Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as an ascetic - Why it is entirely possible

The people who doubt that Netaji ever came back to India by literally rising from the dead have many questions. The first and foremost is of course, if he at all came back why didn't he announce himself? Why did he choose to remain as a recluse, as an ascetic? They claim that it was uncharacteristic of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose not to declare himself, not to become a sensation as he would have always done. They said that they cannot believe that Netaji feared for his life and therefore chose to remain hidden from public. They therefore claim that all the stories about Netaji becoming a sannyasin are false. The sadhus are dummies created by the political class for hoodwinking people. In the context of Gumnami Baba or Bhagwanjee being Netaji, let us try to analyze why he could not appear before the public and only could reveal himself to a select few.

There are however very good reasons of Netaji's choosing the life of a recluse, a hermit and not announcing himself to the public. One who is well aware of the biography of Netaji and have followed his life closely can have a glimpse of his real nature, his ideals. Therefore they cannot discard the possibility that he willingly and voluntarily adopted the life of renunciation, never again to come to the public glare and scrutiny.

The following are likely to be the reasons:

1. He had fulfilled his mission, his destiny. India is now free. That was the reason why he left his home and hearth, that was his life's purpose and mission. It is done. Now he can take rest. There is no need for a Netaji anymore, not in the sense he would position himself. His enemy was British, he had driven them away. He had no desire for power, name, fame, fortune. All those were for the lesser mortals. He could therefore in a gesture of self effacement, renounce the desire to come to the spotlight completely. Only a person like Netaji who was bold, courageous, selfless could adopt such a path of complete self effacement and self abnegation.

2. He always wanted to be a recluse. As per reminiscences of his childhood friend Hemanta Sarkar they travelled far and wide across India in search of spiritual guru. They also met Swami Brahmananda, the president of Belur Math in Kashi. Swami Brahmananda told him to take up the ideal of Swamiji and that his calling was in duty to the mother India. He therefore put an end to the dream of becoming a sannyasi and came back but that dream was always there. He was spiritual through and through. As per reminiscences of Swami Bhaskarananda of Ramakrishna Mission Singapore, he, while being the head of the Azad Hind Government, used to often go to the Ramakrishna Mission to meditate in the shrine for hours. He used to do japam every morning after waking up. He never left his spiritual practices. He renounced his family in the same way Lord Buddha renounced his, i.e. leaving the mother and child behind to go for the unknown and unknowable. His sadhana was about freedom of his mother, not the freedom of his soul but he found fulfillment through that path. After being disillusioned with politics when he found how his one time associates were now attached to power and position, he quit politics in disgust, never to return

3. He did not reveal himself out of love for his country, not out of fear. His coming out would not have helped the cause of India. He was still wanted across the allied world as a war criminal. He apparently helped the Vietnamese in their war of independence, thereby earning the wrath of America. If he would come out it would be a major problem for India. There would be immense diplomatic pressure on her to give him up. He did not want the country and its leadership to face such a test. Moreover it is also likely that the country's leadership had requested him not to reveal himself precisely on account of the same reason, that he would become a burden for the foreign policy. He understood and he complied.

4. He also knew the ruckus that would be created if he came back from dead. Many of his countrymen would hail him as liberator, but others, the self interest lobby, would proclaim him to be a fraud, an impostor, and would violently challenge him in court of law. It would lead to long drawn battles by which he would be endangering lives of many of his associates whose deeds will come to the forefront. He knew the case of the Bhawal Sannyasi where the mejokumar of Bhawal estate came back from dead and there was a bitter contest for more than twenty years regarding his identity. He wanted to avoid such an eventuality that would help nobody. It would divide people of his country who would fight with each other and it might have caused a civil unrest which India could ill afford

5. He was now a sannyasi. Coming back would mean acknowledging his family, esp. his wife and child, which he would not be able to do. They would also suffer because they would not be getting him, as he had his vow of renunciation. So it would be an extremely painful affair for everybody. It seems that he was a genuine sannyasi. He meditated regularly, never broke his vows of poverty and chastity and roamed from one place to another without companions. He only reached out to a very few trusted friends like Pabitra Mohan Roy, Leela Roy (Nag) etc.

6. He could renounce willingly for a higher cause. No temptation of power, fame would ever bind him. He was a free soul, ever free. He passed ICS and threw away all the temptations of joining a high paid Indian Civil Service and instead joined Gandhiji and Chittaranjan Das. He willingly forewent a promising career much against his family's wish. He willingly left prestigious Congress presidentship after Haripura Congress and plunged into political uncertainty. He left his immediate family members, inlcuding infant daughter willingly for the sake of his country as he needed to take charge of the Azad Hind and attack India from the East with Japan. He could instead lead a comfortable life in Germany under the patronage of the Nazis. People, esp. Western historians and media and their Indian slaves allege that he was a Nazi collaborator, a fascist, but forget that such complete self abnegation is not possible for a so called collaborator. A collaborator would remain in his most comfort zone to carry on whatever little he could from under the wings of his patrons. He undertook an arduous, perilous submarine journey over 18 weeks to reach on the other side of the globe, just to find out a better way of liberating his mother from the shackles of British tyranny. Isnt that another example of renunciation? Isn't that a military Buddha would have done? Did we not see Krishna doing the same when he left all his loved ones in Vrindavan and embraced politics of uncertainty and life of constant war fare with the evil kings first in Mathura and then in Dwarka, himself never becoming the king.

All the above are good enough reasons. My personal belief is that India's top leadership was well aware of his return. He was told by the top leadership that his disclosure of identity would not be in the national interest as it would create a widespread unrest and foreign powers would take advantage of it. Therefore he chose to remain behind the curtains and therefore the authorities also did not disturb him. They knew that he was truthful, that he would never divulge himself. It is very very unlikely that Gumnami Baba was a dummy of Indira Gandhi as claimed by Dr. Purabi Roy. It is illogical and irrational assertion. First, a dummy will go for maximum publicity. Bhagwanji did not go for any publicity. On the contrary he was completely hidden. Only after his death people began to talk. So there was no benefit of having a dummy like him. However the sadhu of Shaulmari was definitely a dummy and as admitted by Bhagwanji, he was set up by none other than Bahgwanji himself, to divert the attention of IB to Shaulmari while Bhagwanji entered India and remained in Neesar and Basti, incognito, invisible, only known to a select few who was sworn to him in terms of allegiance, whom he could trust with his life.

So that was that! A true Kshatriya is one who is able to completely forego any selfishness and dedicate himself wholeheartedly to the welfare of the country and its people. Netaji was the truest kshatriya. He was an avatar of Lord Shiva. Like Shivaji who freed Hinduism from oppression and Swamiji who freed the atman from the tyranny of body mind, he freed India from the tyranny and oppression of British imperialism. It is to be remembered that Shivaji also roamed throughout India in the garb of a sannyasin, for a long time, to evade the Mughals. His great escape from Aurnagzeb is well known, and can only be compared with the great escape of Netaji.

Who will understand Netaji? His so called great grandsons? Those that are running after name, fame and money? Like the proverbial scholar in Sri Ramakrishna's parables they are like kites and vultures, soaring high up but always looking for carcasses of money and name and intellectual fame. They are nothing compared to Netaji. They cannot understand him. They have no love for the nation, not even a fraction as he had. So how can they even comprehend why he became a sannyasin? Even his own daughter cannot because she is not an Indian in spirit.

Like Shiva he took only the poison, thus becoming Neelkantha, leaving the nectar of power for the lesser gods. He wanted to die in India and the divine mother could not deny that one last wish of her favourite son. So the dearest child of mother India passed away in the bosom of his mother. But in the process he left a lasting legacy which will be remembered for many many generations to come.