`oi
je de kha jai anandadham’ – ‘Ho, see thou yonder, the Abode of Bliss’ –
His slightly
rasping and quivering voice optimistically guided the departing souls, of those
disciplined sadhus, who liked to see things thoroughly to a resplendent saffron glow of a finish as their mortal remains were lit up. Most of us
opined that the singing voice of Swami Kshemananda
ji (our dear own Ramesh Maharaj) will be enough to speed up the departing even
if the souls find it a bit hard to spot the Blissful Abode. We young sadhus and
brahmacharins, held to the sure belief that every evening, Sri Ramakrishna took
to walking and having a little time out at Nilambar Babu’s House just as our
Ramesh Maharaj started his singing
during Evening Vespers.
He
didn't mind too much, our pulling his legs. He was a sort of indulgent Grandpa
to the Dennis the Menaces, in us. Unfortunately for him, we met him when his
glory days as sought-after-singer was ending and he had to seek after listeners.
We respected him though, because we had heard how he had kept up the musical
traditions of the Order and we could see how faithfully he was doing his
janitor job – the Belur Math's second most important place, if not the most important one, was
in Kshemananda ji keep - the room where Swami Vivekananda decided to leave his
body or ‘spat it out’ as Vivekananda himself said in his disembodied form to a
brother disciple in Madras’. Kshemananda ji cleaned this room for decades, up
to quite an advanced age and was proud of it.
He was a simple soul and did not
put on superior airs. He was accessible to all monks and others, young and old,
and had his frailties. He chanted verses and popular wise saying at Bhandaras with as much gusto and zeal and he did the evening Aratis. Now-a-days such uninhibited zest is less forthcoming from amongst us monks. We seem to be becoming more and more self conscious and image conscious. We forget Sri Ramakrishna
is not all officiousnesses; He works through a lot of unofficial channels
too. Rather it seems to me, he likes to work more and more through unofficial
channels, though He does give the Offices their dues, for it was He who had set
them up. Ramesh Maharaj together with his junior friend Subodh Maharaj, used to
do a lot of what I call, ‘local Bhava Prachar’ which consist of going to
devotees’ places to fulfill their need of the presence of sadhus for their
little functions. Both these sadhus used to call many of us too to go along
with them. This activity plays no little role in the great Ramakrishna Movement.
Right from beginning, these Home visits have been quite significant and I have
found authoritative references to such activities. I have had some pleasing experiences
accompanying these two great souls. I
hope somebody or other in Belur Math has now taken it upon themselves, this
vital activity of the Ramakrishna Movement.
 |
| Thanks http://sweetclipart.com/cute-pink-bird-clip-art-15 |
A
simple soulful songster he was, our Ramesh Maharaj. He must have been, despite
our jokes, a Hovsångare in Sri Ramakrishna’s
eyes.
Hari
Om Ramakrishna
For picture links :
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvlfu6MjB0M
2. http://sweetclipart.com/cute-pink-bird-clip-art-15
for more about the song :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mte_PtHJPPI
For More about Swami Kshemananda ji (Ramesh Maharaj) here go to the official site :
http://www.belurmath.org/news_archives/2014/02/02/obituaries-01-february-2014/
