5 minutes with…

Dada Shiilabhadrananda, the sectorial office secretary for Ananda Marga in sub-Saharan Africa, author and senior monk. Dada Shiilabhadrananda is a small, quiet man dressed in his traditional orange robes. He speaks with an air of knowledge and a calmness that immediately puts those around him at ease. Born in Canada, he has dedicated over 30 years to being a yoga monk.
What is Ananda Marga? Directly translated, Ananda Marga is “path of bliss”. We have a fundamental desire to have infinite happiness. It’s a way of life, a systematic and scientific process for the fulfilment of all human needs: physical, mental and spiritual. The philosophy is one of universalism, recognising God as the one limitless supreme consciousness, with all beings of the universe part of one cosmic family. Ananda Marga has a global network of centres which care for the welfare of humans, animals and plants. These include yoga and meditation centres, schools, children’s homes, food-distribution centres, disaster relief, medical centres and community development projects, with the aim of meeting the needs of the local people and helping to empower them to develop their own personal and social resources.
Explain the new science of bio-psychology. There is an interdependence between biology and psychology. Your mind acts through the body through cakras (controlling nucleii of the human body, also known as chakras), glands and hormonal secretions. Sometimes your body affects your mind (indigestion or constipation can make you short-tempered) while other times the mind affects the body (when your anger causes the blood to rush to your face). If we feel depressed, we slump our shoulders and bow our heads; when we are melancholy, our appetite disappears and we don’t feel like eating. The goal of human life is the movement from imperfection to perfection, from crudeness to subtlety. Our mental evolution is nothing but the continuation of our earlier physical evolution.
Your own experience? I live comfortably with five hours of sleep per night. I have loads of work, travel constantly, start projects from the ground up with little or no money, and still manage to live a tension-free life. I haven’t been ill, except for a bout of malaria. I believe this is due to the regular discipline involved in bio-psychology, which emphasises daily yoga, meditation, a vegetarian diet and fasting at intervals. Your mind rules your body. Receiving inspiration from your highest levels of consciousness, you can perform seemingly impossible tasks good-naturedly, without developing self-pride or ego, or experiencing stress or burn-out.