Living with Baba

Author: Acarya Tapeshvarananda Avadhuta

A Schoolboy

We have a very nice school at Krishnanagar, West Bengal, India. One day sometime in 1969, the principal of the school, Acarya Sudhananda Avadhuta, went out for some urgent work. The principal told the teacher-in-charge that he would be back within an hour. The school was going on as usual. During recess time, all the children played and ate their food which they brought from home or bought at the school canteen. Suddenly, one of the boys went back into the classroom and cried hysterically, "My father has died now!" His cries got the attention of all the other students as well as the teacher. The teacher in charge took the boy aside and consoled him. But he could not be consoled. The boy just kept on crying loudly. The teacher then decided to inform the boy's parents of his strange condition. The boy's father worked in a government office, while his mother was a housewife. She was then alone at home. Upon learning of her son's condition, she immediately came to...

Initiation at Rourkella

In the year 1971, when I worked in Orissa, I visited the town of Rourkella. I conducted a meeting and talked with the local college students. One of them asked me to return with him to his hostel room to teach him meditation. I had some leaflets about sadhana, Yama and Niyama, the 15 Shiilas and the Supreme Command. As I entered the boy's room, I saw a man sitting on a chair outside the room. Actually, he was the father of the boy, but I did not know it at that time. So I did not pay any attention to him. I entered the boy's room and requested him to lock the door from the inside. I then taught him the process of meditation. When I was almost finished, I heard a knock on the door. The knocking became very loud. Hearing the loud knocks, the boy became terrified. He told me, "Dada, now we have to open the door. Maybe it is my father and the hostel warden who want to know what is going on." Then, as he unlocked the door I mentally prayed, "Baba, I am only doing...

Work for Society

Baba once told us that Lord Krsna used to raise the kundalini of people by playing His flute. Everyone used to run towards Him like mad. Baba said that He will not do this. People will have to realize Him by their own effort. I think that even if He had remained for a very short while as "Komaleshvar" - Lord of Tenderness - people would have run madly after Him, intoxicated with bliss. Nobody would have been able to do any work for the society. For this reason, He followed the natural rules, and let nature take its natural course.

That is why He used to tell us that we can only snatch His grace by our karma, sadhana, knowledge and devotion. He was a mystery and everything about Him was a mystery. The moment you try to enter into a blissful state of mind, He will give you tremendous physical pressure or punishment, apparently without any logic or reason. This is to make us surrender everything to Him and not develop our ego, which is a big obstacle in the path of spirituality.

Bhavanipatna

I was working in the province of Orissa, next to Bengal in 1969. One day, I went to the main city of the district of Kalahandi. The name of the town was Bhavanipatna. There was a big high school in that town. I met the headmaster of the school and requested him to give me a chance to talk about meditation to the teachers and students. The headmaster was a very good man. He told me to come at seven in the morning the next day. It was summer time then. The headmaster asked me in which language I would speak. I told him that I would talk in English. But I was very poor in English. I had never given a public talk in English before. That night I could hardly sleep due to the mounting tension. I was just thinking, how was I going to give a talk in the English language! The next day I reached the school at the appointed time. The headmaster and his staff members waited at the gate with flowers to receive me. They took me to a part of the school where all the staff members and students had...

Dada Parashivanandaji

One day in 1969, Baba gave a demonstration on spirituality. A dada named Parashivanandaji, who sat close to Him, thought to himself, "I would like to know about my past life." Baba looked at Parashivananandji and asked, "Why do you want to know your past life?" Baba then called another dada and told him to sit in the proper posture. With His stick Baba touched dada's ajina cakra and said, "Now concentrate on him (Dada Parashivananda) and take his mind back five years in time, ten years, and then twenty years and continue until you have gone back sixty years in time." Then, Baba asked, "What are you seeing?" Dada replied that he saw a coconut tree. Baba told him to concentrate still more deeply. Then dada said, "I am seeing a coconut, Baba." Baba told him, "Now take his mind more than two hundred years back.....Now what are you seeing?" Dada replied, "There is a large pond, and on one side of the pond is a tree....

The Miser

Baba once told me a joke. In a town there lived a very miserly couple. They never donated any food, clothes or money to the needy. They were very wealthy, but they moaned and groaned that they hardly had any money.

They used to spend hardly any money even for their food and other essentials. One day the husband appeared extremely depressed. His wife asked him, "What happened? Did you spend any money? Did you lose anything? Did you lose your money in any manner?"

The husband replied in a sorrowful voice, "Today when I was downtown, I saw a person giving some money to a beggar."

The miser had never given anything to anybody. While seeing somebody else giving a donation to a poor person, he became so depressed!

Memory

In the years 1969 and 1970, Baba gave many amazing demonstrations on different topics related to the laws of spiritual science. One day in 1969, we were with Him at Ranchi. There were just fifteen persons in the room. As we entered the room, Baba said, "Close the door." We closed the door. Then, Baba told us, "Everybody should sit in a proper way and keep the backbone straight." Then, He called four particular persons to the front, close to Him. They were Dada Viirabhadraji, Dada Japanandaji, Dada Vandananandaji, and Sudhanshuji. Three were dadas while one was a Margii. They were all in a line in front of Baba. Baba told them to repeat their Ista mantra. He said, "Today I will give a demonstration to show what cerebral and extra-cerebral memory is." He explained that cerebral memory is the ability to think, remember and memorize something with one's brain about things that have happened in this life. Extra-cerebral memory refers to the ability to...

History of Kiirtan

Once in 1959 Baba travelled by train to Kiirnahar. Baba travelled with His Personal Assistant, Pranayda. There were then no monks or nuns in Ananda Marga. The train went through the district of Birbhum in West Bengal. It was a small train from the British days. After some time, the train stopped due to some mechanical problem. The driver tried to repair the engine. While waiting for the train to be repaired, Baba got down from the train and, as if He knew how long the train would remain there, walked across the adjacent field. Pranayda and another Margii followed Baba. Pranayda was very worried that the train would leave without them. Baba continued to walk for some time. Finally, He came to a big "burning ghat" - a place where people burn the dead bodies. The local people called it the Kaunkalmalini ghat. Baba then pointed to one particular spot and told them that it was the place where Caetanya Mahaprabhu had meditated. He meditated in that spot for nearly six years with...

Drama in Taipei

We spent nearly fifteen days with Baba in Taipei, Taiwan. On one occasion, the Bhukti Pradhan of Taipei presented a traditional Chinese suit to Baba. The Margiis wanted to see Baba in a Chinese suit. The BP eagerly asked the PA Dada, "When is Baba going to wear our local clothes?" We knew that Baba usually wore His own clothes. Nevertheless, PA Dada mentioned to Baba from time to time that the Bhukti Pradhan wanted to know when He would wear their local dress. Baba would simply smile without giving any answer. Meanwhile, I was very busy organizing and preparing for the General Darshan. The site of the General Darshan was more than three kilometers from where Baba stayed. It was the residence of a devotee. He had a large hall on the second floor of his house. I was there to see to all the arrangements. Baba used to give darshan just after returning from field walk. He took His breakfast as usual and then went to change His clothes for the darshan. As He was about to change...