--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > on 6/19/05 6:13 PM, bbrigante at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > >> Ammachi, Shree Maa, Karunamayi, Mirabai, Mother Meera, etc. etc. > > > > > > I will presume that none of these ladies are recluses since you are > > mentioning Ammachi first, and she is clearly not a recluse. Anyway, > > what happens today in India or since the beginning of the Kaliyuga is > > not relevant since this is not Vedic India. The Vedic literature does > > not indicate that ladies became recluses, except that sometimes a > > wife would accompany her husband when they abandoned householder life > > and went to live in the forest after their kids were grown up. >
> All of them are/were involved in teaching, and in most cases, traveling to > teach, (add Ananda Moyi Mi to the list), but none are/were householders. So > I guess that makes them recluses. Would you say Maharishi is a recluse, or > do you distinguish between recluse and monk? I would use the ordinary dictionary definition of recluse here: withdrawn from society; seeking solitude; "lived an unsocial reclusive life" hermit: one who lives in solitude so anybody who is out teaching is not a recluse. However, after one gains enlightenment, their desires are nature's desires. Guru Dev took sanyas at age 34, and then remained silent when they asked him to become Shankaracharya, which the people took to be an OK. The point about OM is that use by people who are not suited to be recluses will create problems (I'm talking about regular use of OM in meditation, not occasional use), so householders should use householder mantras. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
