[We were discussing about Guruji’s rebukes…]
And once I saw that Bhajan was rebuked by Guruji. I gave a little introduction of Bhajan before. Bhajan Mukherjee’s home was in the village of “Barona” near Bohar on the Burdwan-Kalna route. They were two brothers – Bhajan and Pujan. After the death of their mother, his father Fakir Mukherjee moved with his younger brother Pujan to a place near Ranchi, Bihar (at present Jharkhand) because Fakir Babu used to work there. After passing secondary examination, Bhajan used to go to Banagram Ashram with Umapada Pramanik of Sridharpur (who used to cut Guruji’s hair and beard), Tapan Mukherjee and Shambhu Mandal (Satyananda Maharaj) every weekend. At that time Trishan Maharaj(Swami Parameswarananda) first admitted him in Paharhati school. From there, he passed the Higher Secondary Examination . Then Trishan Maharaj admitted him to Itachuna College (Khanyan, Hooghly). Trishanda also read B.Sc there.
However, in this way Bhajan was inspired by the ideals of Guru Maharaj and joined in the active works ( to sacrifice life in works) of Paramananda Mission!! When I first visited the Ashram (1983), I saw that Bhajan was very active Brahmachari, always busy- a very deserving collaborator of Trishan da. For that he also got a bicycle after Trishanda’s, so Bhajan would also go out with his bicycle for collection or other works and return to ashram at the end of the day. He spoke very little, he did more work in silence.
Once he thought that sadhan-bhajan (austere ascetic practice) was not going well ! He also thought that_ by doing more sadhan-bhajan, he would achieve the ultimate goal in this life !! Moreover, Bhajan would blindly follow Trishan maharaj ! That time Trishan Maharaj used to leave the ashram after drinking only a cup of tea in the morning and would return late nights. Even after returning at night, Trishan da never ate anything in the ashram. The reason for this was that he usually ate dinner at Mukherjee’s house in Banagram and he took his lunch in a devotee’s home perhaps. But Bhajan thought __Trishan Maharaj seemed to be doing all the work without eating, so he wanted to do the same ! Thus Bhajan became very weak, because he gave up eating and drinking ! Even he gave up all the Ashram related activities and just sitting in his room he started doing sadhan-bhajan, meditation- chant etc !! Within a few days Bhajan who was an active, strong and young man- gradually became a weak, thin, emaciated patient like man . Within one or two months he reduced in such a condition that anyone who saw the Bhajan earlier – could not recognize him! – ‘Is this Bhajan, that strong-active-young man Bhajan?’
At the time when these incidents took place, Guru Maharaj was not in the Ashram for 3 or 4 months. He went to North India or the Himalayas etc. When he returned to the ashram, that very Bhajan was almost a dead man ! After returning, Guruji heard all about Bhajan’s condition, He came to know that Bhajan didn’t eat anything from some days, he had almost given up everything. At that time, if Bhajan was walking, his body would have seemed that only skin was covering over his skeleton ! He used to walk very slowly due to great weakness, always it was suspected that he would fall immediately !
Guruji then brought ‘Shilajit’ from the Himalayas. He said, “This real ‘Shilajit’ has been collected from saint. It contains condensed energy.In the Himalayas the saints follow the bears and collect them. ‘Shilajit’ is actually a special kind of rock-sweat ! It is obtained from Black-rocks in icy places at the particular height in the Himalayas. When the morning sun shines on this particular pieces of rocks in extreme cold – the rocks emit a kind of sap. The bears don’t understand much, they start licking the rocks since dawn. Seeing that, the saints remove the bears with trick and collect the ‘Shilajit’.”
However, Guruji showed us ‘Shilajit’ and said – “Eating these in very very small amounts regularly increases vitality. Now what’s the condition of our Bhajan’s body – if he was fed a little bit of it every day, his weakness of body will recover soon.” He then asked Murari Maharaj to bring Bhajan with his lunch to His room- so that Guruji himself could see if he (Bhajan) was eating !
Then the ‘sitting’ was held in front of the Guruji’s kuthia and now the sitting was on the right side. That day it was almost 10 to 10-30 in the morning. Bhajan’s lunch had been served in Guruji’s room – very slowly Bhajan came and sat to eat. Guruji was busy then at sitting outside. Suddenly Tapima said – “Look, Baba(Guruji)! Bhajan da is throwing away the food outside !” The fact was that Bhajan was sitting on the floor of Guru Maharaj’s room and he was eating there, but actually without eating a grain, he took the plate (with rice, pulses, and vegetables) and opening the east door (now the door to the present day’s sitting), went out and threw it a little farther along the drain(then there was a drain,near a tubewell,now it is the lane to Sadhana Bhawan) ! Then and there one or two dogs began to eat that.
At Tapima’s words, Guru Maharaj turned His head and saw all in His own eyes ! At once He jumped up as soon as He saw the scene And He let out a ‘humkar'(roar) by saying “Ei-e-ei Bhajan!!” and reached Bhajan almost in three or four jumps(the distance was almost 15 meters!), Tapima also ran behind.
But hearing that great roar of Guru Maharaj, not only Bhajan but everyone present there were began to tremble !!
As soon as Guru Maharaj jumped up, many of us (present in the sitting) left the seat and ran away to outside in fear and began to watch from a distance what was going on !! Only some were still in the sitting and watching the scene ! I also was thinking – ‘As Guru Maharaj is angry, he will surely slap Bhajan and that will lead him to die immediately!’
Guru Maharaj went towards Bhajan in angry mood very much but eventually we were assured to see that He did not raise His hand at all !! We saw that Bhajan was trembling heavily in fear !! It seemed that he would fall right then !
The fact of the matter is that we, the ordinary people, usually speak out from our voice of throat, and Guru Maharaj used to speak from the navel. This word – ” Humkar(roar)” _ the sound ‘hum’ of ‘humkar'(roar) comes from the navel.
Going to him, Guruji asked him “Why are you wasting the food of the Ashram ?? Why are you feeding the dog with the food allotted for you ?? Don’t you know how hard it is to get food for the Ashram ?? ” Then He moved a little and shouted from the navel again “Murari !! Hey Murari !! ”
Murari Da, after hearing the first roar of Guru Maharaj, stood a little behind. As soon as he came to the front, Guru Maharaj said, ” Murari! Listen! Take him away from the Ashram !! I don’t want to see him in the Ashram again tomorrow morning !! ” Saying this, He went into His room with bold steps again without looking at anyone !
Even those of us who were in the sitting, got up then and we rolled up the palm-leaf mats of sitting and left them at the door-front of Guru Maharaj’s room and left for ‘Battala'(the place beneath the banyan tree) to get rid of the situation.
Everyone assembled there was discussing that day’s ‘Rudra murti ‘(angry form) of Guru Maharaj !! Everyone was saying that no one had ever seen that form of His!!
Anyway, after eating some rice, pulse, curry, I walked straight to Bhandul. From there I took a bus to Memari (At that time I used to travel from Tribeni every week.).
On that day Purnananda Maharaj’s warning came true(Disruption occurs when anyone leaves without saying Guru Maharajaharj ___ Purnanada Maharaj said it to me at my first visit to Banagram). As soon as our bus crossed Paharhati and went to Amadpur, it got stuck with something and as the road was so narrow that that it made a great jam immediately. We(all the passengers)were waiting for a while, but there was no sign of clearing the road ! Then we began to walk to Memari on foot, it was nearly 5 or 6 km !!
I went to Mogra by train from Memari [At that time we(me and my wife Runu) lived in BTPS TOWNSHIP between Tribeni(Hoogly) and Mogra.]
Next week I went to Banagram Ashram again and joined the morning session’s sitting. Just after ‘pranam’ to Guruji, when I was taking the seat on the palm-mat, suddenly Guruji said, “Hey Si-ri-dho-ro!(He used to call me to a certain tune like this!) Why didn’t you tell me when you left last week ?? I was looking for you in the afternoon sitting. Someone said he is gone !! ”
I said “Guru Maharaj!- You were so angry at Bhajan that day that we panicked and could not come in front of you in fear ! But I was also punished for leaving without telling you. I had to walk on my feet from Amadpur to Memari. ”
Guru Maharaj said “What did you say___ ‘I was angry that day’? Are you Crazy !!! I just shouted a little!! In fact, in this condition of the man, if he stayed in the Ashram now, he will die without eating. So, his father was informed and he was sent home – so that his health will recover soon in home.
There are another reason also. Whenever his father comes at Ashram, he prays to me so that his son can make a family ! This time it may be so.” (Later Bhajan got married and made a family.)
[Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten and corrected by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]
And once I saw that Bhajan was rebuked by Guruji. I gave a little introduction of Bhajan before. Bhajan Mukherjee’s home was in the village of “Barona” near Bohar on the Burdwan-Kalna route. They were two brothers – Bhajan and Pujan. After the death of their mother, his father Fakir Mukherjee moved with his younger brother Pujan to a place near Ranchi, Bihar (at present Jharkhand) because Fakir Babu used to work there. After passing secondary examination, Bhajan used to go to Banagram Ashram with Umapada Pramanik of Sridharpur (who used to cut Guruji’s hair and beard), Tapan Mukherjee and Shambhu Mandal (Satyananda Maharaj) every weekend. At that time Trishan Maharaj(Swami Parameswarananda) first admitted him in Paharhati school. From there, he passed the Higher Secondary Examination . Then Trishan Maharaj admitted him to Itachuna College (Khanyan, Hooghly). Trishanda also read B.Sc there.
However, in this way Bhajan was inspired by the ideals of Guru Maharaj and joined in the active works ( to sacrifice life in works) of Paramananda Mission!! When I first visited the Ashram (1983), I saw that Bhajan was very active Brahmachari, always busy- a very deserving collaborator of Trishan da. For that he also got a bicycle after Trishanda’s, so Bhajan would also go out with his bicycle for collection or other works and return to ashram at the end of the day. He spoke very little, he did more work in silence.
Once he thought that sadhan-bhajan (austere ascetic practice) was not going well ! He also thought that_ by doing more sadhan-bhajan, he would achieve the ultimate goal in this life !! Moreover, Bhajan would blindly follow Trishan maharaj ! That time Trishan Maharaj used to leave the ashram after drinking only a cup of tea in the morning and would return late nights. Even after returning at night, Trishan da never ate anything in the ashram. The reason for this was that he usually ate dinner at Mukherjee’s house in Banagram and he took his lunch in a devotee’s home perhaps. But Bhajan thought __Trishan Maharaj seemed to be doing all the work without eating, so he wanted to do the same ! Thus Bhajan became very weak, because he gave up eating and drinking ! Even he gave up all the Ashram related activities and just sitting in his room he started doing sadhan-bhajan, meditation- chant etc !! Within a few days Bhajan who was an active, strong and young man- gradually became a weak, thin, emaciated patient like man . Within one or two months he reduced in such a condition that anyone who saw the Bhajan earlier – could not recognize him! – ‘Is this Bhajan, that strong-active-young man Bhajan?’
At the time when these incidents took place, Guru Maharaj was not in the Ashram for 3 or 4 months. He went to North India or the Himalayas etc. When he returned to the ashram, that very Bhajan was almost a dead man ! After returning, Guruji heard all about Bhajan’s condition, He came to know that Bhajan didn’t eat anything from some days, he had almost given up everything. At that time, if Bhajan was walking, his body would have seemed that only skin was covering over his skeleton ! He used to walk very slowly due to great weakness, always it was suspected that he would fall immediately !
Guruji then brought ‘Shilajit’ from the Himalayas. He said, “This real ‘Shilajit’ has been collected from saint. It contains condensed energy.In the Himalayas the saints follow the bears and collect them. ‘Shilajit’ is actually a special kind of rock-sweat ! It is obtained from Black-rocks in icy places at the particular height in the Himalayas. When the morning sun shines on this particular pieces of rocks in extreme cold – the rocks emit a kind of sap. The bears don’t understand much, they start licking the rocks since dawn. Seeing that, the saints remove the bears with trick and collect the ‘Shilajit’.”
However, Guruji showed us ‘Shilajit’ and said – “Eating these in very very small amounts regularly increases vitality. Now what’s the condition of our Bhajan’s body – if he was fed a little bit of it every day, his weakness of body will recover soon.” He then asked Murari Maharaj to bring Bhajan with his lunch to His room- so that Guruji himself could see if he (Bhajan) was eating !
Then the ‘sitting’ was held in front of the Guruji’s kuthia and now the sitting was on the right side. That day it was almost 10 to 10-30 in the morning. Bhajan’s lunch had been served in Guruji’s room – very slowly Bhajan came and sat to eat. Guruji was busy then at sitting outside. Suddenly Tapima said – “Look, Baba(Guruji)! Bhajan da is throwing away the food outside !” The fact was that Bhajan was sitting on the floor of Guru Maharaj’s room and he was eating there, but actually without eating a grain, he took the plate (with rice, pulses, and vegetables) and opening the east door (now the door to the present day’s sitting), went out and threw it a little farther along the drain(then there was a drain,near a tubewell,now it is the lane to Sadhana Bhawan) ! Then and there one or two dogs began to eat that.
At Tapima’s words, Guru Maharaj turned His head and saw all in His own eyes ! At once He jumped up as soon as He saw the scene And He let out a ‘humkar'(roar) by saying “Ei-e-ei Bhajan!!” and reached Bhajan almost in three or four jumps(the distance was almost 15 meters!), Tapima also ran behind.
But hearing that great roar of Guru Maharaj, not only Bhajan but everyone present there were began to tremble !!
As soon as Guru Maharaj jumped up, many of us (present in the sitting) left the seat and ran away to outside in fear and began to watch from a distance what was going on !! Only some were still in the sitting and watching the scene ! I also was thinking – ‘As Guru Maharaj is angry, he will surely slap Bhajan and that will lead him to die immediately!’
Guru Maharaj went towards Bhajan in angry mood very much but eventually we were assured to see that He did not raise His hand at all !! We saw that Bhajan was trembling heavily in fear !! It seemed that he would fall right then !
The fact of the matter is that we, the ordinary people, usually speak out from our voice of throat, and Guru Maharaj used to speak from the navel. This word – ” Humkar(roar)” _ the sound ‘hum’ of ‘humkar'(roar) comes from the navel.
Going to him, Guruji asked him “Why are you wasting the food of the Ashram ?? Why are you feeding the dog with the food allotted for you ?? Don’t you know how hard it is to get food for the Ashram ?? ” Then He moved a little and shouted from the navel again “Murari !! Hey Murari !! ”
Murari Da, after hearing the first roar of Guru Maharaj, stood a little behind. As soon as he came to the front, Guru Maharaj said, ” Murari! Listen! Take him away from the Ashram !! I don’t want to see him in the Ashram again tomorrow morning !! ” Saying this, He went into His room with bold steps again without looking at anyone !
Even those of us who were in the sitting, got up then and we rolled up the palm-leaf mats of sitting and left them at the door-front of Guru Maharaj’s room and left for ‘Battala'(the place beneath the banyan tree) to get rid of the situation.
Everyone assembled there was discussing that day’s ‘Rudra murti ‘(angry form) of Guru Maharaj !! Everyone was saying that no one had ever seen that form of His!!
Anyway, after eating some rice, pulse, curry, I walked straight to Bhandul. From there I took a bus to Memari (At that time I used to travel from Tribeni every week.).
On that day Purnananda Maharaj’s warning came true(Disruption occurs when anyone leaves without saying Guru Maharajaharj ___ Purnanada Maharaj said it to me at my first visit to Banagram). As soon as our bus crossed Paharhati and went to Amadpur, it got stuck with something and as the road was so narrow that that it made a great jam immediately. We(all the passengers)were waiting for a while, but there was no sign of clearing the road ! Then we began to walk to Memari on foot, it was nearly 5 or 6 km !!
I went to Mogra by train from Memari [At that time we(me and my wife Runu) lived in BTPS TOWNSHIP between Tribeni(Hoogly) and Mogra.]
Next week I went to Banagram Ashram again and joined the morning session’s sitting. Just after ‘pranam’ to Guruji, when I was taking the seat on the palm-mat, suddenly Guruji said, “Hey Si-ri-dho-ro!(He used to call me to a certain tune like this!) Why didn’t you tell me when you left last week ?? I was looking for you in the afternoon sitting. Someone said he is gone !! ”
I said “Guru Maharaj!- You were so angry at Bhajan that day that we panicked and could not come in front of you in fear ! But I was also punished for leaving without telling you. I had to walk on my feet from Amadpur to Memari. ”
Guru Maharaj said “What did you say___ ‘I was angry that day’? Are you Crazy !!! I just shouted a little!! In fact, in this condition of the man, if he stayed in the Ashram now, he will die without eating. So, his father was informed and he was sent home – so that his health will recover soon in home.
There are another reason also. Whenever his father comes at Ashram, he prays to me so that his son can make a family ! This time it may be so.” (Later Bhajan got married and made a family.)
[Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten and corrected by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]