As 2013 folded up it folded unto itself four of our monks.
To us they all seem to be from the same generation; though the
youngest was 68 and oldest 87, their joining the Order was just
within 1956-1967.
Friends, I am learning never to take old folks for granted. You can never tell when and which one of them will suddenly choose to pull wool over your eyes and just simply disappear from view - a total irrevocable disappearance. When Amitabhananda ji did it on Sep.11, it rankled me as it sank in that my ready (though a bit abrasive and very tangential) reference point to everything that matters to us Ramakrishna people, has quietly faded away. Now-a-days even when I think I have to be a bit hard on old people, I try to cushion it somewhat. Those voices have trailed off. Their faces have blurred themselves into a uniform fiery glow. Their antics have tucked themselves into tales told in our gossip. And of course, their passage makes me recall Yudhistra’s answer to Yaksha’s last question (What is the greatest wonder?) and at least in a statutory, cursory way, wonder about the mortality of thisbody without which I am not able to conceive of myself.
Swami
Girijeshananda ji was loved by a good number of people. I have heard much about
his able services in Delhi. I have seen him at close quarters a few times. The
earliest I could remember was when he came to Madras Vivekananda College
sometime in early 1990s to conduct interviews to recruit teachers for Ramakrishna
Mission at Narottam Nagar at Arunachal Pradesh. There I could see for myself
how meticulous he was in his work. Some might consider it a great thing
if a horse dies in harness, but the Blue Cross is sure to file a case against
those cruel people who worked a sick horse to death and they might win it too.
The silent and steady workhorses deserve a better and quiet death in peace and
harmony at safe and snoozy stables. I am happy anyway that he got some quality
years because of a donated kidney from another monk.
By donating his kidney and by accepting it, both monks have set a very healthy convention. There needn’t be any more doubt in any Ramakrishna Mission monk about donating eyes or any vital organ. Monks of Ramakrishna Mission are free to make such donations. I have already pledged my eyes and hope to pledge some organs too. There is nothing official against it. I have been told by authorities that though Mission cannot promise to fulfill the wish of the donor they would do their best to do so.
Ram
Maharaj (twin of Lakshman Maharaj of Chicago) passed away. We don’t have
anybody of their stature now in Vedic chanting. Welcome Brothers, we need to
fill in the breach fast. The old generation is in a hurry to go. Computers are
ok; facebook is ok; but we need to resort more and more to Shastras, the sure
panacea and passage to Immortality.
And our
dear Sudhangshu Maharaj, I am sorry I am yet to complete any of your book. I
think he was in Belur Math sometime between 1980 to 1982, when he handed a large
number of his books and told me to put a few copies of them in each of the
crates we were shipping to our foreign centres. His pen name was Ananda and his
books all sounded so very learned. They had no chapters, profuse quotations,
many of them from western authors, and grudgingly paragraphed passages. Some
portions made sense to me and made me want to read the whole of it (which I
have not yet done). Even as his Parkinsonism was continuing its relentless
march, his friendly and encouraging way of conversation clung with him. Some of
his books were kept away from general view out of fear they might be
misunderstood but I think those who did this are the ones who misunderstood it.
I read some portions of the book whose title is something like ‘Monk with a
key’. There is very good chance that this might be first book of Ananda that I
would be completing. Let me go to the Library where I saw it and I will surely
do it if I get half a chance.
And
about Jnan Maharaj, I don’t know him much, but recall a few moments with him,
when the smile he sports in the photo, extended itself so gently and gracefully
into his talks and demeanor.
Friends, I am learning never to take old folks for granted. You can never tell when and which one of them will suddenly choose to pull wool over your eyes and just simply disappear from view - a total irrevocable disappearance. When Amitabhananda ji did it on Sep.11, it rankled me as it sank in that my ready (though a bit abrasive and very tangential) reference point to everything that matters to us Ramakrishna people, has quietly faded away. Now-a-days even when I think I have to be a bit hard on old people, I try to cushion it somewhat. Those voices have trailed off. Their faces have blurred themselves into a uniform fiery glow. Their antics have tucked themselves into tales told in our gossip. And of course, their passage makes me recall Yudhistra’s answer to Yaksha’s last question (What is the greatest wonder?) and at least in a statutory, cursory way, wonder about the mortality of thisbody without which I am not able to conceive of myself.
Swami
Girijeshananda ji was loved by a good number of people. I have heard much about
his able services in Delhi. I have seen him at close quarters a few times. The
earliest I could remember was when he came to Madras Vivekananda College
sometime in early 1990s to conduct interviews to recruit teachers for Ramakrishna
Mission at Narottam Nagar at Arunachal Pradesh. There I could see for myself
how meticulous he was in his work. Some might consider it a great thing
if a horse dies in harness, but the Blue Cross is sure to file a case against
those cruel people who worked a sick horse to death and they might win it too.
The silent and steady workhorses deserve a better and quiet death in peace and
harmony at safe and snoozy stables. I am happy anyway that he got some quality
years because of a donated kidney from another monk.By donating his kidney and by accepting it, both monks have set a very healthy convention. There needn’t be any more doubt in any Ramakrishna Mission monk about donating eyes or any vital organ. Monks of Ramakrishna Mission are free to make such donations. I have already pledged my eyes and hope to pledge some organs too. There is nothing official against it. I have been told by authorities that though Mission cannot promise to fulfill the wish of the donor they would do their best to do so.
Ram
Maharaj (twin of Lakshman Maharaj of Chicago) passed away. We don’t have
anybody of their stature now in Vedic chanting. Welcome Brothers, we need to
fill in the breach fast. The old generation is in a hurry to go. Computers are
ok; facebook is ok; but we need to resort more and more to Shastras, the sure
panacea and passage to Immortality.
And our
dear Sudhangshu Maharaj, I am sorry I am yet to complete any of your book. I
think he was in Belur Math sometime between 1980 to 1982, when he handed a large
number of his books and told me to put a few copies of them in each of the
crates we were shipping to our foreign centres. His pen name was Ananda and his
books all sounded so very learned. They had no chapters, profuse quotations,
many of them from western authors, and grudgingly paragraphed passages. Some
portions made sense to me and made me want to read the whole of it (which I
have not yet done). Even as his Parkinsonism was continuing its relentless
march, his friendly and encouraging way of conversation clung with him. Some of
his books were kept away from general view out of fear they might be
misunderstood but I think those who did this are the ones who misunderstood it.
I read some portions of the book whose title is something like ‘Monk with a
key’. There is very good chance that this might be first book of Ananda that I
would be completing. Let me go to the Library where I saw it and I will surely
do it if I get half a chance.And
about Jnan Maharaj, I don’t know him much, but recall a few moments with him,
when the smile he sports in the photo, extended itself so gently and gracefully
into his talks and demeanor.
Oh this, my silly and
self-conscious self! Don’t lose the people around you before due time. Take
note of all those precious people around you. Don’t throw back their tantrums;
let them lie where they land. Ok, answer their mannerisms with yours, but see
to it that malice has no access anywhere.
http://www.belurmath.org/news_archives/2014/01/02/obituaries-1-january-2014/
