Thought Expansion: the dissemination of Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya ’s literature - how and why?
There is no one that is so powerful who can take care of everything in life and there is no one that is so weak that he cannot serve others. Those who believe this should discipline themselves to be powerful so that the “Thought Expansion and Literature Dissemination Revolution” can be served at all fronts.
Our level should enhance:
Yugrishi always continuously raised the level of his work, so it is very important that our levels should progressively enhance in the same ratio too. Through deep insight, Gurudev revolutionized his noble literature and declared some obvious points as follows: -
“S adhaks discipline themselves in Gyana-Yog, Bhakti-Yog and Karma-Yog , but they have forgotten to remain united and organized to progressively look out for new talented people who can join the movement of this New Era Revolution.”
Yog means to join or unite. To join or merge with the divine powers is the highest level of yog . Constructing a New Era is the divine plan and therefore uniting with this plan and encouraging others to join, is the Yog sadhana of this Era.
Gnana Yog :- This means to unite through righteous knowledge. Vichar kranti is the comprehensive form of this Yog . If we can merge our thoughts with those of the Yugrishi’s divine campaign, then it is definite that we have automatically merged with Gyan-Yog sadhana . If we gradually increase the level of this Yog then the capacity to cultivate righteous thoughts will automatically start increasing in ourselves and thus we can gain the strength to motivate others too.
Bhakti Yog:- This means to unite through faith and devotion. When we experience joy and atmiyata, while following all disciplines and guidelines of the divine then it is a perfect illustration of our strong love and devotion. Naitik kranti or moral revolution is the comprehensive form of Bhakti Yog . If we, through faith and devotion, adhere to Yugrishi’s disciplines and regulations then slowly the level of this Bhakti Yog will start increasing and then our ability to refine our deeper emotions ( Bhav ) and capacity to refine this Bhav of others will enhance.
Karma-Yog : This is to unite through deeds or actions. By this sadhana , all our actions are performed for the divine cause. When the egoistic feeling of self-worth starts to diminish from all our actions then our actions start to change from Karma-bhog to Karma-Yog (from egocentricity to divine altruism). If a sadhak regularly contributes a portion of his time, talents, knowledge, efforts, money and resources to increase nobility and righteousness in the society, then he has certainly become part Karma Yoga sadhana for this Era. Increasing the level of this sadhana will definitely help in the betterment of your own actions as well as to others who come in contact with you.
Many sadhak’s have already associated themselves with these various Yog sadhana s in some way but this is not enough. It is also necessary to increase the horizon of the targeted goals to fulfill the demand of the revolution for the New Era. By increasing the intensity of Yoga sadhana s , we will surly uplift our personalities and form a stable, united organization. Through the demand of the present time extra attention is given on building a close knit network to stay united so that we can deliver the “New Era campaign (Nav Srijan Abhiyan) and the call of duty or invitation” door to door and we will be able to inspire like- mind ed people to serve in this campaign.
Why Thought Revolution and How?
The question arises that if a sadhak is committed to all three sadhana s of Gyana-Yog, Bhakti-Yog and Karma-Yog then why should priority be given to “Thought Transformation and Thought Dissemination?”
Remember that the prime factor in Gyana-Yog is thought ( vichar ), in Bhakti-Yog it is emotions ( bhav ) and in Karma-Yog it is altruistic effort. The value of “thoughts” is said to be between emotions and efforts. Thoughts have the ability of expressing emotions and can also refine any efforts made towards a constructive direction. Hence, establishing the “Thought Revolution and Thought Dissemination” as a medium for emotional refinement and righteous conduct is a tactful and rapid method to bring about the New Era.
To expand the dissemination of good thoughts there are three prevalent mediums:
1. Discourses/ Satsang (through discussions)
2. Music and Art (via audio/visuals)
3. Literature/ Sahitya - swadhayaya (by self-introspective literature).
To disseminate good thoughts we have to utilize a combination of all three mediums to create the required effect. We have to encourage new qualified individuals to join our group so that they can help trigger acceleration in these various mediums in their own way.
Those who give discourses prepare themselves by doing thoughtful contemplative studies of good literature before speaking to the public and artists also select ideas from various literature to perform in front of an audience. For Satsang it is important that one should be an efficient speaker with an influential personality and in the same way it is equally necessary for an artist to be excellent to perform good acting or music. Depending on the time and situation it is not necessary that the two mediums be used in programs but the availability of good literature is accessible anywhere. Each and every person can be benefited from noble literature and that’s why it holds the highest position in from all these mediums.
Literature Expansion
By the grace of Yugrishi , we have a unique collection of thought revolutionary literature compiled in books, magazines, journals etc. Through these mediums we have to enhance and more effectively deliver our campaign to reach the common man.
For the “Thought Transformation and Dissemination Campaign” we have to work on three fronts. 1. Availability of literature. 2. Arrangement of taking this literature to the Masses and 3. Develop a mechanism or a process where well educated people can initiate discussions and discourses for self-introspection. Also the illiterate can get benefited from interactive sessions where books are read out loud. There is a lot needs to be done in these three directions.
Some points can be identified and presented respectively:-
For the first direction:- “Availability of literature” – This involves the work of compilation, editing , translation, and printing the publications.
Yughrishi’s literature is essentially in the Hindi language. Barely half of his books are available from the thousands of books he had written. To create a procedure for compilation, editing and publication of the selected literature, according to the time and zone’s requirements, a lot of talent, enthusiasm and mutual co-operation are needed.
It’s appreciated that the country's major regional languages cover Yugrishi’s literature but there is still a of work pending. Very little literature is available in the provincial languages such as Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, etc. To suit the needs of a local area, the literature’s compilation, editing, and publishing must be done by many more efficient and talent people in all the aspects. It’s well known that the use of the English language in most of the provinces in the country as well as in the rest of the world is high and hence for the translation of Yugrishi’s literature in English we need extraordinary talented people.
In Urdu language, Yugrishi’s literature has a very weak holding despite its need of the time and urgency. The Urdu language is prominent within Islamic sector that is unifying with the core values of brotherhood and peace but now a day situations have become very different. Instead of liberalism and kindheartedness, conservativeness, narrow- mind edness and cruelty has taken place but all this can be very well treated by this literature. In order to bring them back into the mind fulness of a better and brighter future and to help them evolve towards it, it has become necessary to increase the availability of Yug literature in Urdu.
For other regional speaking languages derived from Devanagari or Hindi, situated in these states like Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Bhojpuri, Bundelkhand, Garhwali, manuscript are written in Hindi . But there are various other rural sectors where people do not understand Hindi. Besides, these native foresters and indigenous peoples speak so many other local languages and to have them realize their cultural dignity; to salvage them from malpractices and blind-faith and to make them comprehend the righteous teachings of health , sanitation, education , self-reliance , there is a dire need for Yugrishi’ s writings in their native language. If an educated person can read and preach this literature in their language, then a large number of open- mind ed intellectual people can get benefited from this as well. If well-educated and intelligent people come forward to try to uplift the region then advancement of the regressive classes can be tackled easily.
Other than English, this literature of Yugrishi should also be translated and expanded and provided into many other prevalent foreign languages such as Swahili, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Jap anese, Arabic, and Persian.
For second direction - “Dissemination of literature to Masses ” these actions should be taken:
Sufficient numbers of Yug Sahitya Expansion boards should be installed in every region.
Various varieties of book fairs should be organized and books should be displayed in a very attractive way.
With the help of generous donation s literature should be made available at half the price.
Utilizing Gyan-Rath mechanism, the mobile libraries and sales centers should be activated.
Establishing this “ Yug-Sahitya – Noble Literature” into various education al institutions and motivating students to read this literature.
Make “ gharelu gyan mandir ” (libraries of noble literature at homes) and “ jhola pustakalaye ” (library in a bag) more lively and with this medium distribute free literature in each and every locality and development .
Establish stalls in various fairs and exhibitions.
Motivate professionals such as physicians, merchants, traders and business people that are already impressed with our mission to offer the literature to their clients and encourage them to read it themselves and give it as gift to others too.
With these types of activities the literature will be accessible to the public and become more aware, but if people will not read and use it then how will the goal of “Thought revolution” will be reached?
For third direction:- “ Swadhaya tradition (the practice of self-introspection)” should be revived and regenerated. Yugrishi says that we shouldn’t behave like an ordinary bookseller whose only job is to sell a book and after that sale you get relieved and relaxed. We need to motivate peoples to read these books and magazines, absorb the teachings and then do self-analyses. Make many swadhaya mandals (Introspection and Self-cultivation practicing groups ) . A practice should be followed where illiterate groups can assemble to hear and learn lesson from these literature. Organizers and operators of these “ Gharelu Gayn Mandir ” and “ Jhola Pustakalai ” can pursue these efforts.
Other Guidelines
For the Thought Expansion Campaign ( Yug Vichar Vistar ), along with the distribution of Yug literature we can also do discourses, satsang , katha , storytelling, chanting, kirtan and bhajan singing performances (via audio/visuals media, etc.) to be effective in spreading noble thoughts.
It’s not difficult to prepare a discourse by reading Yughrishi literature. People who have a good command over speech, such as impressive teachers, professors, lawyers, etc., should be developed as Yug spokesmen.
Via discourses, discussions, seminars and workshops, Yugrishi’s message can be delivered to intellectual personalities of various education al institutions, organizations and the corporate sector.
Similarly, through the inspiration of the literature musicians and artists can become useful in awakening good virtues of others by their performances.
Today science has provided us with so many gadgets like slide shows, exhibitions, PowerPoint Presentations, street theaters, sadwakya (quotes), write-ups, etc. by which good thoughts can be spread to the masses.
This year, special attention should be given to take a big or small pledge to contribute something significant in this direction and earn the deserving credit.