Letters from Sri Sri Thakur Nigamananda (Set of 2 Volumes)

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The letters in this book were originally written in Bengali during the period from 1909 to 1925. Swami Swarupananda Maharaj, one of the foremost ascetic disciples of Shri Shri Thakur, collected half of the letters in the first volume when he lived with Shri Shri Thakur at Saraswat Math.

Swami Premananda Maharaj, another ascetic disciple of Shri Shri Thakur, in his book "Saraswat Math and Swami Swarupananda" mentioned this collection of letters and has stated, "When Swarupanandaji and I lived at Saraswat Math, Swarupanandaji had a habit of copying all letters Thakur sent to His disciples. He maintained a notebook for copying these letters. On few occasions, I too, copied some of His letters. Shri Shri Thakur would seal the letters which were inappropriate for us to read. He would hand over the other letters unsealed to us and we copied them before mailing. Additionally, Swarupanandaji collected many letters from other devotees and disciples during his extensive travels for outreach. Long ago, he realized that these letters from Shri Shri Thakur would be greatly revered and treasured by His devotees in future and would immensely help in their spiritual upliftment. Hence, he collected and copied those letters. Thus, Swami Swarupanandaji's vision was far reaching."

Later, when Swami Swarupananda lived in the Baguda Ashram(Uttar Bangla Saraswat Math), Mr. Haraprasad Roy also copied the letters with his permission. Baguda Ashram published these letters and some additional letters collected by Mr. Haraprasad Roy in 1926 (Bengali year 1333).

In the 2nd edition of the book, Mr. Roy provided a brief account on the publication of the book, "Thakurer Chithi". He narrated, "Thakur was very attached to Baguda Ashram and was fond of all His devotees. He visited Baguda two or three times in a year and had written numerous letters to His devotees in order to inspire them. Each one of Shri Shri Thakur's devotees had kept these handwritten letters from him. I was inspired by reading the letters and copied them in a bound notebook for purification of my mind. Noticing this, the first disciple of Shri Shri Thakur from Baguda, Mr. Govinda Putatunda told me, "Brother, it would be really nice if we can add more letters to your collection and publish it as a book". With his inspiration, I started collectingthe letters. In the meantime, the Baguda Ashram was established in 1919 on the auspicious occasion of Jhulan Purnima. Dear Swami Swarupanandji came to Baguda as its head functionary. He had collected many letters and with his permission, I copied his collection of letters to my notebook. "Thakurer Chithi" was published with 106 of those collected letters in 1926 after Swami Swarupanandaji left his corporal body. Swarupanandaji collected around half of the letters in the collection. I am offering my sincere gratitude to him for collecting them. He was my true friend and to keep his memory alive in my mind and in our community of devotees, I have added his name to this publication."

Former head of Uttar Bangla Saraswat Ashram at Baguda, Swami Siddhanand Saraswati was closely involved with the publication of the letters. He has written about the publication in his book "Baguda Smriti" which is quoted here: "With due permission of Shri Shri Thakur, the first part of the book "Thakurer Chithi" was published around Mahalaya. Of course, the first edition of the book did not mention it as part one. It was beyond our imagination that later, there will be a second and a third part. There was a much discussion on the name of the book, which was named "Thakurer Chithi" after my initial proposal and unanimous agreement by all householders and ascetic devotees. The first edition bore a cover design which was conceptualized and designed by Haradhan."

The first edition of the book had 106 letters and one more letter was added in the 2nd edition.The letters (107 in total) were written over a span of 16 years. The oldest of the letters in the book that Shri Shri Thakur wrote was at Durgapur Shanti Ashram in 1909 AD (Letter number 75) and the newest from Puri in 1925 (Letter number 106). He wrote mostly with Bengali date and few with Gregorian calendar. In this book, we have tried to convert each of the Bengali date into Gregorian dates. We thank www.pallab.com for providing the web service to convert the dates. Shri Shri Thakur's letters clearly reflected His contemporary thinking, awareness as a Guru and deep affection for His disciples. Shri Shri Thakur wrote these letters from Durgapur Shanti Ashram, Dhaka Shanti Ashram, Kokilamukh Shanti Ashram or Saraswat Math, Kashi Dham, Mymensingh and Puri. However, most of the letters were written from Kokilamukh Shanti Ashram or Saraswat Math. Only one letter (number 45) from Durgapur Shanti Ashram has found a place in the book. The letters Thakur wrote from Kokilakukh Shanti Ashram or Saraswat Math bear different name of Saraswat Math such as Shri Gourang Seva Niketan, Kokilamukh or Assam Shanti Ashram. Majority of the letter were written to His devotees and disciples. A few of the letters were written to family members of His disciples. He wrote one letter (Letter number 51) to His childhood friend.

One should not have any doubts in such all-embracing truth. The most revered Gurudev is extremely affectionate to devotees. Hence, He personally promises this eternal benediction which bequeaths both the purpose and the goal of material existence for the highest welfare of His devotees for all times.

By the divine grace of Shri Shri Thakur the first volume of the collection of His letters, which He wrote to His devotees and disciples advising them on various spiritual matters was translated into English and published as 'Letters from Shri Shri Thakur Nigamananda` in the year 2019. Now with His continued grace, the second volume is being published. This undoubtedly, is the result of His divine will and endless kindness to us. Therefore, we prostrate at His lotus feet with utmost devotion and offer our sincere gratitude.

The publication of the second volume of the three-volume series is a continuation of this endeavor. The letters in this book were originally written by Shri Shri Thakur in Bengali to His devotees. Mr. Hara Prasad Ray, an ardent disciple and devotee of Shri Shri Thakur had collected them from His devotees and published originally as a Bengali publication in the year 1932. It was translated to Odia in 2002 and the English translation draws its content mostly from the Odia edition though sincere attempt has been made to crosscheck with the Bengali version for the content. As Mr. Hara Prasad Ray states in the preface of the book, 'I did not foresee the publication of the second part in the near future. Hence, the first part of this book did not have any indication of being the first part. The publication of this part is due to His unknown direction.'

Mr. Ray continued in the preface, `Shri Shri Thakur did not write these letters in order for these to be published as a book. These are letters to His householders as well as ascetic disciples and devotees who needed advice for the issues they were facing in their day to day life. 'Letters from Shri Shri Thakur` is a collection of some of those letters. It is possible that some of His advice may appear as repetition but He wrote these letters to solve various life challenges of various people at various times.'

In this part II, there are 100 letters, which Shri Shri Thakur wrote over a period of time. Majority of the original letters bear Bengali dates but some have English dates. Although, a few letters don't bear any date. In this edition, we have added the English (Gregorian) dates next to the Bengali dates by using the calendar conversion tool available at www.bangla.plus However, as the website mentions, they follow the calendar system used in Bangladesh and, therefore, it is likely that the dates could differ by a day or two in India. Our goal was to provide a timeframe when the letters were written by Shri Shri Thakur. The oldest letters, number 44 and 81, were written in 1911 from Shanti Ashram, Dhaka. Most of the letters were written from Saraswat Matha, Kokilamukh or Nilachala Kutir, Puri. In the original Bengali edition, Mr. Hara Prasad Ray gave a title for each of the letters, depicting its main topic. In this edition, some of the titles have been modified to make them more relevant to the topic and reader. We hope that it will help the reader to understand Thakur's point of view on the subject and His advice.

Several years ago, members of America Saraswata Sangha expressed their interest to undertake the gargantuan task of translating the letters of Shri Shri Thakur and spread His philosophy and spiritual teaching in the world for the benefit of mankind. The publication of the second volume is a continuation of that endeavor. In the process of translation, sincere attempt has been made to retain the original meaning of the words and the original spirit of the sentences. However, there may be some errors in translating these into English. We request our readers to forgive us, ignore the errors, and concentrate on the spiritual wisdom and knowledge contained in the letters. We are greatly humbled by this opportunity to translate the letters and pray to Shri Shri Thakur for His blessings to publish the English translation of the 3rd and final volume of `Thakurer Chithi`.

**Contents and Sample Pages**