old3bob

the problem to me is that that doesn't nearly cover it, for instance all the myriad and normally unseen forces behind the politicians and peoples that are in play should also settle their differences...but no its battlefield earth between the beings and forces of darkness and light. (with humans just or mainly being an influenced aspect of that)

"Ones true nature changes over time with experience and education. In the end the true nature is up in the air, and at the time of death will probably be different than when they were younger." H.D. The Upanishads definitely do not not posit this interpretation... which can be verified when seeing the mind for what it is, a thing.

The highly mixed earth realm will someday evolve into a heaven type realm, thus the day is coming when all the dark forces here will no longer be able to penetrate or have influence on that new earth in any way - as they are now doing and have been doing for a very long time.

The Sovereign being, which puffed up human beings who are above it all and who would have a problem with such an idea, is one with spiritual laws and automatically does not allow any BS. in the pure realm...so for a soul to remain there it is dependent upon them staying within or "doing right" according to the lawful nature of that realm and its Sovereign.

thanks, I watched part of it....a reason that it doesn't work for a lot of people is because they are not Sannyasins practicing strict renunciation and tapas while mostly or often living in a monastery under the direct guidance and support of a Self realized Satguru and their fellow monks (or nuns) along with a lot "Hindu" culture that also supports them in many ways...a life that only a relatively small number people are able live . (and sure there are hermits, forest dwellers, sadhu, yogi's, etc (more so in olden days) in a few places that don't have that level of support yet they are Self Realized)

Saint Nicholas of Myra[a] (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343),[3][4] also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (Greek: Μύρα; modern-day Demre, Turkey) during the time of the Roman Empire.[7][8] Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker.[c] Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. His reputation evolved among the pious, as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus ("Saint Nick") through Sinterklaas. Very little is known about the historical Saint Nicholas. The earliest accounts of his life were written centuries after his death and contain many legendary elaborations. He is said to have been born in the Greek seaport of Patara, Lycia in Asia Minor to wealthy Christian parents.[9] In one of the earliest attested and most famous incidents from his life, he is said to have rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house each night for three nights so their father could pay a dowry for each of them. Other early stories tell of him calming a storm at sea, saving three innocent soldiers from wrongful execution, and chopping down a tree possessed by a demon. In his youth, he is said to have made a pilgrimage to Egypt and Palestine. Shortly after his return, he became Bishop of Myra. He was later cast into prison during the persecution of Diocletian, but was released after the accession of Constantine. An early list makes him an attendee at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, but he is never mentioned in any writings by people who were actually at the council. Late, unsubstantiated legends claim that he was temporarily defrocked and imprisoned during the council for slapping the heretic Arius. Another famous late legend tells how he resurrected three children, who had been murdered and pickled in brine by a butcher planning to sell them as pork during a famine. Fewer than 200 years after Nicholas's death, the St. Nicholas Church was built in Myra under the orders of Theodosius II over the site of the church where he had served as bishop, and his remains were moved to a sarcophagus in that church. In 1087, while the Greek Christian inhabitants of the region were subjugated by the newly arrived Muslim Seljuk Turks, and soon after their church was declared to be in schism by the Catholic church, a group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari removed the major bones of Nicholas's skeleton from his sarcophagus in the church without authorization and brought them to their hometown, where they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola. The remaining bone fragments from the sarcophagus were later removed by Venetian sailors and taken to Venice during the First Crusade.

I'm not here to be shrunk or looking for a guru...thus "we" should drop most usage of "you"s imo. I'm aware of some the "new age" like variations and interpretations on a theme (to me) so I don't need much "singing to the choir" so to speak. (but thanks anyway) Om Tat Sat

in computer jargon ram is not rom, rams content changes constantly rom does not. So its not a matter of separate its a matter of particular, thus a particular program (or mind if you will) runs in ram memory - but rom remains after a particular program shuts down or is deleted.

yes and no to me....in the sense that derivates of said intelligence do not equate to the full intelligence that does not evolve, or to put it another way still evolving souls (we) have limits and do not equate to our or the unchanging core or Spirit or "God". The "ten thousand" spoken of in the T.T.C. as derivatives can be named thus do not to equate to the Tao that can not be limited by name.

Might we be being fast and loose with terms or meanings? My take is that a "we" as the term is commonly used equates to beings, countless trillions and trillions of us at different stages of evolution thus going through changes. So in that sense a "we" does not equate to an absolute God beyond evolution or changes, even though we like the transcendental idea of we being God (and appreciate having certain experience's along such lines) yet most of we will not or are not ready to return all the way; I'm not, even though ultimately "we" also never left.

since rocks can sing then they too have "souls"...

Syamala D. Hari "In the ancient Hindu philosophy known as Vedanta, the mind — understood as an accumulation of memories, desires, emotions, thoughts, etc., including the self, that is, the ‘I’-thought present in every conscious experience — is said to be a sense like any other physical sense: see, hear, touch, taste, or smell. The implication is that mind is also instrumental in creating our conscious experiences but it is not awareness itself. One may ask: if mind is also a sense, then similarly to a sensory experience which need not involve all the five physical senses, do we ever have a conscious experience with no ‘I’ in it? Indeed, Vedanta elaborately describes such a state of consciousness called Samadhi, which lies beyond waking, dreaming, or deep sleep. Vedanta also affirms the existence of a state in which one’s self does not see itself as belonging to only one’s own body/brain and mind but one sees nobody and nothing in the universe as different from oneself; in other words, this awareness (called Universal Self) identifies itself with everything in the universe, whether living or lifeless. Vedanta claims that in our ordinary lives, in those moments when we express love and sympathy towards others, we are indeed in that state of infinite oneness whether we know it or not, and that the expression of love is a manifestation of nothing but the Universal Self. We will attempt in this article, to examine the rationale for this claim using the notion of an ever-widening circle of identification. We will describe a simple analogy used by Vedanta in its analysis of consciousness, mind, and body relations, to explain how the individual self associated with one’s body and mind arises from the Universal Self. We will also summarize Vedanta’s theory of mind-body interactions and suggest that it offers solution to the ‘hard problem’ of today’s consciousness researches in a way compatible with modern science." 18 pages in PDF form Hari_PhC_vol_21_2018.pdf

nothing is gained and nothing is lost in an ocean of everything, which is a lot but not enough...

on a different note there is a sci-fi movie called "Life" about an alien octopus like creature that is super smart and super malicious. It takes over an orbiting spacecraft that picked it up as a speck of mars dust after which it quickly gets bigger on the ship! I wont say much more but movie turns very scary (with aspects of things that could happen with actual space exploration) if things get out of hand !!

Any real master can and will give temporary (or in the short run) help to students (and even so called strangers), but in the longer run they will see to it that people become self-reliant because by leaning on him or her they remain children or worse! Btw, Jesus rejected being put on a pedestal...

Mind is a changing, variable thing, while Spirit/Self is not a changing, variable thing. Our individual minds or particular compositions (so to speak) are really part of the vast mind which pure consciousness or the truth beyond mind/stuff knows, a knowing which is not dependent upon nor which can not be found in said mind. Joy without sorrow or doubt is realization of that. (as deeply pointed to in the Upanishads) Om Tat Sat

"What is the sound of one hand clapping", is it silence? What is silence? Is there not a crushing silence and also a silence that is open and free? (Another context for some of us guys: If your wife is giving you the silent treatment that can be crushing but if she is knowingly happy but silent with you that is freeing...)

no-thing is not some-thing but it is not nothing...

I still like the Msdos command line (and its syntax) and I still fire up my old Dos machine at times. Computers are getting to be throw away items except for whatever one has in software apps.

Tesla automated driving...thus the trend is to become ever more dependent on machines!

I'd add a patch of green grass to rest on and fresh air to breathe...pretty mystical stuff!

Btw, we have a telling or revealing saying from the NT in: (via 3rd eye vision) “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (whereas when ida and pingala balance and join mystics give witness of yellow light)

consider that if one goes inside of light (or if you will the first Prana springing from the Self) - darkness per se is not found although if one wants to use the term darkness for that which can not be known by mind, intellect or ego and thus is really unknowable per those tools, then an agreement or disagreement about the meaning of the term would be helpful... not unlike meanings about the sometimes misunderstood or even dubious use of the term emptiness, at least imo.