Ravinarayan from Shimoga, Karnataka, India, has again written with an enquiry:

"Is vegetarianism an important aspect in all religion? Can you give importance of it with reference to different religion?"

My reply:

"This is a very large topic, almost beyond the realm of this letter. In a nutshell: yes."

Prof. Gene Sager of Palomar College writes: "Vegetarianism has been a common thread among the major world religions, even if only a minority have adopted the diet as an expression of their faith. For many people of faith, vegetarianism reflects the Golden Rule:

Christianity – “So, whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them” (Matthew 7:12);

Judaism – “Do not do unto others what you would not wish to be done to yourself – that is the entire Torah, the rest is commentary” (Babylonian Talmud);

Islam – “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself”;

Baha’i Faith – “Blessed is he that preferreth his brother to himself”;

Taoism – “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss”;

Hinduism – “This is the sum of duty: do naught to others that which if done to thee would cause pain”;

Jainism – “A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated”;

Buddhism – “Hurt not others with that which pains yourself.” "

One of my favourite authors, Steven Rosen (Satyaraja Dasa) has written two very useful books in this connection: Diet for Transcendence:Vegetarianism and the World Religions” & "Holy Cow:The Hare Krishna Contribution to Vegetarianism and Animal Rights”.

For an overview of this entire topic, in more detail, click here.

And finally, here's a list of some representative books:

Keith Akers: “The Lost Religion of Jesus” Rynn Berry: “Food for the Gods:Vegetarianism & the World's Religions” Philip Kapleau: “To Cherish All Life” Stephen R. Kaufman and Nathan Braun: “Good News for All Creation” Andrew Linzey: “Animal Gospel” Al-Hafiz B.A. Masri: “Animals in Islam” Vasu Murti: “They Shall Not Hurt or Destroy” Norm Phelps: “The Great Compassion: Buddhism and Animal Rights” Lewis G. Regenstein: “Replenish the Earth” Steven Rosen: “Diet for Transcendence:Vegetarianism and the World Religions” Steven Rosen: “Holy Cow:The Hare Krishna Contribution to Vegetarianism and Animal Rights” Richard H. Schwartz: “Judaism and Vegetarianism” David Sears:” A Vision of Eden: Animal Rights and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism” Michael Tobias: “Life Force:The World of Jainism” Paul Waldau: “The Specter of Speciesism: Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals” Kerry Walters and Lisa Portmess (eds): “Religious Vegetarianism: From Hesiod to the Dalai Lama”

Yesterday I presided over a cookery course at Govinda's in Darlinghurst, one of the very best places in Sydney to enjoy delicious vegetarian food and lots of cultural events like yoga and kirtan.

If you're kicking yourself for missing out on this fun-filled cookery event, fear not. There's more Govinda's classes coming up. June is booked out, but there's still a few vacancies left for the August course. Hurry, book now...

(Ed. note: read Hari Bhakta’s (her husband) blog update here)

by Gokulataruni dd

Two days ago I woke up to a phone call telling me that Gopi Lila passed away. Though I knew that this was coming it still came as a surprise. She was someone that was dearly loved by the devotees in our community, and will be greatly missed.

Gopi Lila joined at the rainbow gathering in the early 90’s and spent well over a decade living in the New Vrindavan and Columbus temples. Her son, Gopala Bhatta, was born in the little green house next to Tapah Punja’s garden. For a while she lived with her husband and baby on the third floor of the temple building. I remember her walking around, gathering herbs with little Gopal toddling behind her. Her son had long hair at the time and she wrapped it into a top knot and put kajjal on him so that he would look like baby Krishna. Seeing them brightened everyone’s day.

The thing I remember about her the most is what an amazing mother and wife she was. When I was pregnant I spent a lot of time talking to her and getting tips on childbirth and caring for a baby. She was into a very natural way of life and had given birth to both of her children in houses, without the use of modern medicine. I enjoyed hearing her stories and I learned a lot from her about what it meant to be a mom.

She also helped me out quite a bit financially during that time. She passed on a ton of maternity clothes, nursing shirts and baby things that kept me going for quite awhile. My son is close in age to her daughter and whenever they would visit (since she lived in Columbus at that time) the two played together.

The last time I saw Gopi was right before she moved to China. Her husband, Hari Bhakta, had been hired to teach English as a second language over there. I remember thinking how brave she was to move with two little kids to a country where she had never visited and didn’t know the language. We sat around joking about some of the problems she would likely encounter. Though she had a few hesitancies, her adventurous spirit eventually took over and she moved overseas.

While she was in China we kept in touch and she wrote about the things she struggled with there, sometime amused by it, sometimes frustrated. After that she went to India to spend time with Hari Bhakta’s family. While she was there she started to write about different health problems and infections that she was getting.  She was soon diagnosed as having the advanced stages of cervical cancer.

After that her health rapidly declined. I was amazed though by how well her and her husband were handling it. I’m sure that they had their weak moments and breakdowns, but every time I spoke with them they were amazingly detached from the situation. Both of them seemed very clear and focused on the fact that she had spent all of her years as a devotee preparing for this. They both accepted that it was time for her to move on.

I spoke with her a few days before she passed away and I couldn’t believe how much things had changed since the last time we had spoken. She was on too much morphine to have a conversation and was moaning from the pain.

Though I will miss her I am glad that her passing was relatively quick and that she is no longer suffering. Her husband stayed home with her the last few months and did everything possible to take care of her and make her comfortable during her last days. The devotees from Boston also spent a lot of time with her and were there with her when she passed away. My sympathies go out to her family that has been left behind.

In the last few days those of us who are having some sense of REAL ISSUES of the world, might pick up the reports about the increasing stress of lack of food worlwide and it is leading to increased stress and even "food riots" in different areas in the world.

C Santhanam Gopalakrishnan from India wrote me a few days ago:

"...you people are doing a great job by advocating vegetarianism. May your tribe increase."

Santhanam attached to his letter a truly horrifying video. In an unnamed Asian restaurant kitchen, a smiling chef takes a very large live fish from a tank, and scales it while the fish is still living. The fish is threshing wildly as his skin is being flayed, and slips off the bench a couple of times in his writhing agony.

The chef, while holding the fish firmly by the tail, then quickly dips the whole struggling fish in batter and lowers him face first into smoking hot oil. After only a few seconds in the oil, (so he does not die yet) the fish is lifted, still grasped firmly by the tail, and placed on a plate of vegetables, quickly slit down it's backbone with a sharp knife, and rushed to the table of hungry, smilingly expectant diners.

The camera pans in for a closer view: The fish's lips are clearly opening and closing. He is still alive. 'This is what the diner's came here for', gushes the CBS reporter. It's the restaurant's specialty: The freshest fish.

Later I turned to the concluding moments of The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on a delayed broadcast from PBS Network in USA and observed their nightly ritual: the latest list of US servicemen killed in Iraq, with their photos and rank scrolling down the screen in respectful silence. A dozen more slaughtered young men and women, many younger than some of my children.

Again I am reminded of the inexorable connection between violence to our non-human brothers, and war. It ceases to amaze me how so many people just do not see (as my mother used to say) 'the bleedin' obvious'.

A few, like famous vegetarian playright George Bernard Shaw, did see it. Here is his poem "Living Graves" which is as relevant today as it was in 1951.

We are the living graves of murdered beasts, Slaughtered to satisfy our appetites. We never pause to wonder at our feasts, If animals, like men, can possibly have rights. We pray on Sundays that we may have light, To guide our footsteps on the path we tread. We're sick of war, we do not want to fight - The thought of it now fills our hearts with dread, And yet - we gorge ourselves upon the dead.

Like carrion crows, we live and feed on meat, Regardless of the suffering and pain We cause by doing so, if thus we treat Defenceless animals for sport or gain, How can we hope in this world to attain The PEACE we say we are so anxious for. We pray for it, o'er hecatombs of slain, To God, while outraging the moral law Thus cruelty begets its offspring - WAR.

Sarah Beauvent from Winston, Salem USA asks:

"I would like to bake the Ekadasi cake and I need potato flour. Is it the same as potato starch? Thank you for your prompt reply!"

My reply:

S from Sydney writes:

"Can you please give me some recipes using butternut pumpkin. I have never used this pumpkin before."

My reply:

Use it like any other pumpkin. Go to my blog home page. See the search box, top right? Key in the word 'pumpkin'. Quite a few recipe ideas there. (note: It is known as butternut squash in the US.)

Anup writes:

"Haribol! I was just wondering what possible snacks or dishes I could make out of buckwheat flour since I am partially gluten intolerant."

I reply:

"Pakoras with buckwheat flour batter 60% and arrowroot flour 40% plus salt spices and baking soda are delicious for grain-free ekadasi days.

Buckwheat poories or chapatis with mashed potato as the moistener are very tasty. They take a little care to make since the dough does not contain any bread-rolling-friendly gluten.

You can buy buckwheat pasta also. Finally, buckwheat pancakes, savouries or sweet are hearty!"

Elizabeth from UK enquires:

"Do you have recipes for home-made soya milk or tofu, my sister-in-law is from China and would love to make these but is not 100% sure how to go about it."

My reply:

I don't have exact recipes at my fingertips, no, sorry. It is rather straightforward though.

Soak whole dried soybeans in fresh water overnight, in a cool place.

Crush the whole mix, water and beans until completely processed (a food processor could work).

Boil the mixture.

Strain and squeeze out the liguid - this is the soy milk.

Add a coagulant - nigari (magnesium chloride) is used in Japan for this. Or you could use gypsum (calcium sulphate). The mix will curdle.

Strain the bean curds. Press. Cut.

Detailed description of tofu-making: Here.

Sunitha from South Africa wrote, asking for stuffings for flat Middle Eastern-style pita breads.

I sent these recipes:

Chickpea Dip (Hoummos)

1¼ cups cooked chickpeas ½ cup tahini 2 tablespoons lemon juice ¼ teaspoon yellow asafetida powder little water if needed 1 tablespoon olive oil for garnish ¼ teaspoon paprika for garnish 1 teaspoon chopped parsley for garnish

Combine in food processor.

.....................................

Moroccan Broad Bean Puree

500g (1 pound) frozen broad beans, or 1kg (2 pounds) fresh broad beans, weighed before removing from their long pods and steamed till soft 1½ tablespoons lemon juice ½ teaspoon yellow asafetida powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 small green chili, seeded and chopped 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil olives and salad greens to serve (optional)

Combine in food processor. Olives and greens served separately.

.....................................

Cumin-flavoured Cheesy Stuffing

1 teaspoon cumin seeds, dry roasted in a pan until aromatic 50g (1½ ounces) baby spinach leaves 60g (2 ounces) Gruyere or other Swiss cheese, shredded 30g Parmesan cheese, shredded 60g (2 ounces) feta cheese, crumbled or chopped finely Freshly ground black pepper

Combine. Spread on open pita bread and place under the griller.

.....................................

Herbed Gorgonzola Spread

125g (4 ounces) cream cheese 60g (2 ounces) gorgonzola dolcelatte, or blue cheese of your choice little milk or cream chopped chervil leaves, and additional sprigs for garnish, or any fresh herb freshly ground black pepper 2 ripe pears, thinly sliced

Toast the open pita bread, layer with ripe pears and the cheese spread.

Our May 2008 Care for Cows Newsletter has been posted. Please review it at your earliest convenience.

On Tuesday April 22nd the kids took a vote on what vegetables they would like to plant in their garden. The following six vegetables were the winners:tomatoes, beans, basil, cilantro, swiss chard and spinach.

After voting. the lkds, led by Bindu and Lalita Gopi, walked up to the garden of Seven Gates to pull out the remaining kale stalks from the ground. Using big and small shovels the kids loosened the dirt around the stalks and were finally able to pull them out of the ground. The last step was to knock the dirt off the roots.

On the walk back the kids noticed the footprints of deer, raccoons and small birds in the mud along the path.

On Friday April 25th the kids planted some of the seeds for the vegetables they selected. Tapa-Punja prabhu showed the kids how to plant the seeds and they all took turns planting spinach, cilantro and swiss chard. It was a hot day and the kids enjoyed getting sprinkled with the hose. Vishaka said that getting sprayed with the hose was her favorite part of the day.

"My query is regarding the use of cooked food for long time or till what time the cooked food maintains its nutrition and it is satvic?"

My reply:

"It depends completely on the type of food. Soups, dals and rice, vegetable dishes and salads and generally most fresh cooked foods that are served hot would only be satvic for a brief few hours before they start to deteriorate. Reheating these foods is tamasic.

Other things like pickles and chutneys and jams and syrups and other things like long-life sweets and breads would be in a different category.

Foods that have been sanctified, called prasadam have a special effect on the human organism; sometimes even old prasadam is appreciated and relished. The ability to do this depends on one's level of spiritual development.

But for optimum daily health, fresh is best. In many ancient traditional cultures such as India and China etc, the ladies shop 2 or 3 times a day and buy fresh, cook, and do not keep anything leftover in the fridge or freezer; these are all nasty tamasic habits.

According to our lifestyle though, we may not be able to fully apply this at all times. But the bottom line is this: Refrigerators, despite their great convenience and ability to counter growth of pathogens, are indirectly the cause of many modern diseases; we have grown lazy and eat many, many unfresh, pre-cooked items - all rather hard on the digestion, according to Ayurveda. And compromised digestion is 'the mother of all disease'. Hope this helps."

Apparently it originated in old England when people thought that witches existed. Well, they do, of course, but that's the topic for another blog, another day.

Anyway, people thought that salt would make a witch weak, so the 'pinch' part of the saying refers to pinching of the salt, and the 'punch' part was to banish the witch. The witch would be weak from the salt so the punch was to banish her. Then - no more witch.

The 'no returns' part is a disclaimer to avoid getting pinched and punched back when you start pummeling all your friends. So here's to a witch-free month, ok.

But I digress from the original plan for today's posting. See those interesting items below? They're nothing to do with witches, but rather they are part of an ongoing cyber discussion spawned from an old essay of mine published on my website.

Left-to-right, there's: slivered raw almonds, rock sugar, cassia leaf (Indian 'bay leaf') green cardamom pods, golden raisins, pure edible camphor crystals, milk, and rice.

How did all this come up?

I embarked on that most contemporary of self-indulgent acts this morning: I googled 'Kurma Dasa', and found 63,700 links to choose from.

After a bit of a cyber-stroll, up popped this very interesting website.

A number of you have written expressing disappointment at the paucity of posts, and wanting the old Kurma back; you know, the chatty, talkative Kurma that publishes a blog daily.

Well, let me tell you, this is the driest month ever since I first started blogging almost 3 years ago.

It's been over three months since I arrived in Sydney and I have been very busy looking after my father: A great deal of medical stuff, seeing lots of specialists. Plus cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, and shopping.

I've recommenced baking bread; the sourdough culture has awoken from it's sleep in the freezer and is slowly on the road to full recovery.

The end of stoned fruit season has seen me stewing fruits of all varieties - my Dad enjoys old Anglo-Saxon fare. In the fridge at present: a big jar of cardamom and lemon-scented crimson quinces, cassia-laced stewed apples, and whole poached baby late-season plums.

Also on the menu: sago puddings, fresh juices every morning (pomegranate, mandarin, pineapple, etc) plus a variety of biscuits (Anzacs and Orange Shortbreads are the latest in the cookie jar).

My real favourite is jam-making. There's a big jar of strawberry conserve in the pantry. And the cold wet snap here in Sydney has reminded me to start planting herbs; coriander, mint, marjoram, fenugreek and mustard are all doing well.

My Dad is a great fan of soups, so I have 3 or four varieties in the freezer at any one time, in single serve portions. At present there's homemade tomato, cream of corn, and minestrone; Oh and also a whole variety of cooked beans ready to thaw and use - Great Northern, Puy Lentils, Cannelini and Borlotti beans, and Chickpeas. There's even some homemade baked beans (the world's most efficient cough cure.)

So yes, I have been a busy boy.

Plus.... I have been inspired to begin four new writing projects. That's right, four. They are all going well, especially one which has been on the back burner for 20 years.

Ancient wisdom dictates that a gentleman does not disclose his plans lest they be spoiled, so I will not reveal what these writing projects are. When it's time to share the details, you'll be the first to know. Yes you. Suffice to say they are exciting projects. That's all I can tell you for now.

Anyway, here I am, chatting away like the old days. I've also been fortunate over the last 10 days or so to be able to catch up with 3 sets of old friends; I went and spent an evening with my old comrade Madhudvisa (pictured, below) last week at a special kirtan, discourse and dinner evening at the home of Rupa and Krishna Rupa in Merrylands. It was lots of fun.

Bhagavat and his good wife Sarva dropped in for an Epicurian Breakfast on their way from Brisbane to country NSW. That's him in the picture below taken in the Melbourne Hare Krishna Temple Kitchen last year.

Don't have a picture of Sarva. And I visited Govinda's Kirtan night with my down-to-earth buddy Parama, sung my heart out and then went upstairs for the famous all-you-can-eat buffet. So no shortage of friendly adventures.

So there we have it. I can't promise a complete revival of the 'blog-a-day' Kurma, but I'll give it my best shot.

Must go, it's time to cook dinner.

There's still vacancies, so hurry to book.

As well as enjoying a cookery class and feast or two, you'll have the opportunity to stay the weekend and enjoy exquisite 5-star B&B facilities.

And also, you'll get to meet your host Peter who is a Kurma twin. Pretty scary. People mistake him for me wherever he goes. So you'll get two Kurma's for the price of one.

And you can chill out in their wonderful garden.

Here's some details. Hope to see you at a class or two.

The Retreat at Froog-Moore Park Tamworth's most sumptuous Bed and Breakfast www.froogmoorepark.com.au Weekend Cookery Workshops Saturday, Sunday 17, 18 May 2008 Bookings and enquiries, phone Sandy 02 6766 3353