My association with Siba Kripa Bose, fondly call him, Dada, started nearly a decade ago, when I joined Centurion University. He was in the role of the Chief Mentor of the University. Within a few days in the University, I became a great admirer of him because of his rich world view, empathetic attitude and compassionate nature.
Dada’s education included MA from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar and Postgraduate Diploma in Foreign Trade from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Delhi. After a brief stint as a lecturer in a degree college in Odisha, he spent most of his time in Birla Company, rising to the level of CEO in one of the company’s start-up ventures in Nigeria. After his retirement he settled in Delhi with assignments in teaching, NGOs, yoga and meditation.
He came from an illustrious family. His initial grooming came from his father, Late Raj Krishna Bose, who was a freedom fighter, close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, member of the Constituent Assembly of India and a minister of the Government of Odisha. He used to actively participate in the election campaigning of his father. A lover of nature and wildlife enthusiast, he used to recollect, with sorrow, his hunting adventures in the jungles of Odisha, in his youth.
His deep relationship in all his engagements resulted in a life of many friends, admirers, well-wishers and rich experiences in variety of dimensions (social, cultural, political, economic and legal), multiple geographies (rural, urban, local, regional, national and global) and various age groups and genders. Till his last breath, he remained a passionate lover of nature, yoga and meditation. He was in deep love with his village in Kishen Nagar. Within all the constraints, he maintained his ancestral home, on the bank of river Mahanadi, with its old structure, waterbodies, trees and homestead. A group of us (Brahmananda, Supriya, Smita and myself) forced our visit to his village, nearly two months ago. We could remember his excitement with beaming face, although he was going through the 2nd dose of chemotherapy for his pancreatic cancer. He shared his effort in bringing together youth of the village for different development interventions, including plantation drives, protecting the flora and fauna of the area and different income generation activities. In spite of the difficulties at personal level, he accepted the life as it is, and never complained. He was a true example of equanimity in practice.
Together we used to teach a course on strategic management and ethics at organisation level. I remember his favourite dictum that ‘ethics is personal’, i.e.; the ethical approach that one must take is not contingent on others’ approach. At the University, along with Dada, Kalyan and I used to discuss on many issues of importance for students, faculty and the organisation.
A number of faculty/management development programs within and outside the University, especially on leadership, used to be organised by us, with active contribution from Dada. At Centurion University, Dada founded the Acem Centre of Meditation, with active collaboration of Acem Founder Dr. Are Holen and Acem India Founder Torbjorn Hobbel. As Chief Mentor, he used to steer the activities related to wellbeing of students, faculty and staff of the University.
Dada was a key member in conceptualisation, design and development of Klorofeel Foundation, devoted for the improvement of quality of school education of children from the underprivileged society. It is moving forward with Dada’s dream.
Highly disciplined in physical exercise, meditation, food and work, Dada used to teach all around him the value of physical and mental wellbeing, through simple practices of pranayama, yogic exercises, satsanga and doing one’s duties diligently.
Three days ago, while speaking over telephone, I did not imagine that it would be my last talk with him. Dada lived a rich life. With his passing away on the early morning of 25th May 2022, his physical self is no more. His legacy will remain and guide us in our journey. As Tagore said, “Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.” Dear Dada, I pray for a new and beautiful dawn for your soul to live in pace.
Haribandhu Panda
(for Klorofeel Foundation)
Message from Are Holen
Thank you for informing me about Mr. Bose’s death; I will keep him in my thoughts during meditation for the coming days to support his further passage. It made me very sad to know that he is no longer with us. He was a very generous and well-intended man. Both Mr. Torbjørn Hobbel and myself will miss him.
We received above message from Dr Are Holen, ACEM meditation expert and former Professor, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
