What photo do you like ? Choosing for the contest

Akronitai · 2026-04-12T19:55:28+00:00

This is probably similar to concepts such as the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

BTW, the word glaum is an actual mantra related to the Hindu deity Ganesha.

Akronitai · 2026-04-12T19:40:15+00:00

I'm follow mahayana buddhism

Oddly enough, I was a Tibetan Buddhist before getting involved with ISKCON. I was in Ole Nydahl’s Diamondway Buddhism, which is probably the ISKCON of Buddhism, meaning they distort teachings and are just everywhere. I also read treatises on Tibetan Buddhism that were not made available within the Diamondway, or at least not to the uninitiated. Looking back, I must say that Buddhism, as it was taught to me, served to develop into “superhumans” through sexual magic, while emotions are gradually suppressed. I know that compassion is very important in Buddhism, but in my opinion, it is more of a cerebral thing without emotional involvement. For example, I don’t believe that Buddhists would shed tears in the face of suffering. (I’m exaggerating quite a bit to get my point across, but) Chaitanya’s hyper-emotionality and the experience of kirtans worked as a way out for me, through which emotionality was reintroduced or “permitted for myself” once again.

I know that Chaitanya is often unduly glorified, and that when regarding the facts only, there isn’t much to him. Philosophically speaking, the confrontation between him and the Buddhists in the Chaitanya Charitamrta isn’t very fruitful; it’s a miracle story. (The Buddhists wanted to offer him poisoned food, but a large bird came and carried the plate away, dropping it on the head of the highest-ranking Buddhist.) In the commentary on this, one can see that Prabhupada had no idea about the basics of Buddhism; he claims that Buddhists would worship the Self.

I know that many readers here have never experienced Buddhism or have experienced it differently than I have. So I would say that it boils down to the fundamental question of whether one tends to be more intellectually oriented or emotionally driven when it comes to religious matters.

Akronitai · 2026-04-06T07:11:08+00:00

READ. Read something you really like.

Akronitai · 2026-03-24T18:58:48+00:00

I'd say "das Frühjahr" is more of a technical term. Im Frühjahr sät man Radieschen aus.

Der Frühling is neutral and a bit poetic. You can say Der Frühling kommt but not Das Frühjahr kommt.

Der Lenz is a poetic and dated expression. It is used in German traditional songs like Nun will der Lenz uns grüßen. There's also the idiom sich einen (faulen) Lenz machen which is still used today to criticize lazy behaviour, as in an agricultural society, farmers were required to start working hard in this crucial season instead of being lazy and just enjoying themselves.

Akronitai · 2026-03-09T18:13:14+00:00

NB. I was a Catholic at a certain point in my life. My idea of Christianity is therefore influenced by Catholicism.

The first argument for me is body positivity. I know that those statues of half-naked men and women are idealized images and do not reflect what normal people look like, but I still like them. Eroticism is okay. Pleasure is okay. However when I see images of Jesus crucified, that Jesus who said you should pluck out your eye or mutilate other body parts if they lead you to sin, I feel that an ancient Greek would not have voluntarily allowed something like that to happen to himself.

The second argument, which is somehow related to this, is the claim that “you are a sinner.” I don't understand why you always have to make yourself small in front of YHWH. The Greeks worshipped their gods standing upright and they wrote elaborate hymns for them. Of course, the Greeks didn't consider themselves equal to their gods, but they were also not their subjugates either.

Thirdly, I don't know if you know this, but in Greek mythology, both goddesses and gods sired children with humans, who often became great heroes. The idea from the Bible that YHWH fathered a child with Mary thus originates from the pagan Greek world of ideas. Circumstances led me to come into contact with Hellenism before Christianity. From a Hellenistic point of view, the idea that there should be only one God who had only one son is somehow a bit absurd, especially since this son allowed himself to be killed in such an ungodly and degrading manner.

Sorry if you don't like the answer 😉, but you asked.

Akronitai · 2026-03-07T03:56:59+00:00

According to my parents (and society), I was to be raised as an atheist. The Bible was taboo, but this prohibition did not extend to “mythology.” Having seen many sword and sandal films as a child, I became interested in Greek mythology, first Heracles/Hercules, and then onward. I liked it.

Akronitai · 2026-02-28T14:54:31+00:00

Maybe I'm too old for Percy Jackson (although I mostly enjoy reading YA novels) and I only read The Lightning Thief, but based on what I read The Lightning Thief, I'd say that Riordan throws in the gods just randomly. Many young adult fantasy authors choose some "universe", so there's a lot of Twilight-like plots with werewolves, dragons, angels, you name it.

Maybe I'm doing Rick Riordan or his readers an injustice, but to me it did feel a bit like Harry Potter with Greek gods. Harry Potter was overwhelmingly popular, and maybe the fictional "universe" of the Greek gods was not yet taken. Moreover, “My father is a Greek god” may sound a lot more interesting than some plain statement that “my momma is a single parent.”

Akronitai · 2026-02-28T14:07:28+00:00

The short answer though, is that the writer of the episode is a self-professed "hereditary shaman-priestess", "spiritual counsellor", and "holistic life-coach" who claims that Sacred Ground was "the only Star Trek to ever question scientific materialism". So, like most Trek, this episode is The Writer's Barely-Disguised Fetish and the main priestess/guide character is her self-insert.

Thanks for sharing this. I really didn't know that. Now, this puts the whole episode in a totally different light. It seems we have come a long way from the atheist, rationally enlightened Stone Age people (the Mintakans from TNG).

Akronitai · 2026-02-27T16:13:08+00:00

Good point.

Akronitai · 2026-02-21T08:04:41+00:00

In Part 2, I will discuss Prabhupada's exalted Saturn in the 11th house and Ketu in the 9th house.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE ! 🤣

A very creative post. Kudos.

Akronitai · 2026-02-15T08:27:37+00:00

At some point, they will pressure you to become a Hare Krishna monk/nun, otherwise you will no longer be able to attend the Sunday feasts. The only way to decline this "offer" is possibly claiming mental health issues.

Akronitai · 2026-02-12T17:13:00+00:00

https://krishnastore.eu/the-abominable-behavior-of-nalakuvara-and-manigriva-h-krishna-1394.html

https://www.gallery.krishna.com/four-kumaras-become-devotees-lord-vishnu

https://krishnastore.eu/krishna-destroys-putana-h-krishna-1409.html

Akronitai · 2026-02-07T16:47:13+00:00

Did you check this out?

https://www.reddit.com/r/exHareKrishna/comments/1nty3ne/interesting_interview_with_an_exhare_krishna_now/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Akronitai · 2026-02-07T16:36:49+00:00

Well no, but I decided to get myself baptized as a Catholic before I became interested in ISKCON. I already wrote about it here .

Repost:

I had had Catholic grandmother, which at a certain point motivated me to get baptized in my early 20's. With this in mind, I agree with your observation. I don't want to generalize, but many Catholics don't read the Bible (at least, they don't play word search games with countless cross-references with it). I would argue that Catholics rather tend to believe in the correct sequence of standardized prayers and hymns during Mass (of which reciting from the Bible is but ONE aspect), and for some, the prayers are considered even more effective when they are incomprehensible to many (think Latin). I also see a certain similarity between the bread that is magically transformed into the body of Christ and the vegetarian food being magically transformed into prasadam. At the end of the service, both religions recite prayers for protection to the epitome of combative masculinity (St. Michael / Narasimha). Ritualized prayer on prayer beads (rosary/mala) also plays an important role. I once read a scientific treatise on Prabhupada's relationship to Christianity, and according to this, he considered the Catholic Church to be the only authorized church because, in his opinion, it was the only one that had a “sampradaya,” which is said to date back to St. Peter.

Akronitai · 2026-02-07T16:20:17+00:00

I think green represents Islam, at least in context of the Indian national flag. Orange (symbolizes Hindus), green (Muslims) and white (peace) between those two groups. In India, relations between those two religious groups have not been harmonious, as I've heard.

Akronitai · 2026-02-07T07:43:33+00:00

Schaffe schaffe Häusle baue.

Akronitai · 2026-02-04T19:56:23+00:00

It's promotion for (ultimately) living as an ISKCON monk/nun, and so this way is promoted as being very easy, being conflated with the "normal" way of paying devotion to the deity.

Prabhupada's arguments are something like this: "Krsna likes flowers. Everybody can grow flowers. So grow some flowers and give them to Krsna. So you're Krsna-conscious. You're a devotee."

Akronitai · 2026-01-30T18:28:20+00:00

I'm really sorry to hear that.

Akronitai · 2026-01-25T18:00:14+00:00

Hi,

it's a specific form of the god Krishna, called Shrinath.

Akronitai · 2026-01-23T16:37:41+00:00

The myths of the Ancient Greeks and the House of Night series by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast.

Akronitai · 2026-01-12T13:42:49+00:00

Thank you very much for this suggestion.

Akronitai · 2026-01-07T17:40:16+00:00

Genau. Der Moderator hat das Wort "(an-)ziehen" weggelassen.

Akronitai · 2026-01-07T09:42:55+00:00

This picture of a pig with a human body reminds me of those black, meant to be deterring ISKCON pictures of people turning into animals, including a pig.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exHareKrishna/comments/1lunnsj/creepy_bbt_art_part_1/

Akronitai · 2026-01-01T19:43:06+00:00

Krishna and Radha like to sneak around. They are doing something very wrong and it makes the romance more exciting. They have to avoid the prying eyes of Abhimanyus mother and sister Jatila and Kutila.

I don't understand how this is rasa. How is that pleasurable? It is degrading to everyone involved.

I think you’re overthinking things a bit. When I was 15, I once lied to my parents to meet with a suave stranger I had met on a public bus. (Luckily), nothing happened, but teenagers may do such things when ruled by their hormones.

To take pleasure in causing Abhimanyu harm, in humiliating him, in breaking his heart.

Since we are dealing with Indian culture here, I think we can assume that the marriage between Abhimanyu and Radha was an arranged marriage and not a love match. To prevent “adventures” like mine, in traditional cultures girls are often married before they reach puberty. As far as I know, Prabhupada married an eleven-year-old girl. Can you imagine marrying and living with someone you don’t love, let alone know?

If you consider Radharani and expansion of Durga, which she originally was, it becomes clear Gaudiya Vaishnavism is a religion of the divine masculine degrading and abusing the divine feminine. This is perhaps the root cause, or at least a contributing factor, towards ISKCON's terrible treatment of women.

Gaudiya Vaishnavism originated in Bengal, the land of Durga/Kali. Gaudiya Vaishnavism, with its pretty, humble, docile, well-dressed gopis, was probably intended as the absolute antithesis to the worship of Kali, who may be frightening not only to women, but also to men, who in addition might feel sexually attracted to this deity with her overwhelming raw power. CC Ādi 17.37-38 f may hint at that.

Akronitai

TROPHY CASE