== COWARD: PART 2 ==
Note: This entire letter is related with two of our AM magazines: Bhakta
Samaj & Delhi English Prout. Unfortunately, both are compromising with
dogma.
Namaskar,
By Baba's divine grace a new era is coming onto this earth: People no
longer like to follow dogma. Dogmatic approaches are being dropped by
the wayside. Some still remain no doubt, but every day more and more
dogmas are being discarded.
For instance, Baba was the first to strongly oppose so many dogmatic
Hindu rituals. Back then it was totally unheard of to oppose the dogma
of caste, sacred hair, and sacred thread etc. But now, only a few
decades later, the very children of those brahmin families have zero
interest in following those dogmatic, ritualistic traditions.
Because in this 21st century - from east to west - the crusty ideas of
old are step-by-step being tossed into the trash bin. People, especially
youths, want to live in a rational, modern manner - that is the banner
of the new day - and they want to brush aside the dirt of dogma.
By Baba's grace their minds are changing: We see this happening everywhere.
That is why it is so concerning that our AM magazines are highlighting
various old dogmas and embracing pop pseudo-culture etc. In their silly
way, the publishers of these magazines feel that by propagating Hindu
dogma and western pop culture along with AM ideas in the same
publication, then we will be able to attract more and more people. This
is their faulty strategy.
Apparently they are now aware that Baba's approach is to wipe out all
dogma and never compromise AM ideals.
BABA'S DHARMIC APPROACH
One day, a margii approached Baba and explained how he was experiencing
many trials and terrible opposition in his local area, in his regional
samaj. The people did not want to accept neo-humanistic ideas. The
margii wanted a solution.
Hearing his tale of woe, Baba vigorously directed that margii to adhere
to the ideals of AM and walk away from those regional people if they are
still stuck in their dogma. Baba said, "Create your own flow - the flow
of AM - and that will be your samaj - you will have your own samaj in
that area."
Baba's guideline is: Never compromise with dogma, follow AM dharma, and
good people will join.
By His grace Baba has come and wiped out the dogmas and put forth a
comprehensive code of dharma. Both Lord Shiva and Lord Krsna walked this
earth only to have their teachings dismantled by crude priests and
opportunists. Baba has corrected those wrongs and guided us to hold the
AM flag upright and never compromise our ideals.
It should not be that He has to come again to right the dogma that we
allow to enter into AM.
That is why we should adamantly address the way our magazine editors are
printing dogma on the pages of AM magazines. Again, their foolish folly
is that by compromising with dogma then more people will join - but that
is a silly notion. By that theory, we should serve meat and alcohol in
our jagrtis in hopes that would entice more to come to dharmackra.
EXAMPLES FROM OUR AM MAGAZINES
Our AM magazines are a platform for our ideology- period. They are not a
place for casual or personal discussion with the people, but a strict
presentation of Guru's ideals. No one has the right to pollute these
dharmic magazines.
Now take a look at what some publishers are doing to our magazines.
As a reminder, in the initial letter in this series, it was pointed out
how the Bhakta Samaj magazine has fallen prey to so many dogmatic
portrayals and presentations of Lord Shiva and Lord Krsna.
Here are more points:
1. "BE A FIRST CLASS PERSON": In various discourses Baba guides us to be
a "First Class Person" not a B-grade or C-grade person, but an A-Grade
person whose thoughts, words, and deeds are all the same. In the Delhi
English Prout Magazine (Vol: 19, Issue: 9, Page 40), the publishers have
printed Baba discourse on this topic from AV-1. So far so good. But
then, to exemplify this point, they inserted a clear, color photo of the
Sikh preceptor Guru Govind Singh, as if that is the ideal we should all
strive for. That is the dogmatic touch of these publishers. In nearly
100,000 pages of AM scripture, Baba never mentions that we should live
like Guru Govind Singh as this Sikh leader has inserted countless dogmas
into society. Guru Govind Singh is not a Dharma Guru. Rather he started
a dogmatic religion and his photo should not adorn the pages of our AM
magazines as if his is the example we should all aspire to. But those
publishers put his picture in our AM magazine either because they
themselves are confused or because they thought dogmatic readers from
the general society would appreciate it if we highlighted this dogmatic
guru.
2. DOGMATIC GURU STORY: On page 5 of Delhi English Prout (Vol: 19,
Issue: 8) there is a story about a king who goes to see one local saint
/ guru. The guru hands the king a dirty, leather pouch made out of cow
skin and tells the king to drink the water from it. The sentient-minded
king is repulsed but does not want to show his displeasure so he merely
pretends to drink the water from that disgusting pouch. In the end of
the story, the water from that yucky rotten pouch gets on the hands of
the washerman's daughter and she goes in samadhi. The point being that
the king should have actually drank the water from that dirty pouch; the
king should have followed the guru blindly. That is what this story
says. But this is just one dogmatic guru story. In India, so many crude
gurus has given countless teachings that have ruined the lives of the
people and led society astray. And always such gurus demand blind
obedience. Baba rejects such things. Our AM is filled with rational,
logical teachings and Baba wants us to use our vivek and intellect and
not follow anything blindly.
Baba says, "Even if a boy says something logical, it should be accepted;
and even if the lotus-born Brahma [the mythological creator of the
universe] says something illogical it should be rejected like a straw."
So ours is the path of rationality, not blind obedience. But the
dogmatic story the publishers put in Delhi Prout Magazine runs contrary
to Baba's ideal.
MORE EXAMPLES FROM OUR AM MAGAZINES
3. SENSUAL FEMALE DOING ASANAS: On pages 44-45 (Delhi English Prout, Nov
'08), they have printed Baba's teachings from Yoga Cikitsa (Yogic
Treatments and Natural Remedies) about Heart Disease. To show what
asanas should be done, the publishers display color pictures of one
young, sensual woman wearing skin-tight clothing. All the curves of her
body are quite apparent and her arms are totally bare. Needless to say,
this is the wrong type of picture to put in our AM magazines. Baba is
very strict on points related with the dignity of women and to display
one half-naked female model on the pages of Baba's magazine is totally
wrong and against the code. But to attract the public or for whatever
reason, the publishers have indulged in this crude scene.
4. RELIGIOUS JOKE: We all know that Baba guides us to respect all the
religions. Of course we are not to follow their dogma, but nor should we
make jokes about them.
Baba says, "Never attack the religious beliefs [or feelings] of anyone.
Make the person understand gradually with logic. If you attack a
person’s religious beliefs, it means you have attacked Ananda Marga."
(CC-2, 'Society', Pt #9)
Unfortunately on page 41 of the Delhi English Prout Magazine (Vol: 19,
Issue: 9), they have printed a tasteless joke about a Jew talking to a
Christian priest. The joke is all about making fun of the dress of the
priest. It is totally tasteless and against the teachings of AM for the
publishers to put this on the pages of our AM magazine - a publication
that is meant to uphold Baba's divine teachings.
WE MIGHT AS WELL DO HAJJ OR CHRISTMAS
We have to remember that our AM magazines like Bhakta Samaj and Delhi
English Prout are magazines which Baba Himself has founded to highlight
the teachings and preachings of Ananda Marga. These publications have no
other purpose than to highlight AM ideals. The publishers are to respect
and follow this code.
But to entice dogmatic readers and bring crude habits into the Marga,
these publishers compromise on our AM teachings on nearly every page, as
if this is the way to make our Marga popular with the people.
But Baba never appreciates or values such an approach. Baba does not
want even one speck of dogma to enter our Marga.
But the publishers have their own stand - they think by highlighting the
dogma of the people then our numbers will increase. But what they forget
is that then it will not be Ananda Marga. It will just be a crowd.
Then we might as well:
a) Start sacrificing goats in our jagritis in order to attract Muslim
radicals.
b) Host Christmas parties in our centers and sing songs about Christ to
lure Christians.
c) Show crude movies on Friday nights to attract party-happy materialists.
d) Participate in dogmatic Islamic ritual of Hajj in hopes that those
dogmatic Muslims will join our Ananda Purnima celebrations.
Indeed according to the defective psychology of such publishers, we
should indulge in every dogma on this earth in order to make our AM
popular with the people.
But this approach will not do and our Magazines should not be prisoner
to this ill manner.
Our AM magazines are only for Baba's teachings and AM ideals - they have
no other purpose. Nobody has the right to dilute or ruin the
presentation of these AM publications.
If anyone wishes to dilute Baba things, then that is not Baba's idea,
and it should be put in some other magazine - or better yet tossed
aside. But under no circumstances should it appear on the pages of our
AM magazines.
Tragically, both Bhakta Samaj and Delhi English Prout magazines have
fallen into the wrong hands and their pages have been filled with so
many dogmas. Walking this path is a slippery slope and those doing this
will undergo the consequences.
WAY TO MOVE AHEAD
Ours is that path of courage and bravery where we hold our head high and
stick to AM ideals - never compromising with dogma.
Baba says, "The characteristic of good people is to fight against
injustice, to firmly adhere to truth and righteousness, to protect the
helpless and fight against all evil persons. Those who are merely simple
and are of a meek and goody-goody nature are not good people." (AFPS-5)
Unfortunately the publishers or our AM magazines do not live up to this
precept. Rather again and again they compromise with dogma. Either
because they are embarrassed or shy to hold up the banner of AM, or
because they think it best to compromise our teachings to appeal to the
dogmas of the masses.
Please excuse me, but on this point many other ashrams do better than
us. Their teachings may or may not be proper, but at least they
sincerely follow their guru and they do not compromise with their own
rules and statutes.
Let us always remember that there are countless good people in the world
who are waiting for good teachings and good practices. But if we resort
to propagating the dogmas of old, then those rational people will keep
their distance from us. They will not enter our jagritis.
Best then is to be bold and hold up the flag of AM - then all the good
people will join us and Baba will be pleased.
BABA'S BLESSING
Following the slippery slope of dogma like our magazine editors are
doing is not at all good.
Baba says, "All dogma must be rooted out. You should start a revolution
against dogma. But to start a revolution you need courage. So gather
that courage and start a revolution against dogma." (PNS-16)
Namaskar,
Shivadayal
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Money and Peace
Baba says, "With the acquisition of money people still feel that they
have nothing; in spite of possessing a huge amount of money they often
beat their chests in despair. So it is not money they seek-- what they
truly desire is peace, not happiness. But it is only rarely that people
attain peace in life...The answer [then] is that by attaining Parama
Purus'a one no longer has any unsatiated hunger or unqueched thirst."
And that is the stage of perfect peace. (SS-12, p.38)
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