From: "Pramod Dev"
To: AM-GLOBAL
Subject: Prevalent Myths in Ananda Marga
Baba
"Tandra' yadi a'se he prabhu bheunge dio..." (PS 2497)
Purport:
O' my Prabhu, O' Baba, please grace me so that I can better serve You. If tandra'*, if drowsiness ever overcomes my being then please destroy that. And if vanity ever enters into my mind, then please pulverise that into the dust and keep me in Your shelter. Baba, please grace me so that I can follow You.
O' my dearmost, if I ever forget You and move along the sinful path, then with a thunderous voice please guide and discipline me and bring me back under Your shelter.
Baba, by Your grace I have come onto this earth-- You have brought me here-- to do Your work, to serve You by doing mantra japa, kiirtan, sadhana, and dhyana. Baba, by Your grace I have come here to move on the pathway which You have shown me. Baba, please saturate my mind with this divine truth: That I have come here to remain involved with You-- to revolve around You. Baba, You are the be-all and end-all of my life.
Baba, please be ever-gracious so that I can remain under Your shelter permanently, forever and ever...
*Tandra= (Literally meaning 'drowsiness') In the above Prabhat Samgiita, Baba gives the feeling that tandra does not mean physical weariness but rather drowsiness in the spiritual realm, i.e. when people remain oblivious of the spiritual world. When they think that sadhana is for the future only. In that way their life just passes while involving only in various mundane thoughts and preoccupation. By this way the mind gradually gets crudified. This state of remaining oblivious to one's spiritual life is known as tandra, or drowsiness in the spiritual sense.
As we know Prabhat Samgiita is something divine-- not mundane. For this reason we can understand when the term tandra' is used in this song it refers to the spiritual realm. We should see Prabhat Samgiita in higher aspects.
Baba has furthermore told that one can only properly understand Prabhat Samgiita when mind is at the trikuti (ajina cakra) or above. Otherwise one cannot understand the meaning.
Sometimes in Prabhat Samgiita Baba uses terms related with mundane things; but this is done as an allegory only. The inner sense is something deeper. So on the mundane level tandra' means physical drowsiness but in this song is refers to spiritual drowsiness.
Finally, in this materialistic era, people are more involved in their crude material gain than their spiritual growth and development. What to say about common human beings, this is quite common the case in our own vast AM family as well, including myself.
Here are Baba's furthermore comments on tandra' and spiritual drowsiness and lethargy.
Baba says, "Every human being, from the age of fourteen or fifteen, has an innate desire to ideate on Parama Purus'a. With cosmic ideation one will attain vast expansion of mind, one will become great in all respects. No one can check the all-round growth of such a person. People realise this and yet ignore it and thus waste their time getting old for nothing. That is, they waste their time in non-spiritual pursuits. This is called 'spiritual lethargy'. It causes the greatest harm to human life because it results in only a very small percentage of the human potentiality - maybe one or two percent - being utilised by humans. Even those who we call great personalities hardly use ten percent of their potentialities. Due to spiritual lethargy people are unable to grow, and thus remain very ordinary. They come to the world, live, decay and die as ordinary human beings." (AV-8, 'Bad Habits Which Should Be Given Up')
And here Baba explains about tandra' and the six defects:
Nidra' tandra' bhayam' krodha a'lasyam' diirghasu'trata';
S'ad'ados'a'h purus'en'eha ha'ntavya'h bhu'timicchata'.
S'ad'ados'a'h purus'en'eha ha'ntavya'h bhu'timicchata'.
Baba says, "Those who want to prosper in life must destroy these six defects in themselves: nidra' [sleep], tandra' [drowsiness], a'lasya [lethargy], bhaya [fear], krodha [anger], and diirghasu'trata' [procrastination]." (AV-31, 'Sleep & Inertia')
== PREVALENT MYTHS IN ANANDA MARGA ==
Namaskar,
The following are some common myths propagated these days in our Marga. Bear in mind that in certain areas, some of these myths are more (or less) prevalent. Where such myths are not yet common, some interest groups are working hard to infuse them.
Hence, either the following are happening in your unit or they will be happening soon if precautionary measures are not taken.
Here then are the prevailing myths:
1. One must do caran sparsha mudra / touching the feet of a Wt even if you do not have respect for that worker.
2. Those in saffron cloth are venerable - period. There is no need to consider their merits or demerits.
3. Importance is given to the post - do not care about a worker's conduct.
4. Baba has gone far away to some unknown place "Divya Dhama" - divine place.
5. Purodhas with vishesh yoga of higher post are spiritually elevated. They are above all conduct rules so do not compare judge them by whether they follow certain rules or not. They are far above this level.
6. The conduct rules are for junior Wts and margiis only - not for those with higher post.
7. In AMPS, the key people are Wts; margiis are 2nd class citizens. That is why margiis cannot be Purodha.
8. Male Wts are first class and female workers are second class.
9. To get Baba's blessing one must visit Kolkata, Jamalpur, Ananda Nagar, Ranchi, Delhi, Mumbai, Diigha, Vishnupur, Allahabad, Bhagalpur, Ananda Shiila and so many places where Baba stayed (i.e. where there is a Baba Quarters) & asthi kalash (holy ashes). For moksa must go to Kolkata or Jamalpur - only.
10. Margiis and junior Wts must salute thos holding higher posts.
11. At ETC (Eraws Training Camp), WRC (VSS camp), the controlling Wts are kings and the attendees are slaves. Similarly in Wt Training Centre, the trainer and in-charges are kings and the trainees are slaves.
12. In our WT cadre, the central workers have the automatic right to be "haves", i.e. live in the lap of luxury, while common workers are forced to live hand to mouth, as the "have-nots". The "haves" have 500 times more than the "have-nots". This is the dharmic way - one must not think there is anything wrong. This is approved by dharma.
13. In our Wt cadre, all those who are "haves" deserve more respect. Any Wt with money should be respected. Poor wts are worthless.
14. If anyone does silent action to a Wt who is nearby, then that person observing silent action will be beaten up and punished - deservedly so.
15. It is both normal & dharmic to observe an annual shraddha to commemorate a respected deceased person on the anniversary of their death. Just as Mahaprayan Divas (MPD) is done annually, this is also done.
16. Baba was Purodha Pramukha and He has given His seat to the PP Dada. So PP Dada can give boons and blessings. Those who visit must do sastuanga pranam to PP Dada. That is the aura.
17. Newlyweds must pay to get PP Dada's marriage blessing in order to have successful marriage.
18. Baba is ruling organisation through PP Dada so blindly follow.
Note: You can read more about all these issues on this blog:
Namaskar,
Pramod
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Secret Behind...
Secret Behind...
Everybody knows that devotion is the highest thing in human life. And Baba's below teaching discloses the reason why our most devotional scripture has been composed in the genre of poetry: Because poetry is easy to memorise. For this reason Baba has composed our devotional scripture - i.e. Prabhat Samgiita - in poetic verse.
Baba says, "When anyone says something, the eyes are engaged in seeing, the
ears in hearing, and the mind dances in rhythm. In the absence of rhythm it is difficult to memorize. That is why since ancient times, for 15,000 years, the common practice has been to bring every valuable branch of knowledge within the scope of rhythm. Human beings do not easily forget rhythm. One may forget the contents of knowledge, but not the rhythm. That is why all Vedic Rks were composed in 7 meters. All literary compositions were brought within the gamut of the seven Vedic metres...as they are valuable for the memory." (APH-5, p.353)
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