Ravi S. Iyer: Spiritual

In response to a comment seeking my views on Madhusudan Rao Naidu on Facebook post ( https://www.facebook.com/IncyRose1504/posts/10213719836525688?comment_id=10213723926667939&reply_comment_id=10213727025105398 ), I (Ravi) wrote (slightly edited): Sairam --name-snipped--! Many others have commented wisely on this thread refuting the FALSE CLAIM of Madhusudan Rao Naidu. What I have realized is that some people yearn for having physical form level interactions with Swami so much that they are willing to believe that Swami enters Madhusudan's body and so they worship Madhu as Swami! For people like me who have experienced physical form of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba for many years in Puttaparthi, we find it ridiculous that some people including a few who have had close physical proximity with Bhagavan physical form in the past, are propagating this Madhu Baba FALSE BELIEF and trying to justify that on the basis of the free service educational and medical services they are pr...

Last updated on 1st Jan 2018 My apologies to any ladies (and men) who get upset with my full support and admiration for Sadhguruji's answer in this video which puts Rama's treatment of Sita in the correct light, https://www.facebook.com/NaMoTrueIndian/videos/735169933342333/ , dated 25th Dec. 2017. Video is around 3 minutes. Sadhguru turns the question on the head by turning to the audience which seems to be women mainly and asks if they were living 5000 years ago in Uttar Pradesh and a Sri Lankan man had kidnapped them and taken them to Sri Lanka, would they prefer a husband who would walk all the way down to Sri Lanka and rescue them or somebody who found "a practical solution locally (as) anyway he was king"! [To Sri Lankan readers and friends: Please do not take any offence at the reference. It is not meant as anything to do with current day Sri Lankans and even many other good people in Ravana's Sri Lanka days, as per Ramayana epic.] He also says that...

Around 1 min 25 secs into this video, https://www.facebook.com/WesternHindu/videos/590546887748142/ , dated April 2015, you see a person who is labelled as Prof. Andrew Tanenbaum, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_S._Tanenbaum , one of the greats of the software world in the area of operating systems and in the area of computer networks hugging Mata Amritanandamayi. Not only have I studied Tanenbaum's books on computer networks and Minix, but I have also used them as course book for Minix course ( https://raviiyerteaches.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/minix-kernel-internals/ ) and supporting book for network programming course that I have taught ( https://raviiyerteaches.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/network-socket-programming-including-pthread-programming/ has the course content which does not mention Tanenbaum's book but refers to a Computer Networks theory course which students had done in the past which used Tanenbaum's book on Computer Networks, if I recall correctly)! Wha...

Hindi film songs of the 60s and 70s packed a lot of philosophical and cultural meaning in their song lyrics. Immortality of love was one regular theme. Love continuing across multiple births was another theme which was touched upon by some songs. Note that reincarnation is a strongly held belief among Hindus, Jains and Buddhists in India with Hindus being the majority in India (over 75% of Indian population). Given below are some such oldie hit Hindi film songs. ----------- A 1970s hit Hindi film romantic song whose initial lines draw on the belief in reincarnation: Around 5 mins, Tera Mujhse hai pehle ka nata koi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IF9o2crV84 . The initial lines are: Tera mujh se hai pehle ka nata koi [You have an earlier relationship (implying previous birth relationship) with me] Yuhi nahi dil lubhata koi [The heart is not enraptured just like that (without any underlying cause)] Jaane tu ya jaane na [Whether you know it or not] Maane tu ya maane na [Wheth...

Last updated on 31st Dec. 2017 As one tries desperately to come to terms with the GREAT DIVISION in Sathya Sai fraternity after Mahasamadhi due to Muddenhalli group's FALSE CLAIMS of so called communicator Madhusudan Rao Naidu (and earlier dream-instruction medium Shri B.N. Narasimhamurthy), Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's (physical form's) words from this 1979 Christmas discourse: http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume14/sss14-45.pdf , help us understand and accept that "betrayal by people who pretend to adore is happening since ages". Here is the relevant extract from the discourse: Tradition-minded and egoistic men considered Jesus a false prophet and they tried by every means to thwart his mission. Jesus, however, did not waver. Faced with opposition, he continued to be an example of living Truth, and to purify society. Many disciples followed Jesus but throughout history, it has been the experience of Raama, Krishna, Jesus and Muhammad that disciples h...

Facebook video of around 4 mins: https://www.facebook.com/WesternHindu/videos/1098335013635991/ . A great message on selfless love to share on the day the world celebrates the birth of the apostle of selfless love, Lord Jesus Christ, who took on the terrible suffering of the crucifixion punishment for the sake of truth and divine love, and said of his physical body tormentors, 'forgive them for they know not what they do'! Only the divine could show such extraordinary selfless love towards others including his physical body tormentors! In this video, a Western Sannyasi who seems to be American and seems to be based in Wisconsin state of USA, talks about his spiritual journey, guided by his Guru, from a misunderstood view of love as attachment, as Maya, to a spiritual understanding of selfless Love as divine. He initially thought that love as experienced by him in family love created only attachment to the world. The sannyasi-gentleman says, "And I thought that to atta...

Mariah Carey - Joy to the World, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtRgKvLkLHM , 5 min. 31 secs. Here are the lyrics: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mariahcarey/joytotheworld.html ------ Mariah Carey - O Holy Night, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEJmP8T07JU , 4 min. 47 secs. Lyrics: https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tja47jbmb452dfj7krtq5evkt34?lyrics=1 ------ For a God and religion crazy Indian guy like me, the finest, noblest and spiritually uplifting moment of former USA president Obama's tenure as president was when he, as president, as part of his eulogy, sang a few lines from Amazing Grace and then spoke about Grace on those God-loving people of the church in Charleston, South Carolina, USA, who had fallen victim to a young madman's hatred against them in mid 2015 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting ). Here's the video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN05jVNBs64 , 2 min. 30 secs. The lyrics corresponding to the lines he sa...

An Ode to Joy was written in 1785 by Friedrich Schiller and used with musical composition by Ludwig Van Beethoven for a part of his ninth symphony (completed in 1824). The song is a devotional song in German. Here's one rendering of it which has German lyrics followed by English translation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pbMUEHvoAo , 9 min. 26 secs. A few standout words and phrases: Freude means Joy Freude, schöner Götterfunken means Joy, beautiful spark of the gods steht vor Gott means stand before God 'Deine Zauber binden wieder Was die Mode streng geteilt' means 'Your [Ravi: God's I guess] magic binds again What convention strictly divides' 'Alle Menschen werden Brüder Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt' means 'All people become brothers Where your [Ravi: God's I guess] gentle wing abides' Here's the Seoul (South Korea) philharmonic orchestra in 2008, doing the same song lyrics version (as far as I could make out) as in the...

Given below are two articles that appeared in The Hindu newspaper today (23rd Dec. 2017) on the UN vote on Jerusalem 1) The Editorial on it: Affirmative vote: on US' move on Jerusalem, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/affirmative-vote/article22261349.ece A couple of small extracts from it: The overwhelming majority ignored Mr. Trump and his UN Ambassador Nikki Haley’s threats that all countries that defied America would be ‘named and shamed’ and face cancellation of U.S. aid. The suggestion was that the U.S. would exact its revenge by refusing to support these countries when they next need it at the UN. ... With all its weaknesses, the UN is a global collective, and it is imperative to acknowledge its mandate when such a large number of nations speak in one voice. --- end extracts --- I (Ravi) added the following comment on the above web link of the article: Thanks for this excellent analysis. ------------ 2) An article by a former senior Indian UN diplomat, ...

Last updated on 23rd Dec. 2017 USA UN ambassador Nikki Haley shows her anger at the UN vote that went against the USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYkrjW7QlDs , around 1 minute. Nikki Haley says in the above video, "The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world's largest contribution to the United Nations. And we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. America will put our embassy in Jerusalem. That is what the American people want us to do and it is the right thing to do. No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that. But this vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the UN and how we look at countries who disrespect us in the UN. And this vote w...

I normally try to avoid commenting publicly on super-sensitive international political matters. But here I felt it appropriate to make an exception. As an Indian citizen living in India, and as a Hindu, I approve of India's vote in the United Nations, along with 127 other nations, for the resolution against the USA's rather high-handed move and what seems to me as "might is right" approach in USA "recognizing" Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 9 nations voted against and there were 35 abstentions. There were 21 nations/delegations that were absent (seems to be different from an abstention). 128+9+35+21 = 193 which is the total count of nations/delegations represented in the United Nations. The countries that voted against the resolution were USA, Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, Togo, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. I had thought that India may abstain or stay absent during the vote, given the threat from USA's...

This 'Hari Bhajan Bina Sukh Shanti Nahin' bhajan of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, brings back the memories and joy of doing the bhajan sadhana of listening to him live and singing in chorus, with thousands of others in Sai Kulwant Hall, on so many occasions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l3ll5VQkkc , 2 min. 29 secs. In my humble view, Bhagavan was a great bhajan sadhana teacher/master. It seemed to me, at least during the times I have seen him live singing it from the mid 1990s onwards, that he did not focus on it as an exposition of his singing skills, i.e. as a musical performance by him. He was focused on involving all people in Sai Kulwant Hall in the worship of God (Hari) through song (bhajan), thereby teaching them and giving them the experience of joy of devout and joyous singing of the glory of God. The people singing in chorus (like me) would be so attracted by his sweet and loving voice, his wise words, his sweet and loving facial and hand gestures inviting ev...

I came across a recent post by Terry Reis Kennedy, https://www.facebook.com/terry.reiskennedy/posts/10215235470418874 , which shared this video: Subcommittee Hearing: U.S. Policy Toward Tibet: Access, Religious Freedom ...(EventID=106697), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFXRRPUR2iE&feature=youtu.be&t=42m (note the link starts the video at 42 mins which seems to be when the hearing starts), streamed live on Dec. 6th 2017. I made the following comment on Terry's post: Thanks a ton Terry Reis Kennedy for sharing. I saw the whole of the hearing part of the video. Recently I have been doing a fair amount of reading on Chinese and Tibetan history in the past few centuries from Internet sources like wikipedia and some videos on youtube. Therefore it was very interesting for me to see this hearing giving a contemporary USA Congress view of the matter involving USA members of Congress and knowledgeable people on the matter like Richard Gere and the two other witnesses. The ...

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba says, "Although the mind is one, according to the different functions performed by it, different names are given to it. When it is engaged in the thought process, it is called Manas. When it is engaged in discriminating between what is permanent and what is transient, it is called Buddhi (intelligence). In its role as a reservoir of memory, it is called Chitta. When the mind identifies itself with the body, it is called Ahamkara (ego). The four names are related to the mind and their combined aspect constitutes Antahkarana (the inner instrument)." Source: Discourse at the Poornachandra Auditorium, on 7- 7-1990, Gurupoornima day, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume23/sss23-25.pdf . In other words one can say: * Manas is thinking aspect of mind. * Buddhi is intellectual analysis and discimination aspect of mind. * Chitta is memory storage aspect of mind including storage of emotional impressions. * Ahamkara is aspect of mind identifying ...

I have heard Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba speaking on Vedanta in discourses that I have heard live sitting in Sai Kulwant Hall, Prasanthi Nilayam in the 2000s decade. Searching for Vedanta in text discourses of his available online at sssbpt.info provides many hits. So one can read text material about Bhagavan's words on Vedanta easily on the Internet. But this age is an Internet video age even for spiritual masters' messages. Are there video clips of Bhagavan on Vedanta put up on youtube? If so, why does youtube search not show them in the first ten to twenty results? Or is it that such video clips of Bhagavan have not been put on youtube by ashram authorities? If that's the case then I think they should do that at the earliest as Bhagavan would emphasize Vedanta in many of his discourses. So that vital aspect of Bhagavan's teachings delivered by Bhagavan Himself in Telugu (and translated to English by translator) ***MUST*** be made available on youtube. Otherwi...

Last updated on  23rd April 2020 23rd 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. A) Sookshma/Sukshma sharira (body) quotes of Sathya Sai A1)  The Primal Cause, Discourse at Prashaanthi Nilayam, on 22-3-1985, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume18/sss18-09.pdf . Given below is a large extract of the discourse: The Truth that the scriptures teach is, that God is everywhere, near and far, above and below, inside and outside. God is One, indivisible, omnipresent. In order to awaken to this truth, one has to attain higher levels of wakefulness. Indeed, there are four such levels. The first is, the apparently wakeful attentiveness with which we move about and busy ourselves everyday. We are very much like others, alert and aware, when thus awake. But, Vedanta reveals four categories of wakefulness: the fully awake, the wakefulness of mind only--as while dreaming, the wakefulness of the self alone-...

Fascinating video for 'who am i' inquiry and meditation type folks like me (at least it fascinated me); around 7 mins; Swami Chinmayananda meeting Ramana Maharshi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-tWecVxm1o . ---- I enjoyed this 1984 interview of Swami Chinmayananda in Australia by three Australian academics (perhaps Humanities stream academics). The interview, the video says, "will be part of the Religious Systems course in the School of Humanities at Deakin university". Around 40 mins,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrxGTXadYpE . In the second half of the interview, one of the Australian academics asks about rationalism in the context of teaching Hinduism and Vedanta in modern times (especially to Western world people). I found that Swami Chinmayananda answered that part very well (as per my current understanding of Vedanta). The academics do not hesitate to put difficult questions about Hinduism in the context of India in the 1980s, to Swami Chinmayanand...

Last updated on 15th Dec. 2017 Great initiative (SC put pressure on the Parsi trust which resulted in Parsi trust changing its earlier stand) and decision by the Indian Supreme Court to help a Parsi (Zoroastrian faith) lady married to a Hindu, get access to Parsi temple(s) in Gujarat, especially the Tower of Silence where Parsis do rituals for departed (deceased) relatives. Note that the lady is considered to be a non-Parsi even though she has not renounced her Parsi religion, by the Parsi religious authorities on account of her marrying a person from a different faith. Parsi trust to Supreme Court: Will allow women marrying outside religion enter temples, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/parsi-trust-to-supreme-court-will-allow-women-marrying-outside-religion-to-enter-temples-4982382/ , 14th Dec. 2017 ------ The article: Parsi woman allowed to perform last rites, SC informed, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/parsi-woman-allowed-to-perform-last-rites-sc-informed/arti...