Living with Baba

Author: Acarya Tapeshvarananda Avadhuta

He Knows How to Cure

When we fall sick and go to a doctor, he has to look for the cause of the illness before he can prescribe any treatment. The common wisdom up to the 20th century was that a physical ailment had a physical cause. Towards the latter part of the century, it was established that most diseases had a psychosomatic cause. This means there is a direct correlation between a person's state of mind and his health. This new understanding has sparked research in the exciting, new field of body-mind science. There is, however, another far deeper aspect of disease which is not well-understood by medical science - samskara, which is the potential reaction of our past actions. The samskaric cause of disease has its origins in our past lives and can only be removed by the Guru. This story relates how Baba removed the negative samskara of a devotee through His infinite grace. This incident took place in Muzaffapur, Bihar. Baba wanted to go for His field walk. The Margiis waited on both sides of the...

Blood is Thicker than Water

Baba was a father-figure to His devotees. It is known that even as a boy, He would listen patiently to the problems of His friends and offer solutions for them. He was very popular among His friends, who would come to see Him for solutions to all their problems. When He started Ananda Marga, His early devotees would also come to Him with their problems. His advice was always benevolent, effective and highly sought-after. After the organization had expanded considerably, both within and outside India, His time was increasingly utilized for organizational work. Even His personal time was devoted to strengthening every aspect of the organization. Ananda Marga was the bedrock of His vision of a happy, spiritually-inclined modern society, one that is ready to operate on a higher evolutionary plane, serving society's needs, ensuring that the earth became a paradise for humanity's continuous struggle for liberation. He worked almost 22 hours a day to lay the foundation of that...

A Family Affair

A Guru's teachings take many forms. Sometimes, an important message is transmitted through a formal discourse, sometimes through humor, sometimes through punishment, and sometimes through a simple story. I recall one such story. It took place in the British period, during the British occupation of India. A British man once witnessed a heated argument in an Indian family. The quarrel was getting out of control. The man wanted to interfere, with a view to settling the dispute amicably. As he tried to settle the dispute, the quarreling wife expressed anger at his interference and lashed out, "It is my family affair. Who are you to interfere in our personal family matters?" The man was momentarily stunned at this outburst and withdrew immediately. He actually wanted to help, not to interfere needlessly in a family matter. His shortcoming was that he did not understand local customs, which strongly discouraged an outsider from meddling in another person's affairs....

Baba’s Words

As this book is dedicated to all sadhakas and devotees, it is only fitting that it ends with His words. His words, His actions, His whole life have been a perennial source of inspiration for me in my spiritual journey. I have been extremely fortunate and blessed to have had the opportunity to be so close to Him, both physically and mentally, and to take shelter in Him. Though He is no longer with us physically, He has left behind a rich legacy of spiritual treasures for the benefit of all sadhakas for all time to come. Even a single gem from His spiritual treasure chest has the capacity of bestowing liberation on spiritual seekers. It is for the seeker to select the gem that best suits him. I hope that other seekers will benefit from His grace as much as I have benefited. "All entities must advance along the path of progress. This evolution will lead to the expansion of the psychic arena and, ultimately, liberation. This struggle for liberation is the struggle against those...

Doing Our Duty

Sureshji, a lawyer from Aurangabad District in Bihar, is a great devotee of Baba. During the Emergency period, when Baba was imprisoned under false charges, he had the occasion of visiting Baba frequently in prison to discuss legal matters. Sureshji then looked after the legal affairs of Ananda Marga. At that time, no one was allowed to see Baba except for His lawyer. Ananda Marga was banned at that time by the Indian government and declared an illegal organization. It was an extremely difficult time for all of us. All our humanitarian work was suddenly stopped. Nothing could be done. The government hunted down our monks and nuns to imprison them. Our future was bleak and hopeless. Like the rest of us, Sureshji also felt the utter hopelessness of the situation. One day during his routine visit to Baba's cell, he asked Baba, "Baba, what will happen to us? I have no hope for the organization. Please guide me. What can we do?" Baba responded by telling him a story. Just...

A Garland and a Blessing

Sadhana, which is our intense, conscious effort to unite with the Supreme Consciousness, is not easy to sustain. There are many obstacles strewn along the thorny path - some big, others bigger. Many try to do sadhana, few can sustain it, and even fewer succeed at it. While sadhana is both an individual and collective effort, the grace of the Guru is paramount in succeeding at sadhana. His grace is dispensed freely through His blessings. The Guru's blessings take many forms - some are general in nature targeted at our success at sadhana, and some are specific, catering to special needs and circumstances. Sometime in 1989, I received news of my new posting in South America. I was then a Central worker. I was thrilled at the opportunity of working in a new environment, but somewhat saddened that I would have to be physically away from Baba. I really could not imagine being separated from Him, as my whole life revolves around Him. How painful a separation it would be! It was...

Nagpur DMC

Baba's drama is always unimaginable, and often funny. He is unpredictable: one moment in a formidable mood scolding and punishing everybody, the next moment smiling sweetly, as if nothing had happened. There were also times when He wore a sullen mood, refusing to talk to anybody, much like a child, and the next moment He would be happily talking with everybody, without a trace of His earlier mood. In the 1979 DMC held in Nagpur, Baba was in a dark and angry mood and refused to take any food the whole day. He severely reprimanded all the workers for their unsatisfactory work. The fiery scolding lasted throughout the day. We could hardly do any work then because nobody was able to come close to Baba. At about ten o'clock at night, a dada emerged from Baba's room and told us, "We have seen so many dramas the whole day. The doctor had instructed me that Baba must take food at the proper time, and that He will also have to take His medicine." Dada was in an...

Breaking the Barriers

Close physical proximity to the Guru is not easy, but absolutely necessary. He is very demanding. The standards He sets are impossible to attain. He knows our limitations and strengths. He knows how far each individual can be stretched. He knows the limits of our endurance, the breaking point. He takes us to that limit and forces us to cross the border of our limitations. Each time we go over the limit, we transcend our limitations. We progressively become bigger personalities, better able to serve other people, more useful to the world. There are countless instances when Baba applied pressure on His workers, demanding perfection on their part; punishing them when they slacked or failed to reach established targets; and in every instance, the pressure was applied with unalloyed love. This is one such case. In 1980, Baba stayed for a few days in Patna. I remained with Him at Patna as acting GS. It was my duty to submit the daily organizational report to Him. One day, I was severely...