[My first visit to Banagram Ashram]
Today, I do not know why, when I began to write this episode of “Banagram memories”— ‘Mother’ – that very ‘term’ was coming to my mind again and again ! So I stopped the continuation of the story for sometime, which I was hearing from Nagen on the night of December 26, 1983. Let Nagen and Sridhar Banerjee sit under the great baniyan tree of the Banagram Ashram for somerime. I would rather talk about Guru Maharaj’s “mother” today !
Guru Maharaj had many mothers ! But His two first and foremost ‘mothers’ were His own mother Nibhanani Debi and the Holy Mother Jagadamba (Maa Jagadamba, goddess herself). While talking about His own mother, Guru Maharaj always seemed to have some changes. One day He was telling about His own mother – “When my mother thinks about me in the gap of her all day’s work – no matter how busy I am, Mother Yogmaya(Maa Yogmaya) removes me from everything and connects me with my mother. It’s like a very modern hot line system ! Then He told again – “Here I am talking to you about my mother because my mother is thinking about me after putting her feet under the sheet, after finishing her evening work. My mother is thinking more – pujo(Festival of Durga Puja) is coming up, she has to buy new clothes for children, grandchildren … etc. But she has no such money in her hand.So she was thinking.”[ Later we came to know that Guruji sent some money to solve the problem and Madan Maharaj (Swami Chitbilasananda) carried the money.]
When Guru Maharaj decided to leave the family permanently (i.e to take sannyas or celibacy – although, since childhood he usually had been living outside most of the time), then He called all His ‘boudis’ (sisters-in-law) and forced them to bring all the albums they had. Then from there Guru Maharaj selected the photos where He was present with His boudis and put them in one place to tear them all and throw them away. He even threw away the negative copies also.
Then He took His mother with Him to the studio and took 3 photos there(These photos are still obtained from “Charaibeti karyalaya). When He came back, he asked His mother for permission to leave the family permanently(to be a sannyasi) after lunch. His mother knew this(that her son will not come to stay only in a small family ! Whole world is His work-place !) since long ago. Because her husband Fakir Chandra Das(was already dead then) also used to tell her a lot about their child Rabin (Guru Maharaj). So, it was not too late to give him permission.But, His mother made it a condition that ” You will come to me off and on and surely stay with me at the time of my death.” Guruji accepted the promise.
If one takes sannyas, he is not allowed to go home for 12 years. That’s why when Guruji went to Krishnadebpur to meet His mother, He would go to the house of Chatterjee’s which was very close to Their house. Mother and son would meet there, the scene of the reunion was unearthly and beautiful ! Blessed were those, who had seen it with their own eyes ! And also those who are listening now !!
Somedays when He was in the ‘sitting’ at Banagram – suddenly He said – “Mother is frying hilsa fish, and thinking about me.” As Krishnadebpur is situated on the banks of the river Ganges, hilsa fish of the Ganges could be found there very often. And His father used to buy hilsa fish and other big fish for the children, when he was alive. So even later his sons would bring home fresh hilsa if it was found.
Many times Madan Maharaj (Swami Chitbilasananda) was called by Guru Maharaj and said – “Bilasananda, Do you have any work towards Kalna? If you go there, visit my mother for a while.” This had happened many times – Madan Maharaj visited Krishnadebpur’s house and saw that ‘Mother’ had cooked something special.And as soon as Madan Maharaj reached there, she would say, “I knew that Rabi would send someone. Eat, my dear– eat. If you eat, I will be satisfied, thinking that Rabi is eating !”
In the general sitting, Guru Maharaj also used to say – “My eating is done with my disciple’s eating or my orphan children’s eating !”
It is possible to
express all about Guruji’s mother in this way? If I get chance, later it will be discussed. So after talking a couple of words about ‘Janani Nibhanani’- I will move on to the words of the other mothers (Raina’s mother or Jagada’s mother, Chakshanyadi’s mother or Togarda’s mother, etc).Guru Maharaj’s own mother was a very simple-easy minded ‘rural’ mother. Her body was as soft as nonee(cream).And she used to look everyone like her child.
One of the most important duties of a child is to take their parents for pilgrimage. Guru Maharaj took His own mother too in pilgrimages along with other mothers.Towards the end, something like a tumor formed in His mother’s body. Trishanda took her to a renowned nursing home in Kolkata. Guru Maharaj was abroad at that time . After receiving the news, He came back immediately and began to stay at Manik Babu’s house (Sukhchar) in Kolkata for about a month. From there He would go to visit His mother every afternoon. The first 10/12 days – Guruji did not even talk to any devotees of outside. Doctors were just doing tests and changing the medicine ___ but no cure of the disease was noticed. The day of the operation was confirmed many times – but the operation was not happening anymore !
At last the day of the operation was finally confirmed – the day before the operation, in the afternoon, Guru Maharaj was adoring on his mother’s head and abdomen with his hand. A lot of waters discharged from the body of the ‘mother’ like urination ! The next day the doctors took her to the operation table and saw that __ ‘where is the tumor ?? All is gone!! After then He came back with His mother.
Many days later, when His mother was about to finally leave this world – at least a month ago, Guru Maharaj brought her to the ashram. Mother lived in a room below the Sadhana Bhavan. In the morning and even the afternoon, the beloved son(Guruji) would go to His mother, spend some time and then went for ‘sitting’.
Finally the day came. Guruji suddenly got up during his ‘sitting’. He lifted His mother’s head in his lap and began to adore her head and held her hand in his own. Then He gently closed His mother’s eyes and called Murari Maharaj and said, “Mother finally left us(is no more)”.
The body was taken from the ashram to Krishnadebpur first and then to the Kalna crematorium. Guru Maharaj was directing all the works standing himself. He paid all the money himself for cremation also. When she was decorated with pyre after her face fire __ what a fire !!!! Guru Maharaj stood still until all the work was done! At the end, He called everyone and fed them.
Even in ‘Shraddhabasar'(One of the death rituals in India), He directed all the work from himself. He paid for everything himself __ He involved no one in this matter. For a long time, Guru Maharaj used to talk about His mother at sitting. Once He said __ I used to walk around with a brick of two and a half kgs weighing in my belly for 10 months. In it, I saw how difficult it is to carry a child in the womb for 10 months!!!
Mother endures everything with a smile. On top of this, mother has to take all the responsibility for the nutrition and safety of the child. That is why it is said that mother’s debt is never be repaid.
[Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten of Dhatrigram and corrected by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]
Today, I do not know why, when I began to write this episode of “Banagram memories”— ‘Mother’ – that very ‘term’ was coming to my mind again and again ! So I stopped the continuation of the story for sometime, which I was hearing from Nagen on the night of December 26, 1983. Let Nagen and Sridhar Banerjee sit under the great baniyan tree of the Banagram Ashram for somerime. I would rather talk about Guru Maharaj’s “mother” today !
Guru Maharaj had many mothers ! But His two first and foremost ‘mothers’ were His own mother Nibhanani Debi and the Holy Mother Jagadamba (Maa Jagadamba, goddess herself). While talking about His own mother, Guru Maharaj always seemed to have some changes. One day He was telling about His own mother – “When my mother thinks about me in the gap of her all day’s work – no matter how busy I am, Mother Yogmaya(Maa Yogmaya) removes me from everything and connects me with my mother. It’s like a very modern hot line system ! Then He told again – “Here I am talking to you about my mother because my mother is thinking about me after putting her feet under the sheet, after finishing her evening work. My mother is thinking more – pujo(Festival of Durga Puja) is coming up, she has to buy new clothes for children, grandchildren … etc. But she has no such money in her hand.So she was thinking.”[ Later we came to know that Guruji sent some money to solve the problem and Madan Maharaj (Swami Chitbilasananda) carried the money.]
When Guru Maharaj decided to leave the family permanently (i.e to take sannyas or celibacy – although, since childhood he usually had been living outside most of the time), then He called all His ‘boudis’ (sisters-in-law) and forced them to bring all the albums they had. Then from there Guru Maharaj selected the photos where He was present with His boudis and put them in one place to tear them all and throw them away. He even threw away the negative copies also.
Then He took His mother with Him to the studio and took 3 photos there(These photos are still obtained from “Charaibeti karyalaya). When He came back, he asked His mother for permission to leave the family permanently(to be a sannyasi) after lunch. His mother knew this(that her son will not come to stay only in a small family ! Whole world is His work-place !) since long ago. Because her husband Fakir Chandra Das(was already dead then) also used to tell her a lot about their child Rabin (Guru Maharaj). So, it was not too late to give him permission.But, His mother made it a condition that ” You will come to me off and on and surely stay with me at the time of my death.” Guruji accepted the promise.
If one takes sannyas, he is not allowed to go home for 12 years. That’s why when Guruji went to Krishnadebpur to meet His mother, He would go to the house of Chatterjee’s which was very close to Their house. Mother and son would meet there, the scene of the reunion was unearthly and beautiful ! Blessed were those, who had seen it with their own eyes ! And also those who are listening now !!
Somedays when He was in the ‘sitting’ at Banagram – suddenly He said – “Mother is frying hilsa fish, and thinking about me.” As Krishnadebpur is situated on the banks of the river Ganges, hilsa fish of the Ganges could be found there very often. And His father used to buy hilsa fish and other big fish for the children, when he was alive. So even later his sons would bring home fresh hilsa if it was found.
Many times Madan Maharaj (Swami Chitbilasananda) was called by Guru Maharaj and said – “Bilasananda, Do you have any work towards Kalna? If you go there, visit my mother for a while.” This had happened many times – Madan Maharaj visited Krishnadebpur’s house and saw that ‘Mother’ had cooked something special.And as soon as Madan Maharaj reached there, she would say, “I knew that Rabi would send someone. Eat, my dear– eat. If you eat, I will be satisfied, thinking that Rabi is eating !”
In the general sitting, Guru Maharaj also used to say – “My eating is done with my disciple’s eating or my orphan children’s eating !”
It is possible to
express all about Guruji’s mother in this way? If I get chance, later it will be discussed. So after talking a couple of words about ‘Janani Nibhanani’- I will move on to the words of the other mothers (Raina’s mother or Jagada’s mother, Chakshanyadi’s mother or Togarda’s mother, etc).Guru Maharaj’s own mother was a very simple-easy minded ‘rural’ mother. Her body was as soft as nonee(cream).And she used to look everyone like her child.
One of the most important duties of a child is to take their parents for pilgrimage. Guru Maharaj took His own mother too in pilgrimages along with other mothers.Towards the end, something like a tumor formed in His mother’s body. Trishanda took her to a renowned nursing home in Kolkata. Guru Maharaj was abroad at that time . After receiving the news, He came back immediately and began to stay at Manik Babu’s house (Sukhchar) in Kolkata for about a month. From there He would go to visit His mother every afternoon. The first 10/12 days – Guruji did not even talk to any devotees of outside. Doctors were just doing tests and changing the medicine ___ but no cure of the disease was noticed. The day of the operation was confirmed many times – but the operation was not happening anymore !
At last the day of the operation was finally confirmed – the day before the operation, in the afternoon, Guru Maharaj was adoring on his mother’s head and abdomen with his hand. A lot of waters discharged from the body of the ‘mother’ like urination ! The next day the doctors took her to the operation table and saw that __ ‘where is the tumor ?? All is gone!! After then He came back with His mother.
Many days later, when His mother was about to finally leave this world – at least a month ago, Guru Maharaj brought her to the ashram. Mother lived in a room below the Sadhana Bhavan. In the morning and even the afternoon, the beloved son(Guruji) would go to His mother, spend some time and then went for ‘sitting’.
Finally the day came. Guruji suddenly got up during his ‘sitting’. He lifted His mother’s head in his lap and began to adore her head and held her hand in his own. Then He gently closed His mother’s eyes and called Murari Maharaj and said, “Mother finally left us(is no more)”.
The body was taken from the ashram to Krishnadebpur first and then to the Kalna crematorium. Guru Maharaj was directing all the works standing himself. He paid all the money himself for cremation also. When she was decorated with pyre after her face fire __ what a fire !!!! Guru Maharaj stood still until all the work was done! At the end, He called everyone and fed them.
Even in ‘Shraddhabasar'(One of the death rituals in India), He directed all the work from himself. He paid for everything himself __ He involved no one in this matter. For a long time, Guru Maharaj used to talk about His mother at sitting. Once He said __ I used to walk around with a brick of two and a half kgs weighing in my belly for 10 months. In it, I saw how difficult it is to carry a child in the womb for 10 months!!!
Mother endures everything with a smile. On top of this, mother has to take all the responsibility for the nutrition and safety of the child. That is why it is said that mother’s debt is never be repaid.
[Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten of Dhatrigram and corrected by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]