Our Most Beloved Divine Master - Sri Sri Babathakur

by Sri Utsav Sen

It was on Sunday August the 3rd 1998, that I got to meet our beloved Divine Master Sri Sri Babathakur in person for the very first time at Sri Tapash Rajderkar residence in Thane, Mumbai.

My mother and I had the great fortune of coming in contact with Sri Sri Maa (Bombay Maa) in the late eighties. Ever since then, my mother had regularly taken me along to visit Maa in Mumbai and later in Pune.

Sri Sri Maa was one of the most adorable personalities, capable of Pure Love without any bias or prejudice. One can say, Sri Sri Maa was Divine Bliss personified. Meeting Her used to be an experience in deep mental peace which cannot be easily described. Her very presence in a room used to solicit calm, solace and a feel of Divine silence that one could experience without making any effort.

As a child I always felt that She loved everyone around Her with great ease. She was calm, composed, very soft spoken and Her voice was like Pure Nectar. It was extremely easy to love and respect Her because of Her purity and simplicity of thought, action and behavior.

Sri Sri Maa had told us about Sri Sri Babathakur many times, however we did not get the opportunity to meet Him in person back then. My mother had requested Anuradha Mashi (one of Sri Sri Maa’s closest Bhaktas) to let us know when Sri Sri Babathakur would visit Mumbai.

I believe a few years before meeting Him in person, I had come across an old borrowed copy of Sri Sanai magazine (Raaspurnima 1993) in my mother’s carry bag. At that time I did not know that it is a bilingual quarterly magazine. Since the cover and first few pages were in Bengali, I had not paid close attention to it in the past as I had not studied Bengali in school.

That day however I noticed that the title was in English and thankfully saw that the index had an English section as well. When I read the title of one of the articles - “Relativity and Reality” authored by Sri Sri Babathakur, I was instantly impressed. On reading the article, which was a part of a series of articles, I felt that there is a lot of deep thought and great substance in the material. That’s when I first requested my mother to find out how it would possible for us to meet Sri Sri Babathakur.

By His Divine Grace when Anuradha Mashi informed my mother on the 2nd of August 1998 that Sri Sri Babathakur was currently visiting Mumbai, we were quite excited. My mother called Tapash da’s residence and to her surprise Sri Sri Babathakur Himself answered the phone. They spoke for 10-15 minutes during which my mother requested if she could bring me along with her to take His Darshan. He gracefully agreed.

When I heard the news I was quite delighted and very eager to finally get to see Him in person. At that juncture I considered this to be a once in a life time opportunity. On Sunday morning when we reached Tapash da’s residence, Jasmine di ( Tapash da’s wife ) answered the door. We could hear singing from the other room. Jasmine di took us to that room where we saw the Divine Master teaching some songs to Kedar da (Sri Kedar Narayan Bodas).

He was deeply engrossed in the process of teaching as was Kedar da in learning from the Master - so we simply sat down in a corner and listened. It was very interesting to observe Sir Sri Babathakur meticulously teaching each and every line repeatedly as well as explaining the meaning of some of the lyrics both in Bengali and in Hindi to Kedar da.

Later He did talk to all present in the room. He was really unconventional and communicated with great ease with all throughout. When I first began interacting with Him, I would foolishly ask him many questions which He always answered patiently, although in a very pragmatic and forthright manner. I would be shocked with His prompt and clear responses, yet at the same time deeply pleased to have an opportunity to speak with Him. In retrospect I guess it was hard for me to see the difference between “Relativity”— my questions being relative, and “Reality” – the words that were spontaneously revealing in and through Him.

However when He gracefully, politely and through means of a story indicated that one should listen with undivided attention first when meeting a Divine Personage, I stopped asking questions. I quickly realized that most of my questions were redundant anyways in light of what was already being spoken by Him.

By His Divine Grace, we had a very enjoyable and blessed evening. We got to hear many interesting stories and anecdotes of His experiences. He also mentioned Sri Sri Maa when addressing my mother. He blessed my mother by handing her a set of “Sat Vilas” cassettes, (the first released album of Revealed Songs). We also got the newly released “Cit Vilas” album, besides copies of “Science of Onesness” and “Daiva Purushakar”.

Sri Sri Babathakur said something before we left that day, which I will never forget – “Don’t take these books and leave them on the bookshelf thinking ‘Now we too possess Babathakur’s books’”. I went home that day with an inexplicably persistent smile and began reading “Daiva Purushakar” – a book about destiny and self effort by the Divine Master.

It has been eleven blissful years since that day. By His Divine Grace, we have had several opportunities since then to visit Kolkata and see Him on the occasions of Saraswati Puja and Guru Purnima. It pains me deeply to write following His attainment of Maha Samadhi. He had mentioned on several occasions --- “You have not yet had My Darshan because looking at a physical body is not the Real Darshan. You need to find ‘I’ in every cell, every breath, in your very Being. That is true Darshan.“

I know that He can never be truly absent, but it will be difficult for me to not miss His physical body. He has showered us all with His Blessings for so many years. I hope that By His Grace, we all can continue to follow and live by at least one if not more instances of His myriad teachings.