If any devotee invited Guru Maharaj to his house He said to him, “I will not go alone. Many devotees will accompany me. Will you take care of all of them? If you do so, I will surely go. You entered me in a good room or offered me good foods but you neglected the devotees who accompanied me in case of staying or feeding, then I will not go there surely – I made you hear all these words.” You, the readers, tell – if anyone thinks for all the others, then will tears not well up in your eyes??? (After this incident, if Guru Maharaj went to any devotee’s house, the head of the family took care of the devotees very much who accompanied Him.) Guru Maharaj went to the houses of many devotees of different places in a cycle, bus, train or riding on the pillion of a motorcycle. In 1996/97, an old Jeep (one kind vehicle) which was perhaps donated by a devotee was repaired and kept it ready as an ambulance. That was the only four- wheeler car in Banagram Ashram then. Brother Naba (Naba Brahmachari – now Swami Karunananda Maharaj) drove that car. Guru Maharaj named that car ‘Titan’. Perhaps for the last 2 or 2.5 years,when Guru Maharaj went outside from Banagram Ashram He used that car. It went bad frequently – the engine of this car failed to function suddenly – then it was tried to start the engine, pushing it from the back. Guru Maharaj’s last journey from Banagram Ashram to Woodland Nursing Home,Kolkata was taken by that car – on the way the car failed to start also – that sad story will be discussed later.
Guru Maharaj's birthday was celebrated in Ajimgunj Ashram in what way - I am trying to discuss about that on average. To celebrate Guru Maharaj's birthday on 25th December, the devotees from the northern and southern India gathered in the ashram few days ago. The devotees from the little distant places (Kolkata, Durgapur, Singur etc.) came to the ashram the previous day - on 24th December. Then it was a rumour to the devotees, "The sitting which is held on 24th December at night is very interesting." To attend that interesting sitting, we (the devotees from Kolkata, Durgapur,Singur etc.) gathered in the ashram early in the morning on 24th December. The local inhabitants came to the ashram on 24th December in the morning. There was an institution named Don Bosco in Ajimgunj city. There arranged a fair for occasion on December the 25th. There took place various functions also. But in Paramananda Mission ( Conscious Spiritual Centre - Guru Maharaj Himself named this institution) in the village Diar/Mahinagar, there started prayer from the morning as well as there held guru puja, tiffin, lunch in mid-day, baul songs at night. So, that day was like a festival to the people of that locality. A large number of people came to the ashram in groups. Not only the people of this side but also the people of the other side of the river Ganges (i.e Jiagunj, Lalgola etc.) came to the ashram on a large scale. 'Prasad' was distributed to the devotees even till the evening.
The devotees from the northern and southern India and Kolkata or the city area brought various gifts for Guru Maharaj to celebrate His birthday. But we, the people of village, never celebrated our birthdays in our house - (Most time a mother offered a puja to the god or goddess on her son's birthday and cooked rice pudding and served it to her son when he ate rice.) So, I did not know anything else about bringing a gift to Guru Maharaj to celebrate His birthday. I did not think about this matter in this way too. Then I thought that He (Guru Maharaj) Himself was God, He Himself was omnipotent, He gave all the people all things which they possessed - so what to gift Him??? I took a long time to understand these matters.
But I saw that many devotees kept their gifts down when they bowed down their heads to Guru Maharaj. There held a simple birthday celebration of Guru Maharaj in the evening under the leadership of Tapi Maa in His room on a small scale. I saw that many devotees offered their gifts which they brought with them to Guru Maharaj that time also. I remember - Dr. Dutta's wife Mrs. Ila Dutta ( Ila Maa) from Salt Lake made a cake on her own hand and brought it with her. Tapi Maa also arranged for a large cake on average by her near and dear ones to celebrate Guruji's birthday. But I am not going to talk about the evening function - now I am going to tell about the morning function.[Translated by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]