Wednesday 18 November 2009

Swami Satyanandadev by Nandita Bhattacharyya

Swami Satyanandadev

All the people of the locality got irritated with the weeping of the
child in the late night. They exclaimed with all bitterness in a half
awaken state oh why God has given this mad woman a child. She does
not even know how to take care of a baby. It seems god does not have
any reason. The child kept on crying. The mad woman pressed the child
close to her bosom and said Stop or else I would strangle you. Then
she kept the child on the road. She shouted You cry. You cry as long
as you can. Can’t you die? I want to get rid of you. Expressing all
her bitterness, she went away leaving behind the child . The helpless
child kept on weeping lying on the road alone. Suddenly there was a
sound of opening of a door. One divinely handsome saint came out of
that door with all affection in his eyes. He with a painful voice
called the servant of the house See what that mad mother has done .
She has left the child alone here on the road. Please pick the baby up
from the road. The baby was still crying. He arranged a warm bed for
the baby. The baby slept in peace. Thus the mad mother used to leave
her child like this almost everyday. She understood perhaps that there
was somebody to take care of her baby. So she used to keep her baby
near that particular door. The divine person used to take care of
that baby almost regularly. Sometimes the small child got fever and
again that same divine person used to ask his followers to pour water
on the head of the baby. He used to arrange medicine for him. Thus he
took care of the baby with all affection and brought him up.

The divine person is none other than Swami Satyananda Dev---the
preceptor of my parents. His devotees call him Thakur.
The chief value of his life was love. He loved everybody. He loved not
only the human beings, his was the love for the animals as well as for
the trees also.
Once a stray cat was roaming on the street pining. Hearing the cat
weeping as soon as Thakur came out of the temple the cat looked at
thakur with a strange look and took shelter in her feet. Thakur
immediately asked his followers what makes the cat weep? The followers
fumbled and said Thakur her kittens have been shifted because they
were creating problems for us. The face of the Thakur turned grimed.
He sat on his Asan(seat) and said go and find them out. Until and
unless you can not find those kittens I will not eat my food. Saying
these words he sat like a stone on his Asan till the kittens were
found.
He often said let me suffer all the sorrows of all the people in this
world. During the femine of 50s he opened langars in the ashram to
serve the daridranarayana. He ran this langars begging from the
others. He believed in Atmono mokshorthang jagadvtaya cha. Whoever
came to him in the Ashram he always said in a loving voice Prasad peye
jabe. (Have the Prasad before leaving). He always bore good will for
everybody even for the person who tried to harm him. This can be
illustrated from an incident. One neighbour of Suri Ashram was not
some how happy with the Ashram. He always spoke against the Ashram.
Once suddenly the house of that man caught fire. People started
shouting Fire fire. Thakur immediately instructed his followers in a
firm voice go and extinguish the fire. The devotees ran with bucketful
of water. Those who did not find buckets ran with their lottas(
)full of water. They all were shouting Hari Ramakrishna and threw
water in the fire. Thus they with the help of local people could
control the fire. And surprisingly enough the very next day the person
came and surrendered himself at the Ashram. t
Satyananda Dev was born in Lalbazar, Kolkata in a pious Brahmin
family. His father was Sri Mahendranath Mukhopadhyaya who was the then
Police Commissioner in Kolkata. He was out and out an honest person as
well as a dutiful officer. Once Basumati a famous daily of Bengal in
those days while writing about him referred to an incident which
seemed quite interesting. A boy in a house was reading now a days
lions are not available in Bengal. The father of the boy came out from
the next room and asked what did you read …lions are not available in
Bengal any more … you go to Lalbazar and you will find a lion there.
His name is Mahenranath Mukhopadhyaya… He was a gem of a man. He never
indulged in any unfair things. He was all for Satya --- The truth. And
that was the reason he named his four sons and two daughters as
Satyasadhan, Satyabrata, , Satyaniranjan, Satyabati and Satyashila.
The second son in Satyabrata of Sri Mahendranath Mukhopadhyaya has
been known as Thakur Satyananda Dev. The mother of Thakur Smt.
Kashishari Devi was also a very pious and religious lady. She at the
instance of Fakir Bilayet Ali observed hard penance at a burning ghat
of Birbhum for quite sometime. Fakir Bilayet was known as a Sidhapurus
in Birbhum district of West Bengal. He was in fact a Sufi Fakir.
People used to call him Gosai Thakur too. He guided Thakur’s mother
to perform her penance. The Fakir followed the Hindu way of penance
while guiding her. Kasisari Devi had the darshan of Ma Bhavatarini in
amabosya the newmoon day.And she got the blessings of the almighty
Mother. The Mother told her that Kashsishvari Devi would have a son
who would be a great saint. Thus Thkur was born in the year 1902. The
day was 24th February at 1.50am. Swami Abhedanada initiated him.
Swami Abhedanada wanted Thkur to take over the charge of the temple at
Darjeeling. But Thakur’s parents did not let him go there Instead they
requested Abhed Swami to allow his son to be at home and practice his
religion Accordingly he performed all the religious rites and penance
in the attic of the house at Kashipur and then in the house of Suri.
He did not sleep in those days .. He used to take a little food like
little quantity of milk, banana, boiled brinjal and ground nuts.
Though he was initiated by Swami Avedanandaji, he got his sannyas from
the Mother Bhabatarini. Herself.And it was the almighty Mother who
gave him the name Satyananda. Later Satyanada’s parents, brothers,
sisters and some other relatives took diksha from him.
He appeared in public as a sannyasi in Suri first in the year 1939.
Thakur established his Ashram at Suri in the house given by his
father. There gathered 100 sannyasis and Sannyasinis very soon. They
all together led their lives full of hard penance. They took food
just to live- that too without sugar, salt and spices. Thakur
instructed them to spend at least 6 hours a day in Jap( chanting the
name of god) and meditation. But he was never away from the suffering
masses. He taught his devotees to undertake Seva(service to People).
The Sannyasi along with their Sadhan Bhajan used to serve people who
were in need in many ways. In fact they started their service to the
community by establishing a small school for the children. Thakur
himself developed a curricululum for the students. India was under
British rule in those days. Thakur was totally against the history
forged by the British. He debunked the history which taught one to be
the slave of the system prevailing. He replaced the existing history
books with the books of biographies of the great Indians. Instead of
dry geography he taught the students geography with the help of good
travelogues. He made provisions in the curriculum so that the students
can learn maths, Dharma Shiksha, science and literature. His focus was
in fact in character building. He did not like to use any ugly words.
His was the opinion that one’s language is the expression of one’s
mind. So those who are mean inside use mean language.
Gradually he installed the foundation stone of a college in Saithia.
The college was named after Swami Avedananda. The college is still
thereand it has completed its silver jubilee. He always wanted the
young generation to come up with confidence and good wills for
everybody. He did not want them to be careerist only. His message to
the youth was if we decide to achieve something great who can stop us.
If we have confidence within us nothing can stop us. So what we need
is self realisation and self confidence. Along with these two we must
have the tenacity. Remember there is a source of eternal strength
within you. You can do anything and everything if you can make use of
your inner strength. Be like a banyan tree so that people can get
shelter in your shadow. He encouraged them to go abroad in order to
enhance their understanding and knowledge. But he wished them to serve
their motherland India. Thus he emphasized on patriotism also.
There is a special niche for the women folk in the mind of Swami
Satyanada. He said This is the era of the Mothers--- Women. A band of
Sanniasinis were there from the very beginning of the Ashram. He
adopted Archana Puri as his manas Kannya. There was one more
Sannyasini in Gita puri who was of equal importance. Thakur used to
call them Sarasvati and Laxmi respectively. All the Sannyasinis were
called as Ma (These women folk enjoyed all the facilities of observing
religious rites and penance like that of the men folk of the ashrama.
But at the same time no sannyasi wasallowed to enter the area where
these mother lived. Everybody associated with the Ashram called them
Ma. . Everyday Thakur sat with his devotees and interacted with them;
he answered the queries of the devotees. The preceptor and the
devotees discussed on many issues related to religion, philosophy
sitting together everyday. The Sannyasinis also joined those
discussion at per with the Sannyasis. Archana Ma used to present songs
in her divine voice. The others also joined her sometimes.
Thakur’s deity was a mother image in Bhavatarini. He also installed a
mother’s image called Trinayani in the Asram. Bhavatarini was his
mothere whereasTrinayanee Ma was her daughter. Trinayanee Ma in fact
sprang from Thakur’s imagination. Thakur always gave special
importance to female education. Some of the Ma-s joined the ashram
when they were 10/12 years of age. Most of them did not have the
opportunity to go to schools because in those days girls seldom went
to school. Naturally Thakur had to teach them. Thakur groomed these
small girls in his own way. They wrote songs, poetry. Some of them
translated the scriptures into Bengali from the original which were
written in Sanskrit. Thakur made sufficient space for them so that
they could grow with all their abundance.
These Ma-s used to take care of the Gopalji who is one of the major
deities worshipped in the ashram still now. Some of his followers
called him Ma also.

Thakur wrote a good number of books. His major works are on World
philosophy, World Ethics, World Psychology along with other books. He
wrote thousands of song and poems.. He composed dramas for the
children of the schools of the Ashram which was staged by the children
of the Asharam and was appreciated. The songs composed by Thakur are
time and again. Joto more ganer katha/ se je tore mantra gatha.
Whatever words I uttered in my song are the hymns addressed to you
Ma.. Satyanada Dev had a deep love for Sangeet. He himself was quite
well versed in the classical music. He even composed Thumri on Ma
Bhabatarini. Nachata kali dulari... He composed divine tunes of the
songs also. Ustad Allauddin Khan, Ravisankar Pandit Omkarnath Thakur,
Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Faiaz Khan often came to the cultural
programme organized by the Ashram. Thakur was a great Sangeet lover.
He himself knew how to sing. He often sang kirtan and other songs.
Whenever he visited the ashram of Batika a remote village of Birbhum
he often went out with the small children along the village road
singing kirtan. He had a deep love for the villages. He always tried
to be with the people of the villages promote the

SHRI TAILANGASWAMI – A Saint

SHRI TAILANGASWAMI – A Saint by Mousumi Ghosh


ShriTailangaswami is worshipped as the incarnation of Lord Shiva at
Shivapuri, Varanasi. Millions of devotees regularly poured holy water
of river Ganga and offered flowers and Vilwa Patra on his head when he
sat in his yogic meditation on the ghats of river Ganga. Amazingly,
the fathers and grand fathers of many of these people were also among
his devotees.
He was truly ageless. He meditated in his physical body for a long
period of two hundred and eighty years. He acquired immense yogic
power but he did not remain secluded from the common people. Instead,
the common helpless man whether rich or poor, living or dead received
his vast divine blessing during the long span of his life time. He
granted life to a number of dead persons. He first revealed this power
in Rameshwaram. There he poured some water from his Kamandalu, the
water pot of the saint, on the dead body of a young man, and the young
man was called back to life. To the masses, he was not only a great
saint but also very kind hearted and easily approachable person. He
was god in human body. With his blessings, several people indeed
developed divine characteristics.
In the seventeenth century, he was born in South India. His mother who
was an ardent worshipper of Lord Shiva got him after worshipping her
Lord for a long period. From his childhood, he received divine grace.
For instance, her mother once observed that a beam of light from the
Lord’s temple in the home entered her child’s body. Her mother
instilled in him the spiritual quest. He decided to remain a bachelor
and she supported his decision. After his parents’ death, he left home
and the share of his property, to live a recluse He used to meditate
beside the burning Ghat in the outskirt of his village. There came his
Guruji. It is believed that the spiritual teacher of a person is
predestined and he/she appears only when the mind set of the student
is ready to receive the training.
He travelled and meditated in many places in Uttarakhand and beside
the holy river Narmada (Narmada Parikrama) . These were not at all
entertainments, but part of the training to bear with hard life, to
develop the attitude of non possession and to gain control over the
basic needs of human body like hunger and sleep. A saint acquired
great spiritual strength through this process. After a long period of
meditation, his Guruji gave him Diksha at Pushkar. Diksha is the
formal process through which the spiritual guru gives identity to his
student. His new name was Ganapati Saraswati though he was better
known in Varanasi as Tailangaswami as he came from the place Tailanga.
He was then seventy five years with a strong youthful physical
structure. When his Guruji died, Tailangaswami was eighty eight with
the same graceful body.
There were many remarkable incidents in his life. When he was
meditating in a forest in Nepal, the Rana (king) of Nepal came for
hunting a tiger. He missed his target and was surprised to find that
the tiger took shelter near the Yogi. The Yogi was comforting the
tiger. He also advised the king to abandon the jealousy which
instigated him to shoot the tiger.
He was once sitting beside the Tribeni Sangam in Prayag with his
devotee Ramkanaibabu. Suddenly, fierce storm and torrential rain
started. His devotee became anxious for his Guru’s safety whereas Guru
became anxious for a far away boat with a large number of people
swinging dangerously in the river. Suddenly, Ramkanaibabu noticed that
Tailanga swami vanished from his side. After a few minutes, he saw
that the boat had reached the jetty and among the passengers who were
just saved from the clutches of death, was Tailanga Swami. He
requested Swamiji to confide that how a person gains that immense
extraordinary power. The great saint replied that it is nothing
unusual. Divine strength is present within everyone. An individual
should be aware of it. The people in the so called materialistic world
are increasingly getting separated from their real nature. That’s why,
a natural action seems unusual to them.
Tailangaswami’s divine playground was Varanasi. He first appeared
there at Ashighat. He did not need any cloth. He roamed at ease from
one ghat to another like a child. He jumped frequently into River
Ganga and swam there for hours. Many people called him the son of
River Ganga- Bhisma.
Once, in his usual relaxed attitude, he was walking from Ashighat to
Lolarkkunda. A deaf person with severe leprosy was sitting at the
roadside. He was abandoned by all. Surprisingly, when this distressed
person saw the great saint, he started to chant Shivastrotam (the
mantra of Lord Shiva) in a melodious tune. The benevolent Sadhak
stopped; smiled .He assured him not to worry, advised him to take a
bath in Lolark kunda and gave him a Vilwa leaf. The patient became
completely cured. Similarly another day, he gifted a new life to an
old man suffering from severe tuberculosis.
An amazing incident occurred when Swamiji was staying at Hanuman Ghat.
A sophisticated lady was disturbed by this huge physical appearance of
this Sadhak in undress. She rebuked him a lot advising him to stay in
jungles rather than aimlessly roaming in this temple town. The
meditative Sadhak however remained calm and relaxed as usual. But, the
lady saw in her dream that Lord Viswanath became very agitated for
this incident and declared that her wish to cure her sick husband
would not be possible for her behaviour. On the very next day, she
came to Tailanga swami, apologised and fell on his feet. The ever kind
Sadhak gave him some ash (bhasma) and his husband became all right.
Similarly, a native king and queen once came to bath in holy Ganga.
When the queen was taking bath, suddenly, Swamiji came there, the
security persons started to beat the Sadhak when the locals came and
stopped them though he himself remained unperturbed. But the king
afterwards in his dream saw a furious saint cursing him. He requested
for forgiveness to Swamiji on the next day and received it instantly.
Once, the King of Ujjaini was enjoying a boat ride. They saw a huge
man floating in the river. They recognised him as their movable Shiva.
Tailangaswami also somehow became interested and came on the boat. He
suddenly wanted the big sword of the king. That sword was a gift to
the native king from the British emperor. Swamiji threw it into the
river. The king reacted strongly though his associates advised him not
to get agitated as the Sadhak never did any harm to anybody. But the
king refused to hear anything. Tailangaswami then obtained two
identical swords from the river and asked the king to identify his
own. The king was unsuccessful. Then Swamiji rebuked him and said that
the king was an egoist one and his mind was filled with greed and
ignorance. He could not take this sword with him after his death. So
the sword was not his property. The deeds of present and future only
remain with a person and nothing else. So the foolish king was
lamenting for the loss of a commodity which did not belong to him.
Some English men and women became disturbed by the sight of this naked
Sadhak and complained to the magistrate. The magistrate sent police
who asked him to go with them. The meditating Swamiji did not notice
them. They forcefully took him to the chamber of the Magistrate. There
he was handcuffed and taken to a confined room. However, after some
time, the security person found that he was not in that room. Instead
he was standing at a corner in the Magistrate’s room. In the meantime,
his devotees came with a local lawyer who knew the saint. He told the
Magistrate about this great Yogi. He informed him that he is a
Samadarshi that is to him everything is equal; he does not distinguish
between sandalwood and faeces. He does not require any garment.
However the British magistrate made a deal. He said that if to him all
things are equal, he should eat what the magistrate offered. The Yogi
agreed but said that the Sahib should first eat what the saint would
eat on that day. The Sahib agreed as he assumed that the normal foods
of the saints are mainly vegetarian items. However, the saint in front
of all people excreted faeces and offered it to the Sahib saying
that that product was his food for that time. The Mahayogi ate it
instantly and everybody was amazed and saw that it had been
transformed into a lip smacking food. The magistrate realised the
power of this saint and gave order that nobody would disturb him.
Some mischievous people once gave him lime water to see how it harmed
the Yogi. Afterwards they repented and confessed their act to him.
Tailangaswami urinated and excreted all the limewater.
His contemporary spiritual gurus respected him a lot. When Shri
Ramkrishna visited Varanasi, the two great souls met and exchanged
their philosophies. Prabhu pada Vijoykrishna Goswami also received
Tailangaswami’s affection. Once in a temple of Goddess Kali,
Tailangaswami urinated and threw the waste on Maa Kali. When Prabhu
pada Goswami asked the reason, he wrote on the floor
‘Gangodokong’ (water of river Ganga) and ‘Puja’. The temple was empty
at that time. Afterwards, when the priest and other people came,
Goswami told them everything. They laughed and assured that
Tailangaswami was Vishweswar himself. So his urine is indeed holy
water of Ganga. After a few days, Swamiji declared that he would
confer diksha to Goswamiji. Goswamiji was then one of his close
devotees. So he enquired that as he was a brahma , how could Swamiji
grant him the diksha? Moreover Swamiji’s activities seemed to be very
bizarre, so why Goswami would be interested to take Diksha from him?
Tailangaswami laughed heartily and replied that there are important
reasons. One needed a Guru to purify the body. So Swamiji would give
him the initial diksha but he was not the actual Guru of Goswami. He
gave a mantra to Goswami and asked him to go away. Swamiji said that
he had done what God had ordered him.
During his last days in his mortal body, he stayed near Panchganga
Ghat at various places and in the home of his earnest disciple
Mangalbhatta. One day he declared that he would leave his mortal body
in Samadhi yoga. It was heartbreaking news for his disciples. They
started crying but Guruji assured that he was not leaving them
forever. As his mortal body became very old one, it requires
replenishment. That’s the only point. However the devotees requested
him to live for more time so that they could prepare themselves for
the immense loss and create his statue. Guruji got upset to find that
his disciples still valued the valueless physical structure. However
they said that they could offer Puja to the idol. The kind Mahayogi
agreed and granted them one more month. He chose the date Sukla
Ekadashi, month Pous, 1887 AD. A huge statue and a big vault were
constructed. Mahayogi left his mortal body on the declared day in his
yogic posture. His mortal body was kept within the vault and the vault
in turn was immersed in river Ganga, his eternal space.

12 Months of Islam

12 Months of Islam

All of us know the 12 months of English calendar. We learnt these in our very child hood. We use it in our day to day life . We are Bengali so we know the 12 months of Bengali calendar too. Today Feng-sui is a craze . Some of us also know the names of Chinese months. But a very few of us know the 12 Islamic months. They are as follows:

1 Muharram
2. Safar
3. Rabiul aual
4. Rabiul Sani
5. Jumadul Ula
6. Jumadas Sani .
7. Rajab
8. Sawan
9. Ramjan
10.Sawal
11. Jilkad
12. Jilhaj

According to Arabic calendar Muharram is the first month. 10th of Muharram(Asura ) is most important. It is said that Allah made the whole universe on the 10th day of Muhharam. Kayamat (the Day of Judgement )will be on that same day. Allah bestows his first blessings upon us on that day. If one observes a Roja(fasting) on this auspicious day s/he will get the fruit of 365 Rojas. Four Rakat special Namaj is also very beneficial on this day . In some areas while they observe the day putting on black dress some people play with lathi and sword . But these are not accepted in Islam . Because this kind of performance does not have any connection with the Asura .It is is associated with the incidents of Karbala. It is another history which was held on Hijri 61. Our most respected Imam Hasan and Imam Hossain died on that particular day. It is accepted that one should offer all their Ebadats(Worship) to those great souls of Imam Hasan and Imam Hossain in this day. The eternal souls of theirs thus will be happy and honoured by this ebadats.

Safar is the 2nd month . On the first night of this month Special 4 Rakat namaj is important to get rid of any danger. The month is important for another reason. Once Rasul((Sallalelaho aliaihe –ia-Sallam) fell sick for a long time. He fell little bit better during the last Wednesday of this month and took his bath. This is called Akhri chahar Sumba. Muslims take special bath on this day. A special Aiat is written on banana leaf by the Moulvi Sahab or anybody who knows and is floated in the water . The devotees then take bath in the same water. It is believed that the bath washes away all our illness .

The month of Rabiul –aual ---Nabi Hajrat Rasul (Sallalelaho aliaihe –ia-Sallam)was born on the 12th of this month. It is said that chanting of 'Darud( Some special Aiats chanted for our last Nabi) any where in the world will reach the Madina sharif(where his body was for the last sleep). The month is so sacred that if one chants the Namaj--- Darud, Milad any time of the year other than on the 12th day which is considered as one of the most sacred days Hajrat Rasul Allaho(Sallalelaho aliaihe –ia-Sallam) grants him the same Rahamat which He grants to those who chant on the 12th day.

On the 1st,15th and 29th of Rabius-sani four Rakat Special Namaj is important.There are 3 Rojas (Fast) on 11th,1 2th and 13th .

On the 1stday of Jamadiul Aual Four Rakat Special Namaj is beneficial. Sinners are redeemed of their sins in this month if they perform Ebadats(Worship) .

The 1stnight of Jamadius –sani is observed with four Rakat Special Namaj. It is said that Allah forgives us and bestows his blessings on those who observe the ebadats(Worship).


Rajab is the seventh month of the year. It is said that this is the month of Allah (God) . One who does a single fasting in this month and prays to Allah for his/her realization God becomes so kind during this month that the prayers are granted easily.

Sawan is the eighth month It is said that this is the month of our Nabi Hajrat Rasul Allaho(Sallalelaho aliaihe –ia-Sallam) . Shabebarat is observed in this month. Offering food to the poor is a must in this month. It is said that God makes his annual Action Plan during this month regarding who will die and who will be born in this earth. God also decides how much his ummat( Followers of Rasul) should earn in the very night of Sabebarat . Muslims all over the world observe this night with special 12 Rakat Namaj (4 Rakat Namaj each time) and read out Koran sharif throughout the night.


Ramjan –the ninth month- is the leader of all the twelve months. It is said that this is the month for Ummats(Followers of Hajrat Rasul) .In the first 10 days of Ramjan Allah blesses all Rojadar and in the 2nd 10 days Allah forgives us and last 10 days He bestows peace on us. Koran Sharif was introduced on 27th night of Ramjan(Shabe-kadar). We observe 30 days’ Roja (fasting) along with prayer, Namaj, Tarabi Namaj in this month and seek the blessings of Allah thereby.

Sawal is the10th month. After 30 days ‘ fast, Id-ul-Fitar is observed on the 1st day of Sawal And
in the month of Sawal one who observes fast for six days (except the day of Id-ul-Fitar), pleases Allah very much. Allah becomes so happy that the devotee gets the benefit of one year long fast.

In the 1st night of Jilkad one who performs special 12 Rakat Namaj
and observes Roja(fasting) on 11th,12th and 13th gets the benefit of performing Haj.

12th month is Jilhah,which means Sapath of ten nights. Ebadat (worship) during the first ten nights in this month is the best of all times for Ebadat in the year. According to Islam there is a night before each day. Only the 10th day of Jilhaj is considered as day; there is no night associated with it. Haj is performed in the field of Arafat on 9th of Jilhaj and Korbani is observed on the 10thof Jilhaj.One who is unable to offer Korbani will observe 2 Rakat Nafal Namaj followed by Id-ul-Fitar Namaj . This Namaj will be at par with Korbani.