Baba
Mahaprayan of bhakta Haridas ji of Dehradun & Delhi
Namaskar,
It is with much sadness that we share the news of the mahaprayan of Shrii Haridas of Delhi. His mahaprayan occurred yesterday at Thano Dehraduan; he was about 93 years old. He walked to the local shop, about 300 meters from his house, and while sitting outside the shop he underwent his mahaprayan.
Shrii Haridas was a longtime and dedicated Ananda Margii and and very committed to Sadguru Baba Shrii Shrii Anandamurti ji. And during his life as as sadhaka, he fully embraced the mission of self-realization and service to humanity. Since 2004, Haridas was living alone in a house of Rainjan Dwivedi in Thano, and before 2004 he was living in the Delhi Baba Quarter. Haridas ji worked there for many years as a cook and a caretaker of Delhi Baba Quarter - never accepting any remuneration. Verily his whole life he worked in AMPS like a WT. All the margiis of Delhi respected Haridas ji to a high degree due to his hard work and dedication. Until his last moment, he never took any service from others, rather he was always cooking and cleaning, and taking care of one and all. And he was keen to help out at the Thano MU etc. With Haridas ji's mahaprayan, our entire Ananda Marga society is losing a very dear and sincere elder brother.
May we all take solace in the fact that Shrii Haridas was a bhakta of Sadguru Baba. Certainly he will attain mukti or moksa, accordingly. Baba will lovingly bestow His infinite grace.
in Him,
Vismillah
(Vishuddha)
Note: Alert for those cremating a dead body in India or Indian managed cremation homes around the world. Their custom is to put the burning fire in the mouth of the deceased to initiate the burning of the body. This is prohibited in AM as it is uncivilised. So watch out do not allow this. If you are not careful they will end of doing it. Make them aware ahead of time.
Ananda Marga Caryacarya states, "The practice of putting fire into the mouth of the dead body is repulsive, it should not be encouraged." (Caryacarya - 1, Disposal of the Dead Body)
~ In-depth study ~
We have seen that when somebody dies then in offering their condolences people say now Mr So-and-so is sitting on Baba's lap. On other occasions when telling a Baba story people also say, "Such and such person sat on Baba's lap." But these days the trend is that "sitting on Baba's lap" is used more in connection with death. And that causes some confusion in reader's mind. To unknot the situation please read below.
Dogma: if "on Baba's lap" only used for death
Here are quoted lines from recently posted emails on various forums, wherein the writer uses the phrase - "in Baba's lap" - with the occasion of death:
- "May Parama Purusa Baba accept her in HIS divine lap"- "We pray to Baba -please give him shelter in his lap... "- "May his soul rest in the lap of our beloved BABA"- "Now she is taking rest in Baba's Lap."- "May Baba accept him in HIS divine lap....."- "May he rest in HIS loving lap of eternity."- "We are sure that Baba has taken him in His loving lap."- "May his soul rest in Baba's lap forever."- "Let her rest peacefully in Baba's Lap - which she always desired."- "now he is in beloved Baba's lap"- "May his soul get peaceful place in His lap"- "He is now in Bábá's loving lap"- "May Baba bless him with a seat in His lap."- "May BABA accept him in HIS divine lap!"- "May Baba take him in his eternal loving lap."- "May his soul rest in peace taking shelter in Baba's lap."- "Please keep him on Your lap forever."- "We all collectively pray to Baba to take him on Baba's divine lap forever.”
All of the above lines are commonly written in eulogizing the deceased. These days mostly it is used in a eulogy and rarely used to recount one's intimate spiritual experiences - unfortunately. By this way, the phrase "in Baba's lap" is being misused and step by step the real meaning is being forgotten as now people more commonly use the phrase to eulogize those who have died, and much less so to express their inner feelings of bhakti. Unfortunately, the meaning and inner spirit of the phrase is getting lost.
Baba story: "sitting on Baba's lap"
Some time ago after dharmacakra, a senior margii was recounting his experiences of having dharma samiiksa with Baba. He said, "After being lovingly scolded by Baba for my wrongdoings, then He called me close and placed me on His lap - I remained there for some time soaking up His love - and He blessed me."
We all enjoyed hearing about his personal account with Baba during dharma samiiksa. When he finished telling his factual and historical event, there was a call for questions. Various people posed their queries. Towards the end, one new margii raised his hand and asked, "How did Baba bring you back to life?"
Everyone stared at the new margii in amazement. There was a look of astonishment all around - people were really shocked to hear him say this. The new sadhaka sensed that something was wrong He said very matter-of-factly, "I thought that sitting on Baba's Lap means that he (the margii) died - that is why I asked that question."
This was quite eye-opening for those of us in the room: Through our language and expression we had unknowingly taught someone to think that being on Baba's lap is the equivalent of death. Because it seems that nowadays people only use the phrase "Baba's lap" when a person has died, such as "Let him rest peacefully in Baba's lap", as if in order to sit on Baba’s lap one has to die. But that is false. Sincere sadhakas regularly sit on Baba’s lap in their meditation. It is His grace. It is just like a child need not die in order to sit on his father’s lap.
The idea is that this phrase - Baba's lap - has been linked with death due to extreme overuse. So for some time if sadhakas use this phrase exclusively for spiritual purposes, that will be best. The phrase, "sitting on Baba's lap", should not meet a similar fate. It should not lose its pure spiritual quality and just refer to one's death. That will be very negative.
Baba would bless bhaktas and place them on His lap
There are so many ways an aspirant can reach unto Baba's lap including in sadhana. That is the main idea that should be preserved. Sadhana is a spiritual practice and one can sit on Baba's lap in sadhana. We should make it cent-per-cent clear to one and all that the phrase, "sitting on Baba's lap", does not mean death.
"Mahaprayan" means death of mortals - confirm for yourself
from the Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary
Mahaprayan is only for humans not for Sadguru
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