Creation of Barahanagar Matha: First Hermitage of Ramakrishna Sangha

It was past midnight of the last day of Shravana of Bengali Era of 1293, 16 August 1886 as per the Gregorian Callender, Thakur Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, the God-incarnate in the eyes of his ardent devotees, breathed his last at 0102 hours at Kashipur Garden Villa, near the river Ganga in North Kolkata, in the presence of his young and ascetic disciples including the fresh university graduate and law student Narendranath Datta, shortened as 'Narendra' or 'Naren' and the world subsequently knew him as Swami Vivekananda, Shashibhusan Chakraborty alias 'Shashi' (later on renamed as Swami Ramakrishnananda), Jogindranath Ray-Choudhury alias 'Jogin' (renamed as Swami Yogananda) and others. The next morning, the information about the departure of his eternal soul from the physical body was spread like wild fire and people from all directions began to rush in.

Early in the morning, there rushed in the close devotees like Girish Chandra Ghosh, Ram Chandra Datta and Master M, i.e., Mahendranath Gupta. Thereafter, a beeline followed with the arrival of Colonel Vishwanath Upadhyay, Doctor Mahendra Lal Sarkar, Amtrilal Basu, Troilokyanath Sanyal, Girish Chandra Sen, Atul Krishna Ghosh and a lot of others. Doctor Mahendra Lal Sarkar examined the body of Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhansa and declared him as dead. At the direction of Doctor Mahendra Lal Sarkar, a photo of the corpse of Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhansa was shot with all disciples and devotees around.

After observing the rituals, all assembled people marched on to the Barahanagar Cremation Ground with the dead body of Thakur Ramakrishna over their shoulders, turn by turn, and by singing holy lyrics of Vaishnavite kirtans, one after another, with the beats of traditional musical instruments like Khols and Kartals. Residents all around followed the funeral procession with rolling tears in their eyes and hearts filled with deep sorrow. On reaching the cremation ground on the bank of the river Bhagirathi Ganga (Hoogly), distraught-struck Troilokyanath Sanyal sang a few songs that were very favourite to Thakur. The close disciples of Thakur lit fire into the pyre, and, soon, multiple flames of big fire began to burn the mortal remains of Thakur. After some time, the pyre turned into mere ashes, and it was cooled down with cold water of Ganga. Asthi, i.e., the residual bone of Thakur, was immersed into the holy waters of the river Ganga, and sacred ashes were collected into a copper vessel as the only remains of Thakur.

Soon after, the householder devotees of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa decided collectively to vacate the Kashipur Garden Villa, which was taken on rent for providing little physical comfort during the ailment of Thakur, who was suffering from cancer in his throat. This villa at Kashipur in the northwest corner of Kolkata was spread over an almost trapezium-shaped 14 bigha land near the river Bhagirathi Ganga and owned by a landlord named Gopal Chandra Ghosh. Surendranath Mitra, a rich disciple at the Simulia locality in North Kolkata and an ardent devotee of Thakur Ramakrishna, had hired this villa for six months at the first stage and thereafter for three more months, by signing an agreement with the owner, Gopal Chandra Ghosh, at the rent of Rs. 80 per month. Surendranath Mitra had been paying the monthly rents from his personal income due to his spiritual attachment with Thakur.

Since Thakur was no more now with a physical body, the requirement to continue the occupation of the villa was over, and under that prevailing circumstance, all senior devotees of Thakur reached an opinion to hand over the villa to its owner by the end of the instant month, i.e., August 1886 itself. The Holy Mother Sarada Devi also was living there for taking care of Thakur's food and medicine, etc., and it was decided that she would move elsewhere in order to vacate the villa. Sri Ram Chandra Datta, one of the senior disciples, had taken the responsibility to keep the copper vessel filled with ashes of Thakur in a newly constructed temple in the garden owned by him at Kankurgachhi, at the eastern outskirt of Kolkata. All young disciples of Thakur Ramakrishna, including Narendra (Swami Vivekananda), etc., were asked to go back to their respective paternal residences within the remaining days of the instant month. But it was too hard a decision to adhere to on the part of the young disciples of Thakur since they had already decided to abandon the domestic livelihood and adopt an ascetic life under the spiritual initiation done by Thakur himself. Yet, they had no other choice but to leave the villa since they had no financial support to retain it. Although most of the ascetic disciples had their parental houses, Tarak Ghosal and Buro-Gopal, i.e., Gopal-de-elder, had no shelter to go back to. So, they were rendered as homeless. Ironically, Tarak was a son of the feudal lord.

Apart from this, following withdrawal from Kashipur Garden Villa, all young disciples of Thakur, heart and soul ascetics, began to experience an acute problem due to lack of any house for them to stay in together under the same roof and to offer daily Puja to the ashes of Thakur. It is worth mentioning here that Shashi and Niranjan (Nitya Niranjan Ghosh), both devoted attendants during the ailment period of Thakur, were not at all happy in surrendering the copper vessel filled with the ashes of Thakur to Sri Ram Chandra Datta and got involved in a quarrel with the devotees attached to family. The fellow ascetic disciple Narendra intervened in the matter and agreed to hand over the copper vessel to the senior devotees led by Sri Ram Chandra Datta, who had taken the responsibility to install the copper vessel in a shrine created by him. But Shashi and Niranjan were yet determined to keep the ashes with them, and so they took out a huge portion of the ashes from the copper vessel very secretly and poured it into a separate vessel. Narendra came to know about this clandestine trick of his ascetic brethren subsequently and approved it privately. Soon, that other vessel of Shashi and Niranjan was secretly handed over to their trustworthy elderly devotee, Sri Balaram Basu, in order to ensure daily puja and bhog to Thakur.

Sri Balaram Basu was a Vaishnavite spiritual person, and he was a resident of Bagbazar in Kolkata. He wasn’t an ascetic like Narendra, but he was a beloved devotee of Thakur, who considered him as a man with a holy heart. Thakur used to refer to Balaram's house at Bagbazar as 'Balram Mandir,' i.e., the Temple of Balaram, and liked to visit it very often. Balaram used to conduct a Ratha-Yatra, i.e., the 'ceremonial travel on a chariot,' over the first floor of his residence.

But keeping the other vessel containing ashes in the house of Balaram was not a permanent solution. The ascetic disciples wanted to keep the ashes with themselves and for this purpose they needed a house to install the vessel therein in order to continue their daily puja and ascetic practices. But they did not have a house for them. Most of those ascetic disciples belonged to very rich families, and some of them hailed from the families of big landlords. But they were penniless since they had deserted their respective families and abandoned the worldly life. They could not get a shelter under their own efforts. They began to roam here and there helplessly in the wilderness. That state of situation was unbearable.

At this juncture, the departed soul of Thakur came into action. As already said, Surendranath Mitra, a resident of Simulia in North Kolkata, was one of the Thakur's beloved devotees, and he was the main contributor with money and material to meet most of the personal requirements of the Thakur during the last part of his life. In one evening, when Surendranath was in deep meditation in the thought of Thakur on returning from his office, an image of Thakur appeared in front of him and rebuked him for not looking after the wellness of all of his young and ascetic disciples who had been roaming about helplessly in the absence of any shelter for them. The spirit of Thakur instructed Mitra to do something essential immediately in rescue of his beloved ascetic disciples from distress.

At once Surendranath rose up from his meditation and rushed to Narendra's house, which was situated nearby in the same Simulia locality in North Kolkata. Soon he knocked on the door and asked Narendra to find out a house expeditiously as an accommodation for all ascetic disciples of Thakur. He assured young Narendra at the same time that he would pay the amount of rent for such a house from his own source regularly as he did in the case of Kashipur Garden Villa till August last. Soon after, all-out efforts were made by Narendra and his friend Bhabanath, who hailed from Barahanagar, to find out a house that might match the requirements of his ascetic brethren. Ultimately, an old double-storied villa that seemed to be in a dilapidated condition and abandoned for a long time was found at Barahanagar.

This villa, situated near the bank of the Ganga River, was owned by one Bhuban Datta. This land with a grove of trees and buildings was originally owned by another Munshibabu of once-renowned Taki Estate. But it was very infamous amongst the populace living in the locality since it had no inhabitation for long, and so it was referred to as Ghosts' House. The neighbours were scared of it for other reasons also, due to the presence of lots of snakes and jackals in the bushes grown in the courtyard adjacent to it. Large heaps of scattered rubbish were visible everywhere in the courtyard and seemed to be piled up from decades. In the absence of any other suitable one, there was no option for Narendra and his friend but to settle down for this villa at the rent of Rs. 11/- per month, including the related tax too.

Soon, Narendra sent a wire to his ascetic brother Tarak (later on renowned as Swami Shibananda), who was at Vrindavan during the time along with other ascetic brothers, including Kali, Latu and Jogin, who were accompanying the holy mother Sarada Devi in pilgrimage. In the wire, Narendra asked Tarak to rush back to Barahanagar immediately to take charge of the hired villa that was to be transformed into a 'Hermitage of the Recluses,' where the ascetic disciples of Thakur Ramakrishna could establish the holy Vessel of Ashes and could lead their lives with religious observance to reach the ultimate goal of salvation. A hermitage of recluses i.e., 'Matha' in the Indian terminology, is an abode of ascetic pupils to practice austerity and concentrate their own hearts and souls in contemplation in order to achieve eternal bliss at the final stage. It is worth mentioning here that, amongst all the ascetic disciples of Thakur Ramakrishna, so far, this one and only Tarak Ghosal was able to abandon the domestic life with his wife and other kith and kin. All other ascetic brethren were not able to do so till then for some reason or the other. Narendra himself was involved with a prolonged court case with his close relatives in connection with the occupation of his ancestral house. Taking back the occupational right of the house was essentially required since it was a single lawful shelter for his widow mother and helpless minor brothers and sisters, and in the continuous process of legal proceedings, he had to attend court hearings every now and then. So, right at the moment, Tarak was the single ascetic disciple who could take charge of this very first prospective Matha of the Ramakrishna Order.

So, the hermitage, i.e., Matha, was established soon at Barahanagar with Tarak at the helm of affairs. Soon Buro-Gopal, i.e., Gopal-de-elder, a fellow ascetic disciple, joined Tarak at the Matha. Prominent other ascetics in body and mind, including Narendra, Shashi, Rakhal, Sharat, Baburam and Niranjan, began to involve themselves with the affairs of the Matha despite their regular attachment to their respective homes. This development might have taken place by the end of September, 1886, because Mahendranath Gupta, who subsequently authored the holy book of 'Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita' in Bengali and 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' in English, had mentioned in his account dated 21 February 1887 that 'it was about 5 months since the Matha at Barahanagar was established.'

Mahendranath Gupta was commonly known as 'Master' due to his professional familiarity as a teacher and, yet he was renowned to his readers by the letter 'M,' i.e., the single initial of his name. This great soul loved the ascetic disciples wholeheartedly, and so he used to visit the Matha at frequent intervals and was fond of spending the nights with them very often, with some stoppages for days together at a stretch. Evidently, the statement of Master 'M' is quite authentic and acceptable to all followers of Ramakrishna ideology due to its genuineness and in the absence of any other written document too. Following a month from the date of establishment of the Matha, other prominent ascetic disciple Kali came back from Vrindavan and joined his brethren at Barahanagar. In the meantime, Shashi too had joined the fellow ascetic brothers as an irregular resident in the Matha. Soon, the hermitage became very active with round-the-clock activities of resident ascetics, including Tarak, Gopal-de-elder, Kali and Shashi, and visiting ascetics like Narendra, Rakhal, Sharat, Baburam and Niranjan.

Thus, this 'Barahanagar Matha' came into being as the very first hermitage of the ascetic sages of the Ramakrishna order and this heralded the reincarnation of Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhansa in the formation of an organization regarded as the 'Ramakrishna Sangha,' i.e., an institution that would sustain in this universe at least for a thousand years to come. Soon after raising up in the month of September 1886, it became a unique laboratory to transform the self-inspired young ascetic disciples to install themselves into the monastic life and develop their spiritual high order in following the teachings of Thakur Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, in which it has been told that 'Service to all living beings is the real worship of God.'

Hari Om Tat Sat!

References

1. Master M (Mahendranath Gupta) (1986-87), Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (Complete), Udbodhan Karyalaya, Kolkata.
2. Swami Gambhirananda (1984), Yuganayaka Vivekananda Part I and Part II, Udbodhan Karyalaya, Kolkata.
3. Swami Gambhirananda (1953), Sri Ramakrishna Bhaktamalika, Udbodhan Karyalaya, Kolkata.
4. Swami Vivekanander Vani O Rachana (Comple Works of Swami Vivekananda) (1964), Udbodhan Karyalaya, Kolkata.
5. Swami Nikhilananda (1942), Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna Matha, Mylapore, Chennai.