Madhuri

Awesome
I just wish people would shut up when others were talking, though. Jeez!

an awesome thread dedicated to awesome people on an awesome forum

I find India a lot less demanding, yes you get "special treatment" as a white foreigner, but India has real industry, and a real economy, not just tourism as in Nepal. It's incredibly magnified there. Perhaps India was a lot different in the early 90s, or perhaps Nepal is just that much worse ;P

That's fascinating about the rivers - I had no idea, and will have to see this.

Nepal was... mixed bag. A lot of fake sadhus, and the main industry there is tourism - an impossible situation that scripts basically every Nepali to regard white people as walking wallets.

I found fending off the constant attempts at exploitation both distressful and exhausting. Frankly, I hate the culture there. The dharma has almost completely deteriorated, at least in the urban centers there. The rural places are not so bad, but a lot more zoo-ish. Show up somewhere and half the village will be gathered in a circle around you gawking.

The natural scenery is beautiful though, and I met two yogis who were very, very real, which was an amazing experience.

Hindus are rather an endangered species in Bangladesh, with some estimates having it that within 25-50 years there will be under 500,000 left. Definitely a lot of pressure on Hindus. Violence that goes almost entirely unpunished - a lot of rape :/, seizure of property - either more or less allowed by the authorities, or actively aided by the authorities - and even legislature.

Not a hospitable climate, but hoping that will change; this is the ancestral land of the Yamuna river, one of the three major rivers of the Vedas and subtle body cosmology (Ganga, Yamuna & Saraswati being Ida, Pingala & Sushumna), and it would be a great pity to see Hindus abandon it.

Well originally we had come here as a transit to India after spending 6 months in Nepal. I was traveling with two colleagues who didn't have Indian visas - I've got a 3 year work visa, and they needed to first go here to apply for an Indian visa to re-enter. So rather than going to India without them, I went also to Bangladesh, intending only to be here for a week or two at most.

However, as we familiarized ourselves with the situation here, it became more and more apparent that Bangladesh would be ideal to host a sustainable development model considering both its crises and opportunities, so we've been staying here for the last 6 weeks working that out.

Namaste Madhuri,

My parents are Western Hindus. My father went to Nepal to study Tibetan Buddhism around 1970, originally to sort out mental health issues resulting from his service in Vietnam, and that evolved into him into a very serious practice. He was given Vishnu as his yidam (ishta-devata) by Buddhist monks, and later sent to India to study with Hindu gurus, and later sent to other places around the world - Africa, Papa New Guinea. He returned to the US in 1980. My parents are my root gurus.

So my journey might be said to be a pale intellectual reflection of my father's actual journey, absorbing transmissions from many places, and empowered by my mother's pativrata. Personally, I left the US when I was 17 and moved to South America, and then later went to India, Nepal, and now Bangladesh.

In my own life, I'd like to realize the synthesis of technology with spirituality, and economics with ecosystems - as guided by dharmic principles.

I sent you a friends request on Facebook, name is Matt McNeal.

Thanks for the excellent frubie!

Thanx for the award winning frubie!

Hello friend

Hey M, i'm doing great. Thanks for asking.

I haven't been very active. I go into a deep slumber every now and then, where i hardly ever feel like sharing anything. And this one has gone on a little longer than usual.

How's life with you?

Thank you so much.

Well then you must know Madhuri Dixit?

I agree, to me the Indian culture is my favorite. Then again I am biased....:yes:

chaotic. thats both good and bad =D

zomg i never got back to you

The philosophies are HIGHLY complex and way ahead of their time (or maybe we're just way behind of our time). It is only now that I can truly appreciate the depth of the Vedas. The Abrahamic faiths are more about social structures and order, and I think are more focused on that than the actual spirituality. Are there any other aspects of Indian culture you are fond of (cuisine, literature...Bollywood =/)?

Oh wow, that's really interesting. How many generations has your family been practicing Hinduism? Yes a lot of it has a lot to do with conditioning and bias, but I think we're all spiritual beings and in the end many paths can lead to bliss. I've read a little about Advaita and it boggles my mind how such complex philosophy existed thousands of years ago.

Hey Madhuri I'm curious, how did you get interested in Hinduism?

Hey! Thanks a lot for your help. I'm becoming more and more familiar with how stuff works now.

(And as promised, I did mention that you're the one who showed me how to do it. :yes: )