Baba
How to cultivate more bhakti
Namaskar,
One has to beseech Him for His grace.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
The following is an English summary of Baba’s discourse originally given in Bengali titled, “Intensivity and Extensivity in Spiritual Progress” from Subhasita Samgraha part 16, chapter 4.
Human beings do not get Him by dint of their own qualification; they get Him by His grace. In receiving His grace, intuition develops. And with that intuitional faculty he gets Parama Purusa. In this regard, nothing happens by tall talks. You have to beg and beseech for His krpa and compassion. Only if He graces you can you realise Parama Purusa. If one has longing for and closeness with Parama Purusa, then surely he will get His grace. Because Parama Purusa is not some outsider or someone living elsewhere. He has a very intimate link with you; He is your own. For this reason, if He does not understand your pleasure and happiness, your hopes and desires, who is going to understand. He is the Entity who lives in every pore of your existence. He is hiding in your mind and knows what you are thinking and feeling - all your wishes. So if He does not understand then who is going to understand. (English summary of Bangla discourse)
What to do
Parama Purusa gives humans the requisite strength to proceed on the path. Whatever strength He has given, one should utilize in performing sadhana. One should put forth proper effort, yet at the same time understand that it is all achieved by His grace. On the path of spirituality, an aspirant cannot even move one step forward without His grace - what to speak of attaining mukti or moksa. Nobody can achieve the Supreme Rank exclusively by their own doing - no matter how much they try.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
So one must put forth a request - and what does the bhakta ask for? His grace. Indeed, by becoming more and more involved in sadhana - one feels His supreme magnificence. So a sadhaka asks Parama Purusa to grace them with the strength and bhakti to proceed onwards. After all, overcoming all bondages and controlling the mind and all the associated propensities is not an easy feat for any human being. Good sadhakas realise this and request His grace.
~ Part 2 ~
Every bhakta wishes to go closer to Parama Purusa. That is the very nature of bhakti - to seek His closeness. So then who does not want to go close to Parama Purusa? The answer is those who are arrogant and place too much importance on their own unit self. That category of person thinks, "Whatever I need in life I will manage myself."
Such persons give undue importance to their petty self or unit ego. They suffer from the false vanity that whatever they need they can satisfy with their own strength. They are utterly oblivious to the fact that they do not create their own energy. All the energy they have they derive from external sources like air, water, food, light, etc. And Parama Purusa is the ultimate source of all energy - directly or indirectly.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
How can you say it is yours
So when Parama Purusa provides you with all the energy you have then how can you say it is yours when in actuality it comes from someone else. Only those suffering from the delusion of materialism cannot understand this simple truth.
The reality is that nothing belongs to them - it has all been graciously given by Parama Purusa. Due to this fundamental lack of knowledge and this deficit in understanding, they wrongly brag about themselves. They are unable to conceive of anything beyond their unit "I" feeling. Because of this egoistic approach, their mind becomes dry. They forget about Parama Purusa entirely - what to speak of developing an intimate relationship with Him.
Ananda Marga ideology says, "While utilizing one’s energy one should say to Parama Puruśa, “O Lord, I am working with the strength given by You. Let me not make the mistake of taking it to be my own power. Let me not forget You, O Lord.”" (1)
Asking itself stems from a feeling of love, humility, and the realisation that Parama Purusa is the Provider and Source - the nearest and dearest One. Without Him, nothing can happen. But to feel this way requires a certain amount of bhakti.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
In Him,
Sudeva
~ In-depth study ~
Those lacking bhakti are more self-centered and fail to request His grace and closeness. In result, their mind becomes hollow and weak, as they are centering around their own unit self. That is their egotistical feeling, and hence they will not ask for bhakti from the Lord. However, this is not their greatness, but rather their defect. Such persons are far from Parama Purusa. Immediately, they should take steps to decrease the gap by asking His grace - asking for bhakti.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
Asking itself stems from feelings of love, humility, and the realisation that Parama Purusa is the Provider and Source - the nearest and dearest One. Without Him, nothing can happen. But to feel this way requires a certain amount of bhakti. And those with that threshold of bhakti will certainly place requests before the Lord. They will request His closeness - i.e. to grace them with more intimate, spiritual longing. That is the request.
Thus in the life of a sadhaka, with increasing feelings of closeness and proximity to Parama Purusa, comes the desire to ask for His grace. In true love, this always happens.
Daevii hyeśá guńamayii mama Máyá duratyayá;Mámeva ye prapadyante Máyámetáḿ taranti te.
Ananda Marga ideology says, "“It is very difficult to surmount this Máyá, because she is very powerful. How can such a small, ordinary human surmount this Máyá?” “Mámeva ye prapadyante máyámetám taranti te”. “Only the one who has taken shelter in Me can surmount Máyá”. Individual effort alone will not suffice. How can one free oneself from the saḿskáras accumulated while under the influence of Máyá and thus cross that dreadful ocean? A devotee has said, “Bhavámbodhipotam sharańam vrajámah”. “I will not be able to swim across because sharks will devour me. It is an impossible task. So what shall I do? I shall board a ship and sail across that ocean. Oh Parama Puruśa, please be the ship which carries me safely to the other side.” “Bhavámbodhipotam”. Ambudhii means “sea” – the bháva samudra; potaḿ means “ship”. Saranam vrajámá signifies, “I shall take shelter in that ship for I have no other way.” Thus, the intelligent people, the devotees, know that Parama Puruśa is the only shelter, the only patron. There is no other path, no other alternative." (2)
In Him,
Indragopal
References
1. Ananda Marga Ideology & Way of Life - 9, The Devotee and the Lord
2. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 7, The Divine Drama
== Section: Important Teaching ==
About kapha
Ananda Marga philosophy says, “The third health-determining element is kapha, or the liquid, viscous portion of the body. Excess kapha creates spontaneous heat within the body which manifests externally as fever...Ginger is the enemy of kapha, the destroyer of kapha. Thus one name of ginger in ayurveda is kapha’ri. Similarly, arum or elephant root is the destroyer of arsha [piles] so arum in Sanskrit is called arsha’ri or arshaghnii.” (1)
Note: The first two health determining elements are va’yu and pitta.
Reference
1. Shabda Cayanika - 3, Kakubh to Kavaśńa (Discourse 17)
== Section: Ananda Vanii ==
Build a healthy human society ignoring all obstacles
“The entire humankind of the universe constitutes one singular people. All humanity is bound together; those who are apt to remain oblivious of this very simple truth, those who are prone to distort it, are the deadliest enemies of humanity. Today people should identify these foes very well and build up a healthy human society, totally ignoring all obstacles and difficulties. It must be borne in mind that so long as a magnificent, healthy and universalistic human society is not well established, humanity’s entire culture, and civilization, its sacrifice, service and spiritual endeavour, shall not carry any worth whatsoever.” (Ananda Vanii #38)
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: Important Teaching ==
How useless dream manifests - 2
Ananda Marga ideology states, "When certain impressions perceived by the sense organs, agitate the conscious mind and sensory or material thoughts are thereby vehemently awakened in the conscious mind, the nervous system, the crude receptacle of the Kámamaya Kośa and the mind itself becomes unsteady and restless. This leaves an impression on the cells that is short-lived or long-lasting depending on the degree of its intensity. Sometimes even a significant impression being compelled to give way to a newer one under the impact of some other sense-agitation or restlessness, loses its previously acquired permanence. In the sleep state, if a person's nerve-tissues are agitated due to some physical cause, often either as the result of this or on account of cerebral heat caused by some vehement thinking, the nerve cells also become tired and disturbed. Such agitations give rise in the mental sphere to desires similar to those impressions, accumulated in the nerve-cells. Thus the agitated citta (the sub-conscious mind) accepts as real the stream of thoughts arising from one or more such impressions. The crude organs having stopped functioning, the identical desire arising from the previously acquired desire, do not then seem to be imaginary but appear to be quite real. Such dreams often do not come true, for these are actually pure imaginations or a mere stringing together of different disjointed thoughts, a confused or inconsistent dream. Only those whose nerve tissues have become weak due to some ailments of the brain or head or to some protracted illness, or those whose digestive system are malfunctioning, generally experience such confused dreams, which we may call Sensual Dreams. These dreams, as I have already said, are the true reproduction of previously imagined objects or the disjointed expressions of previous thoughts. Excessive eating also gives rise to such dreams in a person. Those who have purity of thoughts and also restraint over their diet, are generally less susceptible to such dreams. Such dreams never occur during [deep] sleep.” (1)
Reference
1. Subhasita Samgraha - 2, The Intuitional Science of the Vedas – 5
== Section 2: Links ==
Dogma of Father's Day - 16 June 2024
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