Open Mindedness

[MasterSingh]

Think for yourself. Question authority. Throughout human history as our species has faced the frightening, terifying fact that we do not know who we are or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities, the political, the religious ,the educational authorities who have attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations informing, forming in our minds there view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open mindedness, chaotic, confused, vulnerability to inform yourself. Think for yourself. Question authority.

[bhaktajoy]

My friend when the right time comes,on the order of Godhead the veil of maya is lifted and we start to see things clearly as they are without illusion.Near death experiences are great in their own way they motivate those who have doubts in their minds or find it hard to accept.Vedic philosphy is universal it's not sectarian.Even 5000 years ago the great sages knew everything about the absolute truth.Gradually the system got degraded.

 

Are you a devotee?Just curious

 

Take care.

 

[This message has been edited by bhaktajoy (edited 05-29-2002).]

[MasterSingh]

I am a devotee to the Hare Krsna. This is because for me personally I beleive it to be the superior method for purifying mind/body/soul and attaining the goal of union with the Godhead. However I do not beleive it is the only path to God and thankfully I imagine that most followers of this path would agree on that. The whole system itself is mostly intrinsic and allows one to find the kingdom of God on the inside and gradually change his/her nature due to changes in thought and eventually habit. Unfortunately here in the West most just follow there certain train of thought due to exterior motives such as tradition and pressure from peers. I hope someday all of us can live as God's children and all the pointless violence (ie middle east) will be put aside as realization that we are all worshipping the same God sets in. Hare Krsna!!

[Guest guest]

 

As Krishna states "The enlightened seer sees everything in me and me in everything"

also "The enlightened sage sees everything equally".

 

Our vision when perfected is no longer fooled into seeing this world and all the activities in it, as seperate from the control of God.

 

What one man sees as chaos and problems and divisions of actions, the enlightened soul sees everything as the will of God manifest.

 

For him peace is within,and he understands that nothing is seperate from the plan and purpose of the All-pervading consciousness.

 

He does not see chaos ,only synchronicity,and the effects of Karma.

[bhaktajoy]

Krsna spoke poignantly of a devotee's equanimity when He said, to

paraphrase, "If you can look at the most heinous slaughter, or the

most beatific Acarya(Spiritual Master), or the lowest form of life,

or the most pitiable display of human insanity, and see in all of

them Me, then like Arjuna, you're doing your duty as a sacrifice and

devotion to Me; and you will impact the world you live in.

Notwithstanding you've become my true devotee."

 

[bhaktajoy]

Hare Krsna Master Prabhu!

www.near-death.com is a great site.

God gave us personal path because we needed it.The goal is to develop love for Godhead while still in this body.Sometimes when chanting Hare Krsna I have experienced ectasy equal to the light in the NDE.It happened only once,I saw eternal peace and stillness...didn't eat for 7 days I just lay there it was wonderful.Now I am again falling because of my depression and anxiety but trying,We will reach there someday.Krsna is causeless mercy.

 

 

[MasterSingh]

I understand completely that as followers of Krishna we need to see the active force in all things. However I beleive that there is nothing wrong with curbing the ignorance that is so prevalent in the world today. Granted I am sure there are reasons for the war and violence that we see today in the eyes of God and natural law, but I do not beleive that we should be indifferent to it. I am sure you will agree that it is better in the end to reduce the total karmatic debt that will be incured as a result of war and disagreement over various ways to God. So I am not saying that I do not see the "equilibrium" in all things but I am still inclined to stop it. Is this mentality not in concordance to Vedic thought?

[bhaktajoy]

We can stop it by raising our conciousness to Krsna prema.It will burn much bad karma of our surroundings.We can pray to God and depend on his mercy.We should help other whenever possible like feeding poor children.This way we will help making the world peaceful

[MasterSingh]

Thank you bhaktajoy for the link. It is put together in a very informative way and I look foward to delving into it here shortly. It is interesting how much the Vedic philosophy and the NDE experience validate one another. Hare Krsna and God be with you.

 

[bhaktajoy]

Hare Krsna Master Prabhu!That site is very profound with all the relevant facts compiled together.Srila Prabhupada said we should take the essence and you will see nde's explain vedic knowledge in simple lay man terms.

 

They are at :

 

nde/

 

I often post Hare Krsna articles and they are very much appreciated.

 

God bless u.

 

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by bhaktajoy (edited 05-30-2002).]

[Sarasvati]

"Think for yourself". Yes, we must be careful and think for ourselves who is a worthy person to guide us. Whom can we trust? I thought (and still do) for myself, and chose to follow Srila Prabhupada's path.

 

Yesterday, I met a friend who said, "I am the most intelligent person in the world for myself. You are the most intelligent person in the world for yourself." In other words, he also believed that we must think for ourselves, but his idea was too extreme. He allowed no space for growth, for learning, for admitting that he can be wrong, too. For forgiving himself.

 

Sad will be the day when I think that I am the most intelligent person in the world.

[xxvvii]

HYMN CXXIX. Creation.

1. THEN was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.

What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?

2 Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider.

That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever.

3 Darkness there was: at first concealed in darknew this All was indiscriminated chaos.

All that existed then was void and form less: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit.

4 Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit.

Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.

5 Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it?

There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder

6 Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation?

The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?

7 He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it,

Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not.

 

[pete1]

Hi Bhakta joy

 

You write that your philosophy is not sectarian, yet I find that lots of devotees are, even so they seem to all believe in the same philosophy, they still make differences between the different groups they belong to. For me this means that something or someone is seriously misunderstood.

 

 

[pete1]

Hi Bhakta joy

 

You write that your philosophy is not sectarian, yet I find that lots of devotees are, even so they seem to all believe in the same philosophy, they still make differences between the different groups they belong to. For me this means that something or someone is seriously misunderstood.

 

 

[raga]

You write that your philosophy is not sectarian, yet I find that lots of devotees are, even so they seem to all believe in the same philosophy, they still make differences between the different groups they belong to. For me this means that something or someone is seriously misunderstood.

That's quite true, Pete, now you're speaking.

 

[pete1]

Its a bit like the christians who have expanded a lot, but in hundreds of different fractions, each having a slightly different version of their understanding, but nevertheless all belive in Jesus as their master.

 

Is there a similarity to what is happen to the hare krishnas ? The difference i see is that they cant stand the other groups and slang each other off instead of seeing the similarities.

 

Religion is dangerous in my eyes, because people get fanatic about it. Its spooky how some people can even resolve to murder, just because they have chosen a particular path.Everywhere in the world people fight about their religions and land.

 

What is happening to the hare krishnas is just a smaller version of the big picture.

[Rati]

Pete1:

Your assessment is not entirely accurate. You are seeing the most vocal few that are active on the internet in debating opponents from rival groups, but the other ninety percent rarely (if ever) even think about what others are up to or bother criticizing. There is also little or no interaction between rival factions.

 

There tends to be considerable infighting within any one group, however. That is to be expected with any community, kind of like the typical dysfunctional family. ISKCON for one has had its fair share over the past three decades, and the parent organization, Gaudiya Math had such severe quarreling that the founder of ISKCON felt compelled to begin his own separate institution.

 

What some of us here are attempting to do is open up some dialogue between rival factions with a vision of unity. That has unfortunately proven to be a formidable undertaking.

 

[This message has been edited by Rati (edited 06-04-2002).]

[theist]

Originally posted by Rati:

 

 

What some of us here are attempting to do is open up some dialogue between rival factions with a vision of unity. That has unfortunately proven to be a formidable undertaking.

 

 

I wonder if part of the problem doesn't stem from identifying with a faction in the first place.