Guest guest Posted March 5, 2002 Report Share Posted March 5, 2002 Africa Adieu (XSInet) Vivekananda Centre Tuesday, March 05, 2002 05:06 HIV/AIDS - Kwa-Zulu Natal etc Dear Friends, We have been surprised to receive a few emails from what appears to be a List run by your good selves. One in particular is sending us a sadhana ( method of spiritual practice; path) which he says has been used with success in AIDS patients - for which our most grateful thanks. Unhappily it seems several writers don't really know much about HIV/AIDS, so permit me to state briefly, that AIDS is not a disease, but is the agent enabling the infection of any disease - with fatal consequences. Patients are dying - slowly - and one cannot teach them Yoga (as suggested by one person), and most are connected to drips and can barely move. Many are little children, most are illiterate. To get the idea, when a lecture is given we tell people in a packed hall for each person to look at the person to his or her left, then at the person on the right. Then to sit and think that within the next two years ONE OF THEM WILL HAVE HIV. What we seek is kR^ipaa (compassion) from people who are sadaya (compassionate) through some path they have followed in the vast treasury of Hindu philosophy. In other words, some Hindu equivalent of the Divine that made Mother Teresa of Calcutta transcend all religions to bring that special Love to the dying and the needy. To be sadaya is not a philosophy, but is becoming Love itself, or rather, the channel through which Love acts and is passed on to others. May I suggest too, that your rs take the time to spend with people dying of AIDS to get the picture of a tragedy unprecedented in human history before offering well-meant philosophies, which are appreciated, but alas, do not bring them to where the rubber meets the road - the reality of mass-death across all walks of society. Try to imagine being in the medical profession where the objective is to save lives, but to spend each day with all of your patients dying - whether you like it or not. Thank you again to all those who wrote! Sahasanu Panjwani ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~response~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Dr Sahasanu We fully appreciate what you are saying. The list members should appreciate that what is needed is compassion and understanding - not lecturing. We are hoping that some of our list members may be able to suggest ways of handling, facing and dealing with the very distressing situation you have to tackle on a day to day basis. Our Mentor - Vivekananda is reputed for his compassion and extraordinary strength...... these are the qualities we somehow wish to transmit to you and your team. Vivekananda is also the person who offered the greatest dignity and hope to mankind... To the patients he would have said something like:- In spite of all the failures, all the miseries you are suffering; hold on to this thought. " You are the children of immortal bliss " ... Do not think that you are somehow at fault. Do not accept that you are somehow sinners and that this wretched condition that you are passing through is in a way your natural status " . Nothing can be further from the truth. All these pleasures and pains are transient. This pain too will pass away... The thing that will never pass away is your real nature which is purity and bliss itself. That is your real asset.... hang on to that idea...despite all sufferings and all the pain hang on to this idea " You are divine - perfection itself " Nothing less. Whatever comes, let it come. How can anything affect your real nature, your real dignity.. your Oneness with God? jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2002 Report Share Posted March 6, 2002 Namaste, Let us not compare tragedies as 'unprecedented', etc. Compassion can come in many forms, in different situations, at different times. We all can reflect that Divine compassion, when we reach for it in our own hearts. Mother Theresa showed one aspect, Dalai Lama shows another, Mahatma Gandhi in another, and so on. Whatever situation we are placed in can be an opportunity for 'sadhana'. Bhagavadgita gives many examples for such sadhana: eg. 6:32 aatmaupamyena sarvatra samaM pashyati yo.arjuna . sukhaM vaa yadi vaa duHkhaM sa yogii paramo mataH .. 'He who sees equality in everything in the image of his own Self, whether in pleasure or in pain, is regarded as the supreme yogi'. That is the advaitic approach that Jay has so aptly stated, exemplified by the very lives Ramakrishna and Vivekananda lived. Regards, Sunder Ramakrishna, " Vivekananda Centre " <vivekananda@b...> wrote: > Africa Adieu (XSInet) > Vivekananda Centre > Tuesday, March 05, 2002 05:06 > HIV/AIDS - Kwa-Zulu Natal etc > > > Dear Friends, the > road - the reality of mass-death across all walks of society. Try to imagine > being in the medical profession where the objective is to save lives, but > to spend each day with all of your patients dying - whether you like it or > not. > > Thank you again to all those who wrote! > Sahasanu Panjwani > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~response~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Dear Dr Sahasanu > > We fully appreciate what you are saying. The list members > should appreciate that what is needed is compassion and > understanding - not lecturing. > That is your > real asset.... hang on to that idea...despite all sufferings and > all the pain hang on to this idea " You are divine - perfection itself " > Nothing less. Whatever comes, let it come. How can anything > affect your real nature, your real dignity.. your Oneness with God? > > jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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