Taking a Break

My initial goal in setting up this blog was to discuss religious ideas among different groups. Behind the scenes, I talked with leaders and regular practitioners of many faiths and religions, looking find a few willing participants for the discussion. While most were very willing to share their opinions and also to learn from others, or at least hear them out, another group of people held firm to the belief that there was no purpose to in dialog. 'This is how it is, and everyone else is wrong!' is how they would state it. As easy as it would be to simply include the willing participants and exclude those who have no room for the thoughts and ideas of others, a noticeable gap would be present and an explanation would be necessary. This blog serves to voice the expression of religious ideas of all those on the earth, but will not voice ideas of submission to only one idea. Deciding that perhaps the fault lay in my inexperience as a religious diplomat, I wrote about the 'Unity of Awareness' in various aspects, the nectar of what we seek in whatever path we find ourselves. While I study the religions of the world, I focus on the East, primarily on those of Asia. Recently I have focused solely on India and my posts will reflect this. I wish to bring to Western eyes many aspects of a world they may know little about and in this environment, compare ideas and learn from the past. We seem very confused about our present and future.
With various posts in the works, I have decided to take a short break from the blog and collect my thoughts and change direction. I had hopes of having one blogger from each religion posting on this blog, but now I will step aside for a month, perhaps two, and when I return, I will continue down the path that the blog seems to have taken on its own. I will speak of the Unity of Awareness in all religions and worldviews, whether Sufi or Hopi. We can explore the inner worlds, past and present, and learn how to live in the uncertain future. Reality is created through and understanding of ourselves. Each religion/worldview defines 'self' is a very distinct way. Even though the paths may waver, most ask many of the same things from the seeker. When we fight over the differences, we fall off of the path, and wallow in the mud. See you soon.

Philosophy,Religion,,Mind,Consciousness,,Weblog,Blog

Philosophy,Religion,,Mind,Consciousness,Weblog,Blog

Hare Krsna

In Book X of the Srimad Bhagavata Purana, the epic story of Krsna's earthly life, comes a story from his infancy. Though only a baby, Krsna is all, and therefore held a relative-baby- and a universal -Ultimate- perspective. In Part 1, Chapter 7, V. 35-6, Krsna's adopted mother is suckling him at her breast when he yawns. When she peers down inside his tiny mouth, "she saw in there the sky, heaven and earth, the host of stars, space, the sun, the moon, fire, air, the oceans, the continents, the mountains, and their daughters [rivers], the forests, and the moving and the non-moving living things."
Throughout the beginning of the book, the demon Kamsa dreadfully awaits the birth of this powerful child. Fearful of his power, the demoness Putana, slaughterer of children is sent to kill the baby Krsna. She arrives in the village disguised as a one of the women and goes to baby Krsna like a mother offering her breast for milk. Krsna knows that this breast is tipped with poison and he suckles out not just the milk, but the very life from Putana.
When the villagers burned the demonic body of Putana, it did not have the horrid smell of thousands of murders and horrible deeds, but instead had the sweet smell of aloe, for in suckling Krsna had removed not only her life, but her sins as well. Even with murderous intent, Putana had approached Krsna as a mother with the gift of milk, and in the presence of such a being, she was sent to the land of saints, not demons. Surely she was surprised.
Upon reading this I felt a chill. Gone were the vengeful gods of old who demanded fire or blood or oaths or fealty at the consequence of external pain and suffering. Here was the earthly Krsna, who treats an assassin like a mother, and sends a demon to the land of saints. During a period of a brutal caste system, krnsa had an "untouchable" attendant. In a time when women were thought of as inferior, those women devoted to him attained the highest level of awareness. Too many great figures seem locked within the ideas of their time. Krsna seems to transcend them.

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Cited:
Bryant, Edwin Krishna: The Beautiful Legend of God (Srimad Bhagavad Purana Book X) London: Penguin Books 2003

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