Eknathji ....

Eknathji As I Knew Him

Original Writer: Shri Ajitkumar Vishwas

Ref:Swastika: Bengali Weekly

Eknathji had resumed his work as Pracharak in Bengal after the ban on the Sangha was lifted in 1949. He was in Madhya Pradesh for some time. Shri Guruji told him to go to Kolkata.

Towards the end of 1949, a branch of the Sangha was opened in Kalyanigarh. Pracharak Ramprasad Das called the first meeting at the residence of Shri Khokhandar. One of my friends was present at that meeting. That was my first acquaintance with the Sangha. The Sangha Pracharak of Kalyangarh Shri Keshav Chakravarti was also present. The 'Shakha' used to assemble at the ground of Kalyangarh. One day, Eknathji visited this branch. The demonstrations of physical exercises presented by the Shakha were excellent on that day. A large number of the Sangha volunteers, 110 of them, were present at the site of the Shakha on that day.

The weekly magazine Swastika was getting published from Kolkata in those days. The editor of that magazine in those days had no knowledge about the Sangha. One day, after the morning shakha was over, Eknathji reached the office of Swastika only to find that the magazine had published an anti-Sangha article in the issue. When Eknathji saw this, he asked the security-guard for the key to the office and after putting a lock to the office went home with the key in his pocket. He ordered the withdrawal of the publication of that issue, because the said magazine was the mouthpiece of the Sangha. The editor was removed from office on this account. After the ban on the Sangha was lifted in 1949, Eknathji camped in Kolkata as the Kshetra Pracharak. He went to Pune in 1950 for OTC. When he told them of the Sangha's requirement of Pracharaks to spread the work of the Sangha in Purvanchal, 15 volunteers came with him to Kolkata. Amalkumar Basu, Keshav Dikshit, Prabhakar Lakhe, Dinkar Dange, Shridhar Acharya, Haribhau Dev, Kashinath Pawar, Vasudev Deskar, Prabhakar Tamaskar, Ratilal Desai, Narayanrao Tarte, Bhaurao Gugade, Prabhakar Godbole, Shridhar Godse , were among them.

Dr. Hedgewarji had earlier sent Shri Guruji and Shri Balasaheb Deoras to expand the work of the Sangha in Kolkata. Bengal had been through many calamities from 1940 to 1950. The calamities were both political as well as natural. When Doctorji sent Eknathji to Jabalpur in 1936 to expand the work of the Sangha, he was just 24 years of age. He completed M.A. in first class from Sagar University while working for the Sangha. After that he was given the responsibility of the Sangha in Mahakoshal and Madhya Pradesh. Eknathji reached every village of Mahakoshal in his effort to expand the Sangha while he was there.

 

On Eknathji

Eknathji As I Knew Him

Original Writer: Shri Ajitkumar Vishwas

Ref:Swastika: Bengali Weekly

The year was 1950 and the venue was Shaheed Minar Ground in Kolkata. The occasion was a gathering of the Sangha volunteers.  Thousands of volunteers were present there in their full Sangha uniform on that occasion. I noticed three great personalities who were present on that day. Dr. Shyamaprasad Mukhopadhyay (Mukherji) presided over the event.  Param Pujya Shri Golwalkar Guruji - the second Sar Sangha chalak (chief organizer of the Sangha)- the main speaker. Shri Eknath Ranade, in his full Sangha uniform, was standing behind these two great personalities. That was the first time I saw these three. Shri Eknathji was the Kshetra Pracharak of the Sangha, working at that time for Purvanchal, i.e. Bengal, Orissa and Assam together.

By 1947 the branches of the Sangha had started working all over India. But they had started in Bengal in 1939, and that was the time when the World War II started. The agitation of August 1942 had started. The 'Great Calcutta Killing' had taken place, and East Bengal was shaken by the terrible massacre that took place in Naukhali. The year 1949 was a time of great injustice for the Sangha. Nehru had held the Sangha responsible for the assassination of Gandhiji.  Nehru had started maligning the Sangha by branding it as the assassinator of Gandhiji. This campaign of baseless allegations was carried on systematically against the Sangha.

In 1947 Bengal was divided into West and East Bengal. The Sangha did not have many branches in East Bengal, and there were not enough Volunteers either. The few, who were there, were exposed to terrible hardships. They were completely destroyed. The controversies over the assassination of Gandhiji and the malignant campaign against the Sangha had not yet fully subsided when the Swatantra Bharat Jan Andolan started. Nehru declared the Sangha to be an illegal organization and put a ban on it. The volunteers of the Sangha were constantly under violent attacks. Nearly 80000 volunteers started a campaign of 'satyagraha' to unite the Hindus in India. Many of the volunteers were sent to jail on account of this movement. Nehru saw the danger of aggravating the tension and withdrew the ban.

The Vastuhara Relief Committee was formed with a view to helping the homeless who were displaced from East Bengal. The relief-efforts were undertaken with tremendous strength. Shri Eknathji was playing a leading role in this. He was the chief of the committee. The Committee was all out in the efforts to help the people from East Bengal who were landing here in the most devastated condition. The Committee was there to help all those who came from the affected areas in East Bengal and this help was at the non-government organizational level, and this is still going on. Hindus were being displaced from East Pakisthan in large numbers and coming to India for shelter. Saving their religion and their life was most important. This relief committee was formed in 1950. The R.S.S. volunteers had collected large quantities of food-grains and clothing from all over India. This committee was active for many days. The first chairman of that committee was barrister Randev Choudhary, the grandson of the national mentor (Rashtraguru) Surendranath Bandyopadhay (Banerji). 

Shri Guruji was in jail after the ban on the Sangha. Eknath Ranade was not in jail. He was busy trying all ways and means to get the ban removed. The order to lift the ban was passed on 12^th July 1949. Nehru was opposed to this too. Along with Nehru, it was the Communist Party which was persistent in its opposition to the lifting of the ban. The Muslims were also in league with these two. The wanted to see the nation divided. That was the main motivation of this group.

God and worldly duties

From the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

M. (humbly):"How ought we to live in the world?"

MASTER: "Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God.  Live with all - with wife and children, father and mother - and serve them.  Treat them as if they were very dear to you, but know in your heart of hearts that they do not belong to you. 

"A maidservant in the house of a rich man performs all the household duties, but her thoughts are fixed on her own home in her native village.  She brings up her Master's children as if they were her own.  She even speaks of them as 'my Rāma' or 'my Hari'.  But in her own mind she knows very well that they do not belong to her at all. 

"The tortoise moves about in the water.  But can you guess where her thoughts are? There on the bank, where her eggs are lying.  Do all your duties in the world, but keep your mind on God. 

"If you enter the world without first cultivating love for God, you will be entangled more and more.  You will be overwhelmed with its danger, its grief, its sorrows.  And the more you think of worldly things, the more you will be attached to them. 

"First rub your hands with oil and then break open the jack-fruit; otherwise they will be smeared with its sticky milk.  First secure the oil of divine love, and then set your hands to the duties of the world. 

"But one must go into solitude to attain this divine love.  To get butter from milk you must let it set into curd in a secluded spot; if it is too much disturbed, milk won't turn into curd.  Next, you must put aside all other duties, sit in a quiet spot, and churn the curd.  Only then do you get butter.

"Further, by meditating on God in solitude the mind acquires knowledge, dispassion, and devotion.  But the very same mind goes downward if it dwells in the world.  In the world there is only one thought: 'woman and gold'.2

"The world is water and the mind milk.  If you pour milk into water they become one; you cannot find the pure milk any more.  But turn the milk into curd and churn it into butter.  Then, when that butter is placed in water, it will float.  So, practise spiritual discipline in solitude and obtain the butter of knowledge and love.  Even if you keep that butter in the water of the world the two will not mix.  The butter will float.