(Guru Maharaj didn’t give me permission to go out from Ashram.So I compelled to stay at Ashram that night!)
Anupda (Purnananda Maharaj) told me to stay, that’s why I stayed in the ashram that night .
Now it is important to know why Anupda is so possessive of me and why I was so obedient to him. Until December 25, 1983, three persons of the ashram were well-known to me. They were Anupda (Swami Purnananda), Udayda (Swami Swarupananda) and Gurumaharaj (Swami Paramananda). Although I saw Trishanda and Tapima at my elder brother’s house(Shibpur, Howrah) for one night. But, if we want to know about the incident, we have to go back a little. I think It will be better to know the incidents that had happened before.
In the year 1976, I came to live at Shibpur in Howrah for higher studies. But after staying there for one year I came back to katwa (Rasui, my native village) and completed my B.(SC) there. After then I again went to Shibpur and used to stay at my elder brother Gangababu’s (Ganganarayan Bandyopadhyay) house (105/2 Kshetra Banerjee Lane) since 1980. At that time Gangababu used to associate with various religious organisation. Anupda(Swami Purnananda) was associated then with ‘Banavasi Kalyan Ashram'(a branch of RSS) and used to come to Howrah two or three times in a year for collection . He had a full face beard, big bushy hair, slender body, drooping eyebrows and he never noticed towards his body, which means he didn’t think about his body_______ It would seem that he was born to be a saint !!!!
Anyway, when Anupda stayed in Howrah, he used to stay and eat at my elder brother’s(Gangababu) house at night . As a result, we(all our family members) became very close to him. He was also like a close member of our family!! My elder brother loved Anupda very much and Anupda also respected Gangababu just like his elder brother. Sometimes we(Anupda and I) used to go to Belur Math, Dakshineswar etc. And we also used to go to the monks’ quarters in Belur to meet one or two of his monk-friends. Anupda was the first who took me to ‘Swami Vivekananda Memorial Mandir'( where some of the things used by Swamiji were kept for showing people) at Belur Math and said “see how tall Swamiji was!!” after showing his wand of the wandering period(when Swamiji travelled Kailash to Kanyakumari mostly on foot) and the picture of the side wall ( I came to know only a few days ago that Swamiji was 6’2″ tall ).
Anupda used to wander, in Howrah by riding an almost fragile and very ugly bicycle. One day, Anupda left the bicycle at Gangababu’s house and disappeared. My elder brother would occasionally sigh – thinking about where the boy got lost!!!!!!!
One day after hearing elder brother’s crying, we went inside his room and saw that he was dropping tears by grabbing a letter ! After that I saw that the letter was of Anupda– it had a lot of words written in it but now I can only remember a line, which touched my heart, it was, “I set foot on the ‘Path of asceticism’ with the desire for “Ātmadarśana”(introspection)”.
This was the beginning of the connection with Gurumaharaj! It is because Anupda has taken ‘Devotional Celibacy’ to a person named “Gurumaharaj”or “Swami Paramananda”. Later Anupda came back wearing a ‘Gerua'(saffron dress) after 6/7 months. Gangababu went to Banagram to see him also. After coming back from Banagram he said, “You know, a beautiful young monk in a village was talking about the words of wisdom very nicely. He was explaining about nature, the Vedas and everything in a scientific way”.
After hearing that, I said to myself – what else does my elder brother understand!!! If one read science magazines regularly, could explain a lot of such!!!! A few days later, my elder brother Gangababu said, “That monk, about whom I told you before, he is coming to our house ! We arrange a ‘sitting’ here ! So you invite your friends and their parents if they can come and join that ‘spiritual discussion!'(sitting). You will say to all that the discussion will take place in the afternoon”.
At last He came and I was finally able to see Him. He really looked so beautiful and glamourous ! Anupda (then Brahmachari Purnananda) took me to him but he did not pay much attention to me!
My prestige was punctured !!
So I went to Paradise Cinema Hall in Kolkata to enjoy the movie of James Bond (although tickets had been booked a week ago). When I came back what did I see??? Will be mentioned later……..
Anupda (Purnananda Maharaj) told me to stay, that’s why I stayed in the ashram that night .
Now it is important to know why Anupda is so possessive of me and why I was so obedient to him. Until December 25, 1983, three persons of the ashram were well-known to me. They were Anupda (Swami Purnananda), Udayda (Swami Swarupananda) and Gurumaharaj (Swami Paramananda). Although I saw Trishanda and Tapima at my elder brother’s house(Shibpur, Howrah) for one night. But, if we want to know about the incident, we have to go back a little. I think It will be better to know the incidents that had happened before.
In the year 1976, I came to live at Shibpur in Howrah for higher studies. But after staying there for one year I came back to katwa (Rasui, my native village) and completed my B.(SC) there. After then I again went to Shibpur and used to stay at my elder brother Gangababu’s (Ganganarayan Bandyopadhyay) house (105/2 Kshetra Banerjee Lane) since 1980. At that time Gangababu used to associate with various religious organisation. Anupda(Swami Purnananda) was associated then with ‘Banavasi Kalyan Ashram'(a branch of RSS) and used to come to Howrah two or three times in a year for collection . He had a full face beard, big bushy hair, slender body, drooping eyebrows and he never noticed towards his body, which means he didn’t think about his body_______ It would seem that he was born to be a saint !!!!
Anyway, when Anupda stayed in Howrah, he used to stay and eat at my elder brother’s(Gangababu) house at night . As a result, we(all our family members) became very close to him. He was also like a close member of our family!! My elder brother loved Anupda very much and Anupda also respected Gangababu just like his elder brother. Sometimes we(Anupda and I) used to go to Belur Math, Dakshineswar etc. And we also used to go to the monks’ quarters in Belur to meet one or two of his monk-friends. Anupda was the first who took me to ‘Swami Vivekananda Memorial Mandir'( where some of the things used by Swamiji were kept for showing people) at Belur Math and said “see how tall Swamiji was!!” after showing his wand of the wandering period(when Swamiji travelled Kailash to Kanyakumari mostly on foot) and the picture of the side wall ( I came to know only a few days ago that Swamiji was 6’2″ tall ).
Anupda used to wander, in Howrah by riding an almost fragile and very ugly bicycle. One day, Anupda left the bicycle at Gangababu’s house and disappeared. My elder brother would occasionally sigh – thinking about where the boy got lost!!!!!!!
One day after hearing elder brother’s crying, we went inside his room and saw that he was dropping tears by grabbing a letter ! After that I saw that the letter was of Anupda– it had a lot of words written in it but now I can only remember a line, which touched my heart, it was, “I set foot on the ‘Path of asceticism’ with the desire for “Ātmadarśana”(introspection)”.
This was the beginning of the connection with Gurumaharaj! It is because Anupda has taken ‘Devotional Celibacy’ to a person named “Gurumaharaj”or “Swami Paramananda”. Later Anupda came back wearing a ‘Gerua'(saffron dress) after 6/7 months. Gangababu went to Banagram to see him also. After coming back from Banagram he said, “You know, a beautiful young monk in a village was talking about the words of wisdom very nicely. He was explaining about nature, the Vedas and everything in a scientific way”.
After hearing that, I said to myself – what else does my elder brother understand!!! If one read science magazines regularly, could explain a lot of such!!!! A few days later, my elder brother Gangababu said, “That monk, about whom I told you before, he is coming to our house ! We arrange a ‘sitting’ here ! So you invite your friends and their parents if they can come and join that ‘spiritual discussion!'(sitting). You will say to all that the discussion will take place in the afternoon”.
At last He came and I was finally able to see Him. He really looked so beautiful and glamourous ! Anupda (then Brahmachari Purnananda) took me to him but he did not pay much attention to me!
My prestige was punctured !!
So I went to Paradise Cinema Hall in Kolkata to enjoy the movie of James Bond (although tickets had been booked a week ago). When I came back what did I see??? Will be mentioned later……..