Living with Baba

Author: Acarya Tapeshvarananda Avadhuta

His Dream Heals Everything

The Guru does not need His physical body to help sadhakas or to get a job done. He even does not have to be alive for that matter. He can assist spiritual aspirants with or without a body, with or without His presence. For the Guru, life and death are the same because He transcends both mortal conditions. Dada Guna'tiita'nandaji worked in our hospital at Ananda Nagar. One day, he met with an accident, while riding his motorcycle from the hospital to the Rector Master's office. He injured one of his legs quite seriously. At first he thought it was a minor injury that could be cured by homeopathic treatment. Dada himself was an experienced homoeopath. But, after a few days, he noticed his injured leg swelling, and the pain becoming unbearable. He was forced to go to Ranchi, where the hospital had more advanced facilities and trained doctors. There were also several Margii doctors in the hospital. An X-ray of his injured leg was immediately taken. It showed that there were...

Abhiman

Baba is a doctor - a spiritual doctor. He often prescribes medicine which is bitter, through different forms of reproach or punishment, to heal us of our vanity, lethargy, laziness and indiscipline. But His harsh prescription is tinged with divine love and affection. Once, Baba punished me very severely. I felt really bad after the punishment. I thought to myself that He was always punishing me. He seems to hardly love me at all. Well, then I will not talk to Him. Thinking these thoughts, I resolved not to talk to Him again. After a moment, I realized that there was no way I could carry out my decision, as I had to report to Him thrice daily. There was simply no way of avoiding Baba. I was in a fix. I became more agitated thinking about the situation. There was simply no solution to this problem. It happened that at that time, Baba gave a particular Prabhat Samgiit. It was called 'Tumi amar dhyaner dhyeya tumi amar pranera priya.' I did not hear this song at the time Baba...

Unilateral Relationship

Baba once clarified to me the inner meaning of sadhana and spiritual life. He said that there is no difference between Ista, Adarsha and Mission. The path of spirituality is very difficult, but it is also very, very simple if one has strong faith, belief, love and surrender to Him and His Mission. These qualities are unilateral, not bilateral. If one wants to realize Him, he has to undergo many tests, tortures, sufferings and humiliation. Realizing Him means uniting with Him. This is the purpose of spirituality. It is the path of synthesis, not analysis.

Baba’s Birthday

Baba is really a master of moods. Like a kaleidoscope, He has a variety of moods, each used with precision in different circumstances to affect a particular result, to teach a particular lesson. From the harshest to the softest mood, He plays each one with the dexterity of a maestro, who strikes a certain chord to produce a particular note. The overall effect is music, played with divine love for the benefit of His disciples and devotees. His moods are like a string of separate notes, which collectively make music. Over the years, I had the occasion to see His many moods and to understand a little why He used certain moods in particular occasions. Still, He is a mystery! One day, we planned to celebrate Baba's birthday at Tiljala, in Calcutta. The Central EI-1 organized a very nice birthday program. He called all the small children - the boys and girls from our Ananda Marga children's homes - to come and perform for Baba. Many exciting performances were planned. Usually,...

Invisible Devotees

Fathoming Baba's divine personality or trying to understand His role as Dharma Guru, as Taraka Brahma, is not possible for the human being. The human mind is simply too limited to comprehend such profound and sublime matters. When Taraka Brahma assumes a physical manifestation to lead humanity to divinity, He attracts all manner of devotees, some human, some not, who seek His divine guidance, protection and blessing. I was once massaging Baba at His residence in Lake Gardens, Calcutta. It was very late at night, almost 1.30am. The night was still and silent, almost magical. Everybody was asleep. I was massaging Baba at that time. I would usually massage Him until He slept. Although it was very late, I was not sure whether Baba had fallen asleep. As I was massaging Him, He suddenly pulled His leg away. I was surprised by the sudden movement of His leg and gently tried to massage His leg again. As I touched His leg, He again removed it with a sharp jerk. I was perplexed, not...

All-Seeing Baba

Some years back, a group of us were traveling from New Delhi to Calcutta by train. It was an ordinary coach compartment. There were about three dadas and four didis. We were sitting face to face on long benches. Some other passengers were also traveling in the same compartment. When the train stopped at Allahabad, one of the didis alighted from the train to get some drinking water. She returned with the water, and some ice-cream, which she bought from a vendor at the station. It was a rare treat for us. We gobbled the ice-cream with obvious relish. While eating it, I casually commented, "This is very delicious ice cream!" Hearing this, didi again got off the train and bought another ice-cream, just for me. We reached Calcutta as scheduled. After two days we went for a reporting session before Baba. Baba was not at all satisfied with our output and was very annoyed with us. He turned to the General Secretary and ordered, "GS, punish this stupid fellow. Then, let him...

His Grace Cures Everything

Baba has prescribed a variety of treatments for various illnesses, including herbal medicines, special diets, other natural methods, and special yogic postures called asanas. He usually relies on the physical and natural approaches in treating diseases. In many cases, however, He has utilized more subtle means to cure the health problems of His disciples and devotees. Such means are used sparingly, not just to cure diseases but to remove the physical and psychic obstacles in the form of disease that retard our spiritual progress. This incident occurred at the Ananda Marga Jodhpur Park office. We were engaged in our normal activities when Baba suddenly asked, "Where is Mantreshvarananda?" Mantreshavaranandaji was feeling ill and was lying down in his room, which was also in the office. He could not even do his meditation properly because of his illness. We promptly informed Baba that he was ill and was lying down in his room. Baba requested us to fetch him. We then informed...

Publishing a Newspaper

In the 1980's there was a particular dada who was the editor of our daily newspaper called 'Natun Prithivi', which was published in Calcutta. In accordance with the prescribed system, the daily edition of the newspaper should reach His residence before breakfast. Dada was just the editor of the paper, and thus, it was not his responsibility to get the funds to publish it. It was his responsibility, however, to see that the paper was published on schedule each day. This indirectly meant that obtaining funds to run the paper was also his problem. The financial problems of publishing the paper were a heavy burden on the editor, which caused much mental clash. He was at his wits end as to what to do. One day, he decided to come to Baba's Lake Garden residence to complain regarding the tremendous financial difficulties he faced in publishing the paper. It was my duty to read the newspapers to Baba daily. PA Dada was responsible for arranging the different newspapers in...

Akhanda Prabhat Samgiit

There was a time when Baba remained at Ranchi for several months. During that period there was a very strong flow of Prabhat Samgiit. Baba used to walk daily, sometimes just in front of His residence. The Margiis sang Prabhat Samgiit, while standing on both sides of the path where He walked. Sometimes, the Margii sisters presented a dance interpretation of Prabhat Samgiit. Many Margii families came in the morning, stayed the entire day and returned to their homes at night. A joyous and colorful festive atmosphere prevailed. During one of those days, Baba requested for Akhanda Prabhat Samgiit, which was the continuous singing of Prabhat Samgiit the whole night. We informed the Margiis about Baba's request, and they all came happily in droves. We joyfully sang Prabhat Samgiit throughout the entire night. Baba told us that no song should be repeated. We organized the program to the best of our ability. We carefully selected the songs and the singers. The Akhanda Prabhat Samgiit...