Service Life of the Late Vaishnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia (part III)

Pandit Sonaram Chutia started his career as a teacher. In his lifetime, Sonaram Chutia served as a teacher in different schools.

In 1939, he joined Sibsagar Government Higher Secondary School as a science teacher. Later he joined Balama High school. It was at this time when Sonaram Chutia joined Jatiya Mahasabha (Indian National Congress) and participated in the Indian Freedom movement. He played an active role in the Quit India movement. For this he was arrested by the British and was sent to Jorhat Central Jail in 1942.

The late Pandit use to say that during that time the Jorhat Central Jail was turning into an educational institution. It was because during that time, the jail was full of patriots, freedom fighters and well educated people. In the jail, Sonaram Chutia met many well noted people like Gopinath Bordoloi, Fakaruddin Ali Ahmed, Padmadhar Chaliha, Debeswar Sarma, Amiya Kumar Das, Vijai Chandra Bhagavati, Dr. Harekrishna Das, Pitambar Dev Goswami and many more. The time that Sonaram Chetia spent in the jail had a great impact in his life. In fact, one could say that his stay in the jail came as a blessing from the Gracious Almighty. He was influenced and inspired to a great extent by the great minds, especially Pitambar Dev Goswami, who draws the mind of young Sonaram Chutia into spirituality and Vaisnavism.  Pitambar Dev Goswami was the Satradhikar of Garmur Satra. He gave Sonaram Chutia the holy scriptures that he had with him in the jail and asked Mr. Chutia to read those books. He asked Mr. Chutia to pay special attention to the Upanishadas. Thus, this was the beginning of the spiritual life of the late Pandit.

After spending 2 years 18 days in the jail, Mr. Chutia was released on 22^nd December, 1944. However, he was put on house arrest for another 6 month. By this time, Mr. Chutia started reading various books. He was highly influenced by the Sankari culture and the Mahapurusia dharma, which is also known as Eka Sarana Hari Naam dharma, or simply Vaisnavism. Among all the books the Holy Srimad Bhagavata puran and the Holy Srimad Bhagavata Gita were his favourites. With the support, encouragement and blessings of Pitambar Dev Goswami, in the year of 1946, Mr. Chutia became a member of Srimanta Sankardeva Sangha, devoting himself to working for the organization for the rest of his life.

After being released from the jail, Mr. Chutia joined R.G Agarwala Higher Secondary school in Moran as a teacher. Later he served as the Rural Development officer in Golaghat.  In 1968, Mr. Chutia cracked the SCS examination and joined the Jaisagar Panchayati Raj Administration centre as the President and retired in the year of 1970. However, even after retirement Mr. Chutia could not give up his love for teaching. Thus, once again he joined Teok Rajabari Higher Secondary school as a teacher. And finally, in 30^th May 1975, Mr. Chutia retired as the Headmaster of Teok Rajabari Higher Secondary school.

A Gadhian in life, Sonaram Chutia was a class X student when he saw Mahatma Gandhi for the first time, and met him personally later in Maharastra. Mr. Chutia waged a lifelong struggle against the social evil like cast system. In his lifetime he wrote many books. Some of these books are- Ishwaror Sarbopita, Naamdharma Prakash, Mahapurush Sri Sri Haridebor Soritra, Mahapurushiya Dharma aru Kormokanda, Ved aru Mahapurushiya Dharma etc.  He made a great contribution to Assamse literature. He remained the “Padadhikar” of Srimanta Sankardeva Sangha for 9 times and was the Chief-advisor of Srimanta Sankardeva Sangha during the last moment of his life. Late Vaisnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia was honoured as the freedom fighter by the Union Government of India in 1972 and the government of Assam in 1973. He also received the Srimanta Sankaradeva-Madhabdeva Award in 1994, and in the year of 2000 he was awarded with the prestigious Srimanta Sankaradeva award, instituted by the government of Assam to honour persons of eminence in the field of journalism, art, culture and literature.

Late Vaishnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia was a guiding star for lakhs of people. In fact, it is truly said by the the former president of Assam Sahitya Sabha and renowned Assamese literature Nagan Saikia –

“Vaishnava scholar Sonaram Chutia was like the guardian of the society in all aspects like social, spiritual and moral. In the time when the degeneration of the social, spiritual and moral values in the society was prevalent, late Sonaram Chutia stood as the lighthouse to guide the multitudes. His demise left the Assamese society without a guardian.”

                                                                          ...krishna...

College Life of the Late Vaishnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia (part II)

Sonaram Chutia- a person whose life was tougher than what we could ever imagine.

After successfully completing his schooling form Jorhat Government Higher Secondary school, young Sonaram Chutia went to Guwahati to do higher studies. He joined the Cotton collage. However, his studying in the Cotton collage and staying in the collage hostel was not a smooth run. 

During that time, in India, the hold of caste system in the society was very strong. People blindly followed the caste system. The caste system was a system of division of labour and power in human society. In fact, even today, it is a system of social stratification although it is no longer powerful as it was in the past. Historically, it defined communities into thousands of endogamous hereditary groups called jatis. The jatis were grouped by the Brahminical texts under four well-known caste categories – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and the Shudras. The caste system stamped an individual as upper caste, lower caste or untouchable from birth. The people who belong to upper caste, like the Brahmins, were considered as sacred, and those who belong to the lower caste were considered as impure and were hated by the upper caste people. Certain lower caste people were excluded altogether, ostracized by all other casts and treated as untouchables. The people belonging to the lower caste had limited mobility, or none; limited choice of occupation; restrictions on dietary and social interactions that defined who could consume what and accept from whom and so on. The people belonging to the lower caste had limitations on movement and access, including to religious and educational areas and to basic facilities such as supplies of water. The lower caste people were deprived of their rights by the upper caste people. Thus, the practice of the evil caste system isolated people, infused a sense of inferiority into lower caste individuals, and divided humanity. The caste system was not merely a social problem but it traumatized people, and prevented the people from developing. 

Sonaram Chutia also belong to a lower caste family, thus, his admission in the Cotton collage raised a wave of protest among the upper caste students. Many questions arise in the minds of the Brahmin students like – how can we study with a lower caste boy in our college, how can we stay in the same hostel, and many more. In the midst of such a negative situation, with the grace of the Almighty Hari, Sonaram Chutia got the admission in the college and also, this time, he was permitted to stay in the collage hostel. However, the problem did not end. During his stay in the college hostel, Sonaram Chutia faced a lot of trouble, humiliation and harassment from the upper caste boys. One day, in the dining hall of the hostel, one of the upper caste boy threw a left-over piece of fish in the plate of Sonaram Chutia and said “look! These lower caste people have survived only by eating the left-over food of the Brahmins. But see how this lower caste is coming to study with us….”. In this way, Sonaram Chutia was insulted and humiliated in every step and in every possible way by the upper caste boys. Later with the grace of the Almighty Hari and with the effort made by Prof. Divakar Goswami, superintendent of the New Hostel, the cold war of caste discrimination came to an end in the college hostel. 

Now the question comes- how much and for how long a young boy who have being facing hardship and discouragement could tolerate and hang on? Being discouraged and hurt in every step of life, many times, young Sonaram Chutia felt as if there is no hope. Since his childhood, Sonaram Chutia has been facing caste discrimination, humiliation and injustice. There was no such day when Sonaram Chutia lived peacefully. Generally, in such a situation a person loses hope and gives up. Once, Sonaram Chutia, being harassed by the evil practices of the society, had even decided to join Christianity leaving Hindusim. Sonaram Chutia was hurt deep inside, which nobody could express in words. He never had a playful and happy childhood like most of us had, he never had a colorful, exciting and enjoyable collage life like us. All that he got was harassment, hardship, and discouragement. And instead of enjoying the student life, Sonaram Chutia spent his student life fighting against caste discrimination, social injustice, and at the same time continuing with his studies. However, Sonaram Chutia never gave up. He never accepted defeat. No matter how much trouble he faced, he kept doing his duties (the duty of a student is to keep on learning). Sonaram Chutia ignored all the hardship and problems that he was facing and continued his study with strong determination and sincerity. He kept working hard. Finally, after giving a tough fight to all the obstacles and to the evils of society, Sonaram Chutia successfully completed his graduation in Science stream with distinction in the year of 1939.

After successfully completing his graduation, Sonaram Chutia decided to do MSc. But during that time there was no university in Assam. Thus, to do higher education one had to go to Calcutta, now in West Bengal. Sonaram Chutia packed up his luggage to go to Calcutta for higher education. Unfortunately, at the same time in September 1939, the World War II started. And due to the war there was an atmosphere of panic and unrest in India. And being afraid and worried, Mr. Jagiram Chutia, father of Sonaram Chutia stopped young Sonaram from going to Calcutta. And thus, the study life of Sonaram Chutia ended. 

Thus we can say that-

A winner is not the one who merely succeeds,

A true winner is the one who stands up after every defeat.

No matter how hard the situation is, one must always continue doing his/her duty with determination and sincerity. Work hard but never desire for the fruit of your action. There is no need to do something big. Do something small, but do it by all your heart, then a small work done by us could be of great importance and value. When we feel that the light is gone, have faith, have patience and never give up because after the night is passed there comes a new beautiful morning. 

..Krishna.. 

(NOTE- In this part we have tried to throw little light on the college life of the Late Vaishnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia. A few more parts would be published shortly.)

Life of the Late Vaishnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia (part I)

Sonaram Chutia was an eminent Vaishnavite scholar.  He was an educationalist, social reformer, and a freedom fighter.

Born in a very poor and lower caste family, the late Vaishnava Pandit spent his entire life fighting against the inhuman practices of the society. Struggling through the various obstacles in life, Pandit Sonaram Chutia was not only able to establish his own identity in the society but also he became a guiding star for the large number of downtrodden people of the society.

Pandit Sonaram Chutia was born to Jagiram and Phuleshwari Chutia on June 8^th 1915, in Baam Kukurasowa village, Kakojan, in Jorhat district. Although he was born in a poor family, he was very good at his studies. Being a good and intelligent student, he was supported by the teachers in his school. However, as he was from a poor and lower caste family, he suffered from caste discrimination and injustice in every step of life. As a school student, when Pandit Chutia appeared for the “Britti examination”, which is a scholarship examination, his name did not appear in the list of the passed students. Since young Chutia was a brilliant student, his name not appearing on the list was very hard to accept to some of the teachers, especially to a teacher named Kashinath Changkakoti. Mr. Changkakoti investigated the matter and found that some selfish person had deducted 20 points from the total marks scored by young Chutia in the examination and consequently his name did not appear in the pass list. Mr. Changkakoti then informed the matter to the school authority and also threatened to do complain if the matter was not solved. Finally, with the help and support of Mr. Changkakoti, young Sonaram Chutia was declared passed. This was not the only incident in the life of the late Vaishnava Pandit.

In school, while doing his studies, young Chutia’s faced a lot of pain and trouble that a child of his age could ever bear. Sonaram Chutia studied at Jorhat Government Higher Secondary school. Because Sonaram Chutia belonged to a lower caste family, young Chutia was not allowed to stay in the hostel. Young Sonaram Chutia, was therefore forced to live in a rented house. However, at that time, Sonaram Chutia was too young to take care of himself. But, living in the rented house, he had to do everything by himself. He was required to carry fire-wood for cooking from his distant village to his rented house, do cooking and at the same time continue his studies. Also the school was quite a long distance away from his rented house, thus, he needed to walk a long distance from his rented house to reach his school. Now the question comes – How much a little child could handle??  Sonaram Chutia was a little child and doing all these works were far beyond the mental and physical ability of a child- Sonaram Chutia. Consequently, being hurt, disappointed and unable to manage the rigorous daily life activities, young Chutia decided to abandon his studies. However, with the blessings of the Gracious Almighty Hari, a teacher named Jehiruddin Ahmed from his school stopped young Sonaram Chutia from abandoning his studies and provided him with accommodation in a school godown. With the help of Mr. Ahmed, young Sonaram Chutia continued his studies and due to his hard-working nature and strong determination, at the year of 1935, Sonaram Chutia passed the Matriculation with letter marks in five subjects. That year, young Chutia was the only student to score letter marks in the Matriculation. This splendid result motivated young Chutia to continue his fight against injustice and caste discrimination, and to continue his studies.  

...Krishna...

( NOTE-   The life of the Late Vaishnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia is very hard to narrate in writing. Thus, we are trying to cover some of the incidence from the life of the Late Pandit in parts. In this part, we have tried to throw light into the childhood of Pandit Chutia. The next part will be be published shortly)

The last journey of our Baap- Late Vaishnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia

At Jorhat Court field

Bhaktas gather at the residence of the Late Vaishnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia

At the temple- Srimanta Sankaradeva Sangha Jorhat zila naamghor, the bhaktas bow in respect to the Almighty Hari and the Late Vaishnava Pandit 

The Vaishnava Pandit is being taken from the temple to the Court field

The last journey of our Baap -Vaishnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia (we love you now and forever)

The procession

Respected Rana Goswami sir paying floral tribute to the Late Vaishnava Pandit (in the residence of the Pandit)

The procession

Living in our hearts, you makes us feel your presence in form of tears. 

Your memories will remain in our heart, And your teachings will remain in our mind forever...

Krishna

The Light is gone..... Vaishnava Pandit Sonaram Chutia passed away

30th January 2013, eminent Vaishnavite scholar, educationalist, social reformer, and freedom fighter Pandit Sonaram Chutia passed away because of old-age ailments at Jorhat Medical College Hospital at around 09:30 pm. 

The death of Pandit Sonaram Chutia is a big loss to the entire nation, especially to the Vaishnava people and humanity.

The Vaishnava Pandit was 98 and is survived by three sons, four daughters and his grandchildren.

The Jorhat District administration had kept the body of the late Pandit at Jorhat District Sports Association field to enable the people to pay their last respect to their guardian angel- Pandit Sonaram Chutia. His body was brought to the field in a procession.

The demise of the Pandit was mourned by the Government of Assam and many other organizations like Assam Sahitya Sabha, Jorhat Municipality Board, Jorhat District Administration, All Assam Student Union, Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad. 

Ajanta Neog, State PWD Minister and Rana Goswami, Jorhat MLA paid floral tribute to the late Pandit on behalf of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on 31st January 2013.

On 1st February 2013, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi paid his tribute to the late Pandit at Jorhat District Sports Association field, and the mortal remains of the Pandit were consigned to flames at Tarajan cremation ground with full State honours.

In his last journey from the Court Field to the crematorium, the Late Vaishnava Pandit was accompanied by 

Jorhat MP BK Handique, the MLAs of Teok, Jorhat, Mariani and Dergaon LACs and officials of the Jorhat district administration and many others.

Joy to all of us

Very soon the youngsters will get to learn about Mahapurush Srimanta Sankaradeva 

NCERT books to include a chapter on Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva’s contributions

......Jai Guru Srimanta Sankara....

read it out

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article3716891.ece

An introduction to Srimad Bhagavata Gita- The Song of God!

"This knowledge is the King of all wisdom 

The King of all that is confidential. 

It is the purest and the topmost. 

It is the perfection of all religion .

And everlastingly joyful to perform. 

It gives direct perception of the self by realization " 

_Chapter 9, verse 2 (Srimad Bhagavat Gita) 

The Srimad Bhagavat Gita- the Song of God, was spoken by the Supreme Lord Krishna on the battlefield of Kuruksetra in 3102 B.C, just prior to the commencement of the Great Mahabharata war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. It was originally available in the Sanskrit language and was later translated into other languages. It is considered to be one of the oldest and the greatest spiritual book that the world have ever known. Here, the Supreme Almighty Krishna has precisely described the science of self-realization and the process through which a human being could establish their eternal relationship with the Gracious Almighty. It reveals the doctrine bhakti (devotion) and love of God. 

Without the realization of our divine relationship with the God it is impossible to establish our eternal relationship with Him. The Srimad Bhagavat Gita describes three paths that leads to establishing a relationship with the Almighty. These three paths are- (i) yoga of perfect action, (ii) yoga of perfect devotion, and (iii) yoga of prefect knowledge. 

The Srimad Bhagavat Gita is consist of 18 chapters. Each chapter is called a yoga. Yoga is the science of individual consciousness attaining communication with the Ultimate Consciousness. Thus, we we could say that each chapter is a highly specialized yoga revealing the path of attaining the realization of the Ultimate Truth, that is the Almighty. 

The 18 chapters of the Srimad Bhagavat Gita could be classified in three sections. Each section gives a complete and detailed explanation of the three paths leading to establishing a relationship with God. The first six chapters could be classified as the Karma Yoga section, that is the yoga of perfect action. It mainly deals with the science of the individual consciousness attaining communication with the Ultimate Consciousness through our actions. The first six chapters are- 

Chapter 1. Visada Yoga (The Yoga of Dejection)
Chapter 2. Sankhya Yoga (The Yoga of Analytic Knowledge)
Chapter 3. Karma Yoga (The Yoga of Action)
Chapter 4. Gyana Yoga (The Yoga of Knowledge)
Chapter 5. Karma Vairagya Yoga (The Yoga of Work in Detachment)
Chapter 6. Abhyasa Yoga (The Yoga of Meditation).

The middle six chapters could be classified as the Bhakti Yoga session, that is the yoga of perfect devotion. This session deals with the science of the individual consciousness attaining communication with the Ultimate Consciousness through devotion. These six chapters are- 

Chapter 7. Paramahamsa Vijnana Yoga (The Yoga of Wisdom)

Chapter 8. Aksara-Parabrahman Yoga (The Yoga of the Imperishable Spirit)

Chapter 9. Raja-Vidya-Guhya Yoga ( The Yoga of Confidentiality)

Chapter 10. Vibhuti-Vistara Yoga (The Yoga of His Opulence)

Chapter 11. Visvarupa-Darshana Yoga (The Yoga of the Universal Form)

Chapter 12. Bhakti Yoga (The Yoga of Devotion).

The final six chapters could be classified as the Gyana Yoga, that is the yoga of perfect knowledge. This section deals with the science of the individual consciousness attaining communication with the Ultimate Consciousness through intellect. These sis chapters are- 

Chapter 13. Ksetra-Ksetrajna Vibhaga Yoga (The Yoga of Discrimination)

Chapter 14. Gunatraya-Vibhaga Yoga  (The Yoga of the Three Modes of nature)

Chapter 15. Purushottama Yoga (The Yoga of the Supreme Person)

Chapter 16. Daivasura-Sampada-Vibhaga Yoga (The Yoga of discriminating the qualities of the enlightened and the unenlightened)

Chapter 17. Sraddhatraya-Vibhaga Yoga (The Yoga of the Threefold Division of Faith)

Chapter 18. Moksha Upadesha Yoga (The Yoga of liberation through Renunciation).

Thus, the Srimad Bhagavat Gita is, in fact, the essence of the Mahabharata. It is not just a Holy book but it is a guide for the human beings to sail across the painful world ocean taking refugee in the Lotus Feet of the Gracious Lord Krishna.

Finally, it is to be noted that Lord Krishna spoke the Srimad Bhagavat Gita in 3102 B.C. This date corresponds to 1700 years before Moses, 2500 years before Buddha, 3000 years before Jesus, and 3800 years before Mohammad. Thus, it is clear that the Eternal Knowledge of the Srimad Bhagavat Gita has not been influenced by Buddhism, Christianity, Hebrewism, or Islam; for these religions did not exist at that time. 

..Jai sri Krishna..