Motilal Thakur of Serampore

Shrimat Matilal Mukhopadhyaya was one of the first disciples of Shri Yukteshwar and had received the order of Shri Shri Lahiri Mahashaya to be an Acharya when the great Yogiraj was no more in his human frame. Shri Yukteshwar was testing his disciple. There were many waiting to be initiated by Shrimat Matilal Thakur. But he did not as yet have any instructions from his Master to that effect. For many days the Master seemed to be so indifferent towards him. This seeming unkindness pained the disciple and he constantly prayed to Shri Shri Lahiri Mahashaya so that his Gurudeva might again be kind to him. One night Shrimat Matilal was meditating in a closed room at Kidderpore where he was an employee of the Kidderpore shipyard. Suddenly the divine figure of Shri Shri Lahiri Baba appeared amidst resplendent light, gave him his blessings, and initiated him as an Acharya. After this incident when Shrimat Matilal met his Gurudeva at his call, Shri Yukteshwar was highly pleased at this great change in his disciple and explained the Grace showered upon him by the Yogiraj. The Master knew it all. He was merely testing his disciple. Now he became very glad at his success and blessed him from the heart of his heart.

The life of Yogishwar Shrimat Matilal Thakur (Shri Shri Sachchidananda Deva) reveals before us an astounding spiritual personality fit to be a deep subject of study for any spiritual seeker. He was a householder with an ingrained spiritual tendency from his very birth. While serving at Burma he came in contact with the 'Fungi' Sadhus there. Later on he also became intimately connected with the religion of the Sikhs and the theosophists.

A great turning point came into his life when he lost his first child, a lovely son, within a year of his birth. Life lost its savor for him. The impermanence of life was so deeply impressed on his heart that he became the most earnest seeker of the life eternal, the life divine. At such a time he was initiated into Kriyayoga by Shrimat Swami Shri Yukteshwar Giriji Maharaj. He was then serving at Kidderpore. Very soon he so deeply applied himself to the organization of the 'Satsanga Sabha' under the instructions from his Master and made his colleagues and friends so inspired that he drew the appreciation of his Gurudeva as "Kidderpore is my right hand".

Once while going to office, he received in his heart a call from the Divine to work for the helpless and suffering humanity. The urge for responding to the call became so insistent that he was compelled to come back from the Serampore Railway Station carrying along a man attacked with blood-dysentery in his arms. The number of maimed and diseased people under his care gradually increased and at last he established the 'Bhaktashram', a charity home which he supported by begging alms from door to door. A time came when he had to leave his office and dedicate himself entirely to the service of the Divine.

A few years passed, and then came another great change in the life of Shrimat Matilal Thakur. Shri Shri Lahiri Mahashaya again appeared before him in his divine self and commanded him to establish 'Shrigurudham'. Accordingly, in Chaitra, 1325 B.S., 'Shrigurudham (Yogada Satsanga)' was established at Serampore. The Bhaktashram was now handed over to Shrimat Swami Abhedanandaji Maharaj, a great disciple of Shri Ramakrisna and the founder of the Shri Ramakrisna Vedanta Society. So long Shrimat Matilal has been ministering mainly to the physical debilities of suffering humanity. Now he devoted himself entirely to the spiritual needs, which, when fulfilled, make for an all-round development of the human personality. Besides, the practice of Kriyayoga, even in its easier form as propagated by Shri Shri Lahiri Mahashaya, is too much for the majority of ordinary mortals. They must be given a force in the human shape before which they can surrender and thus come gradually to the path of Sadhana. It is Shriguru who is that Force in its highest form.

The establishment of Shrigurudham and its many branches all over West Bengal by Shri Shri Matilal Thakur has thus ushered in a new era in the evolution and propagation of Kriyayoga, and the tradition is being gloriously carried on by Yogiguru Shrimat Brahmachari Anilanandaji Maharaj, the greatest disciple of Yogishwar Shri Shri Matilal Thakur and an embodiment of Infinite Power and Infinite Grace.

Yogishwar Shrimat Matilal Thakur has also been a great author of religious books including his Atma-Katha (Autobiography) which has been posthumously published by his disciple Shrimat Brahmachari Maharaj.