Baba
Story: Teaching BNK meditation
Note: The following story was recounted by Ac Rupatiitananda Avt on the occasion of Shravanii Purnima (Aug 2022). Dada ji is a very senior Wt who was initiated in 1969 and has been posted all over the globe.
Namaskar,
The below incident took place when Dada Rupatiitananda ji was in Ghana (Nairobi sector). The story is recounted in the first-person so the “I” refers to Dada Rupatiitananda ji.
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(Ghana, Africa) - I had contracted malaria and was just lying in bed, resting. No other acaryas were in the jagrti. Without notice, two people arrived at the jagrti: One margii brought a new person for initiation. They had come from quite a distance, approximately five hundred kilometers. Unfortunately, I was sick and was not well enough to conduct the initiation. I asked them to kindly wait a day or two and told them that certainly another acarya would pass through the jagrti and do the initiation. The days went by and no one came. The time had come for them to make their return journey so the margii requested me to kindly guide this new person. The margii reasoned that since his friend had no prior experience with yoga or Ananda Marga, he would be very happy to learn anything at all.
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Ensconced in samadhi
So I gathered my strength, sat alone with the new person, and gave the mantra - Bábá náma kevalam. I told him then and there that he should close his eyes, concentrate his mind at the ajina cakra, and repeat the mantra within. I instructed him to do this for a few minutes and then if he had any questions he could let me know. Three, four, five and even ten minutes passed. Then 20 minutes passed. Still this new person was fully absorbed in his meditation - deep samadhi. At some point I tried to talk to him but his sensory organs were not working externally. He could not hear what I was saying.
30 minutes passed, and 40 minutes passed. The margii who was outside the room said, “Dada, you said it would just be 5 minutes and now 40 to 50 minutes have gone by -- what are you doing?”
I asked him to enter. The margii was struck by the scene, amazed that his friend was completely ensconced in a deep state of meditation. I told the margii to gently touch his friend, and immediately the margii felt an electric current go through his own body.
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Sadhana experience
In another two or three minutes, the new person came back to normalcy and regained his senses. He opened his eyes and looked at me and said, “You are not a man, you are a god.” I told him that I am not a god and inquired about what had happened. Then the new person described his experience. He said that when he closed his eyes and began the meditation then a grand white light appeared from the crown cakra and spread throughout the whole universe. He said the effulgence was growing and growing, and spreading everywhere. And that from the mass of light, only one sound was emanating: Bábá náma kevalam. He said he was not repeating the mantra, rather the sound of that mantra was coming from that white light. He said he was just basking in the bliss of that cosmic resonance, listening to the sound “Bábá náma kevalam” emerging from that effulgence.
Reflection
Hearing this, I felt wholly surprised. Already, I had been a worker for many years, and I had never experienced anything like this. And from this occasion I understood that Baba is spreading His universal, cosmic mantra everywhere. And through this mantra, we are linking with the entire cosmos. So this universal mantra vibrates throughout each and every pore of this cosmos. And with this sweet vibration, there will be a whole new society that helps us establish Baba’s mission (sadvipra samaj).
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The above story is based on Dada Rupatiitananda’s oral account delivered for the occasion of Shravanii Purnima (2022).
In Him,
Dharmaviira
(Daniel Shelby)
~ In-depth study ~
Ananda Marga ideology states, “Bábá náma kevalam is a siddha mantra.” (Ananda Vacanamrtam - 30, Bio-Psycho-Spiritual System of Kiirtana)
Ananda Marga ideology states, “Within the scope of infinite space, and without the scope of infinite space, He is the Singular entity. So nobody is outside Him. So He is the only goal. He is the only Desideratum, and for Him you say, Bábá náma kevalam. That is, “I am taking the name of that Singular Entity.”” (1)
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, “Everywhere you are with Parama Puruśa, and never in this Universe, nowhere in this Universe, are you alone. So you are never helpless. Wherever you may be, do your kiirtana, Bábá náma kevalam. He is with you. You are never alone. You are never weak. You are never helpless.” (2)
Ananda Marga ideology says, “You are teaching your mind, you are teaching your ear, what you are saying with your vocal cord. What is that? To take only His name, and not so many names – “London”, “Liverpool”, “Birmingham”, “Santiago”. And there lies the speciality of sadhana. What is the meaning of kiirtana? Bábá náma kevalam. Bábá means “the Dearest One”. “Only the name of the Dearest One, only the name of Parama Puruśa,” and not so many names – “Helsinki” or “London” or “Santiago” or “Georgetown”.” (3)
References
1. Ananda Vacnamrtam - 12, One Should Know Everything
2. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 12, From the Physical Stratum to the Apex
3. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 12, The Chance to Be One with Him
* * *
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 ==
Greatness of bhakti
When one has bhakti they can solve all types of problems. And without bhakti, nothing is possible. Due to a lack of bhakti, some did far more harm than good when they tried to help the society. They created huge problems for the people. So bhakti is the key for success in any field or arena of life.
Ananda Marga philosophy says, “Devotion [to Parama Purusa] has tremendous power which neither knowledge nor action has. Rather people of knowledge, the jina’nis, have a subtle sense of vanity...So, if you can arouse devotion, then by coming in contact with you, thousands and thousands of people will attain real paramartha’ and spiritual salvation. That is, in order to attain liberation from the triple bondages– physical, psychic, and spiritual– you will have to attain paramartha’.” (1)
Reference
1. A Few Problems Solved - 3, The Importance of Society
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Harsh reaction for greedy sadhakas
Ananda Marga philosophy guides us, "There are seven kinds of luminous bodies: yakśa, siddha, gandharva, kinnara, vidyádhara, Prakrtiliina and videhaliina. They are categorized according to their respective psychologies. Suppose there is a very elevated person who often ideates on the Supreme Consciousness, but who has some greed for wealth. He does not, however, express it openly to the Supreme, nor does he even think of it directly. He thinks indirectly, "Oh, since I am a devotee of the Supreme Consciousness, He will certainly give me enormous wealth and make me immensely rich." Those who harbour this sort of covert desire are reborn as yaks'as." (1)
Note: Yaksas are one type of degraded being - i.e. those unfortunate ones who cannot get human framework because they are under punishment. Only after extreme punishment, after exhausting so many negative samskaras, may they again get human life. Once they attain human form they will need to get tantric initiation, adhere to the code of yama and niyama, and do maximum sadhana. Then after much effort, only by His grace, may they get moksa. So theirs is a long and arduous journey as they must suffer for millions of years. That is why meditating on money is very bad.
Some sadhaka businessmen and money-minded sadhakas who are indulged day and night in money matters will suffer in this way. They will be degenerated into yaksas. After facing punishment for millions of years, then who knows on which planet they may get the opportunity to live human life and do proper work and service. But if they again indulge in money matters, they will become yaksas (degraded beings) and this cycle will be repeated. They will spin round and round in this torturous pattern.
That is why Baba warns us that when one has a human body then the goal must be Parama Purusa - not money.
Reference
1. Yoga Psychology, Are Ghosts Hallucinations?
== Section 3: Links ==
Upcoming Festival: Ananda Purniima - Thurs, 23rd May
