Ananda Marga News Bulletin: Story: donation

Monday, January 3, 2022

Story: donation

Baba

Story: donation

Namaskar,

Here following is one Baba story from those early days in Ananda Marga when our relief projects were in their beginning stages:

In 1966 and 67 a severe drought affected Bihar, as well as some parts of Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, and Orissa. Baba formed a committee for our relief efforts and specified that some worker should be included. Important margis got involved, such as Shashi Rainjan, who opened a relief office in his quarters, and the government cooperated with us by donating rice and other foodstuffs. Jaya Prakash Narayan, who was directing the relief efforts for the state of Bihar, gave us a lot of wheat. Other foodstuffs we purchased with the money donated by margis and other well-wishers. We distributed these materials, and once the worst of the disaster was behind us we started a food-for-work program so that the local people could feel that they were responsible for their own recovery rather than being the recipients of aid programs. Together with the people we constructed roads and opened cheap kitchens and dug wells.

In October of 1967, severe floods began to ravage the Bengal coast in the area of Contai. I did not speak Bengali at the time, but since I had experience in relief work Baba sent me there to help the flood victims. He even taught me a few Bengali words and expressions before sending me to the constituency of Samar Guha, a close associate of Netaji who knew Baba. There were a few margis in that area, including Bamkin Chandra Bera, and they helped me to collect materials and foodstuffs. We opened up a kitchen for the victims and distributed the materials we were able to collect. I was unhappy with our efforts, however. The devastation was tremendous; hundreds of thousands of people were suffering and we were only able to feed some five to six hundred people a day. I felt as if I had failed Baba. Then I learned that he was coming to Medinapur for DMC, about three hours from where I was working. I knew that I was required to attend the DMC, but I didn’t feel that I could face Baba and admit how little I had been able to do for the people. So I decided not to attend. But early one morning Nirmalananda showed up at my door with orders from Baba to bring me to Medinapur. I was meditating at the time, enjoying a very good meditation, when I heard his voice: “Ramananda, where are you? What are you doing? Baba sent me to bring you to the DMC. Leave whatever you are doing and come with me.” It turned out that when the workers arrived in Medinapur, Baba had asked where I was and when he learned that I was absent he chose Nirmalananda to go fetch me.

“How can I go,” I told him. “The margis are working very hard to help the people. I can’t just leave them like that.”

“The margis will take care of the work while you are gone. My orders are to bring you with me no matter what you are doing—eating, sleeping, working, it doesn’t matter. You have to come with me, right now.”

So I accompanied him to Medinapur, sure that Baba would scold me.* Throughout the journey I tried to prepare myself mentally for Baba’s displeasure, though I knew that I had worked to the best of my capacity. If Baba scolded me, I decided, I would accept it as his grace.

* Baba’s scolding was an expression of His love for His disciples, like a father correcting his son or daughter for their own improvement.

We reached the house where Baba was staying just after lunchtime. Baba was walking his hundred steps, his regular routine after lunch and dinner. When he was informed that I had arrived, he called me into his room. I did sastaunga pranam and when I got up he told me to sit in the corner. “If you sit in the middle of the room,” he said, “it will get in the way of my walking.” He walked for another ten or fifteen minutes and then sat on his cot. Then he told me to call whatever margis and workers were there in the house. I thought it odd because Baba was wearing a lungi and a T-shirt. He never received margis or workers like that, in such informal dress, but it was his order, so I went and called everybody into his room. When everyone was inside—there must have been at least a dozen people, including three or four workers—Baba told me to bring him his Punjabi shirt. Ah, I thought, he has remembered that he is not wearing a proper shirt. But when I went to hand him the shirt he said, “No, I am not going to put it on. Just hold it out in front of me as if I were going to put it on.” Now I was really curious. By this time I had realized that Baba was not going to scold me. When I held the shirt up in front of him, he said, “Ramananda, I have a specific system for my belongings. That way I always know what is in the right pocket and what is in the left. Now I will take out what is in the right pocket.” Baba put his hand in the right pocket and drew out an old-style Indian wallet with a zip. He opened the wallet, took out the money that was in it, and then put the wallet back in the pocket. Then he told me to return the shirt to its hanger.

As I was putting the shirt back, he started counting out the bills that he had removed, counting them out loud. There were ten bills, ten one-hundred rupee notes. When he finished counting, he said, “You know, this boy was weeping this morning because he had so little funds. He was pained because he could do so little for the victims of the flood. No one is helping him but at least I am able to contribute one thousand rupees. This is my physical contribution. Ramananda, come here. From now on I assure you that you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work. This is my pledge [see note 1] to you. Come, take this money.”

I started crying. How kind Baba was to me! After that, the margis who were gathered in the room started helping. They collected a great deal of funds for the work and I was able to expand our relief efforts many-fold.

September 1967 (Courtesy of "Ashutosh Baba")

- The above story occurred in 1967. The value of RS1000 those days is equal to RS 10,000 or RS 20,000 today.

Key review of one line in the story

Here we take a keen review of one line from the above story which is poorly presented:

From now on I assure you that you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work. This is my pledge [see note 1] to you. Come, take this money.

As we know, human beings guarantee, commit, assure, promise, pledge, vow, take oaths, and swear. This is a human activity. Parama Purusa does not do this. Yet the translator is attributing the above line to Parama Purusa.
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Similarly, one should not fall in the bad practice of writing any of the below lines either when putting forth as statement in the name or voice of Parama Purusa:

From now on I promise you that you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work. This is my oath to you. Come, take this money.
From now on I guarantee you that you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work. This is my promise to you. Come, take this money.
From now on I pledge to you that you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work. This is my commitment to you. Come, take this money.
From now on I take an oath to you that you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work. This is my assurance to you. Come, take this money.
From now on I swear to you that you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work. This is my oath to you. Come, take this money.
>From now on I vow before you that you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work. This is my guarantee to you. Come, take this money.
From now on I take a commitment to you that you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work. This is my sworn statement to you. Come, take this money.

The above ways of telling are wrong. There is no need for Parama Purusa to assure, promise, take a vow, sweat etc. Just He expresses what He wants to say and that is sufficient. That alone makes the statement completely true.

He is Parama Purusa, and what He says is perfect. By the above sentence, the translator presented Parama Purusa Baba as a mere mortal who "assures" and makes "pledges". These are the wrong terms to use with Sadguru Baba. This paints the wrong picture. Yet those are the words that the translator - Devashish - us when he translated the story into English.
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Here is how the above line should have been presented:

From now on, you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work. Come take this money.

See how it is presented in Baba's book

Now see this example from Namami Krsnasundaram:

Sarvadharmán parityajya Mámekaḿ sharańaḿ vraja;
Ahaḿ tváḿ sarvapápebhyo mokśayiśyámi má shucah.

Meaning: Set aside all other dharmas and take shelter in Me alone; I will save you from all sin, have no fear about that.

Here above Baba is presenting the voice of Lord Krsna. Baba is showing us how to express the words of Parama Purusa. Notice that the above sentence does not state, "I swear I will save you...", or "I pledge that I will save you...", or "I assure you that I will save you...". It is simply written, "I will save you" and that is enough because everyone knows that the word of Parama Purusa is the word of satya and hence eternally true.
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Why the terms “assure” & “pledge” are demeaning

In stark contrast, humans tell all kinds of lies day in day out. This is their way of living. They do not care what they say or not. And even if they earnestly mean what they say often they are not able to actually follow it up by their actions. Rarely do they fulfill their statements etc. So again in order to emphasize and convince the next person, they say, "promise", "I assure you", I swear to you" etc. Such is the pitiful condition of human beings.

But that is not the case with Sadguru Parama Purusa. What He says is true and what He says He will do. He is perfect in thought, word, and speech. Every bhakta knows this.

To use the phrases, "I swear", "I promise", "I pledge", "I assure" etc in association with Parama Purusa is demeaning. It gives the false notion that when He does not use those words ("I swear", "I promise", "I pledge", "I assure") then He may not mean what he says. Naive people will think that Baba is not being serious in His thousands of discourses because He is not using those terms.
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Note 1: Pledge: Parama Purusa Sadguru Baba will merely say, "From now on, you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work." And that is taken as the supreme veracity. Being the Parama Purusa He need not pledge or take a vow etc. His mere thought and word are enough. That is His special blessing. So it is unfortunate that brother Devashish chose to translate the text in that way - he did a disservice to this Baba story.

Conclusion

In the above story, we can understand that Mahasambhuti Baba is teaching us by example and that we should serve others in all the spheres of life (physical, psychic, economic, social, moral, spiritual) according to the utmost of our capacity.

Namaskar,
In Him,
Devabrata

Who made this error

- The main translator of the book was Devashish (Deva'shiis'a / Devashish / Devashiisa) a.k.a. Donald Acosta, originally of NY sector.

Note 1: Pledge: Parama Purusa Sadguru Baba will merely say, "From now on, you will not lack for money or materials for your relief work." And that is taken as the supreme veracity. Being the Parama Purusa He need not pledge or take a vow etc. His mere thought and word are enough. That is His special blessing. So it is unfortunate that brother Devashish chose to translate the text in that way - he did a disservice to this Baba story.
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== Section: Important Teaching ==

Kinds and number of organs

Ananda Marga philosophy states, “In most animals, and particularly in human beings, there are various kinds of nerve cells and nerve fibres. In common parlance the word nád́ii [channels] is used to mean these nerves, but they are not the same. The nerves are of two kinds: sensory nerves and motor nerves. The sensory nerves transmit the inferences through the gateway of organs to the nerve cells. The organs through which the inferences are received are called sensory organs. The motor nerves transmit the messages of the nerve cells to the [motor] organs which then express them. In that case the gateways of organs are called motor organs. In the bodies of many animals, and particularly in the bodies of human beings, there are five sensory organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. Their function is extro-internal, to bring something within. So, another name for these is antahkarańa. The motor organs are five fold: mouth, hands, legs, genitals and anus. Their function is intro-external. So they are called bahihkarańa. Five means of internalization, five means of externalization and the mind constitute eleven organs.” (1)

Reference:
1. Shabda Cayanika-4, Kámbal to Kárańa (Discourse 22

== Section ==

Very existence implies struggle - Ananda Vanii #55

“Amidst endless reproaches and humiliations, profuse sweating and bloodshed, through the ordeal of unbearable torments and agonies, humanity has evolved to the present status. The very existence implies struggle. Nevertheless, it’s your duty to accelerate the speed of human progress. Your endless efforts to broaden and smoothen the path of human movement will render your present existence, and your future history inestimable.”

Note: The above is one of Baba’s original Ananda Vaniis. These original and true Ananda Vaniis are unique, eternal guidelines that stand as complete discourses in and of themselves. They are unlike Fake Ananda Vaniis which are fabricated by most of the groups - H, B etc.

== Section ==

ৰুদ্ধিমান মানুষ ৰলৰে---Let them live with their diversities and let me serve everybody according to their requirement

“কোনও দুজন কি হুৰহু এক রঙা ?

[মার্গী---"না |"]

দুজন পাশাপাশি এক রাঙা নয় | আৰার এক জনেরও সর্বাঙ্গ এক রঙা নয় | তাকিয়ে দেখো না |

[মার্গীরা---”হ্যাঁ, ৰাৰা |”]

কি অদ্ভুত ! কি, মানুষের হাতের প্রতিটি আঙ্গুল যে সত্য, ও সমান নয় | এ কথাটাও যত সত্য, তেমনি কোনও দুটো entity, কোনও দুটো মানে even iota of two existences are not the same, not the equal | Here in the expressed world, diversity is the law of nature | Here, diversity is the law of nature |

তাই যারা ৰলে “সৰকে equal করে দৰ”, তারাও ভুল ৰলে | তাদের, ৰুদ্ধিমান মানুষ ৰলৰে---Let them live with their diversities and let me serve everybody according to their requirement, according to the requirement of each and every entity | And that’s the proper ideal, that’s the proper philosophy | “[অপ্রকাশিত, ১৯৮৯ দিঘা ]

== Section 2: Links ==

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