Miscellaneous Facebook posts & comments in July 2019
When author of post or comment is not mentioned, it should be assumed that it is me (Ravi S. Iyer).
To save time, I am usually not providing my FB post links but only contents. I am also not hyperlinking links. So readers will have to copy-paste links from this post onto a browser link box and then browse to that link.
I just browsed through this article as I do not know much about the associated field.
"There is, however, one elegant solution to the riddle of how to explain the relationship between consciousness and physical properties [Ravi: associated with brain, as per my understanding]. Many illustrious philosophers throughout history have held to this view, and if it is rarely considered today, this is likely because it requires such a radical shift in perspective. Nevertheless, if we are ever going to understand consciousness and its relationship to the physical world, I believe this is a shift we are going to have to make.
The key to resolving the hard problem of consciousness lies in the following observation. While physical properties cannot explain consciousness, consciousness is needed to explain physical properties."
The above (small) extract seems to make sense to me.
Article: What If Consciousness Comes First?
Bridging the mind-body gap will require a fundamental shift in perspective., https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mysteries-consciousness/201907/what-if-consciousness-comes-first, Psychology Today, 22nd July 2019 by Sharon Hewitt Rawlette Ph.D.
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The Change.org petition: "Declaration by Sathya Sai devotees and alumni & staff of Sai educational institutions, condemning spiritual fraud Madhusudan Rao Naidu", https://www.change.org/p/sathya-sai-devotee-fraternity-worldwide-we-condemn-spiritual-fraud-madhusudan-rao-naidu, continues to get a few signatures per month.
Now the total signatures has touched 383.
April 2019 had 2 signatures, May - 3, June - 5, July (so far) - 1. These signatories are from UK, Canada, Singapore, Slovenia, Colombia, US (USA) and India.
Alumni participation seems to be very minimal. I think, by and large, it is non alumni Sathya Sai devotees who have the courage to sign such petitions, though there have been few alumni signatures too, and I thank these alumni for their courage.
Good to see such courage among non alumni Sathya Sai devotees. I think it is such people that will keep up the motto of Bhagavan of "Sathyam Vada Dharmam Chara", especially in the context of Madhusudan Rao Naidu spiritual fraud.
Update: I have uploaded the latest signature list which has a couple or so test signatures (not whitened list) on public Google Drive folder here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qxa2EezgcF8WmbRoJyP9-m0btxOI-6MB . It is only around 97 KB in size.
============
In June 2019 Sanathana Sarathi print issue, I read this lovely and inspiring article written by Howard Murphet (perhaps in 1980): The Great Australian Miracle. It is about a miraculous healing of a small girl (Mayan) in Australia who was suffering from a dangerous disease (apiastic anaemia), due to faith that the small girl, and her parents and grandparents developed in Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and the positive response & intervention by Bhagavan.
The article was printed in Sanathana Saranthi in May 1980 (the June 2019 issue reprinted it). The article is available on the Internet here: http://sssbpt.org/pages/SaiSpiritualShowers/SSS02Apr2009.html
======
I was not aware of this:
'The most repeated command
in the Bible? "Do not fear."
The reason? "For I am with you...."', https://twitter.com/scottsauls/status/1145355096957607936
It is Sathya Sai who gave me the faith and confidence that if I am confronted with a serious problem including a fearful situation, and I then earnestly and sincerely pray to God (including prayer to Avatar Sathya Sai), God will help me in some ***significant*** way to counter the serious problem which may be a fearful situation. Sathya Sai repeatedly said that He is with his devotees, and will come to their aid when they are in trouble.
God grants Abhaya (fearlessness) to the sincere and earnest devotee. This theme runs through Hindu devotional scripture.
It is interesting to know that the Bible seems to have similar statements.
========
Nice quotes about Guru: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SECzyblmGlU, 49 seconds.
I think this quote is very apt for today's spiritual aspirants, and is reportedly from Swami Sivanananda Saraswati (Divine Life Society) (1887 - 1963), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivananda_Saraswati.
"Let each man take the path according to his capacity, understanding and temperament. His true guru will meet him along that path". https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/255653-let-each-man-take-the-path-according-to-his-capacity.
I think there is a lot of truth to what Swami Sivananda said above. I think the duty of the genuine spiritual aspirant is to "take the path according to his (or her) capacity, understanding and temperament". It is my strong belief today that once a spiritual aspirant does that with Shraddha (faith in Divine Power/God) and Saburi (steadfastness), the appropriate Guru for him/her "will meet him (or her) along that path".
=============
"The world’s largest religion by population is still Christianity", https://twitter.com/PewReligion/status/1149472698344464385
2015 figures in numbers and percentage:
Christians - 2.3 Billion, 31.2%
Muslims - 1.8 Billion, 24.1%
Hindus - 1.1 Billion, 15.1%
==========
The Festival of Bharat - S3: Jews were never persecuted in India | His Excellency, The Ambassador of Israel to the UK, Mark Regev ji's moving opening words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q__mjojfAU, around 5 mins, published on 11th July 2019 by the Festival of Bharat.
Ravi: Great to hear such praise about India's (Bharat's) spirit of tolerance towards various religions, including Judaism (in this case, the speaker speaks only about India's tolerance towards Judaism), across centuries and millennia from a top diplomat of Israel.
==========
I have been trying to get contact information of the Royal Travancore family, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travancore_royal_family, so that I can offer to send them my part autobiography book, if they are interested. Note that both my parents' families were subjects of Travancore kings & queens (prior to Indian independence and merger of royal kingdoms into republic of India in late 40s & early 50s).
[Update: I was able to get the info. that the Travancore Royal Family Palace (residence) is the Kowdiar Palace in Thiruvananthapuram.
https://www.ixigo.com/kowdiar-palace-thiruvananthapuram-india-contact-phone-number-ne-1273857 gave the contact number of Kowdiar Palace as 91-471-2434744 (0471 243 4744).
I called up the number, and after I got connected to another person, was able to get an email id to which I sent my offer to send my book. I also gave my family background in Kerala and said that the book offer is out of gratitude to Travancore Royal Family for protection and support provided to my parent's/parents' families. end-Update.]
I could not get an email id or a telephone number of the office of this royal family with Google search so far.
But there are wiki pages on some of the current royal family members (though it is more of a titular thing now without any political power being vested in them, I guess), and youtube videos!.
Here's an interesting 2017 interview with Princess Gouri Parvathi Bayi of the Travancore royal family where she goes down memory lane a little, and talks about travel: Conversations With Hari- Princess Gouri Parvathi Bayi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLkrJEmtTV4, 12 min. 26 secs.
BTW if any readers, especially those based in Thiruvananthapuram area of Kerala know the contact info. of the office of Travancore royal family, I request them to please pass it on to me.
---------
I commented on above post (slightly edited): --Name-snipped-- sir - I thought you would like to know that I have ordered for two copies of both of my books (Part Autobio & Who am I? I am I ... ) to be sent to Kowdiar Palace to be offered to H.H. Princess Gowri Parvati Bayi and H.H. Princess Gowri Lakshmi Bayi.
I was also able to get the contact info. of office of H.H. Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma (current king of Travancore and, I believe, brother of above two princesses and trustee of Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram) and have sent a mail to the office offering to send a copy each of my two books.
=========
To save time, I am usually not providing my FB post links but only contents. I am also not hyperlinking links. So readers will have to copy-paste links from this post onto a browser link box and then browse to that link.
I just browsed through this article as I do not know much about the associated field.
"There is, however, one elegant solution to the riddle of how to explain the relationship between consciousness and physical properties [Ravi: associated with brain, as per my understanding]. Many illustrious philosophers throughout history have held to this view, and if it is rarely considered today, this is likely because it requires such a radical shift in perspective. Nevertheless, if we are ever going to understand consciousness and its relationship to the physical world, I believe this is a shift we are going to have to make.
The key to resolving the hard problem of consciousness lies in the following observation. While physical properties cannot explain consciousness, consciousness is needed to explain physical properties."
The above (small) extract seems to make sense to me.
Article: What If Consciousness Comes First?
Bridging the mind-body gap will require a fundamental shift in perspective., https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mysteries-consciousness/201907/what-if-consciousness-comes-first, Psychology Today, 22nd July 2019 by Sharon Hewitt Rawlette Ph.D.
=============
The Change.org petition: "Declaration by Sathya Sai devotees and alumni & staff of Sai educational institutions, condemning spiritual fraud Madhusudan Rao Naidu", https://www.change.org/p/sathya-sai-devotee-fraternity-worldwide-we-condemn-spiritual-fraud-madhusudan-rao-naidu, continues to get a few signatures per month.
Now the total signatures has touched 383.
April 2019 had 2 signatures, May - 3, June - 5, July (so far) - 1. These signatories are from UK, Canada, Singapore, Slovenia, Colombia, US (USA) and India.
Alumni participation seems to be very minimal. I think, by and large, it is non alumni Sathya Sai devotees who have the courage to sign such petitions, though there have been few alumni signatures too, and I thank these alumni for their courage.
Good to see such courage among non alumni Sathya Sai devotees. I think it is such people that will keep up the motto of Bhagavan of "Sathyam Vada Dharmam Chara", especially in the context of Madhusudan Rao Naidu spiritual fraud.
Update: I have uploaded the latest signature list which has a couple or so test signatures (not whitened list) on public Google Drive folder here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qxa2EezgcF8WmbRoJyP9-m0btxOI-6MB . It is only around 97 KB in size.
============
In June 2019 Sanathana Sarathi print issue, I read this lovely and inspiring article written by Howard Murphet (perhaps in 1980): The Great Australian Miracle. It is about a miraculous healing of a small girl (Mayan) in Australia who was suffering from a dangerous disease (apiastic anaemia), due to faith that the small girl, and her parents and grandparents developed in Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and the positive response & intervention by Bhagavan.
The article was printed in Sanathana Saranthi in May 1980 (the June 2019 issue reprinted it). The article is available on the Internet here: http://sssbpt.org/pages/SaiSpiritualShowers/SSS02Apr2009.html
======
I was not aware of this:
'The most repeated command
in the Bible? "Do not fear."
The reason? "For I am with you...."', https://twitter.com/scottsauls/status/1145355096957607936
It is Sathya Sai who gave me the faith and confidence that if I am confronted with a serious problem including a fearful situation, and I then earnestly and sincerely pray to God (including prayer to Avatar Sathya Sai), God will help me in some ***significant*** way to counter the serious problem which may be a fearful situation. Sathya Sai repeatedly said that He is with his devotees, and will come to their aid when they are in trouble.
God grants Abhaya (fearlessness) to the sincere and earnest devotee. This theme runs through Hindu devotional scripture.
It is interesting to know that the Bible seems to have similar statements.
========
Nice quotes about Guru: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SECzyblmGlU, 49 seconds.
I think this quote is very apt for today's spiritual aspirants, and is reportedly from Swami Sivanananda Saraswati (Divine Life Society) (1887 - 1963), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivananda_Saraswati.
"Let each man take the path according to his capacity, understanding and temperament. His true guru will meet him along that path". https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/255653-let-each-man-take-the-path-according-to-his-capacity.
I think there is a lot of truth to what Swami Sivananda said above. I think the duty of the genuine spiritual aspirant is to "take the path according to his (or her) capacity, understanding and temperament". It is my strong belief today that once a spiritual aspirant does that with Shraddha (faith in Divine Power/God) and Saburi (steadfastness), the appropriate Guru for him/her "will meet him (or her) along that path".
=============
"The world’s largest religion by population is still Christianity", https://twitter.com/PewReligion/status/1149472698344464385
2015 figures in numbers and percentage:
Christians - 2.3 Billion, 31.2%
Muslims - 1.8 Billion, 24.1%
Hindus - 1.1 Billion, 15.1%
==========
The Festival of Bharat - S3: Jews were never persecuted in India | His Excellency, The Ambassador of Israel to the UK, Mark Regev ji's moving opening words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q__mjojfAU, around 5 mins, published on 11th July 2019 by the Festival of Bharat.
Ravi: Great to hear such praise about India's (Bharat's) spirit of tolerance towards various religions, including Judaism (in this case, the speaker speaks only about India's tolerance towards Judaism), across centuries and millennia from a top diplomat of Israel.
==========
I have been trying to get contact information of the Royal Travancore family, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travancore_royal_family, so that I can offer to send them my part autobiography book, if they are interested. Note that both my parents' families were subjects of Travancore kings & queens (prior to Indian independence and merger of royal kingdoms into republic of India in late 40s & early 50s).
[Update: I was able to get the info. that the Travancore Royal Family Palace (residence) is the Kowdiar Palace in Thiruvananthapuram.
https://www.ixigo.com/kowdiar-palace-thiruvananthapuram-india-contact-phone-number-ne-1273857 gave the contact number of Kowdiar Palace as 91-471-2434744 (0471 243 4744).
I called up the number, and after I got connected to another person, was able to get an email id to which I sent my offer to send my book. I also gave my family background in Kerala and said that the book offer is out of gratitude to Travancore Royal Family for protection and support provided to my parent's/parents' families. end-Update.]
I could not get an email id or a telephone number of the office of this royal family with Google search so far.
But there are wiki pages on some of the current royal family members (though it is more of a titular thing now without any political power being vested in them, I guess), and youtube videos!.
Here's an interesting 2017 interview with Princess Gouri Parvathi Bayi of the Travancore royal family where she goes down memory lane a little, and talks about travel: Conversations With Hari- Princess Gouri Parvathi Bayi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLkrJEmtTV4, 12 min. 26 secs.
BTW if any readers, especially those based in Thiruvananthapuram area of Kerala know the contact info. of the office of Travancore royal family, I request them to please pass it on to me.
---------
I commented on above post (slightly edited): --Name-snipped-- sir - I thought you would like to know that I have ordered for two copies of both of my books (Part Autobio & Who am I? I am I ... ) to be sent to Kowdiar Palace to be offered to H.H. Princess Gowri Parvati Bayi and H.H. Princess Gowri Lakshmi Bayi.
I was also able to get the contact info. of office of H.H. Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma (current king of Travancore and, I believe, brother of above two princesses and trustee of Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram) and have sent a mail to the office offering to send a copy each of my two books.
=========
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