Baba
Examples of sins
Namaskar,
One cause of sin is due to a lack of proper ideological education - i.e. not knowing right from wrong, suffering from a shortage of proper knowledge etc. Because of this deficit, people commit sins. Here, in this letter, we explore how a dearth of psychic pabula leads to sin.
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Examples of shortage of psychic pabula
What is meant by a shortage of psychic pabulum, i.e. mental food. In a phrase, we can say a shortage in this arena means a person suffers from a lack of ideological understanding and neo-humanistic education. Their thoughts and ideas are not consistent with logic and reasoning and are not based on the cause of universal welfare. Instead, such persons give way to narrow-mindedness in the form of bias towards caste, race, colour, creed, gender etc. And this manifests in the form of hate crimes, religious fights etc.
Ananda Marga philosophy states, "If there is a dearth of intellectual pabulum and the intellectual standard of the people is not high, they can take “dos” to be “don’ts” and vice versa. Take for example, a communal riot where a little innocent boy is killed, and when the person who encourages the riot becomes the people’s leader. Where the intellectual standard of the people is low, people commit blunders – prompted by such leaders they become beasts." (1)
Pervasive problem around the globe
Ananda Marga philosophy states, "Those backward countries which have less socio-politico-economic consciousness in the people tend to have more immorality. In such countries the leaders misguide the people in order to collect votes. I call such leaders “political satans” or “political pigs.” Such pigs become leaders only when the intellectual standard of the common people is low. In a country with shortages of physical and intellectual pabula, people ultimately become beasts and commit sins and crimes. To murder a person during a riot is both a crime and a sin. In political clashes innocent people are killed. This is also a crime as well as a sin." (2)
This type of sin happens all over the globe. In the world, citizens systematically raise and slaughter animals and indulge in all kinds of violence. Many inhabitants are prone to racial fights and hatred. Verily such scenes are prevalent everywhere nowadays - all because of a shortage of psychic pabula, i.e. lack of ideological awareness.
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These negative outcomes happen when people do not have a proper ideological and neo-humanistic education. They do not understand that fundamentally humanity is one - created by Parama Purusa. That central idea is missing. Due to a basic lack of awareness in the psychic, intellectual, and psycho-spiritual realms, people cannot think beyond their own little cocoon. So they senselessly destroy and sacrifice animals, and form narrow groups and factions and attack one another. All of this is due to a lack of proper neo-humanistic education.
The overall cause is not due to a wrong philosophy but due to a lack of proper knowledge. To remove this, Baba has given the system of svadhyaya and the rational teachings of Ananda Marga ideology - thousands of discourses. If all are educated and follow those guidelines and principles, then there will not be any problem. It is only because they don’t truly know about neo-humanism that groupism exists. Here are more examples.
How public commonly commit sin
For instance, suppose someone is not aware of the dharmic edict - live and let live. Then in their free time they may go out and kill an animal for sport. There are many who hunt in this way. Because they are not psychically conscious enough to understand the situation, they indulge in sport hunting and callously and brutally kill other living beings. This is all due to a shortage of proper psychic food, i.e. lack of ideological understanding. That is the cause behind their murdering of innocent animals in cold blood.
Likewise, a person may yell a derogatory, racial slur towards someone of another ethnic background. Due to a distinct shortage of dharmic understanding, because he is not aware that all are the loving children of Parama Purusa, this person committed sin and harmed an innocent person. As soon as one understands that human society is one and all are part of our universal human family, then one cannot think to abuse and torment someone by hurling racial epithets.
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This deficit is what is known as shortage of proper ideological thinking. And that is the root cause of this sin. And there are no shortage of examples whereby people kill, lynch, and randomly shoot innocent citizens. These types of events are on the rise around the globe. Nearly every country and region can look back over the past six months and identify a string of such tragic incidents.
This is also the era where so many simple, yet ill-informed people get indoctrinated into various dogmatic groups. Because people lack the fundamental ability to differentiate between moral and destructive approaches, they are swept into sinful activities, often lured by the flowery or fiery speeches of the leader. Due to a shortage of psychic pabula they are drawn into sinful agendas.
The above are just a few of the very many ways that mentally deficient persons are led onto the path of sin.
Conclusion
Due to a lack of ideological education, people adopt a narrow outlook based on (caste, creed, race, color, ethnicity, gender etc) and plunge into sinful acts and rile others to do the same: Shootings, lynchings, suicide bombs, etc.
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By identifying and addressing this problem - shortage in the psychic arena, i.e. a component of the first cause of sin - so many sinful acts can be eliminated from the society. The greater solution is advancing the ideals of neo-humanism. As people gain a greater understanding and respect for the true purpose of their own life as well as their inherent relationship with the rest of creation, they will gain a proper mental outlook and no longer suffer from a shortage of psychic wealth.
Namaskar,
in Him,
Deveshvara
References
1. A Few Problems Solved - 6, The Three Causes of Sin
2. A Few Problems Solved - 6, The Three Causes of Sin
* * *
The below section is an entirely different topic, unrelated to the above material.
It stands on its own merit as a point of interest and ideological awareness.
* * *
== Section 2: Important Teaching ==
Amount of sleep
Ananda Marga philosophy states, "The first bad habit is nidra or sleep. Sleep is a state that creates a feeling of vacuity after it is over. That is, immediately after waking up people forget where they were or what they were doing before sleeping. They lose the sense of time. “What’s the time now?” they ask, forgetting whether it is day or night. If people sleep too much for days on end, this mental disorientation persists for a long time. “Is it day or night? What time is it?” they ask, confused. If this continues, their receptive and retentive powers decrease resulting in an almost total loss of mental power. They become dull, and lack courage to face life’s problems. They may have physical strength, but they lack courage. The ancient people believed that excessive sleep is good for health, but this is not the case. Rather, too much sleep not only impairs the health, but has an adverse effect on the mind." (1)
In materialistic societies, it is taught that 8 hours of sleep is essential. But that is not correct. If one sleeps deeply, then four hours of sleep is sufficient. One will awaken feeling revived and refreshed. In contrast, if one does not sleep deeply then the body will not be properly repaired nor restored. So the amount of time is not the operative factor. Rather, the depth of sleep is the key point. True sleep means a dreamless sleep - then both mind and body are quickly restored. In deep sleep, there is a complete vacuum, and one is not aware about the passage of time. In that state, only a few hours of sleep are needed.
Reference
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 8, Bad Habits Which Should Be Given Up
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Liberation from bondage is a must - in all realms
Ananda Marga philosophy states, "The effort to attain liberation from economic bondage, political slavery and all sorts of social dependence in the physical world, is the liberation from staticity in the crude world. In order to attain liberation from worldly bondages of this sort, human beings will have to make conscious efforts.” (1)
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “If a certain country is held in bondage to another country, then that subjugated country will have to wage war in order to attain liberation from the chains of slavery. That is why liberation from worldly bondages is essential for human beings. We have noticed that wherever there is worldly subservience – whether economic, political or social – the proper development of the innate qualities, or the genius of human beings, remains remote. That is why in every sphere of life liberation is necessary; liberation from the bondage of staticity is a must.” (1)
Reference
1. A Few Problems Solved - 4, Liberation From Staticity
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Why some humans are reborn as cats
Ananda Marga ideology states, "Whether one be a philanthropist or a star athlete, one desires to see what is written about them in the newspaper. This means that in trying to do some good work, what are they really doing? They are falling under the sway of one propensity, the propensity of greed. Now if this act is encouraged by the society, that is, if the newspapers dedicate a lot of attention to such news, or if people in general say, “Sir, whatever you are doing is unparalleled in history. Sir, we are not eulogizing you. We are simply telling the truth” – if they praise such a person in this way and then try to extract some money from them (there are such intelligent people around) – then what does it amount to indirectly? The propensity of greed increases. Which animal is the greediest among the animals with which we are all very familiar? It does not like to give up greed in spite of ill treatment and humiliations. It is the cat. Yes, after moving a few steps ahead, the cat forgets that it was beaten. So, that particular person is reborn as a cat after death, because that body affords an opportunity for the satiation of their greed. When the housewife looks around inattentively, the cat sneaks into the kitchen through the small opening in order to reach the milk or fish in the kitchen. So in order to exhaust the samskáras one needs an appropriate body. Some people obtain a new body immediately after death and others obtain it later. But one has to obtain it somehow."
"One who is doing philanthropic work today, tries to find out tomorrow whether or not their name appeared in the newspaper. They have no desire to read the other news. They read the news that relates to themselves twenty times but do not go through the other news with much enthusiasm. If someone asks they might say that today there was only one important piece of news, nothing else. That is how a person comes under the sway of a propensity and remains subject to the cycle of birth and rebirth." (1)
Reference
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam – 10, 22 April ’79
== Section 3: Links ==
Other topics of interest
