Baba
Bad way to die
Namaskar,
These days euthanasia, the act of intentionally ending one’s own life prematurely - i.e. assisted suicide, is an approach more and more are seeking. The number of advocates and supporters are growing. With the spread of materialism, it is gaining greater public recognition around the globe. As Ananda Margiis, we should be clear about the stand of Ananda Marga philosophy on this important and vital issue. We must be able to outline a cogent response.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
Ananda Marga condemns euthanasia
Baba very clearly guides us that we should never give way to lowly feelings wherein one wishes to end their life. Life is invaluable and to be utilised to its fullest.
Ananda Marga ideology says, “You cannot afford to waste any part of your precious life.” (1)
There is no scope for prematurely ending one’s life via medical maneuvers. In Ananda Marga we honor the mind, and if the mind is capable enough to think that life is not worth living. It means that mind has enough shakti energy to ideate on Parama Purusa and / or help others in the psychic sphere. Rather than allowing a person to voluntarily end their life prematurely, they should be guided toward psycho-spiritual practices. Euthanasia, or the forced arrival of death, is verily a form of suicide, or assisted suicide. And that is not condoned in our Ananda Marga.
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “Those who commit suicide, do it when their mind is in a negative state. It is unnatural.” (2)
Die while working, & work even while dying
We should not be swayed by any of the theories or arguments that are floating around today that life can or should be ended prematurely in some circumstances. Under no circumstances should that happen. Nor should one sit idly waiting to die.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
In one of His discourses from Gorakhpur, Baba graphically describes that one must not lie down in bed meekly, accumulating bed sores, waiting for death to arrive. In that case, better to rise up, utilise one’s last drop of energy, and be active in sadhana and social service. One should do something to help others with whatever strength and stamina one has. In the due course death will come, and at that time, as far as possible, one should be involved in sadhana and serving humanity.
Indeed in so many discourses Baba has declared:
“Marte marte ka’m karo, ka’m karte karte maro”
“Die while working, and work even while dying”.”
Baba is giving us two distinct teachings:
1) Do not take one’s own life prematurely;
2) Be vigorously active utilising all one’s strength; that is far better than lying listlessly waiting for death to approach.
Why killing oneself broods new sin
In today’s world, where most are involved in so many material pursuits, people become depressed and fall prey to gloomy thoughts seeing their physical body demise.
They fail to think about greater aims in life, “Who am I, why am I here.” Rather they consider this world only for name, fame, post, and sensual pursuits.They become deluded into thinking that since life is only for sensual pleasures so if the body is not working properly, then best is to end the life. They think, “Why should I live if I cannot engage in my daily pursuits of eating, drinking, and sensuality.”
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
The part two is that they fall prey to another defective mindset. They falsely conclude: “At least if I kill myself, I can get rid of my suffering and maybe find a better life somewhere else.” When in fact the truth is that one is tied up with their own samskaras. One may be able to run away from their house or hide from the police, but prakrti will always find them. In that case, how silly to think, “I will start off “clean” in a new place.
Rather, by dropping into the dogma of euthanasia one will just acquire yet another negative samskara. Because killing oneself is itself a sinful deed that will create a horrible samskara. So one should not should fall prey to the materialistic avenues of killing oneself to get rid of own sufferings or the dogma of going to heaven through killing oneself.
Ananda Marga ideology says, “Materialism tends to forget that the crude physical body and its vital energy are not the whole of human existence – that the most priceless assets of human beings are their psychic wealth, their spiritual treasures, and their most beloved entity, Parama Purus’a, the Lord of their life.” (3)
Utterly devoid of spiritual vision, people think that their life is fully tied to their physical body – physical pursuits. Whereas in Ananda Marga, ours is a spiritual ideal, as Baba guides us above.
Can't escape suffering by forced, premature death
At present, various states, governments, and countries have been debating the matter of euthanasia, or the voluntary act of deliberately killing one’s life. They cite various reasons for this to occur: sickness and disease, incapacity to walk, see, or hear, debilitating accidents, loss of limbs, and religious reasons as well. For all of the above and more, such advocates claim it is reasonable for one to prematurely end one’s life.
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
But again this is a purely materialistic outlook. What they fail to realise is that life is not for physical pleasure but for the sadhana of Parama Purusa. And, so long as one can think one has the capacity to think one has the capacity to do sadhana. And actually, the loss of one’s physical engagements like eating, drinking, and sensual pursuits forces one to face their own vulnerability. This then makes it easier for one to think of Parama Purusa. Whereas when one is at full strength and bossing others around, then they don’t think of Parama Purusa – already they feel impregnable. So for such people there is a spiritual gain in losing one’s physical prowess.
But the materialist just thinks, “Without my full physical and sensual faculties / pursuits, I prefer not to live, and if I die my suffering will end.” And those in the bind of religious dogma think that, “If I take my life I will gain redemption and escape my pain and problems here on earth. After ending this life, I will end up happily in heaven. Why don't I go to heaven now. The golden palace is waiting for me in heaven." What they do not realise is that one may escape from the police or from one’s enemies etc, but one cannot escape from their negative deeds and samskaras. From this, there is no escape or running, not even by death.
Conclusion
In Ananda Marga, euthanasia or supported suicide is wholly rejected. Killing oneself means incurring a terrible samskara. Rather one should use every iota of one’s life force for serving others. The dharmic approach then is to ideate on the Supreme, rendering whatever service one can, and die naturally.
In Him,
Prabodhi
Ananda Marga ideology states, “There are some people who die after fasting for thirty or forty days. The members of their community think that they have attained salvation thereby, but one cannot attain salvation by fasting in this way. (4)
Beware of suicide
Ananda Marga philosophy says, "People who commit suicide due to humiliation, psychic distortion, frustration or the overpowering influence of excessive attachment, anger, greed, vanity, jealousy, etc. get the status of kabandha yoni [negative microvita] after death. Wherever these entities happen to see other human beings under the spell of psychic derangement, they incite them to commit suicide." (5)
The character in the Shabda Cayanika story states, "Today I realize what a horrendous mistake I made. ...This path of suicide that I have taken to save my honour has crudified me so much that even after such a long time I cannot find any deliverance. These days I am utterly helpless...Oh, what a painful bondage! Is there no path left open to me to attain peace! Is there no ointment I can apply which will soothe the burning of my bondage!" (6)
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “This suicide is not deliberately done by the people. Those who commit suicide, do it when their mind is in a negative state. It is unnatural. Therefore, Sadvipras will remove this unnaturalness with the blows of their hammers. None can check it.” (7)
References
1. Subhasita Samgraha, part 19, Desideratum of Human Life
2. A Few Problems Solved, part 6, The Three Causes of Sin
3. Namah Shivaya Shantaya, Disc: 18
4. Ananda Marga Ideology & Way of Life - 10, Ideation on Brahma
5. Microvita in a Nutshell, Disembodied Souls and Microvita – Excerpt A
6. Shabda Cayanika, part 2, Ui to Uluka (Discourse 9)
7. A Few Problems Solved, part 6, The Three Causes of Sin
== Section 2: Topic ==
About euthanasia
Namaskar,
This issue of euthanasia / assisted suicide is gaining momentum in the world arena. This is an important matter for us because Ananda Marga philosophy does not condone this. Yet it is gaining more political support and public acceptance. For instance, Belgium decided that even children can request euthanasia.
Here following is an article for your review on this critical issue...
In Him,
Kalyan
Euthanasia: The Horrifying Slippery Slope
By Peter Saunders
(PJSaunders) – A debate at University College London allowed the issue of assisted suicide to be addressed.
The four main groups resisting the legalisation of assisted dying in this country – doctors, disabled people, faith groups and parliamentarians – do so primarily because they are anxious about the consequences of licensing of doctors to dispense lethal drugs.
Their concerns are both about how such a system could be regulated and also about the pressure legalization would place on vulnerable people to end their lives for fear of being a financial or emotional burden on others.
This is heightened by the evidence of incremental extension or mission creep in other jurisdictions.
In the Netherlands which legalised assisted suicide and euthanasia in 2002 there has been an increase of 10 to 20% of euthanasia cases per year since 2006 from 1,923 to 4,188. The 2012 figures included 42 with early dementia and 13 with psychiatric conditions.
In addition in 2001 about 5.6% of all deaths in the Netherlands were related to deep-continuous sedation. This rose to 8.2% in 2005 and 12.3% in 2010. A significant proportion of these deaths involve doctors deeply sedating patients and then withholding fluids with the explicit intention that they will die.
Children as young as twelve can already have euthanasia and a 2005 paper in the New England Medical Journal reported on 22 babies with spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus who were killed by lethal injection in the Netherlands over a seven year period. It estimated that there actually 15 to 20 newborns being killed in this way per year – despite this still being illegal. The culture and public conscience have changed.
In Belgium, which legalised euthanasia in 2002, there has been a 500% increase in euthanasia deaths over ten years between 2003 and 2012. High profile cases include Mark and Eddy Verbessem, the 45-year-old deaf identical twins, who were euthanised by the Belgian state, after their eyesight began to fail; then there is Nathan/Nancy Verhelst, whose life was ended in front of TV cameras, after a series of botched sex-change operations. His mother said she hated girls, found her child ‘so ugly’ at birth and did not mourn his death. And then there is Ann G, who had anorexia and who opted to have her life ended after being sexually abused by the psychiatrist who was supposed to be treating her for the life-threatening condition.
Organ donation euthanasia is already practised in Belgium. Already in parts of Belgium one in three cases of euthanasia is involuntary and half go unreported. And there has been not one prosecution for abuses in the last ten years – perhaps because the one of the lead euthanasia practitioners – Distelmans – chairs the very committee that is meant to regulate his activity.
Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, first released assisted suicide statistics in 2009, laying bare a 700% rise in cases (from 43 to 297) from 1998 to 2009. Amongst those travelling from abroad to end their lives at the notorious Dignitas facility have been many people who could not by any stretch be described as terminally ill – and included cases of people who could have lived for decades ending their lives – with arthritis, blindness, spinal injury, diabetes, mental illness – or people who were essentially well but could not bear to live without their spouses.
Dignitas has attracted much criticism in recent years over accounts of discarded cremation urns dumped in Lake Zurich, reports of body bags in residential lifts, suicides being carried out in car parks, the selling of the personal effects of deceased victims and profiteering with fees approaching £8,000 per death.
In the US state of Oregon there has been a 350% increase assisted in suicide deaths since legalisation. I’ll leave it to my colleagues to expand on the details but notable are two people with cancer – Randy Stroup and Barbara Wagner – who were told that the Oregon Health Authority would not pay for their chemotherapy but would happily pay for their assisted suicide – which was of course much cheaper. Is this really the kind of temptation that we wish to put before NHS managers in Britain? Is it any wonder that over 120 attempts to change the law through US state parliaments have failed?
The problem is that any law allowing assisted suicide or euthanasia will carry within it the seeds of its own extension.
And whilst Lord Falconer may claim to have limited objectives – on his coat tails are a host of other UK groups with more radical agendas – FATE, SOARS, the BHA, NSS and EXIT International.
They will not be satisfied with the so-called modest changes he seeks but they are using exactly the same arguments to advance their case – ‘compassion’ and ‘choice’.
They are able to use exactly the same arguments because Lord Falconer’s position is at heart both illogical and discriminatory.
If adults can have it why can’t children who are judged to be Gillick competent?
If competent people can have it what about those with dementia who it is argued would have wanted it?
If people who are terminally ill why not the chronically ill or disabled who are suffering unbearably?
If it’s for those with physical suffering why not those with mental suffering?
Or as Exit international asks – why not the elderly bereaved and the troubled teen?
There will inevitably be pressure to extend the boundaries which may well not survive legal challenge once the so-called ‘right’ is available for some.
We will hear – it is only for this group or only for that group – but I tell you – it is only the beginning
Any law allowing assisted suicide or euthanasia in any circumstances at all will be subject to extension – or abuse.
And that it is the other problem – changing the law would give doctors a degree of power over life and death that some will inevitably abuse.
It will be doctors who see the patients, fill out the forms, dispense the lethal drugs. Some of them will push the boundaries. Some will falsify certification. There may be some who, like Harold Shipman, will develop a taste for killing and they will be very difficult to detect.
But many will simply be too busy, too pressured and facing too many demands to make the kind of cool comprehensive objective assessments that this kind of law requires. And very few of them will really know the patients or their families.
We have seen this already with abortion. We began with a very strict law which allowed it only in limited circumstances. Now there are 200,000 cases a year. Most of them fall outside the boundaries of the law. There is illegal pre-signing of forms, abortions for sex selection, abortions on demand for spurious mental health reasons. And only one conviction for illegal abortion in 45 years.
Society is reluctant to touch and question doctors. The police are reluctant to investigate. The DPP hesitates to prosecute. The courts are unwilling to convict. Parliament turns a blind eye. It is simply not safe to give doctors this sort of power because some will abuse it as they have in other countries and it will be very difficult to stop them.
It’s far better not to go there at all.
(Courtesy of Life Site News)
* * *
The below sections are entirely different topics, unrelated to the above material.
They stand on their own as points of interest.
* * *
== Section 3: Important Teaching ==
Why prayer is not good
In Baba's below guideline from Ananda Sutram, it is clear that the flattery - as done in the dogmatic religions - is when one praises the Lord in hopes of winning Him over so He will satisfy your mundane wish. That is flattery as presented in the below sutra.
3-11. Pra´rthana´rcana´ ma´traeva bhramamu´lam.
Purport: It is useless to pray to God for something, for He is sure to give what is necessary. Solicitation or importunity in the name of worship is nothing but toadyism and flattery.
In stark contrast, when the bhakta is asking Parama Purusa for more bhakti, then that is parabhakti - not flattery.
Reference
1. Ananda Marga Philosophy in a Nutshell - 4, The Influence of Máyá on the Human Mind
== Section: Prabhat Samgiita ==
प्यार और स्नेह बरसाया
"Práńa tumi d́hele diyechile,ei dharańiir końe końe,..." (Prabhat Samgiita #2344)
नोट :- कोई जो बहुत दूर है तो उसका ध्यान आकर्षित करने के लिए ‘हे’ बोलकर उसे पुकारते हैं, जैसे “हे, रामू”। लेकिन अगर कोई मेरे सामने है और मेरी तरफ़ देख रहा है उसे ‘हे’ बोलकर सम्बोधित नहीं किया जाता है। परमात्मा सदा साथ हैं और हमको लगातार देख रहे हैं इसलिए उनसे बात करते समय “हे, परमात्मा! हे, बाबा,” बोलकर भक्त कभी सम्बोधित नहीं करते ।
भावार्थ :
परमपुरुष, तुमने इस धरती के प्रत्येक कण कण पर प्यार और स्नेह बरसाया और हर जगह अपनी कृपा उड़ेली। इस ब्रह्मांड के प्रत्येक कण को तुम्हारी दया प्राप्त है। एक भी कोना अछूता नहीं रहा। तुमने अपनी कृपा को सभी दिशाओं में फैला दिया है। तुम्हारी उस असीम करुणा की हवा के भीतर, आध्यात्मिक गीत, संगीत, धुन, ताल, और राग की गूंज बहती हुई आई है ।
बाबा, तुम्हारेे प्रेम और दया के झूले पर बैठकर यह संपूर्ण ब्रह्मांड भक्ति के आध्यात्मिक अमृत के नशे में धुत्त हो गया है। उस झूले ने ब्रह्म भाव से सबका मन भर दिया। तुम्हारेे प्रेम के प्रवाह में, दुनिया आनंद में खो गई। तुमने आनंद के साथ सभी को भर दिया है। भक्त को भक्ति की भावना को, शाश्वत प्रेम को, व्यक्त करने के लिए भाषा मिली है। तुम्हारेे कृपा के कारण, सारी निराशा गायब हो गई और सभी तुम्हारे आनंद में नृत्य कर रहें हैं ।
बाबा, संपूर्ण सृष्टि तुम्हारे चिंतन का परिणाम है। सब तुम्हारे मन में हैं। कोई भी दलित, नीच या मामूली नहीं है। प्रत्येक व्यष्टि तुम्हारे मन में तैर रहें हैं। बाबा, तुम्हारे आशीर्वाद के कारण, हर कोई जिंदे हैं । तुम सभी पर अपनी कारणहीन करुणा की वर्षा करते रहो ...
----Gopi
== Section: Important Teaching ==
What to sit on for sadhanaAnanda Marga philosophy states, “Since the beginning of yoga practice, yogis have sat on various kinds of materials which are by nature non-conductors of heat and electricity. The yogis of olden times mostly sat on animal skins, and in many cases they also used animal skins as their outer garments. Later, for lack of animal skins, people started using blankets as ásanas [meditation seats].” (1)
Reference
1. Namah Shivaya Shantaya, Shiva in the Song of Shiva
== Section 4: Links ==
Recent postings
Other topics of interest
