A Type of Idol Worship In The West

From: p.livingston@tjohns@co...
Subject: A Type of Idol Worship In The West
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:59:32 -0000
To: am-global@earthlink.net

Baba

This entire email is composed of 3 parts:
(1) Prabhat Samgiita #2368;
(2) Posting: A Type of Idol Worship In The West;
(3) Trailer Quote: Science: What One Does Reaps The Consequences

 Each section is demarcated by asterisks (*).


**** Here begins the Prabhat Samgiita ****

"Toma'r raunge raung mishiye cale, yete ca'i sumukhe..."  (P.S. 2368)

Toma'r raunge raung mishiye
Cale jete ca'i sumukhe;
Ca'i toma'r tale tala melate,
Ta'la kat́e prati nimise,

Drŕha kare dhare toma'r pata'ka'
Egiye jete cai a'mi eka'
Toma'r a'shis'a sathe niye a'ma'r ma'the
Bhare bala a'ma'r buke,

Ekala' chilam na' a'mi kakhano
Saunge tumi, bhaya neiko kono
Tava ka'j kare ja'bo tava ga'n geye ja'bo
Diipta hoye tava shubha'loke


Purport:

O' Parama Purusa, by surrendering all the colours of my mind – all the attractions and attachments of my mind – by surrendering everything unto You, (Toma’r raunge raung mishiye) [1] by dyeing my mind in Your colour, I want to move ahead. I want to move unto Divinity, by Your grace. Baba, I want to offer all my colours, vrttis, and longings at Your alter. My only desire is to move on the path, dancing according to Your rhythm, Your melody. Somehow I always lose the rhythm and melody. I want to synchronize my rhythm with Yours, but each moment I fail. I want to follow Your path, but I miss steps along the way, always.

O' Supreme Entity, by Your grace, I am firmly holding Your flag in my hand. You have given me the one-pointed desire, energy, and duty to follow and spread Your ideology, Your teachings. You have instilled within me the feeling that even if no one else is coming along, still I will go on marching ahead on Your path. Your blessings always with me and my heart filled with Your strength, I am ready to march forward alone. Baba, Your grace is ever-showering on my entire existence. You are always along with me. You are always giving me strength in my heart to march forward. O’ my Lord, You have filled my heart with Your inspiration and grace. For this reason, obstacles and hindrances are meaningless – they never obstruct my forward movement

O’ Parama Purusa, I was never alone in the past, nor will I be alone in the future. You are always along with me. And when You are along with me, there is no question of any fear. Baba, keeping me resplendent in Your benevolent light, I will keep doing Your work, singing Your song. By doing Your work and singing Your song, I will go on moving on Your path of effulgence – keeping You in my heart. O' Parama Purusa, You are always with me, You are eternally sweet and gracious...


NOTE FOR PRABHAT SAMGIITA #2368:

[1] Toma’r raunge raung mishiye: The following guideline from Baba offers a greater philsophical understanding of the first line of this song.

"Dye your mind with His colour. Those who have not done so cannot attain Him, for this very coloration is Prema or Divine Love. The differences in colour are signs of distinction; without these differences there is identity. No external sign of Sádhutá or virtue is necessary. Became sádhu within. Behind the external show of virtuousness of many so-called sádhus exists a pharisaic state of mind. Preserve the true dignity of the word, Sádhu..."

"That is why I say that you must bring about a revolutionary change in the flow of your judgment and thought, and see how, after overcoming your fascination with external colour, your mind becomes tinged with the His glorious colour. In Ananda Marga Sadhana, the method of withdrawing the mind from degrading tendencies, and absorbing oneself in the colour of the Great, is called Pratyáhára Yoga (the yoga of withdrawal) or Varńárghyadána (the offering of colours). All people have a particular attraction for one or another object or activity and as soon as they become attracted to an object, then their minds become coloured with the colour of that object. You can withdraw your mind from the colour of that object and dye yourself in His colour by offering Him the captivating colour of the object that has attracted you: this is the real Pratyáhára Yoga. The word Pratyáhára means “to withdraw” – to withdraw the mind from its object."

"The main object of the Spring Colour Festival (Vasantotsava) is not playing with external colours; it is meant to offer Him the colours of different objects which have dyed the mind. When this practice of offering your own colours – your own attachments, becomes natural and easy, you will then merge in Him. Then you will have no need for any colour, for you will become colourless – you will go beyond the reach of any colour. Your unit-ego will become one with the Cosmic Ego. Whichever way you look you will see only Him in His ever-surging glory. There is no “I” nor “you”. By an everlasting, mutual pact the final curtain will have fallen on all clashes of “I” and “you”. At that stage, if you call Parama Brahma as “I”, you are right in calling Him so; if you call Him as “He”, you are equally right; and if you call Him as “you”, again you are correct. The extent of your attainment of Him will be proportionate to your self surrender." (Subhasita Samgraha - 3)

== A TYPE OF IDOL WORSHIP IN THE WEST ==

Namaskar,
Around the globe, people feel the need to idolize or worship someone or something. This happens in east and west. Unfortunately, in their attempt to satisfy this desire, they often go astray. Without thinking, they mindlessly select their idol, not realising that it is fictitious or mythological - i.e. not real. We see examples of this in both the west and the east. This is the common phenomenon.

BABA'S WARNING

First we should review Baba's guideline where He warns us that fictional and mythological characters should not be taken to be real and worshiped or idolized.

"The value of mythology lies in this, in its contribution to mass education. If a narrative is devoid of the elements of mass education we cannot call it mythology. But it should be borne in mind that the events narrated are not true. Similarly, in modern times there are many novels and many plays which contain didactic elements for mass education. But the characters depicted in these plays are not real and they cannot be ritualistically worshipped with flowers and leaves of the wood apple tree. To make idols of them for the purpose of worshipping will be a great blunder. This kind of blunder is called pramáda in Sanskrit (the word pramáda is derived by adding the suffix ghain to the verbal root mad with the prefix pra). That is something with mistake in the beginning, intermittent mistakes in the middle and mistake at the end." (1)

Baba's teaching continues:

"I have already told you about the objective of a purána; it has educative value but the incidents are all fictitious. A particular novel of Sarat Chandra may be very good and people may be very much impressed by a particular character in it. But is it desirable to make an image of that character and worship it? Similarly it will not really be in the fitness of things to worship a mythological character or to start worshipping ritualistically some particular mythological god or a goddess. Such a deity is only a figment of imagination." (2)

Unfortunately we see this happening in both east and west, where segments of the population accept a mythological or fictional character to be real. And then they worship or idolize that character.

WESTERN PHENOMENA:

ASKING JULIET FOR BOONS

Juliet is one of the main fictitious characters in Shakespeare's tragedy: "Romeo and Juliet". In that drama, written 450+ years ago, the young couple in love are embattled by family disputes and ultimately die a most tragic death, without ever being able to express their love for one another. It is the quintessential tragedy of western literature. And it is completely fictional - these characters are 100% imaginary - Mr Shakespeare merely invented them in his own mind.

Yet today, a Juliet website has been devised, and people from far and wide write in seeking solace about their romantic woes. Because of their deep emotional link with the female character Juliet - who never even existed in real life - people are writing to Juliet and pouring their heart. If they deem their romance to be similar in any way to that of Romeo and Juliet - i.e. if they are getting tormented by friends and family - then they write to Juliet and ask for her grace and promise that, "Just as you died for your lover, I shall do the same." Juliet does not even exist, yet they are taking this fictional character to be their guide.

"Since the 1930s, letters addressed to Juliet keep arriving in Verona. As of 2010, more than 5,000 letters are received annually, three quarters of which are from women. The largest single group of senders are American teenagers." (Wikipedia)

So this form of idol worship in the west is becoming more popular yet we should remember that it is based on 100% fictitious characters like Juliet.

It is just like if Indian people started writing to Laela'.

In the west, it is not just limited to their fascination with Juliet, but also Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, Rocky Balboa and all kinds of fictional heroes from the world of pop pseudo-culture. People are enthralled by such characters and aim to emulate them in all kinds of ways. They dress, talk, act, and behave like them; they idolize them. They think that such characters will grant them strength, or fortune, or love, or whatever it is that they desire. They even name their children after such fictional characters.

EASTERN TRADITION OF IDOL WORSHIP

In the east, worshipers pray to a piece of stone, thinking it to be a god. In this manner so many mythological deities have been created. People ask and pray to their chosen deity for everything, thinking that entity to be real.

Then there is this example from the Sati temple. The imaginary mother goddess Sati jumped on the funeral pyre of her husband. So females pray to this goddess because they think that by this way they will not lose their husband to an early death - rather due to the boon of mother goddess Sati, they will love together forever with their spouse.

This, and many other examples like it in India, demonstrate how people become blinded. They worship deities that are wholly mythological, i.e. not real.

SIMILARITY BETWEEN EAST AND WEST

Thus we see that in both east and west people mindlessly accept fictional characters and mythological entities as their chosen guide. The chief cause behind this is that people mindlessly pour their hearts for such entities, without realising the harm they are doing.

Here again is Baba's warning.

"The value of mythology lies in this, in its contribution to mass education. If a narrative is devoid of the elements of mass education we cannot call it mythology. But it should be borne in mind that the events narrated are not true. Similarly, in modern times there are many novels and many plays which contain didactic elements for mass education. But the characters depicted in these plays are not real and they cannot be ritualistically worshipped with flowers and leaves of the wood apple tree. To make idols of them for the purpose of worshipping will be a great blunder. This kind of blunder is called pramáda in Sanskrit (the word pramáda is derived by adding the suffix ghaiô to the verbal root mad with the prefix pra). That is something with mistake in the beginning, intermittent mistakes in the middle and mistake at the end." (3)

Baba's teaching continues:

"I have already told you about the objective of a Purána; it has educative value but the incidents are all fictitious. A particular novel of Sarat Chandra may be very good and people may be very much impressed by a particular character in it. But is it desirable to make an image of that character and worship it? Similarly it will not really be in the fitness of things to worship a mythological character or to start worshipping ritualistically some particular mythological god or a goddess. Such a deity is only a figment of imagination." (4)

RIGHT EFFORT IS NEEDED

Unfortunately, innocent people in the east and west waste tremendous amounts of energy seeking boons and guidance from fictitious and mythological entities. Without carefully analysing the situation, they accept fake entities to be real. In that way, they can never advance in a meaningful way.

We should increase efforts to bring all unto the path of Ananda Marga. That will save people from being allured by imaginary guides and gods.

"The utilization of energy should be in the proper direction. If you have to move to the east and you start moving towards the west, your action will be considered full of prámáda, or madness. Ananda Marga has the correct way, through subjective approach and objective adjustement. While followers of Ananda Marga keep their eyes steady on the absolute, they do not ignore this relative world. They work for self-realization and social upliftment, and hence the utilization of their energy is never in vain. When the effort is correct and the utilization right, you will certainly reach the goal." (5)

Namaskar,
in Him,
Pradiip
(Peter Livingston)


REFERENCES:
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 11
2. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 11
3. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 11
4. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 11
5. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 23, Your Personal Relationship with God

The section below demarcated by asterisks is an entirely different topic,
completely unrelated to the above letter. It stands on its own as a point of interest.

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Science:

What One Does Reaps The Consequences

"Action, whether good or bad, causes deformity in the mind, and in the process of regaining its normal form one experiences as reactions good results for good deeds and bad results for bad ones. After death mind takes the shelter of unit consciousness as reaction in its potentiality (saḿskára). The unit consciousness, in order to have those potential reactions expressed, will have to seek a body suitable for the expression of these reactions. For instance, Rama dies, and his mind takes the shelter of his unit consciousness (átman) as reactions in their potentiality (saḿskára). Rama according to his actions in this life should experience as reaction (karmaphala) the pain equivalent in mental measure to a fracture of an arm at the age of eight, the happiness of getting a fortune at the age of ten, and the suffering of becoming fatherless at the age of eleven. He will have to experience all this as his deformed mind regains its normal form. It is important to clarify here that the actual form of suffering is not predetermined. It cannot be said what might be the actual reaction of a particular action. For example, it is not preordained that if one commits theft his things of the same value will be stolen as a reaction. The suffering is measured in terms of mental suffering to the extent which was inflicted on others by stealing their property. Thus the measure of experiencing the result of an action is mental and is in terms of pleasure and pain, and the actual form of experience has relatively no importance. Rama has to experience the pain and pleasure of all these happenings, and so his unit consciousness will have to seek a body on rebirth, where an opportunity to experience all this will be available. In order to suffer the mental agony of loss of his father at the age of eleven years, Rama has to be born of parents where the father, according to his own actions, has also to die when Rama attains that age. If it is not so, Rama will not be able to experience his reaction (karmaphala) of the suffering of the loss of his father. Thus it is seen that unit consciousness and the potential reaction (saḿskára) cannot take shelter in any body for rebirth indiscriminately. A suitable body where the opportunity and field for experiencing their reactions (karmaphala) is available will have to be sought out. It is only in such a body that unit consciousness, along with total reactions in their potentiality, will seek shelter and be reborn." (Ananda Marga Elementary Philosophy, What Is My Relation with the Universe and the Cosmic Entity?)

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