A rain of grace

Chiba, Japan. A good number of Margis, Dadas and Didis participated today in a program for about seventy-five handicapped people. This time we had a special experience seemingly orchestrated by Baba Himself.

All of the disabled people were wheelchair dependents. Along with volunteers from other service groups, we went by trains and buses to a bunch of greenhouses full of bright strawberry plants, where we enjoyed picking and eating. After that we moved to a park for our picnic. The Margis were in charge of the entertainment.

Maheshvara of Denmark is a professional clown and dancer. He had the whole congregation laughing, until it began drizzling.

It looked like the picnic and our fun would get spoiled. At that point, everyone started moving toward the shelters — everyone, that is, except Maheshvara. He laughingly scolded the crowd for having little faith in the will of the Supreme Being.

“Come back! Come back, and be brave! It is our Cosmic Father’s duty to inhale this rain and keep our feast alive. He doesn’t dare fail us, or else we’ll stop believing in Him!” Hearing his words, the crowd hesitated, and mumbled among themselves.

A few started returning to the field — and then all came back. Maheshvara shouted, “C’mon, Baba. Show your stuff!” As he continued with his show, the light drizzle also continued, but soon ceased.

For two hours we remained there, laughing, eating, singing and playing music together. All that time the sky was dark. From time to time a few more drops fell.

The program finished and we all filed into the buses. As we drove away, the drizzle again started. Windshield wipers washed back and forth at their slowest speed.

The buses arrived at the train station. It took a few minutes to push all the wheelchairs inside the station building. Exactly the moment when the last chair came under the overhanging, the sky burst open. The very noise of the downpour was overwhelming.

All of us stood there safely under the roof, gaping at the scene. Surely not a single one among us doubted that we had witnessed a show of Cosmic grace.

The unsuppressable living tiger

Calcutta. Today is the 10-year anniversary of Baba’s release from jail. Dada Vijayananda gave a talk explaining a little of Ananda Marga’s history up to the time of His release. Here are my notes from this talk:

From 1955 to 1961 there were few rules in the organization. All the acharyas were family men and women. The work had only a little speed—not great speed. Nevertheless, B.M. Malik of the Central Bureau of Investigation wrote in his book, “I was instructed by Nehru to be vigilant on two organizations and on a particular man. The organizations were the Communist Party and the Jan Sangh. And the man was P.R. Sarkar.” That was in 1955, at Ananda Marga’s inception.

In 1961 the first training center was opened. The speed began to accelerate. The first avadhuta was initiated on 19th May, 1963—Baba’s birthday. At that time the trishula (three-pronged pitch-fork of Shiva) was carried by avadhutas, and only later was the lathi (fighting stick) introduced.

In the early years, I asked Baba if He would have Ananda Marga do service activities or not. He said, “Wait. All will come.” Then, at the 1963 DMC, Baba took some tattered pieces of paper from His pocket. It was the Ananda Marga blueprint He had written at the age of sixteen (twenty-six years before). From that paper He declared the beginning of the Education Relief and Welfare Section (ERAWS). Then He said, “Do something.” But for six months, no one had any clear idea what to do. At that time, Baba’s mother did not want Him to write at night, so He had to write in secret by flashlight. In that way He wrote the ERAWS guidebook. Then we understood what to do. Accordingly,

ton 1st January 1964, the first two grammar schools were opened in J amalpur and Ananda Nagar. Over the years, Ananda Marga started more than 1500 schools. But that first opening ceremony in Jamalpur was simply performed in the presence of the Service Department vol-unteers, one mother, two students and one snake. Due to the snake, the next day they brought cots for sleeping.

On 5th March 1967, came the attack on Ananda Nagar during which five of our workers were killed. After that, the Communists started a strong vilification campaign against Ananda Marga. They told the Hindus that Ananda Marga was from East Bengal, and was a Moslem organization. They told the Moslems that

Ananda Margis were fanatic Hindus. They told the tribals that Ananda Marga had come to take their land. They killed goats and pigs to show that Ananda Margis ate meat. But young people understood our vitality. Two years later,

eighteen of our opponents were put in jail for culpability in the Ananda Nagar incident. From that point many began to understand that Ananda Marga was very strong.

Mr Roy and three other important barristers made an alliance against Ananda Marga. They sent many letters to Indira Gandhi to poison Ananda Marga’s reputation. They stressed, “This man P.R. Sarkar is dangerous, knows many things and can do much mischief. He is building a powerful organization. So no time should be wasted in striking against him. Yet remember, if you want to make a case against Ananda Marga, you must be very careful, because the Margis always find the loopholes.”

On 29th December 1971, eighteen charges and six murder cases were filed against Ananda Marga. The following points were highlighted:

1. Ananda Margis believe in violence.

2. The source of their funds is doubtful.

3. Ananda Marga has connection with the American CIA.

4. Ananda Margis are not morally honest.

All eighteen charges were dismissed from the court, and the six murder cases remained. Ultimately we were exonerated on all those cases in 1978.

Baba’s fast lasted five years, three months and two days. During long stretches of that time He took only orange juice twice daily; and during much of the time, during the so-called Emergency rule of martial law. He took only water. After martial law ended. He took two cups of curd water daily.

The then prison superintendent told me, “Baba is too extraordinary. Napoleon could be tackled in jail, but this living tiger cannot be dealt with.” Baba gave all the jail officials a hot time, demanding that they perform their duties properly. The top prison official came to see Baba, thinking that it might be his only chance to see this great yogi. Baba covered Himself fully with a cloth, so the officer was not even able to see Baba’s face. Baba charged him, “You are the Jail Magistrate who received my letter, but you took no step on my complaint.” The official was embarrassed. Then Baba started calling him names like “filth, swine, rubbish fellow” and so on. The man became so angry he had to rush outside, breathing heavily.

When announcement of the life-sentence verdict against Baba was given. He was on a stretcher. He simply smiled and said. “Now the tables will soon turn.” One month after that, Indira Gandhi decided to hold general elections. It was her greatest misjudgment. A convulsion moved throughout the country because so many poor, innocent people had suffered under martial law. Especially terrible was Sainjay Gandhi’s program of forced sterilization of sixteen year old slum boys. Mrs Gandhi’s opposition, the Janata Party, received the vast majority of the vote. Late that night, Mrs Gandhi called her three top military chiefs, and ordered them to continue the Emergency. But they recog¬ nized what consequences could follow, and refused to comply.

On 3rd August 1978 at 6:00 a.m., all the offices and shops within six to seven kilometers of the Bankipur Jail in Patna were closed. About 7000 Margis arrived the previous night, and were joined by another 10,000. This sea of people clogged the streets for two kilometers. At 1:10 p.m. Baba was brought out on a stretcher. His weight had dropped from 72 kilograms to 46 kilograms. He had also performed a yogi’s feat of suspended animation. The usual yogi who lives on air does not move at all. Excepting a stretch of eight days. Baba did not restrict His movements—though for one year He did not speak, and only wrote on a board. After His release. He remained four months in a wheelchair; His ankles and knees were too weak to provide support.