Miscellaneous Facebook posts & comments in or around Dec. 2022

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 may have to copy-paste links from this post onto a browser link box and then browse to that link.

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IMHO, one of the great contributions of Sathya Sai Avatar to humanity at large is his promotion of unity of faiths.

[Associated Facebook post:  https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0K6hMSbYuXmLjVYNb52XERC4Emsa25rNAUMPQHpts9chpj9HmBk67ywsBRavD1v9Kl shares a post with Sathya Sai quote, "The great teachers belong to mankind. It is wrong to believe that Jesus belongs only to the Christians and the Christmas is a holy festival for the West only. To accept one of them as one's own and discard the rest as belonging to others, is a sign of pettiness. Christ, Rama, Krishna - they are for all men everywhere." ...Swami's Christmas Discourse...1972]

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Malayalam Christmas song published a year ago, Bethlehem Thazhvara|Official Video|Psalms Media, https://youtu.be/VY1AG2kd0mY?t=60, around 5 mins., followed by Christmas wishes (as talk not song).

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Christmas Fusion 2022 | Vasaikar Marathi Christmas Songs | The Pacifiers, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZToBXQ2-x8, 10 min. 14 secs.

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"O Holy Night" - Featuring Darnell Abraham and the Azusa Pacific University Combined Ensembles, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKzVsaHbQYs , 5 min. 47 secs.

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Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo - O Holy Night / Cantique De Noel (Christmas-Vienna 1999), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7uiqRCW6I8 , 4 min. 16 secs.

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Céline Dion - O Holy Night (from the 1998 "These are Special Times" TV special), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1oLk54R5Xg , 5 min. 21 secs.

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Saare Jahaan ka Ujaala | New Hindi Christmas Song | ONE TRIBE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHILyuNTtPk, 4 min. 36 secs., published 6 days ago.

The Hindi lyrics and English translation of them are given as captions in the video.

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Latest New Hindi Christmas Songs 2022 | Collection of 11 Choirs Carols, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL41DSW6hbE , 47 mins.

I heard only the first song from beginning of video till around 5 mins. which was great.

Given below are main Hindi lyrics of the song with my quick English translation:

Khamosh raaton ki thandi hawaon se

[English: In the cool wind of the silent night]

aayi farishton ki mithi awaz

[English: came the sweet voice of angels]

paida hua paida hua paida hua paida hua

[English: (He) is born, (He) is born, (He) is born, (He) is born]

muktidata hamara paida hua

[English: Our freedom-giving (person) is born]

taranhara hamara paida hua

[English: Our saviour (guide through life) is born]

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Death of Swami Vivekananda and the Hidden Reasons, https://historyflame.com/death-of-swami-vivekananda , 7th Jan. 2022

I tried to put up a comment on above post but it did not accept it and gave some error message. The text below is based on that comment and some additional thoughts of mine:

Thanks to the author of above post for sharing this sensitive info. on the Internet. I think it is helpful to spiritual aspirants to know about such matters too. I find it inspiring that despite suffering from so many ailments, Swami Vivekananda was so active in his spiritual mission and accomplished so much.

Another inspiring thing for me from reading this is that Swami Vivekananda bodily passed away while working in his spiritual mission as he had taught students on the day he died. Note that he died in an ashram room rather than in a hospital.

For readers who may not know, Swami Vivekananda died young. He was born on 12th Jan. 1863 and passed away on 4th July 1902, aged 39 years, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda .

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The book referenced above is available on archive.org here: https://archive.org/details/the-monk-as-man-unknown-life-of-swami-vivekananda-mani-sankar .

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Swami Vivekananda suffered from 31 ailments, https://www.hindustantimes.com/kolkata/swami-vivekananda-suffered-from-31-ailments/story-AzNd0vIynJOGkO5MJzW9AK.html , Jan. 6th 2013.

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The Avatar's words. I have full faith in them. As I am trying to chronicle my spiritual journey, I must mention that I am yet to experience a state where I "will be unaffected by joy or grief, for they will be fully immersed in the ocean of Atmic bliss (Atma-ananda), above and beyond the reach of worldly things".

In my case, the inner joy experiences are surely there and are good, but they are temporary while I am doing japa-dhyana (chanting-meditation) or in prayer/adoration of divine through words, song & dance, but when there is no significant bodily distress. The challenge for me is to be having inner joy (ananda) even when there is significant bodily distress. The sadhana continues ... Like Mbappe and France in the football (soccer) world cup final, never say die and keep making strong efforts to reach the goal 😀😀😀.

P.S. France lost to Argentina but their fight-back when things looked totally lost for them when they were down two-nil and were slightly over 75 minutes into the game, was awesome and inspiring.

[Associated Facebook post:  https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0SNMd1rwe8GtsGFvHtrHBzbkPSejquwcYM2QJqcDmRpVM819cKbr1ZJRvjpEZW5Ewl shares a post with Sathya Sai teaching extract.]

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Shirdi Sai Baba: People come to us due to Rinanubandh; Let us love and serve each other and be happy; Look on calmly at passing show of world

Of late I have had many Facebook friend requests, which I accepted, from people whose profile and posts indicate that they are Shirdi Sai Baba devotees. Today on my spiritual blog, I noticed over 60 hits in past 24 hours on a Shirdi Sai Baba teaching related blog post from July 2017. So I revisited it and then felt that I should share it on Facebook for the benefit of these new Shirdi Sai Baba devotee Facebook friends. Perhaps other friends may like reading it too.

Contents of my blog post: https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2017/07/shirdi-sai-babas-advice-regarding-our.html are given below:

---snip---

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The Avatar's words. Swami's words tell me that i need to intensify my Namasmarana faith and practice.

[Associated Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0jK8xsfoWXN8GiKcM3JW2K54znWXNgHuKskbmqhSWj62Cbv6nVVZCVsBfcy4TFtmfl shares Sathya Sai teaching extract:

Millions recite the Lord's name, but few have steady faith..

Swami :"Millions recite the Lord’s Name, but few have steady faith! Fewer seek the bliss (Ananda) that contemplation on the glory of God within, the Atma, can confer. Some people complain that recitation (japam) has not cured their pain, grief or greed! It is because they mechanically recite prayers and meditate out of habit or for social conformity or to gain reputation for religiousness! When people who have learnt the precious scriptures revealing Atma-vidya (science of the Self) do not put into practice what they repeat orally and have no faith in the assertions, what profit can they get from it? The canker of doubt has undermined their reverential attitude to the scripture. They devalue the scriptures into money-or-fame-earning devices, and when they do not get money or fame through them, they are disappointed. They envy those who follow secular avocations. But if they only develop faith, scriptures themselves will foster them and ensure for them a happy and contented life."

*Divine Discourse, Feb 23, 1968.*]

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Some comments of mine from above post (slightly edited):

Thank you so much ---. I was using the words in general, though I do have some pain issues at times (like some back pain I am going through now). [Note for this blog post only: Earlier version of my share mentioned something about pain. Later I removed it.]

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Pain like this (relatively small amount of) back pain is a test for my Namasmarna level 🙂

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Well, I am trying out different sitting and sleeping postures. Let me see how that works out.

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When was Penukonda town/city (near Puttaparthi) founded? May be between 1050 CE and 1152 CE

Penukonda wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penukonda says, "This region was controlled at different points in history by the Hoysalas, Chalukyas, Vijayanagar, Nawabs, Maratha chieftain Murari Rao, Tipu Sultan, Nizam and eventually came under British rule after it was ceded to the British by the Nizam of Hyderabad.[3] It was a melting pot of different religions but the town and fort were established by early Hoysala kings, who were practitioners of Jainism.[citation needed]". "[Ref.3 is a broken link]

In Hoysala empire wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoysala_Empire , the map titled, "Hoysala kingdom, c. 1050 - c. 1355" with additional info., "(Subordinate to the Western Chalukya Empire until 1187)" shows that Penukonda and perhaps also Puttaparthi were part of Hoysala kingdom then. But the Hoysalas were independently ruling this area only from 1187. 

What is clear is that Hoysalas ruled Penukonda and that Vijayanagar empire replaced Hoysalas as rulers of Penukonda. Hoysalas were vassals of (subordinate to) Western Chalukya till 1187 CE after which they became independent rulers. 

It seems very probable that Penukonda town was established by early Hoysala kings who were practitioners of Jainism as mentioned in above extract from Penukonda wiki page, as there are ancient Jain temples in Penukonda [Related post: 14th century Jain temples in Penukonda which is very close to Puttaparthi,  https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2022/09/14th-century-jain-temples-in-penukonda.html ].  

Extracts from wiki page of the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnuvardhana , who ruled from 1108–1152 CE are given below:

"Originally a follower of Jainism and known as Bitti Deva, he came under the influence of the Hindu philosopher Ramanujacharya, converted to Hindu Vaishnavism and took the name "Vishnuvardhana".[1][2][3][4] His queen Shanthala however remained a Jain.[5] This was the transition period from Jainism to Hinduism 

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[References:]

1. Govindāchārya 1906, p. 180.

2. Stein 1989, p. 16.

3. Menon 2013, p. 127.

4. Smith 1920, p. 203.

5. N, Prathibha; N, akumarPrathibha; Mar 26, akumar / Updated; 2018. "'Religion must be burnt every 1,000 yrs'". Bangalore Mirror. Retrieved 6 May 2022.

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The last reference above, https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/opinion/views/religion-must-be-burnt-every-1000-yrs/articleshow/63455865.cms , states that Jainism was flourishing in Karnataka till the 9th and 10th century. Then it mentions Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana converting from Jainism to Hinduism which is mentioned in the wiki page extract given above.

Subsequent Hoysala kings seem to have been Hindu but also supported Jainism. If the statement that Penukonda was founded by early Hoysala kings who were practitioners of Jainism mentioned in Penukonda wiki page is true, then Penukonda would have been founded during or before reign of Vishnuvardhana. Hoysala empire got founded in 1050 and Vishnuvardhana reign ended in 1152. That means that Penukonda would have been founded between 1050 and 1152, if the wiki page statement is true.

[I thank Wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) and maps 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 perspective!

[Associated Facebook post:  https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid022W1R7d2JgLGY5qvBWZhkc8rR9WMCmcPDU6ATrPoxXzSLdZDYEu2dGHQrrRRxzTM8l shares a post with a quote about meditation being deep surrender and not concentration. It further mentions "space of 'No-mind'".]

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