[Jagannath] Srila

[Guest guest]

Dear Dina natha Das,

 

I do not have your total fascination with vedic society. So you must forgive me if I think that individuals are responsible for their own spiritual development.

 

From childhood I have been interested in spirituality, but as I have always been extremely aware of the many social difficulties caused by traditional hinduism with its belief in caste, I cannot as you do in such an uncritical way to the vedic society you talk of. I come from a country where there have been murders to prevent lower caste people from entering temples. So please spare me a dissertation on the ideal vedic society. I do not accept the authority of any religious texts as literal truths.

 

Contraception and abortion are two different things. And yes, I do know the story of Kunti. BTW do you take it literally? A pregnancy involving 100 children who have to be brought out by hitting a woman on the stomach?

 

Once, 20 years ago, I had an brief experience (under completely non-spiritual circumstances) where had a glimpse of knowledge of my true nature. I have spoken of this to only a couple of people in my life, but could not get them to understand it. It was very intense though it lasted a very short time, but the memory lasted intensely for 6 or 7 years. The exact memory is fading now, but at that moment all contradictions and paradoxes disappeared, logic itself disappeared. It was a sense of complete freedom, understanding, unlimitedness, detachment. I realised that the description of knowledge of your true nature as absolute bliss transcending all others is true. I have never had it again. You asked me once what was the knowledge I spoke of. This is the knowledge I seek again. I do not think I will find it in scriptures or in prescriptions for conducting my life in the material world.

 

As a teenager, I copied down a story I read about a wandering Indian holy man who would behave in a crazy way. He would eat with dogs, feeding them a handful, eating a handful himself and generally behaving in a very unacceptable manner. When laughed at he said,

 

vishnu is eating with vishnu

vishnu is feeding vishnu

why do you laugh, o vishnu

whatever is, is vishnu

 

This believe that this sense of oneness is the basis of spiritual understanding. So please understand why I cannot take this whole discussion on traditions and parampara terribly seriously. I think this realisation of ones true nature has happened across the world in different spiritual traditions. Unfortunately religions instead of leading to this mystical understanding and experience seem to ground us in complete irrelevancies. Which is what I meant by the manipulation of ideas for social control. The whole structure, dogma, hierarchy of religions and their competition against each other is a complete waste of time.

 

Regards,

 

Nimmi Ragavan