Good life people next to your posts

[Andy Hamilton]

Just to let all the new members know the person from the good life next to each of your posts will increase with the number of posts that you make.

At first you will start off with Margo as she is the least self sufficient of the main characters in the Good Life.

Next is Jerry her husband as he at least can look after himself a bit, but no way is he self sufficient.

The third is Tom Good, he tries his best but really he does get things wrong time after time.

The top accolade is Barbara good, I don't know if you have noticed but she always just gets on with it. Often seen sitting there pickling or whatever. I think tom would go to bits without her.

I was also wondering if the pictures were a bit big? A few of you have your own avatars that are rather dwarfed by the good life pics. Shall I make them smaller?

[judyofthewoods]

Here an answer about the size question, yes, a it big, means having to often scroll horizontally. How many barbara credits is a post worth?

[Andy Hamilton]

Will do a bit of tinkering in the morning and get them a bit smaller me thinks.

it goes under 25 posts margo
25-50 Jerry
50-100 Tom and 100 + Barbara

[jema]

I also think thet are a bit on the large size. Perhaps not in need of a drastic reduction though, as they do add an individual personallity to the forums, and that is a good thing.

jema

[Andy Hamilton]

Ok a bit smaller now hows that?

[jema]

Much better, incidently yesterday I was browing the forum and my daughter looked over my should and commented on how big the Avatars were.

jema

[diver]

what's an avatar and how do you do them ?...I like the good life pics as they are

[Andy Hamilton]

To anwser your quwston Diver an avatar is the little picture next to your post, everyone apart site admin get a good life picture next to them. They are a bit smaller than they were and i think are a more managable size now.

To get your own pic as well as the good life one you have to go into your profile and either link to a photo file that is already on the internet or up load one to your profile. People have had a little trouble with uploading one but have a go if you have any problems please pm me.

[angelbabe]

this is a free photo hosting site- a great place to turn your photos and pictures in to html code so you can post them on here!

http://photobucket.com/

[angelbabe]

what's an avatar

i thought an avatar was "an embodiment, a bodily manifestation of the Divine."
or Leo in Charmed??

The Sanskrit word Avatara means "the descent of God" or simply "incarnation." Here is the definition based on India's ancient Vedas, the oldest and most comprehensive spiritual literature known to man:


The Avatara, or incarnation of Godhead,
descends from the kingdom of God for [creating
and maintaining the] material manifestation.
And the particular form of the Personality of
Godhead who so descends is called an
incarnation, or Avatara. Such incarnations are
situated in the spiritual world, the kingdom of
God. When They descend to the material
creation, They assume the name Avatara.
( Chaitanya-caritamrita 2.20.263 -264)

An Avatara is a personal form of the Supreme Being and innumerable such divine forms reside in an eternal spiritual realm. When a personal form of God descends from that higher dimensional realm to the material world, He (or She) is known as an incarnation, or Avatara.

By referring to the form of God as an "incarnation," one invokes a Western conception describing a physical symbol which represents or embodies an abstraction. In fact, the Latin root carnis means "flesh." However, in this context, this may be somewhat misleading, since the divine forms of God do not "become flesh" or "take on a material body." An ordinary soul may take on a gross material body, but in the case of God, His 'soul' and His 'body' refer to the same spiritual essence.

In fact, the Avataras exhibit God's essential features: They are eternally existent and free from the laws of the matter, time and space. Although They have no obligation to come into contact with the material energy, the Avataras descend into this world for our own protection, instruction and redemption. Although They may potray human weaknesses such as grief and anger, They are never to be considered ordinary people. Human beings act out of earthly desire, fear and anger. The Avatar, however, acts out of His own blissfully divine nature performing exhuberant pastimes for the pleasure of His pure devotees.

God is one, yet He manifests Himself in innumerable forms within this world. There is the Darling Krishna Avatar whose beauty enchants the hearts of all; and the awesome Narasimha (the Man- Lion Avatar) who outwitted an ingenious demonic tyrant; and the regal form of Lord Rama Avatar whose example of truth and virtue is emulated even today. Each and every one of those forms has a particular mission; each Avatar being a unique revelation of the Absolute Truth.

Although the Avatars appear in different forms at different times, places and circumstances, They are the Selfsame Supreme Lord and Their purpose is one: to reveal the Absolute Truth in this world and remind its inhabitants of their eternal lives of blissful service to God in their original homeland, the spiritual world. This divine purpose is eloquently expressed by Lord Krsna in the world-famous Bhagavad-gita (4.7-8):


Whenever there is a decline in religious practice
and a predominant rise of irreligion--at that
time I descend Myself. To deliver the pious and
to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to
establish the principles of religion, I Myself
appear, millennium after millennium.

The ultimate mission of incarnations is to arouse love of God everywhere.

In fact, a very systematic analysis of the Avatars based on thse Vedic texts was expounded in the early sixteenth century by the devotional saint Shri Chaitanya, Himself an Avatara. In 1528, He went to Benares, a renowned academic center in India, and met His disciple Sanatana Goswami. During the meeting, He gave an elaborate description of the Avatars. How exactly does God descend? Who is a genuine incarnation? Can anyone become an Avatara? How can one experience the Avataras? What is the Absolute Truth beyond all Avataras? And from Lord Chaitanya's answers emerges an in-depth look into the most fascinating phenomena of all--the descent of the Avatar.

Explore the Philosophy of the Avatars at Avatara.Org and any or all of the following Vedic Classics of India:
Bhagavad-Gita As It Is: The Song of God
http://www.webcom.com/ara/col/books/BG/gita/

Shrimad Bhagavatam: The Beautiful Book of God (Lord Krishna)
http://www.webcom.com/ara/col/books/CLAS/bhag/

Chaitanya-charitamrta: The Adventures of the Golden Avatar
http://www.webcom.com/ara/col/books/CLAS/

[diver]

I'm a bit slow and don't watch telly ...I couldn't understand why so many different people had the same pic....and why someone else's picture kept coming up everytime I posted anything...sorry, I did say I'm slow...a diver you see....but I've got the picture now ( so to speak! )

[Wombat]

Diver,

Don't be so down on yourself!

Nev

[Mad Dad]

Thanks for the info. I was also a bit confused

[Andy Hamilton]

Most people often are, but it seems to be a quirk of the site that people like

[The Chili Monster]

Hooray!
I've just changed from Penelope keith into Paul Eddington!