first negative comment

[clayton]

Yesterday I got my first negative comment on my blog. Actually it wasnt about much that I wrote, the guy just wanted to come and take a potshot at Srila Prabhupada and make a getaway.He said that Srila Prabhupada ran around "defaming" other yogis. Actually Prabhupada never defamed anybody--he just told the truth! It's not that there arent any phony yogis and fake paramahamsas in India, and some of them are big ones! If you want to believe in all these guys, you are very naive! All may be One, and everything may be the same. but not with us! We are dualists--everything is different. I spent some time composing a response to this guy, but he left a phony e-mail address--not a sign of courage.Still, it took some effort to drop all this--I was obsessed for a while, but I managed to trick my mind into getting absorbed with some other topic, and broke free. I am just getting on abilify and I do not know how well it is going to work for me.

clayton   

[Ramji]

Yesterday I got my first negative comment on my blog. Actually it wasnt about much that I wrote, the guy just wanted to come and take a potshot at Srila Prabhupada and make a getaway.He said that Srila Prabhupada ran around "defaming" other yogis. Actually Prabhupada never defamed anybody--he just told the truth! It's not that there arent any phony yogis and fake paramahamsas in India, and some of them are big ones! If you want to believe in all these guys, you are very naive! All may be One, and everything may be the same. but not with us! We are dualists--everything is different. I spent some time composing a response to this guy, but he left a phony e-mail address--not a sign of courage.Still, it took some effort to drop all this--I was obsessed for a while, but I managed to trick my mind into getting absorbed with some other topic, and broke free. I am just getting on abilify and I do not know how well it is going to work for me.

clayton   

I do the same thing .... ruminate for hours or even days over something and later see that it was not worth it.  Maybe he had a nondualist position but didn't have the ability to argue it .... very likely or he would've left contact info.  So he is being critical of you without understanding his own beliefs.

When I was into Indian philosophy I saw it as a spectrum:  dvaita (duality) ...vishitadvata (qualified duality: separate, but of the same substance or nature) ... and advaita (non-duality)..... with it all being a matter of the state of mind from one minute to the next.  Now I just don't care ... not meaning to sound unkind ... I just don't.  ... at the moment anyway.  Perhaps this (my current state of mind) is another place on the spectrum.  Maybe not.  Either way, don't take anything i say too seriously.  I'm just rambling.

But it shouldn't matter to you if it (duality) works for you.  Maybe listen to some Bhakta George (Harrison) and let it go. 
"Whatever gets you through the night .... it's alright ... it's alright."   

I hope you are doing well now.

Ramji

[clayton]

Dear Ramji: Thani you very much. You are the only guy on these boards who has any idea what I am talking about. I characterise you as a burnt out yogi.  Apparently you did not get what you expected to get. I like the cartoon of the two Zen monks, sitting in meditation: one says to the other, "OK, what happens next/"and the other replies, "Nothing--this is it"

The guy was basically, a hippie sentimentalist--he had picked up a few words like sampradaya to throw around, and he was insisting that the distinctions we Hare Krsnas make between us and the impersonalists dont mean anything--that could be dignified as advaita, but why be nasty about it? Actually, these are real distinctions--there is no debate, the matter is settled. The devotees havent liked the monistic philosophy since at least the.  15th century, and we have changed very little since the 15th century. but there has never been a shootin war with the impersonalists, or even any fistfights, except with fools like this guy, who is somehow compelled to blaspheme the spiritual master, which as you know, you cannot do without some serious retribution. And leaving a phony e-mail address was certainly an act of cowardice.

Anyhow, just ranting.

Your well-wisher,

clayton

[Ramji]

Hi Clayton,

Yes ... a burnt out yogi is a good description.  After 15 years or more of daily kriyas, prayers, mantras and asanas .... I'm burnt out.  I was in denial about the things going on with me mentally.  I really thought I had conquered depression (the first diagnosis, many years before) and it took a couple of years of rapid cycling to get me to realize I needed help and medication. Ayurveda and yoga could not heal me.  I think you may have read my rambling on this before, so I won't go on.

I used to visit ISKCON centers and at first I would not say that I was an Advaitist.  I wasn't there to debate.  I would just ask them about their teachings. 
I would mention Shankara so I could better understand the differences.  They were good people ..... with good food too! 
Eventually I knew some well enough to tell them and we had interesting discussions .... not arguments.
I never heard any of my teachers ... Chinmaya and Sivananda Swamis and Acharyas ... attack any other views of Indian philosophy.
So for the person attacking you bout your blog ..... I heard one yogi say that arguing about philosophy is useless.  "It's like barking back at dogs"

Peace,

Ramji