Miscellaneous Facebook posts & comments in November 2020

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.

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Good to see this faith in God flowering in Russia, in various ways with Hinduism (I think the shared post is of ISKCON sect) being one of them.

Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/HinduRuss/posts/1233549617031936

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I am very saddened to know about the passing away of Shri Sudhakar Ram of Mastek/Majesco. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudhakar_Ram "Sudhakar Ram (8 September 1960 – 8 November 2020), was the Group CEO and Managing Director of Mastek, a software company. He was awarded CNBC Asia's ‘India Business Leader of the Year’ in 2007."

During the days I was a technical consultant with Mastek in 1990s beginning sometime in or around 1994, Sudhakar Ram was very helpful and co-operative with some limitations I had then, due to which I would sometimes work from home and my hours at work in Mastek were not fixed. 

Sudhakar was a good man who would push to get work done but was always good at heart. 

I am deeply grateful to Sudhakar, and to Mastek, for extending those flexi-hours and work-from-home to me at a time when flexi-hours and work-from-home were rather unknown in Mumbai, SEEPZ tech. environment. 

These flexi-hours included me leaving early on Thursdays so as to be able to attend the important weekly Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithi, Dombivli bhajan held in the evening. I had to leave early as the commute time was one and a half to two hours from Mastek SEEPZ office to Dombivli. So Sudhakar Ram's co-operation and co-operation from other Mastek colleagues I was working with, enabled me to strike a decent balance between handling my home responsibilities, earning a livelihood and actively pursuing spiritual path.

My prayers to Almighty God to shower His Grace on the soul of Shri Sudhakar Ram, and give strength and courage to his family and friends to bear the loss.

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Lovely Diwali 2020 message from UK PM Boris Johnson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rjCssl3dEY, 2 min. 30 secs.

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Nice Diwali message from Australian PM Scott Morrison, in the context of the ongoing COVID pandemic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsnk-69waQg&feature=youtu.be

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Lovely tribute to the late Sudhakar Ram, and to Mastek in general - https://adipocha.blogspot.com/2020/11/sudhakar-ram-1960-to-2020.html .

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A general comment about karmic dangers of earning money in improper ways

Money has to be earned for life but money earned by destroying lives of somewhat innocent people is not worth it as it will come with such negative karmic consequences that one's life becomes a sorrowful life even if one is wealthy. Those whose lives have been destroyed and the close relatives and friends of theirs, will curse or direct wishes of destruction of, the people who earned money by trapping them/their somewhat innocent relatives & friends. And these curses and wishes of destruction have their power which result in some effect over time. This is my considered view based on both Hindu scripture and what I have seen in life.

I say somewhat innocent people as people do have weaknesses. Making money by exploiting weaknesses of people, especially youngsters who do not know much about life, surely will come with negative karmic consequences. It is just not worth earning such karmically tainted money - better to stay far away from such karmically tainted money.

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‘Spent part of my childhood listening to Ramayana and Mahabharata’: Barack Obama, https://indianexpress.com/article/world/barack-obama-spent-childhood-years-listening-to-ramayana-and-mahabharata-7054100/, 17th Nov. 2020

Small extracts from the article quoting US former President Barrack Obama from his new book and memoir 'A Promised Land':

“Maybe it was its (India’s) sheer size, with one-sixth of the world’s population, an estimated two thousand distinct ethnic groups, and more than seven hundred languages spoken,” Obama says.

...

Obama said India has “always held a special place in my imagination”.

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“Maybe it was because I’d spent a part of my childhood in Indonesia listening to the epic Hindu tales of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, or because of my interest in Eastern religions, or because of a group of Pakistani and Indian college friends who’d taught me to cook dahl and keema and turned me on to Bollywood movies,” Obama writes.

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[I thank indianexpress.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above small extract(s) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]

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Interesting video: Chidananda Kathamritam 19.09.2020. Talk by Abha Suchak about Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj DLS, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ2rnaF9nLg, around 25 mins.

Dr. Abha Suchak also refers to a visit she made to a satsang of Sri Sathya Sai Baba (from around 18 min. 35 seconds). 

Dr. Abha Suchak is a key person of Suchak Hospital in Mumbai, https://www.facebook.com/Suchak-Hospital-444273675742579/

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I got a notification that I cannot post or comment on Facebook for 30 days, for a post I put up in 2018 titled, "Great job by Pennsylvania Grand Jury in documenting serious accusations of child sex abuse by Catholic church priests in Pennsylvania, USA; Will help in preventing future such abuse worldwide".

I think Facebook reviewers (or the automated system) misunderstood my stand against child sex abuse! I have disagreed with the decision and so the decision is under review. Wonder how long that will take. Meanwhile I thought I will try posting this on Facebook and see whether I am really  banned/blocked from commenting or posting on Facebook.

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Hmm. No, I am not banned - this post went through - no problem. Maybe it is because I disagreed with the decision and so my being banned on FB for 30 days is on review, and while under review, perhaps comments and posts are allowed.

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I am able to see this post in incognito Chrome browser window. So that means my Facebook friends (and followers) will also be able to see it, I think.

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The relevant 2018 post seems to be blocked as of now: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2258573434359221

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Perhaps somebody complained about the 2018 post resulting in these actions from Facebook.

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The same 2018 post is put up on my blog here: https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/08/great-job-by-pennsylvania-grand-jury-in.html . That has not been taken down. But Google search for it (using site:ravisiyer.blogspot.com to search my blog) does not show the blog post! Perhaps they have complained to Google Search too about the post due to which it has been removed from Google Search results.

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Swami Chidananda was the disciple of Swami Sivananda. The following video shows pics and video clips of him over the years. The audio part is only music.

Tribute to the Life of Gurudev Swami Chidananda, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8RFlw0rMxE, 16 min. 38 secs

His samadhi was Jalsamadhi (samadhi in water) as can be seen from the video.

More about him from his wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chidananda_Saraswati

Chidananda Saraswati [1] (24 September 1916 – 28 August 2008) was President of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India. He is well known in India as a yogi, dnyani and spiritual leader. He succeeded as President of the Divine Life Society in 1963, after the death of his predecessor, Sivananda Saraswati, who founded the Society.[2]

Chidananda's birth name was Sridhar Rao. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola College, Chennai. He took to a life of renunciation in 1936, and joined the Sivananda Ashram run by Sivananda Saraswati in Rishikesh in 1943.[2]

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Sridhar Rao, (as Chidananda Saraswati was known before taking Sannyasa (embracing a life of renunciation), was born in Mangalore, to Sri Srinivasa Rao and Sarojini, on 24 September 1916, the second of five children and the eldest son. Sri Srinivasa Rao was a prosperous Zamindar, a rich landlord owning several villages, extensive lands and palatial buildings in South India. Sarojini was an ideal Indian mother, noted for her saintliness.[2][4]

At the age of eight, Sridhar Rao's life was influenced by Sri Anantayya, a friend of his grandfather, who used to relate to him stories from the epics, Ramayana and Mahābhārata. Doing Tapas (austerities), becoming a Rishi (sage), and having a vision of the Lord became ideals which he cherished.[2]

[References]

1. also referred as Swami Chidananda

2. Biography of Swami Chidananda Saraswati , https://www.dlshq.org/saints/chida.htm Divine Life Society HQ website.

4. "Swami Chidananda on Himself" , http://sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=1345 . DIvine Life Society. Retrieved 17 August 2014.

--- end wiki extracts ---

[I thank Wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]

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From around 1 min. 35 seconds till around 11 min. 45 seconds in the video given below, Swami Chidananda first chants Sanskrit shlokas in worship of God, followed by commentary on some key messages from Bhagavad Gita which he says are same as that of the Upanishads. The commentary is in Hindi and English. I found this commentary to be very impressive - excellent understanding, IMHO, and clear, simple and effective articulation.

'Sadhana According to Srimad Bhagavad Gita' Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCpNNM-XbYU

The initial and later parts of the video seem to have clips of Swami Chidananda singing bhajans.

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I think the following video may have a slightly confusing title. Swami Chidananda actually talks (in English) about antahkarana (inner instrument) being composed of manas, buddhi, chitta and ahamkara, and about how one should know that one is separate from the mind, and not be a slave to the mind. I liked the explanation Swami Chidananda gives - excellent communicator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlG-aMZdQH0, 6 min. 43 secs.

I think Swami Chidananda's explanation of antahkarana. as well as his exhortation to not be a slave of the mind, is in line with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's explanation and teachings. I have shared a relevant discourse text extract in my post here: What is Manas, Buddhi, Chitta, Ahamkara and Antahkarana? Sathya Sai explains it simply and succinctly, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2017/12/what-is-manas-buddhi-chitta-ahamkara.html, Dec. 2017.

It would be wonderful if such discourse video clips of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba are made available on youtube. That will help spread the great wisdom and teachings of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. However, what I see is that darshan clips and bhajan clips of Bhagavan are many on youtube but such discourse clips are limited, or at least I have not come across many such clips. I searched on youtube for 'antahkarana sathya sai' but did not get any suitable result in first twenty or thirty results.

Should Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust and its video dissemination outlets make some efforts to release short video clips on youtube (free viewing) of Bhagavan's discourses on various topics like antahkarana and its components of manas, chitta, buddhi and ahamkara? I certainly think it should. That's what many other spiritual missions in India are doing with respect to their spiritual leaders. That's how messages of their spiritual leaders get disseminated widely.

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Amma is Mata Amritanandamayi.

Shared FB post:  https://www.facebook.com/AmmaChimes/photos/a.1398211457059519/2821946748019309/ - "Today is the incarnation day of Sri Satya Sai Baba.

"Sri Satya Sai Baba's life was his message. The greatest tribute and affection anyone can offer him is to follow the path of love and compassion shown by him " - Amma" (post has painting of Swami).

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Swami Chidananda talks about his association with Sri Ma Anandamayi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ggnIZbZra8, around 10 mins.

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Simple and great Thanksgiving message!

Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/brightvibes/posts/1621958931324073 has pic with text:

I WOKE UP!

I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR.

I HAVE RUNNING WATER.

I HAVE FOOD TO EAT.

LIFE IS GOOD.

I AM THANKFUL.

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Interesting broad overview remarks on Indian Hindu yogic practices - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lK_k71Iigc, 5 min. 24 secs.

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