Sadhana in the Sundarbans In 1977, after the State of Emergency was over, I initiated a man called Dr Aniruddha Bera in Calcutta, who was from the Sundarbans swamp forest region in the southern part of West Bengal. He invited me to go with him to his village to initiate his relatives and friends. We went there on the day before amavasya, so I prepared myself for kapalik meditation, a higher form of meditation done by avadhutas in a cemetery or lonely place. At the vicinity of his village we crossed a river where we saw a cremation ground. The next evening, I asked him to take me there for my kapalik meditation. He took a bamboo stick with him for protection. When we reached our destination, I asked him to wait for me at the edge of the cremation ground. I drew a circle around him in the ground and instructed him to sit and meditate inside the circle. I assured him that as long as he remained in the circle he would be safe. Then, I walked to the center of that, dark and desolate place and sat by a river to...
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...
Liila at Caracas Baba spent four days in Caracas, Venezuela, in September 1979. We reached Caracas very early in the morning after flying in from the island of Jamaica. Dadas and Margiis received us at the airport. The native language of the country is Spanish. Hence, Baba's darshan speeches were translated from English to Spanish. We faced great difficulty in communicating with the Margiis, as very few understood English, and almost everybody spoke in Spanish. A DMC program was arranged, where Baba would give a discourse. I spent the whole afternoon of the DMC day preparing the Margiis for the spiritual function. I taught them how to do Guru puja, and how to ask permission from Baba to do Guru puja to Him. To ask the Lord's permission to perform Guru puja before Him is the most important part of the DMC. According to the system, the Bhukti Pradhan (BP) should request Baba's permission to perform Guru puja immediately after His Varabhaya mudra. Even if there is a slight delay in this...
DMC at Allahabad It was in the year 1980. There was a DMC program at Allahabad. During that period I gave progress reports three times daily on P&S. P&S means Paincajanya and Sadabrata . In the reporting session, I had to inform Baba about the number of blocks in the Delhi Sector covered by P&S, and the number of districts covered by the program outside the Delhi Sector. When Baba introduced any program for the first time, He gave tremendous pressure for its implementation. It was my duty at that time to submit the progress reports thrice daily. It was also not possible for me to ever give a negative report to Baba. Hence, at all three reporting sessions, I used to report only progress, both in and outside Delhi sector. All the wholetimers from north India had come to Allahabad for the DMC. In the first day of DMC, Baba punished me severely during the night reporting session. It was almost midnight. At that time, I felt that not a single field worker was serious about the fact that Baba...
Haifa I toured with Baba in Europe in 1979. In Haifa, Israel, we had a three-day program, including a DMC function. It was a beautiful, memorable occasion. Throughout His stay there, Baba showered His infinite grace on all of us. We obtained a hall inside the university campus for the DMC function. The local Margiis were not old Margiis; nevertheless, they had been trained in the proper procedures regarding the occasion. My duty was to organize and materialize the entire program. Some of the dadas were assigned various duties regarding the external arrangements of the function. Others had to tend to tickets and visa arrangements of those who came from other countries. Realizing the local conditions in Israel, we decided to keep our pratik folded until just before Baba's arrival in the DMC hall. Baba came punctually for His discourse, and at that time the pratik was opened and hung on the wall behind Him. Some non-Margii students walking on the campus passed by our DMC hall and saw the...
