Ravi S. Iyer: Spiritual

Mr. Jeff Grant is a former film director and now professional writer who lives in London, UK. I came to know about him through an article carrying his name that appeared in Sanathana Sarathi of August 2019. This article was excerpted from an article by Jeff Grant in "Encounters with Divinity" book, as per Sanathana Sarathi. I have given below a pic of one page of that article, followed by a zoomed in pic of a paragraph in it that caught my attention. [To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.] This is the text in the above zoomed-in pic: In the film, our group made, was one shot that showed Him materialising a silver necklace. He did that typical whirling motion with His hands and out from His palm appeared a necklace. When we were editing the film, we examined this shot frame by frame. In one frame, nothing showed but His palm. In the n...

Readers may want to read my recent post in another blog of mine: Vox.com article analyzing why the 2010s did not bring about an ebook revolution; In 2019 (in USA) ebook sales are around 20% and print book sales around 80%, https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2019/12/voxcom-article-analyzing-why-2010s-did.html .

Last updated on 31st Dec. 2019 I am very thankful to RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and its head, Shri Mohan Bhagwat, for their support to Prasanthi Nilayam and Puttaparthi town. Great to see this Radio Sai Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/radiosai/posts/2810681999020920  with pics of Shri Mohan Bhagwat's visit to Prasanthi Nilayam yesterday (27th Dec. 2019). If I recall correctly, in early 2011 a team of top persons from RSS, including Shri Mohan Bhagwat, visited Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba in Prasanthi Nilayam. Good to see Ramesh Sawant sir, former Maharashtra Sathya Sai organization state president just behind and to the side of Shri Bhagwat in one of the Radio Sai post pics. I have been privileged to do Maharashtra Prasanthi Seva in the 1990s when Ramesh Sawant sir was the top leader. I have learned a lot from him and have been inspired by him for Seva. Wonderful to see him in action now in 2019! ---- Facebook user Saibliss has put up a post on the same vi...

As I got more deeper into religion over the past few years, I saw the wide diversity of modes of worship and adoration of God through song and music, across various groups/classes of people in India, including in Christianity. I deliberately play various kinds of devotional music on festival days, if I can spare the time, on my speakers connected to computer so as to fill my small flat with the vibrations. This helps me get more familiar and more open to worship of God through music styles that ordinarily I would not listen much to. Today I am ***respectful*** of Indian village style song & music adoration of God, including in Christian tradition. I certainly don't look down upon it in any way. However, very unfortunately, I see that some people who may think they are great singers and musicians in India not only look down but express contempt in some manner, upon such village style song & music adoration of God, including in Christian tradition. I think people are...

On (printed book) page 30 & 31 of The Incredible Sai Baba by Arthur Osborne, (book pdf link: https://muddypractice.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/the-incredible-sai-baba-arthur-osborne.pdf ), author Osborne references statements made by a Mrs. Manager, whom he, it seems, mistakenly refers to as a Parsi lady. Osborne referred to B.V. Narasimha Swami's Devotee experiences book where the author mentions that Mrs Manager is a pseudonym. From http://bonjanrao.blogspot.com/2012/12/mrstarabai-sadasiv-tarkhad.html we know that Mrs Manager is actually Mrs.TARABAI SADASIV TARKHAD. It states, "When she was interviewed by B.V.Narasimhaswamiji in 1936, she was also called as ‘Mrs.Manager’". This seems to be how Osborne mistakenly presumed that her real name was Mrs Manager (and further presumed that it is a Parsi lady as he may have thought that Manager is a Parsi surname). What is important for us is what Mrs. Tarabai Tarkhad who had direct experiences of Shirdi Sai Baba, said...

South India's relationship to the English and British in general, is quite fascinating. Yes, it was British imperialism that materially exploited South India, like it exploited all of India. But there were quite a few good English and other British folks who really liked India and did good work in India. Arthur Osborne, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Osborne_(writer) , and family is one such English family who have made great contributions to spiritual literature in English in India, mostly about Ramana Maharshi as the family were his devotees, but also about Shirdi Sai Baba. The Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/Sri.Ramana.Maharshi.Teachings%20/photos/a.517844091601806/2813656515353874/   has a large extract from Ramana Periya Puranam about Arthur Osborne. The extract seems to have been authored by Shri V. Ganesan, grand nephew of Ramana Maharshi, https://www.aham.com/usa/sharing/v_ganesan.html . Some points covered in the extract are: 1. Arthur Osborne c...

As an Indian Hindu, my heart goes out to these Pakistani Hindus who have sought refuge in India from religious persecution in Pakistan, as per their accounts in this video. They are already in India for many years, some for decades, escaping from second-class citizen life in Pakistan. The CAA (referred to as CAB in the video as the video seems to have been made when it was still a bill, and not yet an act) has a cut off date sometime in Dec. 2014 and so will not apply to new refugees. I have to say that I would like them to be given Indian citizenship. Pakistani Hindus share why Citizenship Amendment Bill is a ray of hope for them | Times Now i-Report, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNAvMLrxBFc , 12 min. 48 secs. But what about Muslim refugees from Bangladesh in India for similar periods (don't know if there are Muslim refugees from Pakistan & Afghanistan in India)? Should they not be granted Indian citizenship? That, I think, is the big issue being raised by Opposition p...

I am sharing this Harry Truman quote about USA Bill of Rights as I think it may be historical truth. USA constitution and law as applied today in early 21st century, provides for freedom of religion which has allowed many religions other than Christianity like my Hindu religion, to be freely practiced in USA, and that I, a resident & citizen of India with many friends and some relatives living in the USA, think is a wonderful thing. Of course, all such religions that are practised in USA should, in their practices, adhere to the laws of USA, promote harmony with (law-abiding people of) other religions, and contribute to stability and progress of the people of the USA as a whole. But I think it is important to know the historical background of the USA Bill of Rights to have a better understanding of how that great milestone in rights of citizens in a democracy came about. Note that the Indian constitution drafted in late 1940s and becoming effective on 26th Jan. 1950, slightly ov...

My iami1.wordpress.com blog is a pure spiritual philosophy and God & Science conversation blog without references to any contemporary spiritual masters (no significant reference to Sathya Sai Baba or Shirdi Sai Baba but some of their revelations & teachings are shared) as the emphasis is on teachings, philosophy and revelations. This serves to disconnect the teachings & philosophy from the personality of the spiritual master. Some people like some spiritual masters and dislike some other spiritual masters. Those personality-level likes & dislikes go out of the picture when the focus is on the teachings & philosophy. The blog gets very few visitors as compared to my main spiritual blog and miscellaneous blog, and I think that is an expected outcome as few people are interested in spiritual philosophy and God & Science type of topics. Yesterday (13th Dec) I saw that I had a visitor from China (only 1 visitor yesterday). Perhaps it is from Hong Kong and not m...

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. ========================================== Very happy to know this. As a resident and citizen of India, I heartily welcome these Hindu refugees from Pakistan (fleeing religious persecution in Pakistan), living in India since 2000, to Indian citizenship. They are my fellow Indians now. Great! [Shared article: Eight Pakistani refugees granted Indian citizenship in Rajasthan's Kota, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/jaipur/eight-pakistani-refugees-granted-indian-citizenship-in-rajasthans-kota/videoshow/73041352.cms] ---------- Sourav Ganguly sent me food: Inzamam says cricket and religion don’t mix, rubbishes Danish Kaneria claims, https://...