Thus says the Verse number 20 of Sankaracharya’s Brahma Jnanavali Mala: Brahma satyam jagat mithya, jivo brahmaiva maparah (Brahman is the only truth, the world is unreal, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self).
In Kathamrita, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa is quoted as saying: Jato Mat Tato Path (As there are a number of beliefs, there are a number of ways).
Times have changed but the quotes remain as inseparable as the Siamese twins in their import: “God is one and inseparable.”
The above sayings are interpreted in no simpler a manner than this none-too-pompous Sadhu from Kolkata: Swami Bedanada. He says: “You cannot dissect the Mother (read Goddess Kali). She belongs to one and all.”
At Swami Bedanada’s barely 100 sq ft ashram there is no shortage of place. Literally. everyone comes, finds a place to stand, prays to the Mother — facing south, smiling mercifully at her children with a homa kunda in front and the Swamiji’s saffron mattress somehow crammed in between the sacred homa kunda and the wall making for the only place to sit for the visitors that range from Ministers, MPs to the common nondescript devotee.
True, you cannot really dissect the Mother.
Babuji, as they call him lovingly, too is as indissectible as her Mother. At 76, he still has time for one and all and never discriminates between a so-called VVIP and a down-to- earth disciple.
He has eyes for everyone. No one can leave the place without getting the prasadam!
Lend your ears to what they say in the vicinity and you will find a plenty of “inexplicable” things happening under Babuji’s spiritual benevolence. Take, for instance, the girl who was saved from an electrical fire back at her home “by Babuji’s grace.” Another devotee recounts how got cured after coming to this abode of the “Kali and son.” Then they show a photograph of the sadhu in a blessing posture and eternal rays coming out of his palm.
The Bedanada Swami holds forth: “Mother belongs to all and She resides in all.” So it becomes imperative for him to serve ‘one and all’ — much the way Swami Vivekananda practised what he preached, saying: “Jib gyane Shiv seva (serving the human like he is the Lord Shiva).”
Apart from running medical services and helping the poor with books and clothings, the Sevapeeth Matri Mandir — the Mission that runs under the aegis of Babuji — also encourages the devotees to donate their mortal bodies for medical research and organ donation post death.
The Mission would also provide blankets to children suffering from cancer at Thakurpur Cancer Hospital. “Our resources are limited out of which we try to do as much as we can,” says a devotee associated with the Sevapeeth.
No wonder why a group of 18 prominent doctors, social workers, educationists et al are associated with the Mission. And the number is multiplying by the day. Courtesy, Babuji and his Mother Kali.