'To infinity and beyond' sounds fynny, absurd, idiotic even. It has been repeated so many times in the 'Toy Story' movie (I keep watching ad nauseum with my Little One) because of it's irrationality.
During this morning's ride to Uki, 15k South of Murwillumbah, I was reflecting how this kind of 120k distance with its mountain crossing and 2100 feet elevation gain seemed like infinity many years ago and I didn't consider even driving the car that way, being so steep. Now, many years later I'm riding my bicycle there and beyond - to Uki.
I got excited about this ride. It gave me the excuse to visit Sri Govinda Dham, a place established to be the Australian branch of the Sri Caitanya Saraswat Math, a Mission in Navadvip, West Bengal, India, dedicated to propagating the teachings of Sri Caitnya Mahaprabhu. These teachings have been passed down to us through a disciplic succession of acharyas for the last 500 years. Small chunk of time considering the timeframe of this planet, where the present age of Kali started 5000 years ago and it is the shortest of all ages (btw, 4 of them constitute a cycle, 1000 cycles is 1 day of the life of this planet, which lives for its 100 years...). According to the Vedas that is.
Someone once said that if we ware to evaluate a man, it should be only on the basis of his ideals, they will eventually direct him to the right place after all the temporary engagements are exhausted. Of course I'm not about to elaborate on the teachings of Sri Caitanya (easy to Google it), but only will mention that he defeated all the impersonal conceptions of the absolute (so much sought after by the Buddhist, Shaivaits and others) in such a way that all the leading scholars surrendered to him.
Sad, Cid, Ananda are the attributes of the realm of the absolute, our real permanent home. Sad being the infinity, Cid - perfect knowledge and Ananda - bliss. Great. But these are only the attributes, the description of the realm, as if seen from a very, very long distance. As we are allowed to go further, the Absolute will reveal its true form, endless activities, associates, everything. But only on it's own accord, since we are only a tiny portion of it.
Merging with the absolute, becoming one with it etc. is only a discovery, that we belong to the realm beyond the material world. To remain there, we must develop a relationship with it, not just as an observer, but more active. Then our position is more secure.
Beyond infinity - YES, for sure. And Sri Govinda Dham is a place where you can discuss these concepts.
During this morning's ride to Uki, 15k South of Murwillumbah, I was reflecting how this kind of 120k distance with its mountain crossing and 2100 feet elevation gain seemed like infinity many years ago and I didn't consider even driving the car that way, being so steep. Now, many years later I'm riding my bicycle there and beyond - to Uki.
I got excited about this ride. It gave me the excuse to visit Sri Govinda Dham, a place established to be the Australian branch of the Sri Caitanya Saraswat Math, a Mission in Navadvip, West Bengal, India, dedicated to propagating the teachings of Sri Caitnya Mahaprabhu. These teachings have been passed down to us through a disciplic succession of acharyas for the last 500 years. Small chunk of time considering the timeframe of this planet, where the present age of Kali started 5000 years ago and it is the shortest of all ages (btw, 4 of them constitute a cycle, 1000 cycles is 1 day of the life of this planet, which lives for its 100 years...). According to the Vedas that is.
Someone once said that if we ware to evaluate a man, it should be only on the basis of his ideals, they will eventually direct him to the right place after all the temporary engagements are exhausted. Of course I'm not about to elaborate on the teachings of Sri Caitanya (easy to Google it), but only will mention that he defeated all the impersonal conceptions of the absolute (so much sought after by the Buddhist, Shaivaits and others) in such a way that all the leading scholars surrendered to him.
Sad, Cid, Ananda are the attributes of the realm of the absolute, our real permanent home. Sad being the infinity, Cid - perfect knowledge and Ananda - bliss. Great. But these are only the attributes, the description of the realm, as if seen from a very, very long distance. As we are allowed to go further, the Absolute will reveal its true form, endless activities, associates, everything. But only on it's own accord, since we are only a tiny portion of it.
Merging with the absolute, becoming one with it etc. is only a discovery, that we belong to the realm beyond the material world. To remain there, we must develop a relationship with it, not just as an observer, but more active. Then our position is more secure.
Beyond infinity - YES, for sure. And Sri Govinda Dham is a place where you can discuss these concepts.
