From: "Shanti Devii"
To: AM-GLOBAL
Subject: Three Stories
Date: Tue 16 Aug 2011 17:24:09 +0000
Baba
To: AM-GLOBAL
Subject: Three Stories
Date: Tue 16 Aug 2011 17:24:09 +0000
Baba
== THREE STORIES ==
Namaskar,
The posting - The Dogma Threatening Longevity of AM - is a very clear and coherent statement on the mahaprayan issue. When we put the dogma of MPD (mahaprayan divas) in the context of the six spokes of the social cycle, the various points cover the matter succinctly.
Of course the Preceptor point is the most crucial, which has been made again and again: For any society to exist there must be a Preceptor yet the dogmatic mahaprayan program preaches that Baba is gone. That logic is enough to convince any balanced-minded sadhaka that we should not observe the so-called mahaprayan function.
But still there are many who mouth the words: "Baba is Parama Purusa", and yet they cheerfully promote the mahaprayan dogmatic programmes year after year, saying, "What is the harm in remembering Baba, through a beautiful collective programme of kiirtan and sadhana on the anniversary of His passing away day. What could possibly be wrong with this, when so many get inspiration for Baba's work by coming to these occasions? If we do not do this, then Baba, sitting in heaven, will be unhappy that His disciples forgot Him."
This is the type of response I encounter regularly from those people who attend the dogmatic mahaprayan programme.
A CASE IN POINT:
PERSONAL STORY OF ONE DIDI
Of course the Preceptor point is the most crucial, which has been made again and again: For any society to exist there must be a Preceptor yet the dogmatic mahaprayan program preaches that Baba is gone. That logic is enough to convince any balanced-minded sadhaka that we should not observe the so-called mahaprayan function.
WHAT SOME THINK...
But still there are many who mouth the words: "Baba is Parama Purusa", and yet they cheerfully promote the mahaprayan dogmatic programmes year after year, saying, "What is the harm in remembering Baba, through a beautiful collective programme of kiirtan and sadhana on the anniversary of His passing away day. What could possibly be wrong with this, when so many get inspiration for Baba's work by coming to these occasions? If we do not do this, then Baba, sitting in heaven, will be unhappy that His disciples forgot Him."
This is the type of response I encounter regularly from those people who attend the dogmatic mahaprayan programme.
A CASE IN POINT:
PERSONAL STORY OF ONE DIDI
This next story perfectly embodies what I am talking about.
There is one didi who never saw Baba physically as she came into the Marga from her Islamic background and dedicated her life to Baba's work after 1990. And for some years she was posted in Brazil.
She is a good didi in many respects: Disciplined, educated, and full of initiative.
When I stayed with her in her jagriti in one of the most dangerous areas of town I admired her strong spirit, discipline, and bravery - living all alone as she does, doing various services for the very poor, and organising the margiis.
This very didi asked me why I don't go to Kolkata for "mahaprayan".
I told her I don't support mahaprayan programmes - neither in Kolkata nor anywhere else - because Baba is with us always, and the dogmatic MPD programme gives the idea that Baba has gone away and left us to carry on without His guidance.
Didi strongly objected and emotionally told me how she felt so so inspired by the MPD programme. She said when she attended in Kolkata she was able to connect with Baba as He looked down upon her from heaven. By this way she gained inspiration.
She told me that when Guru has passed away then why not remember Him once a year on His death-day anniversary and give Him thanks for His teaching. That is what every religions does.
Didiji said all this so ardently, with passion in her voice and tears in her eyes.
I do not doubt her sincerity, yet it is quite delicate to try to remove the dogma from her mind. I tried to explain to her that mahaprayan is wrong because still today Baba is always with us - in our heart. He does not reside in the distant sky - He is inside the heart.
Of course, I told her all this in a devotional and indepth manner, but even then her mind was closed - totally blocked. I felt she could not look at the matter rationally or devotionally because of her extreme emotional attachment with mahaprayan, combined with her narrow understanding of Baba's teachings and lack of sadhan. This sort of sentimentality is quite difficult to deal with.
I was then thinking what to do and spoke with one senior sadhaka and he told me the following two stories.
In this way the family continued their dogmatic approach by honouring the death day year after year using all the rituals of Hindu dogma.
Isn't their mentality very similar to that of the didi who has latched herself emotionally with the mahaprayan dogma.
Then there is this second story.
When traveling by train one dada became hungry so he purchased food from one vendor. The food contained big and small pieces of onion and garlic. But dada just repeated guru mantra. He reasoned, "That is what Guru mantra is for - to purify everything. Now there is no more onion vibration or garlic in the food etc." He was very passionate about the greatness of Guru mantra and he ate his meal.
Here the whole point is that people - blinded by their personal attachments - do all sorts of wrongs and justify it in all kinds of ways. They create their own logic & justifications to enforce their narrow-minded dogmatic beliefs.
Those living in the dark do not like the light. That is the main problem. Didi's attachment for the dogma of mahaprayan is no different from the two other incidents mentioned above. All three cases are exactly the same. Someone gets emotionally glued to one dogma and justifies it in various ways.
In tantra, surrender is the main ingredient. To progress on the path, surrender is a must. Otherwise all one's efforts are futile. The top conclusion is surrender to Guru. And surrender means doing what Guru says, not following your own personal or group agenda.
Namaskar,
Shanti
She is a good didi in many respects: Disciplined, educated, and full of initiative.
When I stayed with her in her jagriti in one of the most dangerous areas of town I admired her strong spirit, discipline, and bravery - living all alone as she does, doing various services for the very poor, and organising the margiis.
This very didi asked me why I don't go to Kolkata for "mahaprayan".
I told her I don't support mahaprayan programmes - neither in Kolkata nor anywhere else - because Baba is with us always, and the dogmatic MPD programme gives the idea that Baba has gone away and left us to carry on without His guidance.
Didi strongly objected and emotionally told me how she felt so so inspired by the MPD programme. She said when she attended in Kolkata she was able to connect with Baba as He looked down upon her from heaven. By this way she gained inspiration.
She told me that when Guru has passed away then why not remember Him once a year on His death-day anniversary and give Him thanks for His teaching. That is what every religions does.
Didiji said all this so ardently, with passion in her voice and tears in her eyes.
I do not doubt her sincerity, yet it is quite delicate to try to remove the dogma from her mind. I tried to explain to her that mahaprayan is wrong because still today Baba is always with us - in our heart. He does not reside in the distant sky - He is inside the heart.
Of course, I told her all this in a devotional and indepth manner, but even then her mind was closed - totally blocked. I felt she could not look at the matter rationally or devotionally because of her extreme emotional attachment with mahaprayan, combined with her narrow understanding of Baba's teachings and lack of sadhan. This sort of sentimentality is quite difficult to deal with.
I was then thinking what to do and spoke with one senior sadhaka and he told me the following two stories.
THE RESPONSE:
TWO MORE REAL-LIFE STORIES
TWO MORE REAL-LIFE STORIES
Here is the first incident that he told me about.
One family was honouring the 5th anniversary of their grandfather's death day with all kinds of pomp and show such as a public feast and clothing distribution etc. Although they were initiated margiis they were still suffering from this Hindu death-day anniversary dogma. They were so emotionally involved in the programme that they became convinced that by this way they were fulfilling Baba's mandate of serving the poor and they were thinking that Baba has come before them in the form of a beggar.
They were thinking: "In that case how can we ignore this yearly shraddha ceremony for our deceased grandfather. By this way at least we do kiirtan and donate money to the needy, and present gifts to the priest and the departed soul. Kiirtan has purified everything: The neighborhood, caste, margiis and Baba. Everyone is pleased it is a win-win situation. The priest got gifts, the people got a feast, and we did kiirtan. Baba is happy. If we neglect this yearly death-day celebration of grandfather we will miss this opportunity."
They were thinking: "In that case how can we ignore this yearly shraddha ceremony for our deceased grandfather. By this way at least we do kiirtan and donate money to the needy, and present gifts to the priest and the departed soul. Kiirtan has purified everything: The neighborhood, caste, margiis and Baba. Everyone is pleased it is a win-win situation. The priest got gifts, the people got a feast, and we did kiirtan. Baba is happy. If we neglect this yearly death-day celebration of grandfather we will miss this opportunity."
In this way the family continued their dogmatic approach by honouring the death day year after year using all the rituals of Hindu dogma.
Isn't their mentality very similar to that of the didi who has latched herself emotionally with the mahaprayan dogma.
Then there is this second story.
When traveling by train one dada became hungry so he purchased food from one vendor. The food contained big and small pieces of onion and garlic. But dada just repeated guru mantra. He reasoned, "That is what Guru mantra is for - to purify everything. Now there is no more onion vibration or garlic in the food etc." He was very passionate about the greatness of Guru mantra and he ate his meal.
SUMMARY
Here the whole point is that people - blinded by their personal attachments - do all sorts of wrongs and justify it in all kinds of ways. They create their own logic & justifications to enforce their narrow-minded dogmatic beliefs.
Those living in the dark do not like the light. That is the main problem. Didi's attachment for the dogma of mahaprayan is no different from the two other incidents mentioned above. All three cases are exactly the same. Someone gets emotionally glued to one dogma and justifies it in various ways.
SOLUTION:
SURRENDER TO GURU AND FOLLOW HIS TEACHING
NOT ONE'S OWN AGENDA
SURRENDER TO GURU AND FOLLOW HIS TEACHING
NOT ONE'S OWN AGENDA
In tantra, surrender is the main ingredient. To progress on the path, surrender is a must. Otherwise all one's efforts are futile. The top conclusion is surrender to Guru. And surrender means doing what Guru says, not following your own personal or group agenda.
Namaskar,
Shanti
