To: Ananda Marga Discourses <anandamargadiscourses@sunlink.net>
Subject: Wrong and Dogmatic Photo on AM Book Cover
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 09:51:24 +0530 (IST)
BABA
Wrong and Dogmatic Photo on AM Book
Cover
Namaskar,
The Ananda Marga "Namah Shiváya Shántáya" (NSS) book is one of the foundational texts of our ideology. It is given by Baba as part of our "dharma shastra"-- which consists of Subhasita Samgraha, Ananda Vacanamrtam, Namami Krsna Sundarama, and Namah Shiváya Shántáya. So NSS has tremendous importance.
In view of this it is shocking and unfortunate that the cover of the printed book NSS has for many years been an ideological blunder.
Dogmatic Hindu Depiction of Lord Shiva Is
Used
The cover of a book is a representation of what it contains: A cookbook will depict food on the cover; a book on ecology will have nature scenes on the cover. In this way, our book on Lord Shiva contains a picture of Lord Shiva. But it is so unfortunate that a dogmatic Hindu depiction of Lord Shiva was used, due to which Shivaji is pictured in a wrong posture which Baba forbids.
Baba says, "Padmásana is the posture of sitting with the right ankle over the lift thigh and the left ankle over the right thigh, the tongue pushing the teeth out. In padmásana alone, the vision can be fixed on trikuti – the middle point between the eyebrows. Just as the lotus blossoms forth in water, so also in this posture the mind tends to evolve. That is why this posture is termed padmásana (padma – lotus, ásana – posture). This is the best ásana for meditation. Persons with shorter legs experience difficulty in padmásana. Sádhaná is directing the mind towards expansion and padmásana does help the same." (Táttvika Diipiká Ánanda Púrńimá 1957)
Legs Are Portrayed in the Opposite
Arrangement
See the below picture, and you will note that the legs are portrayed in the opposite arrangement from what Baba directs. All Ananda Margis sit in Padmasana using the arrangement Baba has taught. Lord Shiva is Taraka Brahma and the representation of dharma itself. Why should we publish a book which portrays Lord Shiva in a dogmatic Hindu posture? The book cover is a representation of what the book contains: If the cover is dogmatic, then readers can expect that the contents will also be dogmatic. So it goes completely against Ananda Marga ideology to print such a nasty dogmatic photo which makes it appear as though the book contents are also dogmatic.
Please see the Namah Shiváya Shántáya book cover below, and note how Lord Shiva is sitting:
This above is the scan copy of the Ananda Marga NSS book cover from our Tiljala Publications.
Please pay attention to the arrangement of Lord Shiva's legs, which is wrong. That is the topic of this posting: In the photo, the legs are displayed in an incorrect way.
Just The Opposite of How Baba Instructs Padmásana
Baba says that in Padmásana the right ankle should be lifted first so it goes over the lift thigh, and then the left ankle is lifted to cross over the right leg and right thigh. But look carefully at the above picture, and see how Lord Shiva is sitting. First the left ankle is lifted onto the right thigh, and then the right ankle is lifted to cross over the left leg and left thigh. That is just the opposite of how Baba instructs Padmásana is to be done! So this is a great ideological blunder. Padmásana is an integral part of our Ananda Marga sádhaná, and Lord Shiva would never go against this timeless guideline. But in the dogmatic Hindu tradition that is how He is usually pictured. And our Tiljala Publications adopted just such a dogmatic depiction for the cover of NSS book. This is completely unacceptable.
Showing Lord Shiva in an Adharmic Posture
The NSS English version (1995) was the first to be printed with this dogmatic photo. When it came out, Márgiis protested and opposed the dogmatic depiction of Lord Shiva. But the Tiljala Publishers ignored Márgiis' concerns, and went on to print the NSS Hindi (1996) and NSS Bengali (2000) with the same dogmatic depiction of Lord Shiva, showing Him in an adharmic posture.
So this is one very serious matter, that when an adhármic distortion of Lord Shiva's image is printed on our AM NSS book cover and it is brought to the attention of our Tiljala Publishers, even then they do not care enough to rectify the matter. Even if they could not reprint the English edition but the matter was brought up prior to the Hindi and Bengali editions. So the book cover could easily have been corrected for those editions. Our Tiljala Publications' failure to make this correction is indicative of a non-caring and brazen attitude which is wholly inappropriate for publishers of our dharma shastra.
Namaskar,
Surabhi Mukherji
