Ananda Marga

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Ananda Marga ( Sanskrit , m., आनन्द मार्ग , ānanda mārga , dt .: Path of Bliss ) is a holistic and spiritual philosophy and way of life and a society and organization based on it. It was founded in India in 1955 by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (1921–1990). His spiritual name is Shrii Shrii Anandamurti (embodiment of bliss).

Philosophy and way of life

The Ananda Marga philosophy recognizes an infinite consciousness as the fundamental cause of all diversity; the essence of all physical and metaphysical appearances is unlimited consciousness. This infinite consciousness is also called Brahma . Brahma and bliss (ananda) are identical. Bliss is a state beyond the limits of the mind.

An integral part of the Ananda Marga philosophy is neohumanism , which Prabhat Sarkar describes in his book Liberation of Intellect - Neohumanism , published in 1982 . Sarkar defines neohumanism as a worldview based on universal love that promotes the liberation of the intellect from limitation (e.g., racism, religious dogmatism, and sexism) towards universal benevolence.

Socio-economic principles of the Ananda Marga philosophy were formulated by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar in 1959 and called PROUT (PROgressive Utilization Theory, German: Theory of progressive use).

The Ananda Marga way of life is based on ethical behavior. Consciously harming anyone ( ahimsa ) and benevolent truthfulness (satya) are the foundations of all spiritual and social practices of Ananda Marga. On this basis, meditation is the main practice. Through meditation and other mental and spiritual exercises, the ability to concentrate, balance, self-control, compassion, inner peace and knowledge of the deepest essence are practiced. Body and health care include a yogic (vegetarian) diet and yoga physical exercises ( asanas ).

“A state of mental equilibrium and balance is called peace. It is important to know how the state of peace is achieved and how it is disturbed. Systematic spiritual practices lead to mental equilibrium, whereas dogmatic superstition disturbs mental peace. Spiritual discipline and a relentless effort to break free of superstition are necessary to maintain mental peace.
The main goal of human life is to be free from need and suffering. Otherwise one cannot hope to find inner peace. The cessation of suffering is twofold, temporary and permanent. That which causes the temporary cessation of suffering is called artha (psycho-physical source of satisfaction). But Artha is a gross object, and so it can only bring gross and temporary satisfaction. Paramartha [spiritual fulfillment] is required to gain permanent relief from worry and suffering. Paramartha can only be attained through spiritual practices. That is why every member of Ananda Marga is encouraged to practice from the age of five. As one grows like this, one gains tremendous physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits.

Pratiik

The ananda marga method of spiritual practice does not encourage a person to give up all worldly duties. On the contrary, it teaches how to best use the physical, subtle and causal potentials in order to achieve lasting mental equilibrium and inner peace and to promote physical, mental and spiritual progress. Ananda Marga teaches a methodical and scientific system of spiritual practices. "

- Shrii Shrii Anandamurti

symbol

The symbol of Ananda Marga is called Pratiik. It consists of two equilateral triangles joined together, in the middle of which there is a rising sun and a swastika . The triangle pointed upwards symbolizes energy and service, the triangle pointed downwards symbolizes knowledge and realization. The rising sun symbolizes progress and the swastika symbolizes permanent spiritual fulfillment.

society

The Ananda Marga Society is founded on a common spiritual goal: the realization of the infinite, eternal consciousness that manifests itself in everything. Members of the Ananda Marga Society come together for weekly group meditations or dharmacakras. The society includes an order for nuns and monks who are addressed as Didis (sisters) or Dadas (brothers); Most Ananda Margis (or Margis for short) are lay people . In the Ananda Marga Society, monks, nuns and laypeople are ascribed an equal spiritual potential. They can all be spiritual teachers (acaryas) and also officials. The company is active on all continents and is most numerous in India. The Ananda Marga Society is often seen by Western writers as the New Religious Movement , although it does not belong to any religion and is not a religion. People from different religious backgrounds come together in Ananda Marga and practice universal, spiritual exercises. Members of Ananda Marga make no distinction between themselves and their fellow men; they see all living things as members of a universal family.

organization

Prabhat Sarkar called the Ananda Marga organization Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), German: Society for the spread of Ananda Marga. It was entered in the register of associations in West Bengal, India, in 1964. The organization strives to spread and implement the Ananda Marga philosophy and way of life, which is based on morality, spirituality and rationality. Through departments and sub-organizations such as B. AMURT (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team), AMURTEL, (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team Ladies), Women's Welfare Department (WWD), and Renaissance Artists and Writers Association (RAWA) provide Margi with extensive social, educational, cultural and spiritual services.

History

In 1962 a former Raja (prince) donated around 50 hectares of land to Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha in the Purulia district of West Bengal. The land was called Ananda Nagar and has served as the organization's headquarters ever since.

On March 5, 1967, an armed crowd of hundreds marched towards the Ashram (spiritual center) in Ananda Nagar. Three Ananda Marga monks and two Margiis met the crowd and were knocked down and murdered by them. An Indian court sentenced 19 people to prison for the crime.

During the state of emergency 1975–1977 , AMPS was banned by the Indira Gandhi government because of allegedly illegal political activity together with about 25 other registered associations and organizations. Over 100,000 people were detained without a trial at that time, including several thousand Margiis.

In December 1971, PR Sarkar was arrested. He was charged with conspiring to overthrow the government and inciting the murder of six former Ananda Marga monks. P. R Sarkar rejected these allegations as false and fabricated out of malicious interests.

In February 1973, the prison doctor gave Sarkar medicine, after which he passed out for several hours and became almost blind. After recovering from his strength, Sarkar requested a legal investigation into what he suspected of being poisoning. When his request was not granted, PR Sarkar began a fast that lasted from April 1973 to August 1978.

After five years of imprisonment without a trial, PR Sarkar was sentenced to life imprisonment with four co-defendants for joint abduction and accessory to murder in November 1976, that is, during an "unhindered, tyrannical government in a state of emergency". While in custody, Margiis protested around the world against the circumstances and circumstances of imprisonment. Some Margiis carried out attacks . PR Sarkar rejected these acts of violence and stated that he did not want to be freed through such acts. At the beginning of 1978 two German Ananda Marga clergymen, Didi Uma and Dada Lokesh, burned themselves to death in front of the Memorial Church in Berlin . In the summer of 1978 further self-immolations followed by a Margii sister in Switzerland and a Margii brother in Manila .

On July 4, 1978, PR Sarkar was acquitted of all charges in a new trial by the Patna Supreme Court. In the 197-page verdict, the judges described the inadequacy and unreliability of the prosecution and key witness case.

On April 30, 1982, 17 Ananda Marga monks and nuns were killed by communist cadres in broad daylight on a busy street (Bijon Setu) in Calcutta.

In September 1982 PR Sarkar began composing Prabhat Samgiita, a collection of 5018 songs.

PR Sarkar died on October 21, 1990.

The Times of India (circulation: 3.14 million), DNA (Daily News & Analysis) and other daily newspapers in India with circulation of over hundreds of thousands of published lectures by PR Sarkar on average twice a month.

literature

  • Sohail Inayatullah: Understanding Sarkar. The Indian Episteme, Macrohistory and Transformative Knowledge. Brill, Leiden / Boston / Cologne 2002, ISBN 9004-121935 .
  • Irving Hexham : Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove (IL) 2002. ISBN 0830814663

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Ananda Marga Philosophy in a nutshell, Part 1–4. First Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1988, pp. 165-168
  2. ↑ Irving Hexham: Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove (IL) 2002, p. 13, ISBN 0830814663
  3. ^ PR Sarkar: Idea and Ideology , Seventh Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1993 p. 9
  4. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Ananda Marga Philosophy in a nutshell, Part 1–4 . First Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1988, p. 260
  5. ^ PR Sarkar: Liberation of Intellect , Fourth Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1999. p. 7
  6. ^ PR Sarkar: Liberation of Intellect , Fourth Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1999. pp. 94-103
  7. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Carya Carya Part 2 , Fifth Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1998.
  8. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Carya Carya Part 1. Sixth Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 2004, pp. 9-12
  9. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Carya Carya Part 2. Fifth Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1998.
  10. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Ananda Marga Philosophy in a nutshell. Part 1–4. First Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1988, p. 275 (translated into German)
  11. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Carya Carya Part 1 , Sixth Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 2004. p. 89
  12. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Ananda Marga Philosophy in a nutshell. Part 1–4. First Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1988, p. 271
  13. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Carya Carya Part 1. Sixth Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 2004, pp. 18-20
  14. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Ananda Marga Philosophy in a nutshell. Part 1–4. First Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1988, p. 170
  15. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Carya Carya Part 1. Sixth Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 2004, p. 12.84
  16. ^ Barend van Driel, James T. Richardson: Categorization of New Religious Movements in American Print Media. In: Sociological Analysis. 49 (2), 1988, pp. 171-83, here p. 176; JSTOR 3711011 .
  17. ↑ Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Ananda Marga Philosophy in a nutshell. Part 1-4. First Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1988, pp. 165-172
  18. ^ PR Sarkar: A Few Solved Part 4th First Edition, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1988
  19. ↑ Profile on religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu ( Memento from August 29, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  20. ↑ Ac. Vijayananda Avt .: The Life and Teachings of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti. Volume 1, Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), 1994, pp. 190.170
  21. ^ Surya India. Volume 15, A. Anand, 1990
  22. ^ Robert L. Hardgrave: India under pressure. Prospects for political stability. A Westview replica edition, Westview Press, Boulder 1984, p. 58, ISBN 0865318603
  23. ^ JS Grewal: The Sikhs of the Punjab. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990, p. 214; Indian Malhotra: Indira Gandhi. A Personal and Political Biography. Hodder and Stoughton, London / Toronto 1989, p. 178
  24. ^ Dilip Ganguli: Amrita Bazar Patrika, Calcutta, India, October 16, 1976
  25. ↑ United States Congress House Committee on International Relations: Human rights in India. Hearings before the Subcommittee on International Organizations. US Govt. Print. Off. 1976
  26. ^ MC Sheppard: Report on the trial of Ananda Marga Leader Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar in Patna, India. prepared for THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS Geneva and THE INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR THE RIGHTS OF MAN New York, Montreal, Canada, August, 9, 1976
  27. ^ Dilip Ganguli: Amrita Bazar Patrika, Calcutta, India, October 16, 1976
  28. ↑ Eberhard Lungershausen: The question of the meaning of life using the example of the spread of new sects. In: Herbert Csef: Loss of meaning and finding meaning in health and illness. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1998, p. 165, ISBN 3826013530 .
  29. ↑ Honorable Justices SP Sinha and CSS Sinha: Judgment in case of PR Sarkar & appellants (section; 120; 13/302/109/302 of the Indian penal code). Patna High Court, July 4, 1978
  30. ↑ Udayan Namboodiry: Bengals Night Without End. India First Foundation, 2006, p. 55, ISBN 8189072129
  31. ^ Times of India
  32. ↑ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/spirituality/speaking-tree/The-liberation-of-intellect/articleshow/5694324.cms
  33. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives:@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / epaper.dnaindia.com