Baba
Sadhana planning & procrastination
Namaskar,
A very well known case is that of one Dadaji in the 1990's who had the plan to first finish construction of offices and buildings in Ananda Nagar; he declared that thereafter he would construct sadhana huts along the river in Ananda Nagar.
Glorious plan: build 40 - 50 sadhana huts along the river
Dadaji was saying those deeply interested in sadhana could come there and practice and all their living needs would be provided. That was the plan Dadaji announced to all, and he told that he too would be fully dedicated for sadhana. Dada expressed that he would become absorbed in sadhana like Lord Buddha. That was his plan.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
Dadaji lived at Ananda Nagar for many more years and he had the time, but always he justified that he had some other project or work to do. He constantly repeated that, "Later on, I will start the construction of those sadhana places. First I will attend to this other project." This happened for years and unfortunately his plan of building 40 - 50 sadhana huts along the river in Ananda Nagar and doing long, long sadhana never came to fruition. The group clash erupted with so much infighting and Dadaji was dismissed from Ananda Nagar. And his long-harboured dream could never be materialised.
At his next location in Kullu he again planned to build sadhana huts. Once again he had ample time but years passed and he just kept saying, "Later on, as right now I am busy in other directions."
Ultimately in 2010, Dada ji breathed his last after suffering from double kidney failure. With his tragic end, he never could fulfil his grand plan and dream of being fully ensconced in sadhana like Lord Buddha.
Sadhana dream gets procrastinated up to their death
Indeed this is a trend that we see. People believe that one day the golden time will come where they have a lot of time for sadhana. It can happen in the life of a sadhaka that one thinks, "Although I do not have time for sadhana today, later on in the future I will have a lot of time for sadhana." This type of mentality can develop in one's psyche. So this is something we should all be aware of, i.e. procrastination.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
I have one margii friend who was trying hard to arrange the marriage of his daughter. In that planning, day by day was going by, and all the while he was neglecting his spiritual duties - he wasn't doing even 5 minutes of sadhana. And whenever anyone raised the matter with him then he would immediately retort, “When this marriage is finalised then I will devote a maximum amount of time for sadhana.” This was his ongoing justification. But in the end, when the marriage finally was arranged immediately he succumbed to a massive heart attack and left this world, tragically ending his plan to do maximum sadhana.
On another occasion I was in the presence of one acarya, who for years and years was planning that when he becomes old he will do lots and lots of sadhana. So he spent nearly 10 or 12 years of his life planning to find a place to live so that when he gets older he will be able to do plenty of sadhana. But ultimately his plan did not come to fruition as he left his acaryaship and became involved in various other activities. It was not long before he drowned in one competition trying to cross a flooded river. Sadly, he was no more.
Instead indulged in eating meat, drinking liquor, doing drugs
Then in another situation, there was one margii neighbor who was working 24 hrs a day at his mundane job and side by side building a sadhana hut in his backyard. His planning was that, "In the future when I retire then I will dedicate all my time to sadhana." So he was neglecting his kiirtan and sadhana under the excuse that he had no time as he needed to work to make money in order to build the sadhana platforms etc. This was his plan. But when all was said and done, after skipping his sadhana for so long finally he lost interest entirely in doing meditation and instead became indulged in eating meat, drinking liquor, doing drugs, wagering on lotteries, and gambling etc. In this way, his plan for a backyard sadhana hut morphed into raising pigs for meat. Never was his dream fulfilled, and he just stuffed his life instead with these harmful vices. It was very awful to see his fall.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
In various ways and shapes people build glorious plans for how in future they will do a lot of sadhana - yet neglect their practice in the present moment. Tragically the end of the story is never good for such types of planners.
After your death what is going to happen
Here below Baba guides us that nothing in this world is permanent and that even our near and dear ones forget us when we leave this world. Hence while living on this earth we should pass our time in more and more sadhana-- since our link with Parama Purusa will alone last forever and ever.
Ananda Marga ideology states, "When a person dies, what feelings will his mother and father, his brothers and sisters show? They will cry aloud, but after two or three days, normalcy will return. They will resume their normal mundane duties. And after a few days more or a few months they will forget the person. In societies where a widow's marriage is accepted by people, the widow will remarry...So you cannot say that any of your relatives is your bandhu. Nobody is your bandhu, or friend, in this respect...Jagat Bandhu is the only real Bandhu. Parama Purus'a is the only real bandhu. He loved you in the past; He will love you in the future. He alone is Bandhu. His name is Jagat Bandhu..." (1)
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "After your death your friends will carry you to the cremation ground. After being burnt, the body is rendered into ashes. Your friends will spray some water on the ashes of the funeral pyre, and then go back home. As long as they are in the cremation ground, they remember you. After that they forget you. But dharma remains with you even after your death, and what you did for dharma in this world is never forgotten. Therefore, in your worldly life, you are to strengthen the hands of dharma, and in the world, dharma will strengthen you." (2)
Conclusion
Human life is very rare. Yet, people commonly procrastinate doing their sadhana and instead “plan” to do it in the future. For one reason or another, they befool themselves by justifying, “Today, I am very busy, but in the future I will completely dedicate myself for this very cause.” This type of justification goes on up to their last breath. In short, their whole life gets wasted. Baba says that human life is for sadhana only. Everything else is secondary. Eating, sleeping, drinking, and procreating are done by both animals and humans. But animals cannot do sadhana. Only humans can do sadhana and for that they have been blessed with human life. The key point is that one should not procrastinate in doing their sadhana.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
Namaskar,
In Him,
Satyaki
Note: The Dada referred to at the beginning of this letter is Ac Pranavananda Avt.
~ In-depth study ~
Here below Baba responds to those who think that when they retire or when the kids grow old then I will do a lot of sadhana.
Ananda Marga philosophy states, "Some people consider that one should start intuitional practice in old age when a person has more leisure, after one has spent the prime of one's life earning money. People are afraid that they may face insecurity and difficulties in their old age if they do not accumulate enough wealth before their bodies weaken with age, rendering them incapable of hard work. They regard the prime of life as the period intended for earning money, and old age with its decreased capacity for hard work as the time to remember God. They are labouring under the misconception that hard work is not necessary for intuitional practice and that old age is therefore the proper time for it. Whoever is born is bound to die and one is constantly approaching death, not knowing when it will come. It is never certain if one will live to grow old. Yet people reserve the most important work of practising sa´dhana´ for the time when the body has become completely enfeebled and the fatuous mind of old age has become entangled in the reactions of this life to such an extent that it is afraid of starting anything new.” (3)
False assumption about old age
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “Ordinarily it is fear of one's approaching death that makes one think of God in old age. One's evil deeds begin to haunt one, and one starts praying and imploring God to save him or her from the consequences of one's deeds. There is no value in remembering God in old age, when it is not possible to concentrate the mind due to the weakness and disease of the body and its preoccupation with the reactions (sam´ska´ras) of the deeds of this life. The mind then is caught up in the infirmities of the body, in the diseases of old age, impending death, and most of all, in memories of past incidents, and it is impossible to concentrate it. For these reasons one is incapable of intuitional practice." (3)
So in His above teaching Baba is guiding us that one must not leave for old age. Because at that point the mind has already been trained in a different way-- it is not accustomed to doing sadhana. Thus in later age doing sadhana is nothing but a far off dream. Plus in old age invariably people suffer from various physical ailments which prevent them from doing meditation.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
What is the worst type of lethargy
Here below Baba exposes the futile plans of those who promise that in future I will do a lot of sadhana.
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "Every human being, from the age of fourteen or fifteen, has an innate desire to ideate on Parama Purus'a. With cosmic ideation one will attain vast expansion of mind, one will become great in all respects. No one can check the all-round growth of such a person. People realize this and yet ignore it and thus waste their time getting old for nothing. That is, they waste their time in non-spiritual pursuits. This is called 'spiritual lethargy'. It causes the greatest harm to human life because it results in only a very small percentage of the human potentiality - maybe one or two percent - being utilized by humans. Even those whom we call great personalities hardly use ten percent of their potentialities. Due to spiritual lethargy people are unable to grow, and thus remain very ordinary. They come to the world, live, decay and die as ordinary human beings." (4)
Ananda Marga ideology states, "Of all the different types of lethargy, spiritual lethargy is the worst. Spiritual lethargy means not to sit for meditation regularly. Those with spiritual lethargy have time for all other actions, but for spiritual practice there seems to be no time. They say, "It's already late today - I'll do a short meditation right now, and devote more time to sa'dhana' tomorrow." They sit attentively inside the cinema hall, but in dharma sa'dhana' they feel sleepy." (5)
So such type of poor planning or laziness in sadhana ruins one's existence.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
Start sadhana as soon as possible
Ananda Marga ideology states, "While the body is with you, you can practise Sádhaná. When your mind will be detached from your body, you won't be able to do anything, neither physical work nor spiritual work. So you are to do everything while this quinquelemental structure is with you. Even in your old age, you will not be able to perform spiritual practices properly if you do not start the practice from an early age. The best age for doing Sádhaná is from 16 to 49, and the second-best age is from 5 to 16 and from 49 to 69. Before 5 or after 69, the glands become weak, distorted. So the best age for spiritual Sádhaná is 16 to 49. This body is Dharmakśetra. Without this body, one can not do Sádhaná. Animals can not do sádhaná because they haven't got a human body. The human body is the most developed on this planet. There are 50 main glands. The total number of important and unimportant glands is 1000. 50 x 2 x 10. Why? Each and every gland can function both extroversially and introversially. You can steal with your hand mentally and physically. Physically stealing with the hand is extroversial, and mentally stealing is with your mind. No one else will know that you have stolen mentally. So, each and every gland has a double function, external and internal. 50 x 2. And all of these functions are in all the 10 directions. So 50 x 2 x 10 = 1000. These 1000 important and unimportant glands and sub-glands are controlled by the pineal gland So these are the psychic functions." (6)
Main purpose of human life: sadhana
Ananda Marga ideology states, "According to the beliefs of the human beings, Sádhaná is not practicable in normal life and it is necessary for an aspirant to sever connections with the home and members of the family. This is fallacious. How can a sádhaka devote himself to Brahma when he cannot even support the four or five members of his family? A person is associated with a family right from birth. Every family is beset with one problem or another. If instead of solving the problems, you leave your home and live in solitude, will you then forget about these problems? Furthermore, while in solitude you will have to think for your food and clothes. Sádhaná is possible only through this physical body, and for the sake of sádhaná it is useless to create unnatural situations by forsaking the home. We can practise sádhaná by practising restraint in whichever situation we are placed. The only thing necessary for practising sádhaná is an ardent desire for it." (7)
Ananda Marga philosophy states, "The main purpose of human beings coming here to this earth is to do spiritual practice. One is to render social service, one is to learn, one is to go through books, one is to help others, one is to do anything and everything just to encourage and accelerate the process of sádhaná. Sádhaná is the main theme of life. Whatever you do in the world, you should do it with a view to promote your sádhaná and help the sádhaná of others. Human beings come to earth to practise sádhaná, to move closer to Iishvara, the Supreme Goal – to come closer to Parama Puruśa [Supreme Consciousness]. Thus, the deeds of human beings will not be like the deeds of animals. Whatever human beings will do, they will do in such a manner that the progress in their sádhaná will go on accelerating." (8)
Do sadhana lest you regret it later
As Ananda Margiis we should be pointed in our daily sadhana practice lest all our time get wasted in other pursuits. So we should devote more and more energy to sadhana in this present moment.
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "The worship of Brahma should be done scrupulously, or else you will later regret and bemoan the futility of your life with the last drop of your tears at your last hour. You should make your life worthwhile through your sa'dhana' How much can your worldly friends and relations do for you? After your death your relatives may perhaps ask, "How much money has he left behind?" Your friends may go to the crematorium and indulge in flattering reminiscences about you. Your husband or wife may cry for you for about ten or twelve days and then regain their normal composure. Your lot will be only a profound sigh - a record of the futility and frustration of your life. So do not waste your time lest you later have to repent." (9)
If one maintains a strict sadhana and asana practice throughout their life then in late age also they will be able to carry on with their spiritual routine. But those who neglect their daily sadhana will never be able to taste that sweetness in their later years.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
References
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 4, Your Real Friend
2. Anadna Vacanamrtam - 4, Your Real Friend
3. Ananda Marga Elementary Philosophy, Why Are People Afraid of Intuitional Practice?
4. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 8, Bad Habits Which Should Be Given Up
5. Ananda Marga Ideology Way of Life - 10, The Devotee and the Lord
6. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 14, Action and Reaction
7. Subhasita Samgraha - 11 The Form of Sádhaná
8. Yoga Psychology, The Human Body Is a Biological Machine
9. Subhasita Samgraha - 3, Vibration, Form and Colour
* * *
The below sections are entirely different topics, unrelated to the above material.
They stand on their own as points of interest.
* * *
== Section 2: Important Teaching ==
State of writers in democracy
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “Today the different countries of the world have allocated numerous awards for sáhityikas [writers]. But that is where the danger lies. Every government, whether monarchical, republican or autocratic, is run according to a particular ideology, and so there is little chance for the government to suddenly become impartial in bestowing awards on sáhityikas [writers]. Naturally it will judge the merits and demerits of the sáhityikas [writers] in accordance with the bias of its own party, and consequently sáhityikas [writers] will be compelled to sacrifice their ideals to feed their stomachs. These observations are generally applicable to different types of governments, but especially to democratic states, for in democratic states ideological clashes are more in evidence, and hence the need to propagate ideologies is also more acute. That is why democratic states want to use sáhityikas [writers] as propaganda tools. Needless to say, such made-to-order writings cannot be called literature at all – political propaganda can never be called literature.” (1)
Reference
1. A Few Problems Solved - 1, The Practice of Art and Literature
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Infestation of religion
Ananda Marga ideology states, “Átmánátman viveka will teach you that the Singular Eternal Entity in the form of Consciousness should be your only object of ideation. You will see the colours of religion fade before your eyes as the pure white effulgence of dharma shines with ever-increasing brilliance.”
“All the “isms” prevalent in today’s world can easily be included in the category of religions. All the defects of religions exist in the “isms” too. None of the political, social or economic “isms” are free from superstition none are straightforward; all are full of rampant hypocrisy. In all “isms”, doctrines and religions, the scriptural authority is supreme. There is no scope for the functioning of the five types of conscience, no place for service, love or devotion. With the help of falsehood and immorality, these “isms,” doctrines and religions slander and make accusations against each other. They make attractive promises to the people while hiding their own internal sins. In fact, false piety is not the path of dharma, leading to welfare, but the opposite of dharma, the negation of welfare. They can be likened to asses wearing lion skins: take away the lion skins and their their true form will be revealed. They have no other purpose than to grab votes and usurp power. The mentality to grab the votes first and then serve the people is not the true spirit of selfless social service; rather, it is the mentality of power craving materialists.”
“You will have to advance with the true spirit of genuine social service, because the very characteristic of dharma is to promote the cause of welfare. Dharma and welfare are inseparable.” (1)
Reference
1. Ananda Marga Ideology and Way of Life - part 7, The Five Kinds of Conscience (Viveka)
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Two mudras for all-round health
These two mudras - uddayan mudra and utksepa mudra - are very important for all-round health as they serve as prevention and treatment for numerous diseases. In the Ananda Marga Yogic Treatments book, these two mudras are pervasively used. So all should know how to practice these mudras - i.e. when to inhale and when to exhale etc. Actually they are so basic there is no need to ask any acarya etc. The instructions are printed in Caryacarya part 3 for all to see. Everyone has access to this knowledge. People should therefore take it upon themselves to acquire the foundational knowledge of basic Ananda Marga practices, like these two important mudras.
Ananda Marga Caryacarya states, “Ud́d́ayana mudrá: Standing, place the hands above the knees and bend forward a little. Gradually breathe out, to a state of complete exhalation. Keeping the breath out, draw the abdomen and lower abdomen inward as hard as possible, to touch the spine. Maintain this position for eight seconds. Then gradually inhale fully. Practise eight times.” (1)
Ananda Marga Caryacarya states, “Utkśepa Mudrá: This mudrá should be practised in bed immediately upon waking. While lying on the back, one should flex both the arms and legs, bringing them over the chest, and then return them immediately to the extended position. After doing this three or four times, sit up in bed and drink a glass of cold water without allowing the water to touch the teeth. After this you should expose the navel area to the air, and walk up and down in this way for some time in the open air.” (2)
References
1. Caryacarya - 3, Mudrás and Bandhas
2. Caryacarya - 3, Different Yoga Practices
These two mudras - uddayan mudra and utksepa mudra - are very important for all-round health as they serve as prevention and treatment for numerous diseases. In the Ananda Marga Yogic Treatments book, these two mudras are pervasively used. So all should know how to practice these mudras - i.e. when to inhale and when to exhale etc. Actually they are so basic there is no need to ask any acarya etc. The instructions are printed in Caryacarya part 3 for all to see. Everyone has access to this knowledge. People should therefore take it upon themselves to acquire the foundational knowledge of basic Ananda Marga practices, like these two important mudras.
Ananda Marga Caryacarya states, “Ud́d́ayana mudrá: Standing, place the hands above the knees and bend forward a little. Gradually breathe out, to a state of complete exhalation. Keeping the breath out, draw the abdomen and lower abdomen inward as hard as possible, to touch the spine. Maintain this position for eight seconds. Then gradually inhale fully. Practise eight times.” (1)
Ananda Marga Caryacarya states, “Utkśepa Mudrá: This mudrá should be practised in bed immediately upon waking. While lying on the back, one should flex both the arms and legs, bringing them over the chest, and then return them immediately to the extended position. After doing this three or four times, sit up in bed and drink a glass of cold water without allowing the water to touch the teeth. After this you should expose the navel area to the air, and walk up and down in this way for some time in the open air.” (2)
References
1. Caryacarya - 3, Mudrás and Bandhas
2. Caryacarya - 3, Different Yoga Practices
== Section: Ananda Vanii ==
Your ideal
“Your ideal is represented by your conduct. Your learning, your social or economic status have nothing to do with your ideal.” (Ananda Vanii #13)
Note 1: True Ananda Vaniis have a number whereas Fake Ananda Vaniis do not - just as a fake car license plate has no number. By this way, you can easily recognise a Fake Ananda Vanii.
== Section 3: Links ==