== NEWS: VSS CAMP & GREEDY COMMANDERS ==
Namaskar,
As most margiis know, before every DMS, there is an ETC camp and VSS /
WRC camp. These camps are for the further education and training of our
Wt cadre. Then comes DMS and of course after DMS is Wt reporting. Our
acarya cadre participates in all these programs. This is Baba's
established system for the ongoing development of our workers as well as
for the smooth running of our organisation.
Unfortunately, these days some of the camps do not always run according
to the ideals and tenets of Ananda Marga. Tragically, the VSS camp held
before the recently conducted summer DMS 2010 was no different.
There were many issues - one of which was that of haves and have-nots.
Specifically certain in-charges treated themselves to delicious
delicacies while the Wt campers were the have-nots, just given low-grade
food and leftovers.
A full report on this critical issue is noted below, detailing many of
the unfortunate tales which transpired at the VSS camp.
First however we should review Baba's teachings on this important matter.
BABA STORY #1
In two of Baba's short stories, He describes very colorfully how the
"haves" (i.e. exploiters) indulge in sumptuous feasting while the common
people are left to starve.
Here, in this first story, the demon king hoards huge amounts of food
and luxuries and leaves his staff to starve. It seems similar things are
happening at our VSS camps.
Here the villain demon is introducing the hero guest, i.e. the prince,
to his [the demon's] daily menu.
"Do you know what our daily menu is? We eat golden cakes fried in
clarified butter, Pearl water mixed with coconut kernel, spiced Parble
curry with salmon fish made of platinum and in the morning we brush our
teeth with diamond powder!”
The prince asked, “Is there such an arrangement for everyone here?”
The demon said, “This arrangement is for us only – that is, for those
who are learned, intellectual, rich, highborn and aristocratic. Those
with whom you associate due to your ignorance – those poor, mean and
illiterate people – where would they get such things? They neither know
how to cook nor eat. They eat stale rice and scorched eggfruit and they
brush their teeth with ash.”"
"The next day the prince went to the demon’s palace on invitation. He
went there reluctantly, out of sheer courtesy. When he arrived, he found
that there was a royal feast. Before him were spread so many dishes and
bowls, some of gold, some of silver, some studded with diamonds, all
finely carved. He did not even know the names of all the pots and
utensils! The distance between some of the dishes was not less than one
mile. There were some telescopes also to see the foods kept in the
distant dishes. The prince was not familiar with most of the dishes served."
"Fancy rice, fried vegetables, green vegetables, mixed vegetables,
breaded vegetables, seven hundred types of curry, roasted meats, braised
meats, shik kabab, and besides these, something he could recognize very
well – mangoes!"
"There were small langra mangoes of Hazipur, Dasherii mangoes of
Lucknow, Alfonso mangoes of Bombay, yellow Jardalu mangoes of Bhagalpur,
Fazli mangoes of Malda, Ranipasand, Begampasand, and Kohitoor mangoes of
Murshidabad, Sarikhas mangoes of Hooghly, Pearafuli mangoes of
Sheorafuli, Begunfuli mangoes of Madras, and so many other kinds as well!"
"Then there were lechees of Saharanpur, Muzzafarpur and Baruipur,
watermelons from Lucknow, halwa-sweets; Rabri of Vrindaban, cream
sweets, Ghevar sweets of Rajasthan, Shonpapri; Kalakanda Paura from Gaya
and Deoghar, Morabba (Jam) from Suri, white milk sweet of Mankar,
Sitabhog and Mihidana from Bardhaman, Gaja from Chandannagar, Khaichur
of Janai-Dhanekhaii Langcha of Shaktigarh, tasty puffed rice balls from
Jayanagar, Sarbhaja-sarpuria of Krsnanagar, Manohara from Beidanga,
Chanabara; chanar-jellabee and Raskadamba from Murshidabad, curds from
Natore and Nababganj, sweet rice pudding from Dacca, chandanchurd from
Pabna, kancagolla of Muragacha (Nadia) and sweet laddu of Delhi..."
In this above section, you have read how the greedy demon was indulging
in all kinds of tasty foods. Now here read below how his own staff was
living in starvation and malnutrition. They were starving to death also.
"Let me see those cooks, servants and pages who prepared such delicious
dishes and served them so elegantly,” [the hero guest] thought. While
passing by the servants’ quarters [of the demon's staff], he suddenly
reached the place where the kitchen staff were eating together after the
day’s hard labour. They were quite exhausted. Those who had cooked so
wonderfully and served so carefully were eating only stale rice,
scorched eggfruit and the sour sauce of some leaves, perhaps tamarind."
Finally the hero guest, i.e. the prince, retires for the evening but is
unable to sleeping, thinking of all those starving people.
"The prince returned to his cottage with a heavy heart. So many thoughts
were running in his brain. He was thinking that he had made a great
mistake to eat and drink such delicious food and drink cooked and served
by those poor people. The beautiful eyes of the prince were deprived of
sleep that night. He was thinking continuously, “If I cannot free
humanity from such meanness, what is the use of my education, my
intellect? My coming to this earth as a human being bears no value.”"
Here in this story Baba is telling us that how degraded people eat
voraciously and do not care about their staff nor their fellow brothers
and sisters. Rather they continue to exploit them.
In other words, we can say clearly that Baba is teaching us that we
should treat all with respect and not create a two-tiered system of
"haves" and "have nots" on the point of food etc. That is not the way
for leaders of society to live - indeed those who contravene this rule
are nothing but the enemies of humanity.
Baba says, "A few become rich and others become poor. In such a
condition millions die without food, live without shelter, work without
education, suffer without medicine and move without proper clothing. The
society then splits into two distinct groups – haves and have-nots. The
former is the class of exploiters – the capitalists – and the latter is
the class of the exploited." (AFPS-8)
This above quote prepares us for what was going on at the VSS camp: How
some were enjoying exotic dishes while others were not even getting
basic food and almost starving.
BABA STORY #2
To understand the situation better please read this next story.
"The ministers [of the ghost kingdom] were talking over their meal.
Tarun [the hero] was surprised to see that they were eating far more
than the ordinary ghosts. Their menu was altogether different from that
of the common ghosts who had to chew dry bones and lick the salty earth.
The ministers, however, ate delicacies such as cricket curry a la creme,
roasted kite and roasted royal vulture."
"That day some of the devotees gave His Holiness [i.e. the Top Ghost
Bhutanandaji] a number of malpo sweets made of condensed milk. To
prevent his disciples from casting greedy glances at the sweets,
Bhutanandaji had kept them hidden behind him."
Unfortunately, just as Bhutanandaji Ghost kept his sweets hidden, it was
reported that during the VSS camp, the Commander-in-Chief Dada
Paramananda kept a basket of sweets under his bed so that no one else
could see what he had.
Let's see furthermore what is going on in the ghost kingdom.
"After sending his disciples to double the gold [scam], Bhutanandaji
suddenly remembered the malpo [sweets]. However, just then another
householder disciple arrived. His Holiness was considerably annoyed and
glared at the newcomer."
“Your Holiness,” said the disciple, “you are truly a great ghost. It’s
no ordinary matter to remain without food for days together.”
"Bhutanandaji’s face beamed with joy. Another disciple looked at the
householder and said, “Do you think His Holiness is like any ordinary
ghost and will simply waste his time eating? He spends his whole time in
spiritual meditation. He may give up his life and go to Hell any day; an
excellent garden house has already been reserved for him there. The
other day the God of Death himself appeared and entreated His Holiness
to accompany him. However, His Holiness declined the invitation saying
that he has no time to go and rest in Hell. Rather, he wishes to
continue selflessly serving us ghosts for some time more.”"
"The family devotee exclaimed, “Yes, it is only due to His Holinesses
grace that we are able to survive. Could His Holiness find joy in Hell,
leaving us here on Earth?”"
"He continued, “There are so many wild fruits and roots and other edible
things here. Won’t His Holiness even eat those?”"
"“No,” replied the disciples. “His Holiness only eats air. Today is a
fasting day so he won’t even eat that. He observes a waterless fast and
that’s why he won’t even take air.”"
"After some time, the householder devotee left."
"Then His Holiness turned around in search of the malpo sweets. He was
amazed to see that there was nothing there. The sweets were missing."
"His Holiness was beside himself with anger. “Hey you fellows, who ate
the malpos? Don’t you know they were meant for me? Who ate them? Vomit
them out immediately. I won’t spare you until I’ve eaten those malpos!!!”"
"The disciples said, trembling, “Believe us, Your Holiness, we didn’t
eat them. We swear by touching bones, we promise by touching cow-dung,
we pledge by touching dead bodies that neither did we eat them nor did
we allow a cow ghost or a cat ghost or even an ant ghost to touch them.
It is really a strange thing, Your Holiness.”"
"His Holiness roared, “I don’t want to hear these things; I know you
have eaten them. Vomit them out! I shall eat them.”"
"There ensued a big scuffle between His Holiness and his disciples. An
initial shouting match became a bloody battle."
"The police, on being informed, rushed to the spot. They arrested both
sides and dragged them to the police station."
In the above story, Baba is ridiculing those greedy leaders who want all
the tasty dishes for themselves yet hypocritically portray themselves as
great sadhus who follow all kinds of tapasya like fasting etc. And they
do not care about their fellow brothers and sisters, i.e. not even those
who are in their own family.
Tragically, this display also was going on at the VSS camp.
DUTY OF SUPERVISORY WORKERS
While Baba graphically points out in His above two stories how crude
leaders behave, He also clearly outlines that sadvipras should never
indulge in such misdeeds, nor support it in any way. Indeed true
sadhakas will always be sympathetic to the plight of the common people
and suffering humanity.
Now let us see the conduct rules of Wts: Should our workers eat
selfishly or should they share.
Baba says, "Supervisory workers will have to take care of each of their
supervised staff in all respects." (WT Conduct Rules, Six Additional
Rules, pt #2)
Baba says, "Setting an example by individual conduct before asking anybody to do the same." (Fifteen Shiilas, pt #8)
By His above guidelines, it is clear that those in charge of our various
AM camps are to pay heed and care for the well-being of the general
cadres. And such camp organisers should be sacrificing in spirit and
lead by their example.
And indeed the VSS camp is the designated place to put into practice
such teachings. That is the main purpose of the VSS camp. Because the
VSS camp is the venue where cadres must memorise all the rules,
regulations and codes of conduct. Naturally then the leaders of such
camps should be shining examples of Baba's teachings. There should not
be a two-tiered system of "haves" and "have nots" in our camps.
Now let's take a look at what really transpired.
THE SCENE AT THE RECENT VSS CAMP
Even to the casual observer, the most recent VSS camp before the summer
2010 DMS became a striking display of "haves" and "have nots",
especially on the point of food. And it was like that from the very
beginning.
First we should say that this camp was odd in that there were 40 Wt
officers. These are the numbers: 40 Wt officers with just 20 Wt campers
- i.e. 10 avadhutas and 10 brahamcaryiis. The numbers were totally
imbalanced. This is quite a peculiar camp where cadres are only half the
number of officers. With such a small camp there should have been only 4
or 5 officers - not 40 - and they should have had 55 campers. But they
made all the crude and indisciplined Wts into officers and they made the
simple and good Wts into campers. That is how the whole thing became so
lopsided.
On Day 1, Chief-in-Command (CNC) and his officers like Rajeshananda,
Nityasundarananda, Mahitoshananda, Nabhatiitananda held a feast for
themselves from morning till night while the Wt campers ate the most
basic of foods. These 40 in-charges feasted on puri (deep fried bread),
special vegetables with red chilis and hot spices, and so many tasty
treats including a huge basket of jellabee (coiled sweets). So all those
top Dadas greedily indulged in all kinds of delicacies that first day,
as well as throughout the camp. And they did not share even one morsel
with the Wt campers. All the while the common Wt campers were forced to
consume bland, tasteless food.
Sound familiar - does it sound like Baba's above stories from demon
kingdom and ghost underworld.
Indeed, some top-level and greedy officers kept that huge basket of
jellabee under the bed of CNC so no camper would see or grab what they
had. Is this not exactly what the chief ghost did.
"To prevent his disciples from casting greedy glances at the sweets,
[the chief ghost] Bhutanandaji had kept them hidden behind him."
It is striking, nay shocking, how the VSS camp seems to mirror the above
stories.
Those VSS in-charges gathered such a feast for themselves that they
could not finish it the first day. So they planned to eat it the next
day. But the next day in the early morning when they tried to eat it
they found that it had gone sour. Actually it was very hot (125 F), so
the food could not be kept fresh - as there was no refrigeration. It was
only then - after it had gone sour - that they chose to share a few
pieces with those Wt campers.
Verily the entire camp continued in this manner. Most of the officers
were totally indisciplined: Never doing sadhana or asanas, just spending
the whole time gossiping, sleeping during the day, and eating and then,
on occasion, walking around the ranks as if they were great VSS leaders.
So for days on end those VSS officers ate sumptuous company prepared
foods and fancy drinks along with milk sweets in their own separate
kitchen while the general Wt campers just ate boiled garbanzo beans, red
chilis, and other cheap foods lacking in nutrition and poor for digestion.
In addition, all the money collected from margiis for the VSS camp was
used primarily on the officers.
Just so it is clear who is who - here following is a list of the VSS
officers from that camp that took place before the summer DMS.
Chief in Command: Paramananda
2nd in Command: Rajeshananda
Discipline in Charge: Nityasundarananda
Field Marshall: Mahitoshananda
Special Officer: Nabhatiitananda
So these were the main officers. Rajeshananda is basically indisciplined
and did no sadhana or asanas. Nityasundarananda was totally slack in
following the rules. Mahitoshananda also never followed the rules and
just to show his power he smacked one of the non-margii school boy
campers very strongly.
So these were the so-called leaders.
Because there were 40 officers and only 20 Wt campers, they invited 85
non-margii primary school students (aged 5 - 12 years old) from
Jahanabad from our AM school to participate in the camp - just so they
had campers to rule. Without those young non-margii campers, the
officers outnumbered the general Wt campers by a 2:1 ratio. So they
invited those primary school students to make the camp successful.
Throughout the camp, those sincere Wts were commanded to do physical
training & parade etc and eat lowly food, while those "big officers"
gossiped, partied, and feasted. Such officers never felt in their heart
that the camp rules applied to them also.
Yet when any Wt camper did not "jump" when they were ordered to jump,
then they would be harshly punished by physical abuse. This is the way
those greedy and voracious-eating officers ruled the camp. They ate and
ruled while the general Wts were made to starve and obey.
Such was the scene at the summer 2010 VSS camp.
BABA'S TEACHINGS & WARNINGS
To fully understand the above story as well as how Wts should behave
with themselves and margiis, Baba has given some guidelines. Please read
below.
Baba says, "Before taking food, ascertain if anybody present there has
not eaten. If anyone has not eaten, do not take food unless the person
willingly gives permission." (CC-2, 'Society', pt #1)
Those who are greedy and eat food selfishly and do not like to share,
they fall in this following category.
Baba says, "Suppose someone has a irresistible desire to eat delicious
food. Parama Purus'a will grant that wish, and the person may be reborn
in the next life as a wolf or wild boar, to eat to his heart’s content."
(AV-4)
BABA'S BLESSING
In this VSS camp, and others like it, with the the pressure of
circumstance those camp leaders mercilessly exploit their fellow cadres.
We should remember Baba's below teaching.
Baba says, "Sarve bhadra'n'i pashyantu na kashcid duhkhama'pnuya't."
"Let nobody be forced to undergo any suffering due to pressure of
circumstance."
Namaskar,
Ram Sahay
Note 1: WHERE DID THIS COME FROM
To understand where these VSS in-charges got these bad habits of eating
alone and not caring about others, one must dig deeper, then you will
find out the answer - see below
It is not just in VSS camps but ETC camp, and Central Office where such
things are going on. Indeed each and every central person and so-called
leader has his own cook. This includes Dadas like: Rudrananda,
Nigamananda, Svarupananda, Citswarupananda, Kalyaneshvarananda,
Bhaveshananda, Pranavatmakananda, Parmeshvarananda etc. All such persons
do not share food with their fellow workers.
Note 2: RELATED POSTING
This following posting discusses similar events.
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