Pranab-da's Relevance to this Site -- Raman Reddy

The role that Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya (Dada) played in the growth of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram is invaluable and, whatever his critics might say, he will be always remembered with love and pride. Articles will now be written and books published showing how faithfully he served the Mother until the very last and how he built up the vast Physical Education Dept. of the Ashram from scratch from 1945 to 2010. He also played the role of a strong and healthy opposition within the community of the Ashram, keeping always in mind its larger good – he confronted the authorities but never really destabilised them. It is with regard to this last function that he is relevant to this site. Let it be recorded here before Time blunts our memories that he unequivocally (to say the least) condemned The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs and took some strong collective decisions with regard to it. As a matter of fact, he felt suspicious about the biographer way back in 1987 and expressed his misgivings to the then head of the Archives Dept. At that time many thought that he was over reacting and he himself said frankly that Time will tell the truth, and that he wouldn’t mind if he were eventually proved wrong. It took more than twenty years for Time to prove that he was one hundred percent right!

Raman Reddy
23.01.2010