Collected Works of Suresh Chandra Chakraborty

Born on 12 December 1891 Suresh Chandra Chakraborty, at the tender age of sixteen, came in contact with Sri Aurobindo with whom he was destined to stay for the rest of his life. His elder brother Prafulla Chakraborty was killed while experimenting with a bomb at Deoghar in 1908. When Suresh Chandra came to Calcutta, Sri Aurobindo took him under his wings. Sri Aurobindo trusted him immensely and looked upon him as his son. Because of the unshakeable and impregnable trust he had in Suresh Chandra, Sri Aurobindo had sent him to Pondicherry in March 1910 to arrange for his accommodation. Sri Aurobindo reached Pondicherry on 4 April 1910 and from then, Suresh Chandra stayed with him. After the arrival of the Mother in 1920 and her taking charge of the newly-formed Ashram in 1926 (after Sri Aurobindo’s retirement) many of the old followers of Sri Aurobindo left Pondicherry since they were unable to accept the Mother. But Suresh Chandra proved to be an exception; he continued to stay in Pondicherry and left his body on 28 April 1951 five months after the mahasamadhi of Sri Aurobindo. He had followed his Guru in life and death. 

Nolini Kanta Gupta, Suresh Chandra’s gurubhai, had paid a touching tribute to him after his demise in Bengali the translation of which is as follows:

“Suresh Chakraborty sometimes used to say that he was only a litterateur and not a yogi, sadhak or a spiritual person. But when he was questioned that how and why then was he in the Ashram for such a long period, he smiled and said with some hesitation—it was difficult for one who had come closer to Sri Aurobindo to stay away from him. What else could be the identity of a yogi or a sadhak apart from this is not known to me. Suresh Chandra abhorred pretensions and superstitions. His was a straight, one-pointed, clear vision. Many people identify yogis with frauds—sadhana means to the masses certain artificial ways or practise of austerities and penances. But if being spiritual means the highest manifestation of the consciousness and immense development of the self—which is nothing but Sri Aurobindo’s sadhana—then Suresh Chandra was undoubtedly a follower of the Path. His devotion to literature was a part of the sadhana of his soul.

“When Suresh Chandra had come to Sri Aurobindo, he was a young boy of sixteen—from sixteen to sixty. Suresh Chandra was nothing but a product created by Sri Aurobindo. After Sri Aurobindo had left his body, he was heard saying—now it was their turn. The Body to which his body was so close, it was expected that with the absence of the Body, his body would too feel displaced and this explains why he left so suddenly and quietly.

 “But as Sri Aurobindo has not gone away—he is doing his work from a different plane, similarly his closest companions too are with him—they are associated with him as the workers of his Work even after death just as they had been when they were alive.”

Suresh Chandra was a poet and the author of more than a dozen books. His literary creations earned him the praise of Sri Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore and Pramatha Chowdhury to name a few. He is best known for his book Smritikatha (Reminiscences) which includes a series of articles refuting the distorted facts about Sri Aurobindo’s journey from Calcutta to Chandernagore and then to Pondicherry.

For more than four decades most of the works of Suresh Chandra both in prose and poetry have been out of print. But thanks to Shri Dipak Gupta, all the published and unpublished works of the said author have been published in four volumes. The details of each volume and its price are as follows:

 

Suresh Chandra Sangraha Volume 1

Contents: Notun Roopkatha o Ekti Rupok Golpo, Nabayuger Katha, Oindrajalik, Sagarika.

No. of pages: 392.

Price: Rs. 140.

 

 

Suresh Chandra Sangraha Volume 2

Contents: Smritikatha.

No. of pages: 444.

Price: Rs. 150.

 

Suresh Chandra Sangraha Volume 3

Contents: Irani Upokatha, Sabuj Katha, Uro Chithi.

No. of pages: 443.

Price: Rs. 170.

 

Suresh Chandra Sangraha Volume 4

Contents: Sri Aurobindo, Sandhyaloke, Saki, Indradhonu, Sundorer Simana, Pakistani Panchkatha, Nabo Kamalakanto.

No. of pages: 471.

Price: Rs. 170.

 

To place an order for these books please contact Shri Dipak Gupta at the following phone numbers:

     (0413) 2260345

     (0413) 4201632

     (0) 9339567331

     (0) 9830309048

With warm regards,

Anurag Banerjee

Founder,

Overman Foundation.

3 Replies to “Collected Works of Suresh Chandra Chakraborty

  1. Many thanks for the e-mail. Using literature or personal writing as a means of gaining self-consciousness and hence attaining something higher if not the “Divine”, which would be limiting the word in all its spuriousness, has to my limited vision always seemed perhaps the highest possible Sadhana. Nolini-da’s tribute has certainly sparked something in me to want to read Suresh Chandra’s works.

  2. Hindi translation of ‘ SMRITI KATHA’ is being published in ADITI . serially .
    Wonderful authentic document of history ! must read
    suresh tyagi

  3. great work , done by Deepak Gupta…deserves all our praises for his lifetime achievement…, have been crying wolf to get Kobi Nishikanto’s collected works since 2008-9…spread out all over …but no one seems interested….massive work…maybe someone someday will come up…we lost some of his paintings which were brought to cal. for exhibiting…but were not given back…to ashram collection…Art Gallery…no book on this either, scans of existing painting in ashram collection have been given to some for bringing it out in book form..since 2009 his centenary year but still….waiting…let’s see…time only will tell…

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