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[After the Poornashram Yatra (September 10–19, 2025), Ma wrote two articles sharing her reminiscences of the sacred Teerthayatra. This is the first of the two articles.]

Baba had told Swamiji as well as Nutan Swamiji that his village people should be exposed to Brahmavidya. So many years after Baba expressed his wish, it is finally getting fulfilled!

Counting the days

Having inaugurated Poornashram on 26th February 2025, Poojya Swamiji had returned to our Thrissur Ashram after a 9-day stay there. Devotees in Dakshinkhanda were sad to see him depart, feeling it was too short a stay. Consoling the devotees, Swamiji promised to be back in Poornashram after about six months, in August.

Ever since, Swamiji had enquired quite often about when we were planning to visit Poornashram next. On enquiry, it was found that August was a rainy month and not suitable for any programme at all. Again, September end would be the festive mood of Durga Pooja in West Bengal. Therefore, after a good deal of deliberation we planned for Swamiji’s Poornashram visit from 10th to 19th September 2025. Many devotees in Dakshinkhanda warned that it would then be very hot there. However, we had no other choice as Swamiji’s visits to Jamshedpur and Malaysia were already fixed in October and November.

On 8th September 2025, Poojya Swamiji set forth towards Poornashram. Myself, Brni. Pranati Swaroopa, Brni. Rijuta Swaroopa, Subhasini from Malaysia, Sureshbabu and Usha from Bangalore, Dr. Jyoti Gupta from Karnal, Aravindan from Thrissur and Devendra, Swamiji’s attendant, formed the group. Brni. Nandita Swaroopa had already reached Poornashram a few days before. Two of Ashram’s working girls and Prahlad, another attendant of Swamiji also had reached there. Rahul and Dorina came from Kolkata the same morning. Hari and Anitha of Thrissur joined us from Hyderabad Airport. Later during our stay, Bala and Gayathri from Chennai as well as Somenath and Jaya from Jamshedpur had also joined.

Dakshinkhanda is a long journey from Thrissur. There is no direct flight from Kochi to Durgapur, from where 3-hour road journey takes us to Poornashram. Starting from Ashram early in the morning, we reached Poornashram after dusk. With Swamiji’s age and health, we are always concerned about such a long journey. However, Swamiji never seems to be concerned at all. Once the tickets are booked, Swamiji keeps counting the days like a small child, awaiting the day of departure. Meanwhile he tells the whole world he is going to his Baba’s abode, Poornashram.

For many years now, Brni. Namrata Swaroopa has been the main organizer of all our travels. She plans everything meticulously and accompanies us, keeps an alert eye on every minute detail of the journey and programmes during the visits. Unfortunately, due to ill-health, she was not able to accompany us this time. Naturally, days prior to our travel Namrata was training the other brahmacharinis accompanying Swamiji and me, also delegating various responsibilities to the other devotees travelling with us. She was also in constant touch with the Co-ordinator of Poornashram, Sri Shibay.

It is always a joy to travel in a group. Some chaos and confusions would be there, especially with so many bags and two wheel-chair senior citizens. After boarding the flight and taking our seats, we suddenly smiled at each other realizing that everything had gone off systematically.

Stop-over Satsang in Hyderabad

Our first halt was Hyderabad, in the farm house of Sri Satyajit Chakrabarty, an elderly disciple of Swamiji. Fulfilling his long-standing request, Swamiji purified his house by staying there one and half days. With the help of Somenath and Jaya, Sri Satyajit had arranged everything meticulously, and quite a few devotees in Hyderabad got the fortune of attending the Satsangs.

Journey to Poornashram through the rural greens

We landed in Durgapur on 10th September afternoon. From Airport we had to travel almost three hours to Poornashram. It had rained some time earlier, leaving the sky cloudy. As our motorcade left behind Durgapur, we were passing through the beautiful rural settings of Bengal.

Extensive green paddy fields with the sky bending to embrace them, both merging with each other greeted us throughout. Our driver said paddy had been sown only a fortnight back. We passed through a stretch where on the two sides of the road were huge shady trees standing close to each other. Their thick foliage shielded the road with a green canopy.

It was dusk when our cars entered Poornashram. All the devotees had assembled there with great devotional excitement. With faces radiant with love and devotion, they were eager to have a glimpse of Poojya Swamiji smiling at them through the car window. Conch ceaselessly blew with ululation all around. Swamiji was garlanded and led to the Mandapam through a beautiful pathway radiant with small yellow petals of marigold flower.

Offering pranams to Baba and the Guru-paramparā in the Mandapam, Swamiji took his seat. Devotees including children were impatient to fall at Swamiji’s feet and take his blessings. Most of them were asking Swamiji sweetly, just like one would ask a dear family member, “Kemon aachhen Swamiji? Bhaalo aachhen to?” (How are you Swamiji? Are you all right?).

After the initial greetings, Swamiji went to Baba’s shrine upstairs. All of us followed him. The silence in the room engulfed us – as if the hustle bustle of the entire world had stopped to make all of us indrawn. We offered pranams and stood there silently for a while.

Remembering Baba in his hermitage

I was remembering the old days when Baba was there. The double-storied mud-house was thatched thickly with hay. Baba used to live upstairs – the same place where the newly built room is. Those days we used to walk from the railway station through kaccha muddy road. Baba’s abode Poornashram was on the roadside as it stands now. As soon as we would enter the building, keeping our bags in the courtyard, we used to run up the wooden creaky staircase to reach Baba’s room. We would peep first to check whether we should enter or not. Most of the times Baba would be lying absorbed into himself on his Royal Bengal tiger āsan kept on the floor. If he knew we were coming, we would find him sitting on the āsan waiting for us.

We would bow down at his feet, delighted that we were near him again. After initial exchange of wellbeing, the first thing Baba used to tell us was, “Go, wash yourselves and have some food. You must be very hungry!” We used to be hungry, no doubt. We had started from home in Kolkata early in the morning.

All those loving moments filed past my mind. Although I was now standing in the new room in front of the beautiful shrine, I could visualize Baba on his āsan in the old room and felt his presence deeply.

While we were driving down from Durgapur airport, Namrata had asked me over phone whether we would go to Baba’s shrine first or go there after we have settled down in our rooms. I had told her that when we used to come here earlier, we would first go up and meet Baba. Only after meeting him we would go to the room. I would like to do so even now.

However, now that devotees would be waiting eagerly to do pranam to Swamiji as soon as he arrives, not to make Swamiji stand for long till pranams got over, he was requested to sit in the Mandapam before we all went up to “meet Baba” in his room.

Spending some moments in Baba’s Sannidhi, we came down and slowly settled down for the night. Thus, started our stay in Poornashram this time. We woke up next morning to be in the divine ambience of the place.

How beautiful Poornashram looked! It was spic and span. The flower plants we had planted had grown and some were with beautiful flowers. The Neem tree in one corner of the courtyard had spread out its branches giving a cool shade in the courtyard. However, it was also determined to announce its presence by dropping dry leaves all over the courtyard throughout the day.

The courtyard

I was reminded of the courtyard of yester-years when Baba was there physically. There was a bushy Karabi (Oleander) flower tree with dark pink flowers. It used to flower in thick bunches abundantly. When we entered the courtyard from the road, on the right was a two-storied hay-thatched mud cottage. There were two rooms in the ground floor with a small verandah in front. From one end of the verandah went up a wooden staircase which creaked and vibrated scarily as we used to climb up and down. Upstairs, there was a small room in the corner. The long room adjacent to this room was where Baba lived.

These rooms had mud floors and small narrow windows fixed right on the floor. When we walked on the first floor, the floor used to vibrate! Ever since I had met Baba in February 1975, I had seen him in this room on his Royal Bengal Tiger āsan sitting or lying, mostly absorbed into himself.

In the courtyard was also the huge paddy-stack where paddy for the whole year was stored. I remember the thrill which I had seeing it, during my first visit to this remote village! Till then I had only heard of the existence of such a thing (known as ‘Dhaaner golaa’ in Bengali) in villages. Similar was my excitement when I travelled in a bullock cart for the first time from Poornashram to the railway station.

Baba’s innovations

In the courtyard was also the bathroom; an enclosure having corrugated tin roof around a tube well with a hand pump. With Baba’s engineering skills, he had made a facility to reach tap water to the most essential areas. A low-height tank was made in the bathroom which was filled using the hand pump throughout the day by some one or another. From the tank, Baba had drawn pipeline to the kitchen so that tap water was available for cooking and cleaning. As was the culture in the villages, the toilet was far away from the house. The water pipe had even reached the toilet and tap water was available there, in a very thin stream though.

The most interesting feature was the indigenous wash basin to wash our mouth and face. Across the courtyard stood another double story building made of mud. The upstairs was mostly used for storing rarely used domestic items. Downstairs had two rooms mostly used as daily store rooms. Next to it was the kitchen. In front of the rooms and kitchen was a verandah. This verandah was being used for all to sit together and interact with each other. It was also used as the dining place where we all would have our food sitting on the floor. Before Baba became too infirm he used to sit in this verandah on a specially designed chair.

In one corner of this verandah was the wash basin. The water pressure in the tank was not enough to have a wash basin at a proper height. So, the wash basin was simply a round shallow pit neatly dug into the floor of the verandah and smoothly cemented. We had to squat on the floor and use tap water in the wash basin below the floor level! This verandah was the place which was used most.

Old verandah and the new Mandapam

In the new Poornashram also, the present Mandapam, which is in the place of the old verandah, acts as the most useful multipurpose area for meetings, Satsangs, and other programmes. In this Mandapam, are placed the Guru-paramparā photos. In the morning, a lamp is lit in front of our Gurus and conch blown by a devotee. Lamp lighting and conch blowing are also done at dusk every day.

Daily morning, Pushpa-samarpanam (Pranams with flower offering by the devotees) at the Guru-paramparā takes place in the Mandapam. Every evening devotees converge to this Mandapam to take part in the Satsang. They read and reflect on Swamiji’s books following which they all jointly sing bhajans soulfully. Weekly online Satsang on Sunday with Swamiji from Ashram also takes place in this Mandapam. When Swamiji, Nutan Swamiji and I visit Poornashram, it is this Mandapam wherefrom we talk to them, exposing them to spiritual knowledge.

Looking at the Mandapam as well as the courtyard, very often my thoughts go back to those days – the old thatched cottage, courtyard, verandah and kitchen! Could we have thought then that 46 years after Baba’s Mahasamadhi, the same place would look like what it is now, where many would come every day to be filled with divine joy!

Divine joy

About this divine joy, the village devotees, mostly ladies, told me. They related how they looked forward to coming to Poornashram every day. How they would complete their cooking and other household work and rush to this holy place. If they were not able to come any day, they felt a loss, and while at home and engaged in other work, their minds roamed about in Poornashram alone. So many of them together and individually have told me how much peace and happiness they have now after they associated themselves with Poornashram and started coming there regularly.

Baba had told Swamiji as well as Nutan Swamiji that his village people should be exposed to Brahmavidya. So many years after Baba expressed his wish, it is finally getting fulfilled!

How did it all happen?

After the stone laying function of the reconstruction of Poornashram took place in January 2023, every Sunday, Swamiji has been giving online satsang to the devotees in Dakshinkhanda. He teaches them in Bengali how to live their life joyfully and confidently hold on to Spiritual knowledge and rely firmly on the Supreme. Swamiji teaches them the Bhagavad Gita and many other relevant scriptures. Even before the new Poornashram construction was over, a group of ladies had been assembling and singing bhajans every evening in a place where our Guru-paramparā photos were kept temporarily. Also in this temporary place, everyday morning and evening, a lamp was lit and conch was blown. What a great austerity these devotees have done for such a long period, so fondly, every day without fail!

The present residents of Dakshinkhanda hardly know about Baba. Those of Baba’s time are mostly no more. Villagers of the present time have come in the association of Swamiji. It is natural that they have grown spontaneous love and devotion for Baba’s dear disciple, our Swamiji who keeps talking to them about his love for Baba and the knowledge he received from Baba.

No doubt, these devotees have developed a special fondness for Poornashram. Their minds have got so identified with Poornashram that they feel “it is our Ashram”, and share a responsibility towards it. Not only they keep up the daily routines at Poornashram, but feel responsible for the Ashram’s upkeep including the small garden. Together they plant new plants and together they de-weed the garden. Meanwhile, the appointment of Shibay (Tridibesh Mukherjee) from the village as the Coordinator of Poornashram has helped the process of maintenance and devotional routines greatly. A devotee at heart, efficient in work, Shibay’s presence has made the place more lively.

(Vicharasethu November 2025)

Teerthayatra to Poornashram – 2