M and L (above, far left) attended a cookery class with me a year or so ago, and when their 30th Wedding Anniversary came around they decided they'd invite me to their home in Perth's Hamilton Hill to cater for the event. On Sunday, despite the blisteringly hot conditions outside - well over 40 degrees celcius - the 24 guests had a near riotous time in the kitchen.

It was a surprise event for the guests, who just expected lunch. They hadn't counted on having to cook it themselves.

Our menu was specially selected for the day:

The Vegetarian Feast

BBQ Asparagus with Balsamic-scented Semi-dried Tomato & Macadamia Chutney, and Shaved Grana Padano

Hot ‘n’ Bitey Deep South Cheddar & Jalapeno Chili Biscuits

Sicilian Eggplant Appetiser (Caponata) with Toasted Ciabatta Bread

Orange, Currant and Pecan-studded Canadian Wild Rice & Basmati Pilaf

Lemon-infused Dubai-style Salad of Fresh Dates, Toasted Turkish Bread, Hazelnuts, Bitter Greens, Fresh Herbs & Feta

Crispy Battered Fillets of Fresh Panir Cheese (Panir Pakoras)

Hot & Sweet Apple Chutney

Oven Roasted Potatoes, Cauliflower & Stir-fried Snow Peas with Cashews

North Indian Puffed Fried Breads (Poories)

Indonesian Fruit Skewers with Hot, Sour and Sweet Peanut, Lime & Tamarind Dipping Sauce (Rujak Manis)

Creamy Cardamom-infused Condensed Yogurt Dessert with Pistachios and Saffron Syrup (Shrikhand)

Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. I was laughing so much my hands were shaking. Hence the blurry picture.

Natalie Degiorgio from Preston, Victoria asks: "Hi Kurma, wondering if any of your books have ben translated into Italian?"

My reply: "Yes Natalie. My first cookbook, 'Great Vegetarian Dishes', was translated and published in Italy in 1996, and entitled 'Alta Cucina Vegetariana Da Tutto Il Mondo.

Here's a self explanatory memo I received from Gopala Guru on Saturday night. I tried to return a temple vehicle and couldn't get in the back gate. There is 24 hour free parking in Boyd St over Page St so no one need worry about parking tickets.

I would like to bring up a concern that needs to be addressed to avoid further inconveniences for devotees.

We are having a lot of congestion in the temple car park at the moment, especially in the weekends.  To solve this problem we are going to re-introduce parking restrictions on the car park which were in place a few years ago.

I would like to mention that the temple car park is actually meant to be used by temple vehicles and devotees engaged in full time service; there is a sign above the rubbish bins that states this.  We have been very lenient on this point over the past few years but now the situation is starting to cause a lot of inconvenience for the full time staff at the temple.

There are so many members doing service that our car park cannot accommodate for everyone, so to be fair on everyone we will only allow temple cars to park in the temple car park. There is free car parking on Boyd Street in certain areas to accommodate everyone else's vehicles.

One of the reasons why security has been stepped up in temples in India...

Imran has also disclosed that he along with Fahad had visited ISKCON in Bangalore, Rajarajeshwari temple, Shiva Temple on Airport Road under the guise of devotees and had prepared a blueprint of those buildings.

The terrorists had also visited the L-e-T's hit lists -- ISKCON, Dharmasthala, Udupi, Kollur and Chamundi Hill-- several times to decide a suitable time for the attack.

Srimad Bhagavatam 10.47.50 - Adjusting our life to remember Krishna always.

"We all know that there is a wide range of potential adoptive parents out there, including lesbians and gay men who can provide a loving home for children."

This is embarrassing. Makes me want to get out of the material world in a hurry though.

by Bala Tattva das

There is a lot more to the story of the arrival of Sri Govardhan Sila than recounted in the brief paragraphs of the original article. At one point, Sankirtana Das and Gopisa Das did a two man play(Sankirtana taking the part of Radhanath Maharaj, and Gopisa-and-pillow taking the part of Mahabuddhi) depicting the efforts and adventures Radhanath Swami and Mahabuddhi Das went through to bring Sri Govardhana to New Vrindavan.

I would suggest either or both Gopisa and Sankirtana be asked for more of the extraordinarily amusing and relishable details of their quest. The last but not least of which was on their arrival in the States the challenge and apprehension they faced at the Customs Counter and how Radhanath Maharaj dealt with it.

Also, for a considerable time, Sri Govardhana Sila remained at Kirtanananda’s home being cared for there before taking His place at the lotus feet of Sri Gopal Nathaji.

Anticipating Sri Govardhana’s arrival two of the women who served part-time in the jewelery department (run by Isani at the time) put their efforts together to construct a useable ornate bed for Govardhana to use on the altar overnight. During Govardhana’s stay at Kirtanananda’s home, it doubled as Govardhana’s throne as well. The last I knew, that bed is still being used in the current temple.

All of Dr. Christopher formula capsules are 40% off until the end of February.

Rakesh Uberoi from New Delhi writes:

During the Bhagavad-gita marathon last December, the managing director and technical director of a large company visited ISKCON's Sri Sri Radha-Parthasarathi Temple in New Delhi, where they met His Holiness Gopal Krishna Maharaja. From this meeting they instantly got faith in the Hare Krishna movement. So we approached them and said that Maharaja and Srila Prabhupada would be very pleased if they participated in the marathon. They quickly ordered 18,000 Bhagavat-gitas from ISKCON.

All glories to ISKCON's sankirtana devotees!

Sex is the overwhelming obsession of modern society. Sexual promiscuity is so unrelentingly stressed that anyone who does not appear to the highly interested in it is generally considered to be a crank. Social pressure induces people to try to maintain juvenile lustiness long after the sensual high of youth has subsided.

At one meeting I was objecting about some of our leaders being negative. One of the leaders challenged: "Why are you so negative about our being negative?" Everyone laughed and I accepted the defeat. I have often observed the same pattern: we try to correct someone by doing the same thing to him that he did to others.

We held our first retreat this past long weekend. It was an unqualified success. In a number of senses, including the sense that it was a success and we are unqualified. I'm always amazed to see how Krishna empowers His devotees.

We had 22 guests and 11 staff members. The facility was perfect. Individual rooms, a full commercial vegetarian kitchen with designated separate sinks for suci and muci dishes, a large hall with a small raised platform for the teacher or speaker and a 400W PA with wireless mics.

These photos are from the Springbrook website. I'll hit up Zoe and Bhakti in the next day or two to get you some photos from our actual retreat, so check back (I'll also post a notice that it's been updated).

Springbrook Retreat Centre

Springbrook, an hour's drive from the Brisbane CBD, is situated in a national park 600 metres above sea level and is an average of 6 degrees cooler than Brisbane. It was pleasant - not the muggy tropical hell that Brisbane is during summer, but cool while comfortable enough to roll around in shorts and tshirt.

Opening

On the first night we all sat in a circle and introduced ourselves, and spoke a little about why we came. Then we played a game where everyone walks around, and then when the music stops they have to form into groups of however many they are instructed - groups of three, groups of four, even groups of 11. After a few rounds they understand the concept, and then we started the elimination rounds. It generated a lot of energy. People were laughing like anything. After playing this for some time and getting down to the last three people, we had everyone get into groups of five, and then they had 8 minutes to discover three things that they all had in common. Then they elected a spokesperson and we went around the room to hear from each of the six groups what they had. There were some interesting ones, like: "None of us were born in Australia", or "we've all owned dogs before".

Then we had everyone mill about while the music played, then form into groups of five again, and we repeated the process.

This way people got to interact with many different people and gain a sense of each other. Then we wrapped up and headed to the dining room for dinner.

Dining

The dining room facility was great. It was a combination dining room / lounge. It had all plates, cups, glasses, and cutlery, and had two clay water filters and a huge urn of hot water and facilities to make herbal tea. People would hang out in this area when they had free time, reading books (a number who didn't have them already took away sets of books), and chatting.

Dining room

Dining room

Dining room

Dining room

After dinner we returned to the hall and did kirtan for an hour or so, culiminating in dancing energetically.

Day Two

The next day we kicked off at 6am with a meditation. The staff were in the hall chanting japa earlier, and we woke the guests with bells and a conch at 5:30 am. Some guests were already up walking about in nature. At 6 am Prem Yogi lead sun salutes to help everyone wake up, and then we did pranayama until 7 am. From 7 am to 9 am Prem Yogi lead everyone in asana practice and then we had breakfast.

Bush walking

After breakfast we assembled in the carpark and drove to a nearby national park (10 minutes drive), where we did a two hour walk to the bottom of a waterfall and back. Then we returned to the retreat for lunch. After lunch I discovered a leech on my leg, which was a source of some entertainment. I adopted the mood of Vasudeva Datta and resisted the advice to pull it off, and waited for it to drop off. After some time we used some smoke from incense to encourage him to go on his way. (There are photos, and video footage).

Another 3 hour Yoga Class

In the afternoon there was another yoga class from 3pm to 6pm, lead by Param Satya. I couldn't make - I was falling asleep in the postures. I had to do a 36 hour day at work in order to clear the deck for the long weekend, so I went into it a little exhausted. The guests did okay though. There was a total of nine hours of yoga classes over three days. I took some rest, and then joined everyone for dinner at 6:30 pm.

Seminar: Dare to be Different

At 7:30pm I gave a seminar where I cast the vision of what we are doing at Atma Yoga. I started by explaining that in talking to guests at Atma I get the feeling that people are concerned about what is going on in the world - in fact, we all have the feeling that the world is increasingly becoming "not the kind of world that we want to live in" - but we also feel ourselves to be powerless to do anything about it. I drew a circle to represent our circle of concern - the environment, global warming, increasing conflict, etc.. and then a little stick figure to represent us. Our circle of influence is so small that we're not even in it - our job, our landlord, our relationships, even our habits and addictions, are to a lesser or greater degree out of our control, what to speak of the bigger issues in life. The result is that we feel helpless and so we end up just going along with the flow, even though we are not happy doing it, or about where it's all going.

Seminar

It's unfortunate that we give up when we realize how small our circle of influence is, because that's where our power lies - in self-transformation. As Gandhi said, "we must become the change we wish to see in the world". In order to be able to do something different we need access to different knowledge. Everyone is doing the best they know how, but as Einstein said, "a problem cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness that created it". So what we are about at Atma is empowering people to make the change by becoming the change, by giving them knowledge.

So then I introduced the three modes of material nature from the Bhagavad-gita and explained a little about their application, and then explained that this was the understanding that we use to run Atma. "Many of you have helped wash dishes in the kitchen and you're wondering why there are three sinks for plates, pots, and washing your hand and mouth. This is why..." Then I introduced the six week seminar that starts next week: "Bhagavad-gita in practice: The Three Modes of Material Nature".

Seminar

People liked it. Before it started they weren't sure what it would be about, and were a little uneasy, but at the end of the retreat many people shared that it had really resonated with them.

Kitchen

Singing Workshop

Then we had a singing workshop in the main hall. Rasika Seva asked how many people thought that they couldn't sing. Then she had everyone think back to when they were a child and could sing, and what event occurred that stopped them from having the confidence that they could sing. She then encouraged them to let go of that, forgive anyone who had shut them down, and affirm to themselves that they could sing.

Rasika Seva lead a singing workshop

Kirtan

Kirtan

Over half an hour she continued to encourage them and introduce small elements of singing together. After 30 minutes everyone in the room was singing enthusiastically and confidently. Then we did kirtan for an hour, ending up again with enthusiastic dancing.

Day Three

The next morning at 6 am Zoe lead an hour of meditation and had everyone draw a mandala using colored pencils.

Mandalas

Mandalas

From 7am - 9am we did the Astanga primary series, lead by Zoe, then had breakfast. After breakfast Ryan taught a Tai Chi class. I didn't make that, but there was a lot of laughter.

Then we had lunch. It was amazing, with Thai Green Curry and Campak Gaur's sugar free, vegan date and berry ice cream.

Campak Gaur devi dasi

Bhakticandrika's Sri Sri Gaura Nitai

Thai Green Curry

Another Satisfied Customer

Goodbyes :-(

After lunch we held the closing ceremony. I told everyone that, as they might have been able to tell by the price, which was super low compared with other comparable retreats (we broke even), we weren't doing it for the money, but for them. Everyone shared about their experience of the retreat. We all laughed many times during this. Vraj said he thought it was meant to be a 'Yoga Retreat", not a "Yoga Assault", and commended everyone for doing nine hours of yoga. Bhuvana, who works as pathologist, said it was good to "spend time with people who are alive". A common thread that ran through what people shared was that they they feel that the Atma staff really care, and that they feel that they are part of the Atma community.

People related that they feel part of the Atma community

One gentleman had found us on the Internet two days before the retreat. He came to a class at Atma the day before the retreat, and then dove in the deep end, and had a great time, and said he looked forward to seeing everyone again. One other person shared that usually on retreats or camps you meet people and bond with them, but many times don't see them again, but with this retreat he could continue to deepen his relationships with others at Atma during the week. We ended with kirtan.

As well as "caring", "association" was a word that was mentioned a lot. The facilities, and the different programs that we use the facilities for are all just infrastructure that we put in place to facilitate relationships between people. No one wants to join an "institution" or to simply take part in a business transaction - dare I say it, people don't even really care about yoga (as in the physical asanas) that much. What everyone wants is to experience and live in authentic community.

It's all about doing life alongside like-minded people

By being with together for these three days and two nights people had the opportunity to see if the Atma yoga staff are authentic. Do they have a "professional life" at Atma and a "personal life" outside of that? Are they just pretending that they care when they're at the studio? That is what people are searching for: authenticity.

So it was a great success, that exceeded all of our expectations, guests and staff alike. For next year we have booked the place for the Australia Day weekend, and the weekend afterwards, and we will run two retreats one after the other. The capacity of the place is 32 people, and we did that easily. Next year we'll need at least two. Apart from those two weekends the retreat center is fully booked out to the end of 2008.

Acyuta Bhava and Campak Gaura did a superb job of organizing and executing the event. Zoe, Param, and Prem were great yoga instructors. Bhakti did a lot of support work, and Vraj filmed the event. Dhruva, Atma's resident monk, was there for two of the days, and Angela looked after Prahlad.

Angela and Prahlad

Vraj filming

1973 January 29 : "This is all nonsense. Krsna says they all attain the highest perfection in bhakti-yoga, not that now I am grhastha, I am doing karma-yoga, or now I am vanaprastha, I am doing sankhya-yoga."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1972 January 29 : "They take devotional service to be maya; therefore we call them mayavadi. Externally we may behave like ordinary men but internally we remain fixed in the service of Radha-Krishna."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 January 29 : "Our business is not to own land unnecessarily but sometimes it is needed for our propagation work. So for the time being we may occupy the land and let it develop slowly."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1973 January 29 : "As my appointed leader, you must see that the others are following very strictly the regulative principles, chanting 16 rounds, reading my books regularly, rising early, these things will keep us purified."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1973 January 29 : "Yes, the spiritual master is present in his picture, though more importantly he is present in his teachings. Now I wish to spend all of my time for translating Srimad Bhagavatam, so I may give them to you."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1966 January 29 :
"Geeta meeting at Studio at 4 pm. Mr. Cohen came with friends and heard me for one and half hour up 5/30 pm. He has taken away one set of Books on approval."
Journal :: 1966

1967 January 29 : "Sunday, January 29, 1967 marked the major spiritual event of the San Francisco hippy era. "We sang Hare Krishna all evening," poet Allen Ginsberg later recalled. "It was the height of the Haight Ashbury spiritual enthusiasm."
Letters :: 1967

1970 January 29 : "Our London Radha Krishna Temple is specifically meant for English knowing persons. Everyone comes to the Temple for some spiritual enlightenment, so why should a section of the audience be denied the benediction?"
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

A new Podcast from H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami. Srila Prabhupada in my life - part 21 Click here to download (Right click the link and choose either “save link as” or “save Target as”) Transcription by Bhn. Rischma One day, Srila Prabhupada decided to teach us how to cook. He actually decided to teach me, because I could not prepare [...]

(T)he planned roll-out of hand geometry scanners in all New York City government agencies has sparked union cries of "geoslavery" and assertions that technology developed for security will be used to track, label and control workforces.
[...]
Biometrics expert Jim Wayman, who consults for the US, British and Australia governments, said mobile phones and credit cards were the "No. 1 enemies" for workers worried about geoslavery, not biometrics.

"There may be large forces at work in western society wishing to enslave the workforce. I want to acknowledge that fear..." Wayman, who has studied biometrics for more than two decades, told Reuters.

Yes folks, mobile phones and credit cards (which includes EFTPOS cards).

From an article here.

This is not really a post about chocolate. It's about communciation.

Articles and commentaries are appearing everywhere on the net and in classes and conversations throughout ISKCON about the supposed recent blessing of chocolate for consumption, by the GBC.

The most recent web referenceable example of this is an article on dandavats.com. In this article the author states that "they heard from someone on the temple board that the consumption of chocolate had been authorized in ISKCON".

In the comments section someone asks: "I did not hear that the consumption of chocolates has been authorised in ISKCON. Is there a reference?"

Well that's a no-brainer isn't it? I mean, this is 2007. We just go to the GBC site and read through the official press releases, or the meeting minutes, and show the resolution, or its absence.

Hang on... where is the gbc website? gbc.iskcon.com - nope. Umm, let's have a look at www.iskcon.com. Can't see anything there. Let me see - what about www.iskcongbc.com? Ahh - there's something here. "Welcome to ISKCON GBC. Please login to view the contents of the website."

Oh.

I heard the chocolate rumour discussed and denied this month at the new Govardhana festival by H.G. Janananda prabhu, H.H. Prabhavisnu Swami (GBC), and H.G. Nrsimha Kavaca prabhu (Minister for Deity Worship). However, there was no reference given. It was more of an: "I never heard about that".

However, this is 2007, and for information and misinformation to keep flowing through the organization via sneaker-net like it was 1977 is a little anachronistic. Technologies exist today that can empower us to illuminate, eludicate, and clarify the situation. That's the function of brahmanas in a society - to illuminate and educate. To cast vision, to provide clarity.

Try these google searches:

• "iskcon gbc" - this gives you some idea of how up-to-date coverage is.
• "iskcon gbc chocolate" - nothing official or conclusive. Top hit is from "Gaudiya Repercussions" website.

No-one on the GBC even has a personal blog to communicate information. For me, as a rank and file guy somewhere out in Australia, I have absolutely no idea of what is going on, and I don't think I'm anything unusual.

Heh heh heh. You have to be patient and humble, and remember that influence works across relationships. Only force can be transmitted through a vacuum, and if you're a pint sized alien you don't have the firepower to do things that way... :-)

Please click here to buy Suddha-bhakti-cintamani online.

( Continuation )

In the Katha Upanishad which is a part of the Yajurveda it is advised that in order to find out the spirit in the human body one must approach a proper spiritual master who in ‘Shrotriyam’ and ‘Brahmanistham’. Shrotiyam means one who has properly heard of the Vedic knowledge from the right sources and Brahmanistham means one who has realised the Absolute Truth.

What we cannot see, touch, smell or taste by our present imperfect senses, can be heard of from the right authority. In the modern scientific advancement of material knowledge also, we learn by hearing. When we hear of the so much advertised sputniks encircling round the moon, we do not, of course, circumambulate around the moon orbit but learn it from the authoritative statements of the scientists and after hearing those statements we apply our own reasonings and make a reasonable conclusion which we call knowledge. And this is the process of acquiring spiritual knowledge also.

The main principle is to hear from the authority applying one’s own reasonings and thus make a conclusion. We hear from the right sources that every man dies: apply our reasonings that we are also all men and therefore we shall also die in due course The same method is also applied in this matter of cultivating human spirit from the lump of reinforced concrete work of flesh and blood. The next question is where to go and how to acquire knowledge in the human spirit. We shall humbly request all to go to the mother Vedas. The Vedas are accepted to be the sources of all knowledge. You will have information of every branch of knowledge both physical and metaphysical from the Vedas and to find out the human spirit, also one can consult the Vedas by learning it from the realised spiritual master. The qualification of the spiritual master is already mentioned and to affirm the same validity we may once more repeat that the spiritual master is he who has experienced the spirit by transcendental hearing.

The best and the topmost spiritual master is Lord Shri Krishna who spoke on the Philosophy of the Bhagwat Geeta to Arjuna in the battle field of Kurukshetra about five thousands of yearn before. The book of knowledge ‘Bhagwat Geeta’ is accepted as authoritative philosophical statements by great souls of the world. In India great souls like Shankar, Ramanuja, Madhya, Vishnuswami, Nimbarka, Sri Chaitanya, and in the modern days, Aravinda, Vivekananda, Gandhi Radhakrishnan and all others have attempted to study the Bhagwat Geeta.

There are sections of philosophers in India but none of them denounced the authority of the Bhagwat Geeta. In countries other than India there are twenty six different linguistic translations of this great book of knowledge. Bhagwat Geeta is very well known in England, Japan and Germany specifically. I shall therefore request you all to make a thorough study of the Bhagwat Geeta, without any interpretations. We cannot learn the import of the Bhagwat Geeta by our own interpretations. If an interpretation becomes the magnifying glass for Geeta then the authority of Geeta becomes at once null and void. One can give only explanations of the Geeta on the line of the original test. The Bhagwat Geeta as authority is self-illuminating and there is no need of a powerful searchlight for seeing it as there is no need of a lamp to see the sun. The only point is how to kindle up the light of the Geeta. One who knows the key of handling a machinery can get into the work at once and utilise the necessary advantages.

The key of the Bhagwat Geeta is already mentioned in the book and we have simply to take delivery of the key from the right person with whom it is kept. In the Bhagwat Geeta, the Lord kept the key with Arjuna. It is said that originally the key was first delivered to the Sungod ( Vaivaswata ) who delivered it to his son Manu, the father of mankind. Manu delivered the key to his son Ikshaku and thus the key was being delivered by the successive chain of authorities and in course of time some how or other the key became lost sight of and the Lord had to deliver a duplicate key to Arjuna because Arjuna proved to be His confidential friend and devotee. Therefore we can take delivery of the key from Arjuna. The Bhagwat Geeta was spoken for the second time before Arjuna and the import which is accepted by Arjuna is the right interpretation of the Geeta. The import of the book as it was accepted by Arjuna is already given in the book and any sincere student can take it without hesitation.

The Bhagwat Geeta begins with searching out of the Human Spirit, ascertaining its nature as distinct from all physical elements including the mind. It is something wonderful to the materialistic mind but it is felt within oneself by the one who has realised it. It is said in the Bhagwat Geeta that the human spirit is observed by some body as wonderful and others describe it in wonderful way. Some body hears of it in wonderful mode and others cannot realise it even after hearing of it in wonderful patience. The human spirit is, therefore, wonderful for all sections of materialists and there are many other theories about this wonderful subject. The protagonists of materialism and temporary animation of the material body more or less follow the philosophy of monism. The whole subject matter is wonderful because it is just like a mad man is trying to know himself. A mad man has everything by his side but he sees and accepts everything in a different way. A mad man cannot realise himself in relation to his home, relatives, status, occupation, aim of life and all other things because the man is himself in diseased condition. In deranged condition of the brain one cannot know what he is and where he is. The human being at present is practically. in deranged condition of the brain and he must therefore put himself under the treatment of a psychiatrist for treatment. He must undergo the process of treatment and then only he can understand what he is. Lord Shri Krishna played the part of a great psychiatrist for treating Arjuna for curing him from his temporary stroke of madness by acceptance of the material body as identical with the human spirit. The Lord at once differentiated the human spirit from the material elements and called the spirit as Dehee and the body as the Deha.

Because the Dehee is engaged within the Deha so there are changes in the material body. We learn it from the Bhagwat also that the living being spirit enters into the material body of a female by the vehicle of semen of the male, according to his deeds in the succeeding body. The living being enters into a new body by the direction of superior order* ( Daiva) We have no information of the Superior order, the laws of nature, how do they work, trans. migration of the spirit soul and so many other things beyond our present activities. The present activities are nucleus of our future life as our past life was responsible for the present.

Lord Shri Krishna gave a very good example in the matter of detecting the human spirit within the human body. He said that because the living being is encased within the Doha or the body, the body of a child grows to become a boy and the boy becomes a youth and the youth an old man by changing of bodily features. Similarly when the body of the living being is old enough not to be prolonged any more, the living being transmigrates from one body to another as a living man changes his dress from one garment to another. Therefore death takes place till the living being is liberated from the material attachment of body and mind with the desire for lording it over the material nature. So after each and every occurrence of death, the whole thing is under the control of the laws of material nature. As we have mentioned above the deeds of a man are taken into consideration before the arrangement of the next body under superior control. The living being is thus promoted or degraded in terms his deeds in the past life. The deeds are of the living being and the reactions is made by the Superior order of the laws of nature.

There are persons who do not believe in the existence of the spirit soul beyond the physiological condition of the body. To them the very fact of death is a great stumbling block. Unless one can explain the genesis of death properly, we have to accept something extra, than the physiological condition of the body, which being absent from the body — the body is called dead. The construction of the body as far as the senses are concerned, are all present in tact even after death and then why the dead man is no longer breathing.

If the function of the breathing arrangement has mechanically been stopped, why the advanced scientist can not restore the breathing organ by modern appliances of oxygen gas and artificial breathing apparatus. Even if the breathing is restored still the dead body cannot be brought into life. Because the ’symptom of breathing is one of the condition of life but it does not mean actual life. There are many animals which do not show any symptom of breathing and as such the fly and the ant do actually live without any breathing. The fish in the water does not breathe and still it lives within the water. A man cannot breath within the water and therefore he dies within water. And the fish dies on the land. Therefore breathing is not always life it is a symptom only. It may be a symptom of life for the man and we can only say that the breathing man is alive. The conclusion that the spirit soul having departed from the dead body it can no more work or move in spite of all other conditions being present. The body is now vacant in the absence of the living being. And if we do not accept this difference of life and death, there cannot be any proper explanation for death. The living being is therefore a combination of matter and spirit and when the spirit is off the matter becomes as it is. That is the right definition of death.

You cannot say also that at a certain stage of material combination animation become visible and that is called life. There is undoubtedly reactions of chemical physical combinations but the same reaction is not stopped even after death. All the physical elements are present there even after death and still, the dead body cannot move in the absence of the particular individual spirit. To the gross materialists there is nothing beyond the senses but in the dead body the senses are present and the body appears to be a sleeping man. Material science depends on the principles of observation and experiment. The material scientist has observed the physiological condition of life but be has failed to observe the spiritual condition of life. And in the absence of such observation material science has failed to study the conditions of life. The materialists believe in deeds and actual facts. How they can deny the spiritual fact without any reasonable alternative. We must therefore accept the participation of the spirit soul within the material body. The material scientist must submit a perfect definition of death before he can deny spiritual existence of the living being.

As we have already explained the spirit soul is put in the vehicle of material semen and is forced into the womb of an woman and thus the material body grows nourished by the body of the female. The physical elements are only vehicle of the spirit soul. As such the physical elements being present and many spiritual fragments are taking advantage of this vehicular position and coming out in batches of microbes and germs. There are many species of life which manifest even without sexual intercourse. They are called incubated living beings born out of perspiration and other seramic culture. The microbes which are germinating out of the dead body are different spiritual entities than the one who has left the body and therefore physical elements helping germination of other living beings cannot bring in the particular living entity who has vacated the body to transmigrate into another body by the superior order as we have already explained. Every individual body of the living entity has separate identity and each and every one of them are individually controlled by the laws of nature in terms of every one’s actions in limited freedom.

By the limited freedom of a living entity endowed upon him by the Superior Will, each and every living being is free to act as he likes within the limitation but after leaving a particular terms of body, he is completely under the control of the laws of nature and therefore must he enter into the body as directed by the Superior Will.
You cannot also say death has taken place in the absence of proper ventilation within the body. The air is already ventilating within the body through the different holes and they are not airtight packed. Had it been so air tight-packed, no decomposition would take place in the dead body. No body can stop air and ether being passed and even the skin bellows of the black smith shop, is full of air.

The medical man will say that red corpuscles of the body has changed into white and therefore death has taken place. Does it mean that redness of a physical object does bring in life 7 There are many other physical objects which are by nature red. There are many jewel stones which are by nature red but that does not mean that this redness of the jewel can give it living force. By chemical treatment the dead body also can be made into red and still it is sure and certain that life will not come again in that particular body only for the reason that the spiritual element is off from the body.

All these false theories and imperfect vision of life has not only failed to give enlightenment in the problems of life but also it has brought about a materialistic civilization dragging human being in the region of darkness. If we still follow the very same false theories in the problems of life and death without any trace of spiritual culture we shall then be dragged more and more in the darkest region of ignorance. We must now agree to accept the words of the great authority ‘THE BHAGWAT GEETA’ and agree to accept the progressive path of spiritual culture with clear distinction of the spirit from the matter. The living spirit is completely a different element superior to the material elements analysed into eight as (1) earth, (2) water, (3) fire, (4) air, (5) sky, (6) mind, (7) intelligence and (8) false ego. These eight elements are inferior in quality and above these, there is the superior quality element known as the living entity. This living entity is the fragment of the Supreme Spirit controlling the whole cosmos as much as the infinitesimal spiritual spark is the controlling force of the living embodiment. Any number or degree of combination of the inferior qualitative energies as above mentioned is unable to produce the superior qualitative energy of living entity. The electronic steel man is never equal to the living insignificant ant even. Modern scientific manipulation of electronics and automation are supervised by a living spirit. Any number of blind men cannot bring about the visionary situation unless and until there is at least one man with visionary power. The inferior quality energies are like combination of blind men. The world of machine is exactly like the combination of decorated blind men and therefore machine is never to be compared with the living man nor there should be any attempt to educate living man to become dead machine at the sacrifice of culture of humanity. The living being is a cognisant soul and be can play wonders by the jugglery combination of the material elements but the material elements alone are as much as dead stones. The cognisant soul designated as Sri Isac Newton by his material embodiment or the same as Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose or Professor Einstein could do wonderful and not the body. If the body could do so they could be preserved by some medicinal effects and thus wonderful services from these bodies could have been derived up to date.

The cognisant soul is full of knowledge. He is called therefore as Brahman or the one who is eternal, fully cognisant and blissfull. There are innumerable Brahmans or living beings and above all of them there is one Supreme Brahman who is known  also as the Paramamatma and Bhagwan. That is a different subject. But so far as the living entities are concerned they are constitutionally of the same quality as that of the Supreme Brahman of the Almighty God. Some of the Godly qualitative Brahmans are in material contact and therefore the fullness of their cognisance, eternity and blissfulness are jeopardised and culture of human spirit means to get these Brahmans freed from material contact and re-establish them in the original pure state of godly qualities. That is the function of the human life. The example of madness as cited above is still applicable here in this connection. To find out the spirit soul out of the lump of material combination of inferior energies is the prime necessity of human life. If we fail to realise this truth in this human form of life by practising the culture of human spirit, then the human intelligence power, strength, education and culture all are total failure and all of them are compared with the decoration of the dead body.

After death or after leaving the material body the spirit soul shall be forced to accept another body under the stringent grip of material nature and in all possibility regard being had to be present activities, the next body may not be a comfortable human form of body. We must not therefore miss this golden opportunity for cultivating the human spirit or self realisation during the present life. Do not be, therefore, misguided by the false conception of accepting the material body as the human spirit. The whole misadjustment of the world situation is the product of this misconception. Because we have no information of the spirit soul in the madness of materialism, the place of appearance of this temporary body is wrongly accepted as the native place. We forget for the moment that we have to give up this so called native place for another so called native place without any companion. There is no meaning of nationalism for a man who knows it well that he had native places in the past and he will have many such native places in the future also. Any man of power and opulence has to quit this native place for another and therefore culture of human spirit means that one should not be too much attached for the temporary arrangement of the body and commit all sorts of vices for the upkeep of a false status. If by chance one is put into the body of either a cow or goat in the same native place after his death, he will be sent to the slaughter house for being killed by the same act which he might have enacted. That is the law of nature.

Wednesday is the appearance day of Sri Nityananda Prabhu.

avijnata-tattva dui bhai ara bhakta
tathapi krpaya tattva karena suvyakta

Although the truths of the two brothers and Their devotees are incomprehensible, they can be realized by the mercy of Their Lordships.

COMMENTARY
Both Lords, Gaura and Nitai, as well as Their pure devotees are beyond the reach of material senses and eternally full of knowledge and bliss. Therefore proud mundane speculators who are simply interested in sense gratification cannot understand Their real forms. They mercifully manifest Their incomprehensible forms only to Their fully surrendered servants who have taken shelter of Them. Srila Kaviraja Gosvami has prayed to Gaura-Nitai in the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 1.2) as follows: “I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Krsna Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the horizon of Gauda to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all.” Also in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 1.98) he writes: “But these two brothers [Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda] dissipate the darkness of the inner core of the heart, and thus They help one meet the two kinds of bhagavatas [persons or things in relationship with the Personality of Godhead].”

The word avijnata-tattva indicates that the truth of these two brothers is unknown to one with a materialistic enjoying mentality. In other words, They are beyond the jurisdiction of material knowledge or sense perception.

Caitanya-bhagavat, Adi-khanda 2.7

Japa should be chanted in a situation where you’re not going to be distracted. When you chant using a clicker, the chanting is oftentimes a distraction to what you’re supposed to be doing. If you’re using a clicker while driving, are you paying attention to the road or to the holy name?

As a general rule of thumb is that if you can’t use your beads, you’re probably not chanting attentive Japa. Not that attentive Japa automatically comes when you pick up your beads. It’s got to be worked upon, like anything else. But using a clicker is not the way to do it.

Japa is meditation. It’s very important to remember that. To meditate, the mind must be fixed upon something. Since chanting Japa is mantra meditation, we have to have them fixed upon the sound of the mantra...this is impossible to do if we’re clicking away while driving or gardening or washing pots.

So be ye warned! It is still out there! Clicking in wait for ye minds to wander from thy Japa. Do not dare give it chance to get a foot hold on ye! Holdeth thou tight to thine beads, holdeth thy mind close to the Holy Name and chant like life itself depended upon it!

Taken from http://www.prabhupada.org/rama/?p=2815

January 25, 2007, (Reuters): A SAUDI court has ordered a drug user to spend six months memorising the Koran, but he faces a year in prison if he fails to recite the Muslim holy book by heart, a newspaper has reported.
The “alternative sentence” saves the Saudi man from Jeddah a six-month jail term, al-Watan said.

But that sentence will be doubled if his Koranic recitation classes fail to make him a “hafez,” someone who knows the Koran by heart.

There are more than 77,000 words in the Koran. It takes on average two years to study.

Saudi Arabia’s religious courts apply strict Islamic sharia law. But it is largely uncodified and judges have wide discretion when it comes to sentencing.

Just a reminder that Tuesday, January 30^th is Lord Nityananda’s Appearance Day. The schedule for the evening’s program is as follows:

5:30 Bhajans in Glorification of Lord Nityananda

6:15 Class

7:00 Abhiseka/Arati

8:00 Feast

sarac-candra-bhrantim sphurad-amala-kantim gaja-gatim
hari-premonmattam dhrta-parama-sattvam smita-mukham
sada ghurnan-netramkara-kalita-vetram kali-bhidam
bhaja nityanandambhajana-taru-kandam niravadhi

“I perpetually worship Sri Nityananda Prabhu, the root of the Krsna-bhakti tree, whose bright face mocks the full autumn moon, whose pure complexion glistens, whose gait is like that of a maddened elephant, who is always intoxicated in Krsna-prema, who embodies pure spiritual energy, whose face holds a gentle smile, whose eyes are always rolling due to His absorption in Krsna-prema, whose lotus hand holds a glowing staff, and who, by the performance of nama-sankirtana, pierces the influence of Kali-yuga.”

-Sri Nityanandastakam by Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura

From 9 January:

• Devotees don’t join centers but the institution.
• Brahmacaris don’t get paid, they’re dependent.
• Rights and obligations of different categories of devotees.
• From someone’s bathroom you can easily figure out everything.

 
Download (00:20:54) 19.2 MB

The chanting of Krsna’s holy name is like the sun rising in one’s darkened heart.

- Srila Prabhupada

Dear Devotees, and Supporters of the Radharani Club,

We are happy to report the New Vrindaban Sewing Department is in full swing. The Membership Cabin has been transformed into the Sewing Department with a few simple changes. Vyasasana das has been working on the cabin, and is presently making cabinets and facility to store the materials, etc. This will be especially helpful when guests stay in the cabin during festivals. That was one of the conditions for us to get the cabin, is to be flexible during festivals, etc, because the temple needed the space for guests. He is doing wonderful service for Their Lordships and we appreciate it greatly.

We had a meeting on January 18th to help encourage each other, and keep everyone fired up about the beautiful Gaura Purnima outfit that we are presently working on. As I mentioned in the last newsletter, the material we purchased is beautifully embroidered raw silk, and will make a stunning spring outfit for our Deities. Even those of you who can’t sew (like me) can sew beads on a piece of material. I just finished my first section today, and it is fun and exciting – and a good way to stay awake and alert in class. Ha-Ha! So, anyone who would like to help, there’s still more than a month to finish the outfit, and we need all the help we can get.

Here’s a photo of some of the ladies presently sewing with a piece of the beautiful material we are using:

The photo was kindly taken by our wonderful resident photographer, Jaya Murari prabhu.

We wish to thank the the Radharani Club for their support in helping to make this project a reality. Now, we won’t have to depend on the current finances of the temple all the time, which makes the project a little more flexible. We talked about the possibility of buying beautiful silk saris in India, as an alternative from ordering the material here in the States, and Radha Sundari may check out that possibility on her next trip to India.

We also have a Sewing Department wish list: Besides needing materials for outfits, beads, jewelry, backdrops, etc, we also need a good sewing machine, a CD player (so we can listen to bhajans or classes while sewing), and CD’s. If anyone would like to contribute either financially, or by donating any of these items directly, please let us know.

We also wish to thank the New Vrindavan Board for their encouragement and support of the Sewing Department. The ladies presently working on the project are: M. Kunjabiharini, M. Harinam,M. Dhara, M. Jamuna, M. Janaki, M. Vani, M. Prasanta, M. Srimati, Alicia, and M. Sachimata. Thank you one and all.

Don’t forget, it’s an on-going project. and even saris from India are far from cheap, so keep those donations coming in: The Radharani Club, c/o S. Prins, RR 1, Box 270B, Moundsville, WV 26041.

We would like to thank the contributors for the month of January:

Manonatha das, aka Michael Hoare, Nityananda Prins, Mother Dhara, Dulal Chandra das, Sachimata d.d.

HARE KRISHNA!

Excuse the rash of 'doomsday' blog entries this week. But hey - it's a dangerous world.

Even though the death rate here is 100%, it's still worthwhile to know how to improve our 'quality of life' while in this body, in this life.

Intelligent life is all about discrimination. It seems that high fructose corn syrup is well worth doing without. It's in a lot more things than you might think.

"Most of us would be surprised to learn that the larger percentage of sweeteners used in processed food today comes from corn, not sugar cane or beets.

The process for making the sweetener 'high fructose corn syrup' (HFCS) out of corn was developed in the 1970s. Yet the process is not a simple one, and involves many questionable and dangerous ingredients. Read more to understand how HFCS is certainly not all sweetness and light...

"

28 January, 1973

Calcutta

My dear Hladini Devi Dasi,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated January 1, 1973, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure.

It is so nice to see how enthusiastic you are in executing this process of devotional service and how much you like your engagement there in New Vrindaban. So you continue in this way, always thinking of Krsna, chanting 16 rounds, reading the books, and doing your daily chores all on behalf of Krsna.

As your devotional service becomes mature you shall see Krsna more and more, and more and more you shall realize the qualities of the holy land of Vraja. This modern civilization is always artificial. You are actually learning in New Vrindaban the self-sufficient mode of living, simple living, high thinking, that is our policy.

As long as Krsna remains in the center of all these activities, then you are actually in Vrindaban. And the more you please the Deities there with your service, the more they shall reciprocate by bestowing upon you love for Sri Sri Radha Krsna.

So I am always looking forward to coming back to New Vrindaban, and I remember very fondly the sandesh, milk, and other nice products that the devotees are preparing there. Thank you very much.

Hoping this finds you well,

Your ever well-wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

There is a great opportunity that is slipping right past us. What is it? We don't know. That's why it is slipping past us.

I know of another opportunity that is slipping past us - the opportunity to find out what the first opportunity was. Will we take advantage of that?

I hope so.

A friend recently gave me a book for my birthday. It's called Digital War: A View from the Front Lines, and it's a collection of papers written by thinkers within the US military. These are all experienced senior officers with impeccable military credentials, who also happen to have a bent toward abstract thought and conceptualization.

In these papers they examine the opportunities afforded and challenges posed to the US military by the Information Revolution. They examine some possibilities for applications in the military space, some challenges, make comparisons with history, and make predictions and recommendations for the future.

One of the symptoms of the mode of goodness is the careful study of past, present, and future.

I have yet to see anything like this produced in ISKCON in relation to IT. In fact, I see little produced in this way in ISKCON. Perhaps it's because I don't move in the right circles, but even that would worry me.

"Digital Warfare" was published not simply among the US military, but to the general public.

In the "things done right" category, thinkers such as H.G. Hare Krishna devi dasi, H.G. Urmila devi dasi, H.G. Krishna Dharma das, H.G. Kripamoya das, and H.H. Hrdayananda das Goswami, have all produced very thoughtful and influential articles on subjects such as varnasrama economics, education, social commentary, and community development on the web, in BTG or in ICJ.

People have some good ideas about how to utilize IT in ISKCON's mission, but how about this idea: Get some thinkers together and start producing material that examines the situation in-depth and with clarity.

That would be a brahminical approach to take. Consult with experts in an open transparent process. Let thinkers share their thoughts. Stimulate discussion and debate. Not the comment, counter-comment kind, but the thoughtful article kind.

I produced a collection of papers in 2004, which I published in an attempt to start such a dialog. It didn't happen at that point, but I have not lost hope.

This is important. Here's a concrete example of why. In 2004 I registered the domain name www.iskconnews.net. In fact, before I did this I wrote a report that was sent to the GBC explaining that ISKCON should secure this namespace. When there was no reply to this I did what any proactive member of ISKCON would do - I secured it myself.

In 2007 I started hearing that ISKCON Communications had finally woken up to the situation and wanted to do something with www.iskconnews.net, and had found out that I had it. Naturally I'm open to this and have initiated dialog with them about it. I'm simply the steward of the domain space. Whether the organization has matured to the point where it can take up stewardship of that domain space is what we need to ascertain now. Or rather, how the stewardship of the domain space will proceed from this point.

However, I see the same mistake being repeated in 2007 that was made in 2004. There is still no call soliciting papers analyzing the environment and making predictions and recommendations. This means that while ISKCON is chasing the opportunities of 2004, the opportunities of 2007 are slipping right past us.

The question to the ISKCON Communications Ministry is: "Why didn't we get iskconnews.net in 2004?" The answer, I believe, is that we did not take appropriate advice on the subject. The next question is: "What are we missing out in 2007?" (apart from krishnatube.com). The answer is unknown, because it appears that we are still not taking advice on the situation.

From an objective standpoint, I would think that having the foresight to secure www.iskconnews.net shows some acumen in the area. As well as asking for the domain name, if it were me, I would be inclined to ask: "By the way, what opportunities do you think we should be taking advantage of right now?"

My initial report, written in 2004, was entitled: "Vision 2011: Building Capability". The first thing we need to do is focus on building capability, and the first part of that capability should be in the field of perception, direction, and thought leadership. Without this our execution will be woefully misguided or just plain missing. It was in 2004, and since the same modus operandi is at work, it appears to still be in 2007.

What triggered me off on this is the fact that I recently missed the domain name "krishnatube.com". That was a no-brainer. However, I missed it. I can't do everything, nor should I have to. I would much rather see a group of people thinking about these things and trying to cover all bases conjointly. I've started a google group to try to create this kind of environment. It's in its fledgling stage right now, but you can check it out and get involved at http://groups.google.com/group/worldsankirtan.

This is a class given on 21 Jan. 2007 in Ujjain, India. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.32 Click here to download (duration: 1h12m, filesize: 29mb) (Right click the link and choose either “save link as” or “save Target as”)

1966 January 28 :
"Purchased vegetables -- .42
Busfare -- .30
Expenditure .72
Saw Mr. Cohen at his place.
He is to come here tomorrow at 4 pm."
Journal :: 1966

1969 January 28 : "The best news of all is that soon we shall have our own press. Our life and soul is kirtana and presenting literature. Krishna is dictating to you from within how to carry this out successfully."
Letters :: 1969

1969 January 28 : "There is no harm in this mantra, but it is not very important. There are many such common songs composed out of sentiment. In our temple, strictly Hare Krishna chanting."
Letters :: 1969

1970 January 28 : "I beg to acknowledge receipt of your edited transcription of tape #6. Your editing is very good, I liked it very much. I am sending another tape herewith."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1973 January 28: "At our Pandal we had one drama in which the gopis gave the dust of their feet for curing Krsna's headache. In this way we can present the philosophy very nicely for everyone to relish."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1973 January 28 : "The more you please the Deities, the more they shall reciprocate. I remember fondly the sandesh, milk, and other nice products. I am looking forward to coming back."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1973 January 28 : "As long as Krsna remains in the center then you are actually in Vrindaban. As your devotional service becomes mature, more and more you shall realize the qualities of the holy land of Vraja. "
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1973 January 28: "Our mind, our intelligence, our possessions, our time, our energies, let them all be used in Krsna's service. By training people in this way, this will be the success of your preaching work."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

There were over three thousand devotees in attendence from all parts of India and all over the world. We were blessed with the association of many senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada, Candramauli Swami, Jananivasa and Pakajanghri Prabhus (whom Maharaj refered to as the 21st century incarnations of Gaura Nitai), Soma, Rasa Lila, Sukhavaha, and Narataki Prabhus, and many other senior devotees from around the world including Bhakti Dhira Damodar Maharaj, and Acyuta Priya Prabhu, and many many other too numermous to mention. The other special guest this year was Gauravani Prabhu who melted everyones heart with his heart felt kirtans, and inspired everyone to dance in ecstasy.

It is hard to Really summarize the such an amazing experience, one evening as everyone was chanting and dancing ecstatically I went to the roof to have a veiw, all the devotees were dancing in concentric circles holding hands as Gauravani and Radhanath Maharaj lead us all in beautiful kirtans, then I gazed out at the city outside the the boundry wall of the premises, cars and buses flew by, there were sky scrapers and shopping malls in the distance, and as I again focused my attention on the kirtan I could truly feel that we were not in Pune, we were in the spiritual world.

The evening kirtans were extrordinary, every night while Gauravani sang Radhanath Maharaj danced surrounded by Jananivasa and Pankajanghri Prabhus and many others, the highlight of the evening kirtans was Jananivasa Prabhus totally ecstatic dance imitating Lord Nrisimhadeva, and then in transcendental ecstasy during the Nrsimha Prayer he attacked Gauravani who was leading the kirtan, anyone who witnessed this pastime will never forget it for the rest of their lives.

Of course there were many heartmelting discourse by Radhanath maharaj, anyone who has not been in one of his 4-5 hour yatra classes cannot understand such and intense experience. The first day was Bhismadeva's dissapearance so he spoke on that, then the next day was the appearance of Srila Madhavacary so he spoke on that and then on the last day he spoke on the life of H.H. BHakti Swarupa Damodar Maharaj we could all feel Srila Prabhupada's love for his dear and intimate disciple.

The other highlight for me was at the end hearing from all the devotees how they were affected and inspired by the association, that was a very moving experience, my heart is hard like stone and due to my sinful activities I could not appreaciate the wonderful association but at least I could here from those wonderful devotees who were inspired and in that way gain a drop of inspiration.

One other highlight of Pune Yatra was spending time with Srinivas prabhu, he is an amazing ten year old boy whose parents recently joined the congregation here. He was chanting 16 rounds but had to reduce due to school responsibilities, and he is incredibly gifted, in a recent math test he placed 12th out of 15,000 students. He acted in the drama festival as Nandulal in the story of Bilvamangala Thakur, and was divinely empowered to completely charm everyone's heart. After the drama maharaj spoke with him and invited Srinivasa to come live with him, he took that as an instruction to live in the bramacari ashram, so all through pne yatra he was hanging out with Jaya Gauranga Prabhu and Myself. Maharaj requested that the drama be performed again to inspire all the devotees. There is also a tradition at Pune Yatra of Spontaneous drams so we had dramas on the the life of Bhismadeva and on the life of Madhavacarya, that was especially sweet as Govinda Prabhu played Madhavacary and it was just on the line between drama and real life as he took sanyasa bowing down before Radhanatha Maharaj. All the devotees cheered ecstatically as Radhanath Maharaj loving gave him the tittle Govindananda Maharaj.

So many wonderful experiences, just a few drops from an ocean of nectar.

Tommorrow morning it's off to Tirupatti for more transcendental adventures.

Január 1., Budapest:

• Ha eljön az idonk, el kell tudnunk fogadni, hogy eljött.
• Krisna nem szentimentális - O írja a forgatókönyvet mindenki számára.
• Kinek a foztjét esszük meg és kiét nem?
• Miért lehet tulasinak avatatlanul is ajánlani aratit, Prabhupadanak pedig csak avatva?
• Mit is jelent az avatás? Hogy lehet Narottama Visvanatha avató guruja, amikor generációk választják el őket?

Letöltés (00:31:52) 14.7 MB

Devotees flock Rajkot Hanuman temple to watch ‘tear miracle’

A large number of devotees thronged a local temple after reports that tears were rolling down the eyes of Lord Hanuman’s idol, shrine officials said on Sunday.

People rushed to watch the ‘miracle’ late on Saturday night hours after a similar incident was reported from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.

The gathered devotees began humming ‘Ram dhun’, ‘Hanuman chalisa’ and other devotional songs, a temple trustee said.

The trustee, however, denied any miracle has happened in the temple and said he had not seen tears coming out of Hanuman’s idol.

From 8 January, Bhaktivedanta Manor: Continuation of talk with Manor Initiation Committee:

• Earliest age for initiation.
• Accepting disciples outside of Hungary.
• The responsibility of local leaders towards initiates.
• “I can’t relate to my disciples having any other identity than they are a part of ISKCON”

Download (00:26:23) 24.2 MB

How Should One Cultivate Human Spirit

Draft of Lecture Meant to be Delivered at the International Congress in Japan 1961. Published October 1962 in ‘The Mother’ (India) by Aurobindo of the Aurobindo Ashram

Part 1 - by Tridandi Goswami A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Culture of human spirit by the human being is the prime duty of humankind. All great thinkers, philosophers, reformers and persons who thought for the whole of human society in terms of its welfare in general, thought like it from time immemorial. Out of them those who were perfectly self realised soul or the perfect human being, recorded their self realised experience in the books of knowledge known as the Vedas or the scriptures. There are various types of attempts to understand the import of the Vedas by those who are not themselves perfect beings and as such the books of knowledge have been again molded in the ways of the quality of imperfect interpreters.

Apart from all these controversial points, we may safely generalise that there are four different classes of human beings all over the world and they are (1) The intelligent class of men or good men or the Brahmins (2) The politicians or the ruling class of men, the men of passion or the Kshatriyas (3) The productive class of men or the men of mixed quality compounded of passion and ignorance called by the name of the Vaishyas and (4) The labour class of men or the men in ignorance called by the name of Sudras. And all of them are meant for co-operation for the common cause of cultivating human spirit. When they co-operate for the common cause there is harmony and progress but when they non-co-operate with one another there is unrest and trouble in the society.

At the present moment there is a tendency of non-co-operation between the different classes of men on account of their missing the common cause of human spirit and therefore there is prime need of a batch of intelligent class of men to combine together and thus educate the other classes in the matter of co-operation for human spiritual culture. The world is now dominated by the third-grade productive and fourth-grade labour class of men and there is scarcity of intelligent class of men and that of political philosophers also. Diplomats are not political philosophers. Without being guided by the intelligent class of men and political philosophers. The productive class of men and the labourer class of men have formed into groups of capitalist and communists ; both of them being practically disabled from the common cause of cultivating human spirit. These two classes of men are more or less concerned with the bodily necessities of life without reference to needs of the human spirit. The intelligent class of men can be interested only in the culture of human spirit and therefore there is need of the intelligent class of men to reform the diplomats, capitalists and the communists all over the world.

‘HOW SHOULD ONE CULTIVATE HUMAN SPIRIT is a grand question by the modern materialistic man who had so long thought of the identity of the human being either with the human body or with the human mind. Some of us identified the living being with the human body and some of us speculated on the construction of the psychic activities in thinking feeling and willing and misinterpreted them with the human or living being. If we ask somebody what is his name, he at once answers that his name is John, he is the son of Frank, his native place is in London and his occupation is to earn money by hundreds of thousand. If he is further asked whether he is satisfied with his identification of the body as Mr. John Frank of London, certainly he will reply. If he is a sane man at all, in the negative.

Any man identified with the body or the mind is not at all satisfied because he is always troubled in the body and the mind in spite of his all endeavours to avoid them. The troubles are the three fold miseries of life. The first trouble is in relation with his body, namely that he may feel some sort of headache, fever, heat, cold and so forth which he does not want at all. The second trouble is in respect of his mind. Even if one is quite all right se far as his body is concerned, his mind may be in trouble for so many cares and anxieties.

In the modern set up of materialistic civilization nobody is free from cares and anxieties. There are so many great men in the modern world and almost all of them are so much troubled in the mind that they cannot sleep at night peacefully without being intoxicated by some artificial means. Insomnia is a disease for the man always troubled in the mind.

The third trouble is in our relation with other living beings. India thought that the arrangement of the Panchashila will allow her to live in peace and friendship with other nations of the world but in spite of her following a policy of neutrality, her immediate neighbour and friend China has occupied a portion of Indian territory and for this the mind of the Indian leaders is in trouble. We have nothing to do with politics in this connection but we have taken up this particular incident just to get an idea of our trouble in relation with other living beings. The Law court is another place where there is ample evidences of human trouble in respect of our dealings with one another. Even there is trouble in the dealings between husband and wife, father and son, friend and friend, man and animal and so forth and so on. It is concluded, therefore, that there are many troubles between one living creature, with another for want of the culture of human spirit.

And above all these troubles there is another insurmountable trouble imposed by the laws of nature, Famine, pestilence, war, earthquake, volcanic eruptions, flood and so many other things like that are always troubling the human being even though we do not want them. Big brains of world leadership are always busy to get rid of these troubles but so far they have failed to achieve any success over the threefold miseries for want of cultivating human spirit.

A living being’s intuition is to get over all the above mentioned troubles of life and live in peace and friendship and the prosperity of eternal life and knowledge.

When I received the letter of invitation from Mr. Toshihiro Nakano, he expressed the following sentiments in his letter under reference. He wrote to say “This seems to be good opportunity for you to present your evidence by attending the glorious meeting to indicate that you have been lending every effort to attain the long-sought goal of securing the ultimate peace and infinite prosperity of humankind, a terrestrial paradise.”

Living beings other than the human being, although feeling all the above mentioned troubles, are unable to take any measure against them. The human being is gifted with higher talented status of consciousness and he is always trying to get rid of all these troubles because he is meant for such realisation. Foolish human beings in the third and fourth grade of above mentioned classifications take it for granted that it is impossible to get over the troubles but the intelligent class of men do not give up the attempt and they do try it even life after life. There is no doubt that this congress is being organised only to fit out the ways and means of infinity prosperity which is the natural urge of a developed human being.

The intelligent class of men probe into the psychic field in various ways to find out the right path of satisfaction. Such attempt in psychology for producing good poetry philosophy and thoughtful matter by the human being, has failed to achieve the end of his life namely peace, prosperity in eternal life, knowledge and happiness. When the living being admits failure both in the gross and subtle spheres of materialistic satisfaction, he is sure to search after the Human spirit which is transcendental to the gross and subtle material elements.

The identity of human spirit or the living energy of the living being is never to be identified with the body or the mind. Body and mind are two gross and subtle coverings of the living being. The doubtful scientist may make a dissection of the whole body in his biological research laboratory but be cannot find out the living spirit within the body. By dissection of the body we can see only that the body is something like reinforced structure of bones, marrow, nerves, muscle, skin, blood and secretion. The bones are the supporting pillars of the construction and the nerves are like the binding ropes? And on this superficial structure of bones and nerves there is the reinforced plastering with flesh and blood: There are different ventilating holes or windows of the body and from each of them always bad smell is emanating because all the secretions of the body are different grades of urine and stools. This obnoxious structure of the body is accepted falsely as beautiful without the knowledge of the beautiful human spirit now invisible with the light of matter.

This obnoxious structure of the body is the germinating source and breeding ground of all kinds of diseases and when it is old enough and shattered by hard struggle for existence against the odds of the above mentioned threefold miseries, it is full of agrievement and the temple of diseases. The material scientist has no remedy for the wretched condition of life. To pull on with such a troublesome body is also another difficulty because the bodily needs are never to be satisfied. It is troublesome in every inch and with all, the whole false structure is susceptible of collapsing within a moment and that also without and previous notice.

Can the material scientist move this false body made of bones and nerves without the spiritual aid? No, it is not at all possible. Had it been possible to do so by the materialist, then he could move the railway trains without any steam or electric power. Even the steam and electric power is unable to act without the help of a living spiritual being.

They see to the wonderful acts done by the seemingly imperceptible spiritual living being but do not search after the wonderful actor playing the parts of this wonderful act. In the modern days of throwing sputniks in the outer space we are amazed to hear about the revolving of the space vehicle but we neglect to study the spirit behind the bodily structure of the man who works on the sputnik. Certainly the structure of the body as described above, of the sputnik man, is not at all different from that of another non-sputnik man. The difference lies in the qualities of the spiritual spark of the individual being and we have neglected to make a study of it. The body is a lump of matter and it is a burden of the conditioned soul like the fetters of a convicted prisoner of state.

The sum and substance of an analytical study of the physical and anatomical conditions of living beings is explained above. And the ultimate end of such body is to turn into moths, stool or ashes. The dead body is either buried in the grave to be transformed into moth, it is given to be devoured by other animals and birds and the result is that it turns into stool or it is burnt into ashes.

Such a constructive body certainly cannot be imperishable as some of us wrongly think of. We have to seek out the imperishable element beyond the body and that is the process of CULTIVATING HUMAN SPIRIT. And that is the function of the human form of life. Find out the permanent out of the perishable. They are busy in keeping up the perishable body by eating vitamin values. And what are these vitamins? They are after all different active principles of different grades of foodstuff. But on the ultimate analysis, however valuable a foodstuff is there, when it is cooked up as eatables it becomes decomposed in some hours. How is it then possible to keep fit the perishable body by eating such perishable vitamins? The sane man therefore does not try to keep up the body by artificial means, knowing well the sad end of the perishable body in spite of all endeavours. Such sane man makes the best of a bad bargain for the purposes of spiritual culture only and nothing more. The Bhagwat Geeta has given its final judgement that the body is undoubtedly perishable but the living entity embodied is eternal.

But we must always remember that the human form of body is distinct from all other animal bodies. Biological and physiological features of the bodies of man and animal may be on the same level but psychologically there is great difference between the two classes of bodies. This distinctive feature of the human body is a special prerogative of the human body. It is explained in the Puranas that there are 84 lacs species of life in the biological evolutionary process. There are nine lacs of aquatic species of life, twenty lacs species of immovable plants and trees, eleven lace species of worms, ten lac species of birds, thirty lac species of beasts and four lac species of human beings. The highest class of human beings is the intelligent class of men as mentioned herein before. Such intelligent class of men cultivate the qualities of truthfulness, forbearance, restraint, simplicity, faithfulness, toleration, knowledge and conviction in the existence of God.

Therefore to be situated in the highest developed consciousness of a human being is the highest cultural efficiency in the evolutionary process of the living being. Such intelligent class of men can churn out the human spirit from the inert material body as it is possible to churn out fat out of the liquid milk. Before churning of the milk it appears that there is no such thing as butter within the milk but after churning, the butter begins to float on the surface and it is collected for proper use. Similarly on the outward dissection of the human bodily structure we cannot see what is the human spirit but by culture of proper and systematic knowledge derived from the right sources we can gradually feel for it, think of it and work for it.

( To be Continued )

I noticed the above cute little saying on an apron of a student of mine at a cookery class somewhere in Australia on my last Big Tour. I think it was in Alice Springs.

Surely it rings true for anyone who holds desserts dear to their heart. Talking of desserts...

Sandy from Leichhardt, NSW, Australia writes: Hey Kurma, do you have a nice cheesecake recipe?

My reply: Yes I do!

Stress-relief is just a click away...

Srimad Bhagavatam 10.47.48 on the different types of worshipers & worship performed and the role of yogamaya in Krishna's pastimes.

By BB Govinda Swami

Dear Devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

The representative of the General Prosecutors’ office said on the last day of the Commission (3rd of January, 2007) that the Karasai District Prosecutors office has opened a criminal case against the members of the Society for Krishna Consciousness (SKC).

This means that without even making investigation they have announced that they have opened a criminal case.

By this new claim they are making the ground ready to cancel the Supreme Court decision of 2005 which is the biggest obstacle for the government. The Supreme Court decision has granted the right of land use to SKC.

read more

By Mayapur Sasi dasa

For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this file contains the following North American results for the month of December: North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors etc., Monthly Top 100 Individuals, Monthly Top 5, Cumulative Countries, Cumulative Temples, Cumulative Top 100 Individuals, Cumulative Top 5

By Mrgaksi dasi

Dear Devotees, Here's a gift for Lord Nityananda's appearance day. It can be used for Sunday schools or Gurukula's, for performance or for future reference.

By BB Govinda Swami

The representative of the General Prosecutors' office said on the last day of the Commission (3rd of January, 2007) that the Karasai District Prosecutors office has opened a criminal case against the members of the Society for Krishna Consciousness.