Here Gurumaharaj is discussing some complicated spiritual practices of Bengal and Sri Ramakrishna’s take on those paths of sadhana.
Gurumaharaj : Sri Ramakrishna initiated his followers into much easier spiritual exercises. Later Swami Vivekananda inspired the monks in the Ramakrishna order to follow the basic tenets of Karmayoga. He placed emphasis on the service to mankind. Many of his followers considered their service to mankind to be their only sadhana. If you perform any activity in the name of Sri Ramakrishna, Maa Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda, it becomes your sadhana. Sri Ramakrishna is in the true sense of the term the Yuga Purusha of our times.
Query: In your book Mysteries of the Bauls you have discussed Anuman Bhajan and Bartaman Bhajan. You observed that there are two kinds of Anuman Bhajan. They are spiritual practices involving a woman and spiritual exercises devoid of any women. Can you please elaborate on the distinctive features of these two kinds of seekers?
Gurumaharaj : The contemporary readers fail to make out the true meaning of my text Mysteries of the Bauls. But people will gradually realize it in the days to come. In Anumana Bhajana you try to conceive your preferred deity through the idol or your imagination. Your imagination is largely influenced by the subtle form of the idol of your cherished deity. Anumana Bhajana is a spiritual practice in which you have to embrace one of the emotional tendencies like Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalya etc. and take Mother Kali, Sri Krishna, Allah, God for your supreme lord. In this method
the rituals and forms of prayers may vary but all the seekers belonging to different religions ( i.e. Hindu, Muslim, Buddhism, Christianity etc.) are performing Anumana Bhajana. There are many practitioners of this method who became accomplished masters. You must have heard of such realized masters. People have been practising this method for long.
The other spiritual method is Bartamana Bhajana. When you worship the person whom you can see, you are actually performing Bartamana Bhajana. It is said that Guru is the God. So, Guru is the Supreme Being for a seeker. Thus, the Guru Pranam mantra goes : ” Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Gurudeva Maheswara, Guru sakshat Parambrahma tasmai Sri Gurave namah!”
One can say that every guru is not a Satguru or a realized master. Then what would the seekers of a particular group with an ineligible spiritual leader do? Look, He who takes care of everything in this material world decides everything. Out of ignorance we may think anything. But there is no worth of our opinion in the divine scheme of things.
[Translated by Amitava Saha]
Gurumaharaj : Sri Ramakrishna initiated his followers into much easier spiritual exercises. Later Swami Vivekananda inspired the monks in the Ramakrishna order to follow the basic tenets of Karmayoga. He placed emphasis on the service to mankind. Many of his followers considered their service to mankind to be their only sadhana. If you perform any activity in the name of Sri Ramakrishna, Maa Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda, it becomes your sadhana. Sri Ramakrishna is in the true sense of the term the Yuga Purusha of our times.
Query: In your book Mysteries of the Bauls you have discussed Anuman Bhajan and Bartaman Bhajan. You observed that there are two kinds of Anuman Bhajan. They are spiritual practices involving a woman and spiritual exercises devoid of any women. Can you please elaborate on the distinctive features of these two kinds of seekers?
Gurumaharaj : The contemporary readers fail to make out the true meaning of my text Mysteries of the Bauls. But people will gradually realize it in the days to come. In Anumana Bhajana you try to conceive your preferred deity through the idol or your imagination. Your imagination is largely influenced by the subtle form of the idol of your cherished deity. Anumana Bhajana is a spiritual practice in which you have to embrace one of the emotional tendencies like Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalya etc. and take Mother Kali, Sri Krishna, Allah, God for your supreme lord. In this method
the rituals and forms of prayers may vary but all the seekers belonging to different religions ( i.e. Hindu, Muslim, Buddhism, Christianity etc.) are performing Anumana Bhajana. There are many practitioners of this method who became accomplished masters. You must have heard of such realized masters. People have been practising this method for long.
The other spiritual method is Bartamana Bhajana. When you worship the person whom you can see, you are actually performing Bartamana Bhajana. It is said that Guru is the God. So, Guru is the Supreme Being for a seeker. Thus, the Guru Pranam mantra goes : ” Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Gurudeva Maheswara, Guru sakshat Parambrahma tasmai Sri Gurave namah!”
One can say that every guru is not a Satguru or a realized master. Then what would the seekers of a particular group with an ineligible spiritual leader do? Look, He who takes care of everything in this material world decides everything. Out of ignorance we may think anything. But there is no worth of our opinion in the divine scheme of things.
[Translated by Amitava Saha]