Earlier in the month we had the Vice Chancellor of Viswa Bharati claimed that the change in the date of the weekly Upasana from Saturday to Wednesday was at the request of Brahmananda Keshub Chandra Sen. The VC went on to allege that Keshub was engaged in Trantrism along with visit to clubs on the weekend.
It is a matter of great regret that eminent institutions have certain persons thrust as their leaders who have very little knowledge of the culture and heritage of the institution. If one looks at the history of the Brahmo Samaj right from the matter of its inception in the hands of Rammohun – they will see that weekly service was held every Saturday from 7PM to 9PM. At that time there were two Telegu Brahmins who would recite the Vedas in an ante room and Utsabananda Vedantabagish used to deliver readings from the Upanishads – the service used to end by songs sung by Govinda Mala.
Maharshi Devendranath in his 25th Annual Report of the Brahmo Samaj clearly mentions that the friends of Rammohun like Dwarkanarth Tagore, Kalinath Mushi, Prasanna Kumar Tagore, Mathuranath Mallick etc. were used to revelry at weekends, hence coming to the Samaj was a bit of bother for them. All this prompted the shifting of the day of the weekly service to Wednesday. All this happened much before Keshub Chandra was born hence it is baseless and sheer lack of knowledge that would put Keshub as responsible for the change in the days.
The month of October was also the time when Rammohun’s mortal remains were formally laid to rest in a “spot under the elms” at Stapleton Grove in Bristol at 2PM on 18th October 1833. Dr. Lant Carpenter writes “The coffin was borne on men’s shoulders, without a pall, and deposited in the grave, without any ritual, and in silence. Everything conspired to give an impressive and affecting solemnity to his obsequies. Those who followed him to the grave, and sorrowed there, were his son and his two native servants, the members of the families of Stapleton Grove and Bedford Square, the guardians of Miss Castle and two of her nearest relatives, Ms. Estlin, Mr. Foster, and Dr. Jerrard, together with several ladies connected with those already enumerated: and as there could be no regular entry of the interment in any official registers, those who witnessed it have signed several copies of a record drawn up for the purpose, in case such a document should be needed for any legal purposes.”
The following is an excerpt from a sonnet in the memory of Rammohun that was penned on 27th October 1833
As yet we knew thee not,—but that blest hour
Which first disclosed thee to our longing sight,
Awakened in us deepest Christian love,
And told us thou hadst sat at Jesus’ feet.
But now a glowing halo from above
Circles our thoughts of thee, when to the seat
Of mercy, rapt in ardent prayer, we come,
” Our Father ! lead Thy wandering children home !”
October is also the month of Bapu – Mahatma Gandhi, whose 150th birth anniversary was on 2nd October. On 5th May 1866, Keshub Chandra Sen delivered a lecture at the Calcutta Medical College entitled – “Jesus Christ — Europe and Asia.” The Asian Christ that he preached was according to him a figure of reconciliation, a man who was the vehicle of an all – embracing faith capable of unifying Hinduism and Christianity. Pratap Chandra Moozomdar penned The Oriental Christ 1883. Moozomdar’s Oriental Christ possessed the same powerful “meekness” as Keshub’s Asian Christ with “voiceless uncomplaining calmness”, “perfect self-control” and his “deep divine sympathy”. His deep empathy for his fellow men and women rendered him an image of universal humanity. Gilbert Murray a British scholar and reformer wrote an essay in 1918 where he addressed the post world war disillusion with world peace efforts. He wrote “we must not delude ourselves into believing that the path of the human soul or conscience when protesting against the world is a safe path, or a path that must in the end lead to victory. The soul’s only course was to get rid of desire and ambition, and hatred and even anger and think of nothing but what it wills as right”. His example of such a self-liberated protesting soul was Gandhi. American Unitarian minister John Hayes Holmes wrote “I look elsewhere for that man who impresses me as the greatest man who is living in the world today”. Murray’s Gandhi was a man that had a striking resemblance to the Asian Christ of Keshub and Moozomdar, in his uncompromising dedication to the doctrine of non-resistance. Through this principle Gandhi gained the forbearance and powerful meekness that made him a liberator to others.
Gandhi regarded untouchability as an aberration on the Hindu society. According to him without removing the taint of untouchability – Swaraj was meaningless. He worked towards the upliftment of the Harijans to a great extent. It will not be unworthy to state that Gandhi got his inspiration of the work towards the untouchables from the Brahmo Samaj. In 1891 Brahmo Samaj set up Dasa Ashram and in 1906 Vitthal Ram Sindhe started the Depressed Classes Mission Society. Here industrial training was provided to the Harijans for free, there were schools, community residences and even a free hospital. Soon it spread to Pune, Hubli, Nagpur, Bangalore etc. The Bengal branch was set up in 1913. By 1931 – 32 there were 441 schools in Bengal and Assam for the Harijans. Sindhe also persuaded Gandhi to take up the cause of removal of untouchability and helped to pass a resolution on the same in the 1917 Mumbai session of the Indian National Congress. There were many stalwarts of the Brahmo Samaj who made it their mission to serve these citizens who were ostracized from society on the basis of caste much before Gandhi. Nilmoni Chakraborty (Assam), Binod Roy, Abinashchandra Lahiri (Garo Hills), Manmatha Nadth Dasgupta (Hazaribag), Joymangal Rath (Odisha), Vireshlingam (Andhra & Kerala) are some of these noble crusaders.
We also observe the 175th birth anniversary of Nagendranath Chatterjee on 22nd October. Nagendranath who was born in Bansberia is popularly known for his biography on Rammohun Roy. Nagendranath was attracted to the Brahmo Samaj at an young age by the venerable Ramtanu Lahiri. Becharam Chatterjee of Behala turned him into a missionary. An extremely good orator, he was associated with the Bharatvarshiya Brahma Mandir but after the schism was a member of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. He was also a nationalist and gave an inspiring discourse at the Swadeshi Mela of Nabagopal Mitra.
But our homage cannot be complete without remembering the great poet, litterateur and dramatist Sukumar Ray who was born on 30th September 1886. For us Bengalis his works have shaped our childhood. According to him
The Ramgaroosian lair
Bereft of sun and air
Is doomed to be a monastery
Of permanent despair.
His verses are still recited – no Brahmo wedding is
complete without his song. He became the
Assistant Secretary of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in 1914 and along with his great
friend Prashanta Chandra Mahalanobish was instrumental in bringing Rabindranath
perform divine service from the Samaj pulpit.