Book Reviews

Book Reviews

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The Vedant a Kesari, publishers need to send us two copies of their latest publication. Uniqueness of the Ramakrishna Incarnation and Other Essyas. By Swami Bhuteshananda. Edited and Translated by Swami Vimohananda. Published by Advaita Ashrama, 5, Dehi Entally

Road, Kolkata-700 014. Email:. mail@advaitaashrama.org; 2018, Hard cover, pp.520.Rs.300. T his brilliant volume contains the writings and speeches of Swami Bhuteshananda, the twelfth President of the Ramakrishna Order, who was a great sannyasi, thinker, and speaker. As the title suggests, it brings out the special features of Sri Ramakrishna which makes him so different and so contemporary. The first part of the book consists of ten essays delivered at various times in different parts of the country. Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings, his words as well as his deeds are so profound that we need insightful interpretations in order to fully internalise, or even attempt to internalise, their profundities. There is the danger reading and understanding the words of Sri Ramakrishna or the Holy Mother in a very superficial manner because the language they use is so simple and down-to-earth. So what was the message that Sri Ramakrishna gave and Swami Vivekananda interpreted and made known to the whole world? Take for example the idea of improving oneself, which sounds commonplace. It sounds far easier to comprehend than complex passages from most religious texts. Swami Vivekananda interprets this for us: stop being selfish, he says. This one correction will set our world aright and we can then proceed to do our bit. Now here comes the crunch - it requires not tolerance, a word almost synonymous with patronage, but it involves true respect. Losing selfishness means gaining respect for others, their beliefs, systems, ways of living. That one elementary change requires a complete shift in our thinking process, thereby revealing the depth of this one message. The first two essays are full of weighty teachings within teachings. In the first essay, Swami Bhuteshananda has gone into the very heart of Sri Ramakrishna’s avatara, with an explanation of the concept of the avatara and their manifestations. Swami Vivekananda asserted that Sri Ramakrishna could never be understood by the spoken or written word. Swami Bhuteshananda, too, examines the specialty of the Ramakrishna incarnation with a detailed examination of his sadhanas and attainments. The second essay explores the message of Sri Ramakrishna, which is different for each individual according to personal mental and spiritual capacities. Swami Bhuteshananda has presented Sri Ramakrishna for the average devotee or follower. An illustration of this is the idea of renunciation. The writer asks: How can a person in the world renounce? Is she or he just to drop everything and run away from personal and professional responsibilities? No. The person has to practice mental renunciation (perhaps the more difficult to achieve of the two). Thus, the first part is a very comprehensive examination of Sri Ramakrishna and his greatest disciple to whom he made over all his powers just before entering into mahasamadhi. The

section concludes with an essay on making Sri Ramakrishna one’s very own, a great and moving exposition on personalising Sri Ramakrishna as part of one’s life. The second part of the volume highlights the place of Vedanta as a body of beliefs in individual lives. Swami Bhuteshananda calls Vedanta the gospel of strength. The core practicalities he talks about are issues we grapple with in our daily lives: the goal of life, realising God, overcoming suffering, religious practice. In doing this, he naturally addresses the obstacles common to our spiritual journeys. How do we pursue ordinary day-to day spiritual lives, how to bring religion into our demanding but stultified lives, what is the connection between religion and spirituality, how to imbue our lives with a feeling of discovery born out of a search for knowledge — these are some of the concerns that most of us have in our spiritual quests which Swami Bhuteshananda addresses. ‘Religion,’ says Swami Bhuteshananda, ‘does not mean only rites, rituals and dogmas. It should help in the blossoming out of all that is good in a person.’ (pg.280) and again, ‘It must accommodate itself to everybody.’ (pg.280) This section is followed by miscellaneous essays: commentaries on Sri Shankaracharya, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Thoughts on Literature, which defines good reading and contains valuable recommendations and suggestions.

The last of the sub-sections, entitled Reminiscences, makes for delightful reading. Swami Bhuteshananda brings out the love, kindness, tenderness, yet the stern discipline of the seven direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna who were instrumental in moulding Swami Bhuteshananda. Reading it one is taken back into the magic worlds of Belur Math, Udbodhan (the residence of the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi) and all the places in which these stalwarts lived, stayed or visited. This is followed by a chapter on Early Days at Belur Math, describing the veritable heaven it was (and is) with all its associations. His narration of the simple yet rigorous life at the turn of the 20 th century is illustrative of the tough but worthy life at the Math.

The volume concludes with Questions and Answers, with queries and doubts that arise in every mind which tries to follow the spiritual path and is given expert treatment by this great monk who as the Introduction to book says ‘was loved and revered for his profound learning, loving heart and, above all, his spiritual accomplishments’ (pg. 3). We owe a great debt of gratitude to Swami Vimohananda, the editor and translator of this classic. As the editor, his arrangement of the essays is very well thought out. Beginning with the essay (which gives the book its title) on the Uniqueness of the Ramakrishna Incarnation, followed by Sri Ramakrishna’s message it dovetails into the larger contexts of Sri Ramakrishna, and then to Swami Vivekananda, who did two great things among others for future generations. First, he interpreted Sri Ramakrishna for us and second, he took Vedanta to the West. Which of these tasks was the greater is impossible to estimate. Beautifully and sensitively handled, the translation from the Bengali of the speeches and writings of the great Swami Bhuteshananda surely retain the magnitude of the original and gifts us the joy and satisfaction of being able to ‘know’ the words of the great teacher, writer, thinker and speaker that Swami Bhuteshananda surely was. ____________________________ PREMA RAGHUNATH, CHENNAI

A Light to the West by Pravrajika Anandaprana Published by Vedanta Society o f S o u t h e r n C a l i f o r n i a , 1 9 4 6 , V e d a n t a P l a c e , Hollywood,California 90068- 3996, USA.2016, paperback, pp.175. $10.95. T his book is a biographical n a r r a t i v e o f S w a m i Prabhavananda, an illustrious disciple of Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj.

For many years, the author had noted Prabhavanandaji’s public conversations and private teachings, and these are made available now through this book. Prabhavanandaji (1893 - 1976) was a pioneer in guiding the Vedanta Movement in Southern California for more than four decades and attracted many genuine aspirants towards Vedanta. The author reveals the loving character of an inspired spiritual leader, who motivated people to live a higher life by the power of Sri Ramakrishna’s message. Prabhavanandaji had the great fortune to meet Sri Sarada Devi and also had intimate association with his guru Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj and other direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. The first section of the book is replete with anecdotes and stories from his childhood and college days, his days at Belur Math monastery in association with direct disciples, his piligrimage to Kedarnath and Badrinath and his sweet memories with Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj at Madras Math. These are presented in a lucid and profound manner for the pragmatic present generation of readers. The important incidents associated with direct disciples which are lesser known have been recorded in great detail. ‘The Lord is dwelling in you. Learn to dwell in Him’ is one of the inspiring statements in second section of book titled ‘In the Swami’s Own Words ‘. Although the statements are in the form of personal sayings, they are focused to nurture the spiritual life of devotees. The sayings cover topics like meditation, spiritual ideals, spiritual practice and renunciation. The book also includes 14 photographs taken at different stages of his life. _________________________ TAPOYAJNANANDA, PONNAMPET

Essentials of Hinduism—A Practice Guide by G.S. Nilakantan. Published by Giri Trading Agency Pvt. Ltd, 372/1, Mangadu Pattur Koot Road, Mangadu, Chennai - 600 122. Email: sales@giri.in, 2016, paperback, pp 400, Rs.350.$25 A s the title suggests, this is an all-purpose guide to practical Hinduism and is systematically organised for easy understanding and reference. Comprising 46 chapters, the book examines the suktas, prayers, rituals, the epics, the Bhagavad Gita and the Puranas, to name only a few, and explains the significance underlying each. The author’s stated purpose in writing the book is to help everyone, particularly those in their sunset years, discover the true aim of human life which, as Sri Ramakrishna always said, is to realise God. Well produced, scholarly and yet easily readable, this book is a welcome addition to the books that help common readers acquire a deeper knowledge of the different facets of Hinduism and lead a more meaningful life. ____________________________ PREMA RAGHUNATH, CHENNAI

Mother-worship is a distinct philosophy in itself. Power is the first of our ideas. It impinges upon man at every step; power felt within is the soul; without, nature. And the battle between the two makes human life. All that we know or feel is but the resultant of these two forces. Man saw that the sun shines on the good and evil alike. Here was a new idea of God, as the Universal Power behind all — the Mother-idea was born. …Mother, again, is the impartial energy of the universe, because of the colourless love that asks not, desires not, cares not for the evil in her child, but loves him the more. And today Mother-worship is the worship of all the highest classes amongst the Hindus. — The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 8: 252

Swami Vijnanananda and the Ramakrishna Order

gripped Harprasanna’s arms and looked at him intently with an intriguing smile. Hariprasanna, overcome by some mysterious power entering his body from the Master’s person, sat down on the ground losing all strength to move. It was then that the Master released his arms and smiling in the same intriguing manner asked, ‘So, you have defeated me. Is it not?’

Vijnananandaji later reminisced: ‘With those words he sat down on his cot again. I was speechless. Wave after wave of bliss engulfed my whole being. I was pondering the fact that the Master had not won physically but his spiritual power had completely subdued me. Some time passed. Then the Master got up from his seat and patting me gently on the back said, “Come here often. It is not enough to come once.” ... for days the spell of that intoxicating joy lingered, and I realised that he had transmitted spiritual power to me.’ In later years when sannyasis and novices would request him often to tell the story, Vijnananandaji would readily agree. The inevitable question that would follow was: ‘Maharaj, who won that day?’ And Vijnananandaji’s profound reply would be: ‘Surely the Master won. The general rule in a combat is that the vanquished has to be a slave of the victor. Since that incident, I have become a slave of the Master.’

When Hariprasanna’s mother came to know of his visit to the Master, she scolded him: ‘You went to that crazy Brahmin! He has deranged the brains of three hundred and fifty young men!’ Referring to this Vijnananandaji would later say: ‘It was indeed mental derangement! Even now my brain is hot!’ Paying no heed to his mother’s scolding, Hariprasanna visited the Master at Dakshineswar temple garden several times,

Swami Vijnanananda

once or twice even staying back overnight. His experience on the night he spent at Dakshineswar for the first time was this: The Master himself made a bed for him and set the mosquito curtain. At midnight Hariprasanna found the Master walking around his bed repeating Divine Mother’s name. A boy of fifteen as he was then, it was not possible for him to appreciate Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual moods. His immediate impression was this: ‘What the people say of him is true; he is really a madcap.’ Therefore, when the Master one day declared that he was Rama and Krishna reincarnated, Hariprasanna could not believe it at all. Nor could he believe when another day the Master said ‘When I came as Krishna, how much I played with the shepherd boys and the milkmaids in Vrindavan.’ But on that day, Sri Ramakrishna was perhaps keen to remove Hariprasanna’s wrong impressions. So, he went on describing how the milkmaids of Vrindavan gave their heart and soul to Sri Krishna,

without caring for anything in return. While speaking so, the Master’s mind gradually soared to higher planes and he entered into an ecstatic state. His divine m o o d e n c o m p a s s e d Hariprasanna also, and he became immersed in an inexplicable bliss. He then realised, for the first time, what the divine love of the gopis for Sri Krishna actually meant. All his doubts about Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual experiences, and his statements about himself were dispelled forever that day.

The Master wanted Hariprasanna to visit him more frequently. Once, when Hariprasanna did not come to Dakshineswar for a long time, the Master himself sent for him. On reaching Dakshineswar, Hariprasanna told the Master that he did not feel like coming because he was not having good meditation in spite of his sincere efforts. Hearing this, the Master with his finger drew a figure on Hariprasanna’s tongue and sent him to meditate in the Panchavati (a groove of five sacred trees in the Dakshineswar temple complex). That day Hariprasanna had a very good meditation, losing all outward consciousness. When he came back to his normal state, he found the Master sitting beside him. The Master said: ‘From now on you will always have good meditation.’

Hariprasanna, for the last time saw Sri Ramakrishna in his physical body in 1885, when the latter had just developed the symptoms of cancer. Then aged around sixteen or seventeen, Hariprasanna left for Patna to do his graduation. While studying there, one day he saw Sri Ramakrishna standing before him. He could not make out anything of that vision. But the very next day he read in a newspaper about Sri Ramakrishna’s mahasamadhi.

After graduation, Hariprasanna went to Pune to study engineering. A brilliant student, in 1892 he passed engineering securing second rank and was appointed as the District Engineer of Gazipur, which was then regarded as a very high governmental post. Apart from wrestling, Sri Ramakrishna referred to two other characteristics in Jambavan, namely astrology, and love for constructing buildings. From now on till his passing away we find these two qualities repeatedly finding expression in Vijnananandaji. In his reminiscences of Swami Vijnananandaji, Swami Nirlepananda referring to his multifarious interests and talents writes: ‘He was a B.A. of olden times and a qualified Civil Engineer. His book Surya-siddhanta, written in Bengali and dealing with both astrology and mathematics, was a text book in our M.A. course. His translation of Devi Bhagavata has made him immortal. He wrote two books on engineering subjects in Bengali – Nagaravinyasa and Payohpronali, Swami Vijnanananda With his finger, the Master drew a figure on Hariprasanna’s tongue and sent him to Panchavati for meditation.

which are considered pioneering works in Bengali in those early years of engineering education.’

The Varanasi-Gazipur Road was built under the supervision of Hariprasanna when he was the District Engineer of Gazipur. He later worked as a government engineer at Etawah, Bulandshahr, Meerut and various other places. Though he had a burning desire to renounce the world, he had to continue in the job because he had lost his father in childhood, and so it was his responsibility as the eldest son to provide for his mother and younger brother. But he always kept close contact with his brother-disciples and the new entrants of the Ramakrishna Monastery. Many of them visited him and he used to serve them with loving care, especially when they were sick. Besides, every month he donated sixty rupees to the fledgling Ramakrishna Monastery. Vijnananandaji once said, ‘When I was in service, I told Swamiji that I liked to be a sannyasi. At that time the financial condition of the Ramakrishna Monastery was not good. Every month I used to donate some amount to the monastery. Swamiji said, “If you join the monastery now, all its members will suffer. When the financial condition of the monastery will improve, I myself will inform you.”’

Swamiji returned from the West in January 1897 and arrived in Kolkata on 19 February 1897. The monastery was then at Alambazar, where it was shifted five years before, in 1892. In April 1897 Hariprasanna resigned from his job and joined the monastery. In a letter dated 20 June 1897, Swamiji wrote to Sister Nivedita (then known as Margaret Noble) from Almora: ‘One of my boys in training [at the monastery] has been an Executive Engineer, in charge of a district. That means a very big position in India. He gave it up like straw.’

While in the West, Swamiji after seeing a Christian monastery in the Alps conceived the idea of establishing a monastery in the serene environment of the Himalayas. Mr and Mrs. Seviers, taking upon themselves the onerous task of fulfilling this dream of Swamiji’s, accompanied him to India. On 1 May 1897, Swamiji established the Ramakrishna Mission at Balaram Mandir, Kolkata and on 6 th May he left for Almora. From Swamiji’s letters written to Swami Brahmananda on 30 th September and 10 October 1897, we learn that the Seviers were then frantically looking for a suitable location in and around Almora to locate the future monastery in the Himalayas, and Swamiji wanted Brahmachari Hariprasanna to immediately join them and assist in the work with his engineering experience. Relevant portions from the two letters originally written in Bengali read thus: ‘If Brahmachari Hariprasanna can come, it will be very helpful. Mr. Sevier has become very impatient about acquiring a house somewhere; it will be good if something is done quickly about it! Hariprasanna is an engineer; so he will be able to do something quickly about it. Also he

understands better about the suitability of places. ... So send Hariprasanna at once straight to Shyamapada Mukherjee, Medical Hall, Ambala Cantonment. As soon as I go down to the Punjab, I shall send Mr. Sevier along with him.’ On 10 October 1897, Swamiji again wrote to Swami Brahmananda: ‘Perhaps Hariprasanna will reach Ambala before this letter reaches you. I will send there the required advice for them... Captain Sevier says that he has been restless for a site. ...He wants two or three persons to be sent here from the monastery to select a piece of land. As soon as they select it, he will immediately go there from Murree to purchase the land and start the building. Needless to say, all expenses will be borne by him. My selection [about whom to send] is only our engineer [meaning Hariprasanna]. Send others also who understand such matters.’ Being called by Swamiji, Hariprasanna set out for Ambala along with Swami Shuddhananda on 13 October 1897. But the kind of land desired could not be found. It was only after more than a year that a suitable place was eventually found at Mayavati. But one can well understand from the aforesaid letters, Swamiji’s trust in Hariprasanna.

The Ramakrishna Monastery which was established at Baranagar in October 1886, within three months of Sri Ramakrishna’s mahasamadhi, was shifted to Alambazar in 1892. A severe earthquake in the middle of 1897 made the Alambazar monastery uninhabitable. Since then Swamiji and his brother disciples were looking for a suitable piece of land on the bank of Ganga. With Henrietta Muller promising to bear its cost, a good stretch of land on the western bank of Ganga was chosen and was booked on 3 February 1898. The land had a single storey building standing on it, and was miserably uneven, as it was previously used to build boats. To look after the renovation of the building as well as levelling the ground, the Garden House of Nilambar Mukherjee adjacent to the new site was rented and the monastery shifted to this house on 13 th February. The new piece of land was purchased on 4 March 1898. Swamiji now entrusted the remodelling of the new land to Brahmachari Hariprasanna, with Swami Advaitananda to assist him and Swami Brahmananda to supervise the overall work. Hariprasanna prepared the master plan, drawings and estimates and the work started in full swing. He first renovated the existing onestorey building and added a floor on it. When the monastery later shifted to this new site, Swamiji used to stay in the east-south corner room of the new floor till his passing away in 1902. This building would be later known, therefore, as Swamiji’s Building. Hariprasanna worked from sunrise to sunset without any respite to make the new land ready for use. It was mainly due to his untiring labour and dedication that the old building was renovated, a floor was added, a new two-storey building was built and the entire monastery ground was levelled and made habitable and accessible. The Ramakrishna Math shifted to the site permanently on 2 July 1899. Swamiji’s dream to have a permanent residence for Sri Ramakrishna on the bank of the Ganga, which had remained unfulfilled since the mahasamadhi of the Master in 1886, became a reality mainly due to the dedicated labour of Brahmachari Hariprasanna. Sister Nivedita rightly said: ‘Meaningless as would have been the Order of Ramakrishna without Vivekananda, even so futile would have been the life and labours of Vivekananda, without, behind him, his brothers of the Order of R a m a k r i s h n a .’ S w a m i j i n o w a s k e d Hariprasanna to take the formal vow of sannyasa. Accordingly, he performed Viraja homa in front of Sri Ramakrishna’s photograph and was ordained into sannyasa. His new name was Swami Vijnanananda. (To be continued. . .)