Baba
Religious exploitation in AMPS
Namaskar,
In the various religions, external paraphernalia is often used for their religious observances and to perform their rituals etc. For instance:
(A) In Christianity, they use candles and many other objects.
(B) In Hinduism, flowers, fruit, sandal paste, and malas are regularly used in their various pujas and sacrifices etc.
(C) Plus, Buddhism, Judaism, and verily most or all of the religions have their special external accoutrements for performing their worship.
Generally, they can only perform their worship in their designated temple, mosque, or church etc because they believe that God only lives there. And in the various dogmatic religions a middleman is needed, in which case the priest, rabbi, or mullah have a special role.
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But on the path of Ananda Marga, there is no need of a middleman to reach God; our Ananda Marga acaryas are not middlemen. Every sadhaka is directly connected with Parama Purusa. Therefore so-called middlemen do not get scope to cheat innocent spiritual aspirants in Ananda Marga sadhana / spiritual approach etc.
Ananda Marga is dharma
Within the various religions, this middleman dogma became the tool of exploitation. To reserve a seat in heaven, Christians pay huge donations to the priest. Hindus do something similar. After anybody’s death, they observe shraddha and shraddhainjali whereby Hindu priests get huge “donations” for mediating the ceremony.
So these religions are all quite similar. Their exact details may vary in expression but the theme is the same. They all (a) have certain fixed places of worship, i.e. tiirthas (“holy lands”), (b) are dominated by religious traders who serve as middlemen between the worshiper and God, and (c) they all use mundane paraphernalia in their prayers etc.
But our Ananda Marga is not a religion; it is dharma. So Baba has graciously removed all these discrepancies. With His supreme benevolence, Baba has come and saved the humanity from these dogmas – from the clutch of exploitation in the spiritual sphere by religious opportunists, i.e the priest class. So we are fortunate and blessed that we are under the shelter of Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji, and following the path of Ananda Marga.
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Dogma: Holy great tomb, Mazar
Everything was moving fine up to 1990 – there was no dogma. But then the shraddhainjali dogma was imported from Hinduism. Every year there is shraddhainjali with annual death day offering, feast, gathering, etc. These are all on the track of the dogmatic Hindu religion.
Not only that, per the Muslim style / tradition, in Tiljala one tomb has been erected. Its name is not in Arabic, rather a Sanskrit name has been given, mahasamadhi. If anybody visits that area, the reigning group leaders will pressurise them to go and visit the mahasamadhi. They preach the sermon that one can only get the blessing of Baba by visiting the mahasamadhi. Because Baba is there inside the Mahasamadhi structure. And without going to the mahasamadhi one cannot get Him. That is what those group leaders claim.
In the past we were thinking and feeling pity by seeing dogmatic temple and idol worshipers etc. Wed talked amongst ourselves how in their ignorance these idol worshipers think that god is in the idol. But unfortunately that scene is now coming to fore in our Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha family. The Dadas who are living in Tiljala believe and try to convince others that Baba is in the mahasamadhi: “Go there, do sastaunga pranam, put the garland, and do sadhana in that spot. Then realise Baba.” If Baba would not have strongly objected to make His idol, then our respected Dadas would have made Baba’s idol’ as believers of Ramakrishna Mission did in memory of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and started worshiping his likeness in the form of stone etc.
So this tomb worship has been taken from the various religions. Muslims call this tomb as ‘Mazar’. And religious Hindus they call this as ‘samadhi’. And in Tiljala we call it ‘Mahasamadhi’. Maha means great and samadhi means tomb. Great tomb. And philosophically it is the same as other religions- i.e. that God is in the tomb / samadhi, Mahasamadhi, Mazar etc.
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Offering at Mazar, great tomb in AMPS
Tragically, this dogma of tomb worship is coming from other religions into Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha. Shraddhainjali came from the Hindu religion, and tomb worship came from Muslims. Ultimately though, this tomb worship is very popular in Islam – they do it more than others. As mentioned they call it ‘Mazar’ in Arabic. They believe that the deceased person is still inside the tomb. To get His grace some offering is needed. So they put some gifts of some coloured sheet. They call it ‘chadar’.
In a similar fashion, those at the helm want offerings to be made at the mahasamadhi site in Tiljala – by offing etc one can get Him. So the philosophy is the same. Muslim and Christian believers are inspired to donate for the project of tomb / mazar / samadhi. Various group leaders have a similar program. They try to inspire margiis to donate to the Tiljala mahasamadhi project. So you see, the same tomb worship dogma came into Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha.
At the mahasamadhi in Tiljala Kolkata, we Anand Margiis are encouraged to offer large money to incharges / head religious priest pujari. In addition, one is expected to bring garlands and flower bouquets, and do sastaunga pranam etc on the mahasamadhi. And we are told that all such offerings and communications will be directly received by Baba without any delay. Yet, Baba did not given any such scope for religious exploitation in Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha.
But unfortunately over the years so many dogmas have been dragged inside our AMPS. Now our Dadas have made Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha into a perfect religion. They say that the mahasamadhi is one holy place, Tiljala. So therefore Tiljala holds more significance. Once in the life a true margii should visit Tiljala with their whole family to have a darshan / glance at Mahasamadhi. Otherwise life will not be successful. Devotion will be beyond reach.
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Disease of geo-sentiment, holy land tiirtha dogma in AMPS
Parama Purusa is living within everyone’s heart. Every sadhaka is aware that our Ananda Marga is dharma; it is not a religion.
Ananda Marga ideology states, “Ananda Marga alone is dharma and all the rest are sectisms.” (1)
Because it is not religion, the rules of Ananda Marga can be easily followed and practiced around the globe – by each and every human being. Our approach is 100% universal in nature. That’s why in loose terms we call Ananda Marga as a ‘universal religion’. We might use this appellation when introducing Ananda Marga to those who are not familiar with the term dharma. By this way they can at least get a sense about Ananda Marga.
Up to 1990 we were proud that in Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha there is no significance of any particular place. Baba did not give any special importance to Jamalpur / birth place. But now in the last 27 years everything has turned over. Now certain places have more so-called religious importance than other places. Just like mahasamadhi is only in Kolkata & there is the dogma that Jamalpur ia a holy land tiirtha.
In the past we were thinking that our Ananda Marga festivals could be observed in any place. There was no set location or pilgrimage spot like Mecca or Rome. But now we have such a dogma. To celebrate so-called mahaprayan properly at mahasamadhi, margiis are invited from all around the globe. It is encouraged by cheaters that, “We should go there to the tirtha and donate according to our capacity to please Baba.” This is the dogma they are trying to promote.
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Conclusion
Why are Dadas encouraging religious dogma? Religious dogmas give more power to religious traders, i.e. the priests. It is an easy business. Common citizens are forced to reach to that place to collect grace. Then an entire enterprise is formed around this dogma with the potential for huge monetary gain. People get duped into thinking that the only way to be graced in this world is to go at holy tomb. That is defective mindset. And for Dadas this is a big money-maker.
In contrast, if one propagates the dharmic point that Baba's grace is everywhere and is not limited to a certain place, then that will rapidly undo the tiirtha dogma. So such Dadas do not talk about this. Just they promote the holy dogma of Tiljala and Jamalpur tiirthas.
This is not limited to any particular group in our Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha. All the groups are fascinated by the concept of making big dollars and euros from dogmatic rituals. It is the ultimate get-rich-quick model. That is why one can get blessing in Tiljala as well by the site of the tomb. Hence all the leading groups do such things.
Ananda Marga philosophy says, “People who follow dogma-centered philosophy believe in dogma, wrong sentiments and foolish ideas. In the past I said that many religions are dogma-centered, but in fact all religions are dogma-centered.” (2)
We know that the path of Ananda Marga is God-centered not dogma-centered. Thus we must not embrace the imposition of dogma – i.e. tomb worship / mahasamadhi, nor the dogma of Jamalpur holy land tiirtha etc.
Namaskar,
In Him,
Rani Ghosh
~ In-depth study ~
Here no one should be confused between shraddha and shraddhainjali. Although the two terms look the same, they are vastly different in meaning.Shraddha is done only one time: If anybody dies the the shraddha ceremony is performed once to help the grieving family with their loss etc. So this is done once – not annually. Whereas in the case of so-called mahaprayan, shraddhainjali, there is an annual death day offering, feast, gathering, etc.
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Maharishi Arvind was a propagator of meditation
but his disciples did just the opposite
A similar event happened in one religious group in India – “Arvind Ashram” Pondicherry. Maharishi Arvind was a good sadhaka. He was propagating sadhana, but after his passing away his senior disciples without any delay made samadhi / tomb. And ever since the regular worship is going on at that tomb. Disciples do not like to do the meditation which Arvind taught, because meditation is difficult for them, whereas this tomb worship is an easy and quick-fix type of thing. Yet, this dogmatic tomb worship was never appreciated by Arvind. He was a propagator of meditation. But his disciples did just opposite of what Arvind taught.
References
1. Subhasita Samgraha – 1, The Call of the Supreme
2. Prout, pt 18, pg 51
* * *
The below sections are entirely different topics, unrelated to the above material.
They stands on their own as points of interest.
* * *
== Section 2: Important Teaching ==
The below sections are entirely different topics, unrelated to the above material.
They stands on their own as points of interest.
* * *
== Section 2: Important Teaching ==
Why intensity of reactions is more for sadhakas
Ananda Marga ideology states, “Reactions in requital to past actions normally occur more in a spiritual aspirant’s life than in an ordinary person’s life. The reason is that when all original actions are surrendered to Brahma, there remain only the reactive actions. The reactions may be good or bad [according to whether they are resultants of good or bad original actions]. But think about how many of the deeds you performed before coming to the path of sádhaná were good and how many were bad. To tell the unpleasant truth, ninety-nine percent of your deeds were bad. Hence it is often the case that sádhakas have to suffer much more from bad reactive momenta than get to enjoy good ones. It can even be said that the more one suffers from reactions, the more one is progressing along the path of sádhaná.”
“Of course, the requital of the reactive momenta may possibly be pleasurable instead of painful; it all depends upon the nature of one’s actions. In either case, the more one surrenders one’s actions to Brahma, the shorter will be the period of requital caused by the reactions. In this case the intensity of the requital will be greater than normal; but this is a good sign, because intense requital means the exhaustion of the requital within a short period.” (1)
Reference
1. Ananda Marga Ideology in a Nutshell - 8, Sádhaná
== Section: Ananda Vanii ==
They are blowing the trumpets of victory
“Thorns on the path cannot deter those who have assembled with the determination to march in unison. They are blowing the trumpets of victory in an effort to conquer the universe of a timid mind. O human beings march ahead – let the song of march be your only slogan.” (Ananda Vanii #3)
Note 1: True Ananda Vaniis have a number whereas Fake Ananda Vaniis do not - just as a fake car license plate has no number. By this way, you can easily recognise a Fake Ananda Vanii.
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Blaming God is sinful
Ananda Marga ideology states, "Human beings fail to realize that it is quite natural for the reactions of past actions to be expressed in this life. Since they cannot see the original actions, they blame God for their fate."
"Some people who spend their whole lives engaged in virtuous deeds suffer tremendously as a result of previous original actions. For the same reason, some people who performed wicked actions in a past life enjoy abundant pleasure in this life." “Since they cannot see the original actions, they blame God for their fate." (1)
Reference
1. Ananda Marga Ideology & Way of Life - 9, The Science of Action
== Section 3: Links ==
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