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Opinion Eben Alexander, Harvard Neurosurgeon, Describes Heaven After Near-Death Experience

Ishna

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From Huffington Post (video also there)

A successful neurosurgeon, who has taught at Harvard Medical School and other universities, spent his life dismissing claims of heavenly out-of-body experiences and refuting such talk with scientific logic, until he himself had a near-death experience.

During that time, Dr. Eben Alexander says he saw heaven and knows the afterlife exists. Now he's telling the world in his new book, "Proof of Heaven."

Alexander's tale is the cover story on Newsweek's latest issue, which features the headline, "Heaven Is Real: A Doctor's Experience Of The Afterlife." Alexander, a Christian, claims he took the journey to the afterlife when he slipped into a coma in 2008 after contracting a very rare bacterial meningitis.

Click here to read Dr. Eben Alexander's full account via the Daily Beast.
Alexander describes the heaven he saw over the course of seven days in a coma in an article for the Daily Beast, a Newsweek affiliate:
Toward the beginning of my adventure, I was in a place of clouds. Big, puffy, pink-white ones that showed up sharply against the deep blue-black sky.Higher than the clouds—immeasurably higher—flocks of transparent, shimmering beings arced across the sky, leaving long, streamerlike lines behind them.
Birds? Angels? These words registered later, when I was writing down my recollections. But neither of these words do justice to the beings themselves, which were quite simply different from anything I have known on this planet. They were more advanced. Higher forms.
A sound, huge and booming like a glorious chant, came down from above, and I wondered if the winged beings were producing it. Again, thinking about it later, it occurred to me that the joy of these creatures, as they soared along, was such that they had to make this noise—that if the joy didn’t come out of them this way then they would simply not otherwise be able to contain it. The sound was palpable and almost material, like a rain that you can feel on your skin but doesn’t get you wet.
Alexander says that he traveled through this heaven, surrounded by "millions of butterflies," with a woman. This woman gave him three messages: “You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever," “You have nothing to fear" and “There is nothing you can do wrong.”

Eventually, the neurosurgeon awoke from the coma. He penned a book, "Proof of Heaven," describing his journey. The book is due out Oct. 23.
"Dr. Eben Alexander's near-death experience is the most astounding I have heard in more than four decades of studying this phenomenon," reads a review from Raymond Moody, M.D., Ph.D., author of "Life Beyond Life." He goes on to say that the "circumstances of [Eben's] illness and his impeccable credentials make it very hard to formulate a mundane explanation for his case."

"I stood at Eben’s bedside ready to read Last Rites," writes Rev. Michael R. Sullivan, Rector, Holy Innocent’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Ga. "With vivid detail and description, he invites you to walk with him to that place none of us has experienced yet in our humanity we know we shall one day certainly travel. Having survived a near death experience and brought his neurological expertise and background to it, we gain both the insight of the mystics in his poetic words and the reality of the physical world in his scientific explorations."

Still, some remain skeptical. Gawker published a piece comparing Alexander's story to "Experiences" essays written on Erowid.org -- a site a featuring a collection of writings from conscious drug users about their experimentations and trips.

---- end

Transparent beings are part of Islamic, not Christian, afterlife. Perhaps he was actually in Paradise?

If he'd asked the women if she was a virgin we'd have more of an idea...
 
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Luckysingh

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Quite interesting.
Everyone's account is slightly different but there are always some distinctive similarities.

Over a year ago, I too was in a coma for nearly a month.
I don't discuss it readily as I find it very sensitive and personal.

There was alot of activity with the subconscious that was perfectly well and in no pain whilst the rest of my body was shut down in pain. As they have all said, it just doesn't stop when your heart stops beating that's what I can assure you.
Most of what you read in these descriptions is a very good way of describing it.
All your questions and thoughts get answered in a blink, just like he stated and much more.- it's a real awakening.
As I said, I don't really talk about it in detail, but enough to tell you it's no joke.

I know that there is a God and I know that this life is not all what it seems.
Being a sikh is the one and only thing I know that is right for me and that it can veer me more towards the truth.
 
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Kanwaljit.Singh

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Maybe if they told that heaven is like an Amazon rain forest, he would have seen it so. I love clouds too. Am happy either way. When I die, I don't want to be afraid of death. I want to be confident God will come and meet me.
 
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My dear sister Ishna winkingmunda
Christians do believe in transparent beings. Islam and Christianity both teach belief in angels as a tenet of faith.

Here is an article explaining the (very systematic) Catholic teachings on angels (we have a whole branch of theology called "angel-ol-ogy" :interestedmunda:):


http://www.anamchara.com/2006/08/16/the-nine-heavenly-choirs/



The Nine Heavenly Choirs
The late 5th/early 6th century Syrian mystic Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (also known as Dionysius the Areopagite, or Denys the Areopagite) coined the word "hierarchy" from the Greek hieros, "holy," and -arch, "ruler." So hierarchy literally means "rule by the holy ones." Fifteen hundred years later the word has an unsavory reputation as it connotes a rigid, structured system of governance by those in ranked authority: think military hierarchy. But this is hardly what Pseudo-Dionysius meant when he used the word: he was riffing on the Neo-Platonist idea that all forms emanate from (and ultimately return to) the single, formless One. Thus the "ranks" of the hiearchy (whether celestial or earthly) simply refer to the dynamic nature of a universe where all that exists is continually in a state of flux and flow, pouring out from the Divine source, or seeking return to the same.
With this in mind, Pseudo-Dionysius’ map of the nine heavenly choirs (Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Authorities, Principalities, Archangels, Angels) represent not so much a way of speculating about how heaven is run (!), but rather considers that endless beings exist who are beyond us mere mortals in evolutionary terms. Human beings have no inherent authority over dogs or mushrooms or the amoeba, even though clearly we are beyond those fellow-beings in terms of evolution (and never mind how we feeble-minded primates think we have authority!). The Archangels and Seraphim relate to us the same way.
Why should we bother speculating on the minutiae of the celestial hierarchy? Forget about all the Protestant jibes about Catholic theologians counting the angels who dance on the head of a pin. Pseudo-Dionysius’ model of the celestial hiearchy works fine just as a metaphor, thank you very much. But a metaphor of what? Why, of our future mystical evolution, of course.

PS Heaven is not a "place" in Catholicism as it in Islam. So angels don't exist in a "place" but in a state as Thomas Aquinas explains:


"...Incorporeal things [ie spirits] are not in place after a manner known and familiar to us, in which way we say that bodies are properly in place; but they are in place after a manner befitting spiritual substances, a manner that cannot be fully manifest to us...Creatures exist in a series of grades. They participate and represent the goodness of God in various ways. In the world about us, there are three kinds of substances: mineral, vegetal, animal. These are all bodily substances. We find also in this world the human substance which is mineral, vegetal, and animal, and yet is something more; it is not all bodily; man has a spiritual soul. To round out the order of things, there must be some purely spiritual or nonbodily substances. Thus createdsubstances are: the completely bodily substance, the substance that is a compound of body and spirit, and the completely spiritual substance. Completely spiritual substances are called angels...A bodily substance is composed of two substantial elements, primal matter and substantial form. In angels there is no compounding of matter and form. Matter does not exist in angels; they are pure substantial forms. That is to say, they are pure spirits; they are spirits with no admixture of matter in them...The angels are incorruptible substances. This means that they cannot die, decay, break up, or be substantially changed. For the root of corruptibility in a substance is matter, and in the angels there is no matter..."

- Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Catholic mystic & Doctor of the Church

For more from Thomas: http://www.jesus-passion.com/angels.htm


We believe that these beings are pure spirit that is not made out of matter. We discern a hierarchy of Nine "species" one could say in these beings (known as the "Nine Choirs of angels").

They are bodiless beings who are simply concious mind and nothing else. That is how Creator intended them to be.

I know that this all might sound like bunkum but its what we believe lol icecreamkaur
 
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Ambarsaria

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Ishna ji very interesting post indeed. Vouthon ji some wonderful ideas in your post too. Luckysing ji thanks for your personal post.

I have a question as to what would be a test of legitimacy of such experiences? Let me explain,

  • If the experience is describable as a jumble of experiences one had or beliefs held to small or greater extent I would observe that,
    • It is jumbling of brain waves of known experiences or thoughts into previously unknown or experienced.
  • If someone states that they can not describe or have difficulty describing then I may deduce the following,
    • It is a mental blank
      • No spiritual consequence
    • It is not a mental blank wahmundawahkaur
      • I will for ever beg to know
      • One day be so blessed to hear
I do believe that we need to recognize that given the vastness of the universe, the surprises infinitely outnumber what we mortal with five senses can experience.
Fascinating is creation and fascinating the place where the creator may have a control room . Sorry why should there be a creator the way we try to visualize and want to experience and why should there be a control room.

Regards.

PS: A fine line between Atheism and Infinite creator camps (say Sikhism),

  • Atheism
    • There is no creator
    • You cannot show me one or prove one
  • Single Creator
    • It is one and is everywhere
    • I cannot define it or prove it
If however the creator is a concept of ultimate system (say Atheism centric) or a universal truth (one creator centric), then other than definitions Atheism and one infinite God/creator are the same thing to me.
:motherlylove::swordfight-kudiyan:swordfight:sippingcoffeemunda:
What you think!
 
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I would also compare this part of Dr Eben's NDE:

Without using any words, she spoke to me. The message went through me like a wind, and I instantly understood that it was true. I knew so in the same way that I knew that the world around us was real—was not some fantasy, passing and insubstantial.

With this:

"...Angels manifest knowledge to one another, and to this extent they "speak" to one another. But the speech of angels is not a matter of sounds or of uttered words. The speech of angels is a direct communication of knowledge from spirit to spirit...Certainly the angels "speak" to God by consulting his divine will and by contemplating with admiration his infinite excellence. Neither time nor place has any influence on angelic speech or its effect. Local distance cannot impede the communication of angels. Angelic speech is the ordering of angelic mind to angelic mind by the will of the angel speaking. Now, it belongs to the perfection of intellectual communication that it can be private; even a human being can speak to another person alone. Therefore, the angels who are superior to human beings, must be capable of communicating thoughts, angel to angel, without making their communication known to all the other angels. The scope of angelic communication depends on the will of the angel speaking; this will determines the communication for one other angel, or for several, or for all...Since angels are superior to man, they can enlighten man. They can strengthen the understanding of human beings and make men aware, in some sensible manner, of the truths to be imparted. Thus angels can act upon the human intellect...angels can exercise an indirect influence on human wills by stirring up images in the human imagination. And angels can, by their natural power, arouse sentient appetites and passions in the same way, that is, by producing images in the human imagination...Equally, an angel can work upon the human senses, ether outwardly, as, for example, by assuming some visible form, or inwardly, by disturbing the sense-functions themselves, as, for example, making a man see what is not really there...It is fitting that changeable and fallible human beings should be guarded by angels, and thus steadily moved and regulated to good. St. Jerome, in his commentary on Matthew 8:10, says "The dignity of human souls is great, for each has an angel appointed to guard it." God's providence extends, not only to mankind as a whole, but to individual human beings. Each human being has, by God's loving providence, his own guardian angel. It seems that the office of being guardians to men belongs to the lowest order of heavenly spirits, that is, the ninth order, the order of Angels. Each human being, without exception, has a guardian angel as long as he is a wayfarer, that is, during his whole earthly life...Each human being has his guardian angel from the moment of his birth..."


- Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Catholic mystic & Doctor of the Church



His experiences prior to the "orb", void and light (God) strike me as imaginery in nature, however that does not mean that they are not real because as Saint Thomas explains these angelic beings can send mental images into our head, even making us think that we are somewhere that we are not. It seems that this "female figure" (his guardian), if his experience be genuine rather than imaginery (I know that the part of his brain dealing with imagination had shut down), might have conjured up all these beautiful butterflies and images in his mind to console him.


I see significant similarities.

If any of you are interested you might want to read this by Sergius Bulgakov, a famous Orthodox (Eastern Catholic) mystic and theologian of the early 20th century who had an NDE in which he encountered a presence:

Jacob's Ladder: On Angels: Sergius Bulgakov,Thomas Allan Smith: 9780802865168: Amazon.com: Books

Might be a good compare/contrast.
 
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Luckysingh

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There is a lot of jumbled thoughts as you state Ambarsaria ji, no doubt.
But what is interesting is the similarities you hear from different people.

The accounts vary in the detail but there is often a recollection of floating and hovering above your physical self. This occurs when the body ceases to be functioning.
Later there is the similarity of heading towards a light and communicating.

Is it just the sub-conscious mind playing tricks or is it real ?

It takes a while to map it all out and make some sense out of it
 

Ishna

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Read up on Hypnagogia and learn about the strange things the mind does when transitioning from waking to sleep. The mind produces some pretty unusual but recurring things throughout populations. Then consider dreams themselves and how culturally limited they can be.

The evidence so far seems to suggest that these experiences are probably products of the mind.
 

Ambarsaria

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Luckysingh ji absolutely wonderful post. I have a comment.
But what is interesting is the similarities you hear from different people.

The accounts vary in the detail but there is often a recollection of floating and hovering above your physical self. This occurs when the body ceases to be functioning.
Later there is the similarity of heading towards a light and communicating.

Is it just the sub-conscious mind playing tricks or is it real ?

It takes a while to map it all out and make some sense out of it
Luckysingh ji I have almost no doubt in my mind that there is a very unique and rarely discovered state of mind that is sub-conscious or even unconscious. Science continues to put boundaries on such subjects only to dismantle or erase the boundaries and move further in ever so often.

Are such experiences intra-brain or extra body, I would not know! I have no idea how our senses react in such states. Just because they don't appear to the outside world to be reacting in their normal fashion, does not imply that they are not working in a different mode in such situations. If such is the case then the eyes in sub-conscious, the ears in sub conscious, etc., may experience that may have little relationship to how these work while one is conscious. The eyes may see the unseen, the ears may hear the unheard, as such have detuned from the usual mode. My brother if that happens to be the case, life and us and how such experiences are described takes on a whole new fascinating meaning and scope.

Incredibly exciting and fascinating subject.

Regards.
 
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Luckysingh

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Read up on Hypnagogia and learn about the strange things the mind does when transitioning from waking to sleep. The mind produces some pretty unusual but recurring things throughout populations. Then consider dreams themselves and how culturally limited they can be.

The evidence so far seems to suggest that these experiences are probably products of the mind.

I'm glad you are aware of this because I only learned and looked into this kind of information after waking up from my coma.
What was fascinating and got me interested in researching was the fact that the mind is so so powerful than we actually think.
I mean it is because of its super power that we have huge hurdles of trying to conquer our 5 thieves.
The Gurbani repeatedly mentions control of our minds, which is not easy.

We have the initial burden of not even knowing what it is actually capable of, because we have got so accustomed to associating it with our brain.
We seem to lock it's capabilities to what our brain tells us !!!
The only time that you can ''free'' the mind totally, so that it decides what it is doing and going to do is when we can dissociate completely from the brain.
-This happens when the brain neurons stop firing and it ceases to function ie. when physically dead.
To be able to just shut your brain off with self effort is not at all possible, but if we could then we would understand the conscious and subconscious much better.


I am aware of waking whilst asleep, ie astral projection with sleep paralysis etc.. But none of these can really put any boundaries on the mind's capabilities !!!
 

BhagatSingh

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Ishna ji,
The evidence so far seems to suggest that these experiences are probably products of the mind.
All experiences are the product of a mind. There is no experience outside of it.


Lucky Singh ji,
To be able to just shut your brain off with self effort is not at all possible, but if we could then we would understand the conscious and subconscious much better.
Apparently this can be done. There are stories in India of Sidhas capable of achieving this. Either they know when they are going to die, or they can do it at will.

I am really interested in Astral travel as there are Sakhis of Guru Nanak and others who travelled to distant stars and met other spiritual people on them.

There is no experience without senses, outside of the mind. Consciousness if it is going to leave the body, would have no way of experiencing, that is, there will be no images, no sounds, no feeling, etc. If there is anyway that can occur it must be an inner knowing. Like how all one's questions get answered. There is hardly a trace of experience in it, it is just an inner knowing (though some people have darshans). With astral projection, I think it maybe similar, one day you wake up (read: come back from astral travel) and JUST know that you met say Guru Nanak on Pluto.

But how does one verify this? Guru Nanak is not physically present on Pluto. Only a bodiless consciousness has had this "experience" of another bodiless consciousness. How to describe it?
 

Luckysingh

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Absolutely spot on Bhagatji.
People that have had darshans usually speak of a message given or spoken to them.
They are almost always certain that it wasn't just a dream because the clarity of the matter is always so intense. It is usually so much clearer than normal as they sense and feel everything that is around them more intensly than normal.
However, in a dream state, everything is not always so clear, say if you are having darshan in a dream then you won't remember or notice the background noises, the numbers of flies or insects in the air...etc.., whereas in the astral plane they remember the whole feeling.

To prove such matters can be difficult, as one starts to doubt themselves.
However the ones with darshan are usually able to describe and recall it very well in clear detail.
 

BhagatSingh

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When the brain is deprived of oxygen for a short period of time ,it acts in strange ways.

The most common feeling reported is that of floating through a dark, long tunnel.:grinning::grinning::grinning::grinning::grinning:
Jasbir kaleka ji,
That feeling also occurs when the mind shuts off in meditation, when oxygen is plentiful.

The funny thing is, that it feels more real than anything else. And this is what I find very intriguing. The same mental faculties that tell me the water bottle sitting before me is real, tell me that feeling is more real than the bottle. It is strange indeed, but it is not strange like a dream, where one wakes up and realizes oh that was just a dream. This is the opposite.
 

Luckysingh

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Bhagat ji, I think you have grapsed this idea quite well.

We realise that the conscious or subconscious is active on it's own accord when disassociated from the brain.
However, the issue that everyone including scientists find difficult to grasp, is the actual ''Memory''

You see, when conscious goes to play or walkies, disassociating itself from the body, which occurs when brain blood supply begins to stop or when hearts and lungs stop. Then the said person can actually remember going on such walkies because the 'memory' is in the brain!

Sounds pretty obvious, I know!!!!
But, it's only because of the memory associated with the brain that the person can actually remember the disassociation.
- You follow me ?

I'll be a little more clear, - You see, many of the beings that have NDE's have usually been clinically dead for some seconds or several minutes.
When they get ressucitated or 'pop' back to life, then they can recall the event if and ONLY if, there is NO permanent brain damage or injury.
-)Because there are also numerous cases of beings that have clinical death so to speak, but they don't recall any NDE or activity.-
- These people have usually suffered some form of severe head trauma, brain injury or other accident.
In severe trauma, quite often the body and brain will lose the memory of the horrific trauma as a natural protective mechanism. Most survivors of horrific crashes etc.cannot normally remember the moments before or after the event for this very reason.
-However, these are also the beings that cannot recall any conscious activity.

So, although we can deduce that the conscious is very much alive and can be in a very active mode when brain may begin to shut down with the human body, we can also gather that the activity itself is only 'remembered' or recalled if there is a 'memory' in the brain !!
- So, it still needs the brain to be able to function memory access to be able to tell the story !!
-

A little confusing as the conscious needs no brain to give you the experience at first, but when it goes back then it needs the brain to recall the experience.

It is a very interesting matter indeed. :interestedsingh:
 

BhagatSingh

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Lucky Singh ji,
I think you nailed the problem with these experiences and the memory of them, when we try to analyze them scientifically! This problem also exists with reincarnation! Those who remember things from past life how do they remember?
I once put it like so:
In a nutshell, memory is the result of the complex networks that are formed (strengthened) by the neurons (brain cells) as a result of some stimulation. When the egg is fertilized in the mother, it's just one cell that hasn't even specialized yet. At this point no brain cells exist, and hence no networks for storing info. So what are you going to have memories of, when the cells that store, retain (and recall) memories for you aren't there?
http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/new-to-sikhism/28918-concept-of-reincarnation.html#post118783

But apparently there is some evidence of memory that sort of hangs around with the soul and upon birth manifests itself in the brain. And this "memory" is enough to influence even the morphology of the organism in the next birth! WOW! Check it out, Dr Ian Stevenson's research: http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/super...evidence-boy-was-wwii-pilot-2.html#post172007

Stuart Hameroff has been researching this for the past 35 years. He tries to explain this "memory" using quantum physics. the understanding of biology when quantum physics is taken in to account is called quantum biology, which had been only studied in terms of Newtonian physics before.

This takes us out of materialist science and into the realm of Eastern philosophy. Very interesting to see indeed. Hopefully something solid comes out of this in our life times.
 

Luckysingh

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That's funny you mention that, as I had previously thought about the reincarnation applications possible!
There must be some form or kind of memory as mentioned that is in line with the conscious or soul, but like I say this seems to have an influence from the brain memory to an extent.
When the conscious is at large or in full action, then it is ALL in the presence as there is no factor of time, or past, because of no brain memory. However, the conscious may not be living by the time that we know of but it is much more AWARE.
The awareness overides any need for memory, because when you are so so aware of everything in the presence, then you don't need brain memory to help explain anything.

Many people with NDE's mention this huge awareness of knowing so much without having to think or use brain memory. They even know all the thoughts that can be present around them, it is in a way like knowing what the creator knows, to be able to feel all the other conscious's from different beings.

All our present living experiences are conditioned by memory. For every living moment that we experience, this very experience is present because of the way our memories conditon us.
This also involves the past which is dependent on time, but the conscious is just always in the now, but it is aware of everything now, and before.
 

Ambarsaria

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Luckysingh ji thanks for your post. I have one observation.
.... as I had previously thought about the reincarnation applications possible!

There must be some form or kind of memory as mentioned that is in line with the conscious or soul, but like I say this seems to have an influence from the brain memory to an extent.
Our minds are masterful clowns. They make us ignore realities and start looking at non-real to make it look real.

It is incredible how much we ignore the knowledge of what makes us in our discussions. Every flower on a plant ever so similar, every heart beating so similarly, everybody at about the same temperature, everyone with about same BP. Why is that? Is this re-incarnation or simply power of the creator to so standardize on similar attributes that allowed the survival of the fittest species in given space and application on earth (
as per Mr. Darwin).

There are common Gene Pools that go on for generations without end. Is there real probability that someday someone will be born like a person from way back. I believe there is. Is there a possibility that someone will walk, talk and think like someone before if environment surrounding them is similar. Of course there is.

Guess what? I am not all knowing but a person on the street seeing the end result will call it re-incarnation. Is it re-incarnation or simply a way to address our ignorance of the creator/creation's ways. Plenty of money to be made too and it was being made when Guru ji were around and still is being made including from many of us Sikhs when we lose messages and wisdom espoused in our teacher, SGGS.

Just some thoughts.

Reagrds.
 

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