Regardless of how spiritually aware my guru might be, his/her/their reality is not my reality. Therefore, for me to accept what they tell me of their reality in place of my own is necessarily a faith thing. There may be a variety of reasons I have that faith … gut feeling, philosophical resonance, reasoning, the experience of being in the presence of such a person etc, etc. …
Continue readingThe main problem with denying ones divinity is that one tends to think of their suffering in terms of ‘why me?’, or ‘I’m being punished from transgression of some pre-defined code of acceptable conduct’, whereas ‘how does this serve me?’ becomes more the mindset when self-divinity is accepted. Perhaps that is why Bhagavad-gita 2.15 states
… Continue readingyaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete
puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha
sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ
so ’mṛtatvāya kalpateO best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.
You are a soul with a body. Immediately I heard this idea, it made perfect sense, resonated as truth, and changed everything for me. But when I shared this – what was for me a profound revelation – I was surprised that most people rejected it out of hand. 40+ years later I still find this to be the case. Why does this explanation of self not appeal to so many? …
Continue readingWithin the Vaishnava tradition, the conditioning of the souls in the material world is said to be anādi – beginningless. If English speakers wish to understand the finer points of the Sanskrit word anādi, there are probably a number of English words they should steer clear of, for example …
Why might clear understanding of anādi be important? …
Continue readingTo tell someone who strongly feels they are suffering, and/or this world is very much a place of misery, that they are not in fact suffering at all, and not a fallen soul being punished for their sins, but a divine part of God eternally engaged in the beautiful divine lila (pastimes) of God is unlikely to resonate positively. Reality of suffering is so proven and real that such a idea is more likely lead to negative judgement about God. …
Continue readingPET THEORY: Notwithstanding our difference, by dint of our simultaneous oneness we are God/Krishna (albeit with a small g/k) exploring/experiencing/expressing self with blinkers on. In so doing we all contribute our focused fascinations to the ever expanding completeness of God’s self-knowing. Consciously or unconsciously, believer or atheist, no matter. Being conscious, however, opens the door for love. In the Bhagavad-gita (9:27) Krishna encourages ‘everything you do, do as an offering to me’ as the means to awaken ones deeper self-awareness. …
Continue readingSiddhartha: An Indian novel is a 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha.
… Continue readingHermann Hesse’s Siddhartha follows the spiritual journey of Siddhartha, a young man seeking enlightenment. Rejecting wealth, status, and rigid teachings, he explores various paths, ultimately finding wisdom in life’s experiences and the unity of all things.
From the point of view of us not being God the world may appear to be mainly a place of suffering and ignorance. After all, it is a place of birth, death, old age, and disease. And we don’t really know with certainty who we are, or the limits of our power, or the connection between desire and realisation of dreams etc. …
Continue readingFor a westerner embracing the dharmic tradition, the concept of nitya-baddha (sanskrit) – often translated as ever-conditioned or eternally conditioned soul – is routinely confused with the idea of fallen soul prominent in Abrahamic religions. A fallen soul, in simple terms, being one who has rebelled against God, and has thus been cast out of / banished from the kingdom of God. …
Continue readingI joined the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON) in the early 1980s, shortly after the passing of founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta swami (aka Srila Prabhupada), and lived through the turmoil of several fallen ‘successor’ gurus. I was a member for 15 years and therefore feel entitled to opinion on the subject matter of Guru misconception. At the same time, please note that all that follows is just my personal opinion, and as such I am not going to hide behind cherry-picked quotes from guru/sadhu/shastra, as if I am not just expressing my personal subjective insights. …
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