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renuka

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Posts posted by renuka


  1. Three women in North Florida, turned up at hospitals over a 5-day period,

    all with the same symptoms. Fever, chills, and vomiting, followed by muscular collapse, paralysis, and finally, death.

    There were no outward signs of trauma.

    Autopsy results showed toxicity in the blood.

    These women did not know each other, and seemed to have nothing in common.

    It was discovered, however, that they had all visited the same Restaurant(Olive Garden) within days of their deaths.

    The health department descended on the restaurant, shutting it down. The food, water, and air conditioning were all inspected and tested, to no avail.

    The big break came when a waitress at the restaurant was rushed to the hospital with similar symptoms.

    She told doctors that she had been on vacation, and had only went to the restaurant to pick up her check.

    She did not eat or drink while she was there, but had used the restroom. That is when one toxicologist, remembering an article he had read, drove out to the restaurant, went into the restroom, and lifted the toilet seat.

    Under the seat, out of normal view, was a small spider.The spider was captured and brought back to the lab, where it was determined to be the Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata), so named because of its reddened flesh color.

    This spider's venom is extremely toxic, but can take several days to take effect. They live in cold, dark, damp climates, and toilet rims provide just the right atmosphere. Several days later a lawyer from Jacksonville showed up at a hospital emergency room.

    Before his death, he told the doctor, that he had been away on business, had taken a flight from Indonesia, changing planes in Singapore, before returning home. He did not visit (Olive Garden), while there. He did, as did all of the other victims,

    have what was determined to be a puncture wound, on his right buttock.

    Investigators discovered that the flight he was on had originated in India.

    The Civilian Aeronautics Board (CAB) ordered an immediate inspection of

    the toilets of all flights from India, and discovered the Two-Striped Telamonia

    (Telamonia dimidiata) spider's nests on 4 different planes!

    So please, before you use a public toilet, lift the seat to check for spiders.

    It can save your life!

     

     

     

    post-838-13827405333_thumb.jpg


  2. Interviewer said "I shall either ask you ten easy questions or one

    really difficult question.

     

    Think well before you make up your mind!" The boy thought for a

    while and said, "my choice is one really difficult question."

     

    "Well, good luck to you, you have made your own choice! Now tell me

    this. "What comes first, Day or Night?"

     

    The boy was jolted into reality as his admission depends on the

    correctness of his answer, but he thought for a while and

    said, "It's the DAY sir!"

     

    "How" the interviewer asked, "Sorry sir, you promised me that you

    will not ask me a SECOND difficult question!"

     

    "Technical Skill is the mastery of complexity, while Creativity is

    the master of simplicity."

    </XBODY>


  3.  

    How? They are saying all that there is is God and ONLY God - no second, no jivas. There is only a High Power (not Higher, because there is nothing to be higher against) - or just a Power. This covers Theism, not atheism. It is not even veiled atheism because in atheism there is no Power whatsoever.

     

    'Transference of the atomic individual soul to another body is made possible by the grace of the Supersoul. The Supersoul fulfills the desire of the atomic soul as one friend fulfills the desire of another. The Vedas, like the Mundaka Upanishad, as well as the Shvetasvatara Upanishad, compare the soul and the Supersoul to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One of the birds (the individual atomic soul) is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird (Krishna) is simply watching His friend. Of these two birds—although they are the same in quality—one is captivated by the fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing the activities of His friend. Krishna is the witnessing bird, and Arjuna is the eating bird. Although they are friends, one is still the master and the other is the servant. Forgetfulness of this relationship by the atomic soul is the cause of one’s changing his position from one tree to another, or from one body to another. The jiva soul is struggling very hard on the tree of the material body, but as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird as the supreme spiritual master—as Arjuna agreed to do by voluntary surrender unto Krishna for instruction—the subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all lamentations. Both the Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.2) and Shvetasvatara Upanishad (4.7) confirm this:

     

     

    samane vrkse purusho nimagno

    ’nisaya socati muhyamanah

    justam yada pasyaty anyam isam

    asya mahimanam iti vita-sokah

     

    “Although the two birds are in the same tree, the eating bird is fully engrossed with anxiety and moroseness as the enjoyer of the fruits of the tree. But if in some way or other he turns his face to his friend who is the Lord and knows His glories—at once the suffering bird becomes free from all anxieties.” Arjuna has now turned his face towards his eternal friend, Krishna, and is understanding the Bhagavad-gita from Him. And thus, hearing from Krishna, he can understand the supreme glories of the Lord and be free from lamentation.' BG Ch 2 Text 22 Purport by Srila Prabhupada.

     

    So there is a Supreme and a subordinate. THis is theism. Dictonary defines theism as 'Belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in a personal God as creator and ruler of the world'. When you think I am a JIva created by Supreme, you will be called theistic, for you believe in God as a person who is the controler.

     

    But if you think there is Supreme and that is I, then this is in turn 'I am everything'. Obvoiusly there is no God according to you. You are He. So an entity called God is a non entity to you. Its just you all over.

     

    Ok if we consider your case for argument sake, tell me which Supreme power has put you into your present illusion in this material world? Right now all are suffering under Maya. So logically speaking Maya is more powerful than God(That is you). What God are you if Maya can put you in illusion?


  4.  

    in the vaisnva system, most one ALWAYS offer thing, food for ex at the altar? or can one just offer the food and other eateble stuff in the heart with correct prayers? because altar offering can easyli become just ritualistic and dull.. but prayer in the heart is more alive.. arent it the mood of the offering thats more importent then how one offer stuff to Krsna!?

     

    It is true that it is best to engage the mind in service than the body. Hence

    Krishna says

    "Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend." Bhagavad Gita 18.65

     

    But at the same time Krishna says,

     

    "Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt."

     

    "My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles . In this way develop a desire to attain Me."

     

    "If you cannot practice the regulations of bhakti-yoga, then just try to work for Me, because by working for Me you will come to the perfect stage."

     

     

     

    "If, however, you are unable to work in this consciousness of Me, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be self-situated."

     

     

    "If you cannot take to this practice, then engage yourself in the cultivation of knowledge. Better than knowledge, however, is meditation, and better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of action, for by such renunciation one can attain peace of mind."

     

    BG 12.8-12

     

    Here Krishna is recognising 'regulative principles of bhakti-yoga', 'work for Me', 'try to act giving up all results of your work', 'knowledge', 'meditation',... as the process to attain perfection. Any of these above mentioned activities could become ritualistic. One should take care to understand the importance Krishna is giving to these offreings and avoid it to become ritualistic.

     

    When Krishna askes for patram phalam toyam puspam one can might as well offer it in real than in imagination. if the mind is channelised to please the Lord with service , one can avoid the risk of it becoming ritualistic.

     

    Moreover in the material world one identifies oneself more with body than spirit. hence sometimes bodily service is more satisfying. this may be till we completly realisd that we are atma and not this body. But ironically for a realised person it does not matter for he will engage everthing he has in service of the Lord. Body, spirit makes no difference to him.


  5.  

    Atheism means that there is no Higher Power or spiritual Being. Atheists do not follow or practice any spiritual teachings like Advaita. Atheists believe in the natural world only.

     

    Advaitins teach that God is Real, and is the Supreme Self of all. They do not teach the natural world is all that is, rather they teach it is Illusion and the Unmanifest Spiritual world (which atheists deny exist).

     

    To Call Advaita atheists is insulting. To disagree with them is fine, but to throw false labels on them is offensive and does nothing for real dialogue.

     

    Ok. Let us take your definition of atheism. 'atheism means that there is no Higher Power or spiritual Being.' An impersonalist in the initial stages recognises 'that God is Real, and is the Supreme Self of all'. BUt in their so called advanced stages they conclude that the Supreme and you are the same. you are merged. so you have become God. No difference between you and God. so you are God. No one above you. This is covered atheism.


  6.  

    THATS MY POINT.....ITS NOT FAIR

     

    forget everything else....and someone give me the answer to this question :

     

    WHY AREN'T WE ALLOWED TO REMEMBER OUR MISTAKES ?

     

    why aren't we allowed to know the reason for being "tied to the pole" ?

     

    The cow has no free will whatsoever....he has to remain tied to the pole...he is fooled into thinking he has freewill...just like all other jivas.

     

    It's just like a king/dictator....he lets his subjects do things, but only under limits....this is not free will.

     

    In order to understand this point clearly one needs to know some basic facts about the existance of soul.

    1. The soul is the marginal potency of the Lord. Marginal means the soul has the independance to choose to be either in the material world or in the spiritual world. Doesn't this sound like freewill facility?

     

    2. The souls constitutional positions is servant of God. The Lord is the Supreme enjoyer. One who owns a car can be called the ultimate enjoyer of the car. Similary the creator is the supreme enjoyer. and the jivas are his servitors.

     

    3. the creator has created the creation for the jivas to live in. Since jiva is not god he cannot create some thing new for himself. Now if one thinks the jiva is forced to be in this world created by God and hence he has no free will, this would be too much of asking by a mere servitor, keeping in mind his constitutional position.

     

    4. It's just like a king/dictator....he lets his subjects do things, but only under limits....this is not free will.[/quote - this is true. the only difference is the king's subject humbly accepts the authority of the king where as the jive foolishly tries to lord over creation.

     

    5. It is true that not all can understand this for this knowledge is imparted only to those who render humble service to the Lord and His devotees. FOr the rest it is like licking the mere honey bottle thinking of honey.

     

    6.WHY AREN'T WE ALLOWED TO REMEMBER OUR MISTAKES ?

    Why not? you should be able to remember the cookies you stole when you were a kid. Try to rectify them. You may be able to progress.


  7.  

    noe necessarily. Some i not all Advaitists believe their duality is temorary. And some believe that you are simulataneously one and different at all times.

     

    This simultaneously one and different philosophy is called acintya bheda abheda tattva. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught his school of philosophy and Sri Chaitanya is neither an impersonalist nor an atheist.


  8.  

    Advaitists do not believe they merge with Brahman, they believe they Realize they are That. Merging implies duality.

     

    Well said. Believing that God has an impersonal feature also is good. But to think that that impersonal is feature is ultimtely 'I' is not impersonalism but atheism. Obvoiusly you are negating the existance of God here.


  9.  

    I think the idea of karma can be both good or bad. If we view it as a sort of version of the golden rule "do unto others as you would have done to you" then it can be a progressive force for good. In this case we say "Everything you do in this world will come back to you so you should do what is right." Its not a great philosophy because it is based on a sort of selfishness to do what is right. Where as the golden rule is more of a commandment - Do! Do Good!

     

    However, karma usually ends up being a sentimental mechanistic tool of judgment that keeps the powerful in positions of power. A sentimentalist is one who is moved by mere associations. They have developed a formula for life and fit everything into this formula. If you add certain inputs you always get a certain predefined output. There is no freewill in this situation. One becomes less human by viewing the world as a formula.

     

    This happens practically all the time. A child is abused. We are told the child was suffering the reactions of his past sins. There are several elements wrong here:

     

    Factually we know the child was abused. However, when someone makes the judgment that "they are suffering the reactions of their past sins" they are simply being sentimentalists. They are simply drawing conclusions based on associations. This can be proven very easily. Simply ask the person making this conclusion to SPECIFICALLY list the exact sins of the child that was committed in a prior life, to whom they were committed, and when they were committed. The person who says this won't be able to give anything but a vague generality of how "it must be".

     

    Now I have no problem in believing that certain parts of life are fixed and certain parts of life are happenstance. That seems fairly logical to me. God has set up in motion that the planets revolve in a certain order. And I can set my clock based on the rising and setting of the sun. But if I believe everything has been fixed then there is no such thing as free will. I am simply a clock that has been wound up.

     

    Suppose I am talking to the person who says the child that was abused was suffering the reactions of his past sins. Suppose I then decide to beat the hell out of this person. It wasn't his karma that he was beaten. It was my free will to beat this person. It could have happened or didn't have to happen. The future was not fixed at that moment, I made that decision. Unless this free will exists, the chance that some bad things happen that aren't preordained, some times things that are random just happen. Without that we simply become mechanistic robots. We end up being just chemicals that move. To be a human means to have a free soul.

     

    So how to view karma? View it as a way of judging YOURSELF. Approach life at all times knowing that you must deal with life as living entities not to be exploited. But when bad things happen to others DO NOT JUDGE THEM. When you say "So and so is suffering for their sins." You are assuming you know the mind of God. You think you know the way the world works, and if you get a certain output it MUST BE because of a certain input. However, that is not true. Life is not a machine. Life is not a formula. It is the interaction of living, free wills that interact with one another. Accept karma for yourself and leave off thinking you know the mind of God.

     

    One needs to take a holistic view in understanding karma. Karma is a universal reality. One cannot customize it according to one's whims and fancies. Every action has its equal and opposite reaction, whether you do it knowingly or unknowingly. That is why this earth planet is called karma Bhoomi.

     

    Karma and Freewill work like the following anology. The jiva is like a cow tied to a pole with a six meter rope. As per its karma, the jiva is restricted to the six meter circumference around the pole. However, the cow by using its freewill can go around carefully and graze in the permitted space or it can entangle itself and reduce its grazing area.

     

    So it is no doubt a perfect arrangment by the Lord to make us accountable for what we do. On the other hand at any given moment you could choose to get out of this karmic cycle by embracing devotional service which is beyond karmic reactions. Fair deal!:)


  10. Actually in Kali yuga you get the result of the completed activities only. But invariably a thought passes through the processes of thinking, feeling and willing. After willing it is obviously action.

     

    So though you do not get sins for thinking but eventually you will end up doing it and you will suffer its result.


  11. Come on! This is nothing in life.:crazy: How many such girlfriends you would have had in your past millions and millions of births. No doubt, this world is full of miseries. That is why Krishna calls this place "dhukalayam ashasvatam'- a place of misery. what better can you expect here. Cheer up and do some devotional sevice. May the Lord be pleased with you and relieve you from the clutches of the material world.:)


  12.  

    If your father builds one big house and gives you one room where you should live in, definitely your father should knock your door and take your permission to enter your private room. Lord Vishnu is preserver of Dharma and He Himself can not break this which He has allocated to Lord Shiva in His form to look after.

     

    This earth is ruled by Shiva and He maintains all daily law and orders in this earth. To enter into His zone and to kill Ravana like demon who is again devotee of Lord Shiva, Vishnu needs His permission as per law of Dharma.

     

    This also shows the magnanimity of the Lord. The Lord is fully renounced and is Bhaktavatsala. During Kurukshetra war the Lord was the charioteer of Arjuna. Being a charioteer in a war is not a joke. He would be kicked by the fighter to indicate the direction the chariot has to move in. The Lord would also become a menial servant of his devotees. He is purchased only by the love of His devotees.

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