Introductions

Hari Om friends!

My name is Bhaskar Raman, and it is my great joy and honor to be your guide on this voyage of self-discovery.
A little about myself: I spent my early childhood in the Himalayan foothills in the ashram (monastery) of the great Vedantic master, Swami Chinmayananda. Although he left his body in the 1993, he remains my guru and guide in spiritual life.
I have also studied a certain amount of Buddhism and Christianity and started teaching last year.

I would like to know more about you all, so please introduce yourselves and do tell me about your spiritual journey thus far (it's ok if you're just starting out).

May the grace of the Masters be with us, so we may enjoy our journey together and learn and grow into strong, beautiful people!

Loving Oms,

Bhaskar

 

Yay fun! I'm the first person sign up for the class. lol. Hi people to be in the class and instructor!

My name is Nicole. I'm of 21 years, I'm originally from the Jersey shore and I'm studying Archaeology and Religion of South and Southeast Asia at Boston University.

I was baptized and confirmed as a Roman Catholic (liberal Italian type) and I became interesting in Hinduism when I was 17 through the Beatles, the Bhagavad-Gita , and the loverly people in the Hinduism forum of this Hipforums. I am currently practicing both. I'm a coordinator of the BU Hindu Students Council and I regularly attend classes at the Boston Ramakrishna Vedanta Society. I have no Guruji really...I have learned a lot from the words of great masters such as Paramahansa Yoganandaji, Swami Vivekanandaji, Ma Indira Devi, and Dilip Kumar Roy, and avatars such as Lord Krishna and Lord Jesus.

Currently I am studying Vedanta in classes taught by Swami Tyaganandaji who has taught me so much and I am so grateful. I love all paths for their beauties and I love singing devotional songs of any and all types.

That's really it. I'm willing to try out this virtual class thing; it seams fun and interesting. Yay!

 

Hello my friends!

My name is Conner. I really don't know much about Hinduism at all but I am so glad that I have this opportunity learn more. I am from Pennsylvania and was raised as a Christian particularly Presbyterian. I have met some wonderful people through my church who have helped me grow spiritually.

Yet, many parts of Christianity itself, not the people that have helped me spiritually develop, bother me and have caused me to look elsewhere for God. Hinduism has always been a religion that made sense to me. I am so happy to be able to learn about this faith through such wonderful understanding people and hopefully this class will set me on the right path spiritually. I know happiness is out there. I know that truth is out there. I have been blessed with so much beauty in my life. Now, it is time to find my life's purpose

Many Thanks and Much love

 

Welcome Nicole and Conner!

We start out thinking happiness is out the there, but if I do my job right, by the end of this class you will learn that happiness is IN HERE. The truth is IN HERE. In you.

 

im craig, and im interested in learning more about hinduism because ive been led here through meditation, reading (gita, ram dass), and conversations with hindu people.

i was raised roman catholic and have in recent years studied eastern religion and pantheism. i dont call myself hindu, like i don't label myself 'christian' or any other thing i may think i am. i regularly attend a buddhist meditation group and sometimes catholic mass with parents. im interested to hear what you have to say, bhaskar.

 

Namaste!
Glad to see I can finally post here! My name is John and I relate to Hinduism in several ways but dont actually consider myself religious. The descriptions given to Mother Nature as well as atma resonate deeply in my consciousness. Karma as a code to creation, Om as the inital emanation for vibrational gross matter, ascension in the afterlife, existance as a condensation of Spitit, Brahma turning over in cycles, the Yuga's though Im not sure I understand the calender enough to either agree or disagree on our current position, and most importantly yoga, dhyana and inner bliss. Sat Chit Ananda
I find many of these concepts also shared with the New Testament, as well as in the Qu'ran believe it or not though the descriptions are very vague and may possibly be nothing more than wishful thinking on my part by eqauting the scriptures to one another. I have studied the Gita extensivley, the Rig Veda, and several other scriptures along with texts from Buddhism, Al-Islam, Christianity, and Taoism. The koshas and inner lokas I feel are continuous circles until one transcends the internal universe of manas and attains Sat. I also agree that mind and ego are the two polar extremes of consciousness and act as attraction to Truth and repulsion towards maya. I consider myself open to all religous teaching and have much respect for vedic literature.
My spirituality began in a manner that not many in the Hinduism forum agree with, as it was brought on by magic mushrooms and to this day I advocate the use of them as sacrament in reaching inwards towards Divinity. The visual stimuli becomes rearranged into delicate patterns of light and the crux of gross matter breaks down into codes resembling mandala as well as ancient aztec and mayan design. During psychedelic trips I as well as many others have had visions of Parvati, Shiva, Ganesh, etc. and the macrocosmic form Krsna reveals to Arjuna, the Absolute, vibe a little to closely with psychedelics for me to just discount my expereince as hallucination or distortion of truth. Im not saying here that drugs are the answer to finding God within, but I believe that anything can be used to open the mind and there is no doubt that psychedelics can very easily and in most cases automatically decipher certain grades of maya. I also dont think it is coincedence that I had never heard the primal sound Om before in my life, and during a trip on mushrooms, my entire reality danced into life and was vibrating with Om and I had suddenly realised that I knew this sound, that I always have been this sound, and in an instant reincarnation and Om became not only my unshakable reality but my understanding that the ancient rishis were onto something very important. This was about a year ago and I would say that my true beginning of sober meditation and prayer began that moment. I had read the Gita when I was 16 so 6 years ago, and I tried to understand and incorporate bhakti into my daily life, but not until recently when I found myself crying with inner bliss over the most simple tasks such as cooking dinner for my son or helping a friend through hard times did I understand what it really meant by working for God alone.
So I am fairly new to bhakti yoga but have been familiar with the teachings for the past several years, so I have very much to learn. Though I also believe that Love is the only reality and indeed all that matters, I find it very interesting and enlightening to study the vedas, so this is my reasoning for siging up for your class Bhaskar.
Thank you very much for offering us your knowledge for free and I feel blessed to have ever found this forum.
Much Love!
John

 

Welcome John and Craig! Anything that helps to turn our minds towards the higher is a good thing. However, certain methods are more reliable, safe and universal than others. While psychedelics and other external means may help some to glimpse that state, it is an external influence. And anything external that we depend upon, even the Guru, takes away our freedom.
Vedanta teaches us to rely on ourselves and and ourselves alone. It is only then that our experiences are ours, they will remain with us and stand us in good stead on our path. If they come from outside they can be taken away. Therefore, the spiritual seeker is adviced to shun all external objects and rely on what is within.

 

Agreed Bhaskar They are just one form of teaching but the Soul is the source of our Truth. Im looking forward to your class, Im going to read the first teaching on prayer now!
- John

 

Hi there!
I'm Johanna, and I became interested in Hinduism after reading some Joseph Campbell. RIght now, I'm reading the B.Gita, and find it... illuminating, I guess, is the best word.
Recently, I've found myself fascinated by how close Hinduism and cosmology can seem.
I look forward to your class, too!

 

Welcome Johanna. If you're studying the Gita, I must very strongly recommend the Holy Gita by Swami Chinmayananda. It is a definitive commentary, perfectly scientific and powerful.

 

Hi, I'm Tay.
I've been exploring many different types of religion over the years.
I've taken classes and actually done some training in a few Christian religions.
Nothing seems to be right.
Right now, I don't believe in religion or higher powers.
But I'm opened minded and really want to know about the Hindus.

 

Err, I wish to keep my name anonymous for privacy reasons... sorry all, but you can call me Jedi without the lightsaber
I have been interested in Hinduism and its teachings ever since I was a kid. But don't let that fool you, I barely know anything and I am probably in the same boat as you. However, I am excited to learn more about advaita, hinduism and life in general.

 

Hi Tay and Jedi, welcome!
As regulars on the Hinduism forum know, Jedi is knowledgable enough to teach this class. And modest too

Tay, you're on the right track. My teacher always insisted that we refuse accept any teaching that doesn't make sense to us (even his own). I have the hghest respect for Christianity, particularly the kind where people follow Christ's teaching. It is a sad thing that the essential teaching is totally warped. In fact, that is so of most religions - including Hinduism.
Gurudev always said that every thinking person is at some point a total atheist (he was one himself). He was a journalist in the 1940s and he went to the Himalayas to expose the teachers there for the cheats and scoundrels he believed they were. He went to Swami Sivananda's ashram to interview him. Swami Sivananda suggested he stay for a whole month and really understand what they were doing at the monastery. So the young reporter stayed. And he was so amazed by the beauty of the teaching and practice that he became a monk and went on to become the greatest Vedantic master since Swami Vivekananda.
You're in good company, lass.

 

Hi. I posted on the mediatation section maybe 3-4 years ago. Bhaskar private mailed me and we struck up a friendship. I migrated to the Hinduism forum after reading some of Bkaskar's posts there. In the past few years I've largely given up on my meditation routine. I seem to lack the drive and passion neccessary to continue. Like Tay alot of the time I have real trouble believing in religion or a higher power. But I do like to keep an open mind.

 

Yes, open mind is always good, I hope bhaskar opens some of our minds here.

 

hello all.
My name is Joshua. i guess im a little bit late i hope that I didn't miss out on too much.
A little spiritual background about me, I was raised christian and still am, but Im in the process of throwing away all the dogmatic concepts of it. im always open to learning about things, and i know absolutely NOTHING about hindu. which is why i signed up for this.

well I hope we will all learn much from this.

 

Welcome Joshua, I am sure this class is going to be a good introduction to advaita vedanta in hinduism and Hinduism in general, bhaskar is a good teach.

 

As a young boy, while other kids were riding around on bicycles, I was wanting to attach my wagon to the back of their bicycle and be pulled around. From these and other signs, I knew I was not of the western hemisphere but of India.

When I learned of my father's being in India as a member of Viceroy Lord Louis Montbatten's flight crew, I asked him if he recieved the blessings of a holy man for me to be his son as clearly I was not of this hemisphere and he said the only blessings he ever recieved were from the prostitutes and so my birth in the west was the fruition of those blessings.

My family was big on the pig and other meats of which it was required that I eat as well and so half-way thru the meal, I would fill my mouth up with meat and ask to go to the bathroom where I would spit it out in the toilet and then I would come back to the dining table and put the remaining meat in my mouth at the end of the meal and be excused from dinner where I would then spit out what was left which has left me to muse that the prostitute who blessed my father was a vegetarian.

Other signs that I was not of this hemisphere was an early interest in tight underwear, a Living God, yoga and meditation.

My spiritual growth was nurtured early on by my Grandfather, a preacher with saintly adoration amongst the community.

So as you all may be ruminating, I am a mystic, spoken of in your fabled tales of old. I inhabit a topography that is not easily conveyed to those of you encased in 3-d reality.

And yet to not see that I am very much human who reaches out to you through time and space to hug and to hold is not to understand that which I am.

 

I realize that I am late on posting on the introductions but I feel the need to. Well first off my name is Angel. Me and my brothers were raised on different forms of religion getting to experiene Christianity, Judiasm, Buddhism and lots of others.

I became interested in Hinduism through the Beatles. I've never practiced anything so that's why I'm here. I'm very interested in learning and I hope it's not to late for me to do so. Thank you.

Peace.
Love.
Happiness.

 

Never too late, never too early. All things happen exactly when they're supposed to.

Welcome.