Happening Less

To: am-global@earthlink.net Date: Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:53:02 From: "Priiti Jorlier" Subject: Happening Less Baba "Diner a'lote a'so ni, ele tumi a'ndha're..." P.S. 2073 Purport: Baba You are so merciful, You are so divine. Earlier when my life was full of happiness then that time You did not come; but now in this period of darkness You have come. It is Your grace. During my good days I wanted You to come and rejoice the occasion. But that did not happen-- in the effulgence of the day You did not come. But now in the darkness of night You have come.* Baba, how You play Your liila. Baba in the smile of the moon, You do not present Yourself. But when I was suffering in pain, then with the soothing balm You came and relieved me of my suffering. Baba, You have come in this cimmerian darkness when I am crying. Baba, everyone knows that You are most-loving; and everyone knows that You think about one and all. Even then they involve in logically analysing and reasoning about Your ways in order to strengthen their love for You-- to love You in a deeper way. O' Baba, You are beginningless and Your abode is in infinity. In all the twelve months You remain constantly along with me-- in pain and pleasure. Baba, You are the divine shelter of everyone; You are the heart of everyone, the Soul of souls. And by Your grace You pull everyone close to You. You never discard or ignore anyone-- irrespective of how high or how low they are. Baba You have only come in this time of crying and suffering. In the good days when I was calling You then You did not come. Baba, Your glory is unfathomable; Your liila is beyond imagination; Baba, You are so gracious... *Here Baba is using effulgence to represent those days of happiness and darkness symbolizes those periods of tears and sorrow.

== HAPPENING LESS ==

Namaskar, Although this is happening less in our Marga, still on and off again one or another person jumps onto the web etc in order to boast about their own cause or greatness. Sometimes someone is trying to nominate themselves for a post or a position and other times one is reporting about a particularly "good speech" they themselves delivered. So in places and with persons where these things are still happening, feel free to share this letter so we can get everyone moving in coordinated fashion according to AM ideals and values.

NOT LIKE A CLUB

Accepting 'AM ideology as a way of life' is unlike becoming the member of certain clubs or political organisations. To follow the path of spirituality one has to color one's own mind with the color of HIS thoughts and HIS teachings. The teachings of Parama Purusa should reflect in each and every expression of one's existence. That is why Baba says, the cult of spirituality is the cult of pinnacled order.

SOME PREVALENT SOCIAL DOGMAS

But in this materialistic era people have become so habituated to following certain dogmatic things which do not have any sense. Some innocent persons unknowingly do those things and some knowingly do them and get habituated. There are many such dogmas which have sprouted up like weeds due to the negative and pervasive influence of materialism. And these dogmas are disturbing spiritual life-- among them a few are listed as a reminder: (a) Saying 'Sorry' when one is not feeling any sort of repentance inside. Just one is mechanically repeating the word 'sorry'. (b) Replying 'not so bad' when someone asks 'how are you doing?'. (c) Engaging in the practice of shaking hands. (d) Style of kiirtan: Unspiritual way of dancing kiirtan, by mixing brothers and sisters or by keeping hand by the sides etc. (e) Not fulfilling one's own family obligations and instead breaking their unit family and leading libertine life due to infatuation with members of the opposite sex. (f) Acceptance of the so-called open-minded ways of lesbian, homosexual, and gay. (g) Moving around the globe and giving neo-humanistic classes but simultaneously indulging in a debauched life, or preaching the gospel of unity yet all the while keeping one's own group affiliation. Means hypocritically teaching something high and doing the exact opposite in one's own life. (h) And also 'self-praise'. These are some examples of dogmas which are the crude outcome due to the negative effect and onslaughts of materialism. So a huge number of the population is suffering from these dogmas-- some are aware and some not. Step by step all such dogmas need to be addressed and relieved, here following are Baba's guidelines about those indulging in self-praise. Again while this is not the rampant problem that it used to be in our AM society, still it flashes its shiny teeth every so often. And of course amongst the general populace it is an every day event. People even get praised for indulging in self-praise.

IT LEADS TO SELF-DESTRUCTION

Here in this following teaching Baba is warning sadhakas that praising oneself and falsely projecting one's own self as something great, doing this causes the destruction of one's own personality. BABA says, "It often happens that whatever one assimilates, one considers to be one's own achievement, and the ego becomes inflated like a croaking frog. Just as a frog considers itself to be bigger than others -- just as the frog, in its vanity, to demonstrate its size, tries to inflate itself more and more until it bursts -- so those who have assimilated only a little of the psychic world become puffed up with vanity and thereby invite their own ruin." (NSS p.157)

MOSTLY A PROBLEM WITH THE INTELLIGENCIA

Generally speaking, self praise is something that only intellectuals suffer from, sometimes in their simplicity it happen to other people also. That is what seems to have happened in this case. In either case though such an approach of self-praise severely hinders the development of that person. Baba says, "Intellectual develops a lust for some external words of praise - words to the effect that he has attained victory. So the first is that the mind gets puffed up with vanity, and thus grows weaker and weaker, and the second is that the person develops a lustful attachment for some external words of praise, and thus becomes a slave to those words and can never be a truly great person." (AVM-5, p.57) Clearly then getting stuck in the poor and degenerating custom of praising oneself is very harmful. No good can result from this. Just it destroys one's own character and also it irritates others.

SOLUTION: REMEMBER PARAMA PURUSA

So to avoid falling into the negative habit or problem of self-praise, people should instead remember that Parama Purusa is the real force behind all good works, not themselves. Baba says, "The duty of human beings is only to continue their efforts to please Parama Purusa. Thus when any work is done, the concerning sadhaka is not to be given any credit; the credit should be given to Parama Purus'a." (SS-18, p. 7) So by diverting our minds towards Parama Purusa and remembering HIS greatness, that is the spiritual approach.

TRUE KIIRTAN

As a final reminder, here again we should be perfectly clear that as sadhakas we should never praise ourselves. Rather we are to sing only His glory. Unfortunately though some people indulge in the self-centered practice of praising themselves to such an extent that other people feel utterly disgusted by their presence. Baba says, "'Kiirtaniiya' sada'harih'. Kiirtana should be done on Hari (Parama Purusa) and on no other entity. One should not praise oneself or any other person. There are many people who are very fond of praising themselves by telling everyone what wonderful things they have done, but as mentioned in this sloka, kiirtana is not for one's own self but for Hari. Even though people are taught to do kiirtan for Hari, they still make the mistake of praising themselves too much. Sometimes their self-praise is so intense that others are obliged to say, 'Please stop praising yourself so much'. They forget that their self-applause is rather boring for others. Human beings should realise that no one likes to hear the self-praise of others." (AVM-8, p. 15) Waiting to hear the opinions of others. Namaskar, Priiti

************************************************* - The Solution -

Baba says, "Whenever there is a conflict between the brain and the heart, intelligent people should respond to the call of the heart. The books in A'nanda Ma'rga philosophy are all absolute knowledge. The proper mark of identity of absolute knowledge is that it must be universal, rational and psychological. Certain instances of absolute knowledge are as follows-- the goal of human life is the attainment of Brahma; human beings are the progeny of Parama Purus'a...by dint of sa'dhana' or spiritual practices human beings gradually become divine." (PNS-18, p.10)

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