Mikey

A big block in my spiritual path has been the concept of Ishta-deva. I was not born into a Hindu family nor was I around it at all growing up, so being a recent convertee, some things confuse me. I can say that I cannot pick one form of God as my Ishta-deva. I love reading about Shiva, Krishna, Kali, Hanuman, Rama, Ganesha, Narasimha. I thought Iwas being foolish about the topic until I discovered Advaita Vedanta, it seems to be more my liking. Anyway the point of the post is I feel very attracted to Bhakti and chanting the names of God. Can I chant a different mantra each day or so. I am very much attracted to the Mahamantra, Om Namah Sivaya, Om Gom Ganapati and so on. Tell me i'm not being silly guys:pray:

thank you for the replies. When I first began studying the Vedas, it was difficult to believe what I read, especially how "grounded" I am with science. I read the story of the frog in the well, and it made alot of sense to me. I began opening my mind, and found my study to be much easier.

Hello everyone, I am searching for some recommended Prabhupada lectures. I have found a few but the audio quality is terrible. Can you please recommend me some of your favorite lectures?

Hello I have been studying Hinduism off and on for about a year now. With this site and many books I heard about from here, I have learned alot. I still have some questions, and I was hoping for some answers. I wont bog you down with them, so here it goes. Do you believe the events that occured in the Gita and the Ramayan actually took place? To clarify further, do you believed Hanuman walked the earth and there really was a battle of Kurukshetra? If so, have archaeologists discovered remains of the battle?

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I went ahead an uploaded the track, I figured I'd have better luck that way. Maybe some one who downloads it will recognize his voice. http://rapidshare.com117640114/10-Bonus_Lecture.mp3.html

Hello everyone, I recently bought Perfection of Desire by the band Shelter. I love it, it is one of my favorite cds and has been getting plenty of play time lately. At the end of the cd, there is a 16 minute lecture, actually, clips from different lectures. The first talks about sex, how orgasm is so quick and that is not pleasure, touches on drinking, I sat mesmerized as I listened to this man with a slight Brithish accent speak. At the end of the track, music cues in an a voice saying for copies of, sounds like Stamadas lectures, contact Touchstone productions, 103 east hamilton college blvd penn. I know this is a long shot, but does anyone know who this is, I'm desperate to find more of his lectures.

Wow those are some amazing costumes, its nice to have a visual aid to the stories

So whats the general consesus in the Hindu community about homosexuals, is it viewed the same way Christians do that it is a sin?

Thank you everyone for your responses, I was overwhelmed with the intellegent responses I recieved and you all helped to shed light about my question. I continued my study of the Gita with a more open mind, not questioning things that may confuse my scientificaly, and am moving along nicely. I am very impressed of your guys knowledge, to be so passionate about the topic is very encouraging!

Thank you shvu, the analogy of the soil made alot of sense to me, i didn't really look at it that way.

mmm simple typo, i googled it and got billion orginally

Well i am taking the route of proven logic, and whats wrong with having more questions, or should I blindly follow what I read. Science and religon SHOULD go together, humans have figured out some of the most baffling mysteries, are you saying I should disregard those facts?

I understand what you are saying, the depth time can be a very difficult thing to explain. Is the term "brahma" used to explain the time of Krishna's apperances rather than a specific date?

Like the majority of people, when I would think of Hare Krishna, I would conjure up thoughts of pony-tailed men in orange chanting and giving out flowers on the street. From a distance it seems very cult-like, its nothing like anything in the states, and all of the horror stories than arose about abuse and so on. So growing up with these notions I began exploring faiths besides Christianty and decided to finally learn what the Hare Krishnas acutally believed in, which, saldy few people do. When I found out how truly beautiful it was, I was shocked needless to say. Instead of praying to a yogi while empyting their pockets, I found the beauty of Krishna, and the strong ties to hinduism. I am still learning about Hinduism, and the Krishna movement fascinates me to say the least, which is why I wonder what the movement is like today? Are there more monks living in temples or more home-based devotees. Another question is to the devotees have to pay anything to the temple, or is the study free? I know its not a cult, but years of stigma is hard to kill. There seem to be so many intellegent people here, I really anticipate a great answer to my question.

I began reading the Bhagavad Gita last nite, and I didn't make it past the preface by Swami Prabhupada when he says: "Krishna desceds to this planet once in a day of Brahma, or every 8,600,000,000 years." I had to stop reading and use my basic knowledge of science to point out its widely agreed the earth is 4.5 million years. Now since this is obviously impossible, I began to liken it to the Christian bible, which more than once gives people ages of 100, 200, some even in the thousands. While studying the bible I read that in the time it was compiled, the oldest person in a village was regarded as the wisest, hence the high ages. But I just coudln't get past such a higher number, so does anyone have an explenation for it?