The Story of Ramakrishna Keralam and the Report of the 75th Anniversary Celebrations of the Advent of Sri Ramakrishna both stand now at the threshold of 1911.
Both the subjects travel together for some time. Then they again branch into two stories, one about the Celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna’s Birth Anniversaries and the other that of Ramakrishna Keralam.
But 1911 has been a serendipitous event. Its discovery a hundred years hence now has also been a pleasing surprise. We have to credit it to Sarada that she can hide her gifts well and spring it on us even after a hundred years. Maybe she has kept great things for us at the end of our lives, too.
What happened was this: When the Ramakrishna Movement was sluggish in the North because of vitiated political atmosphere, when nobody knew that the 75th Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna’s Advent was approaching, some guiding force made Mother to stir out of Bengal, stay in Kothar for a little more than two months and have a very pleasant time and load the containers with grace.
This grace laden vessel stayed in Madras shores for a month, grew into a mount of mercy in Rameswaram as Paravata Vardhini, climbed it and became an Ark atop a new Aden, a bliss giving Kalpataru in Bangalore.
She became Godavari Pushkarini and then Akshaya Trithiya in Belur Math. She completed the whole round by becoming Annapurna in Kashi in 1912.
So many blissful events happen during her peregrinations and follow that.
This is it in a nutshell. Let us then proceed to open it and draw out from the abundant treasures within.
Ramakrishna Movement has a strong undercurrent. Persons having the perception connect themselves to it. But to cater to the really thirsty the current has to come to the surface in the form of attractive, lovely waves.
Breaking out into waves depends on the surface. If the surface is hard there is no breaking out at all. If it is clayey, the waters become a muddled puddle.
Such a societal mud puddle was Bengal in 1911.
Swami Ramakrishnananda, the Apostle to the South and Swami Nirmalananda, whom Swami Brahmananda crowned as the Guardian of South, along with fervent devotees in South India were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mother in South India. All the devotees of Madras Presidency, and the princely States of Mysore, Cochin and Travancore were agog in a holy thrill.
Holy Mother the Energizer of the Ramakrishna Movement, invoked by the pure devotion of the devotees, appeared at Madras on the 11th of February, 1911.
As if on cue, within a week, the momentous 75th Anniversary Celebrations began on the 18th February, the Birthday of Sri Ramakrishna in Haripad.
Mother went about literally showering her grace in and around Madras and then in Madurai and Rameswaram. The acme was when she ascended the Rock to cast her graceful eyes on all the areas extending up to the distant western horizon where lay the Western coastlands of Kerala and Konkan. She was the supplier of the just sprouted seed of Ramakrishna Keralam, and was watching from her own place, Bangalore Ashrama grounds, which had just also become the capital of Ramakrishna Movement in Kerala and housed the centre called ‘Ramakrishna Kerala Mission’.
`When the Ramakrishna Movement was sluggish in the North....’
On what basis we say this?
`When nobody knew that the 75th Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna’s Advent was approaching…’ Really so?
` some guiding force made Mother to... stay in Kothar for... two months... have a very pleasant time… load the containers with grace….’
What force? Mother really had an exceptionally pleasant time? What loading are we talking about?
` invoked by the pure devotion of the devotees, appeared at Madras on the 11th of February, 1911…’ Do explain.
Swami Ramakrishnananda … and Swami Nirmalananda, whom Swami Brahmananda crowned as the Guardian of South … All the devotees of Madras Presidency, and the princely States of Mysore, Cochin and Travancore were agog in a holy thrill. … As if on cue, within a week, the momentous 75th Anniversary Celebrations began on the 18th February, the Birthday of Sri Ramakrishna in Haripad.
How come Kerala?
` grew into a mount of mercy in Rameswaram as Paravata Vardhini…’
Mount of mercy? Parvata Vardhini?
` But 1911 has been a serendipitous event. Its discovery a hundred years hence now has also been a pleasing surprise…’
What is really special about Year 1911? What is the new discovery?
` climbed it and became an Ark atop a new Aden, a bliss giving Kalpataru in Bangalore…’
Mother becoming Kalpataru?
`.. She ascended the Rock to cast her graceful eyes on … the Western coastlands of Kerala and Konkan. She was …watching from her own... Grounds … called ‘Ramakrishna Kerala Mission’.
Kerala again?
She became Godavari Pushkarini and then Akshaya Trithiya in Belur Math... Annapurna in Kashi....’
Tell us more.
Today is the day of leave taking. I think I never had sadder day.
We have been travelling with the party of our Mother Sarada since Feb. 11th. So we have been on the move for the last 56 days. We will be with her till 11th April and again we will be going to her off and on till 1st May.
But it seems that it will not be the same thing again. The proximity that we have been enjoying till now is something singular.
We can observe that the Grace that has been hovering around her is beginning to fold up.
That it is lingering about quite strongly and will never be completely gone, we can of course make out. We also understand that it will look like the same thing for the next few weeks. But look-alike is only that much, it just looks alike. It is not It. It is not the same.
We have been following Mother’s peregrinations from a comfortable vantage point. We are able to grasp whatever little we could of what Mother was doing by gathering into our focus pictures of various interconnected events and trying to get the total picture.
Though this broadcast is ‘deferred’ still it is `deferred live’. There had been live reports. But they had been sort-of patchy. Nevertheless, they form the base of this report. Examining the dates and places, we get some more substantial pieces of our broadcast. But the `live’ mostly spring from between the lines. The Spirit that lies bundled between lines has indeed enlivened us all these days.
Let us spread it out on the table.
Holy Mother’s travelling to Orissa and South India from Dec. 4th 1910 to April 11, 1911 is not just the pilgrimage that we are accustomed to think about as, but something much more, all deftly wrapped in the shape of a pilgrimage.
We suggest that this joyful peregrination of Mother is as important a part of her life and the History of Ramakrishna Movement as Swamiji’s first visit to the West had been.
Travelling with Mother with Swami Prabhananda’s `Holy Mother in the South’ (published by Madras Math during Mother’s 150th Birth Centenary) as the basic guide book, had been a great experience.
`Days in an Indian Monastery’ by Sister Devamata gives us a clear understanding of Mother’s experiences and sights that Mother saw in Madras and Bangalore, because Devamata had been a sort-of pilot traveler, staying in the same places where Mother would stay afterward and having a fore-taste of experiences that Mother would have later.
Searching up the dates, places and temples visited by Mother, brings before us the great festivals and legends of these places. We are able to comprehend with immense joy the fact that when the Mother of the Universe went visiting her children, they offered the best of their appearance, culture and traditions before her.
We know that she had been in a blissful and blessing mood throughout her travels. We are sorry to see her back to her veiled life in Bengal.
But we have to make do with it. We do our best and try to meet her in Calcutta, Jayarambati, Koalpara, and for some days in Kashi and most importantly, we chew the cud.
`From a portion of a letter of Swami Ramakrishnananda, one gets and inkling of the longing with which the monastic and lay devotees were waiting there to receive her.
On February 1, 1911, he had written from Madras to Dr. Venkatarangam, a devotee in Bangalore:
`Our most adorable Mother is coming here on her way to Rameswaram. She is coming here to bless you all. Do not miss this unexpected and rare opportunity to worship the Divine Mother in her person. Do come over here and be blessed with her grace. She is expected to arrive here on the 11th of this month. .. It is the great good fortune of you all that the Mother of the Creation would be making her appearance at your door-step. As soon as the soil of this place gets blessed with the touch of her holy feet, you should be here to pay your obeisance to her.’(2)
That Dr. Venkatarangam did not come to Madras immediately and like other devotees in Bangalore was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mother in Bangalore is evident from a later letter (3&4) from Shashi Maharaj.
`Shashi Maharaj had written on February 14 that it would not be possible for Mother to visit Bangalore, as Belur Math authorities were worried by the news that Bangalore was infested with plague. By that time Swami Vishuddhananda, a disciple of Mother and two other devotees, Narayana Iyengar and Rajagopal Naidu had gone to Madras.
After having darshan of Mother and offering pranams, they returned to Bangalore and confirmed the news that Mother would not visiting their places. Later on 'Tulsi Maharaj ... rushed to Madras….’(5)
Mother reached Madras on the 11th February 1911.
We know that Swami Vishuddhananda, Shri Narayana Iyengar and some devotees from Bangalore had Mother’s Darshan soon.
We deduce the following sequence of events:
On 15th Feb. 1911, charged with the pure joy6 of Mother’s presence in the region, Tulsi Maharaj starts the Kerala work, which was entrusted to him by Swami Ramakrishnananda.
From Reports in Prabuddha Bharata we get detailed information about the glorious launch of the Ramakrishna Mission’s work in Haripad:
'According to previous arrangement7 the Secretary and another member of the Ramakrishna Religious Association, Haripad met Swami Nirmalananda, President of the Ramakrishna Math, Bangalore, at Ernakulam on the 15th February and escorted him to Alleppey in a steam launch the next day….’8
He is blessed with great success.
Thus Sri Ramakrishna’s Mission starts in Haripad on 18 February, 1911, the 75th Birthday of Sri Ramakrishna.
This also is the beginning of the 75th Birthday Anniversary Celebrations that continues in many places in India and abroad.
On his return sometime around 22th February, the devotees report to Tulsi Maharaj that Mother would not be coming to Bangalore.
Tulsi Maharaj `rushes’ to Madras, `…He stayed there for two days and discussed the matter with Mother and Shashi Maharaj. He submitted that the area surrounding the Ashrama was free from plague and that a large number of devotees had been anxiously waiting there to have the darshan of Holy Mother. At long last, Mother gave her consent to visit Bangalore. It seems, all these things had happened before Mother started for Madurai and Rameswaram’.9
Tulsi Maharaj wrests back Mother’s Blessings on Karnataka and Kerala.
Everything about Sri Ramakrishna calls for Joyous Celebration.
When He was born they could feel it palpably in Kamarpukur which added credence to similar Bhagavata accounts.
It was celebration time for the humble and innocent village folk.
It turned out to be a celebratory community feeding when little Gadai ate his first morsel of rice.
It sent a pure thrill of joy, when boy Gadai Shiva remained in Bhava. They came in droves till his birthday that followed to satisfy themselves that he was back to his normal merry self.
It was very often fun and laughter at Dakshineswar.
His birthdays after he dropped his body was always a day of pure joy.
His 75th Birthday was the first occasion when the blessed day was celebrated by great many people in India and some abroad too.
With Mother’s oblique blessings it began in Haripad. Mother herself presided over it in Madras and made a special appearance in Bangalore. Swami Brahmananda did the star turn in Belur Math.
Then Mother in person made a grand conclusion in Belur Math in 1912.
It all happened apparently without their knowledge that they were celebrating the 75th Birthday.
We have been joyfully observing the centenary of these blessed events.
We will cover these:
Haripad, 18th February 1911, 75th Birth Anniversary begins.
Madras, 2nd March to 5th March, Mother presides over
Events that happen in between till
26 March 1911, Mother becomes Ananda Kalpataru in Bangalore; further events till
May 1, 1911, Akshaya Trithiya, Belur Math
Later part of 1911, the first shrine with Ramakrishna and Sarada together in Koalpara; finally
Early 1912, Concluding Celebrations in Belur Math.
Swami Premananda and others in Belur Math were excitedly getting ready for receiving Holy Mother after her return to Bengal after an eventful, auspicious, grace showering, sojourn in Orissa and South India.
The news of the great devotion with which she was received in South and the over-abundant measure of blessing which it drew forth from Mother had travelled to the inmates of the Math as well other devotees in Bengal. They were waiting with bated breath for Akshaya Trithiya, on 1st May 1911, when Mother would grace Belur Math with her presence and fructify the 75th Ramakrishna Shukla Dwitiya Celebration which was started with her blessings on 18th February 1911 (Sri Ramakrishna’s 75th Birthday), at Haripad in Kerala and presided over by her Madras and Bangalore.
On the Chaturdashi preceeding Ramakrishna Shukla Dwitiya, she along with Shashi Maharaj had offered Bel leaves to Kapaleswar Shiva in Mylapore. On the succeeding Chaturdashi, she was worshipping Rameswara Shiva. In between she had worshipped Parthasarathi in Triplicane during His yearly float festival.
She was in Puri during Vasanta Navaratri, when Sahiyatra artists were all down in the streets of Puri enacting Ramayana. She was there on Rama Navami. She saw Jagannatha as Shiva residing on a seat of one thousand salagramas. She fed others and others fed her in Ananda Bazaar where Vimala Devi resides, and creates Mahaprasad.
She prayed in all these holy places, on all these holy days.
We know she prayed in Gaya and we are what we are where we are.
We can only guess what she prayed for, but we know, among other things, that Ramakrishna Mission was vivified.
We surmise that Swami Nirmalananda returned to Bangalore on the 22nd February, 1911 morning. We may guess that he immediately hears of the cancellation of Mother’s Bangalore programme. Grief stricken, Tulsi Maharaj ‘rushes’ to Madras and is at Mother’s doors to plead with her to shower her grace on Bangalore. We assume that Mother is ready to come but wants that to be cleared by Shashi Maharaj and Rakhal Maharaj. It takes two days for that. Mother’s encouragement must have made Tulsi Maharaj to stay put for two days and continue his pleadings. Once he gets the go-ahead, which we can deduce to be around the evening of 24th February, Tulsi Maharaj is fully occupied heart and soul in the preparations of Sri Ramakrishna Birth Anniversary Celebrations around 2nd March and for Mother’s stay some days after that.
We can be sure that Mother heard from Swami Vishuddhananda about her son Tulsi’s proposed tour in Kerala just before he was to start it and also about the great devotion to Sri Ramakrishna shown by people there from Tulsi Maharaj’s own mouth. There is no doubt whatsoever that Mother blessed the devotees of Kerala on both the occasions.
We can derive all these conclusions, as we are directly informed by a letter dt. 31 March 1911, from Swami Nirmalananda to a devotee in Haripad that he could not write to him after his return from Kerala, because he was busy going to Madras and invoking Mother’s presence in Bangalore and later with serving her and that he would be away for more than a month as he would be accompanying her up to Calcutta.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Ramakrishna Movement in Kerala - Leading up to 1911
Jayatu Ramakrishna Keralam!
This is the story of a phenomenon within phenomenon; this – the story of how God made a land Her Own.
She likes it if I call Her Ramakrishna–Sarada. She is all the more pleased if I just call her Ramakrishna.
So this is what I will try to tell you: how Ramakrishna made Kerala her special abode. And let me use the understandable ‘he’ for Ramakrishna and ‘she’ for Sarada.
Like some readers do with a book, we can start reading this running book spread over time and space at any date. We look back if we want or jump ahead if fancy likes a leap.
We begin with 18th February of the year 1911, a hundred years back from today which is February 18, 2011.
Seventy-five years still earlier, on this date, in a village situated amongst vast, verdant rice fields, at the banks of large tanks, under the coolness of great, shade giving fruit trees, amidst a composite community made of beautifully and symmetrically woven strands of many micro communes, God chose to confine himself into the body of a human baby.
Sri Ramakrishna was born on Thursday, 18th February 1836 some minutes before the Sunrise.
The Sun had a good day on that day. He could glimpse at baby Ramakrishna as he was just opening his red eyes.
18th February 1911 might not be the birthday of Ramakrishna Keralam.
But yes, this is the day when it choose to make its first bright appearance in the middle of ‘rice-field’ (Ari+pad=Haripad) in the hearts of devotees as they saw and heard Swami Nirmalananda of the Ramakrishna Mission.
What did the devotees see in Haripad on 18th February 1911? What did they hear? What filled their ears and emerged as ecstatic tears? What was in the air? What possessed Swami Nirmalananda which went on to catch the lookers and the listeners? What was that pure joy which so palpably hovered over them and at the opportune moment entered into them?
Whose effortless grace, kick started the whole phenomenon within phenomenon?
No, it was not a kick which started it. It was the soft treads of Sarada that silently ignited it.
Mother Sarada reached Madras on Feb. 11, 1911 and stayed for a month.
Swami Nirmalananda came to Ernakulam on 15th February. After a night each in Ernakulam and Alleppey he reached Haripad on the 17th. After a few days there he went south to Quilon and made his return journey.
Holy Mother started for Rameshwaram on March 11, 1911.
She returned to Madras on the 15th and started for Bangalore on the 23rd.
She stayed there for three days. After showering benediction on Swami Ramakrishnananda, Swami Nirmalananda and devotees, she returned to Calcutta on April 11 by way of Madras and Rajamundry.
We suggest, judging from the spread of Ramakrishna Bhava that burst forth then and continued for the next quarter century and even up to half a century, that it was not for nothing that Mother Sarada chose to base herself for this long period in Madras, visit Rameshwaram and Madurai, return and then climb a hillock within the grounds of the `Ramakrishna Kerala Mission’ in Bangalore and cast her graceful glance at Kerala which lay in her south-western horizon.
What do we do with these dates?
We munch them. As we chew upon them we find that these dates have the sweetest of nectars hidden well inside them.
During the course of these days, at times a mere sight of Mother Sarada changed people’s lives. In this period sometimes, casual words from Swami Nirmalananda, even when heard at random, entered into somebody’s heart and lasted till his last breath.
The flow of that river of Ramakrishna Bhava which was set in motion in South has not ceased now. It presents a great picture in AndhraPradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka and even in Goa.
In Kerala the `out’ flow has been dammed and so seepage happens which has resulted in a large `in’ flow now. The river Sarada has somehow shied away, gone underground and is flowing now as the Saraswati.
Here we are trying to persuade her to come out and flow freely again. We sing her praises, as much as it lies within our modest means.
Sarada sent an innocuous request to her father in Jayarambati that she would like to go to Calcutta for a dip in Ganga on a particular auspicious date. We well know what followed.
So, so, casually Mother Sarada slipped in a word that she would like to go to Rameshwaram as her father in law had done many years earlier. We are trying to find out what followed.
What we do know is that an auspicious `grace laden vessel’ started from Orissa, that as it reached the South the multitude who entered it, received benedictions of palpable bliss and fearlessness.
A veritable Abhaya Kalpataru.
We need to try to understand something of Kerala if we wish to grasp what the Holy Mother and Swami Nirmalananda were doing in 1911.
In Kerala with its ancient mountains on the east and Arabian sea on the west, with their deep and swift rivers merrily dancing their way down into the sea, with pleasant moderate climate most of the time at most of the places, the great sea choosing to come in and getting itself land locked into picturesque back waters, where on the whole ‘every prospect’ did indeed please, one thing was amiss. ‘Man’ though not `vile’ was behaving queerly.
We will be touching upon many curious customs of the ‘natives’ when necessary.
We need to look at only one of them now, viz. the silent, relentless, grinding tyranny of the degenerate caste system.
The absurdities prevalent then could provide interesting snippets for any ‘believe it or not’ section in a popular magazine.
An oft-quote from Swami Vivekananda:
The poor Pariah is not allowed to pass through the same street as the high-caste man, but if he changes his name to a hodge-podge English name, it is all right; or to a Mohammedan name, it is all right. What inference would you draw except that these Malabaris are all lunatics, their homes so many lunatic asylums, and that they are to be treated with derision by every race in India until they mend their ways. Shame upon them that such wicked and diabolical customs are allowed; their own children are allowed to die of starvation, but as soon as they take up some other religion they are well fed.
In 1911 South India had been the main place of action for the Ramakrishna Mission.
In the Mission’s first General Report in 1912, Swami Saradananda informs first that ‘The atmosphere of the country having been grievously disturbed by political complications, we had to give up organising lectures among the public during the last six or seven years’ and again under the heading ‘Occasional Preaching done since 1897’ elaborates:
We may… remark here that owing to the sudden outburst of public enthusiasm in favour of a political nationalism and the consequent perturbed and perverted state of the public atmosphere, preaching in public had practically to be stopped in Northern India … In South India, however, the Madras and Bangalore centres have all along had to do every year some preaching in public. And we have seen before how the preaching tours of the Swamis in charge of those centres of the Mission have largely contributed to keep up the propaganda in many parts of South India’.
And Madras had been held to be headquarters of South India. The (General) Secretary reports under the heading ‘The Ramkrishna Home at Madras’ that `Mission centre was ... established in a building erected with funds raised for the purpose by the public of Madras and made over to the Ramkrishna Mission for its use as the South India head-quarters. According to the present year’s report from this South India Branch of the Mission, the missionary work here mainly consists in religious classes and discourses held in the Math and various other places.’
This unswerving Ramakrishna Bhakti of the devotees in South opened the flood gates of Mother’s grace.
Let us get back to Haripad of 18 Feb. 1911.
Something momentous was astir that day. Let us try to get a general picture.
Swami Nirmalananda spoke on this 75th Birthday celebration of Sri Ramakrishna in a meeting held by the Vedanta Society of Haripad. This was his first visit to Kerala. For the next 25 years he kept coming. Inspired by him, about fifty people became sannyasins of the Ramakrishna Mission. About a thousand became devotees. Some twenty Ashramas were founded. The psyche of the people of Kerala was turned on its head. The most bigoted place in India became the most progressive.
There were four memorable occasions in Ramakrishna Keralam, all of which centered in Haripad, viz. the first visit of Swami Nirmalananda in 1911, the opening of the new ashramas in 1913, visit of Swami Brahmananda in 1916 and first Sannyasa in Ramakrishna Keralam in 1923.
Swami Nirmalananda was always known for his `rare purity of character’, ability for hard working, dynamism, and knowledge of scriptures. He was not known for suffering wanton fools and petty minded people gladly. He resembled his hero Swami Vivekananda in some of his traits. We know they both shared the same Dutta title in their boyhood names.
But these characteristics which helped him play the leader and organizer role for the Mission was not in the fore front on this historic day.
It was his Guru Bhakti which just poured out of him this day.
It was as if he had been freshly given a full charge.
And we propose that exactly was the case.
Let us remember Mother Sarada staying put in Madras.
We know that Holy Mother’s eagerness to accept Swami Ramakrishnananda’s invitation to come south was conveyed to him by the end of January 1911. Swami Ramakrishnananda wrote to devotees giving them this glorious news. And we can be certain that he did not fail to communicate with Swami Nirmalananda who was his Lakshmana during Baranagore Math as well as in Alambazar Math days. He had been Swami Ramakrishnananda’s assistant for some time in Madras too. Swami Nirmalananda used to come very often to Madras for work and also to meet Swami Ramakrishnananda. So we can be equally sanguine that Swami Nirmalananda was called to Madras to help plan Mother’s South India tour.
Sri Padmanabhan Tampi (the future Swami Parananda of the Ramakrishna Mission), the President of the Vedanta Association of Haripad came to invite Swami Ramakrishnananda for the celebration of Sri Ramakrishna’s Birth Anniversary by their Association. We are informed that Swami Ramakrishnananda directed him to Swami Nirmalananda, the President of Ramakrishna Mission, Bangalore, who was in Madras Centre then. We come to know that Swami Nirmalananda’s programme was fixed up in Madras. We may presume that Swami Ramakrishnananda who was not in good health then and who was gathering all his energies for one last great offering at the feet of Holy Mother could not accept the invitation for these reasons.
We can see now that this historic invitation to Haripad was portending the Will of the Divine Mother. We feel this was how both Swami Ramakrishnananda and Swami Nirmalananda took the matter to be.
Where was Swami Nirmalananda between Feb. 11, 1911 and Feb. 14, 1911, when he started for Haripad?
This is the story of a phenomenon within phenomenon; this – the story of how God made a land Her Own.
She likes it if I call Her Ramakrishna–Sarada. She is all the more pleased if I just call her Ramakrishna.
So this is what I will try to tell you: how Ramakrishna made Kerala her special abode. And let me use the understandable ‘he’ for Ramakrishna and ‘she’ for Sarada.
Like some readers do with a book, we can start reading this running book spread over time and space at any date. We look back if we want or jump ahead if fancy likes a leap.
We begin with 18th February of the year 1911, a hundred years back from today which is February 18, 2011.
Seventy-five years still earlier, on this date, in a village situated amongst vast, verdant rice fields, at the banks of large tanks, under the coolness of great, shade giving fruit trees, amidst a composite community made of beautifully and symmetrically woven strands of many micro communes, God chose to confine himself into the body of a human baby.
Sri Ramakrishna was born on Thursday, 18th February 1836 some minutes before the Sunrise.
The Sun had a good day on that day. He could glimpse at baby Ramakrishna as he was just opening his red eyes.
18th February 1911 might not be the birthday of Ramakrishna Keralam.
But yes, this is the day when it choose to make its first bright appearance in the middle of ‘rice-field’ (Ari+pad=Haripad) in the hearts of devotees as they saw and heard Swami Nirmalananda of the Ramakrishna Mission.
What did the devotees see in Haripad on 18th February 1911? What did they hear? What filled their ears and emerged as ecstatic tears? What was in the air? What possessed Swami Nirmalananda which went on to catch the lookers and the listeners? What was that pure joy which so palpably hovered over them and at the opportune moment entered into them?
Whose effortless grace, kick started the whole phenomenon within phenomenon?
No, it was not a kick which started it. It was the soft treads of Sarada that silently ignited it.
Mother Sarada reached Madras on Feb. 11, 1911 and stayed for a month.
Swami Nirmalananda came to Ernakulam on 15th February. After a night each in Ernakulam and Alleppey he reached Haripad on the 17th. After a few days there he went south to Quilon and made his return journey.
Holy Mother started for Rameshwaram on March 11, 1911.
She returned to Madras on the 15th and started for Bangalore on the 23rd.
She stayed there for three days. After showering benediction on Swami Ramakrishnananda, Swami Nirmalananda and devotees, she returned to Calcutta on April 11 by way of Madras and Rajamundry.
We suggest, judging from the spread of Ramakrishna Bhava that burst forth then and continued for the next quarter century and even up to half a century, that it was not for nothing that Mother Sarada chose to base herself for this long period in Madras, visit Rameshwaram and Madurai, return and then climb a hillock within the grounds of the `Ramakrishna Kerala Mission’ in Bangalore and cast her graceful glance at Kerala which lay in her south-western horizon.
What do we do with these dates?
We munch them. As we chew upon them we find that these dates have the sweetest of nectars hidden well inside them.
During the course of these days, at times a mere sight of Mother Sarada changed people’s lives. In this period sometimes, casual words from Swami Nirmalananda, even when heard at random, entered into somebody’s heart and lasted till his last breath.
The flow of that river of Ramakrishna Bhava which was set in motion in South has not ceased now. It presents a great picture in AndhraPradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka and even in Goa.
In Kerala the `out’ flow has been dammed and so seepage happens which has resulted in a large `in’ flow now. The river Sarada has somehow shied away, gone underground and is flowing now as the Saraswati.
Here we are trying to persuade her to come out and flow freely again. We sing her praises, as much as it lies within our modest means.
Sarada sent an innocuous request to her father in Jayarambati that she would like to go to Calcutta for a dip in Ganga on a particular auspicious date. We well know what followed.
So, so, casually Mother Sarada slipped in a word that she would like to go to Rameshwaram as her father in law had done many years earlier. We are trying to find out what followed.
What we do know is that an auspicious `grace laden vessel’ started from Orissa, that as it reached the South the multitude who entered it, received benedictions of palpable bliss and fearlessness.
A veritable Abhaya Kalpataru.
We need to try to understand something of Kerala if we wish to grasp what the Holy Mother and Swami Nirmalananda were doing in 1911.
In Kerala with its ancient mountains on the east and Arabian sea on the west, with their deep and swift rivers merrily dancing their way down into the sea, with pleasant moderate climate most of the time at most of the places, the great sea choosing to come in and getting itself land locked into picturesque back waters, where on the whole ‘every prospect’ did indeed please, one thing was amiss. ‘Man’ though not `vile’ was behaving queerly.
We will be touching upon many curious customs of the ‘natives’ when necessary.
We need to look at only one of them now, viz. the silent, relentless, grinding tyranny of the degenerate caste system.
The absurdities prevalent then could provide interesting snippets for any ‘believe it or not’ section in a popular magazine.
An oft-quote from Swami Vivekananda:
The poor Pariah is not allowed to pass through the same street as the high-caste man, but if he changes his name to a hodge-podge English name, it is all right; or to a Mohammedan name, it is all right. What inference would you draw except that these Malabaris are all lunatics, their homes so many lunatic asylums, and that they are to be treated with derision by every race in India until they mend their ways. Shame upon them that such wicked and diabolical customs are allowed; their own children are allowed to die of starvation, but as soon as they take up some other religion they are well fed.
In 1911 South India had been the main place of action for the Ramakrishna Mission.
In the Mission’s first General Report in 1912, Swami Saradananda informs first that ‘The atmosphere of the country having been grievously disturbed by political complications, we had to give up organising lectures among the public during the last six or seven years’ and again under the heading ‘Occasional Preaching done since 1897’ elaborates:
We may… remark here that owing to the sudden outburst of public enthusiasm in favour of a political nationalism and the consequent perturbed and perverted state of the public atmosphere, preaching in public had practically to be stopped in Northern India … In South India, however, the Madras and Bangalore centres have all along had to do every year some preaching in public. And we have seen before how the preaching tours of the Swamis in charge of those centres of the Mission have largely contributed to keep up the propaganda in many parts of South India’.
And Madras had been held to be headquarters of South India. The (General) Secretary reports under the heading ‘The Ramkrishna Home at Madras’ that `Mission centre was ... established in a building erected with funds raised for the purpose by the public of Madras and made over to the Ramkrishna Mission for its use as the South India head-quarters. According to the present year’s report from this South India Branch of the Mission, the missionary work here mainly consists in religious classes and discourses held in the Math and various other places.’
This unswerving Ramakrishna Bhakti of the devotees in South opened the flood gates of Mother’s grace.
Let us get back to Haripad of 18 Feb. 1911.
Something momentous was astir that day. Let us try to get a general picture.
Swami Nirmalananda spoke on this 75th Birthday celebration of Sri Ramakrishna in a meeting held by the Vedanta Society of Haripad. This was his first visit to Kerala. For the next 25 years he kept coming. Inspired by him, about fifty people became sannyasins of the Ramakrishna Mission. About a thousand became devotees. Some twenty Ashramas were founded. The psyche of the people of Kerala was turned on its head. The most bigoted place in India became the most progressive.
There were four memorable occasions in Ramakrishna Keralam, all of which centered in Haripad, viz. the first visit of Swami Nirmalananda in 1911, the opening of the new ashramas in 1913, visit of Swami Brahmananda in 1916 and first Sannyasa in Ramakrishna Keralam in 1923.
Swami Nirmalananda was always known for his `rare purity of character’, ability for hard working, dynamism, and knowledge of scriptures. He was not known for suffering wanton fools and petty minded people gladly. He resembled his hero Swami Vivekananda in some of his traits. We know they both shared the same Dutta title in their boyhood names.
But these characteristics which helped him play the leader and organizer role for the Mission was not in the fore front on this historic day.
It was his Guru Bhakti which just poured out of him this day.
It was as if he had been freshly given a full charge.
And we propose that exactly was the case.
Let us remember Mother Sarada staying put in Madras.
We know that Holy Mother’s eagerness to accept Swami Ramakrishnananda’s invitation to come south was conveyed to him by the end of January 1911. Swami Ramakrishnananda wrote to devotees giving them this glorious news. And we can be certain that he did not fail to communicate with Swami Nirmalananda who was his Lakshmana during Baranagore Math as well as in Alambazar Math days. He had been Swami Ramakrishnananda’s assistant for some time in Madras too. Swami Nirmalananda used to come very often to Madras for work and also to meet Swami Ramakrishnananda. So we can be equally sanguine that Swami Nirmalananda was called to Madras to help plan Mother’s South India tour.
Sri Padmanabhan Tampi (the future Swami Parananda of the Ramakrishna Mission), the President of the Vedanta Association of Haripad came to invite Swami Ramakrishnananda for the celebration of Sri Ramakrishna’s Birth Anniversary by their Association. We are informed that Swami Ramakrishnananda directed him to Swami Nirmalananda, the President of Ramakrishna Mission, Bangalore, who was in Madras Centre then. We come to know that Swami Nirmalananda’s programme was fixed up in Madras. We may presume that Swami Ramakrishnananda who was not in good health then and who was gathering all his energies for one last great offering at the feet of Holy Mother could not accept the invitation for these reasons.
We can see now that this historic invitation to Haripad was portending the Will of the Divine Mother. We feel this was how both Swami Ramakrishnananda and Swami Nirmalananda took the matter to be.
Where was Swami Nirmalananda between Feb. 11, 1911 and Feb. 14, 1911, when he started for Haripad?
How they prepared for the 75th Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna's Advent
In 1908, which they thought to be the 75th year, there was at Belur Math a ‘huge concourse of people ... numbering about twelve thousand’, which was `mostly composed of gentlemen who came to pay their respects to the hallowed memory of the great Avatara of the age’ who `went back to their homes in the evening having breathed a singularly spiritual atmosphere’, which we are told `rarely falls to their lot, amidst the many inevitably distracting occupations of their daily life’. We are informed that the Prasad was distributed to more than 6000 people and that `The ceremony was also observed in the Kankurgachi Yogadyan, and subsequently by many Bhaktas in their private houses, on which occasions the Sannyasin and house-holder disciples congregated together and passed the days in joyous devotion, ending with sumptuous feasts served by their hosts’.
In Madras
`a marked spirit of enthusiasm pervaded the celebration of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna’s Birthday’. Boys of the Students’ Home chanted Taittiriya Upanishad and `Swami Ramakrishnananda conducted the morning puja, the sacred birth-hour service and the evening worship and at night the Prasad was distributed’`… and on the day of public celebration on Sunday, the 8th March the feeding of the poor had begun at a large market on the other side of Mylapore and during the day between six and seven thousand were fed’. There was a musical discourse which was listened to with `rapt attention’ and thoughtful, formal lectures as well as an `extemporaneous lecture which had not only the grace of exceptional learning and eloquence but the ring of true inspiration’ by some of the `most learned scholars of Madras’.
The feeding of the poor, musical discourse which was listened to with rapt attention, well appreciated formal lectures together with an extemporaneous lecture graced with exceptional learning and eloquence and true inspiration by scholars in Madras bears an interesting comparison with the singers and Sankirtan parties, feasts and distribution of Prasad which enlivened and contributed to the joyousness and sanctity of the day, as on similar occasions in the previous years in Belur Math.
We may call these happenings as an appetizer for the momentous events of 1911-1912.
1908 report continues that, ‘this is the first time that the anniversary was made an occasion for public celebration at the Orphanage by Swami Akhandananda. And it passed off in a way surpassing the expectations of the initiators. About I300 poor people were fed, and many gentlemen partook of Prasad’. Reports of celebrations from Benares, Dacca, Nagpur and Vaniambadi (precursor to present Nattarampalli) are also available.
Come 1909, we get detailed reports of celebrations in Belur Math. The Madras report says, `The Madras Centre … under the energetic direction of Swami Ramakrishnanandaji, is one of those where the birthday of Sri Ramakrishna Deva is always celebrated with special enthusiasm but this year, owing to the presence of His Holiness, Swami Brahmanandaji … the observance of the anniversary was more than usually impressive. The private celebration on the birthday proper, Feb. 22nd, assumed almost the proportions of a public function, so many friends gathered at the Math during the day, especially at the time of Homa at 4 o'clock, after which a generous collation was served.. and until after midnight there was sacred singing and dancing.’
There is a notable addition in the narration of Sri Ramakrishna’s Birthday Anniversary Celebrations in 1909:
This is the first year in which the anniversary was celebrated at the birthplace of Sri Ramakrishna in the village of Kamarpukur on the 13th of March last, and some devotees from Calcutta made a pilgrimage to the Home of the Divine Teacher and its holy surroundings. Several local Sankirtan parties attended, and hundreds of the village people were sumptuously fed.
The Report of 1909 then mentions in brief about Celebrations in Murshidabad, Benares, Dacca, Nagpur and Kankhal.
The 1910 Sri Ramakrishna’s Birthday Festival report says, `The 77th birthday anniversary of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna was celebrated at the Belur Math on the 13th March… This year the tithi-puja day fortunately turned out to be a Sunday… This made the day a festival in itself. During the day, special puja ceremonies were gone through by the Swamis Sivananda and Suddhananda, in accordance with strict Shastric rites. The Bhaktas who numbered about a thousand, enjoyed themselves with devotional songs sung by connoisseurs in music, and were sumptuously served with various kinds of Prasadam.… The presence of our revered President Sri Swami Brahmanandaji was a further incentive to the general joyousness. The Rama-nama-Sankirtanan which he introduced on the occasion, charmed many feeling hearts with its recital; it is a skillful presentation, in a nutshell, of the whole of Sri Ramachandra's hallowed career, in simple Sanskrit metres, which can be easily sung in a chorus with the accompaniment of musical instruments. Among the musicians present was a gentleman who showed the very acme of his art in playing on the guitar’
1910 Report continues with the detailed narration of all the events of the great day:
At dead of night amid universal hush, the worship of Mother Kali was performed and the Homa with its oblations poured into the sacred fire with appropriate Mantrams, terminated the holy rites of the occasion. The celebration on the 20th surpassed all previous ones in grandeur and enthusiasm owing mainly to the much larger number of people attending it this year. The steamer and boat service between Belur and Calcutta was constant. The gathering must have been not less than fifty thousand in all. This increase in number shows that Bengal is coming to know more and more of Sri Ramakrishna and take greater interest in his life and teachings. The numberless diversity of creed among the musical parties assembled was a fit tribute to the memory of One who was the embodied synthesis of all religions. The spacious kitchen-shed had been all astir since the day and the night before, with preparations for Prasadam in huge quantities. Excellent arrangements were made this year, by a sturdy band of Bhaktas numbering 400, for its distribution which turned out to be a grand success. They were in charge of almost all the camps where prasada &c... were freely distributed to the visitors. The various
Sankirtana parties sang with great re1igious fervour, going round from place to place, and several concert parties showed admirable skill in playing music; while the noted Kali-Kirtan party of Andul, and the 'Rama-nama- Sankirtanam organised by the members of the Math were much appreciated. All these, one after another, were the centres of animated gatherings.
The detailed report of the Celebration of Sri Ramakrishna’s Birthday in Belur Math continues:
Sri Ramakrishna's life-size portrait, beneath a large durbar-tent looked exceedingly imposing, being beautifully decorated with flowers and foliage &c., by the Calcutta florist Sj. Sital Chandra Bose. Besides, the painting itself was so life-like and inspiring, that a glance at it "untwists all the chains that tie the hidden soul of harmony." Throughout the day the spacious lawn was literally packed with people who walked to and fro to enjoy all the different entertainments, and have their share of the Prasadam and sherbet. One noticeable feature was the Tarja, a metrical competition, often impromptu, between two parties, on Pouranic subjects, and in strict conformity to decorum. The serene faces of the Swamis shone welcome to the assembled people, and as the sun went down, the festivities came to a close amidst shouts of `Jai Guru Maharaj ki jai’ and `Jai Swamiji Maharaj ki jai.' A large number of beggars were also fed.
We are beginning to find the reports are getting more and more ardent and ecstatic. We see that the reporters are amazed by the influx of people answering to the invitation. The fervour of the multitude enthuses the inmates of the Math too. It sinks in that the real call to celebrate and imbibe the joy at the event of the arrival of Sri Ramakrishna had been issued by Sri Ramakrishna himself from the top of the Dakshineswar kuthibari. The formal invitations and announcements duly made by Ramakrishna Mission are at most nimitta matram. The monks begin to see the play of Sri Ramakrishna in the Celebrations.
The Report of Sri Ramakrishna Birthday Anniversary Celebrations in 1910 at Belur Math concludes:
One is perplexed to account for this huge concourse, and the voluntary assemblage of so many amateur musical and kirtan parties to celebrate the day. The answer is to be sought for in the irresistible attraction and inspiring influence which realised souls exert upon all. However private might have been their lives, their thoughts are irresistible and never fail to spread. Consciously or unconsciously people are drawn to them. Impressed with the spiritual significance of the occasion, sons of the highest classes, casting aside their pride, openly joined with their brothers of the humble rank to share in glorifying the one who brought back, for once, the old India of Realisations, to the sceptic gaze of the modern world. And Sri Ramakrishna was Love personified. It is no wonder, then, that His birthday, wherever celebrated, will be the occasion of religious upheaval, bearing his message of Love and Renunciation.
In Madras there was usual marked enthusiasm and rejoicing. In the morning there was a very grand Bhajana …. Many joined... about 7,000 poor people of all classes were fed. A number of boys belonging to respectable and well to-do Brahman families took part in the service.
There is a popular Harikatha recital and two lectures from which we get extensive excerpts.
Report of Celebrations in Bangalore starts appearing. Celebrations in Kankhal and Banares are briefly mentioned.
The report closes thus:
We have also received reports from various other centres of the Ramakrishna Mission at which the birthday anniversary was observed with much devotion and enthusiasm.
We now enter 1911…
In Madras
`a marked spirit of enthusiasm pervaded the celebration of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna’s Birthday’. Boys of the Students’ Home chanted Taittiriya Upanishad and `Swami Ramakrishnananda conducted the morning puja, the sacred birth-hour service and the evening worship and at night the Prasad was distributed’`… and on the day of public celebration on Sunday, the 8th March the feeding of the poor had begun at a large market on the other side of Mylapore and during the day between six and seven thousand were fed’. There was a musical discourse which was listened to with `rapt attention’ and thoughtful, formal lectures as well as an `extemporaneous lecture which had not only the grace of exceptional learning and eloquence but the ring of true inspiration’ by some of the `most learned scholars of Madras’.
The feeding of the poor, musical discourse which was listened to with rapt attention, well appreciated formal lectures together with an extemporaneous lecture graced with exceptional learning and eloquence and true inspiration by scholars in Madras bears an interesting comparison with the singers and Sankirtan parties, feasts and distribution of Prasad which enlivened and contributed to the joyousness and sanctity of the day, as on similar occasions in the previous years in Belur Math.
We may call these happenings as an appetizer for the momentous events of 1911-1912.
1908 report continues that, ‘this is the first time that the anniversary was made an occasion for public celebration at the Orphanage by Swami Akhandananda. And it passed off in a way surpassing the expectations of the initiators. About I300 poor people were fed, and many gentlemen partook of Prasad’. Reports of celebrations from Benares, Dacca, Nagpur and Vaniambadi (precursor to present Nattarampalli) are also available.
Come 1909, we get detailed reports of celebrations in Belur Math. The Madras report says, `The Madras Centre … under the energetic direction of Swami Ramakrishnanandaji, is one of those where the birthday of Sri Ramakrishna Deva is always celebrated with special enthusiasm but this year, owing to the presence of His Holiness, Swami Brahmanandaji … the observance of the anniversary was more than usually impressive. The private celebration on the birthday proper, Feb. 22nd, assumed almost the proportions of a public function, so many friends gathered at the Math during the day, especially at the time of Homa at 4 o'clock, after which a generous collation was served.. and until after midnight there was sacred singing and dancing.’
There is a notable addition in the narration of Sri Ramakrishna’s Birthday Anniversary Celebrations in 1909:
This is the first year in which the anniversary was celebrated at the birthplace of Sri Ramakrishna in the village of Kamarpukur on the 13th of March last, and some devotees from Calcutta made a pilgrimage to the Home of the Divine Teacher and its holy surroundings. Several local Sankirtan parties attended, and hundreds of the village people were sumptuously fed.
The Report of 1909 then mentions in brief about Celebrations in Murshidabad, Benares, Dacca, Nagpur and Kankhal.
The 1910 Sri Ramakrishna’s Birthday Festival report says, `The 77th birthday anniversary of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna was celebrated at the Belur Math on the 13th March… This year the tithi-puja day fortunately turned out to be a Sunday… This made the day a festival in itself. During the day, special puja ceremonies were gone through by the Swamis Sivananda and Suddhananda, in accordance with strict Shastric rites. The Bhaktas who numbered about a thousand, enjoyed themselves with devotional songs sung by connoisseurs in music, and were sumptuously served with various kinds of Prasadam.… The presence of our revered President Sri Swami Brahmanandaji was a further incentive to the general joyousness. The Rama-nama-Sankirtanan which he introduced on the occasion, charmed many feeling hearts with its recital; it is a skillful presentation, in a nutshell, of the whole of Sri Ramachandra's hallowed career, in simple Sanskrit metres, which can be easily sung in a chorus with the accompaniment of musical instruments. Among the musicians present was a gentleman who showed the very acme of his art in playing on the guitar’
1910 Report continues with the detailed narration of all the events of the great day:
At dead of night amid universal hush, the worship of Mother Kali was performed and the Homa with its oblations poured into the sacred fire with appropriate Mantrams, terminated the holy rites of the occasion. The celebration on the 20th surpassed all previous ones in grandeur and enthusiasm owing mainly to the much larger number of people attending it this year. The steamer and boat service between Belur and Calcutta was constant. The gathering must have been not less than fifty thousand in all. This increase in number shows that Bengal is coming to know more and more of Sri Ramakrishna and take greater interest in his life and teachings. The numberless diversity of creed among the musical parties assembled was a fit tribute to the memory of One who was the embodied synthesis of all religions. The spacious kitchen-shed had been all astir since the day and the night before, with preparations for Prasadam in huge quantities. Excellent arrangements were made this year, by a sturdy band of Bhaktas numbering 400, for its distribution which turned out to be a grand success. They were in charge of almost all the camps where prasada &c... were freely distributed to the visitors. The various
Sankirtana parties sang with great re1igious fervour, going round from place to place, and several concert parties showed admirable skill in playing music; while the noted Kali-Kirtan party of Andul, and the 'Rama-nama- Sankirtanam organised by the members of the Math were much appreciated. All these, one after another, were the centres of animated gatherings.
The detailed report of the Celebration of Sri Ramakrishna’s Birthday in Belur Math continues:
Sri Ramakrishna's life-size portrait, beneath a large durbar-tent looked exceedingly imposing, being beautifully decorated with flowers and foliage &c., by the Calcutta florist Sj. Sital Chandra Bose. Besides, the painting itself was so life-like and inspiring, that a glance at it "untwists all the chains that tie the hidden soul of harmony." Throughout the day the spacious lawn was literally packed with people who walked to and fro to enjoy all the different entertainments, and have their share of the Prasadam and sherbet. One noticeable feature was the Tarja, a metrical competition, often impromptu, between two parties, on Pouranic subjects, and in strict conformity to decorum. The serene faces of the Swamis shone welcome to the assembled people, and as the sun went down, the festivities came to a close amidst shouts of `Jai Guru Maharaj ki jai’ and `Jai Swamiji Maharaj ki jai.' A large number of beggars were also fed.
We are beginning to find the reports are getting more and more ardent and ecstatic. We see that the reporters are amazed by the influx of people answering to the invitation. The fervour of the multitude enthuses the inmates of the Math too. It sinks in that the real call to celebrate and imbibe the joy at the event of the arrival of Sri Ramakrishna had been issued by Sri Ramakrishna himself from the top of the Dakshineswar kuthibari. The formal invitations and announcements duly made by Ramakrishna Mission are at most nimitta matram. The monks begin to see the play of Sri Ramakrishna in the Celebrations.
The Report of Sri Ramakrishna Birthday Anniversary Celebrations in 1910 at Belur Math concludes:
One is perplexed to account for this huge concourse, and the voluntary assemblage of so many amateur musical and kirtan parties to celebrate the day. The answer is to be sought for in the irresistible attraction and inspiring influence which realised souls exert upon all. However private might have been their lives, their thoughts are irresistible and never fail to spread. Consciously or unconsciously people are drawn to them. Impressed with the spiritual significance of the occasion, sons of the highest classes, casting aside their pride, openly joined with their brothers of the humble rank to share in glorifying the one who brought back, for once, the old India of Realisations, to the sceptic gaze of the modern world. And Sri Ramakrishna was Love personified. It is no wonder, then, that His birthday, wherever celebrated, will be the occasion of religious upheaval, bearing his message of Love and Renunciation.
In Madras there was usual marked enthusiasm and rejoicing. In the morning there was a very grand Bhajana …. Many joined... about 7,000 poor people of all classes were fed. A number of boys belonging to respectable and well to-do Brahman families took part in the service.
There is a popular Harikatha recital and two lectures from which we get extensive excerpts.
Report of Celebrations in Bangalore starts appearing. Celebrations in Kankhal and Banares are briefly mentioned.
The report closes thus:
We have also received reports from various other centres of the Ramakrishna Mission at which the birthday anniversary was observed with much devotion and enthusiasm.
We now enter 1911…
Monday, April 18, 2011
Holy Mother Sarada inaugurates the 75th Birth Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna in South India
Our Dearest Ma,
You know what is in my mind. Still you like to hear me prattle. It amuses you seeing me fooling around with words. You like it when after fiddling around for some time I manage to pick up a train of argument (which I think to be) making some sense. Well, of course you have known it all along even before I started mumbling. But since you want it this way, since you seem to want to know what I think about it,
Here am I presenting to you,
A report of
The great events that happened around
The 75th Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna’s Advent
This report is late by one hundred years. It seems everybody had missed it. There had been piecemeal reports of stray events. But this is the first report of the great occasion as a whole.
I am primarily reporting to you. But I think you would like me to show it to all of yours down here with me. So I will be passing it along.
Let me outline it first.
They thought it was in 1908, this 75th Anniversary. They had joy celebrating it but compared to the bliss that followed in 1911, this was but, meager.
Then you blessed and vivified the Movement by your movement. You went to Kothar; you travelled to Madras, and from there, Rameswaram and Madurai. You then went to Bangalore, had a bath in Godavari, did Jagannath Darshan and came back to Calcutta. In between you blessed Kerala from a little afar.
You crowned this 75th Shukla Dwitiya by being Akshaya Trithiya in Belur Math in May 1911.
Announcement
We have been privately celebrating the Centenary of Holy Mother's Travel to Orissa and South India. We have found it very fruitful to tour with Mother. The first Prasada (fruits) of that travel follows:
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