Regarding Guru Maharaj’s own mother, Guruji himself said that “My mother did seven birth austerities to have me as her child.” She could have taken ‘mukti'(freedom from everything)_’Moksha’ etc. if she wanted. But she did not take it. She wanted to have God as her child.
Now let me tell a little bit about Swami Purnananda Maharaj i.e Anupda’s mother. Guru Maharaj told us that – they were roaming in Singur area then, with Trishanda and Debendranath for some purposes. Swami Shankarananda Maharaj(one of the Guru Maharaj’s disciples) took shelter in a clubhouse at Nasibpur. At that time Mr. Anilratan Kabiraj was a very famous person in Singur. Besides being a Mahasadhak (a great devotee), he was also a Pundit(learned person). So some spiritual people always would gather around him and everyday he made some spiritual discussion with them. That time Guru Maharaj was also invited in such sitting at his house . Guruji went there and made the spiritual discussion for a long time (Later, we saw Guruji would go to his house every time, whenever He went to Singur Ashram) . That day, at the end of Guru Maharaj’s three or four-hour long discussion about ‘Veda-Vedanta’ and other spiritual matters, when everyone was silent, an amusing incident was taken place. When Guruji suddenly stopped His discussion and there was ‘pin drop silent’- breaking the silence, one of them said, ” Sir ! I understood almost of the speeches but the matter is quite confusing !!!” Hearing this, everyone laughed in such a way that the solemn atmosphere of the long hours became chaotic (The details of Guruji’s last meeting with Mr. Kabiraj’s gross body, can be told later -it was quite surprising!)!!
Anyway, thus the whole day was spent . In the meantime the audience got up and completed their lunch one by one and again joined the sitting, but there were only some cups of tea and 2/3 pieces biscuits for Guru Maharaj and his companions ! When Guruji was getting up at the evening, being impressed by His speeches, one of the devotees handed a packet of sweets to Him. As far as I could remember, they(Guruji, Devendra da and Trishan Maharaj) did not eat heavy food the day before also for any reason ! Thus the people of Singur did not even allow Guru Maharaj to take meal though they forced Him to make a long discussion in His first visit to Singur !
What happened after that__ let’s hear it in Guru Maharaj’s own words__ ” That day the place to take rest at night was a club-room, where Shankarananda used to stay. When we reached there, we saw a single bed and one mosquito net there and this was for Shankarananda. So there was no arrangement for us, excluding a mat ! What to do ! At the end of the whole day’s fatigue, we went to the nearest ‘bandh’ (After sand digging there were created many small reservoirs – which were called ‘bandh’) to wash our hands and feet and came back refreshed. There we saw that Shankarananda opened that packet of sweets and ate the whole thing himself ! As a result, the three of us were bound to starve ! Then Shankarananda took a big jug, which was full of water and drank it all making a sound like ‘glak-glak’ ! Then he gave a loud belch ! After then he went inside the mosquito net to sleep. The three of us helplessly spread out the mat on the floor and tried to sleep. But the herds of hungry mosquitoes surrounded us in such a way that it was impossible to sleep ! It was almost hard to sit down also ! Debendra, an intelligent boy, went into the Shankarananda’s mosquito net and began to massage him, taking Maharaj’s feet on his lap – as if he was doing so much ‘sadhuseba'(serving the monks) !!! And soon the two of them fell asleep with a loud nose-sound !
What else could I and Trishan do? We came out and spent the night walking and discussing about various spiritual topics .
In the morning as we will go to the bath-toilet in that ‘bandh'(pool), at that time the Maharaj (Shankarananda) said ‘Rabin(Guruji’s nick-name), take my clothes too to wash these !’ Then we were all dressed in white and he was a saffron-dressed monk, so what do we do than obey his orders?
While we were washing those clothes_ a dhoti-punjabi dressed, bearded, thin boy appeared there riding on a bicycle. He said, “who is Rabin here? My mother invited all of you for lunch today. You will be ready, I will come at noon and call you all to our house !” The boy was Anup ( Purnananda Maharaj), and about two days later in Singur, Purnananda’s mother gave us full meal . As it’s the work of a mother to feed her hungry son, so from then on, I call her ‘Mother’!”
When Guru Maharaj first met Chakshanyadi’s mother, then He was working in Rural Electrification in that area. One day He was cycling along the village road in a summer afternoon, then it was extreme heat. Seeing a little shadow in one place, he got off his bicycle and took a little rest. And just opposite side it was the house of Togor Mallick. And his father was standing outside the house for some reasons at that time. Seeing Guru Maharaj in a sweaty state, he called Him to go inside the house. There Togor’s mother said, “Oh, boy! Should you go out this hot noon? Now drink some water, dear. And take some rest !” In the words of Guru maharaj_ “Such a loving call__I could not ignore ! I went inside and talked to Mr. Sattar (Togor’s father), who was a person full of fun. At the first introduction, he told various stories. He let me drink the coconut-water from the tree of their house. Later, one day I promised them to have a lunch there ___ thus I got out from there.
After that I used to come to that house frequently and within a few days, I became almost a member of their family. I met her eldest son Togor. I realised– that boy’s previous life was much advanced and the mother was also spiritualy advanced! Her appearance was like a Debi(goddess)! The shape of the mother’s face is so nice that it would seem that a sculpture has been created !
Moreover, mother’s heart was very soft. She let not any guest, fakir or beggar go from the house without feeding them. When a beggar came in the hot sun, she would feed him and give him a place to rest.
And as their begging was interrupted, she would give him a large quantity of rice and pulses as a compensation!” [To be continued]…….
[Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten of Dhatrigram and corrected by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]
Now let me tell a little bit about Swami Purnananda Maharaj i.e Anupda’s mother. Guru Maharaj told us that – they were roaming in Singur area then, with Trishanda and Debendranath for some purposes. Swami Shankarananda Maharaj(one of the Guru Maharaj’s disciples) took shelter in a clubhouse at Nasibpur. At that time Mr. Anilratan Kabiraj was a very famous person in Singur. Besides being a Mahasadhak (a great devotee), he was also a Pundit(learned person). So some spiritual people always would gather around him and everyday he made some spiritual discussion with them. That time Guru Maharaj was also invited in such sitting at his house . Guruji went there and made the spiritual discussion for a long time (Later, we saw Guruji would go to his house every time, whenever He went to Singur Ashram) . That day, at the end of Guru Maharaj’s three or four-hour long discussion about ‘Veda-Vedanta’ and other spiritual matters, when everyone was silent, an amusing incident was taken place. When Guruji suddenly stopped His discussion and there was ‘pin drop silent’- breaking the silence, one of them said, ” Sir ! I understood almost of the speeches but the matter is quite confusing !!!” Hearing this, everyone laughed in such a way that the solemn atmosphere of the long hours became chaotic (The details of Guruji’s last meeting with Mr. Kabiraj’s gross body, can be told later -it was quite surprising!)!!
Anyway, thus the whole day was spent . In the meantime the audience got up and completed their lunch one by one and again joined the sitting, but there were only some cups of tea and 2/3 pieces biscuits for Guru Maharaj and his companions ! When Guruji was getting up at the evening, being impressed by His speeches, one of the devotees handed a packet of sweets to Him. As far as I could remember, they(Guruji, Devendra da and Trishan Maharaj) did not eat heavy food the day before also for any reason ! Thus the people of Singur did not even allow Guru Maharaj to take meal though they forced Him to make a long discussion in His first visit to Singur !
What happened after that__ let’s hear it in Guru Maharaj’s own words__ ” That day the place to take rest at night was a club-room, where Shankarananda used to stay. When we reached there, we saw a single bed and one mosquito net there and this was for Shankarananda. So there was no arrangement for us, excluding a mat ! What to do ! At the end of the whole day’s fatigue, we went to the nearest ‘bandh’ (After sand digging there were created many small reservoirs – which were called ‘bandh’) to wash our hands and feet and came back refreshed. There we saw that Shankarananda opened that packet of sweets and ate the whole thing himself ! As a result, the three of us were bound to starve ! Then Shankarananda took a big jug, which was full of water and drank it all making a sound like ‘glak-glak’ ! Then he gave a loud belch ! After then he went inside the mosquito net to sleep. The three of us helplessly spread out the mat on the floor and tried to sleep. But the herds of hungry mosquitoes surrounded us in such a way that it was impossible to sleep ! It was almost hard to sit down also ! Debendra, an intelligent boy, went into the Shankarananda’s mosquito net and began to massage him, taking Maharaj’s feet on his lap – as if he was doing so much ‘sadhuseba'(serving the monks) !!! And soon the two of them fell asleep with a loud nose-sound !
What else could I and Trishan do? We came out and spent the night walking and discussing about various spiritual topics .
In the morning as we will go to the bath-toilet in that ‘bandh'(pool), at that time the Maharaj (Shankarananda) said ‘Rabin(Guruji’s nick-name), take my clothes too to wash these !’ Then we were all dressed in white and he was a saffron-dressed monk, so what do we do than obey his orders?
While we were washing those clothes_ a dhoti-punjabi dressed, bearded, thin boy appeared there riding on a bicycle. He said, “who is Rabin here? My mother invited all of you for lunch today. You will be ready, I will come at noon and call you all to our house !” The boy was Anup ( Purnananda Maharaj), and about two days later in Singur, Purnananda’s mother gave us full meal . As it’s the work of a mother to feed her hungry son, so from then on, I call her ‘Mother’!”
When Guru Maharaj first met Chakshanyadi’s mother, then He was working in Rural Electrification in that area. One day He was cycling along the village road in a summer afternoon, then it was extreme heat. Seeing a little shadow in one place, he got off his bicycle and took a little rest. And just opposite side it was the house of Togor Mallick. And his father was standing outside the house for some reasons at that time. Seeing Guru Maharaj in a sweaty state, he called Him to go inside the house. There Togor’s mother said, “Oh, boy! Should you go out this hot noon? Now drink some water, dear. And take some rest !” In the words of Guru maharaj_ “Such a loving call__I could not ignore ! I went inside and talked to Mr. Sattar (Togor’s father), who was a person full of fun. At the first introduction, he told various stories. He let me drink the coconut-water from the tree of their house. Later, one day I promised them to have a lunch there ___ thus I got out from there.
After that I used to come to that house frequently and within a few days, I became almost a member of their family. I met her eldest son Togor. I realised– that boy’s previous life was much advanced and the mother was also spiritualy advanced! Her appearance was like a Debi(goddess)! The shape of the mother’s face is so nice that it would seem that a sculpture has been created !
Moreover, mother’s heart was very soft. She let not any guest, fakir or beggar go from the house without feeding them. When a beggar came in the hot sun, she would feed him and give him a place to rest.
And as their begging was interrupted, she would give him a large quantity of rice and pulses as a compensation!” [To be continued]…….
[Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten of Dhatrigram and corrected by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]