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        > "Brother Bimilananda saved Hidden Valley," say Dha		 New Topic    Add Reply

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soulcircle
Registered User
(11/7/03 9:22 am)
Reply 		"Brother Bimilananda saved Hidden Valley," say Dha
asap i will post the story of hidden valley and pictures that my wife received in an email, well i think i can type it into here without to many typos......the pics that i will try [maybe someone more savvy can post them]
everywhere!!!!!!!! around hidden valley ashes
hidden valley untouched

here's what came via email to my wife:

Hi,

We're fine, the fire came to within about 10 miles of Encinitas. There were three days that ash and soot fell on us non-stop and a day of strong odor of smoke. In all minor inconveniences compared to the overall devastastion.

The road to Hidden Valley is a ghastly sight. So much is burned to the ground. But, as you know, miracles abound wherever SRF is involved. The newspaper printed a graphically detailed map of the Paradise fire. In it you see Lake Wohlford and directly to the east there's a very small area in white. The surrounding area is shaded gray indicating fire damage. Well, the tiny white area is Hidden Valley.

As the story goes, sheriff and fire officials encouraged SRF to evacuate several times and told the ministers in charge that the facility was certain to perish. They said with the location of trailers and cabins beneath dry oak trees the entire ashram would be destroyed.

Br. Bimilananda stood at the lawn outside the refrectory for over four hours chanting Om toward the fire. At times there were as few as 4 others and as many as 15 chanting with him. This huge wall of flames comes over the rise (where the long horn cattle graze), roaring toward the ashram grounds. As it nears the dirt road where the ashram property begins, the fire just dies out. According to Br. Dharmananda, Br. B saved Hidden Valley [people were saying OM for H.V. around the world]. I've seen first hand the devastation out there- the survival of Hidden Valley can only be desribed as a miracle.

God Bless

OneTaste
Registered User
(11/7/03 11:01 am)
Reply 		Re: "Brother Bimilananda saved Hidden Valley," say
Thanks for posting this, Dave. It's a load off my mind. When I heard that the Paradise fire was going through Valley Center on its way to Escondido, well, that's right through HV. I kept scouring for info, but there wasn't anything I could find. I must have said ten times during those two days that if Hidden Valley isn't detroyed, it will only be a miracle. God bless Bimilananda. He's the real deal and no doubt.

Funny, when I ran into my troubles there and got chewed up and spit out, he was the only one who was there for me before I left. In talking to me about it, he just did a little circle with his arms out like a bird and said, "fly high, fly high! They can't get you up here!" It's indelibly printed in my memory and once more, I am reminded of how sound it is. Thanks again.

X Insider
Registered User
(11/8/03 10:36 am)
Reply 		Re: "Brother Bimilananda saved Hidden Valley," say
SRF should get a lot of mileage out of that one. Perhaps a large donation.

Too bad no one "prayed hard enough" to save the monks' mountain retreat. And too bad no one prayed hard enough to stop the fires from killing 20 people and destroying thousands of homes and lives.

Thank God that He once again treats SRF as His special child, the dispensation of the New Age, and rewards It accordingly with His miracles.

Xnun
Registered User
(11/10/03 6:18 am)
Reply 		Re: "Brother Bimilananda saved Hidden Valley," say
X Insider,

Why do you think this miracle was from God? Do you think only God can do miracles? Did you ever read the story in Exodus where pharao's sorcerers imitated the miracles Moses did? And even if one dismissed this story as a fairy tale, to this day sorcery in its varieties is a favorite "pasttime" of many -- and not because it wouldn't work. So, what makes you sure this miracle was from God? (And I am sure it was a miracle.)

Edited by: Xnun at: 11/10/03 6:19 am
X Insider
Registered User
(11/10/03 9:57 am)
Reply 		Re: "Brother Bimilananda saved Hidden Valley," say
Hello Xnun,

I am afraid you are not aware that my post was entirely sarcastic.

ugizralrite
Registered User
(11/10/03 1:12 pm)
Reply 		Re: "Brother Bimilananda saved Hidden Valley," say
xnun brings up an interesting point. Sometimes I wonder about the Bengali school of Hindu Missionaries starting from Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, and many others, and the SRF line. Even Yogananda considered the role of "World-Savior" as an occupational goal. To paraphrase from somewhere in the lessons or writings, "If you persist in this yoga someday you may become a world savior in your own right." So these missionaries have an agenda that includes among other things, working miracles. There are various implications, but my point is that the miracle-worker has a vested interest in exercising siddhis, i.e., they enjoy it, and happily it can influence others in a positive spiritual manner. I find miracles a zero sum experience since they distort reality while stimulating spiritual imagination.

etzchaim
Registered User
(11/11/03 5:37 am)
Reply 		Re: "Brother Bimilananda saved Hidden Valley," say
Miracles are just siddhis. Magic (like the Egyptians used) also comes from God. We are all able to tap into God's energy (or should I say 'Shakti').

I've revised my thoughts. Brother B. may have siddhis to change the course of the wind. I don't know for sure about that. Mabe, mabe not. What I do know is that it is truly spiritually arrogant to practice Self-Glorification instead of Self-Realization and that is the crux of the issue here. Too bad the siddhis didn't extend to the world outside. I'm still hoping that SRF, with it's 'favor from God' helps those who lost property and family members. That's where the true holiness lies.

Borg108
Registered User
(11/11/03 7:21 am)
Reply 		Re: "Brother Bimilananda saved Hidden Valley," say
I don't think a saint would pray or chant for God to save Hidden Valley or anywhere else for that matter. He/she would have faith in God's will and the divine plan. Any prayers would be for spiritual growth and understanding. Just my 2 cents worth.

etzchaim
Registered User
(11/11/03 9:38 am)
Reply 		Re: "Brother Bimilananda saved Hidden Valley," say
Borg, point taken, but I don't think that having siddhis is the true definition of a saint. The two seem separate, though sometimes related. Often, it seems, it's the non-saint who strives for the powers, though the siddhis come with the development of the saint.

I do think that if a saint, having knowledge of God's will and his or her part in it, will participate and use their abilities (chanting, praying, siddhis, whatever) to enable God's will to flow through into the earth plane. I don't think we are separate from God, so to speak, even if we are very unconscious of the connection.

This reminds me of a tornado story. The grandmother of a good friend of mine was in her house in Iowa during a tornado. She hid in the bathroom and spent the entire time praying. When it was all over, she emerged from the bathroom and found everything around her, her house, neighbors' houses had been destroyed. The only thing that was left was literally that bathroom. Even the roof was intact. According to her grandson, she was definately not a saint.

Edited by: etzchaim at: 11/11/03 10:35 am
soulcircle
Registered User
(11/11/03 9:00 pm)
Reply 		two cents
i have little to say other than

we are following the children and wife left behind by Steven Rucker the Novato fireman, and giving emotional and financial help

my daughter and I are also sending help to other victims families.

you are welcome to use your two cents in that way, and until you save humanity from horrible and untimely individual deaths, don't ask it of others

oh, we, walri stand tall among the world's notable hypocrites

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