Sri Radharaman Charan Das Dev

There is so much to India — many languages, religions, regional cultures and, of course, gods and goddesses. Yes, all this we have, and we are proud of our land. What, however, compels my wonder most is the number of great men India has produced. Arts, science, religion, almost every walk and sphere of life has placed before the world its gems which together make India a really coveted Golden Bird.

 

These Great men, during their life-time greatly influence the minds and hearts of the people and departing, leave behind them “Footprints on the sands of time.” Of such a great man I sing here as I believe lives of great men have always inspired people. My purpose here is just to introduce, and leave the readers for themselves to discover, the Man who lived amongst us not long ago as an embodiment of universal love and religion.

 

He was born at Mahishkhola in Jessore district (now in Bangladesh) in April 1854. His father was the ruling landlord of the place. The parents, Shri Mohan Chandra Ghosh and Srimati Kanak Sundari, had four sons and one daughter, he was the third child. On the eve of his birthday, Nature emerged in its wildest and fiercest form. Thrashing rain, thunder and lightning, stormy wind lasted the whole night. The betel nut tree under which Ma Kanak Sundari lay in the labour-room was struck with lightning and reduced to ashes. No damage, however, was caused to the room and the inmates. At dawn, when the child was born, the things were all normal. This phenomenon indeed meant that the child brought with him peace and happiness for suffering mankind. Strange, however, are the ways of God. The Child, who meant love and joy to all he met in his life, was himself robbed of the love and affection he badly needed at that tender age. His father and his brothers left, one after the other for their heavenly abode while he was still under ten. Rai Charan, so he was named, was admitted to the Narail High School. He was an exceptional child. Even at that early age, he was full of the milk of human kindness. He would show great consideration for others and would do anything to alleviate their distress, One day, for example, Rai Charan instantly gave his costly woollen shawl to a poor man shivering with cold. Sometimes he would remove the thorns from the beaten path through the jungle that the passersby might move unharmed.

 

“The child is father of the Man”, said the poet.

 

Our Rai Charan was a fine illustration of this. His little acts of humanity were just like buds which later on bloomed and thrilled all and sundry with their varied colours and scents. I cannot here resist the temptation to recount another incident that brought out the great heights of his personality. One day, while returning from school, Rai Charan noticed an old man lying on the wayside. The bundle of the articles he had bought from the market lay near him. It was found that the man suddenly had fever and was unable to carry the load home. Rai Charan promptly put the bundle on his own head and helped the man rise to his feet. The man protested, “No, no, don't touch me Babuji! I am a low-caste man.” Rai Charan replied, “Whoever you are, you need my help now” and took man safely to the latter's house. Really, humanity has no caste, creed or colour. Rai Charan's sister got married: he himself, at the age of seventeen, was married and, soon afterwards, lost his mother.

 

As a landlord, Rai Charan was very popular amongst the people under his care. He had great zemindari insight and managed his estates ably He invited the wild Santhals to cultivate the vast tracts of wasteland in the village and settle there. He was a great philanthropist and in many ways he helped the people of the area. Furthermore, he got large tanks excavated at his expense that they might not suffer from scarcity of water. He got free schools opened for the children, paying the teachers from his own pocket. Apparently Rai Charan was happy and contented.

 

One Bengali song he often sang by himself these days, however, clearly showed the agony of his heart his people did not see. Have a look at the song (English renderingby Narendra Nath Chatterjee.)

 

“When, O when, Will you take the name of Hari!

The days are numbered and they will end ere long.

The drops of water on the lotus are unsteady...

They fall off at the breath of the gentlest wind;

Even so is Life; death comes and brushes it away.

The limbs are there, you cannot move them;

There are the eyes, but the light is fled:

The ears are open: they can no longer catch...

The names of the Lord in the hour of death.”

 

Actually Rai Charan's soul was crying for something deeper and greater. He was to play his role on a far wider stage than that his immediate surroundings provided.

 

One day, therefore, he left the house forever unnoticed, unannounced. He arrived at the temple of the goddess Kali at Bhawanipur (Bagurha District) and performed Purascharan during the hour of the solar eclipse. Towards the end of this religious practice,  the Divine Mother Kali appeared to him and put Her blessing hand on his head, saying, “Go to the river Sarju; you shall meet your Guru there and have your soul's craving fulfilled.” The Divine Mother also appeared in person to His Holiness Shankararanya Puri, the saint, who lived on the bank of the river in Ayodhya and apprized him of Rai Charan's arrival there in advance. Not only that,  she asked the saint to break his vow not to have a second disciple. Mother of the Universe is bound to do all this for one who gives oneself up to Her. Puriraj initiated Rai Charan into the Universal Religion of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and taught him the principles that would guide him now onwards.

 

The salient points of this religion are:

 

1. To be kind to all creatures.

 

2. To give oneself up to the service of the Vaishnavas.

 

3. To relish the name of the Lord.

 

Then one day, the Master bade Rai Charan to proceed to Jagannathpuri and spread the name of Hari, for it was his life's mission. The worthy disciple promptly obeyed. Visiting a number of holy places in the country, Rai Charan at last came to Nabadwip, the birthplace of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Here he came to be known, by sheer coincidence, as Rajen Babu and was joined by three young devoted souls. All birds of one feather!

 

This small band of like-minded souls, instinctively united together just by their sentiment of universal brotherhood, and, of course, oneness of some latent purpose, now moved towards Puridham. Theirs was a Sankirtan Party, led by Rajen Babu, eldest as he was. Rajen Babu, in frenzy divine, moved onward, singing and dancing, laughing and weeping simultaneously. He had a sweet melodious voice and his own novel style of dancing. Devotional songs, all his own inspiration, would come to his lips and he would go on singing, yes, “singing hymns unbidden”. It was bliss to see him dance and hear him sing. Wherever he went, people, spellbound, would throng to see the spontaneous play of the spirit and follow him as far as possible. At last Rajen Babu arrived at Puri, which was the centre of his activities for the rest of his life. Here His Holiness Mahant Gaurhari Das Babaji Maharaj gave him Bhek (Vaishnav Sannyas) and named him Radha Raman Charan Das.

 

Now he had also come to be known as BADE BABA and people came to be initiated by him. 'Bade' (the great) he really was, both physically and spiritually. He was of unusually tall stature. Standing amongst thousands of people, he could be seen and recognized from a great distance. He was Bade Babaji otherwise too. As a true follower of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he had great love and regard for every one. Wasn't everybody a manifestation of his Supreme Lord ? Caste, creed, and colour could not alienate people from the realm of his religion. Bade Babaji had thousands of disciples, mostly in Bengal and Orissa. He regarded even them as his Gurus. “They are here with me”, pointing to some of them he once said, “to teach me (indirectly, of course) how to conduct oneself in life.” Bade Babaji spread the Name of the Lord (Harinam) through his Sankirtanas wherever he went. He held that the Name was omnipotent. It stirs love not only in men but also in the lower animals and the vegetable species as well.

 

Such is the power of the Name of Hari that trees begin to dance, stones melt and beasts behave like cultured human beings, the dead come to life again. Bade Babaji demonstrated all this on the strength of the Hari's Name. No hypnotism, no magic. The fact is Hari (God) and His Name are one, and this alone explains the whole thing. Barhe Babaji's perfect faith in the latter is now, more than ever before, the need of the world when humanity, despite all advancement and progress, is so miserable, woebegone, and helpless.

 

 

This text, was originally published by Sri Braj Gopal Das Agarwal in the year 2010, in Vrindavan — India.

Edition: Sri Vaishnav Dasanudas Paramananda Das.

 

SRi Radharaman Charan Das Dev