There's nothing quite like a good story...

[Guest guest]

Namaste ALL esp Ardis,

This is very beautiful and very helpful. How wonderful to possess the

talent for sharing the right story at the right time. What a gift!

The best part of this gift, however, is the willingness to share it.

Blessings all around.

Namaste,

Karen

-

Ardis Jackson

Sunday, September 12, 2004 2:12 PM

Re: Re: On Evil

This reminds me of one Christmas at the Devi Mandir. Maa wanted us to

sing Christmas carols and Christmas hymns. So she set up a time for

us to practice. Since we could tell that this was "important" to

her, we tried to sing them to the best of our ability; concentrating

on the words and on keeping them on tune. We looked at each other

and felt that we had done a good job. Then Maa said "you're going to

have to get a lot more devotion." It was so true. A lot of us

"former" Christians had left Christianity behind. We had lost our

devotion.

"kalibhakta" <dr_hampton (AT) hotmail (DOT) com>

Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 17:28:03 -0000To:

Subject: Re: On Evil

Karen (and all)--I'm glad to hear you say "I am wondering if, for me,

I won't make realheadway in Hinduism until I find meaning in my

Christian background."I think many of us go through this. When I

started to get seriously devoted to Kali, She dealt with mealong

similar lines. I was confused and thought I'd ascended to

some"higher" truth--in truth I was just high on bhakti. At one point

Ifound myself on my knees in a cathedral, before a statue of

Mary(oddly, dressed in red), with Ma telling me "how dare you think

youhave 'the' answer, when the people you see around you in this

churchlove Me more than you do." I know what you mean when you write

"Hinduism is leading me back toChristianity and Christianity is

leading me forward to Hinduism."Since I've been in love with Kali,

She has led me to more inspiredChristian writings than I ever knew

existed when I was formally aChristian. I started to worry--"Ma,

you're not sending me away fromYou--are You??" I was not mindful of

the Spiral--of the fact that Sheis the path, the trajectory, the

means, the goal.But the point is, as you say, just look at

Ramakrishna: he saw andloved God in the form of a prostitute, in the

form of a cat, in theform of white cranes flying in a cloudy sky. He

realized God inChristianity, in Islam, in Vaishnavism, in Shaktism,

throughvamachara, through dakshinachara, and through Advaita. Mother

wants us to "break on through to the other side" and saintslike

Ramakrishna come to show us that the means of breaking throughare

everywhere. ok--that's enough. I hope I don't get started on the

question of evilb/c I'll probably never shut up...Kalibhakta--- In

, "Karen Borak" <karenborak@e...> wrote:>

Namaste ALL esp Linda,> > Even the very word "evil" send shivers up

my spine. I agree withwhat you wrote. Every word. Until recently,

I found myselfcollecting parts of a lot of religions and spiritual

beliefs. However, since Shree Maa and Swamiji entered center stage, I

am veryinterested in understanding Hinduism. No surprise there. The

shockerfor me is my sudden interest in my Christian background. We

all knowthe truth is everywhere. Ramakrishna himself studied

religions andfound value in all of them. I am wondering if, for me,

I won't makereal headway in Hinduism until I find meaning in my

Christianbackground. This is so confusing to me! This confusion

began withlearning about respecting our ancestors and paying homage

to them from something that Devi Mandir sent out in an email message

(that wasbefore the birth of the ). I feel that I am

beginning tolearn to love my heritage. Hinduism is leading me back

toChristianity and Christianity is leading me forward to Hinduism.

Aslowly moving spiral. For me.> > Namaste,> Karen> ----- Original

Message ----- > nierika@a... > To:

> Sunday, September 12, 2004 6:45

AM> Re: On Evil> > > Dear group,> > Wow!

How uncomfortabe all this talk of evil has made me. I leftthe church

I grew up in because it was so black and white, and Ibelieved I was

damned from the beginning, just for being born, justfor being a woman

.... beyond my redemption. When I got more able tothink for myself, I

felt a religion that uses fear to illicit "good"behavior doesn't

really make sense. If you are good out of fear, thenthe goodness has

no meaning.> > The first chink in my armor or fear was a book I

found called TheWisdom of China and India. I found nothing about evil

there ... inthese ancient Vedic texts. I found confusion,

misunderstandingdiscussed, but not evil. The next chink was reading

ParamahansaYogananda's autobiography, and I just continued from

there. Even inreading the Chandi, I have not seen these negative

thoughts as evil,and if they are so named somewhere, I must have

missed it. To me, theyare very ordinary mundane, but persistent

delusions (Too Much and TooLittle; Self Deprecation and Self Conceit)

that keep us from beingcloser to God and to our real selves. Even

after these thoughts areslain, the Mother lifts them up to Heaven.> >

In my youth I had a metaphysics instructor at a college I went

to.She said I was always standing over myself with a big stick, which

wastrue. I had learned to be my own thought police, and I cringed

interror waiting for the next negative thought to pop out. She said

Ihad to put that stick down and realize that there is no evil,

onlyconfusion and misunderstanding.> > It took many years and much

struggle to put that stick down, andthe hardest one of all was my own

Self Deprecation. It reminds me of astory I heard about Ramana

Maharshi. He was lying in a small room inhis ashram when two thieves

entered. Because he had nothing for themto steal, one of them grabbed

up his cane and hit him on the leg withit. Smilingly, Ramana offered

the other leg. In ragged confusion thethieves fled. Is this not what

our own negativities do when we shinethe light of true understanding

on them, of true perception, of trueessence? And if all is Mother,

how can anything be truly evil? I willbe interested to see what

others think about this. Jai Maa ~ Linda> >

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