05-19-2007, 07:11 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-SwamyG+May 19 2007, 03:29 AM-->QUOTE(SwamyG @ May 19 2007, 03:29 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Is there a reaon why this forum is not the best place to discuss this subject matter?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Swamy, you are not discussing, only asking questions. To discuss you will have some groundwork, like going through a number of books first please.
On this forum, the viewership is wide, and Hinduism is so deep a religion that its surface looks monstrous, ackward, superstitions, misgynist and so forth, but those who can successfully scratch the surface and examine below will find the highest philosophical thought hidden behind a facade. Also, the present situation with Hindus is that all that they know about their religion is hear say, whatever they have observed and whatever they imagine things to be from comics and TV serials.
No body has time anymore for reading their scriptures or hearing discourses from Authentic Authorities. Therefore, its harder to talk to fellow Hindus about Hindus than to evengelists- atleast we know where they are coming from.
<quote>In the mother-child analogy, does the child do everything to please the mother?</quote>
Of course it does, as it grows, it understands ways to reciprocate. It tries to repeatedly do something its mother smiles at with encouragement. There is definite two way exhibition of love, the child is not exacly a passive and inert recipient of motherly love. It gives back in its own way, terms and gestures, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously - even a cutely sleeping baby is making its mother feel joyful.
<quote>How come only the girls get to exhibit this kind of love? </quote>
Who said only girls get to exhibit this kind of love?
All Bhakti Poets have sung in the mood of Gopis irrespective of their sex. Since the Lord is the whole and individual souls part of that whole, the relationship is that of souls yearning for unity with the whole, not the otherway around; the whole is always the whole and never misses any of its individual parts. It might seem as if this is lopsided in favour of the male, however, there is this whole mystical level of understanding that the Goddess is more loving, more enjoying and having more powers than the male, while on the surface the male God seems to be all powerful. I am not sure if this can be explained here, nor is it possible that you can grasp it from dry reading. I suggest you join some Vaishnava Ista Goshti or Shaiva/Shakta Mutt nearby, be a regular, dont' ask questions for atleast a year, only observe and if possible participate as much as you can, and then, as your questions automatically resolve, you will find yourself enjoying it too with a totally different level of understanding made possible simply by association - Thats precisely why we place much emphasis on Sat Sangha.
And if you want to experience relationships with Goddesses, expand that angle which might be forbidden for the general public, you might want to explore the rich Tantric Traditions, you won't be dissapointed.
Please post any more questions in private. We can take it from there. Thanks.
Swamy, you are not discussing, only asking questions. To discuss you will have some groundwork, like going through a number of books first please.
On this forum, the viewership is wide, and Hinduism is so deep a religion that its surface looks monstrous, ackward, superstitions, misgynist and so forth, but those who can successfully scratch the surface and examine below will find the highest philosophical thought hidden behind a facade. Also, the present situation with Hindus is that all that they know about their religion is hear say, whatever they have observed and whatever they imagine things to be from comics and TV serials.
No body has time anymore for reading their scriptures or hearing discourses from Authentic Authorities. Therefore, its harder to talk to fellow Hindus about Hindus than to evengelists- atleast we know where they are coming from.
<quote>In the mother-child analogy, does the child do everything to please the mother?</quote>
Of course it does, as it grows, it understands ways to reciprocate. It tries to repeatedly do something its mother smiles at with encouragement. There is definite two way exhibition of love, the child is not exacly a passive and inert recipient of motherly love. It gives back in its own way, terms and gestures, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously - even a cutely sleeping baby is making its mother feel joyful.
<quote>How come only the girls get to exhibit this kind of love? </quote>
Who said only girls get to exhibit this kind of love?
All Bhakti Poets have sung in the mood of Gopis irrespective of their sex. Since the Lord is the whole and individual souls part of that whole, the relationship is that of souls yearning for unity with the whole, not the otherway around; the whole is always the whole and never misses any of its individual parts. It might seem as if this is lopsided in favour of the male, however, there is this whole mystical level of understanding that the Goddess is more loving, more enjoying and having more powers than the male, while on the surface the male God seems to be all powerful. I am not sure if this can be explained here, nor is it possible that you can grasp it from dry reading. I suggest you join some Vaishnava Ista Goshti or Shaiva/Shakta Mutt nearby, be a regular, dont' ask questions for atleast a year, only observe and if possible participate as much as you can, and then, as your questions automatically resolve, you will find yourself enjoying it too with a totally different level of understanding made possible simply by association - Thats precisely why we place much emphasis on Sat Sangha.
And if you want to experience relationships with Goddesses, expand that angle which might be forbidden for the general public, you might want to explore the rich Tantric Traditions, you won't be dissapointed.
Please post any more questions in private. We can take it from there. Thanks.