TaitenAndProud you share exactly my thoughts. Throughout my stay in the ashram I have pondered about this question a lot. Why do some people have an excessive need to search the meaning of life and God. A simple life given to live beautifully seems quite unappreciated by many.

The ashram i had gone to was based on Karma Yoga (a concept quite complicated for me) where you work for God and work of your own does not count in it. I didn't believe in it, could be because in my small brain I have not been able to comprehend its true meaning and trust me I don't even want to go there. I am happy knowing a little less about God.

They use to make us do all sorts of SEVA majorly comprising of cleaning and maintaining ashram premises. I was assigned cleaning public toilets. After initial resistance I gave in because though its the most hated job it would mean that my duties were fixed and I don't have to chase others to find out what I am suppose to do that day as I hate surprises so it would save my energy and would be my forte.

The only thing good that happens when you clean others crap early in the morning is that everything else appear less crappy for the rest of the day you become quite calmed down hahahahah.

But why I am sharing this is that all the other people there including Indians and those from outside India were in so much awe of the Guru and loved the ashram were quite pathetic workers if not all then the majority surely.They were again such self righteous people, complicated to the core and quite unpredictable. I use to tell myself what is this craze about being on some spiritual path while in reality you don't eve know how to walk... learn the basics first.

I too am not perfect have my own sets of problem and issues and I believe in God but I don't believe in this continuous search for him.

It maddens me a lot when I see titles like Bhagvan (God) attached to the name of some spiritual Gurus. But that is how people are gullible and pretentious.

The reason I chose buddhism (or rather SGI) was because my family has always been damn against such cult worship and Look what happen I landed just there in SGI.

However there are true sages and worthies living simple and quite lives and the the fortunate among us do encounter them once in a while here and there. Of course we do not know they are the learned ones neither do they impose upon us any dependency theory.

Have you read a book called Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. Well now I have no idea about whether or not his organization too is regarded as a cult or not I have never researched much about him and truly I just don't care who is doing what till the time anyone from any organization coax me into joining them.

But his book is definitely a very good read about Yoga and how through certain Yogic practices people acquire metaphysical knowledge and then how its manipulated sometimes for good and sometimes for bad.

The reason I am sharing this is that I had no idea about this Yogi I had hear about the book though. I was reading the book with absolutely no expectation it was just a good read. But something really strange happened that left me a little shaky.

I was reading this book late at night and their was a power cut in my society due to some maintenance issue. So I was reading the book in candle light. Yes I am a little crazy if I decide I want to read I just start reading even with practically no light.

So what happened was that I stay on the ground floor and I had pulled the curtains of my room because it was hot. While reading I started feeling very sleepy and I was thinking I should switchoff the light point before I doze off because I did not wanted to be awakened with sudden burst of light in my room once the electricity comes back also I did not wanted any inquisitive neighbor to have a good look of me sleepy in my night clothes (its about modesty you know).

However I still dozed off. Suddenly I felt the swami of this book standing behind me and in a very stern tone told me to get up and switch off the light point and I quite hastily got up and without thinking much switched off the point and came back literally crashing on my bed I was so sleepy. The moment I laid on my bed the electricity came and the fan in my room started swirling and its then that it drew upon me what the hell had happened.

Ok now you will say its just the subconscious mind I felt all this because I had gone to sleep reading about all this.

But in reality first I had absolutely no idea about the powers or the lack of it of the Yogi I was reading about and I was reading it with quite an open mind. Secondly what I had read by then were just his childhood experiences so how did I saw the mature man. On the cover of the book its just his face but I saw the whole body and later when I checked the physical stature was just the same as what I had seen.

Now this is a small experience I had and since then I have had an unspoken bond with him I am still not his follower but somehow I have faith in him and I respect him.

Like many I could have taken it all as a hidden call of the universe that he is the one who would take me on the spiritual path or he is my savior and blah blah.

For me the experience was very unusual and I deeply revere it thats about it. But many would take it as their souls purpose to propagate his teachings to all and dedicate their lives for him.Please go ahead and do that. To each his own.

Please see the attachment, thats the painting I was talking about.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2013 04:52PM by Tushita.

Maintaining friendships with people who are still in the org can be difficult and complicated. I've known the woman who s-b'd me for many, many years and, while we occasionally hit a prickly spot, it's mostly good because we have so many other things to talk about. Those friends who I only know through sgi, however, I really don't have a basis to keep in touch with - they're good people, but we don't have much in common. I've had lunch dates with a couple of them since leaving, and it's been fine and comfortable, but they're 30 years younger than I am, and at completely different places in their lives. The one that's my age is so busy with sgi activities and, once again, we have very little in common. I've only been out of the org for a couple of months, so I'm still finding my way in the real world.

That being said, I do feel sorry for my long-time friend sometimes. Her views are so narrow, and because she attributes all of the good things in her life to her practice, she can't truly "own" any of them. She and her family have been going through some pretty serious financial problems over the past few years (her husband is in construction and has been very much affected by the economy); while she doesn't feel this is due to any short-comings in her practice, when they a gained a resolution through a government-sponsored program this month so that they wouldn't lose their house, she did say that it was because they were chanting so hard. I'm not sure how she thinks others who have benefited this program managed without standing on their heads and chanting, but as far as she's concerned, they'd be out on the street without it.

All the nattering about cause-and-effect is mind-boggling. Of course it's a basic precept of physics (there they go - sgi using hard data to promote their own magical BS), but the effect only takes place when you take action of some kind; sending mystic vibrations into the universe doesn't quite do it. Sitting in front of a box and chanting to a piece of paper and praying for magic doesn't count.

Several years into my practice, I remember having a conversation with a "friend in faith"; we were talking about the level of commitment one had to make to this practice. At that point, I felt a rush of almost-fear at the idea of leaving; I felt so sure that really bad things would happen to me. I held that fear until maybe a year ago, until I processed the fact that the lives of people I knew who didn't practice were no different from my own. Maybe even better, because they didn't have to deal with the enforced happiness I felt that I had to present all the time; they, once again, were able to "own" their successes and resolutions to difficult situations.

Tushita's story about the asthmatic woman who lives in the house of dust and schmutz reminds me of one of the members of my old district. She's probably in her mid-60's and has been practicing for decades; over the past couple of years, her health has been deteriorating - primarily COPD; she's unable to go anywhere without her little oxygen tank and, at this point, is barely able to leave her home. She attributes this to several suicide attempts - she says that this is her karma, for trying to take her own breath away. I'm sure that it doesn't have anything to do with the facts that she smoked like a chimney for decades or that she's probably close to 100 lbs. overweight. Before she was incapacitated and was working, she had a string of jobs that she left (or was invited to leave) in which she laments that people didn't like her and were mean to her. That, too, was apparently a karmic issue . . . her strident, abrasive, obnoxious, know-it-all personality couldn't have had any bearing there, could it?

Rather than any true introspection, sgi encourages members to really not take any responsibility; it's karma, it's karma, it's karma . . . rather than actually DO anything about maybe addressing issues you might have, get your butt in front of that piece of paper in a box and chant that the mystic law will take care of it.

Oh. My. God. I am so glad that I'm out of that craziness.

Quote

They use to make us do all sorts of SEVA majorly comprising of cleaning and maintaining ashram premises. I was assigned cleaning public toilets. After initial resistance I gave in because though its the most hated job it would mean that my duties were fixed and I don't have to chase others to find out what I am suppose to do that day as I hate surprises so it would save my energy and would be my forte.

The only thing good that happens when you clean others crap early in the morning is that everything else appear less crappy for the rest of the day you become quite calmed down hahahahah.

From Page 1 of the Soka Gakkai International -- SGI thread (see index to find it):

Quote

I was a Soka Gakkai member for -- I hate to say it -- eighteen years. At the time I joined, my life was going pretty badly. My fiance had left me and I had also just been fired. So, needless to say, I was miserable and didn't know what to do next. My best friend, who was also having problems with men, work and her family, had just joined SGI, and encouraged me to go to meetings with her. The members seemed so kind, positive and enthusiastic. They talked a lot about improving their lives and helping others. They encouraged me, telling me that if I chanted and participated in the organization's activities, I could change my bad karma and become happy too.

I felt that I had nothing left to lose; could life be any worse? So, I joined and threw myself into activities, even those that I thought were somewhat hokey. I planned meetings, organized study groups, babysat for prospective members so that they could go to meetings, scrubbed toilets at the center where we held our meetings, you name it. At the time, I was happy to do it. I liked the members, enjoyed many of the activities, and felt that I was contributing to "kosen-rufu." (Besides, suddenly having no boyfriend and no job, I had a lot of free time.) We were all supposed to work for kosen-rufu, a time when we would have world peace because a large percentage of the population were practicing this Buddhism.

Ring a bell??

The more easily they can convince you to debase yourself, the better a candidate for their indoctrination you appear. Someone who resists early on will be set aside and more or less left alone/left behind; the leadership will channel their limited resources toward the most agreeable and malleable candidates.

Quote

But why I am sharing this is that all the other people there including Indians and those from outside India were in so much awe of the Guru and loved the ashram were quite pathetic workers if not all then the majority surely.

Bingo.

Quote

It maddens me a lot when I see titles like Bhagvan (God) attached to the name of some spiritual Gurus. But that is how people are gullible and pretentious.

Repeat after me: Vice Joint Territory Women's Division leader. What would YOU do to be able to use that title for yourself? Huh? HUH??? How much are YOU willing to sacrifice for kosen rufu??

I remember this one man I knew through Soka Spirit (I was involved in that, attempting to inject some rationality and humanism into the otherwise insane void), and when he was appointed (leaders are NEVER elected) to the head of our local Soka Spirit (I don't remember what either was even called), instead of all of us coordinators who attended the planning meetings arriving at a consensus as we had in the past, he took to dictating what we would do and what we would not do. Around that same time, he was promoted to Headquarters MD leader, I think (Soka Spirit being a key stepping stone to leadership advancement) and just became an all-around dick.

Tater ;P

I pretty much quit Soka Spirit at that point, and I guess I was already on a downhill slide. That reminds me - I was riding along with him (in his car) and this "pioneer" man - former military who'd picked up a Japanese war bride and GakkittyGakkai, really nice man, he and his wife both elderly, and the transmission in his car broke down - was it on our way TO the big Soka Spirit meeting up in LA or on the way FROM? Can't remember. Either way, it was terribly inconvenient and took *HOURS* to get home. Some "fortune" >eye roll<

As far as "religious experiences" go, I understand that they are deeply meaningful to the individuals who experience them. However, in the US, what you'll often find is that there are some people (all Evangelical Christians, in my experience) who expect YOU to be just as convinced as THEY are, just from *hearing* about their experience! Without having experienced it for yourself! And they often get quite miffed if you respond that that's very nice, but I'll wait for my own very special experience, thanks just the same. I'm not talking about YOU, Tsushita - you're not like that. Over the years, I've read quite a bit about religious experiences, and here is a great article, from the Hindu perspective, that discusses it and its all-important interpretation:

Quote

But for an earnest believer, the God-idea is more than a mere device for explaining external facts like the origin of the world. For him it is an object of faith that can bestow a strong feeling of certainty, not only as to God's existence "somewhere out there," but as to God's consoling presence and closeness to himself. This feeling of certainty requires close scrutiny. Such scrutiny will reveal that in most cases the God-idea is only the devotee's projection of his ideal — generally a noble one — and of his fervent wish and deeply felt need to believe. These projections are largely conditioned by external influences, such as childhood impressions, education, tradition and social environment. Charged with a strong emotional emphasis, brought to life by man's powerful capacity for image-formation, visualization and the creation of myth, they then come to be identified with the images and concepts of whatever religion the devotee follows. In the case of many of the most sincere believers, a searching analysis would show that their "God-experience" has no more specific content than this.

Yet the range and significance of God-belief and God-experience are not fully exhausted by the preceding remarks. The lives and writings of the mystics of all great religions bear witness to religious experiences of great intensity, in which considerable changes are effected in the quality of consciousness. Profound absorption in prayer or meditation can bring about a deepening and widening, a brightening and intensifying of consciousness, accompanied by a transporting feeling of rapture and bliss. The contrast between these states and normal conscious awareness is so great that the mystic believes his experience to be manifestations of the divine; and given the contrast, this assumption is quite understandable. Mystical experiences are also characterized by a marked reduction or temporary exclusion of the multiplicity of sense-perceptions and restless thoughts, and this relative unification of mind is then interpreted as a union or communion with the One God. All these deeply moving impressions and the first spontaneous interpretations the mystic subsequently identifies with his particular theology. It is interesting to note, however, that the attempts of most great Western mystics to relate their mystical experiences to the official dogmas of their respective churches often resulted in teachings which were often looked upon askance by the orthodox, if not considered downright heretical.

The psychological facts underlying those religious experiences are accepted by the Buddhist and well-known to him; but he carefully distinguishes the experiences themselves from the theological interpretations imposed upon them. After rising from deep meditative absorption (jhana), the Buddhist meditator is advised to view the physical and mental factors constituting his experience in the light of the three characteristics of all conditioned existence: impermanency, liability to suffering, and absence of an abiding ego or eternal substance. This is done primarily in order to utilize the meditative purity and strength of consciousness for the highest purpose: liberating insight. But this procedure also has a very important side-effect which concerns us here: the meditator will not be overwhelmed by any uncontrolled emotions and thoughts evoked by his singular experience, and will thus be able to avoid interpretations of that experience not warranted by the facts.

Hence a Buddhist meditator, while benefiting by the refinement of consciousness he has achieved, will be able to see these meditative experiences for what they are; and he will further know that they are without any abiding substance that could be attributed to a deity manifesting itself to the mind. Therefore, the Buddhist's conclusion must be that the highest mystic states do not provide evidence for the existence of a personal God or an impersonal godhead.
[www.accesstoinsight.org]

I think that link still works - it used to be called "Hinduwebsite.com" or something. Anyhow, that analysis resonates with me. I simply can't believe in gods or supernatural anything. Just can't do it.

Willingness to abase oneself (by scrubbing toilets, for example) is a good indicator of the level of how pliant and flexible a potential zombie might be.

Many of us have our own notion of what god is; for me, personally, it's the force that keeps balance in the universe. Even though I was brought up in the roman catholic faith, I only bought into it very briefly; a first-grade teacher telling me that my best friend was going to hell because she wasn't catholic pretty much turned me off from the whole thing. Because I feel so strongly that something is out there, though, I've always asked questions and looked for answers. I practiced as a quaker for a large part of my adult life; their peace testimony touched me, and the idea that every person had "that of god" within them was very powerful, and not unlike the idea of everyone having Buddha-nature. But the conventional idea of god just seemed so small to me, so restrictive. Nobody has time to run the universe and keep track of whether I went to church last week; it just never made a lick of sense to me.

Kind of rambling - it just seems that everyone who experiences god, a higher power, whatever really does so differently and on a highly personal basis. If I remember correctly, the cover of Autobiography of a Yogi has a picture of Yogananda on it, and perhaps that stuck with you subconsciously, Tushita, or maybe he actually did visit you. I've had enough supernatural experiences myself that I'm not confident enough to dismiss anything out of hand. I'm simply not wise enough to know how much I don't know.

Quote

the effect only takes place when you take action of some kind; sending mystic vibrations into the universe doesn't quite do it. Sitting in front of a box and chanting to a piece of paper and praying for magic doesn't count.

Yes, thinking *special thoughts* doesn't actually change anything. It certainly doesn't change reality! Neither does repeating magic chants or spells - whatever you wish to call them. Incantations are simply spoken words, nothing magical about that, and it's probably a cultural leftover from when people recognized how powerful language is - think of how essential translators were for negotiations and interactions between different peoples. And don't get me started on the written word!! Power in a pen!! But still no magic, though it no doubt seemed magical to pre-literate peoples how someone could look at a piece of paper and instantly gain knowledge from it.

Magical thinking is deeply primitive and deeply childish. It was, in fact, the last vestige of my early childhood indoctrination into Evangelical Christianity to go. The Evangelical superstitious magical-thinking pseudo-Buddhism just found within my psyche a ready-made chassis to piggyback its indoctrination onto.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2013 01:47PM by TaitenAndProud.

A note on toilets. Many people hate cleaning the bathroom-- more than cleaning any place else.

Quote

You're not alone. Everyone hates cleaning the bathroom. According to a poll by the Soap & Detergent Association, respondents ranked cleaning the bathroom as the worst household chore -- worse than dusting and vacuuming, worse than doing the dishes, worse than doing the laundry. One of out every three people hated wiping down the toilet more than any other chore.

[www.blacktable.com]

(the following article is raw but humorous. Minus the Playboy and the cigarettes, my own bathroom looks like this much too often)

There's an interesting book, hard to read, but worth it by Agehananda Bharti, entitled Light at the Center:Context and Pretext of Modern Mysticism. (Some of it is dated--he published it in the mid-1970s. He thought some groups such as TM were harmless, but these later turned into cults.

(Many's the time when Ive read this book in the bathroom. Any book I like ends up in the bathroom, because I cannot put it down. The book, that is. )

Bharati was born in Vienna, changed his name upon formal ordination as a Sanyassi in the Bharati Dasnami order, one of the ten orders which derive from Shankara (8th Century CE)

Bharati himself had had several episodes of nondual realization. He was also formally trained in languages, assessment of evidence, textual analysis, and became first a Sanskrit scholar, then an anthropologist.

Bharati tells us in Light at the Center, that the various peak experiences, in and of themselves, do not prove anything. People will interpret them according to their own social context and what belief system they happen to have.

And Bharati interviewed many people who reported such experiences. He noted that some persons didnt take their own bliss experiences at all seriously, didnt see any need to change their lives at all.

But Bhrati noted that if you live in a society that values such experiences, has a terminology for them, and audiences are in his words 'warm and receptive' and especially when reporting such experiences brings social prestige---its quite a different matter.

But even then, the experience doesnt prove anything. Bharati tells us that a lot of harm is done by the following assuptions all of which he found to be un true--and he had interviewed many who had such experiences, as well as having had them himself.

*Non dual or bliss changes nasty people into nice people

*Such experiences endow a person with infallible knowledge in all areas making them able to govern society, give financial or psychological counseling or pass examinations without having to study for them. (Bharati met at least one Indian student who said he wished he were a Knower as Bharati was, because then he could pass all examinations effortlessly!)

*Such experiences are permanent. Not so. Bharati found that one cannot talk about these experiences and have them at the same time. But its common for people to claim or hint they are enlightened 24-7, and that therefore everything they say or do is enlightened and therefore not to be judged by ordinary people. Not so.

Bharati found that one has to evict oneself from that experience in order to crunch it into words. But in some places such as India, there is a sort of heightened pious language used by folks on the religious tour circuit--they talk as if they are enlightened at that very moment, though its not at all possible. Its expected of them.

The most damaging assumption is that these experiences make a person infallible and that they prove things.

Bharati, who appreciated his own bliss experiences, nevertheless stated that they didnt prove anything. To him (he loved music, too) such bliss experiences could be considered aesthetic. As he put it, you dont learn to love your neighbor by learning to play cello. Your music will give yourself and others pleasure and thats enough. But this ability to experience and give pleasure through music will not prove you are capable of running a society or group.

Aesthetic experiences, dont prove anything. So..Bharati's personal resolution was to put bliss experiences in with aesthetics, something to appreciate, something to enjoy, but that doesnt have truth value.

Bharati also noted persons with bliss experiences tend to far better in societies where religious dogma has not been centralized. He noted that Christian ecstatics had to be careful to use Christian motifs when reporting their experiences, or yes indeed, they risked trouble from authorities.

Here is a list of what many translate as the Four Imponderables. Buddha (or early teachers who wrote in his name and sought to keep the early teachings on track) identified these topics as futile.

When any nominally Buddhist group or teacher goes off the track, usually someone has gotten stuck on one or more of these four.

Quote


1) The range of powers one develops as a result of becoming a Buddha

2) The range of powers that one may obtain while absorbed in jhana...

3) The results of kamma... (reincarnation and or accumulation of 'merit' would be included in this topic)

4) Speculation about [the first moment, purpose, etc., of] the cosmos is an imponderable that is not to be speculated about.

Whoever speculates about these things would go mad & experience vexation."

[www.accesstoinsight.org]

Full article by Thanassaro Bhikkhu

Translated to SG, one could write

1) The range of powers one develops as a result of becoming a Buddha.. or has because one is Uncle Rufus or by being born a 'fortune baby'.

2) The range of powers that one may obtain while absorbed in jhana...or through membership activity in SGI

3) The results of kamma... (or accumulation of 'merit' or 'fortune' as a result of membership activity in SGI

4) Speculation about [the first moment, purpose, etc., of] the cosmos is an imponderable that is not to be speculated about.

Whoever presumes to teach these these things will get rich exploiting other people's fears, because fears are infinite. This is different from real Buddhism which aims to offer a perspective that liberates us from groundless fears.

Followers of groups preoccupied with karma and acquistion of merit will get poor, exhausted and experience vexation



1

I agree that the spiritual world out there has been twisted and turned and more twisted and turned. But really hasn't everything else in the society. As human, society and science grows so does our belief and practices. Change is the only thing constant.

Put personally I believe that people's interpretation of any situation just gives you another theory you could accept them or reject them based on ones preferences.

I am a student of sociology and have spent 3 years of my life reading and learning about different value and belief system of n number of people and sociologists and anthropologists.

Personally I believe like religious gurus and their followers are head bent on proving that God exists and its their respective Gods that are the most powerful similarly scientists and people form relevant streams are head bent on proving that everything can be explained and there are no miracles in this world.

For me both of them are equally boring. I enjoy both.

I want to share a strange story with you all and again its just co incidental that I am a hindu as well.( I keep mentioning this fact so that you understand that I am not trying to sell hinduism its just these are the things I know and therefore I talk about them )

Ok so the story is about my father who has never been into rituals at all. He does what he feels like doing and has never bothered about who, what , where when it comes spiritual and religious police.

My dad had recently shared 2 very queer experiences of his life.

Once in the prime of his youth he was on the terrace of our ancestral home drunk as mad and all by himself. Adjoining the terrace was the prayer room of our house which had among all the idols of hindu religion one of Lord Hanuman.

My father in his drunk state entered the worship room sat in front of the idol and started challenging God that if he is really in this world he should come alive in front of him otherwise he will not leave the room.

This drama continued for quite some time and my dad says that suddenly he heard a very loud and stern voice from with him or from outside he can't say clearly. Whoever it was told my dad in a matter of fact way that "boss you haven't done anything great do be given this experience" my father ran away from that worship room and from that day stopped all quest to ‘FIND’ God, and the meaning of life and blah blah. He still gets goose bumps when he shares this story.

Now this very dad of mine who does not bother himself with rituals and incantations has a chest of drawers in his room on which he keeps his television and on the first self below that he has a small collection of all possible Gods from all over the world (mostly gifted by someone).

Imagine the atrocities he commits on those figurines by subjecting them to the cruel and rude noise of Indian channels. However leaving this wall on the two other diagonally opposite walls he has one –one light arrangement a simple bulb on one wall and a tube light on the other.

Something really strange has happened in the past few months. He has a small 2 inch long ‘shiv ling’ he had bought a few months ago from a local shop. The lights from the 2 opposite walls fall on the shiv ling as 2 dots precisely where the eye should be and when you pour water over it, it starts reflecting light even more powerfully as if the shiv ling has opened its eyes …its amazing.

Now of course science will say that of course it’s the reflection of the lights and the non-believers will say that its my fathers interpretation of fairly normal situation as supernatural.

But isn’t it too much of a coincidence that of all the places where the light could form such a reflection its chooses exactly the place where the eyes of any idol should be. Also of all the positions in which the shiv ling could be kept my dad kept it just at the precise position where the light will reflect. My father didn’t choose any of this it just happened.

What I am saying is that though today we grow to become far more intelligent and educated by virtue of the vast developments our respective societies have experienced over the period of time, we are capable of doing a lot more than what our ancestors could but still the miraculous elements of life and universe remains. Now each person is free to interpret and believe in it in whatever way he likes to.

Ok BTW coming back to SGI after stretching myself for a week over the hate stories of ex-SGI members I had a bout of fever with other health issues.

But the good news is that this time I attributed it all to my own carelessness rather the attach of some Mr. Devil of the sixth heaven who is constantly held responsible for all things bad in our life by the o so knowledgeable SGI.

In my sickness I didn't feel guilty, obliged or being protected by NMRK. I just accepted it and took some much needed rest. Trust me I am feeling much better than I have felt in months.

Guess I can survive after all without their skilled physician.And the 3000 realm in a single moment of life tells me never ever to let their crap enter my mind ever.

Also I had a small victory last evening. I had gone to my local market to pickup some grocery and a bunch of street hawkers where playing very obnoxious and loud bhajans (devotional songs) on a pathetic music systems, the kinds made locally which are capable of destroying your year drums.

On my requesting them to lower down the volume they first looked at me as if I have come from Mars and then started arguing with me that they need to keep it at a certain volume so that one its Lord's worship and hence very sacred and second of all it should reach to all the nearby shops. They had taken it on themselves to be the savior of the entire market you know the same old story.

However had I been the old SGI devotee I would have kept chanting NMRK at the back of my mind praying for their buddha nature to emerge or would have reprimanded them by quoting SGI activities which are so somber.

But instead I just held my grounds by informing them that how unnecessary exposure to sound pollution leads to so many disorders and then trips to hospitals and blah blah (making it sound as dangerous as I could). Suddenly their own bodies became more precious and important to them than the pursuit of God and they quickly lowered down the volume and I continued my shopping with a big grin.

Seems people listen to your even though you might not have the SGI wisdom of the Lotus Sutra and you can get some work done on your own.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2013 03:20AM by Tushita.

Dear Tushita

This seems so much like my story. Only that i was with sgi for less than a year and have not been as lucky to come back to a high life condition. I was told that i would go into a low life condition as soon as i left sgi but i could not imagine that my world wud go upside down and damagez wud be irrepairable.
One, i got married into a lower status family and my spoude is not exactly of my choice. I have come to terms with that.
Second, my health is going from bad to worse with each passing day. I am not being able to find a diagnosis.
Third, when i left chanting my father after a while went into unexplained depression and recently we lost him.
My brother got married to a woman who is continuously destroying relations and is there only for his wealth.

I am still struggling with a very low life condition. Any advice pls?

Thanks
Shal