Page views

Ananda Marga Forum

All the letters on this blog are directly related with the teachings of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti ji Baba.To communicate with the editors of this forum or receive postings of this blog, email us at: anandamargauniversal@earthlink.net

Baba


Namaskar,


Just a reminder to be sure to subscribe to our two new blogsites:


For latest news click here Ananda Marga Universal


For latest news click here Ananda Marga News Bulletin

Or email us at: anandamargauniversal@earthlink.net


And we will be sure to add you to the list.


In Him,

Moderator



How Falsehood Become Truth

Date: Thu 12 Jan 2012 21:56:03 -0400
From: Divyajyoti Deva
To: am-global@earthlink.net
Subject: How Falsehood Become Truth

Baba

"Egiye calo, egiye calo..." (PS 156)

Purport:

My brothers and sisters, we should move on towards our goal, Parama  Purusa. Today the glorious dawn has come. We should take everyone along with us; no one should be left behind. Everyone is ours. Nobody is other. We all belong to one family. Our father is Parama Purusa; we have to move together on the path of His teachings. Human society is one and indivisible, let no fissiparous tendencies be allowed to destroy this. Baba's grace is with us....


== HOW FALSEHOOD BECAME TRUTH ==

Namaskar,
There are two schools of thought with regards to Baba stories.

(1) Some in our Marga think that whatever someone writes as a Baba story is OK and that margii readers should not say anything even if it is wrong. They feel one should just read the story, accept it as is, and keep quiet.

(2) Others think there should be careful scrutiny of each Baba story to see how far it is correct or not. They feel that, when needed, there should be constructive criticism of the story to improve its accuracy, clarity, and devotional expression.

These are the two diametrically opposing views and both sides have their own logic. Let's take a deeper examination of this issue. These days more and more are writing Baba stories and as a community we should decide how to proceed.


MYTHS ABOUT LORD SHIVA AND LORD KRSNA

Nowadays, many think that Lord Shiva smoked hashish, and that one of his sons, Ganesh, had the face and head of an elephant, and that Lord Shiva would lie down in the cemetery totally drunk. These are but some of the prevailing myths surrounding Lord Shiva.

Plus it is popularly thought that Lord Krsna was a simple cowherd who chased after females and that the gopis were all females. These are but some of the many myths surrounding Lord Krsna.

Thus there are a plethora of misconceptions surrounding these two great personalities, i.e. Taraka Brahmas.

As disciples of Lord Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji, we must not let history repeat itself. We must ensure the world learns the truth about Baba and His divine teachings. We must not give any scope for the creation of such myths about Baba. And the best way to achieve this is to ensure that our presentation of His divine Personality is accurate and true.


BOOKS ARE VIEWED AS TRUTH

Recently someone published a book, Anandamurti: The Jamalpur Years. Although the book was written with the best of intentions, we must ensure its expression properly reflects Guru and His teachings.

The reason great care is needed is that books are seen as veritable authoritative sources of truth. That is the basic belief about books. When a person reads something that has been printed, published and bound as a book, they take that information to be substantiated and true. That is the common approach adopted by both the public and experts. Books then have a huge effect on the common psyche.

Yet tragically, books often contain serious misconceptions and stray far from the truth.

For instance, there are numerous books which describe how Lord Shiva smoked hashish, or how Lord Krsna chased after females. And the general public accepts those falsehoods as true. Why? Because they were published in a book.

Not only that, people generally believe in the existence of the mythological characters, Ram and Hanuman. Why do people believe they are real? Because Ram and Hanuman have been written about and printed in a book, the Ramayana. Yet both Ram and Hanuman are totally mythological figures. But because their story has been printed in book form, people think they are real.

The problem does not end there. On Indian soil, thousands have been killed over this issue, even within the last 20 years. Specifically, there have been court cases, rallies, protests, threats, and attacks over Ram's supposed birth place. Ram's existence is 100% mythological but hundreds of millions of people are ready to die in order to secure Ram's birthplace.

So see the situation: Ram is an imaginary figure, yet hoards of people are arguing over where Ram was born - and fighting about it. Yet, Ram never took birth on this earth. How did this confusion happen? By reading about Ram in a book, people came to believe he is real. Such is the power that books have over people.


WIKIPEDIA EXAMPLE

Wikipedia, the popular on-line Encyclopedia, also places huge confidence and credence into books.

For instance, if any information is printed in a book then it can be added to a Wikipedia topic and nobody can change or delete it. If it is stated in a book that Baba supported racism or communalism or so many other mistakes, then those false claims can be added to the Wikipedia site. All because those falsehoods have been printed in a book.

Thus when someone has recently written a book about Baba which contains innumerable falsehoods, should we just sit back and think that it is ok? Or what should be our approach.


THIS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM

A small few may be thinking that, "Come on, what Devashish has written in his book, Anandamurti: The Jamalpur Years, is fine. We all know that Baba is most loving and the Divine One, so if there are some errors or misconceptions in the book it is not a big deal. Just let it be."

Some individuals mistakenly justify the matter this way: "All margiis know that Baba was and is most loving and this book is for margiis; so if there are mistakes in the book, that is not a problem. We can mentally correct the book as we read it and enjoy. After all, we know about Baba so we will not get confused and misguided by this book." This is their defective mentality.

This type of thinking has a serious flaw. Here is that flaw.

That problem is that it will not be long before all of us who were blessed to be with Baba physically are gone from this earth. Naturally then people will base cent-per-cent of their knowledge about Baba on what is written about Him, i.e. what is printed in the books.


FALSE CLAIMS BY DEVASHISH ABOUT BABA

So when a book makes totally outrageous claims like the following, readers and the general public will be bound to get a wrong idea about Baba and Ananda Marga. Because Devashish has written all of the below and more in his book:

(1) Baba is Bengali (p.34);
(2) Baba's favourite language was Bhojpuri in His childhood (p.114);
(3) Baba has a loose tongue like a drunken policeman who is rude and harshly abuses innocent people and criminals just to irritate and torture them (p.211);
(4) Baba is merely a saint like Saint Paul, Mother Teresa, Mohamed & Swami Ramdev (p.166);
(5) Kapalik sadhana is a ritual (p.151);
(6) Baba ordered His own book, A Discussion, to be burned (p.185);
(7) Buddha is also Taraka Brahma (p.179);
(8) As a Guru, Baba celebrated Durga Puja (p.263)
(9) And so many other misleading statements and falsehoods.

But making all these types of misleading and erroneous statements is not good. Enemies will certainly take advantage of the situation and turn these misstatements into major, mountainous issues, i.e. turning a piece of dust into the Himalayas. Because that is what enemies do. They look for points of weakness and areas to attack and then use that to make a huge cases against their foes.

So these false statements from Devashish's book are extremely problematic and cannot be overlooked. It is by these types of ludicrous statements that the world came to think that Lord Shiva just smoked hashish or that Lord Krsna just chased after young females. Such dogmas flooded this earth for centuries, nay thousands of years, until finally Baba Himself came as the Taraka Brahma and dispelled these myths about Lord Shiva and Lord Krsna.


HOW IRONIC

The irony is that now misguided disciples are creating the same types of problems all over again about Baba Himself. If we let Devashish's book stand as is without offering any clarifications or corrections, readers will most definitely get the wrong idea about Baba. Not only that, those who are enemies of the Marga, will use Devashish's book as ammunition to attack Baba. In that case, once again a Taraka Brahma will have to take advent and clear up such misconceptions about Baba.

Because enemies will take one relatively small point, like Baba is Bengali or that Baba favours Bhojpuri, and use that to defame Him and charge Him as being a hypocrite. They will accuse Baba of preaching about neo-humanism yet at the same time harbouring communal sentiments. Because that is what is written in Devashish's book.

That is what enemies do. They take whatever ammunition they can find and blow that up into monstrous proportions in order to take someone down. Unfortunately, Devashish's book is an entire ocean of ammunition for such enemies. They will have a field day with his book.


THE BOOK HAS SO MANY MISTAKES

There are countless mistakes in the book, Anandamurti: The Jamalpur Years. To correct them all we will have to write every day for weeks on end. 

If we fail to raise this critical matter then so many falsehood will emerge. Just as it was propagated that Lord Shiva smoked hashish or that His son was born with an elephant face, similarly so many wrong claims will be made about Baba. And people will accept those as true. This is the problem.

Now I put forth my request to all margiis that they should also participate in cleaning-up and addressing this serious issue.


CONCLUSION

For reasons mentioned above, if any publication about Baba and Ananda Marga has any mistakes we should point out those errors and go on the public record. Because if any published mistake remains unopposed, that becomes unassailable proof in the future. But if we oppose such falsehoods now - before it is too late - then wrongs will be brought to light and corrected. Such is what needs to happen with Devashish's book, Anandamurti: The Jamalpur Years.

Namaskar,
Divyajyoti

Note 1: WHO DOES NOT LIKE THIS

An honest publisher or writer is always looking for healthy criticism; but those who are cowardly, selfish, and egoistic do not like their writings to be critiqued. It is the same as if you are telling the truth, then you are not afraid if people discuss that topic, since your point is true. But if you are telling a lie then you are always afraid that the matter should not be discussed.


Note 2: FINE INTENTION, POOR SHOWING

Overall, Devashish's intention is fine and well; that is not the problem. The main hurdle is that he is sloppy and not up to the mark in various ways, including a lack of professionalism, as he did not verify the points in his book with various experts. Plus his devotional expression is also suspect.





Prevalent Myths in Ananda Marga

Date: 12 Jan 2012 07:38:42 -0000
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...


NOTES FOR PRABHAT SAMGIITA #2497:


[1] 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'.

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 and of higher post are spiritually elevated. They are above all conduct rules so do not compare or 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 Purodhas.

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 those 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 our blogs:

http://www.am-global-01.blogspot.com/

http://anandamargaforum.wordpress.com/

Please also share if you have more to add to the above list.

Namaskar,
Pramod


***************************************
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)
***************************************


Policy on Comments

Spam and unparliamentary language not to be used.

folders: Ananda Marga related articles on hundreds of niche issues

Namaskar

To receive postings of this blog, email us at: am-global@earthlink.net

Baba nam kevalam