Among the Not So Great

Charu-Da — Bhater

(Charu Chandra Deb Sarkar)

Who will pray, he must fast and be clean
And fat his soul, and make his body lean.

Chaucer, the Summoner’s Tale

I could see his lean body, it couldn’t be leaner. But his soul was beyond my ken. Let’s hold judgment till later (if one can judge).

Who is this, another Charu Chandra? (We have already met two — C. C. Dutt, known as Dadu and C. C. Mukherji known as Bula-da.) This Charu-da is quite a bit different and quite a bit similar to the other two. The similarity, of course was — they were all devoted children of the Mother. We, the other children, gave him the title “BHATER Charu” = Charu of the Rice. Actually Dadoo and Bula-da were never referred to as “Charus”. But there were some more “Charus”, so the title “Bhater”. (The why will be clarified later.)

Charu-da was born long, long ago in 1887 in the village Mala, in Bengal, on the 17th of November. His family was quite well-to-do, and possessed cultivable lands. In 1907, at the age of 20 Charu-da was in Calcutta (Kolkata). He was a student of Arts in the Intermediate course at the Ripon College. It was about this time that he came across the paper Bande Mataram — whose editor was Sri Aurobindo Ghose. One of the students of English used to read the paper aloud to the others. A spark was lit in young Charu — he did not feel its tingle yet, though he thought that this man, the author, was a very learned man. Those were the days when Khudiram was arrested and hanged, and the country was seething with unrest. Sri Aurobindo too was arrested. Some young men were collecting money to help Sri Aurobindo’s cause. When approached for a contribution, Charu said: “I don’t know the man, nor do I know much about his principles. Why should I pay for him? Why does he do such things as to land himself in jail?” But as his friends persisted, and seeing some others give Re. 1/to Rs. 10/or even ½ a rupee — Charu said: “All right, because you have tried so hard, I will give you an anna (1/16 of a rupee = now 6 paise). If you are not satisfied I will not give you anything!”

Many of the students supported Suren Banerjee or Rashbehari Bose. (There were two factions in the Congress party then, one under Rashbehari and the other under Bal Gangadhar Tilak.) In one meeting in College square, Charu was present when Sri Aurobindo spoke. He spoke softly. Though Charu could not hear much, he was impressed. Something touched his soul. The spark was being fanned; Sri Aurobindo’s appearance and bearing also touched Charu. He found Sri Aurobindo to be simple and austere, tendencies which he had himself so admired.

Charu, though he was beginning to admire Sri Aurobindo, had more respect for the moderates — S. N. Banerjee and Rashbehari Bose. Sri Aurobindo and B. G. Tilak were in the opposite camp, extremists. Charu bought photos of S. N. Banerjee and Sri Aurobindo. He framed the first with an 8-anna (1/2 Rupee) frame and Sri Aurobindo’s with one of 3 Annas! He was as yet swayed more by S. N. B. whom he took to be the leader of the nation. But slowly the tide in him was turning in favour of Aurobindo Babu. Below the picture it was mentioned that Aurobindo Babu had given up a job of Rs. 800/and taken up one for Rs. 100/— a great sacrifice. Another event went against S.N.B. At a conference that Charu had attended, S. N. Banerjee raised a sum of Rs. 10,000/-. This was to be spent for development work in the villages. Charu had a school in his village, and was expecting some funds to reach his school. But alas, nothing came. This annoyed Charu. Then he also heard that Sri Aurobindo had written about the Vedas and the Gita. So more “advantage” Sri Aurobindo! These were but the external reasons. Some inner chords were plucked and his soul was set astir, the flame was catching. Now Charu’s heart was moving on a new and different path. Charu subscribed to the magazines Karmayogin, Bande Mataram, Dharma — and he was fully convinced that Sri Aurobindo was the man to follow, that he was the Future of the Nation. Charu even went to an astrologer to find out if Sri Aurobindo, who was in prison, would be freed — so anxious was he. (The astrologer did assure Charu that Sri Aurobindo would be freed. The man himself seemed anxious that Sri Aurobindo be freed.)

Charu reading Sri Aurobindo’s writings, came across one, wherein it was strongly advocated that “…schools should be under national control”. Charu immediately resolved never to approach the Government for help, which would amount to Rs. 25/anyway. He himself volunteered to teach without a salary and would give Rs. 3/every month to the school. Some of his friends agreed with his plan, though some were not so convinced. A dividing line was faintly appearing. Incidentally, we have here, with us, a young man Charu had recruited as a teacher in his school. He is Benoy-da; he is an old Ashramite, now 101 years old. He used to work in the D.R. (Dining Room) filling sugar tins. He was quite a good runner — light on his feet and he had a good style. Now he is bent double, but moves about on his own power. He saw and sees the world around him quite well with one eye. The other gives a glassy stare — for it is of glass.

Charu continued to work in and for the school. All the while his admiration for and faith in Sri Aurobindo grew. He even started “Japa”, i.e. repeating Sri Aurobindo’s name in the evenings. He read

“Hymn to Durga” but was not sure he understood it. At that time he read an article on Hathayoga, but concluded that it was not an indispensable part of the yoga Sri Aurobindo practised (during His imprisonment). But Charu was puzzled. He thought: “Then what yoga is Sri Aurobindo practising? Sri Aurobindo is a Rishi. But where are his matted locks, where his ochre robes, his rudraksha mala, his kamandalu?” etc. Thus questioning, it dawned on him that the present-day Rishi needed not all these external signs. His achievements may be hidden. Charu concluded too, through all these clashing thoughts, that to “preach without practising” is to fail in any endeavour, to impart knowledge of Brahma without being a Brahmagyani was an impossibility. He thought of all the difficulties that the Nation was facing: “Who can solve all these tremendous problems? It needs an ideal man, a “Rishi”. Who is that Rishi? Sri Aurobindo — was the answer — He is that ideal man, the Rishi — but where is he?”

For Sri Aurobindo had disappeared from the scene. Some said he had gone to a lonely place to continue his yoga. Some others said that he had gone to a foreign country — even Germany! There was no pucca news about him.

It was now dangerous to take Sri Aurobindo’s name, or sympathise with Him or exhibit His photograph and read his books openly. Once the police did come to search Charu’s house. Someone unfavourably disposed towards Charu pointed out to the sub-inspector a photo of Sri Aurobindo in the meditation room. The SI looked and shrugged it off saying, “Oh! That has no great bearing on our search. These photos are sold in the open market.” The SI also noticed some copies of Karmayogin and Dharma. He later took Charu aside and told him to remove them. Charu thanked the SI and sent up a silent prayer to his Guru.

Those were troubled times. Charu tried to put into practice Sri Aurobindo’s ideas of Education. Charu introduced new books like Brain of India, Uttarpara Speech, etc. as text books. New concepts such as not to impose a mass of books on the students were tried out. Some of the teachers asked: “What — no books?” “Why is religion being introduced?” Those concepts bothered them. Charu himself had found it difficult at first to grasp what Sri Aurobindo thought, wrote and spoke about. It was doubly difficult to explain to others even what he understood. Most of them (Indians) were used to think or were led to think and work under yokes — of foreign rule, or orthodoxy and tradition. Sri Aurobindo’s thoughts were new, revolutionary and scary to most then (to many even now). The students were more amenable to the new, revolutionary ideas than the teachers. The latter were stuck with some old and orthodox methods. Some parents were afraid to enrol their children in such a school. But Charu persisted.

Some “incidents” (if we may so name them) buoyed persons like Charu. One of Charu’s friends had an experience. Charu and some friends used to worship (perform pooja) before a photo of Sri Aurobindo. They offered some flat rice (chidé), puffed rice (mudi) and a banana. They often wondered how to know that the Lord had accepted the offering! One night one of them “saw” Sri Aurobindo and “heard” Him say: “I have accepted your offering.” The devotee then addressed Sri Aurobindo: “I have heard you are a portion of Sri Krishna (Vishnu). Show me your four arms, like He has.” He was amazed and through tears of joy saw Sri Aurobindo with four arms, with “Shankha, Gada, Chakra and Kamal” (Conch, Mace, Disc and Lotus). But he noticed with some consternation that the mala (garland) they had put on the photo was missing on the Lord of his vision. The dream-vision ended.

He got off his bed, lit a lamp and hastened to the Pooja Room. To his greater amazement he found that the mala had fallen off the photo, the string had snapped. He collected the flowers, restrung the mala and put it back where it belonged. (Some say “seeing is believing” — but often believing gives sight.)

Then there were some rumours trickling down that Sri Aurobindo had gone to Chandernagore and then “no — he has left Chandernagore and gone to Pondicherry” (out of British India). Then Haradhan Bakshi (known to us as one of the Among the Not So Great,) came over and took Charu along with some others to Chandernagore. The occasion at Chandernagore was the celebration of the 22nd birth anniversary of Sri Motilal Roy. Charu and his friends went there with an eagerness, hoping to meet Sri Aurobindo also. They were in for a great disappointment — for He was not there.

After the celebration Charu and friends returned to Mala. Haradhan Bakshi accompanied them. They brought some new land under cultivation. Charu himself ploughed the fields. He was full of enthusiasm for he thought the produce could be sent to Sri Aurobindo. They (Haradhan too) wanted to start a new school named “Prabartak Sangha Vidyapith”. Then Haradhan slowly revealed to them that Aurobindo Babu had cut himself away, right from the roots, from all those Sanghas. They heard too that Sri Aurobindo had asked Motilal to stay back at Pondicherry. But Motilal went back to Chandernagore. Matters did not go so well and Charu broke off from the Sangha. A plan for Haradhan to go to Pondicherry to sort out matters also fell through. One Mr. Kirti Chandra Gangopadhyaya said he could go to Pondicherry — but had no money. He was given Rs. 15/to go, but he did not go. Nothing seemed to be working. Then after all these efforts and false starts, Charu along with Haradhan left for Pondicherry on the Vijayadasami Day of 1925.

That was Charu in Bengal in the earlier part of the past century. It was but a preparation — a ploughing and a sowing. We will come to the “harvest” — reaped what? Who harvested? Maybe what follows could reveal the answers!