Ravi S. Iyer: Spiritual

Given below is a Divine Wisdom message of Kali Yuga Avatar, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, appropriate to be refreshed in our minds, on this Gurupoornima day, 31st July 2015. The handwritten image below is followed by transcribed text. [Courtesy: Murali Krishna, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=980693478617450&set=a.468511119835691.105196.100000304205525&type=1 ] Transcribed text of above image: You as body, mind or soul are a dream; but what you really are is Existence, Knowledge, Bliss. You are the GOD of this universe. You are creating the whole universe and drawing it in. To gain the infinite universal individuality, the miserable little prison individuality must go. Bhakti (loving God unconditionally which includes surrender to His will) is no crying or any negative condition; it is seeing of all in all we see. It is the heart that reaches the goal; follow the heart. A pure heart seeks beyond the intellect; it gets inspired. Whatever we do reacts upon ...

Some more short & quick thoughts/views of mine. Even when Sathya Sai Baba was in physical form, some people felt more connected to Shirdi Sai Baba than Sathya Sai Baba. Mumbai/Bombay has huge number of Shirdi Sai devotees with only some of them being comfortable with Sathya Sai. I think a past saint is easier for us to handle than a living one. History and legend, especially in a devotion-crazy country like India, are very kind to past saints. Living saints seem to have always faced fair level of criticism from contemporaries. Sathya Sai attracted heavy criticism due to some claims he made, and when he passed away without some of the really big claims coming true, the critics really had their day, even in mainstream Indian media. It was very tough for us Sathya Sai devotees to stomach that criticism while we were plunged in despair and trauma due to his passing away. But that was a devotional experience, none the less. Later when I carefully studied some passages of the gospel...

Just sharing some short & quick thoughts/views of mine. Nowadays as I have chosen to focus more on masses impact related matters, I am more into the power of Faith/deep Faith, and less into Vedanta/Sufism/Mysticism (though I do delve into it, at times). From that perspective, I am awed by what the Christian faith and the Islamic faith have achieved over the centuries. Most people do not get all the philosophy & doctrine of the church or the mosques. But they understand the key facets of faith in God very well as they are more at the intuitive and emotional level rather than the intellectual level, and that faith transforms them into individuals of confidence and capability! A few days ago, I saw a video of Mr. Donald Trump speaking to a Christian group in the USA. In this Christian group meeting, on being questioned about his faith, he talked about being inspired by his preacher in his Presbyterian church, in New York City, who was the famous positive thinking best-seller ...

Note: I am really out of touch with Quantum Physics and Particle Physics type of stuff though I majored in Physics in college (B.Sc. Physics from Ruia college, Mumbai university) over three decades ago. [I also did about six months of M.Sc. Physics (specializing in Electronics) in Mumbai university, then (1983), before dropping out due to funds problem.] This is a discussion about the Higgs Field/Higgs Boson and perceived misconceptions about it due to popular explanations given by science writers which when taken in a literal sense and compared with deep spiritual philosophy like Vedanta, may be open to criticism by scientists who choose to find holes in the literal text rather than interpret it more broadly/spiritually. Both the simple wiki page, https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson , and the regular wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson , confirm that Higgs field gives (many) particles Mass. The simple wiki states, "The Higgs boson (or Higgs particl...

I read the original article that Jerry Coyne criticized for its comparison of Higgs boson with the sea of milk of Hindu scripture. Well, Coyne does not seem to have understood the author properly. Here is the relevant extract from the article by Daniel Sarewitz, http://www.nature.com/news/sometimes-science-must-give-way-to-religion-1.11244 : Most people, including most scientists, can acquire knowledge of the Higgs only through the metaphors and analogies that physicists and science writers use to try to explain phenomena that can only truly be characterized mathematically. Here’s The New York Times: “The Higgs boson is the only manifestation of an invisible force field, a cosmic molasses that permeates space and imbues elementary particles with mass … Without the Higgs field, as it is known, or something like it, all elementary forms of matter would zoom around at the speed of light, flowing through our hands like moonlight.” Fair enough. But why “a cosmic molasses” and not, say,...

Here is a Nov. 10, 2002, article by Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Indian Member of Parliament, former union minister of India, and former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shashi_Tharoor , describing his visit around that time to Puttaparthi and his darshan and interview with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/11/10/stories/2002111000620300.htm . I have presumed that Dr. Shashi Tharoor may not mind me sharing the Puttaparthi and Bhagavan related part of this article on this free blog, without any financial profit motive whatsoever. Here's that extract from the above article: Late one night I set out on a four-hour drive with my mother to Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh. We arrived after 2 a.m. in a remarkably well-lit and orderly town. Buildings gleamed white against the streetlights; the sidewalks, patrolled by volunteers even at that hour, seemed freshly scrubbed. Puttaparthi, once a humble Andhra village li...

In the context of a quote by Jerry Coyne, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Coyne , "Faith may be a gift in religion, but in science it’s poison, for faith is no way to find truth.", http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/42819635-faith-versus-fact-why-science-and-religion-are-incompatible , I had a Facebook post exchange of which I have given below a suitably edited version of my comments: Perhaps the first thing that needs to be clarified in such a statement is what exactly does Jerry Coyne mean by the word, faith, in this statement above. I have not read much of Jerry Coyne. Browsed the net to get some info. Here's one article that seems to give his take on Faith and Science, http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/11/faith_in_science_and_religion_truth_authority_and_the_orderliness_of_nature.html . Like Dawkins, Coyne seems to focus on criticism of belief without sufficient evidence (in this article at least). And like Dawkins, he gives some...

Last updated on July 26th 2015 Sathya Sai Speaks, 'The Guru Within', Gurupoornima day, 1990, discourse extract about sookshma sharira; Message exchange with German FB friend on "Sukshma idea"; Swami's words, "How can one who is filled with delusions himself rid you of your delusions?" Given below is an edited message exchange I had over the past few days with a German Facebook friend. German FB Friend wrote: Hallo Ravi, I had read your blog with interest about the Sukshma controversy and I appreciate your balanced and analytical approach. [Ravi: The reference seems to be this blog.] I wanted to pass on my experiences to you, which concern a dream Baba gave to me and subsequent experience, which you are free to share. I present them with no personal commentary from me - simply how they happened. I had been open and excited by the Sukshma idea, but then in late March '15, became very disturbed by the opposing opinions I came across one eve...

Here's a great video clip, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv47mHMiqOs , 3 min. 13 secs. from a discourse of Swami on 6th May 2002. The translator is Sri B.N. Narasimhamurthy. Terrific! I loved the way Swami refused to accept the new car offered and was offering His cars instead! From the transcript provided in the description of the above youtube video (slightly edited): Here is a small matter. The other day, a devotee.... Swami's cars have become very old.... Swami, I am prompted to give you a car, you should accept it he told Swami. He brought the car. Three days are over... Swami is not looking at his face also... What is the reason? I have enough number of cars... My car I can give you; you can take it. Swami has no desire to travel in big cars....The foreign devotees sent them, therefore Swami has to keep them. Swami told him, "you can take my car." Swami will never receive anything from anyone. Never... Even when Swami was coming here... Sreenivas ca...

In response to a Facebook post giving a link to the article, How Los Angeles Is Becoming a ‘Third World’ City, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/opinion/welcome-to-hooverville-california.html , dated July 6th 2015, there were some comment exchanges of which I have given below selected ones (slightly edited): Ravi S. Iyer wrote: Very sad. I had read similar articles and seen a few videos about it some time back. Another point is that being homeless and poor in L.A. may be actually tougher than being homeless and poor in, say, Mumbai. Somehow the desperately poor can sleep somewhere and somehow exist in Mumbai (my city for most of the first four decades of my life) - the police cannot be very rough with them, especially if a group of people get together and somehow form a small set of hutments. Of course, hygiene wise Mumbai slums typically are really terrible. But then at least the human can somehow squeeze out a place to lie down. The police in L.A. would be forced to be tough with...

Last updated on  6 Jun. 2024 6 Jun. 2024: Sensitive content has been snipped. 21st April 2020 Update: I had an inner urge to name-snip the names of some person(s) in this post and so have done so. This post has some of my July 2015 Facebook posts and comments on MDH, which have not been put up as separate posts on this blog. In other words this is a Miscellaneous post to capture my FB posts & comments of that period, related to MDH, which have not already been captured as separate blog posts. Note that MDH stands for Muddenahalli. Ten Points related to M, chosen communicator of MDH , https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/1635323033350934 , dated July 3rd 2015 Some extracts from the above post & comments: Important Note: I do not have any objections whatsoever to the service to society (Seva) activities that MDH setup is engaged in, neither do I have any objections to donors donating money to MDH setup for these service to society activities. I am also N...