Arrogance in Descendants of Old Disciples

It has been a long time since I wrote anything on this blog about our holy Gurudev.  Friends for the past few days I had some bitter experience on a social network called Facebook. This similar type of experiences I had earlier also though personally in my normal daily life.  Sri Sri Thakur had many disciples whom He had Himself bestowed with Sri Naam and who were actually very much devoted to Gurudev’s holy feet all their whole life. Now after so many years had passed those holy souls have departed and the time is the modern era of 2013 and if somebody goes and meet the descendents of those families like their grandsons or grand-daughters one will be greeted with arrogant behavior and more importantly high amount of proudness!!! In the past I had one such opportunity to meet a particular family at Kolkata. The person who took me there was an elder fellow and devotee of Sri Sri Thakur and he requested me to visit there to meet the old fellow who had taken Sri Naam from Guruji Himself. When we reached there the old man was not there and instead we interacted with the family and was shocked to see their high level of proudness. They even went to the extent of telling that it is their wish that their grandfather should now start distributing Sri Naam like the Mohant Moharajas and while their conversation I found at one point that they were even showing disrespect to our Gurudev as if they are even great than Him!!!! Similarly, recently I again had an opportunity to encounter a girl on facebook who was on my friendlist earlier and it was unknown to me that she was also suffering from the same problem as she was also belonging to a very close disciple of our Gurudev who had taken Sri Naam from Him personally and this was also unknown to me!! There was a confusion where I found that her posts are contradictory as it involved the declarations given by our Holy Gurudev so I tried to correct her immediately which angered her and it was then she started citing her family background as if I am nothing in front of her!!!! I asked her to calm down as I also know many families who had taken Sri Naam from Gurudev to that she became more angry and started arguing. I found her higly egoistic and proudy and thought it would be useless to argue with her anymore and deleted all my comments and unfriend her!! Now what is this?? What has happened to the mindset of these families??? Are they following the footsteps of their Grandparents who had taken Sri Naam from Sri Sri Thakur??? These fellows have forgotten the basic criteria to be devotees of Lord is to leave proudness, to be humble at heart, love God and believe in His teachings whole heartedly!! Sri Chaintanya Mahaprabhu had also said Trinadapi Sunichen means to be humble even more than a tiny grass, Tarorapi Sahishnuna to bear the destiny like a tree who bears all the seasons on its body whole year Manena Amanden to be stable both in respect or disrespect and Kirtaniya Sada Hari always chant the holy name of Lord Sri Hari!!! Are they following all these??? I don’t think so. They should instead become an example for the society to teach all how to do devotion instead of boasting of their family background in front of all!! I told her that each and  every soul would have to do sadhana on its own to attain salvation and no family name plate would help anybody to reach it without proper devotion but that angered here severely and I had no option left but to unfriend her!! In ashrams also this same problem is existing. The families of the President, Treasurer, Secretary of various ashrams are having the same problem!! If the Mohant Maharaj stays at the home of a particular family then you can very well understand the mindset of that family!!! I tell you that I am working at a senior position in a government office through which I can arrange darshans or accommodations of various famous pilgrimage places whether it is tirupati, shirdi or vaishno devi etc. sitting at my home and can get the best treatments, all my office collegues uses this facility but I had never ever used such things as I believe that one should go before the Lord depending only and only on Him rather than on one’s own connections!! Guruji also always used to insist as to be Akarta instead of having Kortitto!! See you all at the next post!! Jai Ram!!

Sri Sri Thakur is Lord Himself - A Truth

 How many people actually knows the truth who our Gurudev is?? They are just keeping His holy portrait at their puja altar without understanding exactly the divineness, His greatness or the unlimited power of our holy Gurudev!! Otherwise why they are always complaining about their lives, why they are always restless and running to various pilgrimages in search of mental peacefulness??  One side they would claim about their devotion or belief for our Gurudev and then other side they would not believe in the holy instructions or words of Him (Mantra Moolam Gurum Vakyam) and would visit various temples or religious places or various other deities or even local babas or gurus to attain mental peace or to get rid of their problems!!!  I remember some incidents where quite occasionally the greatness of our Guruji would come out!! Once it so happened that Gurudev was residing at the house of a devotee at Bangladesh during World War II where there was a routine practice of playing siren by the Govt. during an air attack by the enemy forces and there were also bunkers made by the each house-owner or govt. for hiding of people to save themselves from the bombs or missiles fired by the aircrafts of the enemies.  It was during such time that suddenly there was siren being played and everybody started running to hide into the bunkers, the house owner after sending each one of his family members into the bunker went to Guruji and requested Him also to go to the bunker to which Guruji replied with a very strong & dominating voice as This siren is for you all not for me!! The Vajra (referred to the bomb) which can fell on my head has not been made till now!!! After that fellow could not utter anything!! From this incident can anyone understand as who can say this until & unless He is none other than the Almighty Lord Himself!!  From here I would now take you all to Puri Dham where many times our holy Gurudev have placed his holy feet. Guruji never used to visit the Jagannath Temple at Puri and even if at all He went to give company to the devotees He had never ever entered the temple which was always a great mystery for many of His close disciples!! Instead He would wait for them at the Singhadwar of the Jagannath Temple and it was during such time that a devotee who had went inside the temple to offer his puja to the deity, when he came out of the temple he saw a very strange thing!!! He noticed that a very very old mother who was carrying all items of doing puja for the deity along with a thali of arti was doing arti of our Holy Gurudev and Guruji was also standing motionless as if He is none other the Lord Jagannath himself and accepting her offerings!!! That old lady was doing arti with full devotion with tears in her eyes as if she has seen something in Him and from his incident I remember a similar incident from the life of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu where a devadasi of the Jagannath temple became His devotee and the Lord also bestowed His mercy upon her and showed her in secret as who He was actually and seeing this the devadasi prostrated before Him with full devotion whereas there was a very strict rule that the devadasi would never ever prostrate before anybody except the Lord Jagannath Himself!!! Our Guruji was none other than the Lord Sri Chaitanya Himself which is a known fact among all His devotees!! Similarly at some other pilgrimage place most probably Sri Vaidyanath Dham of Lord Shiva also an incident took place!! Guruji was accompanying a family and after checking into a lodge the couple decided to visit the temple and asked Gurudev quite reluctantly whether He would also like to visit (actually they wanted Him to stay at the lodge to keep guard of their luggage, and may be that was the main reason to bring Him along with them, how pity!!)  Sri Sri Thakur who is antaryami, sensing their inner feeling replied in negative and asked them to visit the temple!! They happily kept their luggage below his bed and while going even asked a young boy of that lodge at the main entrance to keep an eye on our Gurudev so that He doesn’t goes out anywhere!! When the couple reached the temple and approached the deity, to their utter astonishment they found that Sri Sri Thakur alongwith some other devotees was circulating (doing pradakshina) of the Shiva Ling!! The couples said that see this is the height when we asked Him to come along with us, He didn’t agreed and now He has came here leaving all our valuables at the mercy of the lodge people!! Fuming inside the couple hurriedly offered their puja and returned to the lodge as soon as possible and found Sri Sri Thakur as usual sitting on His bed!! The couple started shouting on Gurudev as to why did He first did not agreed to go with them and then went to the temple and kept on saying many things as how Gurudev can have any care for money since He is not a grihasta and thus He doesn’t have any attachment for it etc. etc.!! Suddenly Sri Sri Thakur spoke and said Had I not went there what you people would have seen?? Listening this just one line sentence made them totally dumb struck for a few minutes and afterwards they realised their fault!!! They had went to see the Lord Vaidyanath or the Lord Shiva and thus Sri Sri Thakur who is none other than the almighty Lord went there to give them darshan!! They fall at His holy feet and begged for forgiveness!! Later on when they asked that young boy that did you saw the Burababu ever leaving the lodge to which the boy replied that he was sitting at the gate and didn’t went anywhere and he didn’t saw the Burababu or our Gurudev going out of the lodge to anywhere!!!  Friends, we all are very very very lucky to have Tribhuvanpati, the Lord of unlimited universe Himself as our Guru who is the Jagatguru also!!  

Mannāthah Srījagannātho, Madgurustri Jagadguruh, Mamātmā Sarva-bhūtātmā Tasmai Srīgurave Namah.

Salutations to Shri Guru. My Lord is the Lord of the universe. My Guru is the Guru of the three worlds. My Self is the Self of all beings.    

Jai Sri Ram!!

Sri Sri Thakur was Lord Himself

Lord Sri Sri Kaivalyanathji

There has been many incidents when it became evident that Sri Sri Thakur was none other than the Supreme Lord Himself!!! This was first proved by Him when He Himself worshipped His very own portrait in front of all His devotees and instructed everybody that all the dieties of this universe can be worshipped in His portrait of Sri Sri Kaivalyanath (Kaivalyanath refers to Lord Sri Krishna Himself as confirmed in Srimad Bhagvatham) and Sri Sri Satyanarayan!! Once when asked to give permission to write about His biography or life sketch he remarked that when there is no actual life of Him then where is the question to write about his biography?? And after that He even remarked that He is the same from the days of Vrindavan!!! & through this He referred to none other than the Lord Sri Krishna Himself!!! Once while fulfulling the desire of a dying lady, He stood near her head said that Look above and see that the Lord Sri Hari Himself is standing here!!! Apart from this manyatimes he revealed to His very close disciples in secret that He is none other Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself which was not to be revealed in public and those disciples were under oath to keep the secret!!!  Once while at Puri, when everybody were going to have darshan of Lord Sri Jagannath, Sri Phanindra Malakar Mohashoy who never used to leave Sri Sri Thakur, it was at that moment when one of the devotees asked him to accompany them to see Lord Sri Jagannathdev!! At this Sri Sri Thakur said that you all go and have darshan of Lord Jagannath, Phanindra babu doesn’t need to go as his Jagannath is always with him!!! Rohini babu also wrote in his book that once while staying at Muzzafarpur, Sri Sri Thakur who used to leave the house early morning and would return late at afternoon, Rohini babu would very often found that Sri Sri Thakur’s feet were used to be smeared with chandan, perfumed oil & many other things which are being used in worshipping dieties and sometimes they were also found on His head!! When asked about them He as usual tried to dodge their questions but after insisting He told that while going through a place He found some people who were waiting for Him and they said that previous night they had dreams that God himself would be visiting them to accept their offerings and hence they are waiting for Him and after that they made Guruji sit and worshipped Him with full devotion like God!! Rohini babu also narrated about an incident which used to happen daily evening when they used to do arti of our Guruji immediately at that very moment all the nearby temples would also start doing arti of their respective dieties and subsequently the bells of those temples would also start to ring!! Phanindra Malakar Mohashoy had the privilege of having darshan of our Guruji as Maa Kali as also Upendra Saha saw Him as Lord Satyanarayan!! Like this there were many instances when it became very much evident that the Lord of Unlimited Universe had came in between us for the upliftment of all downtrodden people irrespective of their caste, colour, creed or religion. Jai Ram!!

Beware of Fake People

 

It is very unfortunate & highly disgusting to note about the acts of some so-called disciples of our holy Gurudev who claim themselves as devotees of our Guruji but would do just the opposite what He has taught us!!  The very major fault I found with them is that these people are very much keen or fond of propagating or advertising their names on the pretext of being disciples. Some of them even went to the extent of doing some sort of business also by the name of our Guruji which raises serious questions on their genuineness of being a disciple!! Actually, these so-called disciples are very far away from the concept of devotion in reality!! By giving some examples I would try to come straightway to the point. As you all know very well that there are hundreds of books available at the various ashrams all over India & Bangladesh being written by various devotees about our holy Gurudev and people most of the time purchase those books hurriedly without doing some sort of research about them or about the authenticity of the authors of those books!! It can be very well appreciated that nowadays writing of books also generates good amount of money and one can’t be very sure about the genuineness of the devotion of those authors towards our holy Gurudev Sri Sri Ramthakur!!! I am having many authentic books about our Guruji and I always try to be very cautious while purchasing them!! Firstly I only purchase those author’s books who had the privilege of accompanying our Guruji or who had enjoyed the company of Him personally and so the incidents written by them are surely & positively very authentic!! Till now most of those people had already written their books long time back but still nowadays one can see that every now & then there are advent of new books which are always on the move and one can see them at the ashrams!! Most of these new books are mostly and surely copied from the original biographies of those devotees who had the privilege of company of our Gurudev, like this these new so-called disciples and authors are copying various incidents from various different original version books and publishing them under their names just to gain some fame and ofcourse last but not the least also some amount of money!!! The best part is that while these fellows are not stopping here they are even advertising the names of their books through various internet social networks & sites whether it is facebook, twitter or Wikipedia etc.  the original authors and the close disciples who wrote those original books never ever resort to any such type of advertisements!!! Many cases it so happened that those authors were not even sure to write about their experiences on paper and get them published under their names (for example “Rambhai Sarane” by Sri Phanindra Malakar Mohashoy) as they felt it to be offensive to let people know about their names as according to them only Sri Sri Thakur’s name should be advertised instead of theirs but Guruji Himself gave such type of indications directly and indirectly to them which subsequently inspired them to write their experiences for the benefit of all of us and for the countless devotees spread all around the globe!!! But I must say that it is very very disappointing & disgusting to see that some shameless business minded people who are least interested in our Holy Gurudev and who are in the disguise of being devotees or disciples of our Sri Sri Thakur are upto such evil activities which needs to be condemned again and again by all of us!!! These people are so hungry for some name and fame but they have forgotten about that great Saint and our Lord Sri Sri Thakur about whom they are writing was Himself against any sort of advertisements or fame!!!  I don’t want to take any names of those people here on this blog but I request you all if you keep your eyes and ears quite alert and open you can very easily figure them out!!! I am at New Delhi and during past few years I have met some people or say the so-called disciples at the delhi ashram who had copied some incidents from various old original books and published books under their names which is just ridiculous!!! After coming to facebook, here also I have found some of those elements and thus I request you all of you also to be very cautious before purchasing any books and don’t fall into the trap of copied versions and instead go for original versions!! If anybody is interested in knowing about original versions of those books, they can ask them at the Sri Sri Ramthakur page at Facebook!! May the All Merciful Gurudev bless all of you!! All Glory to Sri Naam and our holy Gurudev!!! Jai Ram!! Jai Jai Ram!!!

The Religion of Humanism

 

Dear Friends, its been a long time since I wrote anything here on this blog!! For the past few months, I have been noticing one thing on the internet being written about our holy Gurudev by various people which I found to be highly objectionable on my part and subsequently thought that it must be brought before all of you for your knowledge!!!

Our beloved Gurudev, Sri Sri Ramthakur has always been a very strong supporter of the Religion of Humanism rather than other various religions viz. Hinduism, Muslim or Christianity etc. prevalent in the society. There had been many instances where Guruji had indicated on this fact very clearly that his disciples should always strive to give first priority to Humanity before their respective religions. That was the main reason why He had disciples from both the Hindu and Muslim communities from the undivided Bengal of India before the partition days. Infact His very first disciple was Sadhu Cherag Ali who was a muslim from the present Bangladesh and who was one of the greatest devotees of our beloved Gurudev and presently whose house is being visited by lakhs of devotees of our Guruji every year as a place of pilgrimage. Sri Sri Thakur used to initiate all His disciples as per their beliefs or the religion they were into, like for example Sadhu Cherag Ali was initiated by the holy name of Allah and similarly various other hindu disciples were being initated by Sri Sri Thakur by the holy names of various hindu Dieties as per their respective beliefs and faiths!! But when asked by one of His disciples as to which community we all belong Sri Sri Thakur immediately without a second replied that you all belong to the community or religion of Humanity or Humanism!!! My Doyal Gurudev’s doors were always open for all and He never ever differentiated between His disciples on the basis of their caste, colour, creed, religion or community etc. He had even welcomed the prostitutes whom our city based modern & intellectual society people wanted to stop from visiting Him!! It happened once that some prostitutes went to have His darshan which was stopped by the houseowner and other people present there, & when this news reached Him inside the house, Sri Sri Thakur remarked I am old hence I cannot see or hear properly!!! These words had a deep indepth meaning (God never differentiates between anybody, He only gives importance to the pure devotion and love)!! After that Gurudev asked the houseowner to not to stop the mothers to visit Him and even accepted some fruits brought by them in front of all which many people didn’t liked at all!! Like this there are hundreds of incidents where we can find that our Gurudev’s mercy and blessings were showered on each n every person of each n every community or religion!!

But it is very unfortunate & disgusting to notice that some people of their own vested interests are trying their hard to label our beloved Gurudev as an ambassador of the religion of Hinduism!! These people through every possible social networks & sites of internet like facebook, twitter or Wikipedia are always trying their level best to brand Sri Sri Thakur as a Hindu Saint who only believed in the religion of Hinduism but in reality which was not!! Prima facie it seems that these people belong to Bangladesh and they are hell bent on declaring our Guruji as a supporter of Hindu religion but in reality even now in Bangladesh there are many many muslim devotees of our Guruji and they worship Him as a form of Lord Sri Sri Satyanarayan as well as Sri Satya Pir!! Sri Satyanarayan Puja and Harinam Sankirtan procession from the house of Sadhu Cherag Ali is being followed with full devotion even today on a particular day every year which is a must to witness by each one of us!! Through this forum, I appeal to all my Guru brothers & sisters to boycott & not to believe those ideals and people believing or propagating them who want to categorize our beloved Gurudev as a believer of only the religion of Hinduism!! Please oppose them very strongly whenever you see such type of thing as Lord is for all just like the Sunlight falls on each and everybody equally without any type of differentiation based on their caste, colour, creed or religion etc. Remember the famous quotation from Srimad Bhagvad Gita, Yada Yade Hi Dharmasya… Did the Lord mentioned here about any name of a religion or people of a particular community??? No, because this message was meant for all and for the Humanity of which all are His dear children!!! Jai Ram!!

The Result of Attachment

Today I would tell you about an incident which shows what happens due to attachment to the world!! This was narrated by Sri Sadananda Chakraborty mohashoy who had happened to visit a place somewhere in Assam where the nature had bestowed all its beauty. But when he visited that place he came to know of certain very supernatural things told by the locals there which was very alarming!! The locals told that they are scared to go to that place after the dusk or some time even in the day time also as many ghosts of some vaishnavs are being seen as roaming there!!! Sadananda babu did not believe all those stories and decided to spend some days there and while staying he also actually saw them and became a bit scared!!! He thought deeply on this and decided to ask our holy Gurudev about this and wrote a letter to him!! After some days he received a reply from our Guruji that He Himself is going to visit that place along with some other devotees and accordingly arrangements were being made for His visit. Sadananda babu  quite obviously became very much excited after coming to know of Guruji’s visit and was also very anxious to know about the ghosts of the vaishvas being roaming there!! The days became very difficult for him to pass and then one fine day Sri Sri Thakur reached there along with other devotees!! Sadanada babu welcomed Him and after paying respects asked Him about the ghosts!! Sri Sri Thakur smiled and started saying that long time ago Sri Advaitaacharya who was the closest disciple of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and who was also known as the avatar of Maha Vishnu and one out of the Panch Tatvas (Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Sri Advaita acharya, Sri Gadadhara, Sri Sribas Acharya)  had a daughter named as Smt. Hemlini Devi. Now this Hemlini Devi who was also a great Vaishnavite just like her great father had many vaishnav disciples!! Once day she alongwith all her disciples happened to came to this beautiful place and spend some days here!! After a month or so when she decided to leave that place most of her disciples requested not to leave the place as it is very beautiful filled with utmost natural beauty. Smt. Hemlini Devi became astonished at this and warned them that sanyasis should not be attached with any worldly matters and should have a detached sense but they didn’t agreed to this!! She felt sorry for them and blessed them and subsequently left that place! Time went with days and months and years and those vaishnavs could not leave that place as they were under the spell of it. Slowly one by one vaishnavs died by their own karmic timings but even after dying they could not leave and hence became ghosts due to their attachment with the place and for years they are roaming here like this!! Sri Sri Thakur now asked everyone to organise an utsav and sri naam sankirtan for the salvation of those ill fated souls and accordingly everything was arranged!! The naam sankirtan started, Sadananda babu who himself was a good kirtaniya also took part but after some time he felt that the naam sankirtan is not picking that pace it should take!! He was feeling little tired and since it was late night also he thought to take little nap while others were continuing the kirtan. Very soon he went into deep sleep when suddenly he felt as someone was shaking to woke him up from the sleep. First he thought that it must some devotee of Gurudev and asked to not to disturb but suddenly he felt as the hands being very very soft and it can’t be except our Guruji!! He immediately wake up from sleep and saw it was true, Sri Sri Thakur was standing before him!! Gurudev asked smilingly to immediately go and see what is happening there in the kirtan premises, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has himself arrived along with all His Parshads and doing Sri naam sankirtan and the Hare Krishna Mahamantra is circulating the whole kirtan premises!! He asked Sadananda babu to immediately join the kirtan group!! Sadananda babu ran to the kirtan premises and saw that sri naam sankirtan was at its peak height and it seemed that the whole place was shaking due to the dance of the kirtan group, it seemed to him that this kirtan is from some other world and he has never heard or seen such a divine kirtan in his whole life!!! Whatever it is, as per Guruji’s wish all those souls of the vaishnavs got liberated from this world due to the holy naam sankirtan!! All Glory to our beloved Gurudev Sri Sri Ramthakur!! All Glory to Sri Naam Sankirtan!!

The Almighty Gurudev

Many people who later became devotees of Sri Sri Thakur tried to test our holy Gurudev in many ways!! What to do its the human mind!! There was a young man who was in his mid twenties happened to meet Guruji at his friend’s home and where each n every member of the family were staunch follower of our Gurudev !! This young fellow who didn’t liked any type of sadhus and saints wasn’t liking much the welcoming of our Gurudev but was quietly watching everything. One day while Sri Sri Thakur had gone out quite early on a day and didn’t returned till late in the night the houseowner before going to bed handed over the keys of the main gate to this young fellow who was smoking while sitting at the balcony of the house after taking the night meal to open the main gate so as to enable Sri Sri Thakur to enter the house.  This young fellow felt very joyous on getting the keys and thought inside that today I would not allow this sadhu to enter the house!!! The facing of the balcony was towards the road which comes towards the main gate of the house and one can see anybody approaching the gate. Now this young fellow kept on waiting and smoking and thought inside as Thakur!! You should not come tonight because if you come then I am afraid you would have to go back as I am not going to open the door in any case!! The night moved on and this man kept on waiting!! It was very dark outside but anybody approaching can be easily seen and suddenly he saw that Sri Sri Thakur slowly coming towards the main gate of the house!!! The young man again checked the keys tucked in his dhoti firmly and became sure and became happy inside!! He saw Gurudev upto the main gate but after that he couldn’t see Him and became confused and started wondering as where Sri Sri Thakur had vanished!!! Just as when he was trying to search Him and peeping from the balcony suddenly a hand came from his backside and tapped on his shoulder!!! That young fellow would have died out of fear by this sudden act and when turned his back was totally and utterly shocked to see Gurudev standing there in front of him!!! Guruji smilingly asked as what you are doing here till late night??? Why didn’t you went to sleep???  That fellow somehow managed control his pumping heart beats and ran from there to his room!!! Needless to say that young man later became a very close devotee of our Gurudev!!! Whom he wanted to stop, who is Sakar and Nirakar both!! Another place also a similar incident happened but it was not done to test Him infact it had happened by mistake!! Somewhere in Bangladesh Guruji was staying and those days he had the habit to visit the toilet quite very early in the morning. It so happened that Gurudev as usual went to the toilet and an elderly lady devotee in order to serve Him locked the toilet door from outside so that nobody else from the house can come and decided to open when Guruji asks for it!! She also decided to be awaken till Sri Sri Thakur returns from the toilet but since it was very early in the morning very soon that lady went into deep sleep and totally forgot that Sri Sri Thakur is locked inside the toilet!!! Suddenly after about hour or so she woke up and found Sri Sri Thakur sitting on his bed as usual and became shocked as the whole house is in deep sleep!! Sri Sri Thakur remarked service should be done whole heartedly and with sincerity!! That lady apologised for her act & Guruji also blessed her!!!  I had found in Advocate Subhamoy Dutta babu’s book that once on an afternoon when he was sleeping lying on the ground and Sri Sri Thakur was sitting on the bed, while going to sleep he could see Sri Sri Thakur sitting on the bed!! Suddenly his sleep broke and he saw that Gurudev was not present there!!! He searched the whole house and even checked the road but to no use!! He became tired and came back to his place and very soon went into deep sleep!! After some hour or so when again he woke up he found Sri Sri Thakur sitting in the same posture as he had seen Him earlier before going to sleep!!! He enquired from Guruji as to where He had gone to which Guruji replied as I didn’t  went anywhere!! I was very much here!! See you all at the next write-up!! Jai Ram!!!

Teachings of Gurudev

Most of the people are very sensitive about cleanliness when the issue of being religious or spiritual comes. Let us see what our Gurudev have said about it. Once a disciple who wanted to be initiated was present in front of Sri Sri Thakur who immediately asked him to take Sri Naam at that very moment!! But the devotee was in a little hesitation and pleaded that he should first take a bath and wear on clean cloths and after that only he can accept the diksha by Gurudev!! Sri Sri Thakur smiled at this and remarked in His style Ho Jan Gu er Bosta ta Dhuiya Niya Ashen!! (yes go & get washed the shit bag properly)!! Another incident happened where in the same situation the devotee pleaded that he hasn't taken bath for 2 days and he is wearing the same dress for the last 2-3 days and had even attended the nature's call with the same dress worn and so his body and clothes are very dirty to which Sri Sri Thakur said that yes inded they are dirty, but there is one thing that if one takes Sri Naam his endless births sins and dirts are washed off then is it not possible that your body's and clothe's dirt would also be get washed after taking the Sri Naam??   There are two things called Achar & Vichar and it seems people are much more busy with Achar instead of Vichar!! There was an incident where our Gurudev's dear disciple Sri Indubhushan Banerjee, the man behind the compilation of Vedvani had a deep desire to spend few days in a Ashram in his vacations to enjoy the spiritual bliss and so he instructed his family people to not to disturb him in those days!! Accordingly, he went to the ashram to spend some days there!! The very first day he narrates that he was forcefully waken up from his deep sleep at around 3 a.m. and asked to take bath!! Very reluctantly and with great pain somehow he completed the difficult task since those were winter days!! When he sat to take the morning prasad called Balyabhog, he was reminded of various types of rituals while eating and has to be very careful about them for ex. no sound while eating, not to use left hand, to start with another dish one has to wash his hands first etc. like these many rules were there!! Indu babu somehow started eating the prasad but within a few seconds the brahamacharis of the ashram cried foul as he had breaked some rule which would attract some sins!! The first day itself was so painful and torturing for him that he ran out of the ashram and came to his own house and heaved a sigh of relief!! Jai Ram!!

Sri Sri Thakur & His Precious Sri Naam

The actions of our beloved Gurudev were always very meaningful & of great importance which couldn’t be understood until & unless blessed by Him. It so happened once that our beloved Gurudev was passing through a very busy & overcrowded market of vegetables and fruits somewhere in Bengal and was also being followed by two or three devotees behind Him. The very narrow way in the midst of the market was insufficient to walk properly and was difficult to cross over from opposite directions by two passers at one time. Just during that suddenly a coolie carrying a big heap of vegetables on his head happened to come across the narrow way and approached Sri Sri Thakur from the opposite direction!! He seemed to be from the region of Bihar in India! He immediately stopped, put down his heavy weight from his head on the ground and prostrated into the holy feet of Gurudev!! Sri Sri Thakur also blessed him and after that the coolie again put on his items on his head and went away and very quickly mixed into the crowd within a fraction of minutes!! The devotees who were following Him were astonished at this and asked Guruji whether He knows the fellow!! Sri Sri Thakur replied may be somebody!! But the disciples were not willing to leave Him so easily and continued to pester Him to tell the truth!! Sri Sri Thakur then told that after taking initiation of Sri Naam Diksha that very person becomes familiar to Him and can be recognised very easily!! Another incident happened in the house of Rohini babu where our beloved God was staying for some months.  Sri Sri Thakur was busy in reading some books and writing letters to his various disciples staying at various places in his room and Rohini babu was outside his house in the garden doing some work when suddenly a devotee from a very far off place happened to visit there!! He enquired about Sri Sri Thakur and informed him that he has came there to have His darshan and with the hope of taking initiation from Him!! Rohini babu happily directed that person to the room where Sri Sri Thakur was present but that fellow came back and told that nobody is there in the room!! Rohini babu became little surprised as he has seen Gurudev just a few minutes back in the room, he himself went to the room but couldn’t find Him there, he even searched the whole house and all the possible places where he could find Him but to no use!! Rohini babu became very much astonished at this as to where had Sri Sri Thakur gone??? That devotee became very much disappointed at this and told that he has not much time to wait and would have to leave and lamented at his fate to not be able to get initiated!! Subsequently that person left the house of Rohini babu with a heavy heart!! After that person had left when rohini babu again went to the same room & to his wonder he saw that Sri Sri Thakur was as usual busy in reading books in the same way as he has seen Him earlier!!! Rohini babu asked Him as to where He has gone??? Guruji replied as I didn’t went anywhere!!! Then rohini babu narrated the whole incident and lamented about that person as he had came from a very far off place to see you and get initiation!! Sri Sri Thakur didn’t said anything at this but then rohini babu pleaded before Him to tell the truth to which Gurudev told that nothing is possible until the appropriate time arrives!! That person’s time hasn’t arrived yet to get initiated thus he had to go back!!! Gurudev used to insist to chant always the Sri Naam but people never used to listen to His advice. So once he lamented as nobody chants the Sri Naam, instead everybody has kept the Sri Naam locked in a box as a placard and use it only when required or when in trouble!!! There may be thousands and crores of disciples of our beloved Gurudev all around the globe but very few could understand the teachings and follow the instructions given by Him!!! As there was this incident where He had to lament seeing the mindset of the majority of these so-called devotees then on the other side there have been great devotees of Him whether it was Sri Prabhat Chakraborty, Sri Kichanlal, Sri Rohini babu, Sri Indubhushan Banerjee or Dr. J.M. Dasgupta or the famous railway pointsman Devendra etc.. There was description of one disciple who infact fought with Guruji to get initiation!!!! It so happened that a person who was very much devoted to our Gurudev wanted to take initiation from Him and everytime he would request Him Sri Sri Thakur would suggest him to take diksha from his Kula Guru!! But there was nobody surviving in the family of his Kula Guru except a lady and he didn’t wanted to take diksha from her but Gurudev would suggest him to take from her and even advised as there is no harm in getting initiated by her!! Like this months passed and Sri Sri Thakur would never agree to his repeated requests!! Then on one evening when Sri Sri Thakur along with one of His devotee was sitting on the bank of a river watching it, was approached by him. He again requested and as usual Gurudev again gave him the same advice but he wasn’t willing to listen and he started arguing with him and started giving various reasons & logics and each n every reason or logic would be nullified by Him and like this it became midnight!! Suddenly at that time that very person agitated and said if you don’t give me initiation then I would immediately end my life here at your holy feet at once!! Either you would give me shelter at your holy feet or I would end my life now immediately!! Listening this Sri Sri Thakur suddenly became still, went into a deep meditative state and His eye balls turned upside & seeing this both of the devotees became very much scared!! Like this after half an hour passed and Sri Sri Thakur slowly became normal and promised him to give initiation subject to permission given by his lady Kula Guru!! The devotee became very happy and literally wanted to dance and his lady Kula Guru also very happily gave permission as she regarded it as a great honour for her also because a person from her own disciple’s family  is going to be initiated by such a great Mahapurush!! So friends always remember the teachings of our Gurudev as Naam Koren!! Naam Koren!! (Please do chant, please do chant!!) See you all at the next post!! Jai Ram!!

Sri Sri Thakur’s Presence Post-Samadhi

 

So many incidents have happened about Sri Sri Thakur’s presence even after He left His holy body on 2nd May, 1949 on the Akshaya Tritiya day at Chowmuhani, Bangladesh!! In this blog only earlier I had written about our beloved Gurudev’s omnipresence everywhere but He has shown His presence even after leaving His holy body in the year 1949!! The first one happened immediately after leaving His body was when at Sri Sri Kaibalyadham, Chittagong, Bangladesh, Sri Jamini Maharaj (most probably) was busy in performing the Akshaya Tritiya Puja when suddenly he had a divine darshan of our Gurudev and he became astonished at this.  Sri Sri Thakur asked that haven’t you received any news?? Jamini Maharaj asked What?? Sri Sri Thakur replied I have already left my body!!! Another incident had happened at Kolkata Jadavpur Ashram some 30 years back where on an early morning a devotee from Varanasi happened to came there and told that he is coming from Varanasi and a disciple of Sri Madhob Pagla (about whom we had already discussed here in the past) and when he requested to initiate him to his Gurudev he instructed him to take diksha from our Gurudev Sri Sri Ramthakur showing  the portrait of our Gurudev at the ashram!! Everybody present there became astonished at this as how is it possible since Guruji had already left His body long time back!! Another incident had happened some 15-20 years back. A doctor had happened to visit Haridwar and Rishikesh and on an evening walk who was unknowingly going towards the forest of Rishikesh suddenly saw an old man standing in front of him and who cautioned him to not to proceed further as it is the jungle area and as many ferocious animals roam here and it is getting also dark. The doctor also asked him as you are also alone here, don’t you fear to which he replied as all protective Lord is with Him who is protecting Him and before the doctor could ask Him any more questions suddenly the old man vanished into the darkness and thick forest!! The doctor forgot the incident very soon and after nearly a month or two happened to visit the home of one of his patients at Kolkata and there he found a portrait of our Holy Gurudev about whom he enquired from the house owner. He replied that He is our Gurudev and has taken Mahasamadhi long time back to which the doctor exclaimed as how is it possible?? I met Him a month ago at Rishikesh!!!! The house-owner became astonished at this and told him that he is a very privileged soul to have darshan of our Lord which is not possible without His mercy!!! Like these still now many incidents are happening now all over the world, many of whom is unknown to all of us!! Sri Sri Thakur had once remarked as Shorir na thakle aro beshi koira paiben!! (After leaving the body everybody would be able to meet or see Him even more)!! Ajo to Leela Kora Sei Goraray, Keho Keho Baghoban Dekhibare Pay!! Jai Ram!!

Destiny or Prarabdha III

Dear Guru brothers/sisters, I welcome you all again on this another post on Prarabdha!! So many times Guruji has tried to taught us about Destiny through His teachings in Vedvani or his divine past times or leela but seeing people’s less interest in trying to understand those holy teachings, He at one point of time even lamented. In this modern era, people who are getting initiated under the naam diksha of our holy Gurudev, most of them don’t seem to know or understand about this theory of Prarabha and even if they ever understand, very reluctantly and rarely accept the theory of Destiny!! I have seen people and even my own relatives & friends always complaining of various different issues as why I have not been able to get a better job, why I am not getting promotions, why I am always ill, why I am not rich, why my parents don’t understand me, why my boyfriend or girlfriend doesn’t listen to me or like me, why my husband or wife is not beautiful, etc. etc. the list is endless and it goes on and on and in this very very long list there is no place for Prarabha or Destiny!!! If Destiny is not there then every actor should have been Amitabh Bachchan or every cricketer should have been Sachin Tendulkar!!! What reasons I gave aforesaid are very minor to which the closest disciples have shown to the world by accepting the Prarabha and too in the presence of Sri Sri Thakur Himself!! Sri Kunjalal Mazumdar whose house is still there in South Kolkata and whose residence became famous at one point of time because of advent of Lord Sri Sri Satyanarayan in an earthen water pot which is still present at their house!! That was an historic moment which took place during an evening when suddenly Sri Sri Thakur exclaimed as Lord Sri Sri Satyanarayan is arriving please bring a seat mat (asan) for Him but the Mazumdar family panicked at an sudden demand and in a rush when at last the asan was fetched Gurudev said in a disappointing voice that it is not required now as He has established Himself in the earthen pot which was being kept for Sri Sri Thakur’s use for drinking water, and directed everybody to prostrate before it as the Lord is present there!! Even today also one can go to that house which is infact a place of pilgrimage for each one of us and have darshan of Lord Sri Sri Satyanarayan there!! The house is near Madox Square and there is big park near to that house where our Guruji used to take walk during the mornings & evenings!! It once happened that Sri Sri Thakur was present in their house and a son of Mazumdar family was severely ill!! Guruji was busy in spiritual discourse with various other devotees and Kunjalal babu would very often come and inform the condition of his child and every time Guruji would say that What can I do?? I am helpless!! I can only pray!! At the end, Kunjalal babu came crying that his son is going to die very soon as told by the doctor and Sri Sri Thakur also replied the same thing, at this Kunjalal babu said just bless him so that he gets salvation and asked for charanamrit water which Sri Sri Thakur gave happily and blessed the child and soon after taking the holy charanamrit the young child died!!! Now what all you will say for this incident??? Kunjalal babu not a even single time said or thought that why Gurudev is not doing anything to save his child?? What is the use of becoming His disciple?? Can we ever match ourselves with the level of faith and devotion they had for our Gurudev??? Sri Sri Thakur while describing about Prarabdha very often used to give example of Abhimanyu of Maharabharat who was the nephew of Lord Sri Krishna Himself and son of Arjuna and who was killed brutally in the battlefield at a very young age!! Why the Lord didn’t saved him?? The answer is Destiny and it was pre-decided!! He also used to give example of King Harishchandra who being a King lost everything, his kingdom, his family and even worked as Dom (person required for burning dead bodies) in a funeral ground and at one time even his own son’s dead body was brought before him to be burnt but the King didn’t lost his dharma and satya (truthfulness)!! It all had happened due to his own Prarabha and after they were repaid back subsequently he got everything back as earlier, his family, kingdom everything!! Sri Sri Thakur always used to say that to not to lose patience, bear the destiny, chant the Sri Naam!! But people would do just the opposite, loose patience, fight against the destiny and forgot the Sri Naam!! And due to these again more and more karmas are being added into their account which they will have to undergo again and believe me there is no respite from them except the holy Sri Naam!! So, friends, always remember the Sri Naam!! See you all, at the next post!! Jai Ram!!

Destiny or Prarabdha - II

This post would be in continuance of the earlier one and the topic is same, about Prarabha.  Its good to see that in facebook from so many devotees at least a handful of 30-35 people have liked it which means they agree with the concept of Destiny and others still doesn’t!! Well, this is something where there will be always difference of opinions, confusions and double mindedness and when such type of dilemmas appear it is better to accept the instructions unconditionally given by your Guru or God and have strong faith in it!! Whatever it is, we would discuss more on this aspect today. I remember many or say 100s of incidents where the power of Prarabha has been proved again and again. It once happened that our beloved Gurudev suddenly happened to visit a young devotee who was a bachelor staying in a hostel and preparing for his LLB exams!!  The devotee was overwhelmed with joy to see our Guruji and welcomed Him to his small room. Guruji asked him to not to worry for His needs as He has just dropped in to check about his health & well-being. It was winter night and the young fellow was busy in studying his huge & thick books of Law when suddenly Sri Sri Thakur came there and enquired as what is he doing??? The young fellow told that tomorrow he has got exams for his LLB degree and thats why he is busy in its preparation. Sri Sri Thakur suddenly asked him to give those thick books and a pencil and the young fellow thought that he had heard that Gurudev had never even went to any school properly and He is asking to study those heavy books of Law!! Whatever it is, as per order of Gurudev he gave the books and a pencil and Guruji marked some questions and asked that young fellow to prepare them as they will surely come next day paper & went away!! That fellow was in a dilemma and his analytical brain very quickly became active & started analysing the words of Sri Sri Ramthakur!!  After thinking for a while, he came to the conclusion that how can Sri Sri Thakur be so sure that these questions would only appear in the next day’s paper, He is an ordinary old man who in his whole life never went to any school and if he follow Guruji’s instructions he may not be able to write in the exam properly, thus he prepared only those questions which according to him were very important!! Next  day when he sat for the examination and got the question paper, his eyes became stone and he was in a shock for few minutes as only those questions had came which our beloved God Sri Sri Thakur had marked with the pencil!! He sat with his hands on head and somehow wrote the paper and came out!! After few days, again there was a paper for the Law exam and again Sri Sri Thakur did the same thing, asked for the books and marked the questions with a pencil and went away!! Dear Friends, now you see how wicked our minds are!! Again, it made this young fellow to think that Oh!! one day, by some coincidence those questions would have came but that doesn’t mean that they would happen again and again!!! See the greatness of human brain!!  Again, the same thing happened, next day only those questions appeared which our Gurudev had marked with the pencil!! Sri Sri Thakur had already left the place of that devotee that day itself after marking those questions and nearly after a month or two that fellow happened to meet Gurudev at somebody’s residence.  Guruji enquired about his well-being and after that asked about result of the LLB exam!! That young devotee informed Gurudev that the result was not so good to which Sri Sri Thakur wondered and enquired the reason for that as He had marked the questions. At this the young fellow bowed down his head in shame and narrated the whole story as how he hasn’t believed Sri Sri Thakur’s marked questions and requested to forgive him and apologised for the act. Sri Sri Thakur smiled and said in his usual dialect in Bengali as Apnar Kono Dosh Nayi, Prarobdh oi Boloban, Baita Dile o Khaite Pare Na!! (You did no mistake and it is not your fault any way as Destiny is more powerful, if it is in not your destiny you cannot even touch or eat the food even if it is kept before you!!). Actually, his Prarabhda only made his mind to think that how can Sri Sri Thakur be so sure about the questions!! Friends, now this incident is very minor one in comparison some very major incidents happened to some of very close devotees of our Gurudev where again and again it was proved that everything happens only because of Prarabha or Destiny of that very person!! All of you must be aware about Rohini Mazumdar babu about whom I had written in my earlier post!! It had once happened that Sri Sri Thakur was staying with them and one day Sri Sri Thakur was feeling very restless and His body language was showing that He is worried of something very gravely. Suddenly He called Rohini babu and took him to show a small fig of a particular tree which has grown near to their home and told that whenever a person is attacked by a disease called Nabhiswash in Bengali may be Navel-breathe and if you wrap the tender stem of this tree around the head of that person he would be cured. Also the stem can be wrapped around the navel and juice of that stem can also be given to the patient!! Rohini babu & his wife was wondering as suddenly what has happened that Guruji is showing & telling them about the medicinal qualities of this tree!! After this Guruji left their home and after a month or so suddenly one day their son got severely ill which went for many days!! Various doctors came to their home but their son’s condition keep on deteriorating and at last the disease was diagnosed as Nabhiswash !! Rohini babu called doctors from all areas viz, allopathic, ayurvedic etc. but nothing could help and one time his house was filled with different doctors from that region but fate has decided something else and the young son died!! After last rites were performed one day Rohini babu who was taking lunch at one of his neighbour’s house was asked by this neighbour that why didn’t your Guru do anything for your son??? Didn’t He told you any medicine?? Then suddenly, Rohini babu remembered about the tree which Gurudev had shown him ealier one month back!! He immediately ran to his house and found that tree and started lamenting & crying on his fate!! After few days, Rohini babu received a very big letter from Sri Sri Thakur where He had consoled the bereaved family and disclosed the fact that whatever has occured it has happened due to only and only Prarabdha and it was bound to happen!! He went on saying that I had told you about the medicine also beforehand but what the use?? Could you save your child?? Don’t feel bad for the child, he has completed all his karmas and left the material world and even said that it was better that the child died if he didn’t had died and his mother would have!!! So, again we saw that how Prarabha played its role in the life of Rohini babu!! The write –up has grown big and there is lot to say and discuss!! See you all at the next post!! Till then remember -Bhagyang Phalati Sarvatra – Sri Sri Ramthakur. Jai Ram!!

Destiny or Prarabha

 

I don’t remember whether I have written anything about Destiny in this blog which is a very important aspect and about which Sri Sri Thakur always used to impress and insist. Very few people accept whole heartedly about destiny or prarabdha!! All my whole life I have seen people and even from my own relatives who hesitate to accept destiny!! In the beginning, they would not accept it and would try their level best to change it and struggle more to fight with their destiny but in the end the things would happen which was destined to happen and like this those incidents would have happened 100 times in their life but still they are reluctant to accept prarabdha!! There are people even from our Guru brothers and sisters community (please don’t take offence) who very rarely accept destiny and don’t accept it very easily which is very strange on their part being a follower of our Gurudev!!! If we take a look at the epics or ancient stories we can find many such examples of prarabha where it played its major role in deciding the fate of the characters of those stories!! Once it happened that a devotee named Ramdas who was a businessman and was into the business of purified butter or ghee suddenly started incurring losses in the business and due to which he lost interest and one day closed it.  He started spending the days in deep depression and subsequently decided to renunciate the material world and met Sri Bholagiri Maharaj whose ashram was near to his house. Ramdas babu narrated all his story and told he has no interest left in the business of ghee anymore but Maharaj ji insisted to start the business of ghee once again and even asked him to take money from the ashram fund as a loan to finance his business. Accordingly, Ramdas babu took money from the ashram and once again started the business but again the business suffered huge loss and collapsed!! Ramdas babu once again went to the Maharaj and conveyed him the story but Maharaj wasn’t losing any hope and asked him to not to worry and can take more money from the ashram fund but he should and must do the business of only and only Ghee!!! At this Ramdas babu got furious and irritated as already he has got debt on his head for the money taken from the ashram and again he has been asked to take more!! This story came into the knowledge of Sri Sri Thakur and his devotees and once Rohini Mazumdar babu said as what is this?? This is not correct?? Why Sri Bholagiri Maharaj ji is insisting him to do the business of ghee again and again?? Sri Sri Thakur was also sitting there and He took strong objection to this and said that learned souls and saints never say lie!! Ramdas babu must do the business of ghee only as it is his destiny!! Ramdas babu once happened to meet our beloved Gurudev Sri Sri Ram Thakur!! Guruji listened to his story and suggested him to take a vacation and spend a month or so with one of his dearest disciple Sri Rohini Mazumdar babu who was at that time staying at Muzzafarpur in Bihar!! Ramdas babu wondered a little bit and then accepted the proposal and Sri Sri Thakur gave him a letter in the name of Rohini babu!! Subsequently, Ramdas babu reached the place of Rohini babu and gave him the letter of Gurudev where the whole story of Ramdas babu was narrated and Sri Sri Thakur requested Rohini babu to just take care of him properly and allow him to accompany everywhere wherever Rohini babu goes!!!  Rohini babu happily welcomed Ramdas babu and so he started living with the family of Rohini babu. They sat to take lunch, here it should be mentioned here Rohini babu and his family was purely non-vegetarian and Ramdas babu was purely vegetarian!! Fish and other non-veg items were served to him to which Ramdas babu objected and told that he is vegetarian, Rohini babu said then you shouldn’t have came here as we are purely non-vegetarian!!! Ramdas babu sat for a while and asked him what you suggest then?? Rohini babu said that in my opinion you must eat what we are eating and don’t worry at all!! Ramdas babu agreed to the proposal started eating non-veg items. He would go everywhere wherever Rohini babu would go. In the day time he would go with  Rohini babu to the school where he was a teacher and he would be busy in taking his classes and Ramdas babu would sit quietly in a chair the whole day watching him!!  In the evening he would accompany Rohini babu to the club where he used to go regularly and there also he would sit quietly in a corner and Rohini babu would be busy in playing games and chatting with his friends, cracking jokes, laughing etc. Like this a month had passed and then one day Ramdas babu asked that I could not understand you properly Rohini babu?? He asked Why?? Ramdas babu said that the whole day I didn’t saw you doing any puja or meditation sort of a thing, when you are devoting time for your spiritual quest?? I think you must be doing some meditations during night!! Rohini babu laughed at this and told that it is not correct as I am not doing any meditations at night!! But Ramdas babu didn’t agreed to this all. Rohini babu tried his level best convince him but couldn’t. At the end, he said alright from today you can sleep with me also!! After somedays Ramdas babu became convinced and asked that then when you are doing puja or meditation?? Rohini babu again laughed and said that I don’t do all these things and always remember my Guru while going out for my work and always remember the Sri Naam given by Him, thats all!! Ramdas babu then asked him then what you suggest me to do?? Rohini babu told him that honestly I also believe that you must start your old business of ghee once again as that is your prarabha!! Ramdas babu quite convinced and satisfied with this took leave of Rohini babu and reached his place and started the business of ghee and after somedays Rohini babu found that Ramdas brand ghee was being sold in the market and remembered the wordings of Sri Bholagiri Maharaj that you must and should do the business of ghee only!! I think this story very clearly tell us about prarabha!! There was another devotee who was a lawyer by profession but he didn’t liked it at all, as in this profession one has to say bundle of lies!! He pleaded before our Gurudev that he would like to do something else for his living but Guruji didn’t agreed to it and told him to continue his legal profession as it is his destiny only!! We would discuss more on this topic in our next post!! Jai Ram!!

 

What Holy Gurudev Likes

Sri Sri Thakur has always rejected even the slightest amount of proudness in His devotees !! It once happened that Gurudev was residing in a devotee’s house at Kolkata and the room where Sri Sri Thakur was sitting was full of many devotees, a kirtan group was singing melodious sri naam sankritan adjacent to that room for a quite long time and was being very much praised by the people sitting there. They sang for a long time in various types of rags and raginis and after finishing went to see off Sri Sri Thakur and asked whether He liked the Kirtan or not!! At this Guruji remarked with a surprise note as Kirtan??? Did any Kirtan happened here??? All the members of the group were stunned and shocked and didn’t said anything and slowly left the place!! This is our beloved Gurudev!! Once a devotee from a far off place happened to visit our Gurudev. Those days Guruji often used to complain of deformity in His eyes and ears, of course which were all part of His divine leelas only!! That fellow whose name was Abanimohan came before Sri Sri Thakur tried to give His identity as Guruji, can you recognize me?? I am Abani!! At this Guruji asked What?? Tarani?? He again tried to tell as No, Abani!! Guruji again asked Mohini?? That fellow tried his level best but more & more he tried Sri Sri Thakur would spell different names but not Abani!! At last, quite disappointed that person left the place and came outside the house started crying as what had happened or what sin he has committed that Sri Sri Thakur could not recognise him?? Here Sadananda babu who used to accompany our Gurudev met this fellow and asked Do you chant the Sri Naam regularly?? He thought for a while and told No!! I never chant as I am always busy with my worldly life!! Sadananda babu told him now you can understand very well that why Sri Sri Thakur could not recognise you?? Abanimohan babu asked now what to do?? Sadananda babu advised him to not to worry and sit here & chant the Sri Naam!! Abani babu started chanting the Sri Naam and after sometime suddenly somebody came from the house and called him as Guruji is remembering him!!! Sri Sri Thakur himself called and asked the houseowner as Abani babu is sitting outside, please go and bring him inside!! So Friends, what was that chanting actually?? It was nothing but Saranagati (Surrender) and our Gurudev is Saranagatvatsal!! If you don’t remember God that means you don’t need Him and so similarly God also will not remember you then!! It is as simple as that!! The moment that devotee started chanting and remembering Guruji, He immediately recognised him and called him in!!! We should always strive to do what Sri Sri Thakur likes as that would be the best form of worshipping Him!! Forgetting Him is Kortitabhiman or Obhab & remembering Him is Okarta or Sobhab!! (Now, I understand the true meaning of this famous bengali quote as Obhabe Sobhab Nosto!!) So, on this Holy day of our Guruji’s Birthday, let us all pledge that we will always chant the Holy Sri Naam given by Him in all our deeds and to our each n every breath of our lives!! That would be the best offering onto His Holy Lotus Feet!! Jai Ram!!

 

 

The Care of Holy Gurudev for All

 

Dear All, for the past somedays I am sharing with you all some of the greatest experiences and incidents related to Sri Madhob Pagla but today while preparing to write suddenly a beautiful and divine story came into my mind which is related with and has been narrated also by Sri Sadananda Chakraborty babu about whom I have already mentioned in my earlier posts in this blog.  It once happened that our Holy beloved Gurudev was staying somewhere in Bangladesh and an utsav was being organised under the holy guidanceship of Sri Sri Thakur!!! As you all must be aware that as per our Gurudev’s instructions the basic criteria of the holy festivals of Sri Sri Satyanarayan is to be having Akarta bhav (detachment) and surrendering everything into the holy lotus feet of the Lord and thus accordingly everything was done following strictly those guidelines!! Another very important order from Sri Sri Thakur was that nobody means nobody should be sent away without taking Mahaprasad and accordingly it was ensured positively by the volunteers of the utsav very strictly!! Sadananda babu was entrusted with the job of taking care of Sri Sri Thakur and who would be always with Him for His immediate needs. The utsav went off very beautifully and peacefully and everybody took Mahaprasad happily and went away.  Sadananda babu who had already prepared a sweetened water syrup requested Sri Sri Thakur to accept it but Gurudev enquired whether everybody has taken Mahaprasad or not to which he replied in affirmative but Gurudev didn’t seemed to be satisfied with the answer of Sadananda babu and asked him to check again!!!  After checking very carefully that everybody has taken Mahaprasad, Sadananda babu came back and told as everybody has taken Mahaprasad but Sri Sri Thakur wasn’t still satisfied and told that him that you did not checked properly, go and check again!! It was drizzling outside and already people who had came to the utsav premises had left and there was no one outside but since it was Sri Sri Thakur’s order Sadananda babu went out and looked everywhere, checked every corner and even came to the road connected with the house but couldn’t found anyone!! There was water and muddy ways everywhere and after ensuring properly that nobody is there he came and told Sri Sri Thakur that it is raining outside and I have gone outside upto the road and it is muddy everywhere and I couldn’t found anybody there!!! At this Sri Sri Thakur remarked that due to rain and muddy ways you don’t want to look or check properly!! And Suddenly became serious and said I don’t want anything!!! At this Sadananda babu became little afraid and went outside the house on the road and again tried to check properly and looked every corner very carefully, it was the time of a rainy evening and as usual there was nobody on the road due to rain and muddy ways!! Sadananda babu started walking on the road getting wet and then suddenly he saw a very frail and weak dog who was hidden under a heap of paddys (which is very common in villages of Bengal) came out and looking innocently towards him with a hope of mercy on it!! Sadananda babu took pity on the dog and thought inside Oh! poor creature !! It seems it is very hungry and has not been able to eat anything for days!! May be thats why, Sri Sri Thakur didn’t agreed to accept anything!! He called the dog to the utsav premises and the dog also followed him waving its tail and Sadananda babu with utmost care placed a clean plantain leaf before it and served the Mahaprasad to it which the dog ate very quickly!! Sadananda babu served the dog 3 times the Mahaprasad and after being satisfied the dog left the utsav premises slowly!! Sadananda babu again looked every corner very carefully and after ensuring properly that nobody is left came back and narrated the entire story to Him!! Sri Sri Thakur immediately jumped up and laughed happily and said yes, yes! He had came to the utsav premises earlier hoping to get some Mahaprasad but everybody chased and thrashed him away from there and thats why being felt offended didn’t ate anything for the whole day !!! Now, give me what you have kept for me!! Sadananda babu with tears in his eyes and seeing the care of Sri Sri Thakur even for a dog & gave Him the glass of sweetened water!! Sri Sri Thakur then asked Sadananda babu also to take Mahaprasad as He was knowing that Sadananda babu who was truly dedicated to the holy lotus feet of Gurudev wouldn’t take anything until and unless Gurudev eats anything!!  I remember Sant Tulsidasji’s quotation as Hari Ananta Hari Katha Ananta, Kahahi Sunahi Bahu Bidhi Sab Santa!! All Glory to Sri Sri Thakur and Holy Sri Naam!! Jai Ram!!

The Great Devotee Sri Madhob Pagla III

Dear All, today I would to share you all another very beautiful and divine story of Great Devotee Sri Madhob Pagla of Varanasi!! This incident again shows how our beloved Lord is always eager for the caring of His devotees!! It once happened that it was the time for the big annual festival to be organised in the famous temple of Sri Sri Radha Govindji where Sri Madhob Pagla was the priest.  The arrangements were going on with full swing and various offerings were coming in the temple from the various devotees all over the Varanasi and even from outside. Sri Madhob Pagla was obviously very much excited about the big celebration and keen as he was the main priest and there were responsibilities also vested on his shoulder. On the early morning of the day of festival when he sat to perform puja as per his daily schedule suddenly Sri Govindji spoke and asked him to not to touch and eat anything or any prasad from this temple!!!!! Suddenly hearing this instruction Madhob Pagla became totally shocked and stunned!!! For a minute he became totally dumb struck and became totally confused and thought why Sri Govindji is asking him to do such a difficult thing which would be very painful also for him!! He asked the Lord Why???? Why are you asking me to do this??? The whole world would be eating various types of prasad which would be offered to you and moreover I am the main priest of this temple and if I didn’t  touch or eat your prasad what will everybody think or say??? But the Lord didn’t  agreed and ordered him to not to touch or eat the prasad!! Hearing this now Madhob Pagla also argued and said that I will not listen to you and would definitely eat the delicious prasads of the temple!!! Sri Govindji didn’t said anything. After sometime a small boy came to tell him to visit a house of an old widow who used to live near the temple premises and here I should inform you that this widow had a long time desire to feed Sri Madhob Pagla. When Madhob Pagla visited her home he was astonished to see that she had prepared many delicacies for him and had placed and she kept all those items beautifully in a big plate!!! Sri Madhob Pagla became very much surprised at this and asked about it to which she told that it was her long time desire to feed him and very humbly requested him to accept the food!! Madhob Pagla couldn’t refuse her honest and pious desire and sat to eat and to his astonishment found that each n every item was very delicious and he ate full to his heart's content. After eating the food and seeing off the widow’s house when he reached the temple the time for the puja had already arrived and suddenly he realised that what mistake he has committed by eating the food at the widow’s house as he had decided to eat the prasad at the temple, now he has no place in his stomach to eat anything and felt very bad inside his heart!!! All the various types of delicacies were being offered to the Lord and Madhob Pagla sat to perform the afternoon puja but he became surprised that he was not able to remember the mantras being required for the worshipping!!!! The doors of the main sanctum was closed, outside there were hundreds and hundreds of people waiting eagerly for the completion of puja and inside he was alone with the Lord!!! He tried his level best to remember the mantras but he couldn’t!! He became astonished at this and started crying and pleaded before the Lord as to what sin he has committed that he is not being able to remember the mantras which he is chanting daily for several times!!!! He was crying profusely and then suddenly the Lord spoke and said you ask me eat all these uchchista (half-eaten or eaten by somebody else) food?????  Hearing this Sri Madhob Pagla was totally dumb struck and stunned!!! What are you saying my Lord??? Who is doing this??? Lord replied the Cook!! He couldn’t believe his own ears!!! Then suddenly he understood all the divine leela of his Lord who stopped him from eating the prasad which is actually a half-eaten food and made him eat at the house of widow so that Madhob Pagla not remain hungry!! He cried and cried for the utmost carefulness of the Lord for him and pleaded to forgive him for his earlier behaviour!! He opened the doors of the temple and people raised their voices glorifying the name of the Lord Sri Radha Govindji!! The prasad were being carried away and offered to the people and everybody ate that food thinking it to be prasad of Lord but it reality which wasn’t!!! The condition of Sri Madhob Pagla was very pathetic, he was just crying and praying to Lord as O Lord! Please do something and stop all this mischief of the notorious cook!! If I say something nobody will believe me!! He didn’t took any prasad and people started suspecting Sri Madhob Pagla and his devotion for the Lord!! The temple authority and the various other devotees even rebuked his devotion and discussed about him among themselves and everywhere he became the topic of their discussions!!!  Madhob Pagla would daily cry and request the Lord to bring to limelight the wrongdoings of the Cook before everybody and like this nearly a month had passed and then one day when he was not at the temple and gone out for market, the Lord played his divine leela and the mischief of the Cook was caught red-handed by the temple authorities and was removed from the temple!! When Madhob Pagla returned to the temple and came to know of the incident, became very delighted and informed everybody about the incident which had happened a month ago on the day of the annual festival!! He told everybody that daily he was asking the Lord to catch hold of the crook and today his answers had been answered!! All Glory to Guru and Govinda!!!

A New Year Wish ???

Dear Guru brothers/sisters!! I am sorry I am late to wish you all A Very Happy New Year 2013 but actually I was in a dilemma for the New Year wishes as it seemed to be so meaningless!! As you all would be aware of the recent tragic and one of the most heinous crime happened at New Delhi, the rape and murder of a girl and who has subsequently died at the end of the past year 2012!! After this how can someone ever think of doing any type of New Year celebrations !! In our ancient old scriptures somewhere it is written as Jatra Pujayante Nari, Tatra Ramanti Devataha means where women are being given respect and worshipped as a symbol of Shakti, all the demigods reside there!! My society many people as usual celebrated & took part in the New Year celebrations, may be they know better than me since they are very highly qualified, intellectual and city based modern people (I am not very highly qualified only a Graduate for which I used to feel little bad but today I feel myself to be very proud to not to be very qualified because my humanity hasn’t died) they even came to my flat to collect money for the celebrations as they feared that owing to the circumstances people may not come on their own to donate money, I just politely showed them the door!!! The other societies near to my society also celebrated the New Year and I am left to wonder as which world we are living?? Now the mindset of the people is myself and my family should be happy let whatever happens in my neighbourhood or in the rest of the world!!! Our Holy Gurudev used to address all the women as Maa (Mother) and there was no other word in His vocabulary for them!! He hasn’t hesitated to address even the prostitutes as Mother so as Sri Ramakrishna!! Great Saints always came to this world to teach us many things and it seems that all of us has forgotten these very very valuable lessons!!! It is our dirty mindset only which pollute our minds to differentiate between people and everything!! Rather we should check ourselves first!!! I afraid the write-up may become very large if I go on to write but whatever it is I wish all of you a belated Happy New Year 2013 and hope & pray to the Almighty Lord that this upcoming new year brings for all of us new hopes, safe and secure environment for all the girls beginning from their mother’s womb (as they are not even safe there) to all her whole life, proper and due respect & care for all the ladies, lots & lots of good news, happiness and prosperity for everybody!! Let the divinity and spiritualism spread more and more and materialism vanish away from this world!! Jai Ram!!

The Great Disciple Sri Madhob Pagla-II

Once Sri Madhob Pagla went to meet Sri Sri Thakur.  At that time Sri Sri Thakur was giving some spiritual discourse amongst many other devotees, suddenly He turned towards Madhob Pagla and said you should do Mahotsav (Sri Sri Satyanarayan festival in a big scale)!! And then as usual started talking to others. Sri Madhob Pagla thought inside that how can I do such a big festival when I have no money. Actually that was the truth also because during those days his financial condition was very pathetic and didn’t had sufficient money even to fulfil his daily meal or needs (this was  before his appointment as a pujari in the Radha Govind Temple).  Slowly everybody left and Madhob Pagla was still there thinking inside his incapability to fulfil the orders given by our holy Gurudev!! Guruji who is antaryami came to know about his dilemma and said festival should not be of lentils and rice or vegetables etc. instead it should be of ten indriyas (organs of senses) and the eleventh one manas (inner self)!!! It means Sri Krishna bhakti through all the indriyas which refers to as Mahotsav by our holy Gurudev!! Now I am going to describe a very divine experience which this great devotee had with the grace of his holy  Guru Sri Sri Ram Thakur!! Once sitting at his home he thought  that is his Lord Madhav listening to all his prayers?? Does He know about him amongst his crores of devotees?? Is it ever be possible for him to have his darshan?? And then suddenly a feeling came inside him that it is not possible for him to have the darshan of his Lord until and unless he himself wants it !! After sometime suddenly something divine happened to him and he lay in an half unconscious state (means except the capability of watching & thinking all other capabilities stopped) on the ground saw that Sri Sri Thakur similing & holding Lord Sri Krishna with His left hand  entered his small room!! Here the author had given a very detailed description of the beauty of the Lord which I don’t remember much only what I remember is that the Lord was very beautifully decorated with various ornaments and was very beautiful which is very different and incomparable to the pictures what we generally see!! He was wearing a dhoti which was worn in a very beautiful and typical way which is not found or seen generally in this world!! It seemed that to Sri Madhob Pagla by the body language & the look of the Lord that He didn’t wanted to come there to give him darshan and He just came due to the personal request of Sri Sri Thakur only!!! Both of them came,  saw and smiled and then after sometime slowly walked away and merged into the portrait of Sri Sri Thakur at the puja altar of Sri Madhob Pagla!! Lord Sri Krishna before finally going away just gave an innocent look at him and went away!! Madhob Pagla slowly regained his consciousness and became astonished to this divine darshan of his and then understood one thing that the Lord didn’t wanted to came, He just came to see him because of Sri Sri Thakur only and thus he is indebted to his Gurudev!! He thought that from now on I would be very careful and would do every such thing which would please my Lord and Guru!! Jai Ram!!