YATAMA'NA -- 2

official source: Ma'nasa'dhya'tmika Sa'dhana'r Staravinya's [Stages of Psycho-
	Spiritual Sa'dhana']

cross-references: also published in Ananda Marga Philosophy in a Nutshell Part 5

this version: is the printed Ananda Marga Philosophy in a Nutshell Part 5, 1st 
	edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., 
	this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition.

	While explaining yatama'na I said that it is one of the four stages of human progress. I further explained that the different stages of human progress are concerned with the three strata of life: physical, psychic and spiritual. I also said that unless human intellect is liberated, human beings cannot attain substantial progress in the material sphere.

	The physical bondages which keep people confined to gross physicality and deny the fullest expression of human genius are called a'dhibhaotik (material or physical bondages). The endeavour to liberate oneself from these physical bondages becomes meaningless if freedom from psychic bondages (a'dhidaevik) is not attained. There are three types of bondages--physical, psychic and spiritual. Permanent liberation from these three bondages is called parama'rtha; and temporary liberation from them is called artha. Bondages such as hunger, thirst, clothes, accommodation, medical treatment, etc. which are related to this quinquelemental world, are physical in nature. That which brings temporary relief from these bondages is called artha. Suppose someone is hungry--if he has money he can go and buy some food. In this case money is the medium whereby he attains temporary relief from the bondage of hunger. Hence money is called artha in Sam'skrta because it brings temporary freedom from bondage. Human beings must continue their efforts to attain artha if they have not yet attained parama'rtha. Those who teach human beings that everything in this world is false obviously do not see themselves as unreal. They propagate such misleading teachings to exploit the masses to further their own selfish interests. Of course, I don't say that everyone is doing that, but I must point out that some religious and intellectual leaders have badly cheated their fellow human beings. I repeat again that what I say does not apply to all. I declare in unambiguous terms that people will have to continue their mundane efforts to attain artha until they attain parama'rtha. We have tried, we are trying, and will try in the future to do just that.

	Yatama'na should be applied in the attainment of parama'rtha. But at present it is being utilized for gaining artha. If you go one step below this you will find that it is not even being used for attaining artha because the intellect which lies at the root of yatama'na cannot function independently. We sometimes say in colloquial Bengali, "He has even taken out a mortgage on his pig tail". Thus, even the intellect is in bondage and one has lost the power and capacity to think independently. Such an intellect can be likened to a bird used to soaring high the open sky which is suddenly confined to a tiny cage. If one opens the door of the cage the bird will think, "I'm quite comfortable here. Why should I risk flying in the vast blue sky? After all, I get all the water and bird seed I want inside my little cage."

	In the physical and psychic spheres people have been wrongly taught to avoid the attainment of parama'rtha. Even in the mundane sphere they do not get sufficient opportunity to stand on their own legs. The constant drumming into their ears that they have no right to do this and that has moulded their minds in such a negative way that they are unable to utilize any opportunity which comes their way.

	In the social sphere (which comes under the scope of a'dhibhaotic) the same thing is happening. For ages together simple innocent people have been taught that they belong to a low caste. If one asks them to sit in a chair they will reply, "No, I'm fine here on the floor". Even though the mind gets an opportunity to become independent, it cannot function freely. Just as that little bird kept confined to a cage develops rheumatism in its wings, the human mind, due to constant negative thoughts, gets paralyzed. It is not the so-called upper castes only who are to blame--the lower castes have passively accepted this sad plight like the caged bird, and have sometimes even encouraged it. This is a shame, a matter of immense regret.

	Bra'hman'o'sya mukhama'siit va'hu ra'janyo'bhavat
	madhya tadasya yadva'eshyah padbhya'm' shu'dra aja'yata.

	Even the Supreme Entity, that formless omnipresent Parama Brahma who equally belongs to all, who is the light of all light, the dearest and nearest One, is also denied. It has been said in the above sloka that the vipras, the intellectuals, have been born out of the mouth of Brahma; the valorous warriors (ks'attriyas) have emerged out of His hands; the commercial class (vaeshyas) out of His thighs; and the labourers (shu'dras) out of his feet.

	If this were true, I would say that the shu'dras are the greatest because everyone longs to touch the feet of Parama Parus'a. As the shu'dras are born out of His holy, divine feet, they must certainly be the most adorable. So if the entire caste system has to be accepted then the shu'dras should be respected as the highest caste. And if you are reluctant to accept that anyone should belong to the highest, then all are equal. Due to this totally absurd dogma people have been paralyzed mentally.

	It should be understood that if people want temporary or permanent relief in the socio-economic sphere, and permanent relief (parama'rtha) in the psycho-economic sphere, they should first liberate the intellect. If one attains socio-economic freedom one may or may not attain psycho-economic freedom. By socio-economic freedom it means that all members of the society are equal in the social and economic spheres. It is as if one is providing a cow with a full belly of fodder on one hand, and on the other hand one is extracting maximum labor from the cow. This analogy illustrates that the cow has been granted socio-economic liberty.

	But simply by guaranteeing freedom in the socio-economic sphere that does not necessarily mean that there will be liberty in the psycho-economic sphere. That is, one has not granted full freedom of thought. In a word one guarantees ample supplies of food but denies intellectual liberty.

	When psycho-economic freedom is granted, people enjoy material wealth as well as freedom of thought. But in order to attain true freedom in the psycho-economic sphere one must attain the liberation of intellect, which is subtler than psycho-economic freedom. Without intellectual liberation yatama'na will become meaningless in the intellectual sphere, just as it will be ineffective in the physical sphere, and one will be unable to do the noble tasks which are usually performed with help of intellect. The fundamental necessity of the intellectual world is intellectual freedom, which you are lacking.

	Those who exploit human beings to serve their own self interests do not want socio-economic freedom to be granted to them. That's why they continue their psycho-economic exploitation in such a way that people do not clamour for socio-economic freedom. They do not directly exploit the people in the social or economic spheres, but in the psycho-economic sphere, and then so intelligently that people are totally unaware of it, and hence are unable to develop their 'yatama'na' outlook properly. Moreover, the exploited masses are also unable to develop economically because the exploiters control the economy in a subtle way.

	However, a day comes when some intelligent people emerge from the exploited mass having detected the exploiters' techniques to dupe the people, even though the media is controlled. At this stage the exploiters become active intellectually to prevent the germination of the seed of liberation. They take control of the education system, the printing presses, and propaganda agencies in a last and desperate attempt to raise high embankments to contain the surging tide of public discontent. But soon after comes the day of change when the viks'udha shu'dras rise up in revolt and the high sand embankments get washed away by the floods of revolution.

	After this the masses make an independent appraisal of the type of socio-psycho-economic exploitation to which they were subjected. Before the revolution they may have discussed social injustice in private amongst themselves, but if they had tried to propagate their discontent publicly their tongues would have been cut.

	To control the masses in the psychic sphere a fear complex was forcibly injected into their minds. Religious leaders openly preached, 'Binu bhai hoi no' pirit"--Devotion cannot be aroused without an element of fear. That is, if you want to love Parama Parus'a you will have to fear Him also. This does not sound logical, of course. Logic says that you may fear Parama Parus'a, and you may also love Him, but that does not mean that in order to love Parama Purus'a you must fear Him. Fear and love are two different things. One must fear Parama Parus'a and at the same time one must love Him as well. But it can never to be said that there can be no love without fear. Parama Parus'a is a great administrator and so it is natural for some to fear of Him. At the same time Parama Purus'a is your nearest and dearest one. Obviously you should have profound love for Him. The opportunists of the past injected this type of dogma in the human mind to perpetrate socio-economic and psycho-economic exploitation. Of course, it was an unsuccessful attempt on their part because human beings will definitely advance; no one can check their progress.

	Hundreds of dogmas were imposed on them: "Don't do this, it is prohibited. If you do it you'll go to hell." The effect of such a statement was to inject a fear complex in people's minds. According to mythology the so-called upper castes were born from the mouth of god. It was stated that low caste people are not entitled to wear shoes on their feet or carry umbrellas over their heads in upper caste neighborhoods. The common people believe these things. They were further told that the kings are incarnations of Lord Vis'nu so their every command should be obeyed. Thus the kings also mercilessly perpetrated harsh exploitation and dictatorial rule. This is how things continued in the past.

	Women were subjected to countless impositions and restrictions, innumerable do's and don'ts. Men were free to eat and drink anything, but not women for that would be considered an act of sin on their part. Strangely, women calmly accepted these injustices. Women were not allowed to be educated so that they could not protest against these illogical impositions. Mr. Drinkwater Bethun's attempts to spread education among the women of Bengal met with violent protests from a group of selfish people. They argued that if the women were imparted western education, they would all degenerate and end up in hell. And if they went to hell, who would do the housekeeping? A zealous poet wrote:

	A'geka'r sab meyegulo chila bhalo dharmakarma karto sab'e.
	Eka' Bethun esei shes' kareche a'r ki ta'der teman pa'be,
	A.B.C. shikh'e bibi seje biliti bol kabei kabe.

	Women of the past were good since they followed religious observances. But 
	Mr. Bethun alone has harmed them immensely. Their ways are changed now: 
	they have learnt the ABC, dressed themselves in European clothes, and 
	started speaking English too!

	If someone speaks English, what is the harm? Moreover, the effect of education on women has been quite good--100% good. And yet the attempt to educate them was opposed. Why? The reason was that the intellectual exploitation of women was perpetrated without any opposition. Obviously, if they remained illiterate they could easily be exploited in the socio- and psycho-economic spheres of life. In the absence of education, women would remain ineffective, immobile living pieces of baggage, exploited by their male counterparts according to their sweet will. A man was permitted to marry as many as two hundred wives but a woman, even after the death of her husband, was not even permitted to remarry. Rather, the notion was injected into their minds that remarriage for a woman is sin! They were told that to remain devoted to their husbands in their present and subsequent lives was the greatest virtue. Even if a wicked husband were to go to hell after death to graze as a cow-ghost in a field, his educated, devoted wife would have to go with him (even though she was virtuous) and graze beside the cow-ghost of her wicked husband. All this had to be accepted as mandatory. These are also mischievous attempts to inject a fear complex, to spread dogma, not into the body, but into the mind to paralyze it--an attempt which is cent percent anti-human.

	Even in petty matters they resorted to dogma. For example,

"Amuker sinni kheye ye na'khay pani
Gala'y galagan'd'a hay caks'e par'e cha'ni."

(Those who do not drink water after eating the sinni of a certain deity 
will surely develop goitre in the throat and cataracts in the eyes.)

	They created a good number of deities, and around each deity emerged a powerful priestocracy. Through fear they instilled devotion in people, thus providing ample scope to perpetrate exploitation. 

	If you analyze human history in all its aspects in a new way, in a new light, you will find that attempts were made to exploit others by injecting a fear complex in their minds. Parama Purus'a is the life of your life, and obviously you will love Him, you will do sa'dhana to attain Him. Why should you be terribly afraid of Him? What a nasty psychology it was to inject the fear complex in people's mind in the name of God! And here lies the difference between religion and dharma. You will find that everywhere in religion, the fear complex has been created in human minds. For women so many rigid rules and regulations were framed so that they would respect men and stand before them in awe with folded hands. But for men, there are no such rules and regulations. For example, women were forbidden to take the names of their husbands, and the husband's elder brothers. For what reason? To make women exceedingly reverential towards their menfolk. How can it be justified that a virtuous lady, with the border of her sari wrapped around her neck, should have to lie in prostration before her immoral husband? This is absurd, meaningless!

"Shvashur bha'sur'er na'm karle adhahpa'te ja'y
Ma'ma' shvashurer na'm karle a'ligib khose ja'y."

(A woman who takes the name of her father-in-law or her husband's elder brother will degenerate. If she takes the name of her maternal uncle, she will lose her value.)

All these are examples of the injection of dogma to paralyze women's minds. Thus yatama'na becomes meaningless not only in the physical sphere, but in the psychic sphere too, due to religious bondage. It is very difficult for a woman suffering from an inferiority complex, which is a psychic ailment, to approach Parama Purus'a. She is bound to think, "I am low born. I am a woman. I have no rights. How can I go close to Parama Purus'a? How I can enter the room where Parama Purus'a lives? At the most, I can stand in one corner of the veranda." The opportunists announce that women are not entitled to salvation, and if they want to attain it will have to be reborn as men. A few years ago I declared publicly that this notion is unsocial, and totally ultravirous to humanism; and that those who utter such statements, being exploiters of women, seek to check the collective growth of humanity. You are to be vocal against these exploiters. 

	Do not tolerate injustice. This will not only harm women, or the neglected and downtrodden segment of humanity, but will cause a serious carbuncle to grow on the vast body of society. That carbuncle will be so poisonous and infectious that it will infect the entire society. Do not allow such a thing to happen under any circumstances. Now that your eyes are opened, keep following the practical path.

26 November 1980, Calcutta
Ma'nasa'dhya'tmika Sa'dhana'r Staravinya's [Stages of Psycho-Spiritual 
Sa'dhana']