Oi Mahamanab Ase - Life after death of Netaji subhas Chandra Bose Part 3
One of the key and profound statements of Bhagwanji in the book Oi Mahamanb Ase is that "I have undergone a complete Metamorphosis." In fact this is the theme taken by Anuj Dhar and Chandrachud Ghosh in their last chapter of the book Conundrum, Subhas Bose's Life After Death. They key point which Bhagwanji wanted to make is that one should not judge him by his utterances and professed ideologies thirty or forty years ago as he had been changed completely, through the experiences and the ordeals undergone by him. One proposition that the authors of the above book bring forward based on some of the anomalies observed by them is Bhagwanji's metamorphosis is also driven by PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Their hypothesis is that Bhagwanji underwent severe torture in Russian concentration camps and thereby lost his mental balance in the later stages of his life. Therefore he never came out in the open as he well understood his condition. The authors went arguing that it was primarily on account of this condition of Bhagwanji that the Indian leaders, though aware of the presence of Bhagwanji, did not bother about him much, because they knew that he would not come out in the open. The authors cited the story of king Nala which was told by Bhagwanji to describe his metamorphosis, as evidence of his disease. They have cited some other symptoms, viz. spelling and grammatical errors, grand delusions (several instances narrated), insomnia etc. They have also questioned the story of his "Horizon" and have put forward a suggestion that most of the great information and predictions were results of his good connections with important people who had those information. To be fair the authors also put forward the hypothesis that because of the spiritual power of Bhagwanji the so called disease did not have a major effect on him and only appeared occasionally. They cited instances where Bhagwanji narrated instructions and later expressed his doubt and was thrilled to read his own narration (e.g. vajravani in Oi Mahamanab Ase). The authors also spent several pages in explaining the context behind their hypothesis with the findings around the theory of Hitler's possible escape.This is because it seems that one witness to the Mukherjee commission, the 93 year Srikant Sharma, who was a close associate of Bhagwanji, told that he was told by Bhagwanji in Neemsar that he entered India in company with Hitler and Himmler and that Hitler died in Kankhal.
However there are several considerations which the authors seemed to have ignored while postulating this theory. To start with, the Hitler incident is a hearsay. Srikant Sharma was more than ninety years old and authors themselves said that he made several mistakes while recollecting facts in Mukherjee commission. It is likely that he might have mixed up different contexts - e.g. Hitler's likely escape to South America and Bhagwanji's travels from China. Also according to the authors themselves Bhagwanji entered India from Nepal with Mahadev Prasad, father of Saraswati Devi in 1953. So he must have come from China. From Thevar's testimony it is very much clear that Bhagwanji was in China from 1949 onwards, so there is no question of his escaping Russian camp and entering India. This is corroborated by assertions of Sarat Bose in 1949 and also the Interpress report in Germany in 1949. In 1948 Jerevin, the colleague of Ardhendu Sarkar met him in Russia where he was being treated as an ambassador by Stalin. He might have been a prisoner before that in Yakutsk but he was not treated harshly. Bhagwanji told that in the beginning the Russians did not treat him well. But from his own admissions later their behavior changed and they had not ill treated him. So it is likely that he was in a camp in Gulag for atmost a year(1947-1948 till the power transfer happened in India) and then Stalin, finding that there was no reason to imprison him, released him and possibly made up for the earlier mistreatment. There was no reason for Soviet Union and Stalin to treat Subhas Bose as enemy. Stalin had no love for Nehru. He did not trust the British or Americans. Russia had no enmity with Subhash and INA did not fight against Russia. The story around Hitler on the basis of which the narrative is prepared is too fantastic. In case Bhagwanji had said this he would have told his Calcutta disciples as well. He would not have kept such a sensational detail out from them. But there was not even a passing mention of anything concerning Hitler in Oi Mahamanb Ase. So this is clearly not true. Other symptoms mentioned are merely because the authors of Conundrum, as themselves admitted, are not conversant with spirituality. In fact in their book they have freely mixed occult with spirituality which exposes their ignorance about the subject. A spiritual person often speaks from a higher consciousness level and once he comes down to a lower level he may be astonished by his own sayings. A man undergoing sadhan of Ma Kali would often spend the night without sleeping, that does not mean that he is suffering from insomnia. A man in his seventies or who is writing many letters in a hurry without the luxury of having a secretary or an editor would be making some spelling and grammar errors - its quite natural even for the best of the erudite and scholars. So it would not be proper to discard his statements as grand delusions, esp. when there are wonderful consistencies in his narration. Also as admitted by the authors Bhagwanji had information of many events for which public information was available only years or decades later. Hence even men of influence could not have provided him with that information, unless he had them first hand, like predictions regarding 1965 war, 1971 Bangladesh war, assassination of Mujib and radicalization of Bangladesh, downfall of Soviets, the decline of communism, the opium addiction of American soldiers in Vietnam, the explosion of nuclear bombs, the prediction of Arab Israel conflict, the conflicts within Pakistan, esp. in Baluchistan and so on and on. Oi Mahamanab Ase in that respect is a veritable gold mine. It contains a treasure of information of his friendship with Mao and the conversations, his activities in Russia, China, Bangladesh, Middle East, his developing an Asia liberation army that has been refered to by Chou En Lai in Paris peace conference and many such things. There is no evidence of mental illness. Symptoms of PTSD would have been evident to atleast one of the five six doctors who treated him, including Dr. R P Mishra, the civil surgeon. There is no mention of any weakness. In fact Dr. Mishra calls him as Shiva incarnated.
So the hypothesis is entirely false and authors of Conundrum in their zeal to give an explanation to Bhagwanji's not coming out in the open (else their narrative and research would be challenged) putsforward such a case. They would have done well not to have done it as otherwise their painstaking research and effort to unravel the mystery is exemplary and deserves much credit.
Also the authors of Conundrum could have given some attention to Bhagwanji's claim of never being married and leading a celibate life. It is quite clear that authors do not believe this assertion and they have not investigated this area. But they would have done better to unravel the truth from all possible angles. In this respect Oi Mahamanab Ase has done a much better work of representing the truth as it is, in cryptic language. But once deciphered it becomes a treasure for the Netaji lovers.
However there are several considerations which the authors seemed to have ignored while postulating this theory. To start with, the Hitler incident is a hearsay. Srikant Sharma was more than ninety years old and authors themselves said that he made several mistakes while recollecting facts in Mukherjee commission. It is likely that he might have mixed up different contexts - e.g. Hitler's likely escape to South America and Bhagwanji's travels from China. Also according to the authors themselves Bhagwanji entered India from Nepal with Mahadev Prasad, father of Saraswati Devi in 1953. So he must have come from China. From Thevar's testimony it is very much clear that Bhagwanji was in China from 1949 onwards, so there is no question of his escaping Russian camp and entering India. This is corroborated by assertions of Sarat Bose in 1949 and also the Interpress report in Germany in 1949. In 1948 Jerevin, the colleague of Ardhendu Sarkar met him in Russia where he was being treated as an ambassador by Stalin. He might have been a prisoner before that in Yakutsk but he was not treated harshly. Bhagwanji told that in the beginning the Russians did not treat him well. But from his own admissions later their behavior changed and they had not ill treated him. So it is likely that he was in a camp in Gulag for atmost a year(1947-1948 till the power transfer happened in India) and then Stalin, finding that there was no reason to imprison him, released him and possibly made up for the earlier mistreatment. There was no reason for Soviet Union and Stalin to treat Subhas Bose as enemy. Stalin had no love for Nehru. He did not trust the British or Americans. Russia had no enmity with Subhash and INA did not fight against Russia. The story around Hitler on the basis of which the narrative is prepared is too fantastic. In case Bhagwanji had said this he would have told his Calcutta disciples as well. He would not have kept such a sensational detail out from them. But there was not even a passing mention of anything concerning Hitler in Oi Mahamanb Ase. So this is clearly not true. Other symptoms mentioned are merely because the authors of Conundrum, as themselves admitted, are not conversant with spirituality. In fact in their book they have freely mixed occult with spirituality which exposes their ignorance about the subject. A spiritual person often speaks from a higher consciousness level and once he comes down to a lower level he may be astonished by his own sayings. A man undergoing sadhan of Ma Kali would often spend the night without sleeping, that does not mean that he is suffering from insomnia. A man in his seventies or who is writing many letters in a hurry without the luxury of having a secretary or an editor would be making some spelling and grammar errors - its quite natural even for the best of the erudite and scholars. So it would not be proper to discard his statements as grand delusions, esp. when there are wonderful consistencies in his narration. Also as admitted by the authors Bhagwanji had information of many events for which public information was available only years or decades later. Hence even men of influence could not have provided him with that information, unless he had them first hand, like predictions regarding 1965 war, 1971 Bangladesh war, assassination of Mujib and radicalization of Bangladesh, downfall of Soviets, the decline of communism, the opium addiction of American soldiers in Vietnam, the explosion of nuclear bombs, the prediction of Arab Israel conflict, the conflicts within Pakistan, esp. in Baluchistan and so on and on. Oi Mahamanab Ase in that respect is a veritable gold mine. It contains a treasure of information of his friendship with Mao and the conversations, his activities in Russia, China, Bangladesh, Middle East, his developing an Asia liberation army that has been refered to by Chou En Lai in Paris peace conference and many such things. There is no evidence of mental illness. Symptoms of PTSD would have been evident to atleast one of the five six doctors who treated him, including Dr. R P Mishra, the civil surgeon. There is no mention of any weakness. In fact Dr. Mishra calls him as Shiva incarnated.
So the hypothesis is entirely false and authors of Conundrum in their zeal to give an explanation to Bhagwanji's not coming out in the open (else their narrative and research would be challenged) putsforward such a case. They would have done well not to have done it as otherwise their painstaking research and effort to unravel the mystery is exemplary and deserves much credit.
Also the authors of Conundrum could have given some attention to Bhagwanji's claim of never being married and leading a celibate life. It is quite clear that authors do not believe this assertion and they have not investigated this area. But they would have done better to unravel the truth from all possible angles. In this respect Oi Mahamanab Ase has done a much better work of representing the truth as it is, in cryptic language. But once deciphered it becomes a treasure for the Netaji lovers.
Excellent analysis from your part.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of plausible explanations of Mahakaal not coming out it in public that the authors failed to analyse and put there conclusion on a lame PTSD theory. Sadly they are not open to others' opinions.