Baba
History of God-fearing
Namaskar,
In the prehistoric age, when society was not yet properly formed - in the name of society there was a vague notion of collective living; and, people were habitating in their mountain dwellings. In that pre-historic era, the simple folk would look with fear towards the lightning bolts, cyclones, floods, and other natural disasters, and think that this is the curse of god. This irrational idea was imposed on them by the exploitative vipras of the day. Although not yet a formal body, such priests grabbed the upper hand over those simple folk.
In the earliest moments, long before organised religions came into firm, cunning vipras scoured the landscape for how they could get power and status. They quickly found that they could rule over the group and secure food and shelter by inventing tall tales about the supernatural, scaring and threatening their clan members. Terror struck in the hearts of those nature worshippers due to the menacing tales of those vipras. This carried on for ages, all through that prehistoric era and into the inception of the earliest forms of religion.
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Creation of gods & goddesses
In this way, gradually the concept of different gods and goddesses was created. In the forest, where there was a lot of fear of snakes and wild animals, the forest goddess (vandevii) was invented. When they experienced small-pox, which was a ghastly disease in those days, the goddess shiitala (goddess of smallpox) came into being. Like this, thousands of gods and goddesses have been formed all around the globe. Such deities are countless in number.
Behind all this, the operative factor is the fear psychology: That God is very dangerous and if you will not sacrifice to feed those gods and goddesses, then they will take revenge and swallow everyone and destroy the whole community or village.
This is not only in the case of India, but each and every religion has this type of fear psychosis in their dogmatic beliefs. Preachers of religion always inject this negative idea in the minds of their followers that, "If you do not follow these religious pursuits and sacrificial rituals, then the gods and goddesses will be very unhappy and they will destroy everything." Or, by seeing the spread of an epidemic they started thinking that God is furious, and He is going to destroy us, we should offer Him something.
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More about how religions control with fear
Here the whole point is that the religions control their followers with fear - fear of God. But that fear will be impotent and fail to produce the desired effect if it is not associated with harsh punishment. Without the threat of punishment, the common people will not be afraid. A strong dose of fear is needed in order to impose those illogical religious doctrines. In this way, people became God-fearing.
And this complex is not easy to rid from the mind because essentially the whole, entire world is suffering in this way. People think that if they veer off course or disobey that doctrine, then those gods, goddesses and deities will harass and punish them. All such religions are based on this fear.
Negative effect of religious thought
Since ages this type of defective mentality has been injected on the platform of religions - that behind all human suffering, God is responsible. Below Baba describes further that what happens to those people who are engrossed in religious thought.
Ananda Marga philosophy says, "As a result of ideating on religion, the human mind becomes inert. No amount of discussion or intellectual persuasion can shake that psychic inertia. From childhood, human beings are taught irrational ideas, so when they grow up it is extremely difficult to remove preconceived notions." (1)
Here Baba's teaching gives the clear-cut message that the dogma injected since childhood goes so deep that it goes straight into the core of one’s being. Indeed it goes so deep that in spite of the fact that some have entered onto the dharmic path of Ananda Marga and received neo-humanistic and rational teachings, those dogmatic beliefs are not easy to remove.
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Conclusion
In Ananda Marga, naturally we do not adhere to any type of fear complex with God. Rather our link with Him is based on love and affection, i.e. bhakti. Where there is fear, there is no bhakti. The two cannot co-exist; they have an inverse relationship. If there is 50% fear, then there is only 50% bhakti; or, if there is 10% fear then 90% bhakti. For us, Parama Purusa is Love Personified and we cannot think that He could ever cause us any harm or place an obstacle in our way.
Ananda Marga ideology states, “When there is fear or feeling of crude propensities in the mind, there cannot be pure Anurakti or Bhakti. Devotion generated through fear is no Bhakti at all, rather it is but a lamentable state of mental crudeness. Some pray to the Lord for fear of hell and some for fear of torture and retribution in the next life. They hunger for emancipation from these fears. This betrays a lack of knowledge of the truth and you should not give encouragement to this inferiority complex. Those who accept or know the Lord as their own self have no reason to entertain any fear of Him. This fearless movement towards the Lord is termed Love.” (2)
In Him,
Shaeviima’ya’
Remedy for lower sadhakas
Suppose an innocent baby gets their hand burned - who can believe that this was done by God. God is not so cruel. Yet the religions blame God for this act. But in Ananda Marga, we cannot think in that manner. We know that Parama Purusa is love personified. But even then there are some few lower sadhakas who fall prey to this fear psychology because of their religious upbringing. The false idea that God punishes is so prevalent across the dogmatic religions that even some newer or less established Ananda Margiis think in this defective manner. The cure for them is sadhana. When one is more committed and involved in their meditation, especially dhyana, then even lifelong dogmas and fear complexes towards God can be removed from the mind.
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References
1. Prout in a Nutshell Part 21, How to Unite Human Society
2. Subhasita Samgraha - 1, Bhaktitattva
== Section 2: Prabhat Samgiita ==
In the cycle of brahmacakra You are unparalleled
"Shrit́i dhárá dháy tomári karuńáy, liilá racanáy tumi advitiiya..." (Prabhat Samgiita #3600)
Purport:
My Parama Purusa, this flow of creation is moving ahead by Your endless karuńá. Because of You, everything is formed, nourished, and withdrawn back to its origin. This entire cycle of brahmacakra is nothing but Your causeless grace on everyone. In the generation of Your cosmic liila, You Yourself are unparalleled; You have no comparison. You are Alaks'yaca'rii, Cittaviharii, Sarvadukhaha’rii, my adored One.
Supreme Entity, there are many similarities between us - between You and I - even though I am 'unit' and You are 'Cosmic'. In Your vibration with the most charming aroma of candan permeating all around, and with Your beautiful Presence, my atoms and molecule, my entire being has started dancing in bliss.
Baba, You are so gracious, we are so close; there is no difference between You and I. My existence is depending solely on You. Because You are, that is why I am. My Infinite Entity, if You would not have been, then I would have floated away somewhere into the vast oblivion.
Baba, You are the nucleus of this vast cosmological order. Because of You, everything is existing and flowing around You in bliss. You have no equal...
Notes for Prabhat Samgiita #3600:
[1] Alaks'yaca'rii: This is one of the names of Parama Purusa and refers to His attribution as the Entity who always moves invisibly - secretly - around the entire universe. The following explains why He moves around secretly:
Ananda Marga ideology says, "He [Parama Purusa] can never be fully discovered; He has concealed most of Himself. If He were to express Himself fully, He would face many difficulties in carrying out His work and thus the collective interest of humanity would suffer. In the interest of human society, He will have to keep Himself secret." (Ananda Vacanamrtam - 7, p. 30)
[2] Cittaviha’rii: This denotes one of the beautiful attributes of Parama Purusa whereby He lives in each and every unit mind, ensconced in His eternal bliss. In this divine & playful stance of His, Parama Purusa is called: Cittabiharii.
[3] Sarvduhkhaha’rii: This name of Parama Purusa represents His great compassion wherein He takes away & removes all the sufferings and pains from each and every being of this entire creation. In that role, His presence serves as a balm of bliss. That is why Parama Purusa is often called: Sarvadukhaharii, (Sarva= all; dukha= sorrow; Harii= He who takes).
[4] Candan: sandalwood.
== Section 3: Links ==
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