Kathy: I hope the retreat goes well. I am glad you and your friends have not had adverse effects from the vaccine, but that is not the case for everyone as this site illustrates. I realize that this is probably not something you have been waiting for with bated breath!
Hi Kathy,
The Retreat was fantastic, the best ever. You must be psychic; I am not waiting with baited breath for your views on the vaccine. However, I am mildly interested in why my preference is interesting because we go back a long way, when the virus/vaccine topic was a non-existent cultural meme. My view, then and now, is that there is only one virus, ignorance of our unborn wholeness, and only one vaccine, Vedanta, which inoculates against suffering caused by beliefs and opinions that are exempted from rigorous self-inquiry. If there is only one immutable Self, then viruses, which are eternal and the quest for remedies, which is also eternal, is a real non-starter. in so far as you are that immortal Self and not subject to sickness, old-age and death, as the Buddha reminds us.
A man in financial distress asked a holy man, who supposedly knew everything, for investment advice. The holy man was reluctant to give him what he wanted but under his devotee’s relentless pressure, he acquiesced. When the devotee lost his shirt on the guru’s advice, his wife forced her husband to complain and seek restitution. The holy man said, “If you want knowledge of the stock market, go to a financial adviser. If you want knowledge of God ask me.”
So my question is, doesn’t the subtext of your hectoring on the dangers of the virus imply that I am ignorant and in need of life saving information on said vaccines? Yes, it’s lovely that you care for me and want me to avoid suffering, but you should probably know that only one thing concerning life here is certain.
We are all going to die one fine day by the grace of God, so the only issue is when and by what means. If the vaccine or the virus is going to do me in, so what? In the meantime the beautiful blissful life that we value so much that we want to live another day even when we are suffering greatly, goes on. Shouldn’t appreciation of that fact totally dwarf the mind’s small worries? Or should I say the worries of small minds?
Anyway, I feel the urge to scold you for wasting my time on such a dumb topic and chalk it up to tough love, but I can’t bring myself to chide someone I love so much, so I will leave you with a few scriptural quotes that may be of interest.
“The enlightened person is emotionally tolerant, free of arrogance and anger. He or she does not disapprove of those who do not conform his or her values”.
“Wise people see everything equally because they know there is only one Self. They do not try to change themselves or others because they don’t think they are imperfect entities. Therefore they are unconcerned with karma.”
“One universal impersonal non-dual value, compassion, leaves no room for values born of fear and desire.”
Here’s good advice I got from Nancy Reagan, “Just say no” to the urge to be right. Or as Krishna says repeatedly in the Bhagavad Gita, “Let the wise not unsettle the minds of the ignorant.”
Much love,
Ramji
