শিবজ্ঞানে জীবসেবা ... ২

শিবজ্ঞানে জীবসেবা ... ২

দক্ষিণেশ্বরে যেদিন ঠাকুর বললেন, "তুই কীটানুকীট, তুই কি দয়া করবি? না, না, দয়া নয়, শিবজ্ঞানে জীবসেবা, শিবজ্ঞানে জীবসেবা |" যুবক নরেন্দ্রনাথ সেদিন নিকটেই উপস্থিত ছিলেন | তিনি জনান্তিকে বলে উঠলেন, "আজ ঠাকুরের শ্রীমুখ হতে যা শুনলাম, প্রভু যদি দিন দেন তো তা সারা পৃথিবীতে ছড়িয়ে দেব |" বীজাকারে অঙ্কুরিত হল ভাবিকালের অনন্তসম্ভাবনাময় সেবারূপ মহীরূহ | আজ তা বিচিত্র বর্ণে ফুলেফলে পল্লবিত |

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

শিবজ্ঞানে জীবসেবা ... ১

শিবজ্ঞানে জীবসেবা ... ১

এ মায়ার সংসার, ক্ষণভঙ্গুর, অনিত্য, বাসনার প্রতিঘাতে নিত্য রচিত, নিত্য বিনষ্ট | কি হবে এই অস্থির, অস্থায়ী, নশ্বর দেহের পরিচর্যায়, প্রসাধনে? কিছুই তো থাকবে না | যা আছে, যা থাকবে চিরকাল, কাল যাতে পরিশেষে বিলয়প্রাপ্ত হবে, সেই চিরসুন্দরের আরাধনায় কালাতিপাতই কাম্য | বাকি সব আসবে, যাবে, রইবে না | মরীচিকার পিছে ছুটে বৃথা পণ্ডশ্রম, ব্যর্থ জীবনপ্রয়াস! সময় থাকতে চৈতন্যলাভের চেষ্টা | নাই বা হল পূর্ণতাপ্রাপ্তি | তবু পূর্ণপ্রাণে লক্ষ্যের দিকে অগ্রসর তো হওয়া গেল | লক্ষ্য আত্মজ্ঞানলাভ | সেই দিশায় চলা | চরৈবেতি! 

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

THE MISSION OF THE MASTER ... 2

THE MISSION OF THE MASTER ... 2

When death is inevitable, it is valorous to die for a worthwhile cause. We must leave our stamp on civilisation. To this effect Swamiji spoke and inspired us to live by a like ideal, to lay down our lives so that on our martyred bodies a bridge to eternity may be built for our benighted countrymen. Swamiji's sympathies extended to the whole of sentience, not just to humanity stretching the expanse of the  earth. In his famous poem in Bengali 'Sakhaar prati' (সখার প্রতি) he wrote such sublime lines as have encapsulated his life's message which in translation of its last lines rendered by this author read as follows:

'From Brahman to the yonder worm,

Even unto the atom,

All around is the same Lord,

The ever-loving substratum.

Offer, friend, at these hallowed feet

Thy adoring form, mind, soul.

Leaving these where seekest thou

Thy Lord in this cosmic whole?

Who loves every sentient being

Worshippest best his God.'

Let us live the LIFE then if indeed we wish to galvanise the masses unto a higher order of existence. Millions weep and in millions the tears have dried up. Can we yet keep still?

Written by Sugata Bose

DOWN MEMORY LANE ... 1

DOWN MEMORY LANE ... 1

Swami Vireshwarananda, 10th President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. A disciple of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, he along with Bharat Maharaj and Surjo Maharaj were the three suns that shone in the Belur Math when I first visited it in 1983. Shortly thereafter in 1985 Vireshwaranandaji passed away and I can still vividly recall how the Belur Math was thronged by devotees that day with people climbing the stairs of Swamiji's house to catch a glimpse of the Swami lying in state in the courtyard below. Those were the days!

Written by Sugata Bose

WHEN APATHY TAKES THE NAME 'RELIGION' AND REDUCES RELIGION TO A SHAM

WHEN APATHY TAKES THE NAME 'RELIGION' AND REDUCES RELIGION TO A SHAM

The living gods and goddesses. These buds must be allowed to bloom. Do you feel for them? Do you feel they are your children, grandchildren, your very selves? 

Charity is not an executive function. It is feeling that is at the heart of it. "Feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha; feel like Christ and you will be a Christ. Do you feel?" These words were bled out from the heart of the Swami Vivekananda. These vibrations roll on through the corridors of human consciousness, transforming brutes into men and men into gods.

But these babies are gods already. Serve them, my friends, you who have fathered them, mothered them, without being conscious of your blood-bond, your kinship with these unfolding buds that must blossom into fragrant flora. How can you yet rationalise, reason your emotions in transaction terms when the vast mass of humanity in this holiest of lands, Bharatvarsha, suffer grinding poverty, ignorance, destitution and death, courtesy, your unconcern for your own kith and kin? It is sympathy, bleeding sympathy for the suffering that is needed, love, all-encompassing, charity that is worshipful service, not in words but in deeds, bold and brave, that are the crying call of the hour.

In vain is our so-called reverence for Thakur-Ma-Swamiji when in real terms we cannot give them our whole lot, choosing to reject them in the visible, moving mass of humanity. I call my God omnipresent and, yet, fail to see Him in the millions that crowd the cottages in the rural greens. What worth is my devotion to such a God? If my God in a million garbs starves, do I starve, too? If my God struggles for light, for life, for bare subsistence, do I struggle, too, to alleviate His misery in the masses? Ask yourself these questions before you next feel inflated with your own charity or its lack of it, before you cast around your apathetic attitude even after witnessing these horrific living conditions of the fairest flowers of humanity, now subjected to human exploitative tyranny that is daily reducing them to beasts of burden. Gods and goddesses they are but they live like animals despite such theoretically ascribed exalted status. Will you watch in vain?

Written by Sugata Bose 

Courtesy, Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, a branch centre of Belur Math.

RAMAKRISHNA MATH, MEKHLIGANJ -- DIVERSE POSTS

RAMAKRISHNA MATH, MEKHLIGANJ -- DIVERSE POSTS

1.

Guest House at Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, a branch centre of Belur Math. These and other like buildings need immediate renovation, upgradation, rebuilding and replacement with new buildings. For this funds are necessary.

2. 

Current dining hall at Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, a branch centre of Belur Math. This hall is old and dilapidated, and can hardly hold a few people for meals. The plan is to build a new, bigger one that can accommodate between 150 and 200 people for partaking of prasad during Thakur's festivals. For this funds are necessary.

3. 

A vehicle for conducting relief work is absolutely essential. Right now the Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj has no vehicle of its own. A vehicle is hired to conduct relief activity. This state has to be altered. Let us join hands to raise the necessary funds for purchasing for the Math a suitable vehicle for the aforesaid purpose.

4. 

Primary school for local children of poor families of Mekhliganj. This school is right now suspended due to the ongoing pandemic but houses students till class 5. Every year a class is being added for promoted children to pursue studies. In this way it will eventually become a secondary school. Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj is aspiring to develop the next generation of the local population to self-sufficiency through education. Come forward and help the cause flourish.

5.

বেঁচে থেকে কি হবে যদি কোন ভাল কাজ না করতে পারলাম?

আলোকচিত্র: রামকৃষ্ণ মঠ, মেখলীগঞ্জ, বেলুড় মঠের অন্তম শাখাকেন্দ্র |

6. যে রামকৃষ্ণের দাস, আমি তার দাস |

7. 

Swami Omkaratmananda, Adhyaksha, Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, serving the humblest of humanity in the spirit of worship.

8. @Debolina Saha Chowdhury :  Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj is in great financial distress. If you allow me, I will provide you the details for you to peruse through and, perchance, contribute a sum towards relieving them of their distress a bit. Thakur-Ma-Swamiji will preserve you and yours!

9. @Rohini Jalan : You were not born to serve the West. Serve India, your motherland, and not those who have despoiled her for centuries and continue to do so even today.

10. @Alok Sarkar :You could have served our country so much more but for the despicable state of human affairs here. Do not regret but use your talents and means to serve the Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj. Devote yourself, Alok Babu, to building this Math up. The task lies in wait for you. Surely that will fulfil you to brimful bliss.

11. @Shaon Malik : Shaon, this Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, you must commit yourself to help build.

Oh, you were born in Cooch Behar? There goes the connection. And you are committed to the motherland. So, be up and doing in serving the moving mass of humanity here that the nation may be strengthened en route to fulfilling its ancient mission of inundating the world with spirituality.

12. All the wealth that you hold as your own is but God's wealth. Be the trustee of the same and dispense with it wisely. Cater to the common weal.

13. Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, Cooch Behar is in dire straits financially and needs urgent assistance from all positive quarters. Thakur will bless those who come forward to serve. And why care for blessings too? Just serve, thoughtless of return, out of the free love of your heart. The very giving is in itself the true receiving of self-grace. Then let the Lord determine what He will out of His own bounty to dispense.

14. When I starve, I rush about to make for my means of living. But when the country starves, I preach Bhagavad Geeta and the Upanishads after having had my belly full. This will not do. The living Gods and Goddesses are suffering and I am oblivious of their plight and preaching philosophy to them. Madness! No, no, villainy!

15. Tears are of no avail in a world of dreadful dreams. We must conjointly work to alleviate the misery of the masses. Raise Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, from the abyss of abysmal poverty. Contribute to the cause. Interested persons may contact me and leave on Messenger their whatsapp number so that I can forward them the necessary donation details.

16. There is only one way to attain peace that passeth understanding and that is to serve God in man. Man is God - this must be the realisation.

17. Self obliterated, God shines. You are eternally free. Just shed selfishness once and see for yourself who you are.

18. We live within a small circle of interest. Let us expand our horizons and feel for the living mass of humanity beyond our immediate environs. Life will be fulfilled.

19. Who cares to suffer with the suffering ones than these noble-hearted Swamis in remote areas where they plough infertile lands to reap a rich harvest? Support Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, with financial assistance so that the poor tribals of the region may find succour amidst the ravages of the times. Interested ones may contact me for donation details.

20. The unlimited Man needlessly assumes limitations, then struggles for freedom. Such is the play of Maya, the eternally free held in delusive bondage. Tear the veil, break free from Maya!

21. Human apathy moves me as does human concern, each to its respective end.

22. Those who live in India must save the motherland. It is our duty, solely ours.

23. Lip-service will not do, deeds are necessary.

24. ঠাকুর যখন কাঞ্চন ত্যাগ করতে বললেন তখন তার প্রদর্শিত পথে ভাবী সেবামূলক কাজের জন্য ভক্তদের অর্থদানে ব্রতী হওয়ার নির্দেশটিও নিহিত ছিল | গৃহীর কাঞ্চনত্যাগ, অর্থাৎ, রামকৃষ্ণভক্তের মিশনের নানা সেবামূলক কাজে অর্থ দিয়ে সেবা করা | মা যেমন বলেছিলেন, "যার আছে, সে মাপুক; যার নেই, সে জপুক |"

25. An all-consuming passion for the cause will work wonders. Renunciation and service, the twin ideals for national regeneration that Swamiji enunciated, will as yet raise India to her feet. "India is already Ramakrishna's," said Swamiji.

26. Bellies are burning, bodies are burning, souls are burning too. Sprinkle the water of love on all and douse the fire that rages. All are our own, said Ma (Sarada Devi).

27. Thank you Manjit Dada. This will prove to be a most timely piece of instruction from Swamiji for a few of us who are in the process of combining for the cause of Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj. [The man who is pure, and who dares, does all things....Swamiji]

28. So long as one thinks about one's own survival needs in life, one must think about the survival needs of one's fellow beings as well. And when one is worryfree about oneself totally, one must concentrate 100% on catering to the needs of the needy. Come, help, serve the Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, Cooch Behar which will be our channel to serving the great spiritual cause of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, that of serving God in man.

29. @Jukta Basu Mallick : My blessings are on you. You must not ever forget India. You must serve the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission which has been at the core of your mother's consciousness and is at the root of all your success thus far and your prospective future success. Remember, the individual lives best in the collective, in the aggregate, in the universal. There are so many unseen faces, unheard voices who you must bring to the mainstream of life, whose mute aspirations must find utterance in your service.

30. A little charity today dispels great fear of the morrow.

31. Bring a smile on the faces of the tribal people of Mekhliganj, Cooch Behar. Help Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, Cooch Behar to serve them. Interested devotees and well-wishers may contact me with their whatsapp and mobile numbers on Messenger.

32. Few take an active interest in the work that I am engaged in, that of financially supporting Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj. Few, alas, can look beyond their earthly interests. When I am dead and gone some of these may spring alive to the ideals I gave my life for. The rest shall move on with their routine rigmarole, the pursuit of self-interest. It is in living for others that we truly live. Fear seizes the selfish; love envelopes the one devoid of such petty earthly ends, the one that lives only to bring happiness to the hapless, succour to the suffering. Mother's children suffer everywhere, no less in our holy motherland, and we are oblivious of their misery in our desperate bid for self-sustenance and self-aggrandisement. Let us awaken ourselves to the plight of the poor who are our very selves in different forms. Let us quicken our spirits in a massive bid to alleviating their misery and help them fulfil their dreams and aspirations en route to the ultimate goal of Self-realisation.

33. There is no time to relax. Tribal development is an urgent necessity. For this funds are necessary. "Provisions aren't there, supply provisions." (Quoted speech is of Swamiji to Haripada Mitra.) Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj needs funds to serve the poorest of people.

34. Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj needs your urgent support. Interested ones may kindly contact me on Whatsapp, Messenger or in the Comment Box of my Facebook posts.

35. I wish these projects flew through to fruition.

36. We have to be practical in our devotion. Spiritual practice and charity must go hand in hand. Philanthropy must form an essential feature of our devotions. The manifold welfare projects of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission must not limp for want of funds. When the men are ready why should work progress at a slow, halting pace? Devotees, come forward and expedite the completion of the projects through your generosity.

37. Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj, Cooch Behar. Swami Omkaratmanandaji serving Mother who in disguise is serving him the privilege of doing so. All those who are behind the scenes helping the welfare projects to come through are likewise lucky for it is not given to all to do so. Attributes differ, tendencies of character either draw one towards or away from such service of the Mother. It is our spiritual duty, obligation, call it what you will, to come forward and make Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj stand strong on its financial feet. Spiritually we can do nothing much for the monks. It is they who keep blessing us. But we may serve with material help. Remember what Swamiji had told his disciple, Haripada Mitra, "Provisions aren't there, supply provisions."

38. 

LOVE MUST TRANSLATE INTO DEED ... 1

LOVE MUST TRANSLATE INTO DEED ... 1

Love must translate into deed. Otherwise, it is either pure emotion at its highest level or mere sentimentality amounting to nothing. On one side is the sublimity of love that knows but the faintest of expression in pulsating terms with hearts vibrating in rhythmic resonance. On the other side is base physicality that degrades the self, lowers culture and perpetuates ignorance of the higher spiritual aspect of life. Caught in between are a vast nass of people with hearts torn between earthly sustenance and heavenly aspiration. These middling souls are fraught with possibilities that are the sum and substance of social evolution. Here, ideals need expression in tangible terms, ideas need fulfilment in deeds born of them. It is here that work must be done to raise it to the next tier of organic evolution. Yes, indeed, deeds matter and love is the propelling fuel for such transformation of energy. Love must translate to action that conduces to welfare and in such welfare are hidden the seeds of future fruition of the human species even unto its higher end. 

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : Ramakrishna Math, Mekhliganj.