Baba
(Note: For those who are not aware, balkanisation refers to the splitting into multiple hostile factions. For more about this read the entire letter and see note 2 appended below.)
Namaskar,
You have heard of mobile phones, mobile homes, mobile computing, mobile game, mobile network operator, mobile food stalls, mobile web, and you have heard of so many things mobile...
Well, here is a another one for you: Mobile Training Centre!!
For some time now, one of the groups has been going mobile with their training centre - the reasons for which are outlined below. Perhaps they will be in your area soon.
Right now, as we speak, pracarak, tattvik, and acarya training is being conducted in Sirsi (Karnataka, India). See note 1.
In contrast, the Ranchi and Tiljala factions have their own training centres in fixed locations, i.e. Varanasi and West Bengal, respectively. And all the various groups including the Ananda Giita faction have their own separate method etc.
When all groups were ruling together, they wielded unparalleled power and were creating hell all around. That was the case from 1990 - 2001 or so, and the results were absolutely awful. Margiis were victimised and tortured, the bhukti pradhan system was essentially dismantled, Fake Ananda Vaniis were invented, expulsion was used as a weapon, and so many more ills. The situation was veritably intolerable.
Shortly thereafter, the disintegration of the organisation started...
On the positive side, as soon as the balkanisation happened, then the systematic manipulation of Ananda Marga systems was not easy to do. All the various groups were running after their own post and power, and with the break-up of the monopoly of power, due to infighting and separation, they could no longer make executive orders and systematically impose dogmas, and carry out atrocities - as they were doing in the past when the various groups were united.
That is the plus side of the current state of fragmentation / balkanisation.
Then they began the horror of fighting amongst themselves, killing one another, separating, and ultimately started moving in their own way.
Another terrible outcome is the proliferation, disintegration, and balkanisation of AMPS. Unity has been shattered and the divisions between the factions are deeply entrenched - characterised by inimical feelings toward one another and the non-stop legal affairs of delivering debilitating & costly court cases against one another. In this way, the entire organisation has become impotent: All dharmic activities and works have been suspended or canceled because the various groups are wholly involved in their own status and power, not following Ananda Marga ideology nor serving others.
In a balkanised AMPS, all groups are trying to boost their numbers. To that end they are willing to do anything.
Thus the entire impetus for carrying out their own acarya training regimen - whether it be mobile or otherwise, is to increase their numbers. The group running the training wants to reward their blind supports, create more stalwart followers, and gain new recruits. That is the chief desire of each of the groups. They believe in strength in numbers, not strictness in ideology. So they just want more followers and to gain more they are willing to do virtually anything.
Those participants who graduate from the program also get their wish met. Their longtime dream of being an acarya is getting fulfilled. It was not possible before for a variety of reasons.
As we know, Baba has graciously created this organisation to unify good people and put forth dharmic teachings. For so long, good, moral citizens have been great in number but scattered; whereas bad people are less in number but highly organised and united. In result, good people have suffered at the hand of those wicked persons.
AMPS was created with the idea of uniting all good people and creating a strong, unified, dharmic platform. The tragedy is that our own Wt cadre has become so fractured it is wholly unrecogniseable. With every passing day there is more disintegration.
The situation is akin to letting frogs out of a box. Once those frogs start jumping about it is not easy to gather them and get them back into the box. Rather, they start leaping in various directions far away from the box and completely separated from one another. Each goes in their own direction.
Similarly, with the proliferation and balkanisation of various groups and with their own acarya training centres, the unity of our Ananda Marga has been obliterated. Each faction sits in their own corner with their own people and devise their own plans and programs. When they sing samgacchadhvam they are only referring to their own party and people - not all Ananda Margiis nor the greater society. They are merely thinking of the unity of their own particular group. That is the very sad and radical situation.
Thus, there really is no unity; and picking up all those disparate parts and pieces - each with their own agenda - is not an easy job to put back together and form a monolithic organisation. Rather it is a Herculean task far beyond the abilities of normal people.
Those who are the vanguard of Ananda Marga ideology must come forward and save the situation. The last hope is that sadvipras will take a stand and again one day establish a strong, monolithic Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha.
By the below analogies we can easily understand the best way to rectify the current situation in AMPS...
In any city or state or country, the government is responsible for building and maintaining the roads and other public works etc. But if the government is corrupt, embezzling funds, and not attending to proper road maintenance where there are potholes and cracks that make the roads difficult or impossible to travel on, the citizens have two options: Make their own roads or call for a change of leadership.
However, making roads and other large public works such as building bridges, carrying out garbage collection for the entire state, maintaining a police dept, a fire dept, an army – these are works to be carried out by the government. Local citizens on their own cannot manage such massive projects. Indeed, throughout His teachings, Baba guides us that the government should be in charge of major public works and utilities - not private individuals and not local citizens.
So when the government is hopelessly corrupt, then the public must exert tremendous pressure and bring in new leadership. There is no other way.
Note: In more normal circumstances where the government is not outrightly corrupt nor involved in nepotism etc, then citizens can lodge complaints and put forth demands to rectify that governmental body etc. But when the upper echelons are wrought with cheating and dishonest dealings, the only way left is to completely change the leadership. Then those new governmental leaders will be held responsible for fixing the roads etc.
If the government repeatedly fails to do its job and has proven itself to be completely ineffective, then merely writing complaints to that government will not do. Rather tremendous circumstantial pressure should be created and those governmental leaders must be removed from office. That is the way to proceed. Even more importantly, no separate group ot citizens etc can do the work which the government has been designed to do.
In the case of AMPS, when the situation is bad and those at the helm are so corrupt, we have to create the requisite pressure to change the organisational leadership entirely. Workers and margiis should not start trying to fix the situation by forming a separate group or groups. That would be like:
- Individuals going out into the road with a shovel and tarmac and starting to fill in the potholes in a 100 kilometer stretch by hand, instead of making the government the proper tool for attending to such works.
- Individuals creating their own army, purchasing massive numbers of weapons, training soldiers, and building tanks and airplanes, instead of forcing the corrupt army leaders out and bringing in new military leaders to do the job.
- Individuals starting another police force, training and staffing police in all the cities, arresting criminals, and constructing police stations, instead of bringing in new leadership to that dilapidated police force to attend to those duties
- Individuals buying their own garbage truck and picking up the garbage all over town, instead of demanding new leadership at the department of sanitation to do those works.
So these are not the ways to solve the above-mentioned problems. If the government is not fixing the country's roads, or providing military protection to its citizens, or managing civilian police protection, or attending to garbage collection services, then the people of the country are to switch out the leadership. The government must be made into a proper tool for performing those works. Groups of individuals should not form their own parallel structures for doing those works.
Just as each citizen cannot create their own police brigade, or military force, or garbage collection agency, or road construction division, similarly one should not break away from AMPS and create their own faction in an attempt to solve the current organisational problems.
Rather, one must become active, create circumstantial pressure, and force those at the helm to abide by Baba's dharmic mandates or give up the chair. A stand must be made against corruption and exploitation and attention given to proper conduct and dharmic understanding.
Some may think it is too late to fix AMPS and best is to break away. But breaking away only exacerbates the problem. It is the short-sighted, easy option that only leads to more problems. Those who see the matter clearly understand the only way is to stand firm and demand accountability from those at the helm by switching out the leadership.
Should we make our own group if the current factions are not working? Never. If that happens, then at some point every single margii will one day be their own group. At the beginning there were two groups, and now there is more than a dozen. With the passage of time there will be further proliferation, disintegration, and balkanisation where every margii is their own group. Creating a separate faction runs counter to Baba's teaching on samgacchadhvam.
"The meaning of the Samgacchadhvam mantra should be realized in life. Always remain united. Solve all problems, big or small, with unity." (1)
"One human society is divided into different nations, and one nation is divided into different religions; religions also have different castes, and caste also have different sub-castes – what kind of situation is this? We have only learned how to divide and subdivide humanity, and we never learned how to unite the people. This is all due to the defective teachings of dogmas."
(2)
Ultimately, we have to achieve unity and balkanisation is the wrong method. That is like seceding from the country in hopes of building a unified nation. The way to solve the matter is to put pressure upon those at the helm. If the leadership is not working properly we should change the leadership by creating intense circumstantial pressure - not divide the organisation into numerous factions, nor create new splinter groups. Although this work of wholly remaking the existing organisation is very tough whereas balkanisation is very easy, the only way is to pressurise those at the helm and change the leadership. We must completely makeover the current structure. Running away and resorting to balkanisation is the worst approach. In hundreds of discourses, Baba warns us about this. We should follow Baba's teachings.
Namaskar,
in Him,
Ekabuddhi
* Please write your thoughts...
There are 12 trainees (5 females and 8 males), of which 8 persons (4 females and 4 males) are doing SPT. This particular training is being conduct by Ac Jyotiprakashananda Avt. This particular training is being held from 13 Nov to 28 Nov 2013.
For more information on unity and related ideological issues, click here...
"Balkanization, or Balkanisation, is a geopolitical term, originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with one another." (Wikipedia)
REFERENCES
1. Caryacarya-2, Society pt #34
2. PNS-9, Renaissance in All the Strata of Life
BALKANISATION IS VERY EASY, BUT DISASTROUS
(Note: For those who are not aware, balkanisation refers to the splitting into multiple hostile factions. For more about this read the entire letter and see note 2 appended below.)
Namaskar,
You have heard of mobile phones, mobile homes, mobile computing, mobile game, mobile network operator, mobile food stalls, mobile web, and you have heard of so many things mobile...
Well, here is a another one for you: Mobile Training Centre!!
For some time now, one of the groups has been going mobile with their training centre - the reasons for which are outlined below. Perhaps they will be in your area soon.
Right now, as we speak, pracarak, tattvik, and acarya training is being conducted in Sirsi (Karnataka, India). See note 1.
In contrast, the Ranchi and Tiljala factions have their own training centres in fixed locations, i.e. Varanasi and West Bengal, respectively. And all the various groups including the Ananda Giita faction have their own separate method etc.
WHEN ALL THE GROUPS WERE UNITED:
THE IMPOSITION OF MAXIMUM DOGMAS AND TERROR
THE IMPOSITION OF MAXIMUM DOGMAS AND TERROR
When all groups were ruling together, they wielded unparalleled power and were creating hell all around. That was the case from 1990 - 2001 or so, and the results were absolutely awful. Margiis were victimised and tortured, the bhukti pradhan system was essentially dismantled, Fake Ananda Vaniis were invented, expulsion was used as a weapon, and so many more ills. The situation was veritably intolerable.
Shortly thereafter, the disintegration of the organisation started...
PLUSES OF MORE AND MORE BALKANISATION
On the positive side, as soon as the balkanisation happened, then the systematic manipulation of Ananda Marga systems was not easy to do. All the various groups were running after their own post and power, and with the break-up of the monopoly of power, due to infighting and separation, they could no longer make executive orders and systematically impose dogmas, and carry out atrocities - as they were doing in the past when the various groups were united.
That is the plus side of the current state of fragmentation / balkanisation.
MINUSES OF MORE AND MORE BALKANISATION
Then they began the horror of fighting amongst themselves, killing one another, separating, and ultimately started moving in their own way.
Another terrible outcome is the proliferation, disintegration, and balkanisation of AMPS. Unity has been shattered and the divisions between the factions are deeply entrenched - characterised by inimical feelings toward one another and the non-stop legal affairs of delivering debilitating & costly court cases against one another. In this way, the entire organisation has become impotent: All dharmic activities and works have been suspended or canceled because the various groups are wholly involved in their own status and power, not following Ananda Marga ideology nor serving others.
BOTH SIDES GET THEIR INTERESTS MET - MUTUALLY SELF-SERVING
MORE FOLLOWERS FOR GROUPS & PARTICIPANTS GET DESIRED POST
MORE FOLLOWERS FOR GROUPS & PARTICIPANTS GET DESIRED POST
In a balkanised AMPS, all groups are trying to boost their numbers. To that end they are willing to do anything.
Thus the entire impetus for carrying out their own acarya training regimen - whether it be mobile or otherwise, is to increase their numbers. The group running the training wants to reward their blind supports, create more stalwart followers, and gain new recruits. That is the chief desire of each of the groups. They believe in strength in numbers, not strictness in ideology. So they just want more followers and to gain more they are willing to do virtually anything.
Those participants who graduate from the program also get their wish met. Their longtime dream of being an acarya is getting fulfilled. It was not possible before for a variety of reasons.
THE RAMIFICATIONS OF BALKANISATION
As we know, Baba has graciously created this organisation to unify good people and put forth dharmic teachings. For so long, good, moral citizens have been great in number but scattered; whereas bad people are less in number but highly organised and united. In result, good people have suffered at the hand of those wicked persons.
AMPS was created with the idea of uniting all good people and creating a strong, unified, dharmic platform. The tragedy is that our own Wt cadre has become so fractured it is wholly unrecogniseable. With every passing day there is more disintegration.
The situation is akin to letting frogs out of a box. Once those frogs start jumping about it is not easy to gather them and get them back into the box. Rather, they start leaping in various directions far away from the box and completely separated from one another. Each goes in their own direction.
Similarly, with the proliferation and balkanisation of various groups and with their own acarya training centres, the unity of our Ananda Marga has been obliterated. Each faction sits in their own corner with their own people and devise their own plans and programs. When they sing samgacchadhvam they are only referring to their own party and people - not all Ananda Margiis nor the greater society. They are merely thinking of the unity of their own particular group. That is the very sad and radical situation.
Thus, there really is no unity; and picking up all those disparate parts and pieces - each with their own agenda - is not an easy job to put back together and form a monolithic organisation. Rather it is a Herculean task far beyond the abilities of normal people.
Those who are the vanguard of Ananda Marga ideology must come forward and save the situation. The last hope is that sadvipras will take a stand and again one day establish a strong, monolithic Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha.
By the below analogies we can easily understand the best way to rectify the current situation in AMPS...
LARGE PUBLIC WORKS TO BE DONE BY GOVERNMENT
NOT COMMON CITIZENS ETC
NOT COMMON CITIZENS ETC
In any city or state or country, the government is responsible for building and maintaining the roads and other public works etc. But if the government is corrupt, embezzling funds, and not attending to proper road maintenance where there are potholes and cracks that make the roads difficult or impossible to travel on, the citizens have two options: Make their own roads or call for a change of leadership.
However, making roads and other large public works such as building bridges, carrying out garbage collection for the entire state, maintaining a police dept, a fire dept, an army – these are works to be carried out by the government. Local citizens on their own cannot manage such massive projects. Indeed, throughout His teachings, Baba guides us that the government should be in charge of major public works and utilities - not private individuals and not local citizens.
So when the government is hopelessly corrupt, then the public must exert tremendous pressure and bring in new leadership. There is no other way.
Note: In more normal circumstances where the government is not outrightly corrupt nor involved in nepotism etc, then citizens can lodge complaints and put forth demands to rectify that governmental body etc. But when the upper echelons are wrought with cheating and dishonest dealings, the only way left is to completely change the leadership. Then those new governmental leaders will be held responsible for fixing the roads etc.
IF THE GOVT DOESN'T DO ITS JOB
ONE MUST PRESSURISE AND COMPLAIN TO THE GOVT -
DO NOT CREATE SEPARATE PARALLEL GROUPS TO DO THAT WORK
ONE MUST PRESSURISE AND COMPLAIN TO THE GOVT -
DO NOT CREATE SEPARATE PARALLEL GROUPS TO DO THAT WORK
If the government repeatedly fails to do its job and has proven itself to be completely ineffective, then merely writing complaints to that government will not do. Rather tremendous circumstantial pressure should be created and those governmental leaders must be removed from office. That is the way to proceed. Even more importantly, no separate group ot citizens etc can do the work which the government has been designed to do.
In the case of AMPS, when the situation is bad and those at the helm are so corrupt, we have to create the requisite pressure to change the organisational leadership entirely. Workers and margiis should not start trying to fix the situation by forming a separate group or groups. That would be like:
- Individuals going out into the road with a shovel and tarmac and starting to fill in the potholes in a 100 kilometer stretch by hand, instead of making the government the proper tool for attending to such works.
- Individuals creating their own army, purchasing massive numbers of weapons, training soldiers, and building tanks and airplanes, instead of forcing the corrupt army leaders out and bringing in new military leaders to do the job.
- Individuals starting another police force, training and staffing police in all the cities, arresting criminals, and constructing police stations, instead of bringing in new leadership to that dilapidated police force to attend to those duties
- Individuals buying their own garbage truck and picking up the garbage all over town, instead of demanding new leadership at the department of sanitation to do those works.
So these are not the ways to solve the above-mentioned problems. If the government is not fixing the country's roads, or providing military protection to its citizens, or managing civilian police protection, or attending to garbage collection services, then the people of the country are to switch out the leadership. The government must be made into a proper tool for performing those works. Groups of individuals should not form their own parallel structures for doing those works.
STOPPING THE DISINTEGRATION OF ANANDA MARGA SOCIETY
AND BUILDING ONE MONOLITHIC STRUCTURE
AND BUILDING ONE MONOLITHIC STRUCTURE
Just as each citizen cannot create their own police brigade, or military force, or garbage collection agency, or road construction division, similarly one should not break away from AMPS and create their own faction in an attempt to solve the current organisational problems.
Rather, one must become active, create circumstantial pressure, and force those at the helm to abide by Baba's dharmic mandates or give up the chair. A stand must be made against corruption and exploitation and attention given to proper conduct and dharmic understanding.
Some may think it is too late to fix AMPS and best is to break away. But breaking away only exacerbates the problem. It is the short-sighted, easy option that only leads to more problems. Those who see the matter clearly understand the only way is to stand firm and demand accountability from those at the helm by switching out the leadership.
THE KEY QUESTION
Should we make our own group if the current factions are not working? Never. If that happens, then at some point every single margii will one day be their own group. At the beginning there were two groups, and now there is more than a dozen. With the passage of time there will be further proliferation, disintegration, and balkanisation where every margii is their own group. Creating a separate faction runs counter to Baba's teaching on samgacchadhvam.
THEY MUST LEARN REAL MEANING OF SAMGACCHADHVAM
"The meaning of the Samgacchadhvam mantra should be realized in life. Always remain united. Solve all problems, big or small, with unity." (1)
ONLY LEARNED HOW TO DIVIDE
"One human society is divided into different nations, and one nation is divided into different religions; religions also have different castes, and caste also have different sub-castes – what kind of situation is this? We have only learned how to divide and subdivide humanity, and we never learned how to unite the people. This is all due to the defective teachings of dogmas."
(2)
SUMMARY
Ultimately, we have to achieve unity and balkanisation is the wrong method. That is like seceding from the country in hopes of building a unified nation. The way to solve the matter is to put pressure upon those at the helm. If the leadership is not working properly we should change the leadership by creating intense circumstantial pressure - not divide the organisation into numerous factions, nor create new splinter groups. Although this work of wholly remaking the existing organisation is very tough whereas balkanisation is very easy, the only way is to pressurise those at the helm and change the leadership. We must completely makeover the current structure. Running away and resorting to balkanisation is the worst approach. In hundreds of discourses, Baba warns us about this. We should follow Baba's teachings.
Namaskar,
in Him,
Ekabuddhi
* Please write your thoughts...
Note 1: REPORT ABOUT MOBILE ACARYA TRAINING IN SIRSI
There are 12 trainees (5 females and 8 males), of which 8 persons (4 females and 4 males) are doing SPT. This particular training is being conduct by Ac Jyotiprakashananda Avt. This particular training is being held from 13 Nov to 28 Nov 2013.
For more information on unity and related ideological issues, click here...
Note 2: WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM BALAKANISATION
"Balkanization, or Balkanisation, is a geopolitical term, originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with one another." (Wikipedia)
REFERENCES
1. Caryacarya-2, Society pt #34
2. PNS-9, Renaissance in All the Strata of Life
