A Sleep at Adyapeetha
Kolkata; a
city of joy, music and much more. But for me always it has been a city of
crowds of confused people. As I am not a Kolkatian, I never think about it but
nature always makes me visit that city. Unavoidable situations often arise, and
all I need to do is to visit that city. Whenever I get to visit Kolkata, I always
try to do something apart from my work, that really worthy of facing Kolkata,
specifically its crowd. Such thing I had to do yesterday. I decided to visit
Adyapeetha Devi Temple. And there I felt something so un-Kolkatic in the middle
of Kolkata.
From my very childhood I have
seen Her portrait almost daily at home. Her “AdyaStotram” is very famous to us
all. So when I finally decided to visit the temple, I was obviously excited. But
all of my excitement was doomed by a terrible headache. A long night-bus
journey from Purulia to Kolkata and some rushes of the work, I had there gave
me a tremendous headache. I was feeling so unwell that sometimes I decided to
drop my plan of visiting the temple and leave for home ASAP. After swimming much
in that famous crowd of Kolkata when I finally reached the temple, it was
12:15. I reached for Her, when it was Her time to rest. Why does She need rest?
I mean, She is the Adya to cry out loud. Which kind of bhakti is this of Her
devotees, that keeps Her seeker away from Her? Why does SHE need rest at all? If
I waited for Her till 3 ‘o clock, I would miss my train back to Purulia. With a
very unpleasant mind I decided to rest a bit at the NaaTMandir and then to
leave for Howrah. I was unaware that She had planned something more for me
there.
It was obvious to face
another crowd there in the temple complex. Hundreds of people were enjoying the
winter sun, some were busy in gossiping at the NaaTMandir, children were
playing around as if it was their playground, and some oldies were crying out “MAA-MAA”
and were trying their best to cry but couldn’t get a single drop of water from
their eyes. I was already tired and this crowd just increased my headache a
bit. Still I needed to rest so badly I sat there and without my concern, my
body made my backpack a pillow and fell asleep.
My master told me once, “if
you get a chance to sleep at a divine place, don’t miss it”. I was so impressed
with my sub-conscious. It just followed one of His teachings. And then another
journey to Adyapeeth began.
তখন সহসা হেরি মুদিয়া নয়ন
মহাজন অরন্য মাঝে অনন্ত নির্জন
তোমার আসনখানি। কোলাহল মাঝে
তোমার নিস্তব্ধ সভা নিঃশব্দে বিরাজে।
I was living this poem. All
of a sudden the sounds muted, the visuals blurred, the sun darkened. Whole of
the complex was sinking into an ocean of darkness and silence. An ocean; which
was made of Her and its waves and ripples were my known world. Some of them
were my pieces of Purulia, some were my college fellows. Some of the waves were
made of my friends and teachers and some of the ripples were made of my
achievements and failures. And then it was a great wave, the temple itself. Thousands
of ripples, under that giant wave formed and splashed with choirs of a chaotic
world. Thousands of other waves were forming and splashing themselves against
the ocean. Two waves with the Radha-Krishna vigraha and the vigraha of Lord
formed and splashed with great roars. I don’t remember whether the roar was of
sea or of stormy clouds. Finally the giant wave of the temple splashed and I was
drowned inside the ocean. Down there it was silence. No rays of light were
glittering from the waves, no seashores were forming symphony. Only a darkened
depth, with an audible silence. I don’t know how long I was in that silence but
slowly I started to hear the ripples again. The seashores were being louder. Am
I going to float again or going to wake up? Am I really asleep, or I actually
drowned in some psychedelia?
My headache was gone. The NaaTMandir
became little more crowded, a new oldie was lecturing a youngster about morals
of life and so on. I got up and sat. I was floating now. It was 2 o clock
already. I got up to leave. I was moving out of the psychedelia and all of a
sudden something stopped me. It was the seashores, and they were made of the
chaos of the Temple complex. I clearly heard the seashore as
क्षुधा त्वं सर्वभूतानां वेला त्वं सागरस्य च
Nice portrayal of your pilgrimage! Keep it up.
উত্তরমুছুনthanks dada .... stay connected
উত্তরমুছুন