Provocative Hindu Topics for westerners

[Bhaktajan II]

Here are some suggested topics for teachers of Hindu theology, history, and meta-physics from the 'Vedas' of India:


1) Vedas=Knowledge. Knowledge is defined in the Vedas as the ability to discriminate the difference between matter and spirit.
The famous first verse of the Rig-Veda: "om atha-atho brahma-jigyansah" Now, therefore, in the human form of life we should inquire as to nature of Brahman (the Supreme Personality of Godhead).

2) God=The original Supreme Personality of Godhead, Shree Krishna who is infinitely full in all opulences ("Bhagavan"), specifically:
God is the original person who possesses all Beauty, Fame, Intelligence, Power, Wealth, and Renunciation;
also,
God is the first person, with his own eternal and transcendental name, fame, form, personality, paraphernalia, entourage and pastime.
God's body is the absolute form of 'Sat-Chit-Ananda'—Eternity. Cognizance, and Bliss

2A) The 5 topics of discussion addressed in the Bhagavad-gita:


Three are eternal:
1 Isvara - (Controller) - God
2 Jiva-atma – (Indiviual Soul) - Living Entity
3 Prakriti – Energy (Material & Spiritual)
4 Kala – “Time”


One is transient:
5 Karma – Action = a) artha—wealth, abundance b) kama—enjoyment, pleasure
c) dharma—work, duty

3) Definition of 'Yoga' = to link up to, to re-unite (also see entomology of the word 'religion'.)


4) Ayur-Vedic medicine and Hatha Yoga=holistic use of Herbs and physical therapy.


5) Mantra Meditation=classical sitting silent prayer.

6) The three stages of yoga practice=
A) Karma-yoga, yoga of action.
B) Sankya-yoga, yoga of analytical study of scripture.
C) Bhakti-yoga, yoga of Devotion to Krishna

7) The three progressive stages of yogic enlightenment


I) Brahman-Realization, ---the impersonal manifestation of God, nothingness, the field, the void; Brahman is also used as a general reference for God, et al.

II) Paramatma Realization, the presence of god as the nucleus of every inanimate spark and particle of matter and energy in the universe, and also god as present in every animate individual soul as the witnessing 'Supersoul'—hence the word, 'Param (super) atma' (soul)

[ Note: Conscience living beings are capable, by birth-right, of progressing through the following 5 stages of spiritual maturity:


A) anna-maya = recognize the manifest mercy of god as 'food'.
B) prana-maya = recognize god as 'living force in all life forms'.
C) Sankya-maya=recognize god as 'thinking, willing, and feeling'.
D) vigyana-maya= 'mind and ego seen different from the soul'.
E) ananda-maya= 'all-blissful nature' Via prema-bhakti-seva. (loving devotional service to Krishna

III) Bhagavan Realization, God as he is reveal in the Vedas of India—(krsnas tu bhagavan svayam . . . )

8) The "3 Gunas" = 'sattva, raja, & tamas' = respectively, the “Qualities of Creation, Maintenance, & Desolution”---the “3 material principle forces” that propel the aggregate material elements into flux—[this may be paralleled to the "ying and yang principles of Duality as expounded in Taoist and Buddhist metaphysics"; the difference being that there is the third/middle principle of Duality per Vedic metaphysics. This third principle parallels the small black and white dots found in the classic Chinese symbol of ‘ying & yang’.]
The Vedas say that all ‘Actions’ are always affected by one of the “three modes” vying for, and achieving dominance over the other two ‘modes’ during their innate interplay with all material elements and in all stratums of material affairs.
Ed.note: Thus, the source of Murphy’s Law, Chaos theory, Bad luck, Irony.

8A) The Modes (‘3 Gunas’) and their attributes (from Bhagavad-gita)

8B) 4 defects “flaws of conditioned soul= mistakes; illusioned; cheating; imperfect senses”

9) 'Sanskrit' alphabet's arrangement=same as established by professional theatre school text books to teach 'International Phonetics' (I.P.A.) so as to teach "Dialects and Accent-Elimination". [note: Professor Higgins in the G.W. Shaw's play, 'My Fair Lady' introduces himself as a professor of Linguistics and a scholar of Sanskrit.]

10) "Indo-European" languages =Sanskrit's position in this family tree is indicated by the word 'Indo'. [Ed. Surmises that the word ‘Europa’ can equate to the following Sanskrit compound word: ‘Uru-purusa, Uru (vast) + purusa (person)

11) 'Maha-Bharata' =5000 year old Epic of ancient India describing the court intrigue and culture of Brahminical India during the end of the last [dwarpa yuga] epoch.

 

[Bhaktajan II]

12) 'Bhagavad-gita' =after reading the Tao te ching, and the Art of War, and Book of Five Rings, and the Japanese Code of Bushido, the Buddhist Sutras, after life times of monastic contemplation and services to humanity one might read a authorized translation of the 'Bhagavad-gita' as it is; see A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami's edition for this great spiritual 700 versed dialogue translated from the chapter in the Ancient Sanskrit Epic of Antiquity, the 'Maha-Bharata' in its original Devotional Tradition.

13) The Two Schools of thought=the Theist—Vaishnava devotee of Krishna (bhagavata school) & the Impersonalist---the seeker of release from the individual ego and attain refuge and thus merge in the primodial impersonal state of nirvana (sunyavada school). [Ed note: The individual vector point of the soul is 'active by nature', thus nirvana is not eternal.]

14) Vegetarianism is all about ‘AHIMSA—non-violence”. Not about our sentiments. Meatless living is all about warding-off bad (ugra-) karma for humans. It’s not about compassion for the animals welfare but about the welfare of children being indoctrinated into a life based on killing inorder to live up to a false standard of ‘living’.

15) Chakras=the balanced circulation of prana amongst the energy centers along the spine that correspond to functional aspects of a person [ie: throat chakra/speech, Head chakra/mind, bottom chakra/tribal-clan relations, etc.]

16) "Maya"= the Cosmic Material Energy' recognized as a field of temporary matter and energy in flux, whence, the soul appears, to lord it over as best as can be had. All the whilst identifying with the present body, which was afforded by the fruits of prior actions.

17) Karma & Reincarnation=Karma means, 'action'. All living creatures Eat/sleep/mate/defend---one must rise above the mundane order of life and death. We are all destined to take repeated births in various bodies until we are re-acquainted with The grace of Mukunda (a name for Krishna---the sole Bestower of Liberation from the material ocean of repeated births and deaths—since time immemorial). This is done by approaching the top experts in the world authorized to instruct novices in the science of Bhakti-yoga.

18) Priyas-citta= (traditional atonement) pursued at the end of household life, or after legal retirement. Typically, to surrender all wealth and remain in ashram life till death.

19) Polytheism=This is a misnomer. The many Demigods of the Indian religion are actually India's Vedic Literature's claim to have a record of the family tree(s) of the superintendents of cosmic affairs since time immemorial, nay, since the first moment that the ‘present Brahma’(-anda) was exhaled from Maha-Vishnu's Breathing, etc, etc, etc . . .

20) The cow is sacred because = the cow is the quintessentially perfect species for agrarian society—the husband of the cow ‘the bull’ is the best beast of burden for farm life; the cow gives milk, cheese(s), yogurt, butter, panir, ghee, ice cream, whip cream, caramel sweets, medicinal urine, fuel, fertilizer. Oxen, leather.

21) Common words and concepts in the English lexicon derived from Sanskrit = mantra, yoga, guru, pundit, swami, kundalini, prana, Buddha, Brahma-Bull, sacred cow, bungalow, yoke, Lapsa- apsa, use of spices in cooking, ghee, Indiana, Europe, Juggernaut, ganja, oriental carpets, untouchables, the three Wise Men of Christ's birth, India considered the 'Crown Jewel' of the British Empire of old.

22) Politically sensitive topics, ie:
—The Indian and Buddhist 'Svastika' symbol = symbol denoting auspiciousness---it was usurped by the German dictator during World War II to rally citizens to kill the Jewish populace.

—The cow is the quintessentially perfect species for agrarian society—the husband of the cow ‘the bull’ is the best beast of burden for farm life; the cow gives milk, cheese(s), yogurt, butter, panir, ghee, ice cream, whip cream, maha-prashad sweets, medicinal urine, fuel, fertilizer & agrabatti.

—Our B-Rabbinical breatheren, the Jews, the descendents of Judah, who make Koshering of meat a religious ritual are the authorities that we must go to argue with, armed with scriptural references, to convince the Biblical scholars of the extent of the consequences of meat eating; especially the cow.

23) The Sanskrit word 'Arayan' = [those noblesse, who adhere to the Vedas]—also usurped by the German dictator during World War II to rally citizens to kill the Jewish populace.
Note: this word is the source of the Persian word Iran and hence 'Arab', Mt Arrarat, and Iraq.

24) The cover of Jimmy Hendrix's Double Album 'Axis' (sic?) = contains himself and his band members' faces superimposed over that of the multi-faces of 'Visnu's Universal form'---this Universal form is from the Bhagavad-gita.

25) —The very beginning of the child's film "The Muppit Movie" contains Kermit the frog ask, "Have you tried Hare Krishna?"

—Charles Dickens’ 19th Century English novel “Oliver Twist” [about the orphan boy named Oliver] starts with the Schoolmaster of the orphan-asylum arriving at the home of the new foster parents, inorder to the retrieve Oliver whose tantrums had made trouble for himself and his newest adopting parents. Upon arriving at the home, the Schoolmaster unlocked the closet whence the boy was arrested by the parent. As he drags the boy back to the orphanage the Schoolmaster scolded the parents thus, “I told you not to feed the boy meat, I told you to feed him porridge”.

26) 'Ekadasi' = one must check their local Iskcon temple for the local 'adjusted' time/day of ekadasi's appearance since the start of a lunar cycle is calculated per one's relative location on the planet. That's why some dates are a day apart. This is a detailed subject matter. 'Ekadasi' is the 11th day after both the waxing moon and the waning moon during each month.

 

[Bhaktajan II]

BTW:
Why is "Hare Krishna" listed as a new religion on these forums?
"Hare Krishna" is the mantra chanted by "Hare Krishna" devotees.
"Hare Krishna" devotees, tenets, dogma, scriptures are all
ultra-orthodox Vedic traditions.
"Hare Krishna" devotees are orthodox hindus ---and that is what they preach.

Yes, they are the first to proselytize in the History of creation ---esp outside India.

 

[iBrian]

BTW:
Why is "Hare Krishna" listed as a new religion on these forums?
"Hare Krishna" is the mantra chanted by "Hare Krishna" devotees.
"Hare Krishna" devotees, tenets, dogma, scriptures are all
ultra-orthodox Vedic traditions.
"Hare Krishna" devotees are orthodox hindus ---and that is what they preach.

Yes, they are the first to proselytize in the History of creation ---esp outside India.

ISKCON is a unique movement, founded in the US in the 1960's. Hence why listed as a "modern religion".

 

[Bhaktajan II]

ISKCON is a unique movement, founded in the US in the 1960's. Hence why listed as a "modern religion".

I am proud and happy that the "Hare Krishna mantra chanting" school of esoteric and orthodox Hinduism has its own unique podium ---but the Krishna Conscious movement is "New" because of one trait:
"Preaching to outsiders" ---Preaching to outsiders was un-presidented in history ---and IMO, thank God there ain't no competition from so-called Yoga-Groups and some charismatic Yogi-masters, that were the vogue fad of all the trappings of the 1960's world scene.

Because of the "Scheduled Avatara" apprearence of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his revelation and mission statement . . . the Kali-Yuga Dharma has been explicitedly prescribed, ergo "Hare Krishna".

The "Approach" propagated by ISKCON (International Society --- for: KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS).

Iskcon simply introduced the ballsy approach of "Leaving India" or "Leaving the confinds of a comfortable Ashram" and delivering Gitas to the earth's denisens for the first time.

Iskcon is not new. Iskcon is a transplanted ambassador-ship of old-world Hinduism amongst the greater world of non-Hindus.

Iskcon is explicitedly mandated to be a staunch representatives of bonefide & orthodox Hinduism ---revealing the benefits of "Yogic sadhana" un-hindered by the confinds of "brahman-ism by biological inheritence only" caste restrictions.

 

[murugan]

Here are some suggested topics for teachers of Hindu theology, history, and meta-physics from the 'Vedas' of India:


1) Vedas=Knowledge. Knowledge is defined in the Vedas as the ability to discriminate the difference between matter and spirit.
The famous first verse of the Rig-Veda: "om atha-atho brahma-jigyansah" Now, therefore, in the human form of life we should inquire as to nature of Brahman (the Supreme Personality of Godhead).

2) God=The original Supreme Personality of Godhead, Shree Krishna who is infinitely full in all opulences ("Bhagavan"), specifically:
God is the original person who possesses all Beauty, Fame, Intelligence, Power, Wealth, and Renunciation;
also,
God is the first person, with his own eternal and transcendental name, fame, form, personality, paraphernalia, entourage and pastime.
God's body is the absolute form of 'Sat-Chit-Ananda'—Eternity. Cognizance, and Bliss

2A) The 5 topics of discussion addressed in the Bhagavad-gita:


Three are eternal:
1 Isvara - (Controller) - God
2 Jiva-atma – (Indiviual Soul) - Living Entity
3 Prakriti – Energy (Material & Spiritual)
4 Kala – “Time”


One is transient:
5 Karma – Action = a) artha—wealth, abundance b) kama—enjoyment, pleasure
c) dharma—work, duty

3) Definition of 'Yoga' = to link up to, to re-unite (also see entomology of the word 'religion'.)


4) Ayur-Vedic medicine and Hatha Yoga=holistic use of Herbs and physical therapy.


5) Mantra Meditation=classical sitting silent prayer.

6) The three stages of yoga practice=
A) Karma-yoga, yoga of action.
B) Sankya-yoga, yoga of analytical study of scripture.
C) Bhakti-yoga, yoga of Devotion to Krishna

7) The three progressive stages of yogic enlightenment


I) Brahman-Realization, ---the impersonal manifestation of God, nothingness, the field, the void; Brahman is also used as a general reference for God, et al.

II) Paramatma Realization, the presence of god as the nucleus of every inanimate spark and particle of matter and energy in the universe, and also god as present in every animate individual soul as the witnessing 'Supersoul'—hence the word, 'Param (super) atma' (soul)

[ Note: Conscience living beings are capable, by birth-right, of progressing through the following 5 stages of spiritual maturity:


A) anna-maya = recognize the manifest mercy of god as 'food'.
B) prana-maya = recognize god as 'living force in all life forms'.
C) Sankya-maya=recognize god as 'thinking, willing, and feeling'.
D) vigyana-maya= 'mind and ego seen different from the soul'.
E) ananda-maya= 'all-blissful nature' Via prema-bhakti-seva. (loving devotional service to Krishna

III) Bhagavan Realization, God as he is reveal in the Vedas of India—(krsnas tu bhagavan svayam . . . )

8) The "3 Gunas" = 'sattva, raja, & tamas' = respectively, the “Qualities of Creation, Maintenance, & Desolution”---the “3 material principle forces” that propel the aggregate material elements into flux—[this may be paralleled to the "ying and yang principles of Duality as expounded in Taoist and Buddhist metaphysics"; the difference being that there is the third/middle principle of Duality per Vedic metaphysics. This third principle parallels the small black and white dots found in the classic Chinese symbol of ‘ying & yang’.]
The Vedas say that all ‘Actions’ are always affected by one of the “three modes” vying for, and achieving dominance over the other two ‘modes’ during their innate interplay with all material elements and in all stratums of material affairs.
Ed.note: Thus, the source of Murphy’s Law, Chaos theory, Bad luck, Irony.

8A) The Modes (‘3 Gunas’) and their attributes (from Bhagavad-gita)

8B) 4 defects “flaws of conditioned soul= mistakes; illusioned; cheating; imperfect senses”

9) 'Sanskrit' alphabet's arrangement=same as established by professional theatre school text books to teach 'International Phonetics' (I.P.A.) so as to teach "Dialects and Accent-Elimination". [note: Professor Higgins in the G.W. Shaw's play, 'My Fair Lady' introduces himself as a professor of Linguistics and a scholar of Sanskrit.]

10) "Indo-European" languages =Sanskrit's position in this family tree is indicated by the word 'Indo'. [Ed. Surmises that the word ‘Europa’ can equate to the following Sanskrit compound word: ‘Uru-purusa, Uru (vast) + purusa (person)

11) 'Maha-Bharata' =5000 year old Epic of ancient India describing the court intrigue and culture of Brahminical India during the end of the last [dwarpa yuga] epoch.

Nice info thanks for sharing bhaktajan.