The Literary and Literal Manoj Das ― by Sricharan Singh

Has Manoj Das any occult or spiritual vision of these forces or are these only the products of his fertile literary brain? In this context, the remark of the respected Odiya sadhak late Babaji Sri Ramakrishna Das, who had a profound occult vision, is worth mentioning. About 35 years ago, when a sadhak went for some work to Babaji’s room near the Ashram, Babaji asked him, “Have you seen who has come to my room just now?” The sadhak replied, “Yes, I saw Manoj babu was going out.” Then Babaji told him, “When that person entered my room, I saw a dark force entering my room.” The sadhak was astonished. But after 35 years he found out how true was Babaji’s vision! [extract, read full article below]

 

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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.

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Sricharan Singh’s Reply to the Letter to Dr. Gayatri

[The recent reply to Dr Gayatri’s “An Appeal to all the Children of Mother and Sri Aurobindo” has all the characteristics of Manoj Das. It has above all the feature that distinguishes him most, what I call “emotional gas”. After all, he is a story teller and cannot write anything more serious! (Even his stories usually end in killing the hero or heroine, as the case may be. He has a wry cynical humour and does not believe in happy endings. I hope he will not finish the story of Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the same manner!) In his letter to Dr. Gayatri, he is obviously castigating a fellow Oriya devotee for having dared to speak against the Trustees. The message that he sends across is: “How dare you raise your voice when I, in spite of being a great writer, submit myself (poor me!) to the grace of Manoj Das Gupta, through whom flows the Grace of the Divine Mother!” And how dare you criticise us senior sadhaks and sadhikas for being tamasic in our Yoga? (Did any of these senior inmates of the Ashram actually claim to have done Yoga, including Manoj Das himself? I thought that there was a general trend among the Ashramites not to claim anything of the kind, for they know too well their limitations.) But it is the use of the words “tamasic surrender” by Dr. Gayatri that did the trick. That ignited fire where all these days there was nothing but selfish contentment in the name of detachment. Manoj Das let out a roar of anguish as the arrow went straight into his soul and then the fireworks had to take place. But his name had to be hidden among the seventeen other signatures at the end of the letter. For anonymity permits more liberty, especially on the Net, and then what would the Sahitya Academy say of his use of the word “rump” in his letter to describe the rearguard of the rebel faction in the Ashram?

Sricharan Singh, an old nemesis of Manoj Das, has once again come forward to reply point by point to his letter written to Dr. Gayatri. I urge the readers to have a look once again at the highly interesting exchange of letters that had taken place earlier on this site between Sricharan Singh and Manoj Das. Long live the two combatants!]

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Sricharan Singh’s Rejoinder to Manoj Das (Part 2)

[This is the second and final part of Sricharan Singh’s rejoinder to Manoj Das’s “A Suggestion for Introspection”. Part 1 of the rejoinder was published on 1 July 2013.]

In paragraph 10, Manoj Das says, “By and by it became clear to me that all they wanted was to create an atmosphere of hatred against me. But what for?”

In reply it can be said, “By and by it became clear to us that Manoj Das, his Lord Gupta Manoj (MDG) and his sycophants wanted to create an atmosphere of hatred against the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.”

In paragraph 11, Manoj Das says, “I was convinced that the Revised Edition of the epic is the most authentic one. Once again it is a matter of common sense that the Ashram had no reason to alter a single word of Sri Aurobindo. On the other hand it had a responsibility to see that error-free versions of His works were available before the copyright period expired. That is what Ashram did despite the illogical and superfluous commotion made by some people.”

How is Manoj Das convinced that the revised edition of Savitri is the most authentic one? Was he part of the Editorial Board for the revision of Savitri to make such arrogant and sure statements? R.Y. Deshpande and Nirodbaran, who were in the editorial team, have expressed their unhappiness over some of the corrections. If the Trustees through Peter had not altered a single word of Sri Aurobindo, why the documents are not made public for everybody to see in spite of repeated demands?

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Sricharan Singh's Rejoinder to Manoj Das (Part 1)

Manoj Das (nicknamed Dr. Faustus / Byakta Manoj) has replied to my article “Professor Manoj Das has Sold his Soul to the Devil” with “A Suggestion for Introspection”. I have read it and have also read Bireshwar Choudhury’s fitting reply to him. I will only deal here with some factual truths in support of my article. But before I start, a story comes to my mind.

Once upon a time there was a plump cat. He did not like to exert himself to catch rats, so he discovered an easy way. At night he sat under a tree in a meditative position with closed eyes, throwing some corn around him. He smeared his forehead with ashes and turned a rosary in his hand. Occasionally, he sang bhajans which he had himself composed. Attracted by the corn and the cat’s apparently innocent devotional posture and practice, the rats slowly came near him. The cat started delivering sermons and told them that he had attained supernatural powers by his sadhana by which he could send rats straight to Heaven, which was the abode of peace and bliss. There was no sorrow there, no illness, and no death. There was also an unheard variety of delicious food for rats. But he could send only one rat every night to Heaven!

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Professor Manoj Das has Sold his Soul to the Devil ― by Sricharan Singh

Most of us know Christopher Marlowe’s drama “Doctor Faustus”. Doctor Faustus was a very famous Professor in Germany. Within a short time, he surpassed all the other professors in knowledge. But the thought came to him that in spite of his present status he was still a human being. So he wanted to achieve extraordinary powers by learning black magic and go beyond ordinary human beings. When he was thus contemplating, a good angel came and tried to dissuade him from going ahead with his plan. But an evil angel lured him into it and he listened to his advice. Dr. Faustus then met Mephistopheles, the assistant of Lucifer, the Lord of Darkness. Mephistopheles told him that he could achieve miraculous powers with the help of Lucifer on one condition. The condition was that he should forsake the Divine and sell his soul to Lucifer. Then by the power of Lucifer, he would be able to fulfil any ambition and indulge in all the enjoyments of life for 24 years. But after that, he would have to live forever in eternal hell. As instructed by the evil angel, Dr. Faustus signed the pact with his blood. For 24 years he enjoyed power, prestige, wealth and sex to his heart’s content. Then came the time to go to eternal hell.  At this point, the good angel advised him that, even if he had committed an unforgiveable blunder, yet the compassionate Divine would forgive him if he repented for his misdeeds and prayed to Him for His help. Dr. Faustus tried his best, but he could neither repent nor pray to the Divine, and finally had to go to eternal hell.

A similar professor named Manoj Das joined the Sri Aurobindo Ashram as an inmate.

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