[FairfieldLife] How appropriate!
The first pirated HD-DVD movie to hit BitTorrent is ... ta da ... more fanfare while the presenter opens the envelope ... SERENITY http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070115-8622.html Mal and the Firefly gang would be proud.
[FairfieldLife] 'Good Evil by Swami Abhedananda Ramakrishna'
=== Understanding Hinduism === Good and Evil By Swami Abhedananda Ramakrishna Vedanta Math Culcutta Abridged Good and evil of this world of duality are unreal, are spoken of by words, and exist only in the mind. - Bhagavatam, XI, ch. XXII. In the voluminous writings of Hindu sages, there is no word that means creation out of nothing. The word, they use, literally means Projection and not creation, answering to the modern idea of evolution. Unlike the Western people of the present day, they had nothing to learn, as they had slowly and gradually discovered the true cause of good and evil, and afterwards explained their mutual relation as clearly as possible. They said that good and evil are relative terms, one of which cannot exist without the other. What we call good depends upon the existence of what we call evil, and evil exists only in relation to good. Being interdependent terms they cannot be separated. In trying to separate them and to make each stand by itself as independent of the other, we not only destroy their relative and interdependent nature, but also destroy the terms themselves. The moment we try to separate good from evil, we find this to be true. Evil cannot exist alone. If we try to make evil stand by itself as entirely separate from good, we can no longer recognize it as evil. Consequently, according to the Vedanta philosophers, the difference between good and evil is not one of kind, but of degree, like the difference between light and darkness. Again the same thing can appear as good and evil under different circumstances. That which appears as good in one case, may appear as evil if the conditions change and the results be different. The same fire may be called a giver of life and comfort and a bestower of happiness and a producer of good, when it saves the life of a half-frozen man, or when it gives us warmth in the coldest days of winter, or when it cooks our food and guides our feet. But it will be called the producer of evil and a curse of God when it destroys life, or inflicts injury on man or on his property. Still the nature of fire is to burn, and this nature does not change. The Great London fire destroyed many lives, brought ruin and destruction to many families, but at the same time it destroyed the germs of a plague that could have done more evil. So it was both good and evil at the same time. The same force of gravitation is called good when it attracts atoms and molecules of our bodies and keeps together the atoms of our clothes, gives shapes to our houses, bodies, and this earth where we are now living, but it is the producer of evil when it kills a man who falls from the roof of a house. Electricity is good when it gives light, moves a streetcar, cures a pain, and relieves a disease, but it is evil when it crushes a man under the shock of its tremendous currents. As electricity, it is neither good nor evil, but their expressions may be called good or evil according to the results they produce. The forces of nature are running in the universe with tremendous activity and mad rush, like the currents of a mighty river which brings what we call good and blessings on one shore and evil and destruction on the other. As standing on one shore, where good prevails, we say the river is very good, it is the producer of good, etc., so, standing on the other shore, we call the same river a producer of evil, or a creator of destruction. Similarly, we say the forces of nature are good or evil according to our standard, ideas and interests. On the one hand, the river fertilizes the country by depositing rich soil and helps the growth of vegetation and, on the other hand, the same river destroys villages and all that stands in its way. Good and evil exists in our minds. Good and evil exists in our minds. That which fulfils our interests is called good, and that which brings to us misery or anything which we do not want, is called evil. When we look at the phenomena of nature piecemeal, without recognising their connection, we do not get the proper explanation of events. If we look at the same phenomena as related to one another and to the whole universe, then we discover the true explanation and we are no longer puzzled. Then the proper cause of good and evil is understood. It is limitation, the inability to recognize the relation of the part to the whole. According to the monistic philosophers of India, it is impossible to find anything absolutely good, or absolutely evil, in this world of relativity. That which we call good, is only one phase and the other is evil. When we ignore the one phase, we see the other phase all along. The same event may produce evil in one country and good in another. The famine in India killed millions by starvation, but it made the American farmers richer than ever before. The famine has done evil in India, but good in America. This is true in every case. Our life,
[FairfieldLife] Deepak: Sexual pleasure essential to achieving Enlightenment
from the Style section of L.A. Times: http://stylescenes.latimes.com/fashion/2006/12/eurythmics_foun.html http://stylescenes.latimes.com/fashion/2006/12/eurythmics_foun.html photo: Deepak Chopra, Ringo Starr (Beatles) and Dave Stewart (Eurithmics) at grand opening of upscale sex-toy boutique in Holly-weird last month.
[FairfieldLife] Just Say No (was Re: 'Good Evil by Swami Abhedananda Ramakrishna')
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert Gimbel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: === Understanding Hinduism === Good and Evil By Swami Abhedananda Good rap on the illusory nature of good and evil, but... Unlike the Western people of the present day, they had nothing to learn... Yeah, right. Just more Hindu-supremacy bullshit, if you ask me. :-) In the voluminous writings of Hindu sages, there is no word that means creation out of nothing. The word, they use, literally means Projection and not creation, answering to the modern idea of evolution. It seems to me that a true sage might have pondered the implications of the language here (not to mention his own subjective experiences of eternity in samadhi), and questioned the assumption that there was ever a beginning to Creation. That assumption has fueled all of the things that (IMO) have caused the most ignorance and strife and harm in spiritual history. All of the God myths spring from the idea that something (Creation) had to have been created from nothing (pre- Creation). All of the god/demon, God/Satan, good/evil contradictions spring from the notion that good and evil 1) have existence, which this article does a good job of puncturing, and 2) had to have been created. Thus they get all hung up on the quandary of how a supposedly-good and supposedly-benevolent Creator created evil, or come up with tortured dualist cosmologies like Gnosticism or Catharism in which God *didn't* create the physical universe (and thus evil), but some *other* guy (Satan, the Demiurge) did. All of this could have been avoided by just pondering the possibility that the universe was never created, and has always been, a vast expanse of eternality. It seems to me that there is an almost-never challenged assumption at the basis of all this that has to do with anthropomorphism. We, as humans, are all too aware that we start and end. We seem to have a beginning at birth and an end at death. Therefore we, as humans, tend to project that limited lifespan onto Creation, and assume that it had a beginning and an end as well. And we, as humans, even the sages among humans who should know better, do this even *after* having had transcendental experiences that reveal to them the eternal, infinite nature of Self. Go figure. Once you accept the assumption that Creation is linear, with a beginning and an end, you're stuck with the implications of that assumption. If Creation was, in fact, created from nothing, you have to ponder the existence of a Creator. If good and evil seem to be coexistent pairs throughout Creation, you have to ponder who or what created them. But if you *challenge* the assumption that Creation had a beginning, and trust your subjective experience that the essence of Self is eternal and without a beginning or an end, you get to avoid all the froo- froo about pondering a Creator or making excuses for Him/Her/It for having invented evil. Just Say No to the assumption that there was a Creation. When you do, you are free to enjoy it a great deal more. :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Deepak: Sexual pleasure essential to achieving Enlightenment
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, george_deforest [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: from the Style section of L.A. Times: http://stylescenes.latimes.com/fashion/2006/12/eurythmics_foun.html photo: Deepak Chopra, Ringo Starr (Beatles) and Dave Stewart (Eurithmics) at grand opening of upscale sex-toy boutique in Holly-weird last month. Hmmm. Gives new meaning to the lyrics of the old Eurythmics song, Sweet dreams are made of these... http://tinyurl.com/r8p2
[FairfieldLife] 'Sunni Nations Need To Stand Up!'
This despicable hanging, in the most barbaric way... Who can wonder, why the Sunni population in Iraq, is repulsed; We here, in America, a so used to violence, via Internet and TV. It hardly matters to us, right? But don't you feel that the rest of the Sunni nations, in the Middle East. Need to carry some of the load to stabilize Iraq. It is obvious that Iran is supporting Hezbollah, and Muktada in Sadr City. It is obvious that the US military would be committing suicide to take out Muktada... Therefore the only real solution is for the parties to work it out; And for the Saudis, and Jordan, and Egypt, and all the rest, to work this thing out:(instead of meeting with Chavez, in order to manipulate the oil market)... - Want to start your own business? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business.
[FairfieldLife] Re: 'Sunni Nations Need To Stand Up!'
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Robert Gimbel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This despicable hanging, in the most barbaric way... Just as a question, why is a hanging in which the hangee is decapitated during his fall, thus having an instantaneous death, more barbaric than one in which he could possibly have dangled there for some time, dying slowly of asphixiation? Given the choice, I'd much prefer the guillotine (which is no longer in use) to the lethal injections used in the US. There is some evidence that they (the injections) are the least humane form of execution yet. Who can wonder, why the Sunni population in Iraq, is repulsed; We here, in America, a so used to violence, via Internet and TV. It hardly matters to us, right? I suspect your problem is with the fact that you feel repulsed. You'd have preferred the execution be more civilized, like lethal injection, which *appears* to be humane because the onlookers can't tell that the prisoner is possibly awake the whole time, and experiencing every aspect of his body shutting down on him, over a period of several minutes. The problem IMO isn't being used to violence, as you suggest, but the fact that the violence is sanitized for your protection. If the nightly news were allowed to show scenes of what executions really look like (as opposed to the sanitized vision of them so many have), we'd have abolished capital punishment long ago. And if the same nightly news were allowed to broadcast real footage of what war looks like, we'd have fewer of them as well. Just my opinion...
[FairfieldLife] Fairfield, meeting on FF
paste Creating A Deeper Experience of Community: A Structured Conversation A group of us have been meeting weekly for several months to discuss what we can do to create a deeper experience of community in our own lives here in Fairfield. On Saturday, January 20, we will host a structured conversation to enrich this discussion using a process called Appreciative Inquiry (AI). This free event, which will run from 9:30 to 12 noon, and 1 to 2 pm (optional), will also serve as an introduction to the AI process. Appreciative Inquiry is a transformational process that has been used by communities and organizations to create positive change; it connects people and generates the positive energy and inspiration necessary for change by facilitating conversations about the best of what is and has been, and then determining how to create more what is valued and desired. As an example, in our application of Appreciative Inquiry, we will be engaging in a conversation about our best experiences of community as a basis for investigating and discovering what creates these kinds of experiences, and looking at how we can create more of them. The event is being co-organized by Eric Randall and Kevin Cook and facilitated by Steve Cooperman. Steve has facilitated the Appreciative Inquiry process in communities, schools, businesses, and government, including British Airways, City of Waco, City of Dubuque, Arizona Department of Education, Insight Direct, Phoenix Girls Chorus, and Altadena Middle School (Ahwatukee, AZ). Because seating is limited, please RSVP by Wednesday, January 17. To RSVP or for more information, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] or call Steve at 472-0444. More on Appreciative Inquiry: The Appreciative Inquiry process was developed by Dr. David Cooperrider and his associates at Case Western in the mid-seventies, in response to the limitations of the traditional problem solving approach, which is based on identifying the problem and analyzing the causes. Cooperrider noticed in his work as an organizational consultant that this approach was generating a lot of defensiveness and negative energy, making it extremely difficult to bring about positive change. In contrast, he saw his artist wife taking a different approach in her work one based on seeing the beauty in her surroundings and decided to see what would happen if he applied this approach in organizations and communities. Over the past 30+ years, Appreciative Inquiry has been applied in communities, government, businesses, health care, religion, social services, schools, communities, non-profits, and psychology/therapy. In 2004 it was used for a United Nations Leaders Summit. (For more information on Appreciative Inquiry, go to http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/.)
Re: [FairfieldLife] Deepak: Sexual pleasure essential to achieving Enlightenment
The maharishi of merchandising LOL! Now there's two. :-) On Jan 16, 2007, at 4:01 AM, george_deforest wrote: from the Style section of L.A. Times: http://stylescenes.latimes.com/fashion/2006/12/eurythmics_foun.html photo: Deepak Chopra, Ringo Starr (Beatles) and Dave Stewart (Eurithmics) at grand opening of upscale sex-toy boutique in Holly-weird last month.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My Dad the Alcoholic
On Jan 15, 2007, at 9:04 PM, lurkernomore20002000 wrote: Story 1: My dad was an alcoholic. Story 2: My dad was an alcoholic who sexually abused me from the time I was around 4 or 5 until my early teens... I find these stories fascinating. To be thrown knuckle balls like these, and be able to work through it. Pretty neat. What a brave woman and the makings of a great yogini.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Deepak: Sexual pleasure essential to achieving Enlightenment
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The maharishi of merchandising LOL! Now there's two. :-) Speaking of creative merchandising, I followed links in and around the article about the sex toy store and found a few mentions of a new energy drink called Motley Bird. Intrigued, I kept following links and found that they have an already-famous set of ad sites out there trying to create a buzz of sorts about the product. Weird, but technologically interesting: http://www.motleybird.com/ http://feed.stashmedia.tv/feed/2006/11/27/psyops-motley-bird.html Click on the pretty colored picture on the latter link.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Deepak: Sexual pleasure essential to achieving Enlightenment
What the hell does Deepak Chopra know about enlightenment? --- george_deforest [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: from the Style section of L.A. Times: http://stylescenes.latimes.com/fashion/2006/12/eurythmics_foun.html http://stylescenes.latimes.com/fashion/2006/12/eurythmics_foun.html photo: Deepak Chopra, Ringo Starr (Beatles) and Dave Stewart (Eurithmics) at grand opening of upscale sex-toy boutique in Holly-weird last month. Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know. Ask your question on www.Answers.yahoo.com
[FairfieldLife] Re: Deepak: Sexual pleasure essential to achieving Enlightenment
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What the hell does Deepak Chopra know about enlightenment? He seems to know a great deal more about making it palatable to the masses than Maharishi does. Imagine yourself a consumer of sorts who had never heard of enlightenment before, and then encountering Maharishi's path to it -- move to Fairfield, Iowa (or the middle of Nowhere, Kansas) and sit around for hours a day meditating and bouncing on your butt while being unable to hold down a real job -- and then you continue reading and find that many of the people who follow this path are pretty uptight about sex and sexuality and anything that seems to resemble fun. Next you encounter Chopra, who implies that you can have your enlightenment and your orgasms, too. Who ya gonna call? :-) --- george_deforest [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: from the Style section of L.A. Times: http://stylescenes.latimes.com/fashion/2006/12/eurythmics_foun.html photo: Deepak Chopra, Ringo Starr (Beatles) and Dave Stewart (Eurithmics) at grand opening of upscale sex-toy boutique in Holly-weird last month.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Quiet Trains Update
On Jan 15, 2007, at 11:08 PM, Marek Reavis wrote: Sal, this is way outside my field. Seems unlikely, however, that one non-profit could extend its charter and provide an umbrella for another organization's fundraising project. Thanks, Marek. Sal
Re: [FairfieldLife] Deepak: Sexual pleasure essential to achieving Enlightenm...
In a message dated 1/16/07 3:04:24 A.M. Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: photo: Deepak Chopra, Ringo Starr Fantastic! Ringo looks really good, doesn't look like Yassir Arafat anymore. He must have seen some of those Hollywood plastic surgeons.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Fairfield, meeting on FF
In the Spring of 1991, in my then-capacity as Secretary of the Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church, I organized a luncheon dialogue meeting between M.I.U. senior adminstrators and faculty, headed up by Lenny Goldman, and select Fairfield-area mainline Christian clergy, including the Senior Minister of the 1000-member First U.M.C. in Fairfield as well as the Ottumwa District Superintendent of the U.M.C. It went very, very well. After lunch David Orme-Johnson shook my hand and told me you come back anytime. The Ottumwa D.S., Rev. Don Carver, also said he enjoyed it. And in June, 1991, I was then able to pass a resolution through the Iowa Annual Conference of the U.M.C. affirming that Iowa United Methodists (i.e.well over 200,000 of them) believe, in principle at least, in the eventual coming of Heaven on Earth. There is I think alot more potential in Fairfield for this sort of thing than many people realize. Good luck! dhamiltony2k5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: paste Creating A Deeper Experience of Community: A Structured Conversation A group of us have been meeting weekly for several months to discuss what we can do to create a deeper experience of community in our own lives here in Fairfield. On Saturday, January 20, we will host a structured conversation to enrich this discussion using a process called Appreciative Inquiry (AI). This free event, which will run from 9:30 to 12 noon, and 1 to 2 pm (optional), will also serve as an introduction to the AI process. Appreciative Inquiry is a transformational process that has been used by communities and organizations to create positive change; it connects people and generates the positive energy and inspiration necessary for change by facilitating conversations about the best of what is and has been, and then determining how to create more what is valued and desired. As an example, in our application of Appreciative Inquiry, we will be engaging in a conversation about our best experiences of community as a basis for investigating and discovering what creates these kinds of experiences, and looking at how we can create more of them. The event is being co-organized by Eric Randall and Kevin Cook and facilitated by Steve Cooperman. Steve has facilitated the Appreciative Inquiry process in communities, schools, businesses, and government, including British Airways, City of Waco, City of Dubuque, Arizona Department of Education, Insight Direct, Phoenix Girls Chorus, and Altadena Middle School (Ahwatukee, AZ). Because seating is limited, please RSVP by Wednesday, January 17. To RSVP or for more information, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] or call Steve at 472-0444. More on Appreciative Inquiry: The Appreciative Inquiry process was developed by Dr. David Cooperrider and his associates at Case Western in the mid-seventies, in response to the limitations of the traditional problem solving approach, which is based on identifying the problem and analyzing the causes. Cooperrider noticed in his work as an organizational consultant that this approach was generating a lot of defensiveness and negative energy, making it extremely difficult to bring about positive change. In contrast, he saw his artist wife taking a different approach in her work one based on seeing the beauty in her surroundings and decided to see what would happen if he applied this approach in organizations and communities. Over the past 30+ years, Appreciative Inquiry has been applied in communities, government, businesses, health care, religion, social services, schools, communities, non-profits, and psychology/therapy. In 2004 it was used for a United Nations Leaders Summit. (For more information on Appreciative Inquiry, go to http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/.) - Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels in 45,000 destinations on Yahoo! Travel to find your fit.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Dad the Alcoholic
Bob Your response, is, of course, ignorant and ignorant of the facts of life and of the facts of the Prahlada story. Me: I am familiar with The Facts of Life and can prove it: A group of girls attending a boarding school experience the joys and the trials of adolescence under the guiding hand of housemother Edna Garrett. Later in the series, Mrs. Garrett is promoted to school dietician, and four of the girls move into new quarters above the cafeteria. Eventually she leaves the school and opens her own business, with help from her girls. As far as your imposition of Hindu philosophy onto the words of Jesus, that only works in Chopra seminars cuz it sounds truthy. It became popular first with Vivekananda, then Yogananda and now is spouted as fact in all New Age seminars. It is not theologically accurate in the context of Christianity or in the Jewish philosophies of his time. There have been many attempts of man to explain the hows and whys of life and they are not all in agreement on even the simplest details. That you have bought into one version, filtered through the mindsets and beliefs of this day and age, doesn't impress me. Ancient literature like the one you quoted is not a manual for how things really are. They are brilliant descriptions of the human condition and most modern people understand that they are not to be taken literally as facts of life. Your literal interpretation of them and your confidence that this makes you superior in the knowledge of how life really works is a reflection of your ignorance of epistemology. The more honest statement is that neither of us has any clue about the facts of life concerning why bad things happen to people in this world. It is humbling isn't it? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Bob: It's important to understand that anybody who had an abusive father or mother got that unfortunate circumstance because that was the karma one sent out in previous lives returning to oneself. Me: Which one of your virtue sidhis were you expressing here? Let's see, not compassion or friendliness...Oh I know smug happiness that you understand how the world works so well that you need to tell people that they deserved their suffering. Applying this philosophy, designed to justify the caste system's repression, to your own life to re-frame your suffering seems like a psychologically useful technique, if you can't just face that life is random. But applying it to others when they express their real suffering seems like a lapse in human understanding and compassion. Believing that babies born with deformities deserved it may be a nice way to get yourself off the hook emotionally, but I sure am glad I don't live in a country where this antiquated theory is taken seriously. You don't know how things work universally just because you read it in some old book. We are all in a state of not knowing why bad things happen. Some of us are comfortable with that ambiguity, and some clutch at pre-fab easy answers. Pointing out to someone that they deserved an abusive father is a nasty little trick. I reject it as a spiritual insight. As far as Hiranyakasipu (was he Hawaiian?) I think his son would have done better to invoke the twin saints Smith and Wesson. Please don't get angry with me for calling you out on this. Remember you did something bad and deserved this post. Just passively accept the criticism like good old Prahlada. That is what God wants you to do. *** Your response, is, of course, ignorant and ignorant of the facts of life and of the facts of the Prahlada story. All saints and teachers worthy of the name have said, as Jesus did, that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap -- the very-simple-to-understand law of karma. So when somebody is born in a bad family situation, they can either ignorantly feel that life is unjust, or understand that they are simply getting back the unhappiness that they dished out in some previous life. This does not mean that people should passively accept abuse -- if you had bothered to read the story of Prahlada, you would have seen that Prahlada defied his father's wishes that Prahlada abandon devotion to Vishnu, even under the intense abuse by his father.
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Dad the Alcoholic
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Bob Your response, is, of course, ignorant and ignorant of the facts of life and of the facts of the Prahlada story. Me: I am familiar with The Facts of Life and can prove it: A group of girls attending a boarding school experience the joys and the trials of adolescence under the guiding hand of housemother Edna Garrett. Later in the series, Mrs. Garrett is promoted to school dietician, and four of the girls move into new quarters above the cafeteria. Eventually she leaves the school and opens her own business, with help from her girls. As far as your imposition of Hindu philosophy onto the words of Jesus, that only works in Chopra seminars cuz it sounds truthy. It became popular first with Vivekananda, then Yogananda and now is spouted as fact in all New Age seminars. It is not theologically accurate in the context of Christianity or in the Jewish philosophies of his time. There have been many attempts of man to explain the hows and whys of life and they are not all in agreement on even the simplest details. That you have bought into one version, filtered through the mindsets and beliefs of this day and age, doesn't impress me. Ancient literature like the one you quoted is not a manual for how things really are. They are brilliant descriptions of the human condition and most modern people understand that they are not to be taken literally as facts of life. Your literal interpretation of them and your confidence that this makes you superior in the knowledge of how life really works is a reflection of your ignorance of epistemology. The more honest statement is that neither of us has any clue about the facts of life concerning why bad things happen to people in this world. It is humbling isn't it? H... How's that explanation of Jewish belief in reincarnation coming? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Bob: It's important to understand that anybody who had an abusive father or mother got that unfortunate circumstance because that was the karma one sent out in previous lives returning to oneself. Me: Which one of your virtue sidhis were you expressing here? Let's see, not compassion or friendliness...Oh I know smug happiness that you understand how the world works so well that you need to tell people that they deserved their suffering. Applying this philosophy, designed to justify the caste system's repression, to your own life to re-frame your suffering seems like a psychologically useful technique, if you can't just face that life is random. But applying it to others when they express their real suffering seems like a lapse in human understanding and compassion. Believing that babies born with deformities deserved it may be a nice way to get yourself off the hook emotionally, but I sure am glad I don't live in a country where this antiquated theory is taken seriously. You don't know how things work universally just because you read it in some old book. We are all in a state of not knowing why bad things happen. Some of us are comfortable with that ambiguity, and some clutch at pre-fab easy answers. Pointing out to someone that they deserved an abusive father is a nasty little trick. I reject it as a spiritual insight. As far as Hiranyakasipu (was he Hawaiian?) I think his son would have done better to invoke the twin saints Smith and Wesson. Please don't get angry with me for calling you out on this. Remember you did something bad and deserved this post. Just passively accept the criticism like good old Prahlada. That is what God wants you to do. *** Your response, is, of course, ignorant and ignorant of the facts of life and of the facts of the Prahlada story. All saints and teachers worthy of the name have said, as Jesus did, that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap -- the very-simple-to-understand law of karma. So when somebody is born in a bad family situation, they can either ignorantly feel that life is unjust, or understand that they are simply getting back the unhappiness that they dished out in some previous life. This does not mean that people should passively accept abuse -- if you had bothered to read the story of Prahlada, you would have seen that Prahlada defied his father's wishes that Prahlada abandon devotion to Vishnu, even under the intense abuse by his father.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My Dad the Alcoholic
On Jan 16, 2007, at 1:55 PM, sparaig wrote: H... How's that explanation of Jewish belief in reincarnation coming? Sha'ar ha Gilgulim is rather interesting and would be a great topic!
[FairfieldLife] Re: My Dad the Alcoholic
H... How's that explanation of Jewish belief in reincarnation coming? Jonah and the Whale is a spot-on description of reincarnation - not that there's anything wrong with that
[FairfieldLife] MMY's race to impose 'Natural Law' ahead of 'Sharia Law'..
And how will it be done? Spread neo-hinduism incorporating Yoga-lite (i.e. Mantra Yoga) on modernity. The less mentioned about God the better, then when this is established and modernity has tasted a little bliss, full blown hinduism can hold sway. So much for 'freedom' and 'democracy' (MMY-damn democracy!)but hey, the world will be better off in the endif he can pull it off! The MMY won't have to hold back and he can teach true 'Sanatana Dharma' the eternal Religion of the Vedas! Let's hope Osama don't beat him to the punch, I'd say it's a toss up at this point
[FairfieldLife] Re: Deepak: Sexual pleasure essential to achieving Enlightenment
TurquoiseB wrote: Speaking of creative merchandising, I followed links in and around the article about the sex toy store ... here is the URL for the store itself, the LA branch (you can follow links to the original London store) http://www.cocodemerusa.com/about_la.aspx
[FairfieldLife] Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
In Love and God MMY proclaims Guru Dev had reached the Cosmic Consciousness'the perfect expression of 'Purnamadah purnamidam'. Now in the Gita he says CC is merely the basis of GC which leads to UC, huh??? You mean Guru Dev was just in CC...go figure! He also states that Brahmi-sthiti is the state of Brahman or Cosmic Consciousness in the Gita HB page369. Ou vey..so is Brahman CC, UC or both? Remember Guru Dev was in CC according to MMY and he realized the fullness of Brahman in the Absolute and Relative and MMY calls this CC.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
On Jan 16, 2007, at 3:04 PM, wmurphy77 wrote: In Love and God MMY proclaims Guru Dev had reached the Cosmic Consciousness'the perfect expression of 'Purnamadah purnamidam'. Now in the Gita he says CC is merely the basis of GC which leads to UC, huh??? You mean Guru Dev was just in CC...go figure! Yeah I'd heard him described in older writings as a jivan-mukta IIRC, i.e. in CC.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: My Dad the Alcoholic
On Jan 16, 2007, at 2:42 PM, Larry wrote: H... How's that explanation of Jewish belief in reincarnation coming? Jonah and the Whale is a spot-on description of reincarnation - not that there's anything wrong with that Well and of course the Sermon on the Mt. in the NT.
[FairfieldLife] Is MMY afraid of using the word 'Soul' .......
...that would explain his concept of 'Self-Realization' now wouldn't it, but if you use the word Soul, yikes that smarts of Religion...can't do! So let's just call it CC. Gettin' the picture??? CC is Self Realization or realization of Spirit or Brahman in relation to your SELF or SOUL! (Limited to your reflection as the individual Soul) GC is realization of the SOUL of the UNIVERSE (formless, appearing as any form dear to your heart)as the PERSONAL God Limited to creation. and UC is realization of I am that, thou art that, and all of this is nothing but that. (Unlimited) It's all a progressive expansion of consciousness, you don't realize Brahman, (UC) and then come back and realize GC, that's just nonsense.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fairfield is the Consciousness Brahmasthan of the USA
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, allanrosenzweig [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Let's focus on building Fairfield Vedic City first, before wasting money on an expired and expensive notion of the center being in Kansas. Here is an interesting site http://Brahmasthan.US that says: The Physical Brahmasthan of the United States is 17 miles west of Castle Rock, South Dakota, the Geographical Center of all 50 states - the total unified country of the USA - since 1959. Until 1958, over 48 years ago, the Geographical Center of lower 48 states only was near Lebanon, Kansas. Alaska, the largest state, pulled the previous Brahmasthan significantly North West from Kansas, when President Eisenhower signed it as the 49th state on January 3, 1959. It moved again, when Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959 The Population Center of the United States is Edgar Springs, Missouri according to 2000 census. This is about 200 miles south from Vedic City, Iowa, the Consciousness Brahmasthan of America. Fairfield Iowa is near the Center of the American People, the Consciousness Brahmasthan of the United States Yeah, i hear that the Kaplan brothers had arranged for and bought the geographic center for the movement before they left, and now the TMorg gots the burnt pork-chop up there in Kansas.
[FairfieldLife] Danielou on Sanskrit
Alain Danielou (1907-1994) son of French aristocracy, author of numerous books on philosophy, religion, history and arts of India and perhaps the first European to boldly proclaim his Hinduness. He settled in India for fifteen years in the study of Sanskrit. He had a wide effect upon Europe's understanding of Hinduism. He has observed: The creation of Sanskrit, the ârefinedâ language, was a prodigious work on a grand scale. Grammarians and semanticists of genius undertook to create a perfect language, artificial and permanent, belonging to no one, that was to become the language of the entire culture. Sanskrit is built on a basis of Vedic and the Prakrits, but has a much more complex grammar, established according to a rigorous logic. It has an immense vocabulary and a very adaptable grammar, so that words can be grouped together to express any nuance of an idea, and verb forms can be found to cover any possibility of tense, such as future intentional in the past, present continuing into the future, and so on. Furthermore, Sanskrit possesses a wealth of abstract nouns, technical and philosophical terms unknown in any other language. Modern Indian scholars of Sanskrit culture have often remarked that many of the new concepts of nuclear physics or modern psychology are easy for them to grasp, since they correspond exactly to familiar notions of Sanskrit terminology.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Jan 16, 2007, at 3:04 PM, wmurphy77 wrote: In Love and God MMY proclaims Guru Dev had reached the Cosmic Consciousness'the perfect expression of 'Purnamadah purnamidam'. Now in the Gita he says CC is merely the basis of GC which leads to UC, huh??? You mean Guru Dev was just in CC...go figure! Yeah I'd heard him described in older writings as a jivan-mukta IIRC, i.e. in CC. As stated in the Gita, the Master (Guru Dev) had reached the Highest State of Brahmi-sthiti, or COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS. All that other jargon is tortured logic by MMY, it's there, but very confusing. A Jivan-Mukti would be a Self-Realized Soul..not yet cosmic or MMY's CC.
[FairfieldLife] MMY's attempt to teach 'Sanatana Dharma' , the eternal Religion of the Vedas,
without mentioning the word Religion.hey, if you cut the head off a dog, IT'S STILL A DOG! Personally I'm fine with TM being taught as a Religion, although, I may have never started...
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
Comment below: ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Jan 16, 2007, at 3:04 PM, wmurphy77 wrote: In Love and God MMY proclaims Guru Dev had reached the Cosmic Consciousness'the perfect expression of 'Purnamadah purnamidam'. Now in the Gita he says CC is merely the basis of GC which leads to UC, huh??? You mean Guru Dev was just in CC...go figure! Yeah I'd heard him described in older writings as a jivan-mukta IIRC, i.e. in CC. **end** Maharishi's articulation of states of enlightenment definitely seems to have evolved over time; at first he spoke only of Cosmic Consciousness (which was offered as the big E -- the be all and end all of human evolution), and only later spoke of God Consciousness, then Unity, and later Brahman Consciousness. Whether that progression followed his own interior evolution or the arc in the evolution of the teaching (or both) would be impossible to ever tease out since Maharishi (almost?) never speaks in terms of his own experience. It's telling, though, that his description of his evolution is solely in terms of his attunement to Guru Dev. He describes it as not even knowing he was living and that there was such congruency between him and Guru Dev that it wasn't as if 'he' existed as separate from Guru Dev. I've always considered that his path to enlightenment, just as Trotaka was enlightened by his devotion to Adi Shri Shankaracharya. And, of course, Maharishi has made that same comparison. But partly because of that, what's always struck me as peculiar is that Maharishi's programs and organizations are so devoid of bhakti. With the exception of him teaching us the guru puja to Guru Dev (now somewhat morphed -- at least in emphasis -- to the Holy Tradition), Maharishi's teaching have always been rather dry and academic, even more so the last couple of decades. His circular expositions of silence, and silence into silence, and silence out of silence, etc., etc., just have no juice for me. And they don't effectively speak to my experience, either. It mostly seems to be dry intellectualization with no ground either in heart or the experience along my path. Not to mention all the scientific and pseudo-scientific discussions. And that seems to be in contradistinction to what Guru Dev taught and lived. If you go to Paul Mason's website on Guru Dev you learn that Guru Dev taught primarily (at least to the masses) in terms of God and the heart. You can listen to Guru Dev sing bhajans and the biographies all point out that he continued to practice devotionals throughout his life. Anyone ever have any experience with Maharishi doing any devotional exercises (besides puja to Guru Dev)? This isn't going anywhere; the above two posts just prompted the rambling. Marek
[FairfieldLife] Re: Fairfield, meeting on FF
Jonathan it might not be that kind of meeting. Those kind of movement people might also be asked to a grandjury hearing in a discovery of the *disappearred*, preparatory to their indictments in a crimes against humanity trial. You know, the *disappearred* meditators, teachers,governors, citizens, and graduates of the TMorg and the *disappearred* money... it might be part of a larger process of 'truth and reconcilliation' on which the foundations of a more lasting peace around here might be formed. Jai Guru Dev, -Doug in FF --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Jonathan Chadwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In the Spring of 1991, in my then-capacity as Secretary of the Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church, I organized a luncheon dialogue meeting between M.I.U. senior adminstrators and faculty, headed up by Lenny Goldman, and select Fairfield-area mainline Christian clergy, including the Senior Minister of the 1000-member First U.M.C. in Fairfield as well as the Ottumwa District Superintendent of the U.M.C. It went very, very well. After lunch David Orme-Johnson shook my hand and told me you come back anytime. The Ottumwa D.S., Rev. Don Carver, also said he enjoyed it. And in June, 1991, I was then able to pass a resolution through the Iowa Annual Conference of the U.M.C. affirming that Iowa United Methodists (i.e.well over 200,000 of them) believe, in principle at least, in the eventual coming of Heaven on Earth. There is I think alot more potential in Fairfield for this sort of thing than many people realize. Good luck! dhamiltony2k5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: paste Creating A Deeper Experience of Community: A Structured Conversation A group of us have been meeting weekly for several months to discuss what we can do to create a deeper experience of community in our own lives here in Fairfield. On Saturday, January 20, we will host a structured conversation to enrich this discussion using a process called Appreciative Inquiry (AI). This free event, which will run from 9:30 to 12 noon, and 1 to 2 pm (optional), will also serve as an introduction to the AI process. Appreciative Inquiry is a transformational process that has been used by communities and organizations to create positive change; it connects people and generates the positive energy and inspiration necessary for change by facilitating conversations about the best of what is and has been, and then determining how to create more what is valued and desired. As an example, in our application of Appreciative Inquiry, we will be engaging in a conversation about our best experiences of community as a basis for investigating and discovering what creates these kinds of experiences, and looking at how we can create more of them. The event is being co-organized by Eric Randall and Kevin Cook and facilitated by Steve Cooperman. Steve has facilitated the Appreciative Inquiry process in communities, schools, businesses, and government, including British Airways, City of Waco, City of Dubuque, Arizona Department of Education, Insight Direct, Phoenix Girls Chorus, and Altadena Middle School (Ahwatukee, AZ). Because seating is limited, please RSVP by Wednesday, January 17. To RSVP or for more information, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] or call Steve at 472-0444. More on Appreciative Inquiry: The Appreciative Inquiry process was developed by Dr. David Cooperrider and his associates at Case Western in the mid- seventies, in response to the limitations of the traditional problem solving approach, which is based on identifying the problem and analyzing the causes. Cooperrider noticed in his work as an organizational consultant that this approach was generating a lot of defensiveness and negative energy, making it extremely difficult to bring about positive change. In contrast, he saw his artist wife taking a different approach in her work one based on seeing the beauty in her surroundings and decided to see what would happen if he applied this approach in organizations and communities. Over the past 30+ years, Appreciative Inquiry has been applied in communities, government, businesses, health care, religion, social services, schools, communities, non-profits, and psychology/therapy. In 2004 it was used for a United Nations Leaders Summit. (For more information on Appreciative Inquiry, go to http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/.) - Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels in 45,000 destinations on Yahoo! Travel to find your fit.
[FairfieldLife] Pujas Schedule for Kumbhabhishekam
Sri Matre Namah, Here is the Pujas Schedule for four days during Kumbhabhishekam in Devipuram : http://www.devipura m.com/events/ Kumbhabhishekam- English.pdf http://www.devipura m.com/events/ Kumbhabhishekam- Telugu.pdf Kindly forward the links to other devotees of Goddess Supreme. At Your Service Devipuram/vi1 Group www.devipuram. com www.vi1.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] com +91-8924-207652 Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Pujas Schedule for Kumbhabhishekam
http://www.devipuram.com/events/Kumbhabhishekam-English.pdf
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Jan 16, 2007, at 3:04 PM, wmurphy77 wrote: In Love and God MMY proclaims Guru Dev had reached the Cosmic Consciousness'the perfect expression of 'Purnamadah purnamidam'. Now in the Gita he says CC is merely the basis of GC which leads to UC, huh??? You mean Guru Dev was just in CC...go figure! Yeah I'd heard him described in older writings as a jivan-mukta IIRC, i.e. in CC. Jivan mukta would be someone perfected in CC. DOesn't say anything about being beyond or not-beyond CC. Plenty of people are in CC on a regular, even long-term basis, bug being a jivan-mukta is a tad beyond just having 24/7 witnessing for a few months or years at a time.
Re: [FairfieldLife] MMY's race to impose 'Natural Law' ahead of 'Sharia Law'..
It might be wise to understand that Vedic law is the first law which supported the democracy of Harappa. - Original Message - From: wmurphy77 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 1:50 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] MMY's race to impose 'Natural Law' ahead of 'Sharia Law'.. And how will it be done? Spread neo-hinduism incorporating Yoga-lite (i.e. Mantra Yoga) on modernity. The less mentioned about God the better, then when this is established and modernity has tasted a little bliss, full blown hinduism can hold sway. So much for 'freedom' and 'democracy' (MMY-damn democracy!)but hey, the world will be better off in the endif he can pull it off! The MMY won't have to hold back and he can teach true 'Sanatana Dharma' the eternal Religion of the Vedas! Let's hope Osama don't beat him to the punch, I'd say it's a toss up at this point To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: Danielou on Sanskrit
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Alain Danielou (1907-1994) son of French aristocracy, author of numerous books on philosophy, religion, history and arts of India and perhaps the first European to boldly proclaim his Hinduness. He settled in India for fifteen years in the study of Sanskrit. He had a wide effect upon Europe's understanding of Hinduism. He has observed: The creation of Sanskrit, the ârefinedâ? language, was a prodigious work on a grand scale. Grammarians and semanticists of genius undertook to create a perfect language, artificial and permanent, belonging to no one, that was to become the language of the entire culture. Sanskrit is built on a basis of Vedic and the Prakrits, but has a much more complex grammar, established according to a rigorous logic. It has an immense vocabulary and a very adaptable grammar, so that words can be grouped together to express any nuance of an idea, and verb forms can be found to cover any possibility of tense, such as future intentional in the past, present continuing into the future, and so on. Furthermore, Sanskrit possesses a wealth of abstract nouns, technical and philosophical terms unknown in any other language. Modern Indian scholars of Sanskrit culture have often remarked that many of the new concepts of nuclear physics or modern psychology are easy for them to grasp, since they correspond exactly to familiar notions of Sanskrit terminology. http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/find/hep/www?key=1535870]
Re: [FairfieldLife] Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
Little you peeps understand. Upon purnadiksha into Sri Vidya one is already established in Brahman. This is the vow of of this Tantra as of some others. So this question is rather funny. - Original Message - From: wmurphy77 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 2:04 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC Acording to MMY-CC! In Love and God MMY proclaims Guru Dev had reached the Cosmic Consciousness'the perfect expression of 'Purnamadah purnamidam'. Now in the Gita he says CC is merely the basis of GC which leads to UC, huh??? You mean Guru Dev was just in CC...go figure! He also states that Brahmi-sthiti is the state of Brahman or Cosmic Consciousness in the Gita HB page369. Ou vey..so is Brahman CC, UC or both? Remember Guru Dev was in CC according to MMY and he realized the fullness of Brahman in the Absolute and Relative and MMY calls this CC. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
Thanks Marek for a really fine reply!! The real significence of his Bhagavad Gita is that Awareness in the state of Being alone makes the whole field of devotion real, this is significent! (page 7 Preface) The state of Being he is referring to is *Self-Realization* (or realization of the soul as created by the creator)not Cosmic Consciousness; CC (or UC) being the culmination of devotion! He is very confusing sometimes expecially when he is trying to be clever in spreading TM. Half of the time you don't know if he is refering to Brahman in relation to 'self-awareness' or 'universal awareness'. Hope this helps. BillyG. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Marek Reavis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Comment below: ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajranatha@ wrote: On Jan 16, 2007, at 3:04 PM, wmurphy77 wrote: In Love and God MMY proclaims Guru Dev had reached the Cosmic Consciousness'the perfect expression of 'Purnamadah purnamidam'. Now in the Gita he says CC is merely the basis of GC which leads to UC, huh??? You mean Guru Dev was just in CC...go figure! Yeah I'd heard him described in older writings as a jivan-mukta IIRC, i.e. in CC. **end** Maharishi's articulation of states of enlightenment definitely seems to have evolved over time; at first he spoke only of Cosmic Consciousness (which was offered as the big E -- the be all and end all of human evolution), and only later spoke of God Consciousness, then Unity, and later Brahman Consciousness. Whether that progression followed his own interior evolution or the arc in the evolution of the teaching (or both) would be impossible to ever tease out since Maharishi (almost?) never speaks in terms of his own experience. It's telling, though, that his description of his evolution is solely in terms of his attunement to Guru Dev. He describes it as not even knowing he was living and that there was such congruency between him and Guru Dev that it wasn't as if 'he' existed as separate from Guru Dev. I've always considered that his path to enlightenment, just as Trotaka was enlightened by his devotion to Adi Shri Shankaracharya. And, of course, Maharishi has made that same comparison. But partly because of that, what's always struck me as peculiar is that Maharishi's programs and organizations are so devoid of bhakti. With the exception of him teaching us the guru puja to Guru Dev (now somewhat morphed -- at least in emphasis -- to the Holy Tradition), Maharishi's teaching have always been rather dry and academic, even more so the last couple of decades. His circular expositions of silence, and silence into silence, and silence out of silence, etc., etc., just have no juice for me. And they don't effectively speak to my experience, either. It mostly seems to be dry intellectualization with no ground either in heart or the experience along my path. Not to mention all the scientific and pseudo-scientific discussions. And that seems to be in contradistinction to what Guru Dev taught and lived. If you go to Paul Mason's website on Guru Dev you learn that Guru Dev taught primarily (at least to the masses) in terms of God and the heart. You can listen to Guru Dev sing bhajans and the biographies all point out that he continued to practice devotionals throughout his life. Anyone ever have any experience with Maharishi doing any devotional exercises (besides puja to Guru Dev)? This isn't going anywhere; the above two posts just prompted the rambling. Marek
[FairfieldLife] Re: MMY's race to impose 'Natural Law' ahead of 'Sharia Law'..
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, llundrub [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It might be wise to understand that Vedic law is the first law which supported the democracy of Harappa. And it was a democracy?...call MMY immediately!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
Comment below: ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wmurphy77 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: **snip** The real significence of his Bhagavad Gita is that Awareness in the state of Being alone makes the whole field of devotion real, this is significent! (page 7 Preface) The state of Being he is referring to is *Self-Realization* (or realization of the soul as created by the creator)not Cosmic Consciousness; CC (or UC) being the culmination of devotion! **snip to end** Well, this is the stuff that FFL was made for, right? The field of pure existence -- Being -- *is* the Self. Actually, the Self is beyond both existence and non-existence. It is so rock-solid and complete that it doesn't permit the possibility of anything but itself and therefore no qualifiers can ever reference it. It is absolutely exclusionary of anything and everything. Nothing is except That. Everything appears to exist because of That. So the realization of the Self does seem to encompass what Maharishi refers to as Cosmic Consciousness as well as Brahman. Self Realization is not the realization of a limited isolate or created soul. The Self is never created. The Self is uncreated, One, pure and immovable. The reflection of that in the notion of a nervous system causes the notion of a jiva, or soul, to appear. Jiva is the created soul; but it's just a notion of individuality and separateness; it isn't a reality, it's an appearance. It never was created. Maharishi's exposition is frequently muddled by his ambition to sell his product. That's a shame. The clearest, cleanest articulation (for me) is Nisargadatta's. He illuminates everything that I learned from Maharishi but hadn't realized yet. Marek
Re: [FairfieldLife] Danielou on Sanskrit
He's cool too and you can talk to him at his Yahoo list Sri Yantra. - Original Message - From: cardemaister [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 2:33 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Danielou on Sanskrit Alain Danielou (1907-1994) son of French aristocracy, author of numerous books on philosophy, religion, history and arts of India and perhaps the first European to boldly proclaim his Hinduness. He settled in India for fifteen years in the study of Sanskrit. He had a wide effect upon Europe's understanding of Hinduism. He has observed: The creation of Sanskrit, the â?orefinedâ? language, was a prodigious work on a grand scale. Grammarians and semanticists of genius undertook to create a perfect language, artificial and permanent, belonging to no one, that was to become the language of the entire culture. Sanskrit is built on a basis of Vedic and the Prakrits, but has a much more complex grammar, established according to a rigorous logic. It has an immense vocabulary and a very adaptable grammar, so that words can be grouped together to express any nuance of an idea, and verb forms can be found to cover any possibility of tense, such as future intentional in the past, present continuing into the future, and so on. Furthermore, Sanskrit possesses a wealth of abstract nouns, technical and philosophical terms unknown in any other language. Modern Indian scholars of Sanskrit culture have often remarked that many of the new concepts of nuclear physics or modern psychology are easy for them to grasp, since they correspond exactly to familiar notions of Sanskrit terminology. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Fairfield is the Consciousness Brahmasthan of the USA
There's not supposed to be anything on the Brahmastan anyway. - Original Message - From: dhamiltony2k5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 2:29 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Fairfield is the Consciousness Brahmasthan of the USA --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, allanrosenzweig [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Let's focus on building Fairfield Vedic City first, before wasting money on an expired and expensive notion of the center being in Kansas. Here is an interesting site http://Brahmasthan.US that says: The Physical Brahmasthan of the United States is 17 miles west of Castle Rock, South Dakota, the Geographical Center of all 50 states - the total unified country of the USA - since 1959. Until 1958, over 48 years ago, the Geographical Center of lower 48 states only was near Lebanon, Kansas. Alaska, the largest state, pulled the previous Brahmasthan significantly North West from Kansas, when President Eisenhower signed it as the 49th state on January 3, 1959. It moved again, when Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959 The Population Center of the United States is Edgar Springs, Missouri according to 2000 census. This is about 200 miles south from Vedic City, Iowa, the Consciousness Brahmasthan of America. Fairfield Iowa is near the Center of the American People, the Consciousness Brahmasthan of the United States Yeah, i hear that the Kaplan brothers had arranged for and bought the geographic center for the movement before they left, and now the TMorg gots the burnt pork-chop up there in Kansas. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
On Jan 16, 2007, at 3:47 PM, Marek Reavis wrote: Maharishi's articulation of states of enlightenment definitely seems to have evolved over time; at first he spoke only of Cosmic Consciousness (which was offered as the big E -- the be all and end all of human evolution), and only later spoke of God Consciousness, then Unity, and later Brahman Consciousness. Whether that progression followed his own interior evolution or the arc in the evolution of the teaching (or both) would be impossible to ever tease out since Maharishi (almost?) never speaks in terms of his own experience. I was told by a reliable movement source and had also heard from another source (and IIRC one TMO published instance) that Mahesh had developed the idea from reading the Shankara's bhasya of the Badarayana sutras and then reading the comments from yoga-darshana and those from the Bhagavatas. He read quite a few others as well. This completely fits with the resultant system of 7 states (technically six states with one transitional stage) Mahesh devised and appears to be a unique innovation using these source texts. It is unclear whether he received oral instruction on this from SBS, but it's certainly possible he did since SBS was master of the relative aspect of Vedanta in addition to being a siddha himself. Although M does present the View from the POV of Advaita Vedanta, he is at variance with the Advaitin treatment in his inclusion of the Bhagavatin POV into the progression from witnessing to UC. It is documented but I forget where I saw it that M. did do a detailed study of Badarayana. So I believe someone very familiar with M's life and work could find this written reference of this and even isolate the period of time where he did this examination. But I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the source of the seven states of consciousness of MMY as I've studied the same comments on my own along with numerous others.
Re: [FairfieldLife] How appropriate!
TurquoiseB wrote: The first pirated HD-DVD movie to hit BitTorrent is ... ta da ... more fanfare while the presenter opens the envelope ... SERENITY http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070115-8622.html Mal and the Firefly gang would be proud. And the Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD crowd still argue on like a bunch of TB'ers. :) The Blu-Ray people think that format is superior but I would bet the studios use the same MPEG-2 master and just wrap it in the appropriate container for either format (IOW no differnce). Apparently the Adult Entertainment Industry is going with HD-DVD.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
On Jan 16, 2007, at 3:47 PM, Marek Reavis wrote: But partly because of that, what's always struck me as peculiar is that Maharishi's programs and organizations are so devoid of bhakti. With the exception of him teaching us the guru puja to Guru Dev (now somewhat morphed -- at least in emphasis -- to the Holy Tradition), Maharishi's teaching have always been rather dry and academic, even more so the last couple of decades. His circular expositions of silence, and silence into silence, and silence out of silence, etc., etc., just have no juice for me. And they don't effectively speak to my experience, either. It mostly seems to be dry intellectualization with no ground either in heart or the experience along my path. Not to mention all the scientific and pseudo-scientific discussions. He does mention bhakti, but it's more *transcendental bhakti* and is present in the transitional refinement of GC. In other words it's not 'falling down in the street with your tambourine Hare Krishna bhakti' but an inner, yogic bhakti, Love God and all that. I also wonder if part of that also has to do with making his system of yoga fit into a more western adapted model, devoid of any overtly Hindu elements.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
On Jan 16, 2007, at 3:47 PM, Marek Reavis wrote: And that seems to be in contradistinction to what Guru Dev taught and lived. If you go to Paul Mason's website on Guru Dev you learn that Guru Dev taught primarily (at least to the masses) in terms of God and the heart. You can listen to Guru Dev sing bhajans and the biographies all point out that he continued to practice devotionals throughout his life. Anyone ever have any experience with Maharishi doing any devotional exercises (besides puja to Guru Dev)? I agree completely and this is a crucial point: M divvies out mantra via formula and SBS gave mantra based on love. There's some interesting discussion of this in Beacon Light. There must've been some watershed moment where a decision was made to move away from out and out initiation into an ishta-devata. And that one thing (IMMO) made all the difference in the world.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Marek Reavis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well, this is the stuff that FFL was made for, right? The field of pure existence -- Being -- *is* the Self. Actually, the Self is beyond both existence and non-existence. It is so rock-solid and complete that it doesn't permit the possibility of anything but itself and therefore no qualifiers can ever reference it. It is absolutely exclusionary of anything and everything. Nothing is except That. Everything appears to exist because of That. So the realization of the Self does seem to encompass what Maharishi refers to as Cosmic Consciousness as well as Brahman. True, in man, it is limited in its expression, (The silence which is experienced in cosmic consciousness, and which separates the Self from activity, is on an *infinitely* smaller scale, for it is on the level of individual existence, Gita CHVI vs3) Self Realization is not the realization of a limited isolate or created soul. The Self is never created. The Self is uncreated, One, pure and immovable. The reflection of that in the notion of a nervous system causes the notion of a jiva, or soul, to appear. Jiva is the created soul; but it's just a notion of individuality and separateness; it isn't a reality, it's an appearance. It never was created. Yes, but in order to speak of it we must draw distinctions, from the level of Unity or Brahman Consciousness UC all is one. Maharishi's exposition is frequently muddled by his ambition to sell his product. That's a shame. The clearest, cleanest articulation (for me) is Nisargadatta's. He illuminates everything that I learned from Maharishi but hadn't realized yet. What really cleared it up for me was PYogananda's Bhagavad Gita, I thought I had read the Gita (MMY's) no way, Yogananda's was far superior. BillyG.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Jan 16, 2007, at 3:47 PM, Marek Reavis wrote: Maharishi's articulation of states of enlightenment definitely seems to have evolved over time; at first he spoke only of Cosmic Consciousness (which was offered as the big E -- the be all and end all of human evolution), and only later spoke of God Consciousness, then Unity, and later Brahman Consciousness. Whether that progression followed his own interior evolution or the arc in the evolution of the teaching (or both) would be impossible to ever tease out since Maharishi (almost?) never speaks in terms of his own experience. I was told by a reliable movement source and had also heard from another source (and IIRC one TMO published instance) that Mahesh had developed the idea from reading the Shankara's bhasya of the Badarayana sutras and then reading the comments from yoga-darshana and those from the Bhagavatas. He read quite a few others as well. This completely fits with the resultant system of 7 states (technically six states with one transitional stage) Mahesh devised and appears to be a unique innovation using these source texts. It is unclear whether he received oral instruction on this from SBS, but it's certainly possible he did since SBS was master of the relative aspect of Vedanta in addition to being a siddha himself. Although M does present the View from the POV of Advaita Vedanta, he is at variance with the Advaitin treatment in his inclusion of the Bhagavatin POV into the progression from witnessing to UC. It is documented but I forget where I saw it that M. did do a detailed study of Badarayana. So I believe someone very familiar with M's life and work could find this written reference of this and even isolate the period of time where he did this examination. But I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the source of the seven states of consciousness of MMY as I've studied the same comments on my own along with numerous others. The seven states of consciousness are identified, according to the MUM style guide, as: http://resources.mum.edu/manuals/styleguide.pdf Turiya Chetanå (Transcendental Consciousness) Turiyåtit Chetanå (Cosmic Consciousness) Bhagavad Chetanå (God Consciousness) Bråhmi Chetanå (Unity Consciousness) Seems to me that these terms should be traceable to one or more sanskrit sources. Turiya, for instance, is found in one of the Upanishads.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
On Jan 16, 2007, at 5:26 PM, sparaig wrote: The seven states of consciousness are identified, according to the MUM style guide, as: http://resources.mum.edu/manuals/styleguide.pdf Turiya Chetanå (Transcendental Consciousness) Turiyåtit Chetanå (Cosmic Consciousness) Bhagavad Chetanå (God Consciousness) Bråhmi Chetanå (Unity Consciousness) Seems to me that these terms should be traceable to one or more sanskrit sources. Turiya, for instance, is found in one of the Upanishads. Indeed they are.: the commentaries of the Badarayana sutras. I traced this years ago after I heard the first mention.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The seven states of consciousness are identified, according to the MUM style guide, as: http://resources.mum.edu/manuals/styleguide.pdf Turiya Chetanå (Transcendental Consciousness) Turiyåtit Chetanå (Cosmic Consciousness) Bhagavad Chetanå (God Consciousness) Bråhmi Chetanå (Unity Consciousness) Seems to me that these terms should be traceable to one or more sanskrit sources. Turiya, for instance, is found in one of the Upanishads. This would be consistent with Paramahansa Yogananda and others but the enlish translation is a little confusing as some groups use CC for UC, but the *principle* is the same! Basically...Self Realization, then God Realization and then Unity.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Jan 16, 2007, at 5:26 PM, sparaig wrote: The seven states of consciousness are identified, according to the MUM style guide, as: http://resources.mum.edu/manuals/styleguide.pdf Turiya Chetanå (Transcendental Consciousness) Turiyåtit Chetanå (Cosmic Consciousness) Bhagavad Chetanå (God Consciousness) Bråhmi Chetanå (Unity Consciousness) Seems to me that these terms should be traceable to one or more sanskrit sources. Turiya, for instance, is found in one of the Upanishads. Indeed they are.: the commentaries of the Badarayana sutras. I traced this years ago after I heard the first mention. OK, let's just assume for simplicity sake Guru Dev was in UC and MMY just calls everything Cosmic Consciousness, Thanks! :-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
Comment below: ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: **snip** He does mention bhakti, but it's more *transcendental bhakti* and is present in the transitional refinement of GC. In other words it's not 'falling down in the street with your tambourine Hare Krishna bhakti' but an inner, yogic bhakti, Love God and all that. I also wonder if part of that also has to do with making his system of yoga fit into a more western adapted model, devoid of any overtly Hindu elements. **end** There have been passages in my life when I was overcome with what I can only refer to as 'transcendental bhakti' and I found myself on the ground, on my knees in spontaneous prayer, eyes streaming tears of gratitude and in such unbearable sweetness that it was incomprehensible that I could survive it. If that is part of the program I don't know how or why it isn't spoken about more directly.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
On Jan 16, 2007, at 5:50 PM, wmurphy77 wrote: Indeed they are.: the commentaries of the Badarayana sutras. I traced this years ago after I heard the first mention. OK, let's just assume for simplicity sake Guru Dev was in UC and MMY just calls everything Cosmic Consciousness, Thanks! :-) Non sequitur. There's no mention nor any implication in my above statement that is connected to your response. Turiyatita or jivan- mukti are the traditional words for CC. It's well-known in what style of literature these are used. Written accounts only mention him as a jivan-mukti, but the truth is, there is more to life than the written word. We really, at this late date don't have any clue about a man not even one of us has ever met. But also worrying about something so long gone is pathetic. Learn what there is to learn and move on. But just to stir the pot he was known for a couple of siddhis: spontaneously lighting ritual fires and materialization of objects. The clincher is the last one. Can you guess what state of consciousness one would have to be in to materialize sacred objects? (hint: it ain't CC :-)).
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
On Jan 16, 2007, at 6:13 PM, Marek Reavis wrote: Comment below: ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: **snip** He does mention bhakti, but it's more *transcendental bhakti* and is present in the transitional refinement of GC. In other words it's not 'falling down in the street with your tambourine Hare Krishna bhakti' but an inner, yogic bhakti, Love God and all that. I also wonder if part of that also has to do with making his system of yoga fit into a more western adapted model, devoid of any overtly Hindu elements. **end** There have been passages in my life when I was overcome with what I can only refer to as 'transcendental bhakti' and I found myself on the ground, on my knees in spontaneous prayer, eyes streaming tears of gratitude and in such unbearable sweetness that it was incomprehensible that I could survive it. If that is part of the program I don't know how or why it isn't spoken about more directly. Have you read Love and God? After all, it sounds like you already wrote your own version. ;-)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
Comment below: ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wmurphy77 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: **snip** True, in man, it is limited in its expression, (The silence which is experienced in cosmic consciousness, and which separates the Self from activity, is on an *infinitely* smaller scale, for it is on the level of individual existence, Gita CHVI vs3) **snip** What really cleared it up for me was PYogananda's Bhagavad Gita, I thought I had read the Gita (MMY's) no way, Yogananda's was far superior. BillyG. **end** Thanks, Billy, I'll check out Yogananda's translation of the Gita. Maharishi's has always been my favorite, but reading the quote (above) from VI.3 makes me question that reading. Unless cosmic consciousness is a lot different than what I feel it to be, the silence of the Self is beyond scale. It cannot be relegated to individual existence at all. It Alone Is. I think this is just another example of Maharishi explaining something from one perspective but from another perspective it just doesn't make sense. But, having said that, I should go back and read that again in context. Thanks. Marek
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Non sequitur. There's no mention nor any implication in my above statement that is connected to your response. Turiyatita or jivan- mukti are the traditional words for CC. It's well-known in what style of literature these are used. Written accounts only mention him as a jivan-mukti, but the truth is, there is more to life than the written word. We really, at this late date don't have any clue about a man not even one of us has ever met. But also worrying about something so long gone is pathetic. Learn what there is to learn and move on. But just to stir the pot he was known for a couple of siddhis: spontaneously lighting ritual fires and materialization of objects. The clincher is the last one. Can you guess what state of consciousness one would have to be in to materialize sacred objects? (hint: it ain't CC :-)). Actually it is more simply stated as that between a thimble full of water representing Self Realization (CC according to MMY, sometimes), A picture full of water representing GC (realization of the personal formless 'consciousness' of the personal God IN creation) And Unity or UC, represented by a broken picture of water, realization of the Universal oneness of Brahman as manifest and unmanifest. :-) Just like water is the same regardless of the container, so Brahman is essentially the same regardless of the form it is expressed thru...(my analogy).
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
On Jan 16, 2007, at 6:44 PM, wmurphy77 wrote: Actually it is more simply stated as that between a thimble full of water representing Self Realization (CC according to MMY, sometimes), A picture full of water representing GC (realization of the personal formless 'consciousness' of the personal God IN creation) And Unity or UC, represented by a broken picture of water, realization of the Universal oneness of Brahman as manifest and unmanifest. :-) Just like water is the same regardless of the container, so Brahman is essentially the same regardless of the form it is expressed thru...(my analogy). Here's my favorite recent description of Unity: The Second Theme: Openness The Disclosure of Openness Now that you have sussed absence as the natural way of being I shall show you the nature of openness. The transmission of atiyoga, the apex approach, like space, is without center or boundary; higher than the highest, it is Samantabhadra's vast mind, an immense seamless super-sameness. All inner and outer experience manifest and unmanifest pure mind, unstirring from unstructured reality, ineffable, zero-dimensional, remains open, constantly, without interval. In the moment, all things in the objective field, in the absence of any substantial aspect, are open to infinity, and intrinsic gnosis, wherein past and future are indivisible, likewise is open wide to sky-like infinity; the past closed, the future unbegun, the present is indeterminate pure mind, and signless, rootless, without foundation or substance, it is an untrammeled openness at the boundless center. In essential reality, which lacks all bias and partiality, view, empowerment, mandala and mantra-recitation are absent, and levels, paths, commitment, training and progress are unimaged; all are wide open, unfounded, boundless vastness, everything embraced by pure-mind reality. All experience, however it may appear, is hallowed in its unoriginated nature; 'arising spontaneously, never fixed or crystalized, immaculate in its ontological indeterminacy, it opens infinitely into the reality of natural perfection. Gnosis, the essential reality of total presence, with a 360 degree perspective, free of quantitative bias, unsubstantiated by language or logic, unsigned, neither eternal nor temporal, subject to neither increase nor decrease, without directional movement or pulsation, immaculate in the immensity of immanent hyper-sameness, it is seamless openness unconfined by space and time. The gnostic dynamic lacks any intrusive hope or fear, so nothing can happen to rupture seamless openness; in such autonomous, genuine, unrestricted freedom we can never be caught in a cage of belief All and everything reverted to openness, its nature is beyond denial or assertion; just as all worlds and life-forms open into interior space, so emotion and evaluating thought melt into hyperspaciousness. Now here, now gone, thoughts leave no trace, and opened wide to seamless gnosis hopes and fears are no longer credible, the stake that tethers the mind in its field is extracted, and Samsara, the city of delusion, is evacuated. Whosoever recognizes the events appearing in the external field and the internal mental emanation, all that play of energy, all alike, as utterly empty openness, to him is disclosed everything as this key—this crucial openness. Assimilation to Openness The endless facets of reality are now assimilated to the brilliant emptiness of intrinsic gnosis which is the pristine awareness of openness; the perceiver unloosed, the field of perception dissolved, with nothing to hold on to, yet with full awareness, this is the contemplation of consummate undistracted mindfulness: open like the sky, neither meditation nor nonmeditation, it is the super-matrix of Samantabhadra's contemplation. In the vast gnostic super-matrix of brilliant emptiness, no matter what evanescent particularity shows itself the direct sensory perception of gnosis illuminates its reality and the image unconfined, cognition is pure pleasure; the six sensory fields relaxed in the pristine-awareness matrix, clear light, unobstructed, without outside or inside, in artless super-relaxation—spontaneity! With the carefree mind of an idler, neither tight nor slack, we rest easy; here gnosis is infinitely open, like a crystal-clear sky, and we linger gratefully in spaciousness without anticipation. With spacious intuition of the brilliant emptiness of reality, unconfined gnosis is a seamless infinite openness, and free of belief all ideation dissolving, all things converge in the matrix of the gnostic dynamic. The blissful ground and a happy mind blended, inside and outside is the one taste of pure mind: this is the vision of reality as the consummate way of being. At the moment of engaging with a sensory object, the mind is opened to infinite, blissful vision, and free of belief, as its luminous expression, its natural clarity, it is assimilated to super seamless openness. The Bind of Openness
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Fairfield, meeting on FF
Doug I guess I'm just naive. I had a great experience at M.I.U. but that's 30 years ago now. I met Hagelin when I was in high school and he was still an undergraduate: he's a good guy. But who knows what all has gone on - certainly I don't. But I'm still trying to look for the best in people. I mean, c'mon - we're from Iowa now, for gosh sakes. dhamiltony2k5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jonathan it might not be that kind of meeting. Those kind of movement people might also be asked to a grandjury hearing in a discovery of the *disappearred*, preparatory to their indictments in a crimes against humanity trial. You know, the *disappearred* meditators, teachers,governors, citizens, and graduates of the TMorg and the *disappearred* money... it might be part of a larger process of 'truth and reconcilliation' on which the foundations of a more lasting peace around here might be formed. Jai Guru Dev, -Doug in FF --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Jonathan Chadwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In the Spring of 1991, in my then-capacity as Secretary of the Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church, I organized a luncheon dialogue meeting between M.I.U. senior adminstrators and faculty, headed up by Lenny Goldman, and select Fairfield-area mainline Christian clergy, including the Senior Minister of the 1000-member First U.M.C. in Fairfield as well as the Ottumwa District Superintendent of the U.M.C. It went very, very well. After lunch David Orme-Johnson shook my hand and told me you come back anytime. The Ottumwa D.S., Rev. Don Carver, also said he enjoyed it. And in June, 1991, I was then able to pass a resolution through the Iowa Annual Conference of the U.M.C. affirming that Iowa United Methodists (i.e.well over 200,000 of them) believe, in principle at least, in the eventual coming of Heaven on Earth. There is I think alot more potential in Fairfield for this sort of thing than many people realize. Good luck! dhamiltony2k5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: paste Creating A Deeper Experience of Community: A Structured Conversation A group of us have been meeting weekly for several months to discuss what we can do to create a deeper experience of community in our own lives here in Fairfield. On Saturday, January 20, we will host a structured conversation to enrich this discussion using a process called Appreciative Inquiry (AI). This free event, which will run from 9:30 to 12 noon, and 1 to 2 pm (optional), will also serve as an introduction to the AI process. Appreciative Inquiry is a transformational process that has been used by communities and organizations to create positive change; it connects people and generates the positive energy and inspiration necessary for change by facilitating conversations about the best of what is and has been, and then determining how to create more what is valued and desired. As an example, in our application of Appreciative Inquiry, we will be engaging in a conversation about our best experiences of community as a basis for investigating and discovering what creates these kinds of experiences, and looking at how we can create more of them. The event is being co-organized by Eric Randall and Kevin Cook and facilitated by Steve Cooperman. Steve has facilitated the Appreciative Inquiry process in communities, schools, businesses, and government, including British Airways, City of Waco, City of Dubuque, Arizona Department of Education, Insight Direct, Phoenix Girls Chorus, and Altadena Middle School (Ahwatukee, AZ). Because seating is limited, please RSVP by Wednesday, January 17. To RSVP or for more information, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] or call Steve at 472-0444. More on Appreciative Inquiry: The Appreciative Inquiry process was developed by Dr. David Cooperrider and his associates at Case Western in the mid- seventies, in response to the limitations of the traditional problem solving approach, which is based on identifying the problem and analyzing the causes. Cooperrider noticed in his work as an organizational consultant that this approach was generating a lot of defensiveness and negative energy, making it extremely difficult to bring about positive change. In contrast, he saw his artist wife taking a different approach in her work one based on seeing the beauty in her surroundings and decided to see what would happen if he applied this approach in organizations and communities. Over the past 30+ years, Appreciative Inquiry has been applied in communities, government, businesses, health care, religion, social services, schools, communities, non-profits, and psychology/therapy. In 2004 it was used for a United Nations Leaders Summit. (For more information on Appreciative Inquiry, go to http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/.)
[FairfieldLife] Is enlightenment sexist?
What is Enlightenment? magazine: Among other things, we're looking into the different advantages and disadvantages that men and women experience on the spiritual path and whether or not the spiritual path and goal are the same for men as for women. Swami Bharati Tirtha: When one is doing practice on the spiritual path, the results of that practice will not differ based on sex, on whether one is a man or a woman. As long as the practice is done correctly, the result will be the same. From the point of view of the Lord, it is a human being that is practicingnot a person of a particular sex. WIE: But we've noticed that the Hindu scriptures do tend to speak differently about the spiritual propensities of men and women. One of the things we were hoping to ask you, for example, is: Which qualities of men's and women's nature or conditioning are the most helpful to their spiritual development and which aspects might be hindrances to that development? SBT: Here we will have to say the individual human being, not man or woman. WIE: So there aren't any particular differences in your view? For example, it's been said that men can tend to be very fascinated by and attached to their intellect and that this can act as a hindrance to spiritual realization. Would you have any comment on that? SBT: This attachment is a hindrance whether it is in man or in woman. There is no truth in saying that man alone has more attachment to knowledge. Because of the ego, whether we are speaking about man or woman, that attachment will be there. And attachment is a hindrance to the spiritual path. Ego is a big enemythe biggest enemy. WIE: Many scriptures in the Hindu tradition clearly state that men are inherently superior to women in their spiritual potential. We've seen numerous references to this and were wondering what the basis for this widely asserted view is. SBT: In spiritual practice, there is definitely no greater advantage for men or women. What is said in the scriptures might be wrongly interpreted. WIE: To be specific, in the course of our research we came across a number of strong statements in the Hindu texts criticizing women's basic character or nature. The Manu Samhita makes reference to the natural heartlessness of women and states that women are as impure as falsehood itself. The Maitrayana Samhita asserts that women are evil. And in the Mahabharata, we read that women do not hesitate to transgress morals and that a man with a hundred tongues would die before finishing lecturing on the vices and defects of women, even if he were to do nothing else during a long life of a hundred years. If this were true, it would certainly seem to at least imply a difference in aptitude for spiritual pursuit. SBT: Such things should not be taken as relevant points because intrinsically there is no difference. WIE: How, then, do you account for the traditional notion that men and women tend to have different balances of the three gunas [essential qualities]? Well-respected scholars have asserted that men are generally considered to have a higher proportion of sattvas [lucidity], which is widely held to be the most beneficial disposition for spiritual development. Whereas, because of their biology, women tend to have a higher proportion of rajas [dynamism] and tamas [inertia]. Isn't it true that men are considered to be generally more sattvic [imbued with sattva], at least according to the tradition? SBT: There is no difference. How can man be more sattvic than woman? All such ideas will come only when people think that man is more important than woman. This is only a man-made notion. WIE: But from what we've seen and read it does seem that in India, it is considered better to be a man than a woman on the spiritual path. Not only are women referred to as being deceitful and untrustworthy, but they are often said to have minds that can't concentrate. There are numerous references to this in the scriptures. SBT: Difficulty with concentration and a wandering mind occurs in both men and women. Whatever quality you find in women, or whatever quality is said to be stronger in women is there in men also. There is no difference. WIE: What are all those references in the scriptures about? Why are they there? SBT: What happens is that the main idea that was there in the original text gets confused in the course of interpretation. Usually, it is the interpretations that fail to acknowledge that these comments about women occurred in a particular context. In that particular context, one lady might have conducted herself in such a way that was not as good as the man. And in that particular reference, if the woman has exhibited such negative qualities, then an interpretation is given. But that does not mean it is an approved theory. So, bereft of the context, that interpretation will have no meaning. It cannot be taken as a general fact. WIE: So are you saying that with all
[FairfieldLife] Why Patanjali's eight limbs are fundamental to Yoga..even with MMY!
Number one: Yama, which includes the below, Truthfulness Non-violence Non-covetousness Celibacy Non-acceptance of others possessions. If you're waiting for limb number 8, Samadhi, to solve all of your problems, think again! It is only thru samadhi that one is empowered to practice the other limbs most effectively. (archer analogy) All the other limbs must be practiced however!! As MMY says in the Bhagavad Gita pg363 HB..With the continuous practice of all these limbs, or means, simultaneously, the state of Yoga grows simultaneously in all eight spheres of life, eventually to become permanent. So if you've taylored your life around waiting for TM to kick in (hungry dog analogy)you're gonna be waiting a long timeand I only mentioned Patanjali's first limb!! Are you practicing Patanjali's other limbs of Yoga as recommended by MMY himself in his Bhagavad Gita?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Jan 16, 2007, at 6:13 PM, Marek Reavis wrote: Comment below: ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajranatha@ wrote: **snip** He does mention bhakti, but it's more *transcendental bhakti* and is present in the transitional refinement of GC. In other words it's not 'falling down in the street with your tambourine Hare Krishna bhakti' but an inner, yogic bhakti, Love God and all that. I also wonder if part of that also has to do with making his system of yoga fit into a more western adapted model, devoid of any overtly Hindu elements. **end** There have been passages in my life when I was overcome with what I can only refer to as 'transcendental bhakti' and I found myself on the ground, on my knees in spontaneous prayer, eyes streaming tears of gratitude and in such unbearable sweetness that it was incomprehensible that I could survive it. If that is part of the program I don't know how or why it isn't spoken about more directly. Have you read Love and God? After all, it sounds like you already wrote your own version. ;-) Are you mocking him, by chance? My own belief, for what it is worth, is that any form of overwhelming emotion is, by definition, a sign of not being fully established in CC, but that doesn't denigrate what he was feeling... On the other hand, YOUR comment certainly feels derogatory.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Jan 16, 2007, at 5:50 PM, wmurphy77 wrote: Indeed they are.: the commentaries of the Badarayana sutras. I traced this years ago after I heard the first mention. OK, let's just assume for simplicity sake Guru Dev was in UC and MMY just calls everything Cosmic Consciousness, Thanks! :-) Non sequitur. There's no mention nor any implication in my above statement that is connected to your response. Turiyatita or jivan- mukti are the traditional words for CC. It's well-known in what style of literature these are used. Written accounts only mention him as a jivan-mukti, but the truth is, there is more to life than the written word. We really, at this late date don't have any clue about a man not even one of us has ever met. But also worrying about something so long gone is pathetic. Learn what there is to learn and move on. But just to stir the pot he was known for a couple of siddhis: spontaneously lighting ritual fires and materialization of objects. The clincher is the last one. Can you guess what state of consciousness one would have to be in to materialize sacred objects? (hint: it ain't CC :-)). So, which is higher, someone in temporary UC, or a jivan-mukta?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Why Patanjali's eight limbs are fundamental to Yoga..even with MMY!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wmurphy77 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Number one: Yama, which includes the below, Truthfulness Non-violence Non-covetousness Celibacy Non-acceptance of others possessions. If you're waiting for limb number 8, Samadhi, to solve all of your problems, think again! It is only thru samadhi that one is empowered to practice the other limbs most effectively. (archer analogy) All the other limbs must be practiced however!! As MMY says in the Bhagavad Gita pg363 HB..With the continuous practice of all these limbs, or means, simultaneously, the state of Yoga grows simultaneously in all eight spheres of life, eventually to become permanent. So if you've taylored your life around waiting for TM to kick in (hungry dog analogy)you're gonna be waiting a long timeand I only mentioned Patanjali's first limb!! Are you practicing Patanjali's other limbs of Yoga as recommended by MMY himself in his Bhagavad Gita? Are you practicing the religion and other cultural traditions you learned at your mother's knee?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajranatha@ wrote: On Jan 16, 2007, at 5:50 PM, wmurphy77 wrote: Indeed they are.: the commentaries of the Badarayana sutras. I traced this years ago after I heard the first mention. OK, let's just assume for simplicity sake Guru Dev was in UC and MMY just calls everything Cosmic Consciousness, Thanks! :-) Non sequitur. There's no mention nor any implication in my above statement that is connected to your response. Turiyatita or jivan- mukti are the traditional words for CC. It's well-known in what style of literature these are used. Written accounts only mention him as a jivan-mukti, but the truth is, there is more to life than the written word. We really, at this late date don't have any clue about a man not even one of us has ever met. But also worrying about something so long gone is pathetic. Learn what there is to learn and move on. But just to stir the pot he was known for a couple of siddhis: spontaneously lighting ritual fires and materialization of objects. The clincher is the last one. Can you guess what state of consciousness one would have to be in to materialize sacred objects? (hint: it ain't CC :-)). So, which is higher, someone in temporary UC, or a jivan-mukta? A Jivan-mukta (freed while living) may still have some karma, but essentially is freed from Reincarnation (on earth), full Unity Consciousness is only possible after MahaSamadhi, the final exit from the three physical casings; physical body, astral body, and causal body. If he retains his body after achieving Nirvikalpa Samadhi, (inner and outer fullness) he is considered to be in the highest Jivan-mukta state. To the best of my knowledge...maybe Vaj knows better.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Why Patanjali's eight limbs are fundamental to Yoga..even with MMY!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wmurphy77 no_reply@ wrote: Number one: Yama, which includes the below, Truthfulness Non-violence Non-covetousness Celibacy Non-acceptance of others possessions. If you're waiting for limb number 8, Samadhi, to solve all of your problems, think again! It is only thru samadhi that one is empowered to practice the other limbs most effectively. (archer analogy) All the other limbs must be practiced however!! As MMY says in the Bhagavad Gita pg363 HB..With the continuous practice of all these limbs, or means, simultaneously, the state of Yoga grows simultaneously in all eight spheres of life, eventually to become permanent. So if you've taylored your life around waiting for TM to kick in (hungry dog analogy)you're gonna be waiting a long timeand I only mentioned Patanjali's first limb!! Are you practicing Patanjali's other limbs of Yoga as recommended by MMY himself in his Bhagavad Gita? Are you practicing the religion and other cultural traditions you learned at your mother's knee? No...actually I got waylayed by MMY, I'm just picking up the pieces now!! (Not completely his fault either, got some good stuff too!) I'm just beginning to practice true Yoga including all Patanjali's limbs. Still practice TM too!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
Sparaig, I'm certain Vaj wasn't mocking. Thanks for standing up for me though. And I have read Love God but it never moved me (even though I kept hoping it would). I'd always kind of assumed that Maharishi and the TMO were 'heart' oriented but an old friend of mine, an initiator who later became a teacher with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar took me by surprise one day by casually mentioning that the reason he moved over to Art of Living was because the TMO was so dry and intellectual. Once he said that, it seemed so obviously to be true. It explained a lot of the frustration I'd always felt within the movement. Again, that's just my reaction. But it never prompted me to 'leave' Maharishi, though I'm sure I leave quite a lot to be desired in the disciple category. ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajranatha@ wrote: On Jan 16, 2007, at 6:13 PM, Marek Reavis wrote: Comment below: ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajranatha@ wrote: **snip** He does mention bhakti, but it's more *transcendental bhakti* and is present in the transitional refinement of GC. In other words it's not 'falling down in the street with your tambourine Hare Krishna bhakti' but an inner, yogic bhakti, Love God and all that. I also wonder if part of that also has to do with making his system of yoga fit into a more western adapted model, devoid of any overtly Hindu elements. **end** There have been passages in my life when I was overcome with what I can only refer to as 'transcendental bhakti' and I found myself on the ground, on my knees in spontaneous prayer, eyes streaming tears of gratitude and in such unbearable sweetness that it was incomprehensible that I could survive it. If that is part of the program I don't know how or why it isn't spoken about more directly. Have you read Love and God? After all, it sounds like you already wrote your own version. ;-) Are you mocking him, by chance? My own belief, for what it is worth, is that any form of overwhelming emotion is, by definition, a sign of not being fully established in CC, but that doesn't denigrate what he was feeling... On the other hand, YOUR comment certainly feels derogatory.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Marek Reavis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sparaig, I'm certain Vaj wasn't mocking. Thanks for standing up for me though. And I have read Love God but it never moved me (even though I kept hoping it would). I'd always kind of assumed that Maharishi and the TMO were 'heart' oriented but an old friend of mine, an initiator who later became a teacher with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar took me by surprise one day by casually mentioning that the reason he moved over to Art of Living was because the TMO was so dry and intellectual. Once he said that, it seemed so obviously to be true. It explained a lot of the frustration I'd always felt within the movement. Again, that's just my reaction. But it never prompted me to 'leave' Maharishi, though I'm sure I leave quite a lot to be desired in the disciple category. Of course the TMO is dry and intellectul. If it were not, it would be a religion, pure and simple. However, MMY has been explicit that he isn't interested in founding a religion.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Why Patanjali's eight limbs are fundamental to Yoga..even with MMY!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wmurphy77 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sparaig sparaig@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wmurphy77 no_reply@ wrote: Number one: Yama, which includes the below, Truthfulness Non-violence Non-covetousness Celibacy Non-acceptance of others possessions. If you're waiting for limb number 8, Samadhi, to solve all of your problems, think again! It is only thru samadhi that one is empowered to practice the other limbs most effectively. (archer analogy) All the other limbs must be practiced however!! As MMY says in the Bhagavad Gita pg363 HB..With the continuous practice of all these limbs, or means, simultaneously, the state of Yoga grows simultaneously in all eight spheres of life, eventually to become permanent. So if you've taylored your life around waiting for TM to kick in (hungry dog analogy)you're gonna be waiting a long timeand I only mentioned Patanjali's first limb!! Are you practicing Patanjali's other limbs of Yoga as recommended by MMY himself in his Bhagavad Gita? Are you practicing the religion and other cultural traditions you learned at your mother's knee? No...actually I got waylayed by MMY, I'm just picking up the pieces now!! (Not completely his fault either, got some good stuff too!) I'm just beginning to practice true Yoga including all Patanjali's limbs. Still practice TM too! Er, practicing the religion learned at your mother's knee, IS practicing most of the rest of yoga.
[FairfieldLife] Re: 14K more pundits to Brahmastan of India
Maharishi also believes that such native shamanic traditions are very important and must be preserved. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, llundrub [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Pundits are just growing on trees. I always thought pundits could just up and go on all deities but was I wrong! Pundits can only do their certified yagyas and pujas. Obviously they are not allowed to be doing Navavarana yajnas and so on because those take special higher initiations. You see, a Brahmin is just a priest and not a sage. At this time there are the remnants of the Vedic priestly school and families, which are not inclusive of all the vedas, or of much of the tantras. And the few real pundits left - the ones trained at Kanchi and other Sanskrit and Advaita institutes - are anachronisms like the few remaining American Indian medicine men. Too bad they were not successful at passing on their rites, as only a couple groups still practice Amerindian shamanism from a lineage. When I was 13 I met one, named Bearheart, and he was a powerful shaman. So what's my point? It's like the natural medicines of the rainforest. I suggest that people, if they like the Vedas, that rare constellation of approachable deities, that they make haste to sponsor real pundits right now while they still can. As bad shit is approaching fast. Personally I believe 2007 is the real beginning of the end, and will spark the start of earthquakes and terrorist sh.(we change this channel in the interest of Homeland Security) - Original Message - From: bob_brigante [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 2:06 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] 14K more pundits to Brahmastan of India Preparations progressing rapidly for 16,000 Vedic Pandits in India by Global Good News staff writer Global Good NewsTranslate This Article 14 January 2007 During the global celebration of 12 January 2007, His Excellency Dr Girish Varma, Minister of Education for the Global Country of World Peace, addressed the celebration from the Brahmasthan (centre point) of India. Dr Varma expressed his joy to be connecting by teleconference in the global celebration with Holland to receive the blessings of Shri Guru Dev, His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (http://maharishi- programmes.globalgoodnews.com/achievements/index.html), Vedic Pandits, and His Majesty Maharaja Nadar Raam, the first ruler of the Global Country of World Peace. He noted that it was extremely special also that this year's celebration was connecting by teleconference the Brahmasthan of India with the Brahmasthan of the United States in Kansas, which he said share almost the same longitude. Dr Varma said, 'Raam Brahm paramarath rupa, Raam is Brahm, totality.' By establishing the Capital of Raam Raj in Bhumi Bharat (India), in the Brahmasthan of the country, Dr Varma said that we are establishing the administration of Brahm, totality of Natural Law, which is an administration that is peaceful. Problem-free administration will take place through the Vedic performances of 16,000 Vedic Pandits, who will be coming to live in the Brahmasthan of India. Presently there are 2000 Vedic Pandits living in the Brahmasthan. His Excellency Dr Eike Hartmann, Minister of Architecture and City Planning of the Global Country of World Peace, and His Excellency Dr Roger Audet, architect and engineer of the Global Country of World Peace, are now also at the Brahmasthan and have been working with Dr Varma on presenting all the construction designs for approval. Dr Varma said that already the local officials had been invited, and in ten days at the end of 2006 all the permissions, maps, and land approvals were granted. Builders have been contracted, financing has been made available, and construction preparations are done. On 14 January, Makar Sankranti Karmas Samapti, a very auspicious day in the Vedic Calendar, at 12:00 noon, construction will be starting on 14,000 homes for Vedic Pandits. Many associations for Vedic Pandits have been contacted in India, inviting them to participate in this endeavour to create Raam Raj, and with the Sankalp (resolution) that has been taken by Dr Varma to have 16,000 Vedic pandits by Guru Purnima, 29 July 2007, thousands will be coming. Dr Varma said it will be a 'Kumbh' (see footnote) of Vedic Pandits. Under Maharishi's direction, the Pandits' Vedic performances have been organized so that one Rudra-a group of 11 Vedic Pandits-will perform the peace yagya known as Rudra Bhishek, for each of 192 countries every day. Already, Rudra Bhishek is being done for a number of countries. Dr Varma concluded by saying that the establishment of 16,000 Vedic Pandits in the centre of India will create Raam Raj. 'Raam Raj dukh kahu na vyapa: In the realm of Raam there is no suffering, only life free from
[FairfieldLife] Re: Hey, was Guru Dev in CC or GC or UC???? Acording to MMY-CC!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Marek Reavis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snip Maharishi's teaching have always been rather dry and academic, even more so the last couple of decades. His circular expositions of silence, and silence into silence, and silence out of silence, etc., etc., just have no juice for me. And they don't effectively speak to my experience, either. It mostly seems to be dry intellectualization with no ground either in heart or the experience along my path. FWIW, there can be such profound beauty in intellectual knowledge that it actually moves the heart and inspires devotion.
