Hello Friends and fellow 'travellers'

[sva]

Namaste,

As with most introductions, I too shall start with : I'm from | - stumble ...
the thing is, my grandfather migrated to Ahmedabad from UP, and my family has been there since. I was born & brought up there, so ought to be a Gujju. But, I have now myself migrated to Switzerland, so... "I'm from India" works best for me - methinks!

Life so far has been an extreme roller coaster ride - or perhaps 'ferris-wheel' would be more appropriate in view of our dharma's understanding of the cyclical nature of the universe, manifest in our own existence. With each cycle came innumerable questions - and some answers too. Like so many others exploring dharma, i too am plagued with the usual conflicts of 'right / wrong' ; 'logic / emotion' ; 'prarabdha / purushartha' etc.

I serendipitously stumbled upon a post by 'yajvan' through a Google search - explored around a bit in other posts, and immediately decided to join, hoping to find some more answers here.

While many of us 'chew' on the above conflicts, some have begun to 'digest' them, and yet others (yajvan perhaps) have actually started to find them 'palatable' - i do not use the word 'tasty' because ideally it should not matter. What perhaps really matters is just 'to be'.

The problem however, is not in the knowing, but practicing. Unlike the bard, my problem is not 'to be or not to be' but how to 'just be' !!

Jay Sri Krishna.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: Welcome to HDF. Hope you get something out of this place.

Aum Namasivaya

[Believer]

Namaste,

Welcome to the forum. Hope to hear lot more from you. What area of Switzerland, if I may ask?

Pranam.

PS, you may or may not like the designation of being a Gujju, but the sign off on your post identifies you as one as 'Jay Sri Krishna' greeting is quintessentially Gujju, and they are the only ones who spell the Hindi/Sanskrit word 'Jai' as 'Jay'

[sva]

Thanks EasternMind and Believer for the welcome.

There is so much going on here, at so many levels - that i'm sure to get something out of it - the egg being veg/non-veg debate f.ex.

Believer, your intuition serves you well - i am total Gujju at heart !!! + it has been my karma-bhoomi till 2010, when we moved to central Switzerland, near Berne. How about you? You seem to be very familiar with Gujarati culture

Jay Sri Krishna

[Believer]

Namaste,

Over 70% of the Indian immigrant population in the US is of Gujarati origin. So, Indians of all other ethnicities know a thing or two about their culture. Please start using the right word Jai, instead of Jay.

Pranam.

[Eastern Mind]

Namaste,

Over 70% of the Indian immigrant population in the US is of Gujarati origin.

Vannakkam: Really? Wow. Who compiles such statistics?

Aum Namasivaya

[sva]

Namaste,

to me 'jai' transliterates as जाई / जै ; whereas 'jay' = जय : with a strong 'y' sound.
I can understand the confusion - esp in English speaking countries - where Jay can sound like the proper name pronounced 'J' . BTW the official text of our national anthem uses 'Y' - the word however is 'jaya'.

In any case - as both lead to Krishna / Krushna / Krsna - it's fine. After all, many paths : one God!!

Jay Shri Krishna

[Believer]

Namaste,

I am sorry, did not mean to impose my thinking on you.
जय is the right sound, no matter how you write/spell it, and you are doing the right thing. Most Gujratis however, write and pronounce Jay as the letter 'J' and not as जय. That gets to be amusing and annoying at the same time.

Who compiles such statistics?

This number is thrown around at Indian events, and the crowds at any of the major religious/cultural celebrations confirm it.
I am told that in some areas of Gujrat, the entire villages, including the maids and servants have immigrated to the US. Just kidding!

Pranam.

[Eastern Mind]

This number is thrown around at Indian events, and the crowds at any of the major religious/cultural celebrations confirm it.
I am told that in some areas of Gujrat, the entire villages, including the maids and servants have immigrated to the US. Just kidding!

Pranam.

Vannakkam: I do doubt the stat, but it may be because I have a South bias. It doesn't really matter of course, just trivia. It's hard to find any valid research on it, or if there even has been much. According to this http://www.migrationinformation.org/...lay.cfm?id=785 two thirds of Indian immigrants reported one of three languages : Hindi, Punjabi, or Gujarati, ... and of course we have lots of people who would know more than one.

Here in Canada, I suspect its Punjabi followed by Hindi or Tamil, Tamil only because of the large population of Sri Lankans who fled the war.

Aum Namasivaya

[sva]

Namaste,

You know, Believer and Eastern Mind, you guys are fortunate to have a somewhat sizable Indian community in your respective countries of living. Here in Switzerland, esp Fribourg - where i live - while there are plenty of Sri Lankan Tamils, Indians are few and far between.

Anyway, enough on demographics, i think. Since both of you are senior members (and also senior to me in age) and i a newbie, i would really, really appreciate any tips / links to other forum pages that you may have for me w.r.t my dilemma of the how to just be. Or is it that i am way off mark in my understanding of the situation? in which case, i would feel obliged and grateful for being pointed in the right direction.

Each time i try to confront this 'how to just be' in my mind - i end up staring into the cold eyes of the logic of the causality of my own (current) actions and their (logically) expected result. Perhaps, in my definition of being 'unattached' to the results of my actions - i am too harsh on myself? what answer do i give to the logic of causality?

Jay Shri Krishna