ok.. the Death Sky

I could not agree more.

 

I would agree that the only true happiness comes with a spiritual realization, but helping others attain such realizations can also be very rewarding. I recently acted as a sitter for the first time, and I felt very peaceful helping others attain realizations of their own.

 

yea wizard of oz is a good way to put it. i would say it's like a barrier that i crossed. and now i am on the other side looking in, instead of on the inside looking out. i gained as much as i lost through that experience.

it was a little bit after hurricane rita (i had to evac 2 months previous and i thought i would lose my home and all that crap... it was a life changing experience) and everything that i had been through during the hurricane and events after led up to that point where i had this realization. it seems to be a universal thing so there really is no need to explain it. if you have felt it, you know the feeling forever.

and i am craig, john.

 

Aw man! Thats what its about. In my opinion, now of course I hold Lord Krsna to be God but that is how I see God and Krsna as a person teaches through the Bhagavad Gita, BUT even Krsna Himself says these exact same words. God is universal in Form and therefor anyone who acknowledges Him and feels His precense is feeling the same thing, we just have our own connection with Him. But in reality, God is probably more like the background of your signature, the colors behind the Mushrooms, in some way :tongue:

 

Agreed. BUT, is not the feeling of reward, a feeling of sense gratification in its most honest definition? This is all I meant by my statement : Happiness is of the body, not the Self, and can not be shared.
Others may become happy from what we share with them, or what we teach them, but their happiness is their happiness. Ours is ours. But the happiness of the Self and the happiness of God is Universal and already born within us, and while it is very personal when we awake in our Self that happiness, at the same time it is trancendental and connected with all

 

Craig!!
I should have known lol from your AIM name
And I agree with you, the science of Yoga and the potential paths that push us towards the direction of Bhakti Yoga or any yoga really, is universal and attained by learning. And in the initial realizations of whats really going on in our world, which is what so far everyone of us posting in this thread ARE at the moment, we dont really need to explain the reasoning behind it because we all know, and obviously all came to the same basic conclusion on our own. But I really wish to at least keep sharing experiences becuase I feel that it can bring us all closer together
If my personal explanations are smothering the natural beauty of what we are discussing then I Will save that for the Hindu forum. I just want to hear from everyone when they, more or less turned on, and how it affects them.

 

Yes, it is true that happiness can not be shared, but it can be mutually felt. Whenever I picture happiness in my mind I just think of a mist that melds with everything, all you have to do is realize it is there.

And I also had a thought the other day concerning happniess. I quite often hear people say that a certain person makes them happy, and I feel the same way at times. So I had a thought that it is possible that Love for a person could act as a catylist towards certain realizations, as psychedelic drugs, meditation or yoga could do the same. I'm not really sure I believe this or not, but Im still considering the idea.

 

that comment wasn't criticism, and i'm not discouraging you from explaining your feelings, i'm just saying that every time i have tried to explain the experience, i end up confusing the person i am talking to or they think i am delusional. so i usually don't try to explain it because it is impossible for me to relay the feeling to somebody who doesn't know it. i'll just have to wait for them to know

like the buddha says,

of all the medicines in the world
myriad and various
there is none like the medicine of Truth
therefore, o followers, drink of this

 

i have to agree with this. many different things can be catalysts for realizations, though i've seen more come from pain than love. it seems that pain makes us look inward in a different way than love does.

all rivers lead to the ocean.

 

Interesting......Love huh? Well, Love only ever got me in trouble, but I think because I wasnt able to keep my love to one girl at a time Theres too many out there and they are all so beautiful! haha
But I did grow out of that, and I fell in love with my sons mom for 3 years, and I still love her in a way. Love is as painful as it is wonderful, and it makes you do some bizarre things. But, so drugs are not different.
Love does put us in a position to generally accept the good things in life without as much hesitation, and so yes i would say that it does lead to realizations by itself. Physical love though, I believe, is limited to physical realizations. We have the sutras, we have raising children, we have many practices where our life partner is invloved, but when we go to God our bodies do not go with us, and therefor our 'life' partner does not go with us either. And if reincarnation fits under the spectrum of your belief, what of the other life partners? Maybe they are always the same, but even then, we dont always die at the same time, nor on the same level of spirituality

 

but not all water is a river

 

yea some people are stuck in the puddles

 

And in revision of my statement of love related realizations, I now think it is more of something that is noticed after meditation, yoga, LSD or other such means of realization. When there is someone who simply being around makes me happy, it is because I can see that they are emanating happiness and it simply spreads. Actually, ive sort of changed my mind again. Love can be caused by the realization of happiness in another human being, not the other way around. There is this girl that I love BECAUSE when I see her laugh or smile and look in her eyes I can see and understand the happiness that is there

 

Wow..ok..hmm..where to start...
John, I think that thoughts like yours tend to come about when someone has taken a lot of hallucinogens in their lifetime, especially mushrooms. I think that hallucinogens raise us to other levels of conciousness and the good thing is that even though the trip goes away, the things we discovered on them never do. I think there are some people who exist on a different level of conciousness naturally too, though.

I often get the feeling that everything in life is ok. Its a very warm, calm feeling and im overtaken with comfort. I just had one the other day when I was in the bath. I thought about my life, everything thats ever happened to me, everyone ive ever encountered, and thought about my future and I realized that life is good right now.

I think that we get these feelings when we feel like we are just "a part of it all." Humans are a part of nature, we are just as much a part of nature as trees or animals but society and technology has taken us far away from our beginnings. I think that these feelings we have where time seems to stop, and everything seems to make sense comes from something very primitive inside of us that hasnt forgotten we are a part of this big huge thing called life. We play a part as well as everything else and every now and then, while we are looking up at the sky and marveling its vastness, or looking out of the window at life exist around you, we are brought back to our beginning, our peace and our sense of belonging that we all have inside of us.
I guess you could call it some sort of "spiritual revelation" but, I think its more of a moment where we realize our own existance. Of course, those two things can also mean the same thing depending upon how you interpret your own existance.

:bigear:

 

hahahahahaha, Im going to eat some dinner now, but I love all of you

 

im gonna have a few bowls but ill be back to this thread later. very interesting thoughts, everybody.

 

Leslie! haha
It was a bit of an odd time to come in, this thread is moving so quickly and is scattering across several VERY vast bodies of realized and actualized truth. But what you post here is a very accurate and controlled perception on not only what we are collectivley talking about, but where this conversation is definitley headed as well.
First, I have to say, you are right about the mushrooms. I cant deny that I have eaten them well into the 100's of times, and this in a way has caused me to lose my connection with getting a point across. My mind races sober through poetic verse of simple nature as fast as it would if I had eaten mushrooms, so first I want to thank everyone for even giving my original post a read.
But, here is what I meant to get at. The original post contains a description of what happened to me during a vision. Nothing more, nothing less, and I explained it in a very scattered, almost jazz like manner. I went to my window upon awakening from a highly disturbing dream (sexual tension with my ex, her parents walking in on us, shoveling snow off the top of a tractor trailer, another thread eh?) and I my mind was buzzing with oddity, and when I looked out, I saw the neighbor girl, I saw something that basically enveloped the entire sky and the only real description I could give it was Death. And in that moment, I was flying through every thought of God, the spiritual plane, and the material plane all at the same time. I thought of my son being born, I thought of the first time I slept with a girl, the first time I tripped, the first murder I saw, and as I stared deeper and deeper into this girls eyes I felt connected to all of these memories, these faces, family, friends, strangers, and it was as if I finally understood what it was to be One with everything. The girl was forcing me to realize this, as she was realizing the same, because it was obvious that we were about to die, as well as the rest of mankind.
Now
What that vision was like, I can never properly portray to anyone, I can only give subtle expressions and paint pictures with sloppy words. But, though my writing is as sloppy as the way my mind thinks, I believe that if one wanted to, one could read that post and get SOMEthing out of it. I shared it for that reason, and the fact that I left it so open ended to discussion to be praised or torn apart is the reason why now, we are all recalling the moment when we first stopped time, like Leslie says. I didnt know this was going to happen, to be honest after I posted it I was expecting it to be laughed at, and for the forums people measure of my sanity to go way down. But when I read what Fallout posted, I knew I had done something right, and for a reason.
Anything I say now is only for the sake of talking, talking about how much I love God or how much I love all of you people. I think Nirmalamaya brings up a very interesting point in saying that these realizations are of something other than God directly. Sure, they are God and God is involved like He is everything, but what else is it? What else is really shaking our core so profoundly that we are left dumbstruck and in awe, staring at the face of a loved one as well as the molecules that build the material complexion of the loved ones eyes?
Ok
I love you people Hare Krsna!

ps. I was recalling the time when I first had this realization while driving home from work and couldnt wait to share it with you guys, but I see now why that is a waste of words!

 

Sometimes, I have visions..
But they are very very violent, kinda creepy, lol. Its normally not me being violent to anyone but for example...
Im in the car, passenger seat, looking out the window as we approach an 18 wheeler. As we pass it, in my mind, its like time stops and I can see one of the tires popping off, hitting my car, spinning us out, causing a wreck and everyone dying. Its so vivid that I have to "awaken" from the daydream or whatever by physically shaking it off. really strange..

I really have no real way to interpret things like this, and visions like yours, but that they come from a realized self and a grounded self.

 

Wow that sounds scary!
But I know what you mean, in a way.
Every time I take mushrooms, its as if my mind loses all concept of taboo, and I am forced to go through inner turmoil as I focus on the most distrubing images flashing by on the light screen over my eyes and under my minds eye as Im turning on and shedding the ego. But in a way, it is highly liberating.

Damn, kid just called me saying he was mangled on 3 hits and wants me to come down! haha nooooooooo way I tripped last wedensday night and had my son to take care of and work at 6am. I need a nice book, a bath, a shot, a cig, and some SLEEP! The buzzing the most beautiful sound but as human beings we are not ready to accept that beauty whenever we want. I dont think my mind would crack, its a pretty strong one haha, but those mushrooms last week kicked my ass BIG time. And the LSD the week before was, how can I explain this? Ok put it this way, I told my friend that the air conditioner is my mom, and it felt so true :tongue:

 

hahahahahahaha, sounds like when my friend asked me for a cig and I gave him a piece of grass saying that it was all the same