Supreme Direction: Difference between revisions

The Supreme Direction of Anandamurti was first published in 1967 (although it might have been dictated in 1966). The first English translation was done by Acarya Vijayananda Avadhuta. That first English translation gave the title of these primary instructions as "Supreme Command". The translation variably began with the words "He who" and later "The man who".  

The man who performs sadhana twice a day regularly – the thought of Parama Purusa will certainly arise in his mind at the time of death; his liberation is a sure guarantee. Therefore every Ananda Margii will have to perform sadhana twice a day invariably; verily is this the command of the Lord. Without Yama and Niyama, sadhana is an impossibility. Hence the Lord's command is also to follow Yama and Niyama. Disobedience to this command is nothing but to throw oneself into the tortures of animal life for crores of years. That no one should undergo torments such as this, that he might be enabled to enjoy the eternal blessedness under the loving shelter of the Lord, it is the bounden duty of every Ananda Margii to endeavor to bring all to the path of bliss. Verily is this a part and parcel of sadhana to lead others along the path of righteousness.

In the mid-1970s, the female disciples of Ananda Marga in Australia and New Zealand approached Abhidevananda with an objection to the unjust male-slant of that wording. (In the original Bengali, no such slant exists, and that type of [[Neohumanism#Social justice|grammatical or linguistic bias is contrary to Ananda Marga ideology]].<ref name="LOI">{{cite book|title=The Liberation of Intellect: Neohumanism|author=Sarkar, Prabhat Ranjan|chapter=Neohumanism Is the Ultimate Shelter (Discourse 11)||year=1982|publisher= Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha|ISBN=81-7252-168-5}}</ref>) Abhidevananda could only agree with their point of view, and so he brought this matter to the attention of the [[Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha]] Central Office, at that time operating out of Kathmandu (Nepal) due to the fact that Anandamurti was still imprisoned on false charges and the organization had been banned in India. In Nepal, Abhidevananda sat with Avadhutika Ananda Mitra Acarya, and together they hammered out a translation of the Supreme Direction that overcame the male bias. However, it should be noted that elimination of the male bias was their only objective. For that revised translation, they did not go back to the original Bengali text.

Those who perform sadhana twice a day regularly – the thought of [[Parama Purusa]] will certainly arise in their mind at the time of death; their liberation is a sure guarantee. Therefore every Ananda Margii will have to perform [[sadhana]] twice a day invariably; verily is this the command of the Lord. Without [[A Guide to Human Conduct|Yama and Niyama]], sadhana is an impossibility; hence the Lord's command is also to follow Yama and Niyama. Disobedience to this command is nothing but to throw oneself into the tortures of animal life for crores of years. That no one should undergo torments such as these, that everyone might be enabled to enjoy the eternal blessedness under the loving shelter of the Lord, it is the bounden duty of every Ananda Margii to endeavor to bring all to the path of bliss. Verily is this a part and parcel of sadhana to lead others along the path of righteousness.