[net.religion] Inquiry on Reincarnation

nmhr@nmtvax.UUCP (05/06/85)

*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH A CORVETTE ***


	I am very interested in the Hindu religion and would like to learn
more about it. In particular, I have questions concerning the concept
of reincarnation. The only literature I have is stuff that I picked up
the the Denver airport from some Krishna Consciousness guys. (By the
way...how  close to/far from  true Hinduism are those guys?)

	Forgive my naivetee, but I felt I had to post to the USENET. I
would like to hear from anyone who knows about this. Please reply by
mail to the address or addresses below (I think they are correct).
Also, if anyone can suggest any good books on reincarnation or the
Hindu religion, please send me the title(s) and author(s).

	Thanks in advance.

-- 
Tracy A. McInvale
New Mexico Humanities Review
Socorro, NM  87801

...!cmc12!lanl!unm-cvax!nmtvax!nmhr
...!ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!nmhr

hemanth@amdcad.UUCP (Hemanth Kanekal) (05/11/85)

In article <470@nmtvax.UUCP>, nmhr@nmtvax.UUCP writes:
> 
>I am very interested in the Hindu religion and would like to learn
> more about it. In particular, I have questions concerning the concept
> of reincarnation. The only literature I have is stuff that I picked up
> the the Denver airport from some Krishna Consciousness guys. (By the
> way...how  close to/far from  true Hinduism are those guys?)
> 
> Tracy A. McInvale

 Some time ago I met this guy in a party. Name : Clif last name unknown,
 Place of contact : Measurex, Cupertino, CA.
 He was telling me his experiences in astral projection. For those who
 don't know: astral projection is the science of projecting oneself
 mentally out of your body to travel several hundreds of miles away
 experiencing the five senses while you do so. Seems amazing !!.
 Some claim planetary travel too!!!!. I do not know how much 
 credibility you give this, but I think some thing of this kind
 has been acheived and probably is being experienced by many people
 today. He had to learn this (he said,) over a period of 5 years
 and he had experimented with plants testing theories of telekinesis.
 It appears he got some positive results with the experiments with
 plants. So , encouraged, he went looking for some guidance. He was
 born on Maritus Island, Indian ocean -- if my geography is correct,
 with French father and British mother and was quite well acquainted
 with the Hindu culture and religion, at that time. With this background
 it was natural that he look for a guide in Hindu religion I suppose.
 Anyway, comming back to the subject, he did all the plant experiments
 in South Africa. So he looked for a guide around and found a 'guru'
 in Zimbwabe it seems. It was with this guru he got to know more about
 astral projection. His first experience, he said, was to find himself
 on the top of the roof and look around and was quite astonished!!.

I do not know how this is related to re-incarnation but this I feel
is a part of Hindu religion. Mystics , religion, charltans --- it
is very difficult to seperate facts from fiction, however, should
you have any intentions of finding more about such things, I feel
that you must be *VERY* persistant and persever in your search.

BTW Clif also said he has given up astral projections and astral travel
because he has had enough of it and now he is *INTO* meditation.

All of the above has been put on the net without his knowledge, so
if you'd like to get in touch with him, please mail me, and I'll
pass along whatever info to you. 

Please note: All or any such spiritualism will help you if and only 
if your intentions of using such tools are for general good i.e.
whatever you try, only if you are selflessly oriented would some 
good come out of it ...this is what he said!.

 Skepticism is welcome, so long as there are no flames either at me
 or at Clif.
-- 
Tight butts drive me nuts!!

raghu@ut-sally.UUCP (Raghunath Ramakrishnan) (05/13/85)

In article <1289@amdcad.UUCP> hemanth@amdcad.UUCP (Hemanth Kanekal) writes:

> He was telling me his experiences in astral projection. For those who
> don't know: astral projection is the science of projecting oneself
> mentally out of your body to travel several hundreds of miles away
> experiencing the five senses while you do so. Seems amazing !!.
> Some claim planetary travel too!!!!. I do not know how much 
> credibility you give this,   ( etc. etc.)


None at all.

	 --    raghu ramakrishnan

naren@ut-sally.UUCP (Narendran Nachiappan) (05/14/85)

> In article <1289@amdcad.UUCP> hemanth@amdcad.UUCP (Hemanth Kanekal) writes:
> 
> > He was telling me his experiences in astral projection. For those who
> > don't know: astral projection is the science of projecting oneself
> > mentally out of your body to travel several hundreds of miles away
> > experiencing the five senses while you do so. Seems amazing !!.
> > Some claim planetary travel too!!!!. I do not know how much 
> > credibility you give this,   ( etc. etc.)
> 
> 
> None at all.
> 
> 	 --    raghu ramakrishnan


	I would not dismiss such claims with as much finality as Raghu does. 
We are spending a lot of time and energy dealing with our definitions of how 
nature works (science and tecnology). Anything that does not fall within the 
realm of our pet laws of Newton and Einstein are dismissed as being the 
product of deranged minds. 
	However, I think that the occult is a world with its own rules
and axioms .. They may be unfamiliar to us (as unfamiliar as current AI research
would be to Von Neumann). That should be no reason for us to dismiss the 
claims of the occult as sheer nonsense. 
	So how much credibility do I personally give to this claim? 

None at all.					.... :-)

						Narendran Nachiapan
						SHIELD agent 111
{seismo, ctvax, ihnp4}!ut-sally!naren, naren@ut-sally.{ARPA, UUCP}
*Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-Enforcement Division

debray@sbcs.UUCP (Saumya Debray) (05/14/85)

>> He was telling me his experiences in astral projection. For those who
>> don't know: astral projection is the science of projecting oneself
>> mentally out of your body  ... I do not know how much 
>> credibility you give this,   ( etc. etc.)
> 
> None at all.
> 
Yup!  It's amazing where some good ganja can get you!  (I remember this
Shiv Mandir near our campus ...)
-- 
Saumya Debray
SUNY at Stony Brook

	uucp: {allegra, hocsd, philabs, ogcvax} !sbcs!debray
	arpa: debray%suny-sb.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
	CSNet: debray@sbcs.csnet

teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) (05/15/85)

> > In article <1289@amdcad.UUCP> hemanth@amdcad.UUCP (Hemanth Kanekal) writes:
> > 
> > > He was telling me his experiences in astral projection. For those who
.........
> > > Some claim planetary travel too!!!!. I do not know how much 
> > > credibility you give this,   ( etc. etc.)
> > 
> > 
> > None at all.
> 
> 	I would not dismiss such claims with as much finality as Raghu does. 
> We are spending a lot of time and energy dealing with our definitions of how 
> nature works (science and tecnology). Anything that does not fall within the 
> realm of our pet laws of Newton and Einstein are dismissed as being the 
> product of deranged minds. 


	This is especially true when it comes to the martial arts. I
 have seen, with my very own eyes, and with the eyes of several hundred
en, along with many others, people perform what is called a
 soft break. The idea is that rather than breaking a 1.5 inch cinder block
 with brute force, the person breaking the  block concentrates his energy 
 in his hand, and with a light tap breaks the block. I have seen this done
 many times. By all laws of physics the tap is not enough force to break the
 block. Yet, it breaks. The blocks were not tampered with, as I bought them
 myself and brought them to the exhibition.

	If we do not believe in some other forces, aside from normal physics
,
 it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to explain the breaking of
 the cinder block. Anyone have any explainations?


				Eliyahu Teitz.

ellen@reed.UUCP (Ellen Eades) (05/18/85)

> > > hemanth@amdcad.UUCP (Hemanth Kanekal) 
> > > He was telling me his experiences in astral projection. For those who
> > > don't know: astral projection is the science of projecting oneself
> > > mentally out of your body to travel several hundreds of miles away
> > > experiencing the five senses while you do so. Seems amazing !!.
> > > Some claim planetary travel too!!!!. I do not know how much 
> > > credibility you give this,   ( etc. etc.)
> > 
> > None at all.
> > 	 --    raghu ramakrishnan
> 
> 	I would not dismiss such claims with as much finality as Raghu does. 
> [....]
> 	So how much credibility do I personally give to this claim? 
> 
> None at all.					.... :-)
> 
> Narendran Nachiapan

I am forced to agree.  Although I personally *do* think it's
possible, I'm one of those gullible (and experimentational)
folks who have to try for themselves.  I have been working on
astral projection for about 8 months now.  Nothing yet...but
it's such a neat possibility I keep trying.  Anyone have any
suggestions?

Ellen Eades

brian@digi-g.UUCP (Merlyn Leroy) (05/22/85)

[bonk!]

> ...I have seen, with my very own eyes, along with many others,
> people perform what is called a soft break. The idea is that rather
> than breaking a 1.5 inch cinder block with brute force, the person
> breaking the  block concentrates his energy in his hand, and with a
> light tap breaks the block. I have seen this done many times. By all
> laws of physics the tap is not enough force to break the block. Yet,
> it breaks. The blocks were not tampered with, as I bought them
> myself and brought them to the exhibition.
>
> If we do not believe in some other forces, aside from normal physics
> it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to explain the breaking of
> the cinder block. Anyone have any explainations?
>
>
>				Eliyahu Teitz.

Sure.  The same way Uri Geller (remember him?) used to bend spoons.
Fraudulently.  Any professional magicians present?

Merlyn Leroy,
    who can bend his mind with a fork.

simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard) (05/29/85)

>>> He was telling me his experiences in astral projection. For those who
>>> don't know: astral projection is the science of projecting oneself
>>> mentally out of your body  ... I do not know how much 
>>> credibility you give this,   ( etc. etc.)
>> 
>> None at all.
>> 

It seems that positions like this reflect the typical Western reluctance
to view both objective reality and experiential reality as equally 
"real" and valid.  No doubt, in our attempt to separate ourselves
from the mysticism of the past, we sometimes throw out the baby
with the bathwater.

What if someone simply has experienced astral projection, and
yet nothing physical has taken place.  Was the astral projection
experience "real"?  In terms of objective, physical reality, perhaps
not.  But the *experience* was real, therefore, in the domain of
experiential reality, it was a genuine event.

There is plenty of blurring of the boundaries between these two
domains, and some things may seem to belong to one, and in fact
belong to the other, or both.  But it is important to know that
some very real events have no physical, measurable manifestation,
other than the physiology of the brain that produces the (possibly)
illusory experience.

teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) (05/29/85)

> [bonk!]
> 
> > ...I have seen, with my very own eyes, along with many others,
> > people perform what is called a soft break. The idea is that rather
> > than breaking a 1.5 inch cinder block with brute force, the person
> > breaking the  block concentrates his energy in his hand, and with a
> > light tap breaks the block. I have seen this done many times. By all
> > laws of physics the tap is not enough force to break the block. Yet,
> > it breaks. The blocks were not tampered with, as I bought them
> > myself and brought them to the exhibition.
> >
> > If we do not believe in some other forces, aside from normal physics
> > it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to explain the breaking of
> > the cinder block. Anyone have any explainations?
> >
> >
> >				Eliyahu Teitz.
> 
> Sure.  The same way Uri Geller (remember him?) used to bend spoons.
> Fraudulently.  Any professional magicians present?
> 
	
	Why do you assume I lie? Do you know me to be a liar? I'm afradi you 
 have bent your mind too often and now do not take anything seriously. Some-
 one else happened to post a logical reason, which I am presently investigating.
 But don't go shooting off at the mouth like an idiot if you don't believe me.


				Eliyahu Teitz.

wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly) (06/01/85)

In article <1701@aecom.UUCP> version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site rti-sel.UUCP version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site aecom.UUCP rti-sel!mcnc!philabs!aecom!teitz teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) writes:
  
>> > ...I have seen, with my very own eyes, along with many others,
>> > people perform what is called a soft break. The idea is that rather
>> > than breaking a 1.5 inch cinder block with brute force, the person
>> > breaking the  block concentrates his energy in his hand, and with a
>> > light tap breaks the block. 
>> 
>> Sure.  The same way Uri Geller (remember him?) used to bend spoons.
>> Fraudulently.  Any professional magicians present?

Here's another person who has seen a soft break performed. Around
1977, I studied Tai Chi Chuan under a woman who had been practicing
Tai Chi for about seven years and who had studied under one of the
masters. She and her fiancee had been friends of mine for about three
years. She had offered to teach me Tai Chi before, but I had always
declined (at least until my curiosity got the better of me). We
studied the form in a grassy area about two blocks from her house.

Her fiancee was a body builder, and had studied extensively Korean
karate and Chinese kung-fu as well. He was one strong and fast hombre.
One day, he came down to where we were practising and waited for us to
finish my lesson. He was sitting on a low bench or wall which had a
number of loose bricks next to it. After the lesson, my instructor and
I went over to greet him. She finished the form while I talked to him
about martial arts. We got into talking about breaking blocks of stone
and such; his comment was that a lot of the grunting and groaning and
the wide sweeps you see in demonstrations were for dramatic effect,
and that someone who was adept could break a stone or brick without
exerting much effort.

He proceeded to rummage around and found a couple of loose bricks. He
laid it in one hand and examined it carefully, explaining that he was
looking for 'lines of weakness,' or some such. Then he lightly struck
the brick in two places with the edge of his hand, and lo and behold,
there were three pieces of brick! He then repeated this process with
at least one more brick to show me it wasn't a fluke.

Now the fellow who raised the spectre of Uri Geller has a limited set
of choices in this matter, it seems to me:

  (1) I may be lying to you about this story, an accusation which
      I won't take lightly

  (2) The whole thing was set up on an impromptu basis by my
      friend to 'fool' me into thinking he had some strange
      powers. This is highly unlikely because this was the
      only time he had visited the site of my lessons in my
      presence, and the bricks were clearly embedded in the
      soil and had been there for some time (I looked).
      Besides, what did he have to gain by such an undramatic
      demonstration that clearly debunked the great shows of
      effort most karate 'experts' make?

  (4) He hypnotized me, or fooled me in some other way.
      Again, how and why? The meeting was spontaneous and
      he had absolutely nothing to gain by lying to me.

  (3) It's not as difficult to break blocks, bricks, and
      boards as it might appear on the surface.

I'm not claiming anything super- or preternatural is going on here,
mind you; I have no explanation, only the evidence of my own senses.
My feeling is simply that the effort required in splitting a common
brick is greatly overrated.

                           -- Bill Ingogly

padpowell@wateng.UUCP (PAD Powell) (06/06/85)

In article <224@rti-sel.UUCP> wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly) writes:
>In article <1701@aecom.UUCP> version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site rti-sel.UUCP version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site aecom.UUCP rti-sel!mcnc!philabs!aecom!teitz teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) writes:
>  
>>> > ...I have seen, with my very own eyes, along with many others,
>>> > people perform what is called a soft break. The idea is that rather
>>> > than breaking a 1.5 inch cinder block with brute force, the person
>>> > breaking the  block concentrates his energy in his hand, and with a
>>> > light tap breaks the block. 
>>> 

I do a fair amount of brick and rock work, and can verify that cracking a
brick is a fairly simple task.

Firstly,  bricks are fired clay, and usually have very high compressive
strength, and very little tensile (stretching) strength.   Additionally,
they are brittle, which means that they "snap" rather than "stretch"
as they are "stressed".

One of the problems of bricklaying is that bricks are one size.  If you need
a short one, you have to crack it.  To do so,  you pick up a brick, hold it
at one end,  take your mason's hammer,  and "clip" it with the blade.  Voila!
the brick, she breaks.

Now when I started out,  I would have to slam the *&^$^^# brick a couple of
times, and the cracks were really ragged.  I asked the guys who I was working
with/for how they did it.  I watched for a while,  and I came to the following
conclusions:
1.  The middle of the brick is under a compressive stress, the outside is
	in a tensile stress.  This is due to the way bricks are made: they cool
	down, outside cools faster than inside.
2.  The "grain" in bricks runs across the face.  This is because the material
	is forced into the brick moulds from the top, creating a layer.

------------------
| | | | | | | | ||
| | | | | | | | ||
------------------

       ^
	Hit here

3.  You hit in the middle of this stressed area,  and release one side.
	The crack will propagate through to the other.

Based on this model,  I surmised that the idea was to start a crack wide
	enough to go across the face,  and deep enough to go through the tensile
	stress layer.

Look at a mason's hammer some time.  The blade is about 1/3 to 1/2 of a brick
width,  with a even FLAT edge, slightly beveled at about 45 degrees.  It is
not a long blade, and is has its mass evenly distributed.  This makes it easy
to strike evenly across a brick.   In addition, look at how a mason will
tap a brick.   FLICK!! FLICK!!  The first tap will crack the top layer,
the next will extend the crack.   If you have wrists like iron, instead
of my wimpy silly putty, you almost always can do it in 1 blow.

How the %^&*% do those %^*^% do it with their hands?  The idea is to concentrate
the force in a line across the brick, with a very narrow "strike" zone.
If you have a very flat edge on your hand (which I don't!!),  and a heavy
callous (which most of the people in karate seem to have),  then you
have the conditions set up correctly.  All it would take after that would
be the convictions that you can do it,  and a pre-paid medical plan.

I might add that I still think the people who do it with their hands are
^&*((&^&*( maniacs...

Patrick ("Hey, gimme some more &))*&*()& mortar, and *()__(**() hurry up")
	Powell