For the love of Pure Love : Guy Tetreault's Blog

Hafiz - Only a Perfect One can make you know of Love

2009-07-18T03:46:00.000-07:00

Only
That Illumined
One

Who keeps
Seducing the formless into form
Had the charm to win my
Heart.

Only a Perfect One

Who is always
Laughing at the word
Two

Can make you know
Of
Love.

Hafiz

Often our love is only pretense
-- or we simply confuse
between what we WANT and what we LOVE --

Now lets examine this ONE thing:

How can we claim to love anyone
if we do not love the ONE ???

There is a nondual reality
unifying every one and everything

and to love that ONE reality
gives us the power
to know Love

Hafiz - Let prayer become your beautiful Lover

2009-06-18T03:46:00.000-07:00

Why just keep making love with God's child-- Form

When the Friend Himself is standing
Before us
So open-armed?

My dear,
Let prayer become your beautiful Lover

And become free,
Become free of this whole world
Like Hafiz.

Hafiz

When we pray for our selfish interest
we stop the ultimate power from manifesting in us.

When we pray out of pure love, prayer becomes our beautiful Lover

Hafiz - The Truth has shared so much of Itself

2009-05-18T03:46:00.000-07:00

I
Have
Learned
So much from God
That I can no longer
Call
Myself
A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,
a Buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of Itself
With me

That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,
Or even a pure
Soul.

Love has
Befriended Hafiz so completely
It has turned to ash
And freed
Me

Of every concept and image
my mind has ever known.

Hafiz

Only pure love can purify us completely of any sectarian thoughts.

The Truth is not a void -- it is filled with EVERYTHING : even personality. It can love and if we can love it back than we can enter in the dance of pure love.

To love Truth is real philosophy in action.

My work : website

2009-04-22T03:28:00.001-07:00

I am currently working on a website and blog that will show the latest developments of my meditations - stay tuned !!

My favorite teachers : Hafiz

2009-04-15T05:17:00.001-07:00

HAFIZ

See the wikipedia link

He was the most celebrated Persian lyric poet and is often described as a poet's poet.
His Divan is to be found at the home of most Iranians
who recite his poems by heart and use as proverb and saying to this
day. His life and poems have been the subject of so much analysis,
commentary, and interpretation and had influenced the course of
post-fourteenth century Persian lyrics more than anyone else has.

The major theme of his poetry is love.

I gave up my desires on the first day when
Beloved took my heart's rein and made me her slave.

------

I love how he transcends all traditions
and rise above any sectarian concept

I said, leave the idols,
choose the one that won't die;
You said, for lovers, love to all will apply

Hafiz, a Sufi poet, expressed in poetry love for the divine, and the
intoxicating oneness of union with it. Hafiz, along with many Sufi
masters, uses wine as the symbol for love.

The intoxication that results
from both is why it is such a fitting comparison.

Hafiz spoke out about
the hypocrisy and deceit that exists in society,
and was more outspoken
in pointing this out than many poets similar to him.

Rumi poetry : ascends to the skies

2009-04-15T03:36:00.001-07:00

"Body of dust from love ascends to the skies
The dancing mountain thus begins to rise"

Rumi

Only pure love can make us dance around the purest sun: the Shining One in our hearths

Love meeting ???

2009-04-15T02:34:00.001-07:00

Photo by Kjunstorms @ flickr

My favorite teachers : Rumi

2009-04-12T02:19:00.000-07:00

Rumi

See the wikipedia link

I get unlimited spiritual inspiration from te poetry of Rumi

Listen to the reed and the tale it tells,
How it sings of separation...

Known as the founder of the dervish dancers
Hie poetry makes our hearth dance like a dervish

He is non-sectarian and universal in his approach
and he never forgets the ultimate goal of life: pure love

Lover's nationality is separate from all other religions,
The lover's religion and nationality is the Beloved (God).

Technorati Tags: prema

Nice visit

2009-04-08T03:34:00.001-07:00

Today I got a nice buddhist monk that came to visit me.

I told him to come around if he finds a place to do his retreat as he told me the first time we met on a trail.

Well,just like m he has not found the perfect place to meditate but we had a peaceful chat.

We are from different traditions but we can exchange smiles and silences together.

I love his sober peacefulness.

Words of wisdom on the nature of Pure Love

2009-04-06T02:25:00.001-07:00

"I have estimated the influence of Reason upon Love and found that it is like that of a raindrop upon the ocean, which makes one little mark upon the water's face and disappears."

Hafiz

This is an estimate coming from someone who has spent a whole lifetime transcending all categories of religions, philosophies and mystical experiences...

Denying the freedom of the soul

2009-03-27T01:58:00.000-07:00

It is fashionable to believe that all paths lead to the same goal, but that is limiting the variety of the Ultimate destination.

That is denying the freedom of the soul to chose his own goal and it is assuming that the Absolute is not able to reciprocate with various love exchanges in endless ways.

.

Real Love

2009-03-18T01:05:00.000-07:00

Real Love
is lived
in the depths
of the spirit

It is not limited
to the surface
of existence

.

Ultimate Alchemical Transmutation

2009-03-11T00:15:00.000-07:00

My life
is changing
into
Your love

.

My favorite teachers : Hafiz

2009-03-10T03:46:00.000-07:00

HAFIZ

See the wikipedia link

He was the most celebrated Persian lyric poet and is often described as a poet's poet.
His Divan is to be found at the home of most Iranians
who recite his poems by heart and use as proverb and saying to this
day. His life and poems have been the subject of so much analysis,
commentary, and interpretation and had influenced the course of
post-fourteenth century Persian lyrics more than anyone else has.

The major theme of his poetry is love.
    I gave up my desires on the first day when
    Beloved took my heart's rein and made me her slave.
------

I love how he transcends all traditions
and rise above any sectarian concept

I said, leave the idols,
choose the one that won't die;
    You said, for lovers, love to all will apply

Hafiz, a Sufi poet, expressed in poetry love for the divine, and the
intoxicating oneness of union with it. Hafiz, along with many Sufi
masters, uses wine as the symbol for love.
The intoxication that results
from both is why it is such a fitting comparison.
Hafiz spoke out about
the hypocrisy and deceit that exists in society,
and was more outspoken
in pointing this out than many poets similar to him.

Transfiguration

2009-03-03T06:16:00.000-08:00

Unless you experience it for yourself, it is most difficult to describe the inner light that comes from a life of true contemplation and meditation.

It is a type of transfiguration that makes you feel lighter, more serene, detached and peaceful. It is most useful for the pilgrim on the path of truth and true love as well as essential for anyone who has to deal with many problems in daily life.

Here are some pictures I took in one of my meditation retreat which convey a little bit of this idea of a bright light transfiguring and pervading everything.

(comment: and it comes from somewhere – not emptiness)

.

Celebrating 30 years of joyful meditation

2009-02-24T15:04:00.000-08:00

More description of my experience with meditation

Experiencing the power of detachment

When we are slave of our thoughts and minds even little things can annoy and irritate us. The most effective solutionis to develop detachment and keep things in perspective. A powerfulbenefit of meditation is that it helps us to gain a broader perspectiveand detach ourselves from what is insignificant.

The Bhagavad-gita explains us in chapter 2 that real yoga means to be able to experienceequanimity under any circumstance. Meditation help us to reach that state and get a strong footing in the higher dimensions of yoga that gives us the real power of detachment.

Steps to pure Love

2009-02-20T00:15:00.000-08:00

(based on a Gopi-Gita meditation)

I miss you so much, it seems impossible to live without you.
It seems also impossible to give up my life because my life belongs to you and it lives in the hope of being with you.

In this hopeless hope, I can only hear and chant about you in a renewed intensity of feeling.

This increases my love for you. My life becomes filled with your love.

The only real life
Is a life filled with
Real love for you

.

A flowery festival of Love

2009-02-19T01:05:00.000-08:00

patram pushpam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayachati
tad aham bhakty-upahritam
ashnami prayatatmanah

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.”

Bhagavad-gita 9.26

Please check the nice texts and pictures related to this wonderful festival of flowers at the wonderfull website Bhakticollective.com

Here is an excerpt of the text :

“This wonderful festival is a festival of devotion. Please don’t see just with your eyes, see through your heart. Through the wisdom we receive from the Holy Scriptures and the great saints. It is a shower of our combined intent to please Krishna, to purify our own hearts and ultimately to be instruments of love in every aspect of our life.”
“The world is in turmoil, economically, ecologically, emotionally, psychiatrically. According to the World Health Organization depression, mental illness is the number three disease that causes pain and death. Why? Externally we have so much, but internally so little. The jewels of divine love within our hearts have been plundered by the thieves of greed, envy, anger, arrogance, selfish passion and illusion. Driven by those thieves, enemies within us, even the pure soul creates havoc within this world. There is a great need to understand what is really of value. Things like character, integrity, humility, self- control, a selfless spirit of compassion towards other living beings, which are all part and parcel of love for God. These are the greatest needs within this world.”

We may not have the budget to reproduce that at home but we can mentally shower the Lord of our heart with unlimited fragrant flower petals whenever we want (or have the ecstatic consciousness that will enable us to perform such amazing act of love).

.

Love with pure purpose

2009-02-18T01:05:00.000-08:00

Pure Love is Love
with pure purpose

.

More reasons to show love to others

2009-02-17T00:15:00.000-08:00

More research shows how helping others is good for you.

The Corporation for National and Community Service recently pulled together research in this field and was able to demonstrate that people who volunteer live longer than those that do not. For example, individuals who get involved in good works after suffering a heart attack report reductions in despair and depression. This in turn drives a reduction in post-traumatic illness and significantly reduces mortality. It's also true that those who volunteer have fewer incidents of heart disease in the first place. US Census Bureau data shows that states with greater percentages of volunteerism have lower rates of cardiac-related illness.

See the complete article from Harvard Business

Introducing Prema-yoga

2009-02-14T01:05:00.000-08:00

Prema-yoga is simply yoga developed to its full expression and real purpose.

Real yoga is not only meant for the well being of our mind and body but to link us to the Absolute.

The best link is Love

The Sanskrit word “prema” means pure love flowing from and for the ultimate source of everything.

It is distinct from kama, the egoistic, greedy, materialistic hankering for illusory satisfaction.

Prema is the source of all spiritual perfections while kama is the source of all sufferings and illusions.

Prema-yoga is a joyful process to enable you to taste divine love within the innermost chambers of your life.

.

About this blog

2009-02-14T00:15:00.000-08:00

This blog is written by Guy Tetreault (see my personal web page) and it focuses on the greatest need to obtain full satisfaction in our daily activities and the ultimate good of life: pure love.

To get a first glance of the importance of this Pure Love, please read this post.

To read more posts directly related to this subject, read the posts that are in the category Pure Love (Prema).

Of course, the subject is extremely vast and all the posts of this blog are meant to gradually bring a better understanding of the fascinating essence of life.

We are working hard to keep active with 1 or 2 posts minimum every week so it is worth subscribing to it by RSS feed or by email.

Why this blog focuses on the universal path of pure love

2009-02-11T02:00:00.000-08:00

Pure love (Prema) is the real goal and ultimate subject of all scriptures, all religions and spiritual practices.

But, because most souls have a deep aversion for the Absolute Truth, they do not want to cultivate pure love for Him, they rather want to opt for cultivating knowledge, performing austerities and sacrifices, practicing all types of yogas, pious activities, acts of charity or mystical and esoteric processes.

For most people, it will take many lifetimes of those practices to reach the yoga of love and devotion which is described as the highest yoga in the most authoritative book on yoga: The Bhagavad-Gita (6.47)

Most often, the soul will get lost in matter and will imagine that the goals of life are either immediate material satisfaction or liberation from this world, but those goals are only egoistic and cannot satisfy the soul, nor those living around him.

Only pure love for the Absolute can bring full unity with everything, full satisfaction to the heart as well as freedom from dualities, illusions and all types of suffering.

That’s why this blog focuses on the universal path of pure love in a non-sectarian, non-denominational and non-material way.

New dates for the seminar on vedic psychology with Dr Satyanarayana das

2009-02-11T00:15:00.000-08:00

The 2 day seminar on Vedic psychology will start on Feb 28th instead of March 1st.

----------------------

Details for the seminar

Food and lodging are available at the place of teaching in Faridabad.

No fixed price: donation basis

Registration must be made in advance with Guy Tetreault at guytetreault@gmail.com

For more details visit the website Vedicsychology.net

GT

.

You lose yourself

2009-02-08T02:20:00.001-08:00

You lose
What you don’t use

And when you don’t use
Your love properly
You lose yourself

.

Pour un védanta complet

2009-02-06T01:58:00.000-08:00

Question d'un lecteur :

J'aimerai savoir s'il éxiste quelques part une version en Français des Brahma Sutra de Shankara, car j'aimerai beacoup "étudié" ce texte et jusqu'ici toute mes recherches sont resté infructueuse....

Réponse :

Merci de ton bel intérêt pour le Védanta.

Lire Shankaracarya ne t’aidera pas beaucoup. Il a été de loin dépassé et rectifié par de nombreux autres grands acaryas ces derniers 1200 ans.

Je te conseille plutôt de te procurer mon fascicule « Exploration du Védanta » pour voir tous les merveilleux détails des nombreuses branches du Védanta.

Sincèrement,

Guy Tétreault

Voici une brêve description de ce livre DISPONIBLE IMMEDIATEMENT
EN FORMAT PDF

========================

Agrandir

Le
seul aspect du Védanta assez connu en occident est celui du monisme
radical de l’Advaita-védanta avec sa conception impersonnelle de la
non-dualité.

Il existe de très nombreux
autres aspects à la non-dualité ainsi que cinq autres grandes écoles de
Védanta qui se sont développées en Inde depuis plus d’un millénaire et
ces textes sur le Védanta vous en donne un aperçu.

Toutes
les notions ici explorées ont nécessité plus de 20 ans d’études pour
êtres assimilées. Ne vous découragez donc pas si vous n’arrivez pas à
tout assimiler en quelques minutes.

Ces
études ont été faites auprès de grands maîtres tellement plongés dans
l’étude et l’enseignement de cette discipline exigeante qu’ils se sont
tenus très loin de tout show-business spirituel tel qu’on peut le voir
présentement sur toute la surface du globe.

Ils
sont vraisemblablement les derniers représentants d’une tradition qui
exige toute une vie de pureté et d’érudition pour être cultivée avec
succès.

Donnez une grande attention à ce rare enseignement!

Ce livre est un fichier PDF de 241 pages que vous pouvez lire sur
votre écran ou imprimer. Il vous faudra le lecteur de fichier PDF,
Adobe Acrobat (5.0 ou plus), si vous ne l'avez pas.

A prayer to the supreme Goddess of Love.

2009-02-05T06:29:00.000-08:00

A prayer to the supreme Goddess of Love.

Your lotus feet are the topmost summum bonnum of all existence and the very life treasure of Govinda.
May the cooling waves of honey, dripping from the pollen dust of those feet, soak my heart with a Rassa that will attract fortunate souls to your merciful service.

Ready to pay the real price ???

2009-02-02T02:10:00.001-08:00

Many claim they want truth and freedom from illusion but who is ready to pay the real price to obtain it?

Putting an absolute limitation

2009-02-01T00:44:00.000-08:00

If you limit the Absolute, you limit yourself absolutely.

Most modern crusaders of non-dual consciousness limit the Absolute’s highest manifestation to an impersonal void devoid of all attributes, qualities, personality… they therefore totally miss the most essential feature of a genuine yoga: prema, which is pure exchange of love.

This is putting an absolute limitation to the amount of bliss they can experience.

The source of everything

2009-01-31T22:16:00.001-08:00
The source of everything is existing without even the possibility of not
existing
If we imagine it to be less than what we are,
we make a big mistake
If we imagine it to be devoid of love
-- we cut ourselves from the greatest source of real love

Celebrating 30 years of joyful meditation

2009-01-24T15:04:00.000-08:00

More description of my experience with meditation

Happiness and Peace of Mind

Meditation offers peace ofmind and takes us to the source of happiness. The great classic of meditation: the Bhagavad-gita (2.66) explains that without control of the mind peace is not possible and without peace happiness is not possible.

If our minds are all overthe place, then we are constantly being attracted to unlimited patterns ofthinking. If we can meditate with a clear mind, we will discover a deepand peaceful happiness.

Celebrating 30 years of joyful meditation

2009-01-04T15:04:00.000-08:00

More description of my experience with meditation

Control of our thoughts

Most people are victims oftheir own thoughts, and have no means to control what goes on in theirminds. Regular meditation leads to the ability to control our thoughts.

But in the love meditation of bhakti-yoga we can go even beyond that. In love the thoughts flow naturally to the loved one just like a river going to the ocean. This yoga of live is to properly direct the love at the absolute truth -- source of everything.

In 2009 I will be celebrating 30 years of meditation

2008-12-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

There are a number of known health benefits coming with the practice of meditation, such as lower blood pressure, better blood circulation, a resting heart rate that is lower, and easier breathing. On top of that, many people say they have more energy than they have had in years when they meditate regularly, as well as a more youthful appearance.

There has also been many studies to analyse these benefits scientifically. Here is a small sample (see the link to the original description):

The study, done in China, randomly assigned college undergraduatestudents to 40-person experimental and control groups. The experimentalgroup received five days of meditation training. The control group gotfive days of relaxation training. Both groups took tests that assessedtheir attention and reaction to mental stress before and after theirtraining.

The experimental group showed greater improvement thanthe control to dealing with stress. Stress was induced by mentalarithmetic. Both groups initially showed elevated release of the stresshormone cortisol following the math task, but after training, theexperimental group showed less cortisol release, indicating a greaterability to cope with stress. The experimental group also showed lowerlevels of anxiety, depression, anger and fatigue than the control group.

And the study was only for five days. Imagine people who have been meditating for many years.

Experiment it for yourself !

Invitation to a wonderful intensive 2 days seminar

2008-12-11T16:50:00.001-08:00

Click on the poster to get more details
and visit the website.

More details coming soon.

If you need more info and want to register please email me

.

A new site I created is up and running

2008-12-11T16:40:00.001-08:00

Lots of information on this subject is coming soon

Click on the image to reach the website

.

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The most incomprehensible THING

2008-12-08T10:49:00.001-08:00

The most incomprehensible thing about the world
is that it is comprehensible.

Albert Einstein

From the perspective of vedanta we will rather say : The most incomprehensible THING about US is that WE THINK THE WORLD IS is comprehensible WITH OUR TINY MIND AND IMPERFECT SENSES.

Our mind and senses can give us very valuable and important knowledge about the world, but we have only access to a small proportion of its understanding. However great is our science, there is never a need to be proud that we understood everything.

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The spiral downward

2008-12-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

It is much easier to lower our consciousness than to elevate it.

See the link to video I did on the subject

At the montreal book fair

2008-12-02T08:55:00.001-08:00

Last week, we spent 3 days at the big Montreal book fair to present our 2 French books published in September – one on Vedic astrology L’astrologie védique. Destin et libre arbitre and another one on Vedic wisdom Contes de l’Inde ancienne. Sagesse pratique, which is contains a foreword by Dr Satyanarayana Das – his name is thus on the front cover of the book.

Those books are extremely well done in a very beautiful French language corrected by an editor with 30 years of experience with such Vedic texts and his wife who also has 30 years of experience in editing and publishing books.

As you can see from the picture, the Montreal book fair is a very bigevent attracting thousands and thousands of visitors (more than 120000).

Yoga, Karma and Reincarnation

2008-11-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

See a small video were I explain the very importatn basis of Yoga, Karma and Reincarnation

These subject are much more important and very different than what most people believe.

Newspaper article that was in the local newspaper on my book

2008-11-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Paru dans La Voix de l'Est, Granby, samedi 15 octobre 2008

In 2009 I will be celebrating 30 years of meditation

2008-11-17T15:40:00.001-08:00

There are a number of known health benefits coming with the practice of meditation, such as lower blood pressure, better blood circulation, a resting heart rate that is lower, and easier breathing. On top of that, many people say they have more energy than they have had in years when they meditate regularly, as well as a more youthful appearance.

There has also been many studies to analyse these benefits scientifically. Here is a small sample (see the link to the original description):

The study, done in China, randomly assigned college undergraduate
students to 40-person experimental and control groups. The experimental
group received five days of meditation training. The control group got
five days of relaxation training. Both groups took tests that assessed
their attention and reaction to mental stress before and after their
training.

The experimental group showed greater improvement than
the control to dealing with stress. Stress was induced by mental
arithmetic. Both groups initially showed elevated release of the stress
hormone cortisol following the math task, but after training, the
experimental group showed less cortisol release, indicating a greater
ability to cope with stress. The experimental group also showed lower
levels of anxiety, depression, anger and fatigue than the control group.

And the study was only for five days. Imagine people who have been meditating for many years.

Experiment it for yourself !

Myth buster

2008-11-17T13:47:00.000-08:00

Many so-called followers of yoga and vedanta believe firmly that we are totally and eternally made of pure bliss : BUT TO SEEK HAPPINESS IS EVIDENCE OF THE LACK OF HAPPINESS

If we were eternally made of bliss we would never ever lack bliss

For some real ecology

2008-11-15T17:25:00.000-08:00

The Only Diet for a Peacemaker Is a Vegetarian Diet

It is nice to hear a Catholic defending vegetarianism.

See the link

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New blog for SanteGlobale.com

2008-11-11T03:44:00.001-08:00
See the update on my wordpress blog
for SanteGlobale.com at http://santeglobale.com/wp/

I follow this blog

2008-11-11T02:26:00.001-08:00

Today I joined an important blog written by Steven Rudolph : http://stevenrudolph.blogspot.com/.

He is one of the great pillars of jiva.com (see The Jiva Home Page), and a very good expert at presenting the essence of traditionnal vedic knowledge of india in a modern way.

Here is a part of his blog that I think describes his work nicely:

Here is an area where I think India will serve the US well (far betterthan as a destination for outsourcing)--helping to improve the qualityof life by sharing a wealth of knowledge on the science of life,related to yoga, pranayam (breathing techniques), Ayurveda, meditation,etc. Such knowledge will help people find ways of balancing themselvesphysically, helping them get in tune with their bodies and to reducestress and anxiety. It will help them stay healthy with inexpensive,natural healthcare, including herbal remedies and massage therapies.And spiritually, people will learn to find greater joy with what theyalready have in their lives rather than by acquiring more and morematerial goods.

Making this type of knowledge available in acurrent context with modern technology is Jiva's mission. We've beenworking for the past 14 years to create an array of tools, courses, andresources in the area of life-wellness based on Vedic wisdom. It seemsthat things are suddenly coming together--a tipping point of sorts,where our work may soon be of value to a much wider audience.

We'reexcited about the opportunity to share these assets and to be an activepart of the balancing process. Get ready for some informative articlesand videos in the coming days and weeks from Dr. Satya Narayna Dasa,Dr. Partap Chauhan, and our team members. In the meantime, let'sremember:

E Pluribus Unum / Anekta Mein Ekta
(Out of Many One / Diversity in Unity)

Steve

Steven Rudolph
Faridabad, HY, India
Educator, Musician, Non-Resident American (NRA), Indophile, MI: Musical, Intrapersonal, MN: Educative, Creative : http://stevenrudolph.blogspot.com/.

GuyTetreault.com

2008-11-10T14:00:00.000-08:00
My personnal web page GuyTetreault.com as been updated for the english section at http://guytetreault.com/gteng/

More on the subject of my french book

2008-11-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

Myfrench book just published last week is a translation and anexplanation of a book done by my indian philosophy teacher :Satyanarayana das.

The title : Conte de l'Inde ancienne

For those who do not read french I will copy here parts of his articles on this subject.
I copy thm here in case you cannot see it on his web site : http://www.jiva.com/
(the original article was at this location: you can also see other articles there)

------

Best of Hitopadesha—Part - III
Good Company and Bad Company
by Dr Satya Narayana Dasa

The Backdrop
About 1,500 years ago the King of Iran got hold of a book that contained the secret of how to raise the dead by means of rasayana, an elixir of life. The book explained the procedure to extract the elixir from herbs and trees growing on the high mountains of India. Eager to sample this elixir, the King sent his chief minister on a quest for the prescribed herbs and trees.

In India, the minister was well-received and aided by the sages. He scoured the mountains for the herbs and trees to make the elixir. No mixture he made, however, could bring the dead back to life. Finally, the disappointed minister concluded that the information was false.

Greatly distressed about returning empty-handed and disappointing his king, the minister asked his hosts what to do. They led him to a famous philosopher, who once searched in vain for the same elixir, and in the end discovered that the elixir was actually a book.

The philosopher explained that the story about the elixir was allegorical. The high mountains in the story represented the wise and learned men of lofty intellect; the trees and herbs, which are the products of the mountains, indicated the various writings of those sages; the elixir itself denoted the wisdom extracted from the sages’ writings, which revived the dead intelligence and buried thoughts of ignorant materialistic men.

Relieved and elated, the minister begged a copy of the book from the philosopher, translated it, and returned to his king. That book we know today is a variant of the book of Hitopadesha.

The origins of this book are a little less known. Study of old hand-written manuscripts, however, reveals that Narayana Pandit, who lived in the fourteenth century Bengal province of India, wrote the book on the request of King Dhavalchandra. Traditionally, it was taught to the initiated students in gurukula (ancient Hindu residential school in India).

Hitopadesha, or “Good Instructions”, is famous for its wisdom and is one of the most popular books on ethics and polity. It uses the story-within-a-story format, with animals as the main characters. It is popular with children because of the fables, in which characters of animals are used to personify certain traits found in humans. I am happy to have been able to translate this book from its original Sanskrit couplets. This will surely expand the reach of Hitopadesha and help children and grown-ups alike by being a tool while taking decisions. It will also inspire them to overcome their daily problems.

Below is an extract taken from the first chapter of Hitopadesha. I have selected the forty-first couplet from this chapter. This is the third write-up of a series of total three articles that have been published in series.

“One’s intelligence is degraded by associating with uneducated people, remains the same by associating with equals, and is improved by associating with superiors.”

An Elucidation
Before I delve into the essence of the above statement let me throw some light on education. In the above statement ‘uneducated people’ do not necessarily mean people with low formal education. The meaning of the term ‘education’ has been used in its broader perspective. By ‘educated’ we mean people who are characterised by rich experience, unsurpassed learning and sublime culture. They are those people who live for fulfilling the five goals of life as discussed in my previous article (“The Four Goals of Life”, The Jiva Newsletter, Vol. 1, Issue 5, Sep. 2008). So, ‘uneducated people’ are those who do not exhibit any or all of the above qualities.

Mirror as a Metaphor for Man
A person’s mind reflects influence of people around it just like a mirror does nearby objects. A mirror, however, does not acquire the qualities of the objects it reflects; whereas the mind is influenced by the characteristics of persons with whom we associate. It is said, therefore, that a man is known by the company he keeps.

There is no denying the fact that man is indeed influenced by his company—be he a saint, a sinner, an ascetic or a thief. A man is like a cloth which
absorbs the dye it is soaked in.

In the epic Ramayana, Dvivida was a devotee of Lord Rama who fought against demon king Ravana’s army, yet later himself developed demoniac qualities due to the association of another demon Narakasura. As a result, in the other epic Mahabharata, Dvivida was killed by Lord Balarama for his abominable behaviour. In contrast, Narada was the son of a maidservant who became a great sage by holy association.

The mirror as a metaphor for the mind indicates that the effect of association is instantaneous, but people generally find it difficult to believe the almost instantaneous effect of association on the mind of another. Contemporary students of human nature are aware, however, that there is no exaggeration at all. For example, after studying human nature for more than fifty years, humanistic philosopher Erich Fromm made this observation about bad company:

“Bad company, on the other hand, is not only the company of merely trivial people but of evil, sadistic, destructive life-hostile people. But why, one might ask, is there danger in the company of bad people, unless they try to harm one in one form or another?

In order to answer this question it is necessary to recognise a law in human relations: There is no contact between human beings that does not affect both of them. No meeting between two people, no conversation between them, except perhaps the most casual one, leaves either one of them unchanged—even though the change may be too minimal to be recognisable except by its cumulative effect when such meetings are frequent.”

The Exception
The book Hitopadesha itself is a collection good instructions given by the learned man Narayana Pandit to the dull sons of King Dhavalchandra to turn them worthy of ruling the empire when they grew up. The king exhibited wisdom, therefore, in arranging Narayana Pandit for his dullards to have good association. One may argue that the boys’ association would negatively affect the learned brahmana (person with highest intelligence). While it is generally true that association influences both parties, there is no mutual exchange of influence in the case of one who is not weak-willed, but mentally strong and fixed in his own values. Otherwise ascetic saints would never grant their association to materialistic people. It is to be understood, therefore, that the learned brahmana would uplift the ignorant princes, while their company will have no ill effect on him.

Largest crystals discoverd on Earth

2008-11-04T10:22:00.000-08:00

This picture looks too wonderful to be true but it is coming from National Geographic, so...
The beauty, harmony and symmetry of crystals is most pleasing to those who do a lot of meditation. I post this pictire in remembrance of a friend who is most expert in cristal meditation.

Massive beams of selenite dwarf human explorers in Mexico's Cave of Crystals
deep below the Chihuahuan Desert. Formed over millennia, these crystals
are the largest yet discoverd on Earth
Picture: Carsten Peter ©2008 National Geographic/Speleoresearch & Films

A wonderful meeting with a man of deep wisdom

2008-11-04T10:01:00.001-08:00

Last week I attended a very interesting meeting at the department oftheology at the University of Montreal to launch the latest issue ofthe Journal Scriptura.

Amongst all the very interesting people I had the chance to meet there I was particularly blessed to meet quite a wonderful man of God and Truth: Dr. Beck, director of the Pappas Patristic Institute .

I had the privilege to engage in a personaldiscussion with him for almost 2 hours where we could explore with greatrelish several topics: the cult of children since last century in theWestern world, relations between the founders of Protestantism and the patriarchof Greek Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton and the universalism of the deepmystical and spiritual experience ... We could also make some interesting parallels between hisconversion from Protestantism to Greek Orthodoxy (and its beautifulByzantine liturgy) and my transition to vedantistVaishnava tradition of India from my french canadian upbringing.

The focus of our discussion was the overwhelming beauty, joy andimmeasurable wealth of wisdom now available for those who drink at the roots of the great traditions.

It was extremely pleasantconversation with someone able to be deeply open to all traditions while beingso rooted in his own. I believe that his work and presentation platform forthe Study of patristic is of the utmost importance to give deep wisdomto our modern world.

Please check out their nice website to see their many interesting programs : Pappas Patristic Institute .

India sagacious love

2008-11-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

This picture shows one of the main reasons I love india

These noble trees seem to be shelter places for enlightment...
and they look like peaceful old friends filled with wisdom.

.

New web site I created

2008-11-02T19:41:00.000-08:00

See the new website I created for my partner AndreeLeclerc.com showing all her resources in one place.

Her various web sites, her blogs and all important links

An important web site is born

2008-11-01T20:01:00.001-07:00

www.whatsmynature.com

Check out this web site created by someone who is really dedicated to his subject. Over the last 14 years, I saw Steve working hard to build various educational tools. This one is most useful to find out one of the most important things at the center of our lives.

Here is Steve’s description of his project:

Greetings!

Over the past 14 years, I've become increasingly concerned about the way children are routinely forced into academic streams and careers that are at odds with their natures. Parents often guide their kids into professions they think are prestigious or lucrative without regard to whether the children are suited for that type of work. This nature-profession mismatch is a major cause of job dissatisfaction, which directly results in stress, depression, overeating, substance abuse, relationship problems, and so on.

To address this issue, I have created a new website called What's My Nature? (www.whatsmynature.com). It contains a 7-minute test that determines an individual's nature, and then suggests compatible careers.

Here's how it works:

The site first identifies your dominant Multiple Natures (Protective, Educative, Administrative, Creative, Healing, Entertaining, Providing, Entrepreneurial, and Adventurous).

It then determines your dominant Multiple Intelligences (Bodily, Interpersonal, Logical, Linguistic, Visual, Musical, Intrapersonal, and Naturalistic).

Lastly, the site searches through our database of 500+ jobs, and identifies jobs that match your profile.

Just to give you an idea, the site identified my own profile as:

MN: Educative, Creative
MI: Musical, Intrapersonal

That's spot on. It then went on to identify 14 professions for me. And first on the list was Educational Curriculum Designer. How's that for accurate?!

Please check the site out and let me know what you think. After you take the test, be sure to save the results—and send them to me. I'd love to know what your profile is, and how accurate the job recommendation was. And please do pass it on to others—especially to youngsters who are figuring out their life paths.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Take care and enjoy!

Steve
Steven Rudolph | Director, Jiva | asksteve@jiva.com
Tel: 0129-408-8152 | www.jiva.com
Sector 21B, Faridabad, 121001 India

Do you know your nature? Find out in 7 minutes at www.whatsmynature.com!

A color version of my french blog in New SpringWidget

2008-10-31T22:49:00.001-07:00

Get this widget!

Put it anywhere you want
Just press the option menu and share it
anyway you want

.

Next monday

2008-10-31T22:42:00.000-07:00
I will be giving a few classes on the relationship between indian and tibetan art and the philosphy and spiritual dimension that it carries -- to students in a montreal public school

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See my french blog in a New SpringWidget

2008-10-31T21:44:00.001-07:00

Get this widget!

Put it anywhere you want
Just press the option menu and share it
anyway you want

More on the subject of my book

2008-10-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

Myfrench book just published last week is a translation and anexplanation of a book done by my indian philosophy teacher :Satyanarayana das.

The title : Conte de l'Inde ancienne

For those who do not read french I will copy here parts of his articles on this subject.
I copy thm here in case you cannot see it on his web site : http://www.jiva.com/
(the original article was at this location: you can also see other articles there)

------

Best of Hitopadesha—Part - II
The Four Goals of Life
by Dr Satya Narayana Dasa
The Backdrop
About 1,500 years ago the King of Iran got hold of a book that contained the secret of how to raise the dead by means of rasayana, an elixir of life. The book explained the procedure to extract the elixir from herbs and trees growing on the high mountains of India. Eager to sample this elixir, the King sent his chief minister on a quest for the prescribed herbs and trees.

In India, the minister was well-received and aided by the sages. He scoured the mountains for the herbs and trees to make the elixir. No mixture he made, however, could bring the dead back to life. Finally, the disappointed minister concluded that the information was false.

Greatly distressed about returning empty-handed and disappointing his king, the minister asked his hosts what to do. They led him to a famous philosopher, who once searched in vain for the same elixir, and in the end discovered that the elixir was actually a book.

The philosopher explained that the story about the elixir was allegorical. The high mountains in the story represented the wise and learned men of lofty intellect; the trees and herbs, which are the products of the mountains, indicated the various writings of those sages; the elixir itself denoted the wisdom extracted from the sages’ writings, which revived the dead intelligence and buried thoughts of ignorant materialistic men.

Relieved and elated, the minister begged a copy of the book from the philosopher, translated it, and returned to his king. That book we know today is a variant of the book of Hitopadesha.

The origins of this book are a little less known. Study of old hand-written manuscripts, however, reveals that Narayana Pandit, who lived in the fourteenth century Bengal province of India, wrote the book on the request of King Dhavalchandra. Traditionally, it was taught to the initiated students in gurukula (ancient Hindu residential school in India).

Hitopadesha, or “Good Instructions”, is famous for its wisdom and is one of the most popular books on ethics and polity. It uses the story-within-a-story format, with animals as the main characters. It is popular with children because of the fables, in which characters of animals are used to personify certain traits found in humans. I am happy to have been able to translate this book from its original Sanskrit couplets. This will surely expand the reach of Hitopadesha and help children and grown-ups alike by being a tool while taking decisions. It will also inspire them to overcome their daily problems.

Below is an extract taken from the first chapter of Hitopadesha. I have selected the twenty-sixth couplet from this chapter. This is the second write-up of a series of total three articles that will be published in future.

“If one does not attain any of the goals of religion, economic development, regulated sense-gratification, and liberation, one’s life is useless, like the milk-less nipples hanging from a goat’s neck.”

The Four Goals of Life
According to ancient Indian scriptures such as the Vedas, the purpose of human life is to strive for the following four goals—pursuing one’s religion, attaining economic development, accomplishing regulated sense-gratification, and attaining liberation. Accordingly, the Supreme Lord offers human beings four types of pathways in the form of shastras (scriptures) to guide us towards the fulfilment of these goals.

The first among these is Dharma Shastra (theology and liturgy) that explains and lays down a person’s religious duties according to his or her age and nature of work. Second comes Artha Shastra (economics) that elucidates on the use of ethics by people while acquiring wealth by fair means. It also advises rulers on better public administration and offers instructions on proper conduct. The third guiding light is Kama Shastra (treatise on sex) that describes the process of gratifying one’s sexual desires without transgressing religious principles. Moksha Shastra is the fourth Dharma Shastra that describes how to attain liberation from the cycle of death and re-birth.

According to the Vedas, man’s average lifespan can be divided into four equal Ashramas (segments)—Brahmacharya (celibacy), Grihastha (family life), Vanaprastha (hermitage and mendicancy), and Sannyasa (renunciation). The first segment (Brahmacharya) constitutes the student life during which one learns the importance of all the four goals in life. During the course of Brahmacharya, students are expected to live a celibate life inside a gurukula under the tutelage of a guru (master). Throughout the rest of the Ashramas, one should practise religion, earn money and indulge in activities that gratify one’s senses in such a way that the three neither become come in the way of nor become independent of each another.

The Goal that Demands Self-Restraint
Here, I would like to throw light on the Kama Shashtra which is often mistaken for a means to encourage promiscuity. A case in point is Kama Sutra, a treatise on sex authored by Vatsyayana. Vatsyayana does not prescribe unrestricted sensual pleasure, nor is he opposed to it. A person who indulges excessively in the enjoyment of the senses cannot expect a happy and a long life. He therefore prescribes self-restraint and celibacy during the student life so as to channel one’s energy solely into acquiring knowledge. He also explains the importance of dharma, artha, and kama and concludes that artha is superior to kama, and that dharma is superior to artha.

Amazingly enough, Vatsyayana himself was a lifelong Brahmachari (celibate) and he wrote the book to encourage self-control, not sexual pleasure. He declares this in the concluding verses: “This Kama Sutra has been compiled by me, while observing celibacy and trance to teach proper human conduct, not attachment to sex. One who knows the essence of Kama Sutra and who protects dharma, artha, and kama by his dealings in society, will certainly become jitendriya—a master of his senses.”

The Ultimate Goal
Observing the above discussion, Narayana Pandit says in Hitopadesha that an intelligent human being must pursue one or more of these four goals according to his or her respective shastra. Otherwise, his or her life will be compared to the useless udder-like appendages hanging from a goat’s neck from where kids cannot expect milk. The pursuit of artha and kama while ignoring the scriptures will not lead one to the ultimate goal of life because although the living entities are naturally attracted to sensual gratification, the real goal is to become free from it.

Hence, the ultimate purpose of the sanctioned sense-pleasure is Nivritti (renunciation). When artha and kama are pursued according to the shastras, they can be counted as the Supreme Goals as they ultimately lead to the detachment of the body from its by-products. This is in addition to the fact that ultimately there is only one Supreme Goal—the attainment of moksha. The other three goals enable one to realise the fourth by dovetailing one’s natural human propensities.

The Fifth Goal
Here, I think it is worthwhile to mention Shri Chaitanya, a devotee of Lord Shri Krishna. He, however, is of the opinion that beyond these four goals there is a fifth one too, which is the highest goal of human life—prema (love of God). Prema brings peace in this life and the next, while the other goals simply lead to temporal happiness because in the next life we must start all over again.

Today, everyone is searching for the perfect person to love and be loved by, but, by forgetting the Almighty, the source of love, we have created so many false objects of affection. Without a loving relationship with someone as perfect and worthy as God Himself, we cannot be one with Him and be happy. This propensity to love is gained by chanting the Lord’s names without offence under the guidance of a bonafide guru.

From myth to mystical reality

2008-10-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

"Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life."
Joseph Campbell

... but the discipline of higher yogas, like bhakti-yoga,
is meant to free us all of all illusions
to connect with pure love to the ultimate source

You can now follow me on twitter

2008-10-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

Follow me on twitter

Here is my twitter ID : http://twitter.com/guytetreault

For the uninitiated, Twitter is like a blog or message board with
really short messages (less than 140 characters in length). It's used
to update others about what you are doing, what you are thinking,
things you think others should check out, etc.

To get more knowledge on how to use twitter see this link

.

My french book

2008-10-21T13:23:00.001-07:00

My french book just published last week is a translation and an explanation of a book done by my indian philosophy teacher : Satyanarayana das.

For those who do not read french I will copy here parts of his articles on this subject.
I copy thm here in case you cannot see it on his web site : http://www.jiva.com/
(the original article was at this location: you can also see other articles there)

My french book launch of last week

2008-10-21T13:14:00.001-07:00

My french book just published last week is a translation and an explanation of a book done by my indian philosophy teacher : Satyanarayana das.

The title of my book : Conte de l'Inde ancienne

For those who do not read french I will copy here parts of his articles on this subject.
I copy thm here in case you cannot see it on his web site : http://www.jiva.com/
(the original article was at this location: you can also see other articles there)

------
Best of Hitopadesha—Part - I
Knowledge—the Highest Form of Wealth
by Dr Satya Narayana Dasa
The Backdrop
About 1,500 years ago the King of Iran got hold of a book that contained the secret of how to raise the dead by means of rasayana, an elixir of life. The book explained the procedure to extract the elixir from herbs and trees growing on the high mountains of India. Eager to sample this elixir, the King sent his chief minister on a quest for the prescribed herbs and trees.

In India, the minister was well-received and aided by the sages. He scoured the mountains for the herbs and trees to make the elixir. No mixture he made, however, could bring the dead back to life. Finally, the disappointed minister concluded that the information was false.

Greatly distressed about returning empty-handed and disappointing his king, the minister asked his hosts what to do. They led him to a famous philosopher, who once searched in vain for the same elixir, and in the end discovered that the elixir was actually a book.

The philosopher explained that the story about the elixir was allegorical. The high mountains in the story represented the wise and learned men of lofty intellect; the trees and herbs, which are the products of the mountains, indicated the various writings of those sages; the elixir itself denoted the wisdom extracted from the sages’ writings, which revived the dead intelligence and buried thoughts of ignorant materialistic men.

Relieved and elated, the minister begged a copy of the book from the philosopher, translated it, and returned to his king. That book we know today is a variant of the book of Hitopadesha.

The origins of this book are a little less known. Study of old hand-written manuscripts, however, reveals that Narayana Pandit, who lived in the fourteenth century Bengal province of India, wrote the book on the request of King Dhavalchandra. Traditionally, it was taught to the initiated students in gurukula (ancient Hindu residential school in India).

Hitopadesha, or “Good Instructions”, is famous for its wisdom and is one of the most popular books on ethics and polity. It uses the story-within-a-story format, with animals as the main characters. It is popular with children because of the fables, in which characters of animals are used to personify certain traits found in humans. I am happy to have been able to translate this book from its original Sanskrit couplets. This will surely expand the
reach of Hitopadesha and help children and grown-ups alike
by being a tool while taking decisions. It will also inspire them
to overcome their daily problems.

Below is an extract taken from the first chapter of Hitopadesha. I have selected the fourth couplet from this chapter. This is the first write-up of a series of total three articles that will be published in future.

“The best wealth is knowledge—it cannot be stolen, it is priceless and imperishable.”

The original couplet puts forward the three reasons why vidya (knowledge) is the best wealth.

Aharyatvat—Knowledge cannot be stolen
A rich man is always anxious that his wealth may be plundered or embezzled, lost in speculative business or gambling, or that he or his relatives may be held for ransom. Today’s rich man can easily become tomorrow’s pauper. As depicted in the epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira lost his entire kingdom in a day and Dhritarashtra lost all his sons in eighteen days along with the kingdom they had acquired by intrigue against their cousins, the Pandavas. Here, material wealth and happiness is compared with the instability of a drop of water on a lotus leaf. The short story that follows illustrates the precarious nature of riches.

Once, two brothers left their village to seek their fortune. One brother entered a gurukula and studied. The other became an apprentice to a rich merchant. After some years they decided to visit their parents and offer whatever they had earned. On the way, dacoits attacked and seized all the wealth of the brother who was the merchant’s apprentice. The other brother, who was only carrying wealth in the form of knowledge from books in his mind, was left untouched.

Knowledge cannot be snatched or taken away. It is permanent, never burdensome to carry, and causes no anxiety. Instead, it alleviates one’s anxiety. Therefore, knowledge is the most stable form of wealth. Furthermore, spiritual knowledge is never lost, even after the demise of the body. It is a permanent asset.

Anarghatvat—Education is priceless
Although worldly affluence is limited, vidya is unlimited, for no one can estimate the extent or value of one’s knowledge. With knowledge, one can earn any amount of wealth. Consultants in different fields earn millions, while their knowledge remains intact; in fact it increases with time and experience. Knowledge is also priceless in the sense that it cannot be purchased like other commodities; it has to be earned by individual effort.

Aksayatvat—Education is imperishable
Worldly riches diminish when distributed. As a result, most people are not enthusiastic about indulging in charity. Vidya, however, increases when shared with others.

This is especially true with spiritual knowledge. A man enriched with transcendental knowledge can distribute his wealth unlimitedly, yet his wealth of realisation will only increase. This can be practically tested when one tries to explain the philosophy of Vedic literature, which presents the path of pure devotional service to Lord Krishna as the true culmination of all knowledge. The more one talks about the Vedic teachings, the more one’s store of transcendental knowledge increases. This experience is available to anyone who does not adulterate the true spirit and intent of the Lord’s instruction to Arjuna.

Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “In this endeavour there is no loss or diminution.” When one dies, his worldly wealth is left behind, but spiritual knowledge is never lost. It is carried with his subtle body to his next life. In this way, spiritual knowledge is superior to worldly opulence.

In this connection, there is a story about a proud king who was attached to worldly opulence. A saintly person once called on him, and noticing the king’s strong attachment to mercenary objects, suddenly became very serious. “Why have you become so grave?” asked the King.

“I can foresee,” replied the saint, “that very soon you will die; but don’t worry. Your pious deeds will elevate you to the heavenly sphere. However, there is one problem! Your heavenly palace will be infested with mosquitoes, and though you will have a nice mosquito net, it will have a hole through which the mosquitoes will enter and bite you.”

Though the king liked the saint’s message, the bit about the mosquitoes disturbed him. For, he hated them. However, he
assured the saint that he would simply have the net mended.

The saint replied, “That’s alright, except for the fact that in heaven there are no needles. So when you die, be sure to take a needle with you.”

“But how can I take a needle with me?”

“I have no idea,” said the saint, “but if you cannot even take a needle with you, then why are you so proud of your earthly opulence?”

Hearing this, the king realised the futility of his attachment and forsook his false pride.

Therefore, knowledge is the highest form of wealth.

Endnote
To sum up, here, I quote Shri Shukracharya, who says, “Vidya is superior to material wealth as it is the cause of earning all other wealth; it always increases when given in charity; it is never burdensome to carry; and no one can ever forcibly take it away.”

.

How to keep a Photography Journal

2008-10-21T13:10:00.001-07:00

I love to take pictures in an artistic way.
I would like to share with you some tips that I found on the web
on how to improve our photography skills

Keep a Photography Journal

Sometimes when Lisa and I are out, I would get this great idea for a photograph that I would like to try out but more often than not, I'd forget it before we even get home. Fed up, I decided to start a photography journal.

Lisa wanted to join me and got a Moleskine for it since she prefers writing on those. I got a local one that's similarly made but bound in real leather. The construction is not as sturdy but it's cheaper so it works for me. But enough about notebooks and back to the topic at hand.

It's only been a few days but I've written a quite a few things in it already. Here are some of things I've written in mine:

1. Ways to Improve

I selected some of my shots that I think could be improved in some way. I then shrunk them down in Photoshop so I could cram as many photos as I can in a 4R print. I'd print them out and cut them up, and then stick them on the notebook. (Lisa likes to say I'm scrapbooking, so I hum the theme to The Godfather while doing this to feel more manly.) Beside the images, I write down what could have made the photo better.

see the full article

Waves of loves

2008-10-19T10:36:00.001-07:00

@19, originally uploaded by RTaunton2008.

Does love ripples in our hearth in waves or in blossoms ????

See 24 videos of me speaking on different subjects

2008-10-19T03:50:00.001-07:00
Here is the link to all of them

Most of them are in english language -- some in french
(I got many more french vodeos on YouTube : over 40 of them)

You can suscribe to the video pages because more of them is coming

Importnat video I did a few years ago

2008-10-19T03:37:00.001-07:00
I found back a video of myself I did a few years ago.

The subject is very important.

It is not something people usually want to hear but it is a major feature explained in the great classicla of youga : Bhagavad-gita

http://www.veoh.com/channels/glprob

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Eisntein knew the limits of material sciences

2008-10-17T02:40:00.001-07:00

Dad's Argument with Einstein., originally uploaded by Ya Ya.

No, this trick won't work... How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? --- Albert Einstein

My profile on on LinkedIn

2008-10-16T22:34:00.000-07:00
I am now present on LinkedIn

Do not hesitate to connect to my profile to grow our respective network of interesting people.

You will find my profile at the following link

.

Want to hear what type of music I like ???

2008-10-15T04:13:00.001-07:00

Bleue intense, originally uploaded by merlin600058.

Go to my Songza account to see a selection of ot:
http://songza.com/gopi108

Mosaic of Kaleidoscopes & Mandalas

2008-10-15T03:48:00.001-07:00

Mosaic of Kaleidoscopes & Mandalas, originally uploaded by Tobyotter.
Enlightening art that makes our hearth glow

The word mandala is a sanskrit word that refers to a sacred circle. The word mandala itself is derived from the root manda, which means essence, to which the suffix la, meaning container, has been added. Thus, one obvious connotation of mandala is that it is a container of essence.

Vedanta at the rescue

2008-10-15T03:32:00.001-07:00

Close up #2, originally uploaded by RebeVane.

There is so much misunderstanding about vedanta and hinduism, but it was nice to read one person who had a nice vision of the position of vedanta amidst hinduism and the various conceptions of god. Here is an excrpt:

I understand that Hindus have a variety of "gods," yet underlying Hinduism is Vedanta, which asserts the One that cannot be named. As I see it then, Hinduism, allows for different manifestations of God, but believes in an underlying oneness.

See the full text (and political context)

Have you ever Googled yourself ?

2008-10-15T02:56:00.001-07:00

By googling my name it was nice to see that the 10 first entry were all related to me and only on the second page there was mention of other TETREAULT.

Of course this is only a temporary situation with a temporary legal name in a temporary body on a temporary universe... but it is interesting to know that those who are interested in getting in touch with me can still have the possibility to do it

A nice demonstration of loving gratitude

2008-10-13T10:47:00.001-07:00

because You love me..., originally uploaded by Princess K8.
Please follow the link above and see the photo and texts of this nice artist. It seems a nice demonstration of loving grattitude... going towards pure love

because You love me...

Even the mundane benefits of meditation are great

2008-10-13T01:49:00.000-07:00

photo by Guy Tetreault

What to speak of the spiritual ones !!!

Here is some of the day to day benefit of a meditative discipline

Inner Peace

Concentration

Stress Relief

Improved Health

Alleviates Pain

Get more info on this

Someone has sent you a song!

2008-10-12T02:04:00.001-07:00
Hi there! I thought you'd like to check out this song and video.
Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha - Tabla Solo in Jhaptal
http://songza.com/z/ksbo1c
A very nice explanation of indian raga music by executed by 2 of my favorite musicians -- a very nice video shows it.
---
Brought to you by Songza.com, the music search engine and internet jukebox.

This moring meditation : from 2am to 4h30 am

2008-10-12T01:38:00.001-07:00

harangláb , originally uploaded by riverava.

Being invaded
by a space of pure love
for the Absolute Love

:)

Fall colours

2008-10-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

Picture by Guy Tetreault

It is fall season again in Canada

The contrast of colour of the colored leafs against the blue sky is
something similar to transfiguration

vedic psychology project

2008-10-11T11:15:00.001-07:00
I am working on a book and workshop project.
One of it's goal is to show the amazing vedic perspective in important conception such as this one:

The problem is how to integrate the conscious mind with the physical brain—how to reveal a unity beneath this apparent diversity. That problem is very hard, and I do not believe anyone has any good ideas about how to solve it.Colin McGinn : "Can We Ever Understand Consciousness?,"The New York Review, June 10, 1999.

More information on this project coming soon !!!

Update of a part of the french classes I have given in the last 5 years

2008-10-10T09:01:00.000-07:00
Corry it is all in french language

Here is the complete list updated

307 audio files

157transcribed texts

143 subjects

See it in pdf

Share it

2008-10-09T18:41:00.000-07:00
You can now easily share any of this blog content
with your friends or your social websites

The ShareThis plug-in instantly boosts your content distribution!
See it at the lower-left corner of this post?
Easy to use and efficient !!!!

I went to a funeral home during the weekend

2008-10-09T17:59:00.001-07:00

Blind and Lilly, originally uploaded by Martin The Hat.

Everyone was nicely dress and shining with sobriety

It is amazing to see how death makes some people
illuminated with more life

My first french book is now available in libraries

2008-10-08T15:22:00.001-07:00
The title : Conte de l'Inde ancienne

It is distributed all over the province of Quebec by Prologue

See their web site: http://www.prologue.ca/

The first beam in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN

2008-10-05T14:58:00.000-07:00
I always wondered if they discovered new things with the LHC

According to a press release it vas a success :
http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2008/PR08.08E.html
Too bad it will take another six months before they continue the
experiments.
We are all waiting to see what science will have as a new story !!!

What happens at the collision of two black holes

2008-10-05T14:43:00.001-07:00
The subject is as abstract as metaphysics
but is is of interest to all of those, like me,
who are interested in what is happening at the utmost corner of the infinite
See the nice video and article:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/37200/title/No_naked_black_holes

Another deep subject of meditation : is the blackness of black holes
related to the dark energy and dark matter which scientist just
discovered that they make
96% of reality ???
Any connection with the Blackish Source of Everything (Krishna in
sanskrit etymology) ?????

Our book launching of last week

2008-10-05T06:33:00.000-07:00
Last wednesday we launched our french book on vedic astrology, written by my life companion Andrée Leclerc.

It was very nicely organized by our Edito: Isabelle Quentin

The conference was really appreciated by the public who mentionned that the astrologer knew her subject very well.

We are real pioneers in presenting these many new aspects of india's vedic way of life that has proven essential to go deeper in a life of yoga and meditation.

Next week I will launch my book on Niti -- another not so well known aspect of vedic way of life.

We hope that are efforts will be appreciated

Special invitation for the launching of my french book

2008-10-05T06:30:00.000-07:00
The official launching day is october 15 2008

See the details in my french blog

For the love of Absolute Love

2008-09-28T15:43:00.001-07:00
I was thinking of renaming my blog :
For the love of Absolute Love : Straight talks on yoga and Vedanta… to attain what really matters

I feel that one has to be quite enslaved by illusion to desire less than Absolute Love

Absolute Love
begins with
Love of the Absolute

Yoga, meditation and philosophy are not meant to get only temporary relief from stress and worries. They are meant to give us perennial goodness leading us all the way to real love.

My first published book just came out of the press yesterday.

2008-09-28T15:40:00.001-07:00
I hope it will become a vibrant legacy to the realm of practical wisdom.
I see unlimited frivolous books coming out of the book entertainment
circles. It seems even ludicrous to even try to give voice to wisdom in
the modern world. I am quite amazed and grateful that I could unite my
voice with those of ancient sages and seers to let perennial truths live
in whatever small way I can.

I finally decided to write actively in my English blog.

2008-09-28T15:36:00.001-07:00
The writing in my French blog has been quite regular for the last few
months and is set to continue for quite a while.
I've spent a gigantic amount of time to set in motion half a dozen
websites in the last few years, especially in French language. But, as I
am moving towards more English language in my life, I will put more
emphasis on creative writing in English.
I'm also hopefully entering in a quite creative period of my life. This
is usually what outcome of deeper time spent in meditation and
contemplation.
I am quite excited about what I feel is taking shape in my creative
life. As soon as I can be relieved of the financial burdens, I will also
have more time for music and painting.

Very useful tips to keep the energy

2008-09-28T06:20:00.001-07:00
http://lifehacker.com/5054947/top-10-ways-to-stay-energized
This is part of a global health approach to Getting Things Done

I have been reading a lot about Pascal these days

2008-09-26T12:01:00.001-07:00
Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.

Blaise Pascal

Fall colours 2008

2007-10-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

facebook

Guy Tetreault
5:15pm Oct 11th

See a new album of fall coloours at my facebook account
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=62111&id=707489936

chi poetry: dissolve in chi

2007-08-06T14:45:00.001-07:00
A nice poem by my good friend Bruce Maritn

Dissolve in Chi:

How sweetly your name and presence comes to me today,
with gifts divine, remembrances of the beyond, brought
vividly into the eternal present, of all that is dear,
of the mysteries we have shared, and so near, so
available, a mere uddipana—an excitent to bhava, the
stimulants that set aflame the seeds of existential
love—and all comes rushing in, the infusion of God…in
a moment all despair is extinguished, heaviness
dissipated, the clouds of nonessential, temporal
confusion lifted, disclosing the real, we in our
nakedness, sacrificial lambs, joyfully, playfully,
lovingly consecrated into the whole.
I would fight back the tears, but why, when they bring
such de-light? Yes, dissolve in chi, and emerge, anew,
a light-body vehicle of consciousness, living, being,
for no purpose whatsoever, other than to transmit the
same blessings through divine seva, for the
transcendent reality existing in all. No more can I
say…no more can I bear.

An intoxicated lover, brother…
Only a name remains, and I am gone,

A lotus gift to everyone for my 46th birthday

2007-08-06T14:42:00.001-07:00

lotus_a061
Originally uploaded by Guy Tetreault
See nice pictures by following the link below

Lotus pound 1 : slide show

Excerpts from pictures I took

(presently the lotus flowers are blooming at the Montreal Botanical Garden
were I took these pictures)

Please take the time to view our mission statement of

2007-08-02T06:51:00.001-07:00

lotus_a104
Originally uploaded by gop108
Our mission is to spread the ‘Contagious Fun of Being Healthy’ at a level never imagined before

Most people have a conception of health limited to the physical plane of their existence. We give tools so that anyone can feel the amazing benefit of developing their full potential in all the aspects of their lives: physical, mental, spiritual, energetic, ecological…

Get an Outrageously Fantastic Global Health Experience
…and make this world a better place by becoming healthier and happier individuals.

A benefit of becoming more globally healthy

2007-07-31T12:47:00.000-07:00
Getting the inner joy that enables us to be able to act with more goodness

Rare integral health practice

2007-07-31T04:21:00.001-07:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by gop108
Yesterday a dear friend, specialist of very deep chi-kung, explained that real holistic / integral / global health practices are very rare because most people have such a hard time focusing on what they are doing -- they can rarely have their mind and body in one place, for example, even will executing disciplines such as hatha-yoga or breath exercise.

I couldn't agree more. It is so easy to fall short of the real thing when we lack the proper focus. That is one of the many reasons why I so strongly recommend daily meditation as a way to develop essential life skill muscles.

Post 2 on the text of Richard Tarnas

2007-07-30T06:36:00.001-07:00

Common to these new perspectives has been the imperative to rethink and reformulate the human relation to nature, an imperative driven by the growing recognition that modem science's mechanistic and objectivist conception of nature was not only limited but fundamentally flawed. Major theoretical interventions such as Bateson's "ecology of mind," Bohm's theory of the implicate order, Sheldrake's theory of formative causation, McClintock's theory of genetic transposition, Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, Prigogine's theory of dissipative structures and order by fluctuation, Lorenz and Feigenbaum's chaos theory, and Bell's theorem of nonlocality have pointed to new possibilities for a less reductionist scientific .world conception

            Interesting to many of them were influenced by India : Sheldrake lived in India for many years, Bohm was closely related to krishnamurti….

Evelyn Fox Keller's methodological recommendation that the scientist be capable of empathic identification with the object he or she seeks to understand reflects a similar reorientation of the scientific mind. Moreover, many of these developments within the scientific community have been strengthened and often stimulated by the reemergence of and widespread interest in various archaic and mystical conceptions of nature, the impressive sophistication of which is increasingly recognized.

            Still, science (just like western philo) has a terrible lack of yoga, were a meditative approach could be experimented, and not just a limited knowledge of what the senses can gather (empiricism: pratyaksha limited to the externals) and dry intellectual speculation (anumana devoid of a global approach).

This need of a less reductionnist approach he speaks about is at the center of the Global Health approach and maybe the greatest nedd our actual international, mondial, global ociety faces in the 21st century

GT

The need of a broad philosphical vision for our own global health (post 1)

2007-07-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Post 1 on Richard Tarnas wonderful book

Here is a few notes on the wonderful recap of western philo and thinking at large entitled : THE PASSION OF THE WESTERN MIND,

BY RICHARD TARNAS
(EX PROGRAM MANAGER AT Essalen and PHD…)

Joseph Campbell says of it: ‘The most lucid and concise presentation I have read, of the grand lines of what every student should know about the thought of history of western thought. The writing is elegant and carries the reader with the momentum of a novel’

Huston Smith : ‘The best intellectual history of the west in one volume I have ever seen’

I tend to think like them. It is quite well written and has some depth of analysis.

In black ink you will find quotes from his book (form page 404 to 410).

In blue there will be my small comment

The postmodern collapse of meaning has thus been countered by an emerging awareness of the individual's self-responsibility and capacity for creative innovation and self transformation in his or her existential and spiritual response to life. Following suggestions implicit in Nietzsche, he "death of God" has begun to be assimilated and reconceived as a positive religious development, as permitting the emergence of a more authentic experience of the numinous, a larger sense of deity

This might be one of the most optimistic paragraph of the whole book. The previous pages went on and on to describe the collapse of the post-modern way of thinking which basically turned upside down every conception that came from the greeks, the Christians, the renaissance humanist and the positivist scientism of modern man.

Now, his conception of the antidote for post-modern dysentery is quite romantic, but also very similar to Ken Wilber ‘spirit in evolution’. Basically : the Kosmos is evolving in consciousness trough us.

On the intellectual level, religion no longer tends to be understood reductively as a psychologically or culturally determined belief in nonexistent realities, or explained away as an accident of biology, but is recognized as a fundamental human activity in which every society and individual symbolically interprets and engages the ultimate nature of being.

That seems to me a very liberal conception that only a minority of elite may have

Science too, while no longer enjoying the same degree of sovereignty it possessed during the modern era, continues to retain allegiance for the rivaled pragmatic power of its conceptions and the penetrating rigor of its method.

Yes, let’s recognize the empirical value of science. But Scientist should stop claiming to be experts in metaphysics. They are quite adolescent and dogmatic at it, making bold dogmatic declaration like : ‘’there is no god, the soul does not exist…’’

Because the earlier knowledge claims of modem science have been relativized by both philosophy of science and the concrete consequences of scientific and technological advance, that allegiance is no longer uncritical, yet in these new circumstances science itself has seemingly been freed up to explore new and less-constricted approaches to understanding the world.

‘Tao of physics’ and all that stuff… that is often naïve but at least an attempt to get out of the reductionnist ghetto.

It is true that individuals who subscribe to an allegedly unified and self-evident "scientific world view" of the modem type are seen as having failed to engage the larger intellectual challenge of the age hereby receiving the same judgment in the postmodern era that the ingenuous religious person received from science in the modem era.

I hope more of this will happen. I see so much blind faith in science around me in this culture were deep analysis is minimal

In virtually all contemporary disciplines, it is recognized that the prodigious complexity, subtlety, and multivalence of reality far transcend the grasp of any one intellectual approach, and that only a committed openness to the interplay of many perspectives can meet the extraordinary challenges of the postmodern era. But contemporary science has itself become increasingly self-aware and self-critical, less prone to a naive scientism, more conscious of its epistemological and existential limitations. Nor is contemporary science singular, having given rise to a number of radically divergent interpretations of the world, many of which differ sharply from what was previously the conventional scientific vision.

That is where a global and integral approach like Vedanta and Global Helath could be helpful for our era… if truly lived Vedanta doesn’t die before it can deliver the goods.

Welcome

2007-07-24T07:21:00.001-07:00
Enjoy my small attempts to present a sample of what I do

Guy : www.guyetreault.info

spring 2005 in montreal

2005-05-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

New leaf

spring 2005 in montreal