Margiis
Practitioners who meditate and live by the sixteen points while keeping their jobs and families. Every margii takes part in the weekly group meditation, Dharmacakra.
How the Movement Works
Today, you should remember that Ananda Marga is not limited to a handful of honest and intellectual people. Rather, it is trying to rally thousands of people under the banner of one sublime ideology.
One organization from the village to the global center. Every level has the same departments and the same rules, written by Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti himself in Caryácarya. Here is who is in it, how it is divided, and who leads it.
The people behind the work
Most people in Ananda Marga live a family life and practice at home; some teach; some give their whole life to the work as monks and nuns. Each of these ways has its place in the structure.
LFTs
Local full-timers: margiis who give a period of their life to full-time work in their own area or country, without monastic vows.
Ácáryas
Teachers who give initiation into meditation, always free of charge. Most are monks and nuns (avadhútas and avadhútikás) who have taken vows of renunciation and work wherever they are posted; family people can become ácáryas too. All pass the same training and an examination before a board.
How we work geographically
Every country belongs to a sector, and every sector is divided down to the village. Each level has its secretary, and the lower levels have committees elected by local members.
- 01CenterThe global headquarters
- 02SectorThe world is divided into nine sectors, each named after a key city: Delhi, Manila, Hong Kong, Suva, New York, Georgetown, Berlin, Qahira and Nairobi.
- 03RegionUsually one country
- 04DioceseA state, province or large city
- 05DistrictBhukti: a district
- 06BlockUpabhukti, a group of panchayats
- 07PanchayatA group of villages
- 08VillageThe smallest level
- UnitUnder every level sits the unit: at least five practitioners with a committee of at least three, registered with the center. Its margiis meet every week for Dharmacakra, practice together and run service projects together. For most margiis, the unit is the organization.
How plans become action
A plan made at the center reaches a village through the same chain everywhere.
- 01
The center
The General Secretary, the structural head of the organization, passes a plan to the department it concerns.
- 02
The department
Its secretaries carry the plan down through the sector, the region, the diocese and the district.
- 03
The local board
Where it has been formed, a board of three to seven margiis, not monks or nuns, serving three-year terms (ACB), turns it into a local program.
- 04
Work on the ground
The units and their volunteers carry it out: a date, a place and people for every task.
For example, a decision to open more children’s homes goes from the General Secretary to the education and relief department, down to a district, where the local board chooses the town, the building and the people.
Departments of Ananda Marga
The structure is designed so that every department works at every level, from the village to the center; in practice many places have only some of them so far. Where a department works, its secretary answers to two people: the general secretary of that level and the head of the same department above.
Running the organization
The offices that keep the whole structure working.
- General Administration
- Finance
- Dharma Pracár — propagation and discipline
- ISMUB — inspection, seminars and follow-up
- Social Security — cooperatives for food, cloth and credit
- Law
Education, relief and welfare (ERAWS)
The largest department: schools, relief and care.
- Education: AMSAI (nursery to university), AMJAS (free or nominal fees), AMPES (adult literacy)
- Gurukul — a network of neohumanist schools and universities, founded by Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti in September 1990
- Relief: children’s homes, AMURT (disaster relief), AMUPRESO (permanent relief)
- Medical
- Tribal and Backward People’s Welfare (TBPW)
- Master Units — self-sufficient model communities
- PCAP — prevention of cruelty to animals and plants
- EMS, Ek Manava Samaj — “One Human Society”
Women’s Welfare (WWD)
Run by women, for the all-round development of women.
- WWD (general)
- AMURTEL — relief run by women
- Girls Volunteers (GV)
- HPMGL — women’s kiirtan circles
- Nari Abhyudaya
- PWSA
- GP
Land and economy
Work that makes the mission self-sufficient.
- Land
- Construction — buildings and jagrtis
- Farm and FARPRO (farm products)
- Industry and INPRO (its products)
- Commerce and AMUS (a store at no profit, no loss)
- Food and Care — canteens and homes
- Energy
- Resources
Society and culture
Family life, the social code, artists and thinkers.
- Society Building — family life and the social code
- Renaissance Universal (RU) — a forum for intellectuals
- RAWA — Renaissance Artists and Writers Association
Outreach
How the ideas and the work reach the public.
- Public Relations
- Publication
- Press and Printing
Wings under the General Secretary
Four bodies beside the departments, with their own names, sections and guidebooks.
- Proutist Universal (PU) — the PROUT movement: federations of workers, students, intellectuals, farmers and youth, and the regional samaj movements
- Seva Dharma Mission (SDM) — founded in 1964; spreads the ideology and runs the training centers for monks and nuns
- Ananda Seva Dal (ASD) — the volunteer corps: Volunteers’ Social Service (VSS), Vahini and the Spiritualists’ Sports and Adventures Club (SSAC)
- Seva Dal — each department’s own team of volunteers, from AMURT and Food and Care to Industry and the Master Units
The structure, level by level
The rules for the central bodies were written by Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti himself in Ananda Marga Caryácarya. This is how they work.
Purodhá Pramukha
The spiritual and institutional head, elected for life by the purodhás. Chairs the Central Purodhá Board, whose decision is final in any serious dispute.
The boards: the teachers and their discipline
Purodhá Board
Chaired by the Purodhá Pramukha; three more members, five-year terms.
Ácárya Board
Eight members elected by the ácáryas.
Táttvika Board
Twelve members elected by the táttvikas.
Avadhúta Board
Four members elected by the monks and nuns.
Appeals: Táttvika Board → Ácárya Board → Purodhá Board. Board decisions go to the Purodhá Pramukha for approval.
The administration: the work of the organization
Central Committee
Fifteen to sixty purodhás elected by the purodhás; the Purodhá Pramukha is its president ex officio. Beside it sit the central finance and planning committees.
Central Executive Committee
Formed by the president (usually the Purodhá Pramukha) to run the work day to day.
General Secretary
The structural head: every sector and every department reports to this office.
Leading the Efforts
Purodhá Pramukha since 2008
Ácárya Vishvadevananda Avadhuta
The Purodhá Pramukha is the spiritual and institutional head of Ananda Marga, elected for life by the purodhás. He chairs the Central Purodhá Board, whose decision is final in any serious dispute, and is president ex officio of the Central Committee.
He succeeded Ácárya Shraddhananda Avadhuta, Purodhá Pramukha from 1990 to 2008.
A few terms explained
People and roles
- Margii
- A practitioner of Ananda Marga.
- Ácárya
- A teacher who gives initiation into meditation: a family person, or a monk or nun.
- Avadhúta and avadhútiká
- A monk and a nun of the order who have taken formal vows of renunciation.
- Whole-timer (WT)
- A monk or nun who has dedicated their life to the mission.
- LFT and LPT
- Local full-timer and local part-timer: margiis who work for the organization in their area, without monastic vows.
- Táttvika
- A margii trained in the philosophy. The Táttvika Board approves the Marga’s literature.
- Purodhá
- A senior ácárya qualified to give the higher lessons of meditation.
- Purodhá Pramukha
- The spiritual and institutional head of Ananda Marga, elected for life by the purodhás.
Levels and places
- Sector
- One of nine parts of the world, each named after a key city.
- Diocese
- A state, province or large city within a region.
- Bhukti and upabhukti
- A district and a block, the levels below the diocese.
- Panchayat
- A group of villages.
- Unit
- At least five practitioners meeting weekly, with a committee of at least three.
- Jagrti
- An Ananda Marga center: a house for meditation and meetings.
- Master unit
- A self-sufficient model community on at least five acres, with a farm, a school and service.
Bodies and practice
- CEC
- Central Executive Committee: formed by the president to run the work day to day.
- ACB
- Advisory committee and working board: the small team of margiis behind a department, meant to exist at every level.
- ISMUB
- Inspection, Seminar, Movement, Utilization and Board: the way the work is kept going in system and in speed.
- Dharma Pracár
- Spreading the teaching; also the department that keeps the discipline of the organization.
- Dharmacakra
- The weekly group meditation every margii attends.
- Sixteen Points
- The daily guidelines of conduct.
- Caryácarya
- Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti’s book of social rules, conduct and the structure of the organization (from 1956).
Departments and wings
- ERAWS
- Education, Relief and Welfare Section: the largest department, founded in 1963.
- AMSAI
- Ananda Marga Special Academic Institutions: schools from nursery to university.
- AMJAS
- Ananda Marga Jagrti Schools: schools for poorer families, free or for nominal fees.
- AMPES
- Ananda Marga Peoples’ Schools: adult literacy.
- Gurukul
- The network of neohumanist schools and universities Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti founded in 1990.
- AMURT and AMURTEL
- Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team, for disaster relief; AMURTEL is its team run by women.
- AMUPRESO
- Ananda Marga Universal Permanent Relief Society: long-term relief.
- TBPW
- Tribal and Backward People’s Welfare.
- PCAP
- Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Plants.
- EMS
- Ek Manava Samaj, “One Human Society”: work for universalism.
- WWD
- Women’s Welfare Department, run by women.
- FARPRO and INPRO
- Farm products and industrial products: the trading arms of the Farm and Industry departments.
- AMUS
- Ananda Marga Universal Store, run on a no-profit, no-loss basis.
- RU and RAWA
- Renaissance Universal, a forum for intellectuals, and its Renaissance Artists and Writers Association.
- PU
- Proutist Universal: the PROUT movement and its federations.
- SDM
- Seva Dharma Mission: spreads the ideology and runs the training centers for monks and nuns.
- VSS and ASD
- Volunteers’ Social Service, the volunteer corps, part of Ananda Seva Dal (ASD).
"They will have to keep especially strict vigilance on unity and order. Do not allow distinctions to crop up among Ananda Margiis. Unity should be maintained even at the risk of one’s life."