Quote (EndlessSky @ 5 Apr 2024 17:59)
Wow, you really have gone full-monk. Sounds like bhakti yoga.
Humility is definitely a good thing in this world.
I did 3 years out of the 10 required to become a monk in the Ramakrishna Math Mission.
Karma yoga was my cup of tea. I didn't get as much from the daily rituals and scripture itself.
I liked to volunteer and do the things no one wanted to do. Mop floors. Clean restrooms. Clean rooms guests stayed in. Maintain the 3 properties under the order.
I went from cutting grass making cash to landscaping around temples and getting the respect of other devotees. I was already financially "free" and so I wanted a motivation that wasn't "money".
Chanting the name of God(the one I was given when I was initiated) until I thought of nothing else and my work became 2nd nature.
I didn't become a monk because I wasn't the type to tell random people who walked in the temple, "This is the bees knees!" "This is the way".
Most Vedantist get to know God and then you are literally so content there's nothing left to do. There's nothing left to say.
I still do the same things I've always done at the temple. Namely things that older people can't physically do or things that most "Rich/Scholarly" Hindus think is "below them".
I just have a better understanding of things and come from a place of love and not greed.
I was good but Vedanta made me better. Not perfect.
That's why I think religion/philosophy can be a good thing.