Sunday, January 13, 2008
Name Change
Came across a blog with a name very similar to my blog's previous name - " Ruminations of a Roving mind", and that blog was started much before mine. So I decided to change the name of mine to a name containing my pseudonym.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Selfless non-vegetarians
In my view non vegetarians are considerate,compassionate people.
here is why.
The chicken in going to die anyway, so why not help it on its way.
If the chicken were to die of old age , it would be a miserable slow death. The motive of non-vegetarians is to not see the chicken suffer.
Even in terms of karma, if the chicken is killed to be eaten it accumulates good karma because it has died for a useful purpose.
Non-vegetarians go through the abominable task of eating meat, so food grains are left for others .
This they do in spite of knowing they will be accumulating bad karma. See how selfless non-vegetarians are.
I think I will remain a selfish vegetarian all my life, even if it means no vimochanam for thousands of chickens and goats
here is why.
The chicken in going to die anyway, so why not help it on its way.
If the chicken were to die of old age , it would be a miserable slow death. The motive of non-vegetarians is to not see the chicken suffer.
Even in terms of karma, if the chicken is killed to be eaten it accumulates good karma because it has died for a useful purpose.
Non-vegetarians go through the abominable task of eating meat, so food grains are left for others .
This they do in spite of knowing they will be accumulating bad karma. See how selfless non-vegetarians are.
I think I will remain a selfish vegetarian all my life, even if it means no vimochanam for thousands of chickens and goats
Monday, January 7, 2008
Nature's Nature
Oceans that span the world,
Land that covers the rest.
Mountains of unfathomable heights,
and valleys equally deep.
Yet the earth that contains all,
is a speck in the Universe.
God alone knows the expanse of that which
contains the Universe.
Land that covers the rest.
Mountains of unfathomable heights,
and valleys equally deep.
Yet the earth that contains all,
is a speck in the Universe.
God alone knows the expanse of that which
contains the Universe.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
US,illegal immigration and Mexico
I sometimes wonder why the US government did not encourage companies to outsource manufacturing jobs to Mexico instead of China. That way
1) There would be lesser people looking to immigrate illegally into US for jobs.
2) A developed Mexico is preferable to a luke warm Superpower contending China from the US point of view
1) There would be lesser people looking to immigrate illegally into US for jobs.
2) A developed Mexico is preferable to a luke warm Superpower contending China from the US point of view
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Snapshots of a different era
It is winter and I have to spend a lot of time indoors now, reading, watching movies etc.
There is a used books store close by, and I enjoy reading old National Geographic mags that I find there. It is amusing seeing how people lived in the 70's, 80's etc and some of the articles on the iron curtain countries are especially interesting .
I was reading a 1981 article comparing east and west Germany. It is amazing how different the day to day lives of the people in both countries were. A great movie dealing with this is Goodbye Lenin.
There is a used books store close by, and I enjoy reading old National Geographic mags that I find there. It is amusing seeing how people lived in the 70's, 80's etc and some of the articles on the iron curtain countries are especially interesting .
I was reading a 1981 article comparing east and west Germany. It is amazing how different the day to day lives of the people in both countries were. A great movie dealing with this is Goodbye Lenin.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Religion - Where atheists are right
One of the greatest spies in history used to disguise himself as a hawker selling books. He used
to carry only two kinds of books - books on religion and books on sex. He knew that nine out of ten people will be swayed by either religion or sex.
Well, this is no big secret. Todays media/corporations use the later to influence people. In less modern times when society was more conservative, and a lot of natural phenomenon was unexplained, certain anti social elements used religion to manipulate the masses.
The practices introduced by these elements provide the fodder to todays atheist.
It is my believe that todays religions were formed from several centuries of experiences and observation. All the ancient religions provide insights into how we as individuals and as a society
can live fulfilling lives.
Yes, material progress does improve our life, but if you compared the number of people visiting psychiatrists in developed countries to the numbers in developing/under developed countries, you would realize that material progress alone is not enough.
May be we need to go back to our religious texts to finds solutions to the issues that we face today. Maybe sometimes individuality/freedom needs to be sacrificed for family and society.
I guess mankinds greatest folly with regard to religion was that instead of treating it as literature/theories it was solidified and used for identity. This rigidity put a full stop to progress, people could no long improve on it or add to it. Now people identify themself with a religion,defend everything their religion preaches and fight over which is the best.
Hopefully this will change as our world is brought closer together by globalization , migration and interaction of people from different backgrounds.
to carry only two kinds of books - books on religion and books on sex. He knew that nine out of ten people will be swayed by either religion or sex.
Well, this is no big secret. Todays media/corporations use the later to influence people. In less modern times when society was more conservative, and a lot of natural phenomenon was unexplained, certain anti social elements used religion to manipulate the masses.
The practices introduced by these elements provide the fodder to todays atheist.
It is my believe that todays religions were formed from several centuries of experiences and observation. All the ancient religions provide insights into how we as individuals and as a society
can live fulfilling lives.
Yes, material progress does improve our life, but if you compared the number of people visiting psychiatrists in developed countries to the numbers in developing/under developed countries, you would realize that material progress alone is not enough.
May be we need to go back to our religious texts to finds solutions to the issues that we face today. Maybe sometimes individuality/freedom needs to be sacrificed for family and society.
I guess mankinds greatest folly with regard to religion was that instead of treating it as literature/theories it was solidified and used for identity. This rigidity put a full stop to progress, people could no long improve on it or add to it. Now people identify themself with a religion,defend everything their religion preaches and fight over which is the best.
Hopefully this will change as our world is brought closer together by globalization , migration and interaction of people from different backgrounds.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Hinduism
Many people born into Hindu families turn atheists because they find it difficult to believe in Hindu mythology or Idol worship.
If only they had dug deeper, they would have found idol worship was encouraged in Hinduism because it is difficult for a layman to digest the fact that God is without form when everything he experiences in life has a form. Mythology and idol worship are the first steps on the journey, as a person develops interests in religion and continues on this journey, he will later learn about concepts such as mukthi and maya and pick up meditation as a path. In out material world we get stuck in the first step.
Budha did not beleive in Hinduism, but his quest for truth led him to what the core of Hinduism preaches - The journey to God is through the present and meditation is one of the ways to the present
In my view Hinduism is the collection of everything that our early society came across/documented in the search for truth. Parts of it may have missed the mark but parts of it may have hit the bulls eye (we will never know whether the map passed on to us is authentic until we explore the routes marked on it, at least there are routes we can try, so we don't need to recreate a map ourselves).
If only they had dug deeper, they would have found idol worship was encouraged in Hinduism because it is difficult for a layman to digest the fact that God is without form when everything he experiences in life has a form. Mythology and idol worship are the first steps on the journey, as a person develops interests in religion and continues on this journey, he will later learn about concepts such as mukthi and maya and pick up meditation as a path. In out material world we get stuck in the first step.
Budha did not beleive in Hinduism, but his quest for truth led him to what the core of Hinduism preaches - The journey to God is through the present and meditation is one of the ways to the present
In my view Hinduism is the collection of everything that our early society came across/documented in the search for truth. Parts of it may have missed the mark but parts of it may have hit the bulls eye (we will never know whether the map passed on to us is authentic until we explore the routes marked on it, at least there are routes we can try, so we don't need to recreate a map ourselves).
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