Baba
Scary stories harm kids
Namaskar,
A fear complex is an extremely debilitating ailment. Yet this fear vrtti gets imposed on the minds of our youths through various festivals as well as via the mega, pseudo-culture industry of Hollywood movies, Disney's Ghost House, scary stories, television programs, video games, and haunted houses etc.
Here it should be understood, however, that it is not just the entertainment business and common social festivals that are at fault. That is not the only way that fear is imposed on the impressionable minds of our children. The imposition of fear also comes directly from family members; and, this can haunt a child their entire life.
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Baba talks about disastrous effect of "ghosts"
Here is Baba's teaching - where He warns how even family members impose a fear complex on young ones. This is an English summary of His 01 January 1986 Bengali discourse in Kolkata, "Existential Flow & Its Culminating Point":
Hatred, doubt, fear are sin. When you were small, you did not hate anybody. After that your neighbors, friends and family members taught you, "This is what hate is, don't do such a thing." They taught you fear, they taught you shyness, and in the end those interactions stained your mind in that color. The small babe did not want to drink the milk. So in order to get the baby to drink the milk, the family members said, "Look, a “ghost” is on the palm tree - it will come and get you if you do not drink your milk." So you drank the milk out of fear of being caught by the "ghost." After many years, when you were no longer two, but became twenty-two years of age, that mental ghost still existed in your mind. From time to time in your dreams you will still see that "ghost." In consequence, while remaining in a lonely place your heart will become startled and frozen due to fear of that "ghost." What is this? Imposed bondage. This type of bondage or these bondages are known as pa'shas. (English Summary)
Listen Sound File: A link to the sound file of the above teaching has been appended below in the links section.
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How grandma, parent, or caretaker harm own family members
In His discourses, Baba discusses and points out examples where families and caretakers use a fear complex as a means to control or discipline children. Here are some similar examples:
[A] If the kids are playing and making too much noise when it is their bedtime, then a parent or caretaker may say, "If you do not go to sleep this instant, then monsters will come and attack you."
[B] Or they may say, "Naughty children are bound to get eaten by goblins."
[C] Some even exclaim, "If you do not behave, Satan will punish you forever."
[D] Various adult family members may tell children that, "Ghosts will come and strangle you if you do not sit still."
[E] Plus, if a child is not eating its meal, then the grandmother may try to inject fear in that child's mind. The grandma terrorizes the child by saying, "If you do not eat your meal, then a ghost will come and swallow you. So sit down and eat and do not run around."
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Tragically, this type of talk by a grandma, parent, or caretaker terrifies the child. This is the wrong way to discipline a child. The child's mind becomes weak, fragile, and filled with the notion of their impending doom. The child thinks that at any moment they will be attacked by a goblin. Unfounded fears like these that get imposed on a child's psyche ruin the child's peace of mind in the present and become psychic baggage for the long haul. Yet certain parents and guardians repeat such threats, thereby cementing the fear in the mind of the child, and ultimately crippling them. The consequences of terrifying the child in this way are ghastly.
Nightmare about goblin
For adults, such statements are less scary; but for the child, they are absolutely frightening. Because the child does not have experience in the world. What they are told by their parents, caretakers, and guardians, they take to be real. In that case, the child becomes truly terrified when told that they will be eaten by so-called ghosts, or that when the lights get turned off then monsters will attack them etc.
Even worse, the fear does not end there - it lingers and festers - increasing and mushrooming over time - in the child's mind for years and years. Even when that child grows to 22 years of age or even 78 years of age, they still have nightmares about a goblin coming and sitting on his chest. And those fears often multiply over time whereby many remain mentally ill their whole life. Baba explains this clearly in His discourse.
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Alone in haunted house
Here below Baba further explains the nature of this phenomenon.
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "Suppose in daytime you are in a lonely place. It may or may not be a lonely place. Suppose in daytime you are alone in a big house, and some people told you that there is a ghost – “Ghost, ghost, ghost.” You heard it. The acoustic wave touched your mind, touched the subconscious portion of your mind, and after that you are told, “You know, Mr. X, there is a ghost in this house.” And you are Mr. X. “There is a ghost in this house.” All the nerve fibres fail to function. What will happen then? Just touch the conscious level of your mind, and as an extro-objective creation, as an external reflection of your very ectoplasmic stuff, you will see a ghost. And what sort of ghost will you see? The description of a ghost that you read in your books or you heard from your granny, “A ghost is like this.” In broad daylight you will see the ghost." (1)
So the child's mind is very fragile and subject to all kinds of fears - even false ones that we hear in the form of ghost stories, etc. This point should not be taken lightly - thinking that scaring children is just one momentary incident. Any and all fear has a huge impact on their psyche. They will be terrified in that very moment and compromised even crippled for life. We should all pay heed.
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Conclusion
Imposed fear complexes are used in countless families around the world. It is a disastrous parenting technique that is commonly employed, unfortunately. Think back to your own childhoods and see if you remember being told such events.
Why is this tactic used so pervasively from one land to the next? Because the parent or caregiver naively thinks that the problem is solved - that they got an easy fix. They think that the child has started to behave properly or that the child stopped making noise. So the parent thinks that the fear technique is a veritable method for disciplining a child and restoring order..
However, this is a very harmful approach. Both the short and long-term effects are disastrous. The child's mind is immediately and permanently scarred by that fear. It cannot be removed easily. That fear literally paralyzes them in that very moment. But it does not stop at that point. Rather, that very fear hauntingly sits in the child's mind for ages - becoming more pronounced over the years, and sometimes it even carries over into their next life. That is the depth to which the imposed fear invades their psyche.
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Children are very susceptible to fear and they are harmed so much, but adults are not immune either. Fear is hidden within and due to imposed samskaras it will grow. So one should avoid those situations that spur one's fears to multiply. If one watches a horror movie or reads a terror book and they feel even an iota of fear then even for adults that film is harmful as that fear will grow.
Namaskar,
In Him,
Sudha’ Dhara’
~ In-depth study ~
Here is Baba's teaching - the transcription of Baba's actual voice - where He warns how even family members impose a fear complex on young ones. This is from His 01 January 1986 discourse in Kolkata, "Existential Flow & Its Culminating Point".
"Ghrna', shaunka', bhaya, aet'a' holo pa'pa, jab tumi jakhan chotto chile, tumi ka'uke ghrna' korte na'. Oi pare toma'r prativeshiira' bandhura' ba'r'iir lokera', toma'ke shikhiye chilo ki, "Aeta korte na'in, aeta ghrnya jinish." To, toma’ke bhaya shikhiye che, lajja' shikhiye che, a'r seit'a shes'a paryanta toma'r rauna [lege] geche. Choto chele du'dha kha'cche na'. Ba'r'iir lokera' bolle, "Oi juju a'che, ta'la ga'che juju a'che, dhare nebe." Tumi jujur bhaye khiye nile du'dha. Ta'r pare, sei tumi jakhane du vatsa'rer na'iny, tumi hoye gele ba'isa vatsa'rer, takhano sei maner jujuta' roye gelo. Kakhano-kakhano svapnetei juju ke dekhbe. Ekla' hote giye jujur bhaya buka kenpe ut'abe. Era holo ki? Na, ca'inpiye deoya ba'ndha'na. Ai, this type of bondage or these bondages are known as pa'shas." (01 January 1986 discourse in Kolkata, "Existential Flow & Its Culminating Point)
English Summary: Hatred, doubt, fear are sin. When you were small, you did not hate anybody. After that your neighbors, friends and family members taught you, "This is what hate is, don't do such a thing." They taught you fear, they taught you shyness, and in the end those interactions stained your mind in that color. The small babe did not want to drink the milk. So in order to get the baby to drink the milk, the family members said, "Look, a “ghost” is on the palm tree - it will come and get you if you do not drink your milk." So you drank the milk out of fear of being caught by the "ghost." After many years, when you were no longer two, but became twenty-two years of age, that mental ghost still existed in your mind. From time to time in your dreams you will still see that "ghost." In consequence, while remaining in a lonely place your heart will become startled and frozen due to fear of that "ghost." What is this? Imposed bondage. This type of bondage or these bondages are known as pa'shas. (English Summary)
As if your feet and hands are tied together
There are four basic propensities, one of which is fear. And fear is also one of the eight external bondages or pashas. When fear is imposed from without it becomes a pasha. And that aspect of fear is a psychic disease. Whereas the fear that is a basic propensity is not a psychic disease. The fear instinct is for one’s basic safety and care, whereas the fear that is an imposed bondage debilitates the psyche. Here is another way of thinking of this. Pasha also means rope. If the hands, feet, and knees are tied together with a rope, and if one is pressed into a squatting position where their knees are also tied to their neck then one’s freedom is completely curtailed. One is bound and they cannot do anything. These ropes are restricting one’s freedom. And one of these ropes, or pashas, is imposed fear, i.e. a psychic disease which destroys one’s personae.
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Physical fear vs imposed psychic fear
Bhaya, or fear, is one of the four basic propensities - along with sleep (nidra), food (ahara), and procreation (maethuna) - of each and every human being. This sense of fear is actually a survival instinct. Animals have it; humans have it. So we already have a sense of fear built into our human personality. But that innate sense of fear is based on reality - i.e. physical fear. Animals are fearful of their predators so they run away for safety. The fear is real and that fear preserves their existence.
Here the point is that the fundamental fear vrtti is already part of our constitution - it is a base instinct. But, at least, it is based on reality, i.e. physically dangerous situations. That helps prevent people from getting hurt etc. In contrast, fears imposed on the human psyche are just a burden, i.e. imposed bonndage. Those multiply as people harbour those fears. As children, so many false or imaginary fears are imposed in the psychic realm. As those fears mount they severely shackle and cripple the person.
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As aspirants, we are to overcome all such fears, and aim all our psychic momentum unto Him. So these fears can be eliminated through deep, spiritual sadhana.
References
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam-12, Select Your Object Very Carefully
Sound file related with above letter:
* * *
The below sections are entirely different topics, unrelated to the above material.
They stand on their own as points of interest.
* * *
== Section 2: Prabhat Samgiita ==
Note: Only those bhaktas who feel a spiritual vibration in their heart can understand this song in the depths of their core.
"Tumi biná ke bá krpá karite páre, ár káke máne sárá carácare..." (Prabhat Samgiita #0350)
Purport:
Parama Purusa, Baba, who else can bless me except You - no one. Who else can I accept as my own in this entire mobile and immobile universe - only You.
Parama Purusa, all created beings are looking towards You for Your mercy and karuńá. Today the lyres of all the minds’ viinas harmonically resonate in a single melody: Baba "You are everything." All their sufferings and all their afflictions have drowned in the ocean of Your compassion. All the pain has been relieved; all their sorrows have been transformed into bliss, by Your grace.
Parama Purusa, Baba, You love all unconditionally, not judging anyone by their merits and demerits. You never hate anyone because they are foolish, dumb, or unintelligent etc. You wholly embrace all irrespective of their qualities. You are the most dear - the heart of hearts of all. Baba, You are the Goal of meditation, the anudhya'na of everybody; and the veritable Ista of all bhaktas. You are the final desideratum for everyone. All attain their eternal fulfillment satiation from You alone. Meditating on You, one gets moksa, by Your sweet wiil.
Who else can grace me except You - no one. Who else can I accept as my own in this universe - no one but You. O' Parama Purusa, no one else is mine but You…
== Section 3: Important Teaching ==
When serving & doing pracara
Note: The following teaching contains two ideas that demand our attention.
#1: When serving others by doing shudrocita seva, one should not desire their appreciation, thanks, or kind words. And one should not become displeased if those persons do not express their gratitude. One should feel happy to have been given the opportunity to serve Narayan in the form of a suffering person.
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “Another way to give the public their due respect is to serve them properly. While preaching with a shudrocita idea in view, it should particularly be kept in mind that during the service you will not enter into a propaganda work. Very likely it may so happen that you may go on attending on him, but he does not pay any heed to your single utterance or you do not get any chance to put a word to him, but you need not be sorry for that, because (Náráyan) in human form has accepted, taking your service and this much is your gain. Is it a less important gain?” (1)
Way to convince non-margiis
#2: When trying to convince others about the ideals of Ananda Marga, if the next person is not understanding then best is to give an example from various local scriptures etc. Try to relate that example with Ananda Marga ideology. It is just like how in India you may cite the Gita, Ramayana, or the Vedas, and in Muslim countries you may give an example from the Koran, or for Christians one may cite the Bible. By this way you will be able to teach them Ananda Marga philosophy. The formula is to start teaching them from the point that they already know, and guide them into new realms of knowledge.
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “The verbal comment on the speeches of others does not impress the people so much as the printed words of a book do, more so if those words are confirmed directly or indirectly by any religious scripture.” (2)
References
1. Táttvika Diipiká (Dvitiiya Parva), Point #4 - Utsava
2. Táttvika Diipiká (Dvitiiya Parva), Point #4 - Utsava
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Why good people get harassedSadguru Baba says, “Great, Bha'skara'ca'rya was. People of his age didn't like it. Because you know, people who adhere to dogma, they do not like or they cannot tolerate ultra-modern ideas. They will say, "It is against the scripture; it is against the system"---they will say like this. And they won't tolerate it. It is the system of human society. And after their death, they appreciate their ideas. Galileo, Copernicus, Socrates---they were not honored during their time, in their lifetime. It is the norm.” (1)
Note: In His above teaching, Baba is guiding us how revolutionary thinkers are never appreciated or honoured in their lifetime; rather, they are mocked, tortured, and exiled. All because their ideas are far beyond the narrow outlook of the common people. However, with the review of history, those thinkers are embraced as great luminaries and the true seers who brought society forward into a brand new era. The same is the case with those dharmikas bringing forth Ananda Marga ideology. Baba’s teachings are entirely new and light years ahead of the common mass. So as Ananda Margiis we do AM pracara to please Him and let His will be fulfilled. In the due course, society will look back and realise how AM dharmikas wiped out the existing dogmas and ushered in a new era of peace and prosperity, by His grace.
Reference
1. NP, MGD 2 September 1971 Patna
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Dogmas that made women subservient to men
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “The social and religious rights of women were curtailed in numerous ways so that they would be kept forever in thrall to the men. They were even forbidden walking in the open space under the open sky. Covered in burkas and veils, they were reduced to the status of caged birds living on seeds and water. It was decreed that they were not entitled to their ancestral property. The girls were given much less than the boys. It was categorically declared that they were not entitled to mukti or mokśa; that women go to heaven, it’s true, but the men get all sorts of privileges there that women cannot get. These rubbish ideas have died out due to various circumstances. In some places they are in the process of extinction, and in other places they are totally extinct.” (1)
Reference
1. Shabda Cayaniká Part 10, “Kramalaya”
== Section: Important Teaching ==
How sin and pa’pa are different
Ananda Marga ideology says, “Another thing to bear in mind is that “sin” in the English language is not the pápa of Sanskrit. As already said, “sin” means to go against that prescribed in the Bible. But pápa is explained in the phrase Paropakárah puńyáya pápáya parapiid́anam – that is, “Any action by one individual which leads to the development of others is puńya [virtuous deeds], and any action which does the opposite is pápa.” (1)
Reference
1. Subhasita Samgraha - 21, Niiti and Dharma
== Hindi Quote ==
बौद्धिक जगत् की प्रतिष्ठा आख़िर तक क्यों व्यर्थ हो जाएगी |
“कोई पण्डित बनना चाहता है, intellectual बनना चाहता है | तुम लोग जानते हो, intellectual में घमण्ड भी रहता है काफ़ी | Intellectual होने से ही कुछ न कुछ घमण्ड रहेगा | तो, intellectual- प्रतिष्ठा किस तरह की है ? बालू-रेखावत् | बालू पर अङ्गुली से लिखते हो |
अयं निजो परो वेति गणना लघुचेतसाम् |
उदारचरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् ||
तो, "कुटुम्बकं" लिखते-लिखते, हो सकता है "अयं" मिट जाए | थोड़ी-सी हवा चलना शुरू हो गई, बस | बालू इधर-उधर हो जाने के कारण, वह लेख मिट जाएगा | अर्थात् वह भी क्षण-स्थाई है | इसलिए बौद्धिक जगत् में भी, प्रतिष्ठा के लिए जो चेष्टाशील होते हैं; उनकी चेष्टा आख़िर तक व्यर्थ हो जाएगी |
[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. तीन प्रकार के गुरु और शिष्य,Tiin Praka'r Ke Guru aor Shis'ya (Manus'ya kii Saccii Pratis't'ha'),V29-15(H),EGD, 16 October, 1971 Delhi
== Section 4: Links ==
