JRdd
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Oh you are there too! Yes, and they will have even more excuses to make like the animal has no soul. I do wonder what the position of the soul is though? Like what kind of karma would cause such a "birth".
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Thanks for the link and wishes. Well, as far as I understand it a transplant is all I can get offered at this stage now, liver being one sixth its normal size, disease working on kiling it off, but I am trying whatever I can to keep going, naturally: sunshine, fresh air, laughter, good water, and some herbal help. Then it is up to Krsna. It is okay to be in this situation. I just don't like it much when I get tired. I'm pretty much a sissy about being in this world. Um...I'm trying to think how to tie this back to the beef cloning topic. Sorry Gauracandra! JR
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Personally, I see no difference between being fortunate enough to find an effective and natural cure, and directly easing pain through acupressure (etc.), and taking a pain pill, or going to the doctor, as far as transcendence goes, or one's ranking in the eyes of God. I have never been one to take pain pills, ever since childhood, I think most pain is endurable and it's healthier to ride it out instead of denying it or supressing the symptoms which are actually signals that something is wrong. Then learning about karma, this conviction deepened, in line with Pratyatosa's feelings about interfering with this. But I also do not regard this as a religion of the body and as we were taught to do the needful, do what it takes to keep body and soul together, etc, there is much room for flexibility. Now, since recent bouts with extreme pain, I keep a bottle of vicodine around. I may only take half a tab every few weeks or months, and beats lying around in bed for hours moaning all night. I don't feel like Krsna holds this against me, any more than I feel expelled from the possibility of becoming a devotee just because i tell them to bring on the novocaine at the dentist's. I mean, we are not a society of ksatriyas, though some of us may have that nautre. It is actually a brahminical quality to not like the sight of blood, and all that other gross bodily stuff. I think the main thing is to be moderate, and minimize artificial or extraneous impact on our bodies and the environment at large. We are, after all, making the best use of a bad bargain just being in these bodies. If we are awarded the Kingdom of God based on our ability to be a yogi then I stand no chance. I'm banking on sincerity for points. And praying to get just some of that.
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(extra post when trying to edit previous one for typo) [This message has been edited by JRdd (edited 04-24-2002).]
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I am sure some would link this to the hollow earth theories, supported by many scientists and adventurers. Admiral Richard E Byrd actually saw a wooly mammoth from his plane, roaming near the edge of what is considered to be the opening to the earth. There are other strange things too, documented over the last couple of hundred years or so, supporting this idea, that there is an interior existence with its own central sun. [This message has been edited by JRdd (edited 04-24-2002).]
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That is really kind of you, Gaurachandra prabhu! How could you think that is pestering. Well, I would for sure not say no to the video. If you want to send it I would be most grateful! Let me know if you have my email address. I really feel that all this well-wishing support is bouying me, keeping my spirits going, it is this realisation that there really is a family of devotees, and I am excited about sticking around a few more years to see how things unfold, rebloom, etc, and see if I can help it along in my own small ways. I hope that any devotees who have followed this thread will take heart in seeing the kindness among the devotees. The support thing seems to have mostly worked itself out, without any efforts on my part. There truly are angels among us. I hope forumite Subal gets more association, and also practical help for his condition. Well thanks again, all this nice stuff. I sure want to be able, myself, to take part in spreading the love from Krsna all over. I can not wait to see that video. your servant, Jayaradhe
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Thanks so much for all the support, sweet prabhus. It really does help, and I'm sure this help extends beyond just soothing the heart, to also healing on deeper levels of being. Things are still iffy about the support thing as I need to find a place to stay for that month, and so far, nothing (Unless they will alllow me to stay two hours away from there, at a friend's, where two devotees are willing to help me). I was thinking of trying to find some rich devotee to maybe pay for a place for a month, like an apartment or whatever. If anyone can refer me to any such person, to whom a little financial help would be no burden, I would appreciate hearing of them. Subal prabhu, I am so sorry for your suffering, and I would like to start a new thread about treatments for Hep C. Things have greatly improved in this field, both in discoveries about alternative medicines, and also in the allopathic field. For example, the antiferon treatment (which they have not offered me, guess it's too late) now includes two other things or ingredients which some years of research and clincial trials have proved to be now successful in curing hep c for good, as well as dissolving scar tissue so there is room for regeneration, and the side effects are much less than antiferon by itself, which I understand are much like having a very bad flu during the year of treatment? I think the nickname for this new thing is pegasus. But the only thing is, most research and use of this has gone on in California, as I understand it; what part of the world are you in? The problem with my getting on a transplant list at this stage is that the average wating time for a cadavaric liver is a year, and it sounds like I don't have that much time. I am hoping someone will donate a piece of their liver, which miraculously regenerates in a very short time. But--and this may interest you, Subal--in the meantime I am going to take alpha-lipoic acid. I just found out about it and read a bunch and it has successfully saved lives of many end stage liver disease patients. Even if it merely helps keep me going until I can get a liver I will consider that valuable. Read about it at http://www.alchemistlab.com It is a "buyer's beware" thing, and I reccomend the Jarrow's Formula brand, from what I know. I found some locally yesterday and have hopes in this helping. One doctor jeopardized his job by going against administerial policy against using it, but he had already saved lives with it, from people on their deathbeds, and he could not let people die when he knew how to help them. So I would look into this prabhu. 300mg twice a day. There are also different types of transplants now. One type is where they graft a piece of liver onto the patient's liver, and when the patient's liver starts regrowing, they take off that foreign graft and the patient doesn't even have to take anit-rejection drugs for the rest of his life. I read about other kinds of transplants too. I hope you can get access to the kind of help you need. Good luck with everything. Sounds like you have liver failure too; so many other things go wrong at this point. Eat high quality protein especially if you have cirrhosis, and avoid salt as much as possible. I hope you feel better and I will pray for you. One of the big things I have learned through this experience is how Krsna really is the controller. Before, I had more conviction that if I found the right natural things to treat myself, I could cure just about anything. But now I see how it is beyond my control, and this edges me closer to realising how much sense it makes to just let go and surrender to the SWEET will of the Lord. Not that we don't try to take care of our bodies and do whatever we can to keep body and soul together, as the body's caretaker, but we can leave the results to Krsna. We have true security in Krsna consciousness, whatever happens. I am also sensing so strongly the immediacy of impending death, how it really can come at any moment, and this causes a kind of altered consciousness. Very interesting--and a great impetus for the lazy likes of me to try to get more serious about developing my consciousness of Krsna. best wishes, ys, Jayaradhe
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I take the tincture. It's basically supposed to create a good environment for the regeneration of the liver. Also you may want to look up dandelion root, which is a good complement to this, helping cells regenerate, as well as being tonic. ys, JR
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Do you mean how it would sound in Sanskrit? Or English? In English I read it as "be at less".... And I don't get it.
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Hari bol, I finally saw the liver specialist yesterday and the situation is urgent. I am to see a panel of people over a two-day intensive, for transplant evaluation. But he said in the meantime, I am to consider myself in a state of emergency, as any time this liver failure could abruptly change even though at the moment I am managing; he said I could go into a coma or anything, just like that, from seeming to be okay. So if anyone feels the desire to pray in a way that is appropriate to my situation, I would appreciate that. My hope is to be able to keep alive long enough to be prepared for whichever way the ball bounces, and being prepared for treatment involves tons of complicated arrangements, including relocating, all of which will take time. They will not offer help if I have no solid support, especially for a month following operation, as they said you will not survive without support, and thankfully someoone called yesterday and seems able to arrange a rota of devotees to help that situation as I will be down near where there are devotees. So it seems like Krsna is sending angels this way, and maybe some of you angels can root for my being time to take care of other matters which will facilitate everything going about. Thanks for reading this, your servant, Jayaradhe
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Correction: June 18 1942 Paul McCartney.
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July 7, 1940 Ringo Starr. Any more Beatles trivia need answering?
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Hari bol, Sashi, thank you so much for this visualisation. I am going to use it, it is beautiful. Just the other day I asked a friend to give me a visualisation for something and she made something up on the spot, that suited me and the situation perfectly, and was also devotional. You seem to have that same intuitive and creative instinct. I love visualing but have been out of touch to some extent with my own creations, due to tiredness, which is why I asked her for one, and I just think it is so serendipitous that you offered this one. What a pleasing image! your grateful servant, Jayaradhw
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Whoa! Wow! So true Sashi!!! Lots of food for thought there! Yes and even modesty can be just an external trapping as you say. Easy to be fooled, even more so by oneself than by others. So who knows? Only Krsna it seems. Gauracandra, I saw that video just once, in England. I had been there for that festival and someone showed it right after. Where can we get this video? This means they must sell the tapes then? I cringed in that video as I kept showing up in it and it looked like I was following George. The truth is, and I remember this well, everywhere I went I kept running into George, whether it was taking off my shoes to go in, or out, just everywhere kept running into him. When he first arrived, I had been tipped off and he came with absolutely no fanfare, and really did seem like just one of the guys, and very happy to be so too. I remember feeling as I would feel at seeing any devotee I missed and dearly wanted to see, and his smile was modest. I sat next to him on the grass in the pandal, it turned out to be a free spot there anyway, and no one even noticed he was there, just sitting listening to the Prabhupada nectar stories. I felt so happy for him that he could be among the devotees and know that the real famous person is Krsna, and that next to Krsna and Srila Prabhupada, he was just one of us. I felt that was the mood overall. But I think you may be onto something, as far as that gathering in Prabhupada's room, some being a little excited. That whole festival was wonderful. I think it lasted a week, I can't remember. It was the first one they did. ys, Jayaradhe
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Well you sure have a wonderful heart-way with words. It it the sign of a true devotee that he or she sees others as devotees, and your words are so kind. I really don't know, though. I heard Srila Prabhupada say that when Krsna is there, Laxmi is there. He said all our needs, both material and spiritual, are satisfied when we take to Krsna consciousness. Then again, he says when Krsna favors His devotee, He takes everything away. I can understand this now more than I ever could before, because it's finally sinking in to me how it really is His kindness, to make the devotee take more and more shelter of Him, and in that feel true security. But I wouldn't mind having more money too. I suspect that's just because I'm not a real devotee, just practicing to be one. Jayaradhe
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Yeah and there is a video of it too, I saw right after the festival ended. Gurudas prabhu, who had been sent for from America as a special guest of this Prabhupada Reunion Festival, gave me three tapes of this festival, and I don't know why I never listened to them. I did hear a lot of the nectar stories in person, but now I heard even more, that I never heard before. The other day a devotee who is more an exish-devotee now, having taken to Christianity, told me incredible personal stories about Srila Prabhupada. There is so much nectar out there, to be shared. Gurudas has the most nectarean collection of personal stories I have ever seen or heard. His rasa with Srila Prabhupada was mainly affectionate and very humourous. Stonehearted, email me for a copy. Actually last night I was thinking (and this is only because my income suddenly dropped significantly this month (more than a third of it, so I am not feeling sufficiently secure to make a general offer to make tapes for everyone here), that maybe somone can donate for some blank tapes, and someone else for postage, and I can make copies and send them to whoever asks. If this idea appeals to anyone, maybe fifteen or twenty bucks toward either tapes or postage (and I can cover the rest), I could just make the tapes and send them. Or someone can have a copy from me and do it themselves for everyone else, especially if they have better copying facilities. ys, Jayaradhe (edited to remove email address as too often, without first requesting my permission, I get put on devotees' lists and get sent lots of propoganda and arguments I am not interested in. On top of that, they display my address--instead of courteously sending blind copies--so then I get similar emails from other devotees. I already had to close one email box because of the inundation.) Braveheart, I seem to recall you have my email address anyway, I hope. JR [This message has been edited by JRdd (edited 04-10-2002).]
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I have cataracts, I kept wondering why all of a sudden I couldn't do tiny kind of work like making little Deities necklaces. Anyway I looked up the causes on the internet and pollution and computers also contribute. I notice if I am staring at the screen my eyes get really blurry. I understand there are computer glasses that protect your eyes. I think we should all start thinking about this. We want to see the Deity of Krsna as long as we can.
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Great to hear she's mending. Young vital people can heal fast, but they also have less patience than us. I bet she will soon be looking back on this. I hope so anyway. I have always been religious about using a seat belt, and the one time I couldn't, as there wasn't one, and I was a passenger, the car ending up smashing into the end of a multi car crash on the motorway in England. I still suffering the affects. But not near as much as in the first few years. The body is a miraculous design, even if our attachment to us lets it cause so much misery. Srila Prabhupada was in the back seat of a car once, I can't remember who was driving but I think Brahmananda was there, and there was a head-on kind of crash, not too bad, but Srila Prabhupada was saved by his cane, which he propped up and was leaning on. At that time he said any speed higher than 40 mph is dangerous. It'd be nice if someone could verify this well known story. JR
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Wow this is great news! And this morning I could not believe the treasure I unearthed, that I never listened to before. It is an audio tape made at Bhaktivedanta Manor in 1993, in Srila Prabhupada's rooms, of George leading a wonderful simple Hare Krsna kirtan. I never knew that was on the tape and never got around to listening to it for some crazy reason. Listening to it, I was thinking that George's voice is so sweet, like it was made for chanting Hare Krsna. What a humble special person. Jayaradhe
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The simple acts of bhakti at home that you want to share
JRdd replied to a topic in Spiritual Discussions
Yeah I do feel the immense lack of association here. A couple of nights ago a Godsister friend of mine spent the night, and when she was lying there on the floor near me I felt very peaceful, like Krsna was closer. It's so unnatural to be alone. Natural cultures do not have all the walls and locked boxes we live in. As for home worship, my daughter started doing artis practically as soon as she could wield a stick of incense. This was a delight and inspiration to watch. I have a picture of her being distracted by a photo I couldn't resist taking; in the distracted photo she looks away from the altar, at me, with a really sober expression on her face. I love it. So kids can be encouraged to take part in a nightly arti, doesn't have to be long, or weekly, or whatever works. There is a small boy who visits Berkeley temple with his parents, who are initiated devotees, and when I was down there for Janmastami and all those festival days, one noon arti his mom set him up with a full arti tray, which he offered to Srila Prabhupada in his murti form. I was really stunned at his serious attitude. None of this "oh how cute stuff" for him. He was very earnest and to be taken seriously, and the devotion on his face!!! I can not describe. He did not rush through any of it, as you might expect from most two and a half year olds (ha ha especially boys ). Later his young mother told me that he offers several artis a day at home, it is his favorite activity. He looks incredibly like baby Krsna. He is part (East) Indian. A freind was saying on the phone today how a lot of the worship we do at home--especially for those with the unpredictable variables of children--pretty much has to allow for spontaneity. We do what we can. I have been feeling so bad at not being able to do more for my Deities, so much so that I could hardly look at Krsna's face without feeling guilty and selfish and ashamed. This was impeding both my connection and service with Him. It's just false ego. Krsna is not looking for perfection. Just sincerity. Jayaradhe -
Hari bol, Sashi! Well, the painting kind of dragged to a halt for now but it's in our hearts, and whether or not it will appear externally in a painting, I don't know. I got kind of daunted by it, didn't have a flow, then got real sick. But I still take it out for a few days sometimes and look at it, thinking one of these times I will get back to it. I think what is beautiful are all the inspirations expressed here. I forgot about this thread and it was fun reading all the ideas and thoughts, thanks for pulling it back up! JR
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Ha ha ha. Very funny. Would be a super power if it helped me be more Krsna conscious. I just remembered that I had a color therapist in England, where color healing is much more accepted and practiced, and there is an excellent college for this, as well as some correspondences courses. Anyway this was a devotee family, and the dad was a dentist and a lot of the devotees went to him. The mother was a musician and she even did a book of music for Krsna (BBT sells or sold it for years, her name is Joan Wilder). And the daughter was the color therapist. She was a student too, and a very serious but warm and wonderful person. She would visualize certain colors and blow them softly through her mouth into different areas of my body. I could feel the difference in the colors and usually also knew what color she was doing (she would confirm this). It was extremely effective treatment, the most physically dramatic of which is not possible for me to tell here; it's a bit too personal. These subtle arts are a fact of life just as mantras were once used to hurl weapons. And even though I accept their existence, I still find them fascinating. Krsna's creations are just incredible. ys, JR
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Thank you for such beautiful and kind wishes, Sashi prabhu! Yes, I have heard this also, about the liver and anger. I don't feel angry now (I can relate to grief more than anger), but you never know what lurks in the subconscious. Besides the possible external causes (the virus, anger, etc.) Krsna definitely has his plans. For each and every one of us. And knowing this is a great solace, and even more, it is a great joy. Thanks again, your servant, Jayaradhe
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Funny, I never really thought about it much, but I have also always seen the colors of numbers. I don't know if I see them the same way WO does, but I see two as having a yellow personality, eight as black, one as red, etc., etc. I also see numbers as having personalities, like eight is bossy, and two is happy, like that. They, like words, can feel a certain way, too. Words also have certain atributes not normally thought of, but I think I don't pay attention much to any of this, just like you don't think about breathing, or how you're touch typing, or anything else you do automatically. And this makes me think some people may have this ability (not disorder ) and not actually be that conscious of having it. I myself do not pay much attention to it and don't know how much I perceive these things anymore. Maybe society conditions you to forget things like this, sometimes, jsut by the attitude of left-brain thinking and fitting into a world based on keeping the whole machine going, at the expense of individuality. Everyone has some kind of oddity or oddities. Just some are more acceptable, as far as their use in keeping those wheels running. But I also get left and right mixed up, totally, have no reference point whatsoever within me by which to tell what is left and what is right, which the comment in the article about cross-wiring reminded me of. If someone relies on me to read a map while they're driving (which I'm good at) I have had to write an L on my left hand in order to give the correct turns. But this could be due to the fact that I'm basically left-handed, but was forced to use my right hand to learn to write, and even chastised at school for using my left hand with scissors. As for colours and numbers, I used to dabble in color healing, and understood that even on a physics level, very subtle, that everything vibrates with different colors and sounds and feelings. Like it's all much more dimensional that meets the naked eye. At least that's how I understood it. So I don't think of it as hallucinatory, at all. But I find it very interesting, now that you mention it. The title really grabbed me.