Hi there from Sean

[Sean]

Good day, I'm pleased to share a few thoughts here on the great Indian traditions on what looks like a fine discussion forum.

I'm from central England near Wolverhampton, a white male 41, from a Catholic upbringing but I've been interested in Hinduism long before I ever heard of the term- here’s a brief bio.

Early in 1989 I worked with someone a little older than me whose state of consciousness got me thinking and trying to make sense of people, psychology, ethics and personal development. I did an Indian philosophy course in the early 90s, a degree in Western philosophy with a project on the Self and its eastern conceptions, and by the end of the decade I had a vast file of notes on interconnections between Indian thought and several disciplines and areas of experience.

From 2003 I’ve been rewriting these again and maybe I’ll run a few ideas by you on future threads. I gave two talks while at Edinburgh university last year, to a Vedic society and a sceptics group: I'm not an academic though and my experience of S.Asian studies departments and conferences has been uninspiring.

My thinking of course lead me to also want to develop practical Hinduism and I’ve kept Vishnu and Shiva shrines for the last three years, performing simple pujas, again which I’d like to discuss a little.

I presently have some work abroad but in England happily I live on the same road as one of Europe’s largest Hindu temples, the Sri Venkateswara (Balaji) temple in Tividale West Midlands, consecrated in 2006 and modelled on Tirumala temple Andhra Pradesh. I’ve made visits to India on four occasions between 97 and 09, getting round the major regions.


HOWEVER I'M SURPRISED AND DISAPPOINTED THAT ALL POSTS HAVE TO BE SEEN BY A MODERATOR BEFORE APPEARING....

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam Sean: Welcome to these forums. Looking forward to your contributions.

Aum Namasivaya

[devotee]

Welcome, Sean ! :)

OM

[Believer]

Welcome Sean, and not so fast!

Only the first 10 or so posts are moderated before they show up in the forum. So have patience, put your best foot forward and show the higher consciousness that Hinduism has helped you develop. I, like everyone else in the forum was treated the same way. It is nothing new, just a way to discourage/check any commercial/inappropriate posts. Hope you will stick around and contribute to this fabulous forum.

Regards.

[TheOne]

HOWEVER I'M SURPRISED AND DISAPPOINTED THAT ALL POSTS HAVE TO BE SEEN BY A MODERATOR BEFORE APPEARING. NEEDLESS TO SAY THIS IS COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS AND CONTEMPTIBLE AND I'M CERTAINLY HAVING NO PART IN IT. I CAN ONLY ASSUME THERE ARE ULTERIOR REASONS FOR STOPPING PEOPLE IN THIS WAY. THE HELL WITH THIS. ADIEU.


Nothing like the smell of ego in the evening. As it was above stated it's only for the first 10 posts and if there isn't enough patience to handle that then I don't believe these would be the best forums for you as there are many different opinions and methods that all need to be respected.

[Eastern Mind]

ULTERIOR REASONS

Vannakkam: Christian spammers. Sales spammers. People shouting obscenities. Hindu haters. Childish trollers. Nerve pushers. Porn displayers. Incorrect linkers. Links to viruses. Angry people. Vulgar people. Annoyers. These are the moderators 'ulterior' few reasons for watching a few posts to see if they conform to the rules of one of the best Hindu forums on line.

Aum Namasivaya:)

[Ramakrishna]

Namaste Sean,

Welcome to HDF. You have a very interesting background. As someone who was born and raised as a Hindu, I always find it interesting how others have been drawn to Sanatana Dharma.

As other members have said, only your first ten posts have to be approved before they appear. There are a lot of reasons for this, and I think it is a good policy. We all had that happen to us for our first then posts. Please be patient, as I would very much like to hear your ideas and thoughts on Sanatana Dharma.

Jai Sri Ram

[Sean]

Hello folks. I'm still interested in the forum and hope to talk with you in the next few weeks, when indeed I'll have a little more free time. The policy of treating unknown people with suspicion and censorship is a mistake but here seems to be the best place for asking questions and talking a little philosophy.

[sunyata07]

Hello Sean,

Welcome to HDF. I'm glad you decided to give this place another try. Believe me, the "censorship" and policy of membership pending approval has been established for good reason. At worst, it's a wait of about a week before you're a fully approved poster on the forum. It's really not that long a wait. Otherwise this place would have long been flooded with ridiculous and insulting posts from some of the worst types of people Christianity and Islam has to offer on the internet.

I look forward to hearing some more from you on the board.

Om namah Shivaya

[Sahasranama]

Welcome, we all had to go through this system. Be patient, you will soon be allowed to post regularly. This system is good, I have no idea how many spammers Satay has to remove on a daily basis, but at least we as members don't have to respond to such people. When one person spams something, ten people will react and soon the quality of the forum will go down. I really appreciate this system, although it may result in people giving up too quickly on this forum. Sometimes, some spammer slips through the system, but they get removed later on. So if you really want to contribute to the discussions, be a little patient and everything will be fine.

[Adhvagat]

Hello folks. I'm still interested in the forum and hope to talk with you in the next few weeks, when indeed I'll have a little more free time. The policy of treating unknown people with suspicion and censorship is a mistake but here seems to be the best place for asking questions and talking a little philosophy.

Sean, every forum suffers from spam and everything Eastern Mind commented.

Do you leave your house and cars unlocked? Unless you live in a remote village, I guess not.

Locking your house and car is not treating strangers with suspicion. Unfortunately there are thieves, robbers, killers and what not.

The internet is the reflection of our world. ;)

[NayaSurya]

What I love most about the 10 post wait is the fact that is encourages a moment to read others teachings....and there in by you learn so much more than you ever would have if you had just been able to blindly post.

I began to read, and I never stopped....even today as I came here to learn...I stumbled upon this post.

When I joined this forum and I did not post for a very long time...I read much then too.

I did not feel worthy or that I have anything worth value to contribute. Though I still feel this way here amongst such higher beings...I have hopefully been able to contribute with lower, more mundane things.

One of the most wonderful things I am learning here is patience, such a lesson...even the 8children could not fully teach. It must come from even the other things such as here.

So grateful to have this lesson come from such Beloved Beings<3

[Believer]

When I joined this forum and I did not post for a very long time...I read much then too.

I did not feel worthy or that I have anything worth value to contribute. Though I still feel this way here amongst such higher beings...I have hopefully been able to contribute with lower, more mundane things.

"Higher Beings" ?
Are you sure you are in the right forum? ;)

[Sean]

Hi sunyata07, Sahasranama, Pietro Impagliazzo, NayaSurya & Believer

Thanks & well maybe I was mistaken in flouncing off. I've used a few forums before and the procedure usually is to give people the benefit of the doubt and take action when they do something inappropriate. But maybe there are more issues with religious forums- I guess I don't know(perhaps a little explanation in advance would help, I didn't see any anyway.)

[Sean]

A few photos of my local temple in the West Midlands, the Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist temple in Scotland I paid a visit to this year, and me at the Taj & Khajuraho & a shrine in Kolkata (on next post).


http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/Venkateswara%20temple%20England/Tividaletemple029.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/Venkateswara%20temple%20England/Tividaletemple021.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/Venkateswara%20temple%20England/Tividaletemple025.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/Samye%20Ling%20temple%20Scotland/IMG_0878.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/Samye%20Ling%20temple%20Scotland/IMG_0891.jpg

[Sean]

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/India/Ind-Bhu-Bang-Aus-Thai011.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/India/Ind-Bhu-Bang-Aus-Thai014.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/India/Ind-Bhu-Bang-Aus-Thai045.jpg

[NayaSurya]

*Looks around*

Yes and :p

[Adhvagat]

I consider a lot here higher than me. So I'd say yes.

[Ramakrishna]

Namaste Sean,

Very beautiful pictures! Now I'm definitely glad you decided to stay :D

Jai Sri Ram

[Sean]

Cheers Ramakrishna

I took this walking up to the temple next to Mother Teresa's dubious mission place in Kokata-

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/India/Ind-Bhu-Bang-Aus-Thai034.jpg

Entrance to the Konark temple, Orissa-

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/India/Ind-Bhu-Bang-Aus-Thai026.jpg

From a rooftop restaurant in Parahganj, if I remember

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/SeanMcHugh02/India/Ind-Bhu-Bang-Aus-Thai001.jpg

[sunyata07]

Thanks for sharing your lovely pictures with us, Sean. I hope we can see some more in the future. :)

Om namah Shivaya

[Shanti]

Welcome Sean!

Thank you for sharing your pics with us, they are lovely.

~S

[Sahasranama]

As you can see with the new member DarkForest, this waiting system is a necessity, but not always perfect. We should pray for the moderator to wake up from his sleep and slay the asuras. ;)

त्राहि मां त्राहि माम्
trāhi māṁ, trāhi mām

दैत्य तमोदारु से हमको रक्षा करे
daitya tamodāru se hamako rakṣā kare :p

[Sean]

Quick question for people- I have a couple of travelogues for trips of mine to India on file, of the order of 10 thousand words or so each, plus a whole bunch of photos. I'd be happy to whack them onto the site here if appropriate, and if someone could suggest which forum to use. Cheers.

[sunyata07]

Hi Sean,

Several members on HDF have already written about pilgrimmages and trips to India, and you can find them in the Canteen forum on the Lounge board. Maybe you could post your accounts there? If they are very big posts, it might not be unwise to first run it through with Satay, our admin.

Om namah Shivaya

[Sean]

Cheers.