Welcome to the 2014 Saraswati Puja issue of e-Sanai

 

by Sri Sandip Dasgupta

Welcome to the Saraswati Puja issue of e-Sanai. This is that time of the year, when our Master came down to this earth to shed the Light of Oneness amongst all of us, so that we could help make this a better place to live in. Blessed are we that He selected us to share his Swanubhuti.  In 1986, shortly before Saraswati Puja, I met Sri Sri Babathakur for the first time.  His statement to me was – “Try to understand the relationship between you and me”.  I walked out of this meeting wondering – What kind of crazy statement was that?  Nevertheless, I got over it and became convinced that Thakur Sri Sri Ramakrishna was a much safer bet as a Guru.

But that one statement has played in my mind several times over the years.  After twenty eight years, I have been able to marginally distinguish between the body-I and the “I-Reality” that Sri Sri Babathakur has constantly talked about.  I have been able to somewhat internalize that the difference between Him and me remained only at the body-I level.  But at the Absolute level, we are all playing on the same substratum, the same Absolute I-Reality.  Sri Sri Babathakur was constantly aware of this game and He called it – The Sportful, Sameside, Dramatic game of Self-Consciousness.  He had completely identified Himself with the Absolute I-Reality.  On the other hand, the tube-light brain of this author occasionally remembers the teachings of the Master, but simply cannot identify itself with the Absolute I-Reality, because it is still playing the world-game with the body-I.

Although Sri Sri Babathakur has categorically told us that the Light of Oneness is the only panacea of the present age, we have kept our windows closed and hence this light is unable to penetrate us and remove the darkness caused by relativity.

Having identified Himself with the Absolute I-Reality, the Master used to perform His actions with complete detachment to the physical body.  All the words spoken by Him brought us back to the Oneness that He has realized.  He practiced Oneness all the time.  He spoke of Oneness all the time.  He would bring back all conversations and ideas to the Oneness that He had realized.  Thus emerged the august saying – "All Divine, For all Time, As It Is!"

According to Him, everything in this world started with the Absolute One (you cannot have two without having One).  As Upadhis covered us, we all became different in the relative world – and we began to think of these as real.  Sri Sri Babathakur, repeatedly urged us to give up that duality in Samsar and live in Samasar, with the awareness of Oneness.  He told us – “Realization is not an object to be attained.  It is always within you.  It will be re-established when the Self is Realized.”

So, on this very auspicious occasion, can we all pledge to make an effort to move towards that goal of re-establishing ourselves in that Oneness?

Joy Babathakur! Joy Babathakur! Joy Babathakur!