Inedible

And looking at beautiful women is illicit sex?

Personally, I find that the more difficult it is to enjoy my existence, the more my tendency to blame God for it remains.

Could you remind me again what is impure about sex?

It is difficult to avoid seeing references to sex when it is being used to sell everything. Using sex to sell renunciation is funny.

Can you love God if you don't love yourself?

Over time, with practices, your impulses will be transmformed as long as you don't try to fight against them directly. "What you resist, persists" is a famous quote. Most of the time you aren't being asked to give up something that is actually good; it only seems like a good idea at the time. The way to end them is to get to the point where you get a greater satisfaction elsewhere. Even then, you still aren't directly fighting against an old pattern; it just stops making sense.

It has only been a few hours and already I am very much impressed by how many answers I have been given. It gives me a good idea of where to begin, to be able to participate more fully here. IMO, Christianity has got to be one of the weirdest religions I have ever learned anything about. My parents tried to raise me Catholic, but it didn't take. When first I read about Buddhism in general and the 4 Noble Truths in particular, it felt like I had finally come home. Full enlightenment has been my goal ever since then. The thing is, though, that I began to suspect that it was necessary to look outside of Buddhism to accomplish this. Sure, Buddha is great, but you should see some of the people who call themselves Buddhist.

Hi. I am new to studying Hinduism, even after having picked up a few yoga books and books on meditation over the years. Most of the Sanskrit terms seemed to go over my head, because I wasn't really sure where to begin. This forum seems like a nice place to come to learn more, but a lot of the discussions seem to be very technical to me and it is hard to know where to begin. Could you please help me to sort out what I need to know as a minimum to be able to fully appreciate what I am reading?

As a new person here, I find the disputes make the whole site seem unwelcoming. My plan was to learn more about Hinduism and Yoga by coming here.

Giving up something you enjoy because you have to is not the point. The point is that when you find something better to enjoy, other things tend to fall away by themselves. It is not discipline.

It is possible that I've got it completely wrong, but I thought that one of the nice things about Hinduism was that everyone was free to choose Shiva, Vishnu, or anyone else who happens to be their favorite. I seem to recall that somewhere in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that if you are sincere in your devotion you belong to Him no matter who you choose.

The person with the biggest aura wins. I would hope that you plan to use this mantra so that you only bring about the kind of situation where everyone benefits. (There were two sites where I got some information on this mantra, or type of mantra. It looks like you can even just buy what you want from the second one.) http://www.aryabhatt.com/occult/yantraTantraMantra/mantra.htm http://www.vashikaran.com/

Waterfalls are great. I read that they generate negative ions in the air around them, and that negative ions are useful for supporting positive emotions like peace and strength. Those salt lamps are supposed to generate negative ions for indoor use. I have one that holds tea light candles to heat the salt, but it is hard to really feel much of anything. A waterfall seems to be much more powerful for generating positive moods.

The important thing about modern technology is that we keep trying to improve it. The only complaint about it that I would suggest as valid is that we don't always use it the way we should. It is one thing to develop a "worm" to search for information about a type of cancer and another thing entirely to use a "worm" to steal credit card information.

Hi. I'm very new here. What kind of forum is this, anyway?

I am shocked and awed. Somehow I feel there is more genius to this than I can quite fully appreciate.

Several years ago I was waiting for my connecting flight at an airport when I was approached by a guy who was selling for Krishna. Due to some bad planning on my part I didn't have a single cent in my pockets. You should have seen how quickly he ran away when I told him I'd be happy to talk with him about Krishna anyway. He was disgusted by my poor judgment, but it only seemed as bad as it did because my connecting flight had been delayed several hours. He could have let me borrow something to read and I would have given it back in good condition. Oh, well. It would probably be easier to approach people about Krishna consciousness if it were something you could quickly and easily demonstrate to the average person. Then it wouldn't matter how caught up they were in the story of their lives or how anxious they were to get where they are going.

This reminds me of how people in school kept telling me that there are cultures with 25 words for "snow" with a variety of different meanings for each of them. It is possible that in India even just in Sanskrit there would be more than one way to say "Light" depending on context.

The trouble with Yoga is that it works, and especially that it works without having to give prescription medications to the children. No one wants to teach children how to help themselves; that's what's really against everyone's religion. Imagine what would happen next if we let the children do yoga and meditate ... they might even expect their parents to make an effort for themselves.

Better keep posting, then. I can't imagine what you typed and clearly you can't tell us here until you get your 15 posts in. That's something I'm working toward also.

I'd think that a nice picture of Kali would be useful, placed where you sleep so that She is the first person you see when you wake up every day and the last person you see before you go to sleep. Another picture at the kitchen sink, the refrigerator, and any other place like that where you know you will be regularly would be helpful. For places at work a Kali Yantra might be a good choice. You can say it is just some geometric pattern you liked and printed out.

They seem to have it at emusic dot com but I don't have 15 posts yet so I can't tell you. They have a trial interval and you can keep the 25 MP3 files and cancel without paying. I haven't tried it, though, to be sure of that.

Asking for help is easy. I find expecting to receive help is the difficult part. This is especially so with asking people for help, especially material help, for me.

It sounds like this has something to do with Hanuman and the crown chakra ... but what is it, so I'll know if I want it also?

Just guessing here. Although God is everywhere we do not experience God directly without the help of Guru, so rather than trying to find God we should go to Guru instead?