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A Friend from Childhood

There was an old man who came to the Calcutta Ananda Marga ashram one day in the year 1989. He informed the guard at the ashram's gate that he was a childhood friend of Baba and wanted to meet Him. The man provided the guard with his name and address. Baba was immediately informed and He instructed, "Please bring this man to Me with proper respect. I will talk to him." The man was quickly ushered into His residence. Baba talked to him privately for a while. As he was leaving, we noticed that his eyes were full of tears. We were all curious. Who was this special man to whom Baba gave a private audience? Baba knew of our curiosity and recounted the story of the gentleman. He mentioned that both of them studied together when they were children and were very close friends. Baba's father was a strict man and a disciplinarian. But His friend's father was an extremely strict person, much more than Baba's father was. He imposed a rigid daily routine on his son,...

Psychology of Human Beings

Time and again, Baba had emphasized the importance of applying psychology in our daily activities and dealings with other people. The understanding and application of psychology in our lives greatly enhances the quality of the results of our actions and solves many difficult problems easily. A new didi was posted in Shivapuri, Madhya Pradesh in 1983. She is the daughter of a ghrii acarya, who was close to Baba. Being new, this didi tried very hard to adjust to the difficult life of a renunciate. This is not always easy, as a renunciate has to renounce all worldly possessions and attachments. He or she lives only to serve humanity through sadhana, service and sacrifice. Just like a jeweler takes a lot of effort and time to turn a diamond nugget into a polished jewel, the yogi also takes many, many hard years to refine his character and slowly transform his personality from animality to divinity. One day, we were informed that the didi had a serious personal problem that had to be...

Psychology

Baba had always stressed the need to adopt a psychological approach in conveying unpleasant news to others. If possible, direct approaches should be avoided, in order not to unnecessarily shock the receipient of the news. This story happened in 1979 during Baba's Israel tour. One day, after dinner, we received news from Calcutta that the General Secretary of Ananda Marga wanted Baba's suggestion for a suitable candidate for the position of Sectorial Secretary, Hong Kong Sector. That position had recently fallen vacant. This was, indeed, not positive news, and no one dared to give the news to Baba. After some discussion, the dadas present requested me to give the news to Baba, as I presented the organizational reports daily to Him. I agreed but was not sure whether I should tell Him the news on that day itself or on the following day. The next day's schedule was very tight, and thus there would be no opportunity to convey this news to Him. I thought that since this was...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Kiirtan Mystery

There was a devotee from Colombia, South America, who traveled for the first time to India to visit Baba. She was a Spanish-speaking sister. The native language of Columbia is Spanish. She traveled alone and carried with her the address of the Ananda Marga jagrti in New Delhi. She reached Delhi airport very early in the morning. After the immigration and customs clearance, she went outside the airport to catch a taxi. It was almost 1.00 a.m. She requested the driver to go to the Delhi South Extension office of Ananda Marga. On reaching the area, the taxi driver tried to locate the address but could not find the place. He searched for the address for a long time, going around in circles, but failed to find it. By then his patience was wearing thin. He became very annoyed with this sister. He spoke in Hindi, the local Indian language, probably scolding her, but she could not understand a word. She replied in Spanish, which he did not understand. A classic example of a communication...

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...

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,...