Baba
Root this out from AMPS
Namaskar,
Baba's instructions in Caryacarya for performing the shraddha ceremony are very simple and straightforward. There is the recitation of the mantra followed by a sharing of water, and that is the entire ceremony. Unfortunately, instead of Baba's given system, see what is happening nowadays.
The Hindu dogma of shraddha or punyatithi dogma has snuck into our AMPS society. That is the tragic irony. Beloved Baba broke down and eliminated the barriers and exploitation of religious dogma; yet now those very dogmas are being welcomed into our AMPS functions by confused people. This completely undermines the spiritual ethic and endeavor of our Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha.
Read more to see how this is taking shape and what we need to do to bring this to a close. Now is the key time to nip this in the bud, lest it become a poison for ensuing generations.
https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
How greedy priests fill their belly
Ananda Marga ideology states, "A priest may say that your father will die only once, and so after his death you should arrange for a sufficient quantity of food-stuffs, a sufficient quantity of edibles, a sufficient quantity of clothes, etc., for him. And that has been done in India for about five thousand years, since the time of the Atharva Veda. And people have generally offered rice and sesame, also honey and ghee, to be consumed by that person who has left the world."
"Regarding these things, Maharshi Charvaka (he lived in India about 2500 years ago, during the time of Lord Buddha. He was a bit senior to Lord Buddha. Charvaka’s disciple, Ajit Kusum, was a contemporary of Lord Buddha) said “If you are in a room, and another man is in the courtyard a few yards away, and you offer rice and sesame for that man, he won’t get that rice and sesame, and his hunger won’t be satisfied. And if a man is in another world, Aparaloka, and you are offering rice and sesame for him, will he get them? Is it reasonable? No, no. All these things are exploitation by the privileged class.”"
"After offering rice, sesame, clothes, etc., what do you find? The rice is consumed by the purohita in his house. Go to his kitchen, and all that rice is being consumed by his family. That dhuti which is being offered by you for your late father is being used by the purohita, and the sháŕii by the purohita patnii; and the gamci, the towel, if it is surplus, is sold in the market. And the utensils are also sold in the market. So your deceased father, your parents, who are now inhabitants of Aparaloka, won’t get anything."
"And the second thing you will see, or you will feel, is that they do not require these things. The microcosm, or unit spirit, does not require any food or clothes or sesame or utensils. All these ideas are scoundrels’ philosophy. And they have been doing this type of exploitation for the last five thousand years, since the time of the Atharva Veda." (1)
Dogma: offering blanket to dead
These days several dogmatic trends have slipped into our AMPS shraddha (death) ceremonies - a.k.a. shra'ddhanustha'nas. Confused and ignorant family members engage in the mass distribution of blankets and clothing - as well as food distribution (narayan seva) - because they think their offerings will actually reach to their dear one in so-called heaven. In this way their deceased relative will not suffer from the cold or become hungry in heaven. This is their defective outlook that has been shaped by religious dogma.
Baba has strictly forbidden such things in our Ananda Marga system. Our shraddha ceremony is to be performed in a simple, dignified, and respectful manner, without any ostentatious, pompous display or costly arrangements, as happens in Hindu dogma. In our Ananda Marga philosophy and way of life, there is no scope in the ceremony to offer material goods to the deceased.
https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
Dogmatic followers think that by offering food and blankets then their deceased relative in the imaginary heaven will get the virtue (punya) of that offering. Such persons actually believe they can enhance the stature and comfort of their deceased relatives through this ritual. They think that blankets given to the poor will be automatically transferred to their loved one in heaven - whereby the deceased will be warm. This is their motivating rationale. And, now in our Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha that same approach has been taken by confused people - tragically.
We require no edibles, no clothes
Ananda Marga ideology states, "I remember a short story. In my town there was a businessman. Say his name was D́oman Sáhu. And his father was also a businessman. During the day he was a businessman, and at night he was a d́áku. Say D́oman’s father’s name was Mohan Sáhu. Now a big pańd́ita came from Kashmir to my home town and said that he had the capacity with the strength of his mantra, to arrange heaven for all pápiis, all degraded persons, all degraded souls. Then D́oman thought, “My father Mohan is a d́áku. Let me take the help of this big pańd́ita and arrange heaven for my d́áku father.”
"So the pańd́ita said, “Yes, yes, yes. I will do everything, but I want fifty guineas as a fee for the purpose.” And D́oman agreed."
"But D́oman’s friend was one Mr. Ravi Ghose, a very intelligent man. Ravi Ghose said, “You see, D́oman, that pańd́ita is a businessman, that is why he wants fifty guineas. You do one thing. Let there be bargaining. Tell the pańd́ita, ‘You see, pańd́itajii, I can offer only fifty silver coins, fifty rupees. Please agree.’”"
"Then the pańd́ita said, “Yes, it will be done, but had it been fifty guineas, your father would have reached just below the Párijáta tree of Nandana Kánana of heaven. If you give fifty silver coins, fifty rupees, he will reach the main gate of heaven, but not near that Parijata tree.”"
"D́oman thought, “Right near the gate. Then that short distance will be covered by my father on foot. Then let me spend only fifty rupees.”"
"Then again he went to Ravi Ghose, that crooked and intelligent fellow. Ravi Ghose said, “You see, D́oman, our first attempt has been a success. Now you just tell him, ‘Pańd́itajii, I will spend only forty rupees; not fifty.’”"
"Pańd́itajii said, “In that case, there will be a short gap.”"
"Then next day D́oman said, “No, I will spend thirty rupees,” and so on. And finally the settlement was for ten rupees."
"So this is the commercial story regarding shráddha. There is nothing in it."
"So what should one do? Haven’t we any social responsibility for dead persons? When the necessity arises, we should offer shraddhá for them, not barley or wheat or woollen clothes or wrappers or ghee or sesame. What can we do? As long as a man is here in our society we have a social responsibility for him. Human beings are social beings, we have a social responsibility for them. And when the leave this world and go to the other world, they go beyond the scope of our responsibility. We cannot render any service to them. Our social responsibility is over as soon as the cremation is done." (2)
Conclusion
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "So what can we do? We can say “O Parama Puruśa, while that man was with us we tried our best to do whatever we could do. But now they are beyond our scope, they are beyond our jurisdiction, so please do take care of them.” This much of a request can be made by us, and nothing more than that. And the Ananda Marga shráddha is just like that. Here we require no edibles, no clothes or anything else. We offer our shraddhá, and we do nothing else, and we can do nothing else." (3)
All around the globe there is a dogma that the deceased goes to heaven and from there looks down to see what people are offering to them. Because that deceased person needs food, clothing, and shelter etc to maintain their existence in heaven. That is why there is a dogma to offer something to the deceased. That is all bogus.
https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
It is the common human tendency that if anyone is raised in a dogmatic tradition then it is hard to give it up and when come into Ananda Marga. So they bring those dogmas. Our duty is to watch out and convince them to give up their dogma and become a pure Ananda Margii.
Namaskar,
In Him,
Dr. Veda Prakash
~ In-depth study ~
For surviving family members
The Ananda Marga shraddha ceremony is done for the welfare and psychological support of the grieving family and loved ones. The deceased does not gain anything from the ceremony.
Ananda Marga ideology Caryacarya states, "The departed soul does not get any advantage from the shráddha ceremony [memorial ceremony]. It is only meant for the psychic satisfaction of the person performing it." (4)
Ananda Marga is to stand tall as a brilliant tower of dharma as given by Lord Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji. What to speak of succumbing to local religious dogmas, we are to raise the consciousness of the people about all types of exploitation and serve as a living example of righteousness. Our social functions like the shraddha ceremony are an important part of our dharma pracara and example to others. They must remain dogma-free.
https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
References
1. Ananda Vacanamramt - 3, Shraddha
2. Anadna Vacanamrtam - 3, Shraddha
3. Anadna Vacanamrtam - 3, Shraddha
4. Caryacarya - 3, Shráddha Ceremony
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Meaning of mission
Ananda Marga ideology says, “Human life is a mission; life itself is a mission; one’s very existence is a mission. A’tmamoks’a'rtham’ jagaddhita’ya ca: ‘Whatever one is to do, one is to do for a’tmamoks’a– for their own liberation– and for the elevation of the entire world, elevation of the entire human society’. One is to do both of these things; that is, these two things are one’s mission.” (1)
Note: By Baba’s above teaching it is clear that the AMPS organisation is not the mission. But for certain reasons, some try to misguide or take advantage of the margiis by making them think that AMPS is the mission. But that is not correct. In His above guideline, Sadguru Baba explicitly tells us what is the mission.
Reference
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam – 30, The Four Kinds of Service
== Section 2: Links ==
Recent postings
