abhi_the_great

Pls don't stop... have mercy...

Sure, God has created religion, but we have a responsibility to present it in an acceptable and appealing way. As far as manipulating matter, it does not contradict Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's message. Where is it said that a rich person cannot become KC? Such propaganda is not very healthy, and is an immature conclusion. Rich or poor, male or female all are fit for the mercy of Chaithanya. If a devotee feels that he shd not try to become rich, either he is a hypocrite or he is not given a mature understanding of philosophy. All the wealth belongs to Krishna and his devotees - so that it can be properly utilised. A person with vaishya tendencies needs to be inspired to make more and more money. This is the the essence of yukta vairagya. Even as a sudra one shd work hard in the office to get a highere and higher promotion and to come to the helm of the company management. This is ofcourse according to ones capacity. But this is absolutely in line with our philososphy. Lord Chaithanya's teachings are absolutely positive in nature, we see it in a negative light bcos we are not able to assimilate it with the help of mature devotees. Abhi

John and David were both patients in a Mental hospital. One day while they were walking passed the hospital swimming pool, John suddenly dove into the deep end. He sunk to the bottom and stayed there. David promptly jumped in and saved him. He swam to the bottom of the pool and pulled John out. The medical director came to know of David's heroic act. He immediately ordered that David be discharged from the Mental Hospital, as he considered him to be OK. The Doctor said, "We have good news and bad news for you, David! The good news is that we are going to discharge you because you have regained your senses. Since you were able to jump in and save another patient you must be mentally stable. The bad news is that John, hung himself in the bathroom and died." David replied, "Doctor, he didn't hang himself. I hung him there to dry." Enjoy!!

Dear Gauracandra, Practically speaking its not possible to do such a thing as give a single identity or in the sense all people think and live alike. In some ways ISKCON has a standard set of rules and living practices and values which everyone around the world follows. If we force them to be more tight, they might break off. If we are concentrating on a specific geographic area we can create more binding if the group consistently follows one single leader or one single Guru, maybe by stressing the fact that we are actually belonging to the family of Srila Prabhupad. If we take the case of Christianity we can see that it has been able to mingle into the local cultures to an extend and take a few things of that culture. This increases the acceptability of a religion. We need to see how ISKCON has adapted to the different cultures of the world, and not tried to separate by force its followers. This is a way it can help increase the adaptability of a religion. If ISKCON was a religion for only brahmacaris and sannyasis, it wd have become a great failure by today. I think the best way to bind wd be by having a common philosophy and value set. The binding shd not be too heavy or too loose. abhi

Hmmm... interseting question here. As an outsider, a religion wd be meaningful, if he is able to fulfill his social, religious(maybe mundane), philosophical and intellectual needs. If he is appreciated for his ideas and receives constant motivation, he can never leave such a religion/organisation. A place wrought with politics and back stabbing is the last place where anyone wd like to belong. This is a micro level analysis. On a higher level what strengthens a religion is mostly its legendary leaders like Srila Prabhupad for ISKCON, Lee Kuan Yew for Singapore etc. and the rules by which the society is governed. The values which it ingrains and the way it projects itself in the world. I feel a cultish image is detrimental for a religious society. Like Gandhiji in India, Lee Kuan Yew is a leader who has seen a country wrought by colonial rule, captured by Japanese in WW2 and corrupted by communists to an independent country. Actually he has gone one or two steps ahead of Gandhiji by seeing Singapore into a financially successful and one of the most secure countries of the world. And these are his USPs - the most secure country, both in terms of crime rate and in terms of financial stability, state of the art infrastructural facilities and liberal banking norms to attract more investors from around the world and always improvising. Presently I am going thru the biography of this living legend, it has made quite an interesting read for me. "Lee Kuan Yew, the man and his ideas". He is indeed a genius who has build high skylines on what was a barren island - home of bandits and communists and politically a most unstable society. So much to learn from the world....will continue. Abhi

Hinduism is almost dead, take my word for that. This is the religion which permeated the whole earth. Today, it is just remaining in some pockets and struggling hard to breath. It is under the swords of Muslims and under the cross of Christians. It was such a popular way of life even in Mecca. But today, it has been sliced and sliced and sliced into hardly 1% of what it really was. Hindus are a race fearing extinction today, this is my outlook. We need to do all that is within our abilities to revive this dying species. Atleast India shd stand up against conversions just to stop the extinction of a species, of aculture. We have been wiped out of the whole world, Hinduism is hardly anything today. I prefer to think like that, then only there is a motivation to preach. Jaihind Abhi

Gauracandra, Sounds interesting. We can see that the Hindus are also very much getting obsessed with family planning and contraceptives. But Muslims are going guns 3,4,5,6....100 babies. They might sooon out number Hindus in India, maybe in a 100 or 200 yrs. There is a chance that Muslilms will be the dominating force in the world. I feel we need some kind of ethnic cleansing process, like the muslims did with the hindus of Kashmir. If Muslims bcome a mojority, then the whole world is in for a big time bashing, I am afraid. There needs to be some planned action to reduce the faith of Muslim people in their religion - which is being totally misused. Islam needs to be portrayed as a insensitive religion by the world media. Abstaining from sex is not a very easy process. This is my experience as a married man. On the other hand, we do not have enough resources or finance to take nice care of all ones children. Its a practical problem. In earlier days, my great grandfathers family had a lot of cows and a lot of land with grain and vegetables and pepper and coconut palms. And people were not so stressed for their daily bread or clothes. So, they were happy with as many children as they had. But today, in India most of the agricultural lands are converted into residential areas. The menial workers or shudras did find it a difficult life no doubt, but for others it was more easier. But even the shudras wd have a lot of children, bcos all their food came from their masters. They were fed with family 3 times a day by their masters. But their life is better today. Regards Abhi [This message has been edited by abhi_the_great (edited 02-28-2002).]

Yes, body, ie matter. The identification with matter. Although sun is also indirectly responsible for the shadow, the shadow is never on the sun. That is there cannot be ignorance in Krishna. There is a saying in Bangla "Krishna booliya jeeva bogha vancha.... maya japathiya" something like that. Means as soon as the jiva forgets krishna and thinks of enjoyment. Maya standing just besides him(like the shadow) immediately pounces on him. Is there shadow in the spiritual world?? Abhi

leyh, I hope this finds you happy and healthy! Healthy true, but my hindu blood is still on the boil, especially after the karsevaks have been killed in the burning train in Gujarat yesterday!! *If Rama and Krishna are non-sectarian, then their devotees are also on the path of non-sectarianism. *I hope you have heard abt Rasikananda, a great disciple of Syamananda. He was once enraged, bcos his disciple kept a Muslim to guard his hse. He said you shd immediately remove the yavana and he left the hse of the disciple in a rage, bcos the disciple did no act. This shows that it is not wrong to differenciate, in what is good and what is bad. This is not sectarian view. This is natural for any Hindu or a Vedic follower to associate with the right kind of people. *To demolish a mosque at the wrong place is also not sectarian, its for a non-sectarian cause of building Sri Rama's temple at his birth place. *I am certainly aware of the developement of the word hindu. The way I use it, is to indicate the followers of the Vedic life style. Sometimes it is nice to use the word Hindu while preaching than Hare Krishna to some people, bcos they have a cultish feeling when we use Hare Krishna. This is true especially in India, after the news papers werefilled all over with the child abuse cases. *It is ones dharma to take care of ones family, to live religiously and to be respectful to ones motherland. Even the American devotees felt bad when US was attacked on 11th Sept. This kind of attachment is but natural. Except when one is on the Sannyasa asram, this feellings shd be there, otherwise one is becoming hard hearted and hypocrite. These are just natural, vaishnava's show of love and concern shd not be artificial and philosophical. Love is natural. Bharath Matha ki jai Abhi

leyh, I hope this finds you happy and healthy! Healthy true, but my hindu blood is still on the boil, especially after the karsevaks have been killed in the burning train in Gujarat yesterday!! *If Rama and Krishna are non-sectarian, then their devotees are also on the path of non-sectarianism. *I hope you have heard abt Rasikananda, a great disciple of Syamananda. He was once enraged, bcos his disciple kept a Muslim to guard his hse. He said you shd immediately remove the yavana and he left the hse of the disciple in a rage, bcos the disciple did no act. This shows that it is not wrong to differenciate, in what is good and what is bad. This is not sectarian view. This is natural for any Hindu or a Vedic follower to associate with the right kind of people. *To demolish a mosque at the wrong place is also not sectarian, its for a non-sectarian cause of building Sri Rama's temple at his birth place. *I am certainly aware of the developement of the word hindu. The way I use it, is to indicate the followers of the Vedic life style. Sometimes it is nice to use the word Hindu while preaching than Hare Krishna to some people, bcos they have a cultish feeling when we use Hare Krishna. This is true especially in India, after the news papers werefilled all over with the child abuse cases. *It is ones dharma to take care of ones family, to live religiously and to be respectful to ones motherland. Even the American devotees felt bad when US was attacked on 11th Sept. This kind of attachment is but natural. Except when one is on the Sannyasa asram, this feellings shd be there, otherwise one is becoming hard hearted and hypocrite. These are just natural, vaishnava's show of love and concern shd not be artificial and philosophical. Love is natural. Bharath Matha ki jai Abhi

Avinash, I had this question in my mind too, when I wrote the post. But, I feel there are 2 ways of looking at this. 1. God does not know everything that is going to happen 2. God does not need to know every small incident that is going to happen, anyway he is the santioner of everything. The 2nd point is similar to the example of a big company, he might not know what his workers are exactly doing, but if they have to do something more than their granted freedom, they might have to take the specific permission of the MD or even his juniors. If Krishna wants to fix everything he can fix. But, he has given a little freewill which we can use and misuse. He knows the extend to which we can use it and misuse it. So, in that way he has used a variable within a limit. We can say that the future is partly fixed by our previous activities and partly a variable due to our present activities and desires. Krishna directly interferes only in a devotees life. "karmany nirdahati kinthucha bhakti bajam". The process of devotion can burn to ashes all the previous karmas. This is Krishna's mercy. My conclusion will be, Krishna cares for his devotees and plans the way for them to come back for him. For the mediocre demons, Krishna cannot care less, he just remains a sanctioner. For the big time demons like those in the Mahabharatha, Krishna had already decided to kill them. So, in a sense Krishna has also directly planned their future. Its confusing, just that I am sharing my thoughts here. Abhi

The Katha Upanishad says the Lord is the witness in the heart. As far as my understanding goes, the Lord comes to know of what I am going to do as soon as I think that I am going to do a ptclr activity. The paramatma sanctions my option. I can take or reject it. And as soon as I make up my mind, the paramatma immediately gets to know of it. So, the Lord is a knower of the past present and future. Abhi

I asked this question to HH Radhanath Swami once. The answer HH gave was: Krishna is like the sun - bright and shining. When we turn our face towards Krishna, there is all illumination and knowledge. But as soon as we turn our back to Krishna, there is this dark shadow, which is also caused by the Sun. But the sun in itself is completely pure, which can even purify stool. the shadow represents ignorance or BAD tendencies. Krishna is sweet and so are his devotees! Abhi

Thankyou for the sweet sweet nectar, leyh.

Thankyou for the sweet sweet nectar, leyh.

leyh, If the culture of a country is rooted in its ancient tradition which can bring one to the Lotus feet of the Lord thru the process of Varnashrama, then that culture is worth protecting. Its worth being sectarian for a true cause. Its worth to be attached to the rituals than being a follower of a pseudo secular outlook. Arjuna fought for Lord Krishna and the Monkeys for Lord Rama. Hinduism is all about the Lord's inconceivable pastimes. I mean the Vedic religion is abt the Lord and not a secrarian creed. But if there is need to blast the enemies, it has to be done by all supporters of Sanatana Dharma. Hindustan's blood has been the tasty soup of many Muslims & Christians of the past and present. This has to be prevented at any cost. We can see that even the preaching efforts in Western countries of ISKCON hit the wall due to the resistence from Christian missionaries. Why is that only hindus need to be so humble and kind and understanding and be taken full advantage of? You won't have any answers. As Vaishnavas we need to know the dynamics of the world and know how to react in every situation. Hinduism and its glories needs to be preserved in India, whereelse can we do this? If you are not sectarian, then pls go ahead and preach the glories to the muslims of Mecca - let me see how they treat you. Non-sectarianism or secularism is a weapon invented by Communists in India to hit down Hinduism. Jaihind Abhi

leyh, If the culture of a country is rooted in its ancient tradition which can bring one to the Lotus feet of the Lord thru the process of Varnashrama, then that culture is worth protecting. Its worth being sectarian for a true cause. Its worth to be attached to the rituals than being a follower of a pseudo secular outlook. Arjuna fought for Lord Krishna and the Monkeys for Lord Rama. Hinduism is all about the Lord's inconceivable pastimes. I mean the Vedic religion is abt the Lord and not a secrarian creed. But if there is need to blast the enemies, it has to be done by all supporters of Sanatana Dharma. Hindustan's blood has been the tasty soup of many Muslims & Christians of the past and present. This has to be prevented at any cost. We can see that even the preaching efforts in Western countries of ISKCON hit the wall due to the resistence from Christian missionaries. Why is that only hindus need to be so humble and kind and understanding and be taken full advantage of? You won't have any answers. As Vaishnavas we need to know the dynamics of the world and know how to react in every situation. Hinduism and its glories needs to be preserved in India, whereelse can we do this? If you are not sectarian, then pls go ahead and preach the glories to the muslims of Mecca - let me see how they treat you. Non-sectarianism or secularism is a weapon invented by Communists in India to hit down Hinduism. Jaihind Abhi

Thanks for the site. Arun Shourie is making their lives difficult to live.

Thanks for the site. Arun Shourie is making their lives difficult to live.

This ability to co-exist has actually corrupted the pure nature of Hinduism. Why are we so shameless, to raise our sounds even after so many years of being raped again and again by different sickly cultures and religions. I agree that the Hindus need not discriminate among Jains and Budhists and Sikhs. They shd accept them as first cousins and be together. Althoough myself, I am a Vaishnava, from my side, I feel as Hindus all the creeds and castes and groups and subgroups shd stand together strongly as Hindus, irrespective of philosophical differences, when it comes to the question of life OR death of hinduism. Why is it that we cannot confidently excercise our rightful claim of worshipping Lord Rama at Ayodhya and Lord Krishna at Mathura. The very existential holy places of Hinduism is under foreign rule - till today after so many years. Who are the Hindus waiting for - the govt? the supreme court? It surprises me that some Hindus still talk abt ahimsa and secularity. Stinking fishes should be thrown out of Hinduism, the Kshatriya spirit needs to soar. I remember the story of the King, Kulashkara Alwar (author of Mukunda Mala Stotra), who took his army and ran to the Southern banks of India to invade Sri Lanka, saying that that Ravana has stolen mother Sita - I will finish him. This great devotee was in a trance when he did this. The confiscation of Rama Janma Bhoomi and Krishna Janma Bhoomi is like stealing mother Sita from Lord Rama. The land rightfully belongs to the Lord. And we shd give all kinds of support to thte movement to build a temple at this sacred spots. Mlechchas can search for other pasturing grounds outside the holy dhams. Relocate or die!! lllr to convert to islam or die!!! Jaihind Abhi

This ability to co-exist has actually corrupted the pure nature of Hinduism. Why are we so shameless, to raise our sounds even after so many years of being raped again and again by different sickly cultures and religions. I agree that the Hindus need not discriminate among Jains and Budhists and Sikhs. They shd accept them as first cousins and be together. Althoough myself, I am a Vaishnava, from my side, I feel as Hindus all the creeds and castes and groups and subgroups shd stand together strongly as Hindus, irrespective of philosophical differences, when it comes to the question of life OR death of hinduism. Why is it that we cannot confidently excercise our rightful claim of worshipping Lord Rama at Ayodhya and Lord Krishna at Mathura. The very existential holy places of Hinduism is under foreign rule - till today after so many years. Who are the Hindus waiting for - the govt? the supreme court? It surprises me that some Hindus still talk abt ahimsa and secularity. Stinking fishes should be thrown out of Hinduism, the Kshatriya spirit needs to soar. I remember the story of the King, Kulashkara Alwar (author of Mukunda Mala Stotra), who took his army and ran to the Southern banks of India to invade Sri Lanka, saying that that Ravana has stolen mother Sita - I will finish him. This great devotee was in a trance when he did this. The confiscation of Rama Janma Bhoomi and Krishna Janma Bhoomi is like stealing mother Sita from Lord Rama. The land rightfully belongs to the Lord. And we shd give all kinds of support to thte movement to build a temple at this sacred spots. Mlechchas can search for other pasturing grounds outside the holy dhams. Relocate or die!! lllr to convert to islam or die!!! Jaihind Abhi

I am just guesssing, like the Christians today, they make a big hue and cry of casteism and inequality and convert Hindus in masses. They go to the most poor people and entice them with job offers and money and food and subsidies. This is going on in India. On the other hand, if they are all so much equal why is their discrimination of black Christians over the fair colored ones?? Why has never an Asian or African become a pope in Vatican?? Why no ladies are allowed to become the pope? And the biggest, why are there so many different kinds of Christians - the catholics, the protestants all at one another's neck. What I mean is they used so many devious methods and mispropaganda to preach and spread their religion into hindu majority areas. Similarly, the Muslims killed and devastated the Hindus to spread their religion. How has budhhism spread in India? Is it only by preaching the pure message? Or were there some other ways? They point fingers at Sankaracarya for driving them out, how did they drive in? This is the question? Jaihind Abhilash

I am just guesssing, like the Christians today, they make a big hue and cry of casteism and inequality and convert Hindus in masses. They go to the most poor people and entice them with job offers and money and food and subsidies. This is going on in India. On the other hand, if they are all so much equal why is their discrimination of black Christians over the fair colored ones?? Why has never an Asian or African become a pope in Vatican?? Why no ladies are allowed to become the pope? And the biggest, why are there so many different kinds of Christians - the catholics, the protestants all at one another's neck. What I mean is they used so many devious methods and mispropaganda to preach and spread their religion into hindu majority areas. Similarly, the Muslims killed and devastated the Hindus to spread their religion. How has budhhism spread in India? Is it only by preaching the pure message? Or were there some other ways? They point fingers at Sankaracarya for driving them out, how did they drive in? This is the question? Jaihind Abhilash

Namaste saints and godmen, Coming from Kerala let me share a bit here. Kerala is famous for many of the traditional and orthodox brahminical cultures. There is no doubt that the brahmins were very pious and extremely knowledgeable in Kerala. There is even the story of a brahamana by the name "Melpathoor Narayana Bhattathiri", who forced the Lord of Guruvayoor (Sri Krishna) to appear before him and reveal that Guruvayoor temple is non-different from Sri Vaikuntha itself. The deity here is installed by Guru & Vayu at the end of Dwapara Yuga - as the legend goes. The same Rudra Kulam is present here, which the Prachetas had meditated(as mentioned in SB). How cd one conclude that this land is Budhas land? Hinduism or Vedic religion was always practiced here. The Budhists might have usurped it by some cunning means. So, it is not at all a mistake to recover this land by force if needed. Lucky the lack-lustre communists left out Guruvayoor temple from the whole big list of converted temples. During the end freedom struggle period, communism made big roadways into the culture and thinking of the general masses. A lot of people in their youth took to this nasty philosophy. This has spoiled their basic vedic mindset and made them very nasty naxalites or extremist communist. They wanted to rob and kill all the rich people and distribute the wealth among the poor(so, they claim) and bring equality into this world. Even today in Kerala communism enjoys a great popularity even to the educated and less educated hindus. They grow big beards, don't think they became a babaji or a muslim - they are intellectual - followers of Lenin and Marx. Thanks to the communists, Kerala is not too much polluted by industrial wastes today. Since the communist workers are very quarellsome, they do not miss a chance to have industrial stikes. This fear has driven many industrialists away from Kerala, not to say many have bit the dust badly. This is one reason to be thankful to them. Like the Christians and Muslims in Kerala, the communists also have a dream of seeing that there are no more hindus in the country. They also have contributed their part. But, in their heart they know that by doing away with the Vedic culture their country is going to become a reckless place like the west. So, as such they are not against the general social orders but only that they want the society without God. Finally, coming to the point, such misdirected intellects will put in their best efforts to see that Hinduism is tarnished and completely destroyed and make people completely shy of being part of a religion. In Kerala, even today Hindus are shameful to talk about their religion. They follow hinduism but never read the philosophical parts, so they are easily brainwashed by even the most fallen communist. We need genuine Vaishnavas, who are able to analyse how much truth is there in all these big talks and big books. Let the falg of Hinduism fly high. Jaihind Abhi

Namaste saints and godmen, Coming from Kerala let me share a bit here. Kerala is famous for many of the traditional and orthodox brahminical cultures. There is no doubt that the brahmins were very pious and extremely knowledgeable in Kerala. There is even the story of a brahamana by the name "Melpathoor Narayana Bhattathiri", who forced the Lord of Guruvayoor (Sri Krishna) to appear before him and reveal that Guruvayoor temple is non-different from Sri Vaikuntha itself. The deity here is installed by Guru & Vayu at the end of Dwapara Yuga - as the legend goes. The same Rudra Kulam is present here, which the Prachetas had meditated(as mentioned in SB). How cd one conclude that this land is Budhas land? Hinduism or Vedic religion was always practiced here. The Budhists might have usurped it by some cunning means. So, it is not at all a mistake to recover this land by force if needed. Lucky the lack-lustre communists left out Guruvayoor temple from the whole big list of converted temples. During the end freedom struggle period, communism made big roadways into the culture and thinking of the general masses. A lot of people in their youth took to this nasty philosophy. This has spoiled their basic vedic mindset and made them very nasty naxalites or extremist communist. They wanted to rob and kill all the rich people and distribute the wealth among the poor(so, they claim) and bring equality into this world. Even today in Kerala communism enjoys a great popularity even to the educated and less educated hindus. They grow big beards, don't think they became a babaji or a muslim - they are intellectual - followers of Lenin and Marx. Thanks to the communists, Kerala is not too much polluted by industrial wastes today. Since the communist workers are very quarellsome, they do not miss a chance to have industrial stikes. This fear has driven many industrialists away from Kerala, not to say many have bit the dust badly. This is one reason to be thankful to them. Like the Christians and Muslims in Kerala, the communists also have a dream of seeing that there are no more hindus in the country. They also have contributed their part. But, in their heart they know that by doing away with the Vedic culture their country is going to become a reckless place like the west. So, as such they are not against the general social orders but only that they want the society without God. Finally, coming to the point, such misdirected intellects will put in their best efforts to see that Hinduism is tarnished and completely destroyed and make people completely shy of being part of a religion. In Kerala, even today Hindus are shameful to talk about their religion. They follow hinduism but never read the philosophical parts, so they are easily brainwashed by even the most fallen communist. We need genuine Vaishnavas, who are able to analyse how much truth is there in all these big talks and big books. Let the falg of Hinduism fly high. Jaihind Abhi