Early Life
Sadguru Kushi Ranjan Bhattacharjee Brahmachari is the younger brother of Gurudas. He appeared on 17th January, 1943 on Sylhet in undivided India (presently in Bangladesh), to the pious family of Sri Kamini Mohan Bhattacharjee and Srimati Rajobala Devi. He was very intelligent from his childhood and had a very sharp brain in matter related to education. But as per the rule of karmic destiny, he had to suffer from Typhoid when he was young which affected him in his education, hence continued till Matriculation exam only. Nevertheless, he possessed immense strength, unwavering fearlessness, and an unyielding commitment to truth and fairness. He confronted any wrongdoing or injustice without hesitation, exhibiting unparalleled boldness. It must be emphasized, he feared no one; I repeat, he feared no one. He consistently served his parents and elders with profound respect and unwavering devotion. He was a great devotee of his parents. Many of his stories would be found in Mouni Kathamrita and other books written by Gurudas. He was married to Srimati Gouri Devi, who was very pious and had a divine nature. Gouri Devi passed away in her youth in a divine way finding solace at the abode of Sadguru. He has 4 daughter, who are equally very pious. Since his daughter Mukti was only 3 years old when her mother Gouri passed away, everyone requested Kushi to get married again to take care of her daughter. Hence as per the request of elders and with the permission of Mounibaba, he again tied the knots with Srimati Lila Devi. However, Lila Devi also passed away within a year during the birth of Smriti. Mounibaba later told that their karma got over soon and they are all now staying with Mounibaba in spiritual bodies.
Spiritual Life
The life of Kushi was full of struggles in the material view point and he had to work really hard to maintain his family. But no one can deny the attainments of spiritual heights, even after living his stressful material life. His spiritual life started after his initiation from Sadguru Mounibaba on 1967, when Mounibaba along with his wife were present during his initiation. It’s like getting initiation from the Yugal or Shiva-Shakti together. Like his elder brother Gurudas, he was also reluctant to take initiation before, but after the request of Guruma Manada Sundari Devi (wife of Mounibaba), he agreed to the proposal. He used to say that “faith” is a difficult thing to attain and once things start unfolding, the faith is bound to come. Within a very short time, he became a great guru bhakta and his devotion towards his guru touched heights! There are many stories of Mounibaba’s pastimes with him mentioned in books like biography of Mounibaba, Mouni Kathamrita, etc. He was an ekanta bhakta and a prema siddha vaishnav.
Like his elder brother and his guru, his stories are not much known about his spiritual journey. Due to his utter humility and reluctance to seek public fame as a spiritual figure, he always avoids discussing himself with common people and follows his guru’s principle of “Pratistha Shukari Bishta” or “Desire for Fame is the like the stool of pigs.” He used to act as a very average persons infront of people. However, I would mention all the things that I have known so far from him as well Gurudasji and other family members. This would give hints about his spiritual stature.
Mounibaba asked Gurudasji to teach yogic kriyas to Kushi and Shukla (Gurudasi). Within short time, he succeeded in attaining yogic siddhi. One day, he was doing some kriyas in his bed. Suddenly his daughters came there hastily to see what happened hearing some heavy sounds. And they amazingly found that his body was jumping uncontrollably in the bed due to the working of kundalini kriya in his body, and he lost all outer senses. Another day Jaya (his eldest daughter) found similar thing when he was doing kriya in the domestic temple in Nilambajar. Once in 1994, during the pilgrim visit by Gurudas and his team, Kushi went into samadhi doing omkar sadhana at Kolkata along with Gurudas and other devotees. Then Gurudas brought Kushi into senses by doing omkar on his heart. Similarly, during kirtan, he often used to go into bhav samadhi and the kirtan of Ranibari under Mounibaba was always remarkable, seeing the condition of everyone in that kirtan. It used to seem like Navadwip Dham has manifested in North East India at Ranibari Dham.
Kushi was a great devotee and a follower of Mahaprabhu and his associates. Once during visit to Jagannath Puri, the pilgrim team entered the Gambhira, where Mahaprabhu spent final days of his life. He touched the big deity statue of Mahaprabhu on the face and suddenly started crying, “Skin! Skin! I can feel the skin of Mahaprabhu!” Everyone was amazed and all felt the divine presence of Mahaprabhu and his love.
He was always fascinated about creamation ground and always used to say that this MahaSashan is the reality of life. A divine bliss used to appear on his face, after coming near any Mahasashan. Though his guru Mounibaba did tantric sadhana in Pancha Mundi Asana and tantric kriyas in creamation ground, he denied Kushi, Gurudas and other disciples to do any such sadhana, since this is not suitable in the current time. Further he said that if someone is under sadguru, then naturally divine mother awakens in the sadhaka body as Kundalini and keeps on rising by the grace of Sadguru. One who has done tantra sadhana in the previous lives, automatically gets under sadguru and doesn’t have to undergo all such sadhanas. Mounibaba once told that his guru Anandamoy Brahmachari was indeed “Advaita Prabhu” of Goura Lila and his devotees Sri Kushi Ranjan and Sri Gurudas are incarnation of Nityananda Prabhu. On being asked about his own identity, he changed the topic of discussion playfully.
Life as Sadguru
Mounibaba initially gave authority to Gurudas to initiate and accept disciples under the lineage of Mounibaba in 1977. He later on gave authority to Kushi and Shukla (Gurudasi) after 1982, when Mounibaba permanently came to Ranibari till his Mahasamadhi. He asked them to initiate disciples on Krishna mantra and Brahma Mantra, but not to initiate on Shakti Mantra, since this is not suitable for the age and sadhak would find great difficulty in doing the sadhana. He also asked to teach yogic kriyas to eligible disciples.
Sadguru Kushi initiated a few people, under the direction of Mounibaba and blessed the disciples for spiritual upliftment of their soul.
Final Days before Mahasamadhi
Due to divine interruptions, he unfortunately broke his waist at a very old age. Then he was shifted to his 2nd daughter, Bhakti’s house at Silchar for treatment and his service, since there was no one in his family to take care of his old age. Before that he spent the majority of his life staying at his house in Ranibari, Assam. Later on he said that he knows very well why his waist broke, but never discussed more about this. He spent the rest of his life at Bhakti’s house for around 2 years. A divine atmosphere used to prevail on that house during that time.
He always used to say that “I don’t have any death. I just have to leave this material cage. Just remind me on a Sunday. I would pass away on the day of my birth, i.e Sunday.” Few days before his Mahasamdhi on Jan 20, 2019 (Sunday morning), Gurudas came to his house (he was staying with his 2nd daughter Bhakti at that time), and informed him about his new song “Re Mon koro Vrindavane Bash” (Oh mind! Dwell in the groves of Vrindavan). After singing few lines, tears were spontaneously flowing from eyes of both the brothers, and the house eventually became the residence of Mahaprabhu in separation from Radha and Krishna at Vrindavan. Gurudas thought his final days were nearing and so he became very serious then and always used to think more seriously about his samadhi. But his younger brother playfully took the song to his heart and he passed away earlier in Mahasamadhi, leaving behind his keens in tremendous pain. Before the final day on 20 Jan, 2019, he passed almost entire night doing omkar sadhana, kirtan, mantra jap etc. and was telling his daughter Bhakti that his end is near. Though no one took his words seriously and thought he was joking, but no one was aware of the painful morning coming the next day. On the day itself, he asked his daughter Bhakti to eat food early and call Biplab (husband of Mukti, his younger daughter), since he was concerned more about her incoming troubles than his own passing away. Suddenly he called Bhakti and told that he was not feeling well and asked her to lay him down on the “left side”. Mounibaba taught the yogic kriya of raising kundalini by lying on the left side. Gurudasji later confirmed that he passed away in Mahasamadhi listening to the flute sound of Krishna and going to the final abode of liberation.
His close associates and intimate devotees still feel his presence and experience the pastime that started more aggressively after his Mahasamadhi; to continue the ‘Mouni Lila’ of Mounibaba secretly in the world.
