dwai

Beautifully articulated — truth speaking to truth. 🙏🏾 Vis-a-vis surrender, personally I find that the main challenge is in letting go of one very persistent habit. Though I realize that there’s no point in fighting it — letting it exhaust itself.

I’ve started taking Lions Mane daily and find a change in my ability to recollect. Though actually retaining the new stuff is very hard (having to retool myself for a midlife career adjustment — learning huge amounts of info, and by the time I get to topic 3, I’ve forgotten 1, and most of 2).

WRT Tamil Siddha external alchemical practices is concerned - It is very dangerous. My Tamil Siddha yoga teacher passed away as a result of miscalculations while working with this. Be very careful with this stuff. IMHO this entire line of practice is unnecessary and extremely dangerous, and based on misunderstanding of what alchemy actually meant in the classic texts.

Swami Sarvapriyananda is perhaps not unknown to those who frequent this sub-forum. He is a Master of Advaita Vedanta and many (myself included) consider him to be akin to the great Swami Vivekananda. Prof Sthaneshwar Thimalsina is also a spiritual master, and a professor of Philosophy with specialization in Kashmir Shaivism. This is a dialog between the two greats, a treat for us all.

What do you think would happen if you felt the same way about food, or water? Or your profession? Money is a means to an end. That’s all. In the old days, people would barter with each other. Then money was invented, and people continue to “barter” but use money instead — elementary stuff everyone knows. Why aversion towards it? The other side of aversion is craving. Neither is good — Buddha already told us.

I know many who have strong devotion to her, and they seem be doing well enough. I think one point that you raised concerning a dislike for money is interesting. Why do you dislike it?

Just no O@AD please 🙏🏾

Like @freeform explained. But save, don’t hoard. Another rule is, wealth is attributed to Goddess Laxmi in Hinduism. She has many names, among which, one is “chanchala” or the “restless one”. If you try to forcibly hold on to her, she will leave. If you give her freedom to come and go with love, she will stay.

Wealth attracts wealth. I’ve seen this far too often — it’s very good advice to be debt free and save.

Do you find yourself bracing for when the proverbial shoe will land? It’s a sort of lPTSD...I’ve experienced it. When everything seems to be going well, a feeling arises — uhoh! Things are a little too “okay”...and brace for the next bad thing to happen. And it does.

Tantric and Vedic divide is an artificial one. Tantras/Agamas have roots in the Vedic heritage, but there is a lot of socio-political noise around that, so it gets lost. https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=529 Ah...one of those guys

@dmattwads it is a very difficult topic for sure. Please take what I write with my assurance, that I'm not judging , etc. Just sharing what I've learned over the years. A very valuable lesson someone gave me was to learn to differentiate between "wants" and "needs". What I want, isn't always what I need, and what I need, I might not want. On the topic of money, many aspects play a role. Karma is one. Our outlook towards life is another. By outlook towards life, I mean -- do I know what I need? What do I need to be comfortable? What would constitute a "want" -- as in, I want that new thing and I need money to get it. How much is sufficient? If I had proper sustenance, proper shelter and proper clothing, is that enough for me to be comfortable? Growing up, my dad would tell us one proverb over and over -- "don't spread your feet farther than what your shawl can cover" (it's a bad translation of a classic indian proverb). It means, essentially, learn to live within your means. Don't look at what others have. An important attitude, in my experience is to open ourselves up to the "universe" with the intention "let me have what I need" and let it go. My teacher tells me that is the way to make an intention. Meditate on what you want, make a strong intention, send it into the universe and it will come to pass if its meant for you. I've seen vicious times where it was unclear if we would end up on the streets (my mom, my sister and I) after my dad passed away. I've seen times when I've had more than enough -- and I try to help others to the best of my ability in such times. I came to the US with 150$ to my name, and one suitcase --- and a promise of a job. I've lost it all, and rebuilt from scratch over two plus decades. On a more practical subject -- one of my dad's friends told me when I was starting out in my adult life, "plan what you want from your life, 5 years at a time. What do you want to do? Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years, 10 years, etc. Figure out how you can get there, and then do it." In my experience, I've seen that whatever I seriously intended to achieve, it eventually happens. It might not be exactly when I intended for it to happen, but it does. But that was before I got on the spiritual path. After getting on the spiritual path, suddenly things like financial gains, etc seemed a bit trite. It gets harder when you have a family, children, etc. But we do the best we can.

Which is why I am very against hatha yoga lessons from RYT200 type "yogis" and "yoginis" :\

I won't call it complex per se. It is certainly not easy to learn and practice. Though it gets easier with time and regular practice. It depends. It does help purify the body and mind.

Henrietta?

That's what most academics say -- but no one actually has either the research rigor - rather there is a reliance on stale and incorrect precedents. I've not seen a valid refutation of what he proposes -- you know why? Because they can't disprove him -- the evidence is solid. Ok ok...now let us backburner the topic.

What is the difference between "hinduism" and Vedic "brahmanism"? The core of what is "Hinduism" today is that the Vedic tradition preserved in the system organized by Adi Shankaracharya and very much alive and kicking -- only, it's not a fact that's very well known to outsiders. That might be the case --- or might not be. The Buddha's main point of contention was more or less what Advaita Vedanta makes today -- the gradual path vs the direct path. The Buddha's path is more akin to what is called the Direct Path today. (of course IMHO).

Why do you think I'm getting it wrong? Watch the video and then start another thread if you want to dispute the contents provided therein.

Agreed

All I can say is, watch the video I shared in this post --

Actually, it is a lot more serious than that. Indian civilizational history has been systematically distorted by Westerners (conquerors and all) over the ages. It is a matter of the natives speaking up -- their voices matter too.

Yeah yeah...buddhabums stuff in buddhabums sub-forum please The evidence is not just astronomical...there is a lot of geographic/geological evidence as well. Check out Nilesh Oak's papers and presentations -- he is kicking western scholars' asses with his impeccable research and scholarship. https://time.graphics/line/293798