Gaea

Sorry for a mundane question Re. the 1980s serial: Basically theres a 5 disk, 12 disk etc versions. Seen the 5 disk version but the translations were TERRIBLE. They were out of sync, and I know at least a little bit of Hindi and could make out that some of the translations were quite inaccurate. Anyone seen the 12+ disk versions? Translations any better? Thanks.

I have only read 1 version of Prabhuapada's translation of the Gita. I compare to other translations and the words - indeed the entire meaning of the verses - vary... expected, as the translator may knowingly or unknowingly put his/her own thoughts into it. I just wanted to analyse this deeper; let's take Prabhupada's translations first - have these changed significantly over the years? (question prompted by someone's post in another thread, pointing to 1972 Gita - why that one in particular?)

yay! at last... a subject on this forum i can actually talk about with some confidence. The problem with people from anti/pro-evolution theory camps is that often they just don't understand it. For example, many equate evo theory to just that of humans - but it is a natural phenomenon that applies across the board... to all living things. Look, evo theory is a fact - a microbiologist can prove it to you in a day. Put one bacterium in a petri dish and let it multiply. Add antibiotics. Some survive, some don't. That is evolution Some managed to survive - that is what Darwin meant by "a struggle for survival" and "natural selection". In fact, in this way, I think Darwin was closer to realising God's hand in nature than many of you really care to see. Where is the threat to religion in this? Where is the threat to spirituality? So what if humans evolved from apes? Is that to say there is no God? Perhaps the term "human" in Vedic literature pertains to a level of consciousness, rather than the physical non-hairy, 2 arm, 2 leg, 1-nose, 2-eye definition. I must say that personally i think the scientific picture of human evolution isn't complete yet, but we probably shouldn't blurt out rubbish about a subject any more than a non-educated atheist should pass comment on the intricacies of the Bhagavad Gita.

... isn't that the advaitya argument?

As soon as you started this thread it was inevitable which way the conversation was gonna go. What's the point? What do you expect people to post here that hasnt already been posted a thousand times on this forum? Yes, we get it - Dualists hate the idea of Oneness, etc., etc. Honestly, get over it, dude. Get on with Bhakti if it makes you so happy (it should!) - don't worry about what "Mayavadis" think or believe.

well no, no one can say for certain. You can't say for certain what you were doing at precisely 10:17 365 days ago, what to speak of the world 65 millions years ago But what does it matter? This is the crunch question for the "modern" devotee: Will you still have any faith in God if you were given incontrovertible proof that the current scientific view of history is correct, and the Puranic view isn't?

Google "Forbidden Archaeology". There's lots out there that the narrow scientific view choses to ignore.

As a scientist, I've found the works of Cremo and Frawley quite interesting - IMHO I don't think we can rubbish all of what the original poster has posted... tho some of the stuff flying around on the net is pretty dire.

well said.

I read the comic - i thought it was great. I can see how you might get offended though. Hey, maybe putting it on the big screen might encourage people to look up the original. Even if one person does this, isn't that a good thing. To be honest I have time and money better spent elsewhere than boycotting a movie. Who knows, you might even enjoy watching it.

oh dear... i started something that wasn't intended. Let's stick to the original post shall we? Do gods (demigods, angels, etc) marry? I can't think of any, unless you count the consorts of Brahma, Visnu and Siva. Do they engage in incest? I think not. I'll look for the reference, but certainly in Mahabharata it was not considered proper for one to marry another who had a common ancestor less than 7 generations apart. (My source might be mixed up here - i'll look for it).

Correct. I see that you may not be of Hindu/Hindu-like descent so it might make things clearer if there is some explanation about "gods". "Gods" as Hindus call them is actually a misnomer. The way I understand it, so-called "gods" or "demigods" perform the same function as Christian/Islamic "Angels". In this case the original poster is (probably) not referring to GOD as you are talking about, but the denizens of heaven (entities that have great power and have had a birth of some shape and form and have been created by the One True God)

do you know when she's coming to London? I would really like to see her too.

haha, some people? I would say most people I'm very guilty of this myself. Re. abstinence - I agree with one of the other posters - as you progress the more critical it becomes. However I don't think that is the end. IMHO I don't think resistance unhealthy for your physical body, but might be unhealthy for your mind. And an unhealthy mind = unhealthy body. If you want to resist the urge a change in mind is required. Tirisilex put forward a nice method.

Funny how almost everyone seems to reckon some major catastrophe... talk about glass half-empty... I predict a shift in human conscience for the greater good. (Well, why not?!)

oh and of course - you can practice love for God via chanting in ANY condition that's the beauty of it!!

Vipassana requires that you put to rest all other practices so that you give it a fair chance (words of Goenka in his video) - well, at least when you're in camp anyway. I found it incredibly useful for peace of mind though. There is no doubt that my temper, lust, lack of awareness and love all contribute to a mental block that hinder progress. Vipassana definitely helped me with this. I think there's no harm, but it depends on your personal goal.

conversations with god (Walsch) - eye opening

Srila Narayana Maharaja is amazing at explaining things like this! So much depth

Again, I would agree with that keeping young widows from leading happy lives is wrong - presently. In other yugas, we cannot say because outlook and attitude in life was completely different. Might seem distasteful now but attitudes can change vastly. I agree with you that this can no longer be considered a law-making text in today's society. Maybe in the next Sathya Yuga

Depends on time and circumstance. Child marriage is not acceptable now because society has changed - simple. Not so many years ago in Britain very young girls married much older men, and was not considered paedophilia, because it was socially acceptable. One cannot read the Manu Samhita with the spectacles of the 21st century because times have radically changed. At the time of law making there may have been very, very good reasons for those rules, who is to say they were wrong for the time? You can only say they're wrong because of modern conditioning. Certainly you don't complain about some modern laws (although there are of course some that are very questionable right now) but in 1000 years they may change radically.

Thank cbrahma - only scripture seems to be able to communicate love in such light... ... so the next question is - how do we develop such Prema? (haha, i guess that's the ULTIMATE question, yet seems like such a simple one, doesn't it?)

Thank you!

Lots of people have told me about Amma's Love - sounds amazing... your experience of having that contagious Love spread to you and your spiritual awareness is EXACTLY the goal (in my non-educated opinion) that ALL, or at least MOST, religions strive for. That is spirituality... That obliteration of all modes of philosophy that you speak of is really a great experience. I can only hope I get to that stage. Thanks!!

Thanks for Mad Love, bija!