YOGA UNITES THE UNIVERSE

By  Dr Acharya Pashupati Steven Landau MD

When I was young, about 12 years old, my mother brought me a book entitled “Yoga- the Way to Long Life and Happiness” by Desmond Dunne. (Published by William Funk Inc., New York). It fascinated me, along with books I was also reading about dinosaurs, Greek and Roman and Norse mythology, atomic energy and biographies of great men and women. In reading the book, I found it attractive to experiment with the asanas (yoga postures), the meditation, and the breathing. Especially the relaxation pose, shavasana, was interesting to me. I remember lying down on the lawn on a summer’s day, experimenting with the shavasana pose, and thinking, “This will save the world.” And after I got up, I thought, “If only people will do it.”

I was right. I since discovered that not only could yoga and meditation save my own little world, once I started doing it regularly when in college, but it had the tendency to save many other people’s little worlds as well. Further, now there are hundreds and perhaps thousands of well-documented research studies showing that these practices, and attitudes which accompany them, are helpful in relieving stress, anxiety and depression, musculoskeletal pains, asthma, seizures, and a host of other problems.

What I didn’t know at the time was that the application of these principles, together with a socio-economic approach based on them, could actually save the entire world. Based on the Vedic hymn from 10,000 years ago, Shrii Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar developed a spiritually based system of renovating and revolutionizing the world’s economies and political structures. That system is called PROUT, the Progressive Utilization Theory, “propagated for the welfare and happiness of all.” In addition, Shrii Sarkar advocated a theory called Neohumanism which is designed to balance the relation between humans and humans, along with the relations with plants, animals, and the Earth itself.

Finally, I now discover that when Shrii Sarkar, also known by the spiritual name Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, and affectionately called “Baba,” talked about serving the universe, he wasn’t kidding.

“Human beings love Parama Puruśa (The Supreme Consciousness). He loves human beings: this love is always mutual, not unilateral. So what should human beings offer to Him? He lacks nothing. When He is the creator of this entire universe, then He is the proprietor of all the wealth of the universe. So what can human beings offer Him? The only way to please Him is to serve the universe, to serve the entire living world, because everything is His creation.”

A recent biography of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti has this to say:

The following excerpt is taking from chapter 1 of the book Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Advent of a Mystery.(1) One evening in the middle of 1963, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, who was affectionately known by his disciples as Baba, was sitting on the Tiger’s Grave in a lonely field on the outskirts of Jamalpur. This local landmark was his preferred meeting place and the destination of his regular evening walks. Two newly ordained monks, Abhedananda and Vijayananda, were with him. The atmosphere was calm and serene, suffused with a feeling of blissful tranquility. Baba was gazing pensively at the sky. Then breaking the silence, he remarked, “You know, everything has a cause. Nothing that happens in this universe is accidental. My coming to this planet also has a cause. And the fact that you came with me also has a cause. My decision to come to this planet was not taken here. It was made in a far-off world. I have told you many times that life is not confined to the earth alone and that the development of life is a common occurrence in the universe. There are so many planets with life far more advanced than the human beings on this planet.” “It was on one such planet that I took the decision to go to the small planet known as the earth and to do something tangible for the all-round upliftment of the humans and other beings on that planet. So my coming here is not accidental. The fact that all of you came with me is also not without a reason. It may either be the result of an intense desire that you had while we were together on another planet or in an earlier life on this planet. You do not remember the past, but I know everything. Sitting here, I can see everything, including the planet in the sky where I took that fateful decision. One day all of you will attain mukti (liberation) or moksha (salvation). It may be in this life or the next or in any later life depending on your wish, but for me there is no mukti or moksha. I cannot wish for that. I keep travelling in various forms from planet to planet, from star to star and from galaxy to galaxy, to every nook and corner of the universe, to every place where human beings exist, to guide them along the path to liberation or salvation. For me there is no rest. I would rather say that the word ‘rest’ does not exist in my dictionary.”

So what then are we to do? It seems obvious. We are to do the practices that make us live long and be happy. We are to unite the righteous forces. All tall talks of evil forces will be silenced. And we will live happily and well on this planet and others, serving all humanity as one society, serving and providing stewardship for the plants, animals, forests and seas and mountains, and fulfilling our Destiny as God’s loving children.

(Dr Acharya Pashupati Steven Landau MD is a medical doctor, Board Certified in Family Practice in the USA. He is also a Senior Acharya and is President of AMURT (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team) in the USA. A graduate of Harvard College and Temple Medical School, he has also visited India many times and has been a welcomed speaker, medical missionary and yoga trainer at campuses, colleges and Universities throughout India as well as Haiti, Sweden, Israel, Venezuela, and the United States of America.)