The Ocean of Life

Troubled by the trials of life

I turn into skin and bone.

My boat is damaged, the passage tough,

my sins fill all the hold.

On top of that, Mother, tall waves rage

on this sea of delusion.

It is tough to sail in this storm of life,

I will sink here for sure.

I think I am going under .

I have no oarsmen, no one at the helm.

Those who are here, are slaves to desire,

staying drunk night and day.

**From 'Maa' by Shri Annada Thakur

The Subtle Path of Dharma

Mistakenly thinking of the downfall of religion,

why pause in the path of the dharma?

Without knowing, individuals attain

the subtle speed of the dharma.

How will men understand, even the gods do not?

Shri Annada Thakur

Ramkrishna Manoshikhsha.

Some BRM Snippets 01

For many years BR spoke about a person he used to see on a regular basis. This was between 1970 and 1990. According to his description, he appeared to be a young man with very long hair. BR used to refer to him as bAbA. According to him, Baba was over a century old. It all seemed to be like the description of 'babaji maharaj' that you can read of in Yoganandaji's 'Autobiography of a Yogi' and in a number of other places, including a book by Ronald Laing. However, this question was never completely answered. There could be more than one person with similar (hi)stories. BR used to meet Baba on the banks of the Ganges, close to the city. Seems that the only other person who had access was an old Marwari woman, who passed away around 1988. Baba would disappear for long periods and then come back again. BR spoke about how Baba used to make clay images of devi to perform puja and the river used to take it away when he was done. For many years, he was very keen to build a house of his own, as he said that then Baba would have made an appearence. However, this never worked out.

BR was always very close to his guru. Once when he was ill and we were taking him to a clinic for treatment, he told us later that he knew he would be OK as he saw his guru waliking down the road in front of him. Even very early on, when he had to be operated upon for his pleural condition, he said that they had at difficulty with the anesthesia. They could not put him under. Although his vitals were going down, he was still awake. He told us later, that he then heard the voice of his guru in his ear, telling him not to be afraid, as his mother too had been operated upon. He was told to take deep breaths, which he did, and he went under. He had multiple operations and was treated for over a year by Prof. P.C Sanyal. He was left with a large scar on his chest and a couple of missing ribs.

He first met his guru in the then southern suburbs of Kolkata (Calcutta) in the late 1930s, when he was in his teens. Earlier, after passing from high school, he had gone to a nearby state to start a business in trading rice. The money he had borrowed for starting the business was lost by a dishonest partner. BR decided to kill himself and so stole a gun from the nayeb (minister) of the estate he was staying at. With the gun, he also took a small booklet lying on it. He never tried to kill himself, and instead put the book to good use. It was a text called 'brahmyacharjyam' by Shri Pranavananda. He practiced the teachings for a few years. back in Clacutta, his brother took him to meet a saint he knew about. BR went to the building in South Calcutta where the Sangha had its main center. He was asked to go into a room where the saint was sitting. The man asked him "Do you recognize me?" In front of him was the person whose picture he had seen in the booklet he had. That was his first meeting with his guru.