In his most recent post D.R. Butler mentions the subtle presence of Native Americans at a workshop he did. I have often given to Native American Indian causes but lately I have not been able to as my debt has mounted to dangerous levels. I did give this year but it was quite by accident. I often do not answer my phone because a lot of calls are just pitches for money. I suppose I forgot that this one time when I answered the phone and on the other end was a young man trying to collect for Indian Council, I believe it was. They often need money in the winter for South Dakota Indians, I think it is. I can't be too specific because I have been ignoring many good causes, tossing their envelops into the trash - you know the recycling won't take them with the newspapers and otherwise ignoring pitches to give. Even my tips have declined of late, I suddenly am unable to do the 20 percent math on my dinner bills. The latest short tip was my haircut. I hope you have seen my haircut. Anyway, I can't give because of my debt but this fellow caught me on the phone and he was a nice young man, I think his name was Jake. He wanted me to remember it. But, I belonged to this organization that gives and Jake wanted something beyond my renewal for hungry Indians in South Dakota, for blankets and fire wood I suppose.
I was just thinking of that instead of the subtle presences that Ram speaks of. I may be in a suspicious mood today. Today somebody mentioned astrology to me. I am a Pisces and I have always gotten a kick out of talking astrology with the girls and so forth. It's a big flirting thing and it also taken seriously in Buddhism and Hinduism, two religions of interest to me for their learning on consciousness expansion, but a book I came across in the 80's, the Urantia Book, takes issue with astrology, finding no importance to the movement of the planets and finding them of no influence at all on our personal lives, a truly modern scientific view.
Still, I cannot ignore the endorsements of spiritual masters like Paramahamsa Yogananda and others. What Yogananda espouses is not the simple astrology we find in the newspapers handed down to us from the Greeks. I don't know much about it, but the Indians believe in the movement of the planets and their affect on individuals. Maybe Prem Rawat doesn't. I have heard him speak against many things unscientific that Old India has long believed, for instance that the planets are Gods. He believes in the knowledge he gives and I think he believes in the holy name as he has said nice things about the name of Ram and he admires Kabir, writing his own couplets to flatter that great being.
It's not that I don't believe in the subtle body that is taught about in yoga. It's just that I find some things kind of kinky and weird and even extreme. A woman on Facebook recently, a friend of Kurma Dasa the vegetarian chef, called meat murder. I found that extreme as Ramakrishna said God is in the ones you love and the ones I love eat meat and have eaten meat and I just can't be sure that will make them live another life. The forementioned Urantia Book has said that there is no wheel of rebirth as well.
Why bother with the Urantia Book you might ask. It seems to disagree with all the goodies that our spiritual masters teach but actually these are minor things compared to stopping the mind, seeing God in Each Other and so forth. The Urantia Book offers us some learning about the masters teaching about the atonement. Yogananda had a disagreement with it, liking to call it at-one-ment. In this Yogananda and The Urantia Book agree, Jesus did not die for the sins of man. Jesus appeared to teach of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God says the book, to teach men about love says Yogananda. Little disagreement there though UB can get a little fussy about the Father concept. UB considers the Father idea the supreme concept of deity. None can compare, it says, not your Self, not Krsna, not Void. Likely not Allah either though it says little about Islam except that it is a sexist religion.
I went to satsang last night. It was great. I slept late today even though the phone was asking me to get up. The computer technician I left my Dell Mini with - had it ready - and was calling at 1:45. I had stayed up to watch the recorging of the Yankees game I made so it was after 3 when I went to bed. I was trying to upload a video too that took too long and kept me up.
I had strange dreams about my family and mala beads. Huge red mala necklaces. They were quite popular, too. I think Baba and my mom were in the dream.
I was just thinking of that instead of the subtle presences that Ram speaks of. I may be in a suspicious mood today. Today somebody mentioned astrology to me. I am a Pisces and I have always gotten a kick out of talking astrology with the girls and so forth. It's a big flirting thing and it also taken seriously in Buddhism and Hinduism, two religions of interest to me for their learning on consciousness expansion, but a book I came across in the 80's, the Urantia Book, takes issue with astrology, finding no importance to the movement of the planets and finding them of no influence at all on our personal lives, a truly modern scientific view.
Still, I cannot ignore the endorsements of spiritual masters like Paramahamsa Yogananda and others. What Yogananda espouses is not the simple astrology we find in the newspapers handed down to us from the Greeks. I don't know much about it, but the Indians believe in the movement of the planets and their affect on individuals. Maybe Prem Rawat doesn't. I have heard him speak against many things unscientific that Old India has long believed, for instance that the planets are Gods. He believes in the knowledge he gives and I think he believes in the holy name as he has said nice things about the name of Ram and he admires Kabir, writing his own couplets to flatter that great being.
It's not that I don't believe in the subtle body that is taught about in yoga. It's just that I find some things kind of kinky and weird and even extreme. A woman on Facebook recently, a friend of Kurma Dasa the vegetarian chef, called meat murder. I found that extreme as Ramakrishna said God is in the ones you love and the ones I love eat meat and have eaten meat and I just can't be sure that will make them live another life. The forementioned Urantia Book has said that there is no wheel of rebirth as well.
Why bother with the Urantia Book you might ask. It seems to disagree with all the goodies that our spiritual masters teach but actually these are minor things compared to stopping the mind, seeing God in Each Other and so forth. The Urantia Book offers us some learning about the masters teaching about the atonement. Yogananda had a disagreement with it, liking to call it at-one-ment. In this Yogananda and The Urantia Book agree, Jesus did not die for the sins of man. Jesus appeared to teach of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God says the book, to teach men about love says Yogananda. Little disagreement there though UB can get a little fussy about the Father concept. UB considers the Father idea the supreme concept of deity. None can compare, it says, not your Self, not Krsna, not Void. Likely not Allah either though it says little about Islam except that it is a sexist religion.
I went to satsang last night. It was great. I slept late today even though the phone was asking me to get up. The computer technician I left my Dell Mini with - had it ready - and was calling at 1:45. I had stayed up to watch the recorging of the Yankees game I made so it was after 3 when I went to bed. I was trying to upload a video too that took too long and kept me up.
I had strange dreams about my family and mala beads. Huge red mala necklaces. They were quite popular, too. I think Baba and my mom were in the dream.
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