Ananda Marga
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Stories and Quotes

Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti smiling among disciples, a boy and a bearded man beside him, mountains behind
You are never alone or helpless. The force that guides the stars, guides you too.

His disciples called him Bábá. Here are the things they saw him do and heard him say, each told by someone who was there, and below them his own words.

Stories

  • Across the world · 1979 · Switzerland

    On the road to Fiesch

    After landing in Geneva in 1979, Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti set off by car for Fiesch with two Swiss disciples. He had been awake for thirty-three hours and asked to stop to meditate; a smoky café proved unsuitable, so he meditated in the car. Afterwards, finding that the Swiss knew little about their own valley, he described its irrigation, farming and animal care, explained why local cows lack the hump of Indian cattle, and talked about Swiss grape-growing.

    After His meditation, Bábá's mood became happy and alert. After asking the two Swiss brothers about this valley and finding they had little knowledge of the local area, Bábá began to tell them about the agriculture and farming. He explained in very much detail the irrigation systems used, the farming techniques and the particulars of local animal care.

    — Bodiishvara (ed. Ác. Subuddhyananda Avt.), Divine Love: European Experiences with Shrii Shrii Anandamurti

  • Across the world · 1979 · Amsterdam

    A language for the whole world

    At Amsterdam airport Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti walked the long corridors and climbed the stairs rather than use moving walkways. Waiting for the plane, he had a young monk sit beside him, who asked whether he would create a world language, and whether Esperanto was any use. A language for all citizens of the globe would one day be constituted, Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti said. Esperanto was well meant but rooted mainly in European languages; the new common language would draw on both Western and Eastern languages, Sanskrit among them.

    While waiting for our plane, Bábá told me to sit next to Him. We discussed several subjects. One of these concerned some hearsay about which I had wondered. “Bábá, is it true that You will make a world language in the future?” “A language suitable for all citizens of this globe will one day be constituted,” He said.

    — Dada Dharmavedananda, Travels with the Mystic Master

  • Across the world · 1979 · Taiwan

    Fifty Sanskrit sounds at the airport

    On the day Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar left Taiwan, two young disciples reached the airport early and found him sitting alone near the airline counter. They knelt beside him. When they asked him to come again, he said he had come once; next time they should come to him in India. Later, as others gathered round, he began to talk about Sanskrit and recited its fifty sounds. One of them, who held the party's tickets, was so absorbed that he almost forgot to hand them over.

    After a while, the Márgiis gradually arrived and gathered round Bábá, but we were still the closest to Him. I don't know why, but at one point Bábá started to talk about Sanskrit and He recited the fifty Sanskrit sounds. The vibration was so strong I felt stunned.

    — Sanjaya, A Garland of Lights: Bábá's Love for Taiwan

  • Across the world · 1979 · Berlin

    His stick pointed at the Berlin Wall

    After the gathering in the Swiss Alps in 1979, Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti toured Germany. One of his walks in Berlin took him to the wall that divided the city. Seeing it, he asked why a wall should stand between people of the same background. He raised his walking stick, pointed it at the wall, and said that one day people would break it down and the two German peoples it divided would become one. Ten years later the wall fell.

    When Bábá saw the Wall HE said, "Why there was a wall standing between the humans having the same back ground". Bábá raised HIS stick and pointed it towards the wall. Bábá said that one day people would break this wall and the two German groups which this wall was dividing would become one.

    — Ácárya Savitánanda Avadhúta, Bábá Ánandamúrtijii: The Lord of Lords

  • Across the world · 1979 · Kingston

    Walks in Jamaica

    Because Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti could not get a visa for the United States, a gathering was arranged in Jamaica so that American disciples could meet him. He stayed in a local disciple's home and gave talks at a cooperative hotel on a mountaintop. On his walks he spoke about the Caribbean islands, their cultures and plants, explained that Jamaicans are a blend of British, Spanish, Indian and African peoples, and traced how labourers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal had come by sea and settled there.

    Bábá flew into Kingston, Jamaica from Iceland via London. Many márgiis received personal contact (PC) with Bábá in Jamaica. Bábá was staying in the home of brother Brigudesh and would give darshans at the employee-owned cooperative hotel on top of a mountain. During the Field Walks, Bábá talked about the Carribean islands, their culture, plants, and the potential role of Jamaica.

    — Ácárya Shambhúshivánanda Avadhúta, Towards a Brighter Future

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Quotes

  • What is then the most precious thing in human life? It is devotion. If one has gotten devotion, one has gotten everything, and nothing remains unrealized.

  • Life is a spiritual sádhaná and the result of this sádhaná is to be offered at the altar of the Supreme.

  • Since the Supreme Father is with me, why should I be afraid of anyone? Why should I fear at all? There is no reason to be fearful. I have to move forward. Fearfulness is not my duty. Let the fear fear me, I will not fear.

  • You have no right to hate even a single living creature. The best you can do is only to serve.

  • Human society is one and indivisible, don’t try to divide it. Each and every individual should be looked upon as the manifestation of the Cosmic Entity.

  • Struggle is the essence of life. Yours should be a pauseless struggle against corruption, hypocrisy and animality.

  • Don’t compare life to a pool of muddy, stagnant water. Life resembles an ever-flowing spring.

  • Knowing oneself is the real knowledge; serving all with the ideation of Náráyańa, the real action, and the vow to please Parama Puruśa the real devotion.

  • You all know that Parama Puruśa is very close to you. He is so near that nothing can be nearer.

  • Morality is the foundation of Sádhaná (spiritual practice). It must, however, be remembered that morality or good conduct is not the culminating point of the spiritual march.

  • Do all your works unitedly. No work is hard for you, no work is difficult. Move forward easily and smilingly, solving all the problems of the world. Your victory is assured.

  • Remember that your service does not oblige the Supreme, rather you are obliged because you have such a chance to serve the Supreme in the form of living beings.

  • All the beings of this universe are the kith and kin of one another. No one is despicable. All are equally respectable and entitled to equal love and affection.

  • We must not forget, even for a single moment, that the entire animate world is a vast joint family. Nature has not assigned any portion of this property to any particular individual.

  • The most valuable treasures on the path of human progress are honesty, simplicity and spiritedness.

  • Book knowledge that cannot be utilized in life has no value.

  • The devotional sentiment is the highest and most valuable treasure of humanity.

  • The goal of sádhaná [spiritual practice] is the all-round elevation of human beings. Spiritual practices do not teach renunciation of the world, they teach only the proper utilization of the subtle and crude potentialities.

  • Everywhere you are with Parama Puruśa, and never in this universe, nowhere in this universe, are you alone. So you are never helpless.

  • If you want to please a mother, simply serve her children and the mother will be pleased.

  • Why should the love and affection of developed human minds be restricted to human beings only? Why should it not include all living beings, including plant life?

  • Social life must take morality as its starting point – it must take inspiration from morality.

  • As long as people sleep, their fortune also sleeps. When they awake and think to rise up, their fortune also begins to awaken. The moment they sit up, their fortune also rises; and as soon as they start moving, their fortune also advances.

  • In my opinion, real education means proper, adequate knowledge and the power of understanding. In other words, education should impart an awareness of who I am and what I ought to do.

  • Your only qualification is that you are the affectionate progeny of the Supreme Progenitor. You are His object of affection. Even if you forget Him He won’t forget you.

  • Persistent endeavour and practical cult are essential to reach the goal. Hence, in sádhaná one should remember two essential factors: constant awareness of one’s goal, and persistent endeavour to attain that goal.

  • Every jiiva, every living being, is the child of Immortality. You have been born in eternity and you are moving towards immortality. Therefore there is no need to be afraid, despondent, or sorry in any condition.

  • Forget whatever you were in the past, or whatever you did in the past, and from this auspicious moment on dedicate yourself to the service of humanity.

  • This love should include all plants, birds, animals etc., because everything has life, everything has feeling. We should think that others feel as I feel, and this feeling should include plants, animals and inanimate objects.

  • If one person rolls in affluence, in most cases others will be deprived of even their minimum requirements. The failure to recognize the needs of others is itself a disease.

  • You should live such a benevolent life and do such glorious deeds that when you leave this world, smiles will blossom on your face while the people mourn your departure with copious tears.

  • Educated are those who have learnt much, remembered much and made use of their learning in practical life.

  • To love Parama Puruśa and the creation is the only Dharma of spiritual aspirants.

  • The mind has infinite potentialities and controlling these infinite potentialities is sádhaná.

  • The Father’s love is for all, so nobody is helpless. Nobody is shelterless. And nobody’s future is sealed forever.

  • The entire human society is anxiously waiting for you, for your service. You will have to shoulder a great responsibility for the suffering humanity.

  • The universe does not consist only of humans; other animals, other creatures, other plants, also have the right to live.

  • With the very extinction of honesty, civilization too will not survive; the long sádhaná of the human race will go in vain, and all intellectual achievements will become meaningless.

  • It is the youth, and the youth only, who have the vigour to bring about the necessary change.

  • Modern, educated people must be liberated from all sources of dogma and petty isms. They should reject the worn out shackles of the past and welcome the new, crimson dawn with an open mind.

  • If you think that He is near, then He is not only near, He is more near. He is much closer than you can ever imagine.

  • Remember that victory does not come by itself. Victory has to be invited and welcomed with sweat, the warmth of the blood and the fiery flames of hard labour.

  • You have achieved the human frame. You must make it meaningful by your sádhaná, service and sacrifice.

  • Where animality ends, humanity begins, where humanity ends, divinity begins.

  • Where there is no logic, where there is no support of intellectuality, where there is no debate and free discussion, but there is only a severe imposition forcing people to accept something, there is dogma.

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