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# 2018-04-19 - Anandamurti, The Jamalpur Years by Devashish | |
Anandamurti | |
I recognized many connections between this hagiographic work and | |
other books such as Autobiography of a Yogi and biographies about | |
Milarepa, Neem Karoli Baba, Sri Ramakrishna, etc. That context helps | |
to see beneath the surface, touching on the nobility of Anandamurti's | |
vision. This includes an unapologetic optimism and an eagerness to | |
bridge the gaps dividing us from each other. Here is looking forward | |
to an evolutionary and pragmatic new dawn. Below are some highlights | |
that caught my interest, with my own words in square brackets. | |
# Chapter 4 | |
[P.R. Sarkar served as a highly intelligent accountant for Indian | |
Railways 1941-1947. Charan Gosh (Yogananda's father) was also a | |
highly intelligent accountant for Indian Railways 1885-1907.] | |
"Prabhat, it must be wonderful to be able to know what is going to | |
happen in the future," Ajit exclaimed, shaking his head and marveling | |
at his cousin's unique abilities. | |
"Not at all," Prabhat told him. "It is not a blessing: If anything, | |
it is a curse. You see, my sister is destined for a short life. She | |
will not live to see her marriage day. That is why I wish that she be | |
left in peace, so that she does not face any unnecessary troubles in | |
her final days. Think about it. Whenever I see her, I am reminded | |
that her death is fast approaching. You see a healthy young woman; I | |
see her death. Just imagine how difficult it would be for someone to | |
act naturally or be at ease with their friends or family if they knew | |
that someone close to them was about to die. There is good reason why | |
Providence has arranged that human beings should not know what is to | |
happen in the future." | |
[This seems to point out beneficial aspects of human ignorance.] | |
As they were standing there, they heard a madman laugh and exclaim, | |
"They call me mad. The Lord of the Universe has come to Jalmapur and | |
is working in the railway workshop, and still they sit around and | |
waste their lives playing cards. Fools! And they call _me_ mad?" | |
[This seems to point out detrimental aspects of human ignorance.] | |
# Chapter 5 | |
"Do as much spiritual practice as you can and serve all creatures of | |
this world. Search for opportunities to serve the people..." | |
Prabhat smiled. "It is better to be vegetarian. In fact, it is also | |
better to give up onions and garlic. They have even more static | |
properties than meat." | |
"The path and process that I've shown you are very rational and | |
logical," Prabhat continued. "Understand them properly and practice | |
accordingly. Sadhana, spiritual practice, is a must for human | |
existence. But put it to the test; question why you do it. If you | |
understand the rationale behind it, you'll be more motivated and | |
you'll enjoy it more." | |
# Chapter 8 | |
"This is one of the reasons why I support cremation. Should a | |
person's life force be suspended and this not be discovered by the | |
doctors, then there is no chance of their awakening inside the coffin | |
and dying a second, horrible death." | |
* * * | |
"Now take your mind to a planet of the star Ashvin. Does life exist | |
there?" | |
"Yes." | |
"What kind of life?" | |
"Human life." | |
"Does this human life bear any resemblance to human life on earth?" | |
"No, Baba. They have a different physical structure." | |
[Ashvin = Ashvini = Gamma Arietis, a binary star AKA Mesarthim. In | |
Chinese it is known as Lousu Er, or The Second Star of Bond.] | |
# Chapter 9 | |
The only "ism" he supported was universalism, emphasizing time and | |
again that all human beings belonged to one cosmic brotherhood | |
[/sisterhood] with equal rights to the gifts of Providence. | |
"There is nothing supernatural in this universe. It is only that some | |
things are comparatively rare so we take them to have some | |
supernatural origin." | |
Unlike other spiritual movements, his disciples would have to accept | |
the demanding work of social change as their direct responsibility, | |
something very different than they were used to seeing in Indian | |
gurus. He made it clear to them that he would be content with nothing | |
less than the transformation of an entire planet for the welfare of | |
every living being that inhabited it. This was his mission. By | |
accepting him as their guru, it would also become theirs. | |
# Chapter 10 | |
A couple of the newer initiates had brought fruit and flowers to | |
offer the guru, as was the tradition in the Hindu community, but the | |
other disciples explained to them that Baba did not approve of | |
physical offerings. They instructed them to offer mental flowers | |
instead, symbolic of their attachments and desires. While offering a | |
mental lotus in whatever color most attracted the mind, they were to | |
ask God or the guru to free them from those desires or attachments | |
that hindered their spiritual progress. | |
[How would one know that one's progress is hindered? And the cause?] | |
"Nagina, it is true that in the olden days the guru wanted the | |
disciple to offer him fruit. But which fruit? The fruit of his [/her] | |
actions. In time, the spirit of this was lost and the gurus started | |
accepting sweet fruits instead of the karma of their disciples. Now | |
this has become a custom. You are free to offer the fruits of your | |
actions whenever you like but not actual fruits. Furthermore, if I | |
accepted fruits from you then your poorer brothers [/sisters] would | |
also do the same. This would put them into financial difficulties. If | |
I accepted those fruits, knowing full well the economic difficulties | |
involved, it would not be ethical on my part." | |
# Chapter 14 | |
One day in July, Ram Khilavan, a well-to-do Jalmapur businessman was | |
lying on a cot in front of his house in the Olipur neighborhood | |
reading the Bhagavad Gita. How nice it would be, he thought, if I | |
could spend my whole life like this, repeating the name of the Lord | |
and reading books about God. The chapter he was reading, however, | |
bothered him. He didn't like it when Krishna equated himself with the | |
greatest of everything, such as the Ganges rivers. If God is in | |
everything, then why does he have to praise himself by comparing | |
himself to the greatest and most important things on this earth, and | |
thus try to set himself apart? | |
At that moment, a passerby wearing a white dhoti and kurta stopped | |
and asked him what he was reading. When Ram Khilavan told him, the | |
stranger sat down without introducing himself and asked if he could | |
have a look. | |
"Ah yes, chapter ten," the man said, fingering the pages. "How do you | |
like this chapter?" | |
"I love the book, but I have a problem with this chapter. I don't see | |
why Krishna should have to praise himself like this. 'I am the Ganges | |
of the rivers; I am the Meru of the mountains; I am the sacred banyan | |
of all the trees.' He seemed to be beating his own drum." | |
"No, no, you shouldn't think like this," the man replied calmly. | |
"Though God is present in everything, the Gita expresses it in this | |
way so as to arouse devotion, to show that in everything the Lord is | |
the highest expression. That's all it is doing. Well, I must be on my | |
way. Enjoy your reading." | |
# Chapter 17 | |
Baba ended his discourse with an ancient Sanskrit verse from the | |
Rig-Veda, humanity's oldest surviving literature. He called it the | |
chorus of the sadvipras: | |
> Samgacchadvam samvadadhvam salvo manasijanatam | |
> Devabhagam yatha purve samjanana upasate | |
> Saman van acute samanah hrdayani van | |
> Samanamaastuvo mynah yatha van susahasati | |
> | |
> Let us move together, let us sing together, let us come to know our | |
> minds together. Let us share like sages of the past so that all | |
> people together may enjoy the universe. Unite our intentions. Let | |
> our hearts be inseparable. Let our minds be as one mind, as we, to | |
> truly know one another, become one. | |
# Chapter 18 | |
It is impossible to conquer a crude idea and to replace it by a | |
subtle idea without a fight... Hence, Tantra is not only a fight, it | |
is an all-round fight. It is not only an external or internal fight, | |
it is both... The practice for raising the kulakundalini is the | |
internal sadhana of Tantra, while shattering the bondages of hatred, | |
suspicion, fear, shyness, etc., by direct action is the external | |
sadhana. When those who have little knowledge of sadhana see this | |
style of external fight, they think that the Tantrics moving in the | |
cremation ground are a sort of unnatural creature. Actually the | |
general public has no understanding of these Tantrics. | |
"That old man is a very advanced sadhaka. He has been practicing | |
sadhana very diligently for many years. He is a resident of | |
Viratnagar in Nepal. His spiritual practice is almost complete and | |
now he wishes to leave his physical body. He came here to ask me for | |
permission." | |
"But why does he need permission?" | |
"That is the rule. If any sadhaka wishes to leave their physical | |
body they must seek permission from sadguru." | |
"Did you give him permission?" | |
"No, I did not. He has a duty to perform. Only after he completes | |
the assigned duty will I allow him to leave his body." | |
"What duty is that?" | |
"I have made a new rule. Before any sadhaka can give up their body, | |
they must render social service, no matter how great a spiritualist | |
they may be. They must return the debt they owe to society. He had | |
not fulfilled that condition, so I told him he would have to do | |
rigorous social service for three months." | |
"And he agreed?" | |
"You see, Nagina, when someone exhausts their samskaras, they find it | |
painful to remain in their body..." | |
# Chapter 24 | |
"Now think about this: if an unprepared person suddenly got the | |
realization of the presence of Paramatman, what would be his mental | |
condition? He would become disturbed; he would go mad. I don't want | |
anyone to go mad. Unless and until a person's reactive momenta are | |
exhausted, he cannot achieve liberation. For this reason, I don't | |
give that realization to sadhakas who are in the preliminary stages | |
of their sadhana. Do more and more sadhana. Then you will have your | |
realization." | |
# Chapter 25 | |
"Pratapaditya, if you make your conscious mind as subtle as your | |
causal mind, then you can penetrate into the deepest recesses of | |
anyone's psyche and uncover all the experiences undergone by that | |
mind since its origin. Everything is stored in the causal mind. If | |
you make your mind subtle enough, you can know everything." | |
# Chapter 26 | |
"However, the human mind is not a composite mind but an independent | |
entity." | |
# Chapter 27 | |
"Not a single person in this world is foreign. For an avadhuta, the | |
entire creation is your own. There is no country that is not your | |
country." | |
# Chapter 28 | |
Abruptly he [Baba] sat back down and asked Dasareth to see his | |
[Baba's] own past life. Baba said he was taking Dasarath's mind back | |
seven thousand years. Dasarath's body started to shiver. Even the | |
color of his face started to change. He started to perspire a lot. | |
He started repeating, "Baba, Baba, Baba," and then he said he saw a | |
flood of effulgence. In the midst of that effulgence he saw Lord | |
Shiva sitting in meditation. Baba said, "Is it so?" Then he asked | |
Dasarath to move forward 3500 years and describe what he saw. | |
Dasarath saw a charming personality with fair complexion wearing a | |
crown. Baba then asked him to move forward in time and say what he | |
saw. Dasarath replied that he was seeing Baba in a radiant form. | |
Baba smiled and said, "See Dasarath, I was a king in my past life. | |
Now I'm a poor man." | |
* * * | |
Suicide is not the answer. You cannot run away from your samskaras. | |
They will follow you into the next life, and the samskara you create | |
by such an act is a terrible one. | |
# Chapter 29 | |
Etiquette and refined behavior are not enough. Real education leads | |
to a pervasive sense of love and compassion for all creation. | |
# Chapter 32 | |
The spiritual aspirants who do not render social service do not have | |
real devotion. | |
* * * | |
He tried to argue with Baba that one of the main factors that had led | |
to the decline of Buddhism in India had been Buddha's controversial | |
decision to create female sannyasis, but Baba would not hear of it. | |
"Like a bird, an organization needs two wings to be able to fly," he | |
said, a comment he would often repeat in the future. Nor would he | |
listen to any of the other traditional arguments against the | |
inclusion of women voiced by the other men in the room. | |
author: Devashish | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Prabhat_Ranjan_Sarkar | |
LOC: BL624 .A28 | |
tags: biography,book,hagiography,non-fiction,spirit | |
title: Anandamurti: The Jamalpur Years | |
# Tags | |
biography | |
book | |
hagiography | |
non-fiction | |
spirit |