Ananda Marga, officially known as Ananda Marga Pracharaka Samgha (AMPS) meaning “the organization for the propagation of the path of bliss” was founded in Jamalpur, State of Bihar, India in 1955 by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (1921-1990), known by his spiritual name of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti. Ananda Marga bases its ideology on the theory that total human development can only be achieved through both personal development, and social service to the community.

The meaning of Ananda Marga is “path of bliss”, ananda meaning bliss, and marga path. Through a system of meditation techniques, yoga postures (asanas), spiritual gatherings, and social service the ananda margiis (followers of AM) strive to develop themselves as human beings, and the betterment of others.

History

Early history
The early history of P.R. Sarkar and his way towards the establishment of Ananda Marga Pracharaka Samgha is obscure and few writings can be found. There is however one account which proved to be significant in relation to Sarkars future as a spiritual leader, namely the initiation of a notorious criminal named Kalicharan.

In 1939, Sarkar left Jamalpur for Calcutta to attend Vidyasagar College of the University of Calcutta. He frequently visited the ghats along the river Ganges at night time to meditate and contemplate. At that time of day ordinary people shun the ghats because they were frequented by thieves and other petty criminals.

One night (probably in 1939 or 1940) young Sarkar was performing his meditation, when suddenly assaulted by a notorious criminal and killer, Kalicharan. Kalicharan demanded him to hand over his wallet or be killed. At that point Sarkar, who didn’t know the unknown assailant, is to have said: “Kalicharan, I promise to give you all my money, but first tell me whether you rob people out of necessity or habit?”. Kalicharan realized that he was dealing with an extraordinary person, and decided to receive initiation into meditation from Sarkar. He asked what he could call his new spiritual master, who simply replied: “call me Baba”, which became the name all his followers in the future would affectionately call him. From that time on Kalicharan changed his ways and got the spiritual name Kalikananda.

Recent history
Ananda Marga Pracharaka Samgha was officially established in 1955 in Jamalpur, Bihar, India. P.R. Sarkar was at that time working as a railway official in the Indian Railways. At that time he was a rather personal teacher having only a handful of spiritual students. However, the establishment of Ananda Marga was not always Sarkar's intention. In his book Ananda Katha [1], Acarya Nagina describes Sarkar's frustration with a world of ignorance and violence, and eventually his decision to not continue his spiritual work. After pleas from his most sincere followers, Sarkar eventually decided to form the AMPS and took a plea to lead humanity to a higher state of existence.

In 1959 the Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT) was released. Claims have been made that this put Ananda Marga at stakes with the local communist authorities.

In 1962 a monastic order was formed, where the junior monks and nuns where known as brahmacharya, and the seniors known as avadhutas, where the former are dressed in a saffron colored top and white bottom, while the seniors are dressed in full saffron robes.

In 1963 the Education, Relief, and Welfare Section (ERAWS) of Ananda Marga was formed. Schools, orphanages, and emergency relief work was being conducted under its name.

From 1975-77 Ananda Marga was banned under the state of emergency imposed by the Indian government of Indira Gandhi. Over 400 of its schools in India were closed down, and several members were imprisoned. P.R. Sarkar had been in prison since 1971, having initially been found guilty of conspiring to murder several former members of the organization (Margiis). He received a life sentence. (Barker 1989: 168)

His imprisonment led to a global campaign of protests. Margiis claimed not only that Sarkar was innocent, but that an attempt had been made to poison him in prison. There were also protests against the alleged persecution of the movement. Several Margiis burned themselves to death. (Barker 1989: 168, see also 54-5) In 1978 three Margiis were found guilty of conspiring to murder the Indian High Commissioner in London the previous year, and were sentenced to a total of 12 years. As part of their investigations, the anti-terrorist squad discovered bomb-making instructions and a copy of the "Anarchists' Cook-book" at the organization's London headquarters. Three weeks prior to the attack, one of the plotters had thrown a brick through the window of the New Bond Street office of Air India. The attached note called on Mr Moraji Desai, the Indian Prime Minister, to release Sarkar or have "blood on his hands". The initial plan was to shoot the High Commissioner in his car, but this was abandoned for security reasons. Next they decided to stab the Commission's commercial counsellor, but that failed when the would-be assassin couldn't go through with the attack. Finally one of the other plotters stabbed a junior Indian government employee in mistake for the commercial counsellor. The victim suffered a punctured lung and internal bleeding, but recovered with medical help. (See Birmingham Evening Mail, Saturday, November 4th, 1978)

That year, Sarkar's conviction was overturned on appeal. He had been fasting for five years on a diet of yoghurt, following the alleged poisoning attempt. During his stay in prison his mission spread to all continents of the world.

Before 1971 AMPS was basically an Indian organization with few workers abroad, but during Sarkar's imprisonment his workers traveled the world and established local Ananda Marga centers in more than a hundred countries. What was once a national organization was now global.

P.R. Sarkar traveled to many countries after his exoneration, and worked continuously to spread his words. In 1982 he took up composing, and till his death in 1990 he managed to compose 5018 songs, which were called Prabhat Samghiit.

In 1986 he formed the theory of microvita, small, subtle entities which were said to be the foundation of all existence. Research on the field is being conducted by the Microvita Research Institute [2], [3], but their progress and findings are still limited.

On 21st of October 1990 he entered his maha samadhi and departed his physical body.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the state of the organization has been in disarray. Internal quarreling and disagreements has led to a split. There are two fighting fractions, both Indians. One is mainly composed of Hindi speakers from Bihar, and the second Bengali speakers from Bengal. The origin of the conflict is uncertain, but one claim is that the Hindi fraction expresses inferiority compared to the Bengali fraction. The Bengali fraction is thought to have been closer to Sarkar during his life, and have held higher positions in the organization. The conflict is ongoing, and does not seem to have an early solution.

Practice

Spiritual Teachings and Practice
Ananda Marga (AM) is the practice of AMPS. Ananda Marga meaning the path of bliss. AM is based on tantra yoga, as interpreted by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti in the books "Discourses on Tantra volume 1 and 2". [12], [13]. "Tantra" meaning the liberation from darkness, the root "tan" meaning darkness, and "tra" liberation. Tantra in the popular western sense meaning sexual practices is not a part of the Ananda Marga tantra tradition. Sarkar in his book on Shiva, "Namah Shiváya Shántáya", and "Discourses on Tantra volume 1", he explains the difference between the lefthand crude tantric path, and the righthand subtle path by giving an explanation of panchamakara, also known as the 5 Ms. The practitioner of Ananda Marga tantra yoga sees the mind as a "trapped monkey" striving to escape from its cage. The tantra path is the path of the brave, because it requires the practitioner to follow strict rules as to their spiritual practice. Meditation is the main practice of this tantric tradition, and through the meditation the practitioner struggles to overcome his weaknesses and imperfections. Through daily meditations the practitioner faces his minds deepest secrets, and to proceed in the practice he must manage to overcome whatever he faces in the deepness. Because the path is considered so difficult many people stray from the path and reject the teachings afterwards.

The base Ananda Marga practice is covered in a set of rules called the sixteen points. The sixteen points guides the practitioner of the tantric path on both spiritual and social aspects.

Meditation
In the tantric tradition of Ananda Marga the spiritual aspirant is called a sadhaka, and he practices sádhaná. Sádhaná comes from the sanskrit root word sadh which means “to complete”. Sádhaná signifies the effort through which a person becomes completely realized.

In the tantric tradition the spiritual master, the guru plays a special role. The guru, or dispeler of darkness, guides and leads his students on the razor sharp path on which he follows when he decides to become a spiritual aspirant. It is also stated in the tantric tradition that the student doesn’t find the teacher, but the teacher finds the student.

When the student decides to aspire on the path of bliss he will be initiated by a qualified meditation teacher called acharya, sanskrit for teacher. An acharya is most commonly a monk or nun, but there are also a few family acharyas in the Ananda Marga tradition.

In the initiation the aspirant makes a commitment to practice meditation, and is then taught the technique itself. The aspirant is then required to keep all his practices secret and not discuss them with others.

The base Ananda Marga meditation system is called sahaja yoga, meaning easy yoga, in the sense that everyone can do the practice. The sahaja yoga system consists of 6 meditation techniques called lessons. The lessons are taught one by one, on a personal basis. There is no specific system as to when one can learn a new technique, but is rather taught on a personal basis depending on the level of interest and dedication of the student. Thus some students learn all six lessons in a year or two, while some complete all lessons in over 20 years. There is also a higher set of meditation lessons taught by Ananda Marga, but these are highly secretive, and only a select few advanced practitioners are ever taught them.

Yoga and Physical Exercises
The physical practice of Ananda Marga comprises both yoga asanas, and two specific dances, kaoshiki and tandava.

Yoga Asanas
The Ananda Marga system of yoga comprises of 42 yoga asana postures, which were specifically selected by P.R. Sarkar for their benefits. In the Ananda Marga system yoga asanas should be performed twice daily as per the following system, once in the morning, and once in the evening. After the practice a full body massage and final relaxation is performed to complete the asana practice.

Kaoshiki
Kaoshiki is a dance performed by all students, and consists of 18 mudras, each with a specific meaning. The dance is both a spiritual and physical exercise. The spiritual ideation of the dance is done to establish a link to the divine, and the physical strengthens and softens the body. There is also a claim that the exercise strengthens the nervous and endocrine system to give full body balance.

Tandava
This is a vigorous dance associated with Shiva as the cosmic dancer Nataraj. The name tandava is derived from the sanskrit word tandu, which means to jump. This dance is only performed by the male followers of Ananda Marga because of its testosterone producing effect. The dance is performed to strengthen the practitioner and dispel all fear, even fear of death itself, and therefore the dance also has an ideating factor. The dancer starts off with the two arms outstretched, the left arm with an open palm, and the right arm with a clenched fist. The dancer ideates holding a human skull in the left hand, symbolizing death, and ideates holding a knife in the right, symbolizing the fight against all fear. The dance starts with a vigorous jump and landing in a position of bent knees. Another jump follows, and the dance continues in a jumping manner lifting one leg then the other continuously. The dance is ended with a final jump.

Activities
Ananda Marga runs yoga and meditation centers, schools, orphanages, food distribution centers, disaster relief programs, medical centers, community development projects, and other service projects. Emphasis is placed on solving the problems of the local people, whatever they may be, and assisting them in managing all their personal and social resources for the prosperity of all.

Proclaimed philosophy and goals
The philosophy of Ananda Marga is one of universalism. It is a synthetic outlook, recognizing God as the one limitless supreme consciousness. This universe, having been created by God, is existing in God, and as such all created beings are God's children, part of the one universal Cosmic family. Thus we are all brothers and sisters, connected in love by the bonds of Cosmic fraternity. This universe of diversity has evolved out of unity (God), and we must continually strive to see that unity in all diversity. Thus the social outlook of Ananda Marga recognizes that the welfare of the individual is inextricably linked with the welfare of the collective, each relying on the other for its existence and dynamism. Everyone has the right to equal opportunity and as such there should be no discrimination on the basis of superficial barriers such as race, nationality and religion.

Ananda Marga advocates a world of justice, security and peace for all. To this end Ananda Marga gives a practical, rational, and systematic way of life for the balanced development of all human potentialities: physical, psychic and spiritual. It is a system that incorporates practices that are beneficial for personal and social upliftment. These range from proper hygiene and diet, to yoga postures, to a scientific technique of meditation based on morality and leading to complete peace and inner fulfillment. It recognizes that a balance is needed between the spiritual and mundane aspects of existence, and that neither one should be neglected at the expense of the other. Hence, the goal of Ananda Marga is "Self-realization and the welfare of humanity."

Ananda Marga. (2007, January 5). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:41, January 14, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ananda_Marga&oldid=98643785

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