Kulapavana

On another note...Do you think this might be Mahaprabhu's Mission?

No, I think the guy had a shamanic vision, possibly while stoned cold

and since we are on the subject of shamanic rituals...

Kirtan was also meant to be a shamanic ritual, a sacred chant and dance, meant to induce the state of trans, in which we experience extrasensory reality.

Some have suggested soma was made from Argyreia nervosa - bastantri (Sanskrit), native to India. If the soma was grinded then this makes sense as this seed is often ground.

 

Possibly the soma was a blend of various ingredients that were compliments, as is common practice in shamanism and spiritism.

 

 

Soma must be a very old tradition, predating later vedantic thought? Many of the indigenous cultures utilized sacred plants and discovered their tradition. Would it be too bold to suggest the same for vedanta's roots?

 

The power of the soma juice was clearly unlike any herb known to us today and the vedic passages describing it's extinction make perfect sense to me. That plant was rare even in the vedic times and clearly relates to a single species, at one time brought to earth from heavenly planets. Maybe later there were attempts to substitute soma with other stuff, but it clearly was not producing the same results. Arurveda was full of various herbal preparations, but none of them were even close to soma characteristics. These ancients knew herbs very well and were not making up stories about soma. It was real.

Soma ritual clearly predates vedantic or upanishadic thought. It seems to me that it was the shamanic ritual existing paralel to yoga, jnana and tantra. Vyasadeva later organized the Vedic knowledge into clear branches, presenting an over-arching philosophy uniting all these currents of thought and practice.

Different hallucinogenic plants take you to different astral worlds. Any shaman will tell you that. Soma used to take people to the higher world, enabling them to visit heavenly planets in their astral body. That gateway is closed in this age of Kali.

Many vedic texts are records of shamanic journeys into other worlds.

The soma drink was a combination of a plant called som, cannabis and poppy seed.

 

Som is still used today in the the area around the Afghan and Pakistani border. It is a common drink there even today.This same plant is call Ma Huang in China. The active ingredient is ephedra.

 

Just learned this last week from a PBS special called The Story of India.

 

 

http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/

I doubt that. Soma plant was a very woody plant, requiring grinding in stone vessels in order to process it. Vedas are full of references to this grinding process. There are also references in the Vedas to the soma plant going extinct in the age of Kali.

Cannabis was used since ancient times by the Shivaites and Tantrics and was very well known, yet it was never described as soma plant.

Poppy seeds have zero hallucinogenic power.

How did he stop being Jewish? By seeing faults in Israel? Or because he hates assertive women?

You guys crack me up...

He is an ethnic Jew by birth. That is why he will be Jewish until he leaves this body.

Makow is a very intelligent guy. I don't always agree with him or buy his theories but he most definitely knows what he is talking about when it comes to Jews and Israel.

Don't be so self absorbed. Do something for others on regular basis. Service is the essence of life.

This statement is arguably without substance.

Here is a sample:

The Irgun was the armed expression of the nascent ideology of Revisionist Zionism founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky. He expressed this ideology as "every Jew had the right to enter Palestine; only active retaliation would deter the Arabs and the British; only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state".<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-0>[1]</SUP> Over time the focus of their actions shifted from the Palestinian Arabs to the British.<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact">[citation needed]</SUP>

Some of the better-known attacks by Irgun were the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 and the Deir Yassin massacre (accomplished together with the Stern Gang) on 9 April 1948. In the West, Irgun was described as a terrorist organization by The New York Times newspaper,<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-1>[2]</SUP><SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-2>[3]</SUP>, The Times (of London) <SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-LTimes1_3-0>[4]</SUP><SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-4>[5]</SUP>, the British Broadcasting Corporation <SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-bbcprofile_5-0>[6]</SUP>, the Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-6>[7]</SUP>

<SUP></SUP>

Many of the early Jewish terrorists were trained in Stalin's Russia or were deserters from Allied military outfits (like Menachem Begin). Their importance to the forming of Israel was recognized by the posts they later held in it's government (the Irgun chief terrorist Begin was later one of their Prime Ministers).

<SUP></SUP>

Lord Brahma didn't say any rules to chanting Hare Krishna in Kali Santarana upanishad.

Where else has he mentioned the regulative rules? (meat eating, sex/illicit sex, gambling, intoxication).

 

This is my doubt for long time.(I am not related to ISKCON, an don't believe in Prabhupada teachings). I do support Kalisantaranaupanishad - 35 million times chanting Hare Krishna.

 

I follow the regulative principles because I want to, not because I have to. I know they are helping me in life.

And you are right that following regulative principles is not required to start chanting the Maha-mantra.

Srila Prabhupada required his own disciples to follow the 4 regulative principles. You should follow the requirements of your own guru.

You can reject Prabhupada but not the principle of following the guru's instructions in order to come to Krsna.

Hi,

 

I am looking for advice on how to find a guru. I was advised a sadhana for astrological purposes and just wondering how do people go about finding a guru.

 

Thanks and Regards.

Do not be discouraged by some of the comments here. Trust your heart. When you find the right person you will know. Do not be in a hurry. Examine gurus carefully to make sure they are pure and knowledgable. They must be able to answer your questions in a way that leaves you satisfied and at peace.

Good luck to you!

Old Testament = Their Religion ???

 

Old Testament is accepted as authoritative by all Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These religions are built on top of it.

Destroying idols and polytheists places of worship is the example set by muhammad.

Not true... it started during the time of Moses and was written into the religion of all these people: Christians, Moslems, and Jews.

Would it make you feel better if Israel sent suicide bombers into the Gazah marketplaces to indiscriminately kill men, women and children?

Israelis dont have to use suicide bombers. They do the same thing (killing innocent people) with their bombs and rockets. Every time they butcher a bunch of innocent people they say that there was a terrorist among them. No proof of anything needed - they kill whoever they want. How is that honorable fighting?

I do not defend the Hamas. Read again what I wrote, especially this part: "Israel is a terrorist country, just like Hamas is a terrorist organization. They both use sheer terror on the civilian population to accomplish their dirty goals."

These people deserve each other. The state of Israel was started by imported Jewish terrorists, and is still maintained by terrorism. Their terrorist tactics and stealing land from it's rightful owners CAUSES Palestinian terrorism. They even abandoned their own religious principle of 'an eye for an eye' - now it is 'a hundred Arab eyes for one Jewish eye'... veeeeery just and honorable....

How likely will you take up arms to murder your brother or sister human at the behest of Sharon types or Arafat types. There is an inner belief inside of these arm-bearers that justifies the violence. All the manipulators have to do is to tap into that inner belief.

Look at the Old Testament and the story of Moses. He and his buddies butchered half of their tribe in the desert because they chose a different religion. Their religion justifies such acts of barbarism and it continues in modern times.

Hamas should be stamped out. They hide behind woman and children stockpiling weapons next to schools and hospitals and firing their rockets non stop from among populated areas.

Have you ever been to Ghaza? Very few unpopulated areas there... it is just one big ghetto full of miserable people... And of course you and other Israel apologists would like the Palestinians to lay low while Jews steal their land and kill their people as they please. Or at least come out in the open and allow themselves to be destroyed in one aerial carpet bombing.

Israel is a terrorist country, just like Hamas is a terrorist organization. They both use sheer terror on the civilian population to accomplish their dirty goals.

The ratio has always been 100 dead Palestinians for one dead Jew. This time is no exception. These people are common war criminals, and they get away with murder because they have a big attack dog on the leash: USA.

During the night of Brahma the Sun is destroyed too. Thus it is called the night of the Universe. Everything is cyclical. Creation is gradual too, not a magic snap of the fingers.

well. Okay lets look at it another way, what is the date at which this particular planet was created by Brahma?

There is no such direct information in the Puranas. But one could say that since we are half way through Lord Brahma's day (which is about 4.32 billion years) and since our earthly world exists only during his day, the Earth is at least 2 billion years old. That is a lot closer to the scientific theories than what the Bible says (less than 7000 years).

Bhaktivinoda went as far as to suggest that in Ramayana the Vanaras were actually just the dark skinned people of South India. He was trying to reconcile the shastras with a rational and scientific world view. If he did not have a problem with such rationalizalization, why should you worry about lack of human fossils in the age of dinosaurs?

Some devotees think that in previous ages people lived side by side with dinosaurs, others think that perhaps humans indeed showed up on Earth only some 2 million years ago as the science suggests. It is a matter of interpretation of the shastric record.

It is all in how we interpret these texts. Science certainly has it's limitations, but we should be very cautious to depart from the scientific method of acquiring knowledge. Dinosaurs were certainly present on Earth at some time.

Rāmānujā has also summed up that according to Mĩmāmsa (Vedic hermeneutics) in order for any Scriptural Text to be considered as authoritative it must fulfil certain conditions;

It must conform to reality as we experience it.

It must be logical and not contradict any of the other two other means of knowledge such as perception and inference.

The content of the text must be internally consistent.

The knowledge presented in the text must have a practical application.

And it is this practical application which is the true test of the Truth of Scripture.

Only the so-called followers of Srila Prabhupada are chomping at the bit to offend suddha Vaisnavas. His real followers would never do such a thing.

It seems to me that the followers of SP think they have the right and duty to criticize everybody and everything, because a preacher should be 'bold', and because only they truly understand what is right and what is wrong... And the trinad-api-sunicena thing is just a poetic metaphor of the true preacher, who swings his rod of chastisement like Lord Parasurama swings his battle axe...

There may be split in NM sanga... just like there are splits in SP sanga. It seems inevitable. And all that while the guru is still present... Kali-yuga indeed... quarrel and hypocrisy galore...

For the followers of Srila Prabhupada questioning the theory that he was always right is a blasphemy. But they have no problem calling Narayana Maharaja a sahajiya and an offender to their guru... See Sampradaya Sun for details.

Dont judge me or my guru, but let me judge you and your guru using my own criteria...

Right, Jack Nickelson, there's a Moon that goes around our Earth but read Kulas post, he rejects Prabhupada because Prabhupada says, the Moon is further away than the Sun.

I do not reject Prabhupada because of that. I reject the theory of his followers that he was always right. A pure devotee does not have to be always right to be a pure devotee.

When Prabhupada spoke of the Moon further away then the Sun he cannot have meant our Moon which takes 27.3 days to complete one orbit around the Earth. If you have a telescope you can see every crater on our Moon, because it is so close. It is an Earth trabant, simple to understand.

Bollocks... Prabhupada said that astronauts could not have landed on the Moon after such a short journey because Moon is further away than Sun. Remember the Monday/Sunday argument?

Two questions immediatelly arise: So where is that faraway 'real' Moon, and what is that thing above our head at night we call Moon?

This is just about as clever as Bible-thumpers claiming that dinosaur bones were created by the Devil to confuse the true believers...