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Baba


Namaskar,


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Re: How Shudras Are Brainwashed #2

== RE: HOW SHUDRAS ARE BRAINWASHED ==

~ Part 2 ~

Namaskar,
Those aware about the teachings of Prout are keenly aware about the avaricious and exploitative approach of big capitalists. In countless discourses, Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar has exposed the blood-sucking ways of those vaeshyan leaders [wealthy businessman]. Here, we are referring to those top-most corporate heads who lead business enterprises and exploit the common people. Through their own greedy mind-set, they resort to psychic exploitation to manipulate the masses.

"In straightforward language it can be said the main goal of capitalists is to draw more and more blood from the common mass, i.e. to make money off of the efforts of others. In this regard, the greed and devouring approach of such capitalists knows no bounds. Their main strategy is to create a group of employees and manipulate them into working night and day. Then those bosses keep all profits for themselves. This is essentially what top vaeshyas aim to do. Hard-working and dutiful employees get virtually nothing for all their sweat and blood. Instead, all the cream goes to those top company executives - i.e. those blood-sucking capitalists. That is the chief characteristic of the vaeshyan era - the top people gain control over most of the money while countless others do all the work."

Indeed, capitalist psychic exploitation is being carried out at a ghastly pace and the chief underlying factor is that they have molded the minds of the common people. Various labour unions have put up big battles against these capitalist forces, but in the height of this vaeshyan era, the capitalists have won, temporarily. That means for the time being they have brainwashed the majority of the public - i.e. their employees are ready to respond to their every beckon and call. Those top company executives get what they want done with the willing help of their exploited employees, i.e. shudras.

And more about their brainwashing techniques is described below.


AGAINST THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF HUMANITY

As Proutists, as Ananda Margiis, and as citizens, we should know that the days of the capitalists reign are numbered. They will not be in power forever. Such capitalists have gone against the fundamental right of humanity. This entire creation is the property of Parama Purusa , and we are all His children; thus the wealth of this universe is the common patrimony of all. By this God-centered, spiritual outlook every human being has equal right to the moveable and immoveable property of this universe. As soon as people become critically aware of this right, the days of capitalist rule will be in peril.

Already, there is a section of the workforce in the capitalist system that is aware of vaeshyan exploitation. These conscious labourers, known as vikśubdha shúdras, try mightily to raise the call and put an end to capitalist exploitation. Now they are too few in number, so the capitalist system carries on. However, soon that will change.

Certainly most Ananda Margiis are acutely aware of the exploitative measures taken by those company leaders. The main approach is that more consciousness raising and awareness is needed in the public sector. And that will come: The people are feeling the squeeze of capitalist exploitation and it will not be long before they search for answers.


THEIR APPROACH OF BRAINWASHING

Unfortunately, as it stands now, a major section of the workforce gets spoon-fed the idea that their company is their well-wisher and friend - that the company is their family. So at first the capitalist enterprise tries to purchase their employees by giving them a small amount of money. Then those capitalist executives inject brainwashing strategies in order maximize employee output and extract tremendous profits from them.

For example, during the holidays and weekends, companies organise various types of "fun" gatherings like picnics and seminars etc whereby the employees pass even their leisure time under the "protective care" of the company. They even take family vacations with their company. The whole point being that employees are led to believe that the company is actually their family. Once this idea gets set in the mind, those employees will walk to the ends of the earth to get the job done for their cherished company.

Company executives get into the mind-set of their employees and by this way drive them to exponentially increase their work. Such employees get so stressed out that they lose their perspective. Those suffering employees get convinced into thinking that their status will be enhanced by making the company more successful. This is another aspect of the brainwashing going on.

In this way, capitalist exploiters exponentially advance their income and increase profits for every employee they hire. They pay the employees 1x amount and from that employee's work those capitalist make 10x, 50x, 100x or more. When you multiply that by each and every employee, it is quite evident that huge money is going into the bank accounts of those company leaders. All done by psychically exploiting their work-force.

Actually such employees are so brainwashed that they are not shocked or dismayed by this. Rather they glorify their company and pay tribute to and worship the top capitalists of the world. How does this happen? Capitalist opportunists appease and lure their employees by brainwashing them.

To reverse this situation, the activities of labour movements must be supported and more consciousness raising programs are needed to create more vikśubdha shúdras. Actually, with every passing day, more and more a looking for a viable alternative. So the ground is becoming more fertile.


LIKE THE MASTER AND HIS DOG

Altogether, the current situation is just like one master who had a dog. After taking a huge voracious meal the master is fed like a king. If he eats one more morsel he will burp - or worse. In that bloated state, the master feeds a few small leftover scraps to the dog and the dog is forever grateful.

Such is the situation nowadays. Top capitalists garner huge profits while the vast majority of employees in the general society are exploited to the bone. Those employees eat, sleep, & dream about their work. Even on Saturdays and Sundays they get called into work and put in lots of overtime hours that never get clocked. In this way they maintain an arduous work schedule yet earn comparatively nothing in return.

They are so brainwashed that they think the company is their benefactor. So when they get a "bonus" they become thrilled as if that is really something great. When in fact from their efforts their employers make huge profits that are piled to the sky. As an afterthought those big bosses half-heartedly toss a few copper coins in the direction of their employees. By this tactic, those capitalists get renewed vigor, commitment and faith from their employees. All because those employees have become psychically crippled by their bosses.

This is the way the situation is going on these days. All because much of the the general public is unaware and in their ignorance they revere those capitalists and are ready to do anything for them.

However, in this present hour, the number of vikśubdha shúdras is growing as more are becoming aware of the exploitative methods of such capitalists. As soon as the common people become aware of their rights, a critical mass will be reached, and they will not sit and watch capitalists hoard all the wealth. Rather they will be primed to jump into action and pay heed to the calls of "No more capitalist exploitation - All have the right to the wealth of the universe."


MULTI-STEP APPROACH

To overcome the grip of the current vaeshyan model a few things are needed. People must be made aware of their rights; they must gain a keen awareness of capitalist exploitation; they must become vikśubdha shúdras. Then, there will be the requisite momentum to cohesively advance a Proutistic economic system based on the cooperative model.


 COOPERATIVES: THE PROUTISTIC ALTERNATIVE

Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar has given the teachings of Prout, including the cooperative system. In the capitalist structure, the over-accumulation of wealth is the aim of top business executives; they want to hoard all the money. Whereas, in the cooperative model, the fair-minded earnings of the collective are rationally divided between all participants.

Prout theory states, "The total profit of such co-operatives should be distributed amongst the workers and members of the co-operative according to their individual capital investment in the cooperative and to the service they render to the production and management of the co-operative." (Prout in a Nutshell - 14, p.46)

Thus, as Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar describes above, in the cooperative system the profits are shared based on the merit system - but all are guaranteed enough funds for the necessities of life. In that way, all members of the cooperative earn a fair portion based on their investment and work ethic. This is one of the revolutionary qualities of the cooperative model.


CAPITALISTS ARE ANTI-PROUT

In a nutshell, it can be said that capitalists operate in a manner that is 100% contrary to the ways of Prout because those bosses are driven by their extreme selfish desire to pocket huge amounts of money - all the while manipulating and exploiting those doing the work.

In a phrase the capitalist model is profit-motive. Everything and anything is justified by that bottom line. In contrast, Prout is based on the service motive where the economy is consumption based.

So capitalist appraoch is only fueled by owners making more money - at any cost; and, the Proutistic model is for the service and well-being of society. They are diametrically opposite to one another.

More about this striking difference is discussed in various discourses like: Economic Dynamics, Talks on Prout, Decentralized Economy - 1, Socio-Economic Movements, etc.


COOPERATIVES BASED ON COORDINATED COOPERATION

The Proutistic model is entirely different. By awakening the masses and creating more vikśubdha shúdras, we will soon be able to implement the cooperative model.


MORE TEACHINGS ON THE COOPERATIVE MODEL

Here below Shrii Sarkar is furthermore telling about the special benefits of Proutistic cooperatives.

"Through the co-operative system human society will progress with accelerating speed." (Proutist Economics)

"Co-operatives will greatly assist in psychic and spiritual advancement." (Proutist Economics)

"PROUT supports the implementation of the co-operative system. Its inner spirit is one of coordinated co-operation, for only that can ensure the healthy, integrated progress of humanity. The co-operative system is essential to establish complete and everlasting unity amongst the human race. People should work to enjoy sweeter fruits by establishing the co-operative system." (Prout in a Nutshell - 14, p. 40)


PROUT GUIDELINE:

EVERYTHING IS THE COMMON PATRIMONY OF ALL

Here is Prout's comprehensive call for all to embrace their rights and put an end to capitalism, and establish the ways of Prout.

   "None of the movable or immovable property of this universe belongs to any particular individual; everything is the common patrimony of all, and the Father of all is Brahma. All living beings can enjoy their rightful share of this property, like members of a joint family in the Dáyabhága system. As members of a joint family, human beings should safeguard this common property in a befitting manner and utilize it properly. They should also make proper arrangements so that everyone can enjoy it with equal rights, ensuring that all have the minimum requirements of life to enable them to live in a healthy body with a sound mind." (Problems of the Day, Point #1)

The following Prout principle from Ananda Sutram highlights how surplus wealth should be distributed.

Atiriktaḿ pradátavyaḿ guńánupátena (5-10)

[The surplus wealth should be distributed among meritorious people according to the degree of their merit.]

   "Purport: After meeting the minimum requirements of all in any age, the surplus wealth will have to be distributed among meritorious people according to the degree of their merit. In an age when a bicycle is the minimum requirement for common people, a motor vehicle is necessary for a physician. In recognition of people’s merit, and to provide the meritorious with greater opportunities to serve the society, they have to be provided with motor vehicles. The dictum “Serve according to your capacity and earn according to your necessity” sounds pleasing, but will yield no results in the hard soil of the earth." (Ananda Sutram)

As members of this universal human family, everyone must abide by the tenet that the wealth of this manifested universe belongs to Parama Purusa, and all are His children, so the wealth should be shared rationally amongst all. There must not be scope for people to  get caught up in capitalistic tendencies.

   "We must not forget, even for a single moment, that the entire animate world is a vast joint family. Nature has not assigned any portion of this property to any particular individual...When the entire wealth of the universe is the common patrimony of all living beings, can the system in which some roll in luxury, while others, deprived of a morsel of food, shrivel up and starve to death bit by bit, be said to have the support of dharma?"
   "In a joint family every member is provided with adequate food, clothing, education and medical treatment, and amenities, as per their individual needs, according to the financial capacity of the entire family. If, however, any member of the family appropriates more grains, clothes, books or medicines than he or she requires, will that person not be the cause of distress to other members of the family? In such circumstances his or her actions will be certainly against dharma – certainly antisocial."
   "Similarly, the capitalists of this modern world are anti-dharma, or antisocial, creatures. To accumulate massive wealth, they reduce others to skin and bones gnawed by hunger and force them to die of starvation; to dazzle people with the glamour of their garments, they compel others to wear rags; and to increase their own vital strength, they suck dry the vital juice of others."
   "A member of a joint family cannot be called a social being if he or she does not possess the sentiment of oneness with the other members, or if he or she does not want to accept the lofty ideal of joint rights and the principle of rationality..." (Problems of the Day, Point #1)


CURING CAPITALISTS OF THEIR DISEASE

   "A little while ago I said that all crude objects of enjoyment are limited in nature, and thus their accumulation by any one individual is not desirable. Let everybody enjoy as much of the subtle psychic world as they can – let them accumulate as many psychic and spiritual resources as they want – but there must be provision for the application of force if needed to prevent any one individual from accumulating excessive physical resources. The application of physical force will, no doubt, deprive people of some of the wealth they have accumulated or decrease their opportunities to accumulate physical wealth in the future. But it is certainly not impossible, through proper education, to transform people’s desire for material pleasure into a desire for psychic pabula. (In fact, the desire for physical or psychic pabula “springs from innate psychic longings. The desires of the crude mind are easily satisfied.” However, I object to calling the desires of the crude mind pure psychic longings.) This type of education is essential in society today."
   "Such an approach does not deny the world, as do impractical idealists, nor does it attempt to suppress the higher propensities of the human mind, as do materialists."
   "Unless people’s propensities are directed towards subtle forms of expression, their minds tend to get enmeshed in thoughts of petty enjoyment. People who portray themselves as saviours of humanity and espouse high-sounding philosophies from public platforms at the tops of their voices, while at the same time nourishing within themselves the worms of self-interest, can, in any weak moment, deceive the naive public. This is a perfectly natural thing for them to do. Those who want to build a society based on human welfare without first developing themselves fully through spiritual practices, will not only degrade themselves, they will also cause the degeneration of the whole of society. They will not even be able to trust the people with whom they are working. They may initially try to develop their own capacity in order to attain positions of leadership, but eventually their sole aim will be to dominate others instead of developing themselves. When they realize from bitter experience that it is not possible to utilize the society as a vehicle for establishing their group or party supremacy, or when the suppressed masses rise up and revolt, the evil tendency to suppress the people will certainly awaken in them." (Human Society - 1, Social Justice)


MORE PROUTISTIC TEACHINGS ABOUT CAPITALISTS

(A) Here below Prout teachings outline the key role that vikśubdha shúdras play and why their presence is so vital.

"In a capitalistic social system or in a democratic structure the situation of middle-class people (the vikśubdha shúdras) is generally miserable. This is because they are the greatest critics of capitalism and the strongest opponents of exploitation. An increase in the number of vikśubdha shúdras in a society is an early omen of a possible shúdra revolution. It is therefore the duty of those who want to create a world free of exploitation to help to increase the number of vikśubdha shúdras. It will be harmful for the revolution if these people die or are transformed into shúdra-minded shúdras. All the sadvipras in the world should be vigilant to make sure that the number of vikśubdha shúdras does not decrease due to unemployment, birth control, or other bad practices or policies." (Human Society - 2, Shúdra Revolution and Sadvipra Society)


(B) In this next teaching, Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar guides us that capitalists will stay in power for a long, long time - until that key moment arrives when there is a rise in mass awareness. That moment is soon to be upon us - we should ready the soil.

"Vaeshyas [wealthy businessman] believe that only a few people can accumulate material wealth, depriving the rest. Thus there will always be only a few vaeshyas, while those who are the objects and tools of their exploitation form the majority. Like exploited beasts of burden which carry bags of sugar, in their crippled state of mind the majority feel that they do not have the right to taste the sweetness. This feeling is the greatest ally of the vaeshyas, so directly or indirectly they always try to nurture this type of feeling in the minds of the majority. Consequently they propagate various types of isms and ethereal theories with the help of the vipras in their pay whom they have reduced to the level of shúdras. When the majority, unable to tolerate this exploitation any longer or find any other way out, desperately leap into action, the Vaeshya Age comes to an end. But it takes a long time for downtrodden people to understand that the vaeshyas are the parasites of society. Hence thorough preparation is required to end the Vaeshya Age." (Human Society - 2, The Vaeshya Age)


(C) Here Prout philosophy points out how in the height of the vaeshyan era all others get reduced to the status of shudra  - all are exploited.

   "The vaeshyas increase their wealth by buying the back-breaking labour of the shúdras, the powerful personalities of the kśatriyas, and the intellect of the vipras, according to their needs. The shúdras, just like beasts, sell their physical labour in exchange for mere subsistence. Because they sell their labour, society survives and moves ahead. The powerful personalities of the kśatriyas build and maintain the social structure with the labour extracted from the shúdras. Through their intellect the vipras utilize the personal force of the kśatriyas, and through their money and capitalistic mentality the vaeshyas utilize the vipras’ intellect to increase their wealth."
   "The vaeshyas do not confront any social problem directly. Just as they buy the labour of the shúdras, the personal force of the kśatriyas and the intellect of the vipras with money, so they endeavour to solve all social problems with money. They do not win victory on the battlefield; they buy it with money. In poverty-stricken democratic countries they buy votes. As they accomplish everything with money, their vital force comes from money. They therefore take all sorts of risks in life to accumulate money. For money they can sacrifice their conscience, their sense of good and bad, right and wrong, at any moment. So in order to save the exploited shúdras, kśatriyas and vipras from the vaeshyas, money, which is the source of all their power, has to be taken out of their hands." (Human Society - 2, The Vaeshya Age)


WHO IS SHUDRA

Throughout His Proutistic teachings, Baba has discussed the mind-set of those who get exploited by capitalist in the height of the vaeshayan era. Those who give way to this mentality are verily shudras. Unfortunately, now in the early part of this 21st century, many fall in this category.

   "Shúdras live only for physical enjoyment. They neither bother about ideology nor give any value to rationality. Of the three aspects of time – past, present and future – they think only about the present. They have neither the time nor the inclination to think about the past or the future. Religion, spirituality and a genuine social system have no significance for them..."
   "Shúdras are always sleeping. They can perform work only if someone wakes them up. Once the work is done, they go back to sleep. In order to maintain the cáturvarńika (i.e. shudra, ksatriya, vipra, & vaeshya) social system, some work will have to be taken from the shúdras. Consciousness should be developed among shúdras in order to protect them from the inhuman greed of the vaeshyas. (All non-vaeshyas slip into shúdra-hood on the eve of a shúdra revolution.)" (Humans Society - 2, The Kśatriya Age)


Namaskar,
At His lotus feet,
Pradiip


NOTE 1: SIMPLE DEFINITIONS OF SHUDRA AND VAESHYA

Shudra: Those who are busy thinking about their bread and butter and do not have space to think about anything else - just their material existence.

Vaeshya: Wealthy businessman.


NOTE 2: FOR MORE INFORMATION

This entire letter is based on the teachings of Prout. Those who wish to know more about this topic should reference the various discourses on Proutist economic policies, or write in with your queries.


NOTE 3: SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Please write-in detailing what you have seen with regards to the psychic exploitation of the masses by those capitalists. What strategies have you seem them do to befool and brainwash their employees.

Well-Written Baba Story of Ranchi Days

Baba

== WELL-WRITTEN BABA STORY OF RANCHI DAYS ==

Namaskar,
The following is a well-written, devotional portrayal that stands as an excellent example of how a Baba story should be presented. The writer has beautifully described the scene and wonderfully depicted the spiritual vibration of those days with Baba. It is an inspiring account.

I was also present in Ranchi on many occasions those days and can attest to the veracity of this story. Everything the writer has described is 100% accurate. What is expressed is not an exaggeration; nor is there a hint of hyperbole. The below story is a proper depiction of what took place.

All in all, this story rekindled my own sweet and blissful memories of being with Baba in Ranchi. It made me remember those devotional times of longing for Him and running after Baba's car on the dusty road. That was so blissful. I vividly recall attending and participating in those sadhana demonstrations, receiving his blessing, having His divine proximity, getting personal contact, attending general darshana, watching and seeing Him on a daily basis, and receiving His grace, as well as so many other auspicious occasions with Baba etc. After reading this following story, everything became fresh and alive. I cannot forget how His mere presence was enough to bring one into the height of spiritual joy and realisation. There was so much love and devotional longing in the air. This story captures that feeling.

That is why we should embrace and emulate those who can write a proper and spiritually-vibrating Baba story. One such writer is Shrii Ram Kumar ji - a very good devotee with strong literary skills. In the 1960's, he was the publisher of the Hindi magazine, Ananda Du'ta. That was one of the first magazines and he published many devotional and inspiring stories.

This below account also neatly captures the essence of what it was like to be with Baba back in those Ranchi days. Our respects and appreciation to the unknown author and to Dada Maheshvaranandji who included this Baba story in his collection for distribution. Read and enjoy!

MEMORIES OF THE YEAR OF DEMONSTRATIONS

The period 1969-1970 was a very special year for Ananda Marga.  It was called “the year of demonstrations”. During this time Baba demonstrated and explained many different spiritual powers and different samadhis.  Again and again He told us that these powers are higher mental and spiritual states, and are not at all “supernatural or miraculous”; they are perfectly natural, but they are so rare that people are in awe of them.  Again and again Baba told us that our aim is Parama Purusa (Supreme Lord), and that if we desire occult powers, our downfall is certain. Those were the days that no one who was present can ever forget.  I had recently come to India, and by long and intense meditation, my eyes were being opened to the greatness of Baba.  What I saw and experienced changed my life completely.

At that time, the central office of Ananda Marga, where Baba stayed and directed its entire operation, was in a small town in Northern India called Ranchi. The Ananda Marga “world headquarters” was a small, concrete-block building with about five rooms.  To me it looked like a dilapidated little shack, and at first I was shocked inside at its simplicity.  It was only gradually, as I did more and more meditation that I was able to realize that the greatness of Ananda Marga did not lie in external trappings of showy prosperity.  It lay in the hearts of the Margis, burning with divine love and the indefatigable desire to serve humanity. I realized that the great movements of history have all started like this – not with buildings but with an idea – not with external glamour but with the invisible internal dynamism of its members.

About three-fourths of a mile down a narrow dirt road, that was impassibly muddy during the rainy season, was the jagriti and the Ananda Marga School, where Baba came twice a day to give His discourses and hold His demonstrations.  Even as I write about this now, almost seven years later, there is a deep stirring in my heart because those were the deepest experiences of my life.  In those days, I was born again.  I was irrevocably changed.  I felt completely and totally in love fore the first time in my life.  Not human love –which compared to this seemed shallow and wavering.  But the love that pours into and out of every cell of your body, the kind of love that sometimes feels like rock inside, so solid that nothing – not doubts or fear or pain – can budge it.  This love Baba gave me, most undeserving me, who every day as I rode silently to the jagriti on the rickshaw, thought over and over to myself, “Why me, what did I do to deserve this?  There must be some mistake!”    Twice a day, at about noon, and again about 6:00 pm in the evening, Baba would come to the jagriti for His discourses.  The jagriti was a large brick building; inside was a spacious dirt-floored hall with a stage in the front where the large Sunday morning discourses were held.  Margis from all the neighboring town and villages would attend the Sunday discourses.  There were several smaller rooms that still shine in my memory as one of the most special places on this entire planet.  There was a little room about four squares meters in size, with one or two windows and a wooden cot in the front covered by a blanket.  Down the path alongside the building, past that little room, Baba used to walk, protected from the burning Indian sun by his bodyguard, dressed in crisp khaki uniform, walking beside Him and holding a black umbrella over His head.  Baba’s clothes always seemed so white, whiter than any white I had ever seen before.  His white figure was so radiant that sometime my eyes could hardly see due to its brightness. How strange it was that just the sight of that small man walking slowly with measured steps under the umbrella down that corridor would burst my heart with joy and flood tears into my eyes – and make me freeze motionless as tremendous spiritual waves engulfed me, and I could not move or think – only dissolve in bliss.

When Baba had sat down on the bed, various persons were called into the room for personal contact.  There was a long list of devotees each day, and the rest of us waited anxiously outside the room, talking softly about Baba or doing meditation.  There were different people there every day.  The dadas and didis who had come from distant parts of India to report to central headquarters and were now coming to see Baba, just as a calf, frolicking in the meadows all day must return from time to time to its mother to drink deep of her nourishment.  There were Margis from different parts of the country and even from Nepal who took special leave from their jobs and packed their whole family into the crowded Indian trains to sit at Baba’s feet for a few days and gain the inspiration and strength to return home and set an example for all the worldly people they came in contact with.  There were the local Margis who used to come every day, at lunch and after work, to see their Baba.  Then there were the central workers who sometimes were able to take time out from their work and visit the One they were working ceaselessly and tirelessly for.  I remember once, one very devoted Didi had come for several days in a row to see Baba, and when He heard that she was again outside, He pretended anger and said, “What! She is here again? Doesn’t she have any work to do?” and so she swallowed her devotion – what a lump in the throat – and returned to her work.

In that small room, as we all (only about twenty of us then) sat crowded and motionless before Baba, there was a vibration unlike any I have felt before or after.  When Baba paused, it was so silent you could hear your heart beat, and even on dark and cloudy days it seemed as if a brilliant radiance filled the room.  When I sat before Baba I had a deep feeling that I am at a loss to explain.  I felt as if I were sitting in infinity.  As if all space had dropped away from around me, as if all time had disappeared; the past was forgotten and the future did not exist.  I was sitting on the eternal present, bathed in an indescribable peace and happiness.  It was as if I had always been there, and would always remain there, and everything else was a flickering dream that had disappeared like the colors and sounds of firecrackers falling from the sky. The feelings I have for Baba are too deep to flow out of the pen.  You who have felt, know.  You who have not felt, will one day feel, and then you will know that it is this you have been waiting for all your life, all your lives.

As we watched in awe, Baba would perform one amazing demonstration after another, describing each one like a science professor in a laboratory.  First, though, Baba would become very serious and scan the whole room, looking at all of us – probably seeing our mental colors to see if we were in a sufficiently sensitive spiritual state to appreciate his deep teaching.  Then He would say sternly, “Sit in a proper asana!” and everyone would snap their backs up straight.  Then Baba called a devotee to come forward and sit in front of Him and say, “Sit in padmasana and do meditation.” After a few moments Baba would reach down and hold the devotee on the back of the neck, just at the base of his brain, where the spinal cord enters the all-knowing mind, which knows past, present and future. By His touch He was awakening that devotee’s deepest layers of the mind, and through that devotee, usually, Baba would perform the demonstration.

In this way it was clearly shown that it was only Baba Himself who could have infinite knowledge and infinite powers, and that He could awaken them in people by His grace. The words He spoke about Parama Purusa, about divine love, about unity and divinity of all beings – sank deep into my heart like a sound vibrating in a deep well and I felt as if He were speaking my own heart’s echo. There were hundreds of demonstrations in those days – every morning and evening for months, but often no record was kept of them. Who felt like writing anything in Baba’s presence, in His powerful vibration. In fact many people present did not even see or hear these demonstrations – the spiritual energy in the room was so high they just closed their eyes and were lost in deep meditation, until they felt someone pulling at them to stand up as Baba was leaving the room. Often the next day Baba would ask a devotee to describe what he/she had learnt the day before, and the devotee would smile embarrassedly and answer, “I don’t know, Baba.” And Baba would laugh and say, ‘Never mind, never mind, sit down, sit down, he did not see!  All right, who can tell..…”
  
Fortunately during one period Baba asked one dada to take notes and keep a record of the demonstrations. After the demonstrations were over, Baba would arise from the wooden cot and, doing namaskar to everyone, slowly walk out of the room.  Everyone would rush to help Him as he walked through the door. Sometimes He would pause a little and look into the eyes of a devotee whose face was gleaming with spiritual purity and love.  Baba would look at the devotee with His look of love and say simply, “Tum kaesa ho..(how are you)” or perhaps pinch the devotee gently on the cheek like a father pinches his child.  But these simple words and that simple affectionate touch conveyed tremendous spiritual blessings, and afterwards you could see light radiating from the head of that devotee. He had been transformed by Baba’s touch, by Baba’s love.

After Baba had left to do His noon sadhana and take His lunch, usually we would all sit for meditation because the spiritual waves were so strong no one could move. Sometimes as I left that holy place, as I gradually returned to normal consciousness, I would look around me at that little room in that old brick building with lumpy dirt floor at the end of a narrow dirt road in one of the smallest cities in one of the poorest countries in the world, and feel like I was in the nucleus of the universe. I used to laugh aloud and think of the wonder of it all – in this insignificant little corner of the world, the greatest miracles on the planet were being performed!  Here in this plain little room tremendous forces were being unleashed and harnessed, unknown and deep mysterious knowledge was being revealed, and hearts and lives were being changed irrevocably.  All this by drops of grace of our Baba!

Note: Here concludes the story from Dada Maheshvaranandji's collection.

At His lotus feet,
Anand

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