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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...

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...

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...

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...

I Meet My Guru

I was born in a village in West Bengal. I came from a very big joint family of 57 members, most of whom were engaged in agriculture. My family was not rich. For this reason, I had to leave my village at the age of eighteen years to look for work to augment the family income. I came to a small town called Midnapore, where I got a job as a teacher in a municipal primary school. I worked in the daytime and at night I studied for my graduation. I was in my final year of college. One day in 1967 I met two monks who had come to the college to give a lecture on concentration. I attended their lecture. Afterwards I asked many questions to one of the monks. As I asked these questions, the monk told me that an intelligent boy must accept anything if it could be proven. He said to me, "Why don't you learn and practice regularly what I have talked about and get the results yourself. If it is bad, then you can tell everyone that the process is not correct or beneficial. And if you have...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...