BIOPSYCHOLOGY OF SPIRITUAL PRACTICES:
Science Behind the Sixteen Points of Ananda Marga Spiritual Practices
Reaction vs. Response
The human body reacts with the environment and the person in this body
responds to it. Reaction and response are quite different. For instance a
scorching sun might justify you in running for the shade but will not deter
a person on a mission. That is to say that person's response is not merely
the reaction of his or her body machine to the transitory physico-chemical
conditions that the person encounters. S/He has rather used the environment
for self actualisation and expressive behaviour. For example, a person does
not remain confined to a cave to protect this body machine from any hostile
environmental conditions. In this regard, human beings went on to invent
means to overcome environmental conditions so that people can continue to
march on the path of progress and not merely submit to their physical
preservation.
Human life is thus the outcome of the interplay between three separate
classes of determinants, namely: the lasting and universal characteristics
of a human being's nature, which are inscribed in his or her flesh and bone;
the ephemeral conditions which a human being encounters at a given moment;
and last but not least, a person's ability to choose between alternatives
and to decide upon a course of action. The words are paraphrased from Rene
Dubos' award winning book entitled Man Adapting.
How a person responds or reacts will depend on the universality in their
nature, their capacity to rationalise and the impact of their culture and
civilization on their thoughts, words and actions. When the universality of
their nature prevails, the person responds to the needs of the masses
because then his or her nature is laced with universal love. That person's
rationality follows the dictates of this love and only that part of the
person's environment impacts upon him or her that accelerates the expression
of this love. Such a person is a Universal Human Being.
In contrast, when the impression of a person's immediate environment
overpowers his or her lasting or higher nature and the person's rationality
serves more the immediate physical or sensory aspects of his or her culture
and civilization, that person reacts to his or her transitory needs - this
is very much a limited outlook of the masses. Indeed, such a person may be
noble, popular and exceptional but is not actually universalistic. His or
her deeds may even be potentially divisive and dangerous for the development
of a universal human society, e.g. nationalistic sentiment would be
considered higher than universalistic or even global sentiment, so that the
limited nationalistic complex and dogma of that person's thoughts, words and
actions creates social disparities on the global level.
A Universal Human Bing is not only noble and exceptional - he or she is
deeply spiritual and all-loving. He or she is the embodiment of love itself.
That person not only possesses the true knowledge of the intricacies of
human mind and body; but also delivers the means to untangle them.
Many great personalities of the past have either reacted or responded to the
needs of the masses. Buddha reacted to disease, death and suffering. He
underwent rigorous self-discipline to attain Nirvana and formulated, to some
extent, a reactionary philosophy of liberation from sufferings. It can be
considered reactionary in relation to that part of the philosophy that says
life starts with suffering. A philosophy that realizes life is for
universal love would accept suffering to establish that ideal if suffering
was necessary, but would not consider life to be merely suffering. Karl
Marx reacted to the exploitation of labour in British industries during the
Industrial Revolution and socialism/communism emerged that died its own
quick death. Similarly, religions arose out of reactions to various kinds of
exploitations and led to crusades and military expansionism that have
coloured the pages of human history.
On the other hand spiritual personalities such as Shiva and Krsna responded
to the needs of humanity in general. Shiva observed that the human psyche
was poorly developed in the general masses. It was too primitive to
comprehend the essence of spiritual practices let alone to practice them. So
accordingly, Shiva began to establish the spiritual culture in his time. He
also observed that the root cause of people's undeveloped psyche was lack of
parental love that they received in their formative years, a legacy of an
absence of the institution of marriage and family unit. Accordingly, he
gave rules and a code of ethical or moral conduct to elevate the then
society. At the time, men used to mate and wander off leaving women behind
to rear children. Shiva institutionalised marriage so that parents shared
the responsibilities of growing children. The love and affection they
received made their mind grow in magnitude and manifested many potentials
that had remained dormant until then.
In terms of bio-psychology, a well-developed lymphatic system with adequate
lymph is indispensable for the proper growth of mind. Jumping aids and
enhances the growth of the lymphatic system, and this was first realized by
Shiva. Hence, Shiva introduced the dance called Tandava that invigorates
body and mind by increasing the circulation and formation of lymph.
Similarly for the proper expression of aesthetic and supra-aesthetic mental
potentialities a well-balanced hormonal system is essential. Shiva invented
mudras (gestures) and nrtyas (dances) that influence the glands that secrete
hormones. Above all, he introduced tantra sadhana (spiritual practices) with
an ability to transform our total existence. Thus he gave a kick-start to
the psycho-spiritual evolution of humanity. This constitutes a response, an
act of universal love from a universal personality.
Krsna observed that the political disunity and social fragmentation of the
time were creating many dogmas in philosophies and a vacuum in common
values. He restored social harmony by promoting the principles of devotion
or bhakti. He proclaimed that the universal elements in human nature could
be nurtured only by fostering devotion for the Infinite Consciousness.
The events that he masterminded proved beyond any doubt that once devotion
is aroused in the human heart, a common philosophy and common values
spontaneously emerge and social change becomes inevitable. Thus, like Shiva,
Krsna also focused on the universal elements in human nature.
In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries once again we find a human race
desperate and disillusioned, destitute and downtrodden, marred by divisive
and destructive mentalities. The cry of the human heart once again
culminated in the advent of a Shiva and Krsna like personality - Shrii Shrii
Anandamurtiji. Anandamurtiji stated that human problems result from lack of
basic necessities for all on the physical level and lack of an enlightened
or liberated intellect on the psychic level where the ever-increasing mental
occupations of human beings occurs in a framework of limited psychic
dimensions.
Take for example the modern techno-society that has highly organised the
routine of life but has made the human being servile and mechanical. It has
given one's external life uniformity and mechanical accuracy to a remarkable
degree of perfection but it has also impoverished that part of life that
springs from a human being's innermost nature. Even then the technological
society is limited to a minority in this world, with the vast majority
forming the have-nots who cannot meet the basic minimum necessities. In
nearly all cases, however, the mind is crowded with pseudo needs and pseudo
cultural or populist wants that are so temporary that as soon as they are
attained they are immediately exhausted, and from that the person become
depressed and addicted to a want of more and more sensory gratifications or
mere psychic pleasures. External order has led to internal chaos and
external progress to internal regression. Scientific and technological
refinements have led to moral depravity. Atom bombs are used for
exterminating defenseless people rather than any useful end.
These paradoxes and contradictions are the consequence of stagnation and
lack of growth in the psychic dimensions, while the occupations of the human
mind continue to grow at an accelerated speed. As a result of the limited
psychic dimensions, the ever-growing mental occupations or psychic pabula
consume the mental stuff or ectoplasm of human beings for the gratification
of their physical greed and sense pleasure. That is, the mind is not being
elevated but is inclined to relative or transitory wants - all of which come
and go. Nor is the expression of any cosmic play seen in the physical
dimension. All is seen as short-sightedness.
This has certain bio-psychological consequences. There is a change in the
hormonal balance as the hormones required for physical pleasure are not the
same, as those required for the growth in psychic dimensions. There is no
proper harmony. Consequently, there is also a readjustment in the
production and distribution of lymph as mind inclines towards physical
greed. Lymph, according to the yogis, is the mother of all hormones. It is
also the precursor of ectoplasm (or subtle mental faculty) and therefore,
affects the mind and its dimensions. Ectoplasm gives mental faculty but
endoplasm gives unit "I" feeling. Endoplasm is the outer coverage of
ectoplasm.
A scientific means is required to heal the human body and mind. Thus,
Anandamurtiji declared that the lack of ethics or morality, loss of human
purpose and impoverished inner life of human beings that we see today need
to be overcome. It is rooted in a person's failure to increase the
dimensions of his or her thinking and in its bio-psychological consequences.
Anandamurtiji responded to the need of humankind by inventing a set of
practices that not only alter the human biology but also expand the
dimension of human thinking. Like Shiva and Krsna, he also focused on the
universal aspect of human nature.
These practices are instilled in 16 points. It takes a universal mind to
spring a universal approach for universal welfare. This only can be called
and related to the response of universal love. History will testify to this.
An attempt at a bio-psychological explanation of the set of spiritual
practices that came to be known as "The Sixteen Points" is necessary. Shrii
Shrii Anandamurtiji has put them together for the lasting welfare of all.
They are worthy of exploration, and this is what will follow.
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