In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the cosmologist Stephen Hawking said, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”
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.â€
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.