Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Monks of Ramakrishna Mission - Swami Devadevananda ji (Chandan Maharaj), Swami Puranananda ji (Sunil Maharaj) and Swami Divyajnanananda ji (Uday Maharaj) - My Homage


Swami Devadevananda ji (Chandan Maharaj) had passed away on 7 February 2014. He was 86 and despite suffering from chronic kidney disease, diabetes and hypertension for quite some years, was so filled with the Spirit of service, that he was insistent on continuing to serve the people and to lead an active life. Some would say he was loath to give up the life of an active leader of men. It took some efforts from others to convince him that it was better for him and all, if he reduced his services a bit.  Initiated by Swami Shankarananda ji, he joined the Order in 1954 at Karimganj centre and had Sannyasa from Swami Madhavananda ji in 1963.  Besides his joining centre, he served at Saradapitha, Shillong, Kamarpukur and Silchar centres in multifarious roles. When finally people could convince him to retire, he lived a contented retired life for  three years at Jayrambati and Belur Math.  The Swami was a jolly man and people generally liked him.  He was interested in music and could not only sing well but compose songs too.  Among his compositions, the song beginning with words Jaya Jaya Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna, Bolo Badane, Emon Madhur Naam Aar Paabi Ne in Bengali has become quite popular. He continues to live in his songs. 

 Hari Om Ramakrishna.
Swami Puranananda ji (Sunil Maharaj) expired on 12 February 2014. He was 84 and had been living a full and, well- engrossed-in all day to day affairs-life, despite suffering from chronic kidney disease and diabetes for quite some years. Initiated by Swami Shankarananda ji, he joined the Order in 1951 at Belur Math and had Sannyasa from his Guru in 1961.  Besides Belur Math, he served at Patna, Mumbai, Gol Park, Kanpur, Mauritius, Puri Mission, Cossipore and Barasat centres for varying periods at various roles.  He had been living a lively though what we call retired life for about six years at Gol Park centre.  The Swami was a good singer and an impressive speaker and had cultivated gentlemanly manners.  He once promptly  gave me a nice piece of woolen kurta when he found I needed one. 

 Hari Om Ramakrishna; Durga Durga

Swami Divyajnanananda ji (Uday Maharaj of Narendrapur centre) passed away on 12th February 2014. He was just like any one of us, ordinary, with flashes of competence, goodness and vainness. I took him for granted that he, like most of us, would give us company for major part of our lives and  we could always be comfortable in complimenting and cavilling at each other. But Death has intervened to tell loudly that no human is to be taken lightly and indeed the task to take up is the one set to us by Holy Mother - to make the world our own - for none is a stranger and the way to go about it, is to find the good in each and every human being we come across and to try to worship the divinity within each and every person. Uday Mj. was a so-so acquaintance but it stumped me hard when I saw that he had been struck by serious kidney trouble. He was quite a pleasant person (a bit garrulous though) and I am sure he was of great service to the students he served. I can't yet believe he is dead. He, for sure, is not; and 'dead' is not an accurate word to describe the lively feeling that come to my mind when thinking of him. That Soul or Atma is Immortal, seems so palpably true even to puny unrealized persons like me. 

 So Dear Uday Maharaj, let me say Farewell to you here through this blog. Durga Durga
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Friday, May 8, 2015

Swami Gitananda Ji - God's Name is All


More than an year back, Swami Gitananda ji passed away on 14th March, 2014, We were quite relieved that finally he was out of what seemed to us to be, a sort-of-vegetative state, for the last few years. Now-a-days, as medical sciences are improving and people get to live longer, rare types of old age ailments are beginning to get less and less rare. Gitananda ji seemed to have contacted some bug which would not leave the body and the body progressively slid into less and less active state.

It is easier to serve an actively sick person, There is a sort of romance about it, You get to feel that you are doing something noble, There is a bit of spiritual glamour or glow when you serve an eminent monk, like say, a President or Vice-president of Ramakrishna Order, when he is active in his spiritual ministry even though he might need medical attention now and then; but there is dullness like death when you serve a person in a vegetative state. All credit is due to the unsung glorious Jyoti-duos, Ramjyoti Maharaj and Devjyoti Maharaj. They served Gitananda ji till the end. One of them served as long as his own body could stand in health and the other till Swami Gitananda ji's body breathed. They kept up their fervor. They did not completely give up on their hopes of at least some partial revival in Gitananda ji's physical health condition. A few years before his passing away, when Gitananda ji had started to settle well into his medical stupor, Providence had it, that a leading Ayurvedic Physician came my way. I had to take him to Kankurgachi Yogodyan for sightseeing. I thought, like, `here is a leading physician and there, a suffering patient; why not try to arrange a meeting?’ The two Jyotis concurred and the good physician examined the patient; He opined that the best medical care was being given and excellent personal care was in place. He prescribed a supplementary medicine and advised some minor diet additions, all without conflict with the running medications. His recommendations could not be implemented fully, blame it on failed nerves of care-givers or on geruacracy, but anyway I was happy that the good doctor spoke highly about the care Gitananda ji was getting.


I joined the Mission in 1980, when I was 20. The Gitananda ji, that I knew, was then already a ripe, senior monk, known for his scholarship, kind manners, meditative habits and disinclination to dash into things; a sort of what Swami Srikarananda ji might have ripened into, had he lived a little longer. I did not have too many interactions with Revered Swami Gitananda ji but whatever little I had was enough to take it for sure that he is somebody close to me and one of my own.

Here's a lengthy quote from The Bulletin of the Institute of Culture about Swami Gitananda  ji :

`He felt immensely attracted to places of pilgrimage like Jayrambati, Varanasi, Vrindavan and Puri. His brilliant discourses on the Bhàgavatam filled with divine fervour went far beyond the dry interpretations given by the Pandits. His ‘Bhàgavat Kathà’ (in Bengali) bears the stamp of his extraordinary understanding of the Bhàgavatam. Another book, ‘Sri Ràmer Anudhyàn’, is a standing example of his unalloyed devotion to Sri Ràma. Gitanandaji was an embodiment of humility and simplicity. He liked to do all his work himself. He always liked to keep himself in the background and project before humanity the bright lives of the Holy Trio.

Another notable trait in him was his love and empathy for the common man. Endowed with this he made everyone his own. His special characteristic was that he always remained absorbed in japa despite his tremendous involvement in work. ‘Work’ and ‘Japa’ had the same meaning to him. Japa was his rest. He never wasted time. Once he told a group of sannyasins from abroad: ‘You only need one thing: God’s Name. Keep it with you always. You may not see Him, but you can be close to Him (through His Name). There are many other things in the books that may help some people, but I do not know about these things. I just know God’s Name.’

Even I, a doubting Thomas if there ever was one, am not able to catch any note of exaggeration in the above quote.

 ‘Naked came I out of my mothers wombe, and naked shall I returne thither: the Lord gaue, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord’

Hari Om Ramakrishna


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