Namaskar,
One day in jail while Keshavananda ji was along with Baba, Ramchij Rajawa'r' came up to them and asked if he could tell the story of how he (Ramchij Rajawa'r') had experienced his own death. Sadguru Baba gave His approval so Ramchij proceeded to give his account.
Ramchij Rajawa'r' said: 'Baba, one day I died—I experienced death. I was suffering from a fever lying there on my cot and two uniformed officials (from the death squad) approached and told me in an authoritative voice that my time had come and that I must go along with them. With no other option, I followed their order and step by step they led me up to kingdom of Yamara'j (god of death).'
'I waited there with the guards and when my turn came then the those two officials firmly brought me before the grand throne of Yamara'j. And they loudly announced my name to the god of death.'
'They said, 'Here before you we have brought the ”ghost of” Ramchij Rajawa'r'.' Ramchij is dead now.
https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
"You brought the wrong person"
'Immediately, the Yamara'j became furious and he loudly shouted at those two officials of his.'
'Yamara'j scolded them, 'You neglectful fellows. I Yamara'j (god of death) did not tell you to bring Ramchij Rajawa'r'. I told you to bring Ramchij Ahir. You have confused the names and brought the wrong person. You completely misunderstood my command. Now go back and return Rajchij Rajawa'r' to his locale and bring me Ramchij Ahir. Immediately do as I say'.'
'They ran across the village and saw Ramchij Ahir milching his cows and then Ramchij Ahir looked over at them and then fell over—he died then and there, at that very moment.'
In that way Ramchij Rajawa'r' recounted his story to Baba one night about how he had been brought to the doorstep of death. And Keshavananda ji heard it all.
Seeing Baba's absence of any reaction to the story, Keshavananda ji wrongly concluded that the god of death really does make mistakes and sometimes grabs the wrong person and kill.
Baba narrated the real story
Years later, in His published discourse, Baba narrated the real story—the whole entire account of Ramchij's experience with death. And Baba gave the answer as well: Parama Purusa perfectly manages this entire creation, everything including birth and death. He never takes the wrong person at the time of death. All of this is printed and published in His discourse, "Yamara'j (god of death) Ki Katha'" in Kolkata on 24 Feb 1980 of His Ananda Vacanamrtam series.
In that discourse, Baba has narrated the entire story of Ramchij's experience with death, and Baba has given a crystal-clear explanation that Ramchij's experience was Ramchij's hallucination. But Keshavananda Dada did not read that discourse, so in 2010 when Keshavananda Dadaji published his own book (Hindi edition) of Baba stories he falsely wrote that Parama Purusa makes mistakes and takes the wrong person at the time of death. Yet Sadguru Baba, in His 1980 Ananda Vacanamrtam discourse, patently rejects this assertion.
https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
No such mistakes ever occur
In the culminating section of that discourse, Baba directly states that such mistakes regarding death never happen. Baba tells that Parama Purusa is in control of each and everything in this vast creation in His divine kingdom, and that one faculty of Parama Purusa is that of Yamara'j—god of death. Since the Divine Controller Himself is the Yamara'j, then Baba directly states that such mistakes about the wrong person undergoing death never, never happen. In the kingdom of Parama Purusa such oversights never occur. All this is clearly given in Baba's discourse—"Yamara'j Ki Katha'" in Kolkata on 24 Feb 1980 of the Ananda Vacanamrtam series.
By this, it is quite apparent that Keshavananda Dada does not take the time to read and study Baba's books, otherwise Dadaji would have gotten the right answer. Then he would not have propagated and published that Parama Purusa commits blunders in His role as Yamara'j—god of death. Yet here we see that Keshavananda ji erroneously published and printed false claims in his book, "Mere Rahasyamay Baba" (2010, Hindi), on pages 46—48.
Sadly many Dadas suffer from the myth that they know everything about Ananda Marga and Baba's teachings. For this reason, they stop studying Baba's books and unwittingly preach false things for years and years, not realising that they are wrong. Unfortunately, dada Keshavananda ji is a mirror example of this.
https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
Elephant parable became true
Some readers may think that this is just an ordinary mistake and not a big deal. But it is more than that. It is the case of a central purodha —someone who is an avadhuta and longtime PA—not understanding a key component of Guru's teachings and then preaching that mistake to others and publishing it in his book. In his own limited way, Dada Keshavananda started preaching false things. Is this not reminiscent of one famous parable.
Once there were three blind men standing around an elephant. They each grabbed hold of a part of the elephant and formulated their own conclusion. One blind man touched the elephant's leg and concluded this is a 'tree'; the next blind man held the elephant's tail and said this is a 'rope'; the third blind man grabbed the elephant's trunk and said this is a 'hose'.
This example of the three blind men and the elephant has also been given in one of Baba's discourses, "The Science of Action."
Unfortunately, that is Keshavananda Dada's position with regards to the Yamara'j story (god of death story). In his own way, he heard the god of death story and arrived at his misunderstanding, just like those blind men touching the elephant.
https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
Baba gave his dharmic answer
After Ramchij told his near-death experience and Yamara'j story, Baba remained quiet. But most understand that Baba was indicating: "I will tell the answer later on"—and He did. In His 1980 discourse, Baba told the exact answer. He recounted Ramchij's entire story in detail and then gave the dharmic answer. And it is all published in His discourse. So Baba's approach is 100% complete. There is no room for guessing or misunderstanding. Baba clearly recounted the entire death story and affirmed that Parama Purusa never makes mistakes—let alone a crucial error regarding the death of a human being. His agents do not mistakenly grab the wrong person and prematurely cause his death.
But Keshavananda ji never checked Baba's book so he never got the right answer. That is why in his 2010 Hindi edition, Dada Keshavananda printed the story incorrectly.
Depend on Baba's books, not dada's narrative
The thing is when PA Dada Keshavananda ji misunderstood Baba's reaction of the Yamara'j story then such a mistake can happen to anyone. After all, PA is around Baba 24hrs per day—7 days a week—so naturally PA will develop a strong understanding of Baba's way of communication. Even then PA himself is susceptible to not properly understanding Baba. And that is proven by Keshavananda ji's false writing.
So when such a gross misunderstanding can happen in the mind of PA Dada then surely it can happen to other Dadas. We should always think 1,000 times when hearing a Baba story etc to ensure that the story and teaching are in concert with Ananda Marga ideology. Unfortunately, some Wt's suffer from their own illusions on various points, and they do and say erroneous things in the name of Baba. Sadly, that's exactly what happened with Keshavananda ji.
The overall point is, Keshavananda Dada etc should strictly study Baba's teaching. If Keshavananda Dada had done that, this entire incident could have been averted long ago. As it stands now, Dada K’s book (Hindi edition) is wrong and still today it is misleading readers.
https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
Conclusion
When hearing any dadas recount a Baba story orally or in print, we should always ensure that the story and teachings are in concert with Ananda Marga ideology. And the best way to corroborate this is to confirm with Baba’s books and discourses etc.
Namaskar,
in Him,
Krpamaya
This letter is related with Dada Keshavananda's book, "Mere Rahasyamay Baba" (2010, Hindi), and the god of death story. In short, Dadaji heard Ramchij tell Baba a story about his experience with death. And Dada K completely misunderstood the meaning of the story.
Plagiary?
It is the accepted international standard and Baba's system not to copy another's work and publish it in your own way. Baba has given a very strict rule on plagiarism. Why is Baba against plagiarism or stealing someone's work? There are many reasons:
1) It is against the code of asteya (non-stealing).
2) Countless stories of bhaktas need to be published. But some do not want to do the hard work of compiling and writing these stories, so they just steal them from others. But new stories need to be told, otherwise so many unpublished stories of sadhakas will be lost and forgotten forever. So watch out for story thieves, and kindly help them not to steal by posting on social media in their own way. If you want to forward this story then attach the following yellow section with the story:
“Courtesy of unknown bhakta via Ananda Marga Universal (https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/)”
This will be treated as the standard protocol.
वैयष्टिक relationship
“जो तगड़े-तगड़े साधक हैं, वे [परमपुरुष] उनके भी पिता हैं | और, जो सुदुराचार महापातकी, वे भी तो उनके बेटे हैं | तो, उनके भी वे ही मालिक हैं | वे साधक को प्यार करेंगे, और पापी को घृणा करेंगे, सो बात नहीं | साधक भी कहेंगे---"तू परमपिता है |" और, पापी भी कहेगा----"तू परमपिता है" | दोनों से समान सम्पर्क---वैयष्टिक relationship | इसलिए मैंने कहा कि पाप के लिए जो अधिक conscious है, और सोचता है---”मैं पापी हूँ |” तो, उन्हें याद रखनी चाहिए यह बात कि--पापी है, तो क्या है परमपिता का तो पुत्त्र है | इसलिए घबड़ाने की कोई बात नहीं, कोई वजह नहीं है |”
[यह प्रवचन-अंश, बाबा के कैसेट से सीधे लिखा गया है । बाबा का यह असली प्रवचन, अमृतोपदेश है। आनन्दमार्ग हिन्दी पुस्तकों में छपे प्रवचन तो नक़ली प्रवचन हैं, असली नहीं हैं -- बंगालीकरण (बँगलाइजेसन) के तहत उनकी बर्बादी की गई] (1)
Reference
1. S24-06
Re: Ananda Marga: ajagarii and madhukarii
Namaskar.
I honor and wholeheartedly respect those avahutas and avahutikas for their sacrifice and service. Their missionary spirit in the name of Ananda Marga in this current materialistic world is a difficult life but make no mistake sbout it -very admirable.
Actually, Baba's Grace abounds with these sadhakas; they are very fortunate because they are forced to be more consciously reliant on Sadguru Baba. This dependence I believe will bring them closer to Him.
One day, by Baba's Grace, I will be more established in the mental and physical renunciation. I salute those courageous individuals who are strong enough to.carry on Baba's wishes to utilize to incorpoate the vrittis of ajagarii and madhukarii.
Baba Nam Kevalam!
Vyas
Note: Here is a link to the initial letter on this topic: Ananda Marga: ajagarii & madhukarii
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