my father was in india during wwII with the 7th bomber group where they did such things as fly over the hump (the himalayan mountains) to delivers supplies or bomb japanese positions in china, bomb japanese positions mainly in rangoon as part of the effort to reopen the burma trail and oust the japanese from se asia and in my father's personal servise, being a member of the flight crew for admiral louis montbatten and the american generals i asked him if he ever got a blessing from a holy man with him having me as his son being that i was certainly not of this hemisphere as i had an innate interest of things yogic and indian and an early taking to a vegetarian diet...he said the only blessings he got were from the prostitutes so i am the blessings of the prostitutes of india and i don't quite know what to make of it...good or bad?... can anyone give me a hand with this?
Hare Krishna! Dear ChiefCowpie, Does it matter ? Only point we should see is whether the person blessing is deserving or not. Prostitutes are mothers. Nobody can be better deserving than the mothers to bless us. I bow to all the prostitutes of the world and touch their feet, I need their blessings. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. With love, Kumar.
Everyone has the supersoul inside, so it doesn't matter if you are the blessing of prostitutes or the blessing of a divinity. what you truly are - is determined by your karma , your self effort and your virtues. If you think you are a good person, you try to help others around you, you try to help yourself when needed, you are not a liar, if you are honest to yourself and to others, the follower of the truth... then consider the blessings of the prostitutes to be good. However, if you think you are evil, you harm others, you hurt others with selfishness or you hurt yourself through self-hatred, then I guess we all know what to make of it. The traits of a true brahmana are that he doesn't lie, he doesn't cheat, and he always follows a certain type of "sattvicism" in his life... Blessings are there to encourage us to find ourselves.. they are not there to judge our destiny and they are not there to discourage us. I am sure you know all of this already, well.. this is one of my feeble attempts to find myself by helping others find themselves. I apologize if I have offended you in anyway.
In trying to give an answer here I have to say that world war II can be seen as a battle between asuric forces (nazi's, Jap imperialists) and forces that, whilst not Divine, at least allow a freedom where people are free to pursue Yoga etc. So your Father was fighting on the right side, he was risking his life to protect others. This in itself could well be a blessing, or call down a blessing. I wonder about similar things with regard to my own family. My Grandfather was a soldier in WW I, and was a victim of a gas attack that left him blinded for months, which he spent in a French hospital. There, he met Jeanne, a nursing auxiliary. After the war, he returned to France and married her. Hence, without WW I, I would not exist (at least in this form). As for the blessing by prostitutes, I'm sure Chief that you know that Sri Ramakrishna himself regarded all women as embodiments of the Divine Mother. It's all a question of vision - materiel vision (Jesus' 'judging by appearences), or the true spiritual vision, which sees all beings as part of the One Divine Being. Hari Om. BBB.
Everything is auspicious and pure. Think of Lrd shiva, dressed in rags and animal skins, draped with snakes, smeared with ashes and in the company of others similarly dressed, smeared in blood. Do you know what his name means? The word Shiva means auspiciousness. Although his appearance is of everything unholy in the world, he is the very representation of auspiciousness. Do not refuse a diamond given to you by a filthy beggar.
Hare Krishna! In response to your question, I would like to refer to the sastra which indicates that one is not bound by janma or birth. It is completely unrelated, perhaps your father did recieve a blessing, but the main point to be observed is that in your previous life you underwent some great austerities or pious activities, as a result you have the opportunity to understand the Vedic principles. So, ultimately I pray for the dust of your feet, perhaps I can one day achieve the favour of Sri Hari. Haribol!
The great Sri Adi Shankaracharya recieved knowledge and blessings from a mendicant, a sweeper, who ate discarded dog meat. I refer you to the maneesha panchakam, a beautiful poem by sri adi shankara in praise of the divine beggar. http://www.bnaiyer.com/studies/concept-602.html
