Are women just sexual? Why raise or take time to ponder the subject? Over the past few weeks whilst reading the news in Australia I noticed something; I’ve noticed it before but for some reason this time it’s made more of an impact. One of the articles focused on an interview with Rachel Ward who stated that she [...]

Here is an exchange that took place in Mauritius on the 4th of October, 1975:

Indian man: I want to know one thing, Prabhupada. You have just said that in the moon there is a cold atmosphere and there is still a living entity there? You see? But what the Americans have said... Of course, they have sent man there, different rockets there, satellites...
Prabhupada: So I understand. Your authority is America, and my authority is sastra. That is the difference.
Indian man: But they...

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In our book"Divine Nature," Drutakarma and I have argued that the theories begun with British economist Thomas Robert Malthus (1766 1834) that "overpopulation" was a big problem have been proven false. Statistics show many post-Malthusian predictions have been wrong. These predictions would show that we'd be falling off the planet by now due to overcrowding. One thing such dire predictions didn't reckon was the demoniac principle of 'birth control.' In fact population experts now tell us that by the year 2020, earth's population will slip into a precipitous decline.

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On 27, 1972 Srila Prabhupada was lecturing in America. He did not want computerization to stop but he wanted to show that they don't actually solve the problem of societal unrest, although we know they can be used to good advantage. Here is what he said: "Just like I gave you one example: the computer machine. It can work for thousands of men. So thousands of men means the thousands of men must be unemployed. And especially in your country, they are taking advantage of this machine because the salary is.. If you want to pay to the worker, a big, big salary. So they want to save.

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We have often heard that Srila Prabhupada said that even if one percent of the world's people becomes Krsna conscious, the present world situation would change for the better. Here is one such quote from a lecture delivered in London on 8th of September 1971: "Therefore this Krishna consciousness movement... Even a certain little percentage of people become Krishna conscious, the whole face of the world will change. It is so nice." (SB7.5.22.30)

A few days ago I unexpectedly bumped into a university friend whom I hadn’t spoken to for nearly ten years. He is getting married in two weeks and has achieved many things in his career since leaving university. In certain ways our respective paths in life turned out quite different, but in other ways I discovered that we share many of the same spiritual principles. It would definitely be interesting to have a university reunion after twenty years and see where everyone ended up. Life has its interesting twists and turns.

The ancient scriptures explain that this world is like a river of names where some strands of straw join for some time, but downstream they all separate and go their own ways. You could say the world is just like an airport transit lounge. We all come from different backgrounds, catching planes to different destinations, and in the meantime we establish relationships amongst each other. Who can deny temporal relationships of this world? Even if two people stay committed to each other for life, the inevitable reality of death will separate them. So does that mean all relationships are meaningless and simply a waste of time?

While we relate to others on a bodily level, the relationships will only endure the length of this body. We may talk of having a connection with someone after they leave, but the strength of that connection is based on how much we have related to them as a spirit soul, part of the Supreme Spirit. So in this river of names, where we take on certain roles, responsibilities, positions and personas, the real challenge is to get beyond all the superficiality and temporary designations and get to the essence of the person. We are not human beings on a spiritual journey – rather we are spiritual beings on a human journey. This human journey affords an amazing opportunity to establish spiritual relationships which last for eternity.

Namahatta meeting at my place with Sadbhuja Prabhu from Leipzig, Dvarakadisa Prabhu and Gauranga Prabhu! A very esoteric and interesting class and lots of wonderful Prasadam...My first Harinama in Hannover with Mahadyuti Prabhu... It is always so purifying that I become really melancholic when it is over.strawberry cake for ever ki - jaya! ;)Having fun on the Masala street festival, playing

A part of the letter from the book, “My Glorious Master – Remembrances of Prabhupada’s Mercy On a Fallen Soul by Bhurijana Dasa”

Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 8, Chapter 6, Texts 24-25 by Guruprasad Swami.

Dallas, TX
2009-04-20

24 - TRANSLATION

My dear demigods, with patience and peace everything can be done, but if one is agitated by anger, the goal is not achieved. Therefore, whatever the demons ask, agree to their proposal.

25 - TRANSLATION

A poison known as kalakuta will be generated from the ocean of milk, but you should not fear it. And when various products are churned from the ocean, you should not be greedy for them or anxious to obtain them, nor should you be angry.

PURPORT

It appears that by the churning process many things would be generated from the ocean of milk, including poison, valuable gems, nectar and many beautiful women. The demigods were advised, however, not to be greedy for the gems or beautiful women, but to wait patiently for the nectar. The real purpose was to get the nectar.

Download: 2009-04-20 - Guruprasad Swami - SB 8.6.24-25.mp3

[A recent news article (May 21, 2009) also reinforced my conviction in my analysis. I've reproduced a portion of it below, embedded in excerpts from last year's post "There's Always One" (May 23, 2008)]

My call to nuke the Chinese is an ironic device. Unfortunately, it is actually the most sane thing to do given our current situation, which is an indication of how insane our current situation is. With the consumption of the Chinese rising to meet Australian standards the global economic and environmental situation is untenable. The only result of this can be the inevitable clash of the Americans and the Australians with the Chinese, and the Indians, and the Russians, and the Africans, and every other group who wants to live like we do.

Unless the Australians and Americans reduce their consumption and model a more responsible sustainable lifestyle, war with the Chinese, eventually an overt military one, caused by an economic one over the dwindling resources, is the near future of the human race.

- There's Always One, atmayogi.com, May 23, 2008

THE US has declared it "is not ceding the Pacific to anyone" in a forceful response to the rise of China and the Rudd Government's defence white paper, which last month flagged the possibility of US dominance fading in the Asia-Pacific region in the decades ahead.

Asked by The Australian in a briefing with foreign journalists about Washington's response to Canberra's defence blueprint, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was emphatic that Washington was looking to deepen its ties in the region and wanted to do more with allies such as Australia.

She made it clear the US, which has a huge naval presence in the Asia-Pacific based in Hawaii, was not going anywhere.

"We want Australia as well as other nations to know the United States is not ceding the Pacific to anyone," Ms Clinton said.

She stressed that Washington was also "sending a clear message that the United States will be engaged - we are a trans-Pacific power and a trans-Atlantic power."

- Hillary Clinton firmly commits the US to Asia-Pacific security, The Australian, May 21, 2009

Being lukewarm is a cop out. Why stop at killing millions of animals? If you are going to be a killer, then you should be logical about it and kill the Chinese before they kill you. Otherwise, if you do find that idea abhorrent, then take a look at the logical consequences of where this meat-eating is taking us. The Mahabharata tells us: "There is not enough gold, grains, or women in the world to satisfy the desire of one man" - what to speak of one billion Chinese, plus 400 million Americans, plus 20 million Australians plus the rest of the world.

Our irresponsibility in failing to set an example of responsible, sustainable consumption is leading the world to war over dwindling resources, and ecological and environmental disaster. Face up to it. If we don't become vegetarian now, we should drop a nuke on China. It's the only way to make our current diet and lifestyle sustainable.

So stop being so irresponsible: either push the red button, or give up the red meat.

- There's Always One, atmayogi.com, May 23, 2008

[This is a repost of a post from May 22, 2008. I just can't shake this. I am more convinced than I was then that this is the simple arithmetic of the situation, and that we are living in a post-WW II fantasy world of post-industrial consumer equality for all. We can't "have our iPods" and "let the Chinese have theirs" (that's a figure of speech - I would point to meat consumption as a more immediate threat). There isn't enough.
Please also see my follow-up to this post from last year "There's Always One" for further elaboration.]

With food prices rising, the dollar falling, and the economy reeling, it is becoming increasing important that we learn how to grow a portion of our own food. The first steps are obtaining and sprouting seeds, so we'll explore those topics here.

Winning the War on Food: Sprouting Seeds and Saving Seeds is a great article today from Natural News.com.

The glories of sprouted pumpkin seeds were extolled on Krpamoya Prabhu's blog a short while ago.

At Atma Yoga we've been sprouting seeds and using them in the salads.

This morning on the way to work Param and I were talking about the rising cost of food. Luckily we only eat a few grains and vegetables. It must be really hard for people who eat a lot of processed foods and especially meat.

Spiraling Food Prices Result in Deadly Violence Around the World, another story today on NaturalNews.com, was the topic at the dinner table the other night at Atma. We ended up discussing the relative merits of the HK416 assault rifle (can be fired after being submerged in water or sand - not sure about both) versus the Barrett M468 (fires the 6.8mm round - more accurate than the AK-47, more powerful than the M16; which is exactly what you need to stop a zombie or a feral human), and how the Australian Government should stockpile a million of them to arm the Australia populace to repel 300 million feral Indonesians after their country gets submerged by rising sea levels.

Either that, or it should be encouraging people to reduce their consumption, not allowing the unrestrained inflammation of their material desires.

World-wide, meat consumption is increasing at the rate of 4.7 million tons per year [source].

In China, annual meat consumption has jumped from 16 kilograms per person in 1983, to 53 kilograms per person today [source].

Check out this data table that I generated over at Earth Trends:

World meat consumption is going up, and the Chinese are contributing a huge amount to that.

These people want to live like you.

The conclusion is staggeringly obvious: we need to nuke the Chinese now.

The longer we wait, the stronger they grow. The more meat they eat, the more aggressive and strong they become. The more time they have, the more they build their industrial capacity and their war machine.

It is us or them - the world is not big enough for both. In fact, the world is not big enough just for them, if they live like us.

There are only two things that a responsible leadership can do: waste them, or reduce our consumption.

If you think that nuking the Chinese is a ridiculous proposition, then think of the alternative. Continuing the way we are now the world will very, very quickly run out of resources. It's not just the current rate of consumption: the Chinese are increasing their meat consumption at 12% per annum. There are a billion of them.

Every pound of beef requires 16 pounds of grain. It requires land to be cleared to graze cattle. It produces methane. It uses and contaminates water in processing.

If you think that the idea of reducing your consumption is ridiculous then you have to consider the alternatives:

• Option 1: nuke the Chinese now.
• Option 2: get a whole lot of assault rifles and lots of ammunition for when it all goes down.
• Option 3: reduce consumption and model a more globally responsible, sustainable lifestyle.

Which one do you feel like choosing? Oh, by the way, if you don't want to choose we will arrange one of Option 1 or Option 2 for you, automatically.

The most revolutionary thing that you can do to combat global warming, resource depletion and the eventual war between the Chinese and America / Australia is to become a vegetarian.

It's probably the best thing you can do for your health and your emotional wellbeing as well.

It's certainly the best thing you can do for the health and well being of 270 million tons of animals per year, and climbing.

By Yugala Kishor Das

In response to "A Request for help in starting a new website for Struggling Devotees." Self-control in matters of sex starts with brahmacarya, passes through grhastha and eventually goes back to absolute celibacy in sannyasa.

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 dasa

It was the shirt!

See here for a video of the new colour scheme at Govindas. I'm rolling down there for lunch on Thursday, so I'll shoot some pictures for you then.

This is a recording of the class given on 15 June 2009 at Bhaktivadanta Manor by HG Jay Krishna Das HG Jay Krishna Das It reminds is about perspective on wealth, it’s use and misuse; reminding us of the true meaning of wealth. apologies for the delay on making it available

Sri Sri Sri Rukmini Dwarkadish The Most Beautiful and Wonderful Deities in the World. Visit and have dharshan oF Their Lordships at New Dwarka Temple located at 3764 Watseka Ave, Los Angeles CA 90034.

Regarding your standing in the book distribution as number three in the world, I am very pleased that you have worked so hard to help me in carrying out the order of my Guru Maharaja. Be convinced that you are doing the highest service for your fellow countrymen by distributing books of Krsna Consciousness. Actually in the west there is now no culture, and no brain even for what is the purpose of life. American civilization is finished, except that it can be saved if it takes to Krsna Consciousness. Try to become more convinced of this necessity for Krsna Consciousness and that will enable you to preach even stronger and distribute more books.

Letter to: Caru — Mayapur February 28, 1977

The recording for this week's Sunday Feast can be viewed by clicking the image below.

As a reminder, the recordings from our weekly live web broadcasts are stored on our ISKCON Toronto Video Archive Blog.

Toronto's Hare Krishna Temple would like to extend a warm invitation to devotees around the world to experience our 37th Annual Festival of India (Ratha-Yatra) on July 18-19, 2009!

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.9.28 - I have another problem to solve this problem.

My goodness! It's been a whole week without a blog. Looking after myself, my father and my son is certainly almost more that I can keep up with. I do still get to teach regularly. It's really like breathing for me - it just has to be done.

Last Friday I boarded a train and enjoyed a gentle and meditative seven-hour journey north from Sydney to the town of Wauchope.

It was a rare chance to go deep and wander around in my inner world, as the outer world rushed by.

My noise-canceling headphones + my iPod = spiritual rejuvenation. A rare delight!

The Company Farm, run by Lyn Withers, was the venue. My fourth visit was, as usual, enlivening and enlightening, both for me and my students. Saturday's class was conducted in the afternoon, concluding in dinner.

Sunday morning was crisp and bright, and I commenced my 'mis-en-place' as the sun rose.

The Clarence river gurgled nearby, the winter sun sparkled on damp grass, and all was well with the world.

Cutting boards were set up, I finished my morning herbal infusion, apron ready to don. Guests arriving soon...

Little bowls and cups were filled with all the magical ingredients for our kitchen alchemy.

After the intoductory talk, we posed for another pre-class archival photo.

That's Lyn, far left. We chose a great menu, and enjoyed the company of some interesting attendees, all of whom were eager to learn, cook and eat. Cookery is my life's engagement, and my meditation.

1969 June 15: "With this taste we become more and more attracted, and more and more Krishna gives encouragement, and more and more we increase in our desire to serve Krishna in pure Krishna Consciousness."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 June 15: "I am so much encouraged that one very nice boy has come to live in your temple. You are all working sincerely to serve Krishna, and now one sincere soul has been so attracted by this, that he is also coming to join you."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 June 15 : "Since you met with the motor accident, although I am getting your news time to time, still I was very much anxious to write you directly. Do not be worried, Krsna has saved you, and very soon you will regain strength."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1971 June 15 : "Whatever GBC members decide, I have nothing to disagree with. But economically the existing proposal is not very sound. If the printing takes two years, then what becomes the total cost of Bhagavad-gita As It Is?"
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1972 June 15 : "Are you again acting upon your old principles in the guise of a Sannyasi from our disciplic succession? This cannot be allowed. If you are sincere to our line of action, please come here and live with me for some time."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 June 15 : "I act like a king because no one can defeat me, and similarly, you should take your responsibility very, very seriously as the representative of Caitanya Mahaprabhu."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 June 15 : "I have worked alone, now you are so many. Our scope is unlimited, our resources unlimited. Now we have got 100 branches, so when I finish Srimad Bhagavatam there must be at least 1000 branches."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 June 15 : "Don't be too much concerned with nondevotees, now we must fix-up what devotees we have got - then we will succeed. What good are many, many devotees if none of them are knowledgeable?"
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 June 15: "Remain always compact in Vaikuntha yajna. Don't do anything artificially - that is sahajiya. You remain the beautiful maid servant of Krishna. Don't try to be ugly before Krishna. Krishna does not like ugly gopis."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1970 June 14 : "Spiritual life is just like handling a sharpened razor. Handle it nicely we become clean shaven, but a little inattention causes bloodstain. So always remember this and depend on Krsna and make your life progressive."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

overcast day at the beach. We saw a pod of porpoises swimming from left to right, their fins gracefully surfacing and diving. Some of them were so close they were inside the line of buoys. We saw many passersby out walking, including the friendly postal worker, who usually greets us from his car. Today he [...]

Here's the final, stand-up kirtan of the Sunday Feast, ably lead by Maha-mantra das.

It's a simple four mic affair: a Shure WH-30 condenser headset mic for the lead vocal, a Behringer C2 condenser for the room, and a couple of Shure SM58s - one for the backing vocal (Param Satya and Prahlad), and one for Sridhar's saxophone.

If I'd had time to set up (this is just straight after the "stage" kirtan), I would have set up two additional mics - another C2 for a stereo image, and an omnidirectional condenser for more of the room, which would have helped to put more drums in it - I could have taken all the top end off that one and boosted it up to put more bass in the mix.

I've mastered this one really hot, and left the cartals in their full glory (I usually put a low pass filter on the room mics to bring them down). The vocal is so high that it's still the most prominent element, and that's the most important thing - the chanting.

• Maha-mantra Sunday Feast Kirtan (mp3, 30MB, 21:48)

Enjoy!
- Sitapati "That's me playing the chimptas" das

Pottery is the baked-clay wares of the entire ceramics field.

Pottery is one of the most enduring materials known to humankind. In most places it is the oldest and most widespread art; primitive peoples the world over have fashioned pots and bowls of baked clay for their daily use.

Pottery comprises three major types of wares: earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. Pottery clay is the clay used to make the three categories of pottery. Clay is baked in a kiln under intense heat, a process known as firing, and becomes solid. Firing is used both to harden the clay and to adhere glaze to it or color it.

The first type of pottery, earthenware, has been manufactured using the same basic techniques since ancient times. Earthenware is basically composed of clay or a blend of clays that are baked firm. Because it is fired at low heat, the pottery clay retains its porous nature and does not become translucent. Earthen wares are porous and therefore not as strong as stone wares. Earthenware can be glazed, but it will never be as hard as stoneware-glazed surface. An earthenware-glazed dish will scratch or chip more easily than the harder surface of stoneware. Faience, delft, and majolica are all types of earthenware clays.

The second type of pottery, called Stoneware is generally a mixture of other clays. It is relatively rich in vitreous material and has a high degree of plasticity, so it is very easy to manipulate. Stoneware is fired at so high a temperature (about 2185 degrees Fahrenheit) that it becomes as hard as stone and non-porous. In essence, it is man-made stone. Stoneware is extremely strong and will not absorb water. Because stoneware is nonporous, it does not require a glaze; when a glaze is used, it serves a purely decorative function. Stoneware dishes can be used in conventional and microwave ovens.

Porcelain, also called china, was invented by the Chinese and consists of feldspathic material incorporated in a stoneware composition. This pottery is actually made with a mixture of several other types of clay and minerals. It is generally composed of kaolin, ball clay, feldspar and flint. Porcelain is a very hard white ceramic which has been manufactured in China since the 600s, and in Europe since the 1700s. Porcelain is fired using very high heat, resulting in a white, nonporous pottery. Porcelain is translucent; stoneware and earthenware is not.

Hemangi, a nagy gasztro bloggerünk egy izgalmas programot indított.

A vegetáriánus kihívás napját. Erről az alábbiakban olvashatsz. És ha van kedved, vegyél részt benne.

A Nagy Vegetáriánus Kihívás

A belgiumi Gent városának vezetése az egészséges életmód és a környezetbarát politika jegyében arra biztatja a lakosságot, hogy hetente egy napon ne fogyasszanak húst. Ezzel javítják az egészségüket és csökkentik a károsanyag-kibocsátást. A kampányt a köztisztviselők kezdik, ám ősztől az iskolások is húsmentes ebédet kapnak hetente egyszer.

Nagyon megtetszett ez a kezdeményezés, ezért a Vegavarázs nevű internetes gasztroblog (http://vegavarazs.hu) írójaként felhívást teszek közzé: meghirdetem a Nagy Vegetáriánus Kihívás napját! Legyél egy napra vegetáriánus!
Aki csatlakozni szeretne, június 27-én, szombaton kizárólag vegetáriánus ételeket főzhet és fogyaszthat családjával. A célom, hogy bebizonyítsuk, hogy egy napot bárki eltölthet hús nélkül, úgy, hogy egészséges, finom és étvágygerjesztő ételeket eszik. Rendszeres olvasója vagyok a gasztroblogoknak, látom, hogy a nem vegetáriánus szakácsok is csodálatos húsmentes ételeket varázsolnak. Mutassuk meg a világnak! Csatlakozzatok és regisztráljatok a bejegyzés alján! A nagy nap után a résztvevők között kisorsolok (rögtönzött közjegyző előtt) egy családi belépőt Krisna-völgybe, egy vegetáriánus szakácskönyvet, illetve egy ebédrendelést (amit a nyertes választ) a Vegafutárnál.
Feltételek: A résztvevők természetesen nem főzhetnek húst (halat sem), és hogy kissé nehezítsük a dolgot, nem használhatnak tojást, gombát, hagymát és alkoholt. A jelentkezőket kérem, hogy június 30. déli 12 óráig küldjék el írásban, hogy mit ettek szombaton, és ha tehetik, küldjenek fotót a családról, az ebédről. Szívesen fogadom a recepteket is, és megjelentetem a blogon. A legjobb – fotóval ellátott receptek – megjelenhetnek a negyedévente megjelenő, Vissza Istenhez című magazinunkban (10 ezer példányban).
Kérlek benneteket, küldjétek el ismerőseiteknek a felhívást és csatlakozzatok a június 27-i Nagy Vegetáriánus Kihíváshoz!

Hémangi

Regisztrálj itt!

June 20th 2009

The event we’ve all been waiting for. The third annual 24 Hour Kirtan in New Vrindaban. This year promises to be even bigger and better than before.

What is the 24 Hour Kirtan Festival?

The New Vrindaban 24 Hour Kirtan Festival started in 2007. The idea is to chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra continuously for 24 hours, as is done in Vrindavan India 365 days a year. Featuring some of the world’s most respected Bhakti chanters, the festival is open to all.

Kirtans start at 8 AM Saturday the 20th and end 8 AM Sunday the 21st.

Who’s Singing?

Click here for the Who’s Who and info on registering plus recordings of previous years’ kirtans.

"This week marks the end of the dollar’s reign as the world’s reserve currency. It marks the start of a terrible period of economic and political decline in the United States. And it signals the last gasp of the American imperium. That’s over. It is not coming back. And what is to come will be very, very painful.

Barack Obama, and the criminal class on Wall Street, aided by a corporate media that continues to peddle fatuous gossip and trash talk as news while we endure the greatest economic crisis in our history, may have fooled us, but the rest of the world knows we are bankrupt. And these nations are damned if they are going to continue to prop up an inflated dollar and sustain the massive federal budget deficits, swollen to over $2 trillion, which fund America’s imperial expansion in Eurasia and our system of casino capitalism. They have us by the throat. They are about to squeeze."

(Read the rest of the article here.)

I've become a big fan of Chris Hedges, here are some quotes from his book "When Atheism become Religion: Americas New Fundamentalists." Here are few passages that I highlighted in my reading of the book a couple of months ago. Rereading the book recently has reminded me how spot on he was on so many of the issues.

"The secular utopians, like Christian Fundamentalists, are stunted products of a self-satisfied, materialistic middle class. They seek in their philosophical systems a moral justification for their own comfort, self-absorption, and power. They do not question the imperial projects of the nation, globalization or the vast disparities in wealth and security between themselves, as members of the world's industrialized elite, and the rest of the human race."

"An atheist who accepts an irredeemable and flawed human nature, as well as a morally neutral universe, who does not think the world can be perfected by human beings, who is not steeped in cultural arrogance and feelings of superiority, who rejects the violent imperial projects under way in the middle east, is intellectually honest. . .They hold an honored place in the pluralistic and diverse human community. . . Atheists, including those who brought us the Enlightenment, have often been a beneficial force in the history of human though and religion. They have forced societies to examine empty religious platitudes and hollow religious concepts. They have courageously challenged the moral hypocrisy of religious institutions. The humanistic values of the enlightenment were a response to the abuses by organized religion, including the attempt by religious authorities to stifle intellectual and scientific freedom. Religious authorities bought off by the elite, championed a dogmatism that sanctified the privileges and power of the ruling class. But there were always religious figures who defied their own. Many, such as Baruch Spinoza, were branded as heretics and atheists."

"The pain of living has also turned honest and compassionate men an women against God. These atheists do not believe in the collective moral progress or science and reason as our ticket to salvation. They are not trying to perfect the human race. Rather, they cannot reconcile human suffering with the concept of God. This is an honest struggle. This disbelief is a form of despair, not self-exultation."

"Because there is no clear, objective definition of God, the new atheists must choose what God it is they attack. Is it the god of the mystics, the followers of the Social Gospel, the eighteenth-century deists, the Quakers, the liberation theologians, or the stern God of the patriarchs? Are they at war with Thomas Aquinas or John Calvin or Mohandas Gandhi or Thomas Merton or Paul Tillich? These are not questions these atheists answer. They attack a religious belief of their own creation. They blame religion for the worst of human depravity, superstition and ignorance, and call on us to discard it. . . And once we free ourselves from religion we will be able to march forward as a species to their sunlit utopia. This is a simplistic utopian vision of human advancement share by all fundamentalists. . ."

"The blustering televangelists, and the atheists who rant about the evils of religion, are little more than carnival barkers. They are in show business, and those in show business know complexity does not sell, they trade cliches and insults like cartoon characters. They don masks. One wears the mask of religion, the other wears the mask of science. they banter back and forth in predictable sound bites. They promise, like all advertisers, simple and seductive dreams, this debate engages two bizarre subsets who are well suited to the television culture because of the crudeness of their arguments. One distorts the scientific theory of evolution to explain the behavior and rules for complex social, economic and political systems. The other insists that the six-day story of creation in Genesis is fact and Jesus will descend from the sky to create the kingdom of God on Earth. These antagonists each claim to have discovered an absolute truth. They trade absurdity for absurdity. They show that the danger is not religion or science. The danger is fundamentalism."

"The new atheists, who attack a repugnant version of religion use it to condemn all religion. They use it to deny the reality and importance of the religious impulse. They are curiously unable to comprehend those who found through their religious convictions the strength to stand up against injustice. Hitchens writes of Martin Luther King Jr. that 'in no real as opposed to nominal sense, then, was he a Christian.' He disparages the faith of Abraham Lincoln an assures us that Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whom the Nazis put to death for resistance, was the product of a religious belief that had 'mutated into an admirable but nebulous humanism.' He declares Gandhi an obscurantist who distorted and retarded Indian independence, and calls the Dalai Lama a medieval princeling who is the continuation of a parasitic monastic elite. All those religious figures who found the courage to live the moral life must be maligned and dismissed as not authentically religious. Their presence speaks of another kind of religion, one these atheists do not comprehend."

"'The core belief in progress is that human values and goals converge in parallel with our increasing knowledge,' the British Philosopher John Gray wrote. 'The twentieth century shows the contrary. Human beings use the power of scientific knowledge to assert and defend the values and goals they already have. New technologies can be used to alleviate suffering and enhance freedom. They can, and will also be used to wage war and strengthen tyranny. Science made possible the technologies that powered the industrial revolution. In the twentieth century, these technologies were used to implement state terror and genocide on an unprecedented scale. Ethics and politics do not advance in line with the growth of knowledge-not even in the long run.'"

"The atheists and the Christian radicals who cling to this warped vi son of our goodness, nobility, and self-appointed role as the saviors of civilization, urge us forward into imperial projects that are as foolish as they are suicidal."

"Dawkins sees no moral worth in religious faith, just as Christian fundamentalists see no moral worth in those who do not accept Jesus as their personal lord and savior. The millions of human beings who over the ages struggled to live lives of compassion and fought for justice under a religious or secular banner are blithely erased from moral consideration. It no longer matter what people do with their lives, but what they believe. Dawkins, like Christian zealots, reduces the world to a binary formula of good and evil."

"It is impossible to formulate a moral code out of reason and science. As the realm of fact rather than value, science is notoriously unable to generate a basis for moral behavior. Neither science nor reason calls on us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to forgive our enemies, or to sacrifice for the weak, the infirm, and the poor."

"Those who place their faith in a purely rational existence begin from the premise that human being can have a fixed and determined selves governed by reason and knowledge. This is itself an act of faith. . . We can rationalize our actions later, but this does not make them rational. . .We are assaulted with about 14 million bit of information per second. The bandwidth of consciousness is around 18 bits per second. We have conscious access to about a millionth of the information we use to function in life. . .To accept the intractable and irrational forces that drive us, to admit that these forces are as entrenched in us as in all human beings, is to relinquish the fantasy that the human species can have total control over human destiny. It is to accept our limitations, to live with the confines of human nature. Ethical, moral religious, and political systems that do not concede these stark limitations have nothing to say to us. The new atheists, like all Utopians, ask us to live unexamined lives, to believe we can conquer our humanness. Knowledge is not wisdom. Knowledge is the domain of scientific inquiry. Wisdom goes beyond self-awareness. It permits us to reinterpret the rational and the non-rational. It is both intellectual and intuitive. And those who remain trapped within the confines of knowledge and pedantry do not commune with the larger world. They cannot see or speak to the deeper truths of life."

"The passages of most sacred texts in all religions are of little real importance. Believers pick and choose what fits. They discard the rest. . .Christian fundamentalists, who seek a justification for their bigotry and hatred, trumpet these passages and rarely speak of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ's call for vows of poverty and his pacificism. Such selective interpretation is no different for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and other believers. It is culture, history, circumstance, tradition, economics and the deep self-interest of the tribe or the nation that more powerfully inform belief systems than the contradictory and often impenetrable pages of the Bible, Koran or any other sacred text. Attempts by these atheists to reduce sacred texts to instructions manuals is not part of the reality of belief. Faith arises out of practice. We find our faith in how we live. The labels we attach to ourselves-Christian, Buddhist, Jew, Muslim or Atheist-are a way to tell stories about ourselves, to create coherent narratives."

"The danger we face does not come from religion. It comes from a growing intellectual bankruptcy that is one of the symptoms of a dying culture. . .We sit for hours alone in front of screens. We are enraptured and diverted by bread and circuses. And while we sit mesmerized, corporations steadily dismantle the democratic state. We are kept ignorant and entertained. . .We increasingly lack the intellectual and self-critical tools to disentangle this net of lies from truth. . .'our politics, religion, news, athletics, education, and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice,' wrote Neil Postman. 'The result is that we are a people on the verge of entertaining ourselves to death.' . . .The new atheists are products of the morally stunted world of entertainment. Despite their insistence that they have cornered the market on rationality, they appeal neither to our reason nor our intellect. . .The simple slogans these atheists repeat about religion do not communicate ideas. They amuse us. They bolster our self-satisfaction, anti-intellectualism and provincialism."

"Many who live the United States, plagued by its consumer culture, waste their energy attempting to satisfy the insatiable demands of an all-consuming self. People have become cut off, engulfed in the fruitless search to find an unachievable happiness in the things they accumulate, the experiences an products they are sold, or the careers they have built. The promised self-fulfillment, of-course, never arrives. Consumers are prodded with even greater urgency to seek solace in newer products, greater opulence an increased status. the frantic search for happiness is endless, 'since' as Proust wrote, 'what one has obtained in ever anything but a new starting-point for further desires.' . . . American democracy has become a consumer fraud. those who practice these techniques are manipulative an cynical. They have robbed us of art, of democratic rights, of education, of respect for the world around us, of the sacred, and they have left us sputtering to each other in the simplified language of television. Television has given us a new image based epistemology. It now subtly defines what is true. It determines what constitutes knowledge. It tells us what is real and unreal. . .The danger we face is not an Orwellian 1984 style dictatorship, but Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, where we waste our lives in the vain and impossible pursuit of a self-centered, universal happiness. . .Television tempts viewers with the opulent life enjoyed by the American oligarchy, one percent of who control more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined. Characters on television live in sprawling and artfully decorated lofts and multi-million dollar homes. They flit from high priced luncheons to lavish galas, where they can parade their sculpted bodies in extravagant designer suits and gowns. this is the life we are supposed to admire and emulate. This is the life, we are told, we can all have. Our national obsession with wealth, celebrity and power has become a soul crushing disease. . .in the middle ages people were manipulated and informed by stained glass images and graphic paintings of religious suffering and redemption. We, too, are hostage to images. We are inundated with pictures of excess wealth and consumption. The in the Middle Ages genuflected before the awful authority and majesty of the church. They feared the wrath of God. We genuflect before celebrity, prizes, money and status, held out like bait. Profligate consumption is not only desirable, but also the only life that offers worth an meaning. These images, however, implicity mock the lives of nearly all Americans. They foster impossible aspiration, ones that nearly all of us will never achieve. The mass of citizens who do not become wealthy and powerful, who buy Tom Ford's products but never become him, harbor feelings of failure and worthlessness. The incessant chasing after status and wealth has plunged much of the country into unmanageable debt. Families live in oversized houses with palladium windows, financed with mortgages they cannot repay. They seek identity through their Nike shoes or Coach handbags. They occupy their leisure time in malls buying things they do not need. They spend their weekdays in little cubicles, if they have stable jobs, under the heel of corporations who have disempowered the American worker, taken control of the state, and can lay them off on a whim. It is a desperate scramble. No one wants to be left behind. The epistemology of television has left of ignorant, without the vocabulary to express this awful transformation. . .The contemporary atheists, while many are noted scientists, are deluded products of this image-based and culturally illiterate world. They speak about religion, human progress and meaning in the impoverished language of television slogans. They play to our fears, especially of what we do not understand. Their words are sensational, fragmented and devoid of content. They appeal to our subliminal and irrational desires. They select a few facts and use them to dismiss historical, political an cultural realities. They tell us what we want to believe about ourselves. They assure us that we are good. They proclaim the violence employed in our name a virtue. They champion our ignorance as knowledge. They assure us that there is no reason to investigate other ways of being. Our way of life is the best. They indulge us in our delusional dream of human perfectability. They tell us we will be saved by science and rationality. They tell us that humanity is moving inexorable forward. None of this is true. It defies human nature and human history. But it is what we want to believe. . .Religious thought is a guide to morality. It points humans toward inquiry. It seeks to unfettered the mind form prejudices that blunt reflection and self criticism. We are all flawed. Human ambitions and pursuits are vanity. the ancient Greeks held in high esteem the command they believed came from Apollo: 'Know thyself.' To know ourselves is to accept our limitations and imperfections. it is to reject absolutism. Ideas are not coded in DNA. They are fragile and need to be nurtured and protected. We are bound to this Earth by our common urges and our instincts, our capacity to be moral and immoral. It is when we face the intractable nature of our being that we begin to build a viable system of ethics. Utopian dreamers, lifting up impossible ideals, plunge us into depravity and violence. It is those who are broken, those who see the shifting sands of our inner lives and the fictive narratives we hide behind, who can save us. They speak to our common humanity. They appeal to our humility. They talk not of power but of transcendent. They talk of reverence. And in their words we see the limits of reason and the possibilities of religion."

Sri Mayapur International School (SMIS) ends 2008-2009 academic school year.





TO the right and beyond structure below you can see the Ganga (below). It is a great place to chant japa during lunch breaks.The next two pictures below show the new structure. In between the main building and the new one is a hut with swings and other exciting things under it.

Our new good buddy, Ashley Turner, invited us to sing for her yoga class as a follow-up to the kirtan we had done for her at the Yoga Journal Conference in NYC. We were already excited to come to Exhale, Santa Monica to do that. Then, Saul David Raye, who had performed beautifully at the Chant4Change event in January, found out that we were in town, and asked us to sing for his class, too.

We went down for Saul’s class and had beautiful kirtan. Ashley, so sweet and humble, attended one of Saul’s classes as a student and then stayed afterwards to teach her own class. Singing for both classes was a phenomenal experience. It is always wonderful to work with teachers who love, cherish and incorporate the music so deeply into their classes.  It was also uplifting to be able to play with our friend, the incredible musician and yogi, Zat Baraka.

Later that day, we went to our friend, Narayan’s house in the Sunset Hills, which is an amazing place. It looked like something between a Kung Fu movie and an ancient Indian or Tibetan temple. Narayan is an amazing chef, and he cooked some tasty prasad: rice and beans. While we were still at Narayan’s house, we met up we our friend from Yogamates, Kasey Luber. She did a video interview of me for the website, Yogamates.com. We were sitting outside with her and her friends in the warm California sunshine, under a small tent near Narayan’s pool, beaneath the cascading hills of Hollywood. It was beautiful. We talked about the ancient history of kirtan and sacred sound.

Listen to the entire Kirtan!

To listen, click on the links below then press play. To download, Right Click on the word “Download” and select “Save As…” from the menu. Having trouble downloading? Read our Help Section.

• 01 Gaura Vani, Bardaraj, ZatBaraka - Radha Govinda (29)
• 02 Gaura Vani, Bardaraj, ZatBaraka - Rama Bolo (12)
• 03 Gaura Vani, Bardaraj, Zat Baraka - Jai Hara Gange (14)
• 04 Gaura Vani, Bardaraj, ZatBaraka - Instrumental (12)
• 05 Gaura Vani, Bardaraj, Zat Baraka - Hey Natha Narayana (18)
• 06 Gaura Vani, Bardaraj, Zat Baraka - Vande Guroh Sri (20)
• 07 Gaura Vani, Bardaraj, Zat Baraka - Jaya Radhe (29)
• 08 Gaura Vani, Zat Baraka - Guru (12)
• 09 Gaura Vani, Zat Baraka - Instrumental (15)
• 10 Zat Baraka, Gaura Vani - Mahadeva Shambo (19)
• 11 Gaura Vani, Zat Baraka - Govinda Jaya Jaya (26)
• 12 Zat Baraka, Gaura Vani - Hallelujah (22)
• 13 Gaura Vani, Zat Baraka - Hare Krsna (53)

We do not mean to say that Reason is a foolish principle. On the contrary we do not find better admirers of Reason than our humble selves. We hold that man's superiority amongst all created beings consists in man's possessing the noble gift of Reason.

What we maintain is this, that independent of this noble principle there is another higher gift in man which goes by the name of Love. Reason helps Love to maintain its proper bounds in the Spiritual world. Love often tends to degrade itself by exercising its function on objects other then God and converts itself into lust for women, wine, meat and gold. Here Reason advises her to rise higher till she reaches her proper sphere above.

Thus we find that the object of Reason is to help Love and not to create it. Reason may be properly styled as the servant of Love and must always be subject to her in all her hopes, aspirations, and holy works.

The Rationalist on the contrary considers Reason as all and all! This is a degradation of humanity! The progressive Rationalist, on the other hand, believes in the principle of love, but attempts to make her the maid-servant of Reason! This is another error! He makes spiritual love sometimes a prisoner in the jails of Reason! Love wants to soar on her spiritual wings to a realm where the Jailer (Reason) cannot go and the latter is sure to tie up her wings for fear lest she goes to an unworthy place!

Love utters sounds of a spiritual character peculiar to herself, but Reason, having no pervious experience of it, mistakes it for a disease and administers medicine for her cure!! Thus it is that the natural strength of the Queen of our Soul is crippled by artificial administration of the dry principle of Reason and she rests in us as if a bird taken in a cage! Oh! What a havoc doth Reason commit by abuse of his power. Oh! Shame to the Rationalist! God help the man!!

Theist take care of those amongst you who mix with you only by assuming the name of Theist but are in fact Rationalists of a very dry character. They are divisible into two classes vis. the designing and the dupes. The designing Theist is he who is in fact a Rationalist but by assuming the name of Theist wants to degrade the sincere by his bad influence. He that calls himself a Theist in order to get rid of the name of Rationalist but still holds Love in subjection to Reason is a dupe because he is unable to find out his own position. The sincere Theist should however take care of both of them and preserve the sovereignty of Love over Reason and his comrades.

It has been way too long since I've written anything and I can feel my fingers itching to transfer everything that has been locked up in the recesses of my mind. However, it seems that time has been my number one enemy. With so many thing going on including the upcoming Toronto Ratha Yatra/Yoga Meltdown, traveling, various other services and looking for a job, there just aren't enough hours in a day!

But that being said, I remember a promise I made to myself that I would try to write at least something everyday. So this is my humble attempt to keep that promise.

Today I got a glimpse of how wonderful it is to simply sing for the Lord without any pretense, show or any motivation. I had the great fortune to sing during mangala aarti for Sri Sri Radha Gopivallabha, who are the keepers to my beloved Guru Maharaja's heart. It was very simple. With almost nobody else in the room with me and just keeping a basic beat on a pair of kartalas, it was a magical moment. It was a moment to simply be there, not ask their most beautiful Lordships for anything, but simply sing the praises of their dearmost devotees.

Well, it's been nearly 3 months since my last blog entry. Not really much going on besides soccer mom duties that ran until May, lots of end of school year activities, and getting run over by household duties.

Without going into too much detail i'll also say that my husband and I have been really contemplating the future and where it may take us. I'm beginning to have anxiety for my children's spiritual lives and am thinking that a change of environment may be looming on the horizon. It is becoming more and more difficult to shelter them here. They go to school and thrive materially, but I want so much more for them. I don't have enough self determination and motivation to provide all of their spiritual needs. I'm praying to Krishna for some guidance and of course i need to humble myself and ask my guru maharaj for guidance.

The vyasa-puja of HH Prabhavisnu Maharaja was observed in the morning and Aditi Dukhaha Prabhu sang his intense kirtanas. Back at the room we found the GSM had no more memory space for taking pictures; we had to transfer them to portable USB memory via Bluetooth and delete them from the mobile phone. Using a devotee's laptop, struggling with the settings, we finally succeeded. Lunch was brought to our room by eager devotees, and we went to conduct a seminar, 'Happy Vaishnava Life,' at 5 pm.

read more

By Matsya Avatara Dasa

From the book: the 26 Qualities of the Spiritual Researcher

It is important to know the noble qualities we need to develop in order to successfully perform the journey of self-realization, but it is also important to know what are the obstacles along this path, those defects of the personality that, if not cured and healed, could not only make our journey a terrible experience, but also prevent us from attaining our destination. In fact artha means objective, purpose, and anartha is whatever prevents its attainment.

Kama is the first anartha of the list and coincides with passion, ardent desire and lust. When a person is victim to kama he is searching for pleasure, a pleasure that is disconnected from reality and comes as a form of hallucination that allures the individual. This so-called pleasure cannot be obtained without great efforts and tribulations, and in any case it cannot be maintained. Often, to attain it one needs to dilapidate time and energies, burning resources and substances; sometimes kama causes one to step over the rights of others, betray one's rules of ethical behavior and one's values, and as such it will eventually bring acute sufferings.

Krodha is anger that is almost always manifested after the frustration of kama. As well explained by Krishna in Bhagavad-gita¹, when the desire for egoic gratification is not fulfilled for a reason or another, then anger originates in its various hues.

In order to put anger to the service of dharma, the cosmic order, it must be different from a pathological impulse. It should rather be originated from elevated motivations, for example defending persons or situations from violence or injustice, or strongly opposing the endangerment of spiritual principles or values. Even a saintly person can become angry, but such anger will not explode in unwarranted circumstances and will not have the destructive and negative results of the pathological type.

Lobha means greed: to be mistakenly convinced of needing something, while on the contrary it is a false need induced by one's conditionings or by the surrounding environment. Thus a person who already possesses a car thinks he needs another one, one who already has two coats believes he needs to buy a third one, and so on. For example modern literature, especially the Freudian books, have introduced a very dangerous principle in society, inducing the masses to believe that sexual activity is a necessity to be put on the same level of eating or sleeping. Even in so-called cultural milieus many believe that without satisfying such appetites one becomes neurotic, and that one should cater to them without making distinctions between artificial or real causes.

Moha is illusion, the confusion of the mind. Generally it is not perceived by the individual who, on the contrary, believes he is very clear-headed, while in fact he is confused and a victim of the frequent psychic phenomenon caused by a deep conditioning that resides in the subconscious and distorts vision and understanding of reality.

Mada means conceit and arrogance. This anartha is characteristic of persons who have a big ego, who do not possess humility and kindness, and who believe they can find pleasure in oppressing others. In fact, the knowledge of psychology shows us that authoritarianism is the exact contrary of authoritativeness and that violent behaviors (whether violence is subtle or not) hide deep frailties and insecurities, and will obviously bring sufferings and guilt.

Matsara is the anti-virtue that is known with the name of envy, but is often present also in its hue of jealousy. It is a typical disease of those who do not know the law of the remuneration of actions (karma) and only search for happiness externally: envy includes negative sentiments such as jealousy, hatred, resentment, and general hostility towards those who possess something that the envious person does not have and would like to have. The envious' tendency is to minimize and demean those he feels are better than him; this destructive attitude is often manifested also on the objective platform, when a person who is sick with matsara tries to create obstacles to the "better person" in his projects or initiatives.

The cancer of envy can also affect evolved beings such as the devas - just think of the story of the Govardhana Hill, where Indra becomes angry because the cowherds of Vrindavana are offering sacrifices to Krishna rather than to him. One who is afflicted by anarthas suffers, and a suffering person is always a cause of suffering for others, too, exactly like a joyful and harmonious person spreads his beneficial mood also in the environment around him.

Generally we like to be near people who are not envious, subject to anger, fault-finding or other similar personality defects. However, while cultivating the company of elevated person, the sage also makes himself available to the needy people, although he keeps his distance from those who do not wish to improve themselves.

Hell is not a physical place but a particularly dark and painful state of existence; all spiritual traditions state that those who cause pain, suffering, unease, and discomfort will be subjected to the same pain, the same suffering, the same discomfort with mathematical symmetry. It's not about someone's wickedness, it is the Nature of the things that dictates this universally valid law. The example of the mirror can help us: make a grimace and the mirror will respond with the same grimace, smile and the mirror will smile back, beg and the mirror will give you back the same begging face.

Each anartha that has become a second nature to us, that has become congenital, must be understood like some inheritance from the previous lifetime - a problem that we had not solved, a debt still to be paid. The therapy consists in obtaining the knowledge and practicing the required virtue under the guidance of a Master who engages us in a sacred service, giving us the opportunity to apply his teachings by following a method and a concrete project for our life.

By Devaki Prana dasa

Local devotees from Iskcon, the Gaudiya matha, and the babas are lining together as a tag team, bringing up the buckets of butter mud up the stairs to an awaiting tractor and trailer to be taken away.

The Major Points of Convergence within the Great Spiritual Traditions
� First, in all of them the aim of the spiritual quest is the same, union with God and union with everyone and everything else. There are different disciplines, different understandings of God, and different understandings of life, but all the great spiritual traditions are ultimately seeking the same thing, union with the divine and, through that, peace with one another and with physical creation.

� Second, in all the great spiritual traditions the path to union is understood as coming through compassion. In every great spiritual tradition, what religion ultimately strives to achieve is to form a heart that is properly shaped in compassion and wisdom. Then, and only then, are worship, dogma, and justice done correctly.

� Third, in every great spiritual tradition, the route to compassion and union with God is paradoxical, requiring that somehow we have to lose ourselves to find ourselves, die to come to life, and give so as to receive. In every major spiritual tradition we are taught that we cannot come to joy, delight, and happiness by actively pursuing these. These are always a byproduct of something else, namely, of trying to create joy, delight, and happiness for someone else. Every great spiritual tradition would be at ease with the Prayer of St. Francis: Affirming that in giving we receive, in consoling others we are consoled, and in trying to understand others we are understood.

� Fourth, every great spiritual tradition is clear that spiritual progress requires hard discipline and some painful renunciations, that the road-more-travelled won't get you home. The gate to heaven is always the narrow one, the one that requires discipline and renunciation. Indeed the word "discipleship" comes from the word "discipline". When Hinduism and Buddhism speak of different kinds of "yoga" they are simply referring to various forms of discipline (from which we take our reduced sense of the word "yoga").

� Fifth, every great spiritual tradition tells us that the spiritual quest is a life-long journey with no short-cuts, no quick paths, no hidden secrets, and no appeal to privilege that can short-circuit the discipline and renunciation required. They also tell us that there are no exempt areas within the spiritual life and that there are no moral or psychological areas that we can ignore or write-off as unimportant. No great spiritual tradition lets us chose between personal integrity and social justice, personal holiness or political action. Every one of them tells us that both are non-negotiable.

� Sixth, in every great spiritual tradition consolation and desolation, religious fervor and dark nights of the soul, both have an important role within the spiritual journey. Both provide a necessary, if very different, kind of nurturing. All traditions caution us not to identify progress only with consolation and fervor, just as all of them caution us not to make suffering, desolation, and dark nights an end in themselves.

� Seventh and perhaps surprisingly, all the great spiritual traditions downplay the importance of extraordinary phenomena within the spiritual journey. Visions, altered states of consciousness, mystical trances, ecstasies, miracles, and appearances by persons or forces from the other world, whether benign or malevolent, soothing or frightening, are all downplayed in every major tradition. These can be real and they can mark our lives, but they are not indicative of real growth and progress which, in all great traditions, take place within the ordinary bread-and-butter of life. In every major spiritual tradition, the essential things that God wants us to know are public, available to all, and written down. All traditions make the distinction between public revelation (which is binding for everyone) and private revelations (which can be meaningful but which are not binding for everyone and are not the salient revelation even inside of the life of the person to whom they are given.)

� Eighth, all great spiritual traditions affirm that, while we are on the spiritual path, we will meet great temptations and powerful demons and that these need to be recognized and taken seriously. All of them caution against naivete, especially naivete regarding certain innate tendencies within our own make-up and within the dynamics of every crowd.

� Finally, all the major spiritual traditions agree that the spiritual journey will always partly be mystery. Just as the God we meet on this journey is ultimately ineffable, so too is the experience. In the end we will never find adequate words and concepts either to understand or to describe what we experience on the journey. Hence all traditions caution strongly against ever thinking that our grasp of things is adequate, even remotely so.

All the great religious traditions agree: The road is narrow and hard and there are no short-cuts.

Samapriya devi dasi for Krishna.com: Krishna. com is developing a new department to facilitate our spiritual education called the Bhakti Academy. Our first eCourse will be Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, beginning July 6.

I can tell a story about the old days when I was on the GBC. We’d gather in the meeting room all day. They still do it. Go over the management of the Society. Make some new rules. Discuss some problem devotee. Talk of fund raising. How to increase the preaching. I don’t do it anymore. I take a pill and lie down in bed.

Satsvarupa dasa Goswami - June 14, 3:30 A.M.

I had a peaceful night and woke with a clear head after yesterday’s long headache. I just called Narayana, and I’m starting my japa.

4:34 A.M.

Early-morning japa log

Five rounds done. The first ones were mechanical, without much feeling. Then I started to put feeling into it. The first round that I timed was the fourth round. It came out a very slow eleven minutes, thirteen seconds. I finished the fifth round in nine minutes and thirteen seconds. For me, speed is an indication of feeling. Speed and enunciation. So the rounds are getting better. I hope before the eight rounds are done, I’ll have achieved a better level of concentration. My mind wasn’t wandering to other subjects but kept on the enunciation, although I was dull. The chanting was audible; I could hear it better than usual. That partly accounted for the slowness. I was not going into deeper spiritual feelings than the accumulation, counting and pronunciation. But I was wide awake and alert. There are signs you can improve; let’s see if you can do it.

Japa essay

Japa is serious business and requires full concentration in order to do it right. Your main interest can’t be caught up in rattling off the numbers. You have to dive deeper for spiritual emotions. Ask Krishna to accept your offering as a serious service. It’s not a physically active performance but requires mental energy and prayer, which are not easy to come by, especially when you’re just starting after waking up in the morning. Quickly you must progress through proper enunciation and counting and go on to further things. This takes a serious chanter and one who is in good spiritual shape, like an athlete. Mental and physical preparation is required. Don’t forget to be serious and attentive from the very beginning. You have no time to lose. It’s like the scoring in the basketball game. The very first points are important. It requires agility, balance and speed. All the players are required, not just a superstar, to move, pass and coordinate around the court. Try to keep count of the scoring as soon as possible. Bring the time down from very high numbers to lower numbers. Don’t be afraid you’ll wear out. Eight rounds is not long, and so speed should be emphasized. You should be expert at keeping alert and pushing with the fingers. A good start indicates good, complete rounds.

Cooperation from the start

should be the order of the day.

Early fumbling bodes no good

and mars your whole approach.

Early preparation signals

your intention

and your uncles are in tune

with the main men.

This is how to make an auspicious start,

and you’re starting off with seriousness,

and you’re gleefully underway.

6:59 A.M.

This morning is completely overcast, but the temperature is pleasant. A woman rolled down her car window and complimented Narayana on the colors of his clothes (combinations of saffron in different shades). People waved to us from their cars.

Yesterday I had a headache from 11:30 A.M. until 6:00 P.M. I was in pain the whole time, despite medication. It finally turned into a migraine in the right eye, and the migraine pill subdued it. It was with great pleasure and happiness that I went to sleep in physical comfort. Happiness in the material world is defined as brief respites between blows. Everyone suffers and feels they are happy when they get a little relief from their physical, mental or spiritual distresses. The Vedic literature describes three kinds of unhappiness: (1) unhappiness caused by our own bodies and minds (adhyatmika); (2) distresses caused by other living beings (adhibautika); and (3) distresses caused by the demigods or material nature, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. (adhidaivika). There is no real escape from these sufferings. Is there a solution? We can try to live a healthy, protected life, but inevitably, one of the three miseries will strike us. Your only relief is to get out of material life all together. This can’t be done by committing suicide, which just brings you transmigration into a lower species of life. Relief from material suffering comes only when we are liberated from the cycle of birth and death. Real liberation means developing love of God and transferring to the blissful, eternal, spiritual world. But pure devotees of Krishna are above even the desire for liberation. They only want to serve Krishna, even if it means taking rebirth in the material world, with its concomitant miseries. How exalted they are! In the scriptures, Krishna says He kindly rescues His devotees from the ocean of death. Even if they don’t desire it, He brings them home, back to Godhead. When I get headaches, I should try to keep my mind fixed on these grave subject matters and not complain.

1

A poem’s a thing you can embrace.

It’s a way to preach scriptures by telling

how sayujya (merging with God)

is inferior to bhakti.

In a poem, you can tell an adventure

from your life, how you disagreed

with a brother and insisted on acting

legally.

You can describe flowers when they’re fresh

and when they wilt. You can

say how much you like your Radha-Govinda

murtis in Their jari outfits.

In a poem, you can swing,

you can dance, hold a kirtana,

do yoga asanas, recite from

Srimad-Bhagavatam in your own words.

There’s a lot of freedom in a poem,

and people find it like a home,

a place where they can live

in comfort and not have to tell

lies.

When you feel pain, it can

give you some relief or

at least cheer you up.

It’s a serious thing.

I like poems.

2

Poems grow like mushrooms,

they are beloved by Krishna

when they praise Him.

They are only a paper moon

when they lack God consciousness.

When the Lord is indicated,

they come to life like

dandelions and weeds and

big trees.

They can be used as serious weapons

in the war against maya.

They can kill demons.

Krishna’s mother wrote poems

about His childhood activities.

The gopis make very beautiful poems

in the gopi-gita,

they are the best poets because

they choose the best subject matter

and they sing from their hearts

with great talent.

A person like me can’t make

much of a poem, but he can

celebrate the lines and

give his best in

praising Krishna as the Supreme

Lord and Supreme Poet.

I can make a poem like pasta with tomato sauce

and offer it to Gaura-Nitai.

11:38 A.M.

Free write

Looking in Volume 55 of Every Day, Just Write, written in Ireland from May 19 to June 16, 2000, entitled When the Trees All Blossom. Every week I would receive a new flower from Hare Krishna dasi (she calls herself Helen now). She’d send a note with it describing the flower. One note said:

“One day while my mother and I were sitting by a river surrounded by beautiful gorse bushes, my mother told me this story about the famous eighteenth-century Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). Linnaeus devised Latin name systems for plants, which we still use today, and he spent his life in (among other things) classifying plants into the systems. When Linnaeus first beheld a gorse in full bloom, he is supposed to have dropped to his knees and thanked God for its creation. In previous centuries, it is nice that scientists, although making astounding discoveries, still were generous-minded enough to attribute what they had discovered to God. Nowadays, every new discovery seems to be held up as some sort of proof that God doesn’t exist. These are crazy times.”

That’s nice. The book describes me living alone with my assistant, Syamananda, in the thatch-roofed house in Wicklow. No plot, just musings, painting, headaches, answering letters, defending myself, obscure poems and occasional dreams. It goes nowhere from day to day, I’m out there in self-exile preaching to myself, writing very freely, not for an audience. Reading Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, I give some excerpts. Talk about weekly phone call with Dr. Tim Krohe in Baltimore, discussing headache medication. Walk to the writing shed, see a small Irish robin. Go for a walk down the road, which is narrow and fringed with grass and weeds. Stop at the bridge, look down at the foaming water. I’ll tell you more about it.

My life is different now. I don’t write like that. I write more for an audience.

Making sense to them. Tell them about my japa every day and something I make up in the car and dictate to Narayana. Now I’m doing poems. And a free write. This is not a rural place. I don’t see any birds, although I hear them in the morning as we go to the car, then to the beach. A ritual there, chanting japa. Different from nine years ago, but in many ways the same. Living alone. I would give a weekly lecture. Now you don’t do that. Hear a Prabhupada lecture. Every day, a headache. Lunch at 12:30 P.M. Narayana talks out loud to himself as he cooks. Yesterday he was making up skits.

I have to think of things to say. I can tell you of my youth, but that’s not Krishna consciousness. Right now I’m in Krishna consciousness. I chant japa, I read books, I write. But every day I get stopped in my tracks, and I have to rest. So I can’t do as much as some folks. I admit that. Still, I can think of something to write. I can tell a story about the old days when I was on the GBC. We’d gather in the meeting room all day. They still do it. Go over the management of the Society. Make some new rules. Discuss some problem devotee. Talk of fund raising. How to increase the preaching. I don’t do it anymore. I take a pill and lie down in bed.

3:00 P.M.

My Dear Lord Krishna...

I am praying to You in my poverty. I am not a powerful preacher. I am not a silent saint. I am just an ordinary man who wishes he could be a better devotee. I pray to You in my poverty.

I have been given riches, but I am a miser, so I am poor. I have been given an opportunity for saintliness, but I don’t know how to take advantage of it. I pray to You to make me rich. Let me be generous and spread the holiness that You have given me. But I am not inclined. I remain poor. I don’t take part in kirtana. My hands don’t clap to the beat.

What am I praying for? I already have the gifts, but I do not use them. Please teach me to use them.

from #102→

Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 8, Chapter 6, Texts 16-19 by Guruprasad Swami. Dallas, TX 2009-04-17 16 - TRANSLATION Sukadeva Gosvami continued: When the Lord was thus offered prayers by th…

Most people who have studied the lives of many great artists throughout history can understand that many where deeply troubled individuals and not the most saintly characters to say the least. Recently one of my professors remarked during a discussion about implanting microchips in persons brains to correct chemical imbalances like ADHD, ADD,etc., “if they ever [...]

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.9.27 - To serve guru and Krsna nicely one must learn to control the senses.

Mahdava Hari das singing the bhajan "He Govinda He Gopal".

Dallas, TX
2009-04-04

Download: 2009-04-04 - 3 - Madhava Hari das - He Govinda He Gopal.mp3

Here's a recording of Radha-ramana-hari from last night.

A few of things about this recording:

1. The main vocal is a bit distorted. This is because I used an extreme microphone technique, super close to the mic. I did this because for the two preceding kirtans I was manning the desk (as you can see from the video above). When it came my turn to sing I was in a different position and it sounded as though my voice wasn't coming through the PA. I had set up a foldback monitor (the Roland Street Cube) - but since things were running late (let me just add that I was personally on time) there was no time to soundcheck. In fact my voice was coming through at a normal volume, and my close miking caused the signal to clip.

2. The first part of the kirtan kicks up quite a few bpm when the tabla comes in. We'll need to practice this for the July 3 gig at Fusion, including some time with a metronome for me, I think. I am also going to separate the two melodies, so the first Hare Krishna kirtan will get a part C and maybe D, and Radha-ramana-hari stays as it is with Parts A (Radha-ramana-haribol), B (Sri Krishna Govinda...), C (Hare Krishna low), D (Hare Krishna high), and E (Sri Krishna Govinda high).

3. Without the sound check I wasn't able to get things set up nicely, but I think the two things that I could have done to make the sound better would have been to EQ the room using a graphic equalizer on the whole mix, and move the mixing station further back. Doing that will require a multicore - I'm going to look into that soon.

• Radha-ramana-hari (mp3, 26MB, 18:53)

Spanish Hare Krishna Farm community has a new site… by iskcontech

http://www.nuevavrajamandala.es

The chanting of the holy name resonates in your mind and comes out your mouth. You pay attention to the quality, that each mantra is uttered clearly, each syllable pronounced and heard. You try as usual for reciprocation with the Divine Couple. Have faith that They are hearing you and are pleased with your recitation. This is the most important part of your day. “Of all the orders of the spiritual master, the order to chant sixteen rounds is essential.”

Taken from Bhajana Kutir #101

It’s always wonderful to be back in LA. The beautiful deities of Radha Krishna at the New Dwarka temple are called Rukmini Dvarkadisha, and I grew up with Them. In fact, in that very temple, my mother offered me to Krishna when I was a baby.

We got together on a Wednesday night with a lot of our friends, and it was so uplifting! Energetically, we were zooming through the universe.  Friends from all over were dancing and singing. Everyone was touched. A special treat was that I got to sing with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Madi Brinkman, who is not only an amazing writer and producer of plays and films but is also, and more importantly to me, an amazing singer and kirtaniya.

Gaura Vani

Listen to the entire Kirtan!

To listen, click on the links below then press play. To download, Right Click on the word “Download” and select “Save As…” from the menu. Having trouble downloading? Read our Help Section.

• 01 Gaura Vani and Madi - Hare Krishna (118)
• 02 Gaura Vani and Madi - Nrsimha Prayers (58)
• 03 Gaura Vani and Madi - Hare Krishna (60)

How well do you acknowledge Krishna's presence through the day? We may need to work on that! Here are some ideas. There is a difference between when I'm alone and when I'm in the presence of another person.

Prana dasa: Hare Krishna School in Auckland has a position vacant for a qualified and motivated devotee educator. Our school is a Primary school catering for students up to 12 years of age. We have a current school roll of 86 students and is rapidly increasing in size.

"For japa to really be done with feeling, you have to call out to Krishna. Cry like a child calling for its mother. One gets so occupied with the accumulation of the rounds and the proper enunciation that he leaves out the most important part, the feeling. The feeling must be at the center of the exercise in order for the japa to be complete. One has to have faith in reciprocation with Radha and Krishna, faith that the holy names are Krishna Himself and Radha Herself. Otherwise, you are just chanting the outer syllables of the name and not chanting offenselessly. Suddha-nama is a rare, advanced stage. We have to be patient with our chanting and hearing clearly, making the sounds audibly and keeping the mind fixed on the utterance of the words themselves."

Taken from Bhajana Kutir #99

Click here to check out a short film called "Eating Mercifully" by the Humane Society of the United States, which details some enlightened Christian perspectives on factory farming

It would be great if devotees could also produce such a piece in the near-future.

Shyam Kishor das singing a Hare Krishna bhajan. Dallas, TX 2009-04-04

Here's a video and a recording from last night's kirtan.

The kirtan is one of my mash-ups. It's constructed from a song I really liked in the 80's, a tune from Jai Uttal, and a song that was always playing on the bus when I lived in Perú. This take was a bit of a practice for tonight's Sunday Feast. Since the album isn't out yet peeps don't have the opportunity to thrash it on their iPods, and so they're learning the phrasing and melody by the old school method - trial and error and listening and repeating live. Vraj was also working out the bass line as we went. He came up with some funky stuff.

I'll record tonight's kirtan too, and we'll see how they compare.

• Radha-ramana-hari (mp3, 15MB, 10:41)

Enjoy!

-Sitapati "The only thing liberal about me is my use of the T-pain effect" das

Danielle Richards, a junior majoring in humanities, recalls attending last year's Llama Festival in Spanish Fork. A poster of the event still hangs on her wall and serves as a reminder of memories attached to the event.

PRISON ANGUISH

TRUMBULL, OHIO

My dear spiritual pal, Akilananda from Salem, Ohio, came to the Cleveland Airport to pick me up and drive me for an hour to a Correctional Services Centre. The two of us had planned to meet Aaron Catlin (now Arjuna) who is serving time in prison.

While in the waiting room a young woman came next to me to ask who we were.

“Hare Krishna!” and so I explained.

“When did you join?” She asked after introducing herself by the name ‘Liz’.
Akilananda answered “In 71”.

I asked Liz, “Where were you at that time?”

“My mother wasn’t even born then,” she laughed out her words.

We then got to talking about reincarnation which she firmly believed in. In fact she admitted that at times she feels very connected to snakes and that she herself was in the body of one.

Another woman waiting to be escorted to see her inmate friend was also curious about us. Within a dialogue with her she expressed that prisoners are often feeling guilty about what they had done and believe that God will not embrace them.

“But that is not the fact!” I said.

She concurred, “Yes I believe that God does come close to them.”
Our meeting with Arjuna went well. I was happy to hear him say that it was Krishna’s mercy that he’s in prison. “Everything is for a reason,” was his mood. “Good stuff, Arjuna!”

Outside of the prison I had taken a walk in the area surprised to see some abandoned homes which were in good shape.

Our evening brought us to Prabhupada Manor in Cleveland where we discussed about anxiety, some of which inmates experience a lot.

“Anxiety you can receive but anxiety you must not give.”

5 KM

WHY WE STRUGGLE!

TORONTO, ONTARIO

Some days can be taxing trying to sort out issues that may arise within communication at home base or in the province or the country. In addition to my regular activity of raising consciousness to various parts of the world I have as part of my portfolio, a spiritual supervisory responsibility over the Canadian centers of ISKCON. People are what they are whether spiritual or secular, by nature, they are people.

Disagreement is such a signature for the age in which we live. Stalemates are across the board in human society. One time a film producer, David Schultz, asked me, “You have conflicts within your community?”

“Of course, we all are under the influence of human nature”, I said.

“Now that’s the perfect answer”, Dave said.

From the stand point of the Gita, Krishna speaks about desire and hate that causes the soul’s stay in the material world to begin with. He also relays to Arjuna the influence of the three gunas upon the soul, they being goodness, restlessness and inertia. Elsewhere He speaks of our struggle with the six senses including the mind.
Conclusion: there is a lot that each and every one of us carries on our shoulders, karmically speaking.

For today’s walking excursion Dustin and Nitai accompanied me near the Brick Works trail. We trekked through some tight spots, deliberately. We choose some steep sections where branches and vines were held onto for dear life.
We are suckers for adventure.

9 Km

THE BIG BURP

TUESDAY JUNE 9/09,

TORONTO, ONTARIO

He walked a good five KM to meet me at the temple only to take on another seven KM with me down the ravine by the Brick Works and then as we departed he tackled another five KM back to his home. It had been a while since he had put his hand in a bead bag fingering the beads made of neem wood while chanting the Maha mantra.

Once a monk now a journalist, Baladev did extremely well at keeping up a walking pace with me and focusing on hearing the sound vibration of transcendence. The only thing that interrupted his chanting was this long loud burp he let out. “Ahhh! The sound of satisfaction perhaps!” I blurted out. “You ate well?” I asked him. A smile!

I did proceed on to say that since we just had made a bit of a climb on the trail which tends to go up and down a certain part of his machinery got activated which doesn’t normally. I suggested that some trapped gas got mobilized upon stretching a lazy inactivated part of his body.

According to Ayurveda practice there are five major airs in the body and then some minor ones which move in different directions within our bodily frame. Sometimes they vent from above or behind. I was happy about the burp and so was he. The volume of this burp was a sign of released air. It didn’t seem to scare the squirrels so it was harmless.

So that’s what happens when you walk. There may be gaseous dynamics from above or behind but it’s a healthy sound apart from the mantra.

7 KM for me. 17 for Baladev.

DOVETAIL

TORONTO, ONTARIO

It was not an ordinary day at the temple. There were several international guests with us and included in the list a musician with a golden voice. Strumming his guitar was Atmaram, a Spanish devotee, who travels the globe doing the yoga circuit. What was arranged was a mini concert for Atmaram in the peaceful atmosphere of the temple. Although traditional mantras and bhajans were sung the more European contemporary stringed guitar was the instrument used to create tempo and rhythm as support to tamboura, sitar or vina. Such fusion of east and west can be most palatable to the ear.

Dovetailing is the word used by our guru, Srila Prabhupada, to describe the utilization of skills, talent, ability, wit, resources, etc. in the service of God. Wherever your strengths lie there is this golden opportunity to use them as an offering – a service.

For the Sunday open house program this principle of dovetailing was well channeled not only by Atmaram but also Keshav Sharma whose youthful enthusiasm and personal communication skills are applied as the mc of the event. Devotees who are inclined to perform pulled off a great drama. And it’s not for me to judge but if something is amiss in the program for instance our guest speaker was late, late, late and hence I volunteered to do the spontaneous thing standing in for him. Somehow I respond to spontaneity well and so I find myself in such circumstances. Perhaps that’s a skill and a way of dovetailing.

After our drama presentation of “The Witness” our actors were so pumped up with excitement that the only way of calming down was walking and so a spriteful walk became the method to escort one of our female brahmacarinis to the bus station for the midnight run back to Montreal. I got a chance, like so many, to dovetail a strong propensity in me – walking – once again.

10 Km

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.9.26 - Increase spiritual desires or else material desires will increase; there is no neutral point.

I will be blogging @ sabjimata.blogspot.com from here on out.

Yes, I’ll write more poems. You’ve just got to pick your subject. Something in your Krishna conscious life. My life is confined to my bhajana-kutir, the moods of japa, the books we read, the lectures of Prabhupada, any memories you find. For example, I remember the Radha-Krishna paintings of six years ago. You took your time and mixed your paints and made your shapes. There was always some distortion—a shoulder misplaced, four fingers instead of five, a color in the wrong place—but the overall effects were sweet. I remember living in Wicklow...

Satsvarupa dasa Goswami -June 13

[...] I want to thank You for the basics of sending me Srila Prabhupada as my spirtual master. There is no greater gift than that. I have been reading statements that unless one serves the dust of the lotus feet of the spiritual master, there is no way he can reach You. So You have given me this chance in this lifetime, and I have tried my best to take advantage of it. Srila Prabhupada is my savior, and You are my ultimate savior for sending me this connection. And through my spiritual master, You have given me the basic instructions for the practice of bhakti yoga. Only by bhakti yoga can You be attained. You have given me the chanting of the holy names, which I have practiced for over forty years, and You have given me Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam to study. I have a basic comprehension of these books, and I am very grateful for these books and also Caitanya-caritamrta and The Nectar of Devotion. I want to thank you for the association of the many devotees whom I have shared my life with since the age of twenty-six. Ever since I walked into the storefront, I have met young men whom I practiced alongside of in carrying out Your orders. They have been my brothers, and I have also served with sisters and the fellowship of devotees. They are too many to mention who have helped me, and You have helped me to share with them knowledge of Krishna consciousness. You have also given me the duties of a spiritual master, and I have tried to help disciples to come to You. I have made mistakes, and I feel remorse for them. I beg Your forgiveness. I beg forgiveness through my spiritual master and unto Your Lordship. As I understand the philosophy, there is no need for separate atonement or prayascitta for my wrongs. I have picked myself up from my wrongs and have gone on with my devotional service, and this is sufficient for removing the sinful activities. I hope it has worked this way. I will end this prayer here, thanking You for my very life. I do not have a life except for what You have given me. You give this life to every living being, but in the case of devotees, You give them a special life, a chance to serve You and approach Your lotus feet. I thank You for all the years and hours You have given me to serve You, and I hope that I will meet up with You in future lives, and eventually attain Your service in the spiritual world. Thank you very much.

from #101→

I have been pondering on the thought of tolerance and compassion. Every morning we say about being compassionate for the fallen conditioned soul and then more tolerant than a tree. But do we actually really mean it? Do we actually put it into practice? There was a very interesting question asked as to who is responsible if a devotee [...]

Sunday Feast lecture by Guruprasad Swami on the Gundica Marjana pastime. 

Dallas, TX
2009-04-19

Download: 2009-04-19 - Guruprasad Swami - Sunday Feast - Lecture - Gundica Marjana.mp3

He lectured on the verse that everyone, where they are sarvakama, moksakama, or niskama should worship the Personality of Godhead. Hearing Srila Prabhupada’s voice is different from reading his books, and it’s a special treat. It’s very personal. It’s as if he’s present in the room. He gives examples and anecdotes not always found in his books and gives you the medium of hearing his sound vibration.

June 12, 2:15 A.M.

I woke up at 9:30 P.M. last night with a headache. I took medication, and the headache eventually went away. But I stayed up all night listening to a terrific wind and rain storm that continued for hours. I finally got up at 2:00 A.M. and went to the bathroom. Now I am ready to call Narayana up and to start my japa. I’m afraid I’ll be sleepy, since I didn’t sleep during the night.

3:37 A.M.

Early-morning japa log

About the third round, I woke up and realized what I was supposed to be doing. I started concentrating on the rounds. My speed was slow—sometimes eight minutes, sometimes twelve and a half minutes. Only with the very last round did I come down to a speedy five minutes, eight seconds. I was whispering, but audibly. My mind was fixed on the chanting of the rounds and not wandering to other things, not much. Glancing at the Deities of Radha-Govinda gave me a boost. Every day, They look more beautiful. I have done eight rounds. I’m aware of its importance. I chant mechanically but with feeling, too. The numerical strength is the most important thing. Numbers and speed and enunciation. I put it all together. It’s a decent yajna.

Japa essay

Chanting japa with a clear head is a great gift. I was able to do it, unaware of pain. The time went by slowly, although I was pushing. Japa must be an intense endeavor. It is not a laid-back thing. As you chant, you simultaneously brush out of the thoughts, like using a hand brush and a dustpan. You keep your mind clean. As for thinking of the pastimes of Radha and Krishna, I have not reached that stage. I am a mantra chanter. I am trying to avoid the ten offenses in chanting. On one level, I’m doing it pretty well, but not going further. I don’t blaspheme devotees, I don’t consider the names of the demigods as equal or independent of the name Krishna. I don’t doubt the scriptures, I don’t take the chanting as exaggeration or make an interpretation of it. I chant with attention. I don’t commit sinful activities on the strength of chanting. I don’t consider the chanting a material act of piety. I don’t teach the chanting of the holy names to faithless persons. I don’t chant for material benefits. I try to avoid these basic offenses. But I don’t cry out to Krishna and Radha, “Please let me serve You.” I don’t dwell on Their sweet pastimes. Bhaktivinoda Thakura has made a reversal of the ten offenses and taken them all in a positive way. As an example, instead of the first offense being, “Don’t blaspheme devotees,” he says you should always be happy when you see the devotees. I haven’t achieved all his positive reversals. I don’t chant fully from the heart. I don’t manifest any bodily symptoms of ecstasy. So I still chant out of duty, not spontaneity. Don’t be disappointed, but don’t think you have reached the stage of bhava. Keep chanting like a workhorse. Giddyup.

You chant with joy

sometimes.

Somtimes it’s work.

Sometimes you drowse.

You’re just a jerk.

Sometimes you love it,

sometimes you’re spaced.

You’re not consistent,

you lake a pace.

Oh pitiful chanter,

when will you reach the grace

of ecstatic mantras

in the footsteps of the acharyas,

who have won this race?

When will you chant

with happy face?

6:41 A.M.

It rained all night, and there are puddles in the parking lot. The sky is overcast. All three of us have some sickness. We joke that we’re like the three wounded fellows in the picture, “The Spirit of ’76.” Dattatreya has the flu, I’ve got my headaches and constipation, and Narayana has his back problem. But we keep in good spirits. Narayana has been baking some tarts. We read outloud at dinnertime. In the Brhad-bhagavatamrta, in Satyaloka, the scriptures personified have been having an argument. Srimad-Bhagavatam didn’t even want to hear the impersonal arguments, and he covered his ears and walked away. He upholds that just by chanting mantras to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can gain perfection. Some of the Upanishads argue in favor of liberation. Of course, the Srimad-Bhagavatam’s opinion is definitive and confidential. Gopa-kumara is convinced in favor of Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Yesterday I listened to lectures of Srila Prabhupada, something I haven’t done in a long time. I listened to two lectures. It was wonderful hearing him speak, and I intend to keep up the practice. He lectured on the verse that everyone, where they are sarvakama, moksakama, or niskama should worship the Personality of Godhead. Hearing Srila Prabhupada’s voice is different from reading his books, and it’s a special treat. It’s very personal. It’s as if he’s present in the room. He gives examples and anecdotes not always found in his books and gives you the medium of hearing his sound vibration. It’s better than watching television.

My headaches are coming more frequently, and it’s a dilemma. I lose hours every day. It shapes my life to that of an invalid. But fortunately I have enough time to write my journal and chant good rounds. This seems to be the extent of the service I can do for now.

8:30 A.M.

“Oleo.” This is a jazz song composed by Sonny Rollins. I don’t know the meaning of “oleo.” It reminds you of the word ole!, shouted by Flemenco dancers or Mexican dancers, an ejaculation of enthusiasm. The Vaisnavas use the words, “Hari bol!” Prabhupada once said this was a shortcut to the Hare Krishna mantra. “Bol” means “chant” or “sing,” and Hari is the name of the Lord. So “Hari bol” means “chant the name of the Lord.” Miles Davis plays it upbeat on muted trumpet, and Coltrane plays the melody behind him. “Hari bol!” has got much more meaning than “oleo.” Let’s rename the tune. Call it, “Hari Bol!” Then you’ve got an offering to Krishna, wailing “Hari bol!” to the Lord. Coltrane really plays it nice, fast and hard, calling on the Lord. After improvisations, they go back to the head. Hari bol.

“It Could Happen to You.” A person could fall in love if he’s not careful. “Hide your heart from sight, lock your dreams at night, it could happen to you.” It happened to him. It happened to Radha and Krishna. They met each other, and it happened to Them. All they did was wonder what it would be like, and it happened to Them. All they did was wonder how it would be, and it happened to Them. “Keep an eye on spring, run when church bells ring, it could happen to you.” They were just an innocent cowherd boy and an innocent cowherd girl, but They fell in love at first sight. You could be walking down the street and see the sankirtana party chanting, and all of a sudden it could happen to you. You’d be chanting too. Or just walk into the storefront and see Swamiji speaking. Better be careful, or it could happen to you. You could become a disciple. If you’re not careful, you could be swept up into spiritual life. All it takes is a little piety and a little good luck and being at the right place at the right time. Just hear the mahamantra. It could happen to you.

“Woody’n You.” This is dedicated to Woody Herman. It’s written by Dizzy Gillespie. Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you take to spiritual life if you could? It’s the easiest thing. Wouldn’t you serve the spiritual master if you could? Wouldn’t you go back to Godhead if there really was such a place? A place of eternity, knowledge and bliss? You say you don’t believe there is, but if there really was such a place, wouldn’t you go there? Yes, you would. Wouldn’t you take a little prasadam? Wouldn’t you follow the Jagannatha cart down the street and see His big eyes? Wouldn’t you like to be happy, and not just for a few minutes or a few years? Wouldn’t you like to be eternally blessed? Wouldn’t you like to be embraced by the most handsome of all male personalities? Wouldn’t you like to serve Srimati Radharani? You don’t know about these things because you don’t know Krishna consciousness, but wouldn’t you like it if you could find out? Please come to a class and hear just one lecture. Just chant with us one time. Wouldn’t you like to be free of troubles? Wouldn’t you like to be free of birth and death and disease and old age? All that’s possible in bhakti yoga. Give it a chance. Wouldn’t you like to be free of hassles? Wouldn’t you like to go to the kingdom of God? Just try it. It’s very easy. All you have to do is chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Wouldn’t you give it a chance?

“Scrapple From the Apple.” This is a Charlie Parker tune. The apple is the Big Apple, New York City. That was Swamiji’s first place. He came to the Big Apple and opened a temple at 26 2nd Avenue. That’s still the place for Krishna consciousness. He said New York was very dear to him because he started there and they treated him well, the first bunch who came. I was one of them. I’m so happy to have been there. Swamiji was our father and our guide, our guru. We started in the Apple with ISKCON in July of 1966. Keith Jarrett’s playing it here on his piano. A simple jazz tune. Krishna consciousness was like that in ’66, a simple jazz tune. We came and joined. Swamiji was our master. We walked the streets of the Lower East Side with him and went to Tompkins Square Park and held our first kirtanas. Crowds gathered around us and looked on at the odd sight. Prabhupada played the one-headed drum in the Big Apple. Frank Sinatra sang that if you could make it in New York City, you could make it anywhere. And so Prabhupada made it in New York City, and then went on to San Francisco. But first, New York. It will always be first, New York. That’s the memory. Those were happy days. Swamiji had only twelve men and very little money. But he was strong and virile and happy, and he lectured three nights a week. Had a half-hour kirtana, which he led himself, and we sang the response. Sometimes we cried when we got high on the kirtana. He said it was all right. We didn’t know very much, but we knew that we loved him, and we took what he said as truth. He told us about Krishna and the Bhagavad-gita. I went with him once to Chambers Street in the Big Apple to see a lawyer, and we came back together on the bus. I pulled the buzzer one stop too early, and he said, “No, it’s the next stop.” He knew New York better than I did. Keith Jarrett is swinging it nicely, “The Scrapple of the Apple.” Taking it lightly and fast. His drummer, too. Jazzmen in New York City used to play riffs of Hare Krishna in that first year. All we had was a scrapple of the Apple, just a little movement. That was the beginning. It all started there. And then it grew. New York City was the first.

10:30 A.M.

My Dear Lord Krishna...

I write to You as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. You are standing on the altar, arms upraised, Your feet in a dancing position. To Your left stands Nityananda, Your eternal brother and comrade in arms in a sankirtana army of Navadvipa. You both rose simultaneously like the sun and moon in Gauda to spread the chanting of the mahamantra, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. You are thus the most magnanimous avataras to appear on earth. The distribution of the Hare Krishna mantra is the kindest act performed by God in this age of Kali, the age of quarrel and hypocrisy. The chanting of Hare Krishna frees sinful persons from the reactions to their sins and inspires them with love of God. It is very easy to perform and can be done without following any hard and fast rules.

So I thank You for coming for distributing the mahamantra and the philosophy of Krishna consciousness. The names of God are as good as God Himself. By chanting, one cleanses his heart of dust accumulated for many lifetimes. Lord Caitanya asked Nityananda Rama and Haridasa Thakura to go door to door and ask people to chant the mahamantra. This preaching order still stands, and thousands of followers of Lord Caitanya are working to spread the chanting of the mahamantra. In 1965, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada took the mahamantra out of India and formed a world religion through the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Prabhupada’s work made a quantum leap of Lord Caitanya’s mission. The mahamantra is a household word, and people continue to join in all the countries of the world.

I pray that I may take shelter in Lord Caitanya’s movement and contribute to its spreading. One can take shelter of Lord Caitanya by chanting the holy names. This can be done by private prayer (japa) and public, congregational singing (kirtana). The chanting must be done in a prayerful state of mind, with no personal motivation. I must chant as an act of service to You, Lord, calling Your names while asking to serve You. You have written eight prayers, called the Siksastakam, which contain the essential instructions on how to chant the names. In the third prayer, You state, “One should chant the holy names in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street. One should be more tolerant than a tree and ready to offer all respects to others without expecting respect for himself. In such a state of mind, one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.” This indicates the importance of humility in the behavior of a follower of Lord Caitanya. I should not think I am better than others just because I am chanting. Yet, while acting humbly, I should boldly act to spread the movement of chanting Hare Krishna. I pray that You give me this courage and balance.

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Our show at The Shala was an intimate gathering of about fifty people, but all fifty of them had a smile plastered on their faces throughout the entire show. When our enthusiastic friend and fan, Dennis, stood up and began dancing, his energy was infectious. Suddenly, everyone was dancing, and I thought for a minute that the floor was bending like the fabric on a trampoline.

Eventually, everyone sat down again (whew!) and Ananta lead a sweet, slow bhajan. It was so sweet, in fact, that it inspired Acyuta to dedicate her next song to her older brother, Ananta, who, she said, “taught me everything that I know about kirtan.”

Unfortunately due to a recorder malfunction we only have the last part of this amazing kirtan.

Listen to the entire Kirtan!

To listen, click on the links below then press play. To download, Right Click on the word “Download” and select “Save As…” from the menu. Having trouble downloading? Read our Help Section.

• 01 Ananta Govinda - Radhe Govinda (115)
• 02 Acyuta Gopi - Hare Krishna (87)

By Rita Gupta

Bhagavatananda says that assisting the dying is helping him “cash in on the blessings” he received from one of Srila Prabhupada’s departed disciples, Tribhuvanatha dasa.

Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu, the free e-magazine from ISKCON’s Gopaljiu Publications in Bubhaneshwar, India, has just entered its ninth year of circulation and sent its 200th issue to an ever-growing list of subscribers. A search for the magazine’s origins take us back to 1977. When ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada visited Bhubaneshwar for the last time, he instructed its spiritual leader, Gour Govinda Swami, to not only reach out to outsiders, but also to inspire and teach those who were already devotees.

Gaura Krishna das, TP ISKCON Aravade: Dear devotees, we here at ISKCON Aravade are happy to write you with a small report on what has happened here since the grand opening in February 2009

ISKCON devotees in India are continuing to help clean and restore the adjacent sacred lakes Radha-Kunda and Shyama Kunda, assisting a project that began in early May. The project is part of an ongoing effort by locals and the Indian Government to maintain Braja, the holy land in India where Lord Krishna was born, and is the first time Radha and Shyama Kundas have been cleaned since 1987.

YPT, a recent youth outreach training course at ISKCON Pune, India proved a grand success, with 68 senior devotees taking Level 1 from April 19th to 22nd, and 58 taking Level 2 from April 23rd to 26th. The courses taught self-purification and practical youth outreach strategies, emphasizing the importance of balancing service and spiritual practices to achieve enduring success.

Shyama Priya Dasi, the driving force behind ISKCON’s Prison Ministry, passed away on April 16, 2009 in Gainesville, Florida, after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. As her son, daughters, daughter-in-law, and many loving devotee friends sat close by her bed and chanted the names of God, they reflected on her exemplary life.

HYDERABAD: The human mind is not fully prepared to embrace modernity and technological advancements associated with it, claimed Sahadeva Dasa, the president of Iskcon (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) in Hyderabad on Monday. Discussing the growing instances of student suicides, depression among professionals and martial discord, Dasa claimed that increased loneliness, coupled with overshooting personal goals and use of intoxicants are some of the prime reasons behind urban psychological and lifestyle related diseases.

So...I am no longer prostituting out my cooking. The store link has been removed from the sidebar. These days, I only do it for love! With nothing to sell, no jars of jam up my apron sleeves or any interest in being perceived as mildly amusing (well....I am an eighth English) I blog before you this proposition: should I shutter up the Sabjimata blog, letting it accumulate cyber cob-webs like my previous tell all endeavors? Or should I just blog on through this, opening up the web pages of Sabjimata to whatever I feast or fancy?