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What to Believe

Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2011 22:34:26 -0700
To: am-global@earthlink.net
From: Mahendra Deva
Subject: What to Believe

Baba

Intro to PS: This following song is unique in its own special way. Here Baba, in an indirect manner, is talking to the devotee and consoling him about his situation.

"Jale bhara' a'nkhi yadio toma'r..."  (P.S. 1445)

Purport:

  O' my dear, I can see that Your eyes are filled with tears. Please tell me why you are so sad-- such that You could not even manage to attend to your basic duties. Which divine Entity came and stole Your heart. He left, took away Your heart, and He did not return. Who is that who did that to you.  

Even then please don't cry, that very divine Entity will come again. No doubt He left you alone and He went off to some far distant place. And He does not come close these days. But that type of strength He does not have that He can keep Himself away forever. Yes, He keeps Himself distant from You; but your love He has not forgotten nor can He ever forget. He will surely come again.  

O' my dear, please tell me why you are so sad. Who has stolen Your heart; in whose longing are you crying. That Ajana Pathik, that divine Entity loves You very much, you should know...


== WHAT TO BELIEVE ==

Namaskar,
Nowadays, we all receive news nearly every moment from all parts of the globe. The news arrives via internet, discussions, blogs, emails, text messages, television, cell phone conversations, and indeed in all kinds of ways.

A key point in all of this is how to gather, receive, and best understand that news. How are we to know what is true and what is false.

Here I am not just talking about news of the general society, but news from within our Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha as well. Please read the following for tips and guidelines; kindly share your perspective too.


OFTEN THE SOURCE IS NOT CORRECT

If the person or place from where you are gathering your news is faulty, or if that person is getting their news from a weak source, then you may be receiving incorrect news. This especially happens when the person telling you the news does not himself realise that what he is telling you is faulty. So with an earnest mind and sincere voice he conveys news to you, yet the information he is repeating is itself spoiled. This is one common way that wrong ideas get propagated.

For instance, some religions or religious sects preach that the world was created in six days. The priests propagate this notion. In response, their followers carry this message to all whom they meet. Because in their heart they believe this dogmatic and false notion. This is the way it often works.

Indeed, when the source of the news is himself devious, then news may reach your ears via other people yet you may not even realise that those things are incorrect. It happens.

Here are more practical examples to make this perfectly clear.


SCENES FROM THE GENERAL SOCIETY

In communist nations, the leaders would project their false propaganda - booming their message again and again. They repeat their incorrect messages over and over until the common citizens hold those ideas to be true.

Baba says, "Communism has survived long after the death of Marx. It survived only due to the force of arms and constant booming. If constant booming is done for something, then people start thinking that there must be some truth in what is being propagated. For example, if someone continually says that Gopal is a very bad boy, then people will eventually believe what they are being told. Gopal will become a bad boy in their eyes even if in fact Gopal is really a good boy. Communists are doing constant booming about their theory. Due to this people are being brainwashed, and at this stage it is very easy to inject incorrect ideas into their minds. By constant booming of their wrong theory they are creating their supporters." (Prout Nutshell-15, Defects of Communism – Section C)

And indeed not only did the communist leaders create followers, but those innocent yet brainwashed followers would repeat and discuss those same ideas with others. In this way, the spread of those faulty notions multiplied.

Here is another example.

Around 700 years ago, the political and academic leaders in Europe told everyone that the world was flat. In turn, everyone talked about the earth as if it was really flat. But even though the common people repeated and discussed this faulty concept again and again - they are not to be blamed. The source of their information was not correct.

These are but a few examples from the general society where the common people unknowingly spread false news to others. The root cause is that they are being fed faulty ideas which they hold to be true.


SOME EXAMPLES FROM OUR MARGA

In our Ananda Marga also such things occur.

For instance, there are numerous margiis who think that the observance of mahaprayan is OK and they are telling their friends to participate because it is "consistent with AM philosophy". In that case, how can one accuse those innocent margiis of spreading dogma. It is not their fault.

Rather some Dada injected this dogma and told them to celebrate mahaprayan and those people did not read AM scriptures to find out the truth. So they got misled by that hearsay. Hence those margiis still participating in the archaic and dogmatic mahaprayan function are not to be blamed. They were given faulty instructions.

Then of course there are margiis who belong to a specific group. Whatever group they join then they are taught certain defective ideas - even dogmas - by those group leaders. This applies to all the groups. They indoctrinate their followers into their own agenda items.

For instance, take the case of the various tiirthas or so-called holy sites. One group says that Jamalpur tiirtha is the "holiest place" and another group says that Tiljala is the "holiest place". Some think one place is the most important and others think another place is the "holiest". They each think that Baba is tied to their so-called holy land and resides there. For the margiis then, it all depends upon which group they are most influenced by.

Likewise, various groups spread their own Fake Ananda Vaniis. They each think that theirs is God's message of that day. But if really that is Baba's Ananda Vanii, then why are all three different - each group with their own.


THE THEOLOGY OF THE VARIOUS GROUPS DIFFER

In this following teaching, Baba describes the irony of how various religious factions or sects each claim to offer the supreme truth, yet each faction offers a different message.

Baba says, "The supporters of each and every scripture say, “Ours is the message of God, it is the supreme word.” Then if all the scriptures are messages of the same Supreme Being, why do they vary from one another? The Supreme Being is one, and if all the scriptures are messages of that single Supreme Being, then there should not be any variation amongst themselves. This shows that those scriptures are not the messages of that Supreme Being." (Subhasita Samgraha - 24, Longing for the Great)

Similarly, the theology of various groups differ from one other yet each claims that theirs is the message of Baba. And this leads to serious problems.

Each group promotes their own false propaganda - or their own separate set of "truths" - which gets repeated again and again until all the margiis in their group buy into that propaganda. By this way, margiis of different groups grow very far apart because they are all adhering to a different "truth". Thus the schism deepens.

In this way there are many examples of how each group does booming about their own false notions to their followers. Each group claims to be the path of truth yet all have distinctly different approaches.

In reality however, the universal truth is always the same, not many.  Here are some common examples:
(a) 2 + 2 = 4; it will never be that a 2 + 2 = 3, 6, or 9.
(b) a triangle has 3 sides; it will never be that a triangle has 11, 12, or 14 sides.
(c) a healthy dog has 4 legs; it is not the case that a fit dog has 1 or 7 legs.

These statements are true in all conditions. They are singular in nature not plural. There are not multiple truths. The truth is one.

Same is the case with Ananda Marga ideology. It is one dharmic truth - not many.


BABA'S TEACHING:

MUST USE VIVEK TO GET THE RIGHT UNDERSTANDING

As Ananda Margiis we must be able to discern between truth and falsehood, otherwise we will be misled. According to Baba we must use our viveka or discriminating faculty.

Baba says, "Now, human beings are capable of judging between right and wrong because their minds are somewhat developed, but the minds of creatures other than humans are not so developed. Because of their undeveloped minds, they cannot follow the path of rationality, the path of discrimination, which almost every human being can. Those who say that there is no need of study – “Leave your books aside!” – are incorrect. Study is essential, knowledge is essential, and association with learned and enlightened people is essential. Listening to learned discourses, studying and understanding the scriptures, all have their importance." (Neo-Humanism: Liberation of Intellect, Disc: 3)

Thus, by educating oneself about Baba's divine teachings, then that sadhaka will be able to develop the requisite viveka and hold the course of dharma and not be swayed by groupist agendas.

If however anyone fails to adhere to Baba's tenet and does not study AM ideology, then their plight will be similar to that of the bird in Baba's below teaching.

Baba says, "But animals less-evolved than humans are incapable of this. They cannot follow the path of rationality or conscience. The more-developed animals merely follow the path of sentiment. When an animal likes something, it runs after it; when it does not like it, it does not run after it. For instance, a dog runs toward a piece of bread without looking to either side. Or, for example, some grains of rice are spread under a net. Suddenly a bird catches sight of the grains and alights on the ground. It thinks: “Let me go down and eat them!” So it is caught in the net. But had it pursued the path of rationality, it would have thought: “Hmmm, rice is strewn in such a remote woodland! This is unnatural. There is neither a village nor rice fields nearby – so this is indeed strange. Let me think this over for a while… Aha! A net has been spread and ropes are laid on all sides. I must not alight there!” This is the way of logic. But if it follows the path of sentiment it will alight and be caught in the net..." (Neo-Humanism: Liberation of Intellect, Disc: 3)

Finally, in His next teaching, Baba warns us about falling prey to any kind of sentiment like groupist sentiment.

Baba says, "If someone moves along the path of sentiment instead of the path of rationality, there is a hundred percent probability of great danger. Those who move along the path of sentiment do not discriminate between the proper and the improper, but merely silently accept all superstitions surrounding the goal towards which they have been running. Even the least question regarding propriety or impropriety does not arise in their minds, because they are moving along the path of sentiment." (Neo-Humanism: Liberation of Intellect, Disc: 3)


BABA'S SOLUTION

In this critical situation, where all the group's are fast propagating their own gospel, then the only way to keep firm to the path is to study Baba's divine teachings. Baba took great pains to give so many discourese. Only when one is cent-per-cent familiar with Baba's eternal guideline can one keep away from the group agendas. We are not to believe on hearsay. Otherwise, one is to be misled by this or that dada and get lured following a particular group, instead of Baba's dharmic teachings. Hence, as Baba guides us, study is very important. That is the only way to uphold and protect AM ideology.

Baba says, "Study is essential, knowledge is essential, and association with learned and enlightened people is essential. Listening to learned discourses, studying and understanding the scriptures, all have their importance." (Neo-Humanism: Liberation of Intellect, Disc: 3)

Namaskar,
Mahendra


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Health Guideline = Food In-take

Baba says, "Dyspepsia originates from unbalanced food habits. Eating when one is not hungry or only half-hungry is harmful in this disease. So is eating rich food for days together, using intoxicants, eating tasty food out of greed alone, not taking rest after the meal before running off to the office, or taking a bellyful of food..." (YT, p.3)

1. In the life it often happens that when one feels hungry food is not ready; and when one is not hungry then one gets food to eat. This is the common problem. Especially in the case of most of Wts because of their traveling routine they depend on others' or they face various inconveniences. So according to others' schedule etc so it becomes very difficult to take food in a timely way-- at the proper time food. That is why the tragedy is that the major percentage of Wts are suffering from one or more diseases. And unfortunately they end up leaving this world prematurely. Or they end up passing their day in a diseased and crippled condition totally feeble and bed-ridden. These are the common outcomes. So we should take lesson from all this and follow Baba's teachings and guide others to do the same.

2. Some innocent persons are thinking that since they are not drinking liquor or doing drugs then it means that they are not using intoxicants. But we should remember that tea and coffee are also intoxicants.

3. To properly follow this above rule Baba has given the code that one should not take more than 4 times per day, but the general society is moving in a completely negative way. Many persons have the bad habit of chewing gum all day long etc. Earlier I thought only a few kids were involved in this dirty habit, but now it we can see that the problem has become more general. Because and at retreats and seminars even Dadas and some Didis are also chewing gum like wild goats. But by this dirty habit when all day long one is swallowing saliva then saliva producing glands become dry. Then when the real need is there then those glands cannot secrete saliva. That is why people suffer from various diseases. Because without saliva food cannot be properly digested and undigested food causes so many toxic effects in the body. So we should follow Baba point of maximum 4 times and four items.

4. 'Rich food' means the food which one cannot digest such as high fat, oily food-- rich in fatty oily contents. Here 'rich' does not mean costly or not. it may be that rich foods are very cheap. The point is that eating rich, oily food invites the disease of obesity. This problem is quite common in the general public and also in our vast margii family. Everyone knows that obesity is the root cause of many kinds of diseases and that nowadays it is an epidemic.

5. In this modern era when everyone is feeling a shortage of time and people are just rushing from one work to another work, then they do not care to take rest after food. And that becomes the root cause of various diseases related with indigestion. The first of which is hyper-acidity. Sometimes this causes serious damage when one negative growth or side stomach or side pocket gets created. Then food sits there and rots and then people die from this.

6. When one takes rest after food then they can moderate their right nostril and ensure that it is open. But if after food they are just running to work then they cannot manage to keep the right nostril open in which case digestion is impaired.        
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