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[The name] Amaránanda [Immortal Bliss] comes from a [not] + mara (meaning “that which dies, which is mortal”) [+ ánanda, bliss].
What is death? When we fail to find a link between the preceding form and the succeeding form, then we say that the preceding form has undergone death.
Suppose you return to some village where, twenty years before, you had been very fond of a boy of five years of age. No matter how much you search, you cannot find this five-year-old boy. Then you may say that the form of this boy of five died, but not that the boy died.
[Turning towards A–, Bábá(1) asks:] Little boy, do you recall what you were fifty years ago? [A– was in his twenties at the time of this talk.] You were a very young boy. And you died at the age of twenty-six or twenty-seven…
400 crores [4,000,000,000] of years ago this earth was created. 223 crores [2,230,000,000] of years ago it attained its present structure. But 800 crores [8,000,000,000] of years ago there was only a gaseous form. Wherever there is the time factor, space factor, or person factor, everything changes. And hence it is that things are temporary. (The root word of “temporary” is tempus, from which also the word “time” comes.)
What is time? Time is the mental measurement of the motivity of action. Wherever there is action, there is time.
23 June 1970, Ranchi
The Vedic language was a spoken language from 10,000 to 3000 BCE. When the Aryans came to India there were so many languages spoken by the Austrics, Mongolians(2) and Dravidians. After several centuries, both racial and lingual blending had taken place.
The Vedas were the only books composed – not written, as the Aryans [had no script] – in the Vedic language. This language underwent change and metamorphosis according to local changes and [the influence of] local languages, and developed into Prákrta of one type in the Punjab, of another in Bengal, another in South India, etc. – all in all seven Prákrtas in seven portions [of the Indian subcontinent] spoken by the general public. When the Aryans came to India they learned how to write, and thus wrote books in a modified Prákrta having close proximity to the Vedic language – it was known as Sanskrit. [Here Bábá traces the development of a few words.]
Language changes due to environmental change and also due to change in race. Certain sounds cannot be pronounced by some races. [Bábá gives some examples.] Soil also has an effect. No pronunciation is good or bad; all are natural for a particular [time], for a particular land. Sanskrit has four recognized pronunciations.
Human civilization is not one flower, but a beautiful garden with innumerable flowers of so many scents and so many varieties.
[At this point Bábá asks many of the sádhakas in the audience if a flower is “sweet-scenting” or “sweet-scented”.]
“Little boy, stand up.” [Indicating A–, who is English-speaking. A– can give no definite answer either, much to his embarrassment. Bábá notes that a flower is “sweet-scenting”, because it has its own fragrance, but a handkerchief is “sweet-scented”. Finally Bábá observes:] “English is a very rich and very expressive language, perhaps the most expressive language of the modern world.”
We should take proper care of this garden of civilization – we must take proper care of each and every flower. If we do not do this there will be clashes, there will be imperialism. The owner of a piggery should not be allowed to use this garden – the immoral pigs will uproot the trees and everything will be destroyed.
[At the end of the discourse Bábá mentions that there are twenty-eight recognized stars along the path of the sun – and proceeds to name them. Then Bábá talks about collections of stars, about zodiacs. Bábá concludes:] But what is the use of knowing all this? Know One, know all… or should we say, “No one knows all” – ? [All laugh, and Bábá leaves the room amid namaskárs.]
24 June 1970, Ranchi
Mokśa [non-qualified liberation, salvation] means one is liberated permanently; mukti [emancipation] may be temporary.
Of the cakras, or plexi, the uppermost is the sahasrára [corresponding to the pineal gland]. The seed of omniscience lies in the pineal. The mind has fifty propensities or [modes] of mental expression. These may be expressed internally [mentally] and externally [physically]. And this expression may be in ten directions – through the five sensory and five motor organs. Thus the total expressions of the mind are 50 x 2 x 10 = 1000. The sahasrára cakra controls these thousand expressions, and hence it has been called the thousand-petalled lotus.
The ájiṋá cakra [pituitary gland] is the controlling point of the conscious mind, and indirectly of the subconscious mind. Thus in your Iishvara prańidhána(3) you first concentrate on the pituitary to control the conscious mind.
At the navel plexus, sub-glands of the pancreas control ten propensities. Thus, [peevishness] [Bábá indicates a point in the upper left part of the navel area], shyness [lower right], fear [lower left], thirst for intellectual knowledge [location not recorded], etc.
All machines are guided by subtle rules. Glands are the media for expression of the propensities.
Each hormone has its own taste. The divine nectar of the pineal gland is very tasty and it cannot be imagined by taking any drug. It is very intoxicating – then and there samádhi. It cannot be approximated by any drug… and it won’t weaken the liver! (Shiva is pictured as being in trance – because of the divine nectar He would at times be in trance all twenty-four hours – drinking the internal wine!)
[Bábá looks at a sádhaka and tells him to sit with his spine straight. He touches the sádhaka on the head and the sádhaka falls backward, seemingly senseless. The sádhaka is carried out of the room. Bábá remarks:] Tried to give that boy the taste, couldn’t do it, he should do more sádhaná.
Naturally a spiritual aspirant should not take drugs. It is against the very idea of spirituality as it weakens one’s control over mind and body. Ananda Margis should also try to avoid a non-vegetarian diet – though this is not an order, it is advice.
25 June 1970, Ranchi
Chinese youth are very interested in Ananda Marga, but they do not get scope. There are those who do not want the propagation of Ananda Marga philosophy – which shows that they are afraid of the philosophy. Truth must be revealed, truth cannot be repressed.
What are the causes of salvation? Átmajiṋána [self-knowledge] is the only requisite for the attainment of mokśa. (The knowledge that “I am Brahma” is also known as pańd́a, and one having this pańd́a is a pańd́ita.)
Of the living creatures, only the human – one having a human body, human glands, etc. – can attain mokśa. If one does not take proper care to attain mokśa, then one is a foolish person, for one is not making proper utilization of one’s human potentialities.
Knowledge acquired from without is always materialistic knowledge, and is dependent on so many factors. There must be proper radiation of the sensory vibrations,(4) proper functioning of the sensory organ, proper condition of the nerves, nerve-fluid, brain cells, etc. If there be any defect in any of these, knowledge will be defective. But átmajiṋána is obtained from within and is always perfect. It is not dependent on any organs, not even on the nerve-fibres. Everything is within. You hear with internal ears and see with internal eyes. For materialistic research you depend on the thought-waves of the conscious and subconscious. But for self-realization you do not even depend on the mind! It is something within, your personal property. Nothing else can be your personal property, for you will have to quit everything except the Supreme.
Suppose a man has a superiority complex about his intellectual knowledge, then the Lord may take it away.
[Bábá requests an avadhúta(5) sitting before Him to do sádhaná. Then Bábá asks him to start counting. The avadhúta complies: “… five, six, seven…”] Now the Lord is taking away his power to think… [“… eight… nine… ten…”] Now the Lord has taken it away.
[In the dead silence that follows, Bábá interjects:] But it will return in fifteen minutes or so.
[Bábá turns to A–: “And you, little boy,” Bábá says with a twinkle in the eye, “is that your shirt?” “No, Bábá!”(6) comes the quick reply.]
One acquires worldly knowledge with the help of the mind, and that mind is not a permanent asset. The Supreme Father is your only asset – no power in this universe can detach you from that asset!
26 June 1970 evening, Ranchi
The entire human society is of a cosmopolitan nature – nothing can be treated as being indigenous to this group or that. The world is fast moving toward cosmopolitanism, and none will be able to maintain their national characters. The big towns have already become cosmopolitan. Just as the mixture of the English, the Spanish, the French and so on gave rise to the culture of America, similarly a cosmopolitan blending is taking place. Cultural blending is going on throughout the world. No group of people or nation will be able to maintain its speciality – the political entities are trying hard to maintain these specialities, but they will not be able to. During a time of flood, ponds, streams, lakes, oceans all become one; similarly, culture will become one.
29 June 1970 morning, Ranchi
Human philosophy is to help human development in all respects; it must not be just a philosophy of logicians. Logicians’ philosophy only teaches you how to kill time in gossiping. Thus in ancient India two philosophers once spent three days arguing about whether sound was created before or after a palmyra [fruit] strikes the ground – and at the end of the three days, both were killed by the [fruits] falling from the palmyra tree above them! This is the fate of logicians – their philosophy has no practical value.
Similarly, some have come forth with the philosophy that the world is illusion. The philosopher Shankaracharya said that the world doesn’t exist. Once when he was attacked by an ox and was fleeing away, he was questioned by a follower, “But is not the ox an illusion? And if so, why are you fleeing away?” To which the philosopher replied, “But my fleeing away – that is also an illusion!” These philosophies are hypocrites’ philosophies – utopian ideals.
According to Ananda Marga, this world is not an absolute reality, rather it is a relative reality that exists through change, as a passing show. But we cannot say it is an illusion. The universe lives through change.
29 June 1970 evening, Ranchi
In Sanskrit there are two terms for the play of Parama Puruśa: (1) kriid́á – where the play can be grasped by human psychic faculties; and (2) liilá – where no rational explanation can be given by the intellect, where the causal factor is beyond the reach of the intellect.
Whatever we see and can be grasped is in the scope of kriid́á. In the case of kriid́á, also, the causal factor comes within liilá – we may know the cause, but the cause of the cause we do not know. That subtlest causal factor of mind is certainly the effect of something – but it is beyond human intellect. Where you do not exist, how can you find the cause of something?
14 July 1970 morning, Ranchi
Parama Puruśa can do everything except two things: (1) He cannot create another God; (2) He cannot hate others – He does not have the right or capacity to. Because He cannot hate Himself; and there is no second person, no second object.
Those people who support caste, creed, etc. – they hate Parama Puruśa. By hating the microcosm, they hate the Macrocosm that the microcosm is an expression of. Suppose Mr. X hates others, while Mr. Y does not hate others – is Mr. Y praiseworthy? No. Not to hate others is doing something natural, it is not to be praised. To hate, however, is unnatural and is to be condemned.
Satan cannot remain in the universe, because if the existence of Satan is recognized, then he becomes a second God. Satan is only temporary, for he does not have the attributes of the Absolute; rather he is nothing but human intellect propelled by depraving tendencies. If these tendencies are diverted properly, they no longer exist – it is within your power to kill that Satan.
You can perhaps see how the scripture-holder priests inject fear complex into the general public.
14 July 1970 evening
Footnotes
(1) An affectionate name for the author, used by the author’s disciples. –Eds.
(2) Since in ancient times Mongolia was an empire, and symbolized all of North and Northeast Asia, “Mongolian” here means the Oriental, or yellow, race. –Eds.
(3) Literally, “surrender to the Cosmic Controller”; a lesson of Ananda Marga sádhaná. –Eds.
(4) The tanmátras. –Eds.
(5) Literally, “one who is thoroughly cleansed mentally and spiritually”; a monk or nun of an order close to the tradition of Shaeva Tantra. –Eds.