Baba
Gayasura story
Namaskar,
Here below is one famous mythological story about a bhakta from long ago. The inner meaning of the story lends itself well to life in Ananda Marga. Baba vigorously defends those who have bhakti. So even a very bad person - who sinned terribly in the past - will get the favour of God if he becomes a bhakta. Parama Purusa will certainly give them His shelter. All this points in the direction that Parama Purusa holds a special place in His heart for all bhaktas, even those who committed wrongs in the past and repented.
Gaya'sura story: vicious crusade
Baba tells the story of King Tripasur who was a great bhakta of Lord Vishnu. After launching a crusade, King Tripasura met his untimely death. His son, Gaya'sura, inherited the throne and followed in his footsteps. King Gaya'sura too was an ardent worshiper of Lord Vishnu. He prayed endlessly and finally achieved the gift of immortality, granted to him by his chosen Lord Visnu. King Gaya'sura promptly launched a heinous offensive wiping out innocent people in all lands. The wrath of Gaya'sura was terrible. And no one could kill him.
King Gayasura even attacked the bhaktas of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu came to defend them, but the Lord too was defeated. Lord Vishu's followers pleaded with Him to do something. Lord Vishnu then asked for a boon from King Gayasura. The King agreed. For his boon, Lord Vishnu requested that Gayasura be turned to stone.
Gaya'sura replied, "So be it", but then made three pleas:
1) The Lord should put His feet in Gaya'sura's heart;2) All those with the Lord's feet in their heart must be granted liberation;3) If anyone with the Lord's feet in their heart does not get liberation, then King Gaya'sura will again be granted life on earth.
Here Baba describes these boons in full: "First, the Lord will seat Himself in the heart of the devotee without bothering Himself about the nature of that person, good, or bad [of the remote past]. It is enough to be a devotee, in order to have the Lord inside. Second, all those who have the Lord’s feet in their hearts are bound to get liberation – liberation is a sure guarantee for them. Third, since Gaya'sura had been turned to stone by the Lord, and since He would again arise if anyone having the Lord inside failed to be liberated, the Lord would have to grant liberation to all such persons for all time to come." (1)
By the above story - which Baba has recounted on various occasions - we can understand that Parama Purusa places great value on bhakti.
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "This devotion is a heavenly attribution." (2)
Conclusion
Even though King Gayasura was a ruthless warrior in the past, due to his repentance he was able to keep the Lord's feet in his heart. Such is the quality of bhakti and the grace of the Lord. Bhakti is enough to gain the favour of the Lord, despite any bad qualities a bhakta might have had in the past.
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "Now even if a man is that type of sinner whom other sinners may take as a bad man, of whom even sinners may say that he is a bad man – for such a sinner, the worst type of sinner, the future is not dark. The future in his case also is very bright, if he takes shelter in the divine lap of the Supreme Father." (3)
Namaskar,
in Him,
Deveshvara
The mythological story of Gayasura
(From the discourse, "The Lord's Feet", December 1971, Patna)
Tripurásura, the father of Gayásura, was a great devotee of Lord Viśńu [a mythological god]. Many devotees of Lord Shiva [a great yogi worshipped as the Lord] wanted him to become a devotee of Shiva instead. But how could Tripurasura go against his Iśt́a [beloved goal of life]? “Though I know that there is no difference between Viśńu and Shiva, for me everything is Lord Viśńu, for He is my Iśt́a. ”But the devotees of Lord Shiva still put pressure on Tripurásura, in order to see him also become a devotee of Shiva. His conversion might have been possible if the worshippers of Shiva had made a logical appeal to Tripurásura’s understanding that there is actually no difference between Lord Shiva and Lord Viśńu, and that both are only the functional counterparts of Parama Puruśa. But under the pressure put on him by the devotees of Lord Shiva, Tripurásura initiated a crusade against all the devotees of Lord Shiva, until he finally came upon Shiva Himself. But however powerful Tripurásura was, how could he fight against Lord Shiva? He was defeated by Lord Shiva and met his death.After the death of Tripurásura, his son, Gayásura, became the king. He, too, was a devotee of Lord Viśńu. He worshipped Him with all his heart and devotion, and finally succeeded in attaining a boon of immortality: not to be killed by man, demon or god, in earth, heaven or hell, by day, night, evening or morning. Endowed with such a great power, Gayásura went all over the world conquering people, torturing them and making their lives miserable. None were spared – not even the devotees of Viśńu or Shiva.But as the saying goes, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Gayásura, who had received his power from Lord Viśńu, thought to defeat the Lord Himself...Gayásura started thinking that the great power he possessed was actually his power. He finally challenged Lord Viśńu, and since Viśńu Himself had granted the boon, how could it fail? Viśńu was defeated by Gayásura. Gayásura bound Viśńu to a tree and then went all over the world with a very bloated ego.When things had become intolerable for the people, they approached Lord Viśńu, still tied to the tree, and recounted their miseries, requesting Him to do something. Viśńu pleaded helplessness, as He Himself was in a precarious condition! Then the devotees reminded the Lord that He had given the boon of immortality to Gayásura in the physical realm only. The devotees urged Lord Viśńu to use His psychic and spiritual power to defeat Gayásura, and relieve the people of their miseries. Lord Viśńu assured them that He would do something in the matter.When Gayásura returned to Lord Viśńu to offer his prayers, Viśńu said, “Gayásura! I once gave you what you asked, and you have defeated me. You should now give me a boon.” Gayásura readily agreed to it. Viśńu then asked that Gayásura be turned into stone. Gayásura had no alternative but to say, “So be it.”Gradually Gayásura’s legs started turning to stone. When he was stone up to his waist, he said, “Wait! I have three conditions!” His first condition was that the Lord put His two feet in Gayásura’s heart. The Lord agreed to it, but asked the reason for such a condition.Gayásura said, “So that people should know that the feet of the Lord are always in the heart of a devotee, good or bad [of the remote past].”The second condition was that all those who had the Lord’s feet in their hearts would surely get liberation. The Lord agreed to this also.The third and last condition of the almost petrified Gayásura was, “If even a single person having the Lord’s feet in his heart fails to get liberation, then this petrified Gayásura will again become a living Gayásura.” Lord Viśńu agreed to it. Very soon Gayásura was turned completely into stone.This story, from one of the Puráńas [ancient mythological scriptures] has the following three lessons for humanity. First, the Lord will seat Himself in the heart of the devotee without bothering Himself about the nature of that person, good, or bad [of the past]. It is enough to be a devotee, in order to have the Lord inside. Second, all those who have the Lord’s feet in their hearts are bound to get liberation – liberation is a sure guarantee for them. Third, since Gayásura had been turned to stone by the Lord, and since He would again arise if anyone having the Lord inside failed to be liberated, the Lord would have to grant liberation to all such persons for all time to come; it is a matter of the Lord’s prestige!
(From the discourse, "The Lord's Feet", December 1971, Patna)
References
1. 'The Lord's Feet'
2. 1 June 1986 DMC
3. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 34, Be Free From All Complexes
* * *
The below sections are entirely different topics, unrelated to the above material.
They stand on their own as points of interest.
* * *
== Section 2: Important Teaching ==
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “Just as the living world is divided into two categories – those who live in groups and those who live alone – similarly regarding family life, all creatures are divided into two broad classes: creatures with family ties (for example, elephants, lions and pigeons) and those without any family ties (for instance, tigers, dogs, cats, goats, etc.).”
“At the beginning of evolution, humans used to lead libertine lives without any consideration for family obligations, but they gradually developed a family instinct. However, that family instinct was no different from that of the elephants, lions, pigeons, etc. Due to this inborn instinct, males and females arrived at a loose but workable compromise regarding family life. But in that there was no sense of responsibility born out of a developed conscience; rather, due to their loose relationships with each other, one person used to desert another and go anywhere he or she liked. The number of such libertines was very high, and they used to disturb the peace and harmony of the so-called family members and become the cause of many serious quarrels.” (1)
Reference
1. Namah Shiváya Shántáya, Disc 9: Shivokti - 3
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Number of cultures on planet Earth
Prout philosophy states, "Culture is a vague term. It is the collective name for different expressions of life. People eat, enjoy hospitality, laugh on some occasions and shed tears on others, and thereby express life through various actions. The collective name of all these actions is culture."
"According to PROUT all of society has the same culture. There are local variations in the mode or state of cultural expression, but the expression is universal. While everybody eats, some eat by hand, others by stick and still others by spoon. Indian dance is based on Mudrá or dance postures, and European dance is based on rhythm, but they do not represent two different cultures."
"Local variations will diminish if there is a close blending between different groups of people, because this will create common customs. In Nepal there is a blending of Hindu and Buddhist customs. In Bengal there is a blending of Aryan and Dravidian customs. These local variations are called customs. Thus local modes of expression bearing local or group specialities are customs, but the expression itself is culture. Therefore it is a mistake to readjust boundaries on the basis of language and culture. Indian culture and the culture of the world are one and the same." (1)
Reference
1. Prout in a Nutshell - 15, Talks on Prout
== Section: Important Teaching ==
How humans cannot sense most of the activities going on
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “Living beings receive the vibrations of tanmátras according to their respective mental and physical constitutions. Take, for instance, a very tiny particle like an atom. >From this also form tanmátras or vibrations emanate, but human eyes normally cannot perceive these extremely minute vibrations. So human beings have to bring them within the scope of visibility of their sight organs with the help of a microscope or other such instruments. Thus apprehending the vibrations of these minute entities is beyond the capacity of the human sensory organs. Remote sounds or inarticulate vocal expressions may not be normally heard by your ears; for this you will have to take the help of a microphone or a loud speaker, because perceiving these sounds is beyond the range of your ear-organ. There are several tiny creatures that produce faint noises: they are hovering all around you, yet you cannot hear their sounds. You cannot hear the sounds of Calcutta with your crude acoustic power, but through a radio you can receive them very easily, for your radio receiver has a far greater power than yours to receive distant sound-waves. You receive from the aerial vibrations what had been received by the radio receiver and then transmitted by it again into the ocean of air. So it is clear that there are distinctive differences in the vibrational reception of different instruments, and humans and animals receive tanmátras according to the respective capacities of their different sensory mechanisms.” (1)
Note: Commonly people think that they can see and hear everything in their own personal room or office etc. They think that everything is unfolding before their eyes. But that is not true. Actually what they see and hear is limited. There are so many things they cannot see or hear etc. The human organs are limited in scope. In comparison, animals see and hear so many things which humans cannot. If the room is too dark for any human being to see, there are so many creatures that thrive in that environment. Similarly, there are numerous animals that can hear sounds that are inaudible to humans. Not only that, if somebody speaks softly it often cannot be heard, and if one is exposed to loud noises then they will become deaf. Verily, this limited capacity of perception applies to all humans in all places.
Only ignorant people think that all they see or hear everything. There are some philosophers like Carvak who think that the reality is based in sense experience, and that nothing exists beyond the senses. Yet there are so many crude things which humans cannot grasp or detect, what to speak of subtler things. To perceive those subtler things, one’s indriyas are incapable. To understand others’ feelings, one has to use the mind, not the organs. Those who are not mentally developed cannot understand others’ feelings. So to perceive subtler events, one has to refine the mind.
Parama Purusa is subtler than the subtlest. To realise Him, a pointed intellect is needed: agreya buddhi. With the help of sadhana, that quality develops.
Reference
1. Subhasita Samgraha - 3, Vibration, Form and Colour
== Section: Important Teaching ==
What God wants or doesn't want
Ananda Marga ideology states, “We are all the progeny of Parama Puruśa. He is creating each and every thing. There is no need to worry about the man-made distinctions between tall and short, black and white, male and female. Identify your mind with the Cosmic Mind and see whether that pleases Parama Puruśa or not. Do whatever pleases Him.”
“No father wants to see his child die of starvation or one of his children eating or accumulating more than required. You will have to develop the economic sphere to ensure that these things will never happen. In social life no father would wish to see his widowed daughter forced to dress in an austere fashion, persecuted socially, or debarred from attending social functions. You must not support these things. Rather, you must provide equal opportunities for all.”
“Parents hate to see their children weep. If they do, they take them on their lap and comfort them with love and affection until their tears stop. You will have to build a society in which no one is forced to weep, where everyone smiles joyfully all the time and gets ample scope for laughter. Seeing such mirth and merriment, Parama Puruśa will feel immensely pleased. By giving joy to Parama Puruśa you will feel even more joyful and will feel His close proximity. This is the actual social code. And the actual spiritual code is the one that helps humans move towards Parama Puruśa. Under no circumstances should one create unnecessary controversies. The social code aims at bringing a broad smile to the faces of the progeny of Parama Puruśa. You should all move along this path – you are sure to meet with success.” (1)
Reference
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 4, Which Is the Right Path?
== Section 3: Links ==
Upcoming Festival: Ananda Purnima - 05 May 2023
- #2: Include all
- #1: How to celebrate
Other topics of interest
