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Most Important Aspect of the Mission

To: AM-GLOBAL Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 06:28:41 -0000 From: NJK Majumdar Subject: Most Important Aspect of the Mission Baba

== MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE MISSION ==
Namaskar, We all know that in our A'nanda Ma'rga Baba places tremendous emphasis on the dual approach of spiritual sadhana and social service. Both have a huge role to play. For that reason some may be thinking that our spiritual life and our social life are therefore equal in all regards. Without going too deeply into the matter, this might be a logical conclusion one would make: Estimating that both are 50-50-- the same size & of equal value etc. It is easy to surmise how someone might conclude in that fashion. However, Baba's divine teaching is something else. As important as our social life is, Baba here unveils and expresses the vastness & unparalleled nature of our spiritual approach in A'nanda Ma'rga. Baba says, "Our spiritual life is not a part of our social life; our social life is a part of our spiritual life." (Poona DMC, 26-11-79) Thus, Baba's above teaching establishes the supremacy of spirituality as He tells that everything falls within the scope of our spiritual life. That is, our spiritual life is not a subset of our social life; but our social life is a part of our spiritual life. With this is mind, that means that our entire social dealing comes under that great umbrella of spirituality. Or, another way of saying it is that nothing comes outside of our spiritual approach. Everything is part and parcel of that. Hence in Ananda Marga we say that spirituality is the top-most thing-- the summum bonum of life. Baba says, "Spirituality is the summum bonum of life in all its aspects." (Idea & Idealogy, p.77) Here are more points which lead in this same direction-- which highlight the greatness of spiritual life in Ananda Marga. All brothers and sisters should also write in with their perceptions and thoughts also.
AM SPIRITUALITY IS THE VERY PULSE OF OUR LIFE
The path which Baba has shown us-- the path of Ananda Marga is totally revolutionary since it is deeply ensconced in the nectar of spirituality. From birth to death and from morning till night, the life of an Ananda Margii is filled with spiritual practices and cosmic ideation. When one emerges from the womb and enters this world then immediately that infant is drenched in the singing Baba Nam Kevalam. And it continues on from there. Hence in AM spirituality is our very heartbeat.
OUR DAYS AND NIGHT ARE FILLED WITH SPIRITUALITY
By Baba's grace in AM our spiritual approach continues through the whole life. In the morning we greet and start the day with our practices of Guru Sakash and paincajanya etc, and the whole day follows in that flow: Doing sadhana, reciting our bath mantra, taking second lesson before our each and every work, ideating as we say namaskar, singing kiirtan etc. Each and every activity through the day is linked with the Cosmic Hub-- Baba. And then after dark we go for night sadhana and ultimately take rest with His name on our lips-- dreaming of Him. About this holistic ideal, Baba has given one divine sloka:
'Kuru punyam ahora'tram' Meaning: Do virtuous deeds day and night
In Ananda Marga we are ideating on Brahma during the day and performing our various works and duties and then when sleeping we are repeating our Ista mantra or dhyana mantra during the night. In that way each and every second of the life is drenched in the sweet flow of spirituality.
A'NANDA SUTRAM: AM PHILOSOPHY IS SPIRITUALLY BASED
As we know, in Ananda Sutram Baba has outlined the whole of AM philosophy in seed form. In sum there are 85 Sutras in these five chapters. Yet the first four chapters-- or the first 69 Sutras-- deal exclusively with points of spirituality. There is no hint of mention of social life in these sections. Then in His revolutionary approach in the final chapter of A'nanda Sutram Baba incorporates our social life and Prout-- all neatly woven into the context of spirituality. Hence Prout is a sub-set of AM spiritual ideology; Prout is a God-centered philosophy resting on the dynamic force of AM spirituality. By all this we can all easily understand that in AM spirituality is the main thing. This is the divine flow of life in Ananda Marga.
A'NANDA MA'RGA IS A REVOLUTION
The path of Ananda Marga is the top as our Marga maintains its stance of spirituality throughout all the realms of life. This is one of the reasons why we say AM is a revolution-- and far above the rest. In comparison, the dogmatic religions fall way short of the mark. In their most basic and fundamental sense, at best the religions theoretically aim to be spiritual institutions; but in actuality just a tiny partition or a small segment of religious life is for Godly pursuits. And even that small piece has gotten infested with dogma. Hinduism started with some aspects of meditation and other spiritual points of yoga and Bhagavata dharma, but even then it was just a small part of the life. The proof being that the great Shankaracarya himself declared that people could not dedicate themselves towards spirituality until after 75 years of age. And not just that, but step by step, Hinduism has totally fallen away from any pointed spiritual approach. Such that now, the touch of true spirituality is all gone from their religious dealings and their followers just indulge in idol worship in the temples and other dogmatic rituals. To their own degree, Christians may even be less in this regard. They have no meditative practice to speak of and their prayer etc is done on Sundays only. So their religious life is extremely limited and tucked away into a little corner. So in this way each and every religion has partitioned its prayer practices to a small part of life which is hardly even visible and which barely touches the seed of their existence. Rather they are totally governed by materialistic policies Only in the dharma of Ananda Marga do we see that living aspect of true spirituality ensconced into each and every cell of one's existence.
WE MUST TAKE CARE
From top to bottom, spirituality is everything in AM. That is the be-all and end-all of our existence. Even then in this crude era of kali yuga, due to the enormous onslaughts of materialism etc, from time to time we all get pulled and dragged into mundane duties and worldly obligations. We all have huge quotas and lots of pressures to attend to in this regard: Bills to pay, houses to maintain, plus all the negative allurements of the general society to combat. This is the harsh reality which we are facing nowadays. Indeed, we can see that even our Dadas get caught up in this rush of external living and mostly they just do sadhana so that they can eat. Means sadhana is just a ticket to get into the dining hall-- nothing more in many cases. I think we have all seen such things. So we all know that spirituality is everything yet the practical reality is that whether we like it or not on various occasions we are all getting dragged head first into mundane life. No doubt we are all following 16 Points to the best of our ability etc, but the general flow of the world is pulling us strongly in its crude direction. In the face of mundane pressures our sadhana time gets reduced, asanas get skipped, and so many things unfold. No need to list them here as we are all well aware about what happens. Hence even though in Ananda Marga, spirituality is the most treasured aspect of life and as much as we practice it during our days and nights, still the reality is that the mind tends to become extroverted due to the extreme amount of mundane pressures. Taken altogether, we should be extremely careful and take whatever measures necessary to reverse this trend. Baba's following teaching leads in this same direction. Baba says, "This element of devotion, the most precious treasure of humanity, must be preserved most carefully. Because it is such a tender inner asset, to preserve it from the onslaughts of materialism, one must build a protective fence around it, just as people put up a guard-rail around a small tender plant." (NH-LOI) So Baba's divine direction is to safeguard this most precious thing: Devotion, which is the seed of true spirituality. In this regard we can take steps by singing more kiirtan, keeping strict timing for our sadhana, encouraging ourselves and others to be vigilant in 16 Points, and evaluating our lives every 15 minutes to see if we are on the right path or not. On this aspect also, it will be highly inspiring to hear everyone's suggestions and recommendations. By this way, and with Baba's grace, we will be able to maintain and rise above the challenges-- delving deeper and deeper into spiritual life.
SPIRITUALITY IS BEYOND ALL RELATIVE BOUNDARIES
Here Baba once again highlights the supreme nature of spiritual life. Baba says, "That ultimate and absolute ideal is the Cosmic ideal - an ideal beyond the scope of time, place and person. It is the Absolute, without and beyond relativity. It stands with its own lustre for all times and for every factor of the Cosmos." (I & I, p.76)
BABA'S BLESSING
By Baba's divine grace each and every margii will taste the supreme sweetness of AM spirituality & reach unto Baba's divine lap in this very life. Baba says, "The human being's mission in life is movement towards perfection-- towards God. This is one's dharma, or duty. In this struggle, the forces of evil [materialism etc] are bound to be defeated. That has been the case all along, and that will repeat itself." (AV-23, p.81) Namaskar, Nagendra
Note 1: SPIRITUALITY IS UNPARALLELED OUR SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY IS A PART OF THAT
Here Baba reveals the awesome nature of spirituality and that taking this as their base Neo-Humanism and Prout has been formulated etc. Baba says, "Spirituality provides a human being and humanity at large with that subtle and tremendous power with which no other power can be compared. Therefore, with spirituality as the base, a rational philosophy should be evolved to deal with the physical, psychological and socio-philosophical problems of the day." ('The Cosmic Brotherhood', 5 June 1959) Keeping our spiritual ideal at the fore, Baba has given us the way to identify, address, and solve each and every difficulty of our social life. This is His great blessing on the humanity.
Note 2: SPIRITUALITY IS THAT UNIFYING FORCE
In His below teaching Baba pointedly guides us that it is the golden thread of spirituality which will bring together all the various beings of this universe. Baba says, "The Cosmic ideal alone can be the unifying force which shall strengthen humanity to smash the bondages and abolish all narrow domestic walls of fissiparous tendencies." ('The Cosmic Brotherhood', 5 June 1959)
********************************** Brave Persons
Baba says, "Do not remain worried about your individual problems at all. Be prepared to carry your own burden and be prepared also to carry the burdens of others. Then alone are you brave. Be dagdhabiija. Everyone has their own individual problems. Do not try to pass them on to others. On the contrary, bear the burdens of others. No one is your enemy. Be ready to bear the burdens of others." (AV-30, p.4)
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Everyone's Concern

Date: 12 Apr 2010 23:47:44 -0000 From: "Subhash Dholakia" To: am-global@earthlink.net Subject: Everyone's Concern Baba PS Intro: In this following song the devotee is talking to Baba, all the while indirectly referring about himself. "Jeo na', shon'o katha, bojha vytha', abujha hoyo na'..." (PS 660) Purport: Baba, please be gracious, please do not leave me all alone, please do not go far away; please keep me in Your shelter. Baba, please listen to the tale of my aching heart; please understand my pain and suffering-- because of my deep longing for You. Baba, I beg You not to remain aloof about my yearning and crying for You. Baba, You have graced me and have made the flower of devotion blossom in my heart. And these flowers are solely for making one beautiful garland for You-- ultimately surrendering them at Your lotus feet. Baba, please do not mercilessly crush those flowers. Baba, please be gracious. Baba, by Your infinite grace please keep me close. Please do not permanently forget about that person who is under shelter day and night. Baba, it seems You have removed him from Your memory. Baba, please recall how in the past You loved him deeply up to his heart's content. That time You saturated his mind with bliss and filled his eyes with Your loving gaze. You were so gracious those days. Baba, You know that very person was with You in each and every rhythm of the song, he was also with You in all kinds of works-- always remaining by Your side. Baba, please do not forget him. Baba, by Your grace I never forget this eternal truth that You are everything. You are the effulgence of the day as well as the darkness of the night. Baba, in this life of mine I have loved only You. Baba, You are the heart of my heart. Please shower Your divine grace on me day and night, incessantly. Baba, even if You always remain forgetful of me, that I can tolerate. Only I ask one thing of You. Baba, please do not push me away from Your holy, lotus feet. Baba, You are my closest & dearest One. You are my everything. Baba, please keep me in Your shelter...
== EVERYONE'S CONCERN ==
Namaskar, One time when we were returning from DMS, on the train so many persons were there-- both margiis and non-margiis. And in many cases people were travelling together. So some persons had traveled to DMS as a single attendee whereas as others traveled to DMS with their entire family including their kids. So in their natural way, on the train, those kids were quarreling and playing with the other children. Then one new margii became quite agitated by their behavior and he passed some offensive remark that these small kids are very negative-- they pollute the sanctity and turn the whole peaceful environment into chaos. Then he went so far to accuse that: 'Why do you bring them to these spiritual gatherings'. Then other persons jumped in and replied that in our Marga the system is that the whole family is welcome to attend our all functions. Then the new margiis replied that, 'No, the kids are just one disturbance or nuisance. Let them grow because now they are so small and they do not understand anything. Just they are involved in their negative quarreling. They have no sense about what should be done and what should not be done. Those who are a bit older and well-behaved then they should come. Otherwise why should these other kids come and do negative things.' A few margiis then together tried to convince him that our approach is different. Kids are innocent and just it is their nature to sometimes quarrel with one another. So back and forth discussion was going and ultimately they could not reach on to the proper common point. And in due course the situation subsided. But since that occasion it was in my mind to talk to other margiis and get their opinions and then write something for everyone to review.
ALL ARE FAMILY MEMBERS
Sincere margiis know well that in our Marga, everyone is considered as family member whether they be a new-born baby or a 110 year old person. All belong to our family and they have equal rights and we give importance to one and all. And together our AM family is not only youths, or only elderly persons, but a grand mix of people from young to old and everything in between. It is just like in a garden if only one type of flower is there then that is not quite proper or colorful. But rather all various types are there-- just like in a bouquet that includes a wide variety of flowers. All get collected and that brings more charm. That is the way it works.
BABA'S GUIDELINE
So on this very point here are some of Baba's guidelines about how we should be mindful of children: Baba says, "Society must ensure that proper care is taken of human babies who are totally dependent on the care and protection of their parents for their existence. These helpless children can only convey their pain and discomfort through tears. To raise children from infancy to maturity is an immensely important task." (AFPS-6) So our Guru guides that in viewing the society, the requisite factor is a magnanimous mind which is full of graceful feeling and sweet expression for those innocent children who are under our care and protection. Means those who do not have that vast mind full of love, cannot view one and all as members of our neo-humanistic family. Because if the person himself is narrow minded or frustrated, then in their outlook that frustration will appear. The sense is that the sweet heart of one balanced person will never cast any negative, sarcastic remarks toward such tender age innocent babies / kids.
EVERYONE WAS ONCE A CHILD
Because everyone, whether young or old, was a baby in the past and the babies' cry is very natural. Where babies are, surely they cry. And if inside one's heart is pure and loving, then the cry of the babies is not suffocative or negative which can be called as demonic act. But if inside someone is frustrated then everything in this world looks dry, harsh, parched, ugly, crude, negative, etc. When such frustrated persons see birds chirping in the tree, they feel agitated and brand birds as 'nuisance creator'. And in response they throw stones on those bushes to shoe those birds away. A few days back my neighbor was doing like this. When I saw here I felt sad thinking the state of her mind. Actually he was in depressed and frustrated mood. That is why he was throwing stones in all the bushes around his house to get rid from the sweet chirping songs of the bird. Because he was irritated by that.
SOCIETY IS RESPONSIBLE
If the baby does anything wrong then discredit goes to the society, parents or to everyone. This discredit never goes to the baby because they are innocent. Sweet, kind, benevolent, motherly heart feels like this. Those who have that type of heart understand, or I should say, they only can understand my feeling. I have experience that those who have devotion they also can understand because of their feeling of divine love. But those who are frustrated within, their expression and talk reflects that.
PURE AS SNOW
In contrast Baba guides us in the gospel of Bhagavad dharma.
"Kaomar...."
In this description Baba says that small babies are as pure as divine, because they do not have any negativity towards anyone. And it is working in 100% cases up to the age of 5. So in common society if anything right or wrong is done by small kids, then balanced people ignore that. And they will not pollute the environment by raucously blaming the children.
BABA'S DMC GATHERINGS: CHILDREN ATTENDED
Here is one reminder that we have seen even with Baba's presence during DMC. At such an important event and gathering as DMC, that time mothers with infants and mothers with new-borns were always allowed to participate. Often the babies were crying and Baba was just moving ahead with His program and continuing with His discourse. And if the crying became very loud, then politely it was suggested to take them temporarily outside. That is all. Nobody seriously believed the baby should be banned. They thought that in AM society the cry of baby is one beauty. Because this brings one color in DMC. And it gives the feeling that in our AM society everyone is the member. From infant to senior citizens. Everyone has right to participate in spiritual gathering.
DHARMA IS FOR ALL
Ananda Marga also says that dharma is not only for polished so-called elite people only. Dharma is for all. Baba says, "I dedicate A'nanda Ma'rga in this DMC to all sections of society...from this DMC onwards I have become a man of the people because I believe that dharma is the property of the masses, not the exclusive monopoly of a handful of so-called educated middle class elite. Dharma belongs to one and all. From this DMC, I recognise it as the property of the common people." (AV-7) Namaskar, Subhash
SOME IMPORTANT BABA'S GUIDELINES ABOUT CHILDREN
Note 1: Here below Baba sheds more insight into the nature of children. Baba says, "Children are by nature most inclined towards play, so a thirst for knowledge will have to be awakened in children through the medium of play -- children should be educated through play methods. Children are also by nature inclined to listen to fantasies and stories. Through stories children can easily be taught the history and geography of various countries, and they may also be taught the initial lessons of how to practise universalism in their lives. Children love play and stories almost equally, so in their case the two should be equally utilized." (HS-1) Note 2: Here Baba gives us one golden guideline about parenting and raising children. Baba says, "In order to develop a healthy outlook, the most important thing children need is robust idealism. To impart this, parents require only two virtues: self-restraint and good judgement." (HS-1) Note 3: Baba guides in this below quote that children raise children in the proper manner because they are the future of society. Baba says, "[It] is essential to sow the seeds of true development in the minds of children and to ensure that these seeds grow into small seedlings, flourish, and bring forth foliage, flowers and fruits" (HS-1)
*************************************** The Place of Occult Powers in AM
Baba says, "In spiritual life as well as in ordinary life, if one retains simplicity it is helpful for the attainment of God; through this one's life and mind become filled with the effulgence of Parama Purusa. This is the supreme attainment. Spying out every nook and cranny of the eight occult powers is another name for stupidity." (SC-2, p.149) Note: Unfortunately in the general society people think that occult powers themselves are the essence of spirituality. Indeed, devoid of occult powers, such persons do not have any concept of spirituality. In AM however it is different; it is not like that. In our Marga devotion gets utmost importance.
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