Acharya Antarang Sai (Anand Yogi)

Yog the Love of Life

D-6,1-1, Varuna CHS,Sector-6,

Nerul, Navi Mumbai-400706, India.

Tel:+91-22-56143264,9324671976,9869241743

antrangsai@yahoo.com

September 26, 2011

Nitya’nandam Paramsukhdam’

Kevalam Anandamurtim’

Vishwa’titam’ Gagana Sadrsham’

Tattvamasya’di Laks’anam’

Ekam’ Nityam’ Vimalmachalam’

Sarvadhiisa’ks’iibhutam’

Bha’va’tiitam’ Trigun’arahitam’

Sadgurum Tvam’ Nama’myaham

– Guru Gita

I convey my divine salutation to all beings present here in whose self-within is that infinite Universe, the Brahma or the Supreme Consciousness who is

The eternal bliss, the giver of infinite happiness, the only bliss incarnate.

He is beyond the universe, resembling the sky.

He is the object of thought.

He is one, eternal, ever-spotless, unmoving.

He is the witnessing counterpart of all being.

He is beyond the existential realm, devoid of the three gunas (attributes)

To That Sadguru, I prostrate in total surrender…

So, everything in this Universe, i.e. the Brahma, is the Universe, just as an atom which has the same quality as its element. Each part of the universe has the same three gunas as the whole composite universe has …

The trigunātmika (sattva, i.e. sentient, rajas, i.e. mutative, and tamas, i.e. static) Shrs’ti matrika ashesha trikona dhara makes us connected in one Brahma which says:

Brahma arupanam’ Brahmahavi

Brahmagnau Brahmanahutam’

Brahmeva ten gantavyam’

Brahma karma samadhina…

Hence, as everything in this universe is Brahma, the whole Universe is woven into one family.

Today we find people clashing in name of caste, religion and nation, only because according to the theory of evolution the majority of the humanity has not yet evolved above the level of animality. The human phase is a transition phase between animality and divinity. Still the masses are involved the basic animal instincts concerning food (ahar), fear (bhaya), sleep (nidra) and sex (maithun); as said:

Ahar nidra bhaya maithunancha samanya metadpashubhir naranam… dharmohi tesha’m dhiko visheso dharmen hina pashu bhi samana’

And, those who control this majority have not yet liberated their intellect. That is why we have a variety of philosophies, religions and schools of thought which have created separation among humanity.

A real human is one who controls his animal instincts concerning food, fear, sleep and sex, and who canalizes these energies in the direction of the divine, i.e. a craving for infinite consciousness through love, service and sacrifice for the good of humanity, and bringing self-development from mental objectivity (chitta-tattva) to non-egoism or liberated intellect, i.e. intuition (mahat-tattva).

Whenever humans enter into the divine arena of love, compassion and sacrifice, all these differences of geo-sentiment (regionalism), socio-sentiment (caste, religion) and national sentiment vanish and we will find one indivisible human society. This is always evident during calamities … and that’s why calamity brings unity.

Thus we can conclude that humanity is a transition phase from animality via humanity to divinity. Once one has evolved from the animal stage and has attained a human body one has all potentiality of divinity, even when one is born under unfavorable circumstances. This is so because it is the human body which has a bio-psychological structure to enable it to experience intuitionally a craving for higher consciousness.

When we regard the cycle of creation which evolved from the crudification of cosmic-consciousness (energy) changing into the five fundamental elements of ether, air, light, water and earth (matter), and evolving into unit-consciousness due to jadasphota (explosion of the solid factor to subsequent subtler factors due to a clash of internal and external forces) and finally rising to the level of human beings from the unicellular via multi-cellular plants and animals respectively, it is only the human – not the animal – body which carries a mind to control its basic instincts. Animals are governed by their basic instincts of food, fear, sleep and sex, but humans have the possibility to control these. We do not expect humans pouncing over food unless there is starvation, or sleeping here and there, or having sex with anyone without regard to kith and kin. We see that today’s humanity has evolved to the level that he can overcome fear and sex through love and service.

Humans have marched a long way away from the animal instincts of the early human stage. Modern man is governed by its propensities associated with his endocrine glands which cause his mental set-up, from conscious via subconscious mind to superconscious mind. So if we look at humanity of today, while on the one hand mind has entered into the arena of science, above the animal instincts, and while we are creating One Human Society, we have on the other hand too many differences as a result of the matter-centered and self-centered attitude of some people, and because of a science which is devoid of spirituality. And also, intellectuals who have not liberated themselves from the impulses of their egos have created disparity of religions, cults and nations.

But along with this evolution, since time immemorial, since thousands years back when the Veda’s were written, humanity has evolved into teachers (gurus), philosophers and social activists who have made efforts to make the universe into one family (Vasudha eva kutum’bakam). In our modern age of science, the emerging of philosophers like Karl Marx, who propounded Communism, is a very natural consequence of this thought of universalism. But Marx could not design a system that was successful in establishing that stage of humanity in which everyone is equal in the realm of intuition. So, until humanity reaches this pinnacle we will have to accept the principle of diversity as the law of nature, and not equality, i.e. Va echitram prakrt dharmam’ samanam’ na bhavisyati. Equality is attained in the world of supreme consciousness where only divine love abides. This is why communism without the establishment of spiritual values of universal brotherhood through the practice of Sadhana (intuitional practice), service and sacrifice ended as an anti-thesis.

Mahatma Gandhi introduced the philosophy of Sarvodaya, based on the concepts of science combined with spirituality. Today’s cause of the practice of monopolized trade due to the concept of intellectual property rights makes that half of humanity starves. This is because the control over science is in the hands of such persons which are devoid of God-centered spiritual values – where God means love, service, sacrifice and oneness with the universe. Mahatma Gandhi established a lifestyle with concern for the welfare of humanity until his last moment, but because he could not establish a institutionalized set-up of nurturing men who had the feeling of universalism he could not pull out the young minds which had become trapped by the influence of matter-centered western modernization. Inspired by Gandhian values, Jai Prakash Narayan in his Total Revolution tried to unite such minds through an anti-exploitation sentiment, but it did not last long enough to create a force of people because there was no such anti-British sentiment, nor movements such as led by Martin Luther King, or a call of proletarians to unite.

Men never live without sentiments, not even people with a mental set-up of a universal sentiment; but due to the absence of a movement or institution to cultivate such forces we find them settling into groups of self-centered, matter-centered and dogma-centered ideologies like the various political wings of today or currents based on religious sentiments like Shiv Sena, RSS or Jamate Islami, etc. An effort taken up by disgruntled intellectuals brought down to the level of laborers by the capitalists gave birth to socialist movements, but these again were devoid of a self-sustainable lifestyle based on human values; and the cooperatives supported by capitalists as trustees have ultimately led to movements like the World Social Forums – another mirage for the eyes of suffering humanity.

But as ideas never die, consolidating all the virtues of all the social and spiritual movements, a philosopher and prophet with the name of Shri Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar proposed a philosophy and lifestyle of universalism known as neo-humanism. In the very few years since 1955 he established a global socio-spiritual movement with global structures down to the grass root level, initiating the educational set-up known as Gurukula and a village level self-sustainable set-up known as Master Units based on intuitional practice of canalizing the human propensities from animality to humanity and finally to divinity.

Likewise Shri Shri Ravi Shankar’s movement of the Art of Living and Baba Nagraj’s concept of Jivan Vidya are yet other socio-spiritual movements towards universalism. So, like those of Mahatma Gandhi, Shri Sarkar, Shri Ravi Shankar, and Baba Nagraj the modern world has many more philosophies and movements directed towards a self-sustainable One Human Society based on universal brotherhood. Our only effort should be to unite all positive forces and we should institutionalize such movements in following two ways:

1. Establishing Universal Humanist Education starting from the village level.
2. Establishing village level self-sustainable economy.

This can be accomplished only when the people known as Universal Humanist Soldiers from following two streams:

1. Anti Exploitation Sentiment due to disgruntlement from the imperialistic exploitation, and
2. Devotional sentiment of Universal brotherhood including even love for plants, animals and the so-called non-living or inanimate creation are nurtured or cultivated at different decentralized institutions which would become a replica model having:

• Value based education on universalism
• Eco-friendly organic agriculture
• Nature-loving therapies like yoga-sadhana, ayurveda, naturopathy, sujok, acupressure, cosmic healing, etc.
• Socio-cultural community centers
• Village industrialization
• Cooperatives
• Animal and plants nurseries

So once the economy would be controlled by those who base their practice in a developed spiritual intuition as a result of the sadhana (meditation), service and sacrifice which elevates the consciousness of the practitioner, economic democracy based on universal brotherhood would be established. This is because such intuitional people, who by virtue of meditation know how life is created and always maintained in balance, realize the meaning of economics (eco + nomics i.e. dynamics of ecology). This ultimately would establish real democracy based on people’s economy and make world complete or Purna …

Purnamadah purnamidam purnad purna mudyachate

purnasya purnamadaya purna mevava sishyate….

Enclosure

Universal-Humanist Education (UHE)

Universal-Humanist Education (UHE) would be established in the name of DIKSHA PIITHA by Universal Humanist Soldiers, the ACHARYAS. Since time immemorial this concept has been prevalent in the annals of ancient and medieval India as GURUKULA. It is only in the modern era pervaded by imperialism that education with human values dwindled due the overpowering influence of materialism over spirituality.

In our modern age Mahatma Gandhi came up with the concept of such value based self-sustainable education known as Nai Talim. But in this world of global capitalism this has hardly been implemented.

Shri P.R. Sarkar, a socio-spiritual master, proposed the concept of education based on universalism involving the happy blending of occidental science and oriental spiritual philosophy – which is being implemented globally by thousands of disciples. Similarly many educational systems proposed by other spiritual masters have emphasized the concept of universalism. Very progressive among such masters is Jivan Vidya, whose ideas are propounded by Baba Nagraj.

So with reverence to Mahatma Gandhi, Shri P.R. Sarkar and Baba Nagraj among others I propose the idea of Universal-Humanist Education which seeks to redefine the human experience. Current educational practice works on a model of the individual as a single entity, bumping against the forces of the universe. Competition and the need to dominate and control are the hallmarks of this system.

Universal-Humanist Education goes beyond the vision of humanity and proposes instead that we are all beings intimately linked with the animate and inanimate fabric of the universe. So the insecurities, born of alienation and loneliness which drive our society, become meaningless.

Universal-Humanist Education unleashes infinite learning potential into our lives by expanding our understanding of ourselves and our potential. Spirituality, creativity and love are at the center of this new force.

Imagination, the power to conceive and enact wonderful dreams, brings life and energy into the lives of teachers, students and their families. And because we are no longer isolated and alone in this process, because we feel part of a universal family engaged in a universal enterprise, we seek to affirm our kinship through service to the universe.

Hence UHE focuses on the following objectives:

• To develop the full potential of a child including the physical, emotional, intellectual, creative, intuitive and spiritual capacities.
• To develop physical well-being and mental capabilities through yoga, meditation, sports, play and other activities.
• To facilitate personal growth in areas such as morality, integrity, self-confidence, self-discipline and co-operation.
• To awaken a thirst for knowledge and love of learning.
• To equip students with academic and practical skills necessary for life as well as for higher education.
• To provide self-sustainable learning through organic agriculture, waste recycling, renewable energy, low cost construction, land and water management, forestry and wildlife care.
• To develop a sense of aesthetics and appreciation of culture and to infuse the curriculum with literature, art, drama, music and dance.
• To encourage a universal outlook, free from discrimination based on religion, race, creed or sex, and to foster a respect for all cultures.
• To promote an awareness of ecology in its broadest sense – the realization of the inter-relatedness of all things – and to encourage respect, care and universal love for all.
• To apply what is learned to practical life and to encourage students to become active and responsible members of society.
• To recognize the importance of teachers and parents in setting an example.

UHE basically works on building an all-round personality of a child, which is associated with the following layers of body/mind:

1. The physical body – development through gross and small motor exercises, subtle yoga exercises and dances, and healthy diet.
2. The conscious mind – development through sensory-motor activities including practical life exercises, a stimulating environment, and ethical or pro-social training.
3. The subconscious mind – development of intellect through sensory-motor activities and use of games and fantasy (play-way method).

Three layers of the super conscious mind:

1. The creative mind (supramental) – development of self-initiative and self-expression through creative art, fantasy play and drama.
2. The intuitive mind (subliminal) – development of subtle discrimination and universal love through a Circle of Lovecurriculum and the use of stories and songs with a universal meaning.
3. The spiritual mind (causal subtle) – development through meditation (quiet time), spiritual stories and songs, subtle yogic dance.

SPIRITUALITY IN UHE

The two most important aspects of UHE are the spiritual and the ethical.

In UHE, spirituality does not refer to religious doctrines or teachings. It means the natural inclination of human beings to realize that there is something beyond this mundane existence. Sarkar said, “Proper education enables one to stand against the influence of the physical environment and awaken the psychic urge to attain a higher life, that is, the ideological goal.” The ‘ideological goal’ is to realize Universal Love.

This spiritual inclination begins as a seed within the innermost being of the child. It expresses in the child as a sense of wonder, awe, beauty, joy, spontaneity, and love for life and the world around.

To nurture this seed, UHE encourages children to be aware of their own inner spiritual feelings through the practices of meditation, or ‘quiet time’.

Morning Circle

Especially in kindergarten, meditation is part of a greater activity called “Morning Circle.” The first part of the Morning Circle or Circle Time, which consists of bringing the children together for creative movement and singing songs which are designed to let them express their tremendous store of physical energy. This serves to canalize that energy and prepares them for the quiet meditation.

Universal Humanist Teachers encourage ten universal ethical concepts. These are divided into two groups, control in relation to external objects and living beings (yama), and ethical attitude towards one’s own self-expression (niyama).

YAMA:

1. ahimsa (Non-harming) – Not to do harm to others consciously either by thought, word or action

2. satya (Benevolent Truthfulness) – Speaking with the welfare of others in mind

3. asteya (Non-stealing) – Not taking or mentally coveting what belongs to others

4. brahmacharya (Universal Love) – To see and love the Infinite Consciousness in everything around us

5. aparigraha (Simple Living) – Valuing simple life-style and not accumulating luxuries

NIYAMA:

1. shaocha (Cleanliness) – Physical and mental cleanliness

2. santosh (Mental Contentment) – Maintaining a positive outlook

3. tapah (Spirit of Service) – Developing spirit and habit of helping the needy

4. svadhyaya (Inspirational Study) – Developing the habit of regularly reading, listening to or discussing a spiritual theme

5. ishvara pranidhana (Inner self-development through self-introspection and meditation).

In Universal Humanist schools the natural development of these principles is encouraged in the children through:

• the good role model and intuitive understanding of the teacher
• teaching through stories, games, songs and drama (for older children also through moral dilemmas and role plays)
• use of positive language and creative disciplining
• reinforcement of positive behavior

In UHE schools, a teacher needs to learn to do the following things:

• develop a rapport based on mutual affection
• show respect and engender it in others
• be a role model for a child
• promote a love of learning
• be perceptive and intuitive in discovering a child’s needs and talents
• show kindness, generosity, patience, humility and selflessness
• inspire them

Hence, he/she should be an intuitional practitioner of Yog-Sadhana, Service and Sacrifice.

Cultivating these spiritual moral and ethical values amongst the devotees and people with anti-exploitation sentiments, Universal Humanist Soldiers known as Acharyas would be trained who would establish such education system through Diksha Piitha at the village level.