6 Oct 2013

Reply to “A Last Appeal” of Prof Manoj Das ― by Sricharan Singh

Professor Manoj Das (nicknamed Dr. Faustus or Byakta Manoj) wrote on 22 April, 2013 “A Suggestion for Introspection” in reply to Sricharan Singh’s “Professor Manoj Das has Sold his Soul to the Devil”.  At the end of his reply, he said, “Dear Editor, if I have written this much, it is only with the hope that some of your readers might be expecting some clarifications on statements from me. I would not like to descend into the exercise again.” But immediately on 10 May, 2013, unable to restrain himself any longer, he wrote another letter under the title “A Last Appeal”. In this appeal, instead of replying to the points raised against him, he vomited profusely his anger in the form of abuses and curses on those who had dared to question him.

He starts very cleverly by saying that he wanted “to rebuff the ‘Singh’ behind whose mask the anti Ashram Trust fellows hide, for the insults they have heaped on the ‘people of Orissa’. “

But ‘Singh’ never insulted Oriya people! Rather Singh had expressed his concern for the Oriya people who were insulted by Manoj Das’s friend Dr. Dilip Dutta (nicknamed Dr. Death) and his daughter Shoma. It was Manoj Das who tried to pacify the leaders of Orissa not to protest against this racial abuse of Oriyas. Again Manoj Das in order to show his universality often says that, though he was born in Orissa, he himself does not feel like an Oriya. Therefore he could easily digest the angry and pointed remark “Bloody fools, Oriya Devotees” by Dr. Dilip Dutta and his daughter on 27 February 2012 during a Dharna at the Ashram.

In the 3rd paragraph of his reply, Manoj Das writes that his Oriya friends in the Ashram have told him that, if the Oriya people want to help Manoj Das financially for his treatment, they should meet him personally and offer the amount. They (Manoj Das’s friends) will deposit the amount in an exclusive account, the interest of which will be used for his treatment. In case it is not necessary, then the amount should ultimately go to the Ashram. This proposal of Manoj Das’s friends is very good. But how can the people of Orissa offer the money without a proper arrangement? When they wrote to him in April 2012, they did not get any response. Now if Manoj Das’s friends want the money, they should make a proper appeal to the people of Orissa with their names, addresses and telephone numbers. As Manoj Das has said that people in Orissa are only so-called Oriyas as compared to his friends at the Ashram, how can he expect financial help from them?

Manoj Das’s reply regarding his meeting with MPs is self-contradictory. He writes in paragraph 5 of his reply, “I challenge these disguised gentlemen / ladies to name one MP whom I met for this purpose.” In the same paragraph he writes,Upon one such trip – I don’t remember exactly but probably when I went to   preside over the 20th World Book Fare – I met a minister, an acquaintance of mine who is the elected MP from my native home constituency. We discussed over tea several issues and naturally the signatures obtained with systematic efforts by the ‘Singh’s against the Trust figured in our discussion.

If Manoj Das cannot remember other MPs whom he had met, and whom he persuaded not to write anything challenging the Trustees, he may kindly contact one of his old literary friends, who happens to be an ex-MP of Balasore. Manoj Das  interrogated him over the phone when the latter arranged for the question of racial abuse of Oriya people to be raised in the Orissa Assembly. The ex-MP was a signatory of the letter from 75 MPs and he had met the Board of Ashram Trustees. Gupta Manoj (the Managing Trustee) had even said that he would send a reply to the queries in the letter the same evening after the meeting. At ten o’clock that night, Gupta Manoj sent the ex-MP a mere statement of his meeting with the Trustees on a plain unsigned typed sheet without the letter-head of the Trust. The ex-MP was furious at such an insult. The same night he rang up Manoj Das, wrote a very sharp letter to the Managing Trustee and went away with the strong feeling that these anti-Ashram, anti-national trustees should resign forthwith and pave the way for a better and more responsible management of Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

Manoj Das writes in paragraph 6, “Much of my time luckily goes to my works on a new biography of Sri Aurobindo in English. ‘Singh’ of course is blissfully ignorant of it though it is being serialised in the Mother India for a long time. It is intriguing that he only knew that I was writing it in Odia Nava Prakash and for a silly reason attributed to it.

Manoj Das should feel happy that Singh and many other people know that Manoj Das is an expert in both English and Oriya. Whenever he writes something in English, he translates it into Oriya and vice versa. But the purpose for which he is writing the biography of Sri Aurobindo will not be fulfilled. His sin for supporting Peter’s biography cannot be washed away by writing another biography without challenging Peter’s version. One is an insult to the Guru, the other is disobedience to the Guru.

In Para 7 Manoj Das writes, “Yes, if I could muster the time and enthusiasm to meet the MPs it would take me hardly any time to burst the bubbles of illusions ‘Singh’ has so laboriously created before them.”

Manoj Das, the hypocrite, has tried all possible ways to burst the so-called bubbles of illusions using his popularity in the field of literature. But he has miserably failed. I give one such instance. In the month of April 2012, Manoj Das rang up an engineer in Bhubaneshwar, who was closely related to him. Manoj Das said, “Dear B, I heard you are criticising Peter’s book and the Trustees.” B replied, “Yes Sir.” Manoj Das – “Have you read the book? If you read the book, this illusion of yours will vanish.” B – “No Sir, I have not read the book. I do not even want to read the banned book. I have read J.B.P.  More’s criticism of the book. That is sufficient to convince me that the book is deliberate mischief.” Then there was a meeting of the protestors against Peter’s book and his supporters on 1.4.2012 at Cuttack. In that meeting the said engineer announced publicly what Manoj Das had told him on the phone. Immediately there was a loud slogan from the devotees and disciples, “Manoj Das – anti-Ashram, Manoj Das – anti-Guru.” This news reached Manoj Das the same night. Next day Manoj Das phoned the engineer, “Dear B, is there no faith in the world? B – “What happened Sir?” Manoj Das – “I told you something confidentially with the faith that you will not disclose it, but you have disclosed it to the public!” B – “Sir, I felt an irrepressible urge from within me to disclose our conversation in that meeting.” Thus the so-called bubbles of illusion could not be broken. But certainly the bubble of Manoj Das’s illusory prestige was broken!

Manoj Das writes in paragraph 8 that the Singh family is wasting a lot of money in running after politicians and officials. Manoj Das knows very well that the Singh family cannot get money like the Trustees who collect crores and crores of rupees from devotees. They have recently taken a young Gujarati lady into the Trust board to get money from the Gujarati lobby. The Singh family can only put forth the grievances of the disciples and devotees before the Government and request it to take action. Whatever money the Singh family spends is in the case of absolute necessity, it is not the Ashram’s money which the Trustees are spending liberally for their own protection.

Manoj Das writes in paragraph 10 that, after hearing about the present situation of the Ashram, a lady in a big city announced that she will henceforth not give any offering to the Ashram. Are not the activities of the present Trustees responsible for it? I have also heard one gentleman say, “We are giving offering money for the service of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, but the Trustees are spending it for their own protection to fight against the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. I don’t want to offer any more till this situation continues.” What is Manoj Das’s advice to this person?

Manoj Das writes in paragraph 11, “You are not only wasting your own resources, but also compelling the Ashram to spend money to defend itself against senseless cases filed by you. 

Manoj Das always uses the words ‘Ashram’ for the ‘Trustees’. The senseless court cases are not against the Ashram but against the senseless Trustees. Manoj Das also never takes the readers to the root cause of the present cases against the Trustees. These are not the only court cases, the Trustees have at least hundred and fifty cases against them, mostly by the Ashramites. All these cases have come up since Gupta Manoj (MDG) has managed to enter into the Trust Board by a conspiracy. If the Trustees have no personal interest or ambition, why are they not stepping down in spite of their failure to protect the prestige of the Guru and the public demand for their resignation? Why are they spending Mother’s money without the least care for their own protection?

In paragraph 12 Manoj Das uses his eloquence to deceive the readers. He says that the Mother’s Ashram should run according to Her charter.  If by charter he means the Trust Deed, then perhaps the learned Professor does not know Clause 7 of the Mother’s charter:–

The Mother shall also, in Her absolute discretion, be entitled to allow any person or persons to stay in the Ashram as a permanent inmate thereof or otherwise, and/or withdraw Her permission from any person or persons, already resident in the Ashram, to continue their further stay therein, in any capacity whatsoever, and Her decision in this respect shall be final.

It is clear from this clause that the Trustees have no right to allow or expel anybody from the Ashram because that is the exclusive right of the Mother.

In clause 9 of the Mother’s Charter it is written – “The Mother shall appoint such number of Trustees as She may, in Her absolute discretion, think fit and proper and shall, if She thinks proper, vest the trust properties or any of them in the new Trustees or Trustee.  If and whenever the number of trustees shall be reduced below the number of Five, The Mother, in Her absolute discretion, shall appoint any other person or persons as Trustees with a view to make up the total number of Trustees to Five, and in case of Her retirement, for any reason whatsoever, the continuing Trustees shall appoint such number of new Trustees as shall be required to make up the total number of Trustees to Five.

According to clause 9 of the Mother’s charter the Trustees have no right to take another Trustee in case the number falls below Five. They can do so only in the case of the Mother’s retirement, not in the case of Her leaving the physical body. What does Manoj Das say on this point? Again there is no provision for a Managing Trustee in the Trust Deed. So is the Mother’s Ashram running according to Her Charter? Why are the Trustees enjoying the Mother’s powers without amending the Trust Deed? Instead of changing the aims and objectives of the Trust Deed, its functional part should be changed according to the present situation.

Manoj Das writes, “in Her physical absence it is also Her Grace transmitted through the Trust that has sheltered some of you.”

The Mother’s Grace is never transmitted through the Trustees! This may be true for Manoj Das because he worships his Lord Gupta Manoj and Guru Peter. Is it because the Mother’s Grace is being transmitted through the Trustees that they are so successfully insulting Sri Aurobindo and the Mother? If that is the case, what a magnificent channel of transmission!

Again the learned Professor writes, “If you build a house and allow me to take shelter in it, I cannot tell you to alter the construction for my sweet convenience or run to others crying hoarse against you.

What a beautiful example to deceive simple minded devotees! But the fact is that as the Mother is the owner of the house, nobody will wish to cry hoarse against Her. But if the Trustees, the usurpers of the Mother’s house, commit nuisance and mischief, is it wrong on the part of Ashramites to cry hoarse against them? Even when the Mother was in Her physical body, She replied, “The Ashram no longer belongs to me.” (Mother’s Agenda, Vol. 13, p 188) When a disciple told this to Nirodbaran, he promptly replied, “The Ashram now belongs to two Manoj’s and one Dilip.” It was Manoj Das who had sponsored Dilip Dutta for Trusteeship in order to use him as his remote control.

In paragraph 13 Manoj Das writes, “She is the founder of the Ashram and She alone had the right to formulate the Deed by which it should run.”

If that is so, how do the Trustees get the right to run the Ashram in their own way? According to the Trust Deed, the Trustees are assigned only the powers to manage the properties and finances of the Ashram. They have no other power besides that. Why are they taking the position of the Mother in the administration of the Ashram illegally and unspiritually? Are they fit for it in any way? Manoj Das should turn to the words of Sri Aurobindo in his book “Sri Aurobindo and His Ashram” (page 45): “All depends on the Teacher and ends with his lifetime, unless there is another Teacher who can take his place.” The Trustees have cleverly omitted this sentence in the new edition of this book because it may affect the absolute power enjoyed by them.

In the same paragraph,  Manoj Das writes, “Be sure, you cannot but lose the case.”

Manoj Das thinks himself to be a great astronomer of the world. But all his predictions have been proved wrong. He told Niranjan Naik in December 2008, “The case against Peter’s book in Orissa High Court cannot but be lost.” But in April 2009 the case was won and the book was banned. Manoj Das poses himself as a Trikaladarshi (omniscient), but he is actually an Aparinamdarshi (imprudent).

In paragraph 14 Manoj Das writes, “The silent curse of the hundreds of innocent Ashramites who are here because the Mother’s Will runs it, would crush you spiritually once they realise what you are up to.

When a person cannot answer the points raised against him or tries to avoid them, he heaps curses, reproaches, scoldings and advice to take away the attention from the main points. Manoj Das has done that. He should remember that if the protest for the insult of our Mother and Master invites the silent curse of hundreds of innocent Ashramites, the Singh family will gladly accept it. The Singh family is not hungry or eager for the blessings / boons of the hundreds of apparently innocent and sleeping Ashramites or five arrogant Gurudrohi Trustees or one sycophant Manoj Das, who is ready to sacrifice the reputation of Mother and Sri Aurobindo for the sake of pleasing his Lord Gupta Manoj.

Sricharan Singh

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