Namaskar Social living and service is a part and parcel of meditation. Along with meditation, one naturally develops the sense of service to others and humanity. To this end Ananda Marga has established such welfare projects as rehabilitation centres for drug-takers and for inmates of prisons and mental institutions. It sets up orphanages, homes for homeless men and women, and homes for the aged, not merely to provide shelter to the needy but to help them develop a sense of self-esteem and involvement in society. Dispensaries, food co-operatives, cheap food distribution centres, are also among the many and varied activities undertaken. The area of welfare covers the elevation of oppressed minority groups particularly those of women and racially oppressed groups. Welfare in these areas is aimed at inspiring these people to overcome social prejudices with forgiveness and magnanimity of mind, and to re-establish their position in society by taking an active role in its united development and progress. The below gives some insights into this in terms of service projects and community development. This is followed by some spiritual insights and verses. Dharma --- A Chronicle of Relief Work in Africa During a period spanning 12 years, Dada Rudreshvarananda worked in rural Burkina Faso, bringing a variety of social services to one of the poorest communities on this planet. He recently compiled a memoir of these experiences. Dada wrote: "Why do the people of Africa think so differently from Westerners? When I visited the Stone Age cave paintings in Lascaut, France, I grasped one reason. Those ancient drawings were extremely beautiful and colourful. It was amazing how the primitive artists had painted in harmony with the walls of the caves. The people of Africa, like other traditional people around the world, say, "The land does not belong to us, we belong to the land. We belong to Nature." Nature teaches them many things through their dreams. Their main concern is to live in harmony with Nature. The Western intellectual concept that Nature belongs to us is the cause of ecological destruction. I feel that Shrii Shrii Anandamurti came to launch a new era, extending this traditional perspective by teaching people to think, 'We belong to God.' " If you would like to read more about Dada's reflections on Africa visit (see attached following). The attached is an inspiring piece about all the wonderful - both kind and difficult - things that one can encounter when working on pioneering service projects. Can also be found at: http://www.anandamarga.org/news/west-africa1.htm There is also a piece on: Providing Pure Drinking Water in Ghana --- Casa Ananda Check out: http://www.casa-ananda.org/texts/english/welcome.html Casa Ananda is a project based in Mexico City to help street children and other young people who live in the streets by giving them nutritious meals, clothes, medicine, and a lot of affection. The project also serves as a school where young people living in the streets can come and finish their elementary and high school studies. Casa Ananda will also serve as a training centre for these young people to learn some productive skills so they can have a decent way of earning a living. --- MASTER UNITS Ananda Marga runs many projects on land called Master Units (2.5 ha / 5 acres or more). These are used for schools, community projects and the like. These are also excellent places to visit if travelling overseas and wanting to stay at spiritually oriented places. There are a few hundred of these Master Units or community development projects around the world. So next time you are planning to travel consider a stay there. Master Units (MU's) are integrated development centres, community projects which provide physical, intellectual, cultural and spiritual services to the surrounding region. Ananda Nagar in India is the biggest and most developed MU in Ananda Marga. Within Ananda Nagar is Uma Nivas, the Women's Welfare Department (WWD) headquarters. "Ananda Nagar" is a model "Master Unit" or cooperative spiritual community established in India. There are, however, many more master units all over the world. Ananda Kanan in the United States has regular Ananda Marga retreats and seminars as well as an annual 'YogaFest' - a teenage festival/retreat for the public. Ananda Palli in Stanthorpe, Australia, also holds periodic 'YogaFests' for young people, retreats and seminars, and a yearly "Ananda Mela" (Festival of Bliss) - a week long festival and conference for the public with progressive workshops, yoga and meditation, cultural entertainment and more. Ananda Kamala is home to the Ananda Marga River School, in Maleny, Queensland, Australia. Approximately 100 students attend the kindergarten and primary school, up to year 7. Periodic retreats and seminars are conducted and a cooperative community is based here. All MUs have organic gardens and fruits trees. Ananda Palli specialises in bio-dynamic fruit and vegetables. Development at each MU is ongoing as new projects continually get established. There are however, many more master units all over the world. Here are some more recent developments. Master Unit in U.S.A. A Master Unit has been procured in the U.S.A. Land was donated in Knoxville to Ananda Marga. The land is about 12.5 acres and is 20 minutes from the University of Tennessee in Memphis region. Master Unit at Paraguay In Paraguay, a Master Unit of 24 hectares totally ready in all aspects with water system, irrigation, tractor and a constructed home was acquired. Master Unit gets a huge grant In 2002 the American Women's Club in Bangkok donated more than 1 million baht for the Sangkhlaburi Master Unit. The money was utilized to install electricity in the master unit, purchase a 4 WD vehicle and secure a tractor for ploughing the land. Taiwan The tremendous dedication and sacrifice of many, many spiritual aspirants was recently demonstrated in a truly "concrete" manner. We could even say concrete and steel. The WWD Master Unit at MeiNong now has a beautiful, two story meditation hall. During a formal housewarming, members of Ananda Marga from all over Taiwan gave special thanks to the many whose donations made the construction possible. The meditation hall is for them and for the entire community. --- UMA NIVAS WWD is the Women's Welfare Department of Ananda Marga and works to give all women the scope to discover and expand their full potentialities for their all-round development (physically, mentally and spiritually). It provides services and resources for women to collectively utilise their talents and abilities in a practical way for the progress of humanity at large. WWD's headquarters are situated at a master unit called Uma Nivas , located in Ananda Nagar. India has one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the world. Despite decades of development programs the vast majority of India's poor still live in its rural areas where conditions are particularly severe for women. In one extremely impoverished area, the Purulia district of West Bengal, Uma Nivas started in 1985. In the villages surrounding Uma Nivas the women's condition is a microcosm of the tremendous handicaps women face in India, women are still victims of social, economic and gender discrimination. They carry the heaviest burdens of child rearing and agricultural work under deplorable conditions. Where women suffer, children suffer as well. In this area 98% of women are illiterate, only 15 % of children go to school, and about 33% of the children are severely malnourished. Leprosy, tuberculosis, and malaria are widespread. UMA NIVAS literally means: the Abode of the Universal Mother. Traditionally in India women are addressed as "ma" (mother). However they are not always treated with the respect that this title deserves. UMA NIVAS seeks to empower women to take their rightful place in society, helping them to better care for themselves, nurture their families and support their communities. EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE - In the first phase of the project Uma Nivas has focused on addressing the education and health needs of women and children. The following projects have already greatly increased educational opportunities and access to primary care for the local children: - An all girls high school - Three primary schools - Three homes for orphan girls - Four all girls hostels - Two homeopathic clinics - A music school A natural outcome of economic independence of women is that they begin to assume leadership roles and participate actively in their communities. With the help of the public, support for the second phase will begin. This includes: - Start female adult literacy training - Teach sustainable organic farming - Create small scale industries to generate income for the local women - Establish an arts and crafts training centre. No matter how long it takes, a person with spiritual vision and aspirations will continue to serve humanity to the best of their capability. --- Peach Farm Ananda Dham Master Unit Los Angeles, USA www.amps.org/us/ca/peachfarm This master unit has a web site to visit. It states: The Ananda Marga Lake Hughes Peach Farm welcomes interns at any time of the year. We provide free room and board with living quarters consisting of a nice three bedroom, two bathroom house as well as a two bedroom, one bathroom trailer. We all work according to our capacity, the hours are flexible but usually six to eight hours per day, and conditions range from intense to laid back depending on the time of the year or day of the week. The nature around invites you to nice hikes, swims in the lake, or other outdoor activities. Meditation and Yoga instructions are freely available to all interns and volunteers. We have a good supply of reading material both spiritual and farming/gardening related. Our diet is vegetarian and we do not allow any kind of alcohol or drugs at the farm. The interns participate in the many farm activities which include transplanting, mulching, foliar feeding, fertigation, irrigation, weeding, harvesting, packing, marketing, and transport. We hope that by participating in the daily care of this farming project you will enjoy the pleasure of working with the earth and with other people in a cooperative and coordinated way. If you are sincerely interested in becoming an intern, please send us your resume including such things as educational background, work experience, farming experience, hobbies and interests, background in meditation, yoga or other spiritual disciplines, and anything else you would like to say. --- Know where the path lies, even if one is not immediately able to follow it Extracts from a talk by Ananda Japasiddha. One of the things that impressed me the most when I finally got to Ananda Marga was the clarity of the moral code. This is the main difference between Anandamurti and so many other spiritual outfits. One of the most important requirements for spiritual progress is honesty with ourselves. Whatever nonsense is still in us, if we can be truly and brutally honest with ourselves about it, at least we aren’t further convoluting our thoughts with self lies. This honesty is the first step to actually gaining control over these weaknesses which may have plagued us. At the beginning of the formation of Christianity, at that time, monks were still performing meditation. They followed strict discipline, lots of fasting and penance, and really tried to attain their spiritual realisation. But it wasn’t long after that that they fell apart completely. Where is meditation in Christianity today? Now all that beautiful philosophy is something to quote at people as a weapon or save in a nice book with gold inlay, not something to actually put into practice. Particularly, it was never made clear to them that it is impossible to, on the one hand practice spiritual meditation, and on the other hand to drink wine, even the mild table wines common to that era and geographic zone. (After all, wine was and often still is like water in the Mediterranean - southern European zone, what with water shortages and grape abundances.) It is fairly sure they also had problems about eating meat and other practices, not to mention the widespread adoption of the sinner’s mentality. (I am a sinner. I am a sinner. I am impure. Oh Lord, please save me!) There were many problems like this. This is only one example of why it is so important to know where the path lies, even if one is not immediately able to follow it. Here were these very sincere spiritualists who failed in their spiritual path because of a small point of ignorance. This part of the world had sprouted some of the most sincere spiritualists in history. Today, being a critical juncture, it is a moment of being tested in the fire. So much moral confusion. So many varieties of serious breaches, and being perpetrated on so many innocents without hesitation or remorse. Some despair and throw up their hands merely to see such things. None of them seem to understand that such a time is a tremendous spiritual opportunity. “To keep your head when those about you are losing theirs.” To walk unafraid amongst the ruins as the world undergoes a major paradigm shift and amidst this to serve and inspire others. To maintain one’s moral balance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. To nurture the new life that sprouts from the graveyard of the old. These are blessed moments if we have the courage and the eyes to appreciate them. These opportunities for service through transformation are the reason why we are here in a social sense as spiritual aspirants. All good people have to clean up the mess and get everything ready before the new day dawns. Definitely life on earth will never be perfect. It is never fairyland. But just as it sometimes gets worse, it also sometimes gets better. In fact, darkness not only precedes the light. It often causes it. When the earth is steeped in darkness and despair, the desire for light in every heart grows with fiery intensity. And that internal blazing incandescence is the force behind all social and spiritual awakening. --- Rectification Much is said today about anti-social or criminal acts. What is the corrective and healthy approach? From a spiritual perspective, that is. The steps of corrective punishment: a) First, attempt to bring the guilty person around through sweet words. b) Secondly, adopt a stiff attitude. c) Thirdly, tell him or her about the possible punishment for the offence. d) Fourthly, take steps for punishment. Prerequisites: a) Before punishing a person you should consider whether you love him/her or not. You do not have the moral right to punish one whom you do not love. b) Punishment should be meted out to reform and not to cause suffering. c) The quantum of punishment must not exceed the quantum of love. d) If some innocent person is pained by any of your actions, then without considering whether he/she is your superior or inferior, you should sincerely seek his/her forgiveness; this will only enhance your prestige. Do not judge anyone to be good or bad hastily, nor express your opinion. Even a small mistake in your decision or in your expression may result in collective harm to society. Remember, with every person you have a relationship of love and not of fear, those who love you will certainly give you recognition. Do not hurt an honest person even slightly. From works of Anandamurti --- One of the great values of living in a society is that we can imbibe good qualities from others, even when they are no more perfect than we are. For that, all we need is to be receptive. Each human being copes with her or his own blend of mental propensities. That is what personalities are all about. We should try to see the bright side not just of everything but of everyone. - Abhidevananda --- "You are living in the present. Utilize your past in building your present. Plan for the future in such a way that all human wealth is considered and radiates tremendous energy." - Shrii Shrii Anandamurti -- Shiva's Teachings-1 from Namah Shivaya Shantaya (p.111). --- Where to practice meditation? "To differentiate between different places for sadhana (Sanskrit for meditation), to consider one place more suitable than another, or to regard a particular spot as good and another bad, is to divide. Every place in this creation is the manifestation of the Supreme Cosmic Entity (Brahma), and to call one place good and another bad is to attribute these qualities to Brahma. If sadhana (spiritual meditation) is based on the consideration of good and bad, it will never be possible for one to develop the feeling of oneness with the rest of creation. One will never be able to love others as oneself. To Brahma every place is the same, and sadhana can be practiced anywhere." - Anandamurti (Ananda Marga Elementary Philosophy, 1998 p.129) The main idea, the main message here is that you can do meditation anywhere, and by Divine Grace you can realize the Cosmic Entity anywhere. So there is no point during meditation of feeling: "This place is inferior, I am not going to do deep meditation". And thinking that you are in the only good place for meditation doesn't help either because the very purpose of meditation is to go beyond relativities. As we are still part of this relative world, then our body, our brain, our mind, is affected by it's vibrations - crude our subtle. You must have noticed that while meditating at some places the mind becomes concentrated very quickly. The softness of the spot is helpful. However, struggle and concentration in other more difficult places can also strengthen the mind. For example, though it's possible to meditate in a pub, if you have the opportunity to do it in the mountains, your meditation is going to be deeper, because you are not affected by the crude thoughts of others in the bar. Of course if you don't have that chance and the only place available to you is of lesser quality, then do not feel that it is not possible to meditate there, because all places are suitable. --- Prabhat Samgiita - Inner feeling of meditation ---------------------------------------------- The inner spirit and feeling of meditation can be expressed in a number of ways. Here are some examples from the songs of P R Sarkar. These are derived from the original Bengali and the inner meaning only, not a full translation, is given. They are in the classical Indian form of feeling a close association with the Cosmic Entity when practising meditation. * Song 146: In countless rhythms You came dancing, dancing, laughing, laughing with the resonance of Your sound with the deep thoughts of Your heart with the jingling of ankles on Your feet, You came with the resonance of sound. With the deep thoughts of Your heart, with the jingling of ankles on Your feet, You came oh Lord. Bloom like a flower on the branch of a tree Lord, fill it with fragrance appear as the distant sky. Please be the blue colour that encircles all, That encircles all, oh Lord. Surround me on all sides in countless rhythms. You came, dancing, dancing, laughing, laughing. * Song 241: How close to me you are, I did not feel it before. You were very near to me, why did I not call you? You were in all my works, in rhythms, songs and tunes. That vina (music) is still sounding ? I did not hear it before. On the road of my life, in the dense darkness, again and again, that memory comes into my mind. With pain You kept Yourself away leaving me far behind. Why did I not hold You in me heart then? Why did I not keep You in my dhyana (meditation), removing all hesitations? * Song 1017: You are the subject of my dhyana (meditation), You are the beloved one of my life, Oh, my most venerable One, all my lives and deeds are only for You. I want You always with me, I want to be with You without any separation, I know You are everything in my life, The dearest and most adorable One. Why are You so far? Please let me know what I should do for You. Please don't make me cry with the game of Your liila (divine play). If You want me to cry for Your own happiness, let it be only for You. --- The following song by Jackson Browne is also a good reflection of the need for welfare and a neo-humanistic approach to social, civil and political life. LOOKING EAST - Jackson Browne (1996) Standing in the ocean with the sun burning low in the west Like a fire in the cavernous darkness at the heart of the beast With my beliefs and possessions, stopped at the frontier in my chest At the edge of my country, my back to the sea, looking east Where the search for the truth is conducted with a wink and a nod And where power and position are equated with the grace of God These times are famine for the soul while for the senses it's a feast From the edge of my country, as far as you see, looking east Hunger in the midnight, hunger at the stroke of noon Hunger in the mansion, hunger in the rented room Hunger on the TV, hunger on the printed page And there's a God-sized hunger underneath the laughing and the rage In the absence of light And the deepening night Where I wait for the sun Looking east How long have I left my mind to the powers that be? How long will it take to find the higher power moving in me? Power in the insect Power in the sea Power in the snow falling silently Power in the blossom Power in the stone Power in the song being sung alone Power in the wheatfield Power in the rain Power in the sunlight and the hurricane Power in the silence Power in the flame Power in the sound of the lover's name The power of the sunrise and the power of a prayer released On the edge of my country, I pray for the ones with the least Hunger in the midnight, hunger at the stroke of noon Hunger in the mansion, hunger in the rented room Hunger on the TV, hunger on the printed page And there's a God-sized hunger underneath the questions of the age And an absence of light In the deepening night Where I wait for the sun Looking east --- Touring and Learning The 2006/2007 India tour will happen again. It's starts mid December 2006 and finishes end of January 2007. Arrival is in Delhi as the first point. See the updated website with all the details - so have a look at: http://indiatour.dadaksa.com/ As always it's for new (and old) persons interested in the spiritual path and practices taught by Ananda Marga who have been practicing sincerely for at least few months.