Madhuri's Life Story

[Madhuri]

Here's some things you might not know about me:

I was born in Australia but spend most of my childhood travelling either to Europe or Asia or up and down the east coast of my country. The first time my family ever settled long term in a house was when I was 8 years old. Before that, the longest we had lived in any one place was in a village in West Bengal, India.

I grew up in a very strict religious family. We were ISKON devotees (Hare Krishnas). For the most part, I loved it. But somehow, even as a small child, I was always sceptical of the various dogmatic ideas and rules. I kind of accepted what my parents told me but I would constantly try to make sense of it and question the logic of many ideas.

For some reason my parents decided to send me to a Catholic primary school. Those were the hardest years of my life. It involved a lot of teasing for being 'different'. Some kids hated me specifically because of my religion. Things got better in high school though, and life has been pretty sweet ever since

When I was 10, my father decided to get involved with Christianity (and has since become a Christian priest).

When I was about 15 I got involved with online social networks, debating on religious forums like wicca sites and creation vs evolution forums on myspace etc. This was the beginning of my intellectual spiritual journey. I tried my best to keep an open mind and debate respectfully with others. I took on the challenges. Eventually I realised that I could no longer deny things like evolution. I started to realise how allegorical scriptures can be. My perception of reality began to change to the point that I could hardly relate to the devotees that I grew up around.

My spiritual evolution is constant. My understandings are always changing. I am no longer very religious, nor do I consider myself to be a Hare Krishna (haven't for years). But in all this time one thing has remained unchanged: I have never come across anything as wise, powerful or complete as Vedic knowledge and so it is the path I pursue. This is why I consider myself Hindu still.

Discussing religion and philosophy is somewhat of a passion for me. That's why I'm addicted to RF and I'm thankful to all of the members here for making this place so fantastic

 

[LuisDantas]

Do you identify yourself with some specific line or approach of Hinduism? For instance, do you consider yourself a Bhakti adept?

 

[Madhuri]

Yes, I consider Bhakti to be my path but I also value meditative practices.
I am Achintya Bhedabheda, meaning that I follow the philosophy of Inconceivable Oneness and Difference (with God). So neither dualism or monism. And Radha/Krisha are my worshipful deities.

 

[xkatz]

Interesting life story I am wondering exactly how your family went from ISKCON to Christianity and "mainstream" Sanatana Dharma/Hinduism (if that is the correct term)?

 

[Madhuri]

Interesting life story I am wondering exactly how your family went from ISKCON to Christianity and "mainstream" Sanatana Dharma/Hinduism (if that is the correct term)?

Well it's just my dad who got into it. Mum goes to church every Sunday to support him but she isn't very religious. I go once or twice a year to remind the parish that there is another person living in their rectory...

My dad was brought up Christian and since he was a kid he thought he wanted to be a priest. But in his youth he got really into Hinduism. Even now his approach to Christianity is quite eastern.

 

[the_pranjal]

hello MADHURI....your experience of life is unique as everyones....what do u think of an organized religion? Which gives you some readymade doctorines to beleive whether reasonable or logical for u or not. Dont you think religion should be free of official doctorines, beliefs,temples,churches etc....total personal involvement is required to seek the truth deep from your own heart....and what do u think why people convert their religion?

 

[Smoke]

I grew up in a very strict religious family. We were ISKON devotees (Hare Krishnas). For the most part, I loved it. But somehow, even as a small child, I was always sceptical of the various dogmatic ideas and rules. I kind of accepted what my parents told me but I would constantly try to make sense of it and question the logic of many ideas.

What were the parts you had trouble with? The reason I ask is that I've been reading Prabhupada and I have problems with a lot of what he says.

 

[Madhuri]

hello MADHURI....your experience of life is unique as everyones....what do u think of an organized religion? Which gives you some readymade doctorines to beleive whether reasonable or logical for u or not. Dont you think religion should be free of official doctorines, beliefs,temples,churches etc....total personal involvement is required to seek the truth deep from your own heart....and what do u think why people convert their religion?

I think that creating organised institutions is quite natural to humans. We are always trying to build groups and communities that foster or protect our interests. So I do not bother to wonder too much if organised religion should or should not exist. It simply does.

I think there are advantages and disadvantages to organised religion. It certainly has its purposes. But I do not believe that we can attain God by choosing the right temple or group to belong to. Spirituality is much deeper then that, it is something we explore and develop upon within our very self. It is a highly personal experience. Neither do I think that the results of our efforts are based entirely on our actions, but rather the intention of our actions and how hard we try. So for instance, I value striving to be a good person above following all the set rules and regulations.

I think that people convert for a number of reasons but I suppose because they find greater truth elsewhere. Spirituality is a journey- our perspective of reality is constantly changing. Converting to another religion is simply a step in that journey whether the new religion does or does not represent the Absolute Truth.

It is nice to meet you, by the way. Welcome to RF

 

[Madhuri]

What were the parts you had trouble with? The reason I ask is that I've been reading Prabhupada and I have problems with a lot of what he says.

So do I. There's little of his that I don't have problems with to be honest.

 

[Onkara]

Great to read your story Madhuri! I am pleased you will be acting as staff too (as mentioned).

Best wishes!

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

Madhuri you have a very interesting story.

 

[Aquitaine]

How does living in India differ from Australia?

 

[K.Venugopal]

Dear Madhuri, That was interesting. What are you doing now? Do tell us more about yourself.

I think Hinduism eventually turns out to be all about discovering ourselves.

 

[LuisDantas]

Yes, I consider Bhakti to be my path but I also value meditative practices.
I am Achintya Bhedabheda, meaning that I follow the philosophy of Inconceivable Oneness and Difference (with God). So neither dualism or monism. And Radha/Krisha are my worshipful deities.

Thanks. Would that have some connection with the concept of Nirguna Brahma, which impressed me so much many years ago?

 

[Panda]

In all the places you have lived where is your favourite?

 

[*Anne*]

Thanks for sharing. Congratulations on making Staff!!

 

[Madhuri]

How does living in India differ from Australia?

Well, it was a long time ago and I am sure things have changed since.

Honestly my time in India was unforgettable. It became home to me and I was very sad to leave. I missed it for many years. But my experience was not exactly what you would find if you travelled to India. I lived in an area with many westerners and everyone on the island spoke English.

My daily routine was something like this:

Get up at like 4am, walk to the temple for worship. Go have breakfast at the boys' school where my dad worked, play with the kids in my building, go back to the temple later in the day for more worship. During the classes I'd spend my time with texters, crayons and pencils filling in colour books. Afterward, when it was still light outside, my friends and I would visit the deer enclosure and feed them marigolds through the fence. We'd also visit Nandi the bull who roamed around freely.

Often we would go visiting the various islands that circled the one we lived on. We had to take boats, which were referred to as putt-putt boats because of the sound they made. The Indians would always try to rip you off. We'd go visiting temples and various holy places. Lots of places the people were so friendly and would offer for you to sit and share mango with them. To get from place to place we would take rikshaws. I always felt sorry for the poor Indians who had to do that job.

There were a lot of snakes. I saw many cobras during my time there!! One man we knew was bitten one day but there are people called tantrics in India who use mantra to draw the poison out. So the guy was alright in the end. I was there during one monsoon and this boy and I felt very daring. There was a small boat tied up to a tree close to our building. It was very flooded at the time of course and so we trudged through the water quickly chanting loudly 'Jai Garuda! Jai Shiva!' and jumped into the boat. Garuda is a giant eagle who carries Vishnu on his back. Snakes are supposed to be afraid of him. And Shiva associates with snakes. By being in his good graces, the snakes will not want to harm you. Of course, this is what I believed at that age (I was 6 btw). The freaky thing was that if you looked into the water you would most definitely see snakes swimming by. There were a lot of snakes.

The festivals were my favourite. Every saturday there was the elephant parade. There were two main elephants on our island. They were decorated and deities (not heavy) would be placed on their backs. Everyone would be singing and chanting and with the elephants we would all circumabulate the gardens. On special occasions there were huge festivities and performances and it was all very exciting and joyful.

At that age in India I had my first trance experience. It was very amazing to me and I did it all by myself.

Another significant experience was that I very closely escaped death in the Ganges. But I was rescued, luckily.

Hmmm, well I just love talking about that time in my life. I know if I went back my whole perspective would be different. But at that time it was completely magical. Coming back to Australia was like entering a less colourful, a less joyful reality. It is completely different. And yet, I absolutely love Australia

Here's a pic of the boats we used to take:

 

[Madhuri]

Dear Madhuri, That was interesting. What are you doing now? Do tell us more about yourself.

I think Hinduism eventually turns out to be all about discovering ourselves.

I am currently in the middle of my fifth year at university in the hopes of pursuing a career in Human Resources Management. My biggest hobby is latin dancing and my greatest passion is probably reading fiction. I am a total book worm :yes: I love books so much that I refuse to borrow from the library. I have to own the book.

 

[Madhuri]

Thanks. Would that have some connection with the concept of Nirguna Brahma, which impressed me so much many years ago?

Well yeh...but you see there are different understandings of Nirguna Brahman. I agree with Sri Caitanya's philosophy. I'll quote from a site that has a decent explanation of this take on the matter:

"The jiva is no doubt identified with the gunas of prakrti (matter) and in this sense saguna, but the idea that the jiva is Brahman (God) who has become subject to identification with material nature is another idea altogether. According to Sri Caitanya the jiva is Brahman in that it is a particle of a shakti (energy) of Brahman. In this sense it is identified with Brahman, but the jiva is also simultaneously different from Brahman in that it is only a particle of one of Brahman's shaktis. God's energy (shakti) and God himself (shaktiman) are both one and different from one another (Achintya Bheda-Bheda). Thus there exists the possibility of an illusioned jiva (individual soul), but not that of an illusioned Brahman (God)."

Source: Nirguna Brahman - Everything on Nirguna Brahman (information, latest news, articles,...)

I hope that makes sense!

 

[Madhuri]

In all the places you have lived where is your favourite?

Exactly where I am now
I don't really want to say the exact location here though...let's just say, east coast Australia where the weather is pleasant all year round.