• This short piece tells you about the thoughts of Swami Pranavananda and the contribution of Bharat Sevashram Sangha that he founded. 

West Bengal is in the grip of a strange amnesia. Over the past fifty years, we have been busy rewriting history, attempting to construct a past that never existed. We have labeled anyone who speaks up for Hindus as "right-wing," while characterizing everyone else as "secular." Consequently, if someone is a devout Hindu—mind you, not necessarily a holy or even "good" Hindu—they are categorized as a fanatic. Yet, at the same time, we choose not to label fanatical non-Hindus as fanatics.

As I have often written, Marxism, as a lived reality in Bengal, meets all the criteria of a religion in the Enlightenment sense. The average Bengali Marxist exhibits a type of orthodoxy not found in Sanatana Dharma. The former deifies books by, and derived from, the works of Karl Marx, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Friedrich Engels. The latter is recovering from the shame and guilt of being Hindu, all instilled by a political apparatus that maintains a deadly grip on our society.

The old Marxist vanguard continues to influence young minds through a toxic cocktail of misplaced ideology and systematic corruption at the grassroots level. It is against this backdrop that I wish to remind my fellow countrymen of Swami Pranavanandaji, the founder of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha.

The founder of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha is often compared by Bengalis to Swami Vivekananda, but this comparison is inaccurate. Every Hindu monastic order and every Hindu ‘marga’ (path) possesses its own unique charism—distinct characteristics that attract different individuals and have been raised by Saguna Brahman to illuminate the light of Sanatana Dharma to the world. While Swami Vivekananda and his master, Paramhamsa Sri Ramakrishna, hold an exalted place in our Dharma, it is time we study the unique charism of both Swami Pranavanandaji and the monastic order he founded.

Perhaps because of Swami Pranavanandaji’s staunch pro-Hindu position and active support for Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee, his ‘Sangha’ was not given the prominence it deserves throughout India or in West Bengal’s history books.

I do not wish to recapitulate what can be found through a simple online search about this valiant Hindu monk from undivided Bengal. What we must focus on is that, from the founding of his ‘Sangha,’ he preferentially sent his monks to work in disaster zones. To this day, his monks go wherever natural disasters strike, living in the affected areas alongside the displaced.

In short, they work with the poorest of the poor quietly, without the media limelight often sought by high-profile relief workers. The ‘Sangha’s’ monks perform their ‘aarti’ with swords during evening worship. The point is that Swami Pranavanandaji’s spiritual sons preferentially stand not only with the poor of our land but also with the poorest Hindus. When the Bengali Hindu was abandoned by most, the monks from the Bharat Sevashram Sangha, following the charism of their founder, stood firmly with us.

This is not to say that monks from the ‘Sangha’ do not serve men and women—including children—of other religions; they do. However, because these monks are proudly Hindu, various political parties in the past have attempted to erase their yeoman service from the history of West Bengal. As mentioned earlier, Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee and his followers received the firm support of Swami Pranavananda and his spiritual sons for over half a century. This is perhaps why, outside of West Bengal and Bengali circles, the great Swami’s deeds remain largely unknown.

Had there been no Swami Pranavananda, and consequently no Bharat Sevashram Sangha, Hindu Bengalis might have ceased to exist today.

We know about ISKCON, we know about Gaudiya Vaishnavism, and we know about Shakti worship, but if anyone in West Bengal ensured we did not forget our Hindu roots, it was Swami Pranavanandaji. The Bharat Sevashram Sangha’s staunch stance on Sanatana Dharma and its readiness to serve the destitute, within the country and abroad, ensured that the core tenets of our Dharma were remembered.  

I have personally known a few of this Order’s monks since childhood, and I can testify to their personal poverty and sanctity. Their extraordinarily simple lives have kept the original fire of renunciation, kindled by their founder, alive today. At Bishnupur, Bankura, in West Bengal, I have witnessed in the last decade how one of their monks begs on behalf of the poor from house to house. This is remarkable in an era of online-only donations. Nonetheless, the ‘Sangha’s’ monks remain humble enough to collect food and clothing for the poorest in their care, going from home to home. Their lives are incredibly simple. It is their humility—nay, self-abnegation—that will ensure their Order remains a beacon when Hinduism faces danger.

As a faith and Dharmic community, we cannot survive unless holy women and men demonstrate through their lives that the truths of our faith are livable daily and, therefore, true. Books have their place, as does learning, but ultimately, it is through our service to the poorest of the poor that we are known as Hindus, and it is through our unshakeable faith in our Dharma that we are defined.

Swami Pranavanandaji Maharaj and his global spiritual family continue to serve our Dharma by providing affordable stays at sacred sites throughout India. They provide free education to thousands across West Bengal and elsewhere, teaching any needy child from any religious background without bias. The ‘Sangha’ also publishes books on Yoga and Sanatana values. These books must be translated and circulated widely so that the values of our Dharma are better known.

One hopes that as more Indians and Hindus learn of this Order, funding for their publications will increase.

In recent years, successive governments in West Bengal and Marxist historians have attempted to paint the ‘Sangha’ as a political organization. Why? Because the ‘Sangha’ spent decades popularizing the chanting of the Bhagavad Gita in Kolkata. This act of Hindu unity, honoring our spiritual heritage, was misconstrued as another sign of the ‘Sangha’s’ communalism and anti-secularism. Yet the rules of the ‘Sangha’ clearly state that if any monk actively pursues politics, they must first leave the monastic brotherhood. The ‘Sangha’ is apolitical and entirely religious; its members are not monks who aspire to be politicians, but they do support Sanatana Dharma.

It is a shame that we know so little of Swami Pranavanandaji and his ‘Sangha.’ The time has come to research this monastic order in detail and record, for the ordinary Hindu, how the Swami and his followers kept the fire of Dharma alive despite countless persecutions.

The author is a theologian.

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