in liberal thinking. And it is very much up to the Indian Information and Broadcasting Ministry to cater to the propagation of this liberal philosophical line of the Vedanta so that it reaches the minds of millions of Pakistanis in these days of easy communication through the internet and so that it may in turn bring about better days in this nation torn by Islamic fanaticism and terror. My great hope is in the sanity of the Pakistani liberal youth and I am sure that they will gain in strength from day to day to eventually muster a critical mass that will change the political discourse in their benighted country and update it to modern standards of civilised living.

Written by Sugata Bose

SWAMI NIRMLANANDA OMITTED FROM THE LIST OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA'S DIRECT DISCIPLES IN THE RECENT EDITION OF THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA ? SO SAYS MANOJ SIVAN (Manoj Sivan). BUT, IF SO, WHY ?

SWAMI NIRMLANANDA OMITTED FROM THE LIST OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA'S DIRECT DISCIPLES IN THE RECENT EDITION OF THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA ? SO SAYS MANOJ SIVAN (Manoj Sivan). BUT, IF SO, WHY ?

Manoj Sivan : What benefit or advantage the Powerful Ramakrishna Math and Mission gained by degrading Swami Nirmalanandaji and removing his name from the Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna ? In the recent edition of Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna his name is completely removed among the disciples. Sri Ramakrishna told "Truth is the Tapasya of Kaliyuga"..Swami Vivekananda Told -"Any thing can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for any thing"

Expecting comments from Devotees ....

Jai Sri ramakrishna Saranam

Naveena CK : Some devotees should take up hunger strike in front of Belur Math.Manoj Sivan : Naveena, is this a big joke that you cracked? What is your intent?

Naveena CK : No. I didn't joke. I have said it with all seriousness.

Sugata Bose : But the old editions contain the name of Swami Nirmalananda as a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. So, this sort of anomaly is highly injurious to the spiritual cause of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, for truth must ever be coherent and not capricious as is now is the case with such omissions. So far as the hunger strike is concerned, we need a leader like the proponent of the idea and we will all follow in his footsteps. Expecting fast his arrival from down South to Kolkata and thence to Belur Math. We are all there with you, Naveena CK. Seminal personalities like you are the call of the hour to redress this issue.

Naveena CK : I am trying to raise this issue with some senior monks and trustees and telling them that it is affecting the image of Belur Math. Hopefully Thakur gives them that awareness.

Manoj Sivan : Agreed. We have the copies of the Original Editions to prove that they have omitted Swami Nirmalanandaji from the recent Editions completely...

Manoj Sivan : They have even completely omitted Swami Nirmalanandaji from the present edition of Gosel of Sri Ramakrishna....but we find his name in earlier editions. Expecting comments from truth loving devotees.....

Sugata Bose : Could you give the photos of the relevant pages from both the earlier and the latest editions to validate the point for all, Manoj Sivan? That would drive home the point.

Manoj Sivan : Naveena CK, very bold of you...and we respect your truth loving spirit in this regard. May be you are one "marked" for this purpose ...of spreading the truth about Swami Nirmlananda ..

Sugata Bose : Why do you think this current trend of omission is happening? Is it to bury past differences that arose between the Belur Math authorities of the late 1920s and early 1930s and Swami Nirmalananda so that eventually a homogeneous mosaic of the narrative of Thakur's disciples is possible that will have no cracks and fissures? Is it not possible that there is a good fallout of all this in the long run? Or is there some other motivation that impels such consistent drive towards exclusion of Swami Nirmalananda from the hallowed list of the Thakur's direct disciples? It baffles me to see this sort of puerile perversion of the truth which at any rate will surface sooner or later and shame the whole act.

Swapankumar Mukherjee : Truth can never be suppressed .We may write to publishing authority citing the record in earlier editions.

Gyanendra Pant : Very bad.It does not suit in any manner or name to the lover and follower of truth.

Swami Sampurnananda : Except the later editions of Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, and in one place in Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda and in the composite picture of the Holy Trio and their Sixteen Direct disciples, Swami Nirmalananda's name has NOT been removed anywhere. His name and events connected with his meeting with Sri Ramakrishna has been recorded in great details in the Life of Sri Ramakrishna with a Foreword by Mahatma Gandhi published by Advaita Ashrama. Swami Saradananda has mentioned Hari, Tulasi & Gangadhar as the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna who served the Master in Cossipore and statying outside. Swami Brahmananda has mentioned Swami Nirmalananda as Chela and Disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and has mentioned himself also as a Chela and disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Swami Ramakrishnananda has mentioned Swami Nirmalananda as a co-disciple of his who took Sannyas from Swami Vivekananda. Swami Abhedananda & Swami Vijnanananda have mentioned Swami Nirmalananda as disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Sri M has mentioned Swami Nirmalananda as a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. It is unfortunately true that many monks and devotees are ignorant of facts or chose to believe assertions made by other ignorant monks or devotees. It any person claims they are better informed than Swamis Brahmananda, Saradananda, Abhedananda, Vijnanananda, Ramakrishnananda and Sri M, I would like to have darshan of such an esteemed person who surely can be no other than Sri Ramakrishna reincarnated.Manoj Sivan : We thought that the mission would change their stand and start publishing the truth about Swami Nirmalananda in their publications, but the recent complete removal of Swami Nirmalananda from the Gospel of Ramakrishna shows that they wont change......

Swami Sampurnananda : Manoj Sivan What do you mean by recent complete removal ? The latest edition must have been just simply reprinted. There is nothing new removal. It is better you stop your aggressive blame game and just keep on reiterating on the facts with quiet dignity. The Mission is always reiterating Truth but you keep on harping more on innocent omissions than on real commissions. This course of action doesn't do justice to the memory of Sri Ramakrishna Tulasi.

Manoj Sivan : Swami Sampurnanandaji Maharaj.. . In the Gospel of Ramakrishna I am having Tulasi Maharaj is mentioned as the disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, but in the recent book published his name is completely omitted. Why should you get perturbed when I speak about this omission?

Swami Sampurnananda : Manoj Sivan I am perturbed when you portray it as a NEW omission. You must be having an old edition. The present reprint must have been an reproduction of the just the previous reprint. Thinks takes time to change. Aggressive name calling doesn't help in resolution.

Bhaskar Sen Sharma : It's height of injustice and travesty of truth of deleting the hallowed name of Swami Nirmalananda from the list of Shree Ramakrsna 's Disciples... The fact remains, what is the mens Rea for taking such wrongful steps. Is RKM out of its rational and devoted mind? Or is some ego or arrogance is inducing them?
I feel the matter be moved before a competent court of law for redressal which is very much warranted.
In normal course we can be sure that they are not including him.

WHEN THEY BLED AND WE BURIED THEM IN OBLIVION

WHEN THEY BLED AND WE BURIED THEM IN OBLIVION 

The very voice of Netaji addressing the nation on the eve of his arrival on the eastern front of the motherland is inspiring. It is pulsating with patriotic fervour, a divine throb that thrills the soul and beckons it to sacrifice its all for the liberation of the subjugated Mother. Alas, he could not make it to the capital and seize power and the hounds tore the motherland apart ! 

But their day is done and the generations to come shall be virile enough to redress this national debility of a weak advocacy of non-violence to the detriment of the nation, an enforced oblivion of all that was great and glorious about the freedom movement, its brightest stars that were obscured deliberately by the cloud cover of political pollution. Netaji Zindabad ! Rash Behari zindabad ! Bagha Jatin zindabad ! Masterda Surjya Sen zindabad ! Sachindranath Sanyal zindabad !

Written by Sugata Bose

MA ... 7

The drop dissolves in the ocean and hanging droplets brood insignificantly on its extinction. But it is immortality that is thus gained and not death. The wave rises only to subside before it, perchance, rises again to enact a fresher episode. Else, it merges perennially in the water of eternal life.

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : My mother when she was 16. The year was 1948.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN THE RAMAYANA AND THE MAHABHARATA, O YOUNG MOTHERS !

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN THE RAMAYANA AND THE MAHABHARATA, O YOUNG MOTHERS !

Our children must be taught the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in schools to absorb the essentials of the national spiritual culture, its age old heritage whose rightful legatees they are, so that they may grow up into illumined citizens and seminal beings as their ancestors, and, why only so, into individuals as broad as the heavens and as luminous as the stars that light up the darkened night sky. I merely echo the words of Swami Vivekananda in this regard.

It is in childhood when the mind is soft and pliable that these noble epics ought to be impressed upon their absorbing selves so that their best elements be assimilated into their beings and they evolve into spiritual titans with patriotic feeling and universal outlook blended fine into their synthetic selves.

This is the bold step ahead for the government to take in the near future. This will be the correct measure adopted in the realm of child resource development. No amount of political opposition should detract the government from the course.

This nation's heritage is essentially Hindu and till it is recognised and accordingly implemented, it will not fulfil its promise, actualise its potential. But before official initiative in this regard is seen, let us not idly await developments but let us put our selves to the rolling of this Wheel of Dharma (Dharma Chakra Pravartana) through individual and organisational collective effort. May our ancestors bless us in this noble endeavour !

Written by Sugata Bose

SADHANA, THE KEY TO SUCCESS

SADHANA, THE KEY TO SUCCESS

It is sadhana (sustained rigorous perfected practice with reverential fervour) that is at the root of all success. Music, art, literature, science -- all call for this labour of love of a lifetime. Do not attempt to steal the show at once. The result will be a miserable failure or, at best, a fleeting success that will come with the summer breeze and wither with winter, lasting no more than a season or two of its transient trip to people's chambers. If you wish to live on in human memory through your art, dedicate your life to it. Music demands no less. It is the soul of the being and can only breathe the air of ever-freshness.

So, my young friends who are aspirants to this art, dive deep in sadhana and seek no immediate return. If you have the steam in you to sustain your labour and have the talent to back it up, you shall see the light of day one fine morn when the world will be dazed by your morning glitter and the vesper hour will seek its delight in your pulsating rhythms spelled out in magical moods even as the wavelets dance and the ripples spread on the surface of the river of life. The depth unseen will behold it all and send forth currents of love gushing out in melodic terms through your now mellifluous voice. So, hold on your patience, tarry awhile and offer your sadhana to the art you adore, and you shall emerge triumphant.

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : Ustad Abdul Karim Khan

NETAJI -- WILL HE REMAIN SHROUDED IN MYSTERY FOREVER?

NETAJI -- WILL HE REMAIN SHROUDED IN MYSTERY FOREVER?

Will the Netaji mystery never be resolved? How long more must we wait? I, personally, have been waiting since 1967 when it was announced to us that Netaji would turn up on 23 Jan, 1968, for sure. As a child I had waited for the great day but to my utter disappointment. Since then I waited many years throughout my childhood and early adolescence but in vain. Then I gave up. Till a few years ago, facebook posts on Netaji's reclusive whereabouts apprised me of many hitherto unknown material and kindled hopes that the disappearance mystery would finally be resolved. The unearthing of classified Netaji files raised hopes but now again I am seized with despondency as nothing conclusive has come out till date. All that we get to hear are unverifiable versions of the hero's whereabouts as a monk living incognito in Uttar Pradesh for there are claims galore but there are neither photographs nor any other piece of evidence that may be deemed clinching and can set the matter to rest for good. In such a scenario speculation becomes rife and adds chaos to confusion as fanciful stories abound making the leader more remote from his historically known self evermore.

How we are to proceed hereon remains the moot question. What is the way ahead in this research on the disappearance of the patriot premier? I am too ignorant to hazard any opinion and leave it to the house to opine.

Written by Sugata Bose