[ My first visit to Banagram]
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Many of those who took celibacy or asceticism in the early days from Guru Maharaj (Swami Paramananda) are no more among us like Swami Prajnananda or Mihir Maharaj, Swami Chitbilasananda or Madan Maharaj, Swami Bishuddhananda or Debendra Maharaj, Swami Chidananda or Nilmoni Maharaj, Swami Satyananda or Shambhu Maharaj, Swami Akhandananda or Manik Maharaj etc. [Of course, much later, more devotees who took celibacy or asceticism from Guru Maharaj also died such as Tarun Maharaj or Swami Gambhirananda, Indrajit Maharaj or Swami Asajnananda, Jagabandhu Maharaj or Swami Brahmananda, Sitama or (…….) etc]. Each of them was a companion of God’s leela. They also, in their early youth, abandoned the world of enjoyment and pursued the path of abandonment in the mentality of assisting in the work of God(Swami Paramananda). So I bow down to all of them too. I pay my respects to them from my heart. And if an opportunity arises, I will try to say something about each of them or the incident of their association with Guru Maharaj later.
The two most veteran sannyasis of Swami Paramananda passed away recently. Swami Tapeshwarananda Maharaj was one of them who died on the 1st October, 2020. He was a saint of the Bharat Sebashram Sangha in his early life. After meeting the young Guru Maharaj when he lived in the Himalayas, he decided to join the Paramananda Mission. He passed away at the age of almost 106. And the other one was Sando Maharaj or Swami Shankarananda who passed away in 2021. He was the first initiated sannyasi by Swami Paramananda.He was a student of College, Shibpur at that time i.e. 55/60 years ago from today and rejecting the opportunity to go to America, he took sannyas inspired by the ideals of Swami Vivekananda. Later, he came in contact with Guruji and took sannyas from Him. Swami Shankaranandaji also had many incidents in his long life. He had many interesting incidents with Guru Maharaj. Moreover, he introduced Guru Maharaj with Ramen Chakraborty, the author of ‘Shruti’, as Ramen Babu was his brother-in-law.
Besides them, Swami Keshabananda or Mama Maharaj (who was the editor of the English Charaibeti magazine, has recently resigned from editing work due to his physical reasons.) is also an old monk. I will try to talk some more about them later.
What else can we do but to pay our respects to these selfless celibates of Swami Paramananda circle .So, I render my heartfelt respect and devotion for all of them.
Let’s come back to that night in which the various stories of Guru Maharaj were told by Nagen(a young lad of Banagram). These were not new to me at that time and also not only amazing to me at all, as I had read many books about the great saints like ‘Sadhaks of India’ or something else ! But the wonderful matter was that these all was happening in this Underdeveloped village(Banagram) centering mere a very common man of only 5′-2/3″ height(Swami Paramananda) ! I couldn’t believe it and not disbelief also ! Rather, the scale of faith was gradually getting more and more !
Nagen said that one night an amazing thing happened in his life. I will tell that now – I have already said that when Guru Maharaj used to stay in the ashram, Nagen’s daily routine was to give company with Guru Maharaj from Mukharjee’s house to Ashram__ when Guruji would return to the ashram after spending some time at there in the evening. Some days he would also go to Guruji’s room, if Guruji called him. Guruji used to give Nagen some food items(fruits,sweets etc.) many times. Sometimes there held also a lot of conversations among them. Very often Guru Maharaj, after reaching at His kuthia’s gate, used to tell him “Nagen you can go now!”. After this Nagen used to go away.
Let’s come back to our particular story. On that day(the day when the amazing incident happened), as usual Nagen came to ashram with Guru Maharaj from Mukherjee’s house. Seeing that Guru Maharaj did not forbid him, he followed Guru Maharaj further and almost went to Guru Maharaj’s kuthia. Guruji entered his room a little earlier.At that time Nagen was thinking if he will enter the Guruji’s kuthia or not . Suddenly Guru Maharaj said from inside the room _ “Nagen! Are you outside ? Then stand a little away !! Someone is coming to meet me !” As soon as Nagen moved a little aside, a huge Chandrabora snake(Krait) entered Guruji’s kuthia and very soon went out also ! After a minute or two, Guruji again called him from inside the room and said, “Nagen, Are you still there? Then move away once more ! Another one is coming.” Whether Nagen moved or not, a huge Shankhamuti snake(another type of krait) entered Guru Maharaj’s kuthia almost by touching Nagen’s feet and it also left after some time. In this way, the same thing happened several times i.e Nagen moved away a little and an another kind of snake entered Guru Maharaj’s kuthia and bowed down to him and left. After a long time, Guru Maharaj said to Nagen, “You may go home this time.” Nagen went home but kept thinking that they used to come to this place to cattle cows from their childhood, they used to come here for various field works- but they had never seen such as big and fat snakes there that he saw that night.The next morning he ran to Guruji __ “Baba, Where do those big snakes stay in this ashram that entered your house yesterday ?” Guru Maharaj laughed and replied _ “were they really snakes, Nagen? In front of you_ they were in the disguise, because they did not want to show you their real form !!!” [To be continued]…….
[Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten of Dhatrigram and corrected by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]
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Many of those who took celibacy or asceticism in the early days from Guru Maharaj (Swami Paramananda) are no more among us like Swami Prajnananda or Mihir Maharaj, Swami Chitbilasananda or Madan Maharaj, Swami Bishuddhananda or Debendra Maharaj, Swami Chidananda or Nilmoni Maharaj, Swami Satyananda or Shambhu Maharaj, Swami Akhandananda or Manik Maharaj etc. [Of course, much later, more devotees who took celibacy or asceticism from Guru Maharaj also died such as Tarun Maharaj or Swami Gambhirananda, Indrajit Maharaj or Swami Asajnananda, Jagabandhu Maharaj or Swami Brahmananda, Sitama or (…….) etc]. Each of them was a companion of God’s leela. They also, in their early youth, abandoned the world of enjoyment and pursued the path of abandonment in the mentality of assisting in the work of God(Swami Paramananda). So I bow down to all of them too. I pay my respects to them from my heart. And if an opportunity arises, I will try to say something about each of them or the incident of their association with Guru Maharaj later.
The two most veteran sannyasis of Swami Paramananda passed away recently. Swami Tapeshwarananda Maharaj was one of them who died on the 1st October, 2020. He was a saint of the Bharat Sebashram Sangha in his early life. After meeting the young Guru Maharaj when he lived in the Himalayas, he decided to join the Paramananda Mission. He passed away at the age of almost 106. And the other one was Sando Maharaj or Swami Shankarananda who passed away in 2021. He was the first initiated sannyasi by Swami Paramananda.He was a student of College, Shibpur at that time i.e. 55/60 years ago from today and rejecting the opportunity to go to America, he took sannyas inspired by the ideals of Swami Vivekananda. Later, he came in contact with Guruji and took sannyas from Him. Swami Shankaranandaji also had many incidents in his long life. He had many interesting incidents with Guru Maharaj. Moreover, he introduced Guru Maharaj with Ramen Chakraborty, the author of ‘Shruti’, as Ramen Babu was his brother-in-law.
Besides them, Swami Keshabananda or Mama Maharaj (who was the editor of the English Charaibeti magazine, has recently resigned from editing work due to his physical reasons.) is also an old monk. I will try to talk some more about them later.
What else can we do but to pay our respects to these selfless celibates of Swami Paramananda circle .So, I render my heartfelt respect and devotion for all of them.
Let’s come back to that night in which the various stories of Guru Maharaj were told by Nagen(a young lad of Banagram). These were not new to me at that time and also not only amazing to me at all, as I had read many books about the great saints like ‘Sadhaks of India’ or something else ! But the wonderful matter was that these all was happening in this Underdeveloped village(Banagram) centering mere a very common man of only 5′-2/3″ height(Swami Paramananda) ! I couldn’t believe it and not disbelief also ! Rather, the scale of faith was gradually getting more and more !
Nagen said that one night an amazing thing happened in his life. I will tell that now – I have already said that when Guru Maharaj used to stay in the ashram, Nagen’s daily routine was to give company with Guru Maharaj from Mukharjee’s house to Ashram__ when Guruji would return to the ashram after spending some time at there in the evening. Some days he would also go to Guruji’s room, if Guruji called him. Guruji used to give Nagen some food items(fruits,sweets etc.) many times. Sometimes there held also a lot of conversations among them. Very often Guru Maharaj, after reaching at His kuthia’s gate, used to tell him “Nagen you can go now!”. After this Nagen used to go away.
Let’s come back to our particular story. On that day(the day when the amazing incident happened), as usual Nagen came to ashram with Guru Maharaj from Mukherjee’s house. Seeing that Guru Maharaj did not forbid him, he followed Guru Maharaj further and almost went to Guru Maharaj’s kuthia. Guruji entered his room a little earlier.At that time Nagen was thinking if he will enter the Guruji’s kuthia or not . Suddenly Guru Maharaj said from inside the room _ “Nagen! Are you outside ? Then stand a little away !! Someone is coming to meet me !” As soon as Nagen moved a little aside, a huge Chandrabora snake(Krait) entered Guruji’s kuthia and very soon went out also ! After a minute or two, Guruji again called him from inside the room and said, “Nagen, Are you still there? Then move away once more ! Another one is coming.” Whether Nagen moved or not, a huge Shankhamuti snake(another type of krait) entered Guru Maharaj’s kuthia almost by touching Nagen’s feet and it also left after some time. In this way, the same thing happened several times i.e Nagen moved away a little and an another kind of snake entered Guru Maharaj’s kuthia and bowed down to him and left. After a long time, Guru Maharaj said to Nagen, “You may go home this time.” Nagen went home but kept thinking that they used to come to this place to cattle cows from their childhood, they used to come here for various field works- but they had never seen such as big and fat snakes there that he saw that night.The next morning he ran to Guruji __ “Baba, Where do those big snakes stay in this ashram that entered your house yesterday ?” Guru Maharaj laughed and replied _ “were they really snakes, Nagen? In front of you_ they were in the disguise, because they did not want to show you their real form !!!” [To be continued]…….
[Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten of Dhatrigram and corrected by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]