Author: Acarya Tapeshvarananda Avadhuta

Name: Living with Baba
Author: Acarya Tapeshvarananda Avadhuta

The Real Father

Baba used different methods to explain the various aspects of spirituality - sometimes by His own actions, sometimes through the gift of direct spiritual experience, and sometimes through instructive stories. Once, Baba told me a story from the Mahabharata. In the course of the Mahabharata war, Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna (the third of the five Pandava brothers) fought a hard battle one particular day and won. The news of the victory was relayed to Arjuna, who obviously became overjoyed. At the end of the day, when all the fighting had ceased, the soldiers returned to their respective camps. Arjuna wanted to congratulate his son on his magnificent victory. Lord Krsna foresaw this and asked Arjuna where he was going. Arjuna was so proud and happy with his son's victory that he did not bother to reply Krsna. Arjuna ran to his son and warmly embraced him for his valiant and courageous battle that day. But strangely, Abhimanyu was not able to recognize his father. He just looked at...

Morality

In Ranchi, a family acarya named Harishankarji once told Baba, "Baba, I met one man, and he is very good; he is a strong moralist. But he is not interested in sadhana. That man said to me, I always speak the truth, I never tell a lie, I never harm anybody, I never steal anything from anybody, I never lose my character, and never take any bribe. Therefore, I feel I am a strong, spiritual man. I don't feel that I need to do any type of sadhana.'' Hearing this, Baba laughed. He retorted, "That man obviously has no understanding of morality. He has not encountered any difficult circumstances in life, where his sense of morality had been tested. Just put him in such a circumstance, where he will have to tell a lie. Give him the duty of a customs officer. Then you will see whether he takes bribes. He has married at a very early age, so his physical desires are satisfied. But still, just post him in such a place where he will have many young girls around him. Then...

Daltonganj DMC

Baba is a master dramatist. He uses the elements of drama to maximum effect. He dramatizes otherwise common incidences to drive home certain lessons - lessons the sadhaka is unlikely to forget in his lifetime. Once, at the Daltonganj Dharma Maha Cakra, Baba entered His room and enquired from the PA Dada whether the jagrti had been constructed and readied for the function. Dada replied that it was not ready. This contravened the condition that Baba would only attend DMC if the Marga Guru quarters and the jagrti had been completed. After a short while, He asked if the car was ready. PA Dada replied, "Yes Baba, it is ready." Baba got into the car and said that He would leave immediately. He was furious that the two buildings were not ready for the DMC. He scolded everyone scathingly for their inefficiency. Nobody dared to say anything or approach Him. He was in an unforgiving mood. The Margiis were extremely disappointed that Baba would not attend the DMC function. Their hopes...

Madhuvidya

The yogi's path is the middle path - remaining in the world, yet transcending it. In the past, yogis had sought the seclusion of the mountains, caves and forests to seek liberation. They did not care about the suffering humanity, the millions of people who needed help at all levels - physical, mental and spiritual. Baba had rejected this narrow self-centered approach to self-realization, labeling such yogis as "spiritual capitalists". Rather, Baba had encouraged spiritual aspirants to serve humanity selflessly while remaining in the world, to take every created object, animate or inanimate, as a manifestation of the Supreme Consciousness. He had advised sadhakas to adopt the path of madhuvidya, which is to perform every action with the ideation of Brahma or the Supreme Consciousness. The following story illustrates the inner meaning of madhuvidya. Two yogis went to meet their guru after completing their theoretical and practical yogic training. During the journey, they...

His Mini-babas

Baba's mission on this earth is to uplift humanity's spiritual status en masse to the next stage of evolution. He did not come here just to liberate a few privileged individuals. He wants to accelerate the earth's evolutionary process, so that the future humanity would be able to operate on a higher plane, bringing it a step closer to a neo-humanistic civilization - an advanced civilization that recognizes every manifestation in the universe as a blissful expression of the Supreme Consciousness; one that is characterized by love for the Supreme Consciousness; and one that is ensconced in the joy of freedom. Such a stage in human evolution would open up vast, innumerable possibilities for human progress, linking matter with mind and spirit; bringing a wealth of new knowledge and experience, scientific and spiritual, mundane and metaphysical. From the perspective of the earth's natural evolution, the establishment of a neo-humanistic civilization lies hidden far in...

Singing for Baba

During His lifetime, Baba composed 5018 sublime and very beautiful devotional songs called Prabhat Samgiit. He composed those songs from 1982 to 1990, until His very last breath. Most of the songs concerned spiritual themes. There were many songs, however, that touched on various other themes - festivals, social issues, and so on. All the songs were remarkable, whether in the spiritual genre or not. They were mostly composed in the Bengali language. Really, Prabhat Samgiit is incomparable. Once, at His Lake Gardens residence, Baba wanted to dictate Prabhat Samgiit. He usually selected and approved a group of three persons who would take notes of the Prabhat Samgiit as He dictated them. On that day, He approved me to be included in the group. He wanted me to sing for Him. It happened that the other members of the group were not present at the time He was ready to dictate the songs. Baba's Personal Assistant informed Baba that I was the only one present. Baba agreed to give the...

The Real Sadhana

It was during the eighties, Baba was in His Jodhpur Park, Calcutta office. One day, He said to me, "I need one thousand varieties of rose plants for My garden." He then gave me detailed directions to the nursery where I could buy the plants. Baba continued, "We already have more than 170 varieties of roses in our garden. You can get a list of what we already have from Didi Karuna. You should bring the additional one thousand varieties with you." He instructed me to leave the same day by overnight train so as to reach my destination early next morning. In this way, I would be able to collect the plants in the daytime and again return at night by train. After giving me these instructions, Baba verified three times whether or not I had understood everything. Satisfied with my affirmative replies, Baba left for His Lake Gardens residence. I sat for my noontime meditation. However, I could not concentrate at all. I wondered why Baba verified three times with me whether...

The cause of suffering may or may not be in the present life. It may have its roots in our previous lives. Usually, the cause of suffering is not immediate or external. Rather, the cause is subtle, located in our past lives. There is really nothing human beings can do about it. If any sadhaka is suffering, he or she should go through the suffering in a detached manner.

Oath and Promise

Sunil Chakravarty was an eighteen-year-old boy who lived in the town of Lumding in the eastern part of India. He was a very good boy who was initiated into spiritual practice at a very early age. Both his parents had died. His mother died only recently. The only member of his immediate family left was his elder brother, who took care of all his needs. His brother was married and held a responsible government job. At that time, a DMC function was arranged in that town. Several acaryas, including Sunil's acarya, came several days earlier to that town to organize the function. They informed him that many volunteers were needed to ensure that the program went smoothly. Sunil's acarya was responsible for the security arrangements for the DMC. He organized several groups of people for security duty. Sunil was put in charge of one such group. The DMC was to last for three days. When Baba arrived, Sunil was put on duty outside His room. While on duty, he suddenly collapsed on the...

The Play of Samskara

Every human being has to cross the turbulent sea of samskara to reach the Supreme Consciousness, the ultimate purpose of human life. When a person's individual samskaras are expressed, it may be pleasant or painful, depending on the nature of his past actions. Good actions reap pleasant reactions, bad actions unpleasant ones. Human beings really have no control over the operational process of samskara; that is the role of prakrti, the operational aspect of the Supreme Consciousness. Only the Guru has the capacity to lift a spiritual aspirant out of the eternal wheel of samskara - action-reaction-action-reaction in a continuous vicious cycle - that keeps the soul in perpetual bondage. The spiritual aspirants, on their part, should face the pleasant or painful manifestation of their samskaras with a calm, even mind, allowing them to exhaust themselves without affecting their mental peace. When all samskaras are completely exhausted, the Guru grants the gift of liberation to such...