Miscellaneous Facebook posts & comments in or around Apr. to May 2023
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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Interesting words about spiritual awakening. In my humble view, spiritual awakening term seems to have a similar meaning to, if not the same meaning as, becoming or rather being spiritually aware (of your reality as the Atma).
[FB post https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02SkiqGke1EQyAYXBfN5ahabizSvoGaqUxg8W551BQXe6M63rk9QdFwvTnEVrK5Uuil shares another post]
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Karma is one of the great mysteries of life, for me. I mean, I believe in Karma from what is said in Hindu scripture and which has been reinforced by quotes/words of Bhagavan on Karma. Note that I have heard some of Bhagavan's words on Karma in discourse(s), live sitting in Sai Kulwant Hall and they have entered deeply into my heart and mind. I recall Bhagavan even starting some discourse(s) by singing Telugu verses about Karma (Why does the bat have to lead a tough life (hang upside down or something like that)?; Is it not its Karma?). BTW Puttaparthi has lot of bats which are seen in the evening flying around.
But I have no idea about what I have done in the past which Karma is resulting in some things happening to me later on. Like many Hindus, I can only speculate that something happened to me or is happening to me, especially something unfortunate, due to karmic effect of some actions of mine in the past (including past births). But I don't know for sure. And so I feel Karma is one of the great mysteries of life, and that it is only highly evolved spiritual beings and Avatars like Bhagavan who can see or know the past actions of persons which are resulting in current happenings to them.
FB post: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02sWHiEpdUenpeAcK6V5uyCuTajM7DBfBZWXMNkrraD5tnpAYfnzFUkayp7LbhrFkMl shares post with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba quote, "The consequence of karma can be wiped out only through karma as a thorn can be removed only by means of another. Do good karma to assuage the pain of the bad karma which you have done and from which you suffer now."
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I commented on above post:
(In context of a comment sharing another spiritual leader's video), --name-snipped-- Perhaps he gives the Hindu scripture description of Karma covering Prarabdha, Sanchita, and Kriyamana or Agami Karma. Does he say that he can see or know the Karma of others like the specific actions of theirs in the past which resulted in some happenings or is resulting in some happenings?
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--name-snipped-- I see. In private both Shirdi Sai Baba and Sathya Sai Baba have told some devotees about their or some other peoples' previous life or lives and associated Karma. Therefore I do believe both Sai Babas had the power to see such karmic effects. I don't think Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji has claimed to have such knowledge/power.
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Very interesting quote!
FB post: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0UTzfiCbJYyerz9TRivownC5HCzexbK6Y1gPwJbtBL7MpWwzYNLh2VMw1GNrvtEZNl shares Ramana Maharshi quote, "Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world."
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Interesting meditation video about being in awareness though the video title of "Going Deep Into The Self" seems inappropriate to me. I mean, it is not going into trance or samadhi, or experiencing that one is in all and that all is in one.
It is a meditation session focused on stilling the mind and experiencing the ever-present and eternal (never comes and never goes) awareness, which if one is able to do so, is a signficant achievement, IMHO. But there are higher levels of meditation, IMHO which I too have not yet been able to get into but which some spiritual masters seem to have got into or, in case of living masters, get into.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WSfylznkoU , around 22 mins.
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Hindu scripture mentions many Indian mystics of the past who transcended limitations of ordinary human life and acquired Siddhis or mystical powers like what is covered in the shared post. I strongly believe that Indian mystics of the past did acquire many such Siddhis through their sadhana or spiritual practice. Thanks to --name skipped-- for sharing the post.
FB post: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02paMk2huFwxvHF8TchPTUMsE4GnY5C2nNk3cbYHU41RH8PFA7kZ8qanWJB4yLVb7nl shares another post.
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Today evening in Puttaparthi. Sun behind clouds creates an eye-catching picture.
Andhra Pradesh government has been very supportive of Puttaparthi, IMHO, and Puttaparthi needs to have such support, IMHO. So it is good to see warm relations between AP Hon'ble Chief Minister Sri Jagan Mohan Reddy garu and Managing Trustee of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, Sri R.J. Rathnakar garu.
FB post: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0QNnpG1Jp8pyRNyNUhktms3bcxYP2DwAnqZvgH4ma4rWG39PwLFdZofg1appzzNVnl shares pics of CM with Managing Trustee of SSSCT.
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Hmm. Very interesting instruction and teaching (as sharing from his knowledge and experience) of Ramana Maharshi who surely has to be viewed as one of the great meditation masters of the 20th century. His life and his teachings have been, and continue to be, inspirational and of great help to me.
FB post: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0tccdcehzjYzHXrxhKRd7SGPh8HrxPhZb7Vvz78HTD3YvkcoPzSkwd2gvwkb6BTBml shares post with quote of Ramana Maharshi, "The final obstacle in meditation is ecstasy; you feel great bliss and happiness and want to stay in that ecstasy. Do not yield to it but pass on to the next stage which is great calm. The calm is higher than ecstasy and it merges into samadhi."
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Who Am I - Transcripts of a conversation with Sathya Sai Baba, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_oDm_oZpcA , 27 min. 14 secs.
Reproducing my comment on above video 4 years back:
This is a very interesting video for spiritual seekers interested in core aspects of Atma Vidya and Advaita, having practical questions from devotees on these matters along with practical answers from Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The video shows text extracts from an interview that Sathya Sai Baba reportedly gave to a group of about thirty Western devotees in Kodaikanal in April 1983 or April 1985 (http://www.atmapress.com/SaiBabaKodaikanalInterview.htm says 1985 but http://www.ramalacentre.com/sai_baba_print01b.htm says 1983). It intersperses that with great pics of Bhagavan. The entire video has pleasant music playing in the background.
These features make the video more watchable and may be a preferred medium for some persons to learn or get exposed to the core teachings of Bhagavan about Atma Vidya and Advaita as given in this interview, as compared to reading the only text transcript document.
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I thought I will share some of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's "Who am I" related messages. I have heard some of these messages live, sitting in Sai Kulwant Hall. So I am very clear that Bhagavan did place quite a lot of value on self-inquiry.
But I do not see many of these messages of Bhagavan on Facebook nowadays and so thought of digging up some such messages shared by others (in the past) and sharing them now.
1 min. 50 second video
FB post https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0ygAuABo6MF6v8ntR5be1x8kMKcHFjQGsng297c1xK2rT3MNejskq7nfT4mYvHhjil shares another post.
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Sanskrit chant in praise of Guru and Guru parampara (tradition) with English subtitles, https://youtu.be/z9TPUtecZQc?t=8 . The chant ends at around 1 min. 7 secs after which there are Malayalam text messages (credits?) which may be skipped by those who are not interested.
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On my FB post: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0rdj3UD5zFQTLeEHkLAzH8CJiMZie1EAT6ukazq54UqAzGhtx244QS53DSJykv3zil?comment_id=788093642616781&reply_comment_id=954306565847686 , In context of a comment about "... what happens to those who cause war and murder so many people.", I commented: --Name-snipped-- I have read and heard that they will face appropriate karmic negative consequences but have zero direct knowledge of such things beyond my readings and listenings.
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On FB post https://www.facebook.com/adiazviana/posts/pfbid0RvfrJoTLBXVdQ3T9ussKXR2hCjrV3pmEK5KJ1UFXDEjiFFwJfTqabbq3Fr9SEWkKl , I wrote: Thanks for sharing --name-snipped--. Hindu scripture mentions many Indian mystics of the past who transcended limitations of ordinary human life and acquired Siddhis or mystical powers like what is covered in the post. I strongly believe that Indian mystics of the past did acquire many such Siddhis through their sadhana or spiritual practice.
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--name-snipped-- Wow! Awesome account about Sayo, Cribeiro, a living person with awesome mystical power who is a medical doctor. Utterly fascinating! I got her Facebook page - plan to look it up (through Google English translation) later. I also looked for any youtube video of her but could not get any suitable results in the top results. Thanks a lot for sharing this. I noted her response to your question about how she had these powers, "I was the last thousand years in meditation". Hmm. I will ponder over this account you have provided. Many thanks.
--name-snipped-- Fascinating to know she met Sai Baba. Look forward to knowing more about that when you write about it (at your convenience).
--name-snipped-- About these words in your comment, 'I fully confirmed out-of-body conversations with her in my dreams, she says that the “Masters are sending to you through my body”', I have some questions as I am very interested in out-of-body experiences. I will message it privately to you as sometimes these topics are sensitive.
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Interesting even if some of it is hard to comprehend (for me 😀 at least).
Around 13 mins, [Sadhguru youtube video on What happens during enlightenment?, which is now deleted.]
My comments (slightly edited) in associated FB post: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02ECcp7ZpZo24GCCv2BVnMiTaZfsPc7st1bFSjg3i6MSrmu1H6TvvLCobwu9pTLvDNl :
I don't know if he is a "real guru". I don't know how genuine his statements are about the universe, "cyclical movements" (mentioned in this video), causation and so many other topics that he freely speaks on.
But I do think that he has had some level of mystical experience and so I view him as a genuine contemporary mystic who speaks English and speaks publicly on various spiritual topics quite freely and which speeches/interviews are available on youtube. That makes him a very valuable and quite rare person to me.
Currently, I am exploring or rather trying to acquire the ability to go into trance or rise above body consciousness/go beyond body consciousness through meditation (dhyaan or dhyaana aspect of yoga). In this context, he has given accounts of him going into trance (through meditation, if I recall correctly) and him helping another Swami to leave his body for good through some form of yoga. I have the impression that these accounts are largely, if not fully, true.
Will continue response later ...
... Continuing my earlier comment
My particular interest in this video is the discussion about his enlightenment experience. Around 2:27, the speaker talks of how Sadguru has written that when he (was in enlightened state or when he was in trance) and then came out of it, it seemed to him that only 10 or 15 minutes had passed but that he had actually been in it for four hours or so (as per his watch).
Around 8 min., Sadguru talks about disengagement with physicality and then says, "... suddenly there's no sense of time nor space. What is now is then, what is then is now. What is here is there, what is there is here. Everything gets like this." When saying the last word, "this", Sadhguru gestures with his arms and hands moving apart from each other and then the hands coming together with the fingers of both hands getting entwined with each other, which I understand as everything merging into one (thing?!). I think that is a very interesting effort by Sadhguru to explain how he felt when he was in the enlightened state. Therefore this part of the video was of great interest to me.
Going further, around 9.30 in the video, Sadhguru says, "So if you disengage with your physical nature, suddenly there is no time. So there is no space. So suddenly, what is here is there. What is there is here. People think something miraculous has happened. Nothing miraculous happened. It is just that you kept your accumulations aside for a moment. That's all. What you accumulated and who you are, sat separately." I think these words of Sadhguru are also very valuable to me. I need to ponder on it.
The process of putting up this set of comments has helped in me focusing better on these words of Sadhguru. So thanks for your question, --- 🙂.
My initial take from these parts of the video, is that in an enlightened state, one loses sense of time and space, and everything merges into one. I have never had such an experience so far. I think my somewhat recent meditation practice of trying to dissolve into the Awareness-I within me (which is my interpretation of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's teaching to John Hislop on this topic), needs to mature. Perhaps when I improve its intensity to some higher level, the dissolving into Awareness-I will happen and in that state perhaps, there would be no time and no space and only one (Awareness-I).
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Wow ---! You had awesome "mystical experience(s)" then. Fiery explosion like thing surrounding you, tears pouring down, but no attachment to what was happening! Speaking in a language you did not understand, losing all sense of time or (and) space! Hmm. That is a very remarkable thing that happened to you. Thanks a ton for sharing.
It is fascinating that those experiences seem to have paved the way for you to first hear about our beloved Lord, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and then instantly knowing that He was God.
All the best with your current life and spiritual practice in your "native country".
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