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A versatile genius, Sri Sri Swarupananda Paramhansadev was born around the last decade of nineteenth century in Chandpur, a sub-divisional town of the then district Comilla of Bengal in British India, as the son of Srijut Satish Chandra Gangopadhyay, father and Srijuktaa Mamata Devi, mother. Named Bankim in childhood days, He showed extra-ordinary talent in academic and all kinds of extra-academic activities. In His youth He became an orator, a physician, a poet, a singer, a composer, a painter, a carpenter, an agricultural labourer and an agricultural scientist, a mason as well as an engineer, a writer—all of a superlative degree simultaneously. He accepted life-long celibacy and had dedicated Himself totally to selfless service of mankind. He wanted political freedom of India but believed that miseries of the countrymen could not be truly removed or remedied until and unless the ideal of character-building could be propagated and established across the country. This is why He had launched a novel social movement called the ‘‘Character-Building Movement” as back as in the year 1914.
Transformation of the present human race into a completely divine society is His ultimate object and character-building movement is the means to achieve this object. But movement not for a year or two. This tremendous Movement will have to continue for three hundred years or nine generations!
There is a branch of Science called “eugenics” which means the science of good re-production. Researchers and scientists across the world have been, for ages, applying the principles of eugenics in the field of many animals and plants to ensure that their off-springs become much more developed, useful, valuable and healthy than their parents. But alas, there is no attempt at applying the principles of eugenics in the field of human race! Sri Sri Babamoni (HisDivine Grace Sri Srimat Swami Swarupananda Paramhansadev is popularly known as Sri Sri Babamoni) informs us that ancient India did pay much attention to this aspect. The ancient people of India knew the glory of Brahmacharyya (self-control or restraint). It was known that if a boy can spend his life with complete purity free from any vice and then enters the married life in his full youth with a girl who has also spent her maiden life in complete purity in thought and action, and if after observance of Brahmacharyya for some time even in married life, undertakes the duty of giving birth to their child, then the son or daughter born of them will become or is expected to become much stronger, purer, more selfless, generous or elevated than his or her parents. If this process can be repeated for three hundred years in most of the families of the nation, then after a lapse of three hundred years or nine generations thousands of boys and girls will be born who cannot be rightly called human beings but who should instead be called divine men and women. Sri Sri Babamoni emphasizes that even left to the course of natural evolution, such divine persons in lakhs or crores will be born, but only after undergoing the process of natural evolution for crores of years; whereas if human beings follow the course of ‘deliberate’ or ‘‘attempt-driven” evolution, transformation of the present human race into a divine one will be effected only after nine generations or three hundred years! This process or procedure He has styled as “Brahmacharya through generations” which if practised sincerely and religiously for an uninterrupted period of nine generations or three hundred years among lakhs of families, will lead to the emergence of an altogether transformed society of only divine persons or super-men and women that Sri Aurobinda had visualised long back in his book ‘Life Divine’ or that many great men like Lord Buddha had predicted. Truly great men whom we may call ‘Avatars’ are rarely born in this world. Personalities like Jesus Christ, Lord Buddha, Prophet Muhammed, Guru Nanak, Jain Mahavir, Shri Chaitannya, Acharya Sankar, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda or Swami Swarupananda Paramhansadev emerge in this world only once or twice in one or two centuries. Is it then ever possible that such great men will be born in millions simultaneously? “Yes it is possible”—says Sri Sri Babamoni, the wonderman of the twentieth century—“but possible only after ‘three hundred years’ of examplary penance through observance of “Banshanukramik Brahmacharya” (Brahmacharya through generations) by lakhs of families simultaneously, that is to say, by extending the application of eugenics in the field of human race as well or in short through the preaching and practice of “Charitra gathan Andolan” or Morality campaign which is also termed as ‘‘Character Building Movement”.
When India was under the bondage of British Rule, almost all the great thinkers of those days were of the opinion that it was the political subjugation to foreign power that lay at the root of all the problems and sufferings of the people of India and therefore once this root cause could be expunged by any means, gradually all miseries of the people would dwindle and ultimately vanish. There was a cacophony of voices heard loudly all around in those days—those were “freedom first” “freedom last”, “we want to hear nothing but freedom”, “Everything else but freedom should be relegated to oblivion” etc. But even in the midst of such all-pervading cries for political freedom by any means and at any cost, could be heard one serene dissenting voice and that was the clarion call of Sri Sri Babamoni Who had the courage to go against the tremendous stream of public opinion and declared unambiguously—“When I analyse the reasons behind our present sufferings, I realize that political subjugation is not the root cause of our miseries but is only one of the various symptoms of a disease that has attacked the entire nation—the mass-scale moral degradation being the root cause of the ailment.” Our sufferings were (and still are) varied—like illiteracy, superstitions, low standard of public health, abject poverty, etc. These were considered the symptoms of the disease. And what was the disease itself? According to all other thinkers of those days, Political subjugation was the main disease. Therefore it was generally believed that by obliterating the main disease or its root cause, we would be gradually relieved of all the bad and painful symptoms. But this has not happened in reality. We have attained political freedom more than seventy years ago. Are our sufferings gone? The answer is better known to any of the readers! An emphatic “no”. Why is this? This is because the root cause behind our sufferings was not the absence of political freedom but was the wide spread immorality or lack of character-building on a mass scale engulfing the entire nation. The truth that Sri Sri Babamoni could visualize more than a century back with His incomparable foresight has started being realised only in the present time by all of us through our immense and ever-increasing sufferings, which were ironically believed to vanish gradually with the attainment of our political freedom more than seventy years ago.
This is ample proof that identifying the absence of political freedom as the “root cause” behind all sorts of our sufferings was a Himalayan blunder and that how correct the analysis and judgement of Sri Sri Babamoni was when He singled out the widespread immorality prevalent in the country as the root cause of all our problems and the establishment and propagation of a new social movement launched and termed by Him as the Character Building Movement around 1914 to be spread over across the country as the sole remedy of this stupendous malady. To drive home this point further Sri Sri Babamoni had also cited examples from history. Rome was an independent state. But when moral degradation over took her on an extremely large scale, she could not resist successfully an attack from a barbarous community and lost her political freedom to the attackers. Three or four years prior to the onset of the 2nd World War Sri Sri Babamoni had made a prediction in a speech delivered by Him at Sylhet in 1935 that although France was famous for her military power, we might see in near future France to be defeated in an insignificant battle thereby losing her political freedom. This came out true. Such unexpected and humiliating military defeat suffered by France was attributed to the widespread circulation of obscene literature across France, indulgence of lustful dance and drinking in the bars and restaurants of Paris and the resultant overall moral degradation that besieged the whole of France. These reasons behind the ignominious defeat of the extremely powerful French Army that not many years back could boast of having as its supreme commander as invincible a military leader as Napoleon, were frankly and unhesitatingly admitted by the then commander of the French Armed Forces Marshal Pe Tain. It is not irrelevant to repeat that even when freedom struggle was at its peak in British India, Sri Sri Babamoni had the courage to point out that political subjugation was not the root cause behind our miseries but was only one of the great disturbing symptoms, the root cause being the wide-spread moral degradation. And therefore launching and propagating the Character-Building Movement is the only real medicine. It is very relevant in this connection to note that although Sri Sri Babamoni had kept Himself aloof from active politics, many of the great revolutionaries of the then Bengal—particularly those associated with the Chittagong Armoury case led by Masterda Surya Sen used to meet Him and build their character on the lines of His advice, and therefore the British had put Him behind the bars at least on four occasions. In those days also it was never disputed that character building was necessary. But Sri Sri Babamoni was not to be satisfied with one or two or one hundred or two hundred boys building their character. He wanted to launch a massive movement of character-building across the length and breadth of the country so that lakhs or crores of boys and girls participated in that Movement by undertaking great penance to build his or her individual character thereby spreading it from man to man, from door to door, from village to village or town to town allowing not a single human locality to stay outside the influence of that great Movement. This He had termed as the “Character-Building Movement” or “Charitra Gathan Andolan”. The launching of this great “Character Building Movement” is the greatest contribution of Sri Sri Babamoni in the history of mankind for it is through this Movement that the present human society as a mixture of both good and bad people can, in as short a time as three hundred years only, be elevated to the status of a divine society each member of which will be the like of as a great personality as Lord Buddha, Lord Christ, Sri Sankar, Sri Chaitanya etc thereby earning the sobriquet of “a society of supermen or avatars” for that glorious entity.
With a view to implementing this His grand scheme into a reality Sri Sri Babamoni needed some organizations and a band of thousands of loyal soldiers who would unhesitatingly carry out His orders and instructions without raising any question like a soldier in the battlefield obeys his commander. The organizations or institutions Sri Sri Babamoni had established for this purpose are three, namely : 1) Ayachak Ashram, which is registered under Indian Trust Act. 2) The Multiversity which is a educational Society registered under West Bengal Societies’ Registration Act. 3) Akhanda Mondalis—several thousands of them do exist now—which are formed by the groups of devotees or disciples of Sri Sri Babamoni living in a particular locality and are known by the name of that locality. Several Akhanda Mondalis unite to form an Anchal Mondali and several Anchal Mondalis do form a District Akhanda Sangathan. Above district mondolis or sangathans there exists a Rajya (or state) Akhanda Sangathan. All such Mondalis or Sangathans are unregistered as desired by Sri Sri Babamoni but can function only after getting approval from the Centre. These three organizations together form what is called “The Akhanda Sangha”. Any Akhanda Mondali or Akhanda Sangathan not recognized and approved by the ‘Centre’ is not a Mondali or Sangathan at all. Members of any Akhanda Mondali or Sangathan are the lakhs of disciples of Sri Sri Babamoni who are usually householders having accepted married life, whereas the Members of Ayachak Ashram and The Multiversity are mainly the full-time devoted workers who having accepted celebacy for life have totally dedicated them for selfless social work. But irrespective of whether a disciple is a married person or a celebate / maiden for life, he or she must be cent per cent loyal to the Centre and must have total allegiance to it.
As distinct from a University, “The Multiversity” so named by Sri Sri Babamoni is an extremely novel and of course noble educational institute. According to the plan of the Founder Sri Sri Babamoni, children as young as 11/12 years of age will be earning something together with learning of school lessons by doing work in a trade or factory of their choice in their school itself. Their choices may vary. Some boy may be interested in doing work in printing, bakery, rice mill or oil mill while another may be interested in motor mechanism, pathological laboratory or cinematography etc. Around 2000 bighas of land have been purchased by Sri Sri Babamoni and His successor Sri Sri Mamoni over the past one hundred years in and around the village of Pupunki under Chas Mofussil Police Station in the district of Bokaro, Jharkhand (earlier the district of Dhanbad in Bihar). This amount of land is even not considered sufficient for setting up a good variety of factories / laboratories and the other units etc. in the Multiversity. When everything will be completed in accordance with the grand scheme, the Multiversity will have its own engineering college, medical college, law college etc. apart from a modern stadium and cinematographic studio and such other units. Several thousand crores of rupees will be required for implementation of all these plans. But since The Multiversity also work on the noble principle of non-begging or “Abhiksha”, the work is now going on at a snail’s pace. A few hundred crores of rupees will be necessary merely to complete the construction of the novel boundary wall around the borders of the Multiversity as per the extra-ordinary design contemplated by Sri Sri Babamoni Himself. But we are not at all despondent because of the paucity of fund. We trust sincerely that fund will start coming from unexpected sources by the grace of Sri Sri Babamoni and though it may take a very long time, all work in The Multiversity will surely be finished as per His grand scheme. Another important special feature of the Multiversity is that, in tune with the practice prevalent in ancient India, the senior boys of the school will also be teaching the junior boys. This will be beneficial on two counts. On the one hand the senior boys while teaching the junior ones will get scope to make their own conceptions of their already-learnt lessons much clearer and secondly this system will also reduce the problem of insufficiency of teachers in the school. Thus the two-pronged motto of The Multiversity will be “earn while learning and learn while earning” as well as “learn to teach and teach to learn”. No tuition fee is ever or will ever be charged from me student of The Multiveristy. With acute shortage not only of fund but also of dedicated workers, it is true that the work of The Multiversity is progressing at present at a slow pace, but we are confident that since the incomparable penance or Sadhna of Sri Sri Babamoni forms the foundation of it, the day is not far when it will be recognized the world over as the best and unique educational institute.
Sri Sri Babamoni has given paramount importance to character building alone. He has said, ‘‘ I don’t want to know if you are a Hindu or a Muslim. Nor do I care if you are pro-politics or anti-politics. Similarly, your caste, creed, language etc. is of no cercern, to me. I do not mind even if you are an atheist but a man-like-man having a sound character." Still the undisputed fact remains that it is much easier on the part of a believer in God to build character than a non believer. Because, casting aside the debate over whether God exists or not, it is an experimented truth that the mere throught of God instantly produces a soothing effect upon one's mind, the like of which is not to be found by any other means. This explains one of the great quotations of Sri Sri Babamoni :— ‘‘The source of character-building lies at the lotus feet of God”. Thinking about God, regular prayer to God and Upasana (i.e spiritual exercise) of God renders the greatest help in the character-building. Doing nam-jap constantly is the best means of remembering God or doing spiritual exercise. But there exist thousand names of God. What name of God should we choose for doing nam-jap? There can be no doubt that the best name of God should be chosen which is Omkar or Pranav. Sri Sri Babamoni says ‘‘Omkar is the best or greatest and the shortest name of God. It is the essence of any sound and at the same time is the combination of all sounds occuring in the univeise. It is simultaneously the H.C.F and LCM of all sounds – explained mathematically. In it lie all the mantras of the universe but at the same time it is the essence of any mantrta." But the problem is that for centuries, there is a wide-spread belief prevalent in our country, that only those born in a Brahmin family are entitled to do namjap with this mantra. The multitude of masses not born as Brahmin were deprived of this right. It is Sri Sri Babamoni Who for the first time and alone universally granted the right to Omkar and therefore to Gayatri mantra. (which begins as well as ends with omkar) to lakhs of non-Brahmins. He gave a new definition to the word ‘Brahmin'. According to Sri Sri Babamoni, ‘‘if a non-brahmin person is found to try to observe Brahmacharya in his life with all sincerity and is keen on doing good to the others by sacrificing his self-intesest, I call him a true' Brahmin and shall give him the right to the noble mantras of omkar and Gayatri ". In this way Sri Sri Babamoni has succeeded in converting lakhs of non-brahmins into true or genuine Brahmins by preaching the message of Brahmacharya and encouraging them to engaze in activities aimed at doing good to the world at large and of course by granting to all such persons the right to Omkar and Gayatri mantra.
Sri Sri Babamoni has prescribed two kinds of Upasana 1) Invidual Upasana and 2) Samaveta Upasana. While Individual Upasana that needs to be performed four times a day is meant for spiritual development of the individual concerned, Samaveta or congressional Upasana that should be performed for about an hour at least once in a week is aimed at forging spiritual unity among the aspirants taking part in samaveta Upasana. Sri Sri Babamoni has declared that only Omkar Bigraha should be placed on the pedestal for worship and no other symbol of God nor any picture or image of any Guru or great man nor even His own, shall be allowed on that pedestal. He has assured that wherever any Samaveta Upasana is held, He invariably remains present there in His extra physical or finer entity not perceptible by the sense organs and does the Upasana of God represented by Omkar Bigraha along with all other participants. Therefore one seat in the front should be kept reserved for Him by placing an ‘asana' which He surely occupies for the entire period Samaveta Upasana is performed. In this manner He has completely abolished His self-image for the cause of doing unmixed good to the world and forging unity among the Indian people torn into hundreds of factions.
Writing millions of letters to the youths of the century, delivering thousands of unforgettable speeches displaying oratorial skill of the highest order, authoring hundreds of books only on the single subject of character-building—He has given birth single-handedly to a novel social Movement of Morality-campaign that pioneered a Renaissance in the twentieth century Bengal the impacts of which are sure to reveal gradually in the next two centuries in the unprecedented material, social, spiritual and all-round uplift of the Indian nation. He was aware that no social movement can take roots in the country so long as this is not supported culturally through favourable literature and songs. There is always found an inadequacy of such literature and music as is conductive to character building. Two points are noteworthy about the great literature of Sri Sri Babamoni. 1) About His unique creation Akhanda Samhita already published in 24 volumes, it is commonly believed that there is no problem—personal, social, spiritual, moral or material—that does not have a well-balanced solution in some page or other of the epic literature of Sri Sri Babamoni called “Akhanda Samhita”. 2) Sri Sri Babamoni’s book “Dinalipi” has shown the most scientific and the easiest means of building one’s character. Many young revolutionaries of Bengal built their character by daily writing the answers—either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’—to the thirtyfive questions contained in Dinalipi. Following Dinalipi honestly and sincerely is the easiest way of Character Building.
Sri Sri Babamoni had to literally toil hard for eighteen hours a day for years together in ploughing land, grinding stones, manufacturing bricks, felling trees, clearing jungles, fetching water from half-a-mile etc and therefore had no spare time to devote to create enough cultural support for His Character-Building movement. But still thousand of songs (known as Swarupannda Sangeet) have been composed by Him spontaneously without a second thought and requiring least amount of time. Already five books containing more than a thousand songs written by Sri Sri Babamoni known as “Swarupananda Sangeet” have been published. Every word of such Swarupananda Sangeet is capable of inspiring the mind and heart of the listener with inexhaustible strength and has the potential of rejuvenating this entire moribund nation. Swarupananda Sangeet which is incomparable as regards simplicity of meaning, nobility of ideals, spontaneity of words and beauty of tunes can be rightly called ‘‘charaitragathan Geeti" meaning ‘‘the songs of character building" exactly in the same manner as the profound and prolific literature of Sri Sri Babamoni mostly based on His lakhs of letters can be termed as a store house for ‘‘charitragathan Sahitya" meaning literature conducive and favorable to character building. It is very relevant here to recall what Sri Sri Babamoni Himself has commented regarding Swarupananda Sangeet- ‘‘My songs alone can revolutionise the country with out any other adjunct."
One more very important thing needs to be discussed here. For successfully spreading a social movement across the country like the one on character building initated by Sri Sri Babamoni, it is not enough to bolster it by fovourable literature and supportive songs alone. In addition, the movement should also be preached and propagated in a sustained manner through newspapers, journals and magazine etc. Unfortunately the media, both printing and electronic, do not as yet appear to be very keen in discharging their duties in this direction. Sri Sri Babamoni who refuses to recognise any negativity in life and Who has declared many a time in unambiguous terms; ‘‘I never get disappointed and ‘despondence' is a term found absent in my dictionary" – has Himself set up a monthly newspaper called ‘‘ Pratidhwani " for preaching and propagating His character building movement on a regular basis across the country. Established in 1952 and published from Varanasi Ayachak Ashram ‘‘Pratidhwani" has been, with its highest readership among the Bengali-language monthly newspapers of similar kind, commendably preaching the ideals of the Character-Building Movement among the people of this country particularly those living in West Bengal and north-eastern states for the last 67 years.
Sri Sri Babamoni has always shunned foreign tour. California university had invited Him for delivering some speeches there on payment of excellent remuneration as well as passage money etc. But He refused to accept that. For Him spread of the Character-Building Movement in His own country was of paramount importance and therefore He never had spare time to go abroad. But many scholars and important personalities from advanced countries of Europe and America came to India and met Him. Some of them were so overwhelmed with His pleasing personality and erudition that they took diksha (initiation) from Sri Sri Babamoni. There are few countries presently in the world where there is not a single disciple or devotee of Sri Sri Babamoni. Dr. Mrs Virginia Moore, the famous American writer who got doctorate degrees from as many as eighteen universities once came to India and chanced to meet Sri Sri Babamoni at Varanasi for a long time. She was so captivated by His holy company that in her famous book titled" The whole world–stranger " published from Mac Million Co. of New York, she showered unstinted praise on Sri Sri Babamoni. We quote below a few remarks made by her from that book "In spite of an education so through—it included all the physical sciences as well as all types of Yoga—Swami Swarupananda Paramhansa had kept an innocent heart". "A person lives in his voice….." "There was no doubt that this bachelor was transparently, over flowingly and invincibly happy. His outgiving tremendous……" Although Ayachak Ashram and The Multiversity suffer from paucity of fund because of acceptance of the noble principle of "non-begging", the amount of charitable and philanthropic work undertaken by them every year in the form of relief work in times of natural calamity, educational aid to the poor and needy students, financial and other help for arranging marriage of poor girls, medical aid to poor patients, distribution of blankets in winter and of clothings to poor children at the time of Puja festivals or celebration of Id-ul-ftr etc. is not insignificant. Yet it must be stated that the main task of the organizations that Sri Sri Babamoni had set up is not only confined to performance of these benevolent activities but is the spread of the noble Character-Building Movement throughout the country, for it is through this movement that the dream of Sri Sri Babamoni of the emergence of a divine society comprising only the great men and women in place of the present human race will come true through the observance of Brahmacharya for nine generations uninterruptedly. Although rightly considered one of the greatest men the World has ever produced because of His unparalleled genius in all branches of knowledge and unrivalled perseverance and penance, Sri Sri Babamoni calls Himself an ordinary man but adds that everyone can become like Him or may even surpass Him by doing similar "Tapasya". He has expressed His firm belief that coming down at a time of millions of avatars or Supermen and Women in this world is definitely possible if generational Brahmacharya can be practised in crores of families for three hundred years. The final objective of Akhanda Sangha of replacing the present human race with a divine society will thus be achieved.
This grand task has been cast upon the shoulders of the followers and disciples of Sri Sri Babamoni Who has for obvious reasons asked them to keep this movement completely apolitical and to obey strict discipline. For this they will be required to obey the commands issued by the Centre, that is by Sri Sri Dadamoni for the present, without raising any question—as has already been explained elaborately. Discipline of the highest order even beyond what we understand by "Military discipline" should be inculcated in and observed by the "Akhanda Sangha". Finally we conclude by making a sincere prayer to Sri Sri Babamoni entreating Him to give us—His disciples and true followers — the strength, vigour, tenacity, perseverance, single- minded devotion and above all His blessing necessary to enable us to discharge to His complete satisfaction the noble duties and responsibilities He has so kindly vested us with.
Jay Sri Sri Babamoni
Jay Sri Sri Mamoni
Jay Akhanda Sangha