Baba
Way to persuade non-margis
Namaskar,
In today’s society educated people think that dharma and spiritual life are not needed. We just need to live in the society, do good work, not disturb anybody, not do himsa, not take bribes; but we do not need to do sa’dhana’ or attain Parama Purusha.
Goody goody way of life is not enough
There would be lot of people we can find in today’s society such as professors, engineers, or others who are in big positions. Such people say that religion, spiritual organizations are useless. So instead of being involved in such needless organizations, rather they should get involved in good work, eat good food, not disturb anybody; that is the way of life.
Examples of how simple morality fails
On this point Ananda Marga philosophy says that when such people call themselves moral, to establish in their simple morality they have to struggle hard. For struggle one needs shakti (power). In simple morality that power is not there. For one who has not established one’s life on spirituality, it is not possible to live up to the standards of simple morality. How it is not possible, let us take some examples.
- Example # 1: When there are injustices happening around a simple moralist, then a moral person thinks that, he/she will object or fight against such injustices. In first scenario let us say that in an office environment someone is taking bribe, then the simple moralist thinks that he/she should notify to higher administration (or anti-corruption department) about the person who is taking bribe as such inappropriate things should not happen. He tries one step but due to fear of retaliation he keeps quiet.
Without spiritual backing simple morality is weak
- Example # 2: Now let us take a second example, where the struggle is little bit tougher, where one is in a situation to arrange marriage of one’s daughter and one does not want to be transferred to another location at the same time (as transfer to different locations is common in public services). But the person in charge of transfer decisions takes bribe to manipulate personnel being transferred. Since this is a tough situation a simple moralist may fall in the trap of bribing the person (or not speaking against the person who is taking bribe) for not being transferred to another location so that the daughter’s marriage can be arranged smoothly. So in this tough situation a simple moralist is not able to hold the ground in ideal moralism as the power needed to be ideal moral is not based on spirituality.
- Educated people know that so many injustices happen in the world, but do not have the courage to say anything. The educated people are good people in one sense since they do not do any harm to other people, but they do not speak out against any injustice as they lack courage to raise their voice. If they do not raise their voice they may do some sort of compromise to settle the matter.
- Example # 3: Let us take another example, one educated person (let us say CEO) is a chief of a department. Now the department has a one vacancy and a new position is being opened for hiring. A senator in the area gives a call to the CEO mentioning to favor one candidate. The CEO knows that if he/she does not keep the orders of the senator he/she may be in trouble not only in profession but also in social life as senators are well connected. In this tough situation a simple moralist may fail to establish oneself in “morality”.
Courage comes from spirituality
- Example # 4: Baba says that a ‘moral’ person may not take any bribe for $1, or $2, but when there is a matter of $1 million or $1billion then it is very easy for the simple moralist to be trapped and fall from being a simple moral to an immoral person. Such types of things typically happens in society as simple moralists lack courage on tough situations. Courage comes from spirituality. One needs support from God to have courage. As a simple moralist one cannot be an ideal moral person, will not remain ideal moral on tough situation. Either one will fall or will compromise, no matter how educated one is.
- Example # 5: If a simple moral person is a professor in a university. The head of the department says that on a special occasion we all drink alcohol. Now a new professor who is in probation is a simple moral person. But this is a tough situation as the chair is saying to drink alcohol and if his orders are not obeyed then the new professor’s job is in danger. So the new professor who is simple moral ends up drinking alcohol to have good impression on the chair. But in this situation spiritualist is never going to bend and will not even touch alcohol, as one is established in spirituality and the code of conduct is of paramount importance.
How to establish in spiritual morality
One individual does not possess power by oneself. For example there is a heavy weight champion, but he is mentally depressed. So the muscle power is of no meaning when the heavy weight champion is depressed. So the body needs power from mind; without a well guided mind the body cannot do anything. There are so many people in the world who are healthy physically, but mentally they are so depressed that even they do not get the energy to get up from the bed.
Mind gets power from a’tma’, a’tma’ gets power from parama’tma’. Sa’dhana’ is needed to have a strong mind. Mind needs inspiration and power from a source that is more powerful. So one needs to do sa’dhana’. So Baba has given “A guide to human conduct” to say that simple moralists should go beyond their moral principles to become spiritualists to establish themselves strongly on principles of life based on spirituality where spiritual morality is already included.
When one is based on spirituality then the desire of taking bribe no matter how big it is dies by itself (where as a simple moralist may fall in trap when the amount of bribe is bigger), as the person’s life is based on yama and niyama. Similar sentient principles also can be applied for food. When one takes sa’ttvik food then any type of smoking products will not have any allurement for the person as one does not have any fascination towards smoking. Same notions can be extended to meat as well. One will have no attraction towards meat when one is taking sa’ttvik food and established in yama and niyama.
So one will have to do sadhana. One cannot become a ideal moralist without becoming spiritualist. A simple moralist can do small moral things, but not anything big; as we saw in many examples, a simple moralist can easily fall from moral principles as one is lacking courage and power. So if one would like to do bigger moral activities in one’s life then one will have to be established in spirituality so that one does not fall from one’s path and does not fall from human conduct, yama and niyama.
Conclusion
In summary, moral principles are very limited in nature. Rather spirituality can provide stronger power to simple morality so that one can do noble causes and higher moral pursuits and move ahead in life. Sa’dhana’ is a must so that one can become a strong ideal moralist; otherwise the path of simple morality is dangerous as one’s progress is short-lived—and one may do harm to oneself and to the society as well. Human conduct is only a medium. One’s goal should not be to become a simple moralist (goal should not be to speak rta), rather to attain parama’tma’.
In Him,
Nirakar Dev
So-called moralists can all too easily degrade themselves
Ananda Marga ideology says, “The ensconcement in the Macrocosmic stance is not possible through [simple] morality alone. “I will speak the truth, I will not harm anyone” – This simple morality alone cannot take human beings very far along the path of progress. So-called moralists can all too easily degrade themselves under the nefarious influence of evil company. The only way to advance is to follow the path of vigorous spiritual practice. To repeat high-sounding words of [simple] morality like a parrot, while cherishing narrow sentiments within one’s mind, will not take one far.”
“To effect psycho-spiritual expansion constant spiritual practice is a must. I have called this spiritual practice “attraction of the Great”. Through physical or psychic clash absolute self expansion is not possible; even the awakening of hiranmaya kośa is not possible. Of course physical clash can take a person a certain distance, but not to the final destination. I have already said that only when attraction of the Great is supreme can the centrifugal force within the microcosm become strong enough to lead an entity to liberation or salvation. Where there is no attraction for the Great, no matter how intellectual or moral a person might be, his or her entire existence will be dominated by the kamamaya kośa. Out of narrow self interest, such a person will betray low morals at every step in live. Those who have no love for the Supreme may be considered as humans today, but tomorrow will surely degenerate into animals like dogs, and the day after into inert bricks or stones.” (1)
References
1. Ananda Marga Ideology and Way of Life in a Nutshell Part 8, Struggle and Progress
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