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Page 41 of White Noise Keywords: "dream," "language," "outward" "christusrex_inc@hotmail.com" <lxTZTcIuL@.com> wrote in message > Preface
From: "thebeadedbeauty" <thebeadedbeauty@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: GLIMPSES OF A MYSTERY
Date: 30 Aug 2004
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian
And your point?
news:41313b2f@news.comindico.com.au...
>
> How is it possible for a small lily flower to contain an ocean? Does it
> not sound absurd? Like sheer madness? Yet it is true that the desire of
> our individual ego is to be the master of everything. This is its dharma.
> The limitless thirst of our doer "I" wants all. Similarly, how can a drop
> of water fathom an ocean? The drop need not fear that it will lose itself
> upon merger with the ocean; the drop becomes the ocean.
>
> Once Paramahamsa Ramakrishna[1] asked his disciple Narendra, "If you are a
> bee and Saccidananda (the ocean of infinite bliss) is a pot full of honey
> placed in front of you, what would you do?"
>
> Narendra, who was always considered brilliant, replied, "I would carefully
> sit at the edge and slowly sip it."
>
> The Master laughed merrily and said, "You fool - you won't drown by
> jumping into it; rather it will make you immortal!"
>
> A brother of mine, Ac. Rameshvarananda Avt., thought that I would be fit
> to write a chapter of the book he was preparing on Shrii P. R. Sarkar. He
> asked me to write about the mystical aspect of Baba. This book is an
> expansion and development of that original article.
>
> It is impossible to write about Him unless one becomes Him. Yet I ventured
> to try only because of my human anxiety to share my feelings with others.
> Once Baba said, "Every human has this wont: to share his or her
> knowledge." I did not make this attempt to gather kudos from readers.
> Rather I want to share a few experiences and a little knowledge which my
> Master generously bestowed upon me.
>
> I feel that all of us close to Him suffer a sharp pain because of our
> inability to communicate the compassionate love we received from Him to
> our near and dear ones. This pain is felt by those whom He chose to be
> close to Him. He is beyond the factors of time, place and person. His love
> is so pure and blemish less, that it is completely above all earthly cares
> and comforts. That love of pure consciousness, though somewhat akin to
> worldly love, is much more subtle, wonderful and infinite.
>
> All thinking persons who were in His divine embrace feel that writing
> truthfully what they felt must invite sharp criticisms. Some may claim
> that what we write is all lies. Others will not believe what we write.
> Some people may even think that the writer is exaggerating in the hope of
> becoming famous. Most fear that they will be called mad by the
> intelligentsia if they write in a forthright way all that they encountered
> and felt. Because of these fears, most devotees desist from writing.
>
> Whatever the result, I want to truthfully narrate a fraction of what I
> understood and realized. When the rush of ideas takes place, I become
> irrelevant. My only hope is that some spiritually thirsty seeker might
> find these writings to be like a glass of cool water in the desert of the
> material world. If so, I will deem my attempt successful.
>
> Personally, I feel that my life only began when, by His grace, I met Baba
> in May 1965. From then until His great departure on October 21, 1990, I
> ran a marathon race trying to be physically close to Him. I felt as the
> Upanishads say,
>
> Durat sudure tadantike ca.
> He is farther than far,
> And He is so near as to be in your "I" feeling.
>
> Sometimes I felt that this Entity, illumination personified, was several
> light years away from me and that I was wasting my life pursuing this
> impossible task. I felt tired and like a lost traveller waiting for divine
> dispensation.
>
> But there were many more occasions when I felt that no one could be closer
> to Baba than I; it was impossible even to think otherwise. A few times I
> even found Him within me.
>
> In this book I have capitalized all references to Baba to show my deep
> respect for my Master. The translations of Baba's Prabhat Sam'giita songs
> are not official.
>
> I must tender my sincere thanks to sister, Avtk. Ananda Gaorii Ac., for
> editing the draft, and to Ac. Saoreshvarananda Avt. who typed it. I also
> thank Ramakrsna of Australia for the photograph that adorns the front
> cover of the printed book. I greatly value the assistance of Jayanta Kumar
> and Ac. Giridevananda Avt. who helped with the proofreading. I also tender
> my sincere thanks to Ac. Maheshvarananda Avt. who encouraged me by taking
> the first and last dictations from me. Without his labour and assistance I
> could not have finished this book.
>
> I want to repeat what a great devotee once said about His inadequacy in
> spreading the message of his Guru: "Whatever good I have said is His;
> whatever wrong I have said is mine." In the same way I apologize to the
> readers for any mistakes caused due to my excessive anxiety to share these
> experiences.
>
> Acarya Bhaskarananda Avadhuta
>
>
>
>
>
> My Early Astonishments
> We affectionately call the founder of Ananda Marga as Baba, which means
> "most affectionate". He is Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji, spiritual Master for
> millions. The physical form through which He expressed Himself was known
> as Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, who was born in Jamalpur, India in 1921.
>
> Sannyasiis (renunciates) greatly attracted me when I was young. I used to
> feel then that something was incomplete inside me. I desired a spiritual
> master from the age of ten, and each year after that my longing increased.
> I spent my leisure time studying philosophy and the lives of saints and
> mystics of different cultures and disciplines, yet no books satisfied me.
> I deeply yearned for direct perception and experience of the Supreme
> Consciousness.
>
> I received initiation through Acarya Pranavananda Avadhuta of Ananda
> Marga at a time when I was most tormented by the search for a master. I
> expressly wanted the greatest guru, and I was not willing to accept anyone
> else.
>
> When I met Baba, I felt as though I had known Him before. I felt like a
> lost child finding his father.
>
> He was of short height of five feet and two inches, with broad chest,
> muscular hands and legs, and superb athletic strength. I have never seen
> more beautifully shaped fingers and hands. His skin was alabastrine. The
> peach flower is initially a heavenly pink before turning white, yet even
> this colour cannot accurately describe the soft celestial glow of His
> palms and face.
>
> He always remained meticulously clean. He dressed soberly in His
> traditional dhoti and kurta everyday, even on tours abroad.
>
> His bewitching smile was at once affectionate and mischievous. Just a
> glance from Him was sufficient to arouse one's sleeping divinity. He had
> complete mastery over all His expressions.
>
> A few days after first meeting Him my initial confidence evaporated, and I
> started wondering whether He was hypnotizing me. For nearly six months, I
> remained skeptical. Yet each day that I was with Him, He astonished me
> with His apparently unending knowledge. His profound ideas filled my mind.
> To every question I asked, Baba gave beautiful answers that baffled me for
> hours. When I reminisce about Him, again He baffles me!
>
> Once I asked about the meaning of mudras.[2] He replied, "They are the
> physical expression of mental feelings." I pondered this beautiful reply
> for hours. Another time I commented that a certain person was "carefully
> careless". Baba immediately quipped back, "Is he carelessly careful, too?"
>
> His personality was so charming and sweet that we used to feel that our
> burdens and responsibilities dissolved in an ocean of peace and
> tranquillity. He made us feel safe and secure, and when He smiled, we felt
> like children who love to laugh and play without any reason. In those days
> it was a common sight to see devotees heavily intoxicated with the "wine"
> of spiritual love.
>
> I had the opportunity to watch Baba closely for nearly 28 years. I never
> observed any distasteful expression. He was the epitome of humility. He
> gave more than 40 social norms to be followed, but He Himself always did
> more than He asked of others.
>
> He had a very modest way of conversing, yet He also made us laugh by
> acting out charming dramas. In this way He illustrated political and
> social problems, then gave their solutions.
>
> He brought out in us the most profound feelings and emotions with His
> different moods. In His reporting sessions[3], He would make everyone roar
> with hearty laughter, cry tears of happiness or parting sorrow. He
> sometimes delivered brilliant discourses, then displayed a mystic aura
> when He cured someone of a terminal illness. Occasionally He burst into
> moods of feigned anger. Then I felt especially blessed and remembered the
> words of a mystic song:
>
> Kitni sheeri hei tere lab ke rakiib! galian kha ke be maza na hua.
> How sweet is thy tongue, O my beloved, That even after abuse I don't feel
> unhappy.
>
> Hey rudro, hey priyatamo tumar shashan piiyush shamo (Prabhat Samgiita)
> Oh Rudra (the entity who moves you to tears), Your disciplining is like
> nectar.
>
> His half-closed eyes, always hidden under thick framed glasses, seemed to
> betray His stance in the plane of relative consciousness, with one foot
> standing in the created Universe, and the other standing simultaneously in
> the formless state of pure Consciousness. I was very curious to watch His
> eyes. I had read that the eyes of some realized saints were also usually
> half-closed.
>
> During my early twenties I used to do many silly things when I was alone
> with Him. Once I removed His glasses and forced His eyes open with my
> fingers. Two blue sapphires, as deep and unfathomable as two oceans, gazed
> back at me. I wanted to contain them but was helpless. I still feel
> helpless like a baby in its mother's arms when I recollect that sight.
>
> A few times I observed a ray of golden light, like a small torch light,
> emanating from His eyes when He surveyed the body of a disciple who had
> some ailment. He would heal them by a touch or a look or with some caning,
> but only after taking an assurance that they would henceforth work for the
> good of humanity.
>
> A spiritual brother of mine, Kishan Kumar (who is now an advocate in
> Jammu), told me a story that illustrates Baba's perfect control over
> facial expressions. Kishan was massaging Baba when He inquired if Kishan
> had eaten. Kishan replied that he had, which was a lie because he did not
> want to leave. With a unique combination of smile and anger, Baba
> instructed him to go and take food. Kishan said to me that even after
> thirty years he can never forget how Baba perfectly combined an angry face
> with such an affectionate and loving smile. I read in a scientific article
> that it takes 17 muscles of the face to look angry but just a few to
> express happiness. Baba did both simultaneously!
>
> He walked majestically, like the king of kings. His presence inspired
> various feelings among the .assembled people, but most of all we felt a
> reverential awe. When He paused during His walks, with walking stick in
> hand, to explain a particular point, His voice was musical yet distinctly
> manly.
>
> Even while feigning anger, He remained perfectly composed and always
> expressed karuna bha va (compassionate tenderness) for suffering humanity.
> His inner attitude was that of a loving father towards His universal
> progeny. The outward nonchalant expressions were a facade, like a coconut
> shell full of sweet water. Only those who knew Him well appreciated this.
> So when rebuked, they would feel internally happy and tried hard to
> suppress their laughter in keeping with the drama He was staging, for He
> never liked that the seriousness of the situation should evaporate.
>
> Many of the public "exposes" of Baba and Ananda Marga, made by those who
> did not understand Him or were inimical to His ideology, centred around
> the assumption that His devotees believed Him to be God. It is certainly
> true that the relationship between Gum and disciple is of paramount
> importance in Tantra, which is not the case in other disciplines.
>
> Bulleshaw, a well known Sufi saint from Punjab, clearly expresses this
> Tantric ideal[4]:
>
> Rab miliya tu na miliya.
> Rab terei varga nai. [Punjabi]
> Oh Preceptor, I found God, but I did not find You.
> God is not as perfect as You.
>
> The mystical Tantric poet Kabir wrote:
>
> Guru Gobind dou khade
> Kake lage pamv
> Balihari Guru apno jin Gobind diyo batai. [Bhojpuri]
> If Guru and Govinda [the Supreme Consciousness] appear simultaneously, you
> have to pay your obeisance to Guru only, because the Guru made you realize
> Govinda.
>
> A very famous mystic, Charandas, said, in a long poem: Let me forget Hari
> [the Supreme Consciousness], but not the Guru. Hari put me in bondage, but
> Guru alone liberated me from it.
>
> From my first days in Ananda Marga I heard many stories from Margiis which
> attributed Baba with super-human qualities. I became very curious about
> this. Finally I told Him, "Baba, some people say that you are God, but I
> don't believe it." Baba replied, "I have never said that I am God. My
> philosophy does not accept the avatar theory of God incarnation[5]."
>
> Now, while writing this many years later, I appreciate the difficulty Baba
> must have felt in answering my child-like question. If He was in fact
> Parama Purus 'a (the Supreme Consciousness) and said so, I would certainly
> have asked for some stupid proof This universe was created systematically,
> with certain laws for every expression to follow. He usually never broke
> them, even though He was capable of it. From experience I found later that
> even God-realized souls, though they possess these faculties, never
> interfere with the cosmological order. For example, if I had asked Him to
> change day into night and He agreed, such an action might have caused the
> total destruction of our solar system.
>
> Each small incident in an individual's life is intermeshed with the
> functioning of the entire universe. To change one small aspect requires
> adjusting everything else to maintain cosmological equipoise.
>
> Though He had no sam'skaras (reactions to past actions stored in potential
> form), except His Mahasamkalpa (great determination) for the betterment of
> society, He would take on the bad sam 'skaras of His disciples and undergo
> their requitals. When performing some demonstration or responding to a
> plea for intervention, Baba would Himself take on the sam'skaras of the
> individuals concerned and suffer in their place. This is the reason why
> Baba's most sentient body was afflicted with certain ailments throughout
> His life. He suffered the sam 'skaras of His devotees.
>
> For example, an old Acarya suffering from piles once mentally offered his
> ailment to Baba after his meditation in Guru Puja ("Offering to the
> Guru") - from that time on Baba suffered from piles. Whenever He altered
> the cosmological order to please His devotees, He Himself suffered the
> consequences of the imbalance He brought about.
>
> On another occasion in Ranchi, in January 1968, a boy came with a stomach
> ulcer. Baba touched Acarya Dasarath on the head who was then able to "see"
> that the boy's stomach had been turned blue and black by a severe ulcer.
> Baba touched the end of His stick to the boy's stomach and cured him,
> explaining, "I have changed this disease into magnetic and electrical
> waves. There will be great changes in the whole universe as a
> consequence."
>
> In a similar vein Baba commented, "Every incident in an individual's life
> is significant. Suppose an ant is moving on a rock from east to west. If
> the direction is changed contradictory to Parama Purus'a, then that small
> change can affect the entire balance of the universe. An 80 year old widow
> should not say that her life is useless, because everything is the will of
> Parama Purus'a. No one is insignificant, not even a blade of grass."
>
> If, to my child-like questions of long ago, He had answered "No, I am not
> Parama Purus 'a", then it would have been a lie.
>
> On frequent occasions Baba commented that all religions will have to meet
> on a common ground. "All religions have a common aim, but the preachers
> agree to disagree. This happens only when they forget the common aim of
> God realization. They fight each other because they are not bothered about
> the goal and don't strive hard to attain it. Ananda Marga is ever ready to
> help all when they find difficulty on the path."
>
> Once I said, "Baba, it is said that the paths are different but the goal
> is one."
>
> Baba replied, "No, the goal is one and the path is one - that is a
> physico-psycho-spiritual approach. Convert physical energy into psychic
> energy and psychic energy into spiritual energy by sadhana, service and
> sacrifice."
>
> He inspired us all to practice meditation. The milk of human kindness will
> flow only through this process of expansion or sadhana (meditation,
> literally "sustained effort"), and in this way, one day all religions will
> meet on a common ground. The sword of religious wars cannot change human
> hearts.
>
> As long as the universe exists, variety will also exist. Variety lends
> beauty to the creation, as each coloured flower adds to the beauty of a
> garden. To try to convert all the people of the world to one religion is a
> mad idea. But to encourage everyone to be a universal human being, and
> then a spiritual human being, is a noble idea. The wise understand that
> the apparent diversity will gradually change into a fundamental unity.
>
> He propounded one significant and revolutionary spiritual concept which
> has corrected the main defect in the philosophy of the Sanataniis. Even
> today, they argue that jagat (the created universe) is false. The most
> irrational part of this belief is that the arguments they use arise out of
> the same false world or maya which they reject. They can bring no example
> from truth. Baba obliterated this blunder by giving the status of relative
> truth to our experience of the objective world. While Baba accepted the
> superiority of non-dualistic theory or advaetavada, He also accepted the
> relative existence of jagat.
>
> Brahma satyam jagadapisatyam apekshikam.(Ananda Sutram )
>
> One day I mentioned to Baba a story I had learned about Him as a child. He
> asked me, "And where did you hear this story, my son?"
>
> "Baba, I came across it in an issue of Bodhi Kalpa (an Ananda Marga
> magazine)."
>
> "Oh!", Baba quipped. "I never read any literature."
>
> This created a big question mark in my mind, because I had always thought
> that Baba was a very well read person. So I watched Him as much as
> possible; I also asked others who had the opportunity to observe Him,
> until finally I was convinced that He really never did read any book,
> magazine or newspaper. He never studied beyond intermediate college. The
> fact is, He was truly omniscient!
>
> In those days, due to my knowledge of philosophy, especially the Indian
> system of six theistic philosophies, I was burdened by a very swollen ego.
> There were always many bright students around Him. So once, when I was
> alone with Baba, I asked Him, "Why do these brilliant students run after
> You? If there is something in You, lease tell me about it. Who are You?"
>
> He told me: "I have come as a mystery, I will remain as a mystery, and I
> will leave as a mystery. To know my nature you have to do sadhana."
>
> Then I begged Him to bless me so that I could do sadhana. My hands were
> resting on His lap. Suddenly I felt a soothing vibration transmitted from
> Him to me that thrilled me with bliss.
>
> From that day, Baba gave me the ability to sit in meditation continuously
> for hours. I easily crossed the orbit of time. I was amazed that when I
> sat and closed my eyes, sometimes three or even six hours would elapse
> before I opened them again. On other occasions I would feel that I had
> done many hours of meditation effortlessly, only to find that just a few
> minutes had elapsed. A frail being like me could be lost in deep
> meditation only due to His endless grace.
>
> This word mystery baffled me for so many years. When people cannot
> understand some occurrence, they are inclined to say that it does not
> exist or does not happen. This is particularly true of psychic and
> intuitional phenomena which are readily dismissed by those who lack the
> courage to investigate them. Baba is a mystery in the sense that the human
> mind cannot expand enough to encompass the entirety of Him. But His
> existence and His remarkable life is factual experience which no one can
> deny.
>
> Three months after that blissful experience, I decided to dedicate my life
> as a sannyasii and to grow spiritually under Him.
>
> I started experiencing profound visions during my sadhana. Once I saw
> myself being struck by lightning which turned into two inverted triangles.
> I felt I understood the message in this vision: that Brahma tej (sentient
> force) and Ks'atra tej (mutative power) should co-exist for the sake of
> dharma (spiritual morality). That is, bhakti (devotion) and shakti (force)
> are both needed to protect the virtuous from evil. This is the
> quintessence of the Bhagavad Giita - an exhortation to fight incessantly
> against all evils.[6] As a result of this vision, I joined Ananda Marga,
> that is, for the protection of dharma.
>
> In February 1966 I remarked to Baba, "I love Rabindrath Tagore Gitanjali.
> It touches some unknown strings in my heart. Tears well up in my eyes, yet
> I can't say exactly why."
>
> Baba replied, "Tagore was a mystic. His book Bolaka was, in My opinion,
> better than Gitanjali. It should have won him the Nobel prize instead of
> Gitanjali. Mysticism is a never ending endeavour to find a link between
> the finite and the infinite."
>
> Subsequently I began to understand what Tagore wanted to convey in his
> poetry. Even today Baba's definition captivates me and I enjoy
> contemplating the depth of its meaning.
>
> In 1967 Baba chided me saying, "Don't run after intellect." From then on
> He stopped responding to my prying questions. I was sad because He started
> to give me the cold shoulder, and I stopped asking questions directly. It
> was only in 1985, when my quest to understand devotion reached some
> maturity, that I realized how futile running after intellect had been.
>
> Maharishi Patanjali said, "Rtam bhara tatra prajina," which means that
> intuition in its unassailed stance is filled with veracity and can only be
> attained through dhyana (deep meditation). It means that running after
> knowledge is like throwing away the cream and drinking buttermilk which
> has gone stale. Through dhyana one can have access to all mundane things,
> but one should not run after these. If one does an'udhyana, which means to
> continuously chase one's Is 't 'a (Guru), for a few months, one can also
> know this secret. Baba actually meant that if one dives deep in to one s
> inner conceptual depths , reply to all questions will be found.
>
> For seven months I stayed in the jagrti (the Ananda Marga centre) in
> Jamalpur and watched Baba every day. I observed that whenever a person
> tried to test Him, Baba would behave in such a way that He put that person
> to the test. For example, when a person full of doubts questioned Baba, He
> would sometimes feign ignorance, so that the person judged Baba unworthy
> and left. Mostly such persons tested in order to try to better Him.
>
> One should never test the Guru. Only one who is puffed with ego tests the
> Gum. That is why Christ said, "Blessed are those who believe without
> seeing." Here Christ meant that the real seeker should be humble like an
> innocent, guileless child. When there were seekers, however, who wanted to
> dedicate their lives to serve the suffering humanity, and sincerely wanted
> to know if they were choosing the right Guru, Baba used to undergo their
> tests happily.
>
> Similarly, the right to test the worthiness of the disciple lies with the
> Guru. But when He tests, the disciple always fails. Then one can realize
> how mean he or she was to test the Guru. Kabir said:
>
> Kabir, yeh tan vishki belari Guru Amrit ki khan
> shiish diye sadguru paye toe bhi sasta jan.(Bhojpuri)
> Kabir! this body of yours is a poisonous creeper.
> The Guru is the storehouse of nectar. By the exchange of your head,
> If you receive Guru in turn,
> Understand that you got Him cheap!
>
> That is why, when Shrii Shankaracarya was tested by Shakti, he lamented:
>
> Ku putro jayet kwacidapi kumata na bhavati.
> A bad son is born, but a mother is never bad to her child.
>
> Guru Govind, the tenth and last Guru of the Sikhs, said:
>
> Jo tohe prem khalan ki chav, Sir Dhari tali gali meri avo.
> If you want to play the game of love divine,
> Walk my path with your head on your palm.
>
> Due to my swollen ego, I also made the mistake of testing Him, but He
> accepted my tests happily.
>
> Because of my thirst to learn, I used to write down all that I could. Like
> the proverbial ant, I would struggle to carry away, grain by grain, every
> bit of His inexhaustible knowledge from the sugar mound that He was.
> Before each effort I would think, "Next time I will carry away the whole
> hill." But when I returned, I found that the mound had again grown larger.
> Finally, realizing that His knowledge was much more than the greatest
> mountain, I had to throw away the grains and surrender.
>
> When did I stop my pet weakness - intellectual pursuit? It was only in May
> 1968 during
>
> Baba's Renaissance Universal (RU) discourse[7], "Expression and
> Symbolization". Tens of thousands of Margiis attended this speech. As
> usual, I was struggling to take notes and finding the topic difficult. By
> the time I finished writing a few lines, Baba had advanced sentences
> ahead!
>
> Dropping my pen and paper I thought, "Let me listen, understand and
> remember as much as possible, and leave the rest." At that moment, a
> miracle occurred. A blissful feeling spread from my ajina cakra (the
> psycho-spiritual centre located in the centre of the head). I started to
> understand and remember nearly everything He was saying.
>
> Baba usually asked for comments after His RU talks, so this time I rushed
> eagerly to Him. But before I could say anything He asked me, "And why did
> some intellectual boys throw away their pen and paper?" I said to Baba,
> Baba your speech was so deep . Baba quipped back How many fathom deep
> my son . I was silent , because that reply meant so many things.
>
> Thereafter, bit by bit, Baba enlarged my receptivity. I realized that ego
> is the arch enemy. When ego does not dominate, then only can He augment
> one's powers of receptivity. This I experienced, and increasingly I could
> retain all the important points from His talks. At the same time, a
> beautiful feeling like a current of light, would penetrate my ajina cakra
> and anahata cakra (psycho-spiritual centre located in the centre of the
> chest), bringing tears of happiness. I would become lost in ineffable
> bliss. After such experiences I never felt like talking; rather I
> preferred solitude in order to cry and thus soothe the pain of my own
> pettiness.
>
> I had made myself small and mean by doubting Him. Yet despite everything,
> this Great Personality bestowed such grace upon me. Years later I
> understood that these experiences were His application of positive
> microvita[8] to make my plexi and associated glands more complex so that
> they could absorb increasingly more subtle and spiritual vibrations.
>
> The wonder was that for many years He was elevating His disciples without
> them even knowing it. Baba never wanted kudos. He did not want anyone to
> know that He was giving them something extraordinary. Only on later
> reflection could the recipient sense something of what had happened. When
> He enlarged one's receptivity, one would feel that everything in this
> universe was happening properly and correctly according to the Cosmic
> Will. After such experiences I would contemplate deeply, and after finally
> understanding, realization would come.
>
> Occasionally Baba would ask persons more learned than myself to expound on
> a topic about which He had just spoken. If they failed, He would turn to
> me. I was always amazed at the beauty and coherence of the explanations
> coming from my mouth. I knew it was someone else talking through me and I
> experienced a sense of bliss at my anahata cakra. The intellectuals were
> amazed that a less educated person could speak so well. After this, I lost
> the desire to show off my knowledge.
>
> One day out of the blue Baba said to me, "You are a critic. Today I want
> you to criticize me."
>
> I hesitated because by now I was well aware of my ignorance. I offered a
> cautious reply. "Baba, Veda Vyasa wrote the Mahabharata through a parrot,
> so I can never venture to speak about You."
>
> But Baba persisted, "It is My order for you to criticize Me."
>
> So I said, "First, I have read that true mystics used to remain absorbed
> in samadhi. They found it very difficult to maintain physical parallelism.
> You are the first person who gives samadhi and yet is never affected by
> it.
>
> "Second, I found that other philosophers and mystics repeat the same ideas
> many times. Yet, You never repeat the same idea twice. Even when we
> request you to repeat something, the repetition always has added
> fragrance, so it is very difficult to take the latter and leave the
> former.
>
> "Third, on numerous occasions You have stopped delivering a speech before
> it was completed because the audience could make neither head nor tail of
> it. In short, your knowledge has no end.
>
> "For example, when You go to the south of India You select very abstract
> topics."
>
> He said, "Not the whole south, only Madras."
>
> I continued, "Baba, when you deliver lectures in front of intellectuals,
> You first start in a tough language with a tough subject. Later, when the
> listening intellectuals surrender, You tell it in an easy, understandable
> way. At the end You stress the importance of devotional sadhana." Except a
> few, all His lectures followed this pattern.
>
> In the first week of January 1968, in Jaipur, Baba started explaining the
> origin of the swastika and its meaning.
>
> At least a dozen PhD's and heads of departments of different universities
> were present. The subject was very abstract. After a short time, Baba
> stopped abruptly. Later, when I asked why, He said, "Nobody was
> following."
>
> I still remember the main points of this lecture. Baba explained that the
> first tantrics (spiritual scientists) observed the horizon and drew a
> horizontal line to represent the Supreme Cognitive Principle (Shiva). Then
> he gave a vertical line crossing it to represent the causal matrix or
> Supreme Operative Principle (Shakti). The cross later entered the Bramhi
> Khraosti scripts as the symbol for the sound "ka". The English letter "k",
> and "ka" in Hindi and Sanskrit also have similar structures like a cross.
> When clockwise handles are added to the cross, the swastika of India is
> formed. It symbolizes the preservation of Creation. The arms represent the
> anti-clockwise movement of kundalinii. In temples of Shiva, the parikrama
> or movement around the sanctum is done anti-clockwise to symbolize this,
> while in other Hindu temples, it is done clockwise.
>
> I remember the subject was very abstract. Until 1979 He delivered most of
> His discourses in Hindi and English. Some of these were not preserved
> because of the shortcomings of His disciples. Only a portion of His long
> life, the twelve years from His release from prison in 1978 to 1990, was
> meticulously recorded. This is only a portion of the total years He spent
> touring and teaching in different parts of India and overseas.
>
> Coming to Terms with Supernatural Phenomena
> I used to wonder why Baba did not personally give microvita sadhana to
> everyone. In my opinion He often selected people for this sadhana who
> worked very hard and had less time for their spiritual practices. For
> some, too, who had more fear than love for the Cosmic Consciousness,
> microvita sadhana was one of the special means by which Baba aroused this
> love in them.
>
> This caused me to think deeply over the connection between internal
> spiritual dynamism, i.e. always thinking of Parama Purus'a, and external
> dynamism, i.e. remaining extremely active in service work.
>
> Finally I met a sannyasii who had both internal longing and a desire to
> work hard for Baba. He was torn between the two. Once, when he was alone
> with Baba, He demonstrated many spiritual experiences.
>
> First He asked the Dada to sit in siddhasana and do dhyana. A sweet smell
> began to pervade the room that filled Dada's mind with bliss. Soon Baba
> interrupted, saying, "Don't get lost in this, there are still higher
> realizations." Next Dada began to see a divine light. His mind again
> experienced waves of bliss, but Baba repeated His warning. Then he heard
> the beautiful sound of crickets. This was the subtle anahata nada
> vibration, which starts with this sound and progresses through various
> stages. The second sound is like the rippling of a mountain stream; the
> third like the call of a celestial flute; the fourth like the roiling of
> tropical thunder; and the fifth like the roar of ocean surf. Of course,
> these descriptions are very inadequate approximations of the actual sounds
> which can only be experienced in deep meditation.
>
> Dada later told me that when he heard the last sound he felt like entering
> into an unbreakable embrace with the Cosmic Consciousness. In this way
> Baba united sound with love.
>
> Sound is the first, most subtle tanmatra (sensory inference); and love is
> beyond all tanmatras. If a special dish is prepared with wonderful spices
> but without salt, it will not taste delicious. Love, like salt, is the
> essential ingredient which transforms the bondage of Cosmic devotion into
> liberation. If a drop of water falls into the ocean, it does not worry
> about losing its identity; rather it becomes the ocean by expanding its
> limited awareness to infinite awareness.
>
> Baba was omniscient. He could transport a person's mind to both the future
> and the past. He performed these kinds of demonstrations until 1971. I had
> the unique opportunity of joining Ananda Marga in 1964, and until 1971 I
> personally witnessed dozens of demonstrations. I was most interested in
> the psycho-spiritual and spiritual aspects of the anubhuti (direct
> spiritual experience).
>
> Baba used to read the past of different people through Acarya Dasarath.
> Once He took this devotee's mind back more than 15,000 years. Baba
> explained that all the tanmatric vibrations of the past are eternally
> present. An A-grade sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) can reassemble and
> experience these vibrations, but it is extremely difficult. Only Lord
> Shiva and Lord Krs'n'a were able to give this capacity to others, which is
> beyond even the occult powers. On one occasion in Ranchi in July 1968,
> Baba explained that many centuries ago Tulsi Das sang the Ramayana while
> composing it. He then touched His stick to the ajina cakra (centre of the
> forehead) of a nearby sadhaka and asked him to concentrate. The sadhaka
> could hear the voice of Tulsi Das singing.
>
> The five stages of onm'kara (the uncaused or "seed" sound of the
> cosmological system) were all made audible to various sadhakas in 1968.
> Baba permanently gave this siddhi (occult power)[9] to Jaidhari, an
> illiterate man who used to look after Baba's garden (he is still alive as
> I write this).
>
> Recently Jaidhari told me that when he listens to instrumental music, a
> sympathetic vibration starts in him and it is very difficult for him to
> maintain psycho-physical parallelism. He becomes lost in a trance.
>
> Not once in His life did Baba make a public exhibition of His siddhis.
> Great gurus never exhibit these powers because they can be misleading to
> spiritual aspirants. However in Ranchi during the Sadhana Year of 1969, He
> demonstrated siddhis to a small group of His disciples. He did this to
> illustrate the nature of knowledge and how the boundaries of knowledge can
> be expanded through the use of siddhis. Great gurus help their disciples
> through spiritual experiences in order to elevate them and to goad them
> along the path of spirituality. The wise do not consider this to be a mere
> exhibition of powers, but rather as a fillip to help others move ahead.
>
> What are these occult powers?[10]
>
> 1) Anima means reducing one's psychic existence into a small point
> and then transforming it into a minimum entity. One may understand
> anything and everything by entering into each and every physical particle
> and becoming one with the different waves of expressions and emanations,
> by dancing with the waves of objects and ideas. This occult power acquired
> through positive microvita is called anima. The only way to understand
> these subtle entities is to increase one's powers of perception through
> spiritual practices.
>
> 2) Mahima means vastness. With the help of positive microvita, the
> mind can expand to become vast. Its radius may encompass the entire
> universe and so we acquire ideas about many different subjects without
> reading books. In this way, too, we may feel our oneness with the varied
> entities of this universe - unity in variety, unity in diversity. By
> associating our benevolent thoughts with each and every entity, we will
> contribute to universal progress and prosperity.
>
> 3) Laghima makes the mind light, free from the bondage of so many
> liabilities. This carefree mind, freed from so many fetters and bondages,
> can understand and think clearly. So by dint of this occult power, one may
> understand any idea, subtle or crude, abstract or concrete. Unless you
> understand how much pain and sorrow is accumulated in other's minds, how
> many tears well up in their eyes, you cannot completely alleviate their
> sorrows and sufferings. Through laghima, your own mind becomes unburdened
> so you can clearly appreciate the minds of others.
>
> 4) Prapti means helping oneself and helping the souls of so many
> people to acquire and be benefited by the grace of the Supreme.
>
> 5) Iishitva Iish means to guide and administer. Iishitva enables
> the spiritual aspirant to guide other people who suffer from different
> causes. So many people in this world are crying in pain and agony. So many
> miseries and afflictions paralyse both physically and mentally. lishitva
> enables one to correctly lead afflicted humanity to their physical
> progress and psychic well-being.
>
> 6) Vashitva means to keep everything under control and properly
> regulated for welfare. In order to bring people goaded by defective ideas
> to the path of Supreme greatness, vashitva is necessary. If people work
> haphazardly and do not follow the right path, they cannot be expected to
> establish a state of welfare for all. So if you really want to help
> people, you will have to inspire and influence them in a positive way, and
> then direct them along the right path to their goal.
>
> 7) Prakamya means the ability to accomplish whatever one desires, to
> translate wish into reality with a view to promote universal welfare, to
> bring light to the entire universe. Through this occult power, spiritual
> aspirants acquire the capacity to serve the entire world.
>
> 8) Antaryamitva is to enter the ectoplasmic or endoplasmic structure
> of others and thereby to know their pain and pleasures, their hopes,
> aspirations and longings and to guide them properly. It is somewhat like
> transmigration of the soul. Regarding this occult power, spiritual cult
> alone will not suffice - it requires the special grace of Parama Punts 'a.
> He usually does not give this power to sadhakas because if they do not
> possess universal love, it can be abused for personal gains. Baba
> explained that this power makes the mind so subtle that it can enter the
> intra- and inter-ectoplasmic mind stuff of every individual as well as the
> collective human society.
>
> Until that time, I had a big question in my mind about this. If these
> occult powers are an impediment to spiritual progress, and no great saints
> ever used them, then what is the purpose of their existence?
>
> Baba advocated the maximum utilization of all mundane, supramundane and
> spiritual potentialities. For the first time in the history of
> spirituality, He explained that all eight of these occult powers can and
> should be used as a special knowledge to do greater service and help
> society progress. Then I realized that great saints and preceptors also
> occasionally used these powers to elevate spiritual seekers.
>
> It is interesting that the ancient Indian spiritual traditions had mental
> yardsticks to measure these psychic capacities. The critical mistake made
> by today's psychologists is to apply physical yardsticks to measure mental
> health and capacity. This is absurd. Antaryamitva is not granted to one
> who has not attained universal love, because it would harm both that
> individual and the society. A true spiritualist must love all equally and
> hate no one.
>
> This is easy to say but extremely difficult to achieve. Baba once gave a
> good example of the human predilection for favouritism: if you happen to
> come across a game of football and watch it for some time, though both
> teams are unknown to you, still you will discover your mind slowly
> starting to favour one team. This is a limitation of the human mind.
>
> He also said that every human mind obeys some special dynamics. Only the
> Universal Entity can catch the chains of action and reaction and, without
> disturbing the universal flow, do something to accelerate the collective
> or individual human progress. Within this universe, millions of things
> exist, yet we perceive only a minute fraction of them; and of what we
> perceive, only a little can be explained.
>
> Future biopsychologists might use these occult powers as yardsticks to
> measure psychic progress and to some extent psycho-spiritual progress. The
> powers of omniscience and Supreme Knowledge are above these eight occult
> powers, and according to the scriptures, only Taraka Brahma, the Supreme
> Entity in Its liberating aspect - Baba - possesses them.
>
> Before meeting Baba, I had studied most of the important literature
> published by the Ramakrishna Mission. I had read that Paramahamsa
> Ramakrishna had the power to rouse the kun'd'alinii (sleeping divinity) of
> his disciples. It resides in the lowest plexus of the vertebra called the
> kula. I often wondered what this kun'd'alinii is like. Despite my
> skepticism. I believed the experiences of Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, since
> he was a realized soul and had the innocence of a child. He could not lie.
>
> Six months after first meeting Baba, I had begun to recognize that He was
> an extraordinary personality. I thought that if Baba could lift the
> kundalinii of someone in my presence, I would accept Him as Sadguru. I
> never said it to Him personally for fear of being disrespectful, 'but He
> very clearly knew what was in my mind.
>
> In those early days in Jamalpur, Baba came to the jagrti every morning at
> 7:00 a.m. After a little organizational work, He gave darshan (spiritual
> discourse) to the workers and Margiis; then he returned home and walked to
> the Railway Workshop to start work. On Saturday, which was just half day
> at the office, he came to the jagrti at 3:00 p.m. and gave darshan.
> Sundays he came at 9:30 a.m. and gave darshan in both the morning and the
> evening.
>
> On one Sunday morning in February 1966, Baba was in a very pleasant mood
> and talked in English about kulakun'd'alinii, the fundamental negativity.
> Baba explained that for each group of important physical glands there is a
> corresponding psychic plexus nearby. Photography of the psychic plexi is
> of course impossible.
>
> Suddenly He became grave. He asked me to move a bit to the back and called
> an young man called Bishambhar who was then a Science student in
> mathematics and is now an officer in the of Police department, some where
> in India, to sit in my place near the front.
>
> Let me say a few words about this man. I had only a nodding acquaintance
> with him in those days. He was was from a middle class background and
> faced very sharp opposition from his family and village when he joined
> Ananda Marga. They would not allow him to sit for meditation and would
> always criticize the organization. He was by nature a reticent person with
> strong likes and dislikes, and remained always in a sentient mood. He
> possessed an overwhelming love of people and often cried to Baba about his
> inability to adjust with the calculating ways of worldly people.
>
> That day, Baba asked him to sit in siddhasana, close his eyes and
> concentrate at the ajina cakra. Suddenly He ordered, "Utho!" which means
> "Rise!". Next without touching, He ordered the kun'd'alinii to pass
> through all the six plexi, commanding, "Muladhara! Svadhis't'hana! Man
> 'ipura! Anahata! Ajina! Sahasrara!". Finally He commanded in Hindi, Dhiire
> niche ao. ("Come down slowly").
>
> Bishambhar gave a sharp shout, "Hum!", that conveyed an air of courage. He
> arched his back, and, unable to withstand the vibrations, fell backwards
> with both legs out-stretched. I knew from the writings of Paramahamsa
> Ramakrishna, that the body in nirvikalpa samadhi becomes very stiff and
> one cannot speak. So I stealthily tried to feel his limbs but was a bit
> afraid of Baba. Suddenly Baba told me not to be afraid and to examine the
> body as I wished.
>
> To my amazement, I found his body very, very stiff. Baba turned to Acarya
> Dasarath and explained, "When one goes into nirvikalpa samadhi, the body
> becomes stiff" Dasarathji also examined the body and confirmed the
> stiffness. Baba left the jagrti saying that we should massage Bishambhar s
> body until he regained consciousness.
>
> Some time later Baba told a householder Margii that He had performed the
> demonstration for the benefit of someone else in the room. Little did
> anyone know that I was that person!
>
> More surprises were to come. When Bishambhar came out of samadhi, I
> pestered him for nearly an hour, and also on several subsequent occasions,
> to get a satisfactory account of his anubhuti. He would say only that it
> was "unique", which was confirmed by his tears of joy.
>
> "First comes the divine ecstasy and then the divine inebriation," said
> Paramahamsa Ramakrishna. Recalling his further words, I asked Bishambhar
> if he felt as though he had left the solar system and passed through many
> celestial bodies and galaxies until merging into an ocean of divine light.
> He replied it was not just that but something more. Pushed further, he
> described feeling clearly that "I am not this 'I' who is in the body."
> After a lot of pestering, Bishambhar, who tends to be a man of few words,
> terminated the discussion with, "Yah goonge ki gur hai?" ("If you feed a
> dumb person molasses, how can they describe the taste?").
>
> Language is a very poor medium to express such an experience. I can say
> that a rasagulla and a jelebi are sweet, but I can never adequately
> express the difference between them.
>
> Over time, I witnessed many demonstrations of different samadhis: Salokya,
> Samipya, Sayujya, Sarupya, Sarshti, Kaevalya, all collectively known as
> Savikalpa Samadhi; Brahmananda, Kankalamalini, Tanmatrik, Apluta,
> Samprajinata and Asamprajinata. He demonstrated all these just to explain
> the difference in the experiences.
>
> For me, all these demonstrations only intensified the mystery that was
> Baba. I wish to describe another demonstration conducted in 1965. A high
> school headmaster, Mr. Tej Karan (from Kotah, Rajastan), came to Jamalpur
> and stayed ten days. During his stay he wrote a letter every day to a
> Margii who was an officer in the Indian Administrative Service. His first
> nine letters carried the same message: "Today I saw nothing to prove the
> extraordinary qualities of Baba. I will stay another few days." In the
> ninth letter, he wrote, "Tomorrow will be my last day. Until today I have
> seen nothing to make me believe in Baba."
>
> On the tenth day, Baba announced in the jagrti, "Tomorrow, one of us is
> leaving Jamalpur." Then looking in the direction of Tej Karan, "You see,
> in order to see a miracle you have to be a miracle yourself. If I purchase
> a first-class ticket for a movie and hand it over to a blind person, will
> it be beneficial? There is nothing miraculous in this world. When people
> with limited understanding perceive a phenomenon quite unknown to them and
> beyond their capacity to understand, they call it a miracle."
>
> Then speaking directly to Tej Karan, Baba said, "You have no strength in
> your body or nerves. Even if I wanted to give you something, you lack the
> power to withstand it. But still I will do something."
>
> Then He called, "Tej Karan!", simultaneously snapping His thumb and index
> finger. Instantly, Tej Karan collapsed on the floor and started twisting
> and twirling like a serpent, as though he had no bone in his body. Even
> eight strong men could not bring him under control. A very strong
> sannyasii was thrown away like a feather in the attempt.
>
> Finally he became quiet. Before leaving the room, Baba asked us to massage
> him and give him hot milk after he recovered consciousness.
>
> After one hour Tej Karan could sit up. Then I asked him to describe the
> experience. He said that a strong light emanating from Baba had passed
> into him, electrifying his body from head to toe. A wriggling snake as
> tough as a steel rod (the kun'dalinii) started rising from his muladhara
> cakra at the base of his spine and pushed upwards like a "piston moving in
> a steam engine." The flow of energy was so strong that he felt it could
> light many powerful bulbs. At one point he felt that he might explode like
> a bomb. Unable to assimilate the vibrations, he collapsed and was lost in
> an ineffable ocean of bliss.
>
> Needless to say the tenth letter he wrote was positive! He was a double
> MA. and a very rational man, but after that experience, he would declare
> in superlatives to all sorts of people, that Baba was Parama Purus'a.
> Cynical persons declared that he was out of his senses. In fact he
> remained divinely intoxicated for several months, and it took more than
> two years for Tej Karan to regain normalcy.
>
> Baba gave these and many other dramatic demonstrations to facilitate the
> progress of disciples on the spiritual path. It cannot be claimed that
> they were public displays of miracles.[11]
>
> In early February of 1969[12], in the Ranchi jagrti, I watched Baba
> conduct three death demonstrations. The modus operandi was that Baba would
> call someone attending the general darshan and ask that person to sit in
> front of Him He then would announce, "I am going to conduct the death
> demonstration." Then without touching the person's body, He would order
> nine of the vayus (vital airs) - pran'a, apana, samana, udana, vyana,
> krkara, naga, kurma, devadatta - to leave the body. (The tenth vayu,
> dhanainjaya, leaves only after the disintegration of the corpse on the
> funeral pyre or in the grave.) As the vayus left one by one, the subject
> would start gasping for breath, frothing at the mouth and ultimately fall
> down, dead!
>
> There was always more than one doctor present. In one case I remember, Dr.
> Ramesh (recently retired as vice-principal of Ranchi Medical College)
> examined the subject thoroughly and declared him clinically dead. Baba
> said that if left in that condition, ants would start congregating around
> the body within half an hour. But then He ordered, one by one, all the
> vayus to return, bringing life back to the body. He advised us to massage
> the body for a long period and administer hot milk since the joints had
> become very weak as a result of the experience. According to Baba, normal
> death is not painful, though death caused by accident or certain diseases
> may be.
>
> I knew a Margii called Diipak who had a very deep desire to take part in
> Baba's demonstrations. He enjoyed the samadhi demonstrations, but after
> experiencing one death demonstration, he backed out whenever Baba called
> his name again. When I teased Diipak as to why he refused, he replied, "A
> strong body is required for such demonstrations, especially the death
> experience. The effect on me was devastating. I felt very weak afterwards
> and it took me months to become normal again."
>
> The Mystery of the Mind and Mystical Perception
> During a class in the Jamalpur jagrti in February 1966, Baba described the
> mind as having three parts: the conscious part (between the eyebrows), the
> subconscious part (extending up from there the width of ten fingers to the
> pineal plexus) and the unconscious part (starting from pineal to the back
> part of the skull).
>
> We work with the help of the conscious mind, but its freedom is limited
> since it is always influenced by the immediate subconscious. The
> subconscious is the repository of all past memories, from the day we first
> emerged as protozoa through millions of lifetimes until our present birth.
> So we all work according to our past samskaras
>
> I had difficulty in comprehending the nature of the mind. It was even more
> difficult to explain it to others. No analogies that came to mind were
> satisfactory. Then I read a beautiful article by Baba in Bengali that is
> loosely translated as "Different Stages of Psycho-spiritual Sadhana". I
> was astonished by the example He used of the development of a cloud. In my
> teens I once witnessed this very phenomenon and I never forgot it.
>
> You might have noticed that on some days the whole sky is clear blue
> except for a small patch of cloud on the distant horizon. If you go inside
> for an hour or so, on coming out again, a huge fluffy cloud nearly fills
> the sky with the same shape as the first small one. It takes a few seconds
> for you to appreciate that the original patch of cloud has grown into a
> gigantic shape. Baba used this analogy to 'describe how the mind expands
> through psychic .clashes and sadhana.
>
> Mind is the combination of citta (done "I'), 'aham (doer "I") and mahat
> (the witnessing "I" or the knower "I"). For example you imagine that you
> are eating a mango. In your mental picture, a portion of your mind becomes
> the mango, and another portion of the mind engages in the act of eating,
> and the third portion witnesses the action. The mango is the citta, the
> act of eating is the doer "I", and the witnessing entity is the knower
> "I".
>
> The third portion is common for both the unit mind of a person and the
> Cosmic Mind of Parama Purus'a. The only difference is that the mahat of
> unit beings is like the air within a pitcher, and the enveloping air of
> nature is the Cosmic Mahat. The two are divided by the doer "I" feeling
> which is the wall of the pitcher.
>
> In 1986 or 1987 I was struggling to understand two words that Baba used in
> his talk "Universal Man and Spiritual Man": manasphot'a and cetanasphot'a.
> Manas means mind, cetana means consciousness and sphot'a means explosion.
>
> The formation of mind stuff or ectoplasm is described in Baba's Idea and
> Ideology - the inquisitive reader should go through this book. Still much
> research is required to understand this process. Here I am only trying to
> draw on my own experience to explain how ectoplasm explodes into endoplasm
> and then endoplasm explodes or melts and merges into the Cosmic Mahat.
>
> Sadhana transforms physical cells into ectoplasm, and ectoplasm in turn
> explodes into endoplasm. Citta is responsible for the done "I" feeling,
> but the faculty of awareness is less in it. Sometimes when you are half
> asleep, you know what is going on around you, but on waking you cannot
> remember things clearly. This hazy consciousness is like citta awareness.
> Endoplasm is the distinctive "I" feeling.
>
> With manasphot'a or ectoplasmic explosion, one's awareness and "I" feeling
> increase, and this causes the intellect and its capacity to memorize,
> perceive and discriminate to also increase.
>
> The inside of the outer layer of the expanding mind is called endoplasm.
> When the volume of the mind enlarges, the density also enlarges due to a
> fresh supply of ectoplasmic cells. The transformation of lymph cells into
> ectoplasmic cells only takes place through the process of intuitional
> practices or sadhana.
>
> Both the mass and volume of the mind increase directly in meditation,
> contrary to the Inverse Law of Gaseous Expansion. This expansion is the
> result of friction between old ectoplasm and new ectoplasm, with intense
> bombardment on the body's psychic centres through the process of
> concentration. A crude example is if you inflate a balloon, both the size
> and the circumference increase. With the increase of the circumference of
> the mind, the doer "I" feeling increases, as well as the magnitude of the
> mind.
>
> In Baba's last RU discourse in June 1990 He explained that mind's
> magnitude grows in four ways:
>
> 1) thinking power develops, which results in discovery and
> invention;
>
> 2) memory power develops;
>
> 3) transmutation and diversification of psychic pabula - in simple
> language, the faculty of teaching;
>
> 4) rationality increases.
>
> The faculty of teaching is very important. All students will benefit if
> they are given an opportunity to teach with their studies. This will
> increase self-confidence, conceptual power and thinking capacity.
>
> Baba explained that rationality is a spiritual quality. The capacity to
> love also increases when rational thinking increases. I have realized that
> the ability to memorize is directly proportional to one's capacity to love
> others without expectation.
>
> Rationality is judicious love. One loves all equally and hates none. For
> example, a rational and spiritual judge will harm none and benefit all.
>
> With the increase of "I" feeling, knowledge increases. When a small child
> cries to understand something, and, after psychic clashes, does
> understand, his or her knowledge increases and the mind expands in a
> limited sense. At that time the ego also increases proportionately. Good
> teachers are well aware of these subtle ectoplasmic explosions.
>
> The contentment that a researcher experiences after solving a difficult
> problem, is the peace he or she feels after a psychic explosion. The
> purpose of university education with its many faculties and mammoth
> libraries is to catalyse this ectoplasmic explosion.
>
> Science today accepts only those things which can be physically
> demonstrated; that is, it only recognizes the veracity of a phenomenon if
> it comes directly or indirectly within the scope of the tanmatras of
> sound, touch, form, smell, and taste. Now if something exists due to a
> sixth (non-physical) attribute, science cannot discern it, since methods
> of scientific proof use only the five sensory gateways. Scientists say
> that what cannot be proved by such methods is not to be believed. This
> argument is no less dogmatic than the assertion of religious zealots that
> "My way is the only way, my prophet the only prophet and my scripture the
> only scripture."
>
> If science is to advance in rapid strides, it will have to utilize a sixth
> antenna which Baba called "special perception". This special perception is
> "the reflection of conception within the periphery of perception." (I
> shall discuss this topic in more detail later.)
>
> Suppose an entity called "God" exists and He comes in the form of an
> ordinary person who says, "I am God." No one would believe the person. I
> personally think the word "God" is a defective expression for the Supreme
> Cognitive Principle. This is an example of the limitation of language,
> because only a minute portion of what we experience can be expressed. The
> first intuitional scientists, after having had profound inner experiences,
> tried to symbolize their experiences and gave the name Brahma to the
> Supreme Entity.
>
> Who can also make others limitless.
>
> How can one know that limitless Entity? One of Baba's greatest gifts to
> humanity was His unparalleled elucidation of different aspects of
> spiritual or intuitional science in language which linked the "mysterious"
> to the rational and scientific realms.
>
> A sadhaka must be more than the average person in order to understand
> spiritual mysteries. When one gets an understanding of this, then one may
> also catch a glimpse of His omniscience, and appreciate that Baba's
> effortless establishment in this realm was a unique occurrence.
>
> Here I would like to offer an explanation of Baba's concepts of
> manasphot'a (bursting of mind) and cetanasphot'a (bursting of
> consciousness). It is a lay person's attempt to scientifically explain the
> phenomena of intuitional or spiritual realization.
>
> While explaining microvita in 1988, Baba said that the third type of
> microvita can be perceived only through "special perception". He said that
> "special perception" is nothing but "the reflection of conception within
> the periphery of perception." I contemplated this for several days and
> finally realized its meaning in an intuitive flash. I also understood what
> was meant by a "conceptually developed mind". The following examples
> illustrate my understanding.
>
> The Russian chemist Mendelev described how he developed the periodic
> table. He thought that there must be some relationship between the
> chemical elements and he spent sleepless nights puzzling over it.
> Ultimately he saw, in a dream, the whole periodic table and wrote it down
> immediately upon awakening.
>
> The scientist Kekule discovered the structure of carbon compounds like
> benzene. His solutions also came in a dream. Once, while sitting by the
> fire in the evening after toiling for several hours with models of long
> chain carbon compounds, he became drowsy. In his half sleep, he saw the
> chains turn into twisting and turning snakes. When one of the snakes
> suddenly seized its own tail and formed a ring, the idea of a cyclic
> structure came to the great mind.
>
> These scientists had conceptually developed minds since they were
> assimilating tremendous amounts of diverse data in their mental arena.
> Their dreams were a reflection of their concepts. Dreams come within the
> realm of perception. So the answer to their problems came as a reflection
> of conception within the periphery of perception.
>
> It is significant that enlightenment comes at a point of relaxed
> drowsiness, when the ego or "I" involvement is conspicuously absent. The
> symbolization of that knowledge is witnessed by the knower "I" and that
> profound revelation is communicated to the doer "I", which retains it.
>
> Barbara McClintock received the 1983 Nobel prize in medicine and
> physiology for her research on `jumping genes". She expressed amazement in
> her memoirs that the rush of enlightenment happened only when her "I" was
> forgotten in oblivion at the peak of her deep investigations - that is,
> she completely lost herself in the act of investigation.[13]
>
> The "I" who retains intuitive knowledge is not the same I" who brings the
> knowledge at the time of the pulverization of the ectoplasm into
> endoplasm. In a state of oblivion, the all-knowing unconscious mind takes
> charge, allowing the Cosmic Mind to transmit this knowledge. Later the
> superficial "I" tries to take the credit for the discovery.
>
> Our unconscious mind is His all-knowing mind or the hiranyagarbha of the
> Guru. If by constant endeavour one crosses the subconscious and comes in
> contact with the unconscious, one can get symbolic expressions of profound
> truths.
>
> In every country there are stories of people who experience extra sensory
> perception (ESP). For example, the daughter of a naive but very devotional
> man suffered from an incurable disease. He constantly and fervently
> surrendered to his goddess for a long period. Then, in a dream, his
> unconscious mind appeared to him as his goddess. She said, "My child, go
> to such and such place and such and such herb will be shown to you. Use
> this herb and your daughter will be cured." The devotee came out of the
> dream, found the herb in the exact location and cured his daughter. Many
> of us have come across such incidents in our day to day life. It is the
> unconscious mind which creates the symbolic revelation.
>
> A dream from the subconscious mind is not usually inspirational but dreams
> of the unconscious mind are very exhilarating. After having them, one
> feels thrilled and enjoys a beautiful cool balm from the anahata to ajina
> cakras.
>
> So-called scientific people usually dismiss such experiences as
> coincidental or chance, or label them as parapsychic phenomena. To explain
> them as intuition is only the beginning. By a constant endeavour, if one
> establishes a link between the conscious and unconscious (this is possible
> only after one becomes dagdhabiija[14]), then one can start to enter the
> mysterious spiritual world. Anyone can attain the unconscious and begin
> this wonderful journey by developing constant devotion and receiving the
> compassion of the Sadguru.
>
> In an interesting conversation with Ac. Rameshvarananda, Baba described
> what happens when unit consciousness of the jiiva (unit mind) makes a link
> with Cosmic Consciousness. "When the unit comes in contact with the Cosmic
> and the Cosmic comes in contact with the unit, as a result of the
> proximity of the two, the natural becomes less natural and the
> supernatural becomes more natural."
>
> Baba said in the future this "special perception" will be the sixth sense
> of knowledge. It may also be called enlightenment. To achieve collective
> progress, our society needs to nurture conceptually developed people. When
> scientists eventually combine their analytic approach with the synthetic
> spiritual approach, humanity will advance in great strides. Only then will
> the dusty earth be able to heave a sigh of relief and get release from the
> constant turmoil among nations and communities.
>
> In a DMC[15] in northern India, a few workers and I were sitting with Baba
> when He was reclining after lunch. He was speaking freely with us, so some
> workers discussed their problems. Baba generously began offering very
> specific solutions that included specific details about different people
> He had never met. This amazed some of the workers, so they asked, "Baba,
> how do You know about people You never met before?"
>
> He replied, "I require only one second to know about anything."
>
> Then I said, "Baba, You are confusing us, because You don't even take one
> second! I always watch You speak, and details are constantly flowing from
> Your mouth without pause!"
>
> Baba smiled lovingly and nodded His head. He explained, "So how can you
> know this? You need a torch. With that torch you can see everything." Then
> I understood that His torch is the torch of omniscience. Only persons who
> cultivate their power of concentration to an extraordinary degree get even
> momentary access to the realm of intuition or knowledge in its pure form.
>
> On another occasion, a college student in 1969 asked in Ranchi jagrti,
> "Baba, You know so many things. What is your qualification?"
>
> Baba did not answer, but the boy repeated the question many times. Finally
> Baba said, "I have only one qualification: I know the One. You also try to
> know the One. Know One, know all." From this it was clear that He was
> effortlessly established in omniscience.
>
> Slipping into the unconscious mind is not governed by any rule or
> condition. It happens only after one's doer "I" feeling is defeated and
> surrenders. If a sadhaka wants to do psycho-spiritual research, she or he
> will have to do an'udhyana or chase their Is't'a, the omniscient Guru.
> Suppose your Is't'a says to you in dhyana, "You're a nasty vicious
> scoundrel and I don't want anything more to do with you!" Then you will
> have to reply, "No, You are my everything and I will not leave You." If
> this is not sufficient, then you will have to chase Him. During the chase,
> it is baffling to find multiple forms of ego stealthily appearing in front
> of you and yet you are unaware these are the result of your doer "I". The
> moment you catch it, it again disappears. So I am tempted to say that maya
> and the doer "I" feeling are one and the same.
>
> Remaining physically alone is very crucial to this process. The witnessing
> "I" of the doer "I" becomes dominant when you are alone. This makes it
> easy to watch when the doer "I" slips into the subconscious and
> unconscious mind. When you are alone you can identify your sam'skaras and
> discover which ones are stronger. You can analyse your thoughts, noticing
> their patterns and frequency of recurrence. Thus you can cleanse the
> subconscious mind of these thoughts with your mantra ideation.
>
> This "I" feeling, however, becomes a block or an impediment in further
> expansion or progress. Now in what way does this "I" feeling explode? This
> aspect I still had- to understand. Baba appeared in another dream and
> explained, "When you are crying for Parama Purus'a, out of longing for the
> Great, the endoplasm gets melted. If one is insulted, on the other hand,
> then the endoplasm explodes and cetanasphot'a occurs."
>
> The clash, tension and helplessness one feels when being insulted, and the
> subsequent resignation to the Cosmic will, develops wisdom, which is the
> impression of the Cosmic Mahar.
>
> When I was a new worker, in June 1966, I felt very attached to Baba and
> did not want to leave Jamalpur to go to my posting. Baba then told me,
> "Find Me in My Mission." I was still reluctant to go. Then He said,
> "Between you and Me there is only one enemy."
>
> "What is that, Baba?"
>
> "Ego," He replied.
>
> "Baba, remove it immediately!"
>
> He smiled and said, "It is not easy. It takes time."
>
> "Baba, how can I remove it?"
>
> "Get yourself insulted."
>
> "Baba, please save me from the insults of the world. You can insult me as
> much as You like."
>
> Then He mysteriously replied, "As and when I find time, I will do it."
>
> I could not realize in those days how hard this process was. I forgot
> about this conversation.
>
> Ten years later, when Baba came out of jail in 1978, He started insulting
> me without any apparent reason. He constantly rebuked me for the next
> eight years, saying, "Idiot nonsense scoundrel! Tall talking,
> high-sounding do-little boy! You have so much potentiality, yet do
> nothing, whiling away the time! Inefficient grade number three!"
>
> Though these words did not bother me, He also used words in public that
> hurt me very much. Two things happened inside me. I intensely hated His
> treatment. Simultaneously, my longing for His love became stronger.
> Through my pain and tears, I experienced an irresistible attraction
> towards Him. It felt as though He was constantly twisting and squeezing
> me, just as if He was wringing out a wet towel.
>
> Gradually His insults felt less painful, until by 1986 I actually started
> to enjoy them. Then I suddenly remembered Baba's advice to me twenty years
> before. I realized that this long, painful process was the fulfillment of
> the promise He made for my personal development.
>
> What we call conscience is the expanded form of consciousness. The quality
> of developed conscience is loving all equally. As this capacity increases,
> the spiritual aspirant becomes more dynamic internally. He or she starts
> slowly getting lost in the process of psycho-spiritual parallelism. Bhava
> or Cosmic ideation is the start.
>
> In 1981 Baba began to personally review each spiritual aspirant. He called
> this review Dharma Samikss'a. The purpose, in my opinion, was to pulverize
> the ego and thus explode the endoplasm in cetanasphota. He said that this
> process was not done by Shiva or Krs'n'a. Baba promised that anyone who
> underwent this experience will never fall below human life. This was His
> special grace to the devotees.
>
> Though painful, from this we can understand the benevolent intention Baba
> had when He sometimes insulted His devotees. In these situations, He tried
> never to allow people to see through His acting. He did not want the
> seriousness of His dramas to be broken, and He wanted the full effect of
> His acting to be felt. Only when a devotee realized that He was acting
> would He admit the truth.
>
> Ronei s'e ishk mein bebak ho gaye, dhoye gaye aise hum bus pak ho gae.
> By crying in ecstatic love for the beloved,
>
> I became liberated
>
> And was thus cleansed and felt purged.
>
> After a lot of weeping in secrecy for the beloved (Cosmic Consciousness or
> Parama Purus 'a), one gets the feeling of purity, humility and lightness -
> that is, the feeling of surrender.
>
> When one longs for Parama Purus'a, one's sense of awareness again
> increases and one feels the proximity of turiiya (the fourth stage of
> spiritual realization) making all sensory phenomena seem as a dream.
>
> Mei barasti hei fazaon mein nashatari hai 'Mere saki ne ka hein jam uchale
> honge. [Urdu]
>
> Wine showers from the heavens, The inebriating love lingers on,
>
> As my beloved bartender pours barrels and barrels.
>
> The divine inebriation referred to here is, of course, experienced only in
> the state of intense longing for Parama Purus'a.
>
> Shamma lei ayei hei, jalwa gahe jana se ab to alum mei ujale hi ujale
> honge.
> From the magic abode of my beloved, I have brought a lambent flame and now
> the sky is filled with effulgent light.
>
> This longing is physically very exhausting. Paramahamsa Ramakrishna used
> to suffer physically. Miira wrote:
>
> Piili pad gayi keser kaya, rup ne apna rup gavaya [Hindi]
> The pink hue of my body turned pale yellow, and beauty squandered her
> beauty.
>
> The chemical transformation in the body during these spiritual states is a
> study for future biopsychologists. Cetanasphot'a is the explosion of unit
> "I" feeling into the mahat which has a close touch with the Cosmic Mahat.
> The feeling is one vast witness-ship of the doer "I". We can call it the
> knower "I" feeling, and as a result of this experience rationality
> increases.
>
> Baba's Mystical Aspect
> Tula upama va Krs'n'asya nasti.
> Krs'n'a can be compared only with Krs'n'a.
>
> Similarly Baba can only be compared with Baba. Millions of His disciples
> scattered around the world have had different experiences according to
> their individual sam'skaras.
>
> Upon hearing these stories, it is natural for everyone to desire similar
> experiences. Baba taught us to treasure our spiritual experiences and
> discouraged us from sharing them with worldly minded people. They usually
> belittle or make fun of such things, and often wound our devotional
> sentiments. However He did not mind when we discussed them with other
> spiritual aspirants for our mutual inspiration and education.
>
> It is also true that the range of words which we have to express our
> sensory experiences is very limited. For example, feelings of love vary in
> many ways, but we only have a few words to describe the nature of love.
> The best understanding is always to be had from anubhuti rather than from
> words. But in spiritual matters, even the glimmer of a glowworm can strike
> the mind like a flash of lightning.
>
> A person whose psycho-physical body is not refined or pure enough to
> receive the subtle but very powerful currents of spiritual energy, may
> become disturbed or collapse.[16] So Baba gave these experiences according
> to a person's individual sam'skaras. He always maintained samadarshita
> (judicious impartiality) by any standard of measurement, but He did not
> indiscriminately distribute anubhuti.
>
> So how can scientists argue that what they cannot demonstrate cannot be
> accepted? The depth of anubhuti varies from person to person in proportion
> to the development of the glandular system. The psychic expansion of Self
> by making the glandular system more subtle is called Jinana Yoga.
>
> The mystical aspect of Baba's life was the most difficult to understand.
> He remained constantly in one of two moods, liila or nitya. It was very
> difficult for anyone to know when He was in nitya or in liila. I gradually
> came to believe that He was in both moods simultaneously.
>
> Nitya means eternal. Whether giving personal contact or a DMC discourse
> before thousands, this eternal mood in which He expressed the omniscient
> Baba was predominant.
>
> Liila means sportive. When the reason for a particular sportive or playful
> mood is not known, it is called liila, and when the cause is known, it is
> known as kriida.
>
> When He moved with the members of His vast spiritual family, sometimes He
> would feign to forget, go into moods of anger, or exhibit other human
> emotions or foibles in keeping with the drama He was enacting on the stage
> of the world. Most people could not comprehend this seemingly "human" or
> "fallible" aspect of Baba, as they were rarely exposed to it. Only those
> closest to Him could see through this enigmatic aspect of His personality
> and realize that these dramas were pretensions. They were only external,
> not internal.
>
> Anyone who sincerely desires to realize the Supreme, no matter from which
> background they hail - geographical, linguistic, historical or cultural -
> can find a place in His universal spiritual family.
>
> One amazing realization that I had of Baba as the Supreme took place in
> the second week of January 1968 in Jaipur, Rajastan. Baba stayed ten days
> as my guest while I was working there as Regional Secretary of Ananda
> Marga. The entire period was wonderfully blissful. One day, when Baba
> returned after His morning field walk, I attended Him. He was relaxed, so
> I closed the door and was alone with Him for nearly three hours. I
> addressed Baba as Shiva. I repeated the long Dhyana Mantra of Shiva in
> front of Him which ends with Paincavaktram trinetram, which means "You
> have five faces and three eyes." Baba then explained and demonstrated the
> three eyes of Shiva. First He placed His hand over His left eye which He
> said represents the past; then He placed it over the right, which
> represents the present; and finally He placed His hand between the
> eyebrows which represents the future.
>
> Then He explained that the five faces represent the five different
> expressions that the Lord uses to convey different messages to people. On
> the extreme right is Daks'in'eshvara, which guides people in sweet
> language. On the extreme left is Kalagni, which punishes wrongdoers
> severely. The middle right face is lishana, which clearly states the
> consequences of misdeeds and offers some advice. The middle left face is
> Vamdeva which threatens and scolds severely but does not actually punish.
> The middle face is Kalyan'asundaram, which displays pure bliss. He
> explained that good or bad, all are His beloved children and have an equal
> place in His lap.
>
> Then Baba asked, "Do you want to see these five faces?"
>
> I immediately said, "Yes, Baba."
>
> Then He gave a wonderful display of what He had just described. I found
> that my mood changed dramatically according to the face of Baba that I
> saw.
>
> He began by showing me Iishana. In that mood He began reprimanding me for
> my mistakes. He scolded me lightly for ten minutes and it made me very
> serious.
>
> The second face He showed me was Daks'in'eshvara, which was affectionate
> guiding. It was heart touching to see Baba advising me so sweetly.
>
> Then He showed me Kalyan'asundaram for almost half an hour. He was
> deliciously sweet and inexplicably affectionate. I sat on His lap and
> embraced Him. The attraction built up and I was seized with a fervour to
> shed the limitations of my body. The experience was so blissful that I
> wanted it to go on forever.
>
> Then Baba said, "I will not show you the terrible Kalagni, because no
> human can stand it. Even the Vamdeva is very terrifying." He cautioned me
> against seeing it, but again asked, "Do you still want to see?"
>
> "Yes, Baba," I replied.
>
> Then His eyes and face started becoming sarcastic and angry. As I watched
> I became more and more afraid. He was becoming so ferocious looking that
> I, who had an exaggerated idea of my courage, quickly put up my hands to
> cover His face and said, "Enough, Baba, please stop!"
>
> It took Him a few seconds to become normal again. Then He broke into peals
> of laughter.
>
> Masters of the past often acted abnormally when they experienced deep
> spiritual bliss. This is because parallelism with the physical body is not
> possible, even for very great persons, when one is in high spiritual
> states. For example, when
>
> Paramahamsa Ramakrishna was spiritually intoxicated he sometimes went
> outside naked, oblivious to society's reactions, and it was Hridaya's job
> to clothe him.
>
> The Upanishads say that the salt doll could not come back to tell how many
> fathoms was the ocean. The secret esoteric texts support this, saying that
> after attainment of the highest state of nirvikalpa samadhi, the body has
> to be shed in three to seven, or at the most 20 days. It is like an
> elephant trying to enter a small hut. The hut (one's body) cannot
> accommodate such intense spiritual energy and it disintegrates.
>
> In Baba's case, however, His ensconcement in the Supreme state did not
> produce a ripple. The salt doll never dissolved. He moved with ease
> through the ocean and told us not only its depth but everything else about
> it. Baba was always calm.
>
> When asked how He could display such vast knowledge so effortlessly, He
> would quip "I have an uncommonly developed common sense," and so lightly
> sidestep the question.
>
> Our modem age badly needed a worthy legacy of Shiva and Krs'n'a. Their
> unfinished work needed a conclusion. Baba revived their forgotten
> contributions in Namah Shivaya Shantaya and Namami Krs'n'a Sundaram. He
> also added Neohumanism (The Liberation of Intellect) as well as an
> appendix in the form of the Progressive Utilization Theory (Prout).
>
> In order to create this legacy Baba worked hard and suffered greatly. He
> created the model of a new society with the active participation of both
> householders and sannyasiis who mutually help each other. The sannyasiis
> take spiritual care of the householders, and they in turn provide the
> basic necessities of the sannyasiis. For the protection of dharma, this
> mutual help is essential.
>
> The beauty of this legacy has as its focal point a happy blending of
> oriental sublimity and occidental dynamicity. What qualities are needed by
> those who will carry this legacy into the future? He trained His sons and
> daughters to be:
>
> Nafz par kabu rahe
> Aur dost banjaye zamir
> Shan phir hogi ata
> Sab se juda sab se alag.
> With well-controlled nerve And conscience as friend, You glow in esteem
> With intimacy to all and detachment from all.
>
> During my posting in Himachal Pradesh, I met saints who lived alone and
> remained aloof from our society. From them I came to know about a language
> known as Sandya Bhasha in which the Prayoga Shas'tra, a practical Tantric
> cult text, is written. During one of Baba's Sunday darshans He talked
> about it and said that this language is prevalent among the Tibetan yogis
> who call it charya pad
>
> In the Mahabharata, there is a story of Yudhistira and a _yaks 'a (a
> luminous being). More than a hundred and twenty questions are asked by the
> yaks 'a (who was dharma in disguise) and Yudhistira answers all of them
> correctly. One of the questions is: what is the number that exceeds the
> combined number of all the floras and grasses of this planet? Answer: the
> number of thoughts that pass through the human mind!
>
> One Ekadashii (fasting day) I was distracted by the thought of a
> particular food item while travelling in a bus. I brushed the thought
> aside and chastised myself (with a little pain) for stooping so low as to
> think about food on my fasting day. I then forgot it. After Baba came out
> of the jail, He took me to task for that thought. He asked me to remember
> the actual occasion but I could not, even after some effort. Then He
> touched my head with His stick and I remembered instantly. I was amazed to
> realize that He remembered every thought of mine, yet only with His power
> could I remember my own thoughts!
>
> During another reporting session, Baba asked Ac. Citkrs'n'ananda Avt.
> about conversations he had when he was an engineering student in his
> hostel in Coimbatore. He could not remember anything. Then Baba
> temporarily gave him a special power to recollect his conversations about
> a haunted room and many other matters with his friends. He was amazed how
> Baba could do it.
>
> Baba praised Gandharii of the Mahabharata. e told how when her son, the
> immoral Duryodhana, went before the battle to receive her blessings of
> victory, she only said, "Where there is Krs'n'a, there is dharma, and
> where there is dharma, there is victory." She did not give importance to
> filial love, but to dharma. Viewers of the popular TV serial that was made
> of this epic may remember that this part was included by the script
> writer, the late Mr. Rahi Mazum Raza. In fact I knew Mr. Raza personally
> and he happily included these lines after I mentioned them to him.
>
> Once while I was talking with Baba in March or April of 1982, He traced my
> ancestry back to 544 BC. He also described my home village perfectly,
> named many of the local places and explained many local words. He
> illustrated how each word and name evolved out of the ancient history of
> the place and then became simplified. The things He spoke about are known
> only superficially by the local people of my village, yet He spoke in
> great detail. I think someday someone with a highly developed intuition
> will rediscover this knowledge. Some are in Baba's book, Varna Vicitra.
>
> In Jamalpur, about February 1966, one new Acarya asked Baba, "When You
> know everything, why do You ask questions of us?"
>
> He replied, "My son, do you want that I not speak to you at all?"
>
> In the early 1950's in Jamalpur, Baba carefully selected His disciples and
> purposely maintained an aura of secrecy. At that time they could not
> comprehend Baba's vision for the future of Ananda Marga because they were
> very few, perhaps less than 50. His plans seemed impossible to realize in
> their lifetime.
>
> His extreme secrecy conveyed both a good and bad impression to the public.
> In fact, His extreme aversion to public recognition was a special facet of
> His mysterious existence. He told Harigovind Dada then, "Malicious
> propaganda is the real propaganda."
>
> In the early seventies when Baba was arrested and the most horrible
> slander about Him and the organization was carried by the national and
> even world mass media, He used to console me by saying that, "Apapracar is
> the real pracar." This means that negative reporting and sensationalism is
> a highly effective means of getting well known.
>
> Throughout His life He refused to meet journalists. He explained that He
> was a spiritual Guru, not a politician, and so only gave audiences to
> initiated Ananda Margiis. In this way He hid His multi-faceted divine
> expressions from mass recognition; and He left this earthly abode when His
> genius could remain hidden no more. The recognition and the garlands He
> left for His disciples.
>
> He did not want cunning and conceited people around Him. In March 1968 in
> Ranchi He told me categorically that He did not want misdirected
> millionaires and self-serving politicians to join Ananda Marga. He said,
> "Wherever they go, they pollute society." While good people welcome Ananda
> Marga, its strong moral stand causes headaches for bad people. "Let all
> good people of the world love my sons and daughters," He said.
>
> Nevertheless, these last 28 years I have been wondering and worrying why
> such a beautiful ideology and its founder should remain in oblivion. Once
> He told me that India's main defect is that her leaders are over jealous.
> They never allow others to come to prominence. By hook or by crook they
> sabotage the emergence of any independent great personality. So there was
> a concerted effort to undermine the glory of Ananda Marga and keep the
> middle class intelligentsia away from it.
>
> We were and still are too primitive to fully appreciate His ideas. Due to
> defective education, we are nationalists, we have different sentiments, we
> identify with different religions. we have no common ideals, though
> spirituality is fundamentally the same for all. While making the final
> touches to His discourses on microvita, He told us that He had made us do
> 25 years of sadhana so that we could understand this concept and utilize
> it in our lives and society. Gradually His universal philosophy spread
> universal values of life that will eventually result in a common
> constitution for the entire human society.
>
> Baba told me once, "The human body is a miniature form of this universe."
> In every human disciple, there is a fight going on between the spiritual
> personality and the combined influence of the cellular minds of the
> physical and psycho-physical body. The culmination of this fight is the
> achievement of spiritual realization. Then only does one become completely
> universal.
>
> Science is advancing and Baba encouraged us to help this advancement; but
> we should be careful to transmute the negative aspects of intellectual
> vibrations (pratikula vedana) into intellectuo-spiritual vibrations
> (apluta vedana).
>
> He personally taught me a method to achieve this. The body remains
> completely motionless and one has the feeling of being completely at ease
> out of the body. This is called apluta samadhi, and it can be practiced
> only in a burial ground. The difficulty is that one cannot easily come out
> of this state; one may want to re-enter the body and stand up, but it is
> very hard to do so.
>
> Baba was Mahakaola. Who is a Mahakaola? Those who can move the collective
> ectoplasm, through the medium of their own ectoplasmic rhythmic stamina by
> awakening new power in shabda. The awakening of this power is called
> purashcaran'a in Sanskrit, and those who can perform this tough task are
> called Mahakaola. They can create a stir in the universe. They alone are
> worthy of the status of Guru and none else.
>
> Divine Love and Subtle Tanmatras
> I want to include in this short book, which is incomplete in so many
> dimensions, a humble attempt to portray a profile of His divine love.
> Science, mentioned earlier, is only vocal on the operative (objective)
> side and not on the cognitive (subjective) side. So how can one understand
> love?
>
> Once a veteran Marxist challenged me with his atheism. I simply asked,
> "Have you ever observed how a mother holds her little baby? The baby is
> unable to articulate, but the sea of emotions exchanged through their
> glances, just like the enraptured non-verbal communication between two
> lovers, cannot be disregarded even by an atheist. How much they
> communicate! Even many volumes of writing will fail to capture the
> fullness of their emotional states. Can any science measure the intensity
> of these states through inferences? Yet can any scientist deny this love?"
>
> He nodded in agreement with me and became deeply silent. I continued,
> "Then how can you deny the Universal Love? Our individual love is only a
> reflection of that Love. When Cosmic Love enters you, you want to explode
> into pieces for others like a bomb. This is an intensely emotive feeling.
> How can anyone deny the reality of this experience?"
>
> In our day to day lives, we have many intuitional experiences which
> science cannot measure, and which unfortunately we often ignore. Suppose
> you are quietly humming a tune, and after walking a few hundred meters you
> hear the same tune wafting from a nearby house or shop. There are many
> such experiences, which startle us when they occur, but which we
> subsequently forget.
>
> Baba once told me, "God is love and love is God." We can measure our
> spiritual evolution by our capacity to love selflessly. Selfless love,
> like service, is unilateral, i.e., we must not accept anything in return.
> With advancement in sadhana, our propensity for hatred also slowly
> diminishes.
>
> How few children are fortunate enough to receive true love from their
> parents? And then even those few are usually taught to be selfish or to
> stay close to home. Baba demonstrated a kind of loving greater than any we
> had ever experienced.
>
> Every Margii experienced in Baba's physical presence the feeling of a
> whole family sitting together. The Ananda Marga family has always been
> very cosmopolitan. Every year new members join from distant lands and
> remote cultures.
>
> As a true father, He used to admonish us. He was very affectionate and
> communicated profoundly without words, inducing in us tears of joy upon
> meeting and tears of sorrow at every temporary parting.
>
> He was our first family. He was our Father, our Mother, our Child, our
> Teacher, our Friend, our Authority. Every aspect of human relations He
> fulfilled with true family feeling.
>
> Another of Baba's great attributes was supreme optimism. It was
> infectious, so how can we criticize those of His devotees who believed
> that Sadvipra Samaj (a society guided by moral spiritualists) would be
> established before He left His physical body? Contrary to our
> expectations, it was not established on the geographical or political
> planes in His lifetime. Rapid change is frequently superficial; for
> universal values to permeate deep into the foundations of human society,
> in a permanent way, must take some time.
>
> Yet it should also be noted that in Ananda Marga He established a
> miniature form of Sadvipra Samaj. And for those disciples who followed the
> Sixteen Points[17] strictly, nature provided for all their needs without
> exception. So in a way, His Progressive Utilization Theory (Prout) was
> also established in individual Margii families.
>
> Through love He created a truly universal family. This concept did not
> just remain a utopian ideal: in reality, the whole Ananda Marga became a
> great family during His physical sojourn on this earth. Wise disciples
> will now have to expand the frontiers of this family by helping people to
> grow through the spirit of inquiry, through a scientific and rational
> approach. The dogmas which still bind us can be eradicated only through
> meditation and open-minded study.
>
> The feeling of being one of His close, intimate family members was more
> intense during the early days when our numbers were less. As our numbers
> increased, He used to chide me for being possessive of Him and jealous of
> others. He said, "You are older, a senior disciple. Let the new ones get a
> chance." So I helplessly had to accept His will, though my individual
> connection with Him became less physical and more psychic.
>
> The collective family feeling also became stronger; I believe it will
> continue to intensify as we become more spiritual. Eventually our family
> feeling will expand to embrace animals and plants and the entire inanimate
> world.
>
> Baba was the very embodiment of Supreme love. He had two kinds of
> relationship: one with His disciples individually and the other with us
> collectively. As a father He was equal to all.
>
> Everyone received their brimful and felt contented. ' Everyone felt Him to
> be impartial. Incredibly, every disciple truly felt, "My Guru is my
> personal property." He gave each of us the feeling, "He loves me the
> most."
>
> His physical presence emanated a special bliss which was experienced even
> by those who did not conform to His ideology. It was universal. Some days
> when, due to the pressure of work, His disciples could not complete the
> target He had set for them, He used to feign anger and would not take
> food. Everyone used to worry over this and there would be a great
> commotion around His quarters.
>
> To my astonishment, I found that a similar anxiety and commotion took
> place in the prison when Baba was there. The same tension spread among the
> guards, wardens and other inmates when Baba refused to take the glass of
> buttermilk which He used to drink twice a day during His long fast in the
> jail.
>
> He was so special that people used to feel a strong and irresistible
> attraction for Him. Among His disciples there used to be a competition to
> rush to Him and be with Him.
>
> Ac. Amitananda Avt. once said to Baba, "The General Secretary is so
> lucky."
>
> "Why?" asked Baba.
>
> "Because he can always go to Your room."
>
> Baba laughed and said, "Then My slippers are even more lucky! No, unnais
> se biis nahi hoga. [Nineteen won't be made into twenty.] Whosoever works
> for humanity, wherever they may be, Grace will go to them accordingly.
> Even one paisa more than that, one cannot get."
>
> Good people, even children, liked Him because here they found a person who
> only loved. We have heard about God who punishes wrong doing and rewards
> good deeds. Everyone hopes for rewards and fears punishment. Yet in Baba
> we found a person who would forgive a thousand times. Not only that, He
> would take on the bad sam'skaras of His disciples and thereby free us from
> nature's reaction. His punishments were always blessings in disguise. Many
> of those disciples who had the opportunity to receive punishment from Him
> realized that upon receiving a scratch, they had escaped reactions of
> formidable consequence.
>
> His devotees used to get much pleasure from giving Him small gifts from
> their homelands. A few of these gifts were quite costly, most were very
> humble, but He gave equal importance to all. Once in a small gathering of
> devotees He said, "The physical value of different gifts may differ, but
> psychically they have the same value for Me." He said this to reassure His
> economically poor devotees who occasionally worried that their offerings
> were somehow of less importance.
>
> One example will illustrate this truth. In March 1990 a boy from Bihar
> travelled to Calcutta to visit Baba. After purchasing his train ticket he
> had only 25 paisa left (less than one US cent). So he used that coin to
> purchase a guava for Baba. When he saw the items brought by other devotees
> from all over the world, he felt ashamed and left without offering it.
>
> Meanwhile, in another room Baba was taking His lunch. Doctors had
> prohibited Him from eating guava because of His diabetes, but suddenly
> Baba demanded to eat a guava. His Personal Assistant searched the kitchen,
> but found none. Baba then instructed him to go outside and ask if any of
> the devotees had a guava. He did so, and the boy from Bihar offered his
> guava. It was brought to Baba and He ate it with great relish. From this
> incident I realized that Baba gave more value to the intensity of devotion
> with which an offering is made than its physical or psychic value.
>
> Baba proved logically in His RU lecture of 1967, "Pragati and
> Paincavedana", that there can be no progress in the physical and mental
> spheres. At best, physical progress means the demise of an old structure
> and the creation a new one, as for example in the construction of a motor
> car. In the mental realm, progress means fighting against all dogmas. "The
> best is yet to come," should be the attitude, He would say. In the
> spiritual realm, progress means to cultivate Radhabhava[18] for the
> Supreme.
>
> It is interesting to note that where the spiritual concepts of the
> Vaisnavites, Sufis, and Ananda Margiis coincide is in the point of
> Radhabhava. According to Ananda Marga the fundamental starting point of
> spirituality is this longing for the Great, longing to be united with the
> Great in wedlock. The feeling at first is, "I love You because it gives me
> bliss" and the final feeling is, "I want to love You because now I know
> this gives You bliss. I want to be Yours." In this state one is even ready
> to sacrifice his or her life, if it will make Him happy. The unit self is
> absolutely negated here.
>
> An ideal love, I believe, is that between two lovers whose likes or
> sam'skaras (reactive momenta in potential form) are almost the same. Both
> of them would be accomplished in every possible sense. They would also be
> physically charming to each other. Then, their mutual love will touch some
> very deep strings inside. Baba's love to every individual disciple touched
> much deeper strings than this ideal love of lovers. A few such husbands
> and wives (who are very much spiritually developed) confessed to me that
> Baba's love was much deeper than their attraction for each other.
>
> There are many kinds of love: for example, the love between father and
> son, mother and son, between friends, brother and sister, master and
> servant, husband and wife. All these are love with different dimensions
> and limits. According to Paramahamsa Ramakrishna the love between an ideal
> husband and wife who are mentally married contains all the forms of love,
> and hence it is superior to the others. This ideal love is similar to what
> is known, in Tantric terminology, as madhurbhava.
>
> Higher than this is the devotional stage of mahabhava. I knew a little
> about this from the life of Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, who was a Brahmavid,
> a knower of Brahma. (Brahmavid Brahmaeva bhavati: "One who realizes Brahma
> becomes Brahma".) From my earliest days in Ananda Marga, I was curious to
> know more about this bhava.
>
> In Jamalpur around January 1966, I met a boy called Vinod. (Today he is an
> engineer in the Indian Railways.) He was behaving like an intoxicated
> person, singing and dancing all the time. He would run up to Baba, touch
> His chin and then run away singing, "You are really Krs'n'a of Vrindavan!"
> During evening walk, I asked Baba, Is he in mahabhava?"
>
> Baba said emphatically, "No!"; but then He added, "I reserve my tongue."
> The talk shifted to a different subject and I forgot about it.
>
> The next day Baba came early in the morning, asked for a blackboard and
> gave a lecture which lasted for one hour. "Yesterday," He began, looking
> at me, "your question was about mahabhava, but today you should understand
> what is bhava." He then explained bhava in great detail, and He said a
> little on mahabhava.
>
> It took me twenty years of meditation to comprehend the meaning of
> mahabhava. Later I would like to write a book on this sweetest and highest
> of spiritual attainments. By understanding mahabhava, one can realize more
> deeply the wondrous mystery of beloved Baba. I have not ventured to write
> on it so far because this aspect of spirituality can be misinterpreted by
> quacks. Unless one has a very deep interest in spirituality, it cannot be
> comprehended. I want to cry and shout about it at the top of my lungs:
> "Here is the quintessence of spirituality, and in it lies final
> emancipation!" But so far I have always felt some unseen power holding me
> back from explaining this devotional sentiment in a straightforward way in
> black and white.
>
> Baba often asked me to speak on devotion. In His presence I used to mouth
> like a parrot about madhurbhava or Radhabhava, but I never knew what it
> was like.
>
> Then, in 1985, on one of these occasions, He took His stick and gave me a
> blow on the head. Instantly there was a flash of bliss. It was
> inexplicable. In those few seconds I realized how exquisite is the
> intensity of this spiritual love. This helped me understand how a truly
> loving husband and wife can be so devoted to one another. I became like a
> dumb person for months and could not do serious work because of my
> internal preoccupation. (From that day, Baba never again asked me to
> deliver lectures on devotion!)
>
> Sadhakas understand that love and bliss are one and the same thing. The
> pleasures derived from the tanmatras of sound, touch, form, smell and
> taste are different. Yet in loving your mother, father, child, and others
> close to you, you feel a kind of happiness. In the Mahabharata, Vidura
> says that everyone waits anxiously for the arrival of a saintly person who
> is devoid of egotism. In deep spiritual love, one feels a subtle kind of
> intoxication. In worldly love the intensity of this intoxication is less.
> Spiritual intoxication is due to Brahmarandhra, the pineal body, which
> secretes a nectarial hormone. Baba explained that the pineal gland of
> every human being secretes three drops a month; but if crude thoughts
> surround the pituitary region, the nectar evaporates and one cannot enjoy
> the bliss of divine intoxication. A person who does regular meditation
> enjoys three drops of this nectar daily; when it touches the pituitary
> gland, the sadhaka feels great bliss. When it filters through to the lower
> parts of the body all the glands are strengthened.[19]
>
> Rama Prasad, the famous mystic of Bengal, sang:
>
> Surapan korini ami sudha khay jai kalibole.
> I did not drink wine but tasted the nectar and shouted "Victory to Goddess
> Kali"! Worldly people think I drank wine and got intoxicated, which is not
> true.
>
> I believe that the human body must be very much developed through sadhana,
> asanas and other yogic practices before it can enjoy the pineal nectar.
> Before one can experience the bliss of spiritual love, all the plexi,
> glands and subglands must be capable of absorbing it.
>
> What is this love? Love and bliss are one and the same thing. The more the
> capacity to love, the more the capacity to enjoy bliss. Love is soft, yet
> so strong and strenuous that it calms and inspires the mind during great
> trials and tribulations. Love gives a perpetual feeling of bliss and
> happiness. For an aspirant, a spiritually realized Guru becomes the object
> of ideation, because the physical medium of the Guru becomes the
> Impersonal (God) personified.
>
> The Sufi Amir Khushru understood this great importance of Guru. His fellow
> Muslims condemned him for his worship of his Guru. They accused him of
> being unfaithful to Islam, of being a Hindu (who use a sacred thread) and
> of idolatry. He replied:
>
> Quafir-e-ishkam
> musalmani mara darkar ne ast,
> Har-rege man tar-gest hajate junnar ne-ast
> Khalk me goed ki khushro buth parastii mi kunad
> Arei arei mi kunad khalko alamkar ne-ast. [Persian]
> I am a non-believer, lost in love.
> I am intoxicated from head to foot With the love of my Master, Nezamudin
> Aoulia.
> I don't have anything to do with Islam.
> Every vein of my body is intoxicated With divine love for God,
> Therefore I don't need the sacred thread either.
> Worldly people call me an idolater.
> What reply can I give? I have only this to say,
> "Yes, yes, I am an idolater."
> What do these worldly people know of my idolatry!
>
> When parabhakti (absolute devotion) is granted, there is a risk that the
> devotee can suffer from a special ideation called mahimna bodha. This
> causes the aspirant to feel so petty, so small, so insignificant that he
> or she feels unworthy of the endless, vast, incomprehensible Guru who is
> the personification of the impersonal Brahma. This type of inferiority is
> an impediment in the path of realization.
>
> A Persian story illustrates this feeling and its dissolution. A lover
> knocked at the door of his beloved. "Who is there?" she called and he
> replied with his name. "Go away! I don't know you!" she replied.
>
> He knocked again and the same thing happened three times. The fourth time,
> however, when she asked who was there, he said, "I am you, O beloved,
> therefore open yourself to me!" And the door opened.
>
> In September 1970 in Ranchi, Acarya Karunanandaji and I sang and danced a
> special type of kiirtana in front of Baba. During this devotional singing,
> Dada repeated two lines from the poet saint Miira:
>
> Jo mein aisi janti preet karei dukh hoi Nagar dandora piititi preet na
> kareo koi.
> If I knew before that loving You causes such bitter pain, I would have
> proclaimed everywhere with the beat of drums, "Beware, don't love Him!"
>
> Later, Baba summoned Dada and me and said, "I was going to give you 100
> percent marks for your kiirtana. But I cut 60 percent because of that
> couplet. It contains the expression of ego. The duty of a devotee is only
> to please the Lord and not to challenge Him." Sufis embrace this concept
> of suppressed mental agony which they call gila in Persian and abhiman in
> Bengali. Baba never liked this approach. Later, when He composed Prabhat
> Sam 'giita songs, He sublimated this sentiment into six stages: viraha
> (longing), milan (encounter with the beloved), a'vedan (earnest desire to
> stay close), nivedan (surrender), stuti (praises) and visarjan (shedding
> of the unit identity by merging with the Lord).
>
> Swami Vivekananda said that love is like a triangle. The first vertex
> represents the truth that love knows no fear. The second that love is not
> a business transaction, it is unconditional giving. The third that love is
> surrender - total trust. The result of all three is complete abandonment
> in love.
>
> After much inquiry along these lines, I understood very well that faith in
> Sadguru is the Guru's grace (krpa), and its depth is His compassion. Here
> I use the word "compassion" for ahaetluki krpa grace which the recipient
> does not merit by his or her service, but which He generously bestows in
> abundance.
>
> What is the relation between sex and love? Sex can be of four types:
> physical, psychic, psycho-spiritual, or purely spiritual. For ardent
> spiritual aspirants and sannyasiis, psycho-spiritual and spiritual sex are
> allowed. The intense longing of the mystic poet Miira for Krs'n'a is an
> example of psycho-spiritual sex. There was nothing physical in it.
> Savikalpa samadhi, the union of jiiva and Shiva, is a type of spiritual
> sex. This is a separate subject of discussion, about which I will write in
> the future.
>
> The sadripu or the six enemies (lust, anger, avarice, infatuation,
> vainglory and competitive urge in the material sphere) can never be
> vanquished, they can only be sublimated since all six have their origin in
> the mind.
>
> The first Indian swamis who visited the West used the term
> super-consciousness to describe the state of samadhi. Absorption is the
> more appropriate English word to describe it. Baba uses the phrase "trance
> of determinate absorption" as a translation for savikalpa samadhi. Vikalpa
> was defined by Maharishi Patanjali as:
>
> Shabdajinananupati vastushunyo vikalpa.
> If a meaning is not accurately or fully conveyed by the words used to
> explain it, that is vikalpa.
>
> Suppose you are travelling to Delhi by train. As you get close to Delhi
> you say that "Delhi is coming." Literally speaking, Delhi can never come
> to you, rather it is you who approaches Delhi. This is an example of
> vikalpa, where a particular choice of words does not convey the event
> accurately.
>
> In the case of savikalpa samadhi, no choice of words can accurately convey
> the experience, because in this state the visible world and all its
> sensory phenomena vanish into thin air! Baba uses the term "trance of
> determinate absorption" for this state of ineffable bliss. When one is
> lost in bliss, one forgets oneself, and only a state of blissful oneness
> with the contemplated subject remains: this is samadhi. Savikalpa samadhi
> is samadhi where duality with the Supreme Self still remains. Absolute
> oneness is not achieved because the enjoyment of duality, the enjoyment of
> companionship with the Supreme is still present.
>
> Nirvikalpa means the absence of vikalpa, where there is no scope for a
> second entity. You have arrived in Delhi so there is no separation between
> you and your goal. You have become the subject itself. Perfect oneness is
> achieved. The jiiva (unit self) becomes saccidananda. The unit becomes
> infinite, the microcosm becomes Macrocosm. The microcosm feels, "I am
> saccidananda."
>
> Sat refers to the Transcendental Entity, beyond the relative conditions of
> space, time and person. Cit means "consciousness." "It is by the power of
> cit that the Cosmos is created, and it is this power that, through the
> unit mind, experiences or activates the created substance."[20] Ananda
> means the ineffable divine bliss and not ordinary happiness.
>
> So in nirvikalpa, the final oneness is realized. The One without a second.
> The individual who attains samadhi is above all three combined. So "trance
> of indeterminate absorption" is closer to the meaning of nirvikalpa
> samadhi.
>
> When Baba was physically present, tens of thousands of Ananda Margiis of
> all ages and both sexes were deeply absorbed in Him. When He was released
> from jail in Patna on August 3, 1978, the procession raced after His car;
> each person was oblivious to his or herself.
>
> Since I first met Baba, I have seen many devotees in the state of complete
> absorption in Him I have watched in utter amazement their face, eyes and
> chest turn red as they cried or danced or laughed intoxicatedly. A divine
> aura enveloped their faces. I have also seen sadhakas, while meditating in
> padmasana (full lotus posture), leap more than a meter high, then fall
> with a thud, without causing injury to themselves. In such states of
> blissful intoxication, their body chemistry was transformed. This will be
> a subject of very interesting study for future bio-psychologists.
>
> During my early years in Ananda Marga, I had few such experiences and
> could only watch in utter amazement as if at a circus. All used to become
> intoxicated. Once in 1966 a student of T.N.B. College, Bhagalpur, came to
> see Baba. He was in the habit of drinking alcohol. Baba scolded him for
> this and then touched him on the pineal plexus. The boy became spiritually
> intoxicated, and for hours there was a divine aura around him. He cried,
> danced, rolled on the ground, and exhibited all sorts of other spiritual
> symptoms. Later he told me that he had never previously enjoyed such
> intoxication. Thereafter the boy completely abstained from alcohol and
> became a good sadhaka.
>
> With the rise of devotion many impossible ailments can be cured. A person
> called Muflish used to suffer from severe Parkinson's disease, but after
> devotion was awakened in him, I observed him become completely healthy.
> Sadhakas can be easily recognized by their strong personality and the glow
> on their face.
>
> It is important here to say something about subtle tanmatras. Once Baba
> asked a sadhaka to explain in one line what this universe is? When he
> could not, Baba Himself said, "It is an ocean of tanmatras." Humans are
> fondly attached to these inferences and hence to this material world.
>
> If the universe is so beautiful, how handsome must be the Creator! In deep
> meditation we can enjoy all these inferences even more intensely. But
> entry to this subtle world is not possible if one is preoccupied with
> ordinary mundane affairs.
>
> He could change ordinary tanmatras into subtle ones. For example, once He
> touched my arm and caused a divine perfume to be emanated from that spot.
> Incredibly, the fragrance lasted for three days, despite the fact that I
> bathed daily and washed the arm with soap and water.
>
> Na hyeshatma balahiinena labhyo.
> Weaklings cannot attain the Supreme state.
>
> There is a gap, however, between these two forms of inferences (internal
> and external; physical and spiritual), and most sadhakas are fearful to
> cross the gap. Once they do, however, they get a glimpse of these subtle
> inferences and become absorbed. This happens when the doer "I" subsides
> and the knower "I" takes control. Sadhana then becomes as effortless as a
> river flowing downstream or as watching television! You enter a world more
> distinctive and colourful than the normal one.
>
> After this experience, I felt that this expressed universe and all its
> enjoyments are the distorted, fragmented reflections of the real world
> inside each one of us. It is not easy to comprehend this idea. If the
> external inferences of the world fascinate us so much, what will be our
> condition when we are ushered into the internal world? I mention this
> subject here for people who are interested in psycho-spiritual research.
> Baba first discussed it during the Purodha Board meeting of January 1989.
>
> In an ordinary dream you find all the inferences of sound, touch, form,
> taste and smell. These are crude expressions of subtle tanmatras. A dream,
> however, of the unconscious mind leaves an indelible impression on the
> conscious mind. It is also always accompanied by a subtle feeling of
> exhilaration that extends from the anahata to ajina cakras.
>
> Once an ecstatic disciple expressed to me how, in the exalted stages of
> sadhana, he felt Baba loved him so much that sometimes he desired to cut
> his body into pieces and offer them to Him. Many devotees feel this sort
> of intense love. It is an exclusive love, a possessive love, a celestial
> love in which you only want to give and give and not to take anything.
>
> This special love is above all types of human love. It can only be
> understood by those who are especially graced. It is an intensely
> spiritual feeling, and even the memory of it induces a sort of ecstasy.
> There is a remarkable change in one's ideation during this state and a
> mystical glow transfigures one's face and eyes. Actually, it is
> inexplicable.
>
> Ajana Pathik ("The Unknown Traveller")
> Baba started the last phase of His earthly sojourn by composing Prabhat
> Samgiita. His method of conveying these songs was unique. He would first
> give the tune and only when the secretaries were capable of repeating the
> melody, would He give the lyrics. In this manner He composed 5018 songs,
> which included many related to the departure of Ajana Pathik, "the
> mysterious unknown traveller."
>
> Se amar a'panar janitam na agei janitam na
> Du're jobe gele chole amarei akela phele
> Amare rakhia diye virohero davanole
> Chilo koto bhalobas'a koto rangei ranga hansa
> Ekhon bujhe chi agei bujhita'mna
> You went away, far,
> Leaving me alone,
> Despondent,
> In the engulfing fire of deepest longing. How fathomless was Your love.
> How colourful Your play of joyous smiles.
> Now, I realize Thy silent desire to leave.
> Not in those days of drunken love with You amongst us.
>
> From the beginning of 1980 to His great departure at the end of 1990 He
> exhibited an extraordinary superhuman endurance that goes beyond any
> superlative description. All those eleven years He worked 22 hours a day
> to supervise the multiple dimensions of Ananda Marga. Also remarkable
> during that phase was the energy which He secretly transmitted to His
> secretaries, who worked with Him incredibly long hours daily with little
> fatigue.
>
> The reporting sessions during those years demonstrated to us that He was
> not His physical body but rather the omniscient Baba who knew everything.
> He proved on hundreds of occasions that His eyes were watching us
> everywhere.
>
> Work became paramount to Him. In 1983, Baba was at Mehrauli in Delhi. He
> casually mentioned there that He could introduce a new type of dance; but
> He said that He would not, because it would cause His devotees to become
> less active in social service and to give more importance to cultural
> pursuits.
>
> Baba was established in tatra niratishayam sarvajina biijam (the seed of
> omniscience in an unexpressed form). The vast amount of knowledge He
> expounded in Shabda Cayanika (an encyclopedia of selected Bengali
> words,usually those words which carried more than ten meanings) alone
> spread over the span of 8,000 pages. In that, too, He related only up to
> the letter ga, the third consonant of Bengali alphabet. He proved in this
> series that His knowledge is truly endless. Know the One, and know all.
> The encyclopedia conveys the charming feeling of a gardener lovingly
> describing the flowers and herbs in his garden.
>
> I believe that Baba also thoughtfully planned not to complete Shabda
> Cayanika. Every Sunday for many months, He gave darshans on different
> words. He used to ask His devotees, "Shall I continue this letter ga, or
> shall I go ahead to the next one?" Invariably, they asked Him to continue,
> because His explanations were so amazing and charming. It seemed that
> there was no end to His knowledge.
>
> A few weeks before His great departure Baba asked, "Will I ever be able to
> complete it?" At that time we had no idea that He would physically depart,
> but, on later reflection, it seemed He was planning to stop.
>
> In almost every general darshan He reminded us that we came to this world
> for a noble cause and not for wasting time. Often He said in Hindi:
>
> Karte karte maro, marte marte karo.
> "Work, work and die; and die, die while working."
>
> During a few of the last DMC's and darshans, as He was getting up to
> depart, Baba said something like, "My shirt was given by the children of
> China, My chain is from Taiwan, My shoes from Australia, My vest from
> Italy, My pen from Germany, My ring from the Philippines, My watch from
> the USA, My dhoti from Bengal and the walking stick is a gift from the
> children of Russia; but `I' belong to all of you."
>
> There was a clear universal and spiritual appeal in His words, and a sad
> look in His eyes and smile. He seemed reluctant to depart, as His children
> never wanted Him to leave. Yet He would get up, bid pranam (the salutation
> between guru and disciple), give blessings and nod gracefully, saying,
> "Let there be some kin-tam." He would then walk away with majestic steps.
> Before stepping down the staircase, He would again and again turn and bid
> pranam as if not wanting to leave.
>
> I now recognize that in the last phase of His life, Baba gave me indirect
> hints of His passing away, but either I could not believe or was I not
> ready for the understanding. Immediately after His release from jail He
> gave a vanii (spiritual message) on August 3, 1978:
>
> Unlike other Gurus, He came with no bows, no arrows, no trishula
> (trident). His all embracing ideology combined with discipline takes the
> shape of sudarshana cakra[21]. Moral strength is required to materialize
> His mission. It is desirable that His sons and daughters should acquire
> the necessary moral strength by strict adherence to the Sixteen Points.
>
> Then He said, "There are three phases. In the first phase the immoralists
> tried to destroy Ananda Marga, but it fought against all odds and
> survived. The second phase has started; in this phase we have to go to the
> grassroots."
>
> Then one devotee, Shrii R. Prasad, a Collecter of Indian Central Excise
> and Customs and a close brother of mine, asked, "Baba when did this second
> phase start?"
>
> "On the 2nd of August, 1978," came His reply.
>
> Then I asked about the third phase. He replied, "I will not say anything
> about the third phase, lest it affect the progress of the second phase."
>
> His life was meticulously planned. Even before He started Ananda Marga in
> 1955, He personally initiated about 40 Avadhutas, teaching them the
> intricacies of esoteric Tantra. He then assigned them to lead unknown
> lives in different jungles and remote areas. From those places they did
> intense sadhana to create a spiritual wave that would positively influence
> the collective mind of human society.
>
> In the month of October 1989, while I was in deep meditation, I saw Baba
> in front of me. He was weak and emaciated. He said, "See, I am very sick
> and there will be no DMC on the first of January, 1990." I broke into
> tears. Next day I mentioned this to Ac. Purnajinananda Avt. and Ac.
> Cidghadananda Avt. I never believed in such visions, thinking them to be
> the same as dreams, and I dismissed this one also. But in the second week
> of December 1989
>
> Baba had a massive heart attack, and He did not hold the New Year DMC.
>
> One message that Baba gave at that time also worried me. He announced,
> "Let this be the happiest New Year for you." Rather than make me happy.
> this sounded ominous to me. I thought, "Sadvipra Samaj is not yet
> established; the communists are attacking us constantly all over Bengal;
> Baba is also very, very sick; then how can this be the best New Year?"
>
> Although by no stretch of the imagination could I imagine what was to
> come, yet I felt alarmed. I kept. asking my brothers, "Why did Baba give
> this message?" Only today do I understand that He hid the plan of His
> passing within it.
>
> I could never imagine that the third phase would start from October 21,
> 1990. That was the day of the dissolution of the Mahasambhuti,, of the
> complex structure or shell that contained the omniscient Baba, the unknown
> traveller, the Ajana Pathik. He carefully avoided arousing the least trace
> of suspicion about His forthcoming departure.
>
> Baba was unpredictable and sometimes playful. After His heart attack, the
> doctors ordered complete bed rest. But one night Baba asked his second
> Personal Assistant, Ac. Aks'ayananda Avt. to wrestle with Him. Dada
> refused, but Baba kept insisting. Finally Baba placed His right foot on
> the floor and asked Dada to move it. Now Dada is very strong and
> well-built, but, though he struggled for several minutes, he could not
> move Baba's foot an inch!
>
> He never looked for any qualification in a person, insisting that the
> minimum qualification needed for sadhana is only a human body. Paramahamsa
> Ramakrishna wanted a guileless, clear heart as the minimum qualification
> for a sadhaka. Yet Baba said that in near future even some animals will be
> able to do sadhana. In His last RU speech. He exhorted us to open training
> centres for animals and plants which have a developed "I" feeling.
>
> He loved His children so affectionately and gave and gave and took nothing
> from them. People came to Him en masse. Whatever they wanted He gave them:
> name, fame, money, anything. He was like a vendor who bargained from
> morning until evening. To everyone He constantly emphasized that no great
> work can be accomplished without sound moral character and He bargained
> for "service to humanity". But when evening came, He distributed
> everything free and left stealthily.
>
> He wanted people to exploit His benevolence and appeared happy when He was
> cheated. What a dispassionate and detached entity! Towards those who came
> for love and real knowledge, He was very tough - He gave them the seed of
> divine wisdom, nurtured them and made them strong. He made them realize
> what is poison and what is nectar. And He bound them with such love that
> they desired only the narrow path of enlightenment and not the broad path
> of material enjoyment.
>
> Men, women, young, old, poor, rich - all sorts of people were possessed by
> a fire of love for Him. This is why I believe that He had no courage to
> foretell His passing away. On two earlier occasions in His life He
> announced that He was leaving, but both times the earnest imploring of His
> devotees prevented Him from doing so. So this last time, His Mahaprastana
> (Great Departure), He decided to leave stealthily. He came without
> announcement and He left without telling anyone. The songs of departure in
> His Prabhat Sam'giita describe this agony:
>
> Tumi eshechilo kauke nabole, naboliye gelo chole
>
> You came without notice, and You silently left without telling anyone.
>
> Dekhechi tar ankhijol bujhini tahari bhasha,
> Bujhini kichilo asha, nihito bhalobasa.
> Neerove gele se chole neerovota kotha boll.
> When I saw His tearful eyes,
> I could not understand their language:
> Neither the expectant hope nor the hidden love.
> He left silently and now the silence is eloquent.
>
> Bhavite parini ami, ye bhave ashibe tumi emnijabe
> je chole ankhi jole more bheshe.
> I could never in my wildest imagination
> Presume that you would come in this way,
> And depart so casually, flooding me with tears.
>
> Neissesh holo rati phuteche prabhato dyuti argal khule chali tai.
> The night has come to an end,
> The morning sun is peeping,
> Therefore I am unlatching the door,
> And quietly leaving.
>
> He did as He foretold to me in 1965: "I will leave as a mystery." As long
> as the Creation exists, Baba will exist as a mystery.
>
> On October 21, 1990, Baba was ready for work after finishing His morning
> duties at 4:00 a.m. In the words of the General Secretary, Ac.
> Sarvatmananda Avt, that day He worked hardest and finished all pending
> work.
>
> The 25 years I spent with Baba passed like 25 seconds. I sometimes feel He
> was too good to be true. It was a dream. I felt that time stood still.
> Like Rip Van Winkle, I got up from the dream to find that I had become
> old. My reconciliation with the agony of His departure is feigned. My
> heart cannot accept it.
>
> Vakt sari zindagi mein,
> Doe hi guzari hei kathin
> Ek terei aneise pehlei
> Ek tere janei ke bad..[Urdu]
> Time dragged painfully only twice in my life:
> Once was before I met you;
> And again after You left.
>
>
>
>
>
> Personal Epilogue
>
> The last words of this book express my inability to reconcile the physical
> departure of He whom I loved so much more than my life. For three years I
> had almost continuous dreams of Baba.
>
> Actually dreams of Him are visions. Baba once explained, "When you dream
> of Me, it is not a dream." When such vision occurs, one's body
> consciousness disappears. For hours afterwards a blissful intoxication
> fills the aspirant. A cool, soothing feeling vibrates between the anahata
> and the ajina cakras, and the mind goes into a state of ecstasy.
>
> In these dreams we quarreled. I would say, "This is a dream," and He would
> reply, "No." On three occasions, which I will narrate in the future, the
> experience was so profound that I had to accept the truth of His presence
> within me. It was like an altered state of consciousness that felt more
> real than this world around us.
>
> On one occasion He said in a vision, "I leave a scent of sandalwood on
> your body as a proof that I came." Then when I slipped out of dhyana, I
> found not only my body but the whole room was full of the scent of
> sandalwood. It was past 1:00 a.m. I went downstairs and found Ac.
> Purnajinananda Avt. was still awake. Before I could say a word he asked,
> "Why do you smell like sandalwood?"
>
> After a few days, I again slipped back into my old despondency over His
> departure. This continued until the night of August 13, 1994.
>
> At Anandanagar[22] after midnight I was meditating and I lost my body
> consciousness. Suddenly I saw Baba standing in front of me. He seemed
> angry and said, "I won't talk to you."
>
> I asked, "Why not, Baba?"
>
> "You are not ready to reconcile yourself with My physical departure."
>
> Then I howled in agony, "I will never, never accept Your decision to
> part!"
>
> He walked over to the bed and lay down. His face was melancholy. He looked
> weak and sad.
>
> A long time passed. Ultimately, when I realized that He was adamant, I
> surrendered. I said, "Baba, You win. I am defeated. I accept Your
> departure. Please talk, because I cannot bear Your silence."
>
> He got up and His face was beaming with joy. He said, "Promise me to
> work."
>
> I said, "Yes, Baba."
>
> "But your speed is not sufficient."
>
> I said, "I can't do the work in which I don't recognize You. That is why
> my speed is less."
>
> He replied, "Yes, I agree. The work in which you don't find Me is no work.
> Your speed will slowly increase."
>
> He started walking out of the room. During the last years of His life, we
> always used to sing a Prabhat Sam'giita song when He left. I asked, "Baba,
> what song should I sing - Tumi esechile?" (the song we sang at the time of
> His cremation).
>
> He said, "No, sing Ashru muche an'abo hansi ("I will wipe my tears and
> force a smile"). Before you start every work, you should sing this song.
> When you finish your work, you should sing Amra gado nibo gurukul ("I will
> establish Gurukula University[23]"). If there is any project which
> encompasses all My programmes, it is Gurukula." (This is the last song He
> gave before His departure.)
>
> Then He started to leave. As He often used to do in His charming way, He
> stopped again outside and called me. "If you change the heart of people
> through love, that is a spiritual transformation."
>
> I said, "Baba, it is very difficult to change the hearts of people."
>
> That is true, but nevertheless, you should try to change the hearts of
> people within and without the organization."
>
> He again turned to go. Again He stopped and called me. He said, "Have I
> left you? No, I have not left you. Don't we keep meeting now and then?"
>
> I was amazed. He placed His hands on my head. I felt a mist in my mind
> disappear and an effulgent light begin to shine. I felt profoundly happy.
>
> When this dhyana broke, I found my hands were full of my tears. A mixed
> feeling of happiness and pain flooded me. From that day onwards, I never
> again doubted His presence with us. Almost every night since then I wait
> for Him.
>
> Somewhere in the astral world, He is in His causal body. He comes
> unexpectedly, according to His whims and fancies. Our sadhana. our labour,
> our sweat, though important, do not seem to work here. Only His grace,
> ahaetuki krpa, brings Him.
>
> His mystery continues.
>
> Baba s Namah Shivaya Shantaya: Shivokti 11
>
> It is dharma that sustain the existences of plant, animals, humans and all
> living and non-living entities. So if the dharma of some entity is
> jeopardized, it should be understood that the very existence of that
> entity is in jeopardy. That is why wise, creative and thoughtful people
> become seriously concerned when they notice that something has lost its
> innate property or dharma. In fact, the presiding deity in a living being
> is dharma. Dharayet dharma ityahuh sa eva paramam' prabhu ["That which
> upholds an entity, which is its motivating force, is dharma"]. Scientists
> first become acquainted with the dharma, or properties, of various
> substances, and then begin their research to discover newer and newer
> information about those substances: then they propagate their various
> theories and formulate new plans of invention.
>
> Trees and plants, wood, bricks, and stones, ani-mals and humans - all are
> great in their respective spheres of dharma. Here dharma does not mean any
> particular religion; it means the quintessence of one's very existence. As
> human beings have come in human form, they will have to live and grow,
> they will have to establish themselves in human life and die a glorious
> death, for this is their human dharma. They cannot afford simply out of
> the instincts of self-preservation and reproduction, to degrade themselves
> to the level of non-human beings.
>
> The very, essence of manava dharma, human dharma, lies in three factors,
> plus a fourth factor which is the resultant of the first three: (1)
> vistara, the principle of expansion; (2) rasa, the principle of total
> surrender to Parama Purus'a; (3) seva, selfless service to Parama Puru'sa
> and His creation; and (4) tatsthiti, the final ensconcement in Parama
> Purus'a.
>
> Human beings want expansion; but this is not possible by depriving others
> of their wealth. It is possible only by drenching one's human values and
> existential awareness in a flow of sweetness and expanding them throughout
> the universe- by in fusing the sweetest feelings of the innermost recesses
> of one's heart into the heart of each and every entity.
>
> Rasa means to be saturated with ever-blissful awareness- to enliven human
> existence with sweet freshness. This becomes possible only when one
> maintains a constant link with the Supreme Entity from whom one's
> individual existence has emerged.
>
> This world of ours is a world of give-and-take. And in this process of
> give-and-take, the human mind neither progresses nor regresses. if one
> thinks only of receiving, the mind degenerates; again. if one thinks only
> of giving, at a certain stage one may develop indifference to one's very
> existence. Thus, people will have to transcend this level of
> give-and-take: they will have to consider themselves as instruments of the
> Supreme Entity, and throw themselves unreservedly into the work desired by
> Him. This is the underlying spirit of seva.
>
> So vistara, rasa and seva these three come within the scope of sadhana.
> and the goal of this sadhana is the fourth factor, the resultant of all
> these three.
>
> Manava dharma. human dharma. is the combination of all the four factors.
> This dharma is the greatest friend of human beings. One can sacrifice
> anything for the sake of this dharma; for this dharma no hardship is too
> great. Therefore, this dharma is called Bhagavat Dharma[24].
>
> Shiva's observation is, Dharmo raksati raksitah - "One Who protects dharma
> is protected by dharma." Dharma saves the dharmika, the upholder of
> dharma, in the material sphere. in the subtle sphere and in the casual
> sphere. When dharma saves people in the material sphere, they experience
> it before their very eyes, they hear it with their ears, they feel it with
> the tenderness of touch. When dharma helps them in the casual sphere, they
> experience it by loving Parama Purusa with all the sweetness of their
> hearts. This feeling has no external expression. When dharma saves people
> in the subtle sphere, they experience it through deep reflection.
>
> The dynamicity of dharma functions mainly in the subtle sphere. With the
> increasing development of the power of reflection, dharmik people realize
> that dharma is always with them in a very subtle way. They further realize
> that their dharma and their beloved Parama Purusa are one and inseparable.
> So Shiva clearly observed, Dharmasya suksma gatih ["The ways of dharma are
> very subtle"].
>
> Glossary
>
> Acarya, Acarya'
> spiritual teacher.
>
> ajina cakra
> psycho-spiritual centre associated with the point between the eyebrows.
>
> anahata cakra
> psycho-spiritual centre associated with the midpoint of the chest.
>
> anubhuti
> direct spiritual experience.
>
> an'udhyana
> constant chasing of one's Is't'a in meditation.
>
> Avadhuta, Avadhutika
> literally, "one who is thoroughly cleansed mentally and spiritually": a
> senior monk or nun of Ananda Marga.
>
> bhakti
> devotion.
>
> bhava
> idea, ideation. mental flow during intense devotion
>
> dharma
> characteristic property; spirituality; the path of righteousness in social
> affairs.
>
> dhyana
> deep meditation in which the psyche is directed towards Consciousness.
>
> Is't'a
> the chosen ideal; Guru.
>
> kiirtana
> collective singing of the name of the Lord, usually combined with a dance
> that expresses the spirit of surrender.
>
> kun'd'alinii
> literally "coiled serpentine"; sleeping divinity: the force dormant in the
> lowest vertebra of the body, which. When awakened, rises up the spinal
> column to develop all one's spiritual potentialities.
>
> mahabhava
> highest state of devotional intoxication.
>
> maya
> Creative Principle and Its power to cause the illusion that the finite
> created objects are the ultimate truth.
>
> Parama Purus'a
> Supreme Consciousness.
>
> Prabhat Sam 'giita
> A collection of 5018 songs composed by Baba in the eight years of 1982 to
> 1990. Most of the songs are devotional, and all are completely optimistic
> and positive.
>
> prajina
> intuition.
>
> Radhabhava
> an intense love for the Supreme, epitomized by Radha, the idealized
> consort of the boy Krs'n'a.
>
> sadhaka
> spiritual practitioner.
>
> sadhana
> literally, "sustained effort"; spiritual practice; meditation.
>
> sadvipra samaj
> a new order led by spiritually elevated moralists.
>
> samadhi
> "absorption" of the unit mind into the Cosmic Mind.
>
> sam'skara
> reactive momenta in potential form; mental seed of reaction.
>
> sannyasii
> a renunciate; literally, "one who has surrendered one's everything to the
> Cosmic will."
>
> shakti
> Cosmic Operative Principle, Prakrti; energy; force.
>
> siddhi
> spiritual attainment; psycho-spiritual power.
>
> tanmatra
> inferential wave; literally, "the minutest fraction of that".
>
> tantra
> A spiritual tradition which originated in India in prehistoric times and
> was first systematized by Shiva. It emphasizes the development of human
> vigour, both through meditation and through confrontation of difficult
> external situations, to overcome all fears and weaknesses.
>
> vrtti
> mental propensity, proclivity.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> [1] Paramahamsa Ramakrishna was a renowned saint who lived in West Bengal,
> India in the nineteenth century. He was the guru of Narendra, who later
> became world famous as Swami Vivekananda.
>
> [2] Mudras are the gesticulations performed in the classical dance of
> India or the hand positions held by the figures of ritualistic worship in
> Indian temples. In His discourse, "Bio-Psychology", Baba explained their
> psycho-spiritual importance.
>
> [3] Baba daily met with different groups of workers to review the progress
> of Ananda Marga's social service work around the world. During these
> reporting sessions He pressured us to do more, taught us many different
> things, individually corrected and blessed us, and also made us laugh and
> relax.
>
> [4] Baba explained in Human Society Part II that the Vaesnavas and the
> Sufis both drew their inspiration from Tantra. Sufism came to India with
> the Muslim conquest. When Islam clashed with the Persian civilization,
> Islam won physically. Yet the vacuum in Islamic thought was filled with
> Sufi ideas. The Taj Mahal is a Persian form of Islamic art. Though Islamic
> ideas were in juxtaposition with Indian ideas for many centuries, their
> influence on Indian thought was meager. Sufi spiritual ideas were,
> however, already present in India in the form of Vaesnava philosophy.
> These two spiritual trends enriched each other and took root in the minds
> of the Indian people.
>
> [5] This is the Hindu concept of God descending to earth in bodily form.
>
> [6] Generally, in the history of India, spiritual or sentient people did
> not use force to protect themselves or the weak. Virtuous persons were
> considered physically weak and therefore a physically powerful person had
> to be present to protect them. For example, in 1857 a sannyasii, who had
> been observing maona (silence) for 18 years, was bayoneted to death by an
> English soldier because he did not reply to the soldier's questions. While
> dying the sannyasii said, "You are Brahma who has appeared as a soldier
> and who kills me." Krs'n'a urged the virtuous kings of his day to fight
> against their malevolent kinsfolk. In my vision also, I understood that
> devotion (bhakti) should be protected from the evil intentions of
> non-spiritual people and that to achieve this end, force (shakti) should
> be used if necessary.
>
> [7] Baba founded Renaissance Universal (RU) in the late 1950's as a public
> forum for intellectual discussion and debate of new social and scientific
> ideas. He served as President of the organization and gave regular
> discourses on this platform that were later compiled in the series, A Few
> Problems Solved.
>
> [8] Microvita are subtle, subatomic entities which are the smallest
> emanations of the Cosmic Faculty. Baba proposed this new scientific
> concept in 1986.
>
> [9] Occult is derived from the word cult. Occult is that which is cultured
> or acquired through the spiritual practices taught by a cult, an esoteric
> group devoted to self realization.
>
> [10] For a more complete account of the eight occult powers, the reader is
> referred to Discourse XXIII, `Parthasarathi Krs'n'a and Bhakti-Tattva' in
> Namami Krs'n'a Sundaram by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, pub Ananda Marga 1981.
>
> [11] As a footnote to this story, in 1968 Tej Karan took his only son, a
> graduate, to visit Baba offering that he could become a WT (whole-timer
> worker). Baba declined the offer gracefully saying that WT's are person's
> already selected at birth. They are born from time to time to join His
> mission.
>
> [12] Baba declared 1969 to be 'Sadhana Year' and He conducted all sorts of
> demonstrations that year.
>
> [13] Her application for the Nobel prize was submitted in 1954, but was
> neglected by the scientific community because she was a woman.
>
> [14] Dagdhabiija means that the seeds of all one's sam'skaras are burnt by
> the grace of the omniscient Master.
>
> [15] DMC means Dharma Maha Cakra, a large spiritual gathering held at
> least twice a year at which Baba used to deliver a major discourse.
>
> [16] The yogic practices of strict vegetarian diet, asana postures and
> pran'ayama breath control gradually purify the nerves and glands of the
> body, allowing one to experience higher states of spiritual bliss.
>
> [17] The Sixteen Points are a set of physical, intellectual, social and
> spiritual practices of Ananda Marga that promote all round health and
> personal development.
>
> [18] An intense love for the Supreme, epitomized by Radha, the idealized
> consort of the boy Krs'n'a.
>
> [19] Some scientists now point to the hormone melatonin, a nocturnal
> secretion of the pineal gland, as a possible source of this spiritual
> bliss.
>
> [20] Idea and Ideology, Chapter 7, "Life, Death and Samskara".
>
> [21] Sudarshan cakra was a hand thrown disk that Krs'n'a used during
> battle. It had a saw-tooth circumference with magnets attached. I once
> asked Baba about it. He said that the magnetic power was used to retrieve
> the disk after throwing.
>
> [22] Anandanagar is a huge rural development project of Ananda Marga in
> Purulia District, West Bengal, India. It is also a tremendously vibrated
> spiritual centre, where many great tantrics practiced sadhana and achieved
> liberation as far back as 15,000 years ago. The author lives there now.
>
> [23] The first name given to the Gurukula University was Bhagavat Dharma
> University. For more information on Bhagavat Dharma, see next appendix,
> Baba s Namah Shivaya Shantaya: Shivokti 11.
>
> [24] "The dharma to attain the Supreme" Trans.
>
>
>
>
> MiZzcELtcSHb96w2qFwswMkM3a
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