Example of Unpointed Devotion

Date: 17 May 2004 02:47:17 -0000 From: "Ramashankar Suman" To: am-global@earthlink.net Subject: Example of Unpointed Devotion Baba "Goloker Hari, gokulete ele ka'ha'r bha'gyaphale..." (P.S. 4677) Purport: Today the Parama Purusa has come; the Hari has descended from the world of bhavatiita to bhava. From the world of transcendentality to this relative existence. The Lord of Divinity-- of the divine loka / satya loka-- has descended on this mortal world. Whose tapasya has bore fruit. Whose longing has brought Him here. What is the reason behind His advent. Or just it is His grace. Today He has expressed himself in form and color, so charming so attractive. He is playing the flute of divinity which he has brought from so far away. And He is playing that divine instrument in this mortal world. Today the Ajana Pathik has come. He is playing His divine liila with each and every one. In the divine world He was infinitely sweet and now in the same way He has descended and is expressing His sweetness. As sweet as He was in his nityaliila, that same sweetness He is now carrying on this earth. That very divine Entity, Ajana Pathik the Parama Purusa, has been secretly along with me always, since eternity. But now by His grace He has descended here in this mortal world and He has expressed Himself in my dhyan with form and color. Today that very Ajana Pathik has come from the world of immortality to mortality. That very Hari of the divine world has come for us today. It is His grace... Namaskar In the Hindu religion there are not only 100 - 200 gods and goddesses, but rather several hundred million gods & goddesses exist in India. That is why in a joking way people say that 33 crores of gods and goddesses are there. Most probably this proverb started when the Indian population was 33 crores. The sense is that each and every individual has their own way of addressing their worship by creating their idols and various temples and in that way they give the new name to their god. (See Note 1) Some idols have hands and feet and proper human form whereas some are not human; rather they are demi-human mixed with animal form. And some deities are without any hands and some are of no shape-- just one little stone. And that stone can be any type. And not only that but each of the gods and goddesses have their mount. And that is their vehicle by which they tour around. Just like Lord Ganesh whose face is that of an elephant and he has a human body-- Ganesh's mount is a mouse. So many different types of mounts are there. Some has the mount as a lion, some have a tiger, others use a dog. And so many mounts are there like: donkey, buffalo, peacock, eagle, owl, swan, and much, much more than that. Here is another aspect. Each and every god and goddess carries their own imaginary stories and histories. So if you repeat their name in puja according to their liking then that is fine. But if you do not then they will destroy everything in their fury. Thus many gods and goddess are of this horrifying type also. They are very furious in nature. Then there are some deities who are satisfied by just the offering of water while for other gods you must have to sacrifice some animal. And without making this type of blood bath they will never be satisfied. Rather those angry gods will destroy your family and children. The whole village will die. So people have to give some animal as sacrifice. So the general sense is however much the population is of India, then the same number of gods and goddesses are also there. Included in all of is that within their worship the fear complex has been injected. Therefore with the paranoia of fear people have to take their god's name. Otherwise they are shaking with fear that their god will destroy them. Means if their idol is unhappy then that is not good. So behind the worships of all these thousands of gods and goddess is the psychology of fear-complex. Usually then people worships more than one god and goddess in their house. And overall the common public repeats all kinds of names of different deities and idols-- as many names as they know they repeat. So people are aware about a minimum of a few hundred gods and goddesses and they worship all. In that pursuit, each and every day of the year has been fixed for various types of worships. from Sunday to the next Saturday all the days, dates, months, on each and every day one has to do some or other type of worship. Monday is allotted for Lord Shiva, Tuesday is allotted for Hanuman and like this each and every day is fixed. But certain special days are fixed for the grand puja that will supersede the worship of all other gods and goddesses. So on that special occasion everyone has to do that one grand puja. And in all these pujas the various rituals are completely different from one god to the next. So in this country one after another puja or worship is going on and on and on. Such that one day after the next the whole life is unfolding as a puja festival. If you ask any simple illiterate persons, they can tell you the names of 200 or 500 gods and goddesses and they chant those names in usual way. As part of their daily routine. Because if people are suffering from the fear of ghost then they chant the shloka of Lord Hanuman and they ask that monkey god to save them. And if they want money then they call upon goddess Laksmi. And if they want to destroy their enemies then they worship goddess Durga. And those who want knowledge-- like students-- they worship the goddess Sarasvati. So students have nothing to do with Laksmi or Hanuman at the time of their exam. So common Indian persons worship hundreds of gods and goddess in their normal usual way. And those who are sincere worshippers they have to repeat several hundred names of various gods and goddesses. And in their puja rooms there may be hundreds of pictures or photos or statues may be there-- according to their capacity. Once when delivering the discourse Baba was joking about these type of rituals. First though He gave the dharmic teaching that puja should be to only one God. And to addresses that God by one particular name-- not many. (See Note 1) And then in a joking manner Baba began telling about one of his known persons and how that person performed their puja in the morning. In colorful style Baba was describing how that person was worshipping. First that person was chanting and singing up and down, and then with folded hands he was doing namaskar in all the 10 directions by looking this way and then that way. All this drama was going on in his own where he was surrounded by countless photos and pictures of various deities. And all along incense was burning. And in that twirling fashion he as saluting all his idols, and he was chanting the name of one after another: Jaya Ma Kali..., Jaya Bholenath..., Jaya Ganeshji..., Jay Durga Ma..., Jaya Jaya Jagadambe..., Jay Ganapati Ganesh..., Jay Ma Kali Smashan Wali..., Jaya Laksmiji... And more names were chanted... ...Jay Bhagavan Jagannath...., Jay Ram Chandrajiki..., Jay Gange Ma'..., Jay Sury Bhagavan..., Jay Shyama'..., Jay Shani Maharaj... ...And so many more... the number of his idols were countless. So like this that dogmatic worshipper was chanting his idols names and addressing them in his room which was overloaded with photos of the various deities. And up to the sky and all around he was doing namaskar and saluting one idol after another. Finally this worshipper proclaimed aloud that: To all the devis and devatas if by mistake I have forgotten anyone's name then please accept my salutation. I do not want to leave anyone's name out or make anyone unhappy. So after listening to the scene which Baba was describing, then all the margiis present started laughing. And Baba told that this way of doing puja is meaningless because the mind is going in so many directions, unfocused. We know that in our 16 points that one point is very significant: Ista. Before 16 Points was implemented, then margiis were still doing in their own way as they were sidetracked because of their Hindu dogma. Because initially those who came in AM, before that many of them were worshipping one or another goddess. So they had their attraction and it took some time to break that. Of course those who were strong, they broke their negative attachment quickly when they realised Baba's greatness. So they become devoted & pointed towards Baba. Also, around 1969-70, then some problem came when side by side people were confused. And they were raising the jaya (victory) sloga of mother Uma. Thus in their confused way some margiis were thinking this mother is of equal importance as Baba. But after the defection period and with implementation of 16 points, then this problem was resolved. Altogether a pointed mind is needed in devotion and every sincere margii knows this very point that our devotion should be towards Baba and not towards any other thing. No true Ananda Margii appreciates this type of japa where they are just holding the mala in the hand and repeating Krsna..., Krsna..., Krsna..., Krsna..., Krsna..., Krsna..., Krsna..., Krsna..., Krsna..., Krsna..., Krsna..., Krsna, Krsna. Likewise no Margii appreciates other japans that just include chanting Shiva..., Shiva..., Shiva..., Shiva..., Shiva..., Shiva..., Shiva..., Shiva..., Shiva..., Shiva..., Shiva..., Shiva..., ... Rather we are all habituated to the devotional chanting of Baba-Nam-Kevalam or the repetition one's own Ista mantra. Because this is the pointed way of having a devotional link with Parama Purusa. Bifurcating the mind will not do, rather it creates degeneration. But as narrated above, the Indian dogmatic way of religious life is going on. And even some of our senior, long-term WTs in their confused state of mind, they were calling Baba as Lord Shiva. But Baba did not like this. But anyway this happened because of the dogma of that particular margii. Because they had attachment for their old religion. Because in South India the common people worship Lord Shiva; and in western India they worship Lord Krsna; and similar thing is there in Bengal where people like to worship goddess Durga. Thus many margiis in their extreme simplicity and unawareness they were addressing Baba just like a goddess those days-- that He is like Goddess Durga. In their innocence this was done. Plus margiis of Central India those days were referring to Baba as Lord Ram. But anyway all these dogmas got rooted out when Baba started giving discourses on one-pointedness towards Ista. Even then one old-style expression was done by Dada Bhaskaranandaji; so this was proof that the standard was poor. Here is how Dada Bhaskaranandaji used a different name to address Baba: "I addressed Baba as Shiva. I repeated the long Dhyana Mantra of Shiva in front of Him which ends with Paincavaktram Trinetram, which means 'You have five faces and three eyes'." - Dada Bhaskarananda By reading this, it is obvious that this way of addressing Baba is one seriously dogmatic type of expression. And that time Dada Bhaskaranandaji was avadhuta. But even then he was confused when he did this. I do not know whether he is still so confused or if he understands that Baba should not be addressed as Shiva. But most probably Dada B is still confused about this otherwise he would have written in his story that 'what I did wrong'. But he did not write like that. Means just a few days ago when he again posted his story then he did not admit or recognise his faulty approach. This all shows that what is the spiritual standard of those senior Dadas. We should be careful then. Our measuring scale is Baba's teachings. If anyone will lose sight of Baba's teaching then... Now it is up to you to see and reflect upon this entire situation by using your devotional perspective. At the same time in this respect Baba guides us with the following story that has deep devotional import. Please read below. BABA says: "You know the old story of Hanuman, a great devotee. It has been stated that once upon a time Hanuman was asked by certain other devotees, Hanuman, you know that there is no difference between Ra'ma and Na'ra'yan'a. They are the same thing, no difference... there is no philosophical difference between Na'ra'ya'na and Ra'ma. The meaning of Ra'ma is Parama Purus'a; the meaning of Na'ra'yan'a is also Parama Purus'a. Oh, Hanuman, when you are a devotee, you are an elevated soul, then why do you use the word Ra'ma only and not Na'ra'yan'a?" The reply given by Hanuman is very important. You should remember it. He said,

Shriina'the...

"Oh, my brothers, you see, I know that philosophically, fundamentally, or spiritually, there exists no difference between Shriina'tha [Narayan] and Ja'nakiina'tha [Rama]." "I know there is no difference between Shriina'tha, that is, Na'ra'yan'a, and Ja'nakiina'tha [Rama]." "I know there is no difference, but, my dear gentlemen, for me the word Ra'ma is the only word that has some meaning, and for me the word Shriina'tha, or Na'ra'yan'a, has no meaning. I do not recognize that word." (AVM-23) In conclusion Baba guides us: "You sa'dhakas, you boys, you girls, should remember that the most valuable, the most important, word in this universe for you is your personal Is't'a mantra; and for you, all other words bear no significance, no meaning, no importance." (AVM-23) Namaskar, Ramashankar Note 1: Here Baba guides us that for one-pointed devotion then only a single particular name should be used for addressing God. Failing that one's approach will be useless. Baba says, "The yogii should know the single name of his Is't'a and not two names or three names. Wherever the Is't'a is singular entity in name, form, and idea, in ideation and also in ideology, success is sure, success is fully assured." (SS-12) (Now see note 2). Note 2: Below Baba is further emphasizing the devotional science that the name of one's Ista is everything. Baba says, "For each and every sa'dhaka the most important of all words is his Is't'a mantra. For a particular sa'dhaka, the only meaningful word, and the most precious word, is that person's own personal Is't'a mantra. For the sa'dhaka, the Is't'a mantras of others have no value. For you the most meaningful, most valuable, mantra is your personal Is't'a mantra; and others' personal Is't'a mantras have no value for you. They are meaningless words." (AVM-23)

****************************************** Baba's Blessing

Baba says, "Common people do not know how to do, what to do, what is the destination. They want guidance. They want guidance from certain people whom they respect, whom they accept as their object of adoration. They respect those people because of their high moral conduct...You boys and you girls, you are to establish yourselves as developed human beings and as blessed with the glory of human excellence at the helm of every affair. Society will recognize you because of your service, because of your sacrifice. And not only that, everybody is expecting that they will get your help, your assistance, your guidance, when there is a dire necessity for the same. You boys and you girls, you should know that I solely depend on you for the translation of our lofty ideology." (AV-34, p.85-6)

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