Guest guest Posted February 5, 2003 Report Share Posted February 5, 2003 Dear sirs, Pranams. I am a devoted reader of Swami Vivvekandhaa's works. Teachings of Swami had cleared most my suspicions regarding sanathan dharma. However Last week I had a debate with some of my Muslim friends. They want to know why our Rishis (seers) are forest dwellers when they know GOD is everywhere!!. Why they want to break the linkage of family chain by rejecting the family life which is against natural law? Further more I want to know how meditation is different from laziness. Are we not spoiling our the time by doing nothing instead of helping people or doing some social services?? I want some answers for the members of this group. Please help me to come out of this. Thanks and om C.V.Mahesh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2003 Report Share Posted February 5, 2003 Hello to the group. My name's Jay and I've been a member for awhile, but I lurked so long that I didn't know how to introduce myself. I wanted to come in on this topic though, because I read the answers to these questions just this morning in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. C.V. Mahesh, Yogis retreat to the forests and lonely places in order to contemplate God. Sri Ramakrishna said the world is like water and the mind is like milk. Pour milk into the water and it becomes hopelessly diluted by it. Being in a lonely place for a time contemplating on God is like churning the milk of the mind into butter. Just as butter floats on water, so the mind, properly churned by uninterrupted meditation for a time, doesn't get caught up in worldliness. That said, Sri Ramakrishna also encouraged everyone to worship God internally, whatever the body might be doing. He He discouraged those with wives and children from renouncing the world but as to those unencumbered, they became servants of the whole world. As to natural law in regards to family, your friends really ought to take a modern psychology course with emphasis on culture vs. genes. Humans have not lived by true natural law for many thousands of years. Tell your friends that laziness of the mind is much more difficult to overcome than laziness of the body. We like it when our minds go here and there like buzzing flies over a banquet table. It's entertaining, like the cinema. Even when we're thinking what we would term "productive thoughts", this is just more laziness. It's not easy to discipline the body into something like yoga or weightlifting, but it's a hundred times more difficult to undertake and continue consistent spiritual discipline. You can help people and do social services but you need spiritual discipline or your efforts will be continually underminded by your own egocentric desires and aversions. That's where spiritual practice comes in. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2003 Report Share Posted February 5, 2003 Ramakrishna , " talkto02 <talkto02> " <talkto02> wrote: Dear Mahesh, I suggest you get hold of this book Am I A Hindu?/the Hinduism Primer by Ed Viswanathan (check in www.amazon.com too) It is a good book structured on a FAQ style. It has most answers to common questions on Hindusim including idol worship. This is the first time I am hearing someone equating meditation and laziness. IMHO, the best answer would be to experience yourself. Take a basic course on meditation and you will yourself be able to see the difference within a month. The mind is usually chattering, wandering, arguing and so forth. Meditation makes the mind concentrate on one object like a mantra, your breath, counting numbers etc. The mind which is a monkey is chained by meditation. Meditation is an exercise for the soul and spirit. In one sense, meditation is to soul what bathing is to body. Namaste Ramasamy > Dear sirs, > > Pranams. I am a devoted reader of Swami Vivvekandhaa's works. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 6, 2003 Report Share Posted February 6, 2003 > They want to know why our Rishis (seers) are forest > dwellers when they know GOD is everywhere!!. They realized that God is everywhere AFTER practising intense tapasya in the forests. The mind has to be trained, controlled, purified. It helps if there are not too many interferences. So, the going to the forest. Sri Ramakrishna also advised to go into solitude for a day or a week or longer to call upon God. He gave the analogy of setting aside milk to curdle. > Why they want to break the linkage of > family chain by rejecting the family life which is > against natural law? marriage and family etc. are not " natural " . they are social constructs which we have made over the years to help society run smoothely. The search for God is a very high endeavour which frees one from " lower " endeavours such as following rules to help sustain society. > Further more I want to know how meditation is > different from laziness. Meditation is intense effort to control and calm the mind. In the beginning it tires the mind. People who overdo it sometimes have headaches because of the intense effort. It is very different from laziness. Just as the ultra-violet and the infra-red parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are both invisible to us and so seem similar ; laziness and meditation are both at the opposite extremes of the " activity spectrum " and seem similar to us. > Are we not spoiling our the time by doing nothing > instead of helping people or doing some social services?? social service again is good for the preservation and improvement of the social structure. Scientists who " go away " from the interactions of society into the long hours of solitary meditations upon the nature of the universe (e.g., Einstien) are not spoiling time but are involving themselves in a higher endeavour which not all are capable of undertaking. Similarly the Rishis who spend time in controlling their minds in search of God are not spoiling time. Indirectly, they are doing the highest service possible to society. Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 8, 2003 Report Share Posted February 8, 2003 Thank You Ashish for your response. Very beautiful esp the comparisons! Regards Ramasamy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 10, 2003 Report Share Posted February 10, 2003 Dear Mr.Mahesh, Pranams for you and your name. I am a little disappointed that you mistook meditation to laziness. I think that pure laziness also incorporates a little effort from our side - life is a veritable hell to me when I have nothing to do. Meditation on its whole is something that encompasses our consciousness and leaves little room for any agitation. So I regard that there is conflict and agitation in laziness - not physically apparent perhaps. While meditation implies total and absolute surrender to the spirit and as such there is no conflict in it. Anyone from the group, pls share your thoughts with me. This is my first mail to the group. Jai Ramakrishna. Madhu. --- " talkto02 <talkto02 " <talkto02 wrote: > Dear sirs, > > Pranams. I am a devoted reader of Swami > Vivvekandhaa's works. > Teachings of Swami had cleared most my suspicions > regarding sanathan > dharma. However Last week I had a debate with some > of my Muslim > friends. > They want to know why our Rishis (seers) are forest > dwellers when > they know GOD is everywhere!!. Why they want to > break the linkage of > family chain by rejecting the family life which is > against natural > law? > Further more I want to know how meditation is > different from > laziness. Are we not spoiling our the time by doing > nothing instead > of helping people or doing some social services?? > I want some answers for the members of this group. > Please help me to > come out of this. Thanks and om > > C.V.Mahesh. > > > > > > ===== Madhu Kommaraju Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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