Introduction of “Pagal Haranath Letters”

India is a spiritual country, which abounds with Sadhus and Saints. It has been fortunate to have a spate of Mahatmas and Apostles of God whose advent is for the specific objective of attracting the straying souls to the path divine.

Haranath, endearingly known to His devotees as Pagal Haranath (Haranath the crazy) was born on 1st July 1865 AD at Sonamukhi in the district of Bankura, West Bengal. He is one of the advents of mercy like Jesus Christ and Lord Nityananda who came to redeem the fallen and put them on the divine course.

Scriptures say that God is “Avaangmaanasagochara”, that is, God is beyond the reach of speech and mind. Then whatever descriptions have been made about God could be only in respect of His manifestations. God and man are in different modes, God in transcendental (higher) mode and man in phenomenal (lower) mode. Hence it is not possible for establishing a link between these two dissimilar modes. However there has got to be a point of contraposition where the transition between the two modes is possible. The purpose of phenomenal world is anybody’s guess notwithstanding the theories propounded by various faiths. Regarding the divine and human interactions, the Hindu Scriptures say that in order to guide the human beings, God has given them the Scriptures and whenever necessary He Himself takes an advent or sends His Apostles to provide guidance to mankind. The problem is that there is abundance of faiths with the possibility of conflict between the followers who mostly lean on the intellect. However to reach the point of contraposition man has no alternative but to move in his own mode consisting of ‘Intellect’ and ‘Sentiment’ which stand resolved the moment he reaches the point. Till such time, the differences between the faiths persist. Intellect is the tough portion of human mode, not within the easy reach of humanity, as is evident from the disparity in the intellectual levels of created beings. Haranath came as the common mode between man and God. And He advised His devotees to utilize the emotional part of human mode to establish contact with God, for Love is natural to beings. There are enough examples from Mythology and history of mankind that relationship between God and man could be established through the sentiment (Love). To develop Love, Haranath confirms what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has advocated, that is, one should develop taste for chanting Name, show kindness to beings and do service to the devotees. For this, no preparation or training is required. Therefore the rituals or methods like initiation etc are not necessary. All that is required is the urge, the aspiration. Once the person embarks on this course, the path becomes self-guiding and self-illuminating. The essence of the teachings of Haranath is the development of intimate relationship with God in the human mode. But God is in transcendental mode. God in the form of human mode is required. Haranath offered Himself as the common mode between God and man. Mythology is meant to bring God into human mode. Haranath did not interfere with the Mythology or Scriptures, but only encouraged the development of the sentiment aspect of human mode. For elucidation, He quoted freely examples from Mythology. But regarding the attitude towards God, He said that it is free for all; the dos and donts become secondary to the attitude.

Haranath was born in a simple Brahmin family. He led the life of a householder, serving in the Dharmartha Office in Kashmir for livelihood and upbringing of His children. This is a confirmation that family life is not a hindrance to spiritual attainments. He led a detached life, like a water drop on a lotus leaf. He showed much love and attachment to His devotees and took their sufferings on to Himself to give them relief. During His sojourn thousands and thousands of persons came in contact with Him and accepted Him as their best guide and adviser in matters spiritual as well as mundane. The question that arises is what was in Him that charmed and attracted all these men? He led the life of a householder to all outward appearances, yet no Sannyasi could scorn worldly fame and prosperity more than He. He mixed freely with mankind, travelled all over India and by His letters, words and deeds aroused many from the deep spiritual slumber into which they had lapsed. He did this not by miracles, not by posing Himself as a superman but by mixing with them as one of them, sharing their joys and sorrows, and strange it was indeed how He could lessen their sorrows and enhance their joys. His chastening influence on others was gradual and subtle. The secret was certainly His deep undying love for all, a love that did not allow Him to taste the bliss alone but made Him call unto Him one and all to share it with Him. Haranath was the embodiment of Love; His mission was to teach Love, Love divine, Love for the Lord. It was through Love that He won the hearts of others; Love, pure and unalloyed, is the sovereign remedy that He prescribed and offered to all. These are the days of intellectualism. The brain and not the heart, guides men in their actions. Haranath turned it topsy-turvy. He told the devotees to open the flood-gates of their hearts so that the strong current of love and devotion, so long locked up, might gush forth again in all its crystal purity and intensity.[1] The key that would open these gates is within the reach of all, that is, the chanting of the Name.

Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians, Parsis, all came to Haranath and listened to His sweet talk of Love. He was like the ocean and different sorts of waves arose in Him according to the state of existence and temperament of different devotees that He was speaking to or writing to. To a scholar He was a profound scholar; to comrades all hilarity and enjoyment; to children all play and gambol; to mothers, the most loving child. Haranath did not take advent to found a new religion or sect. His mission is to teach Love. “Love the Lord and live for Him”, says He. As a means to this end, He prescribed the constant repetition of the Lord’s Name. He is the Universal Teacher. His teachings are meant for every one. What He emphasized is that we should take Name, any Name that melts our hearts. No aids are necessary. When the heart becomes soft by ceaseless repetition of Name, the Lord will then mould it in the proper shape.

Haranath compares the philosophies to powerful searchlights, which flash in and flash out, thus preventing the eyes from observing the constant form of any object. Therefore He discouraged looking at things from philosophy angle, and encouraged the development of sentiment (Love).F.N:: He advised His devotees to take advantage of Love that is natural to beings and direct it towards God, the constant friend and relation of every being. Whatever He taught, He made Krishna as the center of His subject. He gave Krishna in the human mode citing the examples of cowherd boys and cowherd lasses of Brindavan, who established guileless relationship with Krishna. He says that men who would set out as master workers even as Arjuna himself did, become listless at the end, consider themselves to be lowly and powerless and take shelter at the feet of the Lord. Those who seek to reach the Lord by means of reason become lost in the wilderness but those who being blind solely depend on Lord’s help to get through have no ordeal to face and even if they ever put to the test, the Lord Himself shows them the way across. Thus He advocates the path of surrender and advises us to seek the protection of the Lord. Religions or faiths, which have a following, are only practices. The real religion is interaction between man and God. That is why Mahatma Gandhi said that there are as many religions as there are human beings. Yogi Krishnaprem (Ronald Nixon, a Britisher who became an Indian monk devoted to lthe worship of Krishna) said, ”The path unto God is through the sky and so has no landmarks or descriptions. All described paths are but the tracings on the earth of the shadows of those who have gone in the sky.” Thus there seems to be no specific path unto God; what is required is the sincere aspiration. Mother of Aurobindo Ashram says, “Sincerity is the key of the divine door. If earnestly you say to Divine, ‘I want only Thee’, the Divine will arrange the circumstances in such a way that you are compelled to be sincere.” Ramana Maharshi says, “Wandering of mind and perverted ways stand in the way of one knowing God. If you have the aspiration, God will remove the obstacles. If you surrender yourself, He will create the aspiration.”

The unique part of Haranath was the charisma He held over His devotees, enthralling them with the narration of the Lilas of Krishna and bringing transformation in their hearts. Haranath declared, “Tell all you come across to lay the burden of their sins on my head and being purged and free from their sins, to sing the praises of the Lord with all their heart.” That is why Haranath is called Kripa Avatar (the advent of mercy). Comparisons to Haranath in history are Jesus Christ, Lord Nityananda and Saint Ramanuja. If we scan the history of mankind, we find that the Avatars of mercy that were prepared to take on the loads of sins of others, are Jesus Christ, Lord Nityananda, Saint Ramanuja and Haranath. Jesus Christ said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Thus Jesus Christ is an advent of mercy. Lord Nityananda went about imploring people to chant the Name of Krishna, so that they could transcend Maya and taste the bliss of Love. He did this even at the risk of being chastised. Therefore Lord Nityananda is an advent of mercy. Saint Ramanuja was prepared to go to purgatory taking on the loads of sins of the people by openly proclaiming to them the Taraka Mantra (the sacred syllable), against the injunctions of his Guru. Thus he is an advent of mercy. Why have these advents (Jesus Christ, Lord Nityananda, Saint Ramanuja and Haranath) been so meek and simple? We can find the clarification in the letter of Haranath to a devotee. He writes, “It is only because Jesus Christ was so meek and poor that a third of the world enjoys peace under His shade. We belong to animal world, how can we reach a great man when He makes His grand advent in state? If He comes down in a dress we are used to, we can approach Him unafraid, and tell Him our joys and sorrows without reserve. This is the reason why such merciful advents as those of Jesus Christ or Nityananda are the best and truest refuge for us.”

Regarding our attitude towards God, Haranath writes to a devotee, “Take the case of little children, calling mother as father and father as mother, but does the father refuse to answer because the child calls him mother? On the other hand he takes the child in his arms with great pleasure and kisses it. Lord is one, call Him Father or Mother, it matters little. He only considers the mental attitude and bestows love and affection accordingly. Kali and Krishna are variants of the name of one Lord. Kali, Durga, Rama, Shyama are all the names of the container; the contained is the One and only One who carries the flute.”

Against the conventional concept of life that the soul got separated from God at immemorial past and that it should endeavour to go back to Godhead, Haranath gave a unique explanation of life and the world. He says that life is a play on the stage called world. Everyone chooses his role and comes into the world to enact the same. After the play each one retires to the greenroom. He says that we have been playing this game of father, mother, wife, husband, son etc, from time immemorial, establishing temporary relationship, and abandoning the same to establish a new relationship in a new play. What He says is that getting enamoured with the temporary relationship, we should not forget our eternal relationship with God. This is the essence of His teaching that we should constantly remember our eternal Friend and look at the world as belonging to Him. He wrote to a devotee, ”Play whatever you like, but remember that you are the Lord’s own, that you have come to the stage as per desire of the Lord.” What a simple precept, no code of conduct, no theories. All that is required is mere remembrance that we are here on a divine purpose. Then whatever guidance is required flows from the Divine. He said, “We shall play our roles in this drama that we have come to play. We shall go behind the scenes as soon as our roles are over and shall emerge again in new garbs. This is what we call in our ignorance, life and death and become terrified. May we carry out the orders of our Lord and make our entries and exits with a smile on our faces. May we come back through a succession of lives as one of His people?”

He declared, “I will not see your merits (virtues) or demerits (sins). I have come to love you all because it is my nature to love.” Virtue or sin has no relevance in our relationship with God. Haranath writes to a devotee, “Do not regard yourself as a detestable sinner. Sin dreads to approach those who have taken Krishna’s Name.”F.N: He says that virtue or sin has no place in Krishna’s kingdom. Brindavan is the abode of eternal bliss where sin or virtue cannot enter. He writes, “Through Krishna’s grace may we remain beyond their reach! Let those who are concerned with virtue and sin, judge them. What have we to do with either?”

Haranath never claimed Godhood to Himself. Of course, He allowed His devotees to worship Him but only on specific occasions like His Janmostavs (birthday celebrations). At other times He moved amongst them like one of them, as a friend, or a parent, or a child or a guide. It is true that the initial attraction towards a Mahatma is display of miracles. Haranath did not resort to such miracles as materializing things from the air, the super-natural phenomena. The subtle miracles that He performed right from His young age were the reforming of the people treading the wrong and sinful paths and His vicarious atonement in several cases by drawing the diseases of His devotees on to Himself and suffering them Himself for a short duration and relieving the devotees from the agony. The open miracle that He had to resort to on occasions was the proliferation of Prasad (food) being served to the devotees. Whenever He visited the houses of His devotees, a large batch of devotees accompanied Him. Also local devotees would gather to have His darshan and to be in His captivating company. The host would not have the exact information about the number of people attending, with the result the food prepared would not be sufficient even for a small fraction of the gathering. Haranath would go into the kitchen, glance at the items prepared and then ask them to serve to the devotees. After sumptuously feeding all those present the food would remain as before sufficient for the entire household and the servants and even for poor feeding. There are several instances that He saved His devotees from certain death and there are two instances of bringing back the dead to life. A rationalist of course pooh-poohs even this on the reasoning that the death in those cases might have been only apparent and the doctor’s certification of death might have been erroneous. But it is not these types of miracles that mainly drew the people to Him but it was His bringing transformation in their hearts that endeared Him to all His devotees. He played the role of not only a Saviour but also Redeemer.

People would be curious to know the spiritual status of Haranath. It is natural for the devotees to confer Godhood on their master. They would call Him the Supreme even though they do not have an iota of idea of what a Supreme Being is. Vedas describe God as Avaangmaanasagochara (beyond speech and mind). Then does it not look silly calling anyone as God? But Haranath has a unique answer for this. When a gentleman asked Him, ”All your devotees address you as Lord and worship you with flowers, sandal paste etc. You too are accepting that. What is the reason for this?” Haranath replied, ”Father, preparing an image out of earth, or wood or stone, and calling it the Lord, we worship Him and experience so much joy. Attributing the Lord’s existence to a living image made of flesh and blood, if so many people call Him with body, mind and soul, does not the Lord respond? Does He not accept their worship? What is wanted is only sincere calling and taking the Lord’s Name with a single mind. In that case only His response can be had.” In a letter to a devotee, He writes, “In small pieces of stones, the existence of the Lord is not manifest in a greater degree than in all similar objects in the universe. Why then are the Lingas (of Shiva) much venerated? Have you not heard that Shiva actually came out of a Linga, trident in had, to protect His devotee (Markandeya)? To gratify the wishes of a Bhakta (Prahlada), Hari, the life of the universe, burst forth from a stone pillar and saved his honour. Now tell me whether the manifestation of the Lord in the stone is due to any particular property of the stone or to the efficacy of the devotee’s faith? A little thought over this will convince you of the truth.”

Various devotees had various experiences. Bhagawandas Mody of Bombay saw Haranath in a vision as Krihna. With Yasoda Ma and Narayan Chandra Ghosh, Haranath enacted the Lila (sport) of Gopal (Boy Krishna). To Vimala Ma, wife of Bhagawandas Mody, He wrote, “You are my mother Yasoda and I am your Gopal.” During the Janmostav (birthday celebration) of Haranath at Atharobhari, Mymensingh district, Yasoda Ma saw the idol of Jagannath in the place of Haranath who was lying on a bed. At the same time, Haranath’s presence was noticed in the Haranath Ashram at Puri where worship was going on. In the issues of November and December 1907 AD of Hindu Spiritual Magazine, the publisher Shisir Kumar Ghose wrote about Haranath comparing Him with founders of religious sects and psychics like Jesus Christ, Mohammad and Gouranga. He enumerated the psychic powers possessed by Haranath as, conversion of atheists to saints, conversion of ferocious animals into affectionate companions, stepping out of His body and carrying the astral body to long distances, the gift of prophecy, the gift of clairvoyance, and the gift of seeing at a distance and through opaque bodies. Depending upon their perceptual background, persons could draw their own inference on the above information.F.N: However in the messages released during the birthday celebrations of Haranath in the years 1921 AD to 1926 AD, Haranath spoke about Himself.

“Because my inner and outer selves are different you have experienced some difficulty in finding me out. As it is not incumbent on me to relieve the earth of its burden, it is not necessary for me to be accompanied by Shakti (Force).” (1921 AD, at Puri)

“I alone am conscious of my actual condition. Many a time have I come into this world. This play is without beginning or end, and is eternal. This is called the sublimest sport.” (1922 AD, at Barahnagar, Calcutta)

“What I was once is beyond the reach of imagination. To any other it is a sealed book. This play has neither beginning nor end; it is moving on for ever, never goes out of line, and no human effort can make it swerve.” (1923 AD, at Atharobhari)

“That tide of love which our benevolent Nityananda and the fountain of love Lord Gouranga caused to flow to save even the worms and insects, has been flowing again (meaning that He has come to continue it). (1924 AD, at Nagpur)

“I do not find anything new at Puri. Methinks everything is well known to me since a remote past. Even all the roads and ghats have been seen by me long ago (as Lord Gouranga). I have come to play only and shall play forever. Everything of this universe is mine and myself am of everything as well. The whole universe is encompassed by this play.” (1925 AD, at Puri)

“This objective universe is my stage to play upon. From the beginning of time have I come to play on this stage.” (The full message which contains the above sentence, prepared for the Janmostav to be held at Monghyr in 1926 AD was not released by the organizers because it contained reference to Haranath’s forthcoming disappearance; it was released during the Janmostav held at Midnapore in 1927 AD, after His disappearance.)

The followers of Haranath feel that the above messages reveal the divinity of Haranath and that all the major events in His life indicated that He is Lord Gouranga who came to complete His mission of inspiring people in the path of Love that was left unfinished because majority of society which included women and other worldly people had no access to Him, He being a Sannyasi.

Haranath movement has been only in isolated pockets. Once Haranath told His over-enthusiastic followers, “Carry my message of Love, but I will choose my own flock.” Perhaps this may be the reason why the Haranath movement has been sporadic. Whether the following of Haranath is small or large, His message is universal. He is a universal Teacher. Once Haranath and Chittaranjan Das the then President of Indian Congress, happened to travel in the same compartment of a train when the Congress was in session at Nagpur. Das remarked to Haranath, “Why does not the religious sentiment which you preach spread everywhere? On the other hand, about this political affair, see how much hue and cry is raised everywhere in a short time?” Haranath replied, “You have seen vegetable and fish markets where in contrast to the turn-over of goods worth small sums of money, there is so much hue and cry. Whereas in a jewellery shop, diamonds and jewels worth huge sums of money are transacted silently. The greater the hue and cry, does not mean the greater the work.”

****From the book : “PAGAL HARANATH LETTERS (Abridged)” by Sri Haragopal Sepuri [Sri Kusuma Haranath Central Mission, Ganesh Nagar, Selaiyur, Chennai – 600 073]