MY TRIBUTE TO A NEAR-NONAGENARIAN, Satyanand Bhattacharjee, FOR HIS UPRIGHT MORAL STANCE WHICH I DEEM EXEMPLARY IN AN AGE OF ABIDING DECADENCE

MY TRIBUTE TO A NEAR-NONAGENARIAN, Satyanand Bhattacharjee, FOR HIS UPRIGHT MORAL STANCE WHICH I DEEM EXEMPLARY IN AN AGE OF ABIDING DECADENCE

@Satyanand Bhattacharjee (ex-IIT Kharagpur Professor, my Facebook friend of 89 years and going strong) : A near-nonagenarian's appreciation is most valuable and most valued by this writer of incessant attempts to awaken sleeping society. That those of the younger generation are of lesser mettle is proved by their passivity in response which does not augur well for the future of our polity. Accept my reverential pranam, dear Sir of much experience, more ethical substance than younger people today can conceive of or bear. A revival of morality in both private and public life, greater decency, better discretion and higher aspiration is the imperative of the hour if our nation is to progress to the millennium of the idle imaginings of our Central leadership. 

An ignorant society does not make for Vishvaguru, nor does vain posturing before the camera to the delight of multitudes of fools, the easy prey of these political predators. Nor is the ordinary citizen/citizeness of much mettle. They have become self-indulgent men and women of no consequence, perhaps the inevitable result of demographic transition in this fake commercial age of consumer necessity induced by crafty advertising and the mass media's subtle control of public consciousness. Even spiritual organisations of erstwhile highest repute---leave aside pseudogurus and their ashramic accumulation of the copper coin---have become terribly compromised with wealth-gathering in the name of raising funds for philanthropic activity which though conducted is not commensurate with the amount of funds raised. These spiritual houses---I call them houses, after business houses, for they so resemble them in their corporatisation of activity---are more material than spiritual and they utilise public sympathy gained over earlier decades of genuine charity when their wherewithal was low, and they sell their gained goodwill for gold, a metal in emphatic terms renounced by the peerless Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar. Indeed, 'dharmaglāni' (the decline of virtue) has become so apparent now that its symptoms have now manifested as disease proper. In these terrible times when even monk loses the contemplative bearing to self-advertisement and the seeking of crass copper, when his flattery of crooked politicians to gain grant and other facilities for conducting welfare programmes of much benefit to society, while otherwise maintaining a convenient apolitical status to avoid involvement in issues that are eating into the vitals of our society, you with your moral bearing stand out as exemplary before younger folks who have sold soul to convenience, commerce, self-interest and plain worldliness which is evident everyday in their attitude online, myself not privy to mass-contact otherwise. My salutations to your generation of receding numbers and sublime evenglow even as I gain inspiration from their association, albeit at an unbridgeable virtual distance. Stay healthy and happy, Sir, and in the God who animates man as His highest living temple. 🕉

Written by Sugata Bose

ARISE, O LION !

ARISE, O LION !

Keep your spine erect and walk through life like a lion that has broken through the meshes of Maya and has emerged free in the open spaces of undying existence. You are immortal, blissfully free. Do not indulge in petty dreams that are smashed no sooner than they are conceived, stillborn offspring of the mind of indeterminate nature. Rise above these into the ionian sky of higher power which renounced leads to perfection in freedom that is never lost, repose that is never disturbed, security in the Self that is never snatched away by the mischievous manoeuvring of Maya. Live no more a slave to instincts and impulses, reason and its pitfalls, but rise above all these into self-contemplation transcending the body till you clearly perceive that this outer instrument is but an apparel of the soul which in transmigratory phenomenal whirl you are wearing now, casting it off when its hour is done, then rewearing a fresher apparel to do business in life before the vanity of phenomenal existence is seen through once and for all and you emerge free, shorn of all such earthly appendage. Meditate on the ephemeral nature of temporal existence and seek refuge in Thakur who is the primal mate, the final friend and the abode of infinite bliss and 'peace which passeth understanding'. 🕉

Written by Sugata Bose

যত মত, তত পথ ... ১

যত মত, তত পথ ... ১

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

'যত মত, তত পথ |' সত্যিই তো | ঠাকুর ভুল বলেন নি | কিন্তু ওষুধের যেমন expiry date থাকে, তেমনি মতেরও | ওই তারিখ পেরিয়ে গেলেই সেই মত নিষ্ক্রীয় হয়ে পড়ে অথবা তার বিষক্রিয়া শুরু হয়ে যায় | কোন' কোন' ক্ষেত্রে উৎপত্তিমুহূর্তেই সে মত বিষাক্ত প্রতিপন্ন হয় ও তা expiry moment অতিক্রম করেছে বলে, তা বর্জনীয় হয়ে পড়ে | নচেৎ তার বিষফল সভ্যতাকে ধ্বংস করতে থাকে যতদিন না তাকে উৎখাত করা হয় সমূলে |

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

THOSE DIVINITIES OF DAKSHINESHWAR---DAKSHINESHWAR ... 1 PURNACHANDRA GHOSH ... 1

THOSE DIVINITIES OF DAKSHINESHWAR ... 1

 

PURNACHANDRA GHOSH ... 1

Purnachandra Ghosh was one of the six direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna who were deemed 'Ishvarkoti' (Godlike souls free of the fetters of Maya) by the Master himself. Narendra (Vivekananda), Rakhal (Brahmananda), Baburam (Premananda), Yogin (Yogananda) and Niranjan (Niranjanananda) were the other five. Purna's spiritual altitude was just below Narenda's, the Master averred. He was a fractional incarnation of Vishnu and was thus possessed of pronounced spiritual propensities of the devotion-kind.

Born in late 1871 or early 1872 (exact date not known) into an aristocratic family of North Calcutta to Rai Bahadur Dinanath Ghosh and Krishnamanini Devi, Purnachandra was barely thirteen when he met Sri Ramakrishna for the first time at Dakshineshwar. 

Purna was a student of the Metropolitan Institution, Shyambazar branch, founded by Vidyasagar, where M (Mahendranath Gupta, the chronicler of 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna') was the Headmaster. M who came to be mischievously called by the North Calcuttans 'ছেলেধরা মাস্টার' ('The kidnapper of boys' in literal terms but never actually so, for he was thus named on account of his taking quite a few of his students to the hallowed feet of Sri Ramakrishna), detected the spiritual fire burning within the boy Purna and decided to take him to Dakshineshwar. 

Thus, on a fateful day sometime in March or thereafter in 1885, the two, preceptor and pupil, left for Dakshineshwar during school hours, undetected by Purna's family.

The Master received Purna as his own, intimate, inner-circle devotee, the last of the kind who were to arrive as foretold by the Divine Mother. With the arrival of Purna which literally means 'full', the Master's intimate circle of devotees became full. Now none of such exalted spiritual potential were to arrive anymore. M and Purna returned before school hours were over. The clandestine meet of divine lovers was over this first time but the thirst for it now grew ever after. Sri Ramakrishna became restless to meet his young devotee and Purna yearned for his Master's company no less, M remaining the go-between.

Long, long back Ramakrishna, then freshly returned to the world of men from his spiritual austerities of a decade, used to send forth lamentations from the rooftop of the Dakshineshwar Kuthibari, "ওরে তোরা কে কোথায় আছিস ? আয় | আমি যে আর থাকতে পারি না !" ("O, where are you, my children? Come fast. I can scarce bear it anymore.")

End of Part 1

To be continued...

Written by Sugata Bose 

POESY BENGALI : শাবাশ বাংলা !

শাবাশ বাংলা !

●●●●●●●●●●

আরও কত হইব কালে কালে ! 

জিগাইলে লইড়া যায় |

'৪৭এ ভাঙসে দ্যাশ, 

'৭১এ স্বাধীন | 

আবার '২৪এ সাত্রবিপ্লব,

'২৪এই পরাধীন |

তাই জোরদার তোড়জোড়

হইতাসে খেলা |

এবার এমনে দিবে কাসিপ্যাস,

বুঝবে ইউনুস ঠেলা |

সতুর্থবার স্বাধীন হইবে,

এ আর এমন কি ?

ফি বসরই স্বাধীনতার

দিতে হইব fee.

কারণ স্বাধীনতার দাম আসে ভাই,

মিলবে নাকো free.

রসয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

POESY BENGALI : অভিযোগের দোষ না দোষের অভিযোগ ?

অভিযোগের দোষ না দোষের অভিযোগ ?

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

শেষের বৃথা সংগীতে 

মাটি করল শেষে | 

নইলে, 

মেয়েটি শিক্ষা দিলেন বটে ! 

ভাইরে, 

চিরভাইরাল ভিডিও হয়ে 

রয়ে গেল এ দেশে |

মেয়েটির যেমন গলা, 

তেমনি বলা, 

'মন্ত্রীমশাই' চুপ | 

ভাবছেন ছোটবেলার কথা 

সেই ব্যাকরণের রূপ | 

"ওরে বাবা, 

এ যে সেই দিদিমণি, 

ধাওয়া করেন আজও | 

Goal করতে গিয়ে 

করে ফেললাম গোল | 

এখন বাড়ল কত কাজও | 

নিতে হবে গৃহশিক্ষা 

শেষে কিনা বাংলায় ? 

মুখ্যপদাসীন তবু  

বিদায়বেলায় এ দায় ?" 

হায় ! হায় ! হায় ! 

দিদি, 

হায় ! হায় ! হায় ! 

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/9TwDUEWyfcve1maq/?mibextid=oFDknk

COMMENTS GALORE ... 68

COMMENTS GALORE ... 68

Sugata Bose @Satyanand Bhattacharjee : May I suggest in all humility a full stop to end your sentence? Pranām.

Sugata Bose @Debaprasad Bhattacharya : Kindly give the full stop at the end of the extract unless of course in so doing you imply that Maya is endless (Anādi srishty, ananta srishty).

Sugata Bose @Suvadeep Sen : Well said. More such voices will rise as historical injustices are inevitably redressed. It must be and it will be. Each one. (Reference: Australian woman of supposedly aboriginal descent protesting against the historical injustices perpetrated by the British royalty against the aboriginals there. This protest by this solitary woman was staged in front of King Charles on his visit to his Australian colony in 2024.)

Sugata Bose @Karthikeyan Chidambaram Rambhatla : Hardly matters. She has raised an issue of British imperial barbarism that has not yet been redressed. Likewise, voices of protest will rise throughout the erstwhile colonised world as people everywhere through sufficient education and awareness become empowered. And this is the way to protest, in anguish and agony felt and lived, and not in terms of facts and figures well given but happy smiles and beggarlike suggestion of INR 1 that may be paid for the next two hundred years by the British Government by way of acknowledgement of the depredation of India by imperial-colonial Britain. For all her outburst, this lady has feeling which is the most essential component of character, self-dignity which makes her feel outraged and so vocal in her sudden public protest unlike Shashi Tharoor's oration which, though eloquent, persuasive, popular and gone viral, so much so as to persuade its immediate publishing in the form of a book in greater historical detail, nonetheless lacked the character, that searing passion that like the wounded tigress strikes back with vengeance and venom. Tharoor's seems an intellectual discourse that lacks the demand for justice in real terms as yet undelivered.

Sugata Bose @Karthikeyan Chidambaram Rambhatla : The German Government has apologised officially for Nazi war crimes, to put things into perspective, that is, if you can see the link or choose to do so. Individual agony seeks its vent thus and gives expression to larger conspiracies hatched in the past for which present dispensations must be brought to book in some sense or the other. Otherwise, the present perpetration of global hegemonistic military domination and destruction that the Anglo-American powers are engaging in will also gain legitimacy in due course as indeed it has got thus far owing to insufficient resistive voices raised and political-commercial complicity dictating discourse.

Sugata Bose @Prakash Gupta : কিন্তু বৈধ শান্তিসন্তান ? তাঁরা তো ক্রমান্বয়ে সংখ্যায় বাড়তেই থাকবে প্রজন্মের পর প্রজন্ম | তখন কি হবে ?

Sugata Bose @Satyanand Bhattacharjee : Yes, indeed. At near 90 your exertion in attempted perfection in execution is exemplary.

Sugata Bose @Student : I am anxious to get you a good result in the Boards but evidently you are not so bothered. Time is running out as well. Every passing day is one more day lost, never to return.

Sugata Bose @Subhrajyoti Bhowmick : That wealth was not well earned in the first place and was the handiwork of massive robbery, the exploitation of the labouring class. Hence, your observation regarding the redistribution of wealth is erroneous. It is the rightful returning of the fruit of labour of the working class to the working class. It is economic justice done. The violent method of doing so and its economic, social and political fallout are what concern discerning observers. History testifies to its disastrous outcome and forewarns us against making such movements in the future which thwart people of freedom, stifle creativity and generally make the masses unhappy in both the short and the long run, converting states into autocracies and reducing citizens to human beasts, automatons under command control.

Sugata Bose @Subrata Karar : To wield the sword is valour indeed but the Swamis must maintain body-fitness by controlling bodyweight so that they can wield the weapon well. The movements in the video are belaboured and unwieldy, not quite up to the mark for effective, swift sword-wielding.

Sugata Bose @Swami Nirbhayananda : Maharaj, start doing live videos on Facebook for a few minutes every day. It will inspire many. Even better, do it on YouTube.

Sugata Bose @Sulekha Basu : Superb presentation! What a delight in diction! And profound observation too, a blend of beauty, truth and welfare as is the ideal set out before the nation in 'Satyam! Shivam! Sundaram!' This I call originality lent expression to in lucid literary terms, yet pregnant with poetic possibilities of a fertile future that as yet lies in the land of dreams dreamt by visionary souls seeking the advent of the millennium which is ever elusive but cannot evade the touch of seers diving deep into the depths of times unborn. Yours is a talent that needs nurturing, a constant care through artful articulation from your side and enduring encouragement from responsive readers like so many that sure must be, amongst which I humbly count myself as one.

Sugata Bose @Priyadarshi Gupta : It is a time-consuming process just like the absorption of western science was in the initial stages of its introduction. But it is an imperative for our development as a nation along its age-old civilisational lines and, hence, despite difficulties must be forthwith implemented to reap its long-term benefits. A tree cannot stand without roots, neither can a nation without its own cultural moorings. The widespread study of Sanskrit was desired by none less than Swamiji and he has given his reasons for it. An excerpt from Swamiji's works is as follows:

[←Home / Complete-Works / Volume 3 / Lectures from Colombo to Almora / →

THE FUTURE OF INDIA

https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_3/lectures_from_colombo_to_almora/the_future_of_india.htm

...My idea is first of all to bring out the gems of spirituality that are stored up in our books and in the possession of a few only, hidden, as it were, in monasteries and in forests — to bring them out; to bring the knowledge out of them, not only from the hands where it is hidden, but from the still more inaccessible chest, the language in which it is preserved, the incrustation of centuries of Sanskrit words. In one word, I want to make them popular. I want to bring out these ideas and let them be the common property of all, of every man in India, whether he knows the Sanskrit language or not. The great difficulty in the way is the Sanskrit language — the glorious language of ours; and this difficulty cannot be removed until — if it is possible — the whole of our nation are good Sanskrit scholars. You will understand the difficulty when I tell you that I have been studying this language all my life, and yet every new book is new to me. How much more difficult would it then be for people who never had time to study the language thoroughly! Therefore the ideas must be taught in the language of the people; at the same time, Sanskrit education must go on along with it, because the very sound of Sanskrit words gives a prestige and a power and a strength to the race. The attempts of the great Ramanuja and of Chaitanya and of Kabir to raise the lower classes of India show that marvellous results were attained during the lifetime of those great prophets; yet the later failures have to be explained, and cause shown why the effect of their teachings stopped almost within a century of the passing away of these great Masters. The secret is here. They raised the lower classes; they had all the wish that these should come up, but they did not apply their energies to the spreading of the Sanskrit language among the masses. Even the great Buddha made one false step when he stopped the Sanskrit language from being studied by the masses. He wanted rapid and immediate results, and translated and preached in the language of the day, Pâli. That was grand; he spoke in the language of the people, and the people understood him. That was great; it spread the ideas quickly and made them reach far and wide. But along with that, Sanskrit ought to have spread. Knowledge came, but the prestige was not there, culture was not there. It is culture that withstands shocks, not a simple mass of knowledge. You can put a mass of knowledge into the world, but that will not do it much good. There must come culture into the blood. We all know in modern times of nations which have masses of knowledge, but what of them? They are like tigers, they are like savages, because culture is not there. Knowledge is only skin-deep, as civilisation is, and a little scratch brings out the old savage. Such things happen; this is the danger. Teach the masses in the vernaculars, give them ideas; they will get information, but something more is necessary; give them culture. Until you give them that, there can be no permanence in the raised condition of the masses. There will be another caste created, having the advantage of the Sanskrit language, which will quickly get above the rest and rule them all the same. The only safety, I tell you men who belong to the lower castes, the only way to raise your condition is to study Sanskrit, and this fighting and writing and frothing against the higher castes is in vain, it does no good, and it creates fight and quarrel, and this race, unfortunately already divided, is going to be divided more and more. The only way to bring about the levelling of caste is to appropriate the culture, the education which is the strength of the higher castes. That done, you have what you want...]

Sugata Bose @Amlan Kusum Ghosh: You are a person of seminal contributions to society in the cultural context and deserve every praise and accolade for such, every bit of inspiration that can elicit as yet the best out of you. Good wishes for your present and prospective ventures. 🕉

Sugata Bose @Biswadip Biswas : Western influence of a cultural degenerate sensate type we have injected in our system and through crass commercialisation are doing so every hour which is debilitating us characterwise, and this has to be effectively countered. But who will do so when most are blissful participants in this decadent drama of national debilitation?

Sugata Bose @Soham Sultania : Happy birthday, Soham! [29.10.2024] As you step into your sixteenth year, having completed fifteen, may Swamiji inspire you to scale heights of spiritual and material glory through hard work, discipline, health and happiness and that vanishing trait which our scriptures call Shraddhā! Jai Swamiji! 🕉

Sugata Bose @Sanjeev Shrivastava : The roots are nourished by our Government and the shoots merely pruned, that too ineffectively, in this 'fight' against doctrinaire evil. Why should 'Z plus' protected politicians care after all? It is commoners that get killed while the crafty ones at the helm of affairs secure their political prospects through little or no work at all to root out this menace from the country. Madrassās where jihād as main course is taught continue to flourish and multiply by the day. Pupils with minds perverted by such toxic teaching come out of these institutions spewing venom and spitting fire against their very nation which through doctrine has now become estranged and is viewed as Dar-ul-Harb to be waged war against and converted to Dar-ul-lslam. Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband, the Islamic brain's trust of the subcontinent, flourishses in India and provides theological inspiration to the prospective transformation of Sanatan Bharatvarsha to an Islamic state, this on the basis of the open statement by Maulānā Madani some time back. As you rightly said, it is a hundred-headed hydra or, as our scriptures have depicted, the Raktabeej whose every drop spilled gives rise to another demon. It is an onerous task that lies ahead of us as we have to grapple on every front with this advancing tide that threatens to destroy our beloved motherland. We have to fight Constitutionally, ideologically, culturally, spiritually, economically and demographically with this current of prospective perversion of our Punyabhumi Bhāratvarsha. 🕉

Sugata Bose @Ashok Shah : Do not mind the missing punctuation marks in the post, please. That is now the new normal, perhaps, not so new after all. The last sentence is ever endless. Its full stop is highly priced, so, unaffordable and cannot be given.

'শেষ নাহি যার, শেষ কথা কে বলবে ?' [রবীন্দ্রনাথ]

Sugata Bose @Arunangshu Mandal : Because their classical system is: 'Receive, then process; process, then pay.' But in today's instant processing by means of computer, this time-lag ought to be minimal and delivery instantaneous. So, your observation is absolutely pertinent. [Reference: Prepaid booking of railway ticket but delayed refund on cancellation.]

Sugata Bose @Prakash Gupta : In Akhanda Bharat Muslims, by dint of a relatively larger proportion than now in partitioned Bharat, will become far more dominant. The solution is the ideological victory of the Sanatan Dharma over Islam and the activation of dharmic principles in real lived terms which will induce Muslims to reconvert to the Sanatan Dharma, their forefathers' faith. Once this massive homecoming is achieved, Akhanda Bharat will be a spontaneous event and stably so. 🕉

Sugata Bose @Bandana Sarkar : When Jesus was born, the Jews were poor, oppressed and enslaved to Roman tyranny. Swami Someshwarananda has erred in calling them the richest community in the world then which the Hindus were along with possibly the Chinese. 🕉 

Sugata Bose @Debaprasad Bhattacharya : Which means that today missionary organisations are more or less free of bhakti, they being the hub of moneymaking by selling goodwill earned over generations of genuine spiritual seeking. The Avatar's advent in that case is impending, to fill the chalice of the human heart so emptied of devotion, to drive the desire for dollar out of the perverted consciousness. The current scenario of preaching from the pulpit lofty principles while practising its opposite is then a hypocrisy that is supported and upheld by puerile followers of little understanding and poverty of personality or character, and must needs be replaced by a fresher fulfilment of the divine evolutionary mandate. 🕉 [Reference : 'Bhakti cannot be used to fulfil any desires, itself being the check to all desires.'

~Swami Vivekananda]

Sugata Bose @Kakali S Bhadra : ঠাকুরকে ভালবাসলে সবকিছুর নাশ হবে, মাত্র পড়ে থাকবেন অন্তিম বান্ধব, ঠাকুর স্বয়ং | তিনি মহাকালী, এলোকেশী সর্বনাশী | তাঁকে ভালও বাসব আবার সবকিছু অনুকুলও হয় যাতে সেই আশা পোষণ করব, এ তো ঐহিকতা, আধ্যাত্মিকতার পরিপন্থী, ঐশী প্রেমের তো বটেই | আর যদি ঠাকুরের প্রতি ভালবাসা ঐহিকই হয়, তাহলে সে কেমন ভালবাসা যা সকাম ? যদি তাঁকে ভালবাসার ফলস্বরূপ অধ্যাত্মসাধনার সকল বিঘ্ন দূর হয়ে সাধনার নিমিত্ত অনুকুল পরিস্থিতি প্রস্তুত হয়, তথাপি তা তো ভালবাসায় পাটোয়ারিবুদ্ধি যা ঠাকুর মোটেই পছন্দ করতেন না বা যা ভালবাসা নয়, ভালবাসার নামান্তরমাত্র, বিষয়বাসনায় সিক্ত বাণিজ্যিক আদানপ্রদানমাত্র | স্বামীজী বারংবার এই আধ্যাত্মিক আদর্শকে খাটো করতে বারণ করেছেন | তা, আমরা শুনছি কই ? সব মিলিয়ে মিশিয়ে একাকার !

Sugata Bose @Debaprasad Bhattacharya : No, the present running after money at all costs is a degeneration that will have to be rectified in due course by monks of better morals. Course-correction done, the Order will, despite degeneration in relative terms, run for why 1500 years? for thousands of years more as an inconsequentially consequential body doing good work while making a mockery of original ideals. Swami Vijnanananda was categorical in setting things into perspective by stating that Thakur's mission would fail the first time in achieving things majorly and that only the foundation would be laid this time whereupon the next mission would really achieve what this one would fail to do? And why must the Mission hide behind Swamiji's reported statement from disciple-source of 1500 years et al when it is patently indulging in pecuniary pursuit of a perverse kind? Can't the devotees, their blind, loyal supporters to their own detriment, see it square in the face?

P.S. Regarding completion of the Avatar's mission, this Mission has only very partially achieved it. The next one will do the real work, so it is affirmed, as stated above, by Swami Vijnanananda as well. Thakur will freshly incarnate soon as per his prophecy and set things right in a newer dispensation. Can you not see with open eyes the terrible deviation of the Mission from the ideal about which in the 1980s Swami Nityaswarupanandaji had fumed and fretted and even went to the extent of writing his treatise in protest 'Back to Vivekananda', 200 copies of which were allegedly burnt by the Mission to prevent propagation of the pertinent points raised in it among the monks in general? What about the non-Hindu status claimed by the Mission legally to escape communist repression, a decision of Brahmajnanis which was to be overturned by the Supreme Court bench of three in 1995? Would Swamiji have corroborated such cowardly capitulation before communists? Was it in line with his teachings, his avowal that he was proud to be a Hindu? Now what is the Mission's stance, Hindu or non-Hindu by conviction and not by Supreme Court Judgement?