“Śrī gaurāṅgēr madhur līlā, yār karṇē prabēśilā, hridaẏ nirmal bhēl tār”. It means, “If Sri Gouranga’s pleasing dalliance(leela) enters someone’s ear, his heart becomes so pure!”
The Vaishnav Mahajans have written all these ‘essence of devotion’. So we also can follow these steps and can say – “Paramanander madhur līlā, yār karṇē prabēśilā, hridaẏ nirmal bhēl tār”.It means, “If Paramananda’s pleasing dalliance(leela) enters someone’s ear, his heart also becomes so pure!”.
Just as a circle can not be drawn if the center is not fixed.Likewise, the expansion of circumference is also not possible if there is no centre ! The expansion of Paramananda-devotees thus increased gradually as Paramananda was in the center. Guruji said about “Paramananda Mandal” – the order of which is__ 1, 3, 6, 16, 36,54, 64, 128 etc. Here is 1 = Swmi Paramananda, who is in the centre and the “Paramananda mandal” are like a garland, made by many flowers .
But there is a lesson in Bengali__” Byakti dube jay dole, Mālikā paṛilē galē prati phulē kēbā manē rākhē”. It means, “Individual loses his/her identity when he/she is in a procession ! When garland is given on one’s neck, he/she only thinks about the garland not about each of the flowers in it”!
Swami Paramananda and Paramananda mandal, Paramananda Bhaktamandali – the whole thing is precious -but the value of a particular person(devotee) is not so precious !
The incidents discussed here, are being represented by me.So ‘I’, ‘my’, ‘me’ – these words have to use over and over again. But I know that here “I” is insignificant – the one who is the only significant-the greatest, the one who is magnificent, the one who is bigger or bigger than the bigger, the God in the form of a common man ___is Swami Paramananda !
And I have the boldness to write this all because once he gave me ‘one pen’ in my hand. He also gave me the permission saying_ “Yes, all the incidents of my life can not be told ! Yet you can write!”. And really once he gave me a pen ! The pen that he used ! Later, when I wanted to return his pen back, he said, “Put it to you !”.
Since then I again started writing frequently !
Today also it has been told many words, out of context ! Now let’s come back about my first visit to Banagram.
In the next morning when I went to look for Anupda (Swami Purnananda Maharaj), I heard that he was then in the one and half floor of a mud house. I went there and saw, there were two rooms in the downstairs. In the one of the rooms, there were some belongings and a man named Panchkari Pramanik or Jamaida (who used to look after orphan boys.Later, Madan Maharaj joined in the ashram and took the charge of the orphan hostel.) stayed there. And in the other room there were 4/5 orphan boys. I could only remember Mona (a Santal boy) and Pradeep from the Singur region, among them. They were the first batch of Paramananda Mission Anath Ashram.
I went to the upstairs and saw there were also two rooms ! Triptima (Sanhita prana)was making tea in the room on the right, in a small stove. Tea was not usually made in Ashram then. Triptima used to make a little tea in the morning and afternoon. Those who knew it and those who was addicted to tea, used to go there to have a cup of tea. I heard that Triptima, a girl from Dumdum area, passed M. A and used to work in a high school there as a teacher. After meeting Guru Maharaj and being attracted to Him, she quit her job and was living a life of brahamacharini here. [This incident stunned all my thoughts about Him then. So, was my wrong assessment about Swami Paramananda!!! ] Shortly afterwards, Gurumaharaj sent Tripti Maa (Probrajika Sanhitaprana) to Karimpur Ashram for its design and development. Later, at the behest of Gurumaharaj, she went to Norway (Europe) to help Gurumaharaj’s devotees to build ‘Peace University’ there ! So far she has been working there.[she still stays there(2021)].
Anyway, let’s come to the main context. Swami Purnananda Maharaj was a very funny man. He could give a lot of joys to everyone, present near him_ saying funny things. He was doing the same thing in the tea meeting that day. When the tea was made, Triptima came to Trishanda(Swami Parameshwarananda, at present, who stayed in the another room.) and gave a cup of tea first and then she served the rest who was present there. After taking tea, it was the time to say all of them goodbye ! But, Anupda repeated the same words again, ” you can go after saying goodbye to Guru Maharaj”. I said __ “No, I won’t go there. If he says the same thing – “you can’t go – again”!!
—” Then you won’t go. But I think he won’t interrupt you about your departure. You have to go to Him now!!”
—“Where to go? — in His room??”
—” Now in the morning he will go to the bathroom, but after a while he will sit outside (the sitting-place)- then you will say him goodbye….”
What else could I do ! I had to wait a little. Guru Maharaj came out after a while. Many devotees came and completed pranam to him and most of them departed, and many of the devotees sat down in the sitting-place after pranam, for listening to His spiritual discussion(He used to sit on the right of the verandah in front of his room then and devotees used to sit in the down). As soon as I stepped forward and said to him,” I have to leave ……” __ he immediately looked the other way and started talking to someone. And I was waiting like a foolish ! It was too annoying for me. And the two or four people who were sitting, were probably having fun, watching me and my helplessness (at least I thought so). Every moment it seemed that I should run away !
But to save my politeness and to keep the honour of Anupda(Swami Purnananda) I didn’t do such a thing.
After a while he turned to look at me. Then I repeated the same words again. And astonishingly, again he started talking to someone. It was so annoying !! This time I couldn’t be polite anymore __ I said loudly, “I’m leaving!”. Then it seemed that he had heard the word for the first time ! He said with such a feeling, “you’ll leave! All right, You’ll go later!”
I said, “No, no, I have to go now. I have a lot of works to do.”
___ “Who doesn’t have any work? Everyone who is here has a work! So how are they here? You will be here too. Don’t you see I’m talking? Now go __ OK !!! ”
How politely He told those words!!! I stood stunned for another minute or two and slowly came out ! I had felt unbearable in one dress since the day before!!
After hearing all the incidents_ Anupda (Swami Purnananda) and Udayda (Swami Swarupananda) expressed the same comment that it(not giving permission to go out) was a great fortune for me!!! Gurumaharaj said to stay__it meant there must be something !
This might be enjoyment for them but it was fatal to me ! I was feeling uncomfortable because I was in the same dress and in the same condition since the day before. I had to bathe then!! So I went to the ‘Maya nadi'(a small river) towards the field and took a morning bath. I got a towel from the ashram – probably Anupda found it for me. On my way back to the ashram, I met with Chinu and Nagen again. And I spent all the time in joy with them ! [One thing to note here is that Guruji then never asked me to listen to the sitting !!] But in the midst of all this, I kept inquiring about Guruji from Nagen and others. Surprisingly, no one said anything negative about him! Everyone said the same thing “He is nothing but God Himself!! There will be a lot of things here – there will be a second Belur Math here __ etc etc!” That day I also met with Nobu master, Swapan Khuro and Ram Mandal of Banagram. I saw that they were addressing Gurumaharaj as “Thakur”(God). Hearing this
I was panicking ! As time went on, He was getting bigger to bigger and I felt myself smaller to smaller. So was I accepting Gurumaharaj ?? _No ! I had to leave in the afternoon. Then let’s come the afternoon!! [to be continued…..]
[ Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten of Dhatrigram and corrected by Ramaprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram. ]
The Vaishnav Mahajans have written all these ‘essence of devotion’. So we also can follow these steps and can say – “Paramanander madhur līlā, yār karṇē prabēśilā, hridaẏ nirmal bhēl tār”.It means, “If Paramananda’s pleasing dalliance(leela) enters someone’s ear, his heart also becomes so pure!”.
Just as a circle can not be drawn if the center is not fixed.Likewise, the expansion of circumference is also not possible if there is no centre ! The expansion of Paramananda-devotees thus increased gradually as Paramananda was in the center. Guruji said about “Paramananda Mandal” – the order of which is__ 1, 3, 6, 16, 36,54, 64, 128 etc. Here is 1 = Swmi Paramananda, who is in the centre and the “Paramananda mandal” are like a garland, made by many flowers .
But there is a lesson in Bengali__” Byakti dube jay dole, Mālikā paṛilē galē prati phulē kēbā manē rākhē”. It means, “Individual loses his/her identity when he/she is in a procession ! When garland is given on one’s neck, he/she only thinks about the garland not about each of the flowers in it”!
Swami Paramananda and Paramananda mandal, Paramananda Bhaktamandali – the whole thing is precious -but the value of a particular person(devotee) is not so precious !
The incidents discussed here, are being represented by me.So ‘I’, ‘my’, ‘me’ – these words have to use over and over again. But I know that here “I” is insignificant – the one who is the only significant-the greatest, the one who is magnificent, the one who is bigger or bigger than the bigger, the God in the form of a common man ___is Swami Paramananda !
And I have the boldness to write this all because once he gave me ‘one pen’ in my hand. He also gave me the permission saying_ “Yes, all the incidents of my life can not be told ! Yet you can write!”. And really once he gave me a pen ! The pen that he used ! Later, when I wanted to return his pen back, he said, “Put it to you !”.
Since then I again started writing frequently !
Today also it has been told many words, out of context ! Now let’s come back about my first visit to Banagram.
In the next morning when I went to look for Anupda (Swami Purnananda Maharaj), I heard that he was then in the one and half floor of a mud house. I went there and saw, there were two rooms in the downstairs. In the one of the rooms, there were some belongings and a man named Panchkari Pramanik or Jamaida (who used to look after orphan boys.Later, Madan Maharaj joined in the ashram and took the charge of the orphan hostel.) stayed there. And in the other room there were 4/5 orphan boys. I could only remember Mona (a Santal boy) and Pradeep from the Singur region, among them. They were the first batch of Paramananda Mission Anath Ashram.
I went to the upstairs and saw there were also two rooms ! Triptima (Sanhita prana)was making tea in the room on the right, in a small stove. Tea was not usually made in Ashram then. Triptima used to make a little tea in the morning and afternoon. Those who knew it and those who was addicted to tea, used to go there to have a cup of tea. I heard that Triptima, a girl from Dumdum area, passed M. A and used to work in a high school there as a teacher. After meeting Guru Maharaj and being attracted to Him, she quit her job and was living a life of brahamacharini here. [This incident stunned all my thoughts about Him then. So, was my wrong assessment about Swami Paramananda!!! ] Shortly afterwards, Gurumaharaj sent Tripti Maa (Probrajika Sanhitaprana) to Karimpur Ashram for its design and development. Later, at the behest of Gurumaharaj, she went to Norway (Europe) to help Gurumaharaj’s devotees to build ‘Peace University’ there ! So far she has been working there.[she still stays there(2021)].
Anyway, let’s come to the main context. Swami Purnananda Maharaj was a very funny man. He could give a lot of joys to everyone, present near him_ saying funny things. He was doing the same thing in the tea meeting that day. When the tea was made, Triptima came to Trishanda(Swami Parameshwarananda, at present, who stayed in the another room.) and gave a cup of tea first and then she served the rest who was present there. After taking tea, it was the time to say all of them goodbye ! But, Anupda repeated the same words again, ” you can go after saying goodbye to Guru Maharaj”. I said __ “No, I won’t go there. If he says the same thing – “you can’t go – again”!!
—” Then you won’t go. But I think he won’t interrupt you about your departure. You have to go to Him now!!”
—“Where to go? — in His room??”
—” Now in the morning he will go to the bathroom, but after a while he will sit outside (the sitting-place)- then you will say him goodbye….”
What else could I do ! I had to wait a little. Guru Maharaj came out after a while. Many devotees came and completed pranam to him and most of them departed, and many of the devotees sat down in the sitting-place after pranam, for listening to His spiritual discussion(He used to sit on the right of the verandah in front of his room then and devotees used to sit in the down). As soon as I stepped forward and said to him,” I have to leave ……” __ he immediately looked the other way and started talking to someone. And I was waiting like a foolish ! It was too annoying for me. And the two or four people who were sitting, were probably having fun, watching me and my helplessness (at least I thought so). Every moment it seemed that I should run away !
But to save my politeness and to keep the honour of Anupda(Swami Purnananda) I didn’t do such a thing.
After a while he turned to look at me. Then I repeated the same words again. And astonishingly, again he started talking to someone. It was so annoying !! This time I couldn’t be polite anymore __ I said loudly, “I’m leaving!”. Then it seemed that he had heard the word for the first time ! He said with such a feeling, “you’ll leave! All right, You’ll go later!”
I said, “No, no, I have to go now. I have a lot of works to do.”
___ “Who doesn’t have any work? Everyone who is here has a work! So how are they here? You will be here too. Don’t you see I’m talking? Now go __ OK !!! ”
How politely He told those words!!! I stood stunned for another minute or two and slowly came out ! I had felt unbearable in one dress since the day before!!
After hearing all the incidents_ Anupda (Swami Purnananda) and Udayda (Swami Swarupananda) expressed the same comment that it(not giving permission to go out) was a great fortune for me!!! Gurumaharaj said to stay__it meant there must be something !
This might be enjoyment for them but it was fatal to me ! I was feeling uncomfortable because I was in the same dress and in the same condition since the day before. I had to bathe then!! So I went to the ‘Maya nadi'(a small river) towards the field and took a morning bath. I got a towel from the ashram – probably Anupda found it for me. On my way back to the ashram, I met with Chinu and Nagen again. And I spent all the time in joy with them ! [One thing to note here is that Guruji then never asked me to listen to the sitting !!] But in the midst of all this, I kept inquiring about Guruji from Nagen and others. Surprisingly, no one said anything negative about him! Everyone said the same thing “He is nothing but God Himself!! There will be a lot of things here – there will be a second Belur Math here __ etc etc!” That day I also met with Nobu master, Swapan Khuro and Ram Mandal of Banagram. I saw that they were addressing Gurumaharaj as “Thakur”(God). Hearing this
I was panicking ! As time went on, He was getting bigger to bigger and I felt myself smaller to smaller. So was I accepting Gurumaharaj ?? _No ! I had to leave in the afternoon. Then let’s come the afternoon!! [to be continued…..]
[ Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten of Dhatrigram and corrected by Ramaprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram. ]