== MYTHS OF JINANIS ABOUT AM DISCOURSES ==
Namaskar,
These days there are a few prevalent myths surrounding the printing and
misprinting of Baba's discourses. Generally, such myths are started by
certain jinanis who have their own self-serving agenda in mind.
Such incidents happened in the past also in all the major religions--
causing them to become steeped in dogma. Priests, monks, dalai lamas,
and various other religious heads committed such wrong doings-- leading
the followers astray. Our Marga should not fall prey to this type of
debacle as well.
Thus, as a Marga community, step by step, all these myths & falsehoods
about the (mis)printing of our AM scriptures shall be addressed and
clarified so we can fulfill our blessed duty of properly preserving all
of Baba's divine discourses. That will be the only way to ensure His
dharmic guidelines live on and on.
MYTH #1:
BABA DID NOT WANT RECORDED DISCOURSES PRINTED IN FULL
Some fateful jinanis are putting forth the false notion that not all of
Baba's words are meant to be printed, even if the discourse was recorded
in full. This is one common excuse they are giving to justify why the
printed discourses do not match the original cassette. They even say
that Baba Himself would edit those recorded discourses and select what
should be printed. But it is not at all like that.
When Baba Himself ordered or allowed for the discourse to be recorded--
as was the case with the annual DMC discourses printed in Subhsita
Samgraha and the general darshans printed in Ananda Vacanamrtam etc--
then His wish was for each and every word to be made public and put in
printed form. What He spoke on those occasions was for one and all, to
be saved and preserved for the whole humanity.
Proof being that He would scold and punish the various Dadas if His
recorded discourses were not quickly being printed. Their job was to
immediately transcribe and print those talks-- or face severe
punishment. Baba was quite adamant and serious on this point.
Plus, in those open-aired venues like DMC etc, Baba was projecting His
voice through loudspeakers for everyone to hear-- even those who could
not get a gate pass for the event. Baba had the loudspeakers set-up that
even those in the street could listen. And those days people were
curious about what Baba was saying because AM was very controversial, so
people wanted to know what the Marga Guru was telling. Plus the CBI and
local police were present recording every word also. And Baba had full
knowledge about this.
Here the point is that those open-aired discourses where Baba was
granting permission or ordering for the discourse to be recorded, then
it is quite obvious that He wanted each and every word properly
preserved. It was not that various paragraphs or words He was going to
later delete, after so many people in the audience had already recorded
their own personal copy of what He spoke.
Plus in the case of the recorded Hindi discourse 'Sambhuti &
Mahasambhuti', Baba is telling on the cassette itself that He gave this
same discourse a few days ago but since it could not get recorded
properly He was going to address the matter again so that it should be
recorded in full.
Hence, there are so many indicators, points of logic, and proofs that
all point to the fact that if Baba allowed or ordered for a discourse to
be recorded ahead of time, then it was certain that He intended for
every word to be published.
About this there should not be any question or misunderstanding. Thus in
all these cases, the printed discourse should match the original audio
recording-- word for word.
WHY THEY DO LIKE THIS
Unfortunately, nowadays various jinanis put forth the convoluted and
loose reply that not all the words and sentences which Baba recorded in
those discourses should be printed.
In general they say this for three reasons:
(1) Because these days many are listening to Baba's original audio
recordings and realising that the printed version often does not match
up at all. So various senior jinanis and top Dadas tell 'not all of
Baba's words were supposed to get printed'. And they say like this
because they do not like to admit their mistake and error prone ways. So
telling that 'not all the words and paragraphs were meant to be printed'
is just their silly alibi nothing more, in order to cover up their
wrongdoing.
(2) The second reason they tell like that is because since 1990 they
wanted to print the books quickly in order to promoted sales and make
money. For that end, any sloppy or error-filled rendition of the
discourse was accepted. The basic trend was just to print it fast,
irregardless of the accuracy and quality, in order to make a buck-- in
order to earn a dollar.
(3) And the third major reason why some top Dadas and jinanis are
telling that 'Baba did not want every recorded word printed' is because
they want to be able to control the situation and print or not print
what best suits their interest. But this way they could and can best
manipulate things for their own agenda. This has come up in any number
of ways.
That is why they deleted lines such as where Baba tells that 'The yoga
philosophy was first propounded by Ananda Marga'. Specifically, in His
morning general darshan delivered in English on 26 September 1979 in
Caracas, Venezuela, Baba clearly says this, but later on when this
discourse, 'Be Free From All Complexes', was printed in the book Ananda
Vacanamrtam part 34, that very special sentence was not printed. If you
check on page 79 you will see that it is missing. For reasons best known
to them, this line was carefully deleted from the printed discourse.
So these above are the three major reasons why jinanis like to justify
that not all Baba's recorded words should be published or printed. But
none should be tricked or duped by their false logic.
CAUGHT IN THEIR OWN WEB HYPOCRISY
In their heart of hearts, such jinanis know that the only way to make
Baba's discourses truly proper is to have them mirror exactly the
recorded discourse. This they know well and understand. That is why the
Bengali version of Namami Krsnasundaram has been printed three times.
Each time it more closely resembles Baba's original recording. And the
last Bengali edition of this book was published after 1990 and it is
nearly perfect in its rendition of Baba's historic discourses about Lord
Krsna and His teachings.
So when those jinanis like to make something proper they follow the
approach of printing all of Baba's recorded words, yet at the same time
they also like to keep the phrase-- 'not all His recorded words should
be printed'-- in their pocket to use when they like, either to hide
their laziness or selfishness.
Thus by this example of the Bengali version of Namami Krsnasundaram,
such fateful jinanis are caught in their own net of hypocrisy. They know
all the words should be printed and they follow this on some occasions
yet also they like the 'freedom' of telling, not all recorded words
should be printed. This is a clear-cut case of hypocrisy and selfish
convenience.
WHEN BABA'S WORDS WERE NOT MEANT TO BE PRINTED AS IS
Then of course there were select instances when Baba's every word was
not meant to be printed, but this only applies to those discourses that
were NOT recorded and NOT given in a large open-air, public forum like DMC.
So on those occasions where Baba has particular disciples around Him
such as in reporting etc, and when He was talking behind closed doors
and ordered that no one should record, then those discourses were
printed in a totally different manner-- from notes of those present
based on what things Baba wanted published.
Here we are not talking about those early publications like Ananda
Sutram which was done way before recoding devices were available.
Instead, this applies to discourses in the 1980's. Books like Prout
Nutshell Series, Neo-Humanism: Liberation of Intellect (NH-LOI), Shabda
Cayanika, Varna Victra, and Varna Vijiana were done in this way.
Why? In the case of certain Prout discourses and NH-LOI, Baba was
clearly saying many controversial points about the various rulers and
leaders of day, and He did not want everything printed. The reasons were
obvious and on the top it was His expressed desire. So those books were
made from various notes by those in attendance.
And with regards to Shabda Cayanika, Varna Vijinana, & Varna Vicitra,
these were all given in the style of a grammar class, so printing them
word for word would be tedious for the reader-- and without any flow. So
for this reason, Baba did not allow those sessions to be recorded and
instead the books were made based on the notes.
Of course, in all such circumstances, Baba had His designated way of
checking and approving these publications.
So it is only those discourses that Baba purposely did not want recorded
that His every word might not get printed.
Whereas if in a public venue He told that recording should be done then
it is quite clear that every word was to appear in print.
HAPPENED TO VARIOUS RELIGIONS IN THE PAST
Unfortunately a few top Dadas are not adhering to Baba's ideal and are
just printing certain sections of Baba's recorded discourses. And in
this way many important teachings get left behind.
In the past, various Dalai Lamas and Buddhist priests doctored Buddha's
original teaching such that while Buddha himself was doing sadhana and
meditation, now around the globe the followers of Buddha are doing idol
worship.
This is all due to priests and Dalai Lamas not properly presenting
Buddha's teachings to the people.
We must not allow such things to happen in AM.
OTHER MYTHS THAT ARE ALSO FLOATING AROUND
So we have to be careful because there is not just one myth floating
around about the (mis)printing of Baba's discourses-- there are many.
Here then is very brief synopsis of some other myths that need to
be addressed. I hereby request others to come forward and elaborate on
these below issues.
Some give the false claim that all Baba's discourses should be printed
from the "Original Bengali" when Baba Himself ordered for Hindi and
English discourses to be printed as is. This happened innumerable times.
Only in the case of SS-2 where the subject matter was so abstruse and
Baba did not want to explain such highly intellectual topics to the
villagers present, only in that circumstance did Baba later fill in the
gaps via talks with certain Dadas and then order for the book (SS-2) to
be printed from those Bengali notes. Besides this sole example-- where
Baba Himself openly talks about this technique-- all other occasions
Baba wants His discourses to be printed as is in the language in which
they were given.
Then there are others who put forth the myth that Baba did not want to
openly criticise Hindusim or Rama etc. And therefore those things should
not be printed. But this is also empty talk. Because in so many books
like Namah Shiva Shantaya and AV-11 and so many discourses Baba openly
exposes the ills of Hinduism and Vedic dogmas etc. Thus none should pay
heed to the myth that Baba does not want to openly publish the pitfalls
of Hinduism. Furthermore, Baba openly told and put in print that Rama
is not real-- just an imaginary character. So who can say that we are
not to print Baba's views on Rama either.
So these are but some of the many myths circulating around these days
regarding the (mis)printing of Baba's discourses. And certainly, as other
members of the Marga come forward, all these other myths will be addressed
and corrected in detail. I kindly ask others to elaborate on these above
points.
MUST KEEP GURU'S SCRIPTURE IN PROPER FORM
Our duty is to keep Baba's given teachings in proper form and that
includes printing each and every word of His recorded discourses. None
should be led to believe otherwise. Doing so means falling into dogma.
What Baba spoke and what He ordered to be recorded should be printed as
is. There is no doubt about this; the point is crystal clear. And this
should be our way, lest we invite a whole truckload of dogma to be
infested into our AM scriptures.
Baba says, "There must be an excellent and all-embracing philosophy, in
which there should be no loophole in any sphere of mind as far as
possible." (NSS '95 ed., p.196)
BABA'S BLESSING
By Baba's grace the day will soon come when our Publications Department
will print and publish all Baba's discourses properly and that will be one very
special endeavour that will guide the humanity now and forever into the
future.
Baba says, "Go forward...Advancement and progress must come your way.
Victory shall be yours." (AV-23, p.11)
Namaskar,
Nagendra
Note 1: DEALING WITH SCRIPTURE IN ERA OF GROUPISM
In this era of extreme groupism, then we must not let the powers that be
change even one word of Guru's discourses. First the original must be
printed as is. And then, thereafter, if some intelligent and dharmic
oriented people want to improve on the punctuation, phrasing, and word
choice, then that is a possibility. But not without there first being an
original by which we may all confer. If we allow changes from the
outset then groupists will continue to jump into the soup & ruin things
according to their own selfish liking. That is why in this present era,
Baba's discourses should be printed as is-- as He spoke.
Note 2: EXCELLENCE OF SCRIPTURE NEEDED
Here in this following guideline Baba is emphasizing the importance of
scripture.
Baba says, "The scriptures containing spiritual injunctions must be
totally flawless." (NSS, Disc 14)
**************************************
Health Guideline
Baba says, "Everyone may perform the practices below if they wish."
"Utksepa Mudra: This Mudra should be practised in bed immediately upon
waking. While lying on the back, one should flex both the arms and legs,
bringing them over the chest, and then return them immediately to the
extended position. After doing this three or four times, sit up in bed
and drink a glass of cold water without allowing the water to touch the
teeth. After this you should expose the navel area to the air, and walk
up and down in this way for some time in the open air." (CC-3,
'Different Yoga Practices', Point #1)
**************************************
