The Mahaprana Blog
A commenter has just informed me about the blog “Mahaprana: Sanskrit, Yoga Philosophy & Transpersonal Counseling“. The blog is by Joshua Michaell a Saiva Hindu who teaches Sanskrit, Yoga, Philosophy, and Meditation. He writes about his travels, tea and a wide variety of subjects with a spiritual connection.
I have added this blog to my page listing blogs by Western Hindus. I have also marked some blogs on the page which have not had recent activity as inactive.
Typical Teasdale cottage
I was thinking about a story I heard in Teasdale, about why the cottages there are painted white. There are several versions of this story, but this is the one that I was told to me by a Teasdale sheep farmer.
The Baron of Teasdale was out hunting and he got lost when the weather closed in. Even today Teasdale is wild and remote, its possible to walk miles from the nearest sign of human habitation. In those times it must have been a frighting place to be lost in. The Baron wandered in the rain and thick cold fog, until darkness fell, and he could go no further. He came to a dry stone wall, lay down to shelter the best he could from the wind and the rain, and spent a very cold and uncomfortable night.
When daylight arrived the fog had lifted and he saw that he was sheltering against the garden wall of a farmer’s cottage, one which he actually owned. He sought help from the Tenant farmer, and was welcomed in to get warm and dry near the fire. and he was given a warming meal.
Later he rewarded the farmer and his family, and decreed that all his properties should be painted white, so that if anyone was caught out in a storm they would be able to see nearby cottages and find refuge more easily.
That story may or may not be true; there are different versions of it on the internet. It struck me though that the Barron thinking that he was lost, then discovering that he was close to shelter is very like the feelings of people who convert to Hinduism. Continue reading
I have decided to blank out this site tomorrow as part of the protest against SOPA and PIPA. If you want to do the same and use WordPress, I have given details on how to do this on my technical blog.
Why am I doing this on a religious blog? The reason is that the SOPA and PIPA rules will allow anyone to get an American court order to take down a site for copyright violation, even if that violation is in a comment left by someone else. This means they can remove any .com or .org or other non-national address from the internet, leaving people in the rest of the world with no recourse unless they can afford to go to America and appeal the decision. They can also force search engines not to list sites, and service based in the US like WordPress to remove sites. Since contesting this wll cost money, it is quite likely that most actions will be unopposed.
In the past religious groups have used copyright law for monetary gain, to keep secrets, suppress splinter groups, and most worryingly to avoid criticism and debate. With SOPA in force if someone didn’t like a comment on a blog they could apply for the site removal. Very possibly the first a blogger would know about it is when the blog disappeared. If the blogger did get any notice it could well be a message saying “Turn up in a court in New York, Honolulu, or Anchorage if you want to object”.
I will blank this site out tomorrow before I go to work and enable it again at 20:00 gmt. I would urge other bloggers to do the same or at least put a notice up.
Edit: As others pointed out WordPress provided its own blanking option. Since I had already posted the times at which I would block and unblock my website I decided to use my own.
A site for gay and lesbian Hindus
I recently received a comment which said :
“.. But at least some youngsters move to hindu , coz they arent acceptd in Christianity coz they are Gay/bi etc.
Hindu spirituality has nothng to do with it. But Being a hindu or hindutva ,the way of life of a hindu is against such acts as christianity is.
‘Vivekabhudi’ or power to differentiate right-wrong is what which makes human different from animals. And hinduism is for those who have this viveka. So people who dnt even have the diligence of animals are not suited for hinduism.
Such people who misuse of Unorganised structure of hinduism really make us hindus ashamed.
In a second comment the commenter adds:
But I have seen a trend that when people bi/gay nt get acceptd by Catholicism they turn hindu. This is not a place for going when you have no way. Secondly hinduism is clearly in line with nature that female-male equation.
I was going to write a response to the comment, but I realised that the response would be fairly long, and I had a feeling that I should write it as a post. Part of me did not want to write on this controversial subject, some readers are bound to disagree me. I have a feeling that it is not a subject that I should just leave alone though.
First of all, I will discuss the areas where I agree wholeheartedly with the commenter. Continue reading
Shri Lakshmi Narayan Mandir
Today i visited our mandir for the first time in over three weeks. I usually try to attend weekly, but a combination of having the flu, being away for a work related conference, and visiting my father kept me away. I can see why Gurudeva says we should visit the temple on a regular basis. I felt that I was being welcomed by the devas, and spiritually refreshed.
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Posts by Western Hindus
