Spreading light everywhere

Serving the global community

Spreading light everywhere

Serving the global community

When Indira Gandhi declared State of Emergency to get "Dictatorial Powers," she banned Ananda Marga (a spiritual movement) and all its branches all over. When this happened, the Government of India confiscated all of our buildings, meditation centers, schools, children homes, lands, farms and printing presses etc. Everything, even the training centers were closed. There was a fear of arrest in Nepal as well because Nepal and India were close friends. Well, Ananda Marga might have been banned in India but outside we were spreading like a wild fire. Many wanted to take whole timer training (people fully dedicated to service) to become monks and nuns. The real question was how to do that, now that our training centers were closed in India. I was working in Sweden though my posting was as Sectorial Secretary for Cairo and Nairobi Sectors, (Middle East, Africa, and Eastern European countries). I was a guiding worker of those sectors from Stockholm, Sweden only. I could not leave any of the Scandinavian countries due to my passport problem. I thought that since I was stationed, it would be better for me to impart whole timer training by starting a training center in Sweden or Norway. So I sent the proposal to Baba (Founder of Ananda Marga, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti) as Ananda Marga was banned in India. Baba gave His permission and sent His special blessings to start the whole timer-training centre In Sweden.

On receiving this instruction, I asked the Scandanavian margiis (followers of Ananda Marga) to look for two buildings, which I could use as a training center. One day in December 1975,1 was delivering a lecture In Upps'ala University, in a town in Sweden where a group of margiis was created. I was staying at the house of one margii there. I asked him to look for houses, which could be bought. I saw in one magazine an advertisement about an old abandoned house for sale. Previously it had been used as the folk dancing hall - it cost only ten thousand dollars ($ 10,000). I was interested in it because all the other houses cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars. So we drove straight to the south of Sweden, in Smaland to see the house.

The house was abandoned fifteen years ago. None lived in it or used it for last fifteen years. There was a big hall; a drama stage with an attached green room and in the cellar was a kitchen with cold, natural storing space. There was no electricity, no water, and no toilets. It was pretty much only a big hall that was once used for dance programs. I felt that it was best to just buy it, as we too would be using it for spiritual dancing - kiirtan (singing BABA NAM KEVALAM). So I bought the house in the name of a margii, from Uppsala who later on became a Dada. This was how the whole timer training center project was started for special blessings of Baba.

Information was sent all over the world that a whole timer-training center had started in Sweden. Many prospective trainees from all over the world expressed their interest to come and join, so I fixed a date to start training of the first batch right away. Many started to arrive in Stockholm, Sweden from all over the world, especially from America and Australia. The French brother who helped me in Laos whom I gave local full timer training also came to Sweden to become a whole timer. Later on he became a monk well known by the name Ac Rudreshvarananda Avt (Abbreviation of “Avadhuta”) who was the pioneer of Burkina Faso relief project in Africa.

I bought a second-hand car and also bought utensils, food etc. And so, in Ydrefors, Gullringen, in the South of Sweden, in the beginning of 1976 on an Amavasya (new moon), fasting day, we officially began training classes. The village hall I used to train the brothers with, but a group of sisters also arrived for training, so I rented a flat in the village for them. They were the lucky ones, with all the amenities of hot water and electricity. But for us brothers, living in the old, abandoned dancing hall, things were a bit tougher. It couldn't even justifiably be called a house – it was a house structure that we were living in. Either way, we started training with three hours of kiirtan (spiritual chanting), singing Baba Nam Kevalam, the brothers in the old abandoned hall and the sisters in their rented flat. This was how the whole timer-training center started there in Sweden.

The next morning, we woke up at four o'clock to find the whole landscape to have blanketed itself in the night with a fresh layer of white snow. We were warm enough in the night thanks to our sleeping bags, which were good enough for extreme cold temperatures (around minus 20°C). There was no water for shower, so we all took the name of Baba and started jogging towards a lake, which was two kilometers from the training center. Not surprisingly, the lake was totally frozen over. Nonetheless, at the edge of the lake we broke a sheet of ice where it was thin and jumped in for our morning baths. It was -20° outside. We broke the ice near the shore and swam into the water under the frozen ice. This was our shower. Our shower's ceiling was the frozen ice above us and actually compared to what it was like outside, the water was warm down there. After bathing we came back, put on our clothes and ran the two kilometers distance back to make us warm again.

Reaching the training center, we sat for meditation from 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM, covering ourselves with thick blankets. After asanas (yogic postures), we were finally ready to break our fast. There was no tap and thus no drinking water in the house; thankfully, there was plenty of drinking water outside in the form of frozen ice. We collected ice from outside, put it in a pot, heated the ice with the forest wood available and solved the problem. This was how training was started by the grace of Baba.

I got the water supply and electricity connections in two months. Meanwhile, we all worked on the building and made the interiors beautiful. After three months, we invited all the local villagers for a tea party. They were all happy to look at the improvements we had made on what had been lying for so long just was an old and abandoned building. They had happy memories of the good times they had spent there dancing and celebrating. Selected for Guru's Mission, this once rejected, abandoned place was now a vibrating place of great importance.

Our whole-timer training center was in the midst of an alpine jungle, surrounded on all sides by pine forest, ponds, lakes and flowing rivulets. It was a perfect place for sadhana (meditation). It was free from industrial pollution or any other crude influences on the mind. We spent twelve hours in spiritual pursuits like kiirtan, sadhana and asanas; six to seven hours for studies, bath and food etc. We would sleep for only five hours at night.

We ate mostly raw salads, fresh fruits and berries from the forest; this was our main diet. I approached the supermarkets in the nearby town of Vimmerby for food collection. From the supermarkets we would collect as donation lot of fruits and vegetables. I approached them and asked if the food could be given to us so that we could feed the forest birds and animals. They agreed. There was snow everywhere, so it was difficult for the animals to get food. Once a week, we went around all the supermarkets and collected the fruits and vegetables. We even fed animals and birds. There were enough food, fruits, vegetables and milk products for all the trainees. We enjoyed taking it as prasad (sanctified food) given to us by Baba.

The brothers and sisters who came for the whole timer training, the trainees, within the short span of six months of training, became Dadas (monks) or Didis (nuns), put on orange uniform and started working in society as respectable and dignified members of the community. These whole timers generated such a great spiritual flow and energy that those who came in their contact got vibrated and charged with tremendous spiritual energy. This was all the miracle of Baba. It was only by the grace of Baba that could and did convert ordinary persons into extraordinary persons possessing all divine qualities.