I have to disagree with Stephen Hawking that my brain may be a computer, but there is a user of that computer who moves on to a new one when this one breaks down. Just like I intentionally moved from a PC to a Mac, Universalist Radha-Krishnaism describes how to upgrade to a meta level. Hawking would do better to restrict his comments to science. However, even there, he and others go beyond science and enter into metaphysics in their speculations about multiple universes based on atheistic origins of the universe such as: “Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.” This is unprovable speculation.

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A friend wrote, “I cannot see how this philosophy can escape the charge of being an escape. But everyone has their bhava, and this one sure is sweet.”

I reply: Isn’t escapism big business–movies, fiction, TV, porn, consumerism, etc.? At least Universalist Radha-Krishnaism provides a positive ideal, which I fail to find in most other forms of escapism. I admit it may appeal to a small niche market, but what else is new.

I encourage a balance between the inner and outer life. I’m moving into a more outer phase now myself. I became the Hawaii Liaison for the Gray Panthers and am getting into community organizing again. In word and deed I model the example of an action-reflection, balanced middle way.

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Another friend on Facebook wanted me to teach him Sahajiya practices. I informed him that I am not a Sahajiya and reject their sexual practices with the spouses of others. I have been in a monogamous  relationship for 24 years and in another for six years before this one. Natural devotion is a tantric Vaishnava practice that provides a unique Western approach to Radha-Krishna devotion. Tantric means it is not world denying but embraces life, which reenforces my previous point.

I have to disagree with Stephen Hawking that my brain may be a computer, but there is a user of that computer who moves on to a new one when this one breaks down. Just like I intentionally moved from a PC to a Mac, Universalist Radha-Krishnaism describes how to upgrade to a meta level. Hawking would do better to restrict his comments to science. However, even there, he and others go beyond science and enter into metaphysics in their speculations about multiple universes based on atheistic origins of the universe such as: “Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.” This is unprovable speculation.

❡

A friend wrote, “I cannot see how this philosophy can escape the charge of being an escape. But everyone has their bhava, and this one sure is sweet.”

I reply: Isn’t escapism big business–movies, fiction, TV, porn, consumerism, etc.? At least Universalist Radha-Krishnaism provides a positive ideal, which I fail to find in most other forms of escapism. I admit it may appeal to a small niche market, but what else is new.

I encourage a balance between the inner and outer life. I’m moving into a more outer phase now myself. I became the Hawaii Liaison for the Gray Panthers and am getting into community organizing again. In word and deed I model the example of an action-reflection, balanced middle way.

❡

Another friend on Facebook wanted me to teach him Sahajiya practices. I informed him that I am not a Sahajiya and reject their sexual practices with the spouses of others. I have been in a monogamous  relationship for 24 years and in another for six years before this one. Natural devotion is a tantric Vaishnava practice that provides a unique Western approach to Radha-Krishna devotion. Tantric means it is not world denying but embraces life, which reenforces my previous point.

“Whereas mainstream Hinduism tends toward puritanism and life-negating asceticism, the culture of the Vedic tribes of circa 1500 to 1000 B.C. was clearly life-affirmative and sex-positive. They loved music, dance, and gambling, were not at all averse to inebriation, and prayed for a hundred years life on Earth, many children, and plenty of cattle. As one Vedic hymn exhorts, “O men! Lift, lift up the penis, the bestower of satisfaction! Move it, dig deep for the acquisition of wealth [in the form of progeny]!” While some of the prayers have a symbolic content, many others are to be taken quite literally.

“The Tantric adepts have always claimed that their new teachings were really only a restatement of the old Vedic religion. This claim has never sat too well with the brahmins, the custodians of the Vedic heritage. It is true, however, that an examination of the ancient Vedas yields Tantra-like elements. In fact, the Vedas contain a rather elaborate sexual symbolism. (138)“

In the same way, Universalist Radha-Krishnaism mines the riches of the perennial wisdom from the past and presents them in a contemporary manner to create a life-affirming, sex-positive spiritual path for today. Sometimes the past holds the keys to the future. Just because certain views seem to have been around forever and dominate today’s thinking does not mean they are best, right, or useful. My primary approach to Universalist Radha-Krishnaism is to remove the detritus accumulated over the centuries and explain what remains in contemporary language to present a more workable, sustainable model for spiritual growth now and in the future.