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Please join in the discussion at the Message Board!
(Total activity, all pages, all sites, in page reloads, since 9/21/2000)
(10-6-99)
Bombay_Girl: "hello!"
Om: "hi"
Bombay_Girl: "u busy?"
Bombay_Girl: "tt's an int nick ure got there....."
Om: "not terribly.. just re-reading my 188 page website"
Om: "on hinduism and interfaith dialogues"
Om: "http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atlantis/3425"
Bombay_Girl: "ok...."
Bombay_Girl: "checking it out...."
Bombay_Girl: "where r u fr?"
Om: "born New York city... living NYC now... age 50 , male... Dutch German Irish english mixed ancestry"
Om: "no indian ancestry"
Om: "raised with no religion by apathetic protestant parents who never took me to church once"
Bombay_Girl: "but ure interested in it?"
Om: "ive been studying religions ever since age 15"
Bombay_Girl: "wow!"
Bombay_Girl: "tt's reALint...."
Om: "i have some messages for the world, hence, I wrote my website"
Bombay_Girl: "so why hindusim?"
Om: "i hope my ideas will survive me after my death...."
Om: "its all on page 59, entitled "Why did you become Hindu""
Om: "its ALL at the website... in better form than I could type here..."
Bombay_Girl: "ok......i c u've got alot of pages..."
Om: "if I should die tomorrow,... you could still know me very well (and even keep company with me) by reading the website"
Om: "visit page 14... its slow to load... music and pictures... but one of most beautiful"
Bombay_Girl: "hmmm...keep company with u? how is tt possible?"
Om: "not that I am Hare Krsna or ISKCON,...but for example... Prabhupad used to say 'my books are BETTER THAN me"...(i.e. being with me personally)"
Om: "that is the nature of writing"
Bombay_Girl: "OK...."
Om: "people used to go into Prabhupads office... and find him READING HIS OWN BOOKS...(lol)"
Om: "its a form of SATSANG"
Bombay_Girl: "satsang?"
Om: "SAT MEANS truth, wisdom.... "
Om: "sangha means, community, association (christians call it FELLOWSHIP)"
Bombay_Girl: "oh ok.....thanks!"
Om: "in Tulsidas Ramayan.... Shabari is a woman who is out of caste... "
Om: "but through Bhakti, devotion.. she gets to meet Lord Ram in person..."
Om: "so... she asks Sri Ram... "What are the NINE devotional excellences to achieve union with God"..."
Om: "Lord Ram laughs.... and says "You ALREADY KNOW THEM..." BUT I will telll you anyway"
Om: "so.. FIRST... Lord Ram mentions SATSANG... association with Holy People... Sadhus"
Om: "only Second, does he mention Listening to the divine Katah of the Lila (pastimes) of the Lord"
Bombay_Girl: "hmm......"
Om: "were you raised hindu... or am I annoying you if you are muslim or christian"
Bombay_Girl: "no, ure not annoying me....."
Om: "and what was your religious upbringing if I may ask"
Bombay_Girl: "and i'm a hindu....not a staunch one though......trying to get to know the religion more"
Om: "ahhh... good... you are exactly the sort of person for whom I created this website of mine"
Bombay_Girl: "can I ask u a stupid qs?"
Bombay_Girl: "ure a hindu rite?"
Om: "yes.... in so far as a european may become hindu, yes, I am hindu"
Bombay_Girl: "do u pray & how do u pray?"
Om: "japa is very important... mala beads help, but are not essential...."
Bombay_Girl: "japa?"
Om: "darshan of moorty is important part of worship"
Om: "saying mantras, prayers like... Hare Krsna Hare Krsna , Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, "
Om: "or Om Namaha Shivaya, Svaha"
Bombay_Girl: "and how mny times do u say it?"
Om: "reciting the Holy Names of God"
Om: "the ideal goal is to achieve ceasless continues prayer... (like your heartbeat)..."
Om: "serious practice is 3 hours per day,.... 16 mallas (108 beads per malla)....."
Bombay_Girl: "wow!!!!!!"
Bombay_Girl: "tt is alot...."
Om: "yes... but many of us watch tv 3 hours a day..."
Bombay_Girl: "true , true....."
Om: "a Sufi poet (mystical branch of Islam) , Jallaludin Rumi, once said..."Do not seek water, for water is everywhere, SEEK THIRST""
Om: "of course, he was not talking about physical water... but about God..."
Bombay_Girl: "of course"
Om: "God is Everywhere... but... if we do not THIRST.. then God is nowhere for us..."
Bombay_Girl: "makes sense...."
Om: "but in Psalms of Bible, one verse says "Oh Lord, I have thirsted after Thee like a deer in a waterless land""
Bombay_Girl: "u've memorised all th esayings!"
Om: "and Mother Theresa wrote two words on her Convent wall, the shortest sentence which Jesus said, from the cross, He said "I Thirst""
Om: "yes... it is part of my nature.. but talk to a gambler.. and he will tell you the names of every horse... and how they did in "
Om: "in hundreds of races..."
Om: "talk to a baseball fan, and he will tell you hundreds of batting averages..."
Bombay_Girl: "hehehhe....true....."
Om: "you see.... what we seek, what we embrace... we become...."
Bombay_Girl: "i guess u rem wat u lov most."
Om: "so.... in spiritual life... it is the goal... to completely immerse oneself in such things, AND BECOME THEM"
Bombay_Girl: "ok.....r u a veg?"
Om: "SO... you see... in a sense... in so far as I have been successful... I have BECOME the Gita... the Ramayan , the Gospels...."
Om: "in that they have become my second nature...."
Om: "yes vegetarian"
Bombay_Girl: "so I see......"
Om: "i will tell you an amusing little story...."
Bombay_Girl: "hmm.."
Om: "in our NYC subway trains.... they place little posters with poetry... to... uplift the public"
Om: "one of the poems.... I have it written down somewhere... I must find it..."
Om: "i think by Richard Wilbur..."
Bombay_Girl: "why? its tt impressive huh?"
Om: "anyway... he describes his feelings as he watches a very beautiful young woman leave the door of her apartment...."
Bombay_Girl: "ok...."
Om: "he describes her movements as being like someone who CRACKS A WHIP... and shatters the air around her... (that is how stunningly beautiful he finds her)...."
Bombay_Girl: "..."
Om: "well.. it is obvious from reading the poem.... that the poets mind is geared towards seeing a beautiful woman..."
Om: "he does not see anything else..... there may be a beautiful flower... but he does not see"
Om: "there may be a beautiful moon in the sky.. but he does not notice"
Bombay_Girl: "ok...."
Om: "there may be a ten dollar bill on the sidewalk by his feet.. but he is unaware...."
Om: "so ....here is my point...."
Om: "REALITY... is many many many things, an INFINITUDE of things..."
Om: "but... CONSCIOUSNESS, is a process of data reduction..."
Om: "if we NOTICED EVERYTHING... we would be TOTALLY OVERWHELMED... our senses would shut down..."
Om: "so... seeing, knowing... involves IGNORING much, and FOCUSING, on what is important to us..."
Bombay_Girl: "ok......."
Om: "just as a grammarian will look at a sentence and PARSE IT, divide it into nouns, verbs , adjectives, etc... analizing it"
Om: "so EACH of us PARSES reality... divides,... down to what interest us..."
Bombay_Girl: "hmm....."
Om: "so... imagine a beautiful young woman in spiked high heels , walking in the city..."
Om: "she is PARSING REALITY, to notice all the drainage gratings..."
Om: "why, BECAUSE she has SPIKED high heels... and does not want to break them or fall...."
Bombay_Girl: "hehehehehe"
Om: "so... reality for her BECOMES, in a sense, drainage gratings"
Om: "but now... along comes a teenager in SNEAKERS..."
Bombay_Girl: "and he only notices her."
Om: "the teenager is unaware of the drainage grates, because HE HAS SNEAKERS, NOT high heels, but...."
Om: "the teenager is PARSING REALITY for sexy behinds...."
Bombay_Girl: "ok...."
Om: "so he is staring at her bottom, and she is staring at sidewalk.... "
Om: "same reality PARSED DIFFERENTLY.. by two different people with "TWO DIFFERENT THRISTS" (DESIRES, INTERESTS)"
Bombay_Girl: "yea....got it."
Om: "but.... as Lord Krsna said to his Uncle Udhava...."
Om: "Uddhava said.... "O Lord Krsna.... you have explained about all these religious endeavors, they sound so difficult..."
Om: "how will I ever achieve UNION with YOu the Lord..."
Om: "and Lord Krrsna answers "If you can simple SEE ME , in every creature, in every person, even the most wicked, in every object... then NO OTHER PUJA OR PRAYER OR PRACTICE is necessary"
Om: "so you see.. the religious person,.... does not see drainage grates everywhere, or rear-ends.... no... they parse reality and see GOD everywhere...."
Om: "does this make sense.......?"
Bombay_Girl: "ok.....yes it does."
Bombay_Girl: "very enlightening"
Bombay_Girl: "hey, iskon & sai baba r also under hindusim rite?"
Om: "good.... I am glad you like it....."
Om: "and now.. with your kind permission... I would like to change your screen name (to protect your identity).. and make this my next webpage"
Om: "this is a very useful dialogue, which other may enjoy...and benefit from"
Bombay_Girl: "oh ok....."
Om: "ha ha...now you are IMMORTALIZED on the internet"
Bombay_Girl: "no prob"
Om: "this is how I created the entire website..."
Bombay_Girl: "hehehehe..now tt u say it,,,,,,"
Bombay_Girl: "so I see......chats of diff ppl...."
Om: "and you see... these thoughts flow from me... without my concentrating... because it has become my second nature..."
Om: "a cow does not think about making milk...."
Om: "a bee does not theorize about honey...."
Bombay_Girl: "hmm...."
Om: "a snake has no instructioin manual for venom..."
Om: "they all drink the same water, from the same pool...."
Om: "but... by their natures,.. that same water becomes milk from one, honey from the second, and poison from the third"
Bombay_Girl: "yea!"
Om: "you see... I will tell you a little secret...."
Om: "isnt it curious that a fellow like me.. in new york city.... with no indian ancestry... should talk like this.. and think like this.. and know these things..."
Bombay_Girl: "uh-huh.."
Om: "doesnt that seem very peculiar, and somewhat amazing....?"
Bombay_Girl: "yea of course..."
Bombay_Girl: "and, me a hindu, am so blur.......gosh!"
Om: "well.. you see.. in the Christian Bible, when some people were arguing with Jesus... he said to them..."
Om: ""If God wanted to ... he could raise up holy people from these stones.....""
Om: "actually Jesus didnt say Holy People.. he said "Children of Abraham"... but same idea"
Bombay_Girl: "ok.."
Om: "well.. you see... God is able to make anyone into anything that suites His purpose, in a twinkling of an eye....."
Om: "we are just like clay.. and God can make any shape or size jar or pot He likes..."
Om: "so.. you see... I was transformed into something... for a purpose... to do a job..."
Om: "this is my Dharma...."
Bombay_Girl: "dharma is destiny?"
Om: "this is how God is choosing to send a message about Hinduism (Sanatan Dharma)...."
Om: "well.. Dharma can mean Duty... just like Arjuna"
Om: "Arjuna in Geeta was a Kshatriya, a warrior..."
Bombay_Girl: "ok...."
Om: "he did not want to fight in a civil war and kill his former teachers, relatives and friends..."
Om: "but... being a soldier was what he was BORN to do... it was his nature....."
Om: "Lord Krsna explains to Arjuna..."It is BETTER to do YOUR OWN Dharma, even though imperfectly, that to perform the Dharma of another to PERFECTION""
Om: "and.. now that you have met me.. and read these ideas.. and seen some things at my website....."
Bombay_Girl: "uh-huh....."
Om: "you are forever changed.. in the sense that you will always see things slightly differently...."
Bombay_Girl: "yea maybe...."
Om: "you will never be able to walk down a sidewalk, in high heels, without sometimes remembering my little story...."
Bombay_Girl: "lol!!!!!"
Om: "and when you think about it... you will think about the OTHER things I said... and the idea of "seeking THIRST"...."
Bombay_Girl: "hey, it was very interesting chatting with you...."
Om: "so.... because of our conversation,... your direction is forever changed slightly.. your perspective"
Bombay_Girl: "wud luv to chat more but I gotta go......"
Bombay_Girl: "yes, true abt tt...."
Om: "ok...thanks for visitin... I enjoyed it too"
Om: "may you find the peace and happiness which every being seeks"
Bombay_Girl: "and thanks for yr website....wld visit it when i'm free"
Om: "my pleasure... its my job"
Bombay_Girl: "bye & take care....."
Om: "i have a nice boss"
Om: "bye"
Bombay_Girl: "cya someother time......"
Om: "ok bye"
Bombay_Girl: "bbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
===============
Transit - by Richard Wilbur
A woman I have never seen before
Steps from the darkness of her town-house door
At just the crux of time when she is made
So beautiful that she or time must fade.
What use to claim that as she tugs her gloves
A phantom heraldry of all the loves
Blames from the lintel? That the staggered sun
Forgets in his confusion how to run?
Still, nothing changes as her perfect feet
Click down the walk that issues in the street
Leaving the stations of her body there
As a whip maps the countries of the air.
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