Considered
the Shakespeare of Bengal, Girish Chandra Ghosh was an
acclaimed playwright, poet, actor and impresario. Fueled by
genius and driven by appetite, his unconventional lifestyle
shattered societal norms. But as his life came to crisis, he met
Sri Ramakrishna and became an outstanding disciple. The
interplay between guru and disciple recounted by Isherwood
allows us to witness Sri Ramakrishna’s large-hearted
catholicity in full stride.
Lecturer Christopher
Isherwood is also a celebrated writer and collaborated
on numerous books with his guru, Swami Prabhavananda.*
It is said
that feeling an affinity for Girish, this is one of the few
subjects Isherwood was comfortable lecturing on in the temple
venue. This is a live recording, delivered at the Santa Barbara
Vedanta Temple on December 7, 1975. The front cover features a
photograph of Girish Chandra Ghosh.
Girish’s
is a memorable story told by a memorable storyteller.
A More
Personal Note
The genesis of
this recording suggests
that every cloud may, in fact, really have a silver lining. In
the gas crisis of the mid-1970s, (long lines, high prices,
etc.), Mr. Isherwood wanted to carpool to the Vedanta Temple in
Hollywood and then later, Santa Barbara. It was arranged that
Jon and I, also being from the west-side of Los
Angeles, be his drivers. At that time, Jon was recording many of
Swami Prabhavananda's lectures on professional recoding
equipment. Had we not been his ride, this lecture would not have
been recorded.
Although
Mr. Isherwood rarely lectured at the temples, (his break with
the practice of delivering spiritual lectures is documented in
his spiritual journal, My Guru and His Disciple) he
agreed to help out at a time when Swami Prabhavananda was unable
to fulfill his lecture commitment due to poor health.
The
lecture was introduced and ended with a chant by the Santa
Barbara convent; however, the audio of these chants were too
poor to be included in the CD because the choir loft is located
in a balcony to the rear of the space and only the lectern was
set up with a microphone.
Running
Time: 37 minutes
 *Related
works are available from Vedanta
Press
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Girish
Ghosh