THE FIRST OPPOSITION

Opposition began with the propagation and expansion of the ideology of the Marga.

In a way, it was helpful, as Baba had once said:

As the opposition has increased so has the popularity of the Marga.

Opposition creates a curiosity to know the Marga. Those who contacted Margii brothers to know about it generally ended up becoming Margiis themselves.

For example, the first wave of opposition began with the family of Bindeshwariji himself.

• Bindeshwariji took initiation.
• His younger nephew followed.
• By watching a change in the outlook of these two, the wife and daughters, of Bindeshwariji also took initiation.
• After initiation and due to the practice of sadhana all of them became vegetarians.

The elder brother of Bindeshwariji, Shrii Puneet Narain Singhji did not like this development.

• This started the opposition after he failed to understand why it was necessary to adopt vegetarianism for any religious activity.

Bindeshwariji belonged to a big and well-to-do non-vegetarian family.

When a part of the family became vegetarian, it was not liked by the rest.

So Shrii Puneet Narain Singhji opposed them in mild sarcastic tones.

• He usually conversed in Angika.
• He would use mild, civilized but satirical phrases against the Marga, Margiis and Marga Guru in his Angika language.
• His satires were light but had deep cuts.

So far only Mithilii language was famous for its double edged sweet satires. But after hearing Puneet Baba, one believed that Angika was not lagging behind in this respect. In fact it appeared superior.

Whenever I would send someone who wanted to take initiation to Jamalpur and he came searching for Bindeshwariji’s house, Puneet Baba would make an effort to dissuade him or confuse him but somehow every-time he did not succeed and mostly people would go ahead with their resolve to take initiation.

Such gentlemen would mention to me their encounter with Puneet Baba after they returned from Jamalpur and the younger brother of Bindeshwariji also mentioned this to me.

Puneet Baba would on many occasions cut very civilized jokes about sadhana when he would talk with me. One day in this context I told him that he was doing a fine job in Jamalpur for the Marga. He enquired as to how. I replied that when he tried to dissuade someone from taking sadhana, he was in fact testing his sincerity, and when he takes initiation in spite of this criticism of the Marga, the new sadhakas would really establish themselves firmly in spirituality and sadhana.

Due to his failures in his effort to dissuade people from the Marga, he created a small opposition group which would freely criticize the Marga and Margiis everywhere.

During this period when Bindeshwariji returned from Bhagalpur DMC in absolutely abnormal condition, the eldest brother Shrii Rameshwar Prasad Singh also became openly against Ananda Marga along with Puneet Baba.

But as the opposition and the critics increased so the growth of the Marga also increased simultaneously.

OPPOSITION TO ANANDA MARGA

Due to the spread of the Marga and the growth of its popularity; seeing the way in which Baba was being respected and liked; and seeing His non availability due to his busy schedule, some of the neighbours and colleagues of Baba began to envy and oppose him for no rhyme or reason.

But their opposition was restricted to only verbal caustic comments. In the meanwhile a journalist of Jamalpur took initiation. He was the reporter of a Hindi magazine.

In the beginning he was all praise for the Marga and its process of meditation, but when he was asked to be strict about his moral code, he began to lose interest in sadhana. He gradually severed his ties with Marga. Not only that, he also began to express his negative feelings through his dispatches in that Hindi paper. On this account the Margiis of Muzaffarpur filed a case against him and the paper wherein these things were published.

These days Baba was putting all emphasis on sadhana and the following of the moral code. All the disciples were therefore busy with these activities.

When the news of opposition reached Baba, He said, “The higher your objective the greater will be the obstacles in the way. Obstacles are auspicious signals and denote success. Sadhana really means struggle. You will, therefore, not be afraid of obstacles, but thinking that the realization of the objectives is near, will face them with enthusiasm and caution.

Keeping a peaceful mind all the time, march ahead keeping your objective in front of you – victory is surely yours. “

Thus the obstacles that started with the pracar continue to be with us all the time as if pracar and obstacles were twins.

The opposition continued to grow along with the growth of the Marga. In the meanwhile the Margiis thought of having our own jagrti or ashram in Jamalpur.

Therefore all the Margiis collectively placed their proposal before Baba and He kindly gave His approval. Some enthusiastic brothers even prepared a plan of construction.