Guest guest Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 <sbharath <Ramakrishna > Monday, September 23, 2002 04:11 From Sreedhar A great sage in the Himalayas was often disturbed by a cat who would come and sit on his lap at his meditation hour. So he got his disciples to tie the cat to a pole nearby during his meditation time and set it free later. 200 years after his passing, one of the prerequisites for meditation in his Ashram as expounded by his disciples was to find a cat and tie it to a pole nearby before commencing meditation just as the great sage did! Swamiji explains that many of our injunctions are similar in spirit since we do not always know the reasoning when an injunction was first proposed. According to Swamiji we should rationally apply our mind before accepting such practices on injunctions. > love > Sreedhar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 Good point made by Sreedhar.I have often thought about the many things we do out of sheer reverence for customs. However to discriminate and get to the purpose of the injunction is not always possible. Quite a few injunctions are based upon intuitional revelations not understood with our finite minds and some others are like Sreedhar's illustration of tying the cat to the pole which are blind compliance to customs. In the danger of trying to applying rationale and reason we may sacrifice things out of sheer ignorance. How do you take care of that ? New DSL Internet Access from SBC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 Devinder My thoughts on some of the points. D: I have often thought about the many things we do out of sheer reverence for customs. response: I have also done things(and continue to do) out of mere reverence. But "Things" done out of love and understanding are immensely more valuable. D: However to discriminate and get to the purpose of the injunction is not always possible. response: If it is not possible to understand the purpose, maybe it should not be propogated by people such as myself. One may continue to practise it out of faith in it. But that is a personal thing. But best to remain silent about things not understood. Also if such a belief/superstition is found to cause harm to oneself and others, it should be discarded. D:Quite a few injunctions are based upon intuitional revelations not understood with our finite minds and some others are like Sreedhar's illustration of tying the cat to the pole which are blind compliance to customs. response: I love to believe that Injunctions should be followed only out of love and faith so that it would flower. If these are present, there would be no questions(probably just an open minded curiosity). In their absense, I do not know if it matters whether one follows it or not. If one believes these intuitional revelations and has faith in these, there should be no harm in practising it. D: In the danger of trying to applying rationale and reason we may sacrifice things out of sheer ignorance. How do you take care of that ? response: I perceive no danger in being rational. In the absense of faith, I think it is best to let reason and rationale prevail. Each person is of a different nature. For the one with faith, there are no questions. For the rational there are all the answers. I see myself in different roles at different times. I have faith in a lot of beliefs and I have clear rationale as regards many things. That is the way I take care of this. regards Sunil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 25, 2002 Report Share Posted September 25, 2002 Sunil Thanks for the clear and honest sharing of views. It certainly gives you food for thought. Kind regards Dev New DSL Internet Access from SBC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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