Living with Baba

Author: Acarya Tapeshvarananda Avadhuta

No Tell-tale Signs

Baba is truly a mysterious personality - at once a unique spiritual master, a giant intellectual, an outstanding philosopher, a social thinker, humanist, economist, grammarian, philologist, historian, agriculturist, doctor, scientist, song-writer, literary artist, and great organizer, just to name a few of His incomparable qualities. Above all He is a loving, affectionate father to His children. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find so many outstanding qualities in one person. He made many matchless contributions to sustain human society and to advance human progress. His theory of microvita, for example, belongs to the distant future, brought forward about 400 years in time for humanity's benefit. His unique theory of mind and of evolution is yet another example of His greatness. His vast contributions to spirituality alone make Him stand apart from the rest of the spiritual masters. He is truly the renaissance man of human history, not just of the 20th century. Yet, His...

Tests

During the month of October 1971, Ananda Marga faced a crisis - both spiritual and organizational. A DMC was held in Calcutta. We were waiting for the evening General Darshan to begin. The procedure was that first Srimati Uma, the wife of Baba, would come out and give a spiritual talk. After that Baba would give His discourse. We used to call Baba's wife "Ma" gave her great respect. That DMC night, Baba's Personal Assistant suddenly came with two or three other central workers and talked about the system of reporting. He started by talking about how Baba gave severe punishment to the workers. He severely criticized this as well as other aspects of Baba's organizational system. Then, he stunned all of us by announcing that Srimati Uma did not agree with Baba regarding several organizational issues, and that she and her son, Gautam, were leaving Him. After that startling announcement, Srimati Uma left with the dissenting group of dadas. This unbelievable drama...

He Keeps His Word

Once, three friends from North Bengal came to Ranchi to have personal contact with Baba. They were high school teachers. One was married, while the others were unmarried Margiis. They all had the opportunity of personal contact with Baba. The Margii who was married was not so happy in his personal life. His wife had some health problems. He tried to solve them but he could not. Baba requested him to return after exactly one year. He confided in his two friends what Baba had told him. After personal contact, they returned home. The two unmarried Margiis are now respected senior dadas. One had decided to become a monk immediately after seeing Baba, while the other went for training as a monk after a few months. A year had nearly passed. One day, Baba went to Coochbihar for Dharma Maha Cakra (DMC). During that occasion, some anti-social elements who wanted to cause trouble, forcibly entered the DMC premises and attacked the Margiis who had assembled there. One Margii, named Ravi Sarkar,...

Master Planner

One day Baba took reports from us in the Ranchi office. There was another dada present who is a very close friend of mine. On that day, Baba punished him for his unsatisfactory report. The dada was very sad. After the reporting session, Baba joked with us. After awhile, He requested the same dada whom He had earlier punished to fetch a diary from the drawer of His desk. We were rather surprised to hear this, as none of us close to Him knew that He maintained a diary. In fact, He told the dada that he would find four diaries in the drawer. He asked him to remove the diary that was second from the top, and then to open a particular page in it. The dada opened the diary as requested. Baba then asked him, "What do you see?" The dada replied that there was something written in Bengali in the form of a sutra or sloka. Baba told him to read the sloka. The dada read: "A'su sa'di." It was just these four letters in the diary. Baba had written these four letters...

Initiation

In 1971 I attended a PROUT symposium at the University Institute Hall near College Street, Calcutta. As I entered the hall, some Margiis introduced me to two young men, Jayanta Singha and Tapan, who wanted to meet me. One boy had a Master degree in Commerce, while the other was a businessman. I spoke with them for a few minutes before the program. I invited them inside to attend the program and promised to talk with them again when it was over. Acarya Raghunathjii and Mr R Prasad were addressing the audience. These boys were, however, impatient to talk with me, and in the middle of the program, came up to me and asked me to go outside. Reluctantly, I followed them outside. The first young man said, "I think you have some power. So I want to test you." I responded, "There are tests at different levels - physical, mental and spiritual. Do you have any doubt about spiritual power?" They were silent. Then the young man said, "Actually we both have a problem - that...

He Takes Care

In the year 1970 I met a very good family acarya from north Bihar whose name was Dr Vidyarthiji. He was an excellent devotee of Baba. He told me about his amazing personal realizations of Baba. It happened many years ago when he was a new Margii. His wife was not yet initiated at that time, but she was not opposed to his spiritual practices. She once had a serious health problem and became very ill. It was so serious that even his neighbors advised him to immediately take his wife to the city for better medical treatment, otherwise she might die at any moment. Vidyarthiji was not a rich man. However, to ensure better treatment for his wife, he sold some of his property and then took her to the city. He reached the city and took her to a hotel, and instructed her to rest. He wanted to go to the hospital first to make arrangements for a doctor to administer the required treatment. As he was preparing to go to the hospital, he suddenly remembered that Baba was present in that town at...

Tour Program

I was posted as a field worker at the provincial level in 1971. I traveled to the head office, which at that time was in Ranchi, Bihar. After taking a bath, I met the Office Secretary. He told me, "Now you are posted as an Area Level Worker. An area comprises four provinces. You must know your jurisdiction. You must keep the Tour Program of all the workers in your area. Tomorrow Baba will ask you for your report. All the workers will come as well. Talk to them first and then write your report and keep it ready." All the workers came to Ranchi the next day as planned. I talked to my workers regarding their Tour Programs. I was a little nervous because I did not know what Baba would ask. Baba came to the office punctually. We were in Baba's room. When my turn came to give the report, Baba asked me whether I had taken charge of my new responsibilities. I said, "Yes, Baba." Baba then said, "The report is not satisfactory." He asked me why my workers were...

Shambhuji

We had a very difficult time during the Emergency period in India, declared by the Indian government, which lasted from June 1975 to March 1977. When the Emergency ended, Baba was also acquitted of all charges and released from prison honorably. One day, He asked me about two Margiis. One was Sudhji and the other, Shambhuji. Both were very good Margiis. Baba told me that if they wished to become family acaryas, I should start their training immediately. Sudhji worked in the southern part of India, while Shambhuji was in West Bengal. Shortly thereafter I met Sudhji and informed him what Baba had told me. He was very happy. He immediately came to Calcutta and filled out the requisite application forms to become a family acarya. He completed the training and became an acarya. Meanwhile, Shambhuji worked with Baba in Jamalpur. He was a very devoted Margii whose sons studied at our Ananda Marga High School. One of his sons had become a monk of Ananda Marga. When I met him and conveyed to...

Varanasi Story

It was in the month of May in 1969, when I was working in the Seva Dharma Mission . We organized a departmental UTC at Varanasi. Varanasi is a beautiful, spiritually vibrated city in Uttar Pradesh. People love to go to Varanasi. It was created seven thousand years ago by Lord Shiva. It is the oldest city in the world. Lord Shiva's spiritual vibration can still be felt by yogis at that place.. After some effort, we found a place near the Ganges River for the UTC. It was summer, and extremely hot - at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of those who attended the UTC were dadas. During the daytime we attended classes. After dinner, most of us crossed the river by boat to do our sadhana on the other side of the river bank, and returned the following morning. The opposite side of the river was completely deserted and lonely. The pure, white sand along the river bank sparkled like a thousand heavenly gems. We meditated on the shore, and after that simply went to sleep on the soft,...