Our Virtual Ashram

[Aupmanyav]

I don't really think the dichotomy of left/right completely describes Indian politics. Aup and Tattva can clarify, since they know much more about India.

Left and right did not matter in India. Congress (Nehru-Gandhi dynasty) ruled India for 55 years. Parties had to pose to be leftists/socialists to get the vote of the poor and the Muslims. In reality they were concerned only about their family power, and the money they could get from government coffers. BJP was/is a universal enemy. Congress had extensive lobbies among all, basically everyone who hoped for awards and positions from the government; artists, historians, litterateurs, educationists, lawyers.

Now I give you some information about the regional parties that rule some states. Please note 1 is for those parties where one individual alone is important, 1+ where one family is important, OBC (Other Backward Classes) stands for middle level castes who are generally tormentors of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST, who have been known as Dalits. If they are in power, Dalits too can be tormentors). OBCs are 27% of the Indian population and ST/SC are 23%. Muslims make 14.5% of the population.

Punjab: Shiromani Akali Dal (Sikh Jat) 1+; Haryana: Indian National Lok Dal (Hindu Jat) 1+; Uttar Pradesh: Samajvadi Party (OBC-Yadav) 1+, Bahujan Samaj Party (Dalit) 1; Bihar: Rashtriya Janta Dal (OBC-Yadv) 1+, Janta Dal United (OBC-Yadav, Kurmi); Bengal: Trinamool Congress 1; Odisha: Biju Janta Dal 1; Tamilnadu: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham 1+, Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham 1; Maharashtra: Shiv Sena (OBC-Maratha) 1+.

Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab and Shiv Sena are in coalition with BJP but the coalition is oppotunistic for both sides. Not mentioned are either the BJP states, or Telengana and Andhra Pradesh where the ruling parties won due to State pride after the recent bifurcation. Kashmir is a different case altogether where presently People’s Democratic Party and BJP have the ruling coalition.

 

[Kirran]

Yes, Skandavale. The rest of the Shiva family will be there, so also other Gods and Goddesses I hope. That is OK, but I cannot still reconcile myself with your idea of taking sannyasa at your age.

Well I won't be taking sannyasa there. But I understand you having some reservations. This is only traditional when people take sannyasa young, but it's important for some people to do.

 

[ratikala]

namaskaram prabhu ji's

may i ask for some recomendations , ......unfortunatly i have broken my arm so cant type easily , ....does any one have any good film sugestions, or interesting you tube documentaries that they think i might enjoy ??? bearing in mind that you know me well enough to know that i prefer serious devotional or historical stuff over entertainment , ....many thanks , best wishes to all .

 

[Aupmanyav]

Ratiben, I am very sorry to hear this. I hope there is no pain and that your arm heals in the regulation six weeks.

 

[Chakra]

namaskaram prabhu ji's

may i ask for some recomendations , ......unfortunatly i have broken my arm so cant type easily , ....does any one have any good film sugestions, or interesting you tube documentaries that they think i might enjoy ??? bearing in mind that you know me well enough to know that i prefer serious devotional or historical stuff over entertainment , ....many thanks , best wishes to all .

Hopefully your arm recovers quickly!

I don't usually watch historical documentaries (usually they are too long) and I don't know of many devotional documentaries (I do listen to a lot of bhajans and mantras).

If you are into the wonders of mathematics you should check out Numberphile. Also, Vsauce is an excellent channel which talks about questions we always asked but never got a concrete answer to.

Enjoy!

 

[ratikala]

namaskaram prabhu ji's

thank you for your well wishes , ...i will go look some of these up , although mathematics may just sail over my head , i watched 2 interesting programs on the mugal invasion and the mugal emporors, ...it raised some interesting thoughts about the differences between south lndian vaisnavas and gaudiya vaisnavas , ...and have promiced my self to watch a film of the life of ramanujacharya ji , ..so i shall compile a list of interesting things to discuss later , ...

best wishes ,to you both , ....

 

[Chakra]

Yes, I'd love to discuss them with you!

 

[StarryNightshade]

@ratikala

Likewise. There's much about Gaudiya that I would like to learn as well.

 

[ratikala]

namaskaram prabhu ji's
@StarryNightshade ji @Chakra ji

as soon as my arm is a bit better and typing more than a short reply is possible we should start a thread to discuss in detail , ....but even within the Gaudiya tradition there are many differences, even disputes , which sadens me greatly , one thing l allways picked up from our Guru was a sence of the eternal nature of devotion and the importance of not wartering down traditions , so some times l think it is important to understand each others traditions as such understanding can inspire us and enrich our understanding within our own sampradayas , ...that being said both Ramanujacharya and Chaitanya broke free from the dogmatic traditions of their day to foster traditions based upon pure devotion , for this reason l should like to learn more about Ramanujacharya , ...this is where it would be helpfull to have a seperate dir for Vaisnava devotees simply so that the conversations may remain on topic , Starry this is a suggestion l think muted a while before you began posting ??? and crushed by some members , but there are seperate sections within Buddhism dir so l dont see that it would be so inapropriate ? ..... prehaps as a staff member you could sound out the idea if you think it would be worth while ???

 

[Kirran]

Sorry to hear that ratikala, but I'm glad you're making such good use of your time!

Something short, but this young Gaudiya Vaishnava raps about Krishna, just found this morning -

EDIT: I support a Vaishnava DIR, and a Smarta DIR, etc. But would a Smarta devoted to Vishnu be allowed in the Vaishnava DIR?

 

[Kirran]

Apparently one of the Brothers are the Ashram I've been at the last couple weeks was once approached by a visiting ISKCON/Hare Krishna devotee with the question 'Why are you worshipping all these demigods?'

 

[Chakra]

EDIT: I support a Vaishnava DIR, and a Smarta DIR, etc. But would a Smarta devoted to Vishnu be allowed in the Vaishnava DIR?

No, a Vaishnava is not the same as a Vishnu bhakta (Smartha).

 

[Kirran]

No, a Vaishnava is not the same as a Vishnu bhakta (Smartha).

Yeah, that makes sense. I agree.

 

[ratikala]

namaskaram Kirran ji

Sorry to hear that ratikala, but I'm glad you're making such good use of your time!

thank you ji , , ...although something in me wants to say that it is at times like this when one realises that it is not our time it is Krsna's ...some times he does things to disrupt and test us , ..

Something short, but this young Gaudiya Vaishnava raps about Krishna, just found this morning

thank you ji , ..l will listen to this later

dont know if it is the same person but before l found some songs from a young Krsna devotee in somewhere in south Wales ?


-

EDIT: I support a Vaishnava DIR, and a Smarta DIR, etc. But would a Smarta devoted to Vishnu be allowed in the Vaishnava DIR?

l suppose it would be respectfull contributions and questions only and vica verca , but it would be nice just to have a place to discuss love of and devotion to Visnu , without inturuption from other sects vieing for supremacy and making derogatory remarks about someone elses tradition , ....

you give the example of young Gaudiyas asking why you at your ashram are worshiping demi gods ? ...please forgive them they are young and take some things too literaly without proper instruction , ...if there are simmilar occurances do not even try to argue the point , after all we are all in a position dictated by our past karmas so what is correct for me may not be correct for you at this given point , in this way we should all respect each others traditions , even be willing to welcome each other and share the spirit of devotion .

however l would have no objections to a Smartha devotee or yourself for instance wishing to learn more about anothers tradition , nor l hope any other tradition mind my asking an ocasional question , ...

 

[Kirran]

thank you ji , , ...although something in me wants to say that it is at times like this when one realises that it is not our time it is Krsna's ...some times he does things to disrupt and test us , ..

Very nice, a wonderful reflection, thankyou ratikala.

thank you ji , ..l will listen to this later

dont know if it is the same person but before l found some songs from a young Krsna devotee in somewhere in south Wales ?

Hmm, maybe New South Wales

l suppose it would be respectfull contributions and questions only and vica verca , but it would be nice just to have a place to discuss love of and devotion to Visnu , without inturuption from other sects vieing for supremacy and making derogatory remarks about someone elses tradition ,

I'd support this. Of course there might still be arguments between Gaudiyas, Sris, Rudras, etc. Hopefully not!

you give the example of young Gaudiyas asking why you at your ashram are worshiping demi gods ? ...please forgive them they are young and take some things too literaly without proper instruction , ...if there are simmilar occurances do not even try to argue the point , after all we are all in a position dictated by our past karmas so what is correct for me may not be correct for you at this given point , in this way we should all respect each others traditions , even be willing to welcome each other and share the spirit of devotion .

however l would have no objections to a Smartha devotee or yourself for instance wishing to learn more about anothers tradition , nor l hope any other tradition mind my asking an ocasional question , ...

Don't worry, no real offence was taken I'm sure. A bit of eye-rolling, at worst. Thankyou for your reassurance.

Ratikala, please, do go to Skanda Vale. I think everyone should go there really.

 

[ratikala]

namaskaram ji, ...

I'd support this. Of course there might still be arguments between Gaudiyas, Sris, Rudras, etc. Hopefully not!

sadly this is probably inevitable , ..... after all there seem to be factions even within sampradayas which fight , it happens in Gauiya traditions , Sri Vaisnava traditions , probably it happens everywhere , ...this is kali yuga , ...age of quarel !!!

instead of applying some inteligence and thinking why so many traditions ?.....must be God appears variously dependant upon the different karmas of the devotees ?... after all if God the supreme is all pervasive then he pervades all gods whether it is god with a big G or with a small g , ...as Krsna says not a blade of grass moves without my sanction , ...if this is so , and l do not dispute it , then why he does not sanction that we all see him the same ? ...no , .. he sanctions that we should be curious , that we should discover him by our own efforts , how ever we move towards him he recipricates and moves towards us , ...granting us boons dependant upon our curiosity , whether that curiosity is curiosity to know , curiosity to gain shelter or curiosity to love , ...so the foolish will argue as to whos veiw is correct , whos worship is valid , ...this is the behavior of spritual children , ........the spiritualy mature will say all glories to your tradition , you are happy in your tradition ? ..Good Good , .....it is helping you to become a better person ? .. Good Good , ...you are developing love of god , ,,Good Good , ...you can see same paramatma in the heart of all beings , ...Good Good , .... this God of yours is very wonderfull !....please tell me more about this God , ...the spiritualy mature is not scared of someone else discovering God too , no he is delighted ! all glories prabhu ji , all glories !

so you will take me to Skandavale and tell me about your Shiv ji ?.....will they let me bring our lordships Chaitanya , Nityananda and Gopal ji in their traveling baskets ?, ...if they are happy with this we will come next spring , ..

 

[Aupmanyav]

Ratikala, please, do go to Skanda Vale. I think everyone should go there really.

That reminds me. Kirran, you have been to Skandavale. Do tell us about your time there.

Ratiben, as far as I think, Skandavale people should have no objection to Govindji in your basket (or your sharing the room with him).

 

[Terese]

Sorry i'm late to this thread, didn't see it at first. I hope you recover fast Ratikala!

 

[Kirran]

namaskaram ji, ...



sadly this is probably inevitable , ..... after all there seem to be factions even within sampradayas which fight , it happens in Gauiya traditions , Sri Vaisnava traditions , probably it happens everywhere , ...this is kali yuga , ...age of quarel !!!

instead of applying some inteligence and thinking why so many traditions ?.....must be God appears variously dependant upon the different karmas of the devotees ?... after all if God the supreme is all pervasive then he pervades all gods whether it is god with a big G or with a small g , ...as Krsna says not a blade of grass moves without my sanction , ...if this is so , and l do not dispute it , then why he does not sanction that we all see him the same ? ...no , .. he sanctions that we should be curious , that we should discover him by our own efforts , how ever we move towards him he recipricates and moves towards us , ...granting us boons dependant upon our curiosity , whether that curiosity is curiosity to know , curiosity to gain shelter or curiosity to love , ...so the foolish will argue as to whos veiw is correct , whos worship is valid , ...this is the behavior of spritual children , ........the spiritualy mature will say all glories to your tradition , you are happy in your tradition ? ..Good Good , .....it is helping you to become a better person ? .. Good Good , ...you are developing love of god , ,,Good Good , ...you can see same paramatma in the heart of all beings , ...Good Good , .... this God of yours is very wonderfull !....please tell me more about this God , ...the spiritualy mature is not scared of someone else discovering God too , no he is delighted ! all glories prabhu ji , all glories !

so you will take me to Skandavale and tell me about your Shiv ji ?.....will they let me bring our lordships Chaitanya , Nityananda and Gopal ji in their traveling baskets ?, ...if they are happy with this we will come next spring , ..

A fantastic sentiment, and so nicely laid out here.

Certainly, we can talk about Shiv, about Krishna, as you prefer

Certainly they will allow this. I took a murti of Shiva-Nataraja with me, and had an impromptu shrine in my room for the duration of my stay. The murti was blessed during one of the pujas in the Maha Shakti temple.

That reminds me. Kirran, you have been to Skandavale. Do tell us about your time there.

Thanks for asking Aup!

It was immensely valuable. What can I say?

 

[Terese]

A fantastic sentiment, and so nicely laid out here.

Certainly, we can talk about Shiv, about Krishna, as you prefer

Certainly they will allow this. I took a murti of Shiva-Nataraja with me, and had an impromptu shrine in my room for the duration of my stay. The murti was blessed during one of the pujas in the Maha Shakti temple.



Thanks for asking Aup!

It was immensely valuable. What can I say?

Well i'd like to know what you did there