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Teach Others the Way Baba Does

Date: 18 Jun 2009 07:43:29 -0000 From: "Acintya Deva" To: am-global@earthlink.net Subject: Teach Others the Way Baba Does BABA PS Intro: This following song is for teaching to non-margiis because it is a song in reverence to Lord Krsna. Baba has written this particular Prabhat Samgiita for devotees of Sri Krsna. In contrast, we Ananda Margiis are fully devoted to Baba, Lord Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji, so when we sing with our devotional heart then we sing to Baba-- not Lord Krsna. In that case we select one of the innumerable dhyana songs related with Baba. The point being that for true devotees Ista is one and only one. For more about pointed devotion and strictness in Ista refer to Baba's colorful explanation of the shloka, 'Shriinathe...', from AV-23, p.118. "Ka'nu binu tha'ka' na'hi ja'y..." (P.S. 3355) Purport: Without Lord Krsna, life is very miserable-- surviving itself is very difficult. Because Lord Krsna is that glittering Personality of my heart so when He is not present then I suffer terribly from the pain of restlessly longing for Him. Day and night every moment I hear His flute in my heart. With the sound of that flute, Lord Krsna is telling me that He loves me. And He tells me, 'I love you, that is why I am calling you'. The flow of my life is ensconced in His ideation and it goes on fighting strongly against the deep fog and it is rushing with the high tide in a hundred directions by His grace. My life is very painful in the absence of Lord Krsna...
== 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
*************************************************** 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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