I didn't get a buzz from the puja, I enjoyed the chanting and the exotic unexpectedness of it though and getting the mantra at the end was clever, it worked straight away too. I was hooked from day one - regardless of the etymology of the terms ;-)
I think you'll have a job getting the "aspects of natural law" excuse past the fundies though, a blue elephant worshipped by Hindu's is still a blue elephant no matter what you call it.... ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <noozguru@...> wrote : So did you get a "buzz" from the puja? You should and that's probably why you liked it. The "buzz" would be the increase of "shakti" which is something not well understood by western science. Another thing we need to remember is that just the word "Hindu" was a form of ignorance created by invaders of the Indus Valley who could not pronounce a word starting with "I" so they put an "H" in front. Sort of of a joke. And "Hinduism" just like MMY said, is indeed a philosophy just like Buddhism and not a religion. The "invaders" also thought the practices constituted a "religion." And truly there are some Indians who practice it "religiously." :-D On 03/25/2014 08:07 AM, salyavin808 wrote: No Mantra will cure willfully arrogant stupidity? Hmmm, seems like that's the sort of thing meditation was designed for. Is it too late for a refund? I don't know why you people get so upset at a few inconvenient facts. I'm an athiest and I loved the puja, all that bowing and singing and incense, just like some sort of religious thing but not a religious thing because it was all in foreign and quite enjoyable anyway, so why would it matter? Unless you are some sort of religious person who has what they are allowed to do proscribed by someone else, but who would admit to that? As the TM teacher said: if you like ceremonies it's a nice one. If you don't, it's a short one. And besides, I wanted to get my hands on the enlightenment and the supernatural powers the book promised, so I would have sat through a hymn service at the local church. Almost. Anyhoo's, I don't remember any god doing anything for me lately so I conclude that the origin of mantras is irrelevant, and also about as irrelevant as other TMO teachings I had plowed into me like the "fact" that most of classical Indian literature happens to be present in my body in some, unspecified, way. Which seems to me about as religious a statement as you could possibly make. Coincidentally, you can cure people of any health problem at all by chanting the relevant section of something called the ved at the unwell part of the body in another undoubtably secular (and not cheap) ceremony in order to redress the balance. According to the latest "discoveries" of Maharaja Raja Raam (Tony to his friends) the reason we get ill in the first place is because the battles of the Ramayana are being fought out in our bodies. Astounding. Order me an obviously secular yagya immediately! But mantras I don't care about. I mean, obviously they come from some hindu or pre-hindu teaching, all this stuff does and all this stuff is ancient. The question is, why would that be a surprise to anybody? ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <emptybill@...> mailto:emptybill@... wrote : Recently I have read here on FFL an argument professed by former TM’ers who stopped practicing because they claimed they were deceived about the "meaning" of mantras. I don't believe anyone has stopped for that reason. Usually they quit because they don't think like it or don't think it has enough reward for the time invested. Some people seem to take to it like ducks to water and become full of flashy experiences and evangelical zeal, I know I did. Go figure.....
