October 2021
Editorial
The Vedanta Kesari
10
M
Durga Durgati Nashini
other Durga will be in our midst this month. We worship her as durgati nashini, ‘Durga the remover of distress’. For most people durgati means suffering caused by the loss of something or someone, unfulfilled desires, bitter relationships, and so on. So, prayers to the Divine Mother commonly centre around seeking protection from such distressing experiences.
But the very Lord who created this universe declares in the Bhagavad Gita that our life here is ‘impermanent’ and ‘joyless’. We are also aware that our body is ageing, our thoughts and desires are changing, our relationship with people and things are transforming, and even our physical surroundings are undergoing alterations. Yet most of us cannot accept this ‘impermanence’. We beg the Divine Mother to save us from these forms of durgati—especially disease and death. We feel blessed if she preserves and fosters our health, wealth, and relationships. But for a discerning spiritual aspirant, durgati has a different connotation.
Saratchandra Chakravarty was one of Swami Vivekananda’s householder disciples. He had the blessed opportunity to closely interact with and serve Swamiji. His conversations with Swamiji on various topics are recorded in The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. An erudite Sanskrit scholar, he composed many hymns on Sri Ramakrishna; and he served in the Postal Department of the British Raj. After Swamiji’s mahasamadhi, devotees and monastics would often approach Saratchandra to listen to his experiences with Swamiji. Sometime in 1911-1912 Saratchandra was serving at Kotapara in Faridpur district of
the present Bangladesh. One day some brahmacharis and sannyasis from the Ramakrishna Math at Dhaka visited him eager to hear about Swamiji. Saratchandra started speaking about his guru with great enthusiasm. Suddenly, loud wailing was heard from the inner apartments of the house. An agitated housemaid came rushing and told Saratchandra, “Sir, your daughter passed away, please come.” It was his eldest daughter who had been fatally ill. While the visitors sat unaware of the reason for the intense sorrow in the family, an unperturbed Saratchandra silently got up and closed the doors and windows of the room. He did not want the wailing to disturb the divine mood created by the recollection of Swamiji’s life and message. He commented, “The body comes and goes, but a rare day like this will not come again! These sadhus and brahmacharis have come to hear about Sri Ramakrishna and Swamiji. There may be many occasions for weeping, but people eager to hear about Swamiji are rare to come by. How kind of Swamiji! During this moment of grief, he has sent his own people to me!” Truly, for a sadhaka, durgati is to forget one’s Ishta Devata in the hustle and bustle of life; durgati is to thirst for unending joys of life without accepting the misery embedded in them and their impermanence; and durgati is to be without the company of devotees. Therefore, during this Durga Puja, may we have the sanmati to pray: “O Mother, wherever I may be and whatever may happen, may I never forget you. May I have the company of your devotees. And please keep me away from worldly people.”
