At the Feet of the Mother: A Tribute to a Great Soul: Professor Dipak Gupta

A Tribute to a Great Soul:

Professor Dipak Gupta

Professor Dipak Gupta, a great grandson of Sri Mahendranath Gupta (M.), left his body on January 31, 2022 on Ratanti Kali Puja night and Mauni Amavasya.

During his lifetime, Professor Gupta lived in the house in North Kolkata where M. wrote his famous Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. The history of this house, named Kathamrita Bhavan, is unparalleled. Holy Mother frequently lived here with M.’s family and sometimes stayed for months at a time. During one visit, Sri Ramakrishna appeared to her in a dream and asked her to worship Ma Durga in M.’s shrine. In response, Holy Mother installed an original photo of Sri Ramakrishna on the altar and, invoking the goddess Durga, she established the mangal ghat there. It is said that shortly after this event M. started writing the Kathamrita.

I first visited Kathamrita Bhavan in the late 1980s. I still remember the warm welcome and one devotee showing me M.’s bedroom, the roof and M.’s shrine room. During these early days, I didn’t realize what a great privilege it was to have access to such a holy place. I was just happy and felt like a family member who had come from abroad to visit.

I met Professor Gupta, a quiet man who appeared stoic in an almost self-effacing way. His humble manner reminded me of the demeanor of a nobleman who finds no need to display his status. Professor Gupta wore no religious markings. He never married. The only hint one got of his spiritual inclination were the orange shirts he often wore. His other brother Gautam Gupta, who procured and managed the Shyampukur house where Sri Ramakrishna stayed during his illness, also never married.

Professor Gupta was usually surrounded by householder devotees who performed various types of work in the house. There were a few ladies who had the keys to holy items in the house. I noticed how these ladies kept everything clean and tidy and how lovingly they cared for the deities. I just basked in their attention like a child and happily munched down the prasadi sweets they offered.

As I kept making pilgrimages to the Kathamrita Bhavan over many years, I always noticed that M.’s bedroom was meticulously preserved and looked as if M. would have just gone out for a walk. After years of visiting Kolkata, I had become more humble and more aware of what great fortune had been bestowed on me to get free access to such a holy place. I was grateful and thanked Professor Gupta for allowing me to walk inside M.’s bedroom and get a whiff of a truly divine household. In awe, I could look through the glass of M.’s cabinet and stare at the kurta and moleskin shawl worn by Sri Ramakrishna himself. I could observe M.’s fountain pen and ink pot and picture him meditating and thoughtfully writing down his notes.

Leading up to the roof are steep steps that seem more like a ladder than steps. All the years I visited Kathamrita Bhavan, these somewhat treacherous steps always looked new and freshly covered with green paint. Besides M. and his family, Holy Mother and many of Sri Ramakrishna’s direct disciples would climb up these steps to the roof and to the shrine room.

M. would sit next to the plumeria tree and talk to devotees in the evening. The tree still gives flowers after all these years.

Some of Sri Ramakrishna’s direct disciples would meditate here on the roof.

What grace to be allowed to enter the same shrine room where Holy Mother worshipped and initiated devotees!

Like a child I would kneel in front of the altar and intently observe all the holy items. Time stands still in this room when one is allowed to stare through the glass of a large box containing various relics and beautifully preserved slippers that Sri Ramakrishna wore. Right in front of the altar is the mangal ghat Holy Mother installed as well as a beautiful shalagram. The mangal ghat looks very much alive and has its own personality, and the shalagram, too, has its own expression. Though I would have loved to stay in this divine room for hours, I was always conscious that this would cause inconvenience for the devotees working at the Bhavan.

This is the mangal ghat that Holy Mother established in M's shrine.

The shalagram sheela worshipped in M's shrine.

I will never forget the kindness of various lady devotees who joked with me and let me sit under the plumeria tree where M. used to hold discourses with devotees. I feel indebted to Professor Gupta for keeping the sanctity and spirit of the Kathamrita Bhavan alive for all these years. He held the space that M. created and kept the divine flame lit for all of us to get nourished. It certainly is not easy to keep up the maintenance of such an old house and to make sure that the puja of the deities and relics is properly performed properly on a daily basis. It takes a lot of attention, love and care to keep the Divine inherent in the Bhavan’s holy items and not let the presence slip into the past, turning the Bhavan into a museum.

Professor Gupta used to teach at the nearby Vidyasagar College and gave classes and lectures on the Kathamrita at various locations in Kolkata. I once asked him why he thought that M chose to write his reminiscences of Sri Ramakrishna in a non-consecutive timeline. “The Kathamrita is not meant to be read as a sequential life story,” said Professor Gupta. “Each section should be read as a meditation.”

He was kind and supportive to all of us at Kali Mandir. I will always be grateful for the access he gave me to take photographs of the holy items in the house, and we are truly thankful for the blessings he bestowed on Swami Ambikananda for his translation project of the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita.

May Sri Ramakrishna bless Professor Gupta for giving countless devotees over so many years a chance to be in the presence of M. and get a glimpse of what it is like to be touched by God.

Professor Gupta died during a very auspicious time: Ratanti Kali puja and Mauni Amavasya. Even though his body was lying in state very late at night at the Kathamrita Bhavan, many devotees heard the sad news and thronged to pay their last respects. One by one, devotees walked up the narrow lane to the Bhavan, approached the cot and placed fragrant flower garlands on Professor Gupta’s body. There were so many flowers that loads had to be taken off before the pall bearers could pick up the cot and take it to the funeral car waiting on the road outside the narrow lane. As the body was loaded into the car, the sounds of conch blowing and dhak drums could be heard from a nearby temple. The final arati of Ratanti Kali puja was going on. As soon as the car started rolling, the sounds stopped. Conches, dhaks and people fell silent.