Sitaramdas Omkarnath

Sitaramdas Omkarnath
Born Probodh Chandra Chattopadhya
(1892-02-17)17 February 1892
Keota Village, Hooghly district, West Bengal, India[1]
Died 6 December 1982(1982-12-06) (aged 90)
India
Guru Dasarathidev Yogeswar of Digsui Village
Philosophy Sanathana Darma
Quotation Faith in the divine Name is not blind faith. Call Him howsoever you will, call Him, standing, sitting, eating, going to bed - peace shall be yours.[2](c.2¶.77)

Sitaramdas Omkarnath (17 February 1892 – 6 December 1982) was an Indian saint from Bengal He preached the importance of chanting Nam, wrote more than 150 books to promote the essence of Indian scriptures, built more than 60 temples and ashrams all across India, and founded the spiritual organisation Akhil Bharat Jaiguru Sampradaya[3] He started many groups, temples, mutts, both within and outside the Sampradaya—like local organisations, such as Delhi Jaiguru Sampraday, spiritual groups like Sati Sangha, Yuvak Sangha, Bidwat Sangha, Satya Dharma Prachar Sangha, etc. He was also the initiator of multiple magazines like Pather Alo, Devjan, JaiGuru, Arya Nari, Paramananda, and Mother.

Birth and childhood

Sitaramdas Omkarnath was born in an uncle's house at Keota village in Hooghly district, West Bengal, on 6 Falgun 1892. His given name was Probodh Chandra Chattopadhyay, and his parents were Pranhari Chatopadhyay and Mallabati Devi. Pranhari was a pious Brahmin and worked as a village physician in Dumurdaha, Hooghly district. The kuladevata (family deity) was Brajanath (Krishna).[4]

In 1896, his mother Malyavati Devi died. His father then married Giribala Devi, and himself died in 1912.[5]

Education

Omkarnath attended a village school but then determined that Dasarathidev Yogeswar of Digsui village should be his guru.[3][6]:133Though he was admitted to the Bandel Church School for a quite of time to pursue Western Education, he left that school for is earnest interest in Indian Sankritised Education system. Thereafter he studied at Yogeswar's house, where he undertook daily chores as well as spiritual education. In 1918, Probodh was meditating at about midnight when he visualised the god Shiva along with the Durga, the Divine Mother.[7]

Later, Omkarnath visualised his previous birth on the day of Saraswati puja. Through this he came to believe that he was a famous worshipper of the goddess Kali in previous life.[8]

Spiritual quest

Guru Dasarathidev had named him Sitaram, the name Omkarnath was a divine revelation which was later formally conferred by Swami Dhruvananda Giri. Thus, Probodh came to be known as Sitaramdas Omkarnath. He had heard the Hare Krishna MahaMantra as a Divine Sound during his austere meditation in a cave at Ramashram, Dumurdaha, Hooghly. Later, he heard a divine voice say "O Sage, dive in". Still Sitaram was not ready for giving spiritual initiation to masses, and he waited for direct command. At Puri, Orissa, Sitaram visualised Jagannath in a halo [9] and Jagannath gave the instruction — "Go, Go, Go and give the Name".[6]:134 Thereafter, Sitaram started spreading the Lord's name on a mass scale.[6]:136

As a preacher/guru

After getting the alleged Divine instruction, Omkarnath began to preach Nam all across India. Temples were established and renovated, the poor were fed, clothes were distributed, help was given to the fathers of marriageable daughters, taking on the responsibility of lifetime maintenance of hundreds of poverty-stricken families, establishment of free schools for poor students, setting up 29 Akhanda Naam Kirtan centres across India, establishing temples and ashrams, and several other activities of the kind went on continuously.[6]

Millions of men and women took spiritual initiation from Sitaram. His reputation spread and people gathered in large numbers wherever he resided. Sitaram was respected by contemporaries such as Anandamayi Ma, Mohanananda Brahmachari, Dalai Lama, Vilayat Inayat Khan, Swami Chidananda, Jain Muni Sushil Kumar and others.[6][8]

Teachings

According to Omkarnath,

Nama meant Nama of God; Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Durga; but Nama had to be repeated constantly. Nama could reach the Sadhaka to Nada and Jyoti; Nada could bring Shakti i.e. Durga and Jyoti could bring Purushottam, i.e. Vishnu and ultimately Name could bring Onkar, the Anahat sound one could hear inside. So what the Rishis of the old days could not gain even after hundred of years of Tapasya in jungles, Nama could achieve even when a person lived his normal life and did his every day work.[10]

The teachings of Omkarnath derive from his personal experiences, revealed in the course of a lifelong and continual spiritual practice. His teachings were compiled by Kinkar Omananda (alias Madhav Swamiji), his closest monastic disciple.[2](c.Introduction¶.17)

Miracles

Many of unexplained incidents associated with Omkarnath have been documented in books and newspapers by prominent personalities. Among these are:

Death

Omkarnath died in the early hours of 6 December 1982. His body was placed at Sri Ramashram, Dumurdaha, so that people could pay their respects. He was cremated on a sandalwood pyre on 8 December.[13]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ "Shri Shri Sitaramdas Omkarnath Thakur « Shri Somnath Mahadev". Retrieved 2015-04-05.
  2. 1 2 Supe, Raj (2011). Cloudburst of a Thousand Suns. Dehli: Celestial Books. ISBN 978-9-38111-562-6.
  3. 1 2 "Omkar Math Omkareshwar". Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  4. ↑ Petsche, Johana J.M. (29 July 2014). "The Divine Life of Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath, by C. Varadarajan, fourth edition". International Journal for the Study of New Religions. 5 (1): 106–107. doi:10.1558/ijsnr.v5i1.106. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  5. ↑ Chattopadhyay, Sanjib (19 February 2011). "'Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath Shivthakurer kache ki Mantra peyechilen'". Bartaman Patrika (Bengali: বর্তমান). p. 12.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Singh Uban, Sujan (1977). Gurus of India. East-West Publications (U.K.) Ltd. ISBN 978-0-85692-004-2.
  7. ↑ "THAKUR SRI SRI SITARAMDAS OMKARNATH MAHARAJ BY PROF. S. BANERJEE". Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Impression of Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath". [The Mother Divine]. Retrieved 2015-05-26.
  9. ↑ "Pather Alo- Thakur". Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  10. ↑ Banerjee, R. K. (January 1993). "Shree Shree Sitaramdas Omkarnath" (PDF). Ananda Varta. 40 (1): 1. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  11. ↑ Devsen, Nabanita. Bhraman Samagra. Dey's Publishing. ISBN 978-81-295-0902-4.
  12. ↑ Sengupta, Dr.Naliniranjan (1 July 1968). "Chithipotro". Jugantor(Bengali: যুগান্তর). p. 4.
  13. ↑ "Full text of "s.v.u.oriental journal"". Retrieved 2015-04-05.

Works cited

Books
Journals

Further reading

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