THANK YOU, MONSIEUR ROLLAND

THANK YOU, MONSIEUR ROLLAND

The great European savant who spread the message of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda across the western world through his twin biographical studies on the divine duo. Posterity has and forever will owe indebtedness to him who in the inter-war years had tried his utmost to lower the political temperature of the world through a myriad measures amongst which his priceless biographies of the swan and the lion doubtlessly stood out as his premier contributions. Written to cool the world then, a task he eminently failed in owing to historical reasons, his works remain perennial pathfinder for future humanity as it progresses through the blind alleyways of tortuous Māyā unto the sunlit summit of spiritual realisation. Monsieur Rolland, we can never thank you enough. Here in India we express our reverence in quite another way, perhaps not so foreign to you after your protracted association with Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. Our humble prostration at your hallowed feet. Blessed be the mother that had borne you! 🕉

Written by Sugata Bose

POESY: THE LOTUS BLOOMS

THE LOTUS BLOOMS

Float like a lotus on water. 

Water wets it not.

So may the world 

With all its fetters

Bind not you

Who have given all up

Unto the Lord of love,

Vāsudev Krishna Bhagavān

Who sang the Song Celestial 

That resonates through space and time,

Age after age,

Aeon after aeon,

Unto the present moment

Of shining memory,

Of shifting bounds

And brightening horizon,

Till in the noonshine of blissful vision

The veil lifts

And lifts you up

Unto ethereal heights 

Of resplendent bliss,

And leaves you thence 

On earth hither

At the cowdust hour 

To glide by the Yamunā,

Listening rapt to the Yaman 

Flowing from the flute

Of the flautist perennial,

The Lord of notes,

Of the split spectrum 

In its coloured joy,

The peacock-plumed one,

The one and only one who plays,

Who sports in the groves,

By the riverside banks

And the hills that pull 

With their heightened charm.

Live by Him and live in Him,

The primal and the final friend

Who never leaves but ever loves 

Till life and death have all ceased 

In ecstasy that endless is.

Even today the Rās goes on

In eternal Vrindāvan's eternal groves,

The Nidhu which in nightly dance

Yet holds them all,

In a sublime mix,

Thirty-two thousand and two, one, six.

Composed by Sugata Bose 🕉 

Dated: 11 September, 2025, the Chicago Day.

Time: 10.25 p.m.

Place: Saptaparni, Kolkata.

SANĀTAN DHARM AND SANĀTANIS UNDER ATTACK ... 1

SANĀTAN DHARM AND SANĀTANIS UNDER ATTACK ... 1

Today the Sanātan Dharm and the Sanātanis are under attack from all sides. Abrahamic proselytism is the biggest threat which we must resist with all our might. Wish the Ramakrishna Mission were more active in defending the Hindus. They ought to lead the charge as the leading spiritual organisation of the Sanātanis. [N.B. Sanātani = Hindu] 

Hindus must unite. Sectarian fights over surface theological differences ought to be kept aside and a general unity sought under the umbrella of the unifying divine symbol of the 🕉. Political intervention to divide the Hindus must be thwarted and Sanātan solidarity achieved through mutual love and respect. Above all, Sanātanis must study the Sanātan scriptures and practise their dharm. If we stand on the bedrock of character forged in the fire of spiritual austerity, none will be able to prevail against us. Rather our influence will spread and win us adherents in the form of reverts to the Sanātan fold and fresh entrants from non-Sanātani faiths. The Dharm is under attack and the Dharm practised properly is its greatest defence. This is the solution.

Written by Sugata Bose

'দা বেঙ্গল ফাইল্স'

'দা বেঙ্গল ফাইল্স'

●●●●●●●●●●●●●

বাঙালীরা একটু লেখাপড়া করলেই জানতে পারবে ১৯৪৬এ ১৬ অগস্ট কলকাতার বুকে কি ঘটেছিল, তারপর নোয়াখালি তথা গোটা পূর্ববঙ্গে কী নারকীয় অত্যাচার সহ্য করতে হয়েছিল হিন্দুদের যার ফলে শেষে জিন্নার পরিকল্পনা মত দেশভাগ হয়েছিল | হয়ত' 'দা বেঙ্গল ফাইলস' ছবিটা দেখলে সে বিষয়ে সাধারণ বাঙালী একটা আঁচ পেত | কিন্তু ছবিটা প্রেক্ষাগৃহ না পেলে ত' আর বাঙালী সে সুযোগ পাবে না | বাংলা বিভক্ত হয়ে পূর্ব পাকিস্তান, পরে বাংলাদেশ হয়েছিল | দেশভাগের পরে পশ্চিম ও পূর্ব পাকিস্তানে সমানে হিন্দুনিগ্রহ হয়েছে | আজও পাকিস্তান ও বাংলাদেশে তা অব্যাহত |

গণমাধ্যমের যুগ | নিছক প্রেক্ষাগৃহে চলচ্চিত্র দেখাতে দেওয়া না হলেই কি সত্য চাপা যাবে ? যাবে না | যদি বাঙালীরা আলস্য ত্যাগ করে একটু পড়াশোনা করে, ত' সব জলের মত পরিষ্কার হয়ে যাবে | এ ত' একটি বছরের কথা মাত্র | হিন্দু ত' মুসলমান আক্রমণকারীদের দ্বারা সেই ৬৩৬ সাল থেকে আক্রান্ত, অর্থাৎ, প্রায় ১৪০০ বছর | ৭১২ সালে সিন্ধুপতন | সেই সময় থেকেই ত' হিন্দুর মন্দির ধ্বংস, সংস্কৃতিবিনাশ, হিন্দু নারীর বলাৎকার, আরব বাজারে দুই দিনারে বিক্রয়, হিন্দুহনন, ধর্মান্তরণ, আরও কত অকথ্য অত্যাচার | এসব যদি বাঙালীরা না জানতে চায় আলস্য ও ইন্দ্রিয়াসক্তিহেতু, ত' একটি চলচ্চিত্র সেই আত্মবিস্মৃত জাতিকে কতটা জাগাতে পারত সে বিষয়ে সন্দেহ থেকে যায় | অতএব, ছবিটা না দেখতে পেলে খুব যে একটা কিছু ক্ষতি হবে চেতনার, তা মনে হয় না | এই ভাবে সান্ত্বনা পাওয়া আর কি |

রচয়িতা : সুগত বসু (Sugata Bose)

🕉 SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTIONS 🕉

🕉 SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTIONS 🕉 

There is a nirgun nirākār essence in you which you are. Its manifestation this outer mind-body entity is which you in error identify yourself with. The Guru is to be worshipped, none else, none else, none else ever. He is your all in all and will guide you to this innermost glory. Therefore, focus wholly and with complete concentration on the Guru. Only bear his instructions and carry them out to perfection with absolute allegiance. May you be illumined! Tat tvam asi! 🕉

P.S. Constancy of will and fullness of concentration will take you to Atmajnān. The Guru forever holds, never forsakes. He is the only one to be worshipped. His words are Veda. His form is the temple. His mind is the vigraha and his soul is the anantasagar which is Parabrahma. 'Gurur sākshāt Parabrahma Tasmai Shree Gurave namaha.' The Guru and the shishyā are one in essence. Post-realisation all distinctions disappear. 🕉

Ego is the principal hindrance to arriving at the essential principle, that of Ātmajnān. Absolute self-surrender is necessary to witness the Self. The slightest trace of ego blocks vision. Therefore, in the spiritual path the means is obliteration of the ego. That comes easy to the one who is simplicity itself. But for the crooked realisation cones not till the twisted self is straightened. The Geetā says, "Bhidyatey hridayagranthi chhindanti sarvasangshayā" when the realisation of the Self dawns in samādhi. The knots of the heart are sundered and all doubts are dispelled. This simplicity, if it be there through past good karma, makes spiritual progress possible. The crooked never reach the goal. Desires galore, they bar the way and take one to the alleyways of the material world far from the royal avenue of God. A life is wasted in chasing mirage when with simplicity, rectitude and the spirit of surrender to the preceptor the ultimate purpose of life could have been achieved. But who cares to follow the Guru? Omniscience before Self-realisation is the pitiable state of all. Therefore, be you different and align yourself to the preceptor's laid-out principles, to his inspired instructions, and make a heaven out of life. Transcend life itself to arrive at the Truth which you in essence are. Be blessed! 🕉

Written by Sugata Bose 

A WARNING FROM HOLY MOTHER SRI SARADA DEVI

A WARNING FROM HOLY MOTHER SRI SARADA DEVI 

Spiritual gurus there are galore who ask you to renounce wealth and donate sums to them which they will then enjoy while utilising a part of it for social service to keep up the pretentious show. There are others who are craftier and devise a myriad means of fleecing the rich and the gullible in the name of offering spiritual guidance by means of conducted programmes which are moderately or exorbitantly charged as the case may be. 

[Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi has even on occasions uttered, "There will be many in the Kali Yuga who will take up sannyasa and having sung and danced will go to hell." 

ক্কচিৎ এমন কথাও তাঁহার মুখ হইতে বাহির হইয়াছে, "কলিতে অনেকে সন্ন্যাসী হইবে, নাচিয়া, গাহিয়া তারা নরকে যাইবে |"

~ Refer 'Sri Sri Sarada Devi' by Brahmachāri Akshaychaitanya in the Bengali original version.]

Written by Sugata Bose

A PALACE TALE

A PALACE TALE

A person built a palace at night with its hundreds of rooms filled with the choicest of edibles, entertainment and other objects of desire. He then quietly slipped away keeping the palace gates wide open. As daylight dawned, pedestrians started streaming in and became mad with delight at the delicacies on display and for free consumption as much as possible. As the crowd swelled, the available material of pleasure seemed inadequate for so many. Competition set in and fights started. This led to the formation of rival groups vying for supremacy and group-fights began. Meanwhile, some clever few began wondering as to who had built the palace and had kept all the tools of joy there open to all. They began searching for the palace-maker everywhere in the palace but could not find him. Then the most intelligent among them had an idea. He thought that may be the palace-maker had left the palace and had gone outside. So, he ventured forth from the palace leaving its pleasures and pains behind to seek the palace-maker out. There was a huge park just beyond the palace with lushgreen grass. There he saw an old, shrivelled man sitting on a bench smoking a bidi (cheap small version of a cigarette). He enquired of the stranger as to his query but met with an ambiguous answer. Upon further probing he became convinced that that man was the owner of the palace who had many more such palaces in many places for everyone. As his vision cleared, he was filled with a surpassing peace and bliss which he felt he had received owing to his association with that withered old man. He now felt the urge to communicate his knowledge and blissful experience with the inmates of the palace. So, the intelligent seeker left the park and went inside the palace to tell the inmates what he had learnt and how he now felt. But few listened to him. Most kept on at their greedy grabbing and intermittent fighting oblivious of the news that had freshly come from outside. 

Such is our world and such our predicament. We are caught within the palace of this world and will not budge from it. Who cares for what lies beyond the walls of the palace cast in concrete and to seek the lush greenery of eternal youth and freedom, to forsake the puerile pleasures of the mind and the body and seek the bliss beyond, that of the Reality behind the phenomenal drama that is fraught with the dual syndrome of pleasure and pain and perpetual conflict and chaos? Who cares after all? 🕉

Written by Sugata Bose