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. …

Continue reading...

It’s not that I don’t believe in karma per se Posted in: Divine Expression, The Self Divine

When I say I don’t believe in Karma, it’s not that I don’t believe in karma per se, but I don’t believe in karma as reaction to thought and/or deed that one is obliged to accept. I find that sort of understanding fundamentally incompatible with the divinity of the soul in that this idea of karma is simply a thinly disguised version of against-my-will-obliged. …

Continue reading...

Self Divinity Posted in: The Role-play Game, The Self Divine

Bondage of karma, fallen soul etc., … this type of thinking can go unchallenged/sit comfortably with the idea that we are not God. That our being a separated part and parcel of God more or less minimises the fundamentals of our continued divinity. I feel this is a false argument … much in the vain of the passing of huge amounts of time makes the ideas of natural selection / random mutation / man from monkey / big bang / primordial soup / something-coming-from-nothing, seem plausible. …

Continue reading...

Why Me? vs. How Does It Serve Me? Posted in: One And Different, The Self Divine

Achintya-Bheda-Abheda is a school of Vedanta representing the philosophy of inconceivable one-ness and difference. In Sanskrit achintya means ‘inconceivable’, bheda translates as ‘difference’, and abheda translates as ‘non-difference’.
Achintya-Bheda-Abheda, as explained at Wikipedia

The big difficulty for me with this philosophy is how to overcome the inconceivable part. That there is a simultaneous one-ness and difference between/with God and everything (us included) that emanates from God. …

The Problem With Karma Posted in: God On Our Side, Suffering and an all-powerful benevolent God, The Self Divine

One often finds the sanskrit word karma translated as action or work. But sometimes, and especially in the western mind, people take it to mean reaction rather than action, or something subtle that binds one to the cycle of birth and death (samsara) — administered by some sort of unseen cosmic debt collecting task-force requiring balance in the universe be restored. …

Continue reading...

Abortion and the Bodily Concept of Life Posted in: The Self Divine

What if life is not something that comes about because a body in a womb has reached enough maturity to survive outside the womb? What if life exists even prior to conception? If this is true, how does it change the way we understand termination of pregnancy? Let us not cloud the discussion with religion. Let us neither cloud with rape, nor liberation and equal rights for women. …

The Self-Divinity Challenge Posted in: Aggressor-Victim, The Self Divine

A note of caution: It is fine to say of oneself ‘I am not a victim’, but to say of another, that is another thing altogether. I know if someone had suggested I was not a victim during a difficult earlier chapter of my life I would not have appreciated … nor could I have imagined a time when I might see things differently *. …

Against My Will / Self-divinity Posted in: Aggressor-Victim, The Self Divine

For me, against-my-will seems incompatible with self-divinity. So when something seems indisputably against my will, or against the will of any other, it can be difficult to maintain faith in self-divinity. It seems that the fundamental is disproved.

In my endeavour to preserve the possibility of self-divinity in my mind, I have often found it helpful to stand back from an immediate adverse situation, and consider it more in the category of scene setting* rather than grand finalé. …

You are God – They are God Posted in: The Self Divine

You are God – They are God – not just those with human bodies. This is my proposal to the world.

Don’t let the fact that you and they are also not God confuse you. Unless it serves you.

Try to always relate to others in conscious awareness of their divinity. Remember who they are. Unless you don’t want to.

Don’t forget who you are … even if others sometimes fail to acknowledge your Godness. …

How Does It Serve You? Posted in: Divine Expression, The Self Divine

That anything can happen against the will of the divine seems illogical to me. After all, what sort of divinity would that be?

If something happens against my will, that’s another thing. Or is it? What if everything that eminates from the divine, all of us included, is also divine? In other words, though we may not be God (with a capital ‘G’), at the same time we do not give up our divinity by the process of our manifestation. …