Saturday, September 29, 2012

My Homage to Four Lives Well Lived - Swami Yatindrananda Ji, Ra. Ganapathi, Swami Vibudhananda ji and Bharat Churiwala ji

There is the story that a man who somehow found himself condemned before a despot and asked to choose the mode of his death, opted wisely to die of old age.

There is this stray quote from Swami Yatiswarananda, as heard from Swami Ananyananda, that it is a blessed person who dies from a sudden stroke.

Swami Yatindrananda Ji (Binoy Maharaj) who was in Taki Ramakrishna Mission earlier, and for many years in Belur Math passed away about a week back, after a life well lived.

Ra. Ganapathi was the writer that Ramakrishna Math turned to whenever something on epic proportions were to be written. I have enjoyed his Jaya Jaya Shankara, Life of Vivekananda and portions of other books. He passed away this February at the end of a virtuous long life.

Vidhi Mukha Vibudhanandaka Ram says Ramnam line 98. Vibudhananda ji used to refer to this jokingly. I first met him in 1978 when I was a student from MCC with long hair and he used to call me ‘Hippie’. He was surprised when this hippie finally became a monk. He passed away a few days back at 90. I fondly hope his organs which he wished to donate had been taken out before cremation. He must have merged with the light that is mentioned in the line 99, Tejomaya Nija Rupaka Ram.

Our Bharat Churiwala ji had it quick. I haven’t met him but benefited from his devoted services. A garland of heartfelt tributes from all over the globe is forming around his memory. I had always wanted to talk with him but what is written is what is here.

Here is the official Obituary:
http://www.belurmath.org/news_archives/2012/10/03/obituaries-news-september-2012/

1. Swami Yatindrananda of Taki Ramakrishna Mission :

http://www.belurmath.org/centres/display_centre.php?centre_id=TAK

Swami Yatindrananda ji (Vinay Maharaj) passed away on 18 September at 4.55 pm at Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata. He was 85 and had been suffering from heart disease, diabetes, etc. for some years. He was initiated by Swami Virajanandaji Maharaj. He joined the Ramakrishna Mission in 1948 at Asansol centre and had Sannyasa from Swami Shankarananda ji Maharaj in 1958. He also was at our Silchar and Taki centres. He was the head-monk of Taki centre for 23 years. He had been leding a retired life at Belur Math for the last eight years. He was a simple and austere monk.

2. Ra Ganapathi :

http://mahaperiyavaa.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/shri-ra-ganapathi-attains-lotus-feet-of-mahaperiyava/

http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Swami_Vivekananda.html?id=6A7yQwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

3. Swami Vibudhananda :

Swami Vibudhananda ji (Narasimhaswami Maharaj) passed away on 21 September 2012 at about 5.30 am at Ulsoor Math. He was 90 and had been suffering from diabetes, enlarged prostate, etc. for some years. He was an initiated disciple of Swami Virajananda ji Maharaj. He joined the Order at Bangalore Math in 1951 and had Sannyasa from Swami Shankarananda ji Maharaj in 1959. Besides his joining centre, he also served at Mysore, Almora, Vrindaban, Madras Mission Ashrama, Ooty, Madras Math, Kanchipuram, Nattarampalli and Bombay centres. He had been living a retired life at Ulsoor Math for the last seventeen years. He was known as a meticulous monk.

http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/general-slokams-mantrams/9002-nama-ramayanam.html

‘vidhi mukha vibudhAnanda rAm’ meaning given as: Thou Rama, Thou who didst delight Brahma and all the devas

‘tEjOmaya nija rUpaka rAm’ means Thou Rama, one with your own Resplendent Form

4. Bharat Churiwala Ji :

[Devotees of Holy Trio:30072] Demise of Shri Bharat Churiwala Ji

Respected All,
As a Co-Moderator of the Group, this is my painful duty to convey a very bad news to all of you.
Our very dear Moderator, Shri Bharat Churiwala Ji passed away today around midnight, after suffering from severe health complications due to Malaria.

Indeed it is a very shocking news, and a very grave day for this group. Shri Churiwala was one of the rarest gems of Sri Ramakrishna. Not only was he an exemplary devotee, but also a compassionate person, a guide and a learned soul. We hope that Mother's child has finally reached her laps, and resting playfully there.

Please Pray to Holy Trio for the peace of his soul.

sabuj biswas

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Kini Maharaj Passed away

Kini Maharaj passed away - so I heard a few days back. I instantly recognized the name. I could visualize his kind face and slight frame; I could distinctly remember the kindness - he was a monk with a kind heart. His manners were amiable with a touch of sweetness. I knew him as an elderly monk. He became finally an old, old monk. I remembered hearing about his being in the little Worli Centre in Bombay. It is not given to everyone to keep themselves able and sane in lonely or solitude type of situations. That people thought he could manage such situations, itself speaks for his competence which he justified by so obviously retaining his sanity and the soft sweetness till the other day.

http://www.rkmathnagpur.org/about_nagpur_math/1929_1934.htm

He joined in our Nagpur centre, under Swami Bhaskareshwarananda, who had inspired many good souls into spiritual life.

We monks, as a rule, don't retain our caste names or surnames, but sometime, some of us continue to be called by such names due to the affection that the monks have for so named. The Kinis are mostly Maharashtran and they used to cultivate herbs for healing sicknesses in the body; Laughter is the best medicine and Kini Maharaj's pleasant countenance was sure, a calming balm to tensed visitors when they came upon him.

Google so far is not showing him up; there has not been any report about his passing away yet; I don't remember his monastic name right now; I will fill that in later; but the foundations of the Universe is made of a conglomerate of such tiny Kinis - amiable, kind-hearted, unostentatious and forgotten.
== == == ==

Here is the update:

Swami Sadrupananda ji (Kini Maharaj) passed away on 10 September at 10 pm at Nagpur Math. He was 85 and had been suffering from diabetes, heart disease, etc. for some years. He was an initiated disciple of Swami Virajanandaji Maharaj. He joined Ramakrishna Mission in 1953 at Nagpur Math and had Sannyasa from Swami Vishuddhananda ji Maharaj in 1962. He was also in Mumbai Ashrama at the Worli Centre. He had been leading a retired life at Belur Math and Nagpur Ashrama for the last eight years. He was of a sweet temperament and was a well loved and respected monk.

http://www.belurmath.org/news_archives/2012/10/03/obituaries-news-september-2012/

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Swami Niranjananda (Junior) of the Ramakrishna Mission

20th December 1973 :

Swami Niranjanananda (Pandalai Maharaj) :

Announced to the Public in January 1974

Swami Niranjanananda (Pandalai Maharaj), aged 91, passed away

at Vallikkot on the 20th December 1973 at 5 pm owing to old-age

ailments. An initiated disciple of Srimat Swami Nirmalananda ji

Maharaj, he joined the Haripad Ashrama in 1921 and had Sannyasa

from his Diksha-Guru in 1923. Besides serving as the Head of the

Tiruvalla Ashrama for a long time, he was the editor of the

Prabuddha Keralam for over twelve years and wrote a commentary

on the Narada Bhakti Sutras and translated the Bhakti Yoga of

Swamiji in Malayalam. Austere and energetic by nature, the Swami

was one of those who were instrumental in spreading the message

of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda in Kerala.

http://ramakrishnamissionreports.blogspot.in/2012/02/obituaries-from-1965-to-1975.html

http://www.rkmathharipad.org/sample-page/story-behind-centre/

http://www.vivekananda.net/PDFBooks/Nirmalananda.pdf

Friday, August 3, 2012

Foreward to My Homage to the old old ones

My greetings to all readers. May you all live long and have happy, fruitful and good lives.

In my capacity as a self-appointed homage-payer of great lives lived in the Ramakrishna Movement, I am right now in the happy circumstances of not being able to pay my homage to any departing great soul because no one is in a hurry to do it these last few months. While thanking the Almighty for Her grace I pray she also does something to soothe them during their suffering while here on earth.

When I get to meet God face-to-face, I intend to ask Him why it has to be like this: that many great ones suffer pains; well, when it comes to that, I intend to ask Her why even lesser ones should suffer. But it is a fact that many of the great sufferers, they were great and their sufferings too were great, …well, …these great ones, had no complaint when they suffered, they continued to love God in and through suffering, thus saying between the lines that loving God is the answer to God giving us suffering. Along with it I am supposed to see to it that I don't do things to invite sufferings.

Well, I suppose the relationship between God and Humans is quiet complicated.

Coming back to my homage-paying affair, there are lots of good people, some known and some not as well known as they ought to have been and some completely unknown, all of them so obligingly dead, for me to pay my homage.

I begin with my homage to Swami Parananda of Ramakrishna Mission a.k.a. Padmanabhan Tampi.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Announced to the Public in October 1941

17th August 1941 : Swami Parananda (No. 2) (Padmanabhan):

We are sorry to record the death of Swami Parananda

(No. 2) of the Trivandrum Ashrama on the

17th August 1941 at the age of 74.

From

http://ramakrishnamissionreports.blogspot.in/2012/02/obituaries-from-1939-to-1950.html

Ramakrishna Keralam - His Master's Tool - Swami Parananda

Ramakrishna Keralam

(The Story of How Sri Ramakrishna made Kerala His Own)

His Master’s Tool

Trivandrum (1)

From time before Time,

there was this God, doing this same play.

God has been at it and is at it,

this game of pulling strings;

Strings unseen to which are attached puppets,

me, you and all who are here with us.

Do I have a say in my own affairs,

as I very often think I have,

But sometimes doubt?

What about others?

Do they have a say in their own affairs?

Are we all playing to a script?

Maybe we all have some freedom,

to do a little improvisation

for good or for bad...

Well, God is surely always up to something.

Once upon a time, not too far back, sometime in 1904-05, there was an honest officer of the Travancore Kingdom, by name Padmanabhan Tampi.

He had an equally good brother who was a doctor too, Dr Raman Tampi.

In their midst came one Kalipada Ghosh, an able executive of M/s. Dickinson’s & Co. of Calcutta. Perhaps they talked business first and then Tampi mentioned to Ghosh that he had heard a lot about one good man in Calcutta, by name Keshab Chandra Sen. This touched a deep chord in Kalipada’s heart.

Kalipada had been a deeply drenched drunkard who had been made into a saintly man by the touch of Sri Ramakrishna. He burst forth into a moving description of his Great Guru, from whom Keshab Sen himself, had derived inspiration. His passion and fervour moved deep strings in the hearts of his listeners.

Remember the string-puller above?

Kalipada Ghosh then informed them that a disciple of Ramakrishna, by name Swami Ramakrishnananda, was residing in South India at Madras.

His Master’s Tool

Trivandrum (2)

Little Padmanabhan, it is obvious, learnt Truthfulness and about the value of honest labour at his mother’s knee and under his father’s gaze.

The Tampi brothers were well educated too and the elder one was in a responsible position in Travancore when a potential social conflagration was forming as Sri Narayana Guru set up a Shiva temple at Aruvipuram, telling belligerent orthodox Nambudiris not to bother since he was worshipping a lower caste, Ezhava Shiva and not their Nambudiri Shiva. From reliable accounts, we come to know that Padmanabhan played quite a significant role in keeping the situation in check. This shows his courage of conviction as well as ability.

This sincere soul was in a state of readiness to catch any living spark. Kalipada Ghosh’s fervent talk about Sri Ramakrishna lit this enthusiasm. Ghosh and Tampi wasted no time in inviting Swami Ramakrishnananda to Trivandrum.

The Swami came, stayed for about a month in 1904 and held classes, which kindled the fire and spread it around. Padmanabhan Tampi went to Madras sometimes and when he asked to be initiated by Swami Ramakrishnananda, he was advised to go to Puri and get initiated by Swami Brahmananda. Sri K. Padmanabhan Tampi is held to be the first person from Kerala to be initiated by Swami Brahmananda. More were to follow.

The Spiritual counsel of Swami Ramakrishnananda and Swami Brahmananda and proximity with them kept the Tampi brothers and a group of people around them aflame with spiritual fervour and devotion. And it was not an idle devotion. They formed societies in different places. Today we know only about three places. Trivandrum, Tiruvalla and Haripad

His Master’s Tool

…. In Waiting for 1911 (3)

Now some quiet times come. Not much seems to have happened till 1911, when Haripad sprang forth in exuberance with graceful and grand sounds and light.

But, was there really a vacuum? Did 1911 spring up from a void? No. Many things were happening. Padmanabhan Tampi was the livewire in every place. There were enthusiastic and enterprising people in Trivandrum, Tiruvalla and Haripad but things moved where Padmanabhan was. He was the President of Trivandrum Society (of Devotees of Ramakrishna Mission). He was the prime mover in bringing Swami Ramakrishnananda to Trivandrum. We may take it that the Swami had left clear instructions to the devotees as to how to meet often and keep up their devotion. That the instructions were followed with fervour is also clear from the formation of Societies in various places in Travancore.

But Padmanabhan Tampi had to go away from Trivandrum on transfer Order from the Government. He became the sub-magistrate in Haripad. Now Haripad became the place where things were happening more. Trivandrum did not lag behind much, though. The younger Tampi, the Doctor, became the President and he did what he could. In between we see Swami Ramakrishnananda visiting Alleppey near Haripad and starting a school. Padmanabhan Tampi might have played some role in this visit. Devotees started to gather in Haripad and Tiruvalla. We mention some, Seshadri Iyer, Venkita Subrahmanya Iyer, Subbaraya Iyer, Neelakantan Namboodri, etc.

During these years Padmanabhan Tampi visited Puri and had initiation from Swami Brahmananda. He spread the message to others about Swami Brahmananda and Swami Ramakrishnananda.

Sri Ramakrishna was just sitting content in His devotees’ hearts, savouring their great love.

(will be continued, God Willing ..)

(I am thankful to many unknown good souls who have put these pics. out in the World wide Web. I propose to give their links and say a few words of appreciation about them later)

Monday, May 21, 2012

My Musings on a Musical Monk - Our Beloved Karthick Maharaj (Swami Tadgatananda)

Karthick Maharaj had many musical instruments with him. He sang Bhajans, could play Harmonium, Tarshehnai, Sitar, Violin, Mouth-organ and what-not; he was Jack-of-all (master-of-none, some would add).

He played them well?

Yes, I presume. He could play them on-stage and win repeated invitations. He could speak on-stage in English, Hindi and Bengali (and perhaps in Oriya too, that being his mother language). I think, he sometimes sang in the middle of his talks, like I do.

I asked him why he does his music in this varied way. He replied he cannot keep his thoughts on God and goodness if he does not keep trying different things.

Well, Sri Ramakrishna, sure, was fond of him.

I too am, except for one thing, for which I am yet undecided if I should excuse him.

King Ashoka of Pataliputra wore two hats, one as secular Emperor and the other as religious head. I would say, Kartick Maharaj inherited the latter headship.

He wore it all right. He ably controlled the usual tendency of hatted heads to grow and wobble with alarming top heaviness, scaring their sacred hats into jerking off from atop heads, the head finally falling off amidst confusion and clamor.

His Headship avoided that and surrendered calmly to cancer.

He was the most musical monk of the Order. Most people have no complaints about him, but not me. He half-promised me a good Scale-changer Harmonium but has gone away last night at 1.30 a.m. during the seven scoreth (140^th) anniversary of the communion of Shodashi Sarada Devi with Sadhaka Ramakrishna.