How Even Good People Mess Up

Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2011 106:29:34 -0000
From: "Motilal Deva"
Subject: How Even Good People Mess Up
To: am-global@earthlink.net

BABA

              == HOW EVEN GOOD PEOPLE MESS UP ==

Namaskar,
We all want to move ahead in life and leave old habits behind, but it is
not always so easy. Often a person gets trapped or ensnared by past
behaviours. The mind clings on to "old ways of doing" and gets entangled
in past samskaras.

For instance:

A) A vegetarian fully aware of the negative effects of eating meat walks
past McDonald's and then turns around, goes inside, and eats a
hamburger, or perhaps one day he visits a friend's house and eats a
vegetable dish that contains a fish sauce.

B) A drug counselor, who's been "clean" for ten years and passes his
days teaching others about the ills of doing cocaine, gets arrested for
snorting cocaine in the basement of a pub.

C) A sadhaka who's been leading a sentient life for many years reverts
back to his old pre-sadhaka behviour by watching Hollywood / Bollywood
films in the evening and skipping over his sadhana routine.

We have all heard or seen such things transpire, either in our own life,
in the life of others, or, most likely, both.

Of course it does not have to be as blatant as the examples above. It
can be as "simple" as reverting back to any past behavior such as eating
sweets, or sleeping too much - even when we know that behaviour is not
good for us. We know but even then we do it.

How and why do such things happen?

None should think that these events just happen to crude people. Even
highly talented and successful people fall prey to this trap. Even our
esteemed acaryas have experienced such falls, big or small. What is the
reason?

According to Baba and His teaching of Ananda Marga ideology, the cause
and solutions to all these events are deeply rooted in spiritual science.


                      FIVE TYPES OF AVIDYA'

Here Baba points out the five types of avidya' and it is the last one -
abhinivesha - that pulls human beings back toward their crude behaviors
of old.

Baba says, "In a human being, klesha-vrtti is caused by avidya'.
Avidya', that is, the cardinal ignorance, is arranged in five stages.
Those five stages are avidya', asmita', ra'ga, dves'a and abhinivesha.
These forms of avidya' are the causes of the birth of klis't'a'-vrtti."
(AV-2)

Baba says, "Defective cognition causes five kinds of afflictions, which
are also known as the five Avidya's: avidya' (negative force), asmita'
(egotism), ra'ga (blind attachment), dves'a (repulsion) and abhinivesha
(self-obsession)." (AMIWL-9)

Thus it is abhinivesha which drags us back towards our dark past.

Because the mind is fully aware about the past - but not aware about the
future. Naturally then, it is quite easy for the mind to think about the
past. It is a known entity. And then, once it thinks about the past, it
is just a matter of time until one starts following those old patterns
of behaviour. This is the common cycle or downward spiral.


          ABHINIVESHA IS THE WORST, "MOST DANGEROUS"

Here Baba explains the key point about why abhinivesha is so dangerous.
The tricky thing about abhinivesha is that in cent-per-cent of the cases
the person involved knows that doing xyz is bad, even then he does it.
Such is the strong pull or allurement of abhinivesha.

    Abhinivesha: Svarasovahi vidus'ohpi tatha' ru's'hobhinivesha.

Baba says, "The last one and the most dangerous one is abhinivesha. Even
the learned persons and the jina'niis, the scholars know that this is
this and that is that or what is what and which is which. Even knowing
everything they are entrapped by certain propensities. This particular
nature of weakness is called abhinivesha. Several times you would see a
teacher moving his fingers as if he is using a cane. In class room he
uses cane. Now there is no cane in hand but he is moving his finger in
that style. A drunkard knows that drinking is a very bad practice. Even
then he can not give it up. These are all examples of abhinivesha." (AV-2)

Even when the rational mind is aware that stealing oversleeping, lying,
or overeating is harmful, still a person easily falls prey to their old
behaviours. That is why it is so dangerour: despite our awareness of the
inherent danger or harm, even then we resort to that action.


               HUMANS MOSTLY GUIDED BY SENTIMENT

As human beings we are mostly guided by sentiment - it is rare for one
to be exclusively guided by rationality and ideology. By His grace we
can and will achieve this, but most commonly human sentiment pulls
people in one way or another.

In addition, that familiarity with ones old behaviors (samskaras)
creates a deep impression in the mind. In that case, within our own mind
we have a tendency toward animalistic or static habits.

This is the case with everyone. Thus between the laws of karma and our
sentimental mind, the human psychic plane is a breeding ground for
abhinivesha. That aspect of avidya' ma'ya' grows like weeds in the human
mind.


                       CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE

Here Baba points out how everyone - even great and talented people - get
caught in the clutches of abhinivesha.

Baba says, "Svarasova'hii vidus'o'pi tatha'ru'd'ho’bhiniveshah – “Even a
great scholar, a highly learned person, who knows what is proper and
what is improper, is still driven by his inherent reactive momenta, and
knowingly moves towards improper and undesirable things.” This mental
disease, which is in fact a crude movement driven by avidya' [ignorance,
force of extroversion from the Cosmic Nucleus], is called abhinivesha."
(SS-24)

In each and every land and country there are examples of well-known,
well-educated people who knew better but still got caught in the
hell-fire of abhinivesha. And in the end, they suffered terribly for it,
often ruining their lives.

A few years ago, the very, very popular and well-respected governor of
NY was caught in total scandal. For years and years he was a district
attorney who fought hard against prostitution, and then while governor
he himself got caught visiting a prostitute while on a business trip to
Washington. He was obviously quite aware about the negativity and danger
of prostitution, even then he himself got lured into it. In result he
lost his job, faced severe public humiliation, and destroyed his family
life as his wife and four teen-age daughters were aghast at what their
father had done.

This next case is more well-known. The former President Bill Clinton had
been caught cheating on his wife before he became president - he knew of
all the hazards involved - even then he fell into that trap again while
president. We all know the details. No need to repeat them here.

The main idea is that even when one has full and complete knowledge of
the horrors and defects of doing certain wrongful or crude acts, still
one falls face down in the mud because when those ideas start swirling
in the mind, it is not easy to overcome the temptation.

That is why even good people mess up and ruin their lives due to the
nasty curse of abhinivesha. This happens everywhere.

Indeed without sadhana, one is sure to fall prey to abhinivesha in one
manner or another. And even with sadhana, we can see that often people
get caught, to some degree or another, if they are not cent-per-cent
careful.


              BABA'S STORY ABOUT ABHINIVESHA

Here Baba shares with us one story about abhinvesha.

Baba says, "Incidentally, I remember a story. Once there was an
alcoholic who realized, by studying good books and generally cultivating
his knowledge, that addiction to wine is a very bad habit indeed. Under
the influence of Vidya' shakti he even made a vow to give up the habit
of drinking on the next auspicious day. When that auspicious day came he
marched resolutely past the wine bar he used to frequent. When he was
ten steps past the wine bar he said in self-appreciation, “Well done,
mind. You are so firm in your resolution to kick the habit of drinking
that you’ve succeeded in taking ten steps past the wine bar.
Congratulations! Today I will reward you for your courage. Let’s open
two bottles of wine!” After that the alcoholic continued to visit the
wine bar regularly and drink large quantities of wine. This story is a
beautiful illustration of abhinivesha or psychic obsession." (AMIWL-8)

The force of avidya known as abhinivesh is so strong that even when we
have been defeating that very problem, still it can crop up and ensnare
us. Because abhinivesha resides in the deepest, darkest corner of the
human psyche.


                  WHAT IS THE SOLUTION

By Baba's grace there are a number of solutions, and we must adhere to
most or all of them in order to conquer the age-old psychic ailment
known as abhinivesha.

1) Reading the shastras - books of Ananda Marga - give us the knowledge
and inspiration and lead a proper life, away from our past samskaras.
Svadhyaya then is very important. However, svahdyaya alone is not
enough. Theoretical knowledge can only bring us so far in life. We must
also fortify ourselves with practical experience.

2) Singing kiirtan is a great way to divert the mind from old thoughts
and invite a spirtual newness or slow in our psychic arena. By singing
and dancing and ideating on Baba, then we can wash away the ill-effects
of abhinivesha from the mind.

Baba says, "The human brain is limited, and its nerve cells also have a
limited capacity: they cannot tolerate these growing complexities.
Kiirtan gives bliss to Parama Purus'a in the mental sphere, and it also
brings joy to human beings both individually and collectively; it leads
them on the path of welfare and frees them from all these complexities.
It removes all the diseases of the intellect and allows people to think
easily and in the proper way." (AV-22)

3) Doing sadhana is another very important practice for overcoming
abhinivesha. Our sadhana system, as we all know is very scientific. It
combines two distinct features or philsophies: As you think so you
become & the channelisation of mind. With these principles at work in
nearly every lesson- and most certainly in 1st lesson and dhyana, then
one's entire mental stratum get cleaned and pointed towards the Supreme
Entity. In that case all one's past samskaras related with abhinivesha
get smothered and removed from the mind.

4) Surrounding ourselves with satsaunga helps ensure we stay on the
proper path. Good company keeps us from reverting to old behaviours.
That is why satsuanga is looked upon as a key ingredient for attaining
liberation.

Baba says, 'Satsaun'ga provides a positive psychic environment. Good
company leads to liberation whereas bad company is the cause of
bondages." (Yoga Psychology)

Thus if we continually divert the mind towards Parama Purusa using the
aforementioned practices and approaches then it is sure that we can
overcome the trappings of abhinivesha. We must never let the mind get
diverted towards negative thoughts and past samskaras. And the way to do
that is to point the mind in a positive direction by thinking of Parama
Purusa. Then abhinivesha cannot grab hold of us.


                        BABA'S BLESSING

By Baba's grace,l from this very moment, we will all move straight
toward to His cosmic nucleus and not get sucked into old, crude
behaviors due to the psyhic disease known as abhinivesha.

Baba says, "From where does abhinivesha derive its impetus? From the
acquired sam'ska'ras of human beings. As long as human beings are guided
by their own individual flow, they are microcosms, and when they are
guided by the Cosmic flow (Brahmarasa or Para'rasa) they become
liberated souls – they become one with Shiva." (AMIWL-8)

Namaskar,
Motilal

    
                                  PRABHAT SAMGIITA

"Toma'kei a'mi bha'loba'siyachi, keno ba'siya'chi ja'ni na'..." (P.S. 304)

Purport:

O' my dearmost Baba, I love only You. Why I love You that I do not
know-- I cannot say. But one thing is sure, from the deepest core of my
heart I love You. Baba, by Your grace I have chosen Your path. You are
my Polestar and I never have any iota of doubt why I have come on this
path. My eyes remain fixed on Your blissful arrival, looking for You day
and night.

Baba, my mind always remembers You. In good times and bad, my mind
always remains awake thinking about You. Baba please grace me by coming in
my mind all the time-- during sleep & while awake, all the 24 hrs. Except
You I do not believe anything. You alone are the love of my life.

Baba, whatever may be the height of the tidal waves, and no matter how
severe the difficulties are, always I will march ahead on Your path. And by
Your divine grace I will continue to overcome all obstacles and reach unto
You. Baba, other than You I have no desire. You are my Goal. You are my
Ista.

You are the Essence of my existence my Soul of soul. Baba, You are my
dearmost, I love only You...


     ******************************************
                   Who is Dharmic

Baba says, "By observing people's conduct one will easily notice those who
are absorbed in divine love. Such people could never think of exploiting
others. Some of you know how I have described the exploiters. I said they
are adha'rmika - unvirtuous and sinful people." (AV-7, p.12)

In the above teaching Baba is guiding us that by seeing the conduct we can
understand and recognise who is a devotee. Because everybody knows that
devotees never cheat others. Whereas those who exploit others are sinful
and they are not devotees.

Baba says, "If by building big temples and large rest houses for pilgrims
they think they are showing their love for God, they are false, vain, and
hypocritical. By giving away illgotten money the exploiters will never be
able to cover up their sins. One cannot acquire love for God so easily."
(AV-7, p.12)

Here Baba is warning us how certain misguided and simple people think that
by erecting temples, big buildings, shrines, memorials and establishing
holy lands like the Jamalpur birthplace and the Tiljala Memorial building
they will thereby glorify themselves as great devotees. But the reality is
something else. Because those who are behind these projects are just
"hypocritical" and "false". They are cheating margiis by taking away their
money and putting that in one of their tiirthas. Means such crude leaders
knowingly give false sentiments and cheat and befool simple margiis in
order to get their money. They say that, 'You will get virtue by doing this
and that this is the only way to please Baba'. By this way simple people
get deceived and tricked into giving their whole life savings to the
Tiljala memorial or Jamalpur birthplace building.

Baba says, "Those who have attained Iishvaraprema, can never and will never
exploit others. They will raise their voice against all sorts of tyranny,
injustice and exploitation. Those who do not possess that kind of honest
courage to oppose all wrongs are nothing but fakes-- they are never
genuine." (AV-7, p. 12)

Some Wts do not like these types of negative tiirtha projects that are
imposed by various crude so-called leaders of AM. Because building up a
holy land goes completely against the spirit of Baba's omnipresent nature.
So making a holy land is outrightly adharmic. But even then those
discontented Dadas never dare to oppose nor do they ever express their
severe dissatisfaction. With the ultimate irony being that they end up
becoming tools to exploit margiis by convincing them to donate whatever
money they have for building of these tiirthas.

So those directly exploiting margiis and those who are cowardly supporting
the dogmatic tiirtha agenda-- both these parties are fake. They are not
genuine devotees. Everyone should recognise this basic truth which Baba is
guiding in the above divine teaching.
         ******************************************

Another Type of Addiction

From: Gagan
To: AM-GLOBAL
Subject: Another Type of Addiction
Date: Thu 16 Dec 2010 14:39:02 -0000

Baba

                    == ANOTHER TYPE OF ADDICTION ==

Namaskar,
In the USA, state and local governments are resorting to lotteries and gambling to generate income. The article appended below talks about this matter and if you listen to the podcast (see link below) there is a more in-depth interview detailing the effect of lotteries and gambling on the general populace.

Here - in very brief - is an overview of the affect of gambling on the human condition according to the stand of Ananda Marga. We should all be aware of how gambling affects one spiritually, emotionally, psychologically and socially.

1. The main problem with gambling is that in increases one's greed: one thinks that they can get more money - totally free. It creates a feeling in the mind of malcontent. Because the gambling addict always feels, "I want more." In that case they can never have peace of mind. Gambling ruins any sense of santosa and goes against the code of aparigraha as well. Because when any vrtti is encouraged, like greed, then one becomes intoxicated by that vrtti and one loses their sense. Thus those involved in gambling totally destroy their mental structure and lose any semblance of mental equipoise and inner peace. This is the root problem with gambling.

From this above noted spiritual and psychic problem, so many social offshoots result:

2. A gambling addict will destroy their family because of their addiction. They will spend all the family's money and resources on their negative habit (addiction to gambling) and overlook basic needs like food, clothing for the children, and so much more.

3. When someone gambles they invariably lose all their wealth and in turn become depressed. Here again that leads to the destruction of the family as people resort to alcohol and other drugs to seemingly alter their depressed mood. That invites divorce and so many marital problems like abuse. In sum one's home-life is wrecked.

4. When one loses in gambling then they need more money to support their addiction and many times they resort to cheating, theft, robbery and deception in order go get more money.

5. A gambling addiction will totally one's ruin own health: physically, mentally and in all kinds of ways. Because gambling itself is an intoxicant. Intoxicants need not always be things like wine and drugs; gambling and other sorts of bad psychic habits also intoxicate the mind.

6. Thus the array of problems is vast. It is not just three or four points but many. Where there is gambling so many social crimes and psychic problems will mushroom. Gambling invites a negative, downward spiral.

7. If the casino business were a losing proposition then why would greedy moguls enter into this enterprise. Why? Because the "house" or the casino never loses. In the end the casino always wins and the common people suffer. This itself is proof that those who gamble are bound to lose.

8. Unfortunately in our Marga we have also undergone the ill effects of gambling. For instance, some years ago Dada Mahadevananda secretly took the entire Prout bank account from the Washington DC Prout office and went to Atlantic City, NJ in hopes of winning but he lost every penny in the casinos - thousands and thousands of dollars. Tragically this is not an isolated incident. Due to greed people try to win more money by gambling. If such an instance has occurred in your unit, do let us know as all such incidents should be dealt with and the person rectified of their problem.

9. Here below is Baba's guideline for how to heal those who suffer from an addiction or bad habit like gambling.

   Baba says, "The best psychological cure for addicts is to put them in an environment where they will be unable to think of their object of addiction for any length of time. To proclaim, “Don’t do this, it’s bad,” is futile, for it is a negative approach. If you say, “Don’t drink wine”, you are still injecting the concept of wine into the alcoholic’s mind, thus making it impossible for him to forget it and kick his bad habits. You are giving alcohol negative publicity, and it again becomes his mental object. Thus whenever he gets the opportunity he will certainly drink it again. And it may be that this negative approach encourages the alcoholic to become even more addicted. It is a defective approach."
   "These days the sign “No smoking please” is placed in many public places, but it will not reduce the amount of smoking. If society wants people to stop smoking, its approach should be to divert the smoker’s mind to other objects. A chain smoker should be encouraged to get involved in various pursuits such as music, dance, songs, culture of fine arts, etc., for if the mind remains engaged in these things it will forget its object of addiction. But the person who thinks, “I’ll stop drinking wine the day after tomorrow – no, let me see, why not tomorrow” can never kick the habit, for wine remains the mental object. The mind will try to materialize whatever it thinks about in the external world – this is its nature." (APH-6, "Vyatireka-1)

10. Here below is that news article about the effect of gambling - and again the podcast (audio) is a more detailed interview with the Professor McGowan.


                   STATES GAMBLE ON CASINOS TO GENERATE REVENUE

To listen to the podcast visit this below link. At the 9:45min mark of the interview, the Professor McGowan addresses the many social and negative offshoots of legalised gambling.

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/16/132105939/states-gamble-on-casinos-to-generate-revenue

For decades, Las Vegas was the only place in the United States where casino gambling was legal. But in the late 1970s, Atlantic City, N.J., followed suit. Since then, more and more state and local governments have gotten into the game, lured by the promise of new jobs and tax revenues. Forty states now permit some form of casino gambling.

Recapturing revenue lost to neighboring states is now the primary reason why states legalize gambling, says economist Richard McGowan. McGowan, a professor at Boston College who has studied and written about gambling for years, tells Fresh Air contributor Dave Davies that many states legalize gambling so that money spent by gamblers doesn't travel across state lines.

He points to Pennsylvania as an example of a state trying to make up for huge budget shortfalls by introducing casino gambling.

In 2009, Pennsylvania legalized slot casinos across the state. At the time, thousands of Pennsylvania residents were streaming across the state's borders to New Jersey in order to play the slots.

"In 2008, New Jersey made $4.5 billion on gambling [while] Pennsylvania made $1.6 billion," says McGowan. "In 2009, New Jersey's revenue went down to $3.9 billion. Pennsylvania went up to almost $2 billion. So you had a gain in revenue in Pennsylvania of around 20 percent. And you had a negative effect in New Jersey of around 13 percent. Clearly Pennsylvania declared war on New Jersey."

But the two mid-Atlantic states are not alone. Ohio approved gambling in the last election, McGowan says, because "it's surrounded by states now that have casino gambling, with the exception of Kentucky."

And California recently allowed tribes across the state to open a series of Native American casinos, with California receiving 25 percent of all revenue from slot machines.

"Clearly California was declaring war on Nevada," McGowan says. "And it has hurt Nevada. And you see this in state after state after state."

McGowan tells Davies that he thinks sometimes states get addicted to the new source of cash flow, in the same way that gamblers in the casinos do. And states that relied on gambling revenue to generate income — but are now losing money to neighboring states — are looking for newer ways to generate income.

"Not to pick on New Jersey, but New Jersey is now saying we have to revisit sports gambling," he says. "In other words, they're going to up the ante on gambling. They're saying, 'To make the Atlantic City casinos more attractive, we will start sports gambling there.' I'm sure the two Native American casinos in Connecticut [Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun] are thinking about sports gambling. That's another whole area that nobody wants to touch right now but clearly they're going to have to touch it."