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!!

The Great Disciple Sri Madhob Pagla-I

This post is in continuation with the earlier one.  As I have told in my earlier post that the deity Lord Sri Govinda used to converse with this great devotee regularly and his relationship with Him was of Vatsalya bhav means like affectionate love with a child. Once it so happened that as usual after the night puja was over, Sri Madhob Pagla took the deity inside the rest room of the Lord to put Him to sleep and when he was about to leave just at that moment the Lord suddenly spoke and asked him to press his holy feet and to fan him for a while!! He got irritated a little bit at this since large number of devotees were waiting outside for the prasadam as per daily practice and he had lot of other chores also to be done. He said to Lord what is this request at this moment?? You know I have other works also to do, I am sorry I cannot fulfil your demand now!! Let me complete the pending work then I will certainly come and serve you!! But the Lord was adamant!! But as Sri Madhob Pagla tried to move from there, to his utter surprise he couldn’t move an inch!!! The people outside were shouting and calling him as what had happened?? Why you are taking so much of time??etc. He tried to answer them but that was also not possible since he couldn’t talk also!! So the condition has become very critical for him, he couldn’t move or talk and had become totally paralysed by the holy Lord!! Sri Madhob Pagla very well understood as why it is happening. He prayed to Lord Sri Govinda for his holy mercy and slowly regained very little energy just only to fulfil the demands of the Lord!! Therefore, he pressed His feet for a while and also fanned the Lord for a while and then kissed Him on His forehead and asked for His permission to leave to which the Lord accepted and then slowly Sri Madhob Pagla regained all his powers to move and talk!! He came out and didn’t revealed it to anybody inspite of people blaming  to be so late as nobody would believe and understand it!! But inside his heard there were huge waves of affectionate love & divine happiness dancing and playing for the Lord !! Jai Ram!!

The Great Disciple Sri Madhob Pagla

India has always been blessed by so many great devotees that if we start to count them the list would be endless!! Today I would like to tell you all my dearest Guru brothers/sisters about one such disciple of our Gurudev about whom many of you would not be knowing!! His actual name was Sri Gopal Chandra Mukherjee apparently came to be known as Madhob Pagla!!  Madhob Pagla was a Saint of an highly spiritual divine status & a very close disciple of Sri Sri Ram Thakur and by his ardent devotion and sadhana came to know about his previous birth that he was a priest in a Madhav mandir in Bihar's Chappra district and due to his immense devotion became totally merged with God and was in divine possession always.  He used to roam the streets here and there always wearing a torn blanket and would chant always as "My Madhav is very good" , "My Madhav is very good" because of which people used to call him by this very name, kids taking him to be a lunatic fellow used to throw stones & mud on him. Then in this birth he was in Kashi, Varanasi and took diksha from Sri Sri Thakur and became a priest in a Radha-Govind Mandir. Many divine past times took place here between him and his beloved God Lord Sri Krishna!! Here the deity always used to talk with him telling about the naivedyams offered to it, like there is no salt in the dal or the food offered to it is uchchista (half-eaten) as the cook himself used to eat those eatables before offering to the deity, etc. like that many incidents!! Sometimes the deity used to demand from him certain etables like mango or sweets etc. The secret facts disclosed to him by the deity which were hard to believe by the other people of the temple at the first instance but subsequently which were proved to be true established his intimate closeness and divine relationship with the Lord. This temple is still there in Varanasi and I had the opportunity to have darshan of the deity. He attained sadhana by sitting on pancha-mundi asana in shiv-shakti temple known as Shav-Shiva Mandir which is still there in Varanasi. Sri Sri Thakur used to enter his body and played many many divine leelas. Must read the book about this great saint who infact saw Lord Sri Krishna also by the grace of his Guru Sri Sri Ram Thakur!!  If we search the history there would be very few devotees in the modern age India where we can find any records of the devotees having able to see their respective Lords and Madhob Pagla is one of them!! This very birth when he was in a dilemma as to call his beloved Lord Sri Krishna by which name as his Lord is having so many names, he heard a voice calling & audible only to him in the busy street of Varanasi as to call him by the name Sri Madhav as then Lord would be very much pleased on him!! This was really very divine and mind boggling experience for him but it was just only the beginning of these incidents!!  Keep an eye on the blog.. there is more to come on this Great  Saint & Disciple of our Gurudev!! Jai Ram!

The Fanaticism of Gaudiya Vaishnavites

Each one of us sometime or other would have came in touch with fanatics which may be from various beliefs or faiths of different religions. The major problem with them is that they only believe in their respective religions and think that all other faiths prevalent in the society are wrong or baseless.  This type of attitude make them very narrow minded and a hardcore fanatic! Normally these fanatics are present in many religions but it seems they are mostly existing in the modern societies of Vaishnavites or more specifically the Gaudiya Vaishnavites!!  Our Holy Gurudev have always instructed us to give proper and due respect to all the holy saints from all other religions and this post is not meant to offend them in any way!! This is just to discuss about the attitude or thinking of fanatics from all beliefs and subsequently dealing with them in accordance with the teachings given by our Holy Gurudev!! The major problem with most of the followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is that they think that the devotion of Lord Sri Krishna has become wholly and solely their copyright only and it is only they who can show to the world about the correct & authentic way of doing bhakti/sadhna of Lord Sri Krishna!!  Here I would like to draw all yours attention is that Lord Sri Krishna came to our planet earth some 6000 years back and Gaudiya Vaishnavism existence has started some 60-50 years back only!! How can they claim their authenticity?? And moreover, Krishna bhakti is not anybody’s copyright!! If we look back in our history of some of the great saints of Lord Sri Krishna & Lord Sri Ram like Meera, Surdas, Kabir, Tulsidas, Ravidas, Tukaram, Namdev etc. the list is endless most of them who even had darshan of their respective Lord’s and they used to converse with their deities also, did they all were under the initiation of Gaudiya Vaishnavism??  Did they all followed all the strict guidelines as laid by the Vaishnavites?? Moreover, I doubt whether these modern age vaishnavites can ever reach to that state of devotion of those devotees of our history.  Another problem with the Gaudiya Vaishnavism is their various strict rules and regulations being followed in their daily life style!! Sri Sri Ramthakur used to say that God is beyond such all types of  rules and regulations of Vedas and is unachievable through those means instead God can only achieved through the innocence of a child!! Further, if anybody enrols in their community, the vaishnavites very often scare them by informing them about various types of sins!! Sometimes I wonder that these modern day vaishnavites would be knowing more about different variety of sins instead of virtues!! If you don’t follow their prescribed guidelines then you may commit various sins from which no court of law can save you!! Recently, I happened to visit the ISKCON temple at New Delhi and while coming out of the main sanctum I found that they were offering the holy charanamrit of the Lord. There it was written on the wall that if anybody takes one drop of this holy charanamrit his endless sins would vanish but if by mistake if you drop this charanamrit on the ground then eight types of different sins would attract you!! See the height!! Already due to too much of modernisation of our daily lives people are not very much inclined towards spiritualism and if you keep on scaring people like this tell me who will take interest in spiritualism??  If you talk with them about their beliefs and rules they will tell you about different types of sins which you are committing by not being their member/follower and here goes the list of sins!!  Further, it has been also found manyatimes that these Gaudiya Vaishnavites while claiming their authenticity about Krishna Consciousness continue to blame & show disrespect to other communities and even spread many negative ideas about other religions which is very much contradictory to their spiritual mission!!  It feels very painful when you see a modern day saint saying ill words and even using abusive language against a holy saint from our history whose devotion is known worldwide!! This is called arrogance at its peak & this cannot be called Krishna Consciousness!!  You are abusive, scaring people by your rules, nullifying other dieties and beliefs, claiming your copyright, shouting on others and yet you claim to be a Saint or a Vaishnavite???  Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had once clarified as to how to identify a true Vaishnavite which is that to whom immediately upon seeing, you remember Lord Sri Krishna or whose presence helps you in remembering the Lord is a true Vaishnavite!!  Dear Guru brothers/sisters! Now the question comes how to tackle or deal with them!! I would tell you about my experience. Years back from 2001 to 2008 for some 7 years, I was in Chennai and there one Gaudiya Vaishnavite would regularly visit my residence. I would pay my respects as afterall he was a holy figure and because of him I used to get many prasadams from various pilgrimage places like Sri Mayapur, Sri Jagganath Dham, Sri Vrindavan Dham etc. He would always told me to take diksha from their Gurudev to which I would just smile and say nothing yes or no! Many times due to his preaching some mild confusions also came into the minds of my family members.  Once it so happened that I was not at home and this Vaishnavite came to my home and started talking with my mother. My mother always regards all the saints with very high respect and suddenly she asked him to see our Puja room which I always used to avoid to show him. But that day he went into our Puja room.  I must tell here that my mother always keep Sri Sri Kaivalyanath portrait on the altar alongwith a small portrait of Goddess Lakshmi.  The Vaishnavite immediately enquired about our Gurudev and asked my mother to remove the portrait of Goddess Lakshmi as she cannot be with Guru etc.. When I reached home I came to know about the dilemma of my mother and asked her to not to worry and explained that what the Vaishanvite had understood is correct and what we are doing is also absolutely fine. He understood our Gurudev only to be a Guru but he doesn’t know that He is also Sri Sri Satyanarayan and so Goddess Lakshmi has to be with Lord Narayan!! Another incident once happened is that this Vaishanvite came and as usual was pestering us to be strictly vegetarian and I would also just as usual would smile and say nothing!! But that day he started asking me are you eating vegetables? Are you eating vegetables? I said yes! We are!! When he left my wife asked why did you lied to him? You know we are not vegetarian, we eat fish also, then? I smiled and said what I said is correct as he was asking are you eating vegetables? And I replied him yes because that is also correct because apart from eating fish we also eat vegetables and so I confirmed that only!! Now this was the time of my wife smiling at me!! My policy is this as there is not point in arguing with them and moreover, I would strictly follow the instructions given by my Gurudev only!! Now after 7 years suddenly I received an order for transfer to New Delhi and one day when this Vaishnavite happened to visit my home I informed him also about my transfer. He asked to keep in touch with the delhi branch of their ashram and to take diksha from their Gurudev with sure before leaving Chennai. That day I don’t know what happened to me I revealed before him the actual truth of my Holy Gurudev Sri Sri Ramthakur which I never did in these 7 long years!! That fellow became totally quiet and was dumb struck and slowly left my home!! My Gurudev have given one very great teaching in Vedvani and which I always believe and follow which goes like this Dekhbe Sunbe Koibe Na, Shaar Bostu Charibe Na!! (See or Listen to everybody, don’t say or argue about anything with anybody,  inside know the actual truth and stick to it firmly). I think this mantra given by our Gurudev is the best one to deal with the fanatics of modern day society!! Jai Ram!!

Silchar Ashram

 

 

Sri Sri Ramthakur Idol, Silchar Ashram

 

 

Sri Sri Narayan Shila, Silchar Ashram

This post would be more beneficial for the devotees from Assam and Tripura. Many of you would not be knowing about the existence of an ashram of our Holy Gurudev at Silchar, Assam. This ashram is under the ardent guidanceship and care of a very pious saint known as Sri Balaram Brahmachari who is an ardent disciple of Sri Sri Ramthakur!! I must give you a brief introduction of this holy figure before telling about the ashram. Sri Balaram Brahmachari as I told you is a very pious saint of a divine nature and one can attain enormous peace by just only having his darshan!! Apart from his quest for spiritualism, he has dedicated his whole life to the benefit of common and poor people. While he took his sanyas & diksha from Sri Sri Sunil Maharaj of the Dingamanik Ashram, Bangaldesh at a very young age and surrendered his whole life at the holy feet of Sri Sri Thakur, he had been helping many many families who are very poor through the money donated to him by rich people. He has even sold his mother's ornaments for the education of many children of poor families and has taken care of those families for years and years until and unless those kids grew up and became financially stable to take care of themselves, like this many stories are heard when someone visits silchar!! The ashram at Silchar also takes care of boarding and lodging of poor people visiting from Agartala or the from the interior parts of Tripura who visits Assam for their medical treatments. The ashram charges a very nominal fee of Rs.100/- per day which includes room as well as the holy prasad all the threee times a day alongwith tea two times a day. More important is that anybody can go there and stay if they are needy and it is not required that they should be under initiation of  our Gurudev's Naam diksha!! He only believes in Humanism as our Guruji used to say that we are all Manob Somproday!! Whats more! there is also a facility of getting of injection drugs by a trained medical attendant boy prescribed by any doctor in case of any emergency. Due and proper care is taken by the ashram people who are very dedicated to serve the humanity which is nowadays is very difficult to find in other ashrams!! I can tell the difference as I have visited many ashrams of India. Many poor people specially from agartala daily visit this ashram and stay there while they visit silchar for their medical treatments. Like this Sri Balaram Brahmachari has got another land somewhere at Kolkata donated by some affluent devotee where he intends to make a Yatri Nivas for the common and poor people so that those poor people who come from north-eastern states or other parts of India for medical treatments to Kolkata can come and stay!! The ashram at Silchar is located at Rangir Khari, Vidyasagar Sarani, Srirampalli, Sudipta Nursing Home Road, Silchar. If you go by flight you would have to land at Silchar Airport and from there it takes another 1 to 1 1/2 hour journey by car and if you go by road then you would have to get down at Guwahati station and from there you can go by Assam State deluxe buses which took around 12 hours to reach there. The ashram celebrates each year the Maghi Purnima in a very big scale which falls mostly in the beginning of  February month. The festivals runs for 2-3 days where one can enjoy the holy and divine Naam Sankirtan and holy Mahaprasad. The Mohant Moharaj of Dingamanik Ashram, Bangladesh also visits here every year during the utsav and bestow his holy blessings on the devotees!! I would urge atleast the devotees of Assam & Agartala to whom the existence of this ashram was unknown and who are staying there to not to miss this occassion of the upcoming utsav!! Please go and participate in the Maghi Purnima utsav where you can feel the divine presence of Sri Sri Thakur Himself. I once had the opportunity to do the morning puja (Mangal Arti Puja) at 4.30 a.m. and can just tell you the experience which was just mind boggling which I would cherish all my life!! Jai Ram!! 

Surrender

 

Surrendering onto the holy lotus feet of your Gurudev or God is the very basic criteria in devotion and it should not be only in words or saying instead one should feel it from deep inside his heart. In our ancient epics there is one shlok in sanskrit which goes like this: Mukang Karoti Vachalam, Pango Langhyate Girim, Jat Kripa Tamahang Vande, Parama Nandam Madhavam which means that A dumb fellow can speak or a lame fellow can very easily cross over a big mountain if You bestow your holy mercy on him O My Lord Madhava!! Our Gurudev also always used to insist on this. Once somebody was discussing with Him on the wordly problems & pains and during that he asked then what is the Upay (solution) ? Immediately Sri Sri Thakur replied Upay is Nirupay!! means Surrender to God!! All great Gurus and saints have also insisted on this to be in submission to the almighty lord!! Sri Ramakrishna used to say as I am nothing, everything is my Holy Mother Kali!! Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to say Kirtaniya Sada Hari, to always chant Lord Sri Hari's Holy Name!! Shirdi Sai baba used to say have Shraddha on the Lord (of his Shraddha and Saburi quote)!! The acharyas also always give example of Draupadi from the epic Mahabharat about when she fully surrendered to the Lord Sri Krishna and cried out for help to save her Dushashan, the Lord immediately came to her rescue!! Another example also be given of Gajendra Moksham from our Purans as when an elephant who was attacked by a ferocious crocodile how he cried out for help to save him and also offered a lotus flower from the river and the Lord Narayan immediately came to his rescue and killed the crocodile by His Sudarshan Chakra!! The biggest example can be given of Sri Hanumanji from the epic Ramayan who was an ardent devotee of Lord Ram and who achieved so many unimaginable feats just  by chanting the Holy Name of Lord Ram!! The bridge which was made on the sea with the stones on which Sri Ramnaam was written to reach Lanka is the ultimate example of devotion!! Like this there may be hundreds of stories in our holy scriptures which throws light on devotion and surrendering to the holy feet of God and which actually guide us on our path of devotion!! Jai Ram!

Detachment

Dear Guru brothers/sisters! Jai Ram! I wish all of you who are located all around the globe A VERY VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS DEEPAWALI!! I wish that Diwali which is the festivals of lights may remove all our darkness of ignorance about the Almighty Lord from our inner selves! Today I thought that I should narrate something about Detachment which has been told manyatimes in our ancient scriptures and also by our holy Gurudev Sri Ramthakur! To know properly about detachment it would be better to describe some incidents from our puranas. It once happened that rishi durvasa who daily used to eat only two chappatis made of durva (grass) was meditating on the bank of river yamuna and Smt. Radharani the consort of our Lord Sri Krishna who was on the other side of the river had a desire of offering many delicious food items to the rishi. Accordingly, she prepared all the items and started for her journey to see the rishi but when she came to river yamuna she was shocked to find that the river was overflowing due to high tide!! Due to this no boatman was available to ferry cross the river!! She prayed to Lord Sri Krishna who immediately appeared there and after coming to know about the problem smilingly said that just go to the river and say that if Sri Krishna hasn't thought or touched any other lady except Smt. Radharani in his whole life then give me way to cross you!!! Hearing this Radharani was stunned as how it is possible?? Sri Krishna who is always surrounded of hundreds of gopis always! But whatever it is she went to the river and told as instructed by the Lord and immediately the river yamuna gave way to cross her!!! Radharani was again astonished!! After approaching the rishi and paying her respects, when she offered the food items to him, the rishi who was famous for his daily meal of two chapattis of durva, requested radharani to feed all the items with her own hands then only he would accept them!! She agreed and accordingly the rishi ate all the food. Now Radharani had to return back and again the same problem came to which the rishi enquired that how had she came here. She told the entire story and the rishi laughed mischievously at this!! The rishi then said that now go to the river yamuna that ask her that if the rishi has ate only two chapattis of durva today then give way to cross!! now this was again the moment for radharani to be shocked!! how is it possible as she has fed the rishi with her own hands but the rishi insisted and she went and told as asked by the rishi and again the river yamuna gave way to cross!! Friends, actually this is the sense of detachment!! Lord Sri Krishna may be always surrounded of hundreds of gopis but He used to see always only and only Smt. Radharani in each n every gopi and similarly the rishi durvasa who may have eaten many delicious food items but his inner sense was only accepting them as his daily meal of two chapattis of durva!! Sri Ramakrishna also used to give example of a kind of fish which is found in mud but you will not find any mud on its body!! similarly, stay in this world like that fish which is mud with a sense of detachment!! do all your duties but inside know the truth that these are not real and are temporary!! Once somebody wanted to check the detachment state or renunciation level of Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and put some powdered sugar on the tongue of Mahaprabhu and even after a long time the sugar didn't melted and suddenly after some time the wind blew away the sugar as it is!!!! this is detachment!! But this is also correct that it is not possible without the mercy and grace of the almighty lord and we should pray for it from Him. Jai Ram!!

Sri Ram Thakur is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

 

 

 

I don't know how many people know this eternal truth that our Gurudev Sri Sri Ram Thakur was none other than Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself who had came some 500-600 years ago and Sri Sri Thakur was his incarnation. Even at that time also many people were not knowing this secret and it was revealed to only his very close disciples. Actually this secret was revealed some 2-3 times by Sri Sri Thakur himself in a state of Divine possession. It happened once at Phanindra Malakar babu's house when the Rajasuya yagna took place which happened as per our Guruji's instructions. During the yagya once Sri Sri Thakur asked for Malsa Bhog Prasad offered to the deity and asked why he hadn't been given that prasad. And then he explained that how this Malsa Bhog came into existence. He said that once Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did Mahanaam Sankirtan at Sribas Angan (Sribas's house) and it continued for whole night, sometimes he cried, sometime he laughed & sometimes he became unconcious showing all the ashta-satvik vikars!! (8 divine symbols of Prema-Bhakti). After that He was very tired and felt hungry and asked for mahaprasad, at this all the devotees bowed their heads in shame and said that all the mahaprasad has been consumed & nothing is left!!! At this Mahaprabhu said that prasad can never be finished, bring to me all the earthen pots/plates that contained mahaprasad. When as per his instructions all plates were brought to him he asked Gadadhar (a very close devotee of Mahaprabhu) to collect all the leftovers of each n every plate in a separate plate and so everything like curd, ghee, honey, various types of dry fruits etc. and it was named as Malsa Bhog by Mahaprabhu himself. Mahaprabhu asked Gadadhar to give it to everybody to him also. While narrating the story, Sri Sri Thakur's words changed here a little bit in the end of the story and said as Gadadhar gave Malsa Bhog to everybody and to ME also, and I WAS VERY HUNGRY AND AFTER EATING IT I FELT VERY SATISFIED (Pl. read RAMBHAI SARANE BY SRI PHANINDRA MALAKAR). In an another incident it was the time of World War II. All devotees in bangladesh & kolkata were very much scared, at that time once Guruji suddenly exclaimed to a few close devotees as I AM ONLY SRI CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU, DON'T WORRY!! EVEN IF THOUSANDS OF ARROWS, SWORDS ARE THROWN AT YOU THEY CAN DO NO HARM ONTO YOU. There is a misconception about Sri Chaitanya Maaprabhu's end of his divine past times amongst a larger secton of our bengali society even among our Guru brothers and sisters also. Its really a pity!! Some say he has been killed by the pandas of Jagannath Temple of Puri, some say he died in an accident by coming under the wheels of rath during Rath Yatra festival at Puri, some say he jumped into the sea in a state of krishna consciousness and never returned!! pathetic indeed. Our Guruji who was none other than Lord Sri Chaitanya himself had clarified this thing very clearly. Once during an evening walking in an isolated place with his close disciple Sri Phanindra Malakar babu Sri Sri Thakur had disclosed the actual truth to him. But actually it had started with a conversation involving about similarity between Sri Naam and Sri Guru's/Lord's human body form. Malakar babu questioned that how can both be same as when we spell out Sri Naam its a vaccum but Sri Guru has a body. At this Guruji said who told you that Sri Guru has an ordinary human body form instead his body is divine not like ordinary human beings. Haven't you heard that Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had mixed with Tota Gopinath Vigraha in Puri. At this Malakar babu also argued that it is true that I have heard actually but I don't believe it and also as you are my Guru, I cannot lie to you!! Hearing this Guruji was astonished and asked I am telling you & you don't believe??? Malakar babu reiterated again by saying yes. At this Guruji said Good! and immediately vanished into the air in front of his naked eyes!!!! Malakar babu was shocked and dumb struck for a few minutes and looked for him hear and there but to no use!! Then he understood his fault and started crying and asked him to forgive his fault and requested Guruji to come back as to what he will tell others because nobody absolutely nobody will believe him!!! When like this nearly 1 hour had passed, malakar babu was repenting and crying then suddenly Guruji came from behind and tapped his shoulder, malakar babu immediately fall at his holy lotus feet and begged to forgive him. Guruji said Never doubt your Guru's words as by doing this lose all your punyas or say EHOKAL AND POROKAL. MANTRA MOOLAM GURUM VAKYAM (Ref.Sri Guru Gita). Dear Friends, Actually what had happened that daily during mahanaam kirtan Sri Mahaprabhu would dance and enter the Grabha Griha of Sri Tota Gopinathji alone and would return but that very day Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu didn't returned back!! After waiting for him as usual when he didn't came back all devotees went inside to look for him but there was nothing!! Great Devotee Meera also had mixed with Lord Sri Krishna like this!! Jai Ram!