When we used to go at Banagram Paramananda Mission, it seemed that it was the heaven of joy, dream land of enjoyment. There was only the joy….. joy and joy. But in my childhood, I read an English poem – “Joy and woe are silken twine.” If there is joy, there is the sorrow surely. Now, I will talk you about such a painful incident. At first, I beg my pardon to the family members of Banagram Mukherjee house because they may feel sad for the incident presented by me. Just this time, these articles are not being published – if they object, later the article of this incident will be deleted.
The time of this incident was ‘Falgun full moon’. ( Falgun is a month of a Bengali calendar. Falgun full moon is also called ‘Dol Purnima’. Dol Purnima is a holy festival to the Hindus. This time, Dol Purnima is celebrated among the Hindus. The festival, celebrated this time, is also called ‘Holi.) We planned that we would give red powder on the feet of Guru Maharaj. Deciding this, we went to Banagram Ashram early in the morning. ( Then the development of Barenda Ashram near Katwa was in the early stage. As a result, when we went to Banagram Ashram, we came in a group of 8/10 devotees.) Till then, there was no sufficiency of rooms for the outsider devotees for staying at night. As a result, the outsider devotees used to spend the night at the three verandahs of earthen ‘Charaibeti Office’, surrounded by tarpaulins or any temporary accommodation, arranged by Murari Maharaj. Then the first floor of the office of Banagram Ashram (the building in which Murari Maharaj resides now) was complete – as a result, that place became packed with almost 40/ 50 devotees, irrespective of man and woman. And the orphan hostel building ( the maharajs and the brahmacharis also stayed here due to the insufficiency of rooms of the ashram then) near the banyan tree of the ashram was complete then. The outsider devotees used to stay at night during the festival of the ashram there, though the orphan boys and the maharajs faced problems a little bit.
When we arrived at ashram, we saw that a large number of devotees had already arrived there. Later, thousands of devotees gathered there between the noon and the evening. The heat was heavy at the time of noon. After the lunch, the devotees took rest beneath the banyan tree- the shade of comfortable, pleasant shadow. But I noticed that as the place beneath the banyan tree was not sufficient for the devotees to take rest, the devotees were taking rest under the trees – planted beside the big pond of the ashram. ( The trees were very much small then.) Meanwhile, in what way the pathetic incident took place – only God would know!!!
I am telling the incident now. The Mukherjee brothers of Banagram were five. They were Debiprasad, Ramaprasad, Umaprasad, Shyamaprasad ( N’Kaka) and Golokprasad Mukherjee. The second brother Ramaprasad and the fourth brother N’Kaka lived at the home of Banagram. The rest of the brothers stayed near their working place, building their house or buying it – they were settled there. The youngest brother Golokprasad Mukherjee lived in Hariyana. Guru Maharaj went to his house several times. He had three daughters- Tuku, Liku and Buni. He had a son also – Amitabh Mukherjee, nickname ‘Bapi’. The another name of God Buddha was also Amitabh. However, every year the youngest brother Golokprasad Mukherjee came in his own house with his whole family when the annual examinations of his children were over and they stayed here for the 15/20 days. When the children of ‘Chhoto Kaka’ (Chhoto Kaka means the younger uncle – here Golokprasad Mukherjee) stayed at Banagram, they seldom spent their time at their house, perhaps they stayed at their home at night for sleeping – rest of the day they passed their time in Banagram Ashram. They took their lunches in the ashram. After lunch, they took their rest also in the ashram. They did all the daily activities there. Why will they not do this else? ‘Baba Thakur’ ( God Himself) Swami Paramananda was the dearest of their near and dear ones!!! Beside this, Tapi Maa, Hari Maharaj, Dipti Maharaj, Keshab Maharaj ( Swami Debananda Maharaj), Reba Maa – all of them were their elder brothers or sisters. As the children of Chhoto Kaka were their brother or sister, the other brahmacharis and brahmacharinis were affectionate to them, considering them as if their own brother or sister. Usually, they could not think that they had gone to a distant place – rather they spent their time like a free bird, releasing themselves from the monotonous and suffocating life of Hariyana.
The family members (their parents) did not search them for the whole day – of course, they also spent most of their time in the ashram. They noticed that Bapi was playing with the ashram boys or he is roaming with Hari Maharaj or Dipti Maharaj or he is wandering with ‘Baba Thakur’. In this place of joy, who will disturb him imposing rules upon him???
[Translated by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.] (….to be continued…..)
BANAGRAM MEMORIES – (68)
