Brahmo Conference

BRAHMO CONFERENCE

Brief Activities

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At first the scope and the area of activities of the Brahmo Conference was limited to erstwhile East Bengal only, and the name was “Purba Bangla Brahmo Sammilani”. Later, the scope was enlarged to include, at first Assam, and then the whole of Bengal, the name being accordingly changed to “Bangla-O-Assam Brahmo Sammilani.” Sometime later, during January 1944, the scope was again enlarged to include the whole of India. The “Bangla-O-Assam Brahmo Sammilan” (The Bengal & Assam Brahmo Conference) was then registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies of Bengal under the Registration of Societies Act XXI of 1860 with its registered office at 2/3 Lyall Street, Dhaka.

After the partition of India, in the 58^th Session of “Bangla-O-Assam Brahmo

Sammilani” (16^th to18^th October,1948) at Kolkata under the presidentship of Lady Abala Bose, the main centre of work of the Sammilani was shifted from Dhaka to Kolkata with its new registered office at 211, Cornwallis Street (now Bidhan Sarani), Cal-700 006.

Ten years later, in the annual meeting of the “Bangla-O-Assam Brahmo Sammilani” held during the annual session at Patna (1958) under the presidentship of Sudhi Ranjan Das a resolution was passed on 13.10.1958 and the name “Brahmo Conference” was adopted. This change of name was duly intimated to and recorded by the Joint Company in 1959. Ever since its inception in 1890, the session and festive assemblies are being held annually during the autumn vacations except few occasions for reasons such as floods, war, communal disturbances etc. in a scale too massive to cope with.  

To carry out the objectives of the Brahmo Conference as set forth during its inception, the Conference in addition to holding its annual session, took up other programmes of work as well. It published for some time a religious journal in Bengali named “Sevaka”, maintained missionaries for the propagation of Brahmo religion, took a census of all Brahmos in East Bengal and Assam in 1913 and published book containing the census tables. The Conference had under it a permanent Fund for charitable purposes called “Anath Dhan-Bhandar” from which pecuniary assistance was regularly given to indigent Brahmos.

At the session of the Brahmo Conference held at Patna in 1966 the delegates from different parts of India assembled, felt the need of forming an All-India organisation for wider propagation of Brahmoism and preservation of the moribund Samajes scattered all over India. The meeting presided over by Sudhiranjan Das, adopted the following resolution:–

This Conference firmly believe that–

1. The propagation and acceptance of the teachings of the Brahmo Samaj as enunciated and laid down by Raja Rammohun Roy, are panacea on the ills which the country is suffering from at the present time.
2. Therefore, immediate steps be taken to have an “agency” which should undertake the task of spreading the teachings of Raja Rammohun Roy and the liberal religious ideas founded on the cardinal principles of “Fatherhood of God”, the “Brotherhood of Man” and the essential unity of all religions all over the country.
3. The “agency” referred in (2) above should be an All-India organisation and should be known as “Brahmo Conference”.
4. The “Brahmo Conference” referred in (3) above should be charged with the following task;
   1. To spread and propagate the teachings of the Brahma Samaj;
   1. To act as co-ordinating body to bring together the Brahmo Samajes and other Brahmo institutions in India for the purpose of more effective management of their affairs including their moveable and immoveable assets and for giving solidarity to the work being done by the different Samajes in the country.

Some attempts to go ahead with the above programme of work was made but we cannot claim to have achieved a degree of success to measure up to our expectations in all cases. Even if the scope of activities may be considered to be limited, surely there is room for conducting its activities with greater devotion, diligence and application from all of us.