== CLASH BETWEEN WTS & MARGIIS-- WHY?? ==
Namaskar,
More and more clash is erupting between margiis and wts, yet to bring
welfare to society it is the need of the hour for there to be mutual
respect and coordinated cooperation between family margiis and wholetimers.
REASON BEHIND THE CLASH
While there may be many supposed reasons for the tense climate between
margiis and wts, the root cause is the decreased standard of our
wholetimer cadre.
Some may quickly react and say that it wrong to just blame the Dadas
etc. But those with a balanced mind will recognise how in the past under
Baba's direction our wts were chasing after dharma but now so many of
our wts are chasing after the lust of post, power, and material gain.
From the top chair in AM to big Swiss bank accounts to the fanciest of
i-Pods, these are the things so many of our Dadas are gunning for these
days. With their mind in that condition, it is no wonder they are unable
to inspire new margiis or guide old ones. Hence the deterioration of our
Marga. Hence, their fall is the real problem.
Here again, some may proclaim that unjust blame is being placed on Wts.
But if we remember correctly, in Baba's time He always placed maximum
responsibility on wts. They were responsible for nearly all problems in
the Marga because as the leaders of the society they were in charge of
making sure all were following the tenets of dharma. For this reason,
Baba always rebuked wts more than margiis.
So now with the terrible degeneration of top Wts and their cohorts, then
the root cause of the problems fall squarely on their shoulders. They
are the cause.
THE REAL PILLARS OF ANANDA MARGA
Who can forget that the whole of Ananda Marga is based on the grand
pillars of sadhana, service, and sacrifice. This is the divine ideal
Baba has placed before us.
Baba says, "It is action that makes a person great. Be great by your
sa'dhana', by your service, by your sacrifice." (Ananda Vanii #20)
And for decades under His direction our Dada were the living
manifestation of this dharmic approach.
So it is these pillars that must be maintained and those at the helm are
responsible for doing so.
WHY DEGENERATION OF WTS
Unfortunately, at present, so many in AM have been swayed by the
prevailing winds of the general society. And as now we are in the height
of the vaeshyan era, those values have also crept into the Marga such
that ever our sannyasis are regarded for the wealth of the purse &
post-- not for the wealth of devotion and sacrifice. That is the tragedy
that has befallen our Marga. And we have all witnessed numerous cases of
this malady.
For example, many Dadas these days are given respect based their post
and groupist affiliation, or on the type of i-Pod they have, or for
their laptop, bank account, video player, or so many crude, worldly
things. And this makes those Dadas run after more and more post, power,
and material wealth because they think this is the key to their
garnering prestige & success.
But rather than bringing prosperity to our Marga, it leads to the
degeneration of our AM society. That is why Baba strongly warns us
against falling into the crude ways of the present vaeshyan era.
Baba says, "Vaeshyas do not like to tread the path of desireless action
in order to make their minds one-pointed and realize God. They avoid or
usually try to avoid the real purpose of dharma, for they do not have
any sense of or feeling for spirituality other than some degree of fear
of God. If this fear decreases, they begin to behave like mean-minded
demons. In such a state of mind they can commit any type of sin to
satisfy their hunger for money [post & power]." (HS-2)
Tragically, this has happened to many of our wts. With Baba no longer in
physical form and due to their extreme lack of sadhana, such debased wts
really feel that Baba is totally gone-- in which case they need not
worry or be fearful of His scolding. Thus they feel they are free to run
after their crude desires of post, power, and material gain, without any
concern or second thought. Because they know their bosses are doing the
same thing and internally they fell Baba is gone. Hence there is no
pressure-- neither external nor internal-- to follow dharma, thus
causing still further degeneration of mind.
Baba says, "A mind which runs after money [post & power} moves in very
crooked ways. Although this movement involves intense effort, due to the
crudeness of its objective the movement cannot be straightforward: it is
crooked, extremely crooked." (HS-2)
Such is the sorry state of affairs nowadays in AM. Our Dadas have just
turned into power mongers and mega capitalists. You know who they are
and I think there is no need to mention names here.
At the same time, we cannot say all have fallen. Tragically, those good
wts-- and there are many of them-- who really do follow the true
sannyasi way of life have just been kicked and disregarded. They
struggle for their very survival and are teased and chastised for being
so "pious". Yet it is these Wts who are really worthy of our honour and
respect.
ESSENCE OF OUR AM SLOGAN
Years ago, our grand slogan, Ananda Marga Amar Hai, was raised on every
street corner. And it means Ananda Marga is eternal and victory to
Ananda Marga.
And it was true then and still it is true today. Because the real Ananda
Marga is all about sacrificing for the Goal and the great cause of
dharma. Those who do that inevitably get victory, no matter the odds.
Unfortunately, that spirit of sacrifice is totally absent in the upper
echelons of our AM society as instead those top Dadas and their
followers are just self-indulgently chasing after power, post, and
material wealth.
WHY BLAMING WTS
How far margiis are 100% perfect in dharma is another matter. But surely
they are comparatively better as they must adhere to some basic social
norms to maintain their lives whereas without the fear of God in them,
our Wts have just become loose canons in society, just like those ruling
vaeshyas or worse.
That combined with the fact that Baba has always placed more pressure on
Wts to mold the society-- indeed that is the only reason for their
existence-- then it only stands to reason that they must bear 99.9% of
the blame for the current deterioration of our AM society.
They are the cause of today's clash in AM.
Everyone is requested to kindly comment on this assessment.
BABA'S BLESSING
By Baba's grace we should only respect those wts who live according to
the real sannyasis code of Ananda Marga. Only then are worthy of our
respect and admiration.
In this way, those power hungry & millionaire wts will be exposed for
who they are, and for what hell they have created.
Baba says, "They were engaged in constant warfare among themselves.
There were no ideological principles involved; it was all motivated by
personal ambition and imperialistic lust." (AV-17)
Only those who personify the true ideals of AM and are able to lead the
society in the proper way.
Baba says, "The a'ca'rya should give direction and guidance in every
work, big or small. When he is to impart any duty to anyone, he should
be strict, strong and exact, like a diamond. He should never consider
social position, wealth, rank, etc." (AV-31)
Namaskar,
Parashram
Note 1: BABA'S STORY ABOUT SACRIFICE
The spirit of sacrifice is such a dharmic pillar of AM and Baba has
beautifully expressed the greatness of one's sacrifice in His below
story which has been printed in Ananda Vacanamrtam, part 31. If one iota
of the type of sacrifice exemplified in this story was present in
today's Marga, all our problems would be over and ours would be the true
path of dharma.
Svarńanakula Kathá: “Tale of the Golden Mongoose”
25 February 1966 evening, Jamalpur
Yudhisthira was performing Rájasúya Yajiṋa.(1) Kings, courtiers, men
and women from all over had come to witness the great performance of
King Yudhisthira. Shrii Krśńa was also present there.
Suddenly a mongoose entered the place of the yajiṋa. Everything about
this mongoose was unusual. Half of its body was golden, but the other
half was like that of any other mongoose. The mongoose started rolling
all over the place, and repeatedly rubbed every portion of its body to
the earth of the place. People around were awe-struck – what was the
mongoose doing?
And then as if to bring its wondrous actions to a climax, the mongoose
stood up and yelled in a very disgusted tone, “Useless! Absolutely
useless is this yajiṋa! Nothing compares with that yajiṋa which I had
the fortune to attend. Futile is all this here!” And he left the place.
People there were so taken aback that they just could not believe all
that had happened. With expectations of some explanation of the mystery
surrounding the mongoose, people looked eagerly at Shrii Krśńa.
Shrii Krśńa then said, “Long ago I heard about a certain very pious
family. I had a desire to test their piety. The family consisted of a
father, a mother, their son and the son’s wife. The father would go out
and ask for alms from the people in the area and whatever would be got
out of this, the whole family would share it.
“Suddenly there occurred a famine in the area. The father was not able
to get anything in alms for days together. On one of those days of
hardship, when it was sure that if nothing could be gotten, that day
itself the entire family would die of starvation, the father was able to
get a handful of chátu.(2) On returning home he gave the chátu to his
wife and said, ‘All of us are so hungry, and this much chátu is hardly
enough for one of us. Better therefore to divide it into four parts;
otherwise I know in hunger I would definitely eat more and you would
willingly offer me others’ shares too! And so, by the time you make a
paste of the chátu, I will finish my bath.’”
Shrii Krśńa continued his narration to Yudhisthira and the people
around, “The old man was about to finish his bath when I reached there
and said, ‘I am so hungry! Please, if you have something, give it to me
or I will die right here!’
“The Brahman and his hungry family were in a similar condition, but
pious and righteous that the old man was, how could he say that there
wasn’t any food? So he said, ‘Yes, we have something for you. Please do
come in.’
“I followed the old man to the house. I was offered water to wash myself
and then a proper seat was given to me. The old man then went into the
next room and said to his wife in a low voice, ‘God has sent a guest to
us, but the food is so little! I think my share should be given to the
honourable guest.’
“At this his wife said, ‘What do you mean? I know well that you are very
weak. If you do not eat today itself, you will not survive. And you are
so important to the family. Not your share, but my share, should be
given to the guest.’
“Hardly had the mother finished when the son said, ‘[I am very young.]
But both of you are old and weak. I can very well live days together
without food. So I will take my food to the guest.’
“And immediately the son’s wife added, ‘I am the youngest of all and so
can tolerate hunger better than anyone. So to save the life of my
elders, my food must be given to the guest. Let’s not delay, he is
waiting for his food.’”
Shrii Krśńa continued, “And so there was quite a fight for the first
sacrifice, though knowing full well that a sacrifice here meant death.
Finally, no solution coming up and the guest getting delayed, the old
man said, ‘Now look here, this is my order. My food must be given to the
guest.’ So the old man’s share of the cha'tu was brought before me.
“I was so hungry that naturally I finished that small amount of food
within no time. The old man understood that my hunger was not satisfied.
My host then brought his wife’s share to me. This too I finished and
looked hungrily at my host. The son’s share was then served to me. This
I also gulped down, then asked, ‘Haven’t you got anything more?’ And
then the share of the son’s wife was also placed before me. This
satisfied my hunger.
“I then thanked the noble old man and his family and blessed them,
Kalyáńamastu [‘Let there be welfare’], and left the place.
“Some time after my departure, the members of that great family died of
starvation.
“There in that very house lived this mongoose. He saw this great
sacrifice, this great yajiṋa. Seeing all this, he was moved to his very
depths. He was overwhelmed. He prayed, ‘O Great Lord! You gave me birth
as a mongoose, but you have also shown me such a great thing! Lord, how
fortunate I am, how blessed I am to have seen this great yajiṋa!’ And
with great feeling, he rolled on the floor of the room. All those
portions of his body that were touched by particles of chátu lying on
the floor turned golden. But about half of his body did not.
“Since then, whenever the news of a great sacrifice or yajiṋa reaches
him, he definitely goes there and rubs his body on the earth of that
place so that the other half of his body may also turn golden. But as
yet such a thing has not happened to him.”
Shrii Krśńa concluded, “He heard somewhere that Yudhisthira was
performing a great yajiṋa. So he came here too. But as his body did not
turn golden, he was disgusted to see what was just another show of
sacrifice. And so he said, ‘Useless, absolutely useless is this yajiṋa.’”
[Bábá then said:] You know, the measure of sacrifice is not its quantity
or its grandeur. A sacrifice should always be measured in terms of the
circumstances in which it has been rendered.
[Bábá then asked:] Which character in this story is the greatest? [After
a pause Bábá said:] The old Brahman is the greatest – for he is the one
who made the others in his family so great!
(Ananda Vacanamrtam, part 31)
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Substitute for Mother's Milk
Baba says, "Qualitatively donkey's milk is almost the same as human
mother's milk. Because of this, those babies who in their infancy have
lost their mothers, as a substitute they can be given donkey's milk."
(S.C., discourse no. 160)
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