tackleberry

There are many men and many women. You are less intelligent than some men and more intelligent than others. You are less trustworthy than some men and more trustworthy than others.

And a man has to make her understand that. See where I am going with this?

What's wrong with this school? If they have such a strict admission policy, not even one person is gonna join, or even qualify. This is the 21st century, for heaven's sakes, not the medieval ages, where perfect brahmna culture could be adopted. It's impossible to follow rules and regs, even for a religious person, the problems are just way too many in this yuga.

Drinking is not good of course. But most devotees fall down because of illicit sex. That's usually the acid test.

It's not a matter of dry renunciation, I'm told. The chanting, following the bhakti path, is purifying regardless of the principles. Then gradually one can come to that platform of following them.

With the principles, the bhakti process, the chanting is supposedly very powerful.

I don't follow it, because the cooking requirements are too complicated and restrictive for a normal lifestyle in this Western culture.

Why is drinking not good, I mean, it's not as bad as meat eating, where you kill animals, directly or otherwise?

In any case, it's impossible to give up all these, with or without chanting. I guess certain things will never change, and human nature must be one of those.

I have received a letter from a man from Kovur Village in Tamil Nadu by the name of E. Esuraj. He is a follower of the Lord Guru Sree Raghavendra Swamy. Can you please tell me how to pronounce these words? Also anything you can tell me about his village?

Where and how did you correspond with him? So what if he's a follower of R, does that mean he's inviting you to his place? Whose name do you want to pronounce, the one you've been corresponding with:), or R's name?

I am trying to correspond with a man who signed his name "Esuraj.E. He is from the Kovur Village in Tamil Nadu. He is a follower of the Lord Guru Sree Raghadendra Swamy. Can someone please tell me how to pronounce his name and who he follows? Also anything you can tell me about where he lives?

Where and how did you correspond with him? So what if he's a follower of R, does that mean he's inviting you to his place? Whose name do you want to pronounce, the one you've been corresponding with:), or R's name?

Is there some quick, easy (and free) way to develop sanskrit vocabulary?

If you are just an ignorant person you are probably not ready to accept a guru, let alone make a wise choice in that area. Just like a guru should be qualified, a disciple should be qualified as well.

I think you've missed the point entirely, so I'll explain again.

YOU SAID: If you don't see Krishna speaking and acting through a certain person, you must not accept that person as a guru.

My response: Duryodhana (or any evil minded person) may not see Krishna speaking and acting through even an exalted devotee like Bhishma.

So would you conclude that Bhishma is not a qualified guru, based on your own premise that 'if you don't see krishna speaking and acting through a certain person, you must not accept that person as a guru??

Yes, it is true that most of the warriors fainted. But who made them faint? It was Arjuna. Why was Karna not able to make Arjuna faint?

How could he, when Karna didn't even know who or where Arjuna was? During the virat attack, there was no clue as to who was who (as far as pandavas were concerned, because they were in disguise), hence no direct combat was possible between Arjuna and Karna. But Arjuna could see the invading army, hence he was able to make them faint with his astra.

Hope you can see the logic behind this.

If you dont see Krsna speaking and acting through a particular person you should not accept them as your guru. Plain and simple.

I am not sure I understand this. Our perceptions are limited, aren't they? An ignorant person may not see Krishna speaking and acting through even an exalted devotee like Hanuman, but that doesn't disqualify Hanuman as a Guru. Hope you get my drift.

Quote: 1) Arjuna couldn't kill Karna fair and square

 

Where did that come from? Did not Arjuna defeat Karna fair and square in teh Virat war?

Not quite. Most of the warriors fainted, it's not like Arjuna could fight and defeat Karna face to face in the virat war. That never happened, except during the final battle, where Arjuna killed Karna in direct combat.

Excellent answers by everyone, Sephiroth, TY, and others. People who refuse to accept India's divinity are doing so out of jealousy, that's all. What more evidence do these doubters want, aside from the fact that God and his devotees repeatedly choose India, yuga after yuga?

Ashwatama wasn't an asura, but an incarnation of Lord Shiva. So it's not nice to speak ill of such a superior soul.

Can anyone translate "mystical joy" into Sanskrit for me? It's a mantra...

Adbhuta=mystical ananda=joy, so it's adbhutaananda.

Disclaimer:

I could be wrong!

Dear Devotees,

Are there any temples/ashrams in Vrindavan where one can live? How much would it cost, is it possible to buy some rooms provided by ashrams, so one can live there?

TB

Dear Devotees,

Something amazing happened. While meditating, I silently chanted the mahamantra, and suddenly, I saw some golden lights, all the while feeling some upward pull on top of the head. They were so beautiful, but lasted not more than one minute.

I'd love see this again, or at least experience more visions/lights/colors, provided they have some spiritual significance. Can experienced devotees shed some light on this? I am new to all this, and this experience is really exciting.

TB

Dear Devotees,

I need your help. I'd like to know if there's any website, which may have a huge collection of pictures (of deities), pictures which look and feel divine, so one may be able to concentrate on their forms. All deities, not just Krishna, and it will be better if one website contains all of them. Even otherwise, please let me know.

TIA,

Tackleberry

Hi Bob,

I wrote a lengthy reply, but the post didn't go through. It's lost. So I'll keep it brief this time around.

***I think the Sun/Mirror analogy supports my view more than Sankara's non-dual view. Because God is my cause and sustainer I resemble God (the effect always resembles cause) just like the image of the Sun in the mirror resembles the actual Sun. And the image of the sun in the mirror is dependent on the Sun for its existence, but as you correctly add "saying that a reflection is the same as the Sun is wrong." This explains why the devotee is not identical with Brahman.***

Due to ignorance/mirror, there is an image /jiva. Once ignorance/mirror is destroyed, there's no jiva/image but Brahman/Sun. It's in this sense non-dualism is understood by advaitins.

***The problem for sankara is either (1) the mirror is unreal, in which case there can be no reflection and the existence of Bob is an illusion--Bob or Avinash does not exist, which is absurd, or (2) the mirror is real, in which case Sankara would have to hold there is a difference between the mirror and Brahman--but this is what his non-dual view denies. So either way the analogy seems to support my view more than Sankara's view.***

Dream is real for the dreamer, but in the awakened state, it is unreal. Likewise, the image/conditioned jiva is real until the mirror/ignorance is broken, after which the image/jiva disappears and there's only Brahman/Sun. That's why they don't say "bob=brahman", because bob=conditioned jiva/image due to presence of mirror/ignorance. Once the mirror goes, where's bob, the conditioned jiva? there's only Brahman, the one reality.

Hope this helps. I am not an advaitin, just playing the devil's advocate, so we can understand the concepts better.

What are the Jesus people among the devotees always the ones that never joined the movement or left after a few weeks?

 

It is obvious that Jesus has held back some devotees or has been used as an excuse not to surrender to the Krishna consciousness movement.

 

Is Jesus many times just an excuse to not surrender to Krishna?

 

Within the KC movement Jesus is almost a non-entity.

On the fringe, Jesus is important.

 

Why do Krishna devotees stay hung up on Jesus as if Jesus has something to do with Krishna consciousness?

 

Many of us came from Christian backgrounds, myself included, but some of us just move on and some of us cling to Jesus for some odd reason.

I grew up in a Christian family, went to church for years and Bible school in the summer. But, when I found out about Krishna I just moved on.

 

Is Jesus just an excuse why some devotees won't give everything to Krishna?

Conditioning isn't easy to overcome. Smoking gives me no joy, but I love smoking, god knows why! To fill our emptiness, we do a lot of things, most of them meaningless, like smoking, drinking etc. Similarly, even if people know the truth, they may hang on to the past for such reasons.

Or is it only possible to fear Him? I mean, if you don't love him, you'll suffer on this planet. That's one fear. If you don't follow his rules, you'll suffer again based on karma. That's another fear. Likewise, there are so many fears, so how to love Krishna, when he's creating countless obstacles to our happiness? One can only fear him, his power. At best, we can respect or revere him for this, but is it possible to truly love him?

It is nice that you humbly approach the fallibility of your material nature. Try to practice VERY SINCERELY the things you CAN do, such as hearing, chanting, and performing ACTUAL service in the temple. Associate with the devotees as much as you can. Gradually your taste will change, and gradually you will be able to change your habits. Try giving up eating meat first, as it is the most polluting habit. You need to prepare yourself for residence in the Dhama. Performing sinful activities in the Dhama is very damaging to us. You will not really enter the Dham unless you change your habits in a substantial way.

 

Good luck to you. Do not lose heart. Purification is often slow, but it DOES come eventually if we strive for it.

Thanks for your kind advice.

Meat-eating, I can give up quite easily, because I only eat occasionally. In fact, I hardly ever eat meat these days, except when going out with friends. Drinking, again, it's due to friends. I can't look like a joker, going to bar and not ordering beer.

But smoking is a real problem. I picked it up only a few months back, and that's even more frustrating because I've never smoked before. But just when I was doing very good sadhana, I suddenly fell prey to this habit, and now I can't help smoking daily.

As to illicit sex, I don't indulge in such things physically, but my mind is always thinking of women. This also is new to me, I've never been like this before, I've never had impure thoughts like I do now. This also happened at the same time I picked up the smoking habit. It's weird, all bad things happened at the same time, around May this year. I can't believe Krishna hasn't protected me from all this, especially when I was doing very good sadhana.

Now I feel as if I am neither here nor there, neither spiritually inclined nor materially so. I am caught between worlds, and Krishna doesn't hear my prayers. I am lost.

Dear Devotees,

I consider myself a devotee, but I drink, smoke, and sometimes eat meat. It's not that I want to, but I am a weak man and cannot resist it. My q is: is it ok to do these things and practice devotion, safe in the knowledge that some day Krishna will destroy these bad habits? Or must I keep fighting these habits, before becoming eligible for KC?

THis is because I am also planning to settle in a holy place like vrindavan. I feel the urge, but at the same time, cannot give up these habits. It's not easy for me, because I am being pulled in different directions.

I'd appreciate some feedback on this.

Haribol!

Dear Scholars,

I am looking for Dvaithic astrologers .If there are any Dvaitans among you please respond to this post.

I am also a Dvaitan and Madhvacharya who is none other than Sri Vayu woke me up from my deep slumber and enlightened me about the glories of Sriman Narayana through an author by the name of TS Raghavendran who has translated all the sanskrit slokas into english .

Please read the book titled "Authentic Elucidation of Gita" by Sri T. S Raghavendran.

It is published by Sri Madhva Onnahini Sabha ,Tiruchanur-517503(Near Tirupathi, A.P) Its ia available for Rs 70/-

Hope , what i have given is of some help to you.I dont have the phone numbers at the moment...

Are NDE's real or are they a creation only of the Western world? In Western NDE's people have reported seeing their near and loved ones and most of them have reported feeling a sensation of extreme happiness while in the case of indian NDE's it is not so! People have had awful experience like being dragged by fearful looking men and taken in front of Yama.Many have come back as Yamas men seemed to have made a bureaucratic blunder by bringing the wrong people.

What is your opinion on this? Have any of your near and dear ones had an NDE? What was their experience ? why do Hindus experience only unpleasant things in an NDE?

Abdullah,

This forum is not for small minded people you. Vedas can be understood only by devout and intelligent Hindus. Sadly, you dont fit the bill. Go read your Koran and be happy