The Founding of e-Sanai

by Sri Sandip Dasgupta

Several of us Bhaktas of Sri Sri Babathakur have often considered contributing articles for publication in Sri Sanai, the spiritual qaurterly journal published by the Saccidananda Society in Kolkata. Extreme inertia, lack of focused time and lack of experience in writing for an established magazine have been key factors in preventing us from doing so. The appropriateness of topics has also been a big question mark in our minds.

Early last year, Sri Sri Babathakur asked Sri Partha Guha to look into the formation of a North American Chapter of Saccidananda Society. Per Sri Sri Babathakur’s suggestions, Mr. Guha met face-to-face with several Bhaktas in North America. He also organized a meeting between the overseas Bhaktas and Sri Sri Babathakur on the occasion of Guru Purnima in Kolkata.  At that meeting, Sri Sri Babathakur asked his Bhaktas to begin the publication of a “hand-written” magazine – preferably on a monthly basis. He wanted us to use this informal media to express ourselves on various topics. He did not limit us to write on a particular range of topics. In fact He said – “Let them contribute whatever they like”.

While we received clear guidance on starting the publication, we simply did not know where and how to begin. Over the 2008 Christmas holidays, some of us got together for a Bhajan session at Mr. Soubhik Pataranabis’s house in southern Oregon. It was snowing outside and we were all enjoying the savory snacks that were being dished out by the ladies in the house. This got our creative juices flowing and we quickly realized that creating a “e-zine" would be the closest thing to a hand-written magazine.  Since we anticipated most contributors to not only have full time jobs but also very busy lives away from work, we decided that the e-zone would be published on a quarterly (rather than on a monthly) basis.  Smt. Sroddha Patranabis (founder of the 'Bangla Bodhu' blog on Orkut) was nominated to edit the bengali articles, and Sri Anjan Dasgupta to edit the English submissions.  Quick emails were sent out to Bhaktas informing them of our decisions.

Through e-Sanai, we intend to:

* Share our experiences in a frank and open manner
* Learn from each other’s life experiences
* Live a successful life based on the advice and teachings of our Master
* Leave a lasting legacy of His teachings for our children and future citizens of this society.We sincerely hope that the readers of this e-zine will willingly contribute their articles in the quarters to come.

You can send in your articles for publication in future issues of e-Sanai to sanai.na.editors@gmail.com  Also, we fully welcome your suggestions and feedback with regards to making e-Sanai a more enriching reading experience.