Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:34:12 -0000
To: AM-GLOBAL
From: Divyamshu Deva
Subject: Baba Story: I Misused My Sadhana Begotten Powers
Baba
"Maneri gahane tumi a'cho, a'cho prabhu sada' jege a'cho..." (Prabhat Samgiita #4380)
Purport:
Baba, You are always remaining in the depths of my mind-- You never leave me. You always remain awake. You go on working day and night, beyond the time. You never stop. Baba, whatever You want to do, You go on doing.
Baba, this whole expressed universe is Your eternal game. You are ever-present: beginningless and endless. You are ever-intoxicated in Your divine flow. You are the Goal of everyone-- everyone wants You. You are remaining with one and all.
Baba, those who are trying to come close to You by their virtuous deeds and shravan, manan, nididhyasana, & dhyana, only they are able to come to You. Only they are able to realise You and have Your grace and proximity. Baba, You are grace-Personified...
Note: Family Acarya Babanji of Bihar had many personal experiences with Baba. Here below is Ac Babanji's first-hand account of what happened when he went to one village and did AM pracara.
Namaskar,
It was the beginning of 1960, and Baba told me to go out and do pracara. So I went to one village in Monghyr district and organised a tattva sabha (small spiritual meeting). Taking Baba's name, I gave a talk on Ananda Marga philosophy. Thereafter, by His grace, many persons became inspired and 20 people took initiation.
After that, one person approached me and he was extremely angry. I came to know that he was a disciple of another guru and he was furious because some of that guru's followers from the village had just taken AM initiation after my talk.
The person exclaimed, "Do not teach meditation to disciples of my guru."
I quietly told him, "I do not know who is disciple of whom. I did not ask anybody anything about that. I simply taught those who expressed interest and requested me to teach them AM meditation."
He then challenged me, "If you show your power then you can teach meditation here, otherwise leave this village immediately!"
I explained, "Spiritual power is not to be displayed or exhibited."
But then I thought I should try convince this person, otherwise his mandate will completely hinder and negate my pracara efforts in this area.
I told him, "Okay, come and sit by me."
I took Baba's name and put my right hand on his head and told him to concentrate. I closed my eyes. He sat there and tried to meditate. He was quiet for some time and then after about 20 minutes he opened his eyes and grabbed my feet.
He exclaimed, "I realised what I wanted! I have been following mu guru for the last 12 years and he did not give me anything. But today I got everything I wanted."
I could see that he was very inspired and thankful. He was now supporting me.
After that experience, when I sat for sadhana, I felt totally distracted. Sadhana was suddenly extremely difficult for me. My mind was wandering here and there - it was impossible to concentrate. And the absolute worst part was that I felt no attraction for Parama Purusa. Earlier, whenever I would sit for sadhana, I would immediately feel a strong devotional pull towards Him, by His grace. But now that was gone. I was feeling totally lost and alone, completely frustrated and despondent.
In that utterly desperate state, I reached Jamalpur.
As soon as I was called to see Him, Baba scolded me, "Whatever sadhana you had you destroyed and now you have become a beggar. Why did you do this?"
I understood immediately that this was all because of displaying my sadhana power.
Seeing Baba's disappointment, I was full of remorse. I accepted my mistake and requested Baba, "Forgive me I will never do such things again."
Then Baba graciously blessed me and my sadhana came back to its normal flow. I never did such type of a display again.
From all this, I got the lesson that every Ananda Margii has sadhana begotten powers, whether they know it or not. But that shakti (energy) is for our spiritual growth and development. It is part of our inner journey towards Him, and not to be used for any crude, external display.
By the above story as told by Ac Babanji, it is clear that as the Sadguru, Baba watches over us always and keeps us safe. He does not want our sadhana begotten powers to be used as that will plunge us onto the path of degradation.
It is just like if a small child is playing in the kitchen, then the parents will keep a strict watch to ensure their child remains safe and out of harm's way. Similarly, Baba watches over all His children to ensure they do not fall from the path by using their sadhana powers.
To use such powers is nothing but to fall into the fateful clutch of maya. Indeed, maya wants you to misuse your powers and remain in her clutch. The allurement to use such powers comes exclusively from her, i.e. avidya maya. This Baba has described in His book, Elementary Philosophy.
You may have heard that avidya tantrikas practice for only a few days to get certain siddhis. But for Ananda Margiis, even after years of practice we often do not perceive that we have power because Baba keeps those powers under lock and key. He does not want His disciples to misuse them and thereby destroy their spiritual future. Baba wants us advance ahead and reach the goal whereas to display such puts one in reverse gear.
In those Jamalpur years of the 1950's and early 1960's, many sadhakas got powers by doing sadhana. This was needed in order to show them that meditation is not just some useless or impotent endeavor. Baba wanted them to take sadhana seriously. And they developed powers that were tangibly and visibly perceptible to all.
But when they used their powers as a form of self-display etc, Baba graciously made the system that His disciples will not perceive their power - it will be hidden. Still this is the case today. This is Baba's special way of protecting us and keeping us moving toward our ultimate goal, Parama Purusa.
Baba says, "People use the power that comes from sádhaná in order to win the admiration of others. The exhibition of one’s supernatural powers would make others extol, respect or even worship one. Others would look upon one as a great devotee (sádhaka). This is the only reason behind the display of one’s powers. A desire to command respect and devotion from others is only being entrapped by vanity (mána) and pride (mada) of avidyámáyá. The use of power for such objects is the pursuit of avidyámáyá, and the pursuit of avidyámáyá leads to degradation. Hence any use of supernatural power brings one under the control of avidyámáyá, which inevitably leads to a fall and to degradation." (Ananda Marga Elementary Philosophy, Intuitional Practice and Its Necessity)
Namaskar,
Divyamshu
Here is an earlier Baba story as recounted by Sri Baban ji.
To: AM-GLOBAL
From: Divyamshu Deva
Subject: Baba Story: I Misused My Sadhana Begotten Powers
Baba
"Maneri gahane tumi a'cho, a'cho prabhu sada' jege a'cho..." (Prabhat Samgiita #4380)
Purport:
Baba, You are always remaining in the depths of my mind-- You never leave me. You always remain awake. You go on working day and night, beyond the time. You never stop. Baba, whatever You want to do, You go on doing.
Baba, this whole expressed universe is Your eternal game. You are ever-present: beginningless and endless. You are ever-intoxicated in Your divine flow. You are the Goal of everyone-- everyone wants You. You are remaining with one and all.
Baba, those who are trying to come close to You by their virtuous deeds and shravan, manan, nididhyasana, & dhyana, only they are able to come to You. Only they are able to realise You and have Your grace and proximity. Baba, You are grace-Personified...
== BABA STORY: I MISUSED MY SADHANA BEGOTTEN POWERS ==
Note: Family Acarya Babanji of Bihar had many personal experiences with Baba. Here below is Ac Babanji's first-hand account of what happened when he went to one village and did AM pracara.
Namaskar,
It was the beginning of 1960, and Baba told me to go out and do pracara. So I went to one village in Monghyr district and organised a tattva sabha (small spiritual meeting). Taking Baba's name, I gave a talk on Ananda Marga philosophy. Thereafter, by His grace, many persons became inspired and 20 people took initiation.
AN ANGRY PERSON'S CHALLENGE
After that, one person approached me and he was extremely angry. I came to know that he was a disciple of another guru and he was furious because some of that guru's followers from the village had just taken AM initiation after my talk.
The person exclaimed, "Do not teach meditation to disciples of my guru."
I quietly told him, "I do not know who is disciple of whom. I did not ask anybody anything about that. I simply taught those who expressed interest and requested me to teach them AM meditation."
He then challenged me, "If you show your power then you can teach meditation here, otherwise leave this village immediately!"
I explained, "Spiritual power is not to be displayed or exhibited."
But then I thought I should try convince this person, otherwise his mandate will completely hinder and negate my pracara efforts in this area.
MY USE OF POWERS
I told him, "Okay, come and sit by me."
I took Baba's name and put my right hand on his head and told him to concentrate. I closed my eyes. He sat there and tried to meditate. He was quiet for some time and then after about 20 minutes he opened his eyes and grabbed my feet.
He exclaimed, "I realised what I wanted! I have been following mu guru for the last 12 years and he did not give me anything. But today I got everything I wanted."
I could see that he was very inspired and thankful. He was now supporting me.
DISASTROUS EFFECT ON ME
After that experience, when I sat for sadhana, I felt totally distracted. Sadhana was suddenly extremely difficult for me. My mind was wandering here and there - it was impossible to concentrate. And the absolute worst part was that I felt no attraction for Parama Purusa. Earlier, whenever I would sit for sadhana, I would immediately feel a strong devotional pull towards Him, by His grace. But now that was gone. I was feeling totally lost and alone, completely frustrated and despondent.
BABA IS UNHAPPY WITH ME
In that utterly desperate state, I reached Jamalpur.
As soon as I was called to see Him, Baba scolded me, "Whatever sadhana you had you destroyed and now you have become a beggar. Why did you do this?"
I understood immediately that this was all because of displaying my sadhana power.
Seeing Baba's disappointment, I was full of remorse. I accepted my mistake and requested Baba, "Forgive me I will never do such things again."
BABA'S BLESSING
Then Baba graciously blessed me and my sadhana came back to its normal flow. I never did such type of a display again.
From all this, I got the lesson that every Ananda Margii has sadhana begotten powers, whether they know it or not. But that shakti (energy) is for our spiritual growth and development. It is part of our inner journey towards Him, and not to be used for any crude, external display.
REFLECTION
By the above story as told by Ac Babanji, it is clear that as the Sadguru, Baba watches over us always and keeps us safe. He does not want our sadhana begotten powers to be used as that will plunge us onto the path of degradation.
It is just like if a small child is playing in the kitchen, then the parents will keep a strict watch to ensure their child remains safe and out of harm's way. Similarly, Baba watches over all His children to ensure they do not fall from the path by using their sadhana powers.
To use such powers is nothing but to fall into the fateful clutch of maya. Indeed, maya wants you to misuse your powers and remain in her clutch. The allurement to use such powers comes exclusively from her, i.e. avidya maya. This Baba has described in His book, Elementary Philosophy.
You may have heard that avidya tantrikas practice for only a few days to get certain siddhis. But for Ananda Margiis, even after years of practice we often do not perceive that we have power because Baba keeps those powers under lock and key. He does not want His disciples to misuse them and thereby destroy their spiritual future. Baba wants us advance ahead and reach the goal whereas to display such puts one in reverse gear.
In those Jamalpur years of the 1950's and early 1960's, many sadhakas got powers by doing sadhana. This was needed in order to show them that meditation is not just some useless or impotent endeavor. Baba wanted them to take sadhana seriously. And they developed powers that were tangibly and visibly perceptible to all.
But when they used their powers as a form of self-display etc, Baba graciously made the system that His disciples will not perceive their power - it will be hidden. Still this is the case today. This is Baba's special way of protecting us and keeping us moving toward our ultimate goal, Parama Purusa.
Baba says, "People use the power that comes from sádhaná in order to win the admiration of others. The exhibition of one’s supernatural powers would make others extol, respect or even worship one. Others would look upon one as a great devotee (sádhaka). This is the only reason behind the display of one’s powers. A desire to command respect and devotion from others is only being entrapped by vanity (mána) and pride (mada) of avidyámáyá. The use of power for such objects is the pursuit of avidyámáyá, and the pursuit of avidyámáyá leads to degradation. Hence any use of supernatural power brings one under the control of avidyámáyá, which inevitably leads to a fall and to degradation." (Ananda Marga Elementary Philosophy, Intuitional Practice and Its Necessity)
Namaskar,
Divyamshu
Note: EARLIER STORY TOLD BY AC. BABANJI
Here is an earlier Baba story as recounted by Sri Baban ji.
http://am-global-01.blogspot.com/2011/12/baba-story-why-i-fell-sick.html
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