Bhakti Blog

Untitled

2011-06-21T11:48:00.001-07:00

Universal Religion

2011-04-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

Having expanded my early Christian roots to a more universal understanding of God and religion, I am always impressed by the lack of fear, guilt, and hate in Hinduism, Vaishnavism in particular. I embrace the holidays of many religions, especially in the celebratory seasons where love is most abundant. I have never liked the "we love our religion and hate yours" mentality. Better, "goodwill to all."

Image via Wikipedia

Hygiene

2010-12-19T09:38:00.001-08:00

Attached: 12.19.10.0

Google Docs makes it easy to create, store and share online documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Spiritual hygiene is, for the spiritually advanced person, like bodily hygiene is for the common person: it's not that they will create no messes, but will in any case be responsible to maintain a standard of cleanliness. Living in the material atmosphere causes some spiritual contamination, but the progressive person must avail him or herself of the spiritual techniques for cleansing away this dirt from the mirror of the mind.

Happiness as by-product

2010-12-12T13:53:00.001-08:00

About this theme
Theme created by
Add news, games, and more to this page.
Mobile - Advertising Programs - Business Solutions - Privacy Policy - Help - About Google
©2010 Google

via google.com

Happiness schmappingness; do your duty!

Math Does Not Equal Calculating: Using Computer-Based Math Education

2010-11-19T11:12:00.001-08:00

Conrad Wolfram does not think that math is being taught well today. Anywhere. Well, practically anywhere. The problem, as he describes in his TED talk, and elsewhere, is that of the four steps that involve solving real world problems with math, we are focussed too much on step three.

Describing the problem and figuring out the quantifiable elements
Translating the quantifiable parts into a problem that can be solved using math
Calculating the mathematical solution
Applying the solution to the original problem and verifying that it actually works.

Mr. Wolfram's arguments make sense when you consider that the most successful people the world had recent memory of were not the people who excelled at only step 3, but who were genius at the other steps and found people or machines to do step 3.
There is still a satisfaction for many to be able to do manual calculations. But it is silly not to incorporate computers and the like earlier in the curriculum.
Another point he makes is that calculus should be introduced much earlier. I couldn't agree more about this. I didn't enjoy math until I got to trigonometry because it was the first instance that showed the awesome leverage math could provide. I am thinking of the way you can measure the height of a flagpole using only the length of its shadow on the ground and the angle between the shadow and the top of the pole.
Anyway, it tuned out to be a hot topic with a lot of debate.

In George's own words

2010-09-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

Quote: Time sneaks up on you... -john lithgow

2010-08-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug.

John Lithgow

via quotationspage.com

Hare Krishna Cultural Center - Miami

2010-01-26T11:07:00.001-08:00

Hare Krishna Cultural Center

Isolation in Krishna Consciousness

2009-07-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

by Howard Resnick, Ph.D.

Srimad Bhagavatam: The Role of the Bhagavatam in the Caitanya Caritamrita.

2009-07-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

"Srimad Bhagavatam: The Role of the Bhagavatam in the Caitanya Caritamrita."
Howard Resnick, Ph.D.

Plain Talk About Spanking

2009-06-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

<cite>Plain Talk About Spanking</cite>: "

'The most positive social changes around the world have followed mass improvements in the way children are treated.' Robin Grille, author of Parenting for a Peaceful World, 2005.'Children should never receive less protection than adults. . . [we must] put an end to adult justification of violence against children, whether accepted as 'tradition' or disguised as 'discipline'.' Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Member of the UN Sub-commission on the promotion and protection of human rights, Geneva, 2006.

Old Notes

2009-04-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

Parenting means you must repeat yourself, without rancor or ill teimper, but with love an gentleness. Prayer is helpful.

Example is most powerful among teachers. Children internalize their parent's opinions and attitudes on topical, historical, and philosophical issues. Even children who later renounce or denounce their parent's positions - by class, ideals, religion, ethics, etc. - still exhibit patterns of expression and behavior that bear striking similarity to their parents.

My conclusion is that if you believe that a certain way of living or acting is best, live it! Your children will take notice. Whether you will have the satisfaction, during your lifetime, of seeing yoru children mature completely ... no, you cannot. It takes a lifetime. they won't be finished until the end of their lives. The best that we can do is to offer our unconditional love, and an example worth following.

Jewish prayer to mark a transition to something new

2009-04-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

SHEHECHEYANU V'KIYAMANU V'HIGIYANU LAZMAN HAZEH

Jewish prayer to mark a transition to something new:
"(Blessed are you, God, Ruler of the universe,)
Who gives us life, sustains us, and brings us to this time/season."

It is said at the start of a holiday, to acknowledge the return of the cycle of the year; and even when eating a fruit for the first time in a season or wearing a new set of clothes. - Rabbi Avivah Winocur Erlick

Boys

2009-02-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

Boys respect power. The appeal to a boy to be good falls on deaf ears. Boys don't want to be good, they want to learn, explore, play; being 'good' only enters the thought process of a boy when it can be used as leverage for getting opportunities for these other things. Look at the military, which is quintessentially male culture. No one appeals to anyone to do something because it is 'good.' You will never hear "be a good soldier and make your bed." Wrong mentality. Men, boys, males, respect strength. I will do this because you have the power to make me do it. An oft heard refrain on any playground in the world where boys are playing is "make me!"

Women's appeals to boys, men, males to 'be good,' is the wrong approach. This may appeal to girls, but not to boys. Naturally, a boy may try to be good out of affection for his mother, but not because he values being 'good.' He tries to be 'good' because it is what is important to his mother, or effeminate father. And it is not because boys are by nature ungentle. No. It is simple a matter of their nature. It is biology. I'm not saying that this trait cannot be trained out of them, but that to attempt this is working against nature.

Gaudiya Vaishnavism

2009-02-17T22:53:00.000-08:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gaudiya Vaishnava temple at Tirupathi

Gaudiya Vaishnavism (also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism^[1]) is a Vaishnava religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1534) inIndia in the 16th century. "Gaudiya" refers to Gauḍadeśa (present day Bengal/Bangladesh) with Vaishnavism meaning the worship of Vishnu. Its philosophical basis is primarily that of the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana, as well as other Puranic scriptures and Upanishads such as the Isha Upanishad, Gopala Tapani Upanishad, and Kali Santarana Upanishad.

The focus of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is the devotional worship (bhakti) of Radha and Krishna, and their many divine incarnations as the supreme forms of God,svayam bhagavan. Most popularly this worship takes the form of singing Radha and Krishna's holy names, such as 'Hare', 'Krishna' and 'Rama', (most commonly in the form of the Hare Krishna mantra) which is known as kirtan. The movement is sometimes referred to as the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiyasampradaya referring to its traditional origins in the disciplic succession of spiritual masters (gurus) believed to originate from Brahma. It classifies itself as amonotheistic tradition, seeing the many forms of Vishnu as expansions or incarnations of the one Supreme God, adipurusha.

Arthur Schopenhauer

2009-02-17T22:46:00.000-08:00

Concerning the Upanishads and Vedas, he writes in The World as Will and Representation:

If the reader has also received the benefit of the Vedas, the access to which by means of the Upanishads is in my eyes the greatest privilege which this still young century (1818) may claim before all previous centuries, if then the reader, I say, has received his initiation in primeval Indian wisdom, and received it with an open heart, he will be prepared in the very best way for hearing what I have to tell him. It will not sound to him strange, as to many others, much less disagreeable; for I might, if it did not sound conceited, contend that every one of the detached statements which constitute the Upanishads, may be deduced as a necessary result from the fundamental thoughts which I have to enunciate, though those deductions themselves are by no means to be found there.^[25]

He summarised the influence of the Upanishads thus: “It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death!”

Quote from Late Prime Minister of India

2009-01-23T16:03:00.000-08:00

"If the Bhagavad Gita, the holy text of the Hindu traditions, is printed in millions of copies and scores of languages and distributed in all nooks and corners of the world, the credit for this great sacred service goes chiefly to ISKCON. For this accomplishment alone, Indians should be eternally grateful to the devoted spiritual army of Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, and to his followers. . .

The arrival of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in the United States in 1965 and the particular popularity his movement gained in a very short span of twelve years must be regarded as one of the greatest spiritual events of the century.”

— Atal Bihari Vajpayee - April 1998

molly.com » Things That Make You Feel Better

2009-01-01T13:47:00.000-08:00

molly.com:

“Solus in faecibus sed profundum variat”

“Succes is the result of good judgement, good judgement is the result of experience, experience is the result of bad judgement.”

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” -Samuel Beckett

Home page of Avogadro

2008-12-28T12:02:00.001-08:00

Home page of Avogadro

Avogadro - his number

It was long after Avogadro that the idea of a mole was introduced. Since a molecular weight in grams (mole) of any substance contains the same number of molecules, then according to Avogadro's Principle, the molar volumes of all gases should be the same. The number of molecules in one mole is now called Avogadro's number. It must be emphasised that Avogadro, of course, had no knowledge of moles, or of the number that was to bear his name. Thus the number was never actually determined by Avogadro himself.

As we all know today, Avogadro's number is very large, the presently accepted value being 6.0221367 x 10²³. The size of such a number is extremely difficult to comprehend. There are many awe-inspiring illustrations to help visualize the enormous size of this number. For example:

An Avogadro's number of standard soft drink cans would cover the surface of the earth to a depth of over 200 miles.
If you had Avogadro's number of unpopped popcorn kernels, and spread them across the United States of America, the country would be covered in popcorn to a depth of over 9 miles.
If we were able to count atoms at the rate of 10 million per second, it would take about 2 billion years to count the atoms in one mole.

Read That: Some Worthwhile Reads

2008-12-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

Read That: Some Worthwhile Reads

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Chapter 4 Verse 3

2008-12-15T11:33:00.000-08:00

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Chapter 4 Verse 3: "That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery of this science."

All Attractive

2008-11-27T09:12:00.001-08:00

Krishna bhakti is practical and effective for protecting you from material attraction. Rather than hope for a pious aversion to the allure of mundane attractions, Krishna bhakti focuses instead on the All Attractive, Krishna. The Krishna bhakta becomes finds Krishna attractive enough to make every feature of the mundane world pale in comparison.

We live as we dream—alone.

2008-11-17T18:42:00.001-08:00

Joseph Conrad
(1857-1924)

Free Website Content - Webmaster tools

How to Backslide

2008-11-17T12:24:00.000-08:00

The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics
By C. S. Lewis
Published by HarperCollins, 2002
ISBN 0060506083, 9780060506087
512 pages

Buy this book
Amazon.com
Barnes&Noble.com - $39.96
Books-A-Million
BookSense.com
Google Product Search

Borrow this book
Find this book in a library

Monkey and Zookeeper - Aim At Monkey (Slow)

2008-11-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

Monkey and Zookeeper - Aim At Monkey (Slow)

Vector Addition

2008-11-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Vector Addition: "SOH CAH TOA"

Newtonian Gravitation and the Laws of Kepler

2008-11-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Newtonian Gravitation and the Laws of Kepler

Section 4: Isaac Newton: Principia Mathematica, 1687

2008-10-31T11:22:00.001-07:00

Section 4: Isaac Newton: Principia Mathematica, 1687 /Shaping of the Modern World/Brooklyn College

[GOD AND THE UNIVERSE)

This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. And if the fixed stars are the centers of other like systems, these, being formed by the like wise counsel, must be all subject to the dominion of One, especially since the light of the fixed stars is of the same nature with the light of the sun and from every system light passes into all the other systems; and lest the systems of the fixed stars should, by their gravity, fall on each other mutually, he hath placed those systems at immense distances from one another.

This Being governs all things not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called "Lord God" . . . or "Universal Ruler." . . . It is the dominion of a spiritual being which constitutes a God....

Nandotsava - Vaisnava Calendar Reminder Services - Vaishnava Calendar Information Service

2008-10-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

Nandotsava - Vaisnava Calendar Reminder Services - Vaishnava Calendar Information Service: "Srila Prabhupada -- Disappearance"

Moral Certainty - A Point of View

2008-10-22T11:20:00.001-07:00

"Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to reinforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in others."

- H.L. Mencken, Minority Report (1956

If You Raise Your Kids Right It Will Take At Least a Year Off of Your Life

2008-10-21T10:42:00.001-07:00

But in the end, it's worth it.

The Gita: Chapter 2

2008-08-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

"For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain."
Bhagavad-gita 2.20

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

2008-05-13T12:36:00.001-07:00

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

Now each man judges well the things he knows, and of these he is a good judge. And so the man who has been educated in a subject is a good judge of that subject, and the man who has received an all-round education is a good judge in general. Hence a young man is not a proper hearer of lectures on political science; for he is inexperienced in the actions that occur in life, but its discussions start from these and are about these; and, further, since he tends to follow his passions, his study will be vain and unprofitable, because the end aimed at is not knowledge but action. And it makes no difference whether he is young in years or youthful in character; the defect does not depend on time, but on his living, and pursuing each successive object, as passion directs. For to such persons, as to the incontinent, knowledge brings no profit; but to those who desire and act in accordance with a rational principle knowledge about such matters will be of great benefit.

These remarks about the student, the sort of treatment to be expected, and the purpose of the inquiry, may be taken as our preface.

Isaiah 66 Jewish Publication Society Tanakh (1917) - Sent Using Google Toolbar

2008-02-27T03:32:00.001-08:00

Isaiah 66 Jewish Publication Society Tanakh (1917)

2 For all these things hath My hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith the LORD; but on this man will I look, even on him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.

3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man;

Luke 12 Webster's Bible Translation - Sent Using Google Toolbar

2008-02-27T03:28:00.001-08:00

Luke 12 Webster's Bible Translation

48 But he that knew not, and committed things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom men have committed much, from him they will ask the more.

49 I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it is already kindled? 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it shall be accomplished! 51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, No; but rather division: 52 For from henceforth there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 The father will be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

Luke 12 Webster's Bible Translation

2008-02-27T03:27:00.000-08:00

Luke 12 Webster's Bible Translation: "48 But he that knew not, and committed things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom men have committed much, from him they will ask the more.

49 I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it is already kindled? 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it shall be accomplished! 51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, No; but rather division: 52 For from henceforth there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 The father will be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

Matthew 10:34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on

2008-02-27T03:23:00.000-08:00

Matthew 10:34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

that I. Jer 15:10 Lu 12:49-53 Joh 7:40-52 Ac 13:45-50 14:2,4"

Matthew 10:34 Webster's Bible Translation

2008-02-27T03:20:00.001-08:00

Matthew 10 Webster's Bible Translation

34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a man's foes will be they of his own household.

37 He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it.

40 He that receiveth you, receiveth me, and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. 41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward. 42 And whoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily, I say to you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Revelation 3 Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Sent Using Google Toolbar

2008-02-27T03:04:00.001-08:00

Revelation 3 Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

3:14-22 Laodicea was the last and worst of the seven churches of Asia. Here our Lord Jesus styles himself, The Amen; one steady and unchangeable in all his purposes and promises. If religion is worth anything, it is worth every thing. Christ expects men should be in earnest. How many professors of gospel doctrine are neither hot nor cold; except as they are indifferent in needful matters, and hot and fiery in disputes about things of lesser moment! A severe punishment is threatened. They would give a false opinion of Christianity, as if it were an unholy religion; while others would conclude it could afford no real satisfaction, otherwise its professors would not have been heartless in it, or so ready to seek pleasure or happiness from the world. One cause of this indifference and inconsistency in religion is, self-conceit and self-delusion; Because thou sayest. What a difference between their thoughts of themselves, and the thoughts Christ had of them! How careful should we be not to cheat our owns souls! There are many in hell, who once thought themselves far in the way to heaven. Let us beg of God that we may not be left to flatter and deceive ourselves. Professors grow proud, as they become carnal and formal. Their state was wretched in itself. They were poor; really poor, when they said and thought they were rich. They could not see their state, nor their way, nor their danger, yet they thought they saw it.

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 7 Chapter 5 Verse 30

2008-01-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 7 Chapter 5 Verse 30

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.5.30

śrī-prahrāda uvāca
matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā
mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām
adānta-gobhir viśatāḿ tamisraḿ
punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām

SYNONYMS
śrī-prahrādaḥ uvāca — Prahlāda Mahārāja said; matiḥ — inclination; na — never; kṛṣṇe — unto Lord Kṛṣṇa; parataḥ — from the instructions of others; svataḥ — from their own understanding; vā — either; mithaḥ — from combined effort; abhipadyeta — is developed; gṛha-vratānām — of persons too addicted to the materialistic, bodily conception of life; adānta — uncontrolled; gobhiḥ — by the senses; viśatām — entering; tamisram — hellish life; punaḥ — again; punaḥ — again; carvita — things already chewed; carvaṇānām — who are chewing.

TRANSLATION
Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Kṛṣṇa are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both.

Thoughts About Dimensions

2008-01-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

While reading Brian Greene's book, The Fabric of the Cosmos, I found myself contemplating the extra spatial dimensions required by the mathematics of string theory. String theory is a conceptual and theoretical framework that unites the heretofore disparate ideas of relativity and quantum theories. Before string theory these two theories, relativity and quantum, were good at describing the very big and the very small, respectively. But there was a lack of clarity when attempting to use either one to describe how relativistic concepts might work on the level of the quantum.

The urge to unite the two into a more general theoretical framework arises from the observable fact that reality comprises both phenomenon, and also the mathematics of both have provided for a way of conducting experiments that have likewise made intelligible findings that confirm the veracity of both theories with rigorous accuracy. So there seems no reason why the two cannot be made to fit compatibly into a grander paradigm. One problem with this new proposed thought paradigm has been that the mathematics of string theory require extra spatial dimensions. This is a problem because we only experience three spatial dimensions. Add time and we have four. String theory math requires an additional nine.

The extra nine spatial dimensions aside, there is another way to think about dimensions that is more intuitive, and that is within the experience of most adults. As we mature from infancy to toddlerhood we become intimately familiar with the four above mentioned dimensions as we learn to explore our physical surroundings. The more a person moves around in space, the more familiar he or she will be with these four. Athletes like gymnasts and football players, who must learn to navigate the three spatial dimensions with precise timing learn how real the four dimensions of physical reality are. Likewise, anyone who has every made an appointment knows that time of the meeting is equally as important as the three spatial dimensions that identify it's location. We add onto these four dimensions the dimension of motive. In the United States we recognize the importance of this dimension by holding citizens accountable for it by the age of 18. This is how long we reckon it take a person to become adroit and savvy about this extra spatial and temporal dimension. So there is the where and when a person does something, now with the why added to it.

There are yet other dimensions that serve to expand the why dimension. Said differently, the why can be expanded to great depth. The most obvious examination of this dimension is the observation that two people can be doing the same thing for different reasons, different motivations. For example, a person can pick up a lost item and take it with them. One person may do so in order to find its true owner and return it, while someone else may do so to keep it for their own use. The legal theory of mens rhea comprehends this distinction. Roughly translated mens rhea means criminal intent. It is a way of dealing with this idea of why a person does something. If you say something with the intent of harming another's reputation, that speech may be interpreted by the law as libelous because of your intention. Whereas the same words spoken without such intent may not be actionable.

Another dimension may be added to the why. A person may act for a cause greater than their personal motives. These can expand to resemble extra dimensions by themselves, for instance family, society, humanity, all the way up to a conception of Absolute Truth.

Twelve Brahminical Qualifications.doc

2008-01-10T15:59:00.001-08:00

The twelve brahminical qualifications are:

1. Following religious principles

2. Speaking truthfully

3. Controlling the senses by undergoing austerities and penances

4. Being free from jealousy

5. Being intelligent

6. Being tolerant

7. Creating no enemies

8. Performing yajña (sacrifice)

9. Giving charity

10. Being steady

11. Being well-versed in the Vedic study

12. Observing vows

While these are wonderful qualities, they do not, in an of themselves, constitute the activity of the soul, or bhakti. Rather, they arise out of the desire to purify one's existence.

Bang Perspective

2008-01-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

The Big Bang theory does not preclude creationism or intelligent design. It is merely a theory based on observable facts about our universe today. As Hubble discovered, and has been proven since, distant galaxies are moving away from us. The farther away a galaxy is, the faster it is moving. This expansion of space implies an early force, a bang, that provided this momentum. But physicists are nearly unanimous in agreeing that the details of what was there before the expansion took place are not knowable by current scientific methods. In other words, the bang part of the Big Bang theory is something that occurred early in universal history, but is not the source of the universe.

Regardless of one's theological convictions, unless one wants to do away with science all together, theories will come about as a necessary consequence of our scientific observations of the reality around us. Seen in this light, which is the way trod by the early religious scientists and their secular brethren, cosmological theories like the Big Bang are merely ways of arranging our observations into a coherent explanation, and are not an attempt to supplant religion or an Absolute Truth/Supreme Being.

Teleological argument - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2007-12-31T10:52:00.000-08:00

Teleological - what a word!
Teleological argument - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hinduism

2007-12-19T14:40:00.000-08:00

I am always impressed by the lack of fear, guilt, and hate in hinduism as compared to other religions.

Why Some People Feel Better Eating Meat

2007-12-14T15:27:00.000-08:00

Why do so many vegetarians who go back to meat eating claim that they feel better?
Meat is full of vitamins and minerals. Vegetarians who don't eat well, which includes taking a daily vitamin and mineral supplement, are not going to experience optimal health.

I have been a vegetarian for 27 years, and definitely do not advocate that anyone eat meat for any reason, so my mentioning this fact about the nutrient content of meat is to encourage vegetarians to eat better and take a daily supplement.

Avoiding the cruelty of modern factory farming of animals is a very good idea. The physical and psychic trauma that the animals endure in the modern mechanized processes is hellish beyond belief, and certainly not the prosaic ideal of the happy farm. When a society supports this kind of treatment of animals, it looses an important element of innocence. This is karma in a nutshell.

So even if you don't see the connection between your own decision to eat a vegetarian diet and the world at large, do it for your own peace of mind.

Logic and Philosophy vs. Intuition and Religion

2007-12-12T13:11:00.000-08:00

I have always been interested in feeling what Jesus and the saints felt, as opposed to just understanding what they said. It was always common sense to me that to give up earthly pleasure, one would have to feel some higher pleasure. It has never been enough for me to merely understand the philosophy of religion; I have always yearned to feel the presence of God.

I remember as a child in Sunday school, having the Gospels read to me, my constant thought was what it must have been like to have been a disciple in the presence of Christ as he taught. That communication was more than just words on a page. There were the non-verbal cues, the connotations of the language, and the very presence of the Master who is making a direct plea and appeal to more than just logic. There was the strength of example.

My guru once said about religion, that it is simple for the simple, and complicated for the crooked. This makes particular sense to me in light of what modern Christian theology has twisted the simple message of Jesus into.

In the gospels a Jewish boy approaches Jesus and asks if he will be going to heaven. Jesus' response was to ask him if he was following the commandments faithfully. That says it all. He didn't ask the boy if he believe that he was the way, the truth and the light, the way John insists in his gospel. No. Jesus was very straightforward. I take heart in this. The strength that comes of being a true follower is in the ability to faithfully keep the commandments. If Christian's are just the same as sinners, with the only difference being that they know better, then shame, shame, shame! One may be a sinner to start with, but if one is "saved," that must mean having the strength, through Christ, to stop such non-sense. If not, it means duplicity, insincerity, and ultimately, suffering, not salvation.

Of course, Jesus, and God know who is sincerely trying, and perhaps falling down anyway. And such persons may be saved, due to their sincere effort to follow rightly. But woe to them who make a show of religion only to sin. "God is not mocked."