In Bhaktyaloka, Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes:

“If one takes shelter of the holy names with humility, then by the mercy of the Lord – without prayasa – all knowledge of the Absolute Truth that should be known awakens within the heart of the simple devotee. This knowledge is never attained by independent prayasa.”

All the participants, spectators, and llamas themselves will be much more comfortable this year. We have until the fall to complete the other phases of this building 1) enclosing it in glass sides 2) hooking up electrical 3) building stage and sound 4) laying down some sort of floor. It will be a great facility for Diwali, during which everyone, westerners and Indians alike, do the Ras and Dandiya Garba folk dancing.

Lauren from Port Macquarie New South Wales, wrote:

"Dear Kurma, thanks for your website. It is very good reading. I was wondering about whether coconut oil would be a good item to add to my kitchen cupboard. I have heard good and bad things about it, and I am confused. What do you think?"

My reply:

"Hello Lauren, here's some interesting information about the coconut and it's products. I think you will find it enlightening".

Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, which is known for being anti-viral, antibacterial and anti-fungal. Coconut oil is also being used by thyroid sufferers to increase body metabolism, and to lose weight. Virgin coconut oil is also used for making natural soaps and other health products, as it is one of the healthiest things one can put on their skin.

At one time coconut oil received negative press because of its high level of saturated fat. However, modern research has shown that not all saturated fats are alike and that the fatty acids in coconut oil, the medium chain triglycerides, do not raise serum cholesterol or contribute to heart disease, but are in fact very healthy.

Also, some negative studies done on coconut oil in the past was done on hydrogenated coconut oil, which has been altered from its original form. Other studies have clearly shown that traditional Asian cultures that eat significant amounts of coconut in their diet do not suffer from modern diseases seen in western cultures that promote a low-fat diet.

Longitudinal section through a coconut (left) and plan view of stone (right): 1- thin, yellow-brown, watertight outer skin (exocarp) 2 - thick, fibrous middle layer (coconut fiber, coir, mesocarp) 3 - hard inner layer, the stone (endocarp) 4 - white, oily copra layer, 1 - 2 cm thick (solid endosperm) 5 - cavity filled with coconut milk (liquid endosperm) 6 - embryo, 7 - "eyes" (3 germ pores set in pits)

Much research on the nutritional and medicinal benefits on coconut oil has surfaced in recent years. Much of that research has been done by Dr. Mary Enig. Dr. Enig has classified coconuts as a "functional food," which provides health benefits over and beyond the basic nutrients. She has specifically identified lauric acid as a key ingredient in coconut products:

"Approximately 50% of the fatty acids in coconut fat are lauric acid. Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, which has the additional beneficial function of being formed into monolaurin in the human or animal body.

Monolaurin is the anti-viral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal monoglyceride used by the human or animal to destroy lipid coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, influenza, various pathogenic bacteria including listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and protozoa such as giardia lamblia. Some studies have also shown some antimicrobial effects of the free lauric acid."

As a "functional food," coconut oil is now being recognized by the medical community as a powerful tool against immune diseases. Several studies have been done on its effectiveness, and much research is currently being done on the incredible nutritional value of pure coconut oil.

More information...

Enjoy these two new videos from the New Vrindavan 24 Hour Hare Krishna Kirtan. Visvambhar heats up the mood with a beautiful tune then Acyuta Gopi takes over with a spine tingling kirtan.

We just noticed that YouTube now allows you to view the video in high quality. There is a small link underneath the “Views” number that says “watch in high quality”. Make sure you click that so you can see all the people in full detail! You will need to leave GauraVani.com and watch the video on YouTube’s site in order to see this feature.

Visvambhar

View it in High Quality on YouTube.

Acyuta Gopi

View it in High Quality on YouTube.

Watch all of our videos on our YouTube Channel.

For those that don’t know, I am submitting a request when I return to be released from my commitment to the Army. I beg everyone to pray for me that this will happen. The Lord always listens to His devotees prayers. below is the letter:

 

I have been a practicing member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) since 1998. On 15 April 2005, I accepted formal vows and took spiritual initiation into the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya, which is an ancient spiritual tradition. The vows I accepted consisted of no engaging in illicit sex, no eating of any meat, fish, or eggs, no consumption of any intoxicants (including caffeine), and no gambling. Additionally I vowed to chant sixteen rounds of prayer (1728 prayers) on rosary type beads. I was also awarded the sacred thread of a brahmana (priest). After my wife left me in June 2005, I started to concentrate more on spiritual life.  In November 2006, I was given permission by my spiritual teacher to accept the saffron cloth of a brahmacri (celibate student). As a brahmacri, I have decided to also accept a life long vow of celibacy with the understanding that it is my duty to preach this message to whomever I met.The vows I have accepted require me to spend a minimum of two hours daily to complete my prescribed prayers and spend a minimum of two hours studying scripture. In additionally as a brahmana, I also perform worship of Deities. Due to the strict following of these vows, this often leaves me to sleep for three to four hours daily. As a strict follower of Krsna, I am also required to fast twice a month for twenty four hours. Taking all this into consideration, I decided that my life would be best served as monk, strictly living in a temple and dedicating my life to educating others about God.

 

 As a brahmana, I am required by scripture to preach this message of Krishna Consciousness and the chanting of the Maha Mantra; Hare Hare Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama to everyone I come in contact with regardless of race, creed or gender. Army regulations state that there will be no proselytizing of any single religion, faith or practice. The fact that the Army restricts me from following my scripture puts me in the middle of a dilemma. Should I break my vows, and what is expected of me from the scripture or should I knowingly violate and disregard regulations concerning proselytizing, and be charged under Article 92, Failure to obey an order or regulation of the UCMJ. To be very honest, I will choose to follow my scripture over the military, after all the military will not help me go back to Godhead. I feel that it is best for the US Army to release me so not cause a situation which could bring unnecessary attention to me and the US military.

 

As a Hare Krsna devotee, I am required to maintain a strict vegetarian diet, while deployed to Mosul in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 07-09, I was unable to be provided with adequate and nutritious meals. The US military’s idea of a vegetarian diet consists of food cooked in the same oil as meat and cooked in the same pots as meat. The salads are prepared using the same utensils as those used to prepare meat products. In any given time you can find in a military dinning facility salad’s and cooked vegetables prepared with meat or animal products. While yes, when not in a combat zone, this is not an issue, it is an issue when out training and participating in Mission Readiness Training Exercises, National Training Center Rotations and deployments such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Bosnia etc. The military does provide Soldiers with meals, but the Army cannot sustain my strict vegetarian diet, even the Vegetarian MREs are made with eggs, rendering them useless to someone like myself. In addition, this can present a concern for the safety of not only me, but also the safety of my Soldiers. As a Sergeant First Class in the US Army, I am entrusted with safety and wellbeing of any Soldiers that I am placed in charge of. This is an obligation I take very serious.

 

According to the scriptures that are followed in this spiritual tradition, the association you have will help to form and develop your characteristics. The Army is for the most part not a place for a person striving to become a monk. We all know that everywhere you go, there are talks of sex, and even as I write this I have individuals telling me to give up these vows and get married and be a “normal” person. In the Bhagavad-Gita it is clearly stated that in order to develop saintly qualities, one must be in the constant association of saintly persons. As mentioned earlier, I have accepted vows to practice renunciation and extremely strict spiritual vows; does the Army really want a soldier or leader that is always tired from lack of sleep and proper diet? I personally feel it is a major concern not only for my safety but especially for the safety of those I am chosen to lead in today’s conflicts.

 

I have served honorably in the US Army for thirteen years, and never asked anything of the military. My non-commissioned officer evaluation reports and my awards and decorations speak for themselves and can attest to the service I have given my country, and the US Army. I originally decided to submit this packet in November 2006, but the then Command Sergeants Major  and our present Squadron commander, requested me to postpone submitting it due to the Squadron’s upcoming deployment, feeling I was a valuable asset to the Squadron’s mission. I had no hesitation and agreed to put my dream on hold to help ensure that Soldiers in Iraq had good leadership to look to during combat operations. For over ten years I have justified my military service and my spiritual practices. I have lead a double life, but I can no longer justify it. I feel it has come to a point in my life to move forward and accept in my heart my calling as a monk and servant of God. 

 

I am writing this request to explain my reasons for requesting a Chapter 5-3, Secretarial Plenary Authority or “Once in a Lifetime Opportunity” Chapter. According to AR 635-200, this provisional is for those Soldiers who desire to leave active duty. Soldiers may qualify for discharge under this provision if the military service is interfering with a Soldier’s religious practices. I have clearly explained this in the above main body of this letter. The military has taught me about honor. I feel submitting this request is the honorable solution to this. I would feel if denied I would be a liability to Soldiers. Today’s Soldiers, fighting in today’s conflict need leaders who are focused on the mission at hand. To be very honest, my focus is else where and because it is I am a liability to Soldiers I have been chosen to lead.

Ananda: Western devotee girl, born in a devotee family, 32 years old, never married, lived a pious life, university graduate, settled in her career, wishes to marry sincere devotee in his mid or late thirties.

I found out what is wrong with my Canon. The LCD screen reads E18, which is an error common for the otherwise wonderful Cannon, and occurs after the camera is dropped one too many times. There is even a website about this glitch, e18error.com. Apparently, someone is even trying to organize a class action lawsuit against Canon over this.

Despite the fact that I am not going to be joining any lawsuits, I feel there is hope. My brother-in-law, who works for NASA, is coming tomorrow for a visit and he just might be able to take apart the camera and set things right again. In the meantime, I have my new hand-me-down to keep my blog decorated.

This Sunday will be ISKSON Toronto's Snana Yatra festival. This, is the festival where Lord Jagannatha, His brother Balarama, and His sister Subadhra are given a special abishek (bathing ceremony).

Below is ISKCON Toronto's official 30-second television spot (commercial) for the 36th Annual Festival of India (Ratha-Yatra). This commercial will be playing CP24, OMNI TV, ATN and the Toronto Transit One Stop Network which comprises of tv screens throughout 40 different subway platforms throughout the city. We hope you enjoy it!

Parabhakti das:Villa Vrindavana is pleased to announce that the Viareggio Ratha Yatra (sea embeded map below) will occour on 19th July. On 20th July we will celebrate the 25th installation anniversary of Sri Sri Radha Vrajasundhara and Sri Sri Gaura Nitai.

In “Bhaktyaloka,” Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes: “If one takes shelter of the holy names with humility, then by the mercy of the Lord – without prayasa – all knowledge of the Absolute Truth that should be known awakens within the heart of the simple devotee. This knowledge is never attained by independent prayasa.”

Festival of Inspiration 2008 Vamana Drama

1968 July 3 : "They have simply a faint idea of God as order-supplier. There is no ecstasy in such simple faith; there cannot be any ecstasy."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1968 July 3 : "We want ecstasy, it does not matter where one feels it, this church or the other. But, one who feels the ecstasy of Krishna Consciousness, he finishes his ecstasy of material enjoyment - that is the test."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 July 3 : "Please convey my blessings to Jayananda, who is helping so much now in organizing for the Rathayatra Festival. LA temple is now an ideal place for all centers to take example. Now make San Francisco as important."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1971 July 3 : "Politicians pose as the friend of the people, but they are actually not. The real friend is Krishna. Still, if you can make arrangements to meet with Nixon, it will be a great event, so try for it."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1971 July 3 : "I have not heard from you concerning our Mayapur program. Is the fence being constructed? What news of Indira Gandhi? Please let me know. I am very anxious to hear from you."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1972 July 3 : "There are only a handful of you who are convinced beyond any doubt about this Krsna consciousness movement - but that is sufficient to change the entire course of history."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1974 July 3: "I am relieved to know your whereabouts again after not hearing from you for some time. You want to see me and I also have some important things to discuss with you, so best thing is we meet at the end of July in Vrindaban."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1975 July 3: "We have received sanction for constructing the Juhu temple. Until further order whatever money you collect should be sent to Bombay. Print books as far as possible, and whatever money you collect send to Bombay."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

Talk on the life & times of Srila BhaktiVinoda Thakura.

It seems that everyone is seeking some way to become comfortably numb to the absolute craziness of this material world. Some take shelter in intoxication, others in sex life, others in money, others in fame, others in over eating, watching television, reading those cheap romance novels you find at the supermarket check out isles, others [...]

Life on the road for Krishna is a never-ending exciting challenge. You never know what is going to happen next, and you thus have to always take shelter of Krishna at every minute. Even though one encounters sometimes very difficult and traumatic circumstances, it is this taking shelter of Krishna that always makes it very sweet and wonderful. The...

Despite graduating with honors from Temple University with a B.A. in English, this blog is plagued by grammatical errors. Mostly they are of the homonym variety. Past instead of passed. There instead of their. My husband just pointed this out to me. However, I already knew these errors existed and just hoped no one else noticed.

So this is my disclaimer. I don't have time to edit. After nursing two really nursey kids, I don't have many brain cells left. Whatever I lack in English language skills, I try to make up for with my kitchen effort.

I know the cardinal rule of writing (and blogging!) is edit, edit edit. But come on. It's just a blog. And not a blog about world events but about jam! Although the posts hover forever in some cyber cloud above the earth, I still see it as ephemeral content. Today's posting is yesterday's news come tomorrow.

But out of respect to you, Dear Reader, I shall do my best to correct my errors once they are discovered. My only request is that you do not work too hard to discover them. Because honestly, instead of editing, I'd rather be making jam.

I have moved from Manchester, United Kingdom to Wellington, New Zealand. Last Sunday I gave the Krishna Fest presentation at the Gaura Yoga center here in Wellington. The topic was the “Science of Happiness” (analyzed using the teachings on the three modes of material nature from the Bhagavad-Gita: As it Is by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada).

Download and view a higher quality (800×600) version of the video here [124 MB].

Our curry plant was doing splendidly until about a month or so ago. It became yellow and withered like it was the dead of winter instead of the top of spring. My husband decided to cut back our Curry Devi (one must be affectionate to one’s plants!). All the way back! I started calling her Stumpy.

I was a little curious what would happen. That is, until I read Kurma’s post on the delicate, tempermental curry plant. Who knew she was such a diva! I became worried—no, angst ridden-- about the fate of our curry plant. I approached my husband with the information from Kurma’s posting as well as an attitude that implied he was a curry plant killer. I mourned the future of my cooking. My husband began to look a little nervous.

But a few days later he looked pretty darn pleased with himself. “Look,” he said, pointing to the green buds polka dotting Stumpy. Amazed at the sight of curry stubble, I told my husband, “We’ll see.” Despite all indications that Curry Devi’s vital signs were in check, I still was skeptical. Could my husband reallyresurrect a plant back from near death?

Well, here is a picture of her with green, young leaves. She looks better than ever, rejuvenated and with a full skirt of bottom foliage. The overpicked, geriatric look of her past life has given way to a brand new, ever fresh and youthful Curry Devi.

My husband, however, wants me to post some sort of disclaimer. You know, like “don’t try this at home.” I think Kurma’s post really scared the bejeezus out of him and he doesn’t want to lead anyone astray into the world of senseless plant murder. He wants me to point out that our curry plant was very healthy until a month or so of her yellowing. We had her for years, actually, and she has never been ill. It was spring, so the weather was warm, which may have aided her recovery from having a good foot and a half of her body amputated.

I don’t think my husband will be trying any plant surgery again anytime soon. We are just grateful to the powers that be that our Curry Devi pulled through this one, allowing us many more flavorful sabjis to come.

In the SB 12.3.51 it's stated that just by chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, one can become so pure that he becomes free from all the contamination of the material world and goes back home, back to Godhead.

"The Holy names of Krsna are transcendentaly blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it's Krsna Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Krsna's name is complete and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It's not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Krsna Himself. Since Krsna's name is not contaminated by any material qualities, there is no question of it being involved with maya. Krsna's name is always liberated and spiritual, it's never conditionated by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Krsna and Krsna Himself are identical." Padma Purana

Lord Nityananda just ask us to do one thing - chant the Holy names, because inside these 16 words we have everything....the key to our successful spiritual life.

Haribol

Aruna dd

Spiritual success of a Krsna conscious society is founded on how strongly the principles of brahmacarya asrama are taught, maintained and supported. The brahmacarya asrama is the training ground for gaining progressive knowledge and detachment. Srila Prabhupada greatly emphasized training in the brahmacarya asrama as the following quote shows: In the system of varnasrama-dharma, which is the beginning of actual human life, small boys after five years of age are sent to become brahmacari at the guru’s asrama, where these things are systematically taught to boys, be they king’s sons or sons of ordinary citizens. The training was compulsory not only to create good citizens of the state, but also to prepare the boy’s future life for spiritual realization. The irresponsible life of sense enjoyment was unknown to the children of the followers of the varnasrama system. The boy was even injected with spiritual acumen before being placed by the father in the womb of the mother. Both the father and the mother were responsible for the boy’s success in being liberated from the material bondage. That is the process of successful family planning. It is to beget children for complete perfection. Without being self-controlled, without being disciplined and without being fully obedient, no one can become successful in following the instructions of the spiritual master, and without doing so, no one is able to go back to Godhead. (SB 1.5.24).

In the beginning of our movement, many bright-faced followers of Srila Prabhupada were able to accept and follow the principles of brahmacarya under his empowered and inspired guidance. Srila Prabhupada was able to achieve this in a period of rampant degradation of human behavior by his awesome love and purity. Overtime, as our movement has expanded, a need is felt to strengthen our understanding and training in the brahmacari asrama. Celibacy is a crucial principle of brahmacari life. However, dry efforts to practice celibacy are usually insufficient; a wholesome lifestyle- training involving cultivation of knowledge and detachment is necessary.       ISKCON Sannyasa Ministry and many senior leaders have felt an increasing need for forums in which this training is systematically imparted, especially in North America.        In response to this need a 3-day conference at ISKCON San Diego is planned by H.H. Candramauli Swami in a cooperative endeavor with H.H. Prahladananda Swami, H.H. Bhakti Vikasa Swami and H.G. Maha Tattva Prabhu T.P. ISKCON San Diego.        This seminar is also intended for men who are serving in the capacity of gurukula teachers, temple presidents, grhasthas (in training their children and/or preparing themselves for retired life), temple leaders and senior devotees who would surely like to work with a team of enthusiastic trained-up brahmacaris.                    Seminar dates: Thursday, September 25-28th.       Venue: ISKCON San Diego temple       Topics and Teachers       H.H. Bhakti Vikasa Swami – Inner Life: Highest Realization or Lowest Degradation?   -Brahmacarya in an Age of Diminished Authority   -Brahmacarya in an Age of Sexual Promiscuity, Feminism, and Homosexuality   -To Marry or not to Marry       H.H. Danavir Goswami – Brain Gain and related topics       H.H. Candramauli Swami – S.B. 5.14 Forest of Enjoyment       H.G. Dravida Prabhu – Learning Slokas and Verses       H.G. Vijaya Prabhu – All about distributing books

Packing my bags, and then it's 'on the road again!'

I fly to Melbourne and then I'm commuting to the Bendigo Campus of La Trobe University, for a private cookery class to be held this coming Saturday.

Bringing my trusty camera and laptop, so I can share the good times. Let's hope for a few 'Kodak Moments".

There are many so called religions in this world. Some of the major ones are Christianity, Islam and Hinduism accounting to approximately 70% (according to one site) of the world population. Most of the religions came about in different times according to time, place and people. Although, the definition and names of God differed according to time, place and people, we can agree (isolating all the variants) that religion is about practicing the eternal principles of love, tolerance and compassion to all living beings and submit to the Supreme God in humility…you can call Him Allah, Jehovah, Krishna etc etc. But in spite of these pure principles, today religion is considered a big NO in the public domain. Why so?

People consider you a fanatic or crazy fellow in pursuant of dogma or blind belief. Yet, some draw a middle ground by merging together as much as possible science and religion and live a so called “religious” yet “rational” life. In other words, it seems rational thinking and religious principles/practice does not go well together. It also seems that rational thinking and logic is consistent only with modern scientific enquiry and not religious principles. Why so?

If one would think deeper, there are many factors but one of the major factors that contribute to this “dogma” type attitude towards religion is because people who profess their respective religions are dogmatic. In other words, people in authoritative positions such as the priests or the pastor or the mullahs are dogmatic. Because of this dogmatic approach towards religion, today religion is just another industry, another corporate world. It has its CEO heads and clerks, it has its power structure and hierarchy, and it is vicious and selfish just as any corporate company.

The sole purpose is to gain money, power and prestige. It can be done only if it has the mass following. To get the masses to follow their religion and not other religions is to make their practice highly sectarian and give the followers a sense of pride and safety net (a place in heaven). It is like Coco Cola Company and Pepsi Cola Company fighting for people to buy their product. Today, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other religions are fighting to buy their products – that is their God over the other Gods.

Religions are selling their Gods (company products) in fanciful and different ways to attract the minds of the people. It is no more about tolerance, compassion and love…it is all about satisfying the whims of the masses. So, when the so called torch bearers of “truth” behave in ways that is beyond rational thinking…religion obviously becomes a “belief” system…when God is portrayed as a “super hero” with no real tangible value in our daily lives…then religion obviously become a “belief” system.

Bottom line, the common man is too busy with his or her lives to worry about things such as God. But when religious authorities preach pure spiritual values of love and compassion, then for the common man it is no more a matter of ‘belief’ but a matter of spiritual values. But when the religious leaders are focused on money, power and prestige by selling their product (God and scripture) as better than other products by focusing on sectarianism…then religion is reduced to corporatism and all the politics that come with corporatism.

My fear is….if we do not do anything about it….ISKCON may be headed in that direction!

So it is our topmost duty to make sure we sincerely follow the pure principles of love, compassion, tolerance and humility towards all living beings thus making us eligible for prema bhakti towards Krishna. This will ensure the progressive movement of Srila Prabhupada’s divine mission – ISKCON.

Hare Krishna

This is my father. This photos series speaks for itself, I believe.

1956: November 21

Delhi

Letter to the President
His Excellency Dr. Rajendra Prasad
President Indian Union,
Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi
(Through His Private Secretary Sri Visvanatha Varma)

May it please your most exalted Honor,

Kindly accept my humble obeisances. It is the custom of India from a time immemorial that a citizen of the state would approach the king, to express his grievances for redemption and the king would very kindly consider his case as duty bound and give him necessary relief by the royal judgement:

At the present moment, your excellency is seated in the position of the king by the will and Grace of the Lord and as a true Vaisnava I must accept your excellency as the representative of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, as He has expressed Himself in the pages of Bhagavad-gita. As such I beg to lay before your most exalted honour, the following few lines for favorable consideration and do the needful in pure consciousness.

Your Excellency is the Representative of Sri Krishna by authority and I hope Sri Krishna will direct you from within in the matter of my transcendental service to Him.

I beg to submit herewith that by the Grace of Sri Krishna through His mercy personified–my spiritual master, I have realised it most thoroughly that going “Back to Godhead” is the highest privilege of mankind and that is the supreme perfection of human life.

Unfortunately, the present day human civilization is very much attracted with the beauty of Apara Prakrti the illusory material Nature and as such they are overpowered by a demoniac form of propensity in the atheistic set up of civilization manifested in the matter of sense gratification. This tendency is dangerously harmful to the real progress of life.

The aim of life should be to make a sincere effort to go “Back to Godhead” but contrary to this, the tendency is to go back to hell or in the cycle of evolutionary animal life as it is described in the 16th chapter of Bhagavad-gita.

Please therefore save them from the great falldown. Believe me or not, I have got the clue of going “Back to Godhead” just after leaving my present material body and in order to take along with me all my contemporary men and women of the world, I have started my paper “Back to Godhead” as one of the means to the way.

Please do not think of me as an wonderful or a mad man when I say that I shall go “Back to Godhead” after leaving my present material body! It is quite possible for everyone and all of us.

In the Bhagavad-gita it is said very clearly that whosoever may adopt the specific principle of accepting Sri Krishna the Personality of Godhead, he will be able to achieve the highest transcendental goal of life,–never mind what he is either a born untouchable, a fallen woman, a laborer or a man dealing in rupees annas pies. His being so, what is there difficulty for a pious “Brahmin” and devoted king for going “Back to Godhead”? Everyone should therefore adopt this principle of going “Back to Godhead” in order to get released from the world of miseries, with temporary existence.

This fact is corroborated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the practical demonstrator of Bhagavad-gita and as the most magnanimous incarnation of Sri Krishna–the Personality of Sri Krishna Caitanya has made the path of going “Back to Godhead” so easy for every one that even a boy of the world can swim across the ocean of religiosity, although it is injected with so many dangerous animals ready to devour up a fallen person in that great massive water.

I have simply adopted the easy method of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu just suitable to the modern people in general. As such I am feeling as sure of going “Back to Godhead” as I feel without any doubt after taking my dinner that I have eaten to my satisfaction. This feeling is a necessary concomitant factor of the great science of devotional service in the approved line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

I am therefore very eager to broadcast the secret of my success to all men and women of the world as a natural consequence and I am seeking your excellency’s help and co-operation in this great attempt of transcendental service.

I am enclosing herewith 12 (twelve) copies of “Back to Godhead” (I to XII) for your excellency’s reference. If possible kindly go through them all and I am sure that your honour will understand me right about my assertion. If it is not so possible, your excellency can kindly give a glance over the head lines only, and I am sure that will also give your excellency an idea of my definite assertion.

To make a world wide propaganda for this most essential service to humanity, it is necessary that your excellency will stretch the helping hand necessary in this matter, as your exalted honour is personally fit also to do this job. Although the method is very simple for universal adoption, it is not possible for me to express in this letter all the words that I wish to tell your honour. As such, I am seeking an interview with your honour herewith.

When your excellency will see personally the papers and programme of work about my bonafides, I am sure your excellency will be interested in co-operating with me. There is immense work to be done so far India’s spiritual asset is concerned and I think the Govt. may take up the matter scientifically for the good of all men. India’s specific culture demands that there should be a ministry of spiritual affairs to save the great culture of “Bharatavarsa”.

I am crying alone in the wilderness at the present moment. So please help me in this noble cause and oblige.

Thanking you in anticipation for an early reply, I am,

Yours in the service of the Lord,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta

July 4 2008, doesn’t just commemorate the declaration of independence of the USA. It also commemorates the Declaration of Dependence to God for His shelter when the most beautiful deity of Sri Gopal Nathaji (Krishna, the lifter of Govardhan Hill) was established in New Vrindaban, WV 25 years ago on this date.

The history is that the most auspicious moment for establishing the deity was 5-7 minutes before midnight on the 4th, and the big elaborate ceremonies, like the maha-abhishekam (ritual bath), took place on the morning of the 5th. This is in fact, consistent with Lord Krsna’s pastimes. He was born at midnight, but his grand birthday celebration took place the next day, called Nandotsava.

So this coming July 4-5, there’s gonna be a small festival for Nathaji at the community.

On the 4th, there will be an adhivas ceremony in the evening, where special items and ghee lamps will be shown to the deity to inaugurate the festival.

and then the next day..

Sri Nathji will be offered a dress made completely of flowers. There will be a traditional Chappan Bhog offering of 56 special food items offered at noon to Nathji. This is a special rite of the Pushti Marg Vaishnava sampradaya whose main deity is Srinathji.

At 4pm, there will be another maha-abhishekam for Nathaji, when the whole deity will be bathed in substances like milk, rose-scented water, juices, etc

Please give your blessings and prayers for the success of this festival. If you’re able to come in person, please do so and celebrate with us. If you can’t, then at least offer your prayers to Nathji on this special day. This is also consistent with Lord Krsna’s pastimes.
While Nanda Maharaj celebrated Krsna’s birthday in Vrindavan with all those who were present,

Lord Krsna’s actual father - Vasudeva, mentally observed the festival by giving charity to the Brahmanas, offering special sacrifices, prayers, etc.

Govinda Prabhu along with Gauranga Prabhu, and Radhesyam Prabhu arrived in the states yesterday. Govinda Prabhu has been an incredible inspiration ever since Radhanath Maharaj first put me under his care eight years ago. Gauranga Prabhu is also a dear friend and mentor. I was really hoping they would be able to visit ISV, Govinda Prabhu promised he would but unfortunately he wasn't able, he did write me a heart felt apology for not being able to make it.

But we will be blessed with Radhesyam Prabhu's association and we are planning to arrange a program at Stanford for him.

There is a small possibility that I might be able to see Govinda and Gauranga Prabhu's in LA or Seattle but it is probably more of wishful thinking than anything else.

At least I have this beautiful picture and more importantly I have their incredible example of dedication and commitment to the service of Guru and Gauranga.

As Ratha yatra is coming up on 4th July, special lectures on the pastimes of Jagannatha has started in Mayapur. HG Pankajanghri prabhu beautifully narrated the pastime from Sri Caitanya Caritamrta on Mahaprabhu's lilas during Ratha yatra. Today's class is given by HH Bhakti Siddhanta Swami. These lectures will go on for another few days. Fill up your heart with this nectar anytime from our downloads section.

Have a wonderful Ratha Yatra!

1968 July 2 : "Try to convince him that my presence is essential. By denying my application on some technical ground only, injustice has been done to me. I simply request the Director to give me the right direction for the next step."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 July 2: "During my Guru Maharaja's days, thousands of Rupees were being dispatched from Calcutta to London. But the new Indian government, being independent, they are prohibiting to send some Murtis and mrdangas."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 July 2 : "Do not try to become a very popular musical party. Music is for chanting. We are not musicians. We take advantage of the typewriter but we are not professional typists."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 July 2 : "If the Beatles make Hare Krishna record, that will be widespread, and we want simply that the Hare Krishna Mantra may be very popular all over the world. We do not care for any profit out of it."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 July 2 : "If the Beatles chant Hare Krishna, give them all facilities. But we should not try to make a profit out of the Mantra; then our spiritual advancement will be hampered."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 July 2 : "She has got her ideas of Hindu sentiment, and she cannot be used for international Krishna Consciousness. She is interested in Hindus only. In future, some tangible arrangements of cooperation may be adjusted."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

Unfortunately, my camera broke Tuesday after being dropped accidentally one too many times. I really liked my little Cannon PowerShot, which was a hand me down from my mother-in-law. Fortunately, my mother-in-law was sick of her camera, a Pentax, and decided to get herself a new one. She generously gifted me her Pentax. Unfortunately, the Pentax is slow to capture an image. Fortunately, it is really great at close-ups, which is what I do a lot of when taking pictures of food. Unfortunately, it will be really bad at taking pictures of my kids, because they tend to move around a lot and I need a quick camera to outpace them. Fortunately, I am around my kids pretty much all of the time and am by nature unsentimental so I do not feel an overpowering urge to document their every cuteness. Unfortunately, the Pentax is a bit of a pain for uploading photos onto my MacBook because if I don’t officially “Eject” it, an annoying folder is temporarily left on my desktop. Fortunately, the folder seems to go away once I shut off the computer. Unfortunately, I am whining about a free camera I just got. Fortunately, I realize my short comings, feel grateful about the free camera and am going to go give my mother-in-law a thank you call.

How can i say that Srila Prabhupada, who was a man, a jiva, is more merciful than God Himself? Am i not guilty of the worst kind of fanaticism? Of deifying a mortal man? God, of course, is universally praised as "all-merciful" (rahmani rahim in the Koran), the "ocean of mercy" (he krishna karuna sindhu in Sanskrit) and He who forgives all sinners (in the Bible). So how can i make a claim that Prabhupada was more than God in his mood of compassion?

First, I want to point out there are many controversies surrounding Srila Prabhupada. Even back in the 70's, when he was preaching, it was difficult to accept the concept that guru and God are to worshipped with equal status. It goes against our western, skeptical and impersonalist world views, to accept a human being as flawless. The typical mind, being influenced by a false sense of independence, projects ill on any claim of absoluteness. So it was difficult to accept that the acarya, even one who seemed to transparently represent the message of God, was as good as God.

Today, in the absence (at least in my perception) of a similarly empowered living representative of the divine, it's even more difficult to comprehend such a proposition. The field has become cluttered with all sorts of speculators, some purer than others. Some claim that Prabhupada was omniscient, another quality of God. But Srila Prabhupada himself rejected that concept, which is illogical also. A jiva never has the same powers of God, unless, for a particular reason, God wishes to give that power to his devotee. A pure devotee is always dependent on the Lord. He does have mystic powers. But full omniscience is something only possessed by God himself.

Other speculators with less purity claim that Srila Prabhupada was an ordinary man with flaws, but with extraordinary bhakti. Recently a feminist blog moderated and led by an educated. articulate, but in my opinion, a highly prejudiced vaisnavi, has appeared on the net. It can be found at: http://harekrishnawomen.wordpress.com

The blog's mission statement: "A place for the empowerment of our daughters, sisters, friends, mothers and wives. Also for our black bodied brothers and sisters as well as others facing discrimination in order to raise self esteem and give impetus to self empowerment. To destroy the lies of disempowerment, subjugation, lack of intelligence, and irrelevance to society that female gaudiya vaishnava bhaktas and others have been taught–is the purpose of this blog."

But when i read its posts and many of its comments, what i find is a kind of rage, resentment and envy that is typical of most body-centric philosophies and social reform movements. "Take a part of the message you like and then kill the messenger." In its protest against bias, it is so preoccupied with bias, that it becomes itself a platform for reverse bias. It selectively picks and chooses what it likes and dislikes from the mouth of Srila Prabhupada, using its own speculative voice as absolute. It promotes a feminist voice at the expense and condemnation of the voice of the guru from whom it received its inspiration and wisdom of spirit. Sounds like the "punar musika bhava" story.

Such a miserly approach is not at all attractive to those who have even a small appreciation of the sacrifice and magnanimity of Srila Prabhupada who preached the truth at his own risk in a dangerous world.

Now, getting back to my original claim, that Srila Prabhupada exhibited more mercy than God himself. Of course, real compassion is a divine quality, and is found in inexhaustible quantity only in God. But Srila Prabhupada, in his desire to serve God and lift the fallen souls of this world, in some ways surpassed God in exhibiting this quality. Here is part of a room conversation in Mayapur, on February 14, 1977.


Prabhupada: Yes. Not... He did not say possible. Iha bahya. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was interested only on the spiritual platform. He had no idea of material side. He rejected material side.
Satsvarupa: But don’t we do that also?
Prabhupada: No. Our position is different. We are trying to implement Krishna consciousness in everything. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally took sannyasa. He rejected completely material. Nishkincana. But we are not going to be nishkincana. We are trying to cement the troubled position of the... That is also in the prescription of Bhagavad-gita. We are not rejecting the whole society. Caitanya Mahaprabhu rejected everything, iha bahya. Rejected meaning, I do not take much interest in this. Bahya. It is external. He was simply interested in the internal, the spiritual. But our duty is that we shall arrange the external affairs also so nicely that one day they will come to the spiritual platform very easily, paving the way. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu, personality like that, they have nothing to do with this material world. But we are preaching. We are preaching. Therefore we must pave the situation in such a way that gradually they will be promoted to the spiritual plane, which is not required.
Satsvarupa: Varnasrama is not required.
Prabhupada: Not required. Caitanya Mahaprabhu denied, I am not brahmana, I am not kshatriya, I am not this, I am not this. He rejected. But in the Bhagavad-gita, the catur-varnyam maya srishtam [Bg. 4.13]. So we are preaching Krishna consciousness. It must be done.
Hari-sauri: But in Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s practical preaching He only induced them to chant.
Prabhupada: That is not possible for ordinary man.
Hari-sauri: What, to simply induce people to chant?
Prabhupada: Hm?
Hari-sauri: He only introduced just the chanting.
Prabhupada: But who will chant? Who’ll chant?
Satsvarupa: But if they won’t chant, then neither will they train up in the varnasrama. That’s the easiest.
Prabhupada: The chanting will be there, but you cannot expect that people will chant like Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They cannot even chant sixteen rounds. (And) these rascals are going to be Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Satsvarupa: No. But if they at least will chant and take some prasada...
Prabhupada: Chanting will go on. That is not stopped. But at the same time the varnasrama-dharma must be established to make the way easy. Hari-sauri: Well, at least my own understanding was that the chanting was introduced in the age of Kali because varnasrama is not possible.
Prabhupada: Because it will cleanse the mind. Chanting will not stop.
Hari-sauri: So therefore the chanting was introduced to replace all of the systems of varnasrama and like that.
Prabhupada: Yes, it can replace, but who is going to replace it? The... People are not so advanced. If you imitate Haridasa Thakura to chant, it is not possible......
Vaishnava is not so easy. The varnasrama-dharma should be established to become a Vaishnava. It is not so easy to become Vaishnava.
Hari-sauri: No, it’s not a cheap thing.
Prabhupada: Yes. Therefore this should be made. Vaishnava, to become Vaishnava, is not so easy. If Vaishnava, to become Vaishnava is so easy, why so many fall down, fall down? It is not easy.

Srila Prabhupada was a pragmatist. By 1977, he had preached non-stop for 11 years in western countries. And he could see, that despite his preaching, despite everything he had given to his disciples, still they were falling down, they could not reach the proper standard. So he wanted to go beyond the scope of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He wanted to re-establish varna-asram, a society based on progressive values, to give people (including his own disciples) a chance to gradually come to the spiritual platform. This was even more merciful than what Krishna, as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, was prepared to do.

Mahaprabhu avoided worldly people. Even the King of Orissa at the time, Prataprarudra, who was his own devotee, had to overcome great resistance from Mahaprabhu to meet Him. But Prabhupada was eager to meet with leaders and celebrities-- he even wrote letters to Presidents and Popes-- not for any personal glory, but with a desire to beg them to help him turn a hard-core materialistic environment into a more spiritually favorable one. Of course, his disciples could not easily understand how to assist him in this. They were enthusiastic but unable to actually help him establish a more favorable social situation. In many cases, they turned a neutral situation into an unfavorable one thru their malefic or ignorant actions. And immediately after Srila Prabhupada departed, in November, 1977, the leaders of his movement turned everything upside down and sabotaged his movement. The results can now be seen as the present farce that masquerades as an international spiritual society.

To set the record straight: Srila Prabhupada was not in any way a bigot, a fanatic or a megalomaniac as some prejudiced observers now claim. He was absolutely liberal and revolutionary in his insistence that none of us are these bodies. That we are, in reality, spirit. And as spirit we have a birthright of liberation from this material world. He was an incarnation of mercy who was empowered to distribute that mercy and to liberate anyone who could follow him. But as he himself said, it's not easy to become a vaisnava. It is not easy to give up envy and the speculative mind and to surrender to mercy. But our disqualification-- our cataract vision and our spiritual deafness on this plane of existence-- in no way diminishes the beauty and glory that was and is Srila Prabhupada.

It's a great American image. The beef-chewing, muscle-clad, super hyped-up (and super-rich) professional sports athlete. No hippy pixie dust here, no sirree bob!

But as we look around, and we see its the 21st Century, a strange world upside-down, always evolving, sometimes even in positive directions, the above image shows its mutations, its permutations. Underneath the headlines of steroids and dogfights and big bags of cash is another way these athletes exist, as real role models and examples in the fight to bring awareness of of the benefits of the vegetarian and vegan lifestyles to the masses.

Click here to read more.

In his book called “Bhaktyaloka,” Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes that:  “If one accepts sense objects in the spirit of enjoyment, that is atyahara. But if sense objects are accepted as the Lord’s mercy and only as far as required and favorable for devotional service, then it is not atyahara.”

Evening Kirtan during Kartik 2007 in Vrindavan by his holiness Lokanath Swami

One thing that appears to be a hot topic at the moment is Srila Prabhupadas choice of words and interpreting what he meant, the example is given by the text below and Prabhupada’s use of the word “Rape”

Every husband is certainly a great hero to his wife. In other words, if a woman loves a man, that man appears very beautiful and magnanimous. Unless one becomes beautiful in the eyes of another, one cannot dedicate his whole life to another. The husband is considered very magnanimous because he gives as many children to the wife as she likes. Every woman is fond of children; therefore any husband who can please his wife by sex and give her children is considered very magnanimous. Not only does the husband become magnanimous by begetting children, but by giving his wife ornaments, nice food and dresses, he keeps her completely under submission. Such a satisfied wife will never give up the company of her husband. Manu-samhita recommends that to keep a wife satisfied a husband should give her some ornaments because women are generally fond of home, ornaments, dresses, children, etc. In this way the woman is the center of all material enjoyment.

In this regard, the word vikhyatam is very significant. A man is always famous for his aggression toward a beautiful woman, and such aggression is sometimes considered rape. Although rape is not legally allowed, it is a fact that a woman likes a man who is very expert at rape.
SB 4.25.41

It has been suggested that the use of a footnote giving some interpretation should be given whilst others feel that this pollutes what Srila Prabhupada was saying. One thing is clear that and agreed on is that Prabhupada was not implying that women wished to or wanted to be raped as on rape Srila Prabhupada also made the following comments:

Intelligence is shown by self-control. The cats and dogs have no self-control. If a bull or a male cat or dog sees a female, immediately he will rape her, yet he will not be punished. But if a human being does that on the street, he will be arrested at once. The inclination to rape is there in both the animal and the human being, but a human being is supposed to control himself. Indeed, human life is meant for self-control. The more you control yourself, the more perfect a human being you become, and the more you allow your senses to run loose, the more of an animal you are. People do not know this. They want freedom, but in the name of freedom they are becoming animals. This is their so-called civilization.
DWT 10: The Sword of Remembrance

Of interest is how many devotees have been drawn into this debate polarising views. The many meanings of the word rape is lost due to its immediate connection with certain acts, whilst it is also accepted that a women likes the chase and her heart won in one way or another. It would be impossible to truly say what Srila Prabhupada actually meant and his use of the word rape in this context.
It did remind me of a conversation I had many years ago when I raised an issue about what I had read the devotee simply replied as follows:
Srila Prabhupada was an old gentleman for whom English was a second language; at times he used words or said things that we would not normally say. We can chose to let a few words or sentences distract us from the message he is bringing, best we focus on this than de distracted by small errors of words used.

This answer still rings true in many ways and that we are easily distracted and risk over interpreting or making assumptions on what Srila Prabhupada was saying. And that we should concentrate our efforts on devotional life and making spiritual progress rather than the very few words or passages and spending much time and effort on them.

Jo’burg, South Africa

Diary of a spiritual journey 19
March 17, 2008

What do I want to share in a diary? Something about life in Krsna consciousness, not only from a book, but our attempts to be devotee in every day practical life.

The travels continue from town to village. People often ask isn’t it tiring all this travel, it is of course, but what is not tiring in this material world, we manage to survive like everyone else, more important than tiring is that it is also inspiring to meet so many people who are encouraged to practice Krsna consciousness. We are now in Lenasia on the outskirts of Johannesburg, we are staying with Harinamananda. There are pictures of Krsna everywhere covering the walls through the entire house. Harinamanda is a devotee who has done a lot of substantial service for many years and now at age 67 he has no interest in retirement. It’s nice to be here. it’s Monday morning, time to rest and recharge. We had a Ratha Yatra in New Castle (South Africa) on Saturday, the rain was pouring down, water everywhere, fish were swimming past us during the parade. Many people dressed in yellow plastic ponchos dancing in the rain, the rain of Jagannatha’s mercy was greater than the downpour from the black clouds. As for the spiritual leaders who were present it was Jagad Guru Prabhu and myself. He is supposed to take sannyasa on Gaura Purnima, which is on this coming Friday. So he was in a very ecstatic mood and singing and dancing very happily in front of Lord Jagannatha. Jaya Jagannatha, Jaya Jagannatha!

Taking sannyasa is not a small thing! How many people in the world are taking this to asrama. In ISKCON, we are having about a hundred sannyasis at most. My dream is a thousand before I die! You may think that it is some sort of Utopian idea, but many devotees who have joined either in the sixties, seventies or eighties are now coming to the right age where sannyasa becomes a serious consideration. One might think sannyasa, giving up ones family and dear ones, what a horrible thing. But vaisnava sannyasa, Tridandi Biskshu, is not all about giving up so many things. This Tridandi Vaisnava Sannyasa is all about embracing the entire world. All about becoming the servant of Lord Caitanya who freely distributes love of God to every nook and corner of the universe. A sannyasi must equally care for everyone.

This morning I was bathing in cold water, in the transcendental sound of the Holy Name and then I picked up a book entitled Prabhupada Memories. Trivikrama Maharaja described, how he was once massaging Srila Prabhupada, and started glorifying him, about being such a wonderful preacher and such a great devotee and so on. Then Prabhupada suddenly with a very authorative voice said; "No!". Trivikrama Mharaja’s hands froze. And  Prabhupada continued with the voice of a six year old and said; "I am just a servant." It is nice and purifying to read, another type of bath.

Last night I sat on a big vyasasana in front of a large audience with many garlands around my neck, people liked my lecture, like my kirtana. My picture is on people’s altar. Let me also speak with the simple honesty of a child and say; "I am just a servant". Krsna, the Supreme Master is personally taking interest in the well being of all living entities, so the servant also takes interest in the well being of all and thus develops many wonderful friendships everywhere.  How different is this vaisnava sannyasa from the harsh and lonely renunciation of the mayavadi sannayasi. A vaisnava sannyasi operates on love for Krsna and love for many devotees and loving compassion for the fallen conditioned souls. Yes for a vaisnava, sannyasa is a wonderful thing.

Not that this diary entry is all about sannyasa. It’s about devotees, who make commitments to give their life to Krsna. Some other devotees are getting married this coming weekend. A devotee marriage is also a heroic path, because for man and woman to live together with four regulative principles is a very exalted path. In either asrama sanyasa or grhasta one can please Krsna by remaining pure and go back to Godhead. In material life there are "winners and losers", but in Krsna consciousness everyone wins. Devotional Service is ‘Subhada, All-auspicious’, because of three reasons:

1.) jagat-prinanadi-dvaya-pradatvam
possessing love for all entities and becoming the object of  affection for all living entities
2.) sad-gunadi-pradatvam
bestows all good qualities
3.) sukha-pradatvam
bestows happiness
BRS 1.1.28-30

…..Then there is e-mail………
A letter has come in:
A devotee wrote to me, that Jesus is God and thus greater than Prabhupada. My response: Your issue is not really that Jesus is greater than Prabhupada, but rather that you have become greater than Prabhupada, because he said that Jesus was the son of God….

Things like this make me tired, why worry about unnecessary things! Just follow Prabhupada, if we just dive deep in to Krsna consciousness then there is enough inspiration to nourish the soul.

Let me have another look at the "Prabhupada Memories", this is a nice one; Guru Kripa: I wrote to Prabhupada, "Personally, I don’t think I can ever follow all these rules." at the time I was following them, but I was being sincere. "And, therefore, I have to make one request, I have read that there are three types of people who reach perfection: the nity-siddha, the kripa-siddha and the sadhana-siddha. I cannot follow all these rules, so how will I ever become perfect? I request you to make me a kripa-siddha." Prabhupada said, "All right, Guru Kripa, I will give you." He can do as he likes, he is independant.

The guru/disciple relationship is like that, whether the disciple asks or not, kripa siddha is there. Both the mercy of Guru and Gauranga are there even if we are not qualified.

Time to get off the computer, soon we’ll go for a 4 hour drive to Bloemfontein, where a new temple has been opened and it’s going well. Worth paying a visit…

As I was checking out the archives site after uploading some things, I became inspired to test out the search feature for a particular edition of “thought for the day” that never ceases to make me smile. Its something about how Srila Gurudeva expertly describes Ronald McDonald that strikes me funny although the message could [...]

Signed off on this one today! Final design confirmed. It's off to the sign writers.

Amazingly enough the other day when I described in "Thought for the Day" that our religion is to develop pure love for the Supreme Person, one of our subscribers dropped out of course complaining that my statement was Mayavadi philosophy. Mayavadi philosophy states the Supreme is not a person, that the Supreme is instead the impersonal, formless oneness............................... ===================================================================== Thought...

Hare Krishna.

Today I read the transcript of the talk, "A Self-Sufficient Darshan with HH Sivarama Swami," and it gives me a variety of feelings. I'm part of the Gita-nagari community, and while it is a very nice community that I appreciate very much, it is very far from self sufficient. The desire apparently isn't even there. Actually, it's something I very much desire, but I don't know of anyone else around who has any hope or real wish for it.

The article first reminded me of my initial encounter with New Vrindavana. Going back a little earlier, I was an environmental studies major in college when I developed two desires -- one to find out what is the absolute truth, which I sought through immersion in yoga philosophy and practice; and the other to become a farmer. Oddly enough, finding out the absolute truth proved to be easier than becoming a farmer. I had no land, no experience, and my parents had just spent many thousands of dollars putting me through college. I couldn't disappoint them like that.

Putting my farming dreams aside for while, I set out on a long (2,000 mile or 3,200 km) journey to find a suitable place to meditate, and on my way I found Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and soon after, Krishna. Thanks to Him, I gave up my intended hermit life, invited my wife-to-be to live with me, went back to Upstate New York, and started a family. About a year or so later, the urge manifested to combine my new-found desire for Krishna consciousness with my dream of being a farmer, so I looked in the back of Bhagavad-gita and saw that there were two Hare Krishna "farm communities" listed that were in my area of the world. One was New Vrindavana and the other Gita-nagari.

At that point I didn't know anything about either place. All I knew was what I read in a few of Srila Prabhupada's books that I read. I had such little exposure to devotees that I didn't know it was customary to chant japa fast, so it took me about 6 to 8 hours a day chanting 16 rounds of japa. One day I was walking to the local food co-op, and I saw an unusual-looking woman who turned out to be Mother Mahavegavati. We got talking, and I told her I was trying to decide whether to move to New Vrindavana or to Gita-nagari. She advised against Gita-nagari because of her rough history with HH Bhakti-Tirtha Swami (I won't get into that now), and said she in fact was preparing to move to New Vrindavana. That tipped the balance in favor of New Vrindavana, so my wife and I went with our baby to visit.

When we got there, we met with Nityo-dita, then-Swami, who was the temple president. He asked what I planned to do, and I told him that I read that this was a Hare Krishna farm community, and that I wanted to chant Hare Krishna and farm. He looked at me like I had just fallen from Mars, and suggested I work at the "Pie Factory." (The Pie Factory was a weird place where mostly nondevotees made potpourri pies to sell in the malls.) Giving his odd advice the benefit of the doubt, we went to visit the pie factory. We got there around lunch time, and seeing people sitting outside eating meat and smoking cigarettes, I decided not to work there.

At that time there wasn't much of a garden at New Vrindavana, and I decided I'd like to do some work with the cows. I went to visit the cow barn, but the devotee who was running things there didn't want my help. I had never worked with cows, but I'm pretty good at learning. I didn't get that chance. I had already made up my mind to go live at New Vrindavana, about a month later we moved into one of the apartments. (Thanks to living in the New Vrindavana apartments, our daughter's first word was "cockroach.") I managed to earn a little money doing odd jobs like building maintenance and some skilled carpentry. I didn't get to do anything resembling farming, and after about 8 months we had heard enough about the criminal past that we got freaked out and left.

About three months later I got my enthusiasm for Krishna consciousness back. Shortly after I got a second environmental degree, and after graduation I got job working in a USDA lab researching a corn protein. That was nice because the Philadelphia temple was just about a 2-minute drive away, so I went there every day for lunch. I gained about 20 pounds (9 kg) that year.

After a year I got job with the PA Dept of Environmental Protection, and with another a year of that I had all I could stand of living in such a populated area, so I transferred to Lancaster, PA. There we had nice, regular association of Amogha-Virya and his wife Prsni, and also Mahat-Seva, who was pretty fixed-up then but seems to have left the movement. I wonder what happened to him.

Our living arrangement in Lancaster was very difficult, due to a dishonest landlord, so we sought to move. Again we considered New Vrindavna or Gita-nagari. Each year we had visited New Vrindavna, and it seemed to improve with each visit, and we also kept some friendships there. We visited again, and I met with Kuladri. He told me there was no facility there for us, that we would have to live off the property in town, and also work in town too. HH Varsana Swami gave us a little tour of some potential dwellings, but although he obviously meant well, the places he showed us were incredibly sub-standard. Picture an old rotten trailer with a hole in the floor almost as big as a cow, and enough stuff left behind to make us wonder why someone left so quickly or if they were buried somewhere nearby. I'm being generous with that description. My wife refused to live like that, and I could hardly blame her. The farming project there was growing (no pun intended), but there was no way for me to get involved.

The next try was Gita-nagari. We visited a few times and liked it. There was no place to live on the Dhama or nearby, so we bought a house about 12 miles away, the closest place we could afford that had (almost) our minimum acreage - just under 5 acres. The house is very old, and there was a substantial shed and a building that could be made into a barn. I had hopes for doing some farm work at Gita-nagari, but there was none of that going on. Cows were protected there, of course, but not really any growing of vegetables. Most of the hay being grown was contracted to a Mennonite farmer who cut and bailed it himself for his cows and for sale. I heard that formerly Gita-nagari was a very happening, self-sufficient place, but that was not the situation when I arrived.

Since there was no realistic way I could farm at Gita-nagari, I did what I could at home. We managed to quickly get a garden in when we arrived, since we brought about 50 potted plants with us. I set up a small fenced area around the barn-to-be, and made a space for a few angora goats, since my wife liked to work with fiber, spinning, knitting, weaving, etc. Later we got a few sheep, and eventually one devotee gave me a cow. I also did some worm farming, a.k.a. vermicomposting, and our garden about doubled in size each year.

We're now in our fifth year living here, and the animals we have are one cow who will be giving birth in about a month (yes, we'll be milking before long), also two Leicester Longwool sheep, two Angora goats, a guinea hen and six keets (baby guineas), one or two chicken, two peachicks, a dog, about 5 cats, two black rat snakes (I caught them wild and introduced them to the inner walls of the house), a frog, a tank of fish (30 gallons or 113L), a blue and gold macaw parrot, and about a million composting worms.

Our garden this year has corn (2 varieties), okra, yams, peas, beans, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce (several varieties), spinach, cauliflower, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, bitter melon, tomatoes (several varieties), beets, chard, potatoes, carrots, cucumber, squash, zucchini, eggplant, daikon radishes, and regular radishes. I'm probably forgetting something. We also planted a small orchard, and expect to get several pears this year.

I was well-trained in ethnobotany in college, how to identify and harvest wild herbs, make them into medicines, and use them in treating disease. I have a cabinet of about 50 kinds of individual herb tinctures that I've made, and 7 combinations I've developed for specific health conditions. Yesterday while I was in my cubicle, the kids harvested jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), extracted the juice, and froze it. This was the first time they've done something like this themselves, so I was quite pleased with them.

Our gardening is done organically, with animals' waste consumed by the composting worms to produce excellent compost fertilizer, which I make into garden beds and till by hand with a pick. I don't like lawn mowers, so the yard is kept nice by the grazing animals, and the garden area around the beds is cut by hand with an Austrian scythe.

I really love this kind of work, and I regret that I have to drive 50 miles to sit in a cubicle for 8 hours a day. I do all this farm work about 95% myself during my so-called free time, usually quitting for dinner after dark. Although my regular job is somewhat important, enforcing environmental regulations, it's hard for me to sit in a cubicle so much. I dream of quitting so that I could just farm and sell Srila Prabhupada's books, but with such a big family I have to be responsible. Actually I'm just getting ready to begin book distribution, e-mailing the BBT about buying my first cases, but I'm very excited about it. All I want to do is preach and farm. It's a shame that there isn't facility for me to do this full time, considering that I'm part of a Hare Krishna farm community. The Gita-nagari community is very nice; I have such good friends here, but honestly few have any substantial interest in farming. I hope that if ISKCON leaders really want to have sustainable farm communities, that they will think of me and find a way to engage me in devotional service full time. It's hard work and almost nobody wants to do it, but I want to do it a lot. I know that family of two adults and five children makes for a little of a challenge, but I've learned plenty and I love to work hard, if I can convince myself that I'm doing it for Krishna. It may be that I'll never get the chance to leave the cubicle and be engaged full time directly in devotional service as my heart desires, but at least I can dream a little.

Maybe I'll get time to comment more on the Self-Sufficiency talk another day.

Hare Krishna

Hundreds of cancer researchers took part in a five-year project spanning more than 7,000 clinical studies and designed to document the links between diet and cancer. Their conclusion, published in the World Cancer Research Fund's report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective (2007), has rocked the health world with a declaration that all people should immediately stop buying and eating processed meat products and that all processed meat should be avoided for life.

Processed meats, the report explains, are simply too dangerous for human consumption. And why? Because they contain chemical additives that are known to greatly increase the risk of various cancers, including colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, leukemia, brain tumors, pancreatic cancer and many more.

What are processed meats?

• Bacon • Sausage • Pepperoni • Beef jerky • Deli slices • Hot dogs • Sandwich meat (including those served at restaurants) • Ham • Meat 'gift' products like Christmas sausages • Meat used in canned soups • Meat used in frozen pizza • Meat used in kid's lunch products • Meat used in ravioli, spaghetti or Italian pasta products ... and many more meat products.

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Srimad Bhagavatam 10.87.24 - The easiest & surest way to know Krsna is by Bhakti Yoga.