== TEACH OTHERS THE WAY BABA DOES ==
Namaskar,
Our Beloved Baba has an especially dynamic way of teaching. He changes
His language based on His audience.
With those who are more close, i.e. His devotees, He uses more direct
language, and with those who less close, i.e. the general public, Baba
speaks in more indirect language. Then of course there are several
shades in between.
We should carefully and clearly study Baba's manner both so that we may
better understand His teachings as well as employ this same technique to
guide others.
WHO IS BABA TALKING ABOUT
In His public discourses, in order to avoid being overly controversial
and best teach the general populace, Baba would point out the defects of
a particular person or group without naming them specifically. That way
general population could get the guideline in the most palatable way
possible, and of course those sadhakas with a slightly sharper intellect
would always know about whom Baba was speaking. This latter assembly
could then benefit most from Baba's discourse.
Here are a few examples of Baba's teaching via His indirect voice.
(#1) Baba says, "Suppose an evil force says, “I, the lord of a certain
country, will destroy Ananda Marga from the very root.” A dha'rmika
should maintain patience, should be patient. Because the day is soon to
come when that evil force is going to be destroyed. Its weapon will
serve as a boomerang for its own death. And this happened in the near
past, as you all know." (AV-6)
To innocent people, the above guideline may just be about keeping
patience in the face of evil and who knows what else they may think or
understand about this. Whereas a proper sadhaka clearly realises that in
the above teaching Baba is pointedly referring to the audacious talk and
quick demise of Mrs Indira Gandhi. She is the "lord of a certain
country" who vowed to "root out" Ananda Marga. So Baba is supercharging
such sadhakas that just as in the recent past, in the future also no
enemy will ever be able to take down Ananda Marga.
(#2) Baba says, "There are some people who have the opinion that men are
especially favoured by Parama Purus'a and that women are not; or that
one man is equal to three women. This is dogma." (AV-15)
In His above teaching Baba is not merely denouncing sexist perspectives
but is clearly critiquing the dogmatic ways of Islam. Only in Islam is
it thought that we women are equal to one male. So here, without stating
it outrightly, Baba is denouncing the Muslim faith. Those in the know
clearly understand this, whereas those with a less pointed intellect
will not.
(#3) Baba says, "Yet another religion says, “Know ye, my son, thy God is
the only God. All other gods are false gods.” (HS-1)
Without naming the above religion, Baba is making clear-cut reference to
the defects of Christianity. If Baba were to mention the name of the
religion it would have been more of an affront, so Baba employed this
indirect manner when putting forth His discourse. By this way, He is
less likely to incite a negative reaction from certain fundamentalists.
(#4) Baba says, "Who are responsible for the distress of these millions
of refugees? Those demons in human framework, whom those poor fellows
trusted; to give ovations to whom those people rushed to meetings with
thousands of garlands; for whose satisfaction people used to don special
kinds of [white] caps to cover up their sins." (NH-LOI, Disc: 10)
By reading the above, some may wonder who are these people in white
caps, whereas others may think that Baba is merely talking in general
about those who do wrong to the people. But those with greater insight
understand that Baba is directly condemning the hypocrisy of the
Congress party of India. It was this political group led by Jawaharlal
Nehru which accepted the praises of the people yet divided the country
displacing and killing millions of innocent citizens, be they Hindu or
Muslim.
(#5) Baba says, "I cannot support the attitude of those who denounce
capitalism at every opportunity, because this allows capitalists to
become alert and invent more scientific and devious ways to exploit the
people. Those who lack a constructive ideology will never be capable of
destroying capitalism." (POD, #3)
At first glance of the above, some may just conclude that Baba is
against capitalism or the enemies thereof, but that is not the main
essence of His guideline. The unnamed ism that Baba is denouncing is
socialism / communism. Such leftists always criticise the status quo of
capitalism but have no proper teaching of their own. So that is what
Baba is clearly teaching in His guideline.
And there are countless other instances in His discourses where Baba is
indirectly speaking about a particular person such as Karl Marx,
Shankaracarya, Mahatma Gandhi, Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt, or group
such as Jains, Buddhists, or any other type so political party or ism.
The main idea in all of this is that in His public discourses, Baba
would use indirect language to soften the tone of His speech in order to
give a guideline an a potentially controversial topic.
TELLING RAMANANDA NOT TO RECORD
It is also important to note that Baba would deliver many of His
political or anti-dogma oriented discourses in the company of Ananda
Margiis, yet that discourse was going to be printed for all to see. In
that case, when Baba just wanted to clarify something about a particular
political leader or speak directly about the hypocrisy of a so-called
religious prophet like Moses etc, then Baba would tell Ramanandaji to
"turn off the microphone". Then Baba would candidly speak very directly
and openly to those bhaktas present. And then when He wished, He would
continue the recording of the discourse using indirect language. This
was a common phenomenon.
SPEAKS MORE DIRECTLY TO A'NANDA MA'RGIIS
By all of the above and more, it is quite clear that Baba would speak
more directly to margiis than non-margiis. The closer one was to Him,
the more directly He would speak.
For instance, to the general populace, Baba would cite Buddha's teaching
about "Cakuna samvaro sadhu" in order to warn people about the misuse of
their indriyas (external organs). From this, people were to infer that
Baba was talking about refraining from sexually oriented things, bad
food etc, whereas many just took it as a generally guideline. So Baba
was speaking very indirectly and people may or may not understand,
depending on the nature of their intellect.
Whereas to Ananda Margiis, Baba would outrightly say, refrain from
eating meat or do not indulge in sex. There was zero scope for
misundersanding. Baba would use direct languages because Ananda Margiis
are closer in Him. In that case, Baba had more freedom to express
Himself and get His point across. The idea being that where there is
more love, then one's talk can be more direct. There is a great benefit
to this as well, then in a shorter span of time He could give more
teachings, and of course we could learn from His more quickly, by His
grace.
So there is great value to direct speech, but Baba could not use this
with all. Language is based on the closeness of heart.
Even within Ananda Marga, Baba would employ degrees of directness. With
margiis or dadas with whom Baba was closer, either due to their sadhana
or past samskaras, He would be even more direct.
To one sadhaka, Baba might say, "So I understand you like chocolate",
and by this way the margii would know that Baba was aware that on
ekadashii the margii ate a piece of chocolate."
Yet to another sadhaka or Dada, Baba might lovingly punish them or
embarrass them in front of all in order to them and the entire community
not to eat on fasting day. This latter approach is of course more direct.
So it all depends on the degree of closeness. Those who were more close
would receive His blessing in the form of more direct and even
(seemingly) harsh communication.
Of course it was all His liila, Baba loves all and everything He does
and says is filled with His sweet grace and divine compassion, yet in
the relative schema of this there were some whom He could teach more
easily than others.
BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES
There is another angle to this matter as well.
As Ananda Margiis, we must have excellent grasp of Baba's indirect use
of language. That way we can confidently apply His teachings to every
issue.
For instance, Baba has said very little directly about the highly
controversial issues of abortion and homosexuality. In His printed
discourses, such terms are hardly mentioned, or even not mentioned at all.
Yet Baba's guideline on these issues is crystal clear. In so many
discourses Baba has talked about reverence for life, and that life
starts inside the womb when a mind is attached with the fertilised egg.
From these various teachings, it is quite clear that Baba has given us
a pointed approach on this hot topic of abortion. Any sadhaka can easily
infer that AM is cent-per-cent against abortion.
The same is the case with regards to homosexuality. On numerous
occasions, Baba has warned us that this life is not about sensual
pleasure but about higher pursuits of mind and that sex is only to be
used for society building. Baba even tells that in the future as people
engage in less and less sex and become more spiritually inclined, then
one will lose their reproductive capacity entirely. Thus we can infer
that any practice such as homosexuality, which condones sex exclusively
as a means of sensual pleasure and offers no scope for society building,
is not at all approved by AM.
Hence, by being more familiar with Baba teachings, even seemingly
controversial issues become crystal clear. Then we can better understand
His indirect language and easily apply His teachings to otherwise tricky
topics.
WE SHOULD FOLLOW THIS APPROACH
As sadhakas we are to propagate His teachings to one and all. So we have
much to learn form Baba's style of communication. Our approach must be
both psychological and palatable. We perfectly follow Baba's example.
We should always evaluate with whom we are speaking and then apply the
proper voice. With those whom we are more close we can avoid lenghthy
talks and descriptions and use very direct language such as "Do this..."
or "Don't do that...".
And with those who are less close, we will have to take a more measured
and calculated approach. By this way, step by step, we will be able to
share Baba's teachings with all, in the best way possible.
So understanding Baba's indirect use of language offers us to distinct
benefits:
1) We can better understand and apply AM ideology to daily life
circumstances.
2) We can better present His teachings to the various types of people
that live in society.
This is a large topic and others are encouraged to share their thoughts.
BABA'S BLESSING
Baba says, "The potentialities of your intellect are extremely limited.
What can a small brain in a small cranium do? Therefore the best thing
to do is to request Him for proper guidance."
Sa no buddhya' shubhaya' sam'yunaktu.
"So that He may guide our intellect, and keep our intellect connected
with shubha." (AV-5)
Namaskar,
Acintya
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Population Growth: Really a Problem?
Baba says, "Does a population problem actually exist? This issue should be
considered in the perspective of two vital factors - the availability of
food and the availability of space. Today human beings have enough
resources to manage their food. Planet Earth is rich enough to feed a
far greater number of people than the present population....[So] The
tragedy is that there are enough resources to supply proper food to all
human beings in the world, but the defect lies in the present approach
of the existing socioeconomic systems." (PNS-13, p.44)
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