Is there a The Best of GV Quotes thread somewhere? I really can't decide whether I like

better than

or perhaps


Your comments dispel the and bring in the in my life!



(Mod comment: I inserted authors' names after the quotes, since the original texts are in another thread. /Dhyana)

Thank you, Amberline

I don't think we have a thread for favorite GR quotes yet. (Maybe we should?) But I sometimes write down little nuggets for later use.

Here are some:

"They often appear to doubt nothing but reason." (Aran, about ISKCON)

"No quantity of possibilities amounts to even a probability." (Ananda, about someone with a bent for conspiracy theories)

"Those who believe in hell have a way of manifesting its qualities in the fabric of our world." (babu, hopefully not a ripoff)

"Being in Iskcon is being in maya."

Extra applauds for the elderly Cohen and the ensemble for a wonderful, subdued, dignified rendition of the song. Not all once-stars reenact their youthful performances with this kind of authenticity. The noble austerity that refrains from singing the way you can't anymore. And the equally noble pride in bringing out the haunting beauty of the old man's voice and expression.

- dhyana

I thinkwe need another thread!

Yes, this sounds very promising.

"The Twilight Zone on GR is not just a thread about Music & The Arts, it's an education!"

"So when government wants to use power to help people, it's evil. When it uses it to take away civil liberties, break international laws and legislate personal issues, it's not so bad." (zvs)

"Objective metaphysics is way overrated in any case. From where I stand, specific "metaphysical" objectives are only attained by persistent mental conditioning; in effect, you program yourself to discover your objective." (Ananda)

"So what is more harmful? Women in mini-skirts, or men raping?
According to ISKCON practical philosophy, men can be excused if they rape women and children, but women can never be excused if they wear mini-skirts.
Which gives?" (Prisni)

"But the ethos, being an ex-devotee, well it just isn't the angel I need to battle just now, nor the tribe I need to beat the drum with."
(Apres Laulyam, on reducing her active participation at GR)

"In that institution they just love people who never change." (Zanardi, á propos ISKCON outrage at Hrdayananda Gosvami)

BG 2.16: Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent [the material body] there is no endurance and of the eternal [the soul] there is no change. This they have concluded by studying the nature of both. [BS translation]

Of course they love it, because they read Prabhupada's books with fixed attention.
ācāryavān puruṣo veda "man with guru dude knows (what's what)."

"If someone is a cigarette, its not offensive to them a fag."

sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

"There is some sort of half-hen logic about it all. One sets up devotional abandon as the highest goal, but teaches the way to it is through control. One extols love, but clamps down hard on feelings. One emphasizes personal loving relation to Krsna, but does not accepts the devotee as the person he is. It's like weeding out a growing plant to make place for the fruits that it's expected to bear!"

Dhyana, Euphoria topic. Emphasis added.

"There are people who actively search for reasons to be offended."
(Strange Pilgrim, about Anti Defamation League, among other things)

evakurvan: In Sufism, a bhakti-path of wandering God-intoxicates who go around chanting and dancing their love of God in every town and village, there is the idea that the final obstacle to true spontaneous love of God is our concept of God itself. Apr 12, 2005

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index...post&p=3295

~

Adrija: I've had more sense of God/Goddess and of the interconnectedness of life in the great outdoors than I've ever had within the four walls of a temple. All time melts away and we can escape from the suggested rationalism and control of mankind expressed in the urban landscapes.

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index...ost&p=48793

~

ePiTau: How about if everything that can possibly happen actually happens all the time everywhere?

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index...ost&p=32026

~

babu: who cares about destiny, i'll take destiny's child

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index...ost&p=32028

~

Chanahari: If we assume that there is predestination, then we might as well abandon all planned activities and just do as it comes. After all, it is all God who does the planning and gives the results. It is a valid possibility, although not a plausible one for me; and it implies that there is a force that is omnipotent and yet causes unnecessary suffering, therefore it is not a fully benevolent being - then why should I even take the time to deal with It, as It will do to me whatever It will.

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index...ost&p=32020

~

Homer: Being saved is like eating cold oatmeal washed down with a warm, flat Cola Cola.

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index...ost&p=48459

~

Kalisurfer: Finding love in that which is forbidden is very much like finding god in the most unlikely hidden places.

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index...ost&p=48468

~

Bhaktavasya: Being saved, i say, is fasting and feasting and appreciating the nuances in each, being able to choose/ prepare your own desired drink.

Not much you can do about cold oatmeal if the only excuse is that the power was cut.

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index...ost&p=48509

~

experiencing technical difficulties so I'll stop for now, but it's been fun looking through old topics for these gems.

Thanks, that was fun!

I intend to do more as I have time. Pages started taking forever to load so I had to stop at that point.

"I've done extensive tests to verify the vedic wisdom that the greatest pleasure of the body is passing of stool, more so than that of sex."

Reefersmokingkrishna

I follow your paths in all ways dear BabuPrabhu™

With the knowledge and support I've recieved here at g.r., I've been able to change the last 40 years of my life. Thank you g.r." Dhyana

I don't think you can back this up as her quote Baburahu, since she i don't think has reached that number of years yet.

"I have always been attracted to the worship of Lord Shiva as he is the 'come as you are' Lord. His lingam shrines dot the Indian countryside and busy city streets wherever one wanders; anyone (in most temples) can approach the Lingam and offer worship and even touch the Lingam..."

- Angrezi

"I lost sight of Krishna since coming to g.r. but gained sight of my soul mate. Good trade!" meta

"I don't know where I am going but I know I will get there somehow." Kalisurfer

Now some real quote, for a change:

"I don't trust intuition as that could just be a hang-over from a past life." (Gerard, about the difficulty recognizing a true teacher)

"Since coming to g.r., life has lost all meaning and hope and I've become a nihilist beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you g.r." EpiTau

The quotes are fake but accurate. I go by the standard that if someone thinks something, then license can be taken to manufacture words they would say.

Or should say.

May I nominate one of my own?

"I'd say the ideal spiritual path is one that encourages us to really think and be fully present, not just regurgitating past answers for present situations or ruminating on future fears or desires."

No one can say I don't have a healthy ego!

Well done, babu.

Though I must thank you for a few directions along the roads less traveled Babu!

"It really is quite curious to become the Devil reading the Biblavad Gita. I don't know which is more scary, the fact that I can come up with ideas for the most devious possible (and plausible) usage for them shlokas, or the fact that a spiritual leader can come up with pretty much the same — but believe in its being a revelation from a perfect God."

(Ananda, about Gita verses as all-purpose ammo)

Yes, these comments really hit a chord with me Dhyana. It's so true the men can justify doing anything they like to women because Srila Prabhupada apparently said it.
Gosh when I started opening my eyes and realise how what could have been a wonderful communal thing to be a part of I was so disappointed. They have their many faults just like all the other religions.
I don't like religion anymore too many people who think their way is the only way I like chanting a couple of rounds each day and listening to a bit of hare krsna music but that's about as much as I can handle. Too much exposure confuses me probably because I start thinking about some of the poor devotees that I know that are suffering and confused. I do have a couple of devotee friends that I get in touch with that I like but I don't like hanging out with the devotees too much because I start feeling like I mentioned above confused.
I just want to enjoy my life I don't want to be all "sober" and serious, I believe life is meant to be appreciated and enjoyed. My god I'm in maya (joke). I like to have a laugh and be silly and joke around. I mean this whole idea that a pure devotee is sober where do they get these weird ideas from. It's a just a way of controlling people so that we all become predictable like sheep and not free thinking.

So true, Dhrti. Humor is unpredictable, and therefore liberating, it cannot be controlled. Humor is therefore, a force that is feared by the "authorities". (As illustrated in Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose.)

That reminds me of a quote by Bhaktisiddanta, Prabupadas guru about how he spits at the thought of having sex, well I personally think that having sex can actually be a very spiritual activity where two people can exchange and experience love. I spit at the idea of giving up something that can be so beautiful.
Popcorn anyone, I offered it to Hiranyakasipu (ha ha). I'm such a monkey sometimes.

"One thing though, I hope it is understood by anyone who cares to read that ol' Questions for Subal thread, that I am not normally that obnoxiously snobbish; that was mere theatre, my darlings." (Aran)

From an old but interesting discussion:

Me: While I acknowledge the evil list of people you mentioned, I dismiss them in my theory because evil is easy; the common denominator, what happens when we don't invoke our conscience or are just spiritually lazy. It doesn't take work or effort to create evil. It is water flowing downhill.

It is a far greater achievement, one taking conscious effort, to create good. With a world full of creatures who are gradually evolving civilizations, philosophies, moral codes, and laws, there are bound to be many who always take the easy route and live either humdrum lives of passive evil--refusing to put effort into doing good or stopping evil around them--or actively evil lives.

...Thus spake Tapati, begotten by Bonnie, begotten by Velma, begotten by Pearl...

Oneiros: This is interesting. I remember pondering good versus evil some years ago, and it struck me then that evil represents a state which is not stable. My reasoning was that evil constantly has to assert itself, through power, force, etc. Good, on the other hand, remains calm and at peace, not needing to assert itself. The constant need of an evil entity to assert itself is a vicious circle that in the end causes it to break down, through being smashed by a more powerful entity or something like that. Good, however, is not prone to falling into a vicious circle like that.

So, I ended up concluding that good, since it is more durable, is primary.

I am therefore sympathetic to the idea that good holds primacy over evil. Still, I do not see how that necessarily proves that god is good. But, then again, we have not yet attempted to define god. Maybe this is the next step?

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/lofiv...x.php/t230.html

"I am often as confused by my comments as anyone." (Angrezi)

My veggie garden sustains me more than teachings ever could.
I am learning to hone my composting skills.
The rest is fluff.

-- Homer

"Years of hating ones genitals while simultaneously feeding the ego creates strange entities." (Angrezi, about the personality traits of Urmila and some ISKCON bigshots )

"People are funny. Religious people even more so, sometimes. Their eating and mating habits are crucial expressions of their particular faith. I have no point here. Just stopped for a moment to express my awe with no particular reverence." (Zanardi, á propos vegetarianism etc)

At first I would occasionally get pangs of doubt regarding my doubt, as it isn't so easy to retrain one's brain (but nearly always possible). --Angrezi, Alternative Dimensions and Religious Psychosis

"Many old taboos break down only to unveil a deeper dimension beneath the surface, and the more we pamper them, the less likely we are to get to the bottom of things."

Ananda, on the controversy around calling rasa-lila "banging the gopis".

Brainiac:

ISKCON: the movement for impersonal personalists!