can someone throw light on soul-related info

May 13, 2004

Hi Group,

I lost my mother on April 5. Am trying my level best to face this tragedy as a

fact of life. Have done some reading on soul and its permenance vis a vis the

body. I sincerely wish to know more on life after death? Can somebody enlighten

me?

The goal here is to seek knowledge not from a selfish point of view but to gain

more insight into the real meaning of life. Also, does somebody have more info

on the specifics of Paul Brendon?

Sudhir

Movies - Buy advance tickets for 'Shrek 2'

May 13, 2004

Shree Sudhir,

First accept my deep condolences from a co-traveler who also last his

mother some time back during his journey. Mother has a special place in

our hearts that no body can replace her. I find solace in trying make

her alive in all my activities that reflects the values she taught me

by her own examples.

Coming back to your questions, jiiva or the soul departs the body and

moves in the direction and to the fields of experiences that governed by

the next set of powerful vasana-s. It is said that it travels to

different lokas and experience or exhaust those vasana-s that cannot be

exhausted in this life form. These are bhoga bhumis just like dream

worlds where the vasanas are only exhausted but not new vasana-s are

accumulated. (In VishhiTaadviata, they believe that those who have

surrendered to Vishnu will pass through the lokas and reaching the

Vaikunta on 13th day. Enroute jiiva takes bath in the holy river,

Vaitarani where he is blessed with 'satvic body' before he is taken to

Lakshmi and though her to Vishnu. For that jiiva there is no return

back - Hence 13th day is celebrated since the soul has reached its

destination).

Hence once the accounts are cleared, the jiiva is pushed back to the

karma bhuumi - ksheene punye maRtyu lokam vishanti says Krishna - one is

pushed back to earth after bank balance in that loka is exhausted.

The jiiva will find a womb and environment that is conducive for next

bunch of vasana-s called prarabda. The life cycle goes on until the

jiiva transcends this cycle of karma to janma when he realizes that he

is Brahman and never a doer.

That is the culmination of jiiva-hood.

Hari OM!

Sadananda

--- sudhir raikar <comrade_suds wrote:

> Hi Group,

>

> I lost my mother on April 5. Am trying my level best to face this

> tragedy as a fact of life. Have done some reading on soul and its

> permenance vis a vis the body. I sincerely wish to know more on life

> after death? Can somebody enlighten me?

> The goal here is to seek knowledge not from a selfish point of view

> but to gain more insight into the real meaning of life. Also, does

> somebody have more info on the specifics of Paul Brendon?

>

> Sudhir

>

> Movies - Buy advance tickets for 'Shrek 2'

>

=====

What you have is His gift to you and what you do with what you have is your gift

to Him - Swami Chinmayananda.

May 13, 2004

Namaste,

Sadanandaji said:

"The jiiva will find a womb and environment that is conducive for

next bunch of vasana-s called prarabda. The life cycle goes on until

the jiiva transcends this cycle of karma to janma when he realizes

that he is Brahman and never a doer."

To tell the truth, I have a lot of difficulty understanding 'total

moksha'. An existence without form or color? I can't imagine that.

I am told it is beyond the realm of mind and imagination. But

without form and color, is it not the same as blindness? And is that

desirable?

My feeling is that form and color are GOOD. It is our consciousness

that must change. I for one wouldn't be surprised to find that

moksha takes us to a heavenly world after all, with jewel trees,

sweet aromas, singing birds, and all the paraphernalia of

Vrindavanda. What on earth is wrong with beauty? Krishna and the

gopis were beautiful...

Why can we not keep the wisdom that we are pure consciousness only,

even under such tempting circumstances?

Any objections?

Hari Om!

Benjamin

May 13, 2004

Dear Sudhir

Sincere condolences on the loss of your mother. My beloved father died more

than thirty years ago, but he is still very much alive in my heart, and

rarely a day goes by that I do not think of him with love and gratitude. He

still enriches my life.

But the truth is, Sudhir, you ARE Brahman, and so is your mother!. Is now -

present tense! It is Brahman that you love in her, seeing Him through the

veil of her flesh. Now that flesh is gone, but only the body dies. All

bodies are born and die, but Brahman is forever.

Here is an analogy ( but only an analogy)

Human being are like puppets in a great show, dreamed up, designed,made and

controlled by the great sublime and benign puppeteer. He is wonderfully

inventive, and loves to make an on-going soap-opera in this world. The

puppet's character, what he says and does, his loves and fears and actions -

all are those of the puppeteer only. One puppet loves another in the play,

and that is beautiful. But in truth it is the puppeteer loving Himself

through the puppets.

So when He decides that one puppet has completed her part, he will lift her

gently up, and lay her down behind the stage, perhaps for another part

another day..

And when a little puppet realises that hey! - he IS the puppeteer! - not as

the little wooden man on strings that he appears to be, of course - but all

that he is is only the puppeteer, then what to think of the moment when one

character has left the stage? That character was also a creation of the same

grand designer, and nobody has died, and nothing is lost. The love in you

and that in her are tiny parts of the love the great puppeteer has for all

HIs creations, and all is well. But our grief when our loved one disappears

is part of that divine love also. Even the puppeteer sometimes sheds a tear

when he puts aside a special puppet for the last time!. But it is His

choice, and he knows the right moment to take her, , and all is well.

Meirionwen.

sudhir raikar [comrade_suds]

13 May 2004 12:42

advaitin

can someone throw light on soul-related info

Hi Group,

I lost my mother on April 5. Am trying my level best to face this tragedy

as a fact of life. Have done some reading on soul and its permenance vis a

vis the body. I sincerely wish to know more on life after death? Can

somebody enlighten me?

The goal here is to seek knowledge not from a selfish point of view but to

gain more insight into the real meaning of life. Also, does somebody have

more info on the specifics of Paul Brendon?

Sudhir

Movies - Buy advance tickets for 'Shrek 2'

Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of

Atman and Brahman.

Advaitin List Archives available at:

http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/

To Post a message send an email to : advaitin

Messages Archived at: advaitin/messages

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May 13, 2004

--- Benjamin <orion777ben wrote:

>

> Namaste,

>

> Sadanandaji said:

>

> "The jiiva will find a womb and environment that is conducive for

> next bunch of vasana-s called prarabda. The life cycle goes on until

> the jiiva transcends this cycle of karma to janma when he realizes

> that he is Brahman and never a doer."

>

> To tell the truth, I have a lot of difficulty understanding 'total

> moksha'. An existence without form or color? I can't imagine that.

> I am told it is beyond the realm of mind and imagination. But

> without form and color, is it not the same as blindness? And is that

> desirable?

Benjamin

First it is not something to understand it is something to 'be'. It is

not existence without form or color - I thought 'the puurnam idam

discussions' must have resolved that issue! - it is existence in spite

of color and form. It is the existence in the colors and forms too. It

is not beyond the mind unless the mind is non-existing! It is the mind

too as it exists. Since it can be with or without forms and every form

is includes in it, it is nether blindness. Even a blind man can see -

andho anandho bhavati says scriptures - the blind man is no more blind

since he can even see that he is blind. If he can see, how can he be

blind? All desires exist in him - since he is very substratum of the

desires.

The bottom line is, there cannot be 'any thing' color or form away from

him. - See the viswaruupa Benjamin!

>

> My feeling is that form and color are GOOD.

Yes as long as one does not get carried away that they are different

from him.

>It is our consciousness that must change.

No. You are that consciousness that sees the changes in what you call

'our consciousness'. That absolute consciousness cannot change since if

it changes then who is aware of these changes. WE have to bring another

changeless consciousness and it becomes infinite regress.

>I for one wouldn't be surprised to find that

> moksha takes us to a heavenly world after all, with jewel trees,

> sweet aromas, singing birds, and all the paraphernalia of

> Vrindavanda. What on earth is wrong with beauty? Krishna and the

> gopis were beautiful...

No problem - you can have your brindavan - Nothing wrong with the

beauty. It is like gold asking what is wrong my being in the form of

bangle, ring or bracelet? You can be all you want and all that one wants

to be is in the 'being itself'.

>

> Why can we not keep the wisdom that we are pure consciousness only,

> even under such tempting circumstances?

>

> Any objections?

No objections, If you have the wisdom - beside who is there to object

anyway. But just on the side -Being unmarried why do you think Gopies

are fun? By the by one of the Krishna’s 108 names that is chanted

during puja is 'anaadi brahmacharine namaH" - Prostrations to that

eternal bachelor! - He has the wisdom to be a bachelor in spite of

16,0000 wives! That my friend is what it takes!

Hari OM!

Sadananda

>

> Hari Om!

> Benjamin

>

=====

What you have is His gift to you and what you do with what you have is your gift

to Him - Swami Chinmayananda.

May 13, 2004

Namaste Sadaji.

The exact number is 16008. No idea how the fellow managed when I

have helluva a lot of problems despite having just one! Lemme close

before she arrives and looks at this over my shoulders.

I liked your advice to Benji. I wish he reads Sw. Dayanandaji's

interpretation of pUrNamadah... now upoloaded in the files section.

PraNAms.

Madathil Nair

______________________

advaitin, kuntimaddi sadananda

<kuntimaddisada> wrote:

But just on the side -Being unmarried why do you think Gopies

> are fun? By the by one of the Krishna's 108 names that is chanted

> during puja is 'anaadi brahmacharine namaH" - Prostrations to that

> eternal bachelor! - He has the wisdom to be a bachelor in spite of

> 16,0000 wives! That my friend is what it takes!

May 13, 2004

Namaste Nairji,

>I liked your advice to Benji. I wish he reads

>Sw. Dayanandaji's interpretation of pUrNamadah...

>now upoloaded in the files section.

I tried to read it, but it is the unusual 'rtf' format, which I can't

read on my non-PC computer. Could someone please translate it to

'pdf', or 'doc' or 'txt'? These are standard now.

Speaking of gopis, Sadaji, I have wondered exactly what Krishna's

'brahmacharine' status means, but I was too polite to ask, at least

over here. There seems no getting around the fact that a great many

Hindus (like conservative Christians) deem conjugal bliss a kind of

spiritual demotion. This is probably a touchy subject. Oh well, if

you live long enough, the problem takes care of itself...

Hari Om!

Benjamin

May 13, 2004

advaitin, Benjamin <orion777ben> wrote:

>

> Namaste Nairji,

>

> >I liked your advice to Benji. I wish he reads

> >Sw. Dayanandaji's interpretation of pUrNamadah...

> >now upoloaded in the files section.

>

> I tried to read it, but it is the unusual 'rtf' format, which I

can't

> read on my non-PC computer. Could someone please translate it to

> 'pdf', or 'doc' or 'txt'? These are standard now.

>

> Speaking of gopis, Sadaji, I have wondered exactly what Krishna's

> 'brahmacharine' status means, but I was too polite to ask, at

least

> over here. There seems no getting around the fact that a great

many

> Hindus (like conservative Christians) deem conjugal bliss a kind

of

> spiritual demotion. This is probably a touchy subject. Oh well,

if

> you live long enough, the problem takes care of itself...

>

> Hari Om!

> Benjamin

Namaste!

I don't think Krishna married the Gopis. The love of the Gopis for

Krishna is considered the highest form of devotion.

Krishna is said to have married the 16000 women kept captive by

Narakasura.

Harih Om!

Neelakantan

May 13, 2004

Neelakantanji writes ...

" I don't think Krishna married the Gopis. The love of the Gopis for

Krishna is considered the highest form of devotion."

Yes , it is the highest form of devotion called "madhurya" bhava -

transcedental Love - the union of two souls - the gopis repreaent the

jivatmas and Shri Krishna , the paramatma .

how else can one explain the great "rasa-lila" - one Krishna dancing

with 108 gopis in a circle all at the same time. In order to please

all the gopis , krishna manifested 108 times and pretended he was

dancing with each and every gopi .

This is Romantic mysticism at its best and only a rasika saint can

understand and comprehend such divine leelas .

and our benji seems to be totally captivated by the colorful

personality of Murali manohara . the chitta chora of the gopiuis (

the enchanting player of the flute and the stealer of gopi's hearts)

Benji, read this exotique description of Krishna

Nasaagre varamouktikam karatale venum kare kankanam.

Sarvaange harichandanam cha kalayan kanthe ch muktaavali

Gopastree pariveshtito vijayate gopaala-chudamanih.

The Blue Boy of Brindavan, Sri Krishna, is the one enchanting

personality in the whole of the Gokula Vraja. He surpasses the other

cowherd folk by his radiance.

Because of his divine beauty the gopis never leave his company. They

surround him forgetting all their domestic duties. They want Sri

Krishna and his company always. He is enchantingly dressed, his hair

is well combed and decorated with the peacock plume. On his broad

forehead is painted the tilaka with the sweet-smelling dark paste

called Kasturi (musk). The mark bulges at the bottom and tapers

towards the top.

(`Tapovan Prasad' (August, 2001) published by Chinmaya Mission, # 2,

13th Avenue, Harrington Road, Chetput, Chennai 600 031. Website:

chinmayatapovan.com.)

courtesy- pyari_hari, a true devotee of krishna

our neelakantanji writes ...

Krishna is said to have married the 16000 women kept captive by

Narakasura.

why did Krishna marry those 16, 000 women?

!These women were princesses who were kept as prisoners by demon

Narakasura. and our beloved Krishna out of compassion freed these

prisoners.

THese women were considered 'impure' as they were under the custody

of the demon and would have faced social ostracism . AND therefore

krishna gave them a new lease of life and an exalted social status ...

to cut a long story short,

God returns the love of his devotees manifold !

to krishna, all are souls - gopis and the gopas - he loved them all !

let us sing together

jaya) radha-madhava (jaya) kunja-vihari

(jaya) gopi-jana-vallabha (jaya) giri-vara-dhari

(jaya) jasoda-nandana (jaya) braja-jana-ranjana

(jaya) jamuna-tira-vana-cari

Krsna is the lover of Radha. He displays many amorous pastimes in the

groves of Vrndavana, He is the lover of the cowherd maidens of Vraja,

the holder of the great hill named Govardhana, the beloved son of

mother Yasoda, the delighter of the inhabitants of Vraja, and he

wanders in the forests along the banks of the River Yamuna.

if you sing this song, you will really experience bliss

HERE, you have krishna -the paramatma

krishna's eternal consort radharani

vrindavana- krisna's cosmic playground

the gopis- the jivas

yashoda- the mother of lord krishna

river jamuna- the punya tirtha

jaya radha madhava!!!!

May 13, 2004

-hi Sudhir,

my thoughts are with you and your family at this time .please be

comforted to know that our prayers are with you.

The loss of a parent , specially that of a mother is the hardest to

cope with.. it is going to take time to heal !

well, i was very close to my dad - daddy's little girl . it was when

he died i became a Woman -till then i was so pampered by him. part of

me died with him. and you know how i started dealing with this loss ?

my dad did not die - only his physical body is dead ... his spirit

lives in all his children ... my brothers and sisters adopted many of

his ways .... one brother inherited my dad's love for Music. Another

brother became a great investment expert. A third brother took care

of my mom and became the great nurturer .,My sister took

to 'gardening' and srated growing 'roses' .... and i ? i just

inherited his passion for 'reading' and writing!

and i know my dad would always want me to be happy and cheerful and

not grieve for him endlessly.

just think about the great times you had with your mother when she

was alive and enjoy doing the things she did . She has not gone

anywhere , she is there in the hearts of all her children! love is

eternal.

na jayate mriyate va kadacin

nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah

ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano

na hanyate hanyamane sarire

[bg. 2.20]

"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been,

does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing,

undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain."

Hari AUM!

-- In advaitin, sudhir raikar <comrade_suds>

wrote:

> Hi Group,

>

> I lost my mother on April 5. Am trying my level best to face this

tragedy as a fact of life. Have done some reading on soul and its

permenance vis a vis the body. I sincerely wish to know more on life

after death? Can somebody enlighten me?

> The goal here is to seek knowledge not from a selfish point of view

but to gain more insight into the real meaning of life. Also, does

somebody have more info on the specifics of Paul Brendon?

>

> Sudhir

>

> Movies - Buy advance tickets for 'Shrek 2'

>

May 13, 2004

advaitin, "adi_shakthi16" <adi_shakthi16>

wrote:

> Neelakantanji writes ...

>

> " I don't think Krishna married the Gopis. The love of the Gopis

for

> Krishna is considered the highest form of devotion."

>

> Yes , it is the highest form of devotion called "madhurya" bhava -

> transcedental Love - the union of two souls - the gopis repreaent

the

> jivatmas and Shri Krishna , the paramatma .

>

> how else can one explain the great "rasa-lila" - one Krishna

dancing

> with 108 gopis in a circle all at the same time. In order to

please

> all the gopis , krishna manifested 108 times and pretended he was

> dancing with each and every gopi .

>

Namaste Adiji,

I had to share this shloka in this context with you.

anganAm anganAm antare mAdhavah

mAdhavam mAdhavam cAntareNAngana |

ittamA kalpite maNDale madhyagah

sanjagau veNuna devakI nandanah ||

(Between every two maidens (gopis), a Maadhava, between every two

Maadhavas, a maiden - in the middle of a circle thus formed, stands

Devaki's darling, playing the flute)

(From KrshNa karNAmrtam of LIla Suka)

It is said that reading the rasa lila helps one conquer lust.

Harih Om!

Neelakantan

May 13, 2004

Namaste,

I sincerely thank all you dear friends for the support and the encouraging

words. Every morning, i get up with the determination of accepting the truth but

invariably moha makes me think otherwise.One thing that confronts me is that if

the soul is immortal, does it retain memories of the last life and if yes, for

how long? I know this is a selfish wish that my mom is still aware of her son

and cares for him from above. There were so many words I wished badly to

exchange with her. Least, I wanted to hug her tight for one last time. Hence the

wish that I communicate these thoughts to her up above..It is really confusing.

Secondly, she breathed her last on hanuman Jayanti day. Another hope I cling to

is that this be an ichchaa maran.. in the chatrachaaya of Lord Hanuman.

I will try my level best to follow the advice of adi_shakthi ji.

adi_shakthi16 <adi_shakthi16 wrote:

-hi Sudhir,

my thoughts are with you and your family at this time .please be

comforted to know that our prayers are with you.

The loss of a parent , specially that of a mother is the hardest to

cope with.. it is going to take time to heal !

well, i was very close to my dad - daddy's little girl . it was when

he died i became a Woman -till then i was so pampered by him. part of

me died with him. and you know how i started dealing with this loss ?

my dad did not die - only his physical body is dead ... his spirit

lives in all his children ... my brothers and sisters adopted many of

his ways .... one brother inherited my dad's love for Music. Another

brother became a great investment expert. A third brother took care

of my mom and became the great nurturer .,My sister took

to 'gardening' and srated growing 'roses' .... and i ? i just

inherited his passion for 'reading' and writing!

and i know my dad would always want me to be happy and cheerful and

not grieve for him endlessly.

just think about the great times you had with your mother when she

was alive and enjoy doing the things she did . She has not gone

anywhere , she is there in the hearts of all her children! love is

eternal.

na jayate mriyate va kadacin

nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah

ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano

na hanyate hanyamane sarire

[bg. 2.20]

"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been,

does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing,

undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain."

Hari AUM!

-- In advaitin, sudhir raikar <comrade_suds>

wrote:

> Hi Group,

>

> I lost my mother on April 5. Am trying my level best to face this

tragedy as a fact of life. Have done some reading on soul and its

permenance vis a vis the body. I sincerely wish to know more on life

after death? Can somebody enlighten me?

> The goal here is to seek knowledge not from a selfish point of view

but to gain more insight into the real meaning of life. Also, does

somebody have more info on the specifics of Paul Brendon?

>

> Sudhir

>

> Movies - Buy advance tickets for 'Shrek 2'

>

Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of Atman

and Brahman.

Advaitin List Archives available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/

To Post a message send an email to : advaitin

Messages Archived at: advaitin/messages

advaitin/

advaitin

Movies - Buy advance tickets for 'Shrek 2'

May 13, 2004

Dear Sadanand sir,

Namaste. I wish to thank you for the encouragement and accept my condolences

also. Sir, it is so captivating, this wish that mom should still be around to

share moments of joys in store for me.

Till what time does the soul remain so till it enters another womb? And what are

the thoughts like during this period?Does it have recollections of the past

life?

Regards

Sudhir

kuntimaddi sadananda <kuntimaddisada wrote:

Shree Sudhir,

First accept my deep condolences from a co-traveler who also last his

mother some time back during his journey

May 14, 2004

Namaste Neelakantanji.

Some teachers say the shlOka quoted by you has a symbolic yet

profound meaning.

The gopis are thoughts. MAdhAva is the blank between them - that is

yourself. The gopis are dancing in sheer abandon. MAdhava is in

their midst smiling and playing on his flute. All attention is

focussed on him. He is the enchanting one despite the colourful

gopis, their rhythm and dance. Thoughts streak the mental sky and

dance. The silence between them smiles on. The meditator is fully

engrossed in that silence despite the scintillating thoughts. He is

immersed in himself.

PraNAms.

Madathil Nair

__________________

advaitin, "Neelakantan" <pneelaka@s...> wrote:

> I had to share this shloka in this context with you.

>

> anganAm anganAm antare mAdhavah

> mAdhavam mAdhavam cAntareNAngana |

> ittamA kalpite maNDale madhyagah

> sanjagau veNuna devakI nandanah ||

>

> (Between every two maidens (gopis), a Maadhava, between every two

> Maadhavas, a maiden - in the middle of a circle thus formed,

stands

> Devaki's darling, playing the flute)

>

> (From KrshNa karNAmrtam of LIla Suka)

>

> It is said that reading the rasa lila helps one conquer lust.

May 14, 2004

--- sudhir raikar <comrade_suds wrote:

> Dear Sadanand sir,

> Namaste. I wish to thank you for the encouragement and accept my

> condolences also. Sir, it is so captivating, this wish that mom should

> still be around to share moments of joys in store for me.

> Till what time does the soul remain so till it enters another womb?

> And what are the thoughts like during this period?Does it have

> recollections of the past life?

>

> Regards

> Sudhir

Sudhirji - a simple way to answer your question is to see the state of

affairs in a dream condition.

The dream state is also a state where you experience and exhaust the

vasana-s or suppressions or oppressions of the waking state.

Now pose the same questions - altered to make them understandable - Till

what time one dreams before he wakes up? What are the thoughts like

during this period of dream? Does he recollect the past waking state in

his dream?

Dreamer does not know that he is dreaming - It is as real as waking

state for him and he has his own world to deal with - both insentient

and sentient beings that he is dealing with. That perhaps is the whole

real world.

Lord has provided a shield so that we do not remember the past lives.

There is occasionally incidences are reported about the vague memory of

the past but those get forgotten soon. There was a case of a girl

identifying an old man as her husband in the last life and big grown up

men as her children. The parents of the child took her away saying that

something is wrong with her mind.

One can perhaps develop skills or siddhiis to remember the past - but

why bother - they are all part of ego, which serves from the past. You

are eternally present beyond the past and future.

Hari OM!

Sadananda

=====

What you have is His gift to you and what you do with what you have is your gift

to Him - Swami Chinmayananda.

May 14, 2004

advaitin, "Madathil Rajendran Nair"

<madathilnair> wrote:

> Namaste Neelakantanji.

>

> Some teachers say the shlOka quoted by you has a symbolic yet

> profound meaning.

>

> The gopis are thoughts. MAdhAva is the blank between them - that

is

> yourself. The gopis are dancing in sheer abandon. MAdhava is in

> their midst smiling and playing on his flute. All attention is

> focussed on him. He is the enchanting one despite the colourful

> gopis, their rhythm and dance. Thoughts streak the mental sky and

> dance. The silence between them smiles on. The meditator is fully

> engrossed in that silence despite the scintillating thoughts. He

is

> immersed in himself.

>

> PraNAms.

>

> Madathil Nair

Namaste!

Thank you, Nairji for this beautiful explanation. In reading the

Bhagavatam, I am constantly struck by the advaitic current that runs

through the many stories of devotees.

Harih Om!

Neelakantan

May 14, 2004

-yes!

that was an esoteric interpretation by nairji!

he always amzes me with his ingenuity !

but one point, though !

as per as my Krishna is concerned, i want to be in the 'dwaita' mode

that is the only way i can serve HIM as a friend, take care of HIM

as by baby , or love HIM as my beloved of beloveds!

sravanam kirtanam visnoh

smaranam pada-sevanam

arcanam vandanam dasyam

sakhyam atma-nivedanam

"Hearing, chanting and remembering the holy name,

form, pastimes, qualities and entourage of the Lord,

offering service according to the time, place and

performer, worshiping the Deity, offering prayers,

always considering oneself the eternal servant of

Krsna, making friends with Him and dedicating

everything unto Him--these are the nine processes of

devotional service." (Bhag. 7.5.23)

and i always feel HIS ETERNAL PRESENCE in the evergreen Brindavana

of my gopi heart!

hari aum

May 14, 2004

Namaste,

Dear Sudhirji,

I am sorry that I did not offer my condoleances on the departure of

your Mother in my previous message. It was inconsiderate of me to be

so engrossed in my own thoughts only. Fortunately, Adiji's message

was far more beautiful than anything I could have done on this topic.

Now as to the current topic...

I think the story of Krishna and the Gopis is that the so-called

physical world can become sacred if we see it as divine. Why else

would Krishna assume a beautiful body if the body is merely garbage?

It is how we see the illusion called 'body' that matters. It is all

in the mind. I think Sadaji was saying as much.

Beauty is the divine manifesting in so-called matter or prakriti.

Any perceived difference between love, beauty and the divine is a

reflection on our own ignorance. Even desires become pure if we are.

The so-called 'physical world' is morally neutral in itself. It is

our ego and ignorance that pollute it. That is my opinion for what

it is worth.

Hari Om!

Benjamin

May 14, 2004

advaitin, sudhir raikar <comrade_suds>

wrote:

> Dear Sadanand sir,

> Namaste. I wish to thank you for the encouragement and accept my

condolences also. Sir, it is so captivating, this wish that mom

should still be around to share moments of joys in store for me.

> Till what time does the soul remain so till it enters another

womb? And what are the thoughts like during this period?Does it have

recollections of the past life?

>

> Regards

> Sudhir

>

Namaste, sudhirji

May God bless you in your attempt to understand the after-life! We

have to be clear of two things. Thr brain of man is physical. The

mind of man is subtle. Brain is totally under the field of human

understanding; one day or other we will know everything about the

brain. On the other hand, to fully understand the mind one needs

the help of the scriptures.

It is the mind that carries the imprint of the tendencies, called

vAsanAs. But the memory part gets destroyed when the brain is

destroyed. So what we carry into our next lives is the store of

vAsanAs. We don't remember any of our past lives. It is good that we

don't so remember! If only we remembered all our past wives and past

husbands of our past lives -- God forbid! What a chaos will it be!

However the Bhagavatam in its description of the experience of the

foetus in the womb gives certain information about how the entire

panorama of our past lives presents itself before us and how we, in

that moment of revelation, decide that we shall never more get

embroiled in the worldly distractions and how we make a

determination to work, in the oncoming life-span, only for

spiritual salvation that will rid us of all future births. But,

continues the Bhagavatam, the moment we come out of the mother's

womb, we forget all that and are born with all our vAsanAs clinging

to us like leech -- and then, we all know what happens.

Your question about how long the soul has to wait for its next

opportunity to take a body -- is a very legitimate question and to

this question the Kanchi Mahaswamigal once replied: It depends; it

could be as immediate as the moment of death, it could be as long as

even a few yugas. Kuchela's wife (of the story about Sudhama-

Kuchela of Krishna's time in Dwapara yuga) later -- after becoming

rich by the miraculous blessings of the Lord -- became too

egocentric and puffed up with richness; her next birth took place in

Shankara's time (Kaliyuga) when she was so poor that when boy

Shankara came to her house for the ritualistic begging (uncha-

vritti) she had nothing to offer him except a rotten Amalaka; and

that is when Shri Shankara made an extempore recitation of

KanakadhArA-stavam.

PraNAms to all advaitins

profvk

May 14, 2004

Dear Krishnamurthyji:

It is wonderful to have the light of eloquence shine on us through you. I

assume that you are either just about to start your trip to India or have

reached there.

In Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna tells Arjuna about past lives and says that,

"I remember them all but you have forgotten them."

So based on this we can say that memories of past lives are not destroyed

and some people maybe able to recall them as a matter of accident, birth,

or the practice of yoga.

Buddha also mentioned that past lives can be remembered.

We can assume that even when the physical memory may be destroyed when the

brain is destroyed the subtle part of the mind with the memories as a

potential seed moves on and has the potential to grow a new brain which can

access former memories.

I will pass this on to HS where there is an interest in such matters as

well.

Love to all

Harsha

_____

V. Krishnamurthy [profvk]

Friday, May 14, 2004 12:28 PM

advaitin

Re: can someone throw light on soul-related info