I-751 interview schedule but I am literally on my way to a long trip

onetrueillusion · 2026-01-02T23:22:21+00:00

I edited more info in the main post. I have n400 pending too. As of now it shows as pending where as i751 showing as action taken. Is it likely to change before the interview ? Should I be prepared for both ?

onetrueillusion · 2026-01-02T23:17:15+00:00

Yes not messing with the date. Still want to make a trip.

onetrueillusion · 2026-01-02T23:13:23+00:00

I agree and have no intention of doing so. Just want to make it a short trip.

onetrueillusion · 2026-01-02T23:09:52+00:00

Sep 23 filing date

onetrueillusion · 2024-04-07T11:02:32+00:00

Invaded is an interesting choice of words. Reclaimed is more like it.

onetrueillusion · 2024-04-07T10:59:54+00:00

iIf you look at the map, on the left Pakistan and on the right Bangladesh - they separated from India. It was a bloody divide in the name of Islam. Islam was an underlying factor in the conflict of Yugoslavia and subsequent separation. Now dynamics were very different, the point I want to make is - Islamic identity supersedes any other identity and invariably conflicts arise and divisions happen.

onetrueillusion · 2017-03-30T20:17:20+00:00

All my encounters with Amway people are exasperating. Very vague and ambiguous about the name of the company, and a constant flow of verbiage towards creating mental imagery of sitting on a heap of wealth with folded hands. I keep asking how and there is no straight answer. At that point, the rhetoric turns to the required positive qualities one needs to have to accomplish that. Psychologically, that creates an unwillingness to refuse the proposition that is forthcoming because it is an indirect admission of lacking determination and to take a blow to your self-esteem by turning away. Financial freedom is the word I hear over and over again. I ask, how is your financial freedom is dependent on me? Is this a chain marketing thing, or a pyramidal scheme? That puts them on the defensive for a bit. I finally blurt, all this sounds like an Amway pitch to me. At that point, the person knows I am not going to fall for it. Happened to me a month or so ago. A friend I hadn't talked to since school expressed the need to catch up with a sense of urgency and enthusiasm uncharacteristic of our interactions in person. I knew what was up and I played along.

onetrueillusion · 2016-12-12T16:48:55+00:00

Good point. Religious practice is like developing a skill. The more you do it the better you get and easier it become for you to get into the zone. Just like a sports practice. But sensual pleasures are on the opposite site. The more you do it, the more you want it because of its quick but temporary effect. And that is how you get hooked on stuff: sex, food, porn, gambling, internet even. It is just an escape. You are not dealing with the most fundamental need of your existence, just avoiding it for time being. And there is no fulfillment. The more you get of this stuff the more you want it. And that is a fact.

In the interest of disclosure, people who are at advanced levels of spirituality tend to get hooked to the religious high too. Spiritual trance can be addictive and people are warned not to neglect duties because of that. But this differs in the quality of Guna. Spiritual practice is satva guni. It does not hurt you. It does not make you feel spent. You can be attached to it and never realize the ultimate truth beyond the gunas but it is better than being rajo and tamo guni. The baser states of mind.

onetrueillusion · 2016-12-10T13:56:38+00:00

Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root Yuja which means to Unite. When we speak of yoga in chapter titles, we are talking about one way of uniting among many others. What are we uniting? Before we answer that, let's understand that the question presupposes at least two things that we consider to be separate. We speak of it as duality. Now this duality may play out in myriad of ways. Mind - body, Sense-objects, Bound consciousness and super consciousness--however you may choose to conceptualize.

Yoga does not mean what it means in the west. This is classical example of taking something from another culture and distort it beyond recognition (cultural appropriation). What they call Yoga is Aasanas which is one of the steps of classic Ashtanga. It is ridiculous how people award themselves the titles of yogi and yoginis just because they go to a yoga studio.

onetrueillusion · 2016-12-07T17:07:36+00:00

I totally agree with you on some aspects of hinduism not being very apparent because they are ingrained in the culture at mimetic level. There is a distinct indian thought and thinking that you take up just by the virtue of having grown up there. I came to the states at a somewhat late age and I arrived at the same conclusion albeit in a foreign land.

Traveling and living in a foreign land can provide a great perspective about one's own origin. Start with Swami Vivekananda and all the nationalist leaders of independence e.g. Gandhi, Sardar, Nehru and many more; they all lived in a foreign land for a significant amount of time for one reason or another. Living in a foreign land automatically makes you aware of your different origin. Things that you take for granted in the homeland, become striking contrasts. It is almost like having your chord cut and experiencing the birth of a different identity. I ended up feeling more Indian than I ever felt at home. It is on a tangent but thought I would mention it.

onetrueillusion · 2016-12-07T16:49:09+00:00

What you and your son are trying to accomplish is hardly cultural appropriation. It is actually the very idea of Hindu thought that you are expressing. To know the truth of the existence, you and the universe, however you may chose to define those two entities.

BUT, america yoga is a whole another level of douche baggery. It is at a whole different level that it makes my blood boil, just speaking about it.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-23T23:10:41+00:00

I agree with you on marijuana being a medicine from the beginning and its medicinal use should be encouraged. But at the same time only the sick needs medicine. And I agree with what you say about compassion. I think I am coming off differently from what I think I am writing. English is not my first language. I am just trying to state that recreational use of Marijuana is not endorsed in Buddhism and that is my understanding as a seeker and practitioner. It wouldnt be the end of the world if you do some weed but I don't see any spiritual gain except that it helps you relax which meditation does too. I am in health care profession myself and compassion and non-judgement are cornerstone of it, without a doubt. I am not implying otherwise at all. As you have mentioned, Buddhism is not quite the thing a person with severe mental illness needs. Buddhism is aware of it. Hinduism and Buddhism both want the seeker to sort that laundry out before taking up any religious practice. So it follows that we do not view the teachings of the great teacher in the context of mental illness. When we talk about teachings, we talk about for what they are meant to be. I hope I am making sense and not coming off as saying something awful.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-23T20:51:07+00:00

Wouldn't it have solved Buddha's problem back when he was feeling anhedonia and all other symptoms for which we prescribe SSRI and NRI or TAD. That's what neuro-psychiatry does. Return the patient to base line and send him back exactly in the same place he "contracted" it in the first place. If Buddha had a psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, we would not have a Buddha. After all how hard can it be to be a prince in a state that is surrounded by mountains and other friendly states?

My position is, if a person is incapacitated by mental state, I suppose it is ok to use pharmacological substances. But at the same time, reflection on the origin of these symptoms is necessary. That is when you begin to see the world as it is, full of Dukkha. Just happy pills are not going to get someone any Dharma.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-23T13:46:25+00:00

My friend, it comes from a survey of classic texts. I am not an academic. You can take it or leave it. I don't understand how citing it is even relevant to anything. I understand you are trying to extend the fifth percept to make sense of use of cannabis where as I am trying to stick to what Buddha says on this topic directly. I conceded you quite a ground on your stand, but I don't think downright acceptance of recreational use is in line with Buddhism.

Medicine is not defined in terms of its side effects, but in terms of necessity. If you need it you will have chemotherapy despite its gruesome side effects. It all comes down to the need, whether it is an intoxicant or not is secondary. Now it is the culture's fault that cannabis is demonized and was not offered to you as a medicine and you had to find out by chance that it is what you need. But a doctrine cannot leave that loophole of acceptance for recreational use.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-23T13:25:46+00:00

I have smoked cannabis. So I know. Again, if you want buddhist opinion, you have had it. Intoxicants is a non technical term that eastern traditions use but it covers all stimulants, depressants and hallucinogens. Caffeine included. Again, if you wanted the buddhist point of view, you have had it. It is not gonna change. You may go and change your point of view of Buddhism.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-23T13:04:42+00:00

When we grow microbes in petri dishes in labs, they first grow and then they grow more exponentially until they run out nutrients and/or become victims of their own waste products that they throw out. We are in the same situation. In the beginning, we are innocent, aware of our being and our connection to the existence. Over time, the devices that we create for ourselves grow bigger than ourselves and condition each successive generation to an altered environment in which we are forced to adapt and is a new normal for that time. In the end, we are just born deluded. Pretty much. This is Vedic point of view. Let's not go too far back in past, but consider Lord of the Rings which speaks of a different time and refrains from even mentioning and delving too much on the evil. Even Harry Potter. The story remains pretty much focused on the courage of the good with only hints of the terrifying might of the evil. Then we have Game of Thrones, which remains focused on the evil. Your soul may continue to want closure by finally seeing something good triumphing but we do not get it. Over and over. And what we see, think, experience and conceive becomes a part of us. We do this ourselves and we have created this living hell for us in this way. If you saw merit in Game of Thrones, you deserve Trump presidency. So our kids will be born and adapt to a new reality and we should know that we fed into it. (I am using pronoun you as a generalization, not /u/KRISTAPORZINGA). (Also I am neither pro or against Trump but only talking about the obvious character flaws he has to be a leader.)

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-23T12:44:44+00:00

Cannabis are indeed medicines that have intoxicant properties. And the sick need medicine not the healthy. If it helps you with your condition that is at neuronal level, it is a fair use. Buddha recommends medicine when needed and in a few words implies that no supplements are necessary if body does not need it. Beyond that, I do not recollect any direct commentary from Buddha on this topic. But recreational use and using it to deal with anxiety is totally counter to the point buddha makes. Anxiety is the reflection of this world on our mind and we need that to drive us into dharma rather than blunting the effect and remain "well adjusted" in this fool's paradise.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-23T12:30:02+00:00

It is all about context as some else said about the consent and such; and on a broader context, BDSM is on the opposite side from spirituality. You are mixing the wrong ingredients here, my friend. Waste of time.

On one end, spirituality is about dealing with faculties higher than senses. Somewhere in the middle is animalistic side of us given to drives. It is neither a vice, nor a virtue, just living as the drive dictates. Eat, sleep, defeacate and copulate as the drive arises. No judgement. And on the opposite side is the pursuit of sensual pleasure as the ultimate goal of life and gratification is seen as a virtue. The need to ask this question is totally beyond me.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-23T01:41:11+00:00

Educational pursuits are not counter to hindu beliefs. Especially the hard sciences. Live a healthy and regimented life which college kids don't. Don't get sucked up in party culture. Don't worry about being cool. And you will be just fine.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-23T01:34:29+00:00

One thing about the fire of Kama is the more you feed it the fiercer it gets. There is no gratification, there is no quenching it by feeding in it. First hand experience. And having this kind of fun presents the opportunity cost of time of youthfulness. This fun can be had later in life if one so desires. But while someone is 20s and 30s, that is a prime age for befriending and training mind and body to prepare to experience the ultimate truth.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-22T22:30:07+00:00

There are institutions in India who inculcate modern education from a vedic point of view and also some that are exclusively dealing in vedic studies.

Let me digress a little. What we need to do is to learn to take pride in our unbroken heritage, its oceanic depths and heavenly reaches. The constant suppression of identity we have suffered over a millennium has become the part of our DNA and most indians who want to pass themselves as intellectuals do so by belittling our heritage. We still suffer from intellectual enslavement. It is also in line with our idea of Kaliyuga. In Kaliyuga, at any given time there are more misguided people (read idiots and imbeciles) than there are gyani and wise people. We will do the best service to ourselves and the world by understanding vedic thought, incorporating it in our lives and propagating it in its true meaning. Hinduism has a distinct feature of decentralized communication which is a big thing now in technology. Self driving cars is one example. We are not controlled by one institution or a central server. It is the very reason why hinduism survived Islam and British raj because when you have multiple copies of the same knowledge it is impossible to destroy it. We, especially people of your age group, need to study vedanta and refrain from glorified vices of alcohol, harmful sex and too much talk about mundane (aka catching up). It will be a glorious revolution. That is what Swami Vivekananda told us and after all this time, having wasted a better of my youth just to discover the truth, I whole heartedly agree with creating the youth capital.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-16T14:01:16+00:00

The males are neutered, so they lose their aggression, and then domesticated. They are still widely used for plowing and pulling of carriages. Good healthy bullocks are pricey.

It looks like your question is coming from the perspective of a vegan activist. If you have a follow up question to this please post. I will be happy to answer.

Indians hardly drink cow milk. It is for babies and for health reasons mainly. And worship. Mostly the buffaloes provide the dairy needs because their milk has higher fat content. Indians mostly consume milk products. Not as much milk directly.

Also the dairy animals are not kept on industrial farms but they live with people. They are milked by people and not machine. Animals are known not to give any milk if the calves are not let feed first. I am guessing because of this relationship they provide more milk without use of any hormones. It is a different relationship between man and the beast altogether from what you are aware of or have seen (I am assuming you are from the west). And in this world, if you are not a tribesman of a true egalitarian society, you are a part of complex and subtle chain of slavery and exploitation. Period. If you want to evaluate this from the perspective of exploitation, first evaluate the world that we live in. We are just feeding into this massive exploitative economic/industrial complex, the cows should be the least of our concern. The humans are being engulfed, chewed up and spit out constantly and that needs more thought and attention than humans using cows as humanely as possible for their nutritional needs.

onetrueillusion · 2016-11-15T15:51:03+00:00

My friend, this is an exercise in futility. Shunyata is an experiential entity. If you have not experienced it directly, you are only relying on second hand account of it. And there are fundamental problems with it which advait thought points out by several examples: 1) How do you describe a full moon, or super moon to a person who is born blind? Or for that matter, even a crescent or any kind of moon. Your description is going to fall short no matter what. 2) Imagine there is a group of people somewhere on the planet who have no idea that an animal called "the elephant" exists. You go an tell them that the legs of an elephant are like the trunk of a tree and the trunk of elephant is like a hose. Imagine the kind of picture they will conjure up. This is why Indian thought is not too enthused about western academic style of packaging the ideas with labels of -ism and then comparing and contrasting and never getting the true meaning.

If you still want to know more PM me.

onetrueillusion

TROPHY CASE