Nothingness

Hello Dau. Thanks for telling me about that. I think that chanting brings up a lot of emotions, and some of them are negative ones which we may have been repressing for years. That link to krishna.com sounds interesting and I will have to check it out. Just listening to chanting can be very uplifting to the mind and soul. Take Care. ~ Ruth.

Hello Govindaram. I did not know that my profile picture was Bispisha basu. I found this picture online about 6 years ago, and this lady looks like such a nice Indian lady. So, I was using the picture in my profile. I did not mean to make a mistake. I can easily change the picture if that would be better. Hello Guest. Actually, I thought I did hit reply when answering the religious tolerance thread. But, I am known for my absent-mindedness. So, I must have done something wrong. PS: Hello again, Govindaram. I just did a google search for "Bispisha basu". I had no idea that she was a Bollywood Actress! It was great surprise to me. In view of this discovery, I think it would be best if I changed my profile picture.

Hello to all of you who have responded so far. Firstly, I'd like to stress that my topic was supposed to be a continuation of the Religious Tolerance thread. Somehow, it appeared as a topic on its own, however. I'm not quite sure how that happened. @ Maadhav. I don't mind being called, "Nothingness". I won't see it as an insult if you call me that. Often, 'Nothingness' ( as in the emptiness of Outer-Space) is full of interesting things, but is not controlled by an ego full of self-interest. I wish to be free from my ego if at all possible. I agree that it's natural for there to be some kind of competition between religions. But, it would be good if it could be a harmonious kind of competition. I suppose that harmonious competition and intolerance full of hatred are two different things. @ Guest 2. Oh yes, there's no doubt that the Judaic-Christian-Islamic tradition religions are the most intolerant, and it does date back to the ancient prophets. To them, other religions were seen as quite heinous and totally wicked in the days of the Old Testament. Also, there was this paranoia about disobeying a rather seemingly sadistic God. The God of the Old Testament was alledgedly one who sent a flood to drown the wicked, blew up Soddom and Gemorrah, sent the 10 plagues of Eygypt even up to the point of bringing death upon the first-born son in every Egyptian household. I could go on giving examples of how God was portrayed as really quite nasty in the Old Testament, (and to some extent, even in the New Testament). There was something in the book of Numbers which disturbed me greatly recently. (I cannot find the exact reference, but I'm pretty sure it was in the book of Numbers). Evidently a certain man had been collecting sticks on the Sabbath Day. When Moses found out about this he declared that God had ordered that this man be stoned to death. So, that was what happened. I feel Moses assumed that God was ordering this stoning when in fact, God would never do such a thing. So, if the Abrahamic Prophets treated their own followers in this way, how much worse would they have treated people from other religions? So, I do feel that you raised an interesting point there.

My background is a Christian one, and I still see Christ as God. I have often been totally horrified by the way in which certain Christians tell people from other religions that they are going to spend Eternity in burning Hell Fire! I have only recently joined this Forum. So, I have not yet been exposed to too much Hindu fundamentalism yet. Overall, from my experiences with Hindus, I have come to think of most of its followers as very tolerant of other religions and this is something which I admire greatly. It is something which almost never happens within Christianity, I am sad to say. Because I am chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra, most Christians would tell me that I am doomed and on my way to Hell. But, a religion should not coerce its members never to explore or experience other religions because of fear of punishment after physical death. It would seem hard to see God as a friend if someone is terrified of putting a foot wrong and if the whole system of worship is based on reward or punishment from God. PS: Ooops! This was supposed to be tacked onto the end of the Religious Tolerance thread! I'm not quite sure what went wrong. Sorry about that. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

Thankyou for your reply, Krishna dasa. It's true that we have been "polluted" for a very long time. (Lots of emotional scars and attachments to things in this world). I will be keeping up the chanting. But, as yet, I have not reached 16 rounds a day, which is the number of rounds which Hare Krishnas chant. I do as many as I can, however. I hope that the number will keep on increasing! Hare Krishna!

Oh my goodness. It looks rather nasty! I've had lots of things done to my teeth but never as bad as that..

Thankyou very much for the link, Bhakta Mark. I have added it to my list of favourites.

These pictures are all really lovely and extremely interesting. Thankyou for sharing them with us!

I have visted ISKCON temples on a number of occasions. I don't doubt the veracity of what the original poster said about men touching women. Nobody would invent that, I don't think. But, happily for me, I have never witnessed anything like this in an ISKCON Temple. (However, I have seen it happen in an ISKCON restaurant, between devotees who work there). Sometimes, when I go to a Temple, because I'm not a Hare Krishna, I occasionally make blunders. I automatically smile at whomever crosses my path, especially when first entering the temple building. If the person I have smiled at happens to be male, he always looks away from me, and I think, "Ooops!" Always, the females would smile back. It seems there is very strict segregation between males and females in ISKCON Temples, but only from what I have experienced. Other people's experiences may be different.

Thankyou for your response. :-) I thought that something like that might be going on. It makes sense really. So, I won't give up the mantra chanting. I'll still keep at it and not let my mind be bothered too much by the repressed anger that is being drawn out by the cleansing process.

I have recently started to chant a mantra. It is the Hare Krishna Mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare. I want to connect with God and let Him cleanse my soul. But, it is strange because about one or two days after starting to chant this mantra, I began to feel a lot of repressed anger coming to the surface. Is this normal sometimes when someone begins to chant mantras? Is it part of the cleansing process, like a boil which is being lanced before it can heal? I think that the worst of the anger is over for now. But, while it was happening, it came over me so unexpectedly and quite knocked me over, so to speak. Thankyou for reading this, and thankyou in advance for your replies. ~ Nothingness.