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  1. Jainarayan

    What makes your God a God?

    No, God doesn't require, ask, demand worship. Worship brings us closer to God. Our desire and goal is to reach God, however one understands or views it. My goal and desire is to see him one day, to achieve his state (saccidānanda ... being, consciousness, bliss) once I have been liberated from...
  2. Jainarayan

    Other than your religious teaching...

    I believe that everything is energy. The matter in the universe was converted from energy in the Big Bang. E=MC2. Matter-energy conversion is a two way street. Granted, only the Big Bang and super- and hyper-novae have the energy to convert energy into matter (super- and hypernovae create...
  3. Jainarayan

    What makes your God a God?

    You godless Advaitin, you! :p :D
  4. Jainarayan

    What makes your God a God?

    What makes my God a God? To me, He is not a God, He is God. He is all there is, He is all that exists. I am a pantheist (God and the universe and all existence are One) and panentheist (God encompasses all, yet transcends all). Hindu philosophy allows for this, and that they are not mutually...
  5. Jainarayan

    Moving and need to evict some deities also.

    I kind of understand the reason for a cast of thousands in large temples. Especially southern because there are so many different views, often regional, of one deity. But I’ve gotten away from my rampant and runaway polytheism. I’ve settled on those few I consider family and friends, the ones...
  6. Jainarayan

    Moving and need to evict some deities also.

    I would like to find a temple that has only a few deities plus the presiding deity. As beautiful as mine is, it’s overwhelming. As I understand it, it’s in imitation of Tirupati, with the surrounding (outdoor) shrines. So if that’s a correct understanding, and you know Tirupati, you have an idea...
  7. Jainarayan

    Moving and need to evict some deities also.

    Thanks. A lot of stuff has to go into storage. Unfortunately there’s too much to try to photograph and put on eBay. A yard sale is not possible either owing to living in a condo complex currently and a future apartment complex. My husband is a pack rat. I’ve been yelling for years to get rid of...
  8. Jainarayan

    Moving and need to evict some deities also.

    Thanks everyone. Strangely, I only had to reorganize the altar. I only removed the larger Durga, and put the small one. I removed a small Sūrya but I think I can put him back. I think that rather than complaining about being removed (which I know they really don’t), knowing how I feel, they said...
  9. Jainarayan

    Mother Mary, mother of Jesus

    What he said.
  10. Jainarayan

    Moving and need to evict some deities also.

    Some of you know the situation I'm in with my psycho landlord. Because we're moving into a small one bedroom apartment in the middle of June, praying to the gods that everything goes well, I won't have room for most of my shrine. Currently it's on a 24x36" tiled tabletop. I'm going to be...
  11. Jainarayan

    What Are Your Three Favorite Movie Genres?

    Action, Fantasy, Science Fiction. Runners-up are Horror, Thriller, History.
  12. Jainarayan

    Happy Easter!

    OK, I missed this. I was Eastern Orthodox for about 10 years. Easter, aka Pascha, is the high point of the year. We used to greet each other in both Greek and Russian. Christós anesti ... alithós anesti. Christós vóskrese... voyistinu vóskrese. Meaning "Christ is Risen ... Indeed he is...
  13. Jainarayan

    where were you 20 years ago?

    I was seven years in my job that ultimately last 23 before I was unceremoniously dumped at the start of covid. Just the year before we moved into my mother-in-law's house ostensibly to take it over and care for her. I had sleep apnea surgery in Jan. 2004. After that I don't remember much. It...
  14. Jainarayan

    Being Remembered

    Not important at all. In fact, I'd prefer that I be forgotten, though I know that won't happen entirely. Some of my family (brothes and sisters, my husband, my nieces and nephews), will of course remember me.
  15. Jainarayan

    Why do you follow your religion?

    I became Hindu because its cosmology, theology, soteriology, ontology, epistomology make sense to me.
  16. Jainarayan

    What is your opinion of Jesus?

    I'm a Vishishtadvaitin Hindu, a non-dual philosophy. Jesus saying the Father and I are one is no different than me saying aham brahmāsmi ... "I am Brahman". But that doesn't make me "god", because Brahman is not "God". Jesus can say "the Father and I are one", 'aham brahmāsmi" or any of the...
  17. Jainarayan

    What is your opinion of Jesus?

    I believe he existed. I don’t believe in him as Christians do, that he is God or the son of God. I believe he was a great spiritual teacher, perhaps enlightened and liberated while in his body (jivanmukti in Sanskrit).
  18. Jainarayan

    One God or many gods

    This is a "both" for me. Kind of. I can probably be described as a monist... a Viśiṣṭādvaita (vish-isht-ad-vy-ta) monist. Viśiṣṭādvaita is a Hindu school of philosophy that posits all diversity subsumes to a single entity or substance. For me that is Brahman, who manifests as "God" and gods...
  19. Jainarayan

    Wasted Food

    You think correctly. It's shocking.
  20. Jainarayan

    Wasted Food

    Very. I personally try not to waste anything. I don't take more than I thnk I can eat. If I can't finish at a restaurant, it comes home. I once posted photos of the discarded food bins from work. It was my job at the time to scan all the packages and toss them that were past their sell-by dates...
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