Two days ago, The New York Times published a front page article on the increasing interest in Kirtan. Read all about it here.
by Kirtaniya (noreply@blogger.com) at March 06, 2009 03:45 PM
March 06, 2009
Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA : Forgiveness Is Giving Up Hope For a Better Past
I was in a discussion and the topic of forgiveness came up. I had recently heard a great quote so dropped it in. “Forgiveness means giving up on a better past.”
Someone asked me who this quote was from. I couldn’t remember so I Googled it and found two possibilities, both of which were better nuanced than I remembered it.
“Forgiveness is giving up the possibility of a better past.” –Unknown
“Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past”. — Lily Tomlin
If I was editing it, I would use “Forgiveness is giving up hope for a better past.”
This is not about how forgiveness effects the transgressor, about letting someone off the hook for their karmic reactions. It is about how forgiving affects the forgiver.
Here are a few more quotes from a long list at:
http://www.tentmaker.org/Quotes/forgivenessquotes.htm
“Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business. Not to forgive is to yield oneself to another’s control… to be locked into a sequence of act and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating always. The present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. Forgiveness frees the forgiver. It extracts the forgiver from someone else’s nightmare.” - Lance Morrow
“Forgiveness is the final form of love.” –Reinhold Niebuhr
“A Christian will find it cheaper to pardon than to resent. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, and the waste of spirit.” –Hannah More
“Forgiveness is . . . accepting God’s sovereign use of people and situations to strip you of self importance, and humiliate your self love.” –Martha Kilpatrick
“To err is human; to forgive, divine.” — Alexander Pope
Forgiveness means giving up lamenting for the past. The following are devoteespeak for the same concept.
“So brahma-bhutah… Brahma-bhutah means one who is above these two principles, hankering and lamenting.”
General Lecture — (location & date unknown)
“When one actually is self-realized, that “I am not American, not Indian, not
Hindu, not Muslim, not man, not woman. I am spirit soul. Aham brahmasmi,” at
that time, he does not lament. Na socati na kanksati. We are fighting with one
another, lamenting and hankering due to this misidentification of the self with
this body.”
The Nectar of Devotion — Vrndavana, October 23, 1972
“A sadhu, a devotee, is never angry. Actually the real feature of devotees who
undergo tapasya, austerity, is forgiveness.”
SB 6.4.5
“The duty of a brahmana is to culture the quality of forgiveness, which is
illuminating like the sun. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is pleased
with those who are forgiving.”
SB 9.15.40
“‘When the seed of ecstatic emotion for Krsna fructifies, the following nine
symptoms manifest in one’s behavior: forgiveness, concern that time should not
be wasted, detachment, absence of false prestige, hope, eagerness, a taste for
chanting the holy name of the Lord, attachment to descriptions of the
transcendental qualities of the Lord, and affection for those places where the
Lord resides — that is, a temple or a holy place like Vrndavana.
“These are all called anubhava, subordinate signs of ecstatic emotion. They are visible in a person in whose heart the seed of love of God has begun to fructify.”
Madhya 23.18-19
Posted in News, Ramblings or Whatever
Mukunda Charan das, SA : Bold Moves
First Programme of Vedic City Project, ISKCON Johannesburg North, Parkwood, Johannesburg, Sunday 22 February 2009.
Something was born on Sunday 22 February 2009.
Prabhupada was fond of saying that Krishna had taken birth within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. And this is how it feels with our little project in Johannesburg.
We are simply servants of Krishna. Not perfect servants. But servants no less.
Saturday afternoon was a little frantic. Thanks to Tirtharaja prabhu I was able to fetch our guest, Sankirtan das, from the airport in a car. Our previous guest had to navigate the back roads of Johannesburg with me from O.R Thambo International, Kempton Park taxi rank through a commodius vicus of recirculation to Park Station and environs. Am I getting too Joycean now? Anyhow, we basically schlepped back to the flat that time…
I heard Sankirtan was fluent in Chinese, but got a real taste of it when he actually spoke to a Chinese traveller in the car park. This wasn’t book distribution Chinese (ni hao, che che, ‘buy book’ etc.). This was the real thing. (Sankirtan, in co-operation with Chinese travel agents, takes Chinese yoga students on pilgrimages to India. He explains to them the spiritual dimension of yoga as expressed through Krishna consciousness).
Sankirtan set his baggage down at the flat and offered obeisances to the Pancha-Tattva and Garuda. To my delight, he gave me some Giriraja Saonpapri - a delicious sweet from Govardhana in Vraja. We then took tea, bread and date syrup on the otherwise empty floor of our Temple room. That was special.
I was freaking out because our cushions had not arrived. Luckily, my parents were on holiday so we got some blankets from their house for the programme (I hope you not reading this, Mom).
Where were we? Ah, yes. Sankirtan. We had put out invitations - mainly to people I’d met in the course of my wanderings in the shopping malls of Johannesburg. It was quite exciting though I was also in a anxiety over last-minute details. Would our books arrive in time? Would our cushions arrive? We had gone to much trouble painting-up the place. Rasika Rai had spent the whole week embellishing the Temple Room walls. I didn’t want anything to go wrong.
Sankirtan, however, was very relaxed. Not at all demanding. The last thing I needed was a fussy guest. There was just too much to do, too little time and too little money. Sankirtan had called me from India and we had made all our arrangements by e-mail. We agreed that he would speak on ‘The Yoga of the Self.’ I had mentioned to him that we were going to invite several members of the Yoga Fraternity to the programme and, since he had written a book on the subject for Chinese yoga students, it would be nice if we could speak a little on the topic of yoga. One of the main functions of the Vedic City Project is education, so I was happy we would kick off this way.
I spent the next day running around…looking for plastic covering for the toilet floor…looking forcouscous and vegetables to offer to the Lord and our guests…looking for heaven knows how many other things. Looking. Luckily I had the supermellow Tirtharaja tagging along my crazy trail. Thank you for being such a calming influence, Tirtha.
So, while Gaurashakti cooked, Arne cut out patterns for the toilet-floor, Tamal cleaned, Sankirtan freshened-up, Tirtha looked for the karatalas, early guests arrived…I was on the phone seeing who was coming, who was not coming, and thinking of anything we might have left out. This was our first programme.
The programme ran quite smoothly. We had 16 guests. Hansa, who owns a florist downstairs, kindly sponsored flowers for the programme. And the guests liked the walls! Paisley patterns and mantras of ‘Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya’ in Sanskrit and English.
The Programme
Tirtharaj led kirtan (congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra) for 15 minutes or so. Then Sankirtan spoke.
Sankirtan prabhu spoke a little about the Centre and how it was for the guests and for the devotees. He spoke about devotional service and various things we could do in terms of service to Krishna and Krishna’s Centre. While he was speaking I was thinking of the spontaneous offerings some of the guests had already made. There was Hansa and her flowers and dhokla; Giridhari and Estelle’s contribution of spoons and cutlery; and Richard’s gift (Richard is my astrologer friend referred to in my previous article) of a beautiful framed picture of Ganesh, the Destroyer of Obstacles.
Sankirtan then asked us to introduce ourselves and to tell everyone something about ourselves. I said, ‘My name is Mukunda Charan das and I like making friends with people.’ Sankirtan looked at everyone and said, ‘Is this true?’ Lungile said he liked, as I would have known, Prabhupada’s pastimes in New York City in the 60’s. Giridhari said he liked reading Bhagavatam. Govardhana liked being with devotees. Hansa liked cooking. Richard liked the Vedas. And so on. Sankirtan handled the group well. Everyone appeared relaxed.
Since I was up and down seeing to guests, seeing to prashadam - basically managing things - I did not get to hear all of the class. And Bhakta Arne, unfortunately, only captured 20 minutes on his phone. But I did catch the gist of the presentation. There were many processes by which spiritualists approached God, including varieties of yoga practice. These practices, however, brought the practitioners to the platform of Bhakti or devotion to Krishna. Sankirtan gave a simple, though scholarly, analysis of Patanjali’s Yoga sutras in relation to Swami Prabhupada’s presentation of Gaudiya Vaishnavism or bhakti yoga. Patanjali’s sutras give clear teachings about the physical dimension of yoga. But they are wanting in terms of the actual goal of yoga which is to ‘link’ with the Divine or Krishna/God (that is the literal meaning of the Sanskrit term ‘yoga‘). Sankirtan also encouraged us to work on our connection with Krishna as opposed to connecting with the Temporary. His talk was encouraging. There was some debate over the purpose and usefulness of Christianity during the question-and-answer-and-comment session. I wasn’t there, but I heard it was all resolved on the Vaishnava platform. Meaning everyone was in agreement basically. We served prashadam and the guests slowly, slowly took their leave.
Our first programme.
Srila Prabhupada Ki Jaya! Sri Sri Pancha Tattva Ki Jaya!
Mukunda Charan das, SA : Richard Filder, Jyotish Talk at Tuks, Pretoria
Versatile South African astrologer, Richard Fidler, gave an enlivening talk at the Tuks Bhakti Yoga Society (BYS) on 6 October 2008.
Richard explained that jyotish is considered ‘the eyes of the Vedas’. He explained that jyotish is connected to ayurveda (Vedic natural medicine). The sciences of the Vedas are interconnected whereas western understanding is compartmentalized.
How is jyotish related to Indian culture, destiny, spirituality (ie. Deities, spiritual paths, the guru and human relationships?
In Vaishnavism (God-conscious Indian spirituality), we see an ancient culture practiced in modern times. Richard went on to explain that astrological interpretation brings home ‘timeless truths of uniqueness of individuality’ to light. We are re-connected with rhythms of nature, the universe and Divinity. Astrologers see the karma (material destiny) of people and this gives them a sense of empathy for them.
Vedic concepts of dharma, artha, kama and moksha are revealed in a chart. Even if you are very spiritual, you need to eat food…you still need basic resources.
Another point that arose was that astrology can be an objective affirmation of a direction we are headed in. This is one use of astrology since so many scenarios arise. Reminds me of the point where the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, Swami Prabhupada, said of the usefulness of jyotish, ‘If you know it’s going to rain take an umbrella with you.’
Richard introduced me to a quote on astrology some time ago: ‘There are those who are born under the stars and those born born seeing stars. ‘ In other words, some are born ignorant of their destiny; while others ’see’ theirs - through astrology.
After the talk, there was a question-and-answer session. Was astrology only applicable to individuals? Richard explained to the students that astrology was not confined to one individual. Astrology could be applied to ‘a state of energy’ and had political, religious and economic applications. There is an ‘astrology of world events’ or an ‘astrology of collective karma.’ Collective karma could pertain to families, communities and certain planets or universes (eg. the heavenly planets).
Another student asked about the different yugas (epochs described in the Vedas). Richard answered that the Yugas are, in a sense, part of astrology and time-cycles. He cited an example from the ancient Indian history the Mahabharata wherein mention of a solar eclipse is made.
Richard answered another question about the relevance of astrology in our lives. He spoke of the macrocosmic and microcosmic applications of astrology. The Moon is a jewel on lord Siva’s head. The cosmic machine is a little piece of the reality of the Devas (Demigods or higher beings that “run” the material manifestation on behalf of the Supreme Being, Vishnu). We find it difficult to understand the miracle of what it means to be a human being. With respect to astrology, Richard made the point that ‘God does not play dice’ and also mentioned that Jesus said that every hair on our head is numbered. The basic point being that astrology helps us understand the cosmic being we are part of. Cells serve the body; and we are meant to serve God. Astrology could be part of the spiritual path of the intellectuals and would help an organization like ISKCON in an individual and collective sense.
”Where does the observance of Krishna’s birthday come from?’ Astrology.
Someone asked a question about Vastu (Vedic architecture/feng-shui) and Richard gave some simple explanations about the Sun in the east being auspicious and Saturn in the west being inauspicious. He also spoke a little about Vastu grids (being based on jyotish).
Richard made some other points in the discussion after his talk about how astrologers generally accept that there is a higher intelligence governing the material universe. He also mentioned that most astrologers become more spiritual through the practice of the science. Western science teaches that consciousness is random and comes from matter. The spiritual world-view is different: consciousness creates matter. Consciousness reveals the relationship between the soul and the material form, since the gross manifests from the subtle.
Astrology helps us to re-define events. External, physical events are the result of consciousness and, therefore, have a relation to psychology.
Astrology is intimately connected to religion. Astrology assumes there is a God and that our worldly activities should be aligned with the will of God. Astrology is the language of God. It is not trying to be separate from God.
Hemant (one of the students) asked about having a ‘good day’ or ‘bad day’ in spiritual practise. Richard mentioned that there are various forces that influence us, such as the sun, earth and water. Astrology helps us to time things better - remember Prabhupada’s point about the umbrella? There is a reason that certain activities take place within a religious calendar. To create auspiciousness. In addition to this, your consciousness will have a lot to do with how you respond to certain ‘events.’ With respect to difficulties in the course of our spiritual lives, you may not be able to find an outlet for that energy. Richard made a cogent point, ‘Even relatively enlightened people have “off days”. It probably has something to do with the stars.’ He went on to explain that pujas (worship), bugles, astrological rings (ie. gemstones which correspond favourably to certain constellations or planets) etc. ‘deflect bad energy, like a lightning rod on a house.’
After the question-and-answer session the devotees, students and Richard all took some prasada (vegetarian snacks offered to Krishna).
Thank you Richard. Hare Krishna.
Japa Group : Please Join the Japa Group
Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world...simply send me an introduction email and I will be happy to make you a member:
rasa108@gmail.com
ys
Rasa Rasika das
by Rasa Rasika (noreply@blogger.com) at March 06, 2009 11:16 AM
ISKCON Toronto, Canada : Calling all Actors and Actresses!
As many of our regular readers and temple-goers are already aware, next Tuesday, March 10th marks the day that we celebrate the Appearance Day of Lord Caitanya, Gaura Purnima! The evening will be marked with special festivities that will surely leave everyone on a spiritual high!We are very excited to announce that HH Bhaktimarga Swami will be attending this year's Gaura Purnima festivities! Normally, at this time of year, Maharaj is traveling in India for the annual GBC meetings so we don't normally have the opportunity to have Maharaj attend this grand festival. But this year is different and the most is being made of the opportunity!
To get us even more excited, Maharaj has agreed to present a small dramatic piece based on the Siksastakam prayers of Lord Caitanya. With that in mind, a call goes out to all aspiring actors and actresses that are interested in flexing their theatrical muscles!
If you are interested in taking part in this drama, please contact HH Bhaktimarga Swami at the temple at (416) 922-5415 or email us! Hare Krishna!
Dandavats.com : NYTimes.com: Yoga Enthusiasts Hear the Call of Kirtan
Sara Eckel: Although kirtan is rooted in India’s devotional religions and involves chanting the names of God, Krishna Das says the practice requires no allegiance to any deity or set of beliefs, and he is dismayed that many associate the chant “Hare Krishna” with people who begged on the streets and danced in airports in the 1970s
Dandavats.com : Bali Sankirtan Festival
Bali vaisnavas: By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and all the devotees, we the member of Bali Vaisnavas communities are humbly requesting your participation in the up coming event: “Bali Sankirtan Festival: “The Glorification of Vaisnavas in the Spirit of Unity”
Dandavats.com : Silk - should we wear it or not?
By Muralidhara priya Das
Should we be using silk? If we want to practice compassion and non-violence toward all living entities, then we should think twice about what we are putting on our bodies. Originally in Vedic times they used what was called Wild Silk.
Dandavats.com : Hare Krishna TV times March1-8
Pandava: Hare Krishna TV /Whole Life Experience will air at these times in Dallas: show 120d Chant the names of the lord with George Harrison, Kalachandji restaurant & complex, Dallas news report Whole Life Experience, Episode 120, Length: 0:28, 3/1/2009 Sun 3:30 am, Channel 95, 3/7/2009 Sat 3:30 am, Channel 95
Gaura Nitai das, Mayapura, IN : What does an elephant look like?
A group of blind men heard of a strange animal called an “elephant” from some elderly people. Naturally they had a very strong urge to have first-hand experience of such an animal through their sense of touch. With walking sticks in hand, the blind persons arrived at the elephant stable in the royal palace, and requested the elephant keepers to permit them to touch the elephant’s different limbs. Some of them rode on the elephant’s back with the assistance of the elephant keeper, some of them were touching the trunk of the elephant, some were touching the tail, and some were feeling the legs of the elephant.
The blind person who touched the trunk of the elephant, decided that the elephant must be an animal with the form of a large serpent. The one who touched the legs assumed that it was just like a pillar. Another who touched it’s ears thought that it must be something like winnowing platter, and the one who touched it’s belly came to his own conclusion that the elephant must be an animal like a big drum. Thus, the understanding of the elephant was not perfect to any of the blind persons.
Explanation of story by Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati THakur
Those who arrive at their own conclusion about the constitutional form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by applying materialistic knowledge, mundane education or objective observation also suffer from such imperfect and concocted conception of the truth.
It is because of this kind of endeavour for realisation of the Supreme Godhead through one’s direct observation and speculation that various atheistic philosophies like illusionism, skepticism etc. have become established. But when one is enlightened, which means, initiated into transcendental knowledge from a real devotee of the Supreme Lord, and is fortunate enough to enjoy a vision of the Lord, then, and then only, the perfect constitutional form and position of the Lord can be properly realized. Those who are not devotees of the Lord and are under illusion from material knowledge, deliver only such ideas about the Supreme Lord that are simply imperfect, concocted and speculated “-isms” only. Any conception of formlessness of the Lord, or of his transcendental form, is to be considered imperfect and unfounded, unless and until it is supported by a true vision and realization of his real position of a true devotee.
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by Gaura-Nitai das (Eric Rush) (noreply@blogger.com) at March 06, 2009 07:09 AM
Sita-pati dasa, AU : Theistic Evolution from the Veda
Intended audience: People who find this useful. Others who have a different view and are satisfied with it should feel no need to change it on account of what I have written here. It's just another way of looking at things.
Purpose: I intend to demonstrate that evolutionary theory is not intrinsically atheistic, and that Vedic metaphysics are not intrinsically exclusionary with evolutionary theory. Those who accept evolution should not see this as an attempt to "prove" Vedic metaphysics. Those who accept Vedic metaphysics should not see this as an attempt to "prove" evolutionary theory. The intent is merely to demonstrate how they fit together.
That the Supreme Lord is all-perfect is confirmed in all sruti-mantras. It is said in the sruti-mantras that the all-perfect Lord threw a glance over matter and thus created all living beings. The living beings are parts and parcels of the Lord, and He impregnates the vast material creation with seeds of spiritual sparks [1], and thus the creative energies are set in motion to enact so many wonderful creations.[2] An atheist may argue that God is no more expert than a watchmaker, but of course God is greater because He can create machines in duplicate male and female forms. The male and female forms of different types of machineries go on producing innumerable similar machines [3] without God's further attention [4]. If a man could manufacture such a set of machines that could produce other machines without his attention, then he could approach the intelligence of God. But that is not possible, for each machine has to be handled individually. Therefore, no one can create as well as God. Another name for God is asamaurdhva, which means that no one is equal to or greater than Him. Param satyam, or the Supreme Truth, is He who has no equal or superior. This is confirmed in the sruti-mantras. It is said that before the creation of the material universe there existed the Lord only, who is master of everyone. [5]
- Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.1 purport
The undergirding of theistic evolution is mapped here by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in the opening purport of his commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam.
Life is spiritual in origin
[1] The first point is: "The living beings are parts and parcels of the Lord, and He impregnates the vast material creation with seeds of spiritual sparks"
This is a statement about the metaphysical nature of consciousness and life and their origin.
Biologists struggle with a definition of life, and although they are able to explain how the material nature causes varieties of bodies to develop, they are unable to explain how life begins.
In Bhagavad-gita 14.4 Krishna states: "It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father."
The bodies are products of material nature, and the spirit souls that animate them are parts of the Supreme Being, and are impregnated by Him into the material energy.
An official statement from the modern Catholic Church: "The theory of evolution is understood as an investigation of the origin of the human body from pre-existing living matter, for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold firmly that souls are created immediately by God." [source]
The material energy is responsible for the development of material bodies
[2] "and thus the creative energies are set in motion to enact so many wonderful creations"
The creative energies refers to the material nature, which goes on to produce an infinite number and variety of bodies to provide unlimited experiences for the living entities.
This is confirmed with the following verse from Bhagavad-gita 13.21:
Nature is said to be the cause of all material causes and effects, whereas the living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments in this world.
Srila Prabhupada opens his purport: "The different manifestations of body and senses among the living entities are due to material nature."
Different bodies develop over time, naturally
[3] "The male and female forms of different types of machineries go on producing innumerable similar machines "
Male and female forms of different types of machineries - bodies - produce innumerable similar machines. The machines produced, bodies, are similar, but not the same - and that is how evolution takes place.
Observe:
This is me, or at least a photo of part of my body. I have white skin, because I descend from people who lived in a part of the world with low levels of sunlight. As a result their skin became pale. I now live in a part of the world with very strong sunlight, but my skin will not change color in my lifetime - that would take many generations.
This is a photo of my wife Param Satya. Her skin is a dark color because she is descended from people who lived in a hot, sunny part of the planet.
This is our son Prahlad. His skin color is a result of the mix of our genetic traits.
Because of the geographic isolation of two populations in different parts of the planet, with different environmental conditions, genes were concentrated for a particular skin color. You can see what the result of bringing these two populations back together again is: averaging out.
If the two populations remain isolated, the genetic trait remains, and is reinforced. Different populations in different locations reinforce different traits. Were the dark and light skinned populations to stay isolated for long enough, their genetics would drift further and further apart. They would stay averaging out in their own area - the dark people would breed and average their gene pool, and the light people would breed and average their gene pool. However, over time those two averages would drift further and further apart, as they already have for skin color. The result after a long period of time is that the two genetic averages become so far apart that breeding becomes first difficult, then produces sterile offspring (like a horse and a donkey which can produce an ass - see Interspecific Hybrids on wikipedia for more examples), and then completely incompatible, so that interbreeding cannot occur.
They are now a different species.
See wikipedia's article on Ring Species for more examples of this phenomenon.
This an emergent result of the machines producing similar, but not identical machines. It's a complex phenomenon that emerges from the massive repeated interaction of simple principles. Ingenious mechanism, eh?
God is not personally involved in the functioning of material nature
[4] "without God's further attention"
No divine intervention here folks.
Arguing for an interventionist God in the matter of the development of the material bodies is illogical, inconsistent with the empirical evidence, and inconsistent with the version of Vedic scripture.
The Vedic description of God is that His involvement with running of material affairs ends with the impregnation of the spirit-souls into matter, which is "done by His glance", which is to say, without His direct contact with the material energy even in that phase.
Because He glances over material nature, there is undoubtedly activity on the part of the Supreme Lord, but He has nothing to do with the manifestation of the material world directly. This example is given in the smṛti: when there is a fragrant flower before someone, the fragrance is touched by the smelling power of the person, yet the smelling and the flower are detached from one another. There is a similar connection between the material world and the Supreme Personality of Godhead; actually He has nothing to do with this material world, but He creates by His glance and ordains. In summary, material nature, without the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, cannot do anything. Yet the Supreme Personality is detached from all material activities.
- Bhagavad-gita 9.10
The only time the Supreme Being interacts with the material energy in for the purpose of lila, or play, as the avatara. This is another topic, but suffice it to say that the Supreme Being in Vedic metaphysics is not a glorified workman.
Metaphysical statement: God is ontologically the direct cause of the universe, and thus the indirect cause of evolution
[5] "It is said [in the Vedic scriptures] that before the creation of the material universe there existed the Lord only, who is master of everyone."
However, that the Lord is not directly involved in the process of evolution of material bodies does not lead to an atheistic conclusion, and Darwin's theory is not contradictory or exclusionary with the existence of God.
Evolutionary theory explains the mechanism by which material bodies develop - and it is an awesome system. However, it presupposes the existence of the fabric of space-time with particular physical constants, and a universe with matter in it. Science cannot answer the question of where this universe comes from. The details of the manifested universe is a matter of physical science. The ontology (the origin) of the manifested universe is an metaphysical concern.
If God is the origin of the universe, as the Vedic metaphysic asserts that He is, then the emergence of the mechanism of evolution is just another of His glories.
In this post I have demonstrated that theistic evolution is not incompatible with Vedic metaphysics, and is in fact the result of applying the Vedic metaphysics to the evolutionary theory of contemporary empirical science.
I will address in another article why a strong atheist agenda has become linked with science in general and evolution in particular, and why many adherents of science reject metaphysics completely.
H.H. Mukunda Goswami : Kali is Kool
Once a leader in the San Franciso Haight-Asbhury of the sixties said to me, "Hey! We're living in Kah-leefornia." He thought it was great. But there's some truth to his feeling.
Although the iron age of quarrel is a miserable age in which to live, the Srimad Bhagavatam extols this yuga as being highly conducive to spiritual advancement.
Gouranga TV : Martin Luther King Jr Parade - 2009 Los Angeles - Hare Krishna Devotees Participate
Every year Hare Krishna Devotees of Los Angeles bring The Rath With Lord Sri Jagannatha , Lord Sri Baladeva & Maharani Subhadra Devi To Shower Mercy Upon Thousands of People lined up along The MLK …
Ekendra das, Alachua, USA : cavemen part two
The opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the pinnacle of perfect, absolute truth one hundred percent of the time.
There have always been cavemen. There are cavemen today, and there will continue to be cavemen.
There’s always somebody who has no interest in living in a suburban home, driving a car, owning a television set, having a family.
Sometimes we call these people “homeless.” There are those who deliberately choose to live that way.
They do not play the game everybody else plays. They often domicile in some rough, semi-isolated residence, where most people would not want to live.
Millions of years from now, what will people say about us? Most of our homes will have completely dematerialized. What’s left standing after a million years?
Will they find any condominiums with newspaper clippings taped to the wall, buried under billions of tons of sedimentary rock?
What stories will they tell themselves about what they find?
I’ve read sufficient credible accounts of the existence of unimaginably advanced and populous ancient civilizations—existing so far back in the past it would make most anthropologists’ eyes roll right out of their heads, and described by people whose wisdom startles and humbles me—that I gravely doubt I’m being put on.
If you like books on really ancient history—I’m talking about many dozens of zeros B.C., the kind of stuff many respectable academics won’t touch for fear of losing their jobs—check out Forbidden Archaeology, or if you want an even fuller picture, go for the Srimad Bhagavatam.
I was “educated” in the U.S. public school system—the Chef Boy-ar-dee of Planet Earth’s learning institutions—but these days it’s not at all a stretch for me to imagine the following real-life “caveman” scenario:
What if the people we call cavemen—the ones famous for making cave drawings, the ones purported to be our knuckle-dragging, club-toting ancestors—were actually just a very few solitary hermits who lived in caves because they couldn’t stomach punching a clock in the civilized society of the day?
What if we believe that all early humans were illiterate neo-gorilla troglodytes scratching out hunt scenes only because practically all other evidence of advanced, multimillion-year-old civilization is completely buried under billions of tons of sedimentary rock?
If you want any kind of lasting fame, don’t go try out for American Idol. Find yourself a cave and get scratching. You’ll be discovered someday.
Sita-pati dasa, AU : Climate Change Harinam: Murarrie
That's right kiddies, it's back to 'Nam for some guerilla warfare - HK style!
Street to street, house to house, spreading the Holy Name. It's "Every Town and Village 2009 in the house!" as we continue our mission to chant the Holy Names of the Lord in the form of the maha-mantra in every town and village of Brisbane. Our motto: "If it has a postcode, it gets a harinam" - no exceptions, no excuses, no escape from the mercy of Sri Nityananda prabhu.
Where: Queensport Rd and Railway Terrace, Murarrie, QLD 4172
When: Sunday, March 8th, 2009 - 2.30pm
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ISKCON Melbourne, AU : Join Our Moomba Maha Harinama!
Melbourne's famous Moomba Parade returns on Monday! Once again, this year Parade organisers have requested ISKCON to contribute a transcendental maha-Harinama.
Bhakta Dasa and Bhakti Mataji are managing our party of thirty devotees. They would like temple residents to join together with adult congregational members. Please make sure you register your interest with Bhakta Prabhu on 0431-829-463.
We'll rehearse at the RMIT campus (Bowen St. entrance via Franklin St. City) on Saturday from 11am. till 12:30pm.
If you are joining our Moomba Harinama, prepare to be at the Parade starting point by 9:30 on Monday morning.
Bhakta Dasa and Bhakti Mataji are managing our party of thirty devotees. They would like temple residents to join together with adult congregational members. Please make sure you register your interest with Bhakta Prabhu on 0431-829-463.We'll rehearse at the RMIT campus (Bowen St. entrance via Franklin St. City) on Saturday from 11am. till 12:30pm.
If you are joining our Moomba Harinama, prepare to be at the Parade starting point by 9:30 on Monday morning.
March 05, 2009
Mayapur Online : Transcription - HH Jayapataka Swami, 24 Feb 2009, Caitanya Bhagavata
Date: 24 February 2009 evening
Topic: Caitanya Bhagavata
Speaker: Jayapataka Swami
Hare Krishna! Sorry for being late. The South Indian brahmana came to give me oil and ghee massage so they said, “You health takes priority.” We supposed to start at 5.30pm but it took longer, now is 6:30pm so I am very sorry for being late. That is what happened.
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1972 March 5: "Practically now it is in the hands of you big guns to manage everything. if you go on helping me in this way, you may know it for certain that very soon you will see Krishna face-to-face."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1973 March 5: "We want to avoid skin disease and the Indian people are like the tannery expert. Such a cobbler is expert at skin disease. They will see our Sankirtana Party and think it is a white dance."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1974 March 5: "We do not say that one has to leave home. Either you leave home or remain there, you go on with your progressive interest and participation in this great movement."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1968 March 5: "Please be happy in separation. I am separated from my Guru Maharaja since 1936 but I am always with him so long I work according to his direction."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1966 March 5: "Today I have sent one letter to the Secretary Salvation Army for exchange. At 2 o'clock went to Ananda Ashram. Kirtan was performed in the evening. Very much appreciated."
Prabhupada Joural :: 1966
Prabhupada Joural :: 1966
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1971 March 5: "Anyone reading our KRSNA book, TLC, NOD, and Bhagavad As It Is, is sure to become a Krishna Conscious person. Therefore somehow or other we must push on this literature distribution program."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1972 March 5: "You are the flowers of your nation, the most exalted and never inferior or less than even the most so-called elevated materialistic person."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1972 March 5: "Even I cannot give you any nice thing, still, because you have got some love for Krishna and your Spiritual Master, you are working very hard in every way just to push on this movement."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Vrndavana Vinodini dd, Toronto, Canada : Finally....Maha Abhishek Pictures!!!
This was the first time that I got to be in Mayapur for the Maha Abhishek and it was incredible...
by Vrndavana Vinodini dd (noreply@blogger.com) at March 05, 2009 10:41 PM
Kurma dasa, AU : Circle of Life #6: New Folks in Town
There's some new folks in my garden. One of my small chili plants that I had given up as a basket case suddenly sprung to life last week. It must have doubled its height in a week and is now offering yet another chili variety.
These folks are black or purple. I consulted my geneological table. They could be Aussie Blacks, Royal Blacks, or Chocolate, Tasmanian, or Lava Drop Habaneros. I'll be keeping a close eye on them.
And yet another variety - these ones are square-bodied like a baby bell pepper. Rocoto, perhaps?
I planted some spring lettuce - 3 varieties - 7 days ago. They are already hale and hearty. I'll be thinning them out soon (sob). And I'm saving the best till last:
These are most certainly Habaneros of some variety. The slight flush on the cheeks of some makes me think perhaps Yellow, New Mexico Suave or Red Savinas. I wrote and sent pics to the Chili Godfather John Leone (no, not Corleone), he who originally gave me the chilies from whence these have decended, and he will advise me as soon as they are ripe.
Bharatavarsa.net : Bhakti Vikasa Swami: No. 1 nondevotee (dog) can also become a devotee
A dog naturally does not become a devotee at any time, but still it is sometimes found that a dog of a devotee gradually becomes a devotee also. We have actually seen that a dog has no respect even for the tulasi plant. Indeed, a dog is especially inclined to pass urine on the tulasi plant. Therefore the dog is the number one nondevotee. But Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's sankirtana movement is so strong that even a doglike nondevotee can gradually become a devotee by the association of a devotee of Lord Caitanya.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Adi 10.1
Japa Group : Avoiding the 10 Offenses
In this very nice video, Mahatma dasa talks about a very important subject that we discussed on Skype Japa yesterday....avoiding and going beyond the 10 offenses in our Japa.
by Rasa Rasika (noreply@blogger.com) at March 05, 2009 08:44 PM
David Haslam, UK : What’s your name?
What’s your name?
The other week one very lively individual approached me, however I could neither place them nor recall the persons name that was not only frustrating but also a little embarrassing.
Names have always been a problem but it was the first time I’ve had problems recalling a face this caught me very much unaware [...]
Gauranga Kishore das,USA : D'Souza Hitchens Debate
Recently I've been educating myself on the atheism vs. theism science vs. religion debate. I felt that I need to be better educate on these topics to properly represent Krishna consciousness in an academic environment. It has been alot of fun, I forgot how much I like this type of stuff. I've been taking notes and jotting down ideas, but still very much in the process of digesting it all and learning more.
I recently came across Dinesh D'Souza who is really sharp. In this debate he gives the infamous Christopher Hitchens some much needed sauce. It's good fun if you like this kind of stuff.
by Gauranga Kishore Das (gaurangakishore@gmail.com) at March 05, 2009 04:33 PM
Subuddhi Krishna dasa, Chicago, USA : Pearls of Wisdom - 132
Lord Rishabhdeva:
My transcendental body [sac-cid-ânanda-vigraha] looks exactly like a human form, but it is not a material human body. It is inconceivable. I am not forced by nature to accept a particular type of body; I take on a body by My own sweet will. My heart is also spiritual, and I always think of the welfare of My devotees. Therefore within My heart can be found the process of devotional service, which is meant for the devotees. Far from My heart have I abandoned irreligion [adharma] and nondevotional activities. They do not appeal to Me. Due to all these transcendental qualities, people generally pray to Me as Rishabhadeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the best of all living entities.
Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 5 Verse 19
by Subuddhi Krishna das, Chicago (noreply@blogger.com) at March 05, 2009 02:25 PM
Nitya Navina dd, New Jersey, USA : Beggar
Dear Gurudev.On your 59 Vyasa Puja, I wished to make an offering and express my gratitude, but words fail me, and all I can say is HAPPY BIRTHDAY!You said that we could talk to your picture and you would reciprocate and I can feel the reciprocation every time I do that. Today as I stand before your picture with a begging bowl, begging you that I can make my life itself an offering at your lotus
Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA : “Requiem” by Peter Munro
The angels I love
bicker over cod guts and snapper spines.
They joust for flounder skulls and pick the bones clean,
screaming. Their harsh, fine voices
break across my town
in a language lost to my kind,
thoughtless in the clear now of now
without death. Christ, walk down streets paved
with rain to me and you drown in my choir,
my angels beating prayer under wing
which is the want I have not loved
well. Where did my weather go? Meet me
where my hidden weather went,
where praise and rain
are never spent.
Gaura Vani, USA : Kirtan with Sri Prahlad and Indradyumna Swami
Sunday night at the Sri Sri Radha Madhana Mohan temple in Potomac MD was a party. HH Indradyumna Maharaj and Sri Prahlad were visiting from Poland and New Zealand respectively. Sri Prahlad lead a rip roaring kirtan and had the entire room up on their feet
After that, Indradyumna Swami lead Nrisimha prayers and then Syam Kishore sang a mellow Hare Krishna tune. All in all, it was a refreshing night of kirtan in which we all had the chance to dance our feet off.
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1973 March 5: "We want to avoid skin disease and the Indian people are like the tannery expert. Such a cobbler is expert at skin disease. They will see our Sankirtana Party and think it is a white dance."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 05, 2009 11:57 AM
1974 March 5: "We do not say that one has to leave home. Either you leave home or remain there, you go on with your progressive interest and participation in this great movement."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 05, 2009 11:57 AM
1966 March 5: "Today I have sent one letter to the Secretary Salvation Army for exchange. At 2 o'clock went to Ananda Ashram. Kirtan was performed in the evening. Very much appreciated."
Prabhupada Joural :: 1966
Prabhupada Joural :: 1966
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 05, 2009 11:56 AM
1968 March 5: "Please be happy in separation. I am separated from my Guru Maharaja since 1936 but I am always with him so long I work according to his direction."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 05, 2009 11:52 AM
1971 March 5: "Anyone reading our KRSNA book, TLC, NOD, and Bhagavad As It Is, is sure to become a Krishna Conscious person. Therefore somehow or other we must push on this literature distribution program."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 05, 2009 11:50 AM
1972 March 5: "You are the flowers of your nation, the most exalted and never inferior or less than even the most so-called elevated materialistic person."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 05, 2009 11:48 AM
1972 March 5: "Even I cannot give you any nice thing, still, because you have got some love for Krishna and your Spiritual Master, you are working very hard in every way just to push on this movement."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 05, 2009 11:45 AM
1972 March 5: "Practically now it is in the hands of you big guns to manage everything. if you go on helping me in this way, you may know it for certain that very soon you will see Krishna face-to-face."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 05, 2009 11:42 AM
Dandavats.com : Nectar from Mayapur - updated 5 - watch Mayapur live video in wide-screen
By Mayapur.tvThe live coverage of the Mayapur Festival has now gone wide-screen and the video quality has also been improved. We also now have part 3 of HH Jayapataka Swami's return to Sree Mayapur
Mayapur Online : Vyasa Puja Celebration of HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami 2009
Disciples and well-wishers of HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami arranged a most wonderful Vyasa Puja Celebration Day in Sri Dhama Mayapur on the occasion of his auspicious appearance.
The day started with an interesting class from HH Kavicandra Swami, who is now the sole GBC-member for West Africa after the departure of HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami. He reiterated how HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami had made great efforts to establish rural self-sufficient communities, and how he had a special ability to reach out to all types of people, from all walks of life, from kings and congressmen down to the people in the street.
Syamesvari dd : Krsna-Balarama
Krishna whose flower-decorated hair was like a dark cloud glorious in the moonlight, Krishna whose sandal tilaka was like a glorious moon rising in the dark evening sky of His forehead...- Srila Visvanath Cakravarti Thakur
by Syamesvari (noreply@blogger.com) at March 05, 2009 10:01 AM
Syamesvari dd : Divine Fragrances
"If one asks how it is such divine fragrances came to be, the answer is that mother earth has adopted the scent of Sri Krsna’s body at the time of His bath. When mother Yasoda removes His cloth, allowing it to fall to the ground, the assimilated scent of His limbs, which resembles a mixture of sandalwood pulp, camphor, musk and aguru, is immediately plundered by Prthvi devi, and then distributed to all her associate like the trees, bushes and flowers, who then transmit them to their offspring, the flowers. Each flower, according to its qualification, will receive some portion of this aroma which will then be known as its own bouquet."Venu Gita by Sivarama Swami
by Syamesvari (noreply@blogger.com) at March 05, 2009 09:50 AM
Rupa Madhurya das, TX, USA : Bus Tour - Bhajan - Sacred Sounds
The final presentation by the Youth Bus Tour was an incredible Jaya Radha Madhava bhajan followed by an ecstatic Kirtan in which everyone joined in.
Houston, TX
2009-01-03
Download: 2009-01-03 - 5 - Youth Bus Tour - Sacred Sound - Bhajan and Kirtan.mp3
by Rupa Schomaker (rupa@rupa.com) at March 05, 2009 08:42 AM
H.H. Bhakti Caitanya Swami : Grab the Nectar
Hare Krishna Dear Devotees
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Please peruse the attached brochure & rush your selection of CD’s to caitanya@iafrica.com
Your servants
Namacarya das & Kaishori devi dasi
Utah Krishnas, USA : Utahns Flock to Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork
I am visiting the Sri Sri Radha Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, and we are right in the middle of the evening's lecture before we partake of a ceremonial "Love Feast." Though my stomach is rumbling, the speakers are quite captivating.
H.H. Mukunda Goswami : Seeing Krsna everywhere
In Caitanya Bhagavat Vrindavana Das recalls an incident in which Lord Caitanya reminds a poor Bengali Vaisnava brahmana of something. The lesson is to see the Lord everywhere. One day the vaisnava was stranded after dark while his wife and family were across the river. He fretted for them and couldn't cross the water. Lo and behold a boat appeared, and in great relief the man arranged for the boatman to ferry him across the river after which he rejoined his family to protect them.
Dandavats.com : Utahns Flock to Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork
By Jacob Hodgen
"Let's play Simon says," a man announces to an audience of curious onlookers, most of them BYU students. He leads the discussion wearing traditional Indian garb and holds a strange looking drum in his hands.
Dandavats.com : Answer to Madhu Pandit Prabhu
By the Executive Committee of the ISKCON GBC Society
The Executive Committee (EC) of the GBC has received your recent peace proposal for which we offer you our thanks. The EC has since gone through your peace proposal and we have the following points to make.
Gouranga TV : Memoirs 2001- Srila Prabhupada Celebrations New Dwarka Los Angeles
Memoirs Of 2001 Srila Prabhupada Celebrations at New Dwarka Los Angeles is Posted for the Pleasure of Devotees and Srila Prabhupada followers… Hari Bol — Your servant
Memoirs Of 2001 Srila Prabhupada Celebrations at New Dwarka Los Angeles is Posted for the Pleasure of Devotees and Srila Prabhupada followers… Hari Bol — Your servant
Matsyavatara das (ACBSP), Italy : The Human Being and His Energies
By Matsyavatara Dasa
(from Psychology of the Life Cycle book)
The Vedic science of health, compiled thousands of years ago, considers the human being as a complex combination of biologic, psychic and spiritual energies. Thus it gives great therapeutic importance not only to drugs and surgery, but also to the diet, to the ethical behavior of the individual and to the influence of the mind on the body. The weakening of the immune system, the development of disease, the healing process and finally the conscious and serene acceptance of the passage we call death are the result of the constant interactions of the complex body-mind-spirit.
Our aim is to deal with the relationship of the human being with death and the process of dying so that the concept of the phenomenon becomes less tragic and the patient can re-interpret this reality from a desperate and negative vision to a positive and constructive vision.
Considering death as a necessarily and absolutely negative fact is an extremely serious prejudice. By studying the greatest philosophical, religious and spiritual traditions of the Vedas we understand that death, as it is generally intended, does not exist as such, but only as a concept and a cultural conditioning. It is the last taboo and almost certainly the most serious misconstruction of human history: a tragic fundamental mistake because, as we will see, death should rather be considered a beneficial opportunity for evolution.
Since you will be presenting this idea to your patients, you should be the first to embrace it, and we will try to offer you many reasons why this should happen.
Does death have a purpose? Who is dying? Are we sure we are dying? Are we just a physical aggregate or something more than that? These questions have been pondered by sages and not only, in the course of thousands of years. The various religious traditions and the greatest philosophical schools have answered that we are much more.
The psychological assistance of a terminal patient certainly does not exclude the duty of physical treatment, but in these cases psychological assistance is even more essential, complex and delicate. It consists in giving value to the person, stimulating him in making plans, helping him to overcome appearances and to avoid being swept away by negative emotions generated by the wrong concept that everything really ends with death.
It is very important to understand that a psychological cure is effective when it works from the inside, when it comes from a process of self improvement – rather than being given by someone who is outside.
During some lectures at universities, several students have asked if the placebo effect could be the actual agent. First of all we need to recognize that a placebo effect would be positive anyway, because it would improve the psychological condition of the patient. However, in this case it is not a placebo effect, because we are not trying to induce a superficial belief that suits our purpose. We want to attain, through adequate study and practice, the consciousness of a reality that is increasingly solid, concrete, deeply rooted in our being, and that brings us to a better understanding of our deep identity, called atman in the Bhakti-Vedanta psychology. This atman is not material, and therefore it is not conditioned by space and time.
At a deeper level, we cannot tolerate the idea of dying because intimately we know we are not dying. However, when we are not making a distinction between the deep self (ontological and inalienable) and the psycho-physical body (that is ever changing and temporary) we stubbornly try to keep the body alive, although this cannot be achieved by any means.
While atman is the real identity of the subject, of a spiritual, eternal and unchanging nature, the ahamkara or historical ego is the distorted perception we have of ourselves because of false identifications.
For centuries (since the times of Romanticism) German culture has been amply in touch with Vedic literature. In this text we will use the terms “self” and “identity”, but not in the same way they are used by the school of Jung. As “self” we will define the atman, the deep identity, the gravity center of the personality, and as “identity” or '”ego” we will intend the transitory personality, the changing identification, the false ego, which is the origin of almost all the disturbances of personality.
Vedic psychology teaches that first of all, we need to recognize conditionings, so that we may gradually come to de-structurate them. This is essential not only in order to cure and assist the patients in a terminal stage, but it is also beneficial for the doctors, the nurses, all the medical staff, and also for the relatives and friends of the patient who are involved and gravitate around the terminal patient himself.
How can we get rid of the masks and rigidity induced by psychological conditionings, by the professional habit and by the socio-professional environment? As we will see later on, there are some techniques of Yoga psychology that can expand and raise our introspective ability and meta-cognitive.
According to the rishis, the ancient Vedic sages, the identification with the psychic structure, its impressions, emotions and thoughts, is the first serious mistaken perception. This limiting consciousness that identifies solely with the psychic contents that float on it, is comparable to mistaking a river with the objects that float on its waters – whether corpses or bunches of flowers.
A very essential point we need to understand: the individual is not the mind. To most Western psychologists, especially in Germany and in the United States, the mind is the subject, while in the Vedic tradition the mind is the object. We have a mind, but we are not the mind. We have emotions, but we are not those emotions. We have a physical body, but we are not that physical body. This understanding will be extremely useful not only at the moment of death, but also in all those crisis situations that everyone should expect to happen again and again during the span of our lifetime.
When we are able to become emotionally detached from the psycho-physical perceptions we will discover that the accidents we encounter in the course of our existence can be veritable blessings in disguise rather than tragedies. We only need to interpret, elaborate and welcome these events as opportunities. Even death can turn into the extraordinary opportunity to take a leap towards a much higher quality of life and attain a fuller, happier and more luminous dimension of reality.
by noreply@blogger.com (Anantadeva dasa) at March 05, 2009 05:11 AM
Nitya Navina dd, New Jersey, USA : Preeti bhojanam- Part 1
Common sense tells us that adding too much of any ingredient in cooking is a surefire recipe for disaster. But there is one ingredient which we cannot get enough of. That, which makes the world go around. Nope, its not anything material that I am talking of here. It is LOVE! We cannot buy it from the wholesale club and there is no limit to the number of tablespoons that we can add. This same love
ISKCON Toronto, Canada : Gaura Purnima Celebrations Next Week!
On Tuesday, March 10th, 2009, Toronto's Hare Krishna temple will be celebrating the Appearance Day of Lord Caitanya in grand fashion! Lord Caitanya is none other than Lord Krishna Himself. Over 500 years ago, in a special appearance, Lord Krishna personally came as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and acted as His own devotee. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself, saturated with the love for Him that Radha embodies. As the emblem of the perfect devotee of Krishna, He displayed feelings of the highest spiritual ecstasy.
Gaura Purnima is the celebration of the appearance of Lord Caitanya and it is always one of the largest festivals at Toronto's Hare Krishna temple! We are very excited to announce that HH Bhaktimarga Swami will be attending our celebrations and will be presenting a very special dramatic piece that is not to be missed! There will also be a very special abhisheka that will take place that will have some surprises!
Although festivities fall on a Tuesday evening, we would like to extend a very warm invitation to you and your family to join us as we celebrate this wonderful festival!
Festival Schedule (Subject to Change):
6:00pm to 6:30pm - Arati
6:30pm to 6:40pm - Welcome & Announcements
6:40pm to 7:00pm - Class by HH Bhaktimarga Swami
7:00pm to 7:30pm - Drama by Bhaktimarga Swami - "Siksastakam"
7:30pm to 8:00pm - Maha-Abhisheka of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai
8:00pm to 8:30pm - Arati
8:30pm to 9:00pm - Prasadam
March 04, 2009
Ravindra Svarupa das, USA : Stranded
Friday, 27 February, 2009
Drawing aside heavy curtains, pushing out a pair of wide glass doors, I step out onto the curving balcony of my room in the ISKCON temple guest house to find myself standing five stories up in the air of a much-too-bright Friday morning. My aching eyes take in the lush, sword-blade-leaved tops of a pair of coconut palms, gravid with green cannonball fruit, a little beyond reach. A large crow pogos up a leaf stalk and pauses to strop his formidable beak. He looks at me, seems about to speak, then changes his mind.
My nose rebels at the enveloping tang of rotting fish, the signature bouquet that confirms I am indeed earthbound at Juhu Beach. As I lift up my eyes beyond the waving fronds, over the rooftop of neighborhood high-rises, flaunting spiky tiaras of communication gear, I witness, with a pang of awe and envy, the pale, ethereal form of a jumbo jet ascend in stately exaltation from nearby Santa Cruz airport. And I taste deep of the bitter brew of missed chances, failed prospects, and confinement.
I am stranded.
Thursday, 26 February, 2009
My journey had commenced at dawn the day before from Mayapur. Lurching and swaying, we battled our way down narrow, fogged-in Bengal roads as our aptly named Sumo carried us victoriously through the usual sequence of vehicular death duels to Kolkata. There we were somehow slowly transported through the cacophony and chaos of city streets for a brief social event near Kalighat, and then carried back out again to the surprising calm of the mid-afternoon airport. A cramped flight from Kolkata and a short car ride brought me at last to the Mumbai’s anarchistic international departure terminal. There I chilled out in the AC waiting room for five hours.
At last, the midnight hour approaching, I found myself in a characteristically Indian non-linear line, with far too many other stand-by passengers, all awaiting the sentence, the momentous moment of revelation—as in a courtroom or doctor’s office—from which two breathtakingly divergent futures led. Freedom or bondage? Release or confinement?
It was a good time to practice detachment. Finally, a lucky two or three were summoned. Who would be next? And then there fell upon all the unfortunates the fateful official pronouncement: “flight full.” Even then, most did not move, not yet admitting their new, unacceptable future. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, resignation—all the stages of grief—variously manifested themselves. With startling swiftness, the check-in area was closed down and cleared, but for the stunned, abandoned would-have-been passengers.
At least I had a place to go: welcoming fellow devotees, prasadam, room, a bed— “Hare Krishna Land” was near.
Friday, 27 February, 2009
Why then, the next morning, seeing the escaping jet bank toward the west, the pang of disappointment? The envy of the passengers? The feeling of being trapped?
I reflected on this.
It seems a jet taking off has become a mentally embedded emblem or symbol of escape and liberation. Out of all modes of departure—ship, train, auto—such release is most dramatically suggested by an aircraft’s ascent—it’s rising from earth into the very heavens, the abruptness of its translation. And, of course, its often-filmed use in rescue mission. I remember the dramatic front page news photograph of the rescue helicopter at the fall of Saigon. The image captured impressively the heart-stopping razor’s edge of fate: get on board, you have freedom, a life, a future; get left behind . . . .
Humans naturally desire transcendence. A restless urge to explore, to adventure, to discover, to progress, to excel—this urge to go beyond in many ways is signified by the word “transcend” (from the Latin transcendere “climb over or beyond, surmount,” from trans- “beyond” + scandere “to climb”.)
1965, 1968
On my college campus there was a certain bar famous—or infamous—for lax ID inspection. Accordingly, it filled to overflowing on weekends with fresh-faced undergraduates. A solid mass of students crushed together from wall to wall and packed into the booths. Sloshing pitchers of beer passed hand-to-hand overhead. Everyone screamed to be heard over the blaring jukebox, which worked its way through its collection of 45s. But whenever the opening notes of a certain new song rang out, there was a sudden silence followed by a universal roar of approval. Students clambered up to stand on chairs and table tops, where they swayed and danced precariously. When the song’s refrain came up, all exuberantly joined in at the top of their voices:
We gotta get outa this place!
If it’s the last thing we ever do!
We gotta get outa this place!
Girl! There’s a better life—for me and you.
[The Animals]
This event kept repeating until the bar closed.
A few years later—after I had graduated, moved out of the city, gotten married and had a child, and moved back again—I found myself on campus one Friday evening and walking past the same bar. Sure enough, pouring out into the mild evening air comes the energetic, enthusiastic chorus: “We gotta get out this place! If it’s the last thing we ever do!”
As if nothing had changed, no one had left.
Friday, 27 February, 2009
I remember Camille Paglia, in Sexual Personae, arguing that transcendence is originally a male project. Men are the natural adventures, explorers, and questers, she says: the devisors of phallic trains, planes, automobiles, and rockets; constructors of soaring bridges.
How right! Think of the Renaissance adventurers, voyagers to the new world, eager to “penetrate virgin territory.” Even the stay-at-home Jacobean poet John Donne gave vent to the spirit of his age when he memorialized his lady disrobing in her bed chamber; when she finally bares to his questing hands her ultimate secret, he famously exclaims: “O My America! my new-found-land!”
America! The land of opportunity! Adventuresome European migrants, they say, formed the distinctive American culture; risking all to break loose from the predestined social and economic fetters of the Old World, they bequeathed their boundless aspirations to future generations as “the American dream.”
Perhaps even heaven itself was in reach. Early explorers sought in the New World the legendary Fountain of Youth and the City of Gold, fragments of ancient tales or persisting rumors of terrestrial paradise (bhauma svarga as described in Bhāgavatam). Although they found neither, the quest for eternal youth and cities of gold goes on, now transferred to Florida dermatologists and cosmetic surgeons and Western desert real estate developers. And even now American east coasters join in a steady stream to leave it all behind and make themselves anew in mythic (and myth-making) California.
Why this persistence? Why the deep indestructible longing to transcend, a longing that nothing in the world assuages?
28 January, 1986
The space shuttle Challenger lifted off with an elementary school teacher aboard. The cameras tracked up, following the powerfully ascending rocket, while thousands of school children, gathered in instructional assemblies across the land, watched live as the rocket’s rising trail, seventy-three seconds after lift-off, swelled and blossomed spectacularly, breaking up into diverging plumes that arced and spiraled gracefully down to the sea. All aboard died.
That night President Ronald Reagan delivered a eulogy, ending:
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye, and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”
Hardly. They crashed. And the face of God, in any case, is out of rocket range.
The president, an actor from the California dream factory, could not resist a Hollywood mythic ending.
Friday, 27 February, 2009
I go to the temple in Hare Krishna Land to chant my midday Gāyatrī mantras. I sit happily before Rādhā-Rāsavihārī. A crowd gathers to witness the noon ārati. I don’t need to go anywhere. Here I am, just where I want to be.
All voyagers and questers take note: Even when we have turned away from Kṛṣṇa, we are unable to stop searching for him. Our search, however, becomes deflected by ignorance, and we quest after our self-made substitutes. They seem in reach. Even if after much struggle and danger, we reach our factitious goal, it is only to discover it is not what we wanted after all.
Kṛṣṇa himself tries to disabuse seekers of material heavens of our folly:
When they have thus enjoyed vast heavenly sense pleasure and the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus those who seek sense enjoyment by adhering to the principles of the three Vedas achieve only repeated birth and death. (Bhagavad-gītā 9.21)
See also Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Easy Journey to Other Planets for a deconstruction of modern attempts at space travel.
Monday, March, 2009
The 777 hits heavy turbulence as it descends into Newark airport. We have all escaped from Mumbai, and in a very long night we have finally arched across Greenland, turned south over Newfoundland. Although they soar high, the passengers go about their eating and sleeping and excreting and video watching just as though earthbound.
On my trip I had been periodically puzzling out T.S. Elliot’s long and difficult last major poetical work, the intensely mystical “Four Quartets.” On the final page we find these lines:
We shall not cease from exploring
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Here in the New World, it’s a dramatic change from Mumbai. We land in dawning twilight in a heavy snowstorm. Plows work the runway. Our luggage arrives on the carrels snow covered. Flights are being canceled. Stranded travelers queue up in long lines at the transfer desk. I watch through the terminal’s large window until my ride slowly emerges from the whiteness. Then we crawl at thirty-five miles per hour down the snow covered New Jersey Turnpike in a strengthening storm toward Philadelphia.
Ahead Rädhä-Çaradvihäré await.
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1967 March 4: "The money and society is yours. You can spend in any way but it is my duty to give you guidance as ever well wisher. Pray to Krishna for your successful transaction."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1968 March 4: "There is no doubt about our success if we can make this Kirtana party successful. We shall never be professional; we shall try to make the Kirtana party perfect from the point of view of Krishna Consciousness."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1970 March 4: "This Krsna Consciousness movement has such a vast potency that by its philosophy the whole human race can be united politically, socially, religiously, and culturally."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1972 March 4: "I am glad you are entering politics. But our platform must be very simple, that there is no other sacrifice necessary for the well-being of the citizens save and except this Sankirtana yajna."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1972 March 4: "We are not very much keen to engage Christians in argument because for the most part they are sentimentalists and have no philosophy and this type of person we cannot change."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1974 March 4: "It is very encouraging that you are preaching and getting good reception from the student class. Please go on and try to establish something substantial there and develop it."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1974 March 4: "Since you have gone we have not gone an inch forward. It is still lying there and they do not say yes or no. There is no sanction as yet. Our position is not clear. I require your help very much."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
Bharatavarsa.net : Prabhupada letters
1973 March 4: "It is good that you have invited the other devotees. Let them come, and combine together in cooperation, not to be aloof. We must, in Krsna consciousness, do the needful and cooperate."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
Avadhuta-priya dd, Jaipur, India : Holi! Holi! Holi!
Although I am not in India at the moment, thanks to modern technology I am able to have Holi darsan of Sri Radha Govindadev in Jaipur. I am sharing with all of you links to Rajasthan Patrika, where you can see video reports from the temple, where Jaipur devotees are enthusiastically celebrating the Holi season.
http://www.patrika.com/videos.aspx?fn=MCsyMDgwNnx8MTI5&pg=1
http://www.patrika.com/videos.aspx?fn=MCsyMDg2NXx8MTI5&pg=0
Enjoy!
by Avadhuta-priya dasi (noreply@blogger.com) at March 04, 2009 10:08 PM
Sita-pati dasa, AU : Physics and Metaphysics - Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita
Bhagavad-gita
The Bhagavad-gita is known as Gitopanishad, or the "Gita Upanishad".
The Upanishads are metaphysical texts. Metaphysics (from Greek μετά - "beyond", φυσικά - "physical") is the philosophical enquiry of a non-empirical character into the nature of existence.
Metaphysics deals with the principles that undergird observable reality ("physics").
The Sanskrit word upanishad means "to sit close to", and it refers to sitting close to and hearing from a master who passes on confidential knowledge of reality, much of which claims divine origin. Logically speaking this would be the only source of knowledge of "the matrix" from an outside perspective.
Bhagavad-gita, while not part of the literary corpus of Upanishads, deals with the same topics, and uses the same terminology. It is widely considered Upanishadic, and thus is known as "Gitopanishad".
Bhagavatam
The Srimad Bhagavatam, the Bhagavat Purana, is part of the Puranic section of Vedic literature. The Puranas are the division which deal with history. The Sanskrit word Purana means "old".
One way of explaining the relationship between the contents of Bhagavad-gita and those of Srimad Bhagavatam is to say something like: "Bhagavad-gita explains the principles, and Srimad Bhagavatam illustrates the application of those principles using historical examples".
As such, while Bhagavad-gita is a book of virtually pure metaphysics, Srimad Bhagavatam is a book of both physics and metaphysics. The Srimad Bhagavatam illustrates the metaphysics of Bhagavad-gita in the physics of a particular civilization with its particular physical culture, sciences, and technologies.
Then-contemporary culture and science provide the setting and backdrop for the events of the Bhagavatam.
Science in the Bhagavatam
Sciences such as Vaisesika (included as Canto 3, chapter 11 — "Calculation of time from the Atom"), and Cosmology (dealt with in the Fifth Canto), are examples of the physical sciences of the time.
These are not the main thrust of the text, but rather represent historical details of the illustrations the text provides.
To their contemporary audience these examples would have been relevant and fresh, and shown how the metaphysics underlying the Bhagavatam both applied to their situation and added value to it.
The physical sciences described in the Bhagavatam also existed as separate disciplines in their own right within the Vedic civilization. As a clear example, the Sankhya philosophy ("Enumeration of (physical) elements", dealt with in the 3rd Canto, chapter 26) has "two editions" — the "theistic edition" with a metaphysical component, and the "atheistic edition", which is exactly the same, save it lacks any metaphysical information.
The inclusion of the physical sciences, such as the then-current "atomic theory" (vaisesika), the cutting-edge cosmology of the day, and Sankhya serves a dual purpose: it demonstrates the application of metaphysics to best material understanding of the time; and it subverts the dynamic of a material understanding devoid of metaphysical component gaining separate, exclusionary power in society.
Rather than positioning Bhagavad-gita and its metaphysics as at odds with the scientific understandings of the day, the authors of the Bhagavatam instead wove the metaphysics seamlessly into the contemporary scientific physics.
Science today vs Science then
The physical scientific systems of the Bhagavatam have been superseded by modern physical sciences, such as modern atomic theory, the Copernican model of the solar system, and "sankhyas" of chemistry and biology, such as the periodic table of elements and genetics.
One interpretation of the situation is that the scientific understandings and technologies of the civilization described in the Bhagavatam were actually equal to or superior to those of today (for example, with subtle technologies such as yajña and mantra).
There are unanswered questions around how ancient people were able to construct such edifices as the Great Pyramid, Macchu Picchu, and the Sphinx.
However, even apologists for the tradition will say something along the lines of: "Due to the change in cosmic ages to the age of Kali-yuga, these technologies are no longer effective".
[Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati, an early 20th century proponent of the the Vedic metaphysical tradition, had an German disciple with a degree in mathematics. This disciple said to him: "Modern scientists have achieved most of the mystical siddhis described in the scriptures, such as the ability to travel long distances underwater and to travel through rock, using their technology". Srila Bhaktisiddhanta agreed with him that modern technologies had achieved results described as previously resulting from subtle technologies such as yoga.]
Kali-yuga is the "age of Iron" described in the Vedas as a time of advanced material technology and lack of spiritual (metaphysical) insight.
There are at least two interpretations of the situation:
- the physical sciences of the Bhagavatam are rudimentary understandings compared to those of today, and descriptions of advanced technologies based on them are exaggerated
- the physical sciences and technologies described in the Bhagavatam are literally and precisely true but belong to another age with different physical conditions than today; a factor that makes these technologies ineffective presently
The first interpretation will make sense to many people. The second interpretation will be favored by those from within a doctrinal tradition based on the narrative of the Bhagavatam who advocate a literal "as-it-is" interpretation and approach.
Either way the conclusion is the same: modern physical sciences are currently superior to those in the Bhavagatam for producing functional technologies.
This is consonant with observation. We do not see superior physical technologies being produced based on the principles of physical science described in the Bhagavatam. These physical sciences belong to a previous age.
The continued relevance and contribution of Srimad Bhagavatam
However, the metaphysics of the Bhagavatam, the actual essence and whole point of the work remain, and they have great power to provide insight and value to contemporary physical science.
As Martin Luther King put it: "We live in an age of guided missiles and misguided men"
Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada used the analogy of a lame man (the metaphysics alone) and a blind man (the physical sciences alone). Either one alone is incomplete. Together they are complementary.
Srimad Bhagavatam represents the best of metaphysics and the best of contemporary science - two great tastes that go great together.
The addition of metaphysical insight to physical science is crucial to a balanced society.
Note: I also personally think that the physical sciences of the Bhagavatam offer useful insights, but they are neither absolute, nor exclusionary with modern science.
ISKCON Melbourne, AU : Daily Class - Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Swami
Srimad Bhagavatam 11.7.1 - Devotees like Uddhava are most fortunate because they have developed attachment for Krsna.
Bharatavarsa.net : Bhakti Vikasa Swami: spring, the most joyful season
Of course spring is a season universally liked because it is neither too hot nor too cold and the flowers and trees blossom and flourish. In spring there are also many ceremonies commemorating Krsna's pastimes; therefore this is considered to be the most joyful of all seasons, and it is the representative of the Supreme Lord, Krsna.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bg 10.35
David Haslam, UK : Racist Golly Wog
When the living entity is encircled by wife, children and home, he acts on the mental plane. Sometimes he is very happy, sometimes he is very much satisfied, sometimes he is not satisfied, and sometimes he is bewildered. Bewilderment is called moha, illusion. Illusioned by society, friendship and love, the living entity thinks that his [...]
1967 March 4: "The money and society is yours. You can spend in any way but it is my duty to give you guidance as ever well wisher. Pray to Krishna for your successful transaction."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 04, 2009 04:13 PM
1968 March 4: "There is no doubt about our success if we can make this Kirtana party successful. We shall never be professional; we shall try to make the Kirtana party perfect from the point of view of Krishna Consciousness."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 04, 2009 04:10 PM
1970 March 4: "This Krsna Consciousness movement has such a vast potency that by its philosophy the whole human race can be united politically, socially, religiously, and culturally."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 04, 2009 04:08 PM
1972 March 4: "I am glad you are entering politics. But our platform must be very simple, that there is no other sacrifice necessary for the well-being of the citizens save and except this Sankirtana yajna."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 04, 2009 04:06 PM
1972 March 4: "We are not very much keen to engage Christians in argument because for the most part they are sentimentalists and have no philosophy and this type of person we cannot change."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 04, 2009 04:04 PM
1973 March 4: "It is good that you have invited the other devotees. Let them come, and combine together in cooperation, not to be aloof. We must, in Krsna consciousness, do the needful and cooperate."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 04, 2009 04:02 PM
1974 March 4: "Since you have gone we have not gone an inch forward. It is still lying there and they do not say yes or no. There is no sanction as yet. Our position is not clear. I require your help very much."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 04, 2009 03:59 PM
1974 March 4: "It is very encouraging that you are preaching and getting good reception from the student class. Please go on and try to establish something substantial there and develop it."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at March 04, 2009 03:57 PM
H.H. Mukunda Goswami : Bubbles Not Always 'Toil and Troubles'
Once a leader in the San Franciso Haight-Asbhury of the sixties said to me, "Hey! We're living in Kah-leefornia." He thought it was great. But there's some truth to his feeling.
Although the iron age of quarrel is a miserable age in which to live, the Srimad Bhagavatam extols this yuga as being highly conducive to spiritual advancement.
H.H. Mukunda Goswami : Ill winds?
The wind is one of the twenty-four gurus described in the 11th canto (7.40-41) of the Srimad Bhagavatam. It teaches us that the soul does not get contaminated even when it is temporarily conditioned. Cool breezes feel soothing in hot weather and icy in the winter. As hair conditioners and air conditioners don't change the atomic or molecular structures of hair or air, the constitutional position of the soul is remains the same regardless of its ephemeral surroundings.
Japa Group : Creating An Environment For Japa
Hare Krsna my dear devotees. I hope your week has been blessed by the Lord in all areas specially in japa, which is the main basis to our devotional service. I remember posting here before about a lecture from H.H. Sacinandana Swami saying we should always clean our inner space and prepare ourselves for chanting. Most of the times our minds are full of thoughts that prevents us from concentrating properly.
We basically think about what we have to do and one thing I heard from Kesava saying, is that when he starts chantin, many thoughts come to his mind....even nice things he should be doing or places he should go with the family and so on. We also tend to think of something we really like to see happening - for example a project we are in...our everyday tasks...how could we perform them better and believe it or not and some very good advice come up.
I had so many myself, but they are also a distraction for the mind and it's a way the mind is tricking us in a different ways to focus on something else but not the holy names. So what could we do in this case? How can we bring the mind back to the sound everytime we have an insight like this? Mahatma Prabhu once said it's a good idea to write things down before chanting - by doing this we may focus more. Another thing is that we may think about the quality of our chanting before sleeping...it's said in a psychology book that our thoughts 45 minutes before sleeping are the ones that will be in our unconscious mind...so when we wake up our mood will be prepared for chanting - if we are done with our responsibilites and not concerned about anything.
Practising cleaning the room of the mind by starting with a beautiful prayer or listening to a bhajan also helps to prepare it for chanting. Maybe some of these advices can help you chant better and be more concentrated on the sound vibration of the mantra.. since your mind won't have any excuse to wander.
May we all be blessed by the Lord and achieve the proper mood for nice and concentrated chanting.
your servant,
Aruna dd
Dandavats.com : Gaura Purnima online
Maha Nrsingha das: Gaura Purnima in London! Such good quality you'll think you're there! Devotees worldwide are welcome to celebrate Gaura Purnima with Iskcon London devotees and take darsana of Sri Sri Radha Londonisvara & Sri Sri Gaura Nitai.
Subuddhi Krishna dasa, Chicago, USA : Pearls of wisdom -131
If someone is ignorant and addicted to the path of samsâra, how can one who is actually learned, merciful and advanced in spiritual knowledge engage him in fruitive activity and thus further entangle him in material existence? If a blind man is walking down the wrong path, how can a gentleman allow him to continue on his way to danger? How can he approve this method? No wise or kind man can allow this.
Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 5 Verse 17
Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 5 Verse 17
by Subuddhi Krishna das, Chicago (noreply@blogger.com) at March 04, 2009 02:27 PM
Dandavats.com : Yoga Teacher Training in Atlanta
Wesley Camp: We have new dates for the Atma Yoga Teacher Training taking place this summer in Atlanta. The program will run from May 2 - August 9. Classes will meet every other weekend, Saturdays and Sundays 8:00am - 8:00pm.
Dandavats.com : If I Listen Hard Enough…
Jagabandhu das: I see dead people. And dying people. Suffering and sad people. Everywhere. Others are disposed to pre-occupy the mind with considerations of ecclesiastical authority and who shall wield such absolute might.
Dandavats.com : New Mayapur Harinam/FFL Weblog
Shastra dasa: We would like to introduce you to our new weblog, where we can regularly share new pictures and updates with you. In this way you can remain connected to our Harinama and Food For Life activities in Mayapur wherever you are, and also show your friends something about our program here.
Dandavats.com : Japa Retreats in New Vrindavan
By Divyambara dasi
I am happy to offer you an invitation to the Level 1 & 2 Japa Retreats in New Vrindavan this April. For the first time they will be held in the most sacred place in North America - Srila Prabhupada's Pushpa Samadhi Mandir at the Palace of Gold !
Akrura das, Gita Coaching : KRSNA PRIYA
Krishna Priya dd was born and grew up in the doomed village Schmiegl in eastern Poland. There had been a hospital where thousands of people had left their bodies, infesting the village with ghosts. In the neighboring house to where Krishna Priya lived, a woman was constantly calling them up. As a result, her mother became haunted, her father was an alcohol addict. As a result, Krishna Priya from the early age of 7 started maintaining the family and doing the household at the same time. On the way to school children often threw stones at her. But she always took shelter of Mother Mary and Lord Jesus, spending hours in the local church, and was blessed with Their reciprocation.
At age 17 she moved to Antwerp, Belgium, where she promptly married and kept on working hard, wearing out her body. She bore a child, which was heavily invalid, especially mentally retarded. It was greatly aggressive from the beginning and often bit its own mother, as she carried her down the stairs, day by day. When it reached the age of eleven, it showed its mother the first affection. Due to the handicap, the child as it grew up continuously frequently passed liquid stool in its dipers, sometimes 4 times in a row as if to tease the mother, who had to change them and clean the child.
Krishna Priya, who was in close touch with the Lord, met the devotees of Krishna first when her child was about 13. Soon after her husband passed away. As a widow and single mother, she now dedicated herself more and more to Krsna consciousness. Upon receiving Bg she just read through the night profusely shedding tears, as all this information had been known to her since her childhood, but everybody considering her crazy she had been compelled to hide her understanding for herself.
Her first action was buying heaps of these books and rushing onto the street to distribute them to everyone in Antwerp. But the time was not ripe, Krishna made her understand, after she had come home crying, because nobody wanted a book. Soon after, however, mataji started distributing sweetballs and books on a daily basis on the street, and single-handedly run a weekly nama hatta program, besides serving countless Deities, who come to her one after another.
She has always prayed to suffer for others. Presently she is recovering from a heavy hip operation and is in constant pain. But her consciousness is with opening a big temple in Antwerp for expanding the preaching. Her courageous, complaintless suffering in itself is major preaching work to all the devotees.
Janmastami dasa, Antwerp, Belgium
At age 17 she moved to Antwerp, Belgium, where she promptly married and kept on working hard, wearing out her body. She bore a child, which was heavily invalid, especially mentally retarded. It was greatly aggressive from the beginning and often bit its own mother, as she carried her down the stairs, day by day. When it reached the age of eleven, it showed its mother the first affection. Due to the handicap, the child as it grew up continuously frequently passed liquid stool in its dipers, sometimes 4 times in a row as if to tease the mother, who had to change them and clean the child.
Krishna Priya, who was in close touch with the Lord, met the devotees of Krishna first when her child was about 13. Soon after her husband passed away. As a widow and single mother, she now dedicated herself more and more to Krsna consciousness. Upon receiving Bg she just read through the night profusely shedding tears, as all this information had been known to her since her childhood, but everybody considering her crazy she had been compelled to hide her understanding for herself.
Her first action was buying heaps of these books and rushing onto the street to distribute them to everyone in Antwerp. But the time was not ripe, Krishna made her understand, after she had come home crying, because nobody wanted a book. Soon after, however, mataji started distributing sweetballs and books on a daily basis on the street, and single-handedly run a weekly nama hatta program, besides serving countless Deities, who come to her one after another.
She has always prayed to suffer for others. Presently she is recovering from a heavy hip operation and is in constant pain. But her consciousness is with opening a big temple in Antwerp for expanding the preaching. Her courageous, complaintless suffering in itself is major preaching work to all the devotees.
Janmastami dasa, Antwerp, Belgium
by Akrura@pamho.net (akrura@pamho.net) at March 04, 2009 01:16 PM
Akrura das, Gita Coaching : INTEGRATE WHAT YOU LEARN INTO YOUR LIFE
To know and not to do, is really not to know. To learn and not to do is not to learn. In other words, to understand something but not apply it is really not to understand it. It is only in the doing, the applying, that knowledge and understanding are internalized.
For instance, you could study tennis as a sport by reading books and hearing lectures, but until you've actually played it, you wouldn't really know the sport. To know and not to do is not to know.
There are at least four approaches you could take in applying what you learn in any book:
1. The first would be to simply read the book straight through. Then decide what you want to apply in your life and work. This is the way most people approach a book. It reflects the desire many of us have to get emotionally or mentally connected with a flow of ideas in a book and then run with it.
2. The second approach would be to read through the entire book and then use the comprehensive understanding and cumulative motivation to go back and read the book a second time — this time with the intent to apply as you go. This could work very well for many.
3. A third approach — one that I personally believe will yield the greatest results — would be to adopt it as a yearlong personal growth and development program. Take a month for each of the remaining twelve chapters. Start by reading the next chapter, teach it and then apply it the rest of the month. You will find that if you will actually seek to apply what you learn in each chapter for a month, the insight you gain in the chapters that follow will profoundly increase.
4. The fourth approach is simply to adapt the third approach to your own timeline. Some readers might want to go faster or slower than one chapter a month. Read and apply a new chapter every week, every two weeks, every two months, or in whatever time frame you choose. This retains the power of the third approach yet allows you the flexibility to adapt it to your own desires and circumstances.
Action Steps for each chapter:
1. Read the chapter.
2. Teach the chapter to at least two people, including work colleagues, family members, friends, etc.
3. Make a sincere, concerted effort to live the principles included in the chapter for one month.
4. Report the results and your learnings from seeking to live the ideas in the chapter to a trusted colleague, family member or friend.
- From "The 8th Habit" book
For instance, you could study tennis as a sport by reading books and hearing lectures, but until you've actually played it, you wouldn't really know the sport. To know and not to do is not to know.
There are at least four approaches you could take in applying what you learn in any book:
1. The first would be to simply read the book straight through. Then decide what you want to apply in your life and work. This is the way most people approach a book. It reflects the desire many of us have to get emotionally or mentally connected with a flow of ideas in a book and then run with it.
2. The second approach would be to read through the entire book and then use the comprehensive understanding and cumulative motivation to go back and read the book a second time — this time with the intent to apply as you go. This could work very well for many.
3. A third approach — one that I personally believe will yield the greatest results — would be to adopt it as a yearlong personal growth and development program. Take a month for each of the remaining twelve chapters. Start by reading the next chapter, teach it and then apply it the rest of the month. You will find that if you will actually seek to apply what you learn in each chapter for a month, the insight you gain in the chapters that follow will profoundly increase.
4. The fourth approach is simply to adapt the third approach to your own timeline. Some readers might want to go faster or slower than one chapter a month. Read and apply a new chapter every week, every two weeks, every two months, or in whatever time frame you choose. This retains the power of the third approach yet allows you the flexibility to adapt it to your own desires and circumstances.
Action Steps for each chapter:
1. Read the chapter.
2. Teach the chapter to at least two people, including work colleagues, family members, friends, etc.
3. Make a sincere, concerted effort to live the principles included in the chapter for one month.
4. Report the results and your learnings from seeking to live the ideas in the chapter to a trusted colleague, family member or friend.
- From "The 8th Habit" book
by Akrura@pamho.net (akrura@pamho.net) at March 04, 2009 01:15 PM
Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA : Panoramio
Vidya has a craft show she is going to try out in Richmond, Virginia,the 22nd Annual Virginia Spring Show, March 13-15, 2009 (Friday thru Sunday). We will be leaving for it the day after Gaura Paurnima, which is next Tuesday.
Today I was making motel reservations and printing out directions. On the way down and back we are going to stay at old time New Vrindaban resident Bhakta Rasa’s and the directions on his website used Google maps. As I drilled down to get details I saw a photo of his house indicated on the map. It was actually three photos — one what the road ahead would look like when arriving, one of the house itself, and one looking back the other way.
I called Vidya over to look at them so we would have an idea what to look for when arriving. She asked if there was a photo of our house. I was doubtful but checked it out here.
I went to “More” at the top, checked Photos and voila! There was a picture of the Palace. It was in the wrong place — showed at Bahulaban — but I never would have seen it if it was in the correct place so it was serendipitous.
I was curious how it got there so followed the yellow brick road to Panoramio. This is a company that was bought by Google so now it is integrated. You can upload photos to Panoramio and after a few weeks they show up on Google maps. There are standards and every photo is looked at before it gets onto Google maps, but it is doable.
If anyone is looking for something to do, they could make a project of taking pictures of New Vrindaban and getting them on the map. Or any other place for that matter. A temple, your home, anyplace you want.
It would be nice if someone would take up the task of doing New Vrindaban, so jump in any time.
Posted in News, Ramblings or Whatever
Jahnavi, UK : Papa Don’t Preach
Still working on my radio script about kirtan this week. With each new draft I’m trying to distill what it actually is that I want people to feel and understand by listening to it.
It’s hard. Perhaps part of it comes from the difficult process of unpicking exactly why I think kirtan is so great? Do I really believe that it’s the greatest answer to the world’s problems, or do I just know that believing it gives me approval within my own society? If I’m not totally convinced myself, how do I communicate that doubt to an audience, without diminishing the message?
I understand more and more the gap between preaching and practise. I’ve grown up being able to explain some simple philosophy, as well as becoming a little familiar with more difficult concepts just by being exposed to them. This is one kind of spiritual knowledge. But I don’t think it’s really knowledge in a true sense unless it’s then internalised and practised with full faith. Is it?
Maybe the ability to preach or evangelise is no more than just being charismatic or good with words. Without the truth of personal experience and conviction behind the exclamations, I wonder if the message can ever have a very long lasting effect.
O, it is far easier to study and press a thousand truths upon others, than to feel the power of one truth upon our own hearts.
Devadeva Mirel, Alachua, USA : Green Business for Sale
The following is an email I received yesterday from my friend Lila Suka (pictured two posts ago) and her partner, Saranam. They have been selling compostable dinnerware for a few years now and are ready to move onto their next success in life. This is a great opportunity for someone with an entrepreneurial spirit to break into the rapidly growing market of sustainable, ecologically minded business.
This ad was sent out to a few of us Hare Krishnas, so if you are not in the cult don't be put off by the insider jargon. It would be great for the Hare Krishnas if one of them owned a business which could employ large numbers of its followers. You know, like the Mormons have with Marriott, but without the porn. Regardless of your affiliation, this business is for sale. Interested? Read more.
FULL CIRCLE Industries, LLC is a wholesale compostable dinnerware and cutlery business currently located in North Carolina, USA. It can easily be relocated anywhere in America.
Green Business is something that has longevity and is in the mode of goodness. In starting this company 3 years ago, our initial hope was to supply all of Krishna's temples with these products and weed out foam and plastic. This vision grew into a full service wholesale supply of products that now have a HUGE market. Everybody is looking for eco friendly products and trying to figure out what they can do that is "green". Turning our sights to a different aspect of business, we are now selling this business. At 3 years old, it is at a point to grow much larger.
This is the second business we have developed and sold. The first was a granola company, which was sold to devotees in Atlanta, who are now very successfully running a large-scale prasadam distribution business, initially developed by us.
Estabilshing devotee owned, devotee run businesses that can hire within the society gives much strength and stability to this movement. We are hoping to keep this one in the 'family'
The sale includes $75K worth of inventory, developed website, logo, marketing materials, client and supplier lists, membership to Co-op America etc... The selling price is $108K.
** We are stating the price because we want serious inquiries only please. ***
Please Contact:
Saranam Olivier
919-245-0500
Shar@fullcircleplanet.com
www.fullcircleplanet.com
by noreply@blogger.com (Devadeva Mirel) at March 04, 2009 12:05 PM
Ahaituki Bhakti dd, USA : Energy = SKT²
In Albany, NY, I was spacing out in our van in a Wal-mart parking lot waiting for my husband, and not feeling like doing anything much. I prayed to our traveling Tulasi Maharani for strength to grab some books and go out right now.
By Her mercy I did that and immediately a man approached me and asked what kind of books I have. We talked a little and he was obviously a pessimist about material happiness, and seemed quite ready for transcendental knowledge. He wanted all the books I had and didn’t mind walking back to the van and waiting for me to figure out how he can give a donation with our wireless visa machine (that is really handy sometimes!). He was Jewish and a vegetarian, and he struck me as someone who’s very frustrated and totally unhopeful with material life (which I find is sometimes a little rare in the USA).
I was really thankful for Tulasi Devi for her mercy and compassion - for this person who got the books, and for myself for engaging me in Krishna’s service.
My realization was that on sankirtana you can see how Krishna and His servants are so many steps ahead of what is happening that it is astonishing. It is like you’re swept away into service, whether you like it or not. I only understand that whenever I manage to go with that flow of spiritual activities, I’m really happy in the end that I did, because everything turns out auspicious. And this builds up inspiration and faith to accept such an opportunity next time.
“The sales figures — this is the only solace in my life. When I hear that my books are selling so nicely, I become energetic like a young man.” [letter to Ramesvara, Aug 13 1974]
Maddy Jean-claude Durr, New Govardhana, AU : Crashed Chariot.
Tuesday, 13th Jan, 2009. Me and Domo received a special wake up call. The mangal arati mayhem rush. Everyone was scuttling through the front room past our heads with large loud thumps. I’m calculating the sleep factor to be 3 hours. I considered to stay in my slumbering ignorance until an appropriate time when I could peal my face off the floor and into the shower. I picked Gurupuja time haha.
I was re introduced to Krsna Nagra upon awaking. Last time I had seen him was a year before chasing Udhava around the ashram with a bucket of water. Udhava wasn’t here but the man was ready for some fun. He hooked me up with my room for the next leg of our journey. It was Melbourne time!
I caught the end of Gurudeva’s class from outside the door. I still felt like a visitor, getting up so late and missing all the action. I caught up with their Lordships Radha Balaba, Jagannatha Baladeva Subhadra and Gaura Nitai. It was ecstatic to see these magnificent deities beaming their blessings once again. For me this was a significant moment as my last Le Carnaval Spirituel Tour started in Melbourne on a invite from my parents. I was well out of the age to receive parental donations but my parents decided to save my life and send me down for what was supposed to be a 3 day weekend of fun. This 3 day weekend ended up being 2 weeks of ecstatic touring with shows and harinams.
After paying my respects to the Lordships it was time to time to track down the Le Carnaval Sprituel crew. I bumped into Dina Dayal first, our brahmacari Ninja. He was sporting a white T-shirt and he had us all worried. I found Gaura and we told Dina how Gurudeva had seen his shirt in kirtana and was looking a bit worried. He already lost the twin yogis to the “white side”. Dina decided to make it a priority to change out of his white shirt, have it dyed asap and change into a dull brown shirt to pacify the masses. Ki Jai!
After catching up with the boys it was time for the traditional Melbourne breakfast prasada. I scoffed down some serious mercy including the daily hot milk and whatever I could score from the milk sweets. Jai, back to Melbourne milk sweets! I had to fill the gap since Sydney, when I was stealing almost daily from the maha tray.
After breaky I took a sneak off from the social scene to do some spiritual sight seeing for my selfish self. I slotted into Prabhupada’s room. This is where it all began. This is where I started my touring. Over a year before I snuck into the room looking to get a boosted japa session (something I could do with these days). I found myself accidentally in HH Indradyumna Swami’s ishta goshti! Not only that I was front and centre (well to the left because that’s where Indradyumna Swami was sitting). I was a reach away from his lotus feet and he was rapping something awesome. Festivals, harinams and non stop action.
After an inspiring little tour and a look at the past I flashed back to now. What I was hearing in that ishta goshti then was in the present moment the reality. Domo gave me my daily mission statement. We had a car full of gear that made our show roll on and it wasn’t even in Melbourne!? So Domo was going to locate a car and I was going to call up the mechanics and see how my jet plane was flying.
We were hoping to pick the car up that day but we had no idea how hard it was to find “vacuum lines”. So I called them up. There was a problem. “Oh no it’s not going to be ready today?” I questioned. “No mate. Your motor has blown up” replied the mechanic. “So it’s totally gone?” “Yeap. The timing belt snapped and the pistons smashed through the engine.” “It’s basically written off than? Unfixable? “Not unless you wanna throw in 5 grand or something.” “Oh ok. Well that’s alright. It’s not worth fixing that so I suppose it’s not going to cost me anything to repair at least.”
So now what to do? I decided to make my first visit to the boys’ room in Prabhupada’s house. I told Domo the news. I don’t know if he was as thrilled as I was. I left Domo to think up some corrective action while I called my father to see what was worth flogging off my car for cash. The mourning process hadn’t set in yet, because frankly I didn’t really care. I was just seeing what laxmi I could score for youth preaching projects and my festive Krsna Conscious jet setting. On the plus side I didn’t have to fix the paint job, panels, or get lost anytime soon (and I was going to score a few measly bucks for it).
Domo organised a ride. He found me and was concerned if I felt at all that the tour was responsible for the imminent death of my car. I explained it was the timing belt that the mechanics and I neglected to perceive and our reckless abuse of the car had nothing to do with it’s overall destruction. We headed off to pick up the contents of the car, write it off to the wreckers and do the last rites. Domo looked a little morose. I softened him up by relentless jokes about not having a car. “I’ve never seen anyone so happy after just loosing their car” he said in astonishment. I invited him to join in on the slander.
We arrived and quickly located the chariot. We quickly got to work. “Screw driver!” I cried. Domo started unloading and I started robbing the vehicle before the wrecker took it off my hands. I ripped the CD player out and stole the number plates. We found what was left of our junk food that was still edible and had a little feast in honour of the car.
After cleaning the car’s insides, neglecting the filthy exterior, I embraced it with tears in my eyes and awaited the near approach of the executioner/wrecker. He arrived shortly and I signed off the chariot to him. He gave me a measly deposit check in return. This seemed to be transmigration into a lesser of the 8,400,000 species of life so I was a little worried if it would go back to Godhead in the end. The Wrecker eased it on the back of the truck and Domo did the last rites, throwing water on the car and uttering prayers. I took this time to look back on the times I shared with my navy blue companion.
(The sentiments in the following few paragraphs may be classed as fiction.) I remembered those aimless rides to the beach with gurukulis friends. Those speedy drives down windy country roads. The occasional burn outs. The slow, fuel conserving trips to University. The daily, expensive trips for harinams and sankirtana while I was in the ashram.
In honour of the car we have collected some statements. The first is a testimony from the early days from Ekendra Prabhu: “It was a nice car. Took us to Byron to do harinams and book distro. Took us to Surfer's to eat at Govindas and try to do book distro. Never smelt bad. Big enough trunk. Ahhh. What a lovely car it was.”
Now some statements from the Matajis from tour starting with Radha Valaba: “your car picked me up from the airport, and dropped me at govindas in sydney...it also got us lost with sri prahlad and tribi on the way to peats ridge. and we got told many stories...that was fun.” And another statement from Mathuresvari: “oh, a wonderful car, a beautiful car. You could get any devotee of the tour to a needed destination. You was a really good friend. You was a good place for listening to music, chatting, having a nap, vewing different sceneries. And your previous owner still has a deep attachment to you.”
Most mentionable contribution to these testimonies was from Gaura Hari who wrote “Ode De Car” in honour of our beloved tour vehicle. This can be found on his face book notes in it’s immortal glory. We encourage everyone who knew the car to come forward with more loving sentiments which they would like to share with us all and post them on the comment section of this note (we apologise to planet ISKCON for the nectar they may miss out on in such connection). A few more little statements from the crew. Lal Krsna: “You just killed my car!” Rajesvari (in Vraja Kumari‘s voice): “It was a piece of junk anyway.”
Me and Domo drove off. We eased our pain with a trip to Aldi for some soft drinks and ice creams. We decided this was not enough although it was very much appreciated. We decided to pay a visit to the Pony Music headquarters in Melbourne. For over a month we had been having trouble trying to receive a sound product we purchased from them. Apparently it was lost in the Christmas post madness. That wasn’t the big deal though, the big deal was EVERYTIME we called them up they left us with the same situation. “We’ll call you back for sure” they would say and they never did.
Now days with phone business and internet marketing you can get away with a lot of things. But nothing can protect you from a bunch of angry clients rocking up at your distribution warehouse looking for blood. We found the place with some hectic navigational skills, heavy traffic and a lot of exposure to the heat wave that was hitting Melbourne at the time. This was good formula for some pretty extra upset individuals. Now that the car curse was lifted I was all of a sudden a perfect navigator (once I put my bead bag down and surrendered to the service) so we found our destination. Pray to Krsna nobody dies in this chapter of our quest.
We went in there. It was a little good cop bad cop. It was default roles really. The heat had baffled me to be a good slow individual and had the aggressive effect on our pure Domo man. He was green like Rama (or the Hulk). I could tell straight away that the person we were dealing with knew nothing of the situation but Domo had been mucked around a little to much and for him there may have been a little lost in translation. After Domo blew off a little steam, the guy loosened his guard and we were reassured steady action, Domo very politely asked if we could check out some light gear for the show.
It was a complete flip on the ying n yang side of things. Domo was keenly back in his favoured serving roll. After purchasing some little things we nicely waved goodbye to our new made friends from Pony and eased through easy traffic back to the temple. After KG (Krsna Nagara) showed me some prasadam spots it was time to unload our car/van of equipment from my deceased vehicle. Before I could pick where the time had gone I was eating dinner with KG and filling in my diary as I always seem to be. Ki jai.
Kurma dasa, AU : Opening Night: The Cook and The Chef
If you missed tonight's ABC1 TV episode of The Cook and The Chef, dedicated to vegetarian cooking (with a 3-minute section on me), you can see it repeated again next Saturday at 11.30am (provided you live in Australia).
Simon cooked one of my recipes - Saffron, Cardamom, Flaked Almond and Sultana Semolina Halava.
If you want to watch the episode in your own time, especially if you live overseas, you can download the complete episode via WMV, MP4, or Vodcast.
Warm thanks to producer Mark Stanforth and crew, to Simon and to Maggie. I'm very happy with how it all turned out. What did you think?
Last updated:March 06, 2009 06:15 PM
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