If You Were A Cow...

... you would definitely want to live in India...

... and not in the US or any other country with meat and animal product manufacturing plants. (This links to a factual, but brutal video - my apologies - "viewer discretion advised". It is the kind of video I used to send my kids off to friends' (and their Moms) with, and only if they were teasing my children or trying to scare them about being vegetarians. Our video was even worse - it included the pig rape rack where sows were being impregnated.)

YouTube's existence, and therefor getting this information out - in pictures! - to the unsuspecting consumer who doesn't equate his juicy hamburger or scrambled eggs with these levels of insanity and brutality, is like Gutenberg finally printing the Bible in terms of social impact.

Even if only reducing our animal product consumption, to get our food from places like Whole Foods and farmer's markets where they can guarantee humane treatment of the animals we eat and their gifts to us like eggs and milk, is highly advisable.

If you were a cow in India you could even become enlightened...

Ramana Maharshi's Love of all Beings (Title links to where I found this article)

The following is from the page Ramana Maharshi - Sage of Arunachala Hill It gives some examples that show how Ramana Maharshi, a true enlightened sage, indeed one of the greatest of our time, had a deep love and compassion not just for humans but for animals as well. For that matter, there was no difference in the way that Sri Ramana treated people, animals, or plants. And even stones, he said, had consciousness. I have always felt that the true test of a realised sage is how they treat not just human, but even more so non-human life. Because you can treat other people well because of moral conditioning and human laws, or fear that they will be angry if insulted. The same doesn't apply to animals, plants, and rocks. So if you treat these well, it is a sign of a deep and profound sensitivity, love and compassion for all beings and for the entire cosmos. Ramana was one of those few great Spiritual Masters who were like that.

Origin of Lakshmi the Ashram Cow

Sri Ramana patting Lakshmi - image from An Introduction to Sri Ramana's Life and Teachings - David Godman talks to John David Page 5

A villager had a dream in which he was told to offer his next calf to Ramanasramam. He brought his cow and the calf to Bhagavan. The jungle around the Ashram was thick at that time and there were cheetahs. The Ashram people were perplexed and refused the offer, but the villager was taking his dream seriously and would not take the calf away. The mother cow had to remain with the calf to feed her. Finally, the cow and the calf were entrusted to a devotee in the town. The calf became the famous cow Lakshmi. She grew up and had three calves within a few years. She would come daily to the Ashram to have her meals, graze on the Ashram land, enter the Hall and sit contentedly near Bhagavan. In the evening, she would go back to the town as other women did.

Once Lakshmi came into the Hall. She was pregnant at that time. It was after lunch time when Bhagavan was reading the newspapers. Lakshmi came near and started licking the papers. Bhagavan looked up and said: "Wait a little, Lakshmi." But Lakshmi went on licking. Bhagavan laid his paper aside, put his hands behind Lakshmi's horns and his head against hers. Like this they stayed for quite a long time. I stood nearby looking at the wonderful scene. After some ten minutes or so, Bhagavan turned to me and said: "Do you know what Lakshmi is doing? She is in Samadhi."

I looked at her and tears were flowing in streams down her broad cheeks. Her breathing had stopped and her eyes were fixed on Bhagavan. After some time Bhagavan changed his position and asked: "Lakshmi, how do you feel now?" Lakshmi moved backward, as if reluctant to turn her tail towards Bhagavan, walked round the Hall and went out.

"There's Probably No God -

...Now Stop Worrying And Enjoy Your Life."

Very funny London Bus advertising by atheists to "counter" religious ads. It's entertaining living in free countries. Rich countries - who have money for such silly ad wars among the various proselytisers. Richard Dawkins - our most popular proselytiser for atheism, says he would have liked to have them drop the word "probably" even though during his satellite appearance on the Bill Maher Show he admitted a scientist always has to build in some iota of improbability, and therefor he could not say with 100% certainty that there is no God.

"Converting" to Atheism is mentioned in this video as well. How can one convert to a non-belief? You can only convert to a different belief as in "I believe there is no God". This takes as much faith as believing in God. Atheism is in fact trying to be a belief system like Creationism. Just the other extreme on the same continuum of ignorance or faith. Like Creationism pretends to be scientific, science professors like Richard Dawkins pretend to be experts on spiritual matters without ever having meditated to any degree that would make them anywhere near expert on the matter. The blind, being led by the blind with PhDs - who, of course, collect the money from their followers.

If it indeed said "There is no God..." on those buses, many Muslims would have been pleased in London, as this they could consider a truthful - if incomplete statement. Maybe not a bad start for the West. Just like any religiously raised teenager moves from childhood trust and belief through a predictable atheist phase before searching for the truth himself, maybe the Western population is ready for that stage of spiritual development. According to the Gospel of Judas, even Jesus laughed in dismay at the apostles' simplistic belief in a creator God that was not grounded in any of their own meditation experience, nor in any understanding of his teachings and the higher mysteries.

The search for what is, for a lack of a better word called "God", requires no less commitment, suffering, headaches, confusion, frustration, and work than the search for the Unified Theory in Physics. We keep looking - either until we find it, or as long as we're having fun searching. How silly would be an ad banner on a London bus trying to convince Physicists to go out and get some exercise instead of hovering over their desks 24/7 because "There probably is no Unifying Theory" and tell them to "stop worrying and enjoy their lives"?

Atheists assuming agnostics or the faithful don't enjoy their lives is a bit presumptuous and unscientific. In the advanced, religious ecstasy is far more pleasurable than any drug one could take. Atheist "ecstasy" always stays in the realm of the physical, material - sex, drugs, food, fame, power, math, music, architecture, etc. The hobbies of kings, not buddhas or prophets.

Considering the present worldwide crisis of having overspent on all of our enjoyments way beyond our means out of some sort of desperation for enjoyment (fueled by advertising) - maybe "enjoying ourselves" a little less is where the bliss is actually going to come from. Living like Kings pales in comparison to living like Buddhas, Christs, Prophets, Saints...But - it does not hurt to be king for a while - guilt-free - to figure that out before moving on. So Atheism has its purpose. There is no question that the religions' preachings against natural and simple pleasures has pushed people into the insane seeking of extreme and perverted pleasures.

As I mentioned in an earlier post - "the infinitely small iota of probability" is where Atheists and Believers need to meet. The word "probably" is the most important word in this ad campaign and makes a great mantra for meditation. A very enjoyable word which creates humility in both science and religion. Let's all indeed enjoy our short and precious lives, and allow others to do the same. It does not take belief in or against God to do so.

Heartwarming Ice

Something cold to warm our hearts today. Human beings are such amazing creatures.