The question naturally arises : What is meant by Centre? In simple words, it means the person who is placed at the helm of affairs of the “Akhanda Sangha”, who is the Supreme commander of the organisations founded by Sri Sri Babamoni. By centre is meant Sri Sri Babamoni and after Him, His sole successor Sri Sri Mamoni (Sri Sri Sanyasini Samhita Devi).
In a very important Meeting held at Pupunki Ashram in October 1970 attended by almost all Akhanda leaders from across the country, Sri Sri Babamaoni in a historical declaration made a statement unequivocally to the following effect that was later confirmed by Himself in another Meeting in the same Pupunki Ashram on 1st January 1974 on the ceremonial inauguration of The Multiversity : “I am a spiritual Guru with around three lakhs of initiated disciples. I have not become the Guru by your votes, I have earned this coveted position by dint of my own penance and merit. I have become old. There is no certainty of human life. If something serious happens to me suddenly, the organisation will be in great trouble. That is why it is necessary to determine my successor. But should I do that by taking your votes? No, never. For as I have already told I am your Guru in my own right and not on the strength of your votes. I have never in life, not even for once, given you any hint directly or indirectly to become my disciple. It is out of your own exclusive and voluntary desire that you people came to me to take initiation (diksha). Therefore I will alone decide who will be my successor. I have taken that decision and shall let you know in a short while. Many Brahmacharies (dedicated workers) have come to me to join Ashram life. I invited none of them nor have driven away any of them. All of them came here voluntarily and left also at their own whim—sometimes after 2 days, in some cases after two months or two years! Some boy came to join my Ashram with knowledge of class II or III only. Again some other with an idiotic brain came to stay at Ashram. Toiling hard for them I made an outstanding speaker or an eminent writer out of such raw-materials, but alas, after some time they are seen to have developed distrust in me and in my principle of non-begging. Then on this or that excuse they flee away from my Ashram!
But I have been observing Ma Samhita (Sri Sri Mamoni) since her earliest childhood. Hrishikesh Bandyopadhyay is Samhita’s father, Urmila Bandyopadhyay is Samhita’s mother. Samhita is their only child. Both of them were my extremely devoted initiated disciples. Hrishikesh was a fabulously rich diamond merchant. When Samhita was about one year old, her mother Urmila died. This stirred up a feeling of renunciation in Hrishikes’s mind and he decided that he would embrace sanyas and leave this material world. He came to see me for my permission. I gave him permission for sanyas and he really left for an unknown place near Haridwar and never came back. But before leaving, he made two gifts to me. First—his only child Samhita and the second gift was all his riches running into several crores of rupees in those days! I kept those wealth in my custody but did not accept this gift mentally. I kept that with me in trust for Samhita who was being brought up in my Ashram. In course of time Samhita passed matriculation exam from Varanasi and B.A. exam from Calcutta and thereafter got the degree of MA from Jadavpur University. She attained adulthood. At that time one day I called her and narrated everything and offered to return her all the wealth gifted to me by her biological father. But Samhita stubbornly refused to accept those fabulous wealth saying that everything belonged to her Guru meaning myself. I tested Samhita in many ways for a long time and finally realized that Samhita had conquered not merely the greed for wealth but also all sorts of temptations that human beings are likely to confront in their lives. Therefore I do hereby unequivocally declare that Samhita is my sole legal and spiritual successor in respect of all my spiritual and material wealth and she alone will be the Supreme Head of the Akhanda Sangha after me. If you people, ie my disciples, like this my declaration it is well and good. But if some of you think that this (anointing Samhita as my sole legal and spiritual successor) has not been a right action on my part, I am helpless. In that case, I refuse to accept such persons as my disciples and hereby order their expulsion from my Akhanda Sangha. They no longer remain my disciples and therefore are not entitled to be called as “Akhandas”.
I would like to narrate a somewhat miraculous incident here when Samhita was about one and half year old child. I was one day loitering in a place at Rajgir (Bihar), Samhita in my arms, under a structure on which a three-storied building was being constructed. While sauntering, I was going in many directions. When I came to a spot while so loitering, the baby in my arms started crying vociferously. Having failed to pacify her in any manner, I left that spot. She stopped crying that very moment. The same thing happened after a little while. To my utter surprise on five or six successive occasions I found that every time I reached that particular spot in course of my dawdling, the child started crying very loudly and stopped doing so only when I moved away several feet from that spot in any direction. I was pondering why she was doing so. She did not cry on her birth which made the doctors worry over her life. Having heard this at that time I commented that, she would not cry, for she came to this world to make all others smile. This being the position, why she was conducting that very way at that place at Rajgir! This made me think whether there was any danger hidden around that particular spot. I looked all around—in the front, in the back; towards my right and left but found no sign of danger. Last of all I looked upwards and instantly found that a big heavy stone was about to fall from the roof under construction. I moved away in the twinking of an eye and that very moment the boulder fell on the ground with a heavy thud. I would have been crushed to death that very moment had I not moved away from that spot! Samhita is “Nitya Suddha”—meaning eternally pure. She has been saving my life since her one and half years of age! Therefore I have taken this unalterable decision that it will be Samhita alone who will be my sole legal as well as spiritual successor. Nobody else. Today is the formal opening ceremony day of “The Multiversity” (1.1.1974). I am its Secretary, but have installed Ma Samhita as its Chairman. Samhita can speak fluently in six languages—Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindi, English, Tamil and Kannad. Today I am asking her to deliver her chairman’s speech in Hindi.” In obedience to this, Sri Sri Mamoni spoke superbly for half an hour in Hindi when Sri Sri Babamoni again took the microphone to address the gathering and said to the following effect :— Sri Sri Babamoni demands unquestionable allegiance to His successor from the disciples “You have heard this brief outstanding speech of Samhita. Even if a little grey-matter is present inside your brain, that should make you realize what sort of stuff Samhita is made of. In future some one from among my disciples may become world-famous. That is a matter of great pride. But my outright observation, comment and decision in plain and simple language is that even if you become world famous but cannot place faith in the leadership of Ma Samhita, you are none to me and your place will be outside my Akhanda Sangha. I am straight away making the statement that even if two lakh ninetynine thousand nine hundred and ninetynine of you out of my total number of three lakh disciples like to go against my decision, you are at liberty to do so, I will not mind. Swarupananda will make the impossible possible only with the help of His single most devoted and loyal disciple”. By now it is expected to be amply clear to any reader why Sri Sri Mamoni Samhita Devi should be considered an integral part of Sri Sri Babamoni.
After Sri Sri Babamoni, therefore Sri Sri Mamoni is the “Centre”. Again according to instructions of Sri Sri Babamoni Himself, Sri Sri Mamoni will have to nominate her successor. This she had done on 23-02-1986 by a Will whereby she made Sri Tapan Brahmachary alias Sri Sri Dadamoni her sole legal and spiritual successor. So, now in absence of Sri Sri Mamoni (she died on 16-04-2008), Sri Sri Dadamoni has become the “Centre”. Therefore now every Akhanda is bound to obey Sri Sri Dadamoni as the supreme Head of Akhanda Sangha without raising any question. It will be worthwhile to mention here that Sri Sri Dadamoni also, like Sri Sri Babamani and Sri Sri Mamoni, has inherited their spirit of self-abolition. Chanting of victory slogans like ‘Sri Sri Babamoni Ki Jai’, ‘Sri Sri Mamoni Ki Jai’, ‘Sri Sri Ashrammata Ki Jai’ and ‘Sri Sri Bhaida Ki Jai’ by the Akhandas is common. After taking over as the Head of Akhanda Sangha, Sri Sri Dadamoni issued his first command that no victory slogan in his name must be ever chanted and that only the four victory slogans as mentioned should always be ulttered in future and never in future any 5th slogan will be uttered. Unfortunately, in spite of so much caution, so many warnings issued by Sri Sri Babamoni, there is a tendency being observed among a very few so-called followers of Sri Sri Babamoni to break away from the main organization and to form new group/s of the disciples ignoring the “Centre” ie. Sri Sri Mamoni and now Sri Sri Dadamoni. It is hereby unambiguously clarified that Any organization / institution / Akhanda Mondali or Akhanda Sangathan or group etc. existing anywhere in India or any other country without having proper approval of the Centre (ie. of Sri Sri Mamoni or presently of Sri Sri Dadamoni) will be treated as fake and invalid by the true followers / devotees / disciples of Sri Sri Babamoni and any function / programme / conference / meeting / ceremony / festival / initiation etc. held by any of them shall be invalid and considered unauthorised.
Further clarified that any publication of any kind involving Sri Sri Babamoni in any way including electronic ones made by them or use of any photograph of Sri Sri Babamoni by them without appropriate authority of the Centre shall be considered invalid and illegal. Similarly publication of any web-site concerning Sri Sri Babamoni or His organizations or teachings / sermons / activities / literature / poetry / songs etc. without proper authority of the Centre shall be invalid and considered fake. Sri Sri Babamoni had executed a Will in favour of Sri Sri Mamoni alias Samhita Devi alias Mangalmoyee Bandyopadhyay probate in respect of which has been granted by Hor’ble Calcutta High Court. Whatever has been stated above are in full tune with the spirit of that Will and another spiritual Will of Sri Sri Babamoni. Only the present website published under the proper authority of Sri Sri Dadamoni, the Centre and Head of the Akhanda Sangha is genuine and authorized. The principle of Non-begging or Abhiksha and Ayachak Ashram Almost all the Founders of various Ashrams of the country depend on public subscription or grant from government for the fund needed by them to carry out their different programmes of philanthropic or charitable activities. It is quite natural and none can find fault with it. But in this matter also, Sri Sri Babamoni’s line is quite different. His declared principle is Abhiksha or Non-begging, which means He will never ask anyone—a rich person or an institution including government—for financial assistance. He has never raised and nor will ever raise any subscription from anyone to help Him carry on various forms of charitable or philanthropic Activities. That is why He has given His Ashram the name of “Ayachak Ashram”. Ayachak means one who never asks for anything. Thus Ayachak Ashram works on the noble and novel principle of non-begging pioneered by Sri Sri Babamoni. A question may arise, how then are met the expenses of Ayachak Ashram? The answer to it is that because of extreme poverty suffered by Ayachak Ashram consequent upon its acceptance of the noble principle of “non-begging”, Sri Sri Babamoni had to pass innumerable days on fast under compulsion. Not that Sri Sri Babamoni was born in a poor family. His family had thirty number of houses in places close to Dhaka. But He had left the family as a young man after embracing Sanyas for rendering good to the whole world, and therefore could not accept any money from His Purbasram (the stage prior to acceptance of Sanyas). But at the same time being a great “Karmavir” (one who performs work or Karma on an amazing scale), He could not shun any kind of physical labour right from tilling hard land with plough, grinding stones, felling trees with axe to fetching drinking water from a place half-a-mile away from His Ashram etc., while Himself observing compulsory and self-imposed fast because of non-availability of sufficient food. Everyone will be astonished to hear that He had on many days chewed Mahua leaves etc. to satisfy His hunger and remained completely without food for many days at a stretch. Result was that He was attacked with very serious disease of lung and suffered almost two years. He was cured by His own ayurvedic treatment by consuming a particular leaf called “Vidya Pata” in some areas of East Bengal. Charitable Activities of Ayachak Ashram could not be carried on initially on a large scale because of fund crunch resulting from its noble policy of non-begging. With gradual increase in the number of disciples of Sri Sri Babamoni, some fund comes as voluntary donations made by them. But now the principal source of earning of Ayachak Ashram is the sale proceeds of hundreds of books on character-building written by Sri Sri Babamoni, printed and published from Ayachak Ashram Varanasi branch and the earnings from the sale of extremely efficacious ayurvedic medicines of a great variety manufactured by Ayachak Ashram. A portion of such medicines is distributed free among the needy and poor and the remaining portion is sold in the market. Varanasi Municipal Corporation was so captivated by the wonderful activities of Sri Sri Babamoni that more than sixty years back they took a voluntary resolution to name the street by the side of which Varanasi Ayachak Ashram was located after Him and thus the street is now named as “Swarupananda Street”.
There are three founding Members of the Ayachak Ashram Trust all of whom are revered by the entire Akhanda Sangha. Besides Sri Sri Babamoni, the remaining two are : (1) Brahmacharini Sri Sri Sadhana Devi alias “Ashram Mata” D/o a great house-holder saint and a close friend of Sri Sri Babamoni, His Holiness Srimat Nagesh Brahmachary and (2) Sri Sri Snehamay Brahmachary popularly known as Sri Sri ‘Bhaida’. It is relevant here to mention that the present Head Sri Sri Dadamoni is the grandson of Sri Sri Nagesh Brahmachary. It is incumbent upon all the Akhandas (disciples of Sri Sri Babamoni) to hold all of them in highest esteem and revere them with unquestionable allegiance.
In any leaflet / pamphlet / poster / festoon etc. to be used in publicity of any programme concerning Sri Sri Babamoni in any manner, it has been made compulsory by the Centre to affix at least a photograph of Sri Sri Mamoni also by the side of the photograph of Sri Sri Babamoni. Some so-called disciples of Sri Sri Babamoni who do not obey Sri Sri Mamoni or stand in revolt against her have formed break away groups and are quite unauthorisedly holding meetings etc. in the name of preaching the ideals of Sri Sri Babamoni and in the process are creating confusion in the minds of hundreds of simple-minded Akhandas by posing themselves as genuine Akhandas. It is the utmost urgency of preventing such simple-minded Akhandas from being cheated and misled by such unauthorized break-away groups that has necessitated this rule of affixing Mamoni’s photograph also by the side of Sri Sri Babamoni’s in all such leaflets, festoons etc. This single action will amply distinguish the fake and unauthrorised so-called Akhanda Sangathans or Mondalis from the genuine and really authorized ones.