2190~JEEVANMUKTI and 'The Three Hermits'!

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2189 ~THE GOD OF SPINOZA!

Did you know that when Einstein attended some conferences in the numerous universities of the USA, the recurring question that the students asked him was:

- DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?

And he always answered:
- I BELIEVE IN THE GOD OF SPINOZA.

For the ones who haven't read Spinoza
hope this shall give them an idea.

Baruch De Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher, of Portuguese Jewish origin, considered one of the great rationalists of his time along with the French philosopher Rene Descartes. Spinoza was born in Amsterdam in the 17th century of a businessman father who was successful but not wealthy.

THIS IS THE NATURE OF THE GOD OF SPINOZA:

GOD WOULD HAVE SAID:
"Stop  praying and giving yourselves blows on your chests, what I want you to do is to GO OUT INTO THE WORLD TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE.
I want you to enjoy, you sing, have fun and enjoy everything I've done for you.
STOP GOING TO THOSE GLOOMY, DARK AND COLD TEMPLES THAT YOU BUILT YOURSELF AND that YOU CALL MY HOME.
MY HOUSE is in the MOUNTAINS, in the FORESTS, the RIVERS, the LAKES, the BEACHES. That's where I live and express all my love for you.
STOP BLAMING ME FOR YOUR MISERABLE LIFE; I NEVER TOLD YOU THAT YOU WERE A SINNER.

STOP BEING SO SCARED. I do not judge you, nor criticize you, nor ever is angry with you, nothing bothers me, nor do I devise punishment. I AM PURE LOVE.

Stop asking me forgiveness, there's nothing to forgive. If I made you... I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies... of free will, how can I blame you if you do or say something out of that what I put in you? How can I punish you for being as you are, if I'm the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who misbehave, for the rest of eternity?
What kind of God can do that?
FORGET ABOUT ANY KIND OF COMMANDMENTS, of any kind of laws; THOSE ARE WILES TO MANIPULATE YOU, TO CONTROL YOU AND  ONLY TO CREATE GUILT IN YOU.
Respect your peers and DON'T DO TO OTHERS WHAT YOU DON'T WANT FOR YOU. The only thing I ask is that you pay attention in your life, that your alert status is your guide. This LIFE IS THE ONLY THING THERE IS, HERE AND NOW and the only thing you need.

I have made you absolutely free, there are no prizes or punishments, there are no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one carries a record.
YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY FREE TO CREATE IN YOUR LIFE A HEAVEN OR HELL.

I couldn't tell you if there's anything after this life, but I can give you a tip. LIVE AS IF THERE WASN'T (AFTER LIFE) .
As if this was YOUR ONLY CHANCE TO ENJOY, TO LOVE, TO EXIST.

So, if there is nothing, then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is, be sure that I will not ask you if you behaved well or not, I will ask you. Did you like it?... did you have fun ?..What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?...

Stop believing in me; believe is to assume, guess, imagine. I don't want you to believe in me, I want you to feel me when you kiss your beloved, when you play with your little girl, when you love your dog, when you bathe in the sea.

Stop praising me. What kind of egotistical God do you think I am?
I'm bored of your praise, I'm fed up with thanks . Do you feel GRATEFUL? PROVE IT TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF, YOUR HEALTH, YOUR RELATIONSHIPS, THE WORLD AROUND YOU. Do you feel  overwhelmed?... EXPRESS YOUR JOY! That's the WAY TO PRAISE ME.

The ONLY THING SURE IS that YOU ARE HERE, that YOU ARE ALIVE, that THIS WORLD IS FULL OF WONDERS.

What do you need more miracles for?
Why so many explanations?

Don't look for me outside, you won't find me. FIND ME INSIDE... THERE I'M BEATING IN YOU."

2177 ~ ANALOGIES FOR THE SOUL & THE BODY

"You are the light shining upon the wall. Do not venerate the wall.'
(via Julia Hayes)
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"The physical existence is like the peel of a fruit. The peel of fruit has no purpose of its own. Only as a protective layer for the fruit it is meaningful. The moment you eat the fruit the peel goes straight to the trashcan."
-Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
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"You are God's present being unwrapped.
 Don't identify with the paper."
-Mooji
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2176 ~ WHY ARE PEOPLE UNHAPPY?

(~ Murari Bapu, Femina, March 8 - 22, 1984)

A man had fever and therefore went to a nearby dispensary. On the way, he fell down and had many bruises. When he met the doctor, he was given two medicines- one to swallow for his fever and the other for purely for external application.
The man in his fevered ignorance, came home and drank up the medicine given for the bruises and applied the on the wound- healing neither his fever nor his bruises. in the same manner...

2172~DO BUDDHISTS BELIEVE IN GOD?

-- by Kusala Bhikshu
(An extract from the talk given at a high school in Los Angeles.)
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"To Buddha, the end of suffering is more important than God.

Then how everything in this world got started... "If you don’t have God in Buddhism then who or what caused the universe?"

When the Buddha was asked how the world started, he kept silent. In the religion of Buddhism we don’t have a first cause, instead we have a never ending circle of birth and death. In this world and in all worlds, there are many beginnings and ends. The model of life used in Buddhism has no starting place... It just keeps going and going.
So, God is not what Buddhism is about... Suffering is...But, Buddhist's don't believe God can end suffering. Only the teaching's of the Buddha can help us end suffering through wisdom and the activity of compassion."
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2171~ THE VEDANTA IN FOUR WORDS

THE VEDANTA IN FOUR WORDS!
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The great sage Ramana Maharishi once said that all of Vedanta could be compressed into just four words: "deham, naham, koham, soham"

Deham: The body
Naham: I am not
Koham: Who am I?
Soham: I am That

2159~ THE GOLDEN RULE

The "Golden Rule"

(a.k.a. Ethics of Reciprocity)
Passages from various religious texts:
Bahá'í Faith to Zoroastrianism:
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Bahá'í Faith:
 "Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not." "Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself." Baha'u'llah
"And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself." Epistle to the Son of the Wolf.
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Buddhism:
"...a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?" Samyutta NIkaya v. 353
"Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18
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Christianity:
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Matthew 7:12, King James Version.
"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." Luke 6:31, King James Version.
"...and don't do what you hate...", Gospel of Thomas 6. The Gospel of Thomas is one of about 40 gospels that circulated among the early Christian movement, but which never made it into the Christian Scriptures (New Testament).
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Confucianism:
 "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you" Analects 15:23
 "Tse-kung asked, 'Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?' Confucius replied, 'It is the word 'shu' -- reciprocity. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.'" Doctrine of the Mean 13.3
"Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence." Mencius VII.A
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Ancient Egyptian:
"Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do." The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, 109 - 110 Translated by R.B. Parkinson. The original dates to circa 1800 BCE and may be the earliest version of the Epic of Reciprocity ever written.
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Hinduism:
This is the sum of dharma (duty): "Do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you." Mahabharata 5:1517
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Islam:
"None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." Number 13 of Imam "Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths."
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Jainism:
"Therefore, neither does he [a sage] cause violence to others nor does he make others do so." Acarangasutra 5.101.
"In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self." Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara
"A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated. "Sutrakritanga 1.11.33
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Judaism:
"...thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.", Leviticus 19:18
"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary." Talmud, Shabbat 31a.
"And what you hate, do not do to any one." Tobit 4:15
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Taoism:
"“Regard your neighbour's gain as your gain, and your neighbour's loss as your own loss.” Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien
"To those who are good to me, I am good; to those who are not good to me, I am also good. Thus all get to be good."
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Zoroastrianism:
"That nature alone is good which refrains from doing to another  whatsoever is not good for itself." Dadisten-I-dinik, 94,5
"Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others." Shayast-na-Shayast 13:29
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(http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc2.htm)

2157~ A LITTLE PHILOSOPHY

"Philosophy is the No man's land between science and theology, exposed to attack from both the sides."
~Bertie Russell
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"The basic laws of the universe are simple, but because our senses are limited, we can’t grasp them. There is a pattern in creation…"
~Albert Einstein
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The karma garland!
"God gives you a garland made of all good and bad that you have done in previous lives. You have been born with that garland round your neck."
- Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba
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Animals may have the transmigrated souls of human ancestors. Therefore,  eating animal products is cannibalism.
~Pythagoras
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Ego (Aham) is like a shadow. The shadow is not real, yet it won't leave us so easily!
- Jaggi Vasudev
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COMMENTS :
Nakkeeran's comment :
"Animals may have the transmigrated souls of human ancestors. Therefore, eating animal products is cannibalism."~Pythagoras  

With reference to this view I recollect a saying by Pattinaththadigal in one of his songs as under, loosely translated to English.  " In my previous births, I could have been a parent to many a soul, so also I could have been a son or daughter to many others, I could have eaten the body of many of the souls and also could have been eaten by many other souls." That way I find a lot of convergence of thought between our Seers and western thinkers.

CNR's comment :
We believe in transmigration and we take a series of births before we are born as human beings, and we may be any living (any animal form) and nonliving form in between because we believe that the permanent soul wears dfferent bodies like our changing of clothes till all the karma wears off!
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Nakkeeran's comment :
"Ego (Aham) is like a shadow. The shadow is not real, yet it won't leave us so easily!"~Jaggi Vasudev    

To avoid the shadow, the solution is to become self illumined, which is easier said than being achieved.

2145~Anando Brahma (Don't add, delete)

2143 Religion

" Imagine, with John Lennon, 'a world with no religion'.

Imagine no suicide bombers, no 9/11, no 7/7, no crusades, no witch hunts, no gun powder plot, no Indian partition, no Israeli/ Palestinian war, no Serb/ Croat/ Muslim massacres, no persecution of Jews as 'Christ-killers', no Northern Ireland 'troubles', no 'honour killings', no shiny-suited bouffant haired televangelists fleecing gullible people of their money ( God wants you to give till it hurts). Imagine no Taliban to blow up ancient statues, no public beheading of blasphemers, no flogging of female skin for the crime of showing an inch of it."
-Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion)
There is no bad religion, but there are only bad people!
Followers of each religion, are indoctrinated to feel that their religion is superior to others and want to have hegemony over others using force. They die or kill for their religion but never live by the principles of their religion. Mankind has transformed one God into many religions. When each can realise that, God has no religion and all religions are born out of regional cultural differences and all are different paths leading to one God, then there will not be any conflict.
As Rabbi Rami Shapiro said:
"To me religions are like languages: no language is true or false; all languages are of human origin; each language reflects and shapes the civilization that speaks it; there are things you can say in one language that you cannot say or say as well in another; and the more languages you learn, the more nuanced your understanding of life becomes.
Judaism is my mother tongue, yet in matters of the spirit I strive to be multilingual.
In the end, however, the deepest language of the soul is silence."
Live and let live!

2133~ Rumi answers...

Rumi's answer to questions asked by a disciple -

What is Poison?
He replied with a beautiful answer - Anything which is more than our necessity is Poison. It may be Power, Wealth, Hunger, Ego, Greed, Laziness, Love, Ambition, Hate or anything

What is fear.....?
Non acceptance of uncertainty.
If we accept that uncertainty, it becomes adventure...!

What is envy ?
Non acceptance of good in others
If we accept that good, it becomes inspiration...!

What is Anger?
Non acceptance of things which are beyond our control.
If we accept, it becomes tolerance...!

What is hatred?
Non acceptance of person as he is.
If we accept person unconditionally, it becomes love...!
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2132.~ 😁HOLY BROTHELS!

A man is driving down a deserted stretch of highway
 when he notices a sign out of the corner of his eye...
 It reads:

SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION
 10 MILES

He thinks this is a figment of his imagination and drives on without second thought.

Soon he sees another sign which reads:

SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION
 5 MILES

Suddenly he begins to realize that these signs are for real and drives past a third sign saying:

SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION
 NEXT RIGHT

His curiosity gets the best of him and he pulls into the drive. On the far side of the parking lot is a stone building with a small sign next to the door reading:

SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS

He climbs the steps and rings the bell. The door is answered by a nun in a long black habitwho asks: 'What may we do for you, my son?'

He answers, 'I saw your signs along the highway and was interested in possibly doing business...'

'Very well, my son...Please follow me.' He is led through many winding passages and is soon quite disoriented. The nun stops at a closed door and tells the man: 'Please knock on this door.'

He does so and another nun in a long habit, holding a tin cup answers the door. This nun instructs: 'Please place $100 in the cup – then go through the large wooden door at the end of the hallway.'

He puts $100 in the cup, eagerly trots down the hall and slips through the door pulling it shut behind him.

The door locks, and he finds himself back in the parking lot facing another sign:

*GO IN PEACE.*

*YOU HAVE JUST BEEN SCREWED BY THE SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS.*

*SERVES YOU RIGHT, YOU SINNER!*

2129- Ganesha mantra

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=90wosrebjsM

2128~ GOD

"God sleeps in the rock,
dreams in the plant,
stirs in the animal,
and awakens in mankind."
(Sufi teaching)

2127- God is One!

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It is true, God is one.
Yes,as  per Advaita(like Sufism) too, God/ Brahman is one. Vedas too say "Ekam Sat, vipra bahuda vadanti"- God/Truth is one but wise call Him by different names.

To visualise an abstract God is difficult for us mortals. Each country has got a Flag. Flag is not the country. It symbolises the country. Likewise each  has got his own symbol to visualise/remind him of his deity- a Letter/a Book/a Kaba/ an Idol/ a Cross etc. A child cannot visualise the abstract alphabets. So we teach him alphabets through concrete objects like- A for apple, B for boy C for cat etc till such time he can fluently read.

Till we can understand the abstract (omnipotent/omnipresent/ omniscient) Brahman we worship the ideal behind symbols/ idols as  props and as our conscious expands we drop them.

Religions are man made, and ultimately what counts is man's relationship with God and the fellow human beings. If at all religion is to help, it should just help in finding the best way possible to live and let live.Therefore,now a days many lean towards spiritualism without religion.

2124- FAITH LOOKS UP 👆

THE BUZZARD
If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6′ x 8′ and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10-12′. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

THE BAT
The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and painfully until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

THE BUMBLEBEE
A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

PEOPLE
In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up. Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up.

Live simply, love generously, care deeply and speak kindly.

(Thanks GL Sampoorna)
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Here is a story about 'looking up' in faith :~
“A man … went one evening to steal corn from a neighbor’s field. He took his little boy with him to sit on the fence and keep a look-out, so as to give warning in case any one should come along. The man jumped over the fence with a large bag on his arm, and before commencing to take the corn he looked all around, first one way and then the other, and not seeing any person, he was just about to fill his bag. …
[The boy then called out]:~
“‘Father, there is one way you haven’t looked yet! … You forgot to look up.’”

2121- Vidhura neeti

2116- MIND

"Mind is memory, at whatever level, by whatever name you call it;
mind is the product of the past, it is founded on the past, which is memory, a conditioned state."
~ J.Krishnamurti.

2113- Inspiring story..retold. A Beautiful Message🌿

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Arthur Ashe, The Legendary Wimbledon Player was dying of AIDS which he got due to Infected Blood he received during a Heart Surgery in 1983!

He received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why did God have to select you for such a bad disease??"
To this Arthur Ashe replied: 50 Million children started playing Tennis, 5 Million learnt to play Tennis, 500 000 learnt Professional Tennis, 50 Thousand came to Circuit, 5 Thousand reached Grandslam,
50 reached Wimbledon, 4 reached the Semifinals, 2 reached the Finals and when I was holding the cup in my hand, I never asked God "Why Me?"
So now that I'm in pain how can I ask God "Why Me?"
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Happiness keeps you Sweet!!
Trials keeps you Strong!!
Sorrows keeps you Human!!
Failure keeps you Humble!!
Success keeps you Glowing!!
But,
only Faith keeps you Going.
Sometimes you are unsatisfied with your life,
while many people in this world are dreaming of living your life..
A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead &
dreams of flying.
But,
A pilot on the plane sees the farmhouse & dreams of returning home.
That's life!! Enjoy yours...
If wealth is the secret to happiness, then the rich should be dancing on the streets.
But only poor kids do.
If power ensures security, then VIPs should walk unguarded. But those who live simply, sleep soundly.
If beauty and fame bring ideal relationships,
then celebrities should have the best marriages.
Live simply.
Walk humbly.
and love genuinely..!
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2109- Islam