A Place where devotees gather to share inspiration.
"Holy Mother" painted by Swami Tadatmananda
Used courtesy of the Vedanta Society of Southern California
Greetings Ankur ji,
Thank you for reminding me to keep walking. Sometimes we slow down.....
As you can see below, we have updated the image
containing photos of Swami Vivekananda:
Incidentally, we are still offering Daily Readings from: "In The Company Of The Holy Mother" @ URL:
http://nahabat.tux.nu
In forty days, we will have posted 1,000 readings, during the past almost three years.
Today's reading illustrates how the Master retained his delightful sense of humour, although suffering from a painful and terminal illness:
"I was going upstairs one day, at Cossipore, carrying a large bowl of milk, when I suddenly turned dizzy and fell. I spilled the milk and displaced a bone in my ankle. Naren and Baburam came and lifted me. Later on my foot swelled up.
"When the Master heard about this he said, 'Well then Baburam, what is to become of me? What about my food? Who is going to feed me?' He was living on slops in those days. I made them and went up to his room and fed him myself. I wore a nose-ring in those days. So he pointed to his nose describing a nose-ring with gestures and said, 'Well, Baburam, can't you put her in a basket and carry it upstairs on your head?'
One may read about the last days at Cossipore HERE
Om Tat Sat
Respected web admin,
Greetings!
Thank you for your message and the updated photos. I am also grateful to be reminded of that incident in the Master’s life, showing how Master retained his delightful sense of humour, although suffering from a painful and terminal illness. I would like to share with you some discussions I had with a monastic of the Ramakrishna Order yesterday. This exercise will also help refresh and make stronger my memory of what transpired between us.
Maharaj: Hello, Ankur, how’re you?
Ankur: I am well, Maharaj. This is my friend Sagar Rajkumar.
Maharaj: Hello, Sagar. Where are you from?
Sagar: Namaskar!
Ankur: He would be more comfortable if you speak in Hindi.
Maharaj: Oh! he is a North Indian? Come Sagar.
Sagar: I am Bishnupriya Manipuri.
Maharaj: So there are Rajkumars among Manipuris too. Generally North Indians have this title.
Maharaj: I see you have bought many books. You really love books. That is good. Let me see.
Ankur: Maharaj, this book (containing all existing photographs of Swami Vivekananda with research comments and quotations) was such a wonderful publication previously, but now they have made it cheap.
Maharaj: In what way? Surely the photographs are the same.
Ankur: Perhaps the page quality. And the cover. One felt a sense of pride to hold this book before. And now...
Maharaj: (Seeing the book) These were art paper before. Oh! these Madras fellows! And they have kept the same price?
Ankur: Yes, Maharaj.
Maharaj: At least they could have reduced the price so that the poor can also buy it...these Madras fellows deserve a knuckle on their heads.
Ankur: But the book on Swami Ranganathananda, that is a wonderful production.
Maharaj: Yes, I saw it in the training centre too. I am so inspired by his life. The book is beautifully produced.
Ankur: And flawless editing.
Maharaj: Yes, I get so much inspiration from this life of Ranganathananda Ji. And so well titled, “My life is my work.” I have kept the photos you gave me in my shrine. The one of Ranganathananda Ji and of Bhuteshananda Ji and both together. Three photos. Ranganathananda Ji was such a wonderful personality. I had heard of Bhuteshananda Ji before. He was like a Paramhansa. But Ranganathananda Ji....I used to think what type of person he was....but now I consider myself blessed to have been initiated by him. Unique person. Such work he did and such a life he led. Exemplified Swami Ji’s ideals through his life. When I left home, my parents and grandparents told me where will you go? Sri Ramakrishna is dead, so is Swami Vivekananda. I replied that they may be dead but the ideal is still there. I will go for the ideal and hold on to it. Even should Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Ji be false, the ideal will still be there. And it is a good ideal....
Ankur: Yes, a life of dedication, an outpouring to the Self, to God. He (Swami Ranganathananda Ji) was known as the second Vivekananda. While coming by train from Bangalore I compared notes with Madam Alpana and wrote the following. Ranganathananda Ji an embodiment of Narayana. I see Lord Rama in him. Narayana, who upholds the world and hence he is a karma yogi. Bhuteshananda Ji embodies the Shiva aspect of God. Bhakti Yogi. Immersed in Self. An inward dedication as contrasted with Ranganathananda Ji’s outward dedication.
Maharaj: That is OK. But not the complete picture. You say Bhuteshananda Ji was a Bhakta. That is OK. But what a wonderfully great Jnani he was. Not only in the Ramakrishna circles but all over India, he was unequalled in Jnana. And his contributions as a Karma Yogi... Just to illustrate... At one time so many things happened in the Ramakrishna Order. It completely lost its foothold and credibility in Gujarat. People there totally lost faith in the Mission. At such a time Bhuteshananda Ji was sent there. And he fully reestablished the Mission there. The people there regained their faith in the Mission and the ideals it stood for. Bhuteshananda Ji did it. He re-instilled that faith. At a public gathering, one very important person...
Ankur: It was Osho Rajneesh. He was not that well known then. (Bhuteshananda Ji very gently cut all his arguments against Vedanta to shreds, making people realize for the first time what a great scholar he was.)
Maharaj: No, it was not Rajneesh. It was another occasion. A huge public gathering. That important person sent a huge car cavalcade with escorts to bring Bhuteshananda Ji, who was not invited, there. It was then that people realized his calibre and again started trusting in the Ramakrishna Mission. Really, Bhuteshananda Ji was really a dynamo. A dynamo of spirituality, he could recharge people’s spirituality. So was Swami Ranganathananda. Well, both of them, Bhuteshananda Ji and Ranganathananda Ji were great people. One feels pure on reflecting on their lives and meditating on them. Well, Ankur, tell me now about your Bangalore trip and The Art of Living.
Ankur: ................And I wrote to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar that I had come to meet him because Madam Alpana and my mother too wanted me to meet him. And further that Madam wanted me to get his blessings but I had already been blessed by Swami Bhuteshananda of the Ramakrishna tradition and I feel I am being looked after in all regards by him. I met Ravi Shankar also.
Maharaj: How did he react to the letter?
Ankur: Positively, it seems. He came near me and asked me, “Are you happy?” I replied, “Yes” and he went forward.
Maharaj: How did you know that was in response to your letter? These big people very seldom read the letters addressed to them. It is not possible too. So many people write to them. Even in the Ramakrishna Order, the President seldom reads all the letters. Only the very urgent ones are given to him by his Secretary. It is not possible too at 97 or 90 years plus to attend to all mails. Ranganathananda Ji was an exception. He managed to read all his correspondence and even replied in his own handwriting to many.
Ankur: Yes, I have also letters written by him to me in his own handwriting.
Maharaj: Anyway, whether Sri Sri Ravi Shankar read your letter or not is not the moot point. It is of not much consequence. What is important is your personal experiences there. That is why I encouraged you to go there. You should have all experiences. Your mind should be satisfied. You know ---- told me the other day that ---- wanted to go to the Art of Living organisation. Many of our monks and Swamis rebuked him and tried to make him see reason. But Ranganathananda Ji was different. When that person wrote to Ranganathananda Ji, he himself replied that, do go by all means. You should imbibe anything positive anywhere. And if it helps your personal growth, you must go by all means. I am reminded of that song in the Gospel....Unless I sing it I can’t articulate it properly. Anyway, here is the gist. A bird was sitting on the mast of a ship. It fell asleep. The ship set sail. And went far out in the Ocean. When the bird woke up, it was confused and tried to find land. It flew in all directions, was exhausted and ultimately returning to the mast and sitting there quietly, it found rest. Well, Sri Ramakrishna always encouraged one to examine one’s Guru in all ways. You remember the incident of Swami Abhedananda. Swami Abhedananda wanted to be a yogi. When Sri Ramakrishna was at Cossipore, he ran away to Bodh Gaya and became the disciple of a yogi and practised austerities. But he was soon disappointed. And he came to the conclusion that at this age and time, spirituality in full was to be found in Sri Ramakrishna only. Indeed, when he came back to Cossipore and went near Sri Ramakrishna telling nothing of his experience, Sri Ramakrishna by sign language told him, go round and round, you will find nothing. Only at this place (showing his heart), there is full 16 annas (100 per cent) spirituality. So, Ankur, faith is essential and before that one has to have one’s experiences. Nowadays devotion has become such a cheap matter. People come and take initiation, and then do nothing thinking the Ramakrishna Mission has taken all our responsibility! And they all consider themselves great devotees! When Ramakrishna Mission Swamis tell that meditation is very difficult, nobody comes to them. They all want instant Samadhi, if possible over the net! Well, remember, progress is never sudden. If someone makes progress in a burst, know that it transitory and short-lived. Progress is always gradual and slow, bit by bit. You realize it yourself. And someone develops devotion from an early age, you have to acknowledge that it is his karma from past births. Prahlad at the age of four shed tears of devotion whenever he heard the letter K for he was instantly reminded of Lord Sri Krishna. That did not come all of a sudden. It was the fruit of his past actions in previous births.
Ankur: Well, Maharaj. It has been wonderful talking with you. But I must now take your leave. We have to go to Gita didi. He (Sagar) wants to meet her. And it already being late, we also have to return to Guwahati.
Maharaj: Ok, Ankur. It was really pleasant to talk with you too. Come again and phone me sometimes and thank you for the book again.
Ankur: No, Maharaj. As I said, (I had narrated a wonderful dream whence I was directed to get that book on Ranganathananda Ji for Maharaj from the Ramakrishna Math at Bangalore) it was meant for you.
Maharaj: Ok, then, goodbye. Ok, Sagar.
Ankur: Goodbye, Maharaj. Thank you.
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Respected web admin, the above was from my memory. So any flaws or mistakes are mine.
FYI, Bhuteshananda Ji and Ranganathananda Ji were respectively the 12th and 13th Presidents of the Sri Ramakrishna Order. They were monks par excellence and spiritual and intellectual giants. One senior monk from the Ramakrishna Centre, Moscow, referred to Bhuteshananda Ji as a lighthouse while telling that they themselves were just torchlights! Ranganathananda Ji was a colossus. A gigantic worker. His work itself was his meditation and prayer.
Do give your comments, if any. It is always nice to hear from you. And thank you once again.
With regards,
Ankur
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Greetings Ankur ji,
Thank you for reminding me to keep walking. Sometimes we slow down.....
As you can see below, we have updated the image
containing photos of Swami Vivekananda:
Incidentally, we are still offering Daily Readings from: "In The Company Of The Holy Mother" @ URL:
http://nahabat.tux.nu
In forty days, we will have posted 1,000 readings, during the past almost three years.
Today's reading illustrates how the Master retained his delightful sense of humour, although suffering from a painful and terminal illness:
"I was going upstairs one day, at Cossipore, carrying a large bowl of milk, when I suddenly turned dizzy and fell. I spilled the milk and displaced a bone in my ankle. Naren and Baburam came and lifted me. Later on my foot swelled up.
"When the Master heard about this he said, 'Well then Baburam, what is to become of me? What about my food? Who is going to feed me?' He was living on slops in those days. I made them and went up to his room and fed him myself. I wore a nose-ring in those days. So he pointed to his nose describing a nose-ring with gestures and said, 'Well, Baburam, can't you put her in a basket and carry it upstairs on your head?'
One may read about the last days at Cossipore HERE
Om Tat Sat
Location: Guwahati, Assam, India