Avinash

I personally feel that we should not just see if someone preached personalism or impersonlism. It is better to know the teachings of Guru Sankara. This is because one may have many ideas about impersonalism which Guru Sankara might not have taught. If we just keep in our mind that he was an impersonalist without knowing the details of his teachings, then we may be misled.

The word "not" was missing at one place. Edited to correct.

[This message has been edited by Avinash (edited 04-03-2002).]

Is it me or does this story not resemble quite a bit to the Greek story of Achilles. As I recall, Achilles mother dipped him into a river and he was invulnerable to all weapons. But because she had to hold his ankles, that part was not dipped in, so he was vulnerable there. This is how Achilles was eventually killed. Here Krsna leaves this world through an arrow to the foot. In addition, if I'm not mistaken, isn't Duryodhan invulnerable except for one portion of his body (thigh)?

You can find more similarities if you want. One is Noah's flood mentioned in Bible and flood at the end of 6th Manavantara mentioned in Bhagwatam.

I remember something interesting related to Noah's flood. You must be aware that there was a time when any scintific article had to pass through Church. The theory of ice age was passed very easily. Do you know why? This is because the authorities in Church felt it to be similar to Noah's flood.

Read the last few verses of the eleventh Canto in Bhagwatam. I will check Visnu Puran and tell you.

I am having my copy of Gita press Ramayana with me now

Are translations not given in that?

In return for Indra's benediction that their branches and twigs would grow back when trimmed, the trees accepted one fourth of the reaction for killing a brahmana. These reactions are visible in the flowing of sap from trees. (Therefore one is forbidden to drink this sap.)

Trees accepted one fourth of the sin because Lord Brahma asked them to do so. Trees asked Brahma, "Oh Lord, how are we going to get rid of the sin?".

Lord replied, "Do not worry. In the kali age, some people will drink your sap; the sin will leave you and catch them."

Very often, we compare religions. We know that if we take two religions , then we can find similarities as well as dissimilarities between them. Is it possible for all religions to have some truth inspite of contradictions between them? My answer is that it is possible. Please note that I am using the word possible and I am not claiming that it must be the case. Let me tell one reason why I feel that the contradictions may not be as much as they sometimes seem. I will add more latter: -

1. I am in India. Suppose that I go to some other country where I see a kind of animal which is not found in India. I come back to India. I tell about the animal to one of my friends. He wants to know how the animal looks like. Suppose that I do not have any picture of the animal. Also, I am not good at drawing. So, I am forced to use only words to answer him. But how can I explain to him how the animal looks like? The only way is to use similes. For example, I may say that its skin looks like that of a panther. When I make this statement, it does not mean that its skin looks exactly like that of a panther. But, while giving similes, I have to use the similes with which my friend is familiar. And panther's skin is the closest I can come to. By giving various similes, I will try to explain to him as to how the animal looks like.

All religions talk about many things which are not seen in this material world. So, similes have to be used. Different religions may use different similes to mean the same thing.

Do find it surprising that different religions give different descriptions of God, reincarnation etc.? This is surprising only if you assume that none of them is wrong even to slightest extent.

Why did you start this thread? You could have continued in the "fanatics" thread itself. You just needed to click on "Reply" in that thread.

[This message has been edited by Avinash (edited 03-21-2002).]

I may have experiences which are very real and subjective which I cannot prove to anyone. That does not negate those experiences or relegate them to belief rather than actual experience.

Agreed and therefore we should not try to prove the existence of soul to others unless we really know something that can be presented as proof of the exisstence of soul in a discussion. Suppose I tell somebody that I can prove that soul exists. Then I present my argument. But he shows to me that my argument does not prove that soul exists. Of course, still it is possible that soul exists but I can not prove it. But then I should not have even claimed that I had the proof.

I am all for science but I do not believe that just because science can not explain something it does not exist. When Wegner first proposed Plate Tectonics, then even well known geophysicists of that time did not believe him. No physical explanation of such a big scale movement was offered. But the theory proved to be correct years latter. So, it is possible that we do not know how something can happen but still it happens (of course it is also possible that it really does not happen).

But there is one thing that I really hate. I have found that many times people misinterpret the theories of science to support their beliefs. It is better to say that they have that belief but they can not prove to others that the belief is correct.

May be it did not load completely. Did you see a link with caption "Enter"?

I might get trapped any moment if the pretty girl sitting next to me just smiles.

If I remember correctly, you mentioned in one of your posts that you were married.

I sometimes feel that I am standing a little bit above the ground although my foot is firmly rooted on the ground.

Who is this "I" here? Is it soul? Is yes, then how is it feeling anything? Does it have mind to feel? If yes, then is that mind different from the mind which is a part of your body?

Scientists concluded with arbitrary that there is no medium for electricity, magnetism, & force.

Perhaps you are saying that electromagnetic forces can act in vacuum. Fine, but what we mean by "vacuum" is not really "nothing". According to Quantum Physics (Dirac's theory in particular), what we call as vacuum contains Quantum fluctuations. So some medium is still there.

[This message has been edited by Avinash (edited 03-19-2002).]

I am surprised. I was jumoing with joy when I became Member. And you want to be senior member again?

If there is any designation called "Senior Member", I would like to be that too.

Anyway, it is not any glitch in the system. After certain number of posts, the poster is promoted from "Junior Member" to "Member".

When scripture says that Radha is taller than Krsna, is it literal or symbollic?

Being asleep is biologically not the same as being dead. There are many differences between a dead body and the body of a sleeping person, temperature being one of these.

I think that if someone believes in the existence of soul, let him just say that it is his belief. One should not try to prove its existence.

It is possible that somebody wears smaller shoes but is taller.

Why should this be in "Health and Wellbeing forum?"

So, we have a resident movie reviewer Do we have people here holding other posts?

Irrespective of auspicious or inauspicious, the meaning is clear in the post. "Death may come any moment for anybody."

There are sects because there are people with different belief systems. I do not understand why people ask such questions only with respect to religion. Sects are found everywhere. As an example, consider historians. Not all historians agree on some point. There are different schools of thought. Do they not belong to different sects? This is true regarding not only historians but others too, like, phychologists, physsicists, biologists etc. etc.

Astrology is not a science. It may become a science in future, but currently it is not.

Please note: I am not saying that astrology is wrong. May be it is correct, but it is as yet not a science.

A day comes when the new religion also becomes simply ritualistic.

Reviving this thread as the topic of Kalki incarnation as come up.