I have a limited understanding so far of Hinduism and a few other eastern religions. I can go into more detail later, if you wish, but does anyone know of any description of or meaning behind the feeling of deja vu in Hindu texts or tradition? I have recently became very intrigued by certain psychedelic phenomenon and their similarities to some things described in various eastern religions. Then I started to think about how many psychedelic users practice some type of Buddhism, Hinduism, or maybe just some practices such as meditation. Also, I've read that you can obtain similar states to peak psychedelic experience with sufficient enough meditation. Anyone care to enlighten me on the deja vu thing, in particular, or on the subject in general.
well the Vedas teach us that we've taken millions of births, but we can't remember any of them yet they also say that once we take up the "religion" so to speak again in our life we pick up from where we left off last life in that way we can try to understand why person 1 goes to a yoga class once in his life but it doesn't "stick" yet person 2 goes to a yoga class and dedicates the rest of their life to study of the Vedas
it should also be said that any living person who hears the mahamantra even once in their life is guaranteed a human birth in their next life Srila Prabhupada said even animals who hear the mantra gain a human birth in their next life that's the great power of God's names =)
Aha...could also explain why a lot of them are so dumb..... But seriously, the world would have become way way overpopulated very soon after the first appearance of humans, because each one of the billions of bacteria that heard it would take human form in the next birth, and multiply that by billions and billions for the next generation etc etc..
Better add although it's quite off topic, that I think some higher animals are definitely sensitive to spiritual vibrations, especially as these are expressed through people. I've heard of yogis who live in seclusion in close proximity to animals such as tigers, and are never bothered by them. Cats, dogs, horses, monkeys, elephants - a few others too I think definitely feel something of the divine, although not in the way we do. That's not to say they get reborn as humans though. I think too that the phenomenon of 'horse whispering' probably involves subtle vibrations. In general, I think some animals can sense spirituality in a person - they pick up on it in some way. Some form of empathy probably is about as close as I can get to how this happens.
Bill, everyone knows bacteria are deaf! But of course the mantras have great power. But the hearing of a mantra is much more than the tickling of the ear drums. To truly hear the mantra it must resound the heart of the listener, not only in the ear. And the sound must be uttered with deep reverence and concentration, it must carry the force of a person's deep spiritual practice behind it. Otherwise it is just another sacred sound. Mantras have power without all this also to reduce some amount of past karma. But only when practiced very deeply can it give true deep spiritual benefit. And that has NOTHING to do with taking human form. As for animals, that's an old friendship. Starting from Rama and and monkeys and Krishna and the cows and peacocks. The native masters commune with all the beings of the forest. Ramana maharshi used to talk to the monkeys in Arunachala. He used to tell them to line up for prasad and they would faithfully form a queue and with all decorum take prasad from him. There are photographs of this out there. And of course his relationship with Lakshmi the cow is well known to all acquainted with him.
