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Thoughts on the notion of eternal, beginningless conditioning of the jiva (soul) Posted in: Perfection in Seeming Imperfection, Suffering and an all-powerful benevolent God

In this connection the reference sanskrit words are nitya-baddha (eternally conditioned) and anadi (beginningless).

Firstly, our experience of life here makes it difficult to think outside the box of cause and effect – where everything has a beginning and end in time. However that is precisely the eternal arena that the words nitya-baddha and anadi are dealing with. This difficulty is perhaps the reason that even sanskrit scholars and/or dharma-tradition religionists who accept the situation in the material world for the conditioned soul is anadi, beginningless, sometimes prescribe remedies as if suffering here is actually caused by poor attitude toward God of historic origin. …

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Maybe Sin Is Not An Actual Thing Posted in: Perfection in Seeming Imperfection, Suffering and an all-powerful benevolent God

Maybe sin is not an actual thing.

More a way of explaining why we are here, and at the same time not blaming God for the suffering of the world.

Needed by those who doubt good reason for God’s creation.

An attempt to distance God from what appears to be unworthy … incompatible with an all-beautiful, all-perfect, all-powerful God.

Personally, given (my) conviction that not a blade of grass moves without the sanction of the Lord, I find the ‘sin’ explanation fails to convincingly separate the situation here from God. …

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Perfect Arrangement Posted in: Perfection in Seeming Imperfection

I propose that the jiva (individual soul) is never at odds with God but is always functioning exactly as intended. It cannot be otherwise. It is a perfect arrangement befitting a Perfect God. That we are fallen souls, or for that matter identify ourselves in any other way whatsoever, is simply a construct which facilitates, provides a stage for, a particular flavour of our joint lila. …

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The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (documentary) Posted in: Films, Seeing the Divine

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix documentary)

When Norwegian gamer Mats Steen died at age 25, his parents mourned what they thought was an isolated life. It was only once they had access to his blog that they discovered the deep friendships he created virtually before passing away from a degenerative muscular disease. They were unaware that Mats had long been leading a vibrant digital life that had left a profound impact on a community of fellow gamers.

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The Main Problem With Denying Ones Divinity … Posted in: The Self Divine

The 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

yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete
puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha
sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ
so ’mṛtatvāya kalpate

O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.

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Self = Soul With A Body ≠ Body With Soul Posted in: The Self Divine

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? …

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Trouble is, if everything comes from God … Posted in: Perfection in Seeming Imperfection, Suffering and an all-powerful benevolent God, What are we doing here?

To 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. …

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God With Blinkers On Posted in: One And Different, The Self Divine

PET 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. …

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In Defence of Nitya-baddha Souls Posted in: Freedom From Judgement, Seeing the Divine, The Self Divine

For 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. …

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