Jagat

My first response to the debacle that was starting to reveal itself at the Paundraka Vrindavan Today was to say, This is all a distraction. Let the dogs bark, we thought. Let us keep pursuing our work at Vrindavan Today and not lose sight of what it is we are trying to achieve. And indeed, we have been getting clearer about what we are trying to achieve and how we are going to achieve it. It is an irony, intended or unintended, that Alex has achieved. He will make us stronger, while he himself is consumed by the various malevolent forces that led him to take the course of actions that he chose. So though what follows in the other posts in this series, especially as stated in the prologue , appear to contradict this principle, I adhere to the principles stated in this article and these are indeed what motivates me in my own attempt to build my own character in the pursuit of prema-bhakti , which as you may recall, is the fundamental purpose of this website and my own life. Prema-b...

I recently came across the following headline on Alternet, Don't Look on the Bright Side: Pessimism, Not Magical Thinking, Is What Will Save Us . My immediate reaction was, “Optimism is NOT magical thinking.” I have written about this before, that religion, reduced to its essence, is simply an optimistic world view . Religion means optimism. Faith means accepting that Something is behind everything after all, that there is a meaning to existence, a purpose that has more depth than mere survival and the trivial enjoyments and pursuits that preoccupy the majority of people. Even an atheist has to find, accept or devise -- if for nothing more than practical reasons -- that there is some structure, some purpose to his own presence in the world. Science, for instance, cannot stand without a faith in the existence of structures and laws that are fathomable. In a world where suffering is omnipresent, on//e needs a reason for living. Otherwise, the only logical option, in the face o...