Guest guest Posted June 30, 1999 Report Share Posted June 30, 1999 Hi everyone, I write to you about viveka, the practice of discrimination. Many of you have condemmed me for pointing out the picture of the devil on Tim's web page. You have accused me of doing what you are doing to me. I judged Tim not. I pointed out a FACT which can be testified to by at least one other member on this list. As a result of seeing that picture on his webpage, and due to the fact that he dominates this listserv, I resigned from the list. I have been taught by my teachers and the scriptures to use discrimination, viveka, as a spiritual practice. We must practice viveka in choosing the company that we keep. I choose not to dance with the devil. Leave that to others. Ramakrishna was known to not allow himself to be in the company of those whose vibes he mistrusted. One time, pressure was put on him to keep a commitment to go to someone's home, but he stood firmly in his experience choosing not to open himself to that particular individual. As we travel the spiritual path, we become more and more refined, so much so that stroking one's arm with a hair can hurt (Swami Vivekananda). We must trust and honor our responses to our environment and do all that we can to immerse ourselves in love and light. We also learn to discriminate between light and dark. The message on my webpage today is a quote from Swami Vivekananda. I share it here with all of you. I feel it is my responsibility and my calling, since I have the gift of straightforwardness, to share with you my experience and lessons learned on the path. It saddens me that many of you have found it necessary to judge and condemn me for doing this. In judging me, you are doing what you accuse me of doing. Think about that. Rather, it would be better if you would share your sadness or anger, or whatever emotions are coming up for you. This will allow all of us to share openly and make this a safe space. But, alas, this is no longer a safe space for me. In simply stating a fact about the devil being on Tim's webpage, I invoked your judgments and rage. I find that interesting. As promised, Swamiji's words: " Be bold! My children should be brave, above all. Not the least compromise on any account. Preach the highest truths broadcast. Do not fear of losing your respect, or of causing unhappy friction. Rest assured that if you serve truth in spite of temptations to forsake it, you will attain, a heavenly strength, in the face of which men will quail to speak before you things which you do not believe to be true. People would be convinced of what you would say to them, if you can strictly serve truth for fourteen years continually, without swerving from it. It is only in our scriptures that this adjective is given to The Lord --- Abhih, Abhih. We have to become Abhih, fearless, and our task will be done. " -Swami Vivekananda Jody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 30, 1999 Report Share Posted June 30, 1999 Jody there is nothing like accusation. I haven't seen the photograph at tim's page . But sometimes wat we see is not wat really is out there. We have to be very careful in asserting something as fact. Look at the thing from ur eyes n from the eyes of the others . Than go for assertion or discussion. Many times i too thought wat some person saying is wrong but than i tried to look at wat the person has written with cool mind n bit if unbiasedness n i was able to look wat i was not able to see earlier. I think no one dominates the list, every one is it's member n just that. If i know who i am than who can dominate me. Who can influence me than True in one sense i would have judged u. N my emotions , anger or sadness can be a reason for it. No one is all bad or all good. Depending on different situations as one behaves one is classified as being good or bad. Jody wat Swamiji says is very right . Don't compromise on any account if one is right lord is there to help one out even if one has to fight the whole world. Viveka will shine when there is unbiasedness, if we r ready to look at thing as it is without some pre motive to prove it wrong, when there is no ego. On Wed, 30 Jun 1999 JodyHolly1 wrote: > JodyHolly1 > > Hi everyone, > > I write to you about viveka, the practice of discrimination. Many of you > have condemmed me for pointing out the picture of the devil on Tim's web > page. You have accused me of doing what you are doing to me. > > I judged Tim not. I pointed out a FACT which can be testified to by at least > one other member on this list. As a result of seeing that picture on his > webpage, and due to the fact that he dominates this listserv, I resigned from > the list. > > I have been taught by my teachers and the scriptures to use discrimination, > viveka, as a spiritual practice. We must practice viveka in choosing the > company that we keep. I choose not to dance with the devil. Leave that to > others. Ramakrishna was known to not allow himself to be in the company of > those whose vibes he mistrusted. One time, pressure was put on him to keep a > commitment to go to someone's home, but he stood firmly in his experience > choosing not to open himself to that particular individual. > > As we travel the spiritual path, we become more and more refined, so much so > that stroking one's arm with a hair can hurt (Swami Vivekananda). We must > trust and honor our responses to our environment and do all that we can to > immerse ourselves in love and light. We also learn to discriminate between > light and dark. > > The message on my webpage today is a quote from Swami Vivekananda. I share > it here with all of you. I feel it is my responsibility and my calling, > since I have the gift of straightforwardness, to share with you my experience > and lessons learned on the path. It saddens me that many of you have found > it necessary to judge and condemn me for doing this. In judging me, you are > doing what you accuse me of doing. Think about that. Rather, it would be > better if you would share your sadness or anger, or whatever emotions are > coming up for you. This will allow all of us to share openly and make this a > safe space. But, alas, this is no longer a safe space for me. In simply > stating a fact about the devil being on Tim's webpage, I invoked your > judgments and rage. I find that interesting. > > As promised, Swamiji's words: > > " Be bold! My children should be brave, above all. Not the least compromise on > any account. Preach the highest truths broadcast. Do not fear of losing your > respect, or of causing unhappy friction. Rest assured that if you serve truth > in spite of temptations to forsake it, you will attain, a heavenly strength, > in the face of which men will quail to speak before you things which you do > not believe to be true. People would be convinced of what you would say to > them, if you can strictly serve truth for fourteen years continually, without > swerving from it. > > It is only in our scriptures that this adjective is given to The Lord --- > Abhih, Abhih. We have to become Abhih, fearless, and our task will be done. " > > -Swami Vivekananda > > Jody > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 1, 1999 Report Share Posted July 1, 1999 Namaste After reading this post from Jody, I would like to share my views with the members of the list. The beauty of the Vedanta, as I've been introduced to, has nothing to do with evil or the devil. That's one of the reasons why I am convinced that this system of thought is the greatest among all (sorry if I sound fanatical). Swamiji points out in one of his lectures that whenever one sees a thief outside him/her, then that thief is also inside him/her. Therefore, whetever that's in our mind takes expression in what we perceive. From the way I've been introduced to Vedanta, there is hardly a place for neither evil nor the devil. Viveka is the discrimination of the real from the unreal. So is evil real? If it is not, then why the fuss? Om Shanti Kathi > > JodyHolly1 [sMTP:JodyHolly1] > Thursday, July 01, 1999 2:08 AM > Ramakrishna > [ramakrishna] Viveka > > JodyHolly1 > > Hi everyone, > > I write to you about viveka, the practice of discrimination. Many of you > have condemmed me for pointing out the picture of the devil on Tim's web > page. You have accused me of doing what you are doing to me. > > I judged Tim not. I pointed out a FACT which can be testified to by at > least > one other member on this list. As a result of seeing that picture on his > webpage, and due to the fact that he dominates this listserv, I resigned > from > the list. > > I have been taught by my teachers and the scriptures to use > discrimination, > viveka, as a spiritual practice. We must practice viveka in choosing the > company that we keep. I choose not to dance with the devil. Leave that > to > others. Ramakrishna was known to not allow himself to be in the company > of > those whose vibes he mistrusted. One time, pressure was put on him to > keep a > commitment to go to someone's home, but he stood firmly in his experience > choosing not to open himself to that particular individual. > > As we travel the spiritual path, we become more and more refined, so much > so > that stroking one's arm with a hair can hurt (Swami Vivekananda). We must > > trust and honor our responses to our environment and do all that we can to > > immerse ourselves in love and light. We also learn to discriminate > between > light and dark. > > The message on my webpage today is a quote from Swami Vivekananda. I > share > it here with all of you. I feel it is my responsibility and my calling, > since I have the gift of straightforwardness, to share with you my > experience > and lessons learned on the path. It saddens me that many of you have > found > it necessary to judge and condemn me for doing this. In judging me, you > are > doing what you accuse me of doing. Think about that. Rather, it would be > > better if you would share your sadness or anger, or whatever emotions are > coming up for you. This will allow all of us to share openly and make > this a > safe space. But, alas, this is no longer a safe space for me. In simply > stating a fact about the devil being on Tim's webpage, I invoked your > judgments and rage. I find that interesting. > > As promised, Swamiji's words: > > " Be bold! My children should be brave, above all. Not the least compromise > on > any account. Preach the highest truths broadcast. Do not fear of losing > your > respect, or of causing unhappy friction. Rest assured that if you serve > truth > in spite of temptations to forsake it, you will attain, a heavenly > strength, > in the face of which men will quail to speak before you things which you > do > not believe to be true. People would be convinced of what you would say to > > them, if you can strictly serve truth for fourteen years continually, > without > swerving from it. > > It is only in our scriptures that this adjective is given to The Lord --- > Abhih, Abhih. We have to become Abhih, fearless, and our task will be > done. " > > -Swami Vivekananda > > Jody > > --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- > > Where do some of the Internet's largest email lists reside? > > At ONElist - the most scalable and reliable service on the Internet. > > ------ > Sri Ramakrishnaye Namah > Vivekananda Centre London > http://www.btinternet.com/~vivekananda/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 1, 1999 Report Share Posted July 1, 1999 Dear Jody, I am glad you have apparently decided to stick. Many of us, I am sure, have benefited from your messages, insights and quotes. It appears to me that with e-mail, where you do not know the persons firsthand, and cannot hear intonations and see body language and facial expressions, it is very easy to misunderstand a person. We all need to bear that in mind and treat each member with benefit of doubt. Yours, Swami Yogeshananda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 1, 1999 Report Share Posted July 1, 1999 A friend of mine was asking wat does Vedanta mean. Can someone please explain abt it ? > K Kathirasan ADM NCS <kathirasan > > Namaste > > After reading this post from Jody, I would like to share my views with the > members of the list. The beauty of the Vedanta, as I've been introduced to, > has nothing to do with evil or the devil. That's one of the reasons why I > am convinced that this system of thought is the greatest among all (sorry if > I sound fanatical). Swamiji points out in one of his lectures that whenever > one sees a thief outside him/her, then that thief is also inside him/her. > Therefore, whetever that's in our mind takes expression in what we perceive. > From the way I've been introduced to Vedanta, there is hardly a place for > neither evil nor the devil. > > Viveka is the discrimination of the real from the unreal. So is evil real? > If it is not, then why the fuss? > > Om Shanti > Kathi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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