Bhakti -v- TV :)

[Guest guest]

I really mostly wanted to respond just so I could change the subject

heading However, as usual your postings open up the discussion even

further.

 

> ....So is the Mundaka Upanisad. As "vyavasayatmika buddhi" isn't an

> easy practice to assimilate for those of us raised on television, sex, and

> other foolishness in general,

 

> "That intense brightness which is smaller than microsopic, in

> which rest all the worlds as well as those within them, is the

> imperishable brahman, life itself--immortal, and yet speech and mind too.

 

It's a good point you make - I've become increasingly aware lately how most

people's conversations resemble a soap opera. It's gone beyond even being

funny - the fact that children are subtly learning that this is how you

speak, how you deal with problems, how you interact with others - it's

positively frightening. Makes my stomach turn The definition of reality,

knowledge, intelligence - they're so twisted and rehashed, they're

completely unrecognisable, and what we see daily holds sometimes not even a

tiny fragment of what is real. And it is all based on what one learns from

television, a screwed up society, and from what passes as knowledge and

education. Amazing what people will settle for.

 

> "Some accept only the srutis, others strictly abide by the smrtis;

> still others, fearing material existence, worship the Mahabharata. But as

> far as I am concerned, I worship Maharaja Nanda, in whose courtyard the

> Param brahma is now playing."

 

Beautiful verse. Interesting definition of why one would worship the

Mahabharata - could you elaborate?

 

Ys

Braja Sevaki dd

[Guest guest]

On Tue, 19 Feb 2002, Braja wrote:

> > "That intense brightness which is smaller than microsopic, in

> > which rest all the worlds as well as those within them, is the

> > imperishable brahman, life itself--immortal, and yet speech and mind too.

>

> It's a good point you make - I've become increasingly aware lately how most

> people's conversations resemble a soap opera. It's gone beyond even being

> funny - the fact that children are subtly learning that this is how you

> speak, how you deal with problems, how you interact with others - it's

> positively frightening. Makes my stomach turn

 

Before the discriminating, swanlike sages even begin to study,

or seriously discuss what to do in life, they pray like this:

 

om bhadram karnebhih srnuyama devah

bhadram pasyemaksibhir yajatrah

 

"May our ears hear what is auspicious;

may our eyes see what is auspicious.

 

I think this speaks volumes about what and how we should speak, and it

certainly displays a mature understanding of the principle of "sanga" Krsna

mentions in Gita 2.62. We desire--and then become--whatever we choose to

associate with most. Everyone chooses to associate with something most.

Hence Bhagavatam 5.5.2 advises that we associate with those who are advanced,

those genuinely detached from sex desire. If we want to become swans, and

help others do so as well, we certainly don't need to discuss the goal of our

lives--or what to do--with those who are like crows and flies. Life is

short and tenuous; let's focus on the target while we can.

 

 

 

> The definition of reality,

> knowledge, intelligence - they're so twisted and rehashed, they're

> completely unrecognisable, and what we see daily holds sometimes not even a

> tiny fragment of what is real. And it is all based on what one learns from

> television, a screwed up society, and from what passes as knowledge and

> education. Amazing what people will settle for.

 

Therefore, some look upon the soul as amazing.

 

 

 

> > "Some accept only the srutis, others strictly abide by the smrtis;

> > still others, fearing material existence, worship the Mahabharata. But as

> > far as I am concerned, I worship Maharaja Nanda, in whose courtyard the

> > Param brahma is now playing."

>

> Beautiful verse.

 

Yes, see Srila Prabhupada's purport to Bhagavatam, 10.8.21.

 

 

 

> Interesting definition of why one would worship the

> Mahabharata - could you elaborate?

 

I don't know that it's actually an injunction or anything; it

seems he's just observing that "God-fearing" people generally aren't so much

in love with Krsna. Offhand, though, I can recall one passage in which

Yudhisthira asks Maitreya Rsi to tell them about universal annihilation at

the end of Kaliyuga; it's a pretty intense description. Maybe that's what

he had in mind. I don't know.

 

MDd