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Compiled by Sri Haragopal Sepuri, KusumaHaranath Central Mission, Chennai

EPISODE (1) :

(Source : Memoirs written by Haraprasad Chakravarty and Hariprasad Chakravarty) :

Introduction :

1. Haraprasad Chakravarty and Hariprasad Chakravarty are the children of Kshetraprasad Chakravarty and Radha Rani, and grandchildren of Narendranath Chakravarty and Vidyullata Devi.

2. Narendranath conducted the last Janmotsav of our Lord in 1926.

3. Kshetraprasad was a young boy aged six at the time of this Janmostav. His experience with the Lord has been narrated in the book “Haranath, the Deliverer of Mankind.”

4. Radha Rani was the grand-daughter of Nanda Baba and Yashoda Ma, and the daughter of Dharmadas Mukherjee. It was Mother Kusum Kumari who approved the marriage of Radha Rani with Kshetraprasad.

Dharmadas did not have money to conduct the marriage of Radha Rani since he had, a few days earlier conducted the marriage of his third daughter. Therefore he had to take a loan from Krishnadas Banerjee, the second son of our Lord and Mother. The terms and conditions of this loan were that the house of Dharmadas at Bankura including the surrounding land had to be pledged to Krishnadas with the stipulation that in the event of non-repayment of the loan within a specific period the house would automatically go to Krishnadas. It was something like the conditions of Shylock. Dharmadas had to agree since he had no other way to proceed with the marriage.

The marriage was conducted on 17th February 1944. After the marriage, Mother Kusum Kumari asked Yashoda Ma to go to various places of Andhra Pradesh to propagate the Name. Yashoda Ma appealed that she was an uneducated ignorant and rustic lady and that persons like Vimala Ma may be delegated for this purpose. Mother Kusum Kumari admonished her saying, “The person whom I will direct, will have to go. It is not your look out to see who is educated or uneducated. Thakur will always be with you and He will make you speak.”

Thereafter, Sri R.Satyalu and Sri Mohan Krishna took Yashoda Ma first to Guntur and afterwards, to many places of Andhra Pradesh. Her speech was listened to with attention by all the devotees. They even asked her questions which she replied properly. They wondered how she had such a vast knowledge. At each gathering, the devotees offered her one rupee each and soon a bag of coins were collected which Sri Mohan Krishna kept in his possession and handed it over to Yashoda Ma soon after they returned to Sonamukhi. Yashoda Ma placed the bag of coins at the feet of Mother Kusum Kumari who asked her to give that money to Krishnadas and redeem the mortgage of the house and the land. When the money was counted, it was found that it was the exact amount for the redemption of mortgage. Dharmadas, as per the direction of Mother Kusum Kumari paid the amount to Krishnadas and redeemed his house and land.

MORAL : Mother Kusum Kumari, as the mother of Krishnadas did not call him and ask him why he was insisting on such rigid terms of loan. It shows that She was very formal with Her own son. She, however had plans to come to the rescue of Her devotee in Her own way. This is one example to show that Mother Kusum Kumari considered Her devotees as Her own children than Her blood HHchildren.

EPISODE (2) :

(SOURCE : Narrated by Jessu Ma when brother Dr.G.S.Murthy took me to meet her in her Juhu flat in December 1983.)

Mother Kusum Kumari had undergone the cataract operation of Her eye and was staying in the house of Sri Roy at Tatanagar. Vimala Ma and her daughter Jessu Ma had come from Bombay to see Mother. It was the day when the bandage of Her eye was to be removed. Mother wanted to see Vimala Ma first on opening of the bandage. Later Jessu Ma asked Mother, “Ma, you have your children and progeny; but why did you want to see us first.” Mother replied, “They are the children for the world. My devotees are My real children.”

EPISODE (3) :

(a) (SOURCE : Pagal Haranath Letters : Part IV : Letter 131)

This letter was in response to the request of Mrs. Hemachandra Ghosh requesting the Lord for a “good letter.” The Lord, while dilating on “what is good,” mentioned about the actions of Krishna. He wrote :

“Devaki gave birth to Him no doubt, but mother Jashoda was really the good mother. Devaki not being the good mother, He went away, immediately after He was born, to his good mother. There He did and showed all that is good. When He returned to mother Devaki from (good) mother Jashoda’s side, all His actions were terrible and not one was sweet. The tempo of the terrible heightened till it reached its highest pitch at Prabhas where it came to an end.”

At Prabhas Sri Krishna caused the destruction of His own progeny (sons, grandsons), uncles etc. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Lord had taken advent to uphold Dharma and in order to do that He destroyed His own progeny. Certainly the Lord did not take advent to proliferate progeny.

(b) (SOURCE : Narration by Gopinath Ganguly, son of P.C.Ganguly, about his father’s relationship with the Lord) :

“When the devotees used to offer money to the Lord, the Lord used to spend almost all of it for the service of the devotees. He was not keeping anything for Himself. My father did not appreciate this. He told the Lord, ‘I am going to keep a part of the offerings with me on your account.’ Things were moving smoothly. Once my father grabbed handful of the money that had been offered to the Lord. Lord started pleading to my father, “Please do not take away so much. We need money for the service of the devotees.” The roles seem to have been reversed – the Giver pleading to the devotee for money for the service of the devotees. That was how the affection of the Lord was for His devotees. That must be the reason why the Lord had trouble with His own sons. Please read His letter to His eldest son Anukul Chandra.

(Pagal Haranath : Part V : Letter 293 : written to Anukul Chandra Banerjee) :

“ . . . .Father, I shall go to Sonamukhi on the only condition that none in the house will speak against my wish (contradict me, disobey my words, quarrel with me etc.) Otherwise I shall eat by begging, yet I have no desire to go. Nowadays I have no more strength to endure if any one contradicts my speech, then I laughed it away. Now laughter no more comes, only on that account none gets peace if I remain at home. I have no more desire to remain being the disquiet cause of so many. If all remain in peace, I also get supreme pleasure wherever I may remain outside the house. . . .”

KUSUMAHARA