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Let Teachings Attributed to Krishna Work for You

Sankadi Muni Bhagavan
Better be affluent and lucky than bragging unsoundly.


Krishna playing the flute and herding the cattle is taken to signify sides of spiritual awakening, which is in part as being bitten by a snake. Some do not poison us at all; others do so more or less mildly, hopefully; and others can work for our harm and be deadly. Therefore, skills in snake-handing is thought to be absolutely necessary for inner devleopment [Kuo; Spo].
      Besides, it is better to be rich and unhappy than poor and unhappy), says a British proverb. [Dp 248]. You are not only allowed to go for fairly had wealth, but encouraged to.
      There are also benefits in associating with a lot of decent fellows.

Bulwark a sane life

Some old texts may seem stupid at first glance. Then a long row of interpretations and comments may seek to change that impression . . . So long as we are not taken in by fancy this could work to our benefit.
      Professional and straight handling should help many.
      The Krishna tales and other ancient tales that survive today, were once chosen among others, or survived by lucky turns of events, or both.
      It appears that Yogananda established a cult in the name of Jesus - among Christians - If he did like those he got as disciples, why didn't he tell truth to them in important matters?
      Adaptation problems are much likely around the globe. Some such problems stem from gurus who proclaim their own gurus are former Krishnas, and thereby signal great authority without any proof, and one such guru, Yogananda, went on and claimed he promotes Krishna and Yogi-Christs in the name of original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ. That cannot be done, granted the Gospels tell what Jesus said against false Christs, having other masters, and where salvation comes from, and things like that [see Pa 499]. You cannot promote religious soap opera doctrine in the name of science either.
      Some can be taken down from okay self-management and self-assertiveness by tendentious and crazy boss garbage. Often, prevention is better than cure. It is far better to entertain children and youngsters with good stories, seeking to build rationality through that and higher education. Warm, entertaining and warning stories may help in some settings, but not all of them.
      Mahavatar Babaji is presented as Krishna by many followers of Yogananda - and Krishna, is he there to help? Expect the worst, and be nicely forewarned-forearmed. Go on from there to bulwark a sane life so that nasty things won't happen or are lessened in extent and duration and so on. That is much to live out, and very helpful too.
      Paramahansa Yogananda claim he saw the light when he said the whole universe (and all in it) are illusory, not real - himself included [!]. The Gita teaches against it. It says in fact that those who teach just like Yogananda, are demons.
"Demoniac qualities make for bondage." [Bvg 16:5] Those who are demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done. Neither cleanliness nor proper behavior nor truth is found in them. [16.7] They say that this world is unreal . . . [16.8] The demoniac . . . [are fools]. [16.9] Absorbed in the conceit of pride and false prestige . . . [16.10]
So choose a good life the day you can. Do not get confused by the demoniac and their saddening tales.
      Let's beware of the great fog of confusion, as in the British "We are all at sea (disoriented)".
      A motherless boy may later turn into a rascal helper, in the end to mess up things considerably. Consider this against too much hailing: "The best rulers of old had fine natures, mysterious, too deep; they could not be understood. (Cf. Tao Te Ching 15). There are some who get praised for nothing, and others get praised and even hailed for doing less than nothing, such as swindling. (Cf. Tao The Ching 17) [Ref.]
Feel free to be brilliant. St. Paul says, "Do your best to present yourself ... as one approved, a workman who doesn not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. [2 Timothy 2:15-6]
      And drop suave verbiage from idolatry bringers.
      Alarmingly false Christians may forge ahead. In so doing they are moving from integrity and sanity. Keep your good spirits and boldness intact against such more or less canonised influences around. There are many in the United States.
      Krishna counts due to widespread, encultured beliefs, but also due to the truth value in teachings of his.

Unsound bragging may include Krishna

If some parts of a pack of descriptive elements mean "stay away if you love life", you might shoo the rest of them and be right about that. For it behoves a man to take care in time. The idea is "Better safe than sorry," at any rate.
      Learn to suspect to your advantage - a little suspicion in time may save us an awful lot of troubles. It is possible to suspect and be very polite at the same time. But tell very little of what you suspect as long as trustworthy proof is missing, to save yourself embarrassments and worse.
      You can profit from getting skilled on many fields, including the field of handling ideas. To escape being taken in somehow, refrain from believing unproved tenets. Do the best you can. Buddha's blessing is very much on such efforts, as you can see [LINK].
      Unsound bragging leading to idolatry - it is easy to do when dragging in concepts like God, Heaven, divine love, and other things that can hardly be verified - cannot compare with birds twittering and chirping around us, or the sound of bleating sheep in the meadow. Communication of birds and animals is no simple subject. In a book about Zen and other facets of Far Eastern culture, Aage Marcus retells a Zen story about how a teacher was about to sermonise when a bird suddenly started to sing in front of the people who were there. When the bird finished, the Zen teacher said: "The sermon is over." [Ded 93]

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Krishnas

Penance is being stricter with yourself than many nannies. Lahiri Baba declared that Babaji (the old father) is Krishna - but isn't he everybody? He who says he is so many things, including the Self in everyone, is he not there, in you? This means you do not have to seek so much, just be the one your are originally - show your original face, quite as Zen has it.
      The concept of the original face originates in the following koan (Zen riddle): "What did your face look like before your parents were born?" It is related to the saying: "Before we study Zen, the mountains are mountains and the rivers are rivers . . . When our study of Zen is completed, the mountains are once again mountains and the rivers once again rivers."
      Zen masters have elaborated on the original face. "One must do zazen. Once thoughts are quieted, the Original Face appears . . . The moon of suchness is the Original Face . . . Quiet your thoughts and behold your Original Face before you were born!" said Daito.
      Realising one's Mind-essence is Zen enlightenment, the Wu experience. Garma Chang writes thus about how Tieh Shan meditated into that "original face in The Practice of Zen:
Master Meng Shan urged me to work harder at meditation [Dhyana]." One day I meditated from afternoon to the next morning, using the power of Dhyana to sustain and press forward, until I directly reached the stage of profound subtlety. Arising from Dhyana, I went to the Master and told him my experience. He asked, "What is your original face?"
      As I was about to answer, the Master drove me out and closed his door. How fortunate I was to meet a really good Zen Master. Only through him was I able to reach such a stage.
      "Nevertheless, every time I tried to answer my Master's question, I was always told that something was still lacking in me.
      "One day in meditation I suddenly felt my body and mind open wide from the core of my marrow and bone, through and through. I could not help but laugh out heartily. I jumped down from my seat, caught Master Meng Shan's arm, and said to him: "Tell me, tell me! What do I lack? What do I lack?'
      The Master slapped my face thrice, and I prostrated myself before him three times. He said: "Oh, Tieh Shan, it has taken you several years to get here." [Prz 164-67, abr.]
Remotely aligned to this, Lahiri Baba decrees such as,
"I myself am Lord Krishna.". (Sayings 94 and 55)
      When one transcends desires, he becomes Krishna himself. (Essence of saying 85)
      The old father (Babaji) is Krishna. (Saying 94)
      I myself am Krishna." (Saying 55).
But you should not say it unless you mean it.
      "When in doubt, win the trick," is a neat saying by Edmund Hoyle. Living up to it does not have to be easy, though. But if you fend for your autonomy, innate self-esteem and personal interests, in the end you have actually lived, even though others may not like you.


Jesus, Krishna, and Your Coping

The fruits of Krishna: ignoble carnage

At a gathering a tough king wanted to strip naked an attractive woman who had five husbands. Krishna was present and swore to revenge it. As a result, the warrior caste was wiped out in a horrible war. He did not act on the spot, but let thousands on thousands kill one another instead, as his claimed revenge of an insult.
     

The fruits of Jesus: Martyrs

Look to the fruits of Jesus. They include being hated and persecuted "by all", he says. Does he tell the truth? If so, where are his genuine Jewish followers, the unharmed snake-holders? Actually, they are largely missing, as most Christians are under the Gentile Deal (Acts 15; 21:25].
      If you will look at the first martyrs, they were taken to the border of death and further. Yogananda, however, claims to teach "original Christianity of Jesus Christ". Hope it works better than suicide.
      The seed that was sown and died is "original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ". It remains a dead thing by and large.
      To be literal-minded isn't bad, but it happens that "the letter kills". "Rebellious people . . . must be silenced," says the apostle too. [Titus 1;7-12]
      In the gospel of John Jesus says somewhere that only he who came down from heaven can get up there again. "Well, skunk, do you feel lucky?" (Paraphrase of a Dirty Harry phrase) [John 3:13-4]. So did the skunk come down from heaven?
      Jesus uses "barnasha" in Aramaic, where translations have "son of man". Barnasha has many meanings. One is "habit-living man". The son of God that Jesus talks of, looks like a god in his "Don't you know you are gods?" [John 10:34, paraphrased]
      Have great hope: If you were not pre-selected or God-singled for anything in particular, Jesus says that you are a god, and as a god you are a god in the Image. Be as successful as you can be, accordingly.

Your own coping ought to be good

There are many good reasons to cope well. Be on the safe side to cope well. It is not a goof side. Get skilled to master your conditions and have a family too, if you find it suitable. Sensible skilfulness is one of the basic virtues of Buddhism and life too.
      There is no reason to look down on any beginne in the long art of living and mastering things, for we are all beginners in something, at least if we learn things, which should be good. Some who do not, get silently ossified.
      A wise person lets himself be assisted by experts too, to get it better. Let there be an upsurge of such staunch persons.
      Stay careful and relaxed to remain joyful.
      Throughout life we have to interpret and judge plausible options. Here is an example: Maybe a good mention in advance can save the ability to see for oneself. We should go for that.
      The purpose of Transcendental Meditation, TM, is to bring about happiness, supplement education, improve communities, generate satisfying conditions, develop mind qualities and hearts, and produce effects in the minds that go beyond the limits of psychoanalysis. Without sound progress at large the aim of TM is not fulfilled very much. [Sb 210-16]

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Literature  
      Bvg: Sivananda, Swami, tr. The Bhagavad Gita. Shivanandanagar: The Divine Life Trust Society, 2003. [oaks.nvg.org/bhagavad-gita.html].
      Ded: Marcus, Aage. Den blå dragen (The Blue Dragon). Oslo: Gyldendal, 1965.
      Dp: Fergusson, Rosalind. The Penguin Dictionary of Proverbs. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983.
      Kuo: Pandit, M. Kundalini Yoga. 5th ed. Madras: Ganesh, 1972.
      Pa: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), 1971.
      Prz: Chang, Garma C. The Practice of Zen. New York: Perennial/Harper, 1970.
      Sb: Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi. The Science of Being and Art of Living. New ed. London: Plume/Penguin, 2001.
      Spo: Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe). The Serpent Power: The Secrets of Tantric and Shaktic Yoga. 7th ed. New York: Dover, 1974.
     
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