Ravi S. Iyer: Spiritual

Readers may want to read my recent post on another blog: My Facebook posts on Indian Air Force pilot in custody of Pakistan, https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2019/02/my-facebook-posts-on-indian-air-force.html .

Given below are contents (same title as this post) of my Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2425810464302183 , dated 26th Feb. 2019 Here's the Indian Ministry of External Affairs statement on the IAF (Indian Air Force) surgical strike against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied/Administered Kashmir: https://www.mea.gov.in/media-briefings.htm?dtl/31090/Statement_by_Foreign_Secretary_on_26_February_2019_on_the_Strike_on_JeM_training_camp_at_Balakot As an Indian citizen and resident, I support the destruction of terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied/Administered Kashmir as described in above statement. I salute the bravery of the Indian armed forces and others who provided support to them, for this surgical strike which is intended to protect India and Indians from terrorists trained in bases in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied/Administered Kashmir. The problem is with terrorism and not with Pakistan as a country or Pakistani people wh...

Last updated on 7th March 2019 I have put up this video taken from https://www.facebook.com/PathOfTransformation/videos/824751827869336/ on my youtube channel here: Sathya Sai On Draupadi Cursing Silent Witnesses of her horrific humiliation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROEWGWw-Lkk (mentioning that the Video Courtesy is Path of Transformation). The video is 1 min 17 secs long. [The reason why I put it up additionally on my youtube channel is to provide more exposure to Sathya Sai teachings on the Internet. There is no profit motive whatsoever for this action.] From the description of the youtube video: Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba tells us about how Draupadi cursed silent witnesses to act of her being humiliated in open court. I am quite sure that Bhagavan is referring to Draupadi's horrific humiliation in open court of the Kauravas. An attempt is made by Kaurava prince Dushasana egged on by other Kauravas to disrobe Draupadi in the open court. Only Vikura and Vidura o...

I felt it appropriate to share a recent comment (slightly edited) I made on Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/vr.ganti.1/posts/10214246437299514 : --Name-snipped-- Good reference to Mahabharata war. I have been able to come to terms to some extent with what happened after Mahasamadhi in Prasanthi Nilayam ashram system (including its institutions like the Sai university) and the Sathya Sai movement in general, by comparing it to the Pandavas - Kauravas struggle which led to the horrific fratricidal war, the Mahabharata, resulting in huge level of killing of the ruling elite of the concerned kingdoms then. In our case it was not actual violence (and thank God & Sathya Sai Avatar's teachings on peace for that), but the betrayal and the horrific level of nasty groupism and politics that was indulged in by the people in position ***and their donor-supporters and other-kind supporters***, was similar. Perhaps that is the weakness of human nature. Pope Alexander VI's...

Today has been a pretty disturbing reading & viewing day for me. While I was aware of some really nasty stuff done by Popes in the past, I had no idea that the history of Pope Alexander VI was so scary and so disturbing. This includes how he got a reformist challenger, the Dominican friar Savonarola, executed. But there are views that Alexander VI behaved as per the times. This view says that the problem was that the Roman Catholic Church had got corrupted and had a lot of nasty politics in those times which sometimes involved murder, executions and even war. So it is unfair to view Alexander VI alone as bad or evil. Alexander VI is also praised by some as having been a capable Pope, given the times then. I forced myself to go through this history as I think that as I write on spirituality & religion, I must know this. For those readers who would like to go through this history, here are some links that I went through. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_...

Vatican’s Secret Rules for Catholic Priests Who Have Children, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/world/europe/priests-children-vatican-rules-celibacy.html , 18th Feb. 2019 This is a shocker for me! Just shows how many people may have been raised in a similar way without knowing that their father was a supposedly celibate Catholic priest! The article provide a suggestion for a solution: "For the church, stories like Mr. Doyle’s draw uncomfortable attention to the violation of celibacy by priests and, for some former clerics and liberals inside the church, raise the issue of whether it is time to make the requirement optional, as it is in other Christian churches." Ravi: I think that's the way forward for the Roman Catholic Church. Make celibacy optional! Don't give the priest the option of: Either holding on to his job and hiding his fatherhood OR marrying and openly raising the child that he is the father of, but after quitting his job. The priest shoul...

Last updated on 21st Feb. 2019 Ceremonial Reception of Mohammed Bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTM2HNV7CHM , 10 min. 35 secs. After the guard of honour, towards the end of the video, the Crown Prince speaks a few words about relationship between Arabian peninsula (represented by Saudi Arabia as 80% of Arabian peninsula) and India going back to thousands of years and being in the DNA of people of India and Arabian peninsula. The Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman spoke warmly about Saudi Arabia and India relationship and that was very nice to hear. For me as a writer on spirituality and religion, Saudi Arabia is a very important country due to Mecca and Medina being in that country. Islam is an important religion in India and I have had the good fortune of having quite a few Indian Muslim friends in my life in Mumbai and surrounding areas, and I also taught a few Muslim students during my free service stint in th...