Ananda Marga
Ananda Marga
Ananda Marga
Ananda Marga
Meditation and Yoga Philosophy eCourse
Session 4 Morality
Welcome Lorrie to Session 4 of the Meditation and Yoga Philosophy ecourse.
Start off by doing the half-bath like last session.
Now, before you meditate, listen to the mantra being sung. This is called
"kiirtan." It gives a general feeling of happiness and lightness to the mind,
and prepares you for meditation by helping you to relax and concentrate.
You can find kiirtan streaming links at: http://www.anandamarga.org/selfrealization/kiirtan.htm
Now do the meditation, asanas, massage and deep relaxation as before.
Now we'll run through the yogic principles of morality. They're important to
follow in day-to-day life, especially if you're meditating. Our conscience is
disturbed if we do something wrong, and that disturbs our peace of mind,
making it difficult to concentrate. So following the principles of morality is
essential for meditation as well as a harmonious and peaceful society.
The principles are not hard-and-fast rules - they're flexible, according to the
circumstance. Each situation is unique. Use your conscience to decide the
best thing to do.
* Non-harm in thought, word and action. This means maintaining the least
harm in any given situation. It's the intention that's important here. Nonharm does not exclude the possibility of using physical force to defend
oneself or others if necessary.
* Benevolent truthfulness. This is the use of mind and words in the spirit of
welfare. The emphasis is on "helpful" truthfulness (as opposed to unhelpful
truthfulness!). Buddha said the first priority for words is that they should be
helpful to others. The second priority is that they should be true. And the
third priority is that they should be sweet-sounding. Note that sweetsounding comes in only third!
* Non-stealing. Not to take what belongs to others without their permission.
of all.
* Vegetarian food is better for the mind. It makes the mind calm and alert,
increases concentration, memory and intelligence (by the way, Einstein was
vegetarian), and generally makes you feel more relaxed, contented and
happy.
Note that vegetarian food means no meat of any kind (red meat, poultry,
fish, seafood, etc), as well as animal derivatives such as animal fat, gelatin
and eggs. Onions, garlic and mushrooms also have a negative effect on the
mind, as well as intoxicating drugs. All the better if you can cut down on
these too. Milk and dairy products are okay though, because of their positive
effect on the mind.
Write to [email protected] if you have any questions.
Ananda Marga - "Path of Bliss"
Session 7 Parapsychology
Welcome Lorrie to Session 7 of the Meditation and Yoga Philosophy ecourse.
Do everything as before: half-bath, kiirtan, meditation, asanas, massage and
deep relaxation.
Now, what's parapsychology? It's the psychology of the mind in relation to
cause and effect. This universe is an intricate web of vibrations. Everything
is connected. Whatever happens is the effect of something else, and the
cause of something else again. "When a blade of grass moves, the whole
universe quivers." Everything is incidental; nothing is accidental. We usually
refer to something as an "accident" because we can't see what caused it,
but certainly it was caused by something. "Everything comes from
something. Nothing comes from nothing."
This concept is expressed by Newton's 3rd Law: "For every action there is an
equal and opposite reaction."
That's also true for the mind. Whatever happens to us we store in our mind
until it can be expressed as a reaction. Take the example of a rubber ball:
you press into it with your fingers (that's the action); the dent stays there
for some time (that's the potential reaction); then the dent comes out again
(the reaction).
If we experience a bad reaction, we tend to say that something bad
happened. But it was only the reaction of a previous action, because
everything is stored in the mind waiting for the chance to express itself. The
more chances of expression, the more pure the mind will become, and the
more free and at ease we will feel mentally.
So everything happens for the best. Whether it's pleasant or unpleasant, we
should always view it as something positive because it's freeing the mind of
it's past actions.
There was a very popular emperor called Akbar who ruled in India in the
16th century. His favorite minister was Birbal, a very wise and witty man.
One day the two of them went hunting. Akbar was cutting his arrow out of
an animal he had just killed. His knife slipped and he cut his finger off. Birbal
told him: "Don't worry, everything happens for the best." Akbar was
enraged at the seemingly uncompassionate Birbal. He told him to get out of
his sight and never to return. Akbar was then captured by a local forest
tribe. On that day, according to their custom, they were supposed to
sacrifice a man to the "gods." So they decided to sacrifice Akbar. But the
chief noticed he had a finger missing, and let him go because he wasn't
worthy enough. Akbar realized that Birbal had been right: if he hadn't cut
his finger off he would be dead by now! When he got back to the palace, he
ordered his men to find Birbal and bring him back. But it took them a whole
month to find him: he'd had a bit of a rough time, living in the forest on
berries and roots. When he was finally brought before the emperor, Akbar
saw his sorry condition and asked his friend and minister for forgiveness.
Birbal replied, "No, it's okay, everything happens for the best." "But how can
you say that, after all you suffered?!" Akbar exclaimed. Then Birbal replied,
"Because if you hadn't sent me away when you did, they would also have
captured me, and since I hadn't cut my finger off, I would have been killed!"
Write to [email protected] if you have any questions.
Ananda Marga - "Path of Bliss"
Session 8 - Who am I?
Welcome Lorrie to the final session of the Meditation and Yoga Philosophy
ecourse.
Do all the practices as usual. Now, another story.
A lioness gave birth to a baby lion. It was a boy. But during the birth she
died. The cub was hanging around her body when a pack of jackals came to
feed on the corpse. Out of compassion they adopted the lion cub as one of
their own. He grew up not knowing anything except the life of a jackal. He
thought he was one of them, and behaved just like a jackal too! One day a
fully-grown male lion came across the pack, and was surprised to see the
young lion amongst them. He ran into the pack - of course they all scattered
caught the young male by the scruff of the neck, dragged him to a nearby
pond, and put his face over the still water so he could see his reflection. The
young lion was scared at first to see "another" lion staring back at him, but
he soon realized that it was only his own reflection. He realized that he
wasn't a jackal after all - he was a lion, the king of the jungle!
"Guru" is a very loosely-used word these days, but its proper meaning is:
"the one that removes the darkness from one's life." The real Guru is,
essentially, the Cosmic Consciousness.
Just as the adult lion showed the young lion who he really was, the Guru is
the one that shows us who we really are, because we have also forgotten
our true nature. We identify ourselves with our name, our family, our body;
but we are more than that - even more than our mind, because the mind
also changes. Your body and mind are not the same as they were ten years
ago, even one year ago, or one second ago!
The essence of matter is mind. The essence of mind is the feeling "I am."
And the essence of that "I am" feeling is Consciousness.
"Cosmic Consciousness abides in the very sense of existence, in one's very
heart's desire."
When the body and senses are stilled, we can look into the calm waters of
our existence (just as the lion cub did) and discover our true Self. The
realization "I am the Cosmic Consciousness" is called self-realization in
yoga, and its essence is the same infinite happiness; perfect peace and
contentment - bliss - that we wanted in the first place. The more we feel it,
the more our inner peace increases, until we realize the infinite love and
peace pervading the whole universe.
"If you want to know all, know One, and that One is your own inner 'I'feeling."
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
Keep going with all the practices to be able to experience that in your life.
Write to [email protected] if you have any questions.
Ananda Marga - "Path of Bliss"
Ananda Marga
Layers of the Mind eCourse
"The attainment of one's inner self is only possible through love for the
Infinite... Fill your heart with love of the Infinite, and your soul will be
transformed into the Supreme Soul. No worldly happiness is limitless.
Dedicate yourself completely to the blissful ocean of the Supreme Soul.
Then alone will you realize what happiness really is."
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
Write to [email protected] if you have any questions.
Ananda Marga - "Path of Bliss"
This layer of mind is developed naturally through physical clash, and in yoga
by special breathing exercises that are part of the more advanced lessons of
meditation. The process of thought is linked to the breath. The more calm
and relaxed the breathing is, the more calm and relaxed the mind will be.
When you're out of breath, you can hardly read the time on your watch.
Conversely, when you concentrate the mind your breathing slows down and
can sometimes even stop completely, like when you're watching a
captivating movie. When the suspense is over you take a deep breath again
because your concentration is broken. So control of the breath leads to
control over this layer of mind.
There's a story that a man was imprisoned in a high tower. When his wife
came to visit him at the foot of the tower, he asked her to bring a beetle,
cotton thread, string and a sturdy rope. Well, needless to say she thought
he'd completely lost it! Anyway, she brought the stuff and according to his
instructions tied the end of the cotton thread to the beetle and placed it on
the wall of the tower facing up. The beetle climbed up the tower trailing the
thread behind it and when it got to the window at the top he took the end of
the thread. Then his wife tied the end of the string to the other end and he
pulled up the string. Finally she tied the end of the string to the rope and he
pulled up the rope, and after securing it to the top of the tower he was able
to escape.
The cotton thread is like the breath and the mind like the rope. Although the
thread may outwardly seem inconsequential, control of it gives control of
the mind. Whenever you do meditation, make sure your breath is calm and
relaxed before starting to repeat the mantra.
"The attainment of one's inner self is only possible through love for the
Infinite... Fill your heart with love of the Infinite, and your soul will be
transformed into the Supreme Soul. No worldly happiness is limitless.
Dedicate yourself completely to the blissful ocean of the Supreme Soul.
Then alone will you realize what happiness really is."
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
Write to [email protected] if you have any questions.
Ananda Marga - "Path of Bliss"
Ananda Marga
The Cosmic Philosophy e Course
mind comes from matter, and matter - via the Cosmic Mind - from
Consciousness.
Now we're into the second half of the cycle. The first half was up to the
crudest manifestation of the solid factor. You could say this is the inanimate
phase. Now in the second half (the animate phase) we have all the
individual unit minds evolving back to their source: the Cosmic
Consciousness. In this "returning phase" of the cycle, Consciousness
gradually withdraws the power from His Force. He has permitted Her to bind
Him to the greatest state of crudity. Now He contracts Her power until the
unit mind merges back into Him. This corresponds to the gradual freeing of
the mind through expansion, gradually to infinity.
In this process the unit mind gradually evolves over many different births, in
many different bodies. It adopts more complex bodies as it evolves,
appropriate to what it wants to express. Note that there is a clear distinction
here between body and mind. The body is the vehicle that the mind adopts
according to its degree of evolution, "life" being the existence of mind in
association with a particular body, and "death" being the temporary loss of
a body until a new one is attained by the mind.
"This path to attain happiness... I call absolute devotion. Carry on
performing your worldly duties with sincerity, and at the same
time think about the pure Self within you. The constant thought of
your pure inner Self will certainly one day establish you in your
original source, and this is the ultimate aim of spiritual practice."
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
Reply to this email if you have any questions.
Ananda Marga: "Path of Bliss"
Session 4: Neohumanism
Namaskar Lorrie. Welcome to Session 4 of the Cosmic Philosophy ecourse.
We are all members of the same universal family because all beings in the
universe exist within the one infinite Cosmic Consciousness. To express that
relationship of unity, the mystic philosopher Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
introduced the term Neohumanism. It means the practice of love for all
created beings of the universe, animate and inanimate. Humanism means
proper regard and compassion for people - for human beings. But it doesn't
include other beings - animals, plants and the various aspects of nature.
Neohumanism is the spirit of humanism extended to all: the elevation of
humanism to universalism. It is an all-encompassing concept - embracing
the whole world as our home and family; an interconnected and harmonious
web of unity. It means the expansion of one's inner love for humanity in
every direction to include all people and all creatures of the universe, as
part of the one Cosmic family.
"When some people started advancing, they thought more about
themselves and less about others; nor did they think about the animals and
plants. But if we analyse with a cool brain, it becomes quite clear that just
as my life is important to me, others' lives are equally important to them;
and if we do not give proper value to the lives of all creatures, then the
development of the entire humanity becomes impossible. If people think
more about themselves as individuals or about their small families, castes,
clans or tribes, and do not think at all about the collectivity, this is decidedly
detrimental. Similarly, if people neglect the entire living world - the plant
world, the animal world - is this not indeed harmful? That is why I say that
there is a great need to explain humanity and humanism in a new light, and
this newly-explained humanism will be a precious treasure for the world."
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
"This path to attain happiness... I call absolute devotion. Carry on
performing your worldly duties with sincerity, and at the same
time think about the pure Self within you. The constant thought of
your pure inner Self will certainly one day establish you in your
original source, and this is the ultimate aim of spiritual practice."
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
Reply to this email if you have any questions.
Ananda Marga: "Path of Bliss"
Session 5: Prout 1
Namaskar Lorrie. Welcome to Session 5 of the Cosmic Philosophy ecourse.
As human beings our aim is self-realization - complete awareness of the
infinite Cosmic Consciousness. That's our inner search. But there's also our
external world of relationships and responsibilities. So we need to strike a
balance between the internal and external aspects of life. In 1959 Prabhat
Ranjan Sarkar (Shrii Shrii Anandamurti) introduced a socio-economic theory
to achieve just that. It's called Prout - the Progressive Utilization Theory,
meaning the progressive utilization of resources for the welfare and
happiness of all. In the next two sessions we'll go through some of the main
aspects of it, and how it relates to our spiritual search.
Prout is based on spirituality and universalism
The thirst for infinite happiness is the overriding human desire, and to
quench that thirst a proper system of spiritual practice is needed. But for
spiritual practice you need a healthy mind, and for a healthy mind the body
must also be strong and healthy. Basic requirements must be met before
one can think about spiritual development and elevation. So spirituality is
linked to the socio-economic necessities.
"Prout is a spiritual theory.
It will be established by seeing One in many."
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
The outlook of a truly spiritual philosophy cannot be anything other than
universalism: love for all creatures of the universe; not just human beings,
but animals and plants too. "It is the Cosmic ideal alone which will unify
humanity," because only when one realizes the unity in all diversity can the
feeling of love for all beings be developed, transcending all apparent
differences. Love for the Infinite inculcates love for all as members of the
same Cosmic family.
"Human society is one and indivisible. Don't try to divide it.
Each and every individual should be looked upon as the
manifestation of the Cosmic Entity."
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
A happy blending of individual liberty and collective responsibility
A tree has the freedom to grow and produce fruit, but it also has the
responsibility to give shade. Likewise a proper social system needs to be a
happy blending of individual liberty and collective responsibility. Individual
good lies in collective good and vice-versa: the welfare of the individual is
inextricably linked to the welfare of the collective.
"One will have to promote individual welfare motivated by the
spirit of promoting collective welfare."
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
Same constitutional structure
For all people of the world to live in harmony, we will need to have
fundamental principles of life common to everyone. That is, we should have
a common constitution by which we will all live by, including a common
philosophy of life (that of Cosmic fraternity), a world language (in addition to
local languages), and a world government to coordinate development and
settle regional and international disputes. Fundamental human rights will
have to be guaranteed, as well as the minimum necessities of life for all
people.
Moral leadership
Human capacity and potentialities, both individual and collective, need to
be developed for the benefit of the world as a whole. This implies that the
leaders of society, responsible for controlling resources and making policy
decisions, should have strong moral integrity and selfless dedication to
society, thus avoiding the diversion of resources away from the public
interest. Authority should not be centered in the hands of individuals, but
should be expressed through collective leadership. In any electoral process
the electorate as well as the candidates would need to possess three
qualities in order to validate the election: morality, education, and sociopolitical consciousness.
Political centralization and economic decentralization
The most effective method of legislation and coordination would be that of a
world government for overall supervision, combined with local (immediate)
governments for control of local resources, economic planning and
coordination. Both world and local governments would have an overall
board of moralists as well as legislative, executive, and judicial boards.
While political power must be in the hands of moralists, economic power
and decision-making should be under local control, because it is the local
leaders and planners who understand the problems of the area and are able
to implement policies quickly and effectively. The freedom of the local
people to make all their economic decisions is called economic democracy.
Generally a local area is defined on the basis of common factors such as
ethnicity, culture, language, economic situation, and geographic location.
With increasing similarity among these factors neighboring local areas can
merge, improving their collective wealth. With improvements in technology
and communication it will eventually be possible for all local areas in the
world to merge as one. So while the application is regional, the outlook is
universal.
"This path to attain happiness... I call absolute devotion. Carry on
performing your worldly duties with sincerity, and at the same
time think about the pure Self within you. The constant thought of
your pure inner Self will certainly one day establish you in your
original source, and this is the ultimate aim of spiritual practice."
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
Reply to this email if you have any questions.
Ananda Marga: "Path of Bliss"
Session 6: Prout 2
Namaskar Lorrie. Welcome to the last session of the Cosmic Philosophy
ecourse.
Let's go on now to conclude our look at the main aspects of Prout.
Cooperatives
Cooperatives are "the best expression of human sweetness in the physical
realm" because they function as units of coordinated cooperation, and each
member has the feeling of oneness with the work because she or he
contributes directly to the operation and decision-making process of the
cooperative. Incentives provide inspiration and motivation, and the wealth
and resources of many individuals are combined in a united way.
Cooperatives will be the optimal means of production and distribution of
goods and services in any decentralized economy. In fact, they must
operate within a decentralized economy for their success.
In general, production should be for consumption rather than profit. In other
words it should be according to real demand, not artificial demand created
by misleading advertising or other means.
Maximum utilization of all resources and potentialities
Maximum utilization means that any particular object serves the maximum
number of people for the maximum amount of time. This implies
modernization. The effects of modernization in an economy where
production is for consumption and not profit are: decreased work hours,
increased quality and quantity of production, the saving of time and energy,
and the freedom of people to use their spare time in enjoyable and
elevating pursuits.
Rational distribution of wealth
The universe is the collective property of all, because we are all members of
the one universal family. But people often express their inherent desire for
expansion materially; by accumulating material wealth and resources. The
world's material resources are, however, limited. The human desire for
expansion must be catered for, but at the same time it is unrealistic for any
one person or group to accumulate material wealth without limitation
"If a person acquires and accumulates excessive wealth, he or
she directly curtails the happiness and convenience of others in
society. Such behaviour is flagrantly antisocial."
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti