[My first visit to Banagram]
Now, will I come back to that night at ‘Battala’ (the place beneath the banyan tree of the Banagram Ashram) in Banagram on December 25, 1983 ____ or will I mention some incidents of Guru Maharaj’s rebukes (as in the previous day, we saw that Guru Maharaj’s rebuke to all of the devotees, present in the sitting)to us?? It seems that the second option is right. I heard a story in Banagram Ashram from the sadhus(monks). Let me tell the story first….! A beggar was begging in front of a temple as usual as the other day. “Babu(your majesty), give me 10 paise. Babu, give me 4 anas (one fourth of a rupee).”- the beggar pleaded to the visitors ! In those days people used to give 10 paise/ four anas (then anyone could buy a lot of things with 10 paise/4 anas ! Now there is nothing else special for one rupee !) to the beggars. Some was giving him paise- some wasn’t . Suddenly a European traveller came there . Soon the beggar reached to him and as usual began to say_”Babu(your majesty), give me 10 paise. Babu, give me 4 anas (one fourth of a rupee).”- repeatedly ! Immediately the European ‘saheb’ opened his wallet and gave the beggar a 10 rupee note !!! The beggar was surprised to get so much money at a time ! “So much money !!!”_he could not believe it ! But then he began to think – “They are Europeans. They belong to the very rich countries. They have a kind heart also! May be he would give more money, if I wanted more !!” As soon as the beggar thought that, he ran after the ‘saheb’ and called the man -“Hey, saheb! Hey, Saheb! Give me a 10 rupee note more ! You are very rich. And you have a kind heart also ! So you should give more money to me !” Hearing this, the Saheb turned around and suddenly slapped the beggar showing anger and went away. As soon as he came back after getting the ‘slap’, the other beggars started laughing and said – “How did you feel the slap —brother!!” But the beggar did not feel ashamed at their laughter. He said, “Listen – it is true that the saheb hit me heavily. But the tension of my mind ‘to get more money from Saheb’– is no more ! I used to spend all the day thinking about that the saheb might give me more money ! I would not sleep well at night ! So, even after getting a slap, my tention is gone away. Now, I will become able to sleep well at night ! That’s why I’m not hurt at all. I am now feeling happy !”
So, after getting the lesson from the story_ I am thinking when my mind is throbbing to talk about more incidents of that kind – it’s better to say those to you all.
Once, when a sitting is going on_in any context, suddenly Guruji asked the devotees _’what is the english term of ‘Kachuripana'(Water hyacinth) ? None of us who were present (at least 25/30) there, could give him the answer ! I was trying hard but could not remember anything (It could be his miracle too!! At that time, many educated people were present there. Even some high school teachers were also present in the sitting.), though I was a student of science and I had the ‘Biology’ subject in my higher secondary course. I had to read not only the english name but the biological name also of that plant. But alas ! I could not remember at all the exact term, that time !
Then began the ‘rebuke’! What a ‘rebuke’ !!! ” Is this the result of your higher studies? I’m uneducated, I did not study much – but you?? Is that your education? Weak memory – it is the result of the lack of ‘Brahmacharya'(celibacy) !!”etc….etc. what didn’t He say ?? Even, that day also, we kept our heads down and just kept thinking about the english of that very word ‘kachuripana’. __ “what may be”, “what may be”[Any “mother”( like Chakshanjadi’s Mother) didn’t come that day to save us !]!!!
{But one day, in the sitting Guruji praised me also! That day He was discussing about TV’s programmes. He described the TV-serials as ‘soap culture'(As the huge swaps come out from a small soap, it is like that. There is no such good story, but the serials are going on for years!)!! Then He said ” From TV-serials men will not get any good lessons. These are only entertainment !! Hey, you –what will be the bengali term of ‘Entertainment’ ?” At one chance I said “Binodan(the bengali meaning of entertainment)”. __ He said very happily – “Look! These are all educated boys. For that he told the answer so quickly.”
So, We (all the devotees of Swami Paramananda) made His ‘reprimand and reward’ the ornament of our neck’ __ If you’ll go on with this attitude, you can accompany Him, otherwise you will be out!!!”}
Nevertheless, I was so upset by the rebuke of Guru Maharaj that day, I could not make myself easy at all. I was doing everything__ eating, walking, roaming, talking to everyone as usual___ but it seemed that something was sticking inside ! But He, the master mechanic (Guru Maharaj), would repair the matter in the next sitting by giving unconditional love ! This incident will be told later.
Anyway, if Guru Maharaj called someone by his name in the sitting ___ what a pleasure of that man would have been ! There was no limit to it !
But there was another side too ___ which is the issue of our discussion. There was not a single devotee who was not rebuked by Guru Maharaj then !!!!! So we were all then in the same group and it would seem then that irrespective of ‘sannyasi’, ‘brahmachari’ or ‘family man’, we all were same ! Then, the matter of being reprimanded from Guru Maharaj or who were feeling humiliation for being rebuked by Guruji – all of them did not mind for a reason. It was, all of them, then, believed that – “To be reprimanded by Guru maharaj means to decay one’s pre-birth’s ‘prarabdha’ “!!!!
Whatever this may be __ what I was saying…then who was not rebuked by Guru Maharaj ??? Trishan Da (Swami Parameshwarananda), Murari Maharaj (Swami Niskamananda), Swami Swarupananda, Tapi Ma __ any celibate or monk or anyone who came a little closer to Him __ everyone was rebuked by Him at least for one time ! So it was easy for us to tolerate His rebuke !
The rich people who helped in the development of the ashram at that time, also were rebuked by Guru Maharaj many times !
[Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten of Dhatrigram and corrected by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]
Now, will I come back to that night at ‘Battala’ (the place beneath the banyan tree of the Banagram Ashram) in Banagram on December 25, 1983 ____ or will I mention some incidents of Guru Maharaj’s rebukes (as in the previous day, we saw that Guru Maharaj’s rebuke to all of the devotees, present in the sitting)to us?? It seems that the second option is right. I heard a story in Banagram Ashram from the sadhus(monks). Let me tell the story first….! A beggar was begging in front of a temple as usual as the other day. “Babu(your majesty), give me 10 paise. Babu, give me 4 anas (one fourth of a rupee).”- the beggar pleaded to the visitors ! In those days people used to give 10 paise/ four anas (then anyone could buy a lot of things with 10 paise/4 anas ! Now there is nothing else special for one rupee !) to the beggars. Some was giving him paise- some wasn’t . Suddenly a European traveller came there . Soon the beggar reached to him and as usual began to say_”Babu(your majesty), give me 10 paise. Babu, give me 4 anas (one fourth of a rupee).”- repeatedly ! Immediately the European ‘saheb’ opened his wallet and gave the beggar a 10 rupee note !!! The beggar was surprised to get so much money at a time ! “So much money !!!”_he could not believe it ! But then he began to think – “They are Europeans. They belong to the very rich countries. They have a kind heart also! May be he would give more money, if I wanted more !!” As soon as the beggar thought that, he ran after the ‘saheb’ and called the man -“Hey, saheb! Hey, Saheb! Give me a 10 rupee note more ! You are very rich. And you have a kind heart also ! So you should give more money to me !” Hearing this, the Saheb turned around and suddenly slapped the beggar showing anger and went away. As soon as he came back after getting the ‘slap’, the other beggars started laughing and said – “How did you feel the slap —brother!!” But the beggar did not feel ashamed at their laughter. He said, “Listen – it is true that the saheb hit me heavily. But the tension of my mind ‘to get more money from Saheb’– is no more ! I used to spend all the day thinking about that the saheb might give me more money ! I would not sleep well at night ! So, even after getting a slap, my tention is gone away. Now, I will become able to sleep well at night ! That’s why I’m not hurt at all. I am now feeling happy !”
So, after getting the lesson from the story_ I am thinking when my mind is throbbing to talk about more incidents of that kind – it’s better to say those to you all.
Once, when a sitting is going on_in any context, suddenly Guruji asked the devotees _’what is the english term of ‘Kachuripana'(Water hyacinth) ? None of us who were present (at least 25/30) there, could give him the answer ! I was trying hard but could not remember anything (It could be his miracle too!! At that time, many educated people were present there. Even some high school teachers were also present in the sitting.), though I was a student of science and I had the ‘Biology’ subject in my higher secondary course. I had to read not only the english name but the biological name also of that plant. But alas ! I could not remember at all the exact term, that time !
Then began the ‘rebuke’! What a ‘rebuke’ !!! ” Is this the result of your higher studies? I’m uneducated, I did not study much – but you?? Is that your education? Weak memory – it is the result of the lack of ‘Brahmacharya'(celibacy) !!”etc….etc. what didn’t He say ?? Even, that day also, we kept our heads down and just kept thinking about the english of that very word ‘kachuripana’. __ “what may be”, “what may be”[Any “mother”( like Chakshanjadi’s Mother) didn’t come that day to save us !]!!!
{But one day, in the sitting Guruji praised me also! That day He was discussing about TV’s programmes. He described the TV-serials as ‘soap culture'(As the huge swaps come out from a small soap, it is like that. There is no such good story, but the serials are going on for years!)!! Then He said ” From TV-serials men will not get any good lessons. These are only entertainment !! Hey, you –what will be the bengali term of ‘Entertainment’ ?” At one chance I said “Binodan(the bengali meaning of entertainment)”. __ He said very happily – “Look! These are all educated boys. For that he told the answer so quickly.”
So, We (all the devotees of Swami Paramananda) made His ‘reprimand and reward’ the ornament of our neck’ __ If you’ll go on with this attitude, you can accompany Him, otherwise you will be out!!!”}
Nevertheless, I was so upset by the rebuke of Guru Maharaj that day, I could not make myself easy at all. I was doing everything__ eating, walking, roaming, talking to everyone as usual___ but it seemed that something was sticking inside ! But He, the master mechanic (Guru Maharaj), would repair the matter in the next sitting by giving unconditional love ! This incident will be told later.
Anyway, if Guru Maharaj called someone by his name in the sitting ___ what a pleasure of that man would have been ! There was no limit to it !
But there was another side too ___ which is the issue of our discussion. There was not a single devotee who was not rebuked by Guru Maharaj then !!!!! So we were all then in the same group and it would seem then that irrespective of ‘sannyasi’, ‘brahmachari’ or ‘family man’, we all were same ! Then, the matter of being reprimanded from Guru Maharaj or who were feeling humiliation for being rebuked by Guruji – all of them did not mind for a reason. It was, all of them, then, believed that – “To be reprimanded by Guru maharaj means to decay one’s pre-birth’s ‘prarabdha’ “!!!!
Whatever this may be __ what I was saying…then who was not rebuked by Guru Maharaj ??? Trishan Da (Swami Parameshwarananda), Murari Maharaj (Swami Niskamananda), Swami Swarupananda, Tapi Ma __ any celibate or monk or anyone who came a little closer to Him __ everyone was rebuked by Him at least for one time ! So it was easy for us to tolerate His rebuke !
The rich people who helped in the development of the ashram at that time, also were rebuked by Guru Maharaj many times !
[Translated by Rajarsi Basak, a student of class Ten of Dhatrigram and corrected by Ramprasad, a former student of Banagram Ashram.]