greetings

[mgc]

Namaste,

I would like to express my thanks to those who created this forum. In the late 70's I attendedthe Vedanta society in RI. Then after some time I spent 20 years as an evangelical minister until I could not abide where that movement is headed. I have been back to reading the Gita and other works for the last couple of years. I hope in my membership here I can learn much to help me in my walk along a Hindu path.

humbly,
Mark

[Eastern Mind]

Namaste,

I would like to express my thanks to those who created this forum. In the late 70's I attendedthe Vedanta society in RI. Then after some time I spent 20 years as an evangelical minister until I could not abide where that movement is headed. I have been back to reading the Gita and other works for the last couple of years. I hope in my membership here I can learn much to help me in my walk along a Hindu path.

humbly,
Mark

Vannakkam mgc: That is one hard challenge you have set for yourself. I hope you're good at jumping chasms, because of any two faiths on the planet, these two are about as far apart as you can get.

Regardless of that, welcome to HDF, and I hope we can assist you in finding some sort of clarity and strength for this sojourn.

Aum Namasivaya

[mgc]

Namaste,

Eastern Mind thank you for your response. It is true that there is quite a jump learning a new system of thought. I have read some of Prabhupada's works but was disappointed with some of his remarks re Ramakrishna/Vivekananda. Prior to my Christian experience I had attended Vedanta Society in Rhode Island for 2 years or so. I am now reading various works on Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and Nikhilananda's Gita, having already read Prabhupada's Gita.

If by chance you are ISKCON I mean no offense, but with all the rumors of trouble I am more comfortable with Vedanta Society materials. Any thoughts from a more experienced person would be appreciated.

Thank you
Humbly yours
Mark

[Eastern Mind]

Namaste,

Eastern Mind thank you for your response. It is true that there is quite a jump learning a new system of thought. I have read some of Prabhupada's works but was disappointed with some of his remarks re Ramakrishna/Vivekananda. Prior to my Christian experience I had attended Vedanta Society in Rhode Island for 2 years or so. I am now reading various works on Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and Nikhilananda's Gita, having already read Prabhupada's Gita.

If by chance you are ISKCON I mean no offense, but with all the rumors of trouble I am more comfortable with Vedanta Society materials. Any thoughts from a more experienced person would be appreciated.

Thank you
Humbly yours
Mark

Vannakkam: Don't worry, I'm not ISKCON, yet, as Hindus, they are my brothers. I'm also not Vedantin, and you probably know more about that than I do. Hinduism is vast, and the way in which various Hindus practice it varies. Some go for philosophy, some for more practical cultural things, some love bhakti, etc. Probably the greatest misunderstanding westerners have is to think Hinduism is a one faith. More likely about 5.

I'm a bhaktar, and I would encourage you to go to the Lakshmi temple in Framingham near Boston. http://www.srilakshmi.org/default.aspx The philosophy without some direct experience of it in practice does not stand well alone. It may work for some, but a more well-rounded sense of Hinduism may be gained from experiences.

Aum Namasivaya

[Believer]

Namaste,

Welcome to the forum mgc.

To reinforce EM's thoughts, some may choose to become scriptural/philosophical faith experts and others may learn the basics and be more experiential. For an average person, living the faith is more important. Developing the debating skills, with philosophical thought as the background, is more of an intellectual curiosity and a way to communicate with like minded people. But, bhakti, the practice is what lifts a person to higher levels.

In the wide spectrum of Hindu gurus and holy men who have touched the Western shores, many have tried to show that their lineage represents the true essence of Hinduism. The trick is to take what is palatable and move on without disparaging what could be offensive. In that regard, ISKCON has come under attack form other sects as have others from ISKCON. Remembering to take the best from each source and letting the rest alone, brings one wisdom and solace. No good purpose is served by analysis aimed at being able to point fingers. The analysis must eventually serve the seeker to take the best course, and not be used to belittle any particular path.

Pranam.

[Amrut]

Namaste,

I would like to express my thanks to those who created this forum. In the late 70's I attendedthe Vedanta society in RI. Then after some time I spent 20 years as an evangelical minister until I could not abide where that movement is headed. I have been back to reading the Gita and other works for the last couple of years. I hope in my membership here I can learn much to help me in my walk along a Hindu path.

humbly,
Mark

Namaste,

Welcome to the forums. I practice Advaita Vedanta.

ISKON is not following traditional Advaita Vedanta. Their Gita Commentary is not according to Adi Shankaracharya and looks non-traditional to me. There are many various commentaries which focus on Karma, Bhakti, Jnana and Yog. It all depends. Gita covers all paths. ISKON follows bhakti and they try to attract Youth and so they roganize functions and seminars that can attract youth.

Vivekananda's commentries are one of the best ones and very clear ones.

you may have a look at http://www.ocoy.org/welcome/

They have connected Christianity and Hindu Dharma / Sanatana Dharma

Alternatively you can try ot Read books by Kriya Yoga saints. You will find a tinge of christianity.

There are good books written by Swami Rama and swami Sukhbodhananda. Swmai Sukhbodhananda's books are very good.

Aum

Indiaspirituality

[IcyCosmic]

Namaste MGC, I wholeheartedly welcome you to the glorious HinduDharma forums!

[Believer]

Namaste,

Am I to infer from some of the comments above that,

if you are young and a non-traditional-advaita-vedanta follower, you should read the ISKCON version.

if you are a traditional-advaita-vedanta follower, you should read Vivekananda's commentaries

if you are of mish-mash xitian/hindu leanings, you should read the OCOY version

if you are a dvaita follower, you should read xxxx version

if you are a tri-vaita or quad-vaita or higher-vaita follower you should read my version? :)

No wonder, some of the new people coming here get thoroughly confused.

Pranam.

[Eastern Mind]

No wonder, some of the new people coming here get thoroughly confused.

Pranam.

Vannakkam: Just new people? Please don't leave me out of this lot. I want to be a member of the confused bunch too. :)

Aum Namasivaya

[Amrut]

Namaste,

Am I to infer from some of the comments above that,

if you are young and a non-traditional-advaita-vedanta follower, you should read the ISKCON version.

if you are a traditional-advaita-vedanta follower, you should read Vivekananda's commentaries

if you are of mish-mash xitian/hindu leanings, you should read the OCOY version

if you are a dvaita follower, you should read xxxx version

if you are a tri-vaita or quad-vaita or higher-vaita follower you should read my version? :)

No wonder, some of the new people coming here get thoroughly confused.

Pranam.

If I understand you correctly, you are trying to say - it's too many choices followed by frame of Reference.

That is because on Gita there are more than 10,000,00 (10 lac) commentaries.

New comer will be overwhelmed. Different saints and authors having different mindsets will interpret same thing in different way. too many God's, too many approaches, too many shastras, shaiva, vaishnava, dvaita, advaita, etc - it's already confusing and too much for people coming from another religion which have more or less one approach and one or few spiritual texts.

Gita has 3 paths, Karma, Bhakti, Jnana. It also covers Yog. A person following Jnana marg will interpret Gita in one way i.e. from standpoint of Jnana, while the one following Yog will interpret in different.

If you Read Gita by Paramhansa Prajnanananda, the title of the book says, Bhagavad Gita in light of Kriya Yoga'

If you read Swami Tadrupanand's or Swami Chinmayananda Gita, it will more concentrate on Jnana.

Kriya Yogi's interpretation will be on prana and breath. They have also written commentary on Adi Shankaracharya's advaita prakaran granth - Vivek Chudamani. Read their and Chinmaya's or Tadrupanand's interpretation. You will see the difference.

Now if I am trying to filter the choices, is it increasing clarity and saving time or is it creating confusion?

Mind will be shaped and one begins to develop an approach and thinking in a particular way after reading a shastra many times. Then it infuses into your blood and veins. But if you read which is not according to your prakruti, then it will be difficult to digest and apply practically.

I am, in no way a religious scholar nor an authority on spirituality, but instead of R & D part, which one has to go through, I feel it's better to streamline various options. I have not recommended Read only this author's Gita.

I am doing this because I have gone through and have seen many people and friends going to a bookstall and picking up the book, many times one with 'good packaging'. Then they visit another bookstall after sometime or after someone's recommendation, try another book. Now he/she gets totally confused after reading another book.

It happens because you are not satisfied by one's comment, so try another author.

I say try Vivekananda's books, because I feel they may suit OP. OP is free to try or not to try. I wont complain OP's mummy ;)

P.S. ISKON does not go for advaita vedanta. It's more concentrated on bhakti, as far as I know

sorry for being off-topic.

Rest depends upon you.

Aum

IS

[Believer]

Namaste IS,

I appreciate your participation and your willingness to help out with the inquiries in the forum. I am encouraging you to be more focused, as ramblings and mis-statements take something away from a person's credibility. I will point out 2-3 statements and leave it at that.

1. There is no organization called ISKON, it is ISKCON - International Society for Krishna CONsciousness.
2. "Gita there are more than 10,000,00 (10 lac) commentaries" - one would be hard pressed to come up with a list of over a million published commentaries on BG, available either online or in bookstores.
3. This is a Hinduism forum. Why steer people towards OCOY ? They may go there by themselves, but we are not here to propagate a xitian view of SD.

Thank you for your kindness in trying to reach out to new people.
BTW, in the Bhagwad Gita section of the forum, there is a long list of suggested translations. Perhaps you could update it with your inputs at the following link.

http://hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=4866

Pranam.

[Amrut]

Namaste IS,

I appreciate your participation and your willingness to help out with the inquiries in the forum. I am encouraging you to be more focused, as ramblings and mis-statements take something away from a person's credibility. I will point out 2-3 statements and leave it at that.

1. There is no organization called ISKON, it is ISKCON - International Society for Krishna CONsciousness.
2. "Gita there are more than 10,000,00 (10 lac) commentaries" - one would be hard pressed to come up with a list of over a million published commentaries on BG, available either online or in bookstores.
3. This is a Hinduism forum. Why steer people towards OCOY ? They may go there by themselves, but we are not here to propagate a xitian view of SD.

Thank you for your kindness in trying to reach out to new people.
BTW, in the Bhagwad Gita section of the forum, there is a long list of suggested translations. Perhaps you could update it with your inputs at the following link.

http://hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=4866

Pranam.

Namaste Believer,

Thank you very much for pointing out my mistake. I will certainly keep in mind.

Regarding the typo - no matter how hard I try, my posts are never free of typos :(

Regarding commentaries, it should have been atleast 10 lac different commenraties - again a tranlation error. I recall statement from discourses I have heard which are in Gujarati and then translate it into English where I mess up.

Regarding oyoc. They are preaching hinduism and not christianity. They have some quality posts. Since they corelate it with christianity, people from christian background would find it easy to shift when they see underlying principles are same.

Once again I thank you for and very much appreciate your advice.

Sorry about hijacking this thread OP

Aum

[mgc]

Namaste

Thank you to all who have replied to my postings. As I look at Sri Ramakrishna 's teachings in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna I see that there is room for following bhakti yoga as well the teachings of Vedanta, bhakti being recommended in this age. This is a path I can relate to.

For those who have recommended that I attend a temple here or there I just wanted to say thank you. I don't get out much. I have 7 broken vertebrae in my spine which limits my driving radius severely. I would like to get to Vedanta Society in Boston but it is an hour each way plus the time of the satsang. It would be impossibly painful to do.

It is why I am so thankful for this forum.

Humbly
Mark

[Eastern Mind]

Namaste

Thank you to all who have replied to my postings. As I look at Sri Ramakrishna 's teachings in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna I see that there is room for following bhakti yoga as well the teachings of Vedanta, bhakti being recommended in this age. This is a path I can relate to.

For those who have recommended that I attend a temple here or there I just wanted to say thank you. I don't get out much. I have 7 broken vertebrae in my spine which limits my driving radius severely. I would like to get to Vedanta Society in Boston but it is an hour each way plus the time of the satsang. It would be impossibly painful to do.

It is why I am so thankful for this forum.

Humbly
Mark

Vannakkam Mark: The reason I recommend temples is that sometimes people don't realise the depth of their Christian programming, and going directly to that style of bhakti can help them 'cut to the chase' so to speak.

I am a host at my temple and occasionally we've had interfaith classes from the local Lutheran or Baptist colleges come as a field trip study in their World Religions class. these are university aged kids. The routine is to have a brief introduction, observe a puja done in the traditional way, then go downstairs for a question/answer session.

Because of the option given to 'walk out if you feel uncomfortable' in the introduction, often some students do leave. Then when I return to the basement, they can't look at me or they go sit on their bus. So it serves a purpose, them realising just how Christian they are, and that Hindus, as they expected, are heathens who will be going to hell. Still there are a few who aren't quite so rigidly programmed and stick around for the question and answer session.

Vedanta societies aren't quite s in your face as that process, and the 'truth' can be delayed. In my experience, Vedanta Societies drastically tone down bhakti, in part because its just more universal, and may Christians will be there.

So the next best ting I can think of is to watch bhakti videos like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FgR5AeAvTE

Best wishes , Aum namasivaya

[Amrut]

Namaste

Thank you to all who have replied to my postings. As I look at Sri Ramakrishna 's teachings in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna I see that there is room for following bhakti yoga as well the teachings of Vedanta, bhakti being recommended in this age. This is a path I can relate to.

For those who have recommended that I attend a temple here or there I just wanted to say thank you. I don't get out much. I have 7 broken vertebrae in my spine which limits my driving radius severely. I would like to get to Vedanta Society in Boston but it is an hour each way plus the time of the satsang. It would be impossibly painful to do.

It is why I am so thankful for this forum.

Humbly
Mark

Hello Mark

If you cannot go out, then better to listen discourses at home. Swami Chinmaya has Bhagavad Gita DVD, but it's costly.

If you can manage any audio recodring from the monks of Sri Ramakrishna order, it would be very helpful.

Regarding Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, there are 2 versions available.

One is slightly edited and another is word-to-word translation. I personally prefer word-to-word translation. Please refer http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/ for more details

Bhakti hs the foundation of spirituality. Even Sri Raman Maharshi, who practiced and taught Advaita Vedanta, used to pray to God to give Bhakti like Sri Ramakrishna in his early days before leaving his home to Arunachala.

Surrender and devotional and faith helps one to easily meditate, be it on dvaita or advaita or Yog. Depending upon your nature, prakruti ans samskara, later one is shifted to eighter pure bhakti, like that of Sri Ramakrishna or to Jnana Marg like Sri Ramana Maharshi.

Both are needed. They help each other. Without knowledge, bhakti is less beneficial. Without bhakti jnana is just dry philosophy.

As EM has said, people following any one path will praise that path and tone down another. Nothin wrong until you say, mine path is the best (that suits me). It causes trouble when you one say, my path is the only path that is true, all other paths are wrong. those who are inspired by Sri Ramakrishna respect all religious sentiment, but follow only one, as main path, as one is enough.

Good luck for your spiritual journey.

Aum

P.S. I am not getting email notifications for new replies :(

[satay]

namaskar,



P.S. I am not getting email notifications for new replies :(

Did you use to? When was the last time it worked for you?
I will look into it.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté mark,
We welcome you to HDF - may it be rewarding.

Each member's posts above are valid and worthy of merit. Reading the bhāgavad gītā ( part of the mahābhārata) is a great place to start one's journey. In just 700 verses , all of the veda-s have been condensed for one's kind consideration into the bhāgavad gītā. Yet there is more to consider. So let me expand on a few ideas... I ask your pardon for my long winded-ness.


To come to appreciate the depth and breath of sanātana dharma ( some prefer to just call hinduism) , one must get comfortable with the various views. No different then any other philosophy ( including Christianity), there are different considerations.
In our sanātana dharma which is ārṣa dharma based (ārṣa = relating or belonging to or derived from ṛṣi-s, our seers of truth) we tend to look to various schools of thought... let me explain.


If we look at Reality there is a view of vyāvahātika¹ - the ordinary, the manifest and and we have the unmanifest, some call the transcendent, Supreme, nirguṇa brahman , or pāramārthika¹.
Yet Reality = vyāvahātika + pāramārthika ( the manifest or the world of diversity + the transcendent). Reality is the amalgamation of both, and even dividing them in to 2 causes some separateness in the mind.
This is where our schools of thought come in. It is how we ( in general) view these two levels aforementioned:

advaita - no seperateness or not two - unity
dvaita - seperateness or 2 - diversity
viśiṣṭādvaita - seperate yet unity-in-diversityWe can read of these views, these points of reference starting with the 6 schools (saḍ darśana) of Indian thought¹. The schools are genreally divided as Orthodox and Unorthodox views: āstika or 'there is or exists' and nāstika or na+ astika 'it is not so' . The 6 referred to here are the following:

śāṁkhya
yoga
vedānta
mīmāṃsā
nyāya
vaiśeṣikaFor the ṣaḍ-darśana ( 6 schools) one could in general group the 6 into 3 pairs :

yoga & sāṁkhya
mimāṁsā & vedānta
nyāya & vaiśeṣika Yet these schools are viewing the same Reality, but arrive at a different conclusion of how this Reality ~looks~. The ~looks~ of śaivism or vaisṅavism or śākta (śāktism) may be different , yet the Reality is the same.

In ~general~ there are 6 schools of śaivism that I can count (also with multiple flavors and spinoffs that I cannot count in full)

kaśmīr śaivism is the one I gravitate to and am most comfortable with, yet there are 5 more:
śaiva siddhāna
Paśupāta śaivism
Vira śaivism some call liṅgāyat śaivism
śiva advaita also called śiva viśishṭāvaita
siddha siddhānaThis is just one example... some say there are 16 schools. There is a post on this, but staying with the 6 fundamental schools offered above will create a firm foundation. My point is, becoming well-rounded and getting to know the various views my serve your purposes. For me, it has been a delight to consider mutiple views, as it has balanced the intellect and given respect to many other beliefs.

praṇām

words


vyāvahātika = vya+ ava+ hātika = to cover + away + hari ( harika is 'like hari') and hari here is viṣṇu, the supreme. ( my translation only)
pāramārthika - relating to a high or spiritual object or to supreme truth , real , essential , true
Where can one view ( compare and contrast) these 6 views? One book ( a set of 2 volumes) that I am fond of is called : The Systems of Indian Philosophy, by Subodh Kapoor.

[Amrut]

namaskar,

Did you use to? When was the last time it worked for you?
I will look into it.

Namaskar,

Yes, I have set to automatically subscribe for instant email notification.

I have observed a one thing.

This has happened couple of times with me when any new member, under moderation, replies. It takes time to moderate and maybe when it's approved vbulletin does not send email notification.

If an approved member replies, I get instant email notification. This time, got notification of your reply from same thread.

Another e.g. is What is the path of liberation in Advaita (http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=10340)

Hope this helps.

Aum