Chatterji, Amar : Amarendranath (1880-1957); around 1906-07, he was sent by Upendranath Banerjee to meet Sri Aurobindo at his residence in 23, Scott’s Lane, Calcutta, for receiving the Diksha (initiation) into the revolutionary movement. Recalling that meeting Amar wrote in 1950: “I was not merely enchanted by my first meeting with him, ― I became strong, I became powerful. I got a personal proof of the idea that Diksha can be given merely by Darshan (sight) & it does not require either touch or a mantra. …. He asked me, ‘I suppose Upen had talked to you about the work…. You have given a lot of money to the Swadeshi movement…. But is the country going to be freed by the politics of salt & sugar only? If we want to secure the freedom of the country we have to sacrifice everything for it, & we should be ready to give up even our life for it. If we want to free the country we shall have to conquer the fear of death…. Is it so difficult to sacrifice oneself for the Motherland? Men go through so much suffering & trouble to get happiness in life. No sacrifice should be difficult to make for the freedom of the country. If India does not become free man also will not be free. People of other countries think only of own interest; people of India, even when they think about India, think of the whole world…. Surrender yourself to God & in the name of the Divine Mother get along with the service of India. That is my Diksha to you.’ That Diksha has moulded my life. All fear, all attachment left me.” ― That year Amar was given the work of collecting money for the maintenance of the young revolutionaries of the party. On 30 May 1909 he was sent to Calcutta to fetch Sri Aurobindo to speak to the Sanātanah Dharma Association. He writes: “I went to the Sanjivani office…. I saw him there absolutely quiet, as if he was in meditation. So, I also did not talk long with him. We went by train to Uttarpāra…. The time for the meeting was 5:30 pm. The zamindar of Uttarpāra, Raja Piyāri Mohan & his son Michhari Babu came to the station to receive Sri Aurobindo…. The meeting was fixed at the open courtyard of the Library on the eastern side, on the west of the Ganges…. He was heard in pin-drop silence…. A heap of garlands was on the table…. One of them was prepared by Michhari Babu…. When the lecture was over, as usual with him Sri Aurobindo left the heap of garlands on the table & went away. The long garland prepared by Michhari Babu was taken away by somebody…as a token of the occasion…. Michhari Babu was very angry…. Next morning he got the garland back but Michhari Babu was quiet…. He told Amar, “Yesterday if he was caught he would have got such a thrashing! But today the iron had turned into gold…. Sri Aurobindo’s speech had produced immediate result.” Amar & Manmathnath Biswas were charged to ferry Sri Aurobindo from Chandernagore’s Dumur Tālā Ghāt to the steamer Dupleix docked in Calcutta’s Chandpal Ghāt. Extract from Nāgendra Guhā Roy’s reminiscences, “It was almost eleven at night when the carriage carrying Sri Aurobindo reached Chandpal Ghāt. After putting the luggage on the coolie’s head the four of us [Sri Aurobindo, Bijoy, Amar, & he] boarded the Dupleix & entered the reserved cabin. The coolie arranged the luggage & then left. Bijoy made Sri Aurobindo’s bed. Amar-da & I stood facing Sri Aurobindo near the door. Amar-da took some currency notes from his shirt-pocket & gave them to Sri Aurobindo saying that they were from Michhari Babu. He accepted the notes without a word. Then Amar-da lowered his head, & touching his forehead with folded hands made namaskāra to him. I laid my forehead on his feet… & in the touch of that divine body, I felt fulfilled.” The only persons who knew about this departure were Motilal Roy, Suresh Chakravarty (Moni) already at Pondicherry, Amar, Manmathnath, Surendra Chakravarty, Sukumar Mitra, Nāgendra, & Bijoy Kumara Nag, who accompanied him, & Michhari Babu. While travelling incognito over India as Swami Kevalānanda with a retinue of sannyasins, Amar came to Pondicherry in 1920-21. He came alone to the ‘Guest House’. Staying there then with Sri Aurobindo were the Mother, Barin, Datta (Miss Hodgson), Amrita, Motilal Roy, Hrishikesh (afterwards Vishuḍhānanda Giri), Rameshwar De, & Natwardas. Kevalānanda, tall with matted hair carried a staff & tongs in his hands & no one recognised him. After some time he revealed his identity to Natwardas. When Motilal learned that it was Amar he rushed up to him, embraced him & took him upstairs to Sri Aurobindo. On being informed that Gabriel had come, Sri Aurobindo exclaimed, “Good Lord!” Sri Aurobindo had received reports from Thanjavur, Tiruchirapalli, & other places that a Punjabi sadhu had been preaching his ideas & philosophy. Now he knew who it was. That night Amar dined at the Guest House. Sri Aurobindo advised him to return to Bengal &, in the changed circumstances after the war, to disclose his identity but refrain from revolutionary activities. The next morning Amar & his party left Pondicherry. Abiding by the Diksha Sri Aurobindo had given he surrendered himself to God & in the name of the Divine Mother & got along with the service of India. [See footnotes on pp.104 & 105of A.B. Purani’s Life of Sri Aurobindo, 1978; & pp.182-83 of Nirodbaran’s Sri Aurobindo for All Ages, 1990]
... As previously arranged Amar Chatterji, along with his co-worker Manmatha Biswas hired a boat at Uttarpara on the thirty-first of March and met Sri Aurobindo at the Dumur Tala Ghat. They ferried him to the Calcutta-side of the river. To their disappointment Page 136 they found that neither Sukumar nor Bijoy Nag had come to meet them as previously arranged. So, Amar hired a coach and he... of Nagendra Kumar Guha Roy. It has been approved by Sukumar Mitra. The facts are as follows: Sri Aurobindo asked Motilal Roy to make arrangements for his departure. Motilal wrote a letter to Amar Chatterji at Uttarpara, in which he informed him of Sri Aurobindo's intended departure from Chandernagore in a boat on 31 March and asked him to make arrangements to change the boat at Dumur Tala Ghat and... Aurobindo. Amar and Nagen stood before Sri Aurobindo with joined hands and did namaskār . Amar gave Sri Aurobindo money given by Zamindar Rajendra Mukherji of Uttarpara. Then he and Nagen took their leave. Nagen bowed and both went down the gangway. The only people who knew about Sri Aurobindo's departure were: Motilal Roy, Suresh Chakravarty or Moni, who was already at Pondicherry, Amar Chatterji ...
... returning to Calcutta from western India, Sri Aurobindo took a room at 23, Scotts Lane. It was here that he met Amarendranath Chatterji, afterwards a well-known revolutionary leader. The interview for giving Amar the initiation was arranged by Upendranath Banerjee. Amar wrote in 1950 about this first meeting in the following terms: "I was not merely enchanted by my first meeting with him, – I became... the country. Have you heard everything? I hope there is no doubt or vacillation or fear in your mind about it." Amar : "Will you not say something yourself? Is what Upen has said the last word? .¹ Cf. Purani, Evening Talks, Second Series, pp. 62-63. .² Amarendranath Chatterji, "Sri Aurobinder Sange Sakshatkar", Galpa Bharati , Vol. VI, No. 7 (Paush 1357), p. 816. Page 104 ... one day inevitable, it need not be feared, Amar continued, "My fear comes from another quarter. I feel at present that I am not worthy of such a great mission. Is there any means of attaining fitness?" Sri Aurobindo: "Surrender yourself to God and in the name of the Mother go ahead with the service of India. That is my Diksha to you."¹ According to Amar, Sri Aurobindo's Diksha moulded his life ...
... lightnings rained. No man seemed to know which way to move...." It was Amarendranath Chatterji who had gone to Calcutta from Uttarpara to fetch Sri Aurobindo, on behalf of the organizers 1 of the 'Society for the Protection of Religion.' "I went to the Sanjibani office to fetch Sri Aurobindo," writes Amar. "I saw him there absolutely quiet, as if he were in 1. Piyarimohan Mukherji... zamindar of Uttarpara and his eldest son, Rajendranath, generally called Michhari Babu. Michhari Babu was a generous donor to the cause of the revolutionaries. Page 508 meditation." So Amar too did not talk long with him. They went by train to Uttarpara. Many of the audience took the same train. The time for the meeting was fixed for 5: 30 P. M. and Sri Aurobindo was the only speaker ...
... view. Amar replied to him, "My Guru creates Shastra, he does not follow it." ³ ¹ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin , pp. 3-10. ² Amarendranath Chatterji, "Sri Aurobinder Sange Sakshatkar", Galpa Bharati , Vol. VI, No. 7 (Paush 1357), pp. 825-26. ³ Amarendranath Chatterji, "Sri Aurobindo Mahaprayane", Prabartak , Vol. XXXV, No. 9 (Paush 1357), p. 364. See also Amarendranath Chatterji, "Sri... his forgiveness. Amar commented that if he had been caught the day before, he would have got a big thrashing, but that today the iron hand had turned to gold! Michhari Babu agreed with him, saying "Yes, you are right. Sri Aurobindo's speech has produced an immediate result."² When Panch Koti Banerji, editor of the Hitavadi , read Sri Aurobindo's speech, he told Amar Chatterji that Sri Aurobindo... and went away. The long garland prepared by Michhari Babu was taken by somebody – of course not stolen but taken as a token of the occasion. Amar writes: "Who would not desire to have a garland offered to Sri Aurobindo?" Still Nichhari Babu was very angry. Amar explained to him that such greed was natural, therefore he should not be angry. The next morning Michhari Babu got the garland back. By now ...
... Nolini and Moni and Bejoy were the permanent residents. Ganen Maharaj, of Ramakrishna Mission, was a frequent visitor. Biren Ghosh, Saurin Bose and Ramchandra Majumdar turned up almost daily. Amar Chatterji, Hem Sen and several others came once in a while. Almost every evening Sri Aurobindo would do some automatic writing—or, as Nolini puts it, automatic speech. Then by nine-thirty or ten he would... Bengali Karmayogin was begun. That was a Friday weekly. It came out from July 1909. It was published from N°4 Telkal Ghat Road, Howrah ('Manager-cum-Proprietor: Gyanendra Nath Bandopadhyay, B.A.'). Amar notes that a Hindi Karmayogin was published from Allahabad under the editorship of Prof. Sundarlal. But then Sri Aurobindo had become the centre of life and hope to the Bengalis. They clamoured ...
... The coolie arranged the luggage and then left. Bijoy Nag made Aurobindo's bed. Amar-da and I stood facing Aurobindo near the door. Amar-da took some currency notes from his shirt-pocket and gave them to Aurobindo saying that they were from Michhribabu (Zamindar of Uttarpara). He accepted the notes without a word. Then Amar-da lowered his head, and touching his forehead with folded hands made namaskar... about halfway between Chandernagore and Calcutta. Whilst Sri Aurobindo made his journey. Amar Chatterjee would hire a boat at Uttarpara, situated on the western bank, cross the river and pick up Sri Aurobindo from Agarpara. However, they would still not proceed direct from Agarpara to Calcutta. Instead, Amar and Sri Aurobindo would again cross the river and take up position at another ghat on the... situation now developed. Remember that Amar was neither aware of the arrangements which had been made for boarding the Dupleix nor did he have the tickets. Detailed instructions as well as the tickets were being carried by Nagen and now the two parties had missed each other. The whole sequence of carefully prepared arrangements had gone awry. Amar was now getting increasingly worried. He decided ...
... which throw some light on Sri Aurobindo's departure from Calcutta and his arrival at Pondicherry: "Sri Aurobindo asked Motilal to make arrangements for his departure. Motilal wrote a letter to Amar Chatterji at Uttarpara in which he informed him of Sri Aurobindo's intended departure from Chandernagore in a boat on the 31st March and asked him to make an arrangement to change the boat at Dumurtala Ghat ...
... Aurobindo, accompanied by Bejoy Nag, should board the steamer Dupleix on the night of 31 March 1910. Motilal wrote to Sukumar Mitra (Krishna Kumar Mitra's son, and Sri Aurobindo's cousin) and Amar Chatterji of Uttarpara asking them to make the necessary arrangements. Everything had to be done in secret, for there was an oppressive air of suspicion everywhere, and police spies were posted at even the... the inevitable chase began. Nagen and Surendra Kumar Chakravarty were instructed to convey the trunks to the steamer and put them in the reserved cabin well in time. Also, it was arranged that Amar Chatterji and Manmatha Biswas should hire a boat at Uttarpara on the appointed date and meet Sri Aurobindo at the Dumur Tala Ghat and bring him to the Calcutta side of the river, where they would be met... the doctor issued the certificates without any ado. A divinity shapes our ends, indeed, rough hew them how we will! Once in their cabin, Amar gave Sri Aurobindo the money that had been sent by Rajendranath Mukherji, Zamindar of Uttarpara. Amar and Nagen respectfully took leave of Sri Aurobindo and Bejoy, and the steamer sailed out of Calcutta well past midnight. In the meantime ...
... the fear of death." Amar: "How many would be able to do it, you think?" Sri Aurobindo: "Is it so difficult to sacrifice oneself for the Motherland? Men go through so much suffering and trouble to get happiness in life. No sacrifice should be difficult to make for the freedom of the country. If India does not become free, man also will not be free...." Amar: "Upen has told me about... grateful to him for this trust." (Sunday Times, 17 December 1950) Page 285 is to be done for the country. I hope there is no doubt or vacillation or fear in your mind about it." Amar: "Will you not say something yourself?... I want to hear from you Have you heard anything about me?" Sri Aurobindo: "I have heard about you. You have given a lot of money to the Swadeshi movement... bring this home to the Indian politician, but they only shocked and scandalised the Congress leaders, and Sri Aurobindo was persuaded to stop that line of attack. Turning now to Bankim Chandra Chatterji, about whom Sri Aurobindo wrote a series of articles in 1894 in the Indu Prakash, he found in the Bengali novelist a true patriot, not less a patriot and a fighter for using only his pen as the ...
... during the Bande Mataram days, who also had been convicted at Alipore, came and stayed for a month or more. Finally, Amarendranath Chatterji of Uttarpara, who had been initiated into the revolutionary organisation by Sri Aurobindo, came in the summer of 1920 or 1921. Amar was now a wanted man. For some time he had been travelling incognito all over India as the leader of a group of sannyasis. His assumed... De, Natwardas, Amrita, Barin, Datta (Miss Hodgson) and the Mother, whom Amar did not meet, were staying in the house. Amar had long matted hair and carried iron tongs and a staff. He was unrecognisable. After some time he took Natwardas aside and revealed his identity to him in a low tone. When Motilal learned that it was Amar he rushed up to him, embraced him and took him upstairs where Sri Aurobindo... ideas and philosophy. He had been at a loss to know who these Panjabi sadhus could be. Now the question was solved. The sadhus were put up in a Dharamsala and that night Amar dined in Sri Aurobindo's house. Sri Aurobindo told Amar not to resume his revolutionary activities. He and his companions departed the next morning. In January 1921 the Arya ceased publication. Only five issues of the seventh ...
... convenience. I used to sing this song to thousands in Bengal. Anilbaran, you may remember, had composed a year or two ago a song in the same metre and rhyme scheme which Sahana sang to Mother: Tui Ma amar hiyar hiyā tui Mā āmār ankhir ālo [Mother thou art the heart of my heart, thou art the light of my eyes] I will sing this song sometime to you and Mother—my own I mean, as it came out of a deep emotion... that I am very appreciative of it; I see in it an excellent omen for our relationship during the year which is starting for you on the .coming 22 nd ] January 21, 1935 Sarat Chatterji's letter is not a glory of the vital al all, even though it may have come through the vital—but not from it: it is psychic throughout, in every sentence. If I were asked how does the psychic work... all the time and unable to come here, except for flying visits, in spite of all his efforts. Besides he can say nothing unless he has definite facts to go on. The best is to write at once to Bijoy Chatterji and your uncle of the predestination fame. We must Page 250 know what there is—apart from Shankar's statements. After- wards we can consult Duraiswami and decide what to do. We shall ...
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