Baba
Steps to spiritual life
Namaskar,
If one wants to bring an entire banyan tree to a distant land then the only option is to carry the seed. Uprooting and lugging a full-grown tree will not do. But by bringing the seed one can get the entire tree. Same then is the case with the seed teaching of Bha-vi-sa-ca. By following this seed guideline, one can incorporate the whole of our Ananda Marga conduct system, i.e. all the dos and don'ts.
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What does bhavisaca mean?
Baba emphasizes Bha-vi-sa-ca on introducing the topic of human conduct. A seed teaching like Bha-vi-sa-ca is quite helpful as it encapsulates some of the key components of a dharmic life in an abbreviated form. And there are numerous other aspects of this Bha-vi-sa-ca sutra that are important to bring into the realm of our knowledge. And those we will uncover step by step. Here then is the actual meaning and breakdown of the Bha-vi-sa-ca guideline.
Actually, Baba's seed teaching or sutra, Bha-vi-sa-ca, is the short form, abbreviation, or boiled down representation of 4 distinct points:
(1) 'Bha' meaning 'Bhagavan' (God);
(2) 'Vi' meaning 'Vinay' (modesty);
(3) 'Sa' meaning 'Samyama' (self-restraint);
(4) 'Ca' meaning 'Caritra' (conduct).
And each of these above components or branches has their own special import. Here then is the explanation of Bha-vi-sa-ca.
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First aspect: “Bha” for Bhagavan (God)
'Bha' for 'Bhagavan': Ours is a God-centered approach to life: Parama Purusa is the nucleus and most charming Entity of this universe. Without His grace nothing can be done. And by our second lesson, i.e Guru mantra, madhuvidya, or brahmacarya, we think about Him before each and every action. So this first syllable or component of the Bha-vi-sa-ca sutra fits in neatly with our entire Ananda Marga philosophy. As by this teaching, Sadguru Baba is directing all sadhakas to think about Parama Purusa always. In all our daily works, big or small, we are to remember Him and seek His grace-compassion. By that way we get stamina to march ahead. That is the essence of 'Bha' in Bha-vi-sa-ca. And by this way one's ideation is sure to be pure; one's conduct is sure to be proper; and the result will be one of success.
Second aspect: “Vi” for vinay (modesty)
'Vi' for 'vinay': In this world, we have many social service works to do. And for that, cooperation is needed; we have to work with others. For this reason modesty is a must. No one likes to work with or be around someone who is arrogant and boastful. That does not bring coordinated cooperation. Rather it repels and disgusts others. So modesty is needed. By this way others will be attracted to come forward and partake in our many social service projects. So vinay stands for humility or humbleness. Everyone always likes to be around a humble person. This gives you the opportunity to serve others; whereas if one is arrogant then others do not like to be around that person. In that case the opportunity to serve is lost. Vinay or modesty is one essential aspect of ideal human conduct, i.e. serving others.
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Third aspect: “Sa” for samyama (self-restraint)
'Sa' for 'samyama': As humans, we are mind-oriented beings and we should not be guided by our motor and sensory organs. For this reason Baba strongly emphasizes control or self-restraint over these 10 indriyas. And that is the meaning of samyama, self-restraint. One way of thinking about samyama is simply equating it with our 'Cakuna samvaro' shloka or His teaching of indriyanigraha. In such guidelines, Baba is directing us to have control or restraint over our eyes, nose, and indeed control over all the ten motor and sensory organs. By such self-restraint our conduct will be proper as it will be the expression of a calm mind.
Ananda Marga ideology states, "“Cakśuńá Saḿvaro Sádhu” O spiritual aspirant! O Bhikśu! O monk! O devotee! You should have proper control over your eyes; whatever will have bad effect on your mind, you must not see it. “Sádhu Sotena saḿvaro”. Whatever will have bad effect on your mind, O good man, you must not hear it. “Ghánena Saḿvaro Sádhu.” You should have control over your nose, “Sádhu Jibháya Saḿvaro.” You should have control over your taste. “Káyena Saḿvaro Sádhu.” You should have control over your body. “Sádhu Vácáya Saḿvaro.” You should have control over your language also; and “Savvatha Saḿvaro Bhikśu.” If you want emancipation, if you want liberation from worldly fetters, you must have all-round restraint." (1)
Fourth aspect: “Ca” for caritra (conduct)
'Ca' for 'caritra': Traditionally in India, caritra means not falling into 'lustful' or 'illicit sexual relations' etc. But in our Ananda Marga, caritra extends far beyond that as it deals with one's overall conduct. True enough, we are not to be goaded by the lower vrittis and sensual pleasures, and in addition Baba guides us that are to follow so many do's and don'ts such as sattvika food, no intoxicants, asanas, no groupism etc, etc. So caritra stands as one vast teaching that in all the realms our conduct should be proper-- i.e. along the lines of dharma.
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Conclusion
This is the basic essence of the seed-teaching of Bha-vi-sa-ca. And by this way, Baba has given us some of the basic building blocks for an ideal and a pure way of life. A sadhaka’s individual and collective conduct will improve by following His divine guidelines given in the bha-vi-sa-ca sutra. By this way one will be sure to advance along the path of supreme fulfillment, by His grace.
Namaskar,
in Him,
Gopii
Ananda Marga ideology says, "I advise each human being that as long as you are alive, you should try to build yourself in a nice way, in a complete way. But you should not only build yourselves, you should also build human society in the same way." (2)
Carrying seeds not the whole tree
In His discourse, Baba guides us that in His Bha-vi-sa-ca teaching He has given the recipe for good conduct - in seed form. That is part of the key. Because in a pointed, brief, or distilled manner He is outlining the whole of our Ananda Marga conduct rules etc. To explain this, in that Baba discourse, Baba likens the bhavisaca' sutra to carrying a tree to a distant land by carrying just the seeds.
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Bhavisaca' is like ERAWS in that ERAWS is an abbreviated way of telling: Education, Relief, and Welfare Section. Similarly, bha-vi-sa-ca is an abbreviated way of telling: Bhagavan - Vinay - Samyama - Caritra.
Bhavisaca is a code word. By remembering it daylong one can see if they are following these teachings. At regular intervals one can check, “Bha-vi-sa-ca: am I following “bha”, am I following “vi”, am I following “sa”, and am I following “ca”.” So this is a very good tool for regular introspection and self-analysis throughout the day. If one does this consistently their personality will become ideal.
References
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 14, The Fundamental Principles of Life
2. Prout in a Nutshell - 17, Minimum Requirements and Maximum Amenities
* * *
The below sections are entirely different topics, unrelated to the above material.
They stands on their own as points of interest.
* * *
== Section 2: Prabhat Samgiita ==
Nothing remains unknown to You
“Yadi nayane ná dekhi tava priya chavi, man májhe tumi eso he…” (Prabhat Samgiita #1856)
Purport:
O’ Lord, if for some reason I am unable to see Your charming form through the eyes, please come into my mind. Kindly present Yourself fully in my Guru cakra. O’ my Dearest, if for some reason I am unable to get Your touch in this world, please float in the bliss of my heart - allow me to tangibly feel Your loving presence in the depths of my core.
Baba, O’ Lord, in my coming and going, through my tears, smiles, and love, everything resonates in You. O’ Parama Purusa, nothing remains unknown to You. You know everything about everyone; no details - big or small - are lost on You. Baba, please ignore my innumerable blunders and smile softly.
O’ Great Ocean, O’ Parama Purusa, I am but a meagre drop. With Your immense karuńá, my days are passing. My existence is wholly dependent upon You. If I ever forget You, I will be lost in oblivion. O’ Divine Entity, please love this unit of Yours. Please bless me and hold me close…
== Section: Errata from 2018 ==
Correction: In the below letter the line highlighted in yellow has been updated. - Eds
Re: Misuse & abuse of expressing gratitude
Re: Misuse & abuse of expressing gratitude
Namaskar,
Ananda Marga Caryacarya states: "Hypocrites are: Those who are ungrateful to their benefactors." (1)
This point is critically important yet so misused. If a bad person helps you then blindly supporting them in return is not good. Unfortunately, to express their gratitude some naive people end up start supporting those wrongdoers. By this below incident it will be very clear.
Karna was a great hero warrior in the Mahabharata. His only flaw was that he supported the sinful Duryodhana. He blindly supported all the unjust actions of Duryodhana because Duryodhana saved him in a very difficult situation. Karna could not understand the real spirit of this dharmic point. Ultimately Karna’s actions were a blow on dharma and in an untimely way he was killed.
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What to tell your notorious, old helper
Baba has stated that Karna should have politely requested Duryodhana, “O’ Duryodhana, you are my friend and you have helped me a lot in my times of difficulty. I feel gratitude for you and that is why I am advising you not to harass and malign innocent people. Do not do injustice with others. The harmful things you are doing will only invite a terrible catastrophe. For your welfare, I am requesting you to refrain from engaging in these evil misdeeds.”
If Karna would have advised Duryodhana in this manner that would have been real gratitude towards his well-wisher. By hearing Karna’s dharmic expression the evil-minded Duryodhana might have gotten very reacted and tried to retaliate. But regardless, that was the only way. Instead, Karna openly supported whatever sinful dealings Duryodhana did. In result they both met their untimely death. And Karna’s life became a negative example and the epitome of the misuse of the above point from Caryacarya.
A similar turn of events is unfolding these days in our AMPS. Many margiis feel gratitude towards certain dadas / dids , and, in result, those margiis support the wrongdoings of those Wts. By this way they are causing terrible harm to dharma and AMPS at large.
Some key examples are:
- (a) Dharmendra Sinha and Sunil Ananda of Tatanagar who blindly support H group / Rudrananda;
- (b) Bibhanshu Maiti & Tapan Biswas of Delhi, and Nirmal Biswas of Mumbai who blindly support B group / Sarvatmananda;
- (c) Narada (Suva), Dhruva (NY), Dhyanesh (Mumbai) who blindly support H group Rudrananda;
- (d) Kewal Sinha, Kishan Singh Sood, and Dr Bhaskar of Patna who blindly support B group Sarvatmananda.
These aforementioned people in their delusional way think they are properly following this below point from Caryacarya. But that is wholly wrong. These people got support from their factional party leaders; and to return the favour they outrightly ignore their sinful misdeeds and lick their feet to express their gratitude for their help.
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Ananda Marga Caryacarya states: "Hypocrites are: Those who are ungrateful to their benefactors." (2)
In Him,
Ramdhan
References
1. Caryacarya, part 2, Society, point #5b
2. Caryacarya, part 2, Society, point #5b
== Section: Important Teaching ==
How locking the kitchen harms a child’s personality
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “Antisocial behaviour is not always caused by lack of money. Where the parents or guardians are evil by nature, they try to infect the other members of their family with their disease. A few days ago I read in the newspaper that an upper-middle-class lady used to encourage her son to steal clothes, etc., from her neighbours by offering him money for cinema tickets if he did – in other words, by applying indirect pressure. When the incident became public, it was discovered that her family was not in financial difficulty. By putting pressure on her son, the lady was infecting him with her own mental disease.”
“There are many parents who, due to miserliness or whatever reason, deprive their children of delicious food and drink. (If there is some reason for this deprivation, they do not explain it to their children.) They serve such food and drink to others in the presence of their children without explaining to them why they are being deprived. As a result, the children, under the pressure of circumstance, steal to try to satisfy their natural desires.” (1)
Reference
1. Human Society - 1, Justice
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Why not to run after money
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “The characteristic (dharma) of the mind is to seek the infinite. The mind attains this goal by concentrating on a particular ideation. As material objects are finite, those who accept them as the aim of life eventually feel frustrated. They fail to attain bliss because neither wealth nor material objects can be enjoyed infinitely. Moreover, those who make material objects their aim in life find their self-interests in conflict with those of other people. They try to deprive others, to protect their own endless greed for wealth and material objects. There will have to be a continuous pressure on the minds of these people to keep them away from material objects. People cannot tolerate such imposition and, on becoming disgruntled, take the path of revolution or counter-revolution against those who pressurize them.”
“Materialism functions by imposing social pressure on people to enjoy material objects; and accepts that as the only mode of operation. Thus, in materialistic countries or societies, people look at one another with suspicion and act according to the information given by the intelligence agencies. In the absence of spiritual ideas, firmness of morality cannot be established. The apparent morality in a materialistic society is nothing but an immoral alliance to protect self-interests.”
Reference
1. Tattva Kaomudii, Questions and Answers on Ananda Marga Philosophy #45
