MONO CHALO NIJO NIKETANE

MONO CHALO NIJO NIKETANE

Musings By Sanjoy Das Gupta

Sri Ramakrishna first met a young Narendranath and heard him sing in November 1881 at the house of his householder devotee, Shri Surendra Nath Mitra.

Shri Ramakrishna used to visit Shri Mitra’s house in Calcutta to deliver spiritual lectures and other forms of enlightenment. On this particular occasion too, Shri Mitra had arranged a spiritual festival at his house in Shimla Street wherein Sri Ramakrishna would be present. When the appointed singer for the occasion failed to show up, a young Narendranath Dutta, Mitra’s neighbour and a talented singer, was asked to fill in. Narendranath was then around eighteen years old, preparing for his FA exams of Calcutta University.

Narendra sang several devotional songs. His performance was soulful and deeply impressed Sri Ramakrishna. One of the songs sang by him was a Bromho Sangeet “ Mono Chalo Nijo Niketane…” composed by Sri Ayodhyanath Pakrasi, an eminent educationist and scholar in Bengali Sanskrit, Secretary & Chief Preacher of Adi Bramho Samaj as also Editor of Tattwabodhini Patrika. This particular song was very close to Narendra’s heart and continues to touch us even today and will do so perpetually in the Ramakrishna Mission Order and all its spiritual global endeavours and universal reach.

After the singing, Sri Ramakrishna invited Narendra to visit him at the Dakhineshwar Kali temple. Narendra accepted, though at that point, he was still a skeptic.

This encounter served as a prelude to their “first historical” meeting at Dakhineshwar, marking the start of the unique “guru-disciple” relationship that would shape the future of the Ramakrishna Order and the global all-pervading Ramakrishna Movement.

I had this intense desire to perhaps bring out this very young Naren rendering his soulful renditions that remarkable evening through an imaginative portrayal with his fingers strumming the tanpura in his hand, lost in a celestial world with brimful ecstacy and devout emotions.

There were obviously no references or photographs and thus had to be an imaginative exercise. Whilst seeking to adopt Sri Ramakrishna’s the then “bhava” whilst listening to these renditions of young Narendranath, in the form of his “samadhi mode” portrait photographed and taken at Dakhineshwar, it was felt desirable that the portrayal be reflected in soft shaded pencil sketch to maintain its significance and spiritual essence. 

I have thus attempted to bring forth these portrayals with their “errors as might have arisen” of the “bhava” as perceived by me with my folded hands and surely with the blessings of Thakur, Maa and Swamiji Maharaj.

Joy Thakur !!

ALSO READ : https://www.crparkspeaksdelhi.com/2026/03/march-musings-and-memories.html