Grigory Rasputin - Light or Dark? Part III (A)

Very often, Grigory Rasputin was accused of drunkenness, debauchery, and even venality.  

To get to the bottom of the truth, we must understand why alcohol, sex, and money exist in the human world.

Grigory Rasputin 1909

satan's tools

We must recognize that alcohol, sex, money, and so on are neither values ​​nor qualities of Darkness, but effective tools of Satan to tempt and test the human soul.

This main goal of Satan is to make a person addicted, and in the long run - to gain complete control over him.

negative karma

At best, the person will acquire negative karma, and retribution will prolong his existence in the physical world; in the worst case, his soul will be decoded¹ . There is an intermediate option - the person will be dragged into the Dark System with their CEO Satan.

Let's take a closer look at alcohol, sex, money closer to Grigory.

Alcohol

Grigory's favorite alcoholic drink was Madeira with a strength of 18–20%, which is two times lower than standard Russian vodka. 

Since Rasputin was a peasant from a Siberian village, where the morning begins with a large glass of vodka, Madeira was for him a secular drink.

actors and doubles

Grigory's enemies tried their best to denigrate him and compromise him in front of the tsar’s family. Some representatives of high society hired actors and doubles for the role of the drunken Grigory. 

false admirers

Matryona Rasputina wrote that her father loved music and dancing, was an inquisitive person and was often molested by false admirers.

By slipping the drug into his drink, they created an environment with naked women, and photographed Grigory, in order to blackmail and manipulate him. One of the cases is described in Maria Rasputina's book "Rasputin. Why?"

WWI

It must also be understood that from the beginning of the mobilization of the Russian army for the First World War  (17th of July 1914) until his death ( 30th of December 1916), Grigory was in constant tension. His mission to influence the tsar Nikolai so that he would not enter the war failed. 

At the same time, the Russian tsar sincerely considered himself the keeper of the good name of the Romanov dynasty and the savior of the Russian Empire and did not want to hear about any peace. Both Nicholas and Alexandra lost interest in Grigory. The number of his fans and students also decreased. 

clairvoyance

It must be understood that, as a clairvoyant, Grigory saw the karmic projections of fate on himself, and on the royal family, and on the Russian people, and on the country, and this future terrified him. 

Such stress had to be extinguished somehow, but there was not much choice.

Sexual debauchery

Hieromonk Iliodor (S. Trufanov)² was one of the main figures in slandering Grigory and accusing him of debauchery.  Driven by pride and envy of Grigory's fame and success, Iliodor, who had much less energy and spiritual capabilities, came up with various absurdities, including Grigory's sexual relationship with the tsarina.

Find more about Iliodor's slandering in the screenplay The Tsar's choice.

However, it is documented that Grigory was faithful to his family with three children all his life. 

Grigory Rasputin with his children

Arriving in St. Petersburg in 1903, he lived first in a monastery, then with his admirers, and only ten years later he moved into his own apartment. 

family 

While still living in someone else's apartment, he brought his daughters to St. Petersburg - Matryona first, and then Varvara. His wife refused to leave the farm and move to the city, visiting them once a year. 

At some point, Grigory's wife Praskovya Fedorovna underwent a total hysterectomy and she told her husband that she was ready for a divorce, but Grigory refused.

Grigory with his wife and daughter

no female victims

When political power came to Vladimir Lenin, the Bolsheviks began to look for materials to denigrate the tsar's family through its inner circle. 

They announced they were looking for Rasputin's female victims, but found none. Also, there was not a single case of pregnancy from Grigory. The close friends to tsar's family Anna Vyrubova/Taneeva, who was rumored to be Grigory's mistress, was, in fact, a virgin, as confirmed by several gynecologists.

surname

The most incredible rumors about Grigory spread not only in Russia, but also abroad and grew to unprecedented proportions. For example, in one of the English-language sources was said that Grigory's real surname was Novy³, but among the people, Grigory received the nickname Rasputin for debauchery.

As the matter of fact, the word Rasputin with the root «put'» has several meanings in the Russian language: 1. Rasputitsa = bad road;  2. Rasput’ye = crossroad;  3. Rasputnik = libertine.  The correct metaphysical meaning of the surname Grigory belongs to the second meaning, that is, the crossroads, hinting at the Spiritual Choice of the Russian Tsar.

Find an alternate reality for Russia's future in 2021 in the screenplay The Tsar's Choice.

 love

Rasputin spoke of love as the highest Christian virtue, but his bright intention was conveniently turned by his enemies into carnal "love" understandable to everyone.

Notes

¹  Soul decoding is a spiritual death of a soul.

² Trufanov ended up abandoning faith and God, planning terrorist attacks against the existing government, organizing several assassination attempts on Grigory, and offering his services to the Bolsheviks.

³ "Novy" (new) was the first word of the little Tsarevich Alexei when he first saw Grigory. Since the name and surname Grigory Rasputin were widespread in Russia, it was decided to add the second surname "Novy" to the existing surname Rasputin. Since then, Grigory began to sign with a double surname: Rasputin-Novy. 

Note that two-word surnames with a hyphen were allowed only to nobles, and Grigory was a peasant, but by order of the tsar, he was given such a surname.

Part III (B) will be released soon.

Is Vipassana meditation a fast track to liberation?* Part II

Side effects
As anything in this non perfect world, there can be negative side effects of the Vipassana meditation technique too.
During the meditation, a Vipassana student receives fine (pleasant) or rough (disgust) sensations of the body. His/her main task is to stay indifferent to them. Just as a person sitting on the riverbank observes the river’s flow, this is the same way the practitioner of Vipassana should observe the flow of sensations of his body without any reaction to them, whatever they bring with — pleasure or disgust.

To stay indifferent to the body’s sensations is the biggest challenge for students, and, unfortunately, some people are becoming addicted to the sensations. If the sensation of the body is pleasant, they enjoy it. If the sensation is rough, they hate it. Coming back to the Vipassana courses to enjoy those sensations, the students receive extra negative karma, which course a delay of liberation.

Organization of the training

While there may be a lack of organizing and planning skills generally in India, the Vipassana course is organized very well.

There are ten full days in the training. You will come on the first day or “zero day” for registration, introduction lecture, and other practical things. One of those practical things is delivering your valuables and all communication means to storage.

There is a wake-up ring at 4 a.m. with a following ring of a servant at 04:25 a.m. The training starts at 4:30 a.m. sharp in the main meditation hall.

This is the most intensive course that I have ever attended. A training session lasts 12 hours per day. Ten hours is dedicated to meditation and two hours for a lecture. You will have a chance to ask questions from a teacher or an assistant teacher during lunch and before sleep. You will have time for a nap after a breakfast and a lunch break. There are also additional five-minute breaks available after each one-hour meditation. The ring for a sleep is at 9:30 p.m., and lights must be switched off.

Food is provided three times per day. It’s purely vegetarian, and legumes are served at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Animal protein is available only in yogurt and hot milk with butter.

You can get drinking water from the big water tanks installed to the roof, however, the taste of that water is not the same as we are used to. Bottled water is available at your request, and you can pay for that at the end of the course.

Accommodations

The Vipassana retreat territory is separated in two main areas — one part with housing for women, and another part for men. The canteen has the same principle — men and women have meals in separate rooms.

You will be given a private room or a room with a roommate. The room is humble with a little window, two simple beds, and bathroom with toilet and a limited shower. There is no air conditioning, but a mechanical fan provides an air circulation. You have to have your own lock for the door of your room.

Language

The course is available in English and Hindu. However, even if you know English very well, some words of the English vocabulary that are used in the Vipassana session might be unknown to you, and a misunderstanding of a word might lead to the collapse of understanding the concept of the whole lecture.

Many meditation centers offer language translation devices that are easy to use. Ask an administrator of the meditation center where you are planning to attend if they have an audio device in your native language.

  

*Note:  This article is based on my personal experience and thoughts after my first 10-day meditation course of Vipassana, and is not presented to be an absolute truth. – Jacklyn A. Lo, author of Redemption novel.

Next article will tell about terms and conditions on the Vipassana retreat, costs of the training, some constrains and preparation for the meditation.