Ananda Marga – A Revolution
P.R. Sarkar
1957, Jamalpur
Ananda Marga is a revolution. It is not only a spiritual revolution, but also an economic, social and mental revolution. The economic system, the social structure, the trend of thinking and the spiritual practices prescribed in Ananda Marga are not only new, but something quite different from the established ideas and practices in these spheres of life.
Ananda Marga is not a change merely due to the cycle of time, but a revolution – a radical change – in the true sense. Never before in the entire history of this world, or the universe, if that could be known to mortals, has a system of life embracing the economic, social, mental and spiritual spheres been correlated in a closely-knit society, as it has in Ananda Marga. In Ananda Marga a [sannyásii, a renunciant] is as good a member of society as an ordinary family person earning his or her own living and maintaining his or her family.
If we take each one of these important spheres of life separately as depicted in Ananda Marga, we will see how they are radically different from all existing ideas on the subjects.
Economic System
Ever since the beginning of this world, the power to rule has been in the hands of one class or another.
In the beginning of the world, when it was inhabited by animals only, mere brute force determined the capacity of a class to rule. For example, we find in the natural history of the world a period when enormous reptiles, the dinosaurs, ruled the world with the help of sheer weight and brute force.
The rule of brute force did not end with the animals, but continued even in the age of earlier human beings. Even after the advent of civilization, in the early stages the knights, rajas, kings and maharajas depended on and ruled with the help of their physical strength. Every other faculty on the earth was subordinate to physical strength.
With the passage of time, as mental faculties developed, physical force was replaced by the mental capacities of planning, forethought, etc., as the essential requirements of ruling over others.
With further economic development, money became important. The possession of money could even secure the use of the knowledge of the learned, and the courage and strength of the brave. Hence the authority to rule passed on to the moneyed class, the capitalists. The capitalists could not retain the authority to rule for very long as their income depended on the workers.
The toilers, who had neither courage and strength, nor highly-developed mental faculties, nor money, had to depend on one of the above three classes for their maintenance. The classes with physical strength or mental faculties could do without the help of the toilers, and as long as their rule lasted the toilers did not realize their importance. The capitalists could not produce wealth without the help of the workers; the worker thus became an essential requirement of the ruler.
The workers did not fail to realize this, and consequently we find their attempts to rule manifest in the shape of the communist movement of the present age. A close study of this movement will show that it is not backed by individual physical strength, mental development, that is, reasoning or statesmanship, or capital, but by a unity of workers who have only one quality, that is, to work. This quality of work can be directed towards violence for snatching away the capital and the other attainments of the other classes. But whatever their drawbacks, the cycle of events shows that power is passing into their hands.
Similarly, if Ananda Marga were only a development due to the cycle of events, the power to rule, according to it, should be vested in one of the classes. If the workers or communists have outlived their utility, power, according to the ordinary cycle, should pass to the brave or to the statesmen, and Ananda Marga should have also aimed at this. In Ananda Marga this is not so. Ananda Marga does not follow any of the old patterns of economic life. The power to rule is not bestowed on any one class. In fact, in the Marga there are no separate classes. The Marga has done away with the age-old system of classifying human beings according to their trade or even their capacity.
The four classes which have ruled the world at one time or another are not of recent origin, but have been known ever since the beginning of humanity as bráhmańas [or vipras], kśatriyas, vaeshyas and shúdras. These trade-wise classifications developed due to individuals being more suited for a certain type of work. The classes so formed started the fight for power and for their own comforts, and thus came the existence of one class ruling the rest. It would thus appear that the formation of trade-wise classes was a natural and logical development.
If that were so, how, then, would Ananda Marga be able to establish a classless society? Ananda Marga does not claim any achievement which is illogical, and hence a classless society, which would be illogical, cannot be achieved by Ananda Marga. The natural and obvious conclusion of those who do not know Ananda Marga will be that Ananda Marga is like many other societies of idealists and moralists who aim to establish a classless society. The attempt to establish a classless society by Ananda Marga is not confined only to those who are preachers of the Marga, or to those who understand the philosophy of the Marga and appreciate the necessity of a classless society; rather, every member of Ananda Marga practises a system of living which leads to a classless society.
The revolutionary character of the Marga is seen from the very approach it takes to tackle one of the oldest vices of human beings: the vice of dividing themselves into classes for their own benefit. These artificial classes get logical backing from the fact that they have sprung up from the grouping together of persons of similar aptitude for the better utilization of their capacities. For instance, the learned and the statesmen combined together and formed the class of vipras. Similarly, the strong and the brave formed what is called the kśatriyas. The vaeshyas and the shúdras were formed in a similar way. Ananda Marga breaks all these classes, not by calling them bad, but by making all the members of Ananda Marga practise and develop the qualities of all these classes. For instance, the developed mind required by vipras is necessary for every member of Ananda Marga. Even if one is a shúdra or a vaeshya, or a member of any other class, every person, after joining the Marga, has to work to have a developed and strong mind. Every person has to work to build a strong and healthy body. Every person has to work for a living. This has been given so much importance in the Marga that it is laid down that the work of a sweeper – the lowest form of work – is far more respectable than depending upon others for one's daily needs. Not only has earning money and having a balanced and dependable economic life been given importance, but even the lowest of all these classes, in whom people usually do not see any good, has been given equal importance. Every member of the Marga has to serve others physically. This is the work of the shúdras, or the workers. Followers of the Marga cannot develop themselves completely unless they can also perform this work efficiently. In short, all the requirements of the four classes have to be mastered by each individual in Ananda Marga.
It is not only the mastery of these trades which is necessary, the regular practice of these trades is an essential duty of every member of Ananda Marga. Every individual thus becomes universally fit. One makes as good a vipra as a shúdra. Thus, no scope is left for an individual to leave others behind and form a special group.
A classless society is not aimed at in the Marga, but is evolved by practice. This approach, to break a society full of classes and sects, was never thought of before. The very classes which appeared as a logical development and evolution can be broken up by an even more logical method to form only one classless society.
Ananda Marga is, therefore, not an organization of idealists or moralists who preach a classless society, but a method – a system or a dharma – which leads to a classless society. It has not been formed as a result of cyclic changes in the economic sphere of the world like the evolution of communism, rather it is a radical departure from all existing economic practices or theories conceived so far. It is a revolution in the economic sphere of the world's life.
Social Structure
In the social sphere, too, both the means and the end adopted in Ananda Marga are revolutionary. They show a change which had never been conceived of before – a change which is not a cyclic change due to the development of the social habits of human beings. It is a change based on the fundamental characteristics of the human mind, and hence it is a change which will last as long as the human mind lasts.
Human beings, from time immemorial, have been framing laws and rules to govern themselves so that the fundamental rights of each individual are secured and all the members of society can live peacefully. Such laws have been framed from time to time by the ruling class, and every such law clearly shows that the ruling class has framed the laws keeping their own interests as the uppermost consideration in their minds. For instance, in the Manusmrti, the text of laws framed by Manu, it is stated that if a Brahman boy marries a Shúdra girl, he is to be punished by shaving his head and taking him around the town seated on the back of a donkey, while the punishment for a Shúdra boy marrying a Brahman girl is death. These laws were accepted only as long as Brahman supremacy remained, and started being questioned the moment Brahman supremacy was removed.
Since Brahman supremacy there have been numerous lawgivers, and all of them have framed laws and rules to suit their own convenience. Some have placed allegiance to the king as the supreme duty of every member of society, others have placed the country or the state above the sovereign, while others have considered their religion most important. There is no one common bond in any of the numerous societies to keep all of them together. The laws for ensuring security are framed so as to provide security of varying degrees to members of the different strata of society, such as the difference [in degree of security provided] between the Brahmans and the Shúdras or that between the white Americans and the black Americans. Such laws, lacking a common bond, cannot lead to the existence of a peaceful and everlasting society. Unfortunately, so far all lawgivers have done this, and the resulting society has been full of unrest.
The approach to tackle the problem of developing an everlasting society is revolutionary itself. The persons who are to build the society of Ananda Marga are not mere idealists and moralists. They are a group of classless, casteless, practical persons who do not only preach and meditate on the principles of classlessness, but actually practise them so as to be fit to be a member of any of the classes of the world, based on the individual capacities of human beings. With this background, they are bound together by the common bond of accepting Brahma [the Supreme Entity] as their common and foremost ideal. The ideal is everlasting, and equally important for any class of persons.
The social laws of the Marga do not only make no distinction between one person and another, but ensure that both sexes have to share equal responsibility in life. All social superstitions, such as discrimination against widows, etc., are discarded. Not only are these superstitions discarded, but the fundamental principles of some of the existing laws of society, such as allegiance to the laws of society and state, take only second place, that is, after allegiance to Brahma. Capital punishment,(1) such as outcasting, or restricting widows or women in general from taking part in certain social functions, do not find any place in our society.
Ananda Marga forms a society in which laws have been framed always keeping in view the common ideal, and thereby developing the idea of the oneness of all humanity. This society is radically different from any existing society, for it provides a society with a common bond where there is no distinction, whether of class or sex, where no one can be outcast or punished so that one may not be incapable of reforming oneself, and where no laws are framed keeping in view the interest of a few individuals only. In such a society, no one would be weak or downtrodden, and no one would allow oneself to be exploited by others. Such a society had been dreamt of and spoken of earlier by moralists and idealists, but never before has a practical approach to achieve it – as has been discovered by Ananda Marga by producing people who combine all the qualities of the different economic classes of the world in one individual – been conceived of by any of the numerous thinkers or lawgivers of the world.
Trend of Thinking
If Ananda Marga is a revolution in the economic and social spheres, it is a greater revolution in the mental and spiritual spheres.
All [Indian] philosophers and thinkers so far have declared the visible world to be unreal when compared to themselves. Ananda Marga takes a radically different view. According to the philosophy of the Marga, the world is as real as one's knowledge of one's own existence. At first it is difficult to imagine how far-reaching the effects of this radical change in the trend of thought can be. This approach not only gives the world the importance of human beings, but also makes the existence of the world essential. The world, or any worldly activity, is just as good a manifestation of the Supreme Being as human beings themselves. Hence Ananda Marga does not preach running away from the world, but makes it an essential requirement for every individual to be in the world. The idea of giving the world equal importance is a revolutionary idea.
Ananda Marga makes no distinction between a family person and a sannyásii. It needed the courage of a revolutionary to say so.
Spiritual Practices
All the religions of the world, whether present or past, have placed restrictions on the persons who are entitled to spiritual practices. In the Hindu religion also such restrictions are numerous. In almost all other religions there are restrictions as well. Ananda Marga has no such restrictions.
There is no need for a person to be a sannyásii to learn spiritual practices which so far had never been taught to family people. Ananda Marga places no restrictions on the members of a particular class, caste or sex for learning spiritual practices. The removal of such restrictions is a revolution. Never before had it been conceived that a family person, living with his or her family and earning a living, could achieve the ultimate goal, but the revolution of Ananda Marga has made it possible.
Everything we see is a manifestation of the Supreme Being, and so every work connected with It should be done with as much efficiency as the worship in other religions. Brahma is omnipresent, and one need not go to the Himalayas to find Him. The idea that whatever we do, see, hear or feel is Brahma, is a unique idea. Such a philosophy is a revolution, and is radically different from the philosophies evolved by the great thinkers of the world so far.
Ananda Marga is radically different from all concepts of philosophy, economics or social thinking. It is not a change which has evolved as a result of the evolution of the human mind and its economic and social environments; it is a revolutionary concept of life altogether different from any of the present or past ideas. It is a change which is independent of the cyclic changes resulting from the passage of time. It does not preach or practise anything which is not new in both approach and practice. It is a revolution which makes life a reality and teaches adjustment in life, rather than giving up the world and leading a useless, secluded life. It prepares human beings who are fit for every walk of life, who do not make any distinction among their fellow beings, and who are joined together as a complete, big one. In Ananda Marga all humanity, nay, all living beings, jiiva mátra, combine together in every walk of life as they sing:
Saḿgacchadhvaḿ saḿvadadhvaḿ saḿ vo manáḿsi jánatám;
Devábhágaḿ yathápúrve saḿjánáná upásate.
Samánii va áku'tih samáná hrdayánivah;
Samánamastu vo mano yathá vah susahásati.
[Let us move together, let us radiate the same thought-wave, let
us come to know our minds together,
Let us share our wealth without differentiation, like sages of the
past, so that all may enjoy the universe.
Let our aspirations be united, let our hearts be inseparable,
Let our minds be as one mind, so that we live in harmony and
become one with the Supreme.]
P.R. Sarkar
1957, Jamalpur
Ananda Marga is a revolution. It is not only a spiritual revolution, but also an economic, social and mental revolution. The economic system, the social structure, the trend of thinking and the spiritual practices prescribed in Ananda Marga are not only new, but something quite different from the established ideas and practices in these spheres of life.
Ananda Marga is not a change merely due to the cycle of time, but a revolution – a radical change – in the true sense. Never before in the entire history of this world, or the universe, if that could be known to mortals, has a system of life embracing the economic, social, mental and spiritual spheres been correlated in a closely-knit society, as it has in Ananda Marga. In Ananda Marga a [sannyásii, a renunciant] is as good a member of society as an ordinary family person earning his or her own living and maintaining his or her family.
If we take each one of these important spheres of life separately as depicted in Ananda Marga, we will see how they are radically different from all existing ideas on the subjects.
Economic System
Ever since the beginning of this world, the power to rule has been in the hands of one class or another.
In the beginning of the world, when it was inhabited by animals only, mere brute force determined the capacity of a class to rule. For example, we find in the natural history of the world a period when enormous reptiles, the dinosaurs, ruled the world with the help of sheer weight and brute force.
The rule of brute force did not end with the animals, but continued even in the age of earlier human beings. Even after the advent of civilization, in the early stages the knights, rajas, kings and maharajas depended on and ruled with the help of their physical strength. Every other faculty on the earth was subordinate to physical strength.
With the passage of time, as mental faculties developed, physical force was replaced by the mental capacities of planning, forethought, etc., as the essential requirements of ruling over others.
With further economic development, money became important. The possession of money could even secure the use of the knowledge of the learned, and the courage and strength of the brave. Hence the authority to rule passed on to the moneyed class, the capitalists. The capitalists could not retain the authority to rule for very long as their income depended on the workers.
The toilers, who had neither courage and strength, nor highly-developed mental faculties, nor money, had to depend on one of the above three classes for their maintenance. The classes with physical strength or mental faculties could do without the help of the toilers, and as long as their rule lasted the toilers did not realize their importance. The capitalists could not produce wealth without the help of the workers; the worker thus became an essential requirement of the ruler.
The workers did not fail to realize this, and consequently we find their attempts to rule manifest in the shape of the communist movement of the present age. A close study of this movement will show that it is not backed by individual physical strength, mental development, that is, reasoning or statesmanship, or capital, but by a unity of workers who have only one quality, that is, to work. This quality of work can be directed towards violence for snatching away the capital and the other attainments of the other classes. But whatever their drawbacks, the cycle of events shows that power is passing into their hands.
Similarly, if Ananda Marga were only a development due to the cycle of events, the power to rule, according to it, should be vested in one of the classes. If the workers or communists have outlived their utility, power, according to the ordinary cycle, should pass to the brave or to the statesmen, and Ananda Marga should have also aimed at this. In Ananda Marga this is not so. Ananda Marga does not follow any of the old patterns of economic life. The power to rule is not bestowed on any one class. In fact, in the Marga there are no separate classes. The Marga has done away with the age-old system of classifying human beings according to their trade or even their capacity.
The four classes which have ruled the world at one time or another are not of recent origin, but have been known ever since the beginning of humanity as bráhmańas [or vipras], kśatriyas, vaeshyas and shúdras. These trade-wise classifications developed due to individuals being more suited for a certain type of work. The classes so formed started the fight for power and for their own comforts, and thus came the existence of one class ruling the rest. It would thus appear that the formation of trade-wise classes was a natural and logical development.
If that were so, how, then, would Ananda Marga be able to establish a classless society? Ananda Marga does not claim any achievement which is illogical, and hence a classless society, which would be illogical, cannot be achieved by Ananda Marga. The natural and obvious conclusion of those who do not know Ananda Marga will be that Ananda Marga is like many other societies of idealists and moralists who aim to establish a classless society. The attempt to establish a classless society by Ananda Marga is not confined only to those who are preachers of the Marga, or to those who understand the philosophy of the Marga and appreciate the necessity of a classless society; rather, every member of Ananda Marga practises a system of living which leads to a classless society.
The revolutionary character of the Marga is seen from the very approach it takes to tackle one of the oldest vices of human beings: the vice of dividing themselves into classes for their own benefit. These artificial classes get logical backing from the fact that they have sprung up from the grouping together of persons of similar aptitude for the better utilization of their capacities. For instance, the learned and the statesmen combined together and formed the class of vipras. Similarly, the strong and the brave formed what is called the kśatriyas. The vaeshyas and the shúdras were formed in a similar way. Ananda Marga breaks all these classes, not by calling them bad, but by making all the members of Ananda Marga practise and develop the qualities of all these classes. For instance, the developed mind required by vipras is necessary for every member of Ananda Marga. Even if one is a shúdra or a vaeshya, or a member of any other class, every person, after joining the Marga, has to work to have a developed and strong mind. Every person has to work to build a strong and healthy body. Every person has to work for a living. This has been given so much importance in the Marga that it is laid down that the work of a sweeper – the lowest form of work – is far more respectable than depending upon others for one's daily needs. Not only has earning money and having a balanced and dependable economic life been given importance, but even the lowest of all these classes, in whom people usually do not see any good, has been given equal importance. Every member of the Marga has to serve others physically. This is the work of the shúdras, or the workers. Followers of the Marga cannot develop themselves completely unless they can also perform this work efficiently. In short, all the requirements of the four classes have to be mastered by each individual in Ananda Marga.
It is not only the mastery of these trades which is necessary, the regular practice of these trades is an essential duty of every member of Ananda Marga. Every individual thus becomes universally fit. One makes as good a vipra as a shúdra. Thus, no scope is left for an individual to leave others behind and form a special group.
A classless society is not aimed at in the Marga, but is evolved by practice. This approach, to break a society full of classes and sects, was never thought of before. The very classes which appeared as a logical development and evolution can be broken up by an even more logical method to form only one classless society.
Ananda Marga is, therefore, not an organization of idealists or moralists who preach a classless society, but a method – a system or a dharma – which leads to a classless society. It has not been formed as a result of cyclic changes in the economic sphere of the world like the evolution of communism, rather it is a radical departure from all existing economic practices or theories conceived so far. It is a revolution in the economic sphere of the world's life.
Social Structure
In the social sphere, too, both the means and the end adopted in Ananda Marga are revolutionary. They show a change which had never been conceived of before – a change which is not a cyclic change due to the development of the social habits of human beings. It is a change based on the fundamental characteristics of the human mind, and hence it is a change which will last as long as the human mind lasts.
Human beings, from time immemorial, have been framing laws and rules to govern themselves so that the fundamental rights of each individual are secured and all the members of society can live peacefully. Such laws have been framed from time to time by the ruling class, and every such law clearly shows that the ruling class has framed the laws keeping their own interests as the uppermost consideration in their minds. For instance, in the Manusmrti, the text of laws framed by Manu, it is stated that if a Brahman boy marries a Shúdra girl, he is to be punished by shaving his head and taking him around the town seated on the back of a donkey, while the punishment for a Shúdra boy marrying a Brahman girl is death. These laws were accepted only as long as Brahman supremacy remained, and started being questioned the moment Brahman supremacy was removed.
Since Brahman supremacy there have been numerous lawgivers, and all of them have framed laws and rules to suit their own convenience. Some have placed allegiance to the king as the supreme duty of every member of society, others have placed the country or the state above the sovereign, while others have considered their religion most important. There is no one common bond in any of the numerous societies to keep all of them together. The laws for ensuring security are framed so as to provide security of varying degrees to members of the different strata of society, such as the difference [in degree of security provided] between the Brahmans and the Shúdras or that between the white Americans and the black Americans. Such laws, lacking a common bond, cannot lead to the existence of a peaceful and everlasting society. Unfortunately, so far all lawgivers have done this, and the resulting society has been full of unrest.
The approach to tackle the problem of developing an everlasting society is revolutionary itself. The persons who are to build the society of Ananda Marga are not mere idealists and moralists. They are a group of classless, casteless, practical persons who do not only preach and meditate on the principles of classlessness, but actually practise them so as to be fit to be a member of any of the classes of the world, based on the individual capacities of human beings. With this background, they are bound together by the common bond of accepting Brahma [the Supreme Entity] as their common and foremost ideal. The ideal is everlasting, and equally important for any class of persons.
The social laws of the Marga do not only make no distinction between one person and another, but ensure that both sexes have to share equal responsibility in life. All social superstitions, such as discrimination against widows, etc., are discarded. Not only are these superstitions discarded, but the fundamental principles of some of the existing laws of society, such as allegiance to the laws of society and state, take only second place, that is, after allegiance to Brahma. Capital punishment,(1) such as outcasting, or restricting widows or women in general from taking part in certain social functions, do not find any place in our society.
Ananda Marga forms a society in which laws have been framed always keeping in view the common ideal, and thereby developing the idea of the oneness of all humanity. This society is radically different from any existing society, for it provides a society with a common bond where there is no distinction, whether of class or sex, where no one can be outcast or punished so that one may not be incapable of reforming oneself, and where no laws are framed keeping in view the interest of a few individuals only. In such a society, no one would be weak or downtrodden, and no one would allow oneself to be exploited by others. Such a society had been dreamt of and spoken of earlier by moralists and idealists, but never before has a practical approach to achieve it – as has been discovered by Ananda Marga by producing people who combine all the qualities of the different economic classes of the world in one individual – been conceived of by any of the numerous thinkers or lawgivers of the world.
Trend of Thinking
If Ananda Marga is a revolution in the economic and social spheres, it is a greater revolution in the mental and spiritual spheres.
All [Indian] philosophers and thinkers so far have declared the visible world to be unreal when compared to themselves. Ananda Marga takes a radically different view. According to the philosophy of the Marga, the world is as real as one's knowledge of one's own existence. At first it is difficult to imagine how far-reaching the effects of this radical change in the trend of thought can be. This approach not only gives the world the importance of human beings, but also makes the existence of the world essential. The world, or any worldly activity, is just as good a manifestation of the Supreme Being as human beings themselves. Hence Ananda Marga does not preach running away from the world, but makes it an essential requirement for every individual to be in the world. The idea of giving the world equal importance is a revolutionary idea.
Ananda Marga makes no distinction between a family person and a sannyásii. It needed the courage of a revolutionary to say so.
Spiritual Practices
All the religions of the world, whether present or past, have placed restrictions on the persons who are entitled to spiritual practices. In the Hindu religion also such restrictions are numerous. In almost all other religions there are restrictions as well. Ananda Marga has no such restrictions.
There is no need for a person to be a sannyásii to learn spiritual practices which so far had never been taught to family people. Ananda Marga places no restrictions on the members of a particular class, caste or sex for learning spiritual practices. The removal of such restrictions is a revolution. Never before had it been conceived that a family person, living with his or her family and earning a living, could achieve the ultimate goal, but the revolution of Ananda Marga has made it possible.
Everything we see is a manifestation of the Supreme Being, and so every work connected with It should be done with as much efficiency as the worship in other religions. Brahma is omnipresent, and one need not go to the Himalayas to find Him. The idea that whatever we do, see, hear or feel is Brahma, is a unique idea. Such a philosophy is a revolution, and is radically different from the philosophies evolved by the great thinkers of the world so far.
Ananda Marga is radically different from all concepts of philosophy, economics or social thinking. It is not a change which has evolved as a result of the evolution of the human mind and its economic and social environments; it is a revolutionary concept of life altogether different from any of the present or past ideas. It is a change which is independent of the cyclic changes resulting from the passage of time. It does not preach or practise anything which is not new in both approach and practice. It is a revolution which makes life a reality and teaches adjustment in life, rather than giving up the world and leading a useless, secluded life. It prepares human beings who are fit for every walk of life, who do not make any distinction among their fellow beings, and who are joined together as a complete, big one. In Ananda Marga all humanity, nay, all living beings, jiiva mátra, combine together in every walk of life as they sing:
Saḿgacchadhvaḿ saḿvadadhvaḿ saḿ vo manáḿsi jánatám;
Devábhágaḿ yathápúrve saḿjánáná upásate.
Samánii va áku'tih samáná hrdayánivah;
Samánamastu vo mano yathá vah susahásati.
[Let us move together, let us radiate the same thought-wave, let
us come to know our minds together,
Let us share our wealth without differentiation, like sages of the
past, so that all may enjoy the universe.
Let our aspirations be united, let our hearts be inseparable,
Let our minds be as one mind, so that we live in harmony and
become one with the Supreme.]
