namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

What’s in a printing press?
Do we as devotees understand the importance of printing books?
More importantly do we understand our own personal responsibility in this printing and distributing of books?
I was online listening to a class from Soho Street the devotee was talking about the mood of book distribution and that although the targets set were [...]

“When one is freed from all material contamination, his firm faith in devotional service awakens. When firm faith develops, a taste arises, and by that taste one becomes attached to devotional service. When this attachment intensifies, the seed of love of Krsna fructifies. This position is called priti or rati (affection) or bhava (emotion). When rati intensifies, it is called love of Godhead. This love of Godhead is actually life’s highest perfection and the reservoir of all pleasure.”

Chaitanya Caritamrta Madhya 23.13

“Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity, and love.”

Merton, Thomas, New Seeds of Contemplation. New York: New Directions, 1961, p. 14.

Filed under: Thomas Merton

What’s in a dress?
Several weeks ago I was listening to a class from Soho Street and the devotee talked very briefly on the fact he has a couple of inch’s on his dhoti, were as bramacarya life doesn’t even offer you that amount of expression.
My mind had not contemplated that I had a small couple [...]

In my opinion, the last word, the final word and therefore the most important word, in the Bhagavad-Gita is “morality”.  We can abandon all varieties of religion, but morality is essential.

“Wherever there is Krsna, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality. That is my opinion.”

Bhagavad-Gita 18.78

When a new crop of future business leaders graduates from the Harvard Business School next week, many of them will be taking a new oath that says, in effect, greed is not good.

Nearly 20 percent of the graduating class have signed “The M.B.A. Oath,” a voluntary student-led pledge that the goal of a business manager is to “serve the greater good.” It promises that Harvard M.B.A.’s will act responsibly, ethically and refrain from advancing their “own narrow ambitions” at the expense of others.

What happened to making money?

That, of course, is still at the heart of the Harvard curriculum. But at Harvard and other top business schools, there has been an explosion of interest in ethics courses and in student activities — clubs, lectures, conferences — about personal and corporate responsibility and on how to view business as more than a money-making enterprise, but part of a large social community.

“We want to stand up and recite something out loud with our class,” said Teal Carlock, who is graduating from Harvard and has accepted a job at Genentech. “Fingers are now pointed at M.B.A.’s and we, as a class, have a real opportunity to come together and set a standard as business leaders.”

At Columbia Business School, all students must pledge to an honor code: “As a lifelong member of the Columbia Business School community, I adhere to the principles of truth, integrity, and respect. I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.” The code has been in place for about three years and came about after discussions between students and faculty.

In the post-Enron and post-Madoff era, the issue of ethics and corporate social responsibility has taken on greater urgency among students about to graduate. While this might easily be dismissed as a passing fancy — or simply a defensive reaction to the current business environment — business school professors say that is not the case. Rather, they say, they are seeing a generational shift away from viewing an M.B.A. as simply an on-ramp to the road to riches.

Those graduating today, they say, are far more concerned about how corporations affect the community, the lives of its workers and the environment. And business schools are responding with more courses, new centers specializing in business ethics and, in the case of Harvard, student-lead efforts to bring about a professional code of conduct for M.B.A.’s, not unlike oaths that are taken by lawyers and doctors.

“I don’t see this as something that will fade away,” said Diana C. Robertson, a professor of business ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s coming from the students. I don’t know that we’ve seen such a surge in this activism since the 1960s. This activism is different, but, like that time, it is student-driven.”

A decade ago, Wharton had one or two professors who taught a required ethics class. Today there are seven teaching an array of ethics classes that Ms. Robertson said were among the most popular at the school. Since 1997, it has had the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research. In addition, over the last five years, students have formed clubs around the issues of ethics that sponsor conferences, work on microfinance projects in Philadelphia or engage in social impact consulting.

“It’s been a dramatic change,” Ms. Robertson added. “This generation was raised learning about the environment and raised with the idea of a social conscience. That does not apply to every student. But this year’s financial crisis and the downturn have brought about a greater emphasis on social ethics and responsibility.”

At Harvard, about 160 from a graduating class of about 800 have signed “The M.B.A. Oath,” which its student advocates contend is the first step in trying to develop a professional code not unlike the Hippocratic Oath for physicians or the pledge taken by lawyers to uphold the law and Constitution.

Part of this has emerged by the beating that Wall Street and financiers have taken in the current economic crisis, which can set the stage for reform, Harvard students say.

“There is the feeling that we want our lives to mean something more and to run organizations for the greater good,” said Max Anderson, one of the pledge’s organizers who is about to leave Harvard and take a job at Bridgewater Associates, a money management firm.

“No one wants to have their future criticized as a place filled with unethical behaviors,” he added. “We want to learn from those mistakes, do things differently and accept our duty to lead responsibly. Realistically, we have tremendous potential to affect society for better or worse. Let’s humbly step up. We are looking out for our own interest, but also for the interest of our employees and the broader public.”

Bruce Kogut, director of the Sanford C. Bernstein & Company Center for Leadership and Ethics at Columbia, said that this emphasis did not mean that students were necessarily going to shun jobs that paid well. Rather, they will think about how they earn their income, not just how much.

At Columbia, an ethics course is required, but students have also formed a popular “Leadership and Ethics Board,” that sponsors lectures with topics like “The Marie Antoinettes of Corporate America.”

“The courses make people aware that the financial crisis is not a technical blip,” Mr. Kogut said. “We’re seeing a generational change that understands that poverty is not just about Africa and India. They see inequities and the role of business to address them.”

Dalia Rahman, who is about to leave Harvard for a job with Goldman Sachs in London, said she signed the pledge because “it takes what we learned in class and makes it more concrete. When you have to make a public vow, it’s a way to commit to uphold principles.”

Filed under: News, Ramblings or Whatever

Someone wrote to me a couple of times about Pandu's recent posts on Planet ISKCON, typecasting them as "ritvik stuff". Here is my reply to them:

"You know the truth of religion, and you are speaking according to the principle that the destination intended for the perpetrator of irreligious acts is also intended for one who identifies the perpetrator."

- Srimad Bhagavatam 1.7.22

It is a mistake to identify with any -ism. When someone has personal difficulties in their relationships with other persons or with an organisation, sometimes they may take shelter of a pre-packaged philosophical position. All -isms are fossilized thought. Although they may identify with that, we do not help them by identifying with it ourselves.

How many times have you been on sankirtan and you start to describe something, and a Christian says: "Oh, I know what that is, it's 'idol worship'", or some other stereotypical conception.

It would be a mistake for him to identify with an -ism such as ritvikism, and it would be a mistake for others to draw up battlelines by saying: "Oh, I know what this is - this is that", and casting Pandu in that role.

Pandu is having difficulty integrating his personal experience, his expectations, and his understanding of the ideals of the organisation.

If someone wants to address this situation, then my suggestion is that the "anti-ritvikism" people, whoever they may be, need to start by explaining exactly what happened with H.H. Bhakti Tirtha Swami's disappearance, the participation of H.G. Vakresvara Pandit, and the Child Protection Office ruling against him.

Instead of giving a public, reasoned explanation of that, "the organisation" responded to Pandu by using coercive methods. Everything has followed from there.

Call me a heretic, but I think that the issues around H.H. Bhakti Tirtha's disappearance pastimes and the participation of HG Vakresvara Pandit should by explained. I have not seen an explanation. What is the difficulty? Where is the brahminical response?

What are you advocating to me now? That I should also respond to Pandu with censorship, threats, ostracism? I think that someone should step into the obvious leadership vacuum around this issue and explore the issues around what happened at Gita Nagari, and the way it was handled.

Along with Pandu, I also think that an explanation is due. However, I'm not going to take shelter of any -ism as a result, and I'm not sure if that is what he is doing. But he has to maintain his integrity somehow in the face of the reaction to his requests for explanation...

Lock step conformity with the prevailing organisational mindset leads to Nazi Germany and 80's ISKCON. Sorry, but Planet ISKCON is not a propaganda piece - it's about real people having a real experience of Krishna Consciousness.

"Why give an explanation when you can use organizational pressure and name-calling to silence people" is an extremely dangerous position to adopt. If someone blows a whistle and there really is nothing to see, then just explain the situation transparently. When the response appears to be a massive shutdown of all dialog, it creates the impression that actually there is something wrong.

And Pandu, just be careful about how you present things, because "ritvik" is the new "commie", and the issue risks transforming away from what happened at Gita Nagari to how you are becoming a public exponent of a particular organizational ideology.

CALCUTTA’s Telegraph has got hold of an answer paper of a candidate at the recent UPSC examinations. The candidate has written an essay on the Indian cow:

“The cow is a successful animal. Also he is quadrupud, and because he is female, he give milk,but will do so when he is got child.He is same like God,sacred to Hindus and useful to man.But he has got four legs together. Two are forward and two are afterwards.

“His whole body can be utilised for use. More so the milk. What can it do? Various ghee, butter,cream, curd, why and the condensed milk and so forth. Also he is useful to cobbler, watermans and mankind generally.

“His motion is slow only because he is of asitudinious species. Also his other motion is much useful to trees, plants as well as making flat cakes in hand and drying in the sun. Cow is the only animal that extricates his feeding after eating. Then afterwards she chew with his teeth whom are situated in the inside of the mouth. He is incessantly in the meadows in the grass.

“His only attacking and defending organ is the horn, specially so when he is got child. This is done by knowing his head whereby he causes the weapons to be paralleled to the ground of the earth and instantly proceed with great velocity forwards.

“He has got tails also, but not like similar animals. It has hairs on the other end of the other side. This is done to frighten away the flies which alight on his cohoa body whereupon he gives hit with it.

The palms of his feet are soft unto the touch. So the grasses head is not crushed. At night time have poses by looking down on the ground and he shouts his eyes like his relatives, the horse does not do so.

“This is the cow.”

P.S.: We are informed that the candidate passed the exam.

Filed under: Cows and Environment, Jokes

I want to thank Tapapunja prabhu for organizing a stellar event for the visiting students (both college and high school) and some of their teachers. The day here included four break out sessions (lead by Jamuna dd, Jayasri dd, Rupanuga and Tapapunga), tours of the Palace by Bhakta Tom, a performance by Devananda and myself, and topped off with a fantastic feast.

The visitors came from all over the country as part of The Ignatian Solidarity Network’s spring Teach-In. The three day Teach-In was hosted by Wheeling Jesuit University with the focus on environmental justice and sustainability. (Hummm, maybe we could start hosting stuff like this.) Tapapunja was one of the speakers there and he inspired 55 students and teachers to make the drive up to New Vrindaban this last Sunday.

After the feast, I met with visitors in the lobby and gave them this inquiry: “Please offer a brief reflection of your visit. How were the presentations, the food, and the overall schedule of the day? Your comments will help us improve our presentations. Thanks.” Some told me they really appreciated their time here, while others gave the written responses below. Some suggested room for improvement. Overall, the devotees’ concerted effort made a lasting impression on the group. Kudos to all involved.

The preaching events and festivals are certainly the life of New Vrindaban. There will be at least two other student groups coming in April and one in May.

***

The music session was wonderful and I learned so much. The talk on food was interesting as well. I loved the tour of the Palace. It was beautiful. The food was delicious and all the people were so kind and informative. The only ‘complaint’ I have is that the group sessions weren’t organized well. Groups should have been informed when to switch.

***

The schedule of the day worked out really well. My friends and I loved the tour of the Palace (very informative). The food was excellent.

***

I thought it was very interesting to learn about the Indian culture and different religions. I had a lot of fun. Thank you.

***

I thought the tour of the Palace was very neat. For the short amount of time we had, it was cool to still be able to learn about the spiritual cooking, the music and the Palace. The food was excellent. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for your hospitality.

***

Wow! I had no idea what to expect when we signed up to come out. It was far and away an amazing experience. Everyone was so welcoming. The tours, presentations and food were all great.

***

It was educational. I learned a lot, and the atmosphere and all the music had a very tangible energy.

***

We were lost in one room for three sessions, but I loved the place and the people. Namaste.

***

Peaceful. Prayerful. Inspirational!

***

This was a wonderful experience. As a fellow resident of WV I feel empowered by knowing we share the beauty and spirituality of this wonderful land.

***

I came here unaware of the scale in which the Hare Krishna foundation was established in the area. It was truly a highly enjoyable day.

***

It is something wonderful to witness when a stranger opens his home to us - this is God welcoming us. To hear unfamiliar sounds crafted into music – this is God speaking to us. To taste unimaginable spices from the work of many hands – this is God sharing with us. Hare Krishna – many thanks.

My witch hazel has finally bloomed. Some years it blooms as early as January but before this year it has always bloomed in February. It needs several sunny days above freezing and we never had that this year in February even though that is normal. It is always exciting to look forward to its blooming because it marks the beginning of a new horticultural year, and most years it is a spirit lifter in the dead of winter. Fragrant too.

The other thing that didn’t happen in February was any tree pruning. In the past, energy permitting, I have gone out in February and done fruit tree pruning but with all the snow, that would have been difficult this year, and my macho younger self that may have bulled through it anyway is but a distant memory.

It is still time in March to prune but best to get it done before trees break dormancy and we are now having a string of well above average temperature days where you can almost see the snow melting in front of your eyes and if this continues it will be a narrow window to prune in.

This is complicated by my physical limitations where I only have a little energy and don’t really accomplish all that much in a given day. There is practically unlimited trees to prune around NV given that restriction. If anyone is interested in doing some pruning let me know and we can go out and do some.

I have also made commitments to individuals to help them, besides the trees I have myself. Once April arrives so will a lot of trees, berries, and fragrant perennials so even if the weather turns cold again, I won’t have time for pruning.

I have some odd jobs to do around the garden to make life simpler when the season hits, so I have been getting out in the good weather and getting some stuff done.

Today I am going to strip some old rotting mesh wire off a still good frame that is no longer useful in its current condition. It is like a low table we have put plants on while waiting to transplant them, something I recycled from I can’t remember where. Unfortunately it has about a zillion staples on it so it will take some time, but once the wire is removed I am going to reinforce the frame and use it as a portable cold frame, just throwing some plastic, old windows or floating row cover over it to bring some greens on early and then as a season extender in the fall.

I also have received some 2 oz. and some .55 oz floating row cover I can use for the same purpose without a frame but cold frames are nice.

One thing about having a garden is there is always something to do.

“Prabhupada: And the bulls are being killed. Why they should be killed? Engage them in tilling the field. They will have occupation. And the man also will have occupation. There is immense land. So there will be no question of unemployment. And the machine, it works hundreds of men’s labor and hundreds of men become unemployed. So unemployed means devil’s workshop.”

Room Conversation with Scientists — July 2, 1974, Melbourne

Filed under: Cows and Environment

From an email:

INFORMATION EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW………………………
Blood Clots/Stroke – They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue

I will continue to forward this every time it comes around!

STROKE:Remember the 1st Three Letters…..S.T.R.

My nurse friend sent this and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree.

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously.

Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall – she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) .she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening

Ingrid’s husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital – (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today.. Some don’t die they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this…

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke…totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the ‘3′ steps, STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. It is sunny out today.)
R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke ——– Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another ’sign’ of a stroke is this: Ask the person to ’stick’ out his tongue… If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

I have done my part. Will you?

Filed under: Health

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

I see him moving, in his legendary fleece,
Between the superhighway and an Algonquin stone axe;
Between the wild tribes, in their lost heat,
And the dark blizzard of my Grandfather’s coat;
Cold with the outdoor cold caught in the curls,
Smelling of the world before the poll tax.

And between the new macadam and the Scalp Act
They got him by the short hair; had him clipped
Who once was wild—and all five senses wild—
Printing the wild with his hoof’s inflated script
Before the times was money in the bank,
Before it was a crime to be so mild.

But history is a fact, and moves on feet
Sharper than his, toward wallows deeper than.
And the myth that covered all his moving parts,
Grandfather’s time had turned into a coat;
And what kept warm then, in the true world’s cold
Is old and cold in a world his death began.

Filed under: Poetry

Madhava in Sydney.

Friday April 2, 8:00 pm
Body Mind Life Yoga
55 Foveaux St
Surrey Hills

More details and tickets for the concert at www.bodymindlife.com.au.

More details of the tour at www.kirtanaustralia.com.

Once upon a time there was a little red hen who lived in a big farm-yard.
She had three fluffy yellow chicks.
One morning as they were busily scratching about the yard, looking for something to eat, the little red hen found a grain of wheat.

“Look!” she said.
“See what I have found. Who will help me to plant this grain of wheat?”

“Not I,” said the duck. “I must go down to the pond for a swim.”
“Not I,” said the cat. “I have some visitors coming in a few minutes.”

“Very well, I will then”, said the little red hen, and she did.

After a while some weeds appeared among the stalks of wheat.
One day the little red hen asked:
“Who will help me to weed this wheat?”

“Not I,” said the duck. “That sort of work doesn’t agree with me.”
“Not I”, said the cat. “I would not be able to tell the weeds from the wheat”.

“Very well, I will then”, said the little red hen, and she did.

After a while the wheat began to ripen:
“What fine wheat we have,” said the cat and the duck.
“Yes, indeed, it is time to reap the wheat,” said the little red hen. “Who will help me to reap this wheat?”

“Not I”, said the cat.
“Not I”, said the duck.

“Very well, then I will”, said the little red hen.

She cut the heads off the grain very carefully and put them in a bag.

Then she called to the cat and the duck and she asked, “Now, who will take this wheat to the mill to be ground into flour?”
“Not I”, said the duck.
“Not I”, said the cat.

“Very well, then”, said the little red hen, “I will take it myself”.

So the little red hen trudged off to the mill, and in a few hours she was back with a sack of fine flour.

“Now, who is going to make this flour into bread?” asked the little red hen.

“Not I”, said the duck.
“Not I”, said the cat.

“I will, then,” said the little red hen, and she did.

Soon the loaf was ready for the oven.

“Now, who is going to bake this bread?” asked the little red hen.

“Not I”, said the cat.
“Not I”, said the duck.

“Very well, then”, said the little red hen. “I will do it”.

So the loaf of bread was baked and it was baked, and it was beautiful, golden and crusty. The little red hen put it on the kitchen table, and the cat and the duck came into the house and looked at it longingly.

“Well now, who is going to eat this loaf of bread?” asked the little red hen.

“I will”, said the duck quickly.
“I will”, said the cat stepping close.

“Oh, no, you won’t”, said the little red hen. “I am going to eat it myself”.

Then she called her little chicks together, and they ate the whole loaf of bread. Not a crumb was left for the duck and the cat.

Filed under: News, Ramblings or Whatever

“Simply by chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, one can become free from all misery, but because they are enchanted by the illusory energy, people do not take this movement seriously. Therefore those who are actually servants of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu must seriously distribute this movement all over the world to render the greatest benefit to human society.

“Of course, animals and other lower species are not capable of understanding this movement, but if even a small number of human beings take it seriously, then by their chanting loudly, all living entities, including even trees, animals and other lower species, will be benefited. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu inquired from Haridasa Thakura how he was to benefit living entities other than humans, Srila Haridasa Thakura replied that the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is so potent that if it is chanted loudly, everyone will benefit, including the lower species of life.”

Adi 9.40

Merton’s Voice: “The trees indeed love You without knowing You. The tiger lilies and corn flowers are there proclaiming that they love You, without being aware of Your presence. The beautiful dark clouds ride slowly across the sky musing on You like children who do not know what they are dreaming of, as they play.

“But in the midst of them all, I know You, and I know of Your presence.”

Merton, Thomas. Thoughts in Solitude. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999, p. 99.

Filed under: Thomas Merton

On the "featured in Mayapura" theme - Namahatta.org have put together an online compilation of analyses of debates that I did. It features an overview and analysis of five of my favorite debates - four of them involving Richard Dawkins, one with Bill O'Reilly.

You can check it out here: Sita-pati Analyzes Examples of Live Debates.

On the left, the Warrapa dam during the drought. On the right, the dam at 9am on Wednesday.

Brisbane has received half its annual rainfall in the first two months of 2010.

Dams are at 80% of capacity now, the highest since 2002. Water restrictions introduced in 2005, and ramped up over the next three years to "extreme", have now been relaxed to allow residents to use water for activities such as watering their gardens.

More information.

Recently a god-brother of mine, Vidyapati (Mikey), has been writing about his experience of Krishna Consciousness in ISKCON over the past 7 years. His blog is at xkrishnax.blogspot.com.

I find his writing lucid, reflective, insightful, and respectful.

I would like to point out here that ISKCON is a federation of allied local communities, and is by no means a homogenous entity, so his experience is the personal experience of one person in one particular situation. It has been very useful as a topic of conversation here, and I have had several in-depth discussions about issues around it with my friends here, especially with David Jorm and Vrajadhama.

I posted a comment on a recent post of Mikey's, one in which he talks about difficulties that he and others experienced in reconciling the hermeneutical approach (that means how scriptures are interpreted) advocated in their community, with their own independent thinking and intellectual integrity.

I'm reproducing my comment here on my blog to put it front of a wider audience. Understanding the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness to this level is what works for me. My realization is that to stay interested and engaged in Krishna Consciousness over the long term, you have to find out what works for you. Krishna Consciousness is simple for the simple, but if your intellectual capacity is more complex, then Krishna Consciousness does not lack depth of philosophy; and I wouldn't let someone else harangue you into thinking that it's just for dummies and that intellectuals are evil. When this starts to happen we end up with an organisation that runs on a personality cult (religion without philosophy + guru), and would resonate with statements such as: "When I hear the word intellectual, I reach for my Luger". Just to further invoke Godwin, I'd like to point out that Nazi Germany also ran on the twin principles of guru-bhakti (Heil Hitler!) and "Purity is the Force". It is a very dangerous dynamic - a razor's edge. Independently thoughtful, intellectually honest philosophers loyal to the core values of Krishna Consciousness (brahmanas) are necessary to keep it real. These people derive their validity from their own internal conviction, not from social convention, and thus can be a real pain in the ass, and a valuable counter-balance to excessive swings due to group think.

Below the line is my comment from Vidyapati's blog:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In terms of epistemology, we had some interesting discussions at our recent retreat, where we discussed the six philosophical systems over three days. One point that came out is that Prabhupada's explicit hermeneutical strategy ("As It Is") is largely rhetorical. For example, he contradicts it in Bg. 3.29, where he renders a purport practically in contradiction to the verse, using an interpretative strategy other than "As It Is".

His rhetorical choice of hermeneutic is linked to a previous philosophical interpretation that he is seeking to refute - Advaita Vedanta. Advaita Vedanta had in turn refuted a previous school, Karma-mimamsa, which used exactly the hermeneutical strategy of "As It Is". The Karma-mimamsa epistemology was that scripture was of divine origin, and so everything in it was literally true. Thus, if you perform the rituals in there, since the scripture must be true, the result must come.

Everything there was literally true: "as it is". They de-emphasised metaphysics by saying that anything that wasn't an instruction on how to achieve a result was not important.

To undermine the influence of this school, Sankaracarya accepted the Vedic scripture, but introduced a different hermeneutic.

Sankaracarya stated that pramanas (epistemological sources) have their domain of authority. The authoritative domain of scripture is transcendence. In other mundane areas, such as cosmology, if sastra-pramana (scripture) contradicted pratyaksha and anumana (empirical observation and logic), the description of scripture could be retired. Sankara called these paramarthika (the transcendental part), and vyavaharika (the mundane part)

With this hermeneutical strategy many modern-day ISKCON controversies, such as the relative distances of the Sun and the Moon, or the structure of the universe, disappear.

However, Sankara then applied this hermeneutical strategy to descriptions of Brahman, designating some of them as saguna (mundane) and others as nirguna (transcendental). I personally feel that he overstepped the mark with this, and I'm not the only one.

Rather than quibble over where this distinction should be applied, Prabhupada has opted for the Karma-mimamsa hermeneutical approach. This gets rid of some problems - such as Sankara's characterisation of some descriptions of Brahman as mundane, but introduces others - such as cosmological controversies, and instances where Prabhupada violates his own stated hermeneutical strategy.

Once you understand that, it becomes possible to consider the Bhagavatam using Sankara's hermeneutic, but without his fault of over-extension (ativyapti in Sanskrit - where a definition is so broad that it includes within it things that should not be included). This is precisely what Bhaktivinode Thakur does in his book Sri Krishna Samhita. Bhaktivinoda Thakura also uses Sankara's terms paramarthika and vyavaharika often, while you won't find them at all in Prabhupada's writing.

You can understand why this approach isn't a standard practice amongst ISKCON devotees too - most people would be thoroughly confused just reading this, what to speak of trying to apply it.

However, it is also part of the tradition.

Keep it simple for the simple, but remember - Krishna Consciousness is also complex for the complex.

I have to say that in a number of cases of my godbrothers who have given up on the philosophy, my feeling is that it is because they didn't go deep enough into it. Of course, that is discouraged in some circles, but at some point we have to own our own relationship with the tradition.

Before I tell the story, do the following, and if you can’t  now,  as soon as possible. Take all the cards out of your wallet/purse/cell phone carrier/whatever and photocopy them, both sides.  Your driver’s license, credit card(s), bank card and any other cards you would need to get replaced if were to lose your wallet etc.

For me that includes an AARP card (good for discounts at motels), two medical cards, a AAA card and a card from UPMC Transplant Center with contact info including my post transplant coordinator’s name, and a list of all the medications I take for any EMT that would have to deal with an unconscious me in case of an accident.

In Vidya’s case, it includes sales tax exemption cards from Crafts 2000 and Michaels where she buys supplies for her craft business. You may have any number of discount cards or other forms of ID.

The point is what happens if you lose your wallet etc or it’s stolen? If you have a photocopy of what was in it,  the process of replacement is  simpler having all the numbers of the cards, plus phone numbers in one  location.

You may not even remember what is in your wallet etc until you need it at some point.

This is also an opportunity to evaluate if you really need to have all that stuff in there, a spring cleaning of sorts. Back to the story.

Our driveway has  walls of snow on each side from shoveling out the succession of snow storms.  On Gaura Paurnima Vidya was backing out and too close to one side and got stuck so she got a shovel and was digging it out which only took  a few minutes it wasn’t that bad.

She had a small purse around her neck and it was in the way shoveling so she took it off and made a mistake. Instead of walking around the car and putting it inside, she set it on the trunk.

After shoveling, she drove away, forgetting about the bag until she got to the swimming pool and then had an instant realization of what she had done. She immediately called me and all our close neighbors thinking it would have fallen off early in the trip and asked everyone to look at the road outside their homes.

I started walking out the ridge until she came back and picked me up. She had looked all the way coming back from town no luck. We drove out again to Rte 88 thinking it would have fallen off by then, real slow and both of us looking no luck.

We came back home and there was a message on voice mail from someone who had found it. We immediately went to fetch it, Vidya taking one of her hand painted gourd birdhouses as a reward for the finder.

Turns out it was someone who had had Marken as a student in Sherrard Middle School and remembered him.  It was such a blessing that a nice person had found the bag and returned it. In a lot of parts of the country, that may not have happened.  So there are still some good people out there.

“If a hundred-dollar bill is lying on the street, someone may pick it up and put it in his pocket. Such a man is not honest.

“Another man may see the money and decide to let it remain there, thinking that he should not touch another’s property. Although this second man does not steal the money for his own purposes, he is unaware of its proper use.

“The third man who sees the hundred-dollar bill may pick it up, find the man who lost it and deliver it to him. This man does not steal the money to spend for himself, nor does he neglect it and let it lie in the street. By taking it and delivering it to the man who has lost it, this man is both honest and wise.”

Nectar of Instruction: verse 2

Filed under: News, Ramblings or Whatever

While we have great potential for renewables in this country, the government has taken the path of least resistance and just subsidized the oil and coal companies. We have plenty of potential though it will requie an upgrading and expansion of the energy grid.

“The United States has incredible wind power resources. Although wind energy currently provides only slightly more than 1 percent of U.S. electricity, that number is rising rapidly. A recent government report projects that we could get 20 percent of our electricity from wind by 2030. Most of that growth will be from utility-scale wind projects, although there’s great support for developing small wind power too, including home-scale wind turbines and small community-based projects.”

Read whole article here. FYI, for those who don’t read the article North Dakota is at the top of the list of windy places in the US, it just lacks a way to get that energy to the rest of you.

There are some notable exceptions on the local level, like Austin, Texas. Wouldn’t it be nice if devotee projects would take up the challenge?

Austin, Texas’ Ambitious Carbon Mitigation Targets, Results Provide Models for Cities

Austin, Texas, has one of the most ambitious carbon mitigation targets for a U.S. city—to be carbon neutral by the year 2020—a target made all the more complex by the fact that Austin owns its own power company. With significant renewable resources available, and a progressive population and local government, the city of Austin has become a model for building the diverse package of renewable procurement, efficiency measures, and public outreach that can achieve substantial results in carbon emissions reductions. In order to get a clear shematic of this progressive model, VerdeXchange News was pleased to speak with Jake Stewart, the program manager of the Austin Energy Climate Protection Program, the agency tasked with the implementation of the city’s green programs.

VerdeX: What are Austin Texas’ renewable energy goals?

Stewart: The primary goal for the municipality itself, meaning all of municipal operations, is to be carbon neutral by 2020. That will be sourced predominantly by in-house in renewables, but anything that needs to be offset will be offset. That includes fleets and municipal operations.

You have the utility plan, which sets the goal to create 700 megawatts in efficiency savings by 2015. That’s like creating a power plant worth of efficiency savings. We also have goals of 30 percent renewables by 2020 and building 100 megawatts of solar.

Extending to the community, there’s a whole separate plan that engages the community, building a consensus on how the community can reduce its carbon footprint in a way that has economic upside. We want to bring in green and clean tech companies in a Silicon Valley for renewable energy by making Austin very hospitable for those companies. That’s been true with solar companies. We have a solar rebate program, which has been really successful in other cities because it provides companies a way to bridge cost differential.

Read full article here.

To see how things can work on a national level you have to go to Europe.

Germany: The World’s First Major Renewable Energy Economy

Germany’s Reichstag in Berlin is set to become the first parliamentary building in the world to be powered 100 percent by renewable energy. Soon the entire country will follow suit. Germany is accelerating its efforts to become the world’s first industrial power to use 100 percent renewable energy — and given current momentum, it could reach that green goal by 2050.

“The technical capacity is available for the country to switch over to green energy, so it is a question of political will and the right regulatory framework. The costs are acceptable and they need to be seen against the huge costs that will result if Germany fails to take action to cut its carbon emissions.”

– David Wortmann, Director of Renewable Energy and Resources, Germany Trade and Invest

Read full article here.

There are lots more stories of innovation in Europe, here is one from Finland.

In a cave under the Eastern Orthodox Uspenski cathedral in Helsinki we find the result of a joint project between Academica and Helsingin Energia; the world’s most eco efficient computer hall. Computer halls usually require a lot of energy in order to keep the computers from overheating, but this computer hall is cooled down by district cooling. And that is not all, the heat generated from the computers is then distributed back as district heating!

Helsingin Energia reckons that in district cooling the primary energy consumption of the computer hall now commissioned is only 20% of that of a standard computer hall, and the additional benefit of the waste heat recovery is a bonus. They are in other words saving money and generating energy all at once.

Read full article here.

Filed under: Cows and Environment

I went out at night alone;
.The young blood flowing beyond the sea
Seemed to have drenched my spirit’s wings—
.I bore my sorrow heavily.

But when I lifted up my head
.From shadows shaken on the snow,
I saw Orion in the east
.Burn steadily as long ago.

From windows in my father’s house,
.Dreaming my dreams on winter nights,
I watched Orion as a girl
.Above another city’s lights.

Years go, dreams go, and youth goes too,
.The world’s heart breaks beneath its wars,
All things are changed, save in the east
.The faithful beauty of the stars.

Filed under: Poetry

Kirtan artist Madhava visits Australia for the first time in March - April, 2010.

He starts a four city tour with a 24 hour kirtan in Murwillumbah on March 27 - 28, and weaves his way up and down the country over the next three weeks.

Here are the dates for Madhava's tour (those that are tba will be updated as we get the information), followed by his bio.

MURWILLUMBAH, NSW
Saturday, March 27, 5:00 PM
24 hour kirtan featuring Madhava (until Sunday 5:00 PM)
Hare Krishna Community
525 Tyalgum Rd, Eungella
02 6672 6579

BYRON BAY, NSW
Tuesday, March 30, 7:30 PM
Kirtan concert
venue tba
Byron Bay, NSW

SURFERS PARADISE, QLD
Wednesday, March 31, 6:00 PM
Kirtan concert
The Bhakti Centre
Trust House, 3070 Surfers Paradise Blvd, Surfers Paradise. 1st floor

SYDNEY, NSW
Friday, April 2, 8:00 PM
Kirtan concert
Body Mind Life Yoga
55 Foveaux St, Surrey Hills

SYDNEY, NSW
Saturday, April 3 - Monday, April 5
Nightly Kirtan
ISKCON Temple
180 Falcon St, North Sydney

MELBOURNE, VIC
Thursday April 8 - Sunday April 11
Venues tba

BRISBANE, QLD
Thursday April 15, 8:00PM
Kirtan concert
Brisbane City Yoga
Level 2, 129 Margaret Street

Artist Information

Madhava

With a tuft of matted dread-locks erupting from his otherwise shaven head, a sculpted goatee, and a host of piercings and tattoos, you expect Madhava to be a punk rocker — that is until the moment he closes his eyes, opens his mouth, and begins to sing. Before he completes one line, the sweetness captures your mind. And by the time you are repeating the refrain, you are his—hook, line, and sinker. If you had any plans for the next few hours go ahead and cancel them, and instead make yourself an appointment with the ecstatic chanting of sacred mantras. Welcome to kirtan, Madhava-style.

About Kirtan:
Kirtan is a folk form that arose from the devotional Bhakti movement of 15th century India. The primary musical feature of kirtan is the use of call and response, a figure that also deeply informs Western bluegrass, gospel music and jazz. The form is simple: a lead group calls out the melodies and the mantras. The crowd responds, clapping and dancing and the rhythms build and accelerate.

The mantras that are used in kirtan are mainly Sanskrit names for the Divine. Sanskrit is the oldest language known, and its sounds and their meanings are primordial. Kirtan is a consciousness-transforming and raising activity, where music and song are used to bring everyone together in a beautiful experience of collective expression of the divine. The mantras quiet the mind, the music frees the heart.

About Madhava:
A native of Mauritius, Madhava – né Joy Naidoo – was given his first drum at the age of 5. At 18, he moved to Vrindavan, a place of pilgrimage in India where kirtan has been practised continuously for centuries. He spent the next seven years living in an ashram, doing kirtan daily with the Krishna Balarama 24 Hour Kirtan Mandali, under the direction of legendary 24-hour kirtan leader, Aindra Dasa. While there he played the mrdanga drum for hours on end, day after day, honing his rhythmic skill and sensitivity. Unbeknownst to him, through bootleg recordings he was also becoming an influential figure in the global kirtan scene, all while sitting on the dusty floor of a small temple in a village in India.

When Madhava left to return to the West, his mentor Aindra impressed on him that he had to take the kirtan back with him from Vrndavan — telling him: "Now it is you who must lead the kirtan".

Based in Switzerland, Madhava travels extensively through Europe and the US with his partner Radhika and his band Gaura Prema, enlivening audiences with the power of devotional kirtan. He fuses his Mauritian roots with the influences of India to produce a unique style of kirtan, but one in which the main ingredient is the heartfelt bhakti. This year Madhava visits the shores of Australia for the first time.

Others on Madhava:
"Madhava's kirtan is one of the most transcendent kirtan experiences I've ever had. He sings with so much heart and dedication that every one who is present is effortlessly transported to another universe on waves of his chanting. His melodies are rich and inviting, his voice is honest and true, and he always surrounds himself with beautiful musicians and artists - all part of his artful way of revealing a doorway to the divine world through sacred chant. Madhava is a treasure to hear and to join with in kirtan. I pray that I'll be chanting with him for many years to come, basking in the warm glow of the names of the divine."
— Gaura Vani
Bandleader - As Kindred Spirits
Creative Director - Mantralogy

"Madhava is a powerful and inspirational devotional singer and master of mantra singing. His music and melodies bring ecstacy to our singing and dancing, bathing us in happiness as we respond to his illuminating voice."
— Loren Russo
Yoga teacher, Miami FL, USA

"Madhava’s singing touches the heart.... his chanting is always sweet and full of energy. It is a wonderful experience being in his kirtans."
— Dr. Nisha Vastani
Research Scientist, Uni Hospital- Zurich, Switzerland

"The kirtana of Madhava has an almost magnetic influence. The mind and heart get totally attracted, then drawn into the inside world where one can meet the soul of the universe. Tune in and you will have a deeply rewarding, spiritual experience."
— Sacinandana Swami
Inspirational speaker and spiritualist

Back in the day the organic pioneers had several motivations for promoting organic — better for the future of the soil because of closed systems of returning organic wastes to the soil, less pesticides in the environment so better balance in the ecology, and last but not least healthier better tasting food. Organic was green.

Now organic isn’t green and most consumers motivation is more self centered — I want healthier food for me.  While many genuine organic growers still exist, corporations and agribusiness has gotten involved and the new standards for what is organic has dispensed with the closed system concept.

Buying organic today could mean stuff from Chile, California wherever.  Organic is no longer synonymous with locally grown.  So more aware consumers have now started to focus on ideally locally grown organic produce, but if the choice is locally grown or imported organic, they choose local. Which has lots of benefits, not least is economics of the local community as the money stays and recycles locally.

Here are some thoughts on benefits of locally grown:

The 100-Mile Index

Filed under: Cows and Environment

Back in the late 80s or early 90s, after Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Candra had moved from Bahulaban to Their current temple, most offices and productive life of New Vrindaban was still ongoing at Bahulaban.

There was a greenhouse built off what is now known as the Pink Building where we wintered over plants, including some beautiful 4-5′ (1.2-1.5m) tall tulasis in large pots. We  had a lot of other tender stuff, including producing gardenias. We also started lots of flowers and veggie plants for the temple and Palace gardens.

One April there was a huge and quick snowstorm where like 8-12″ (20-30 cm)   of snow fell in about two hours. I was working in an office in the building and noted snow had started to fall.  I wasn’t that concerned about it because it was after all April and snow was not that common, typically small amounts, and the greenhouse usually melted off any snow that fell on it.  I never even thought to be concerned but when I stepped out two hours later the greenhouse had collapsed.

I immediately went around to the offices and  drafted some help.  Some were a little resistant, being under the bodily concept that they were office workers and adverse to doing physical labor but soon all came to help. Some threats of immediate reaction may have been employed with the more resistant of them.

Once they had visual evidence of the peril tulasi was in they did jump in with requisite enthusiasm. There was a lot of plants and it took a while but we did save them all.

So even though my greenhouse has a solid roof and would probably have been fine,  I was concerned. I spent the 20-30 minutes it took to shovel the snow off  it.

One reason I was concerned is that temperatures had started going up above freezing during the day  so melt was occurring on the upper roof. This was draining off onto the lower roof because the gutters were filled with ice. The snow on the lower roof was catching that runoff and holding it, hence the weight was building up.

I figured being safe was better than being sorry so cleaned it off. Since then there have been multiple reports of porch roofs in the local area collapsing.  For those with local knowledge of NV, the former lumber warehouse roof, current garden storage building used by Tapahpunjah by the Garden of Seven Gates,  has collapsed.

(photo by Jaya Murari)

The other danger is icicles. They can build up weight and pull the gutters right off your building so I also knocked a lot of those off.

They can also be dangerous if they fall off by themselves. A guy was just killed up at a industrial plant near Follansbee when ice broke loose and hit him as he was walking under a coal conveyor.

All that aside, it is very beautiful every where one looks, a pristine beauty of form and purity.

Filed under: News, Ramblings or Whatever

By Lindsey Tanner

AP Medical Writer= CHICAGO (AP) — In the autism world, “Aspies” are sometimes seen as the elites, the ones who are socially awkward, yet academically gifted and who embrace their quirkiness.

Now, many Aspies, a nickname for people with Asperger’s syndrome, are upset over a proposal they see as an attack on their identity. Under proposed changes to the most widely used diagnostic manual of mental illness, Asperger’s syndrome would no longer be a separate diagnosis.

Instead, Asperger’s and other forms of autism would be lumped together in a single “autism spectrum disorders” category. Some parents say they’d welcome the change, thinking it would eliminate confusion over autism’s variations and perhaps lead to better educational services for affected kids.

But opponents — mostly older teens and adults with Asperger’s — disagree.

Liane Holliday Willey, a Michigan author and self-described Aspie whose daughter also has Asperger’s, fears Asperger’s kids will be stigmatized by the autism label — or will go undiagnosed and get no services at all.

Grouping Aspies with people “who have language delays, need more self-care and have lower IQs, how in the world are we going to rise to what we can do?” Willey said.

Rebecca Rubinstein, 23, a graduate student from Massapequa, N.Y., says she “vehemently” opposes the proposal and will think of herself as someone with Asperger’s no matter what.

Autism and Asperger’s “mean such different things,” she said.

Yes and no.

Both are classified as neurodevelopmental disorders. Autism has long been considered a disorder that can range from mild to severe. Asperger’s symptoms can vary, but the condition is generally thought of as a mild form and since 1994 has had a separate category in psychiatrists’ diagnostic manual. Both autism and Asperger’s involve poor social skills, repetitive behavior or interests, and problems communicating. But unlike classic autism, Asperger’s does not typically involve delays in mental development or speech.

The American Psychiatric Association’s proposed revisions, announced Wednesday, involve autism and several other conditions. The suggested autism changes are based on research advances since 1994 showing little difference between mild autism and Asperger’s. Evidence also suggests that doctors use the term loosely and disagree on what it means, according to psychiatrists urging the revisions.

A new autism spectrum category recognizes that “the symptoms of these disorders represent a continuum from mild to severe, rather than being distinct disorders,” said Dr. Edwin Cook, a University of Illinois at Chicago autism researcher and member of the APA work group proposing the changes.

The proposed revisions are posted online at http://www.DSM5.org for public comment, which will influence whether they are adopted. Publication of the updated manual is planned for May 2013.

Dr. Mina Dulcan, child and adolescent psychiatry chief at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital, said Aspies’ opposition “is not really a medical question, it’s an identity question.”

“It would be just like if you were a student at MIT. You might not want to be lumped with somebody in the community college,” said Dulcan who supports the diagnostic change.

“One of the characteristics of people with Asperger’s is that they’re very resistant to change,” Dulcan added. The change “makes scientific sense. I’m sorry if it hurts people’s feelings,” she said.

Harold Doherty, a New Brunswick lawyer whose 13-year-old son has severe autism, opposes the proposed change for a different reason. He says the public perception of autism is skewed by success stories — the high-functioning “brainiac” kids who thrive despite their disability.

Doherty says people don’t want to think about children like his son, Conor, who will never be able to function on his own. The revision would only skew the perception further, leading doctors and researchers to focus more on mild forms, he said…

Read complete article here.

Filed under: News, Ramblings or Whatever

Madhava's "Yoga is Music" Tour visits Australia March 26 - April 18, 2010. Stay tuned for tour dates for your city.

Artist Information

Madhava

With a tuft of matted dread-locks erupting from his otherwise shaven head, a sculpted goatee, and a host of piercings and tattoos, you expect Madhava to be a punk rocker — that is until the moment he closes his eyes, opens his mouth, and begins to sing. Before he completes one line, the sweetness captures your mind. And by the time you are repeating the refrain, you are his—hook, line, and sinker. If you had any plans for the next few hours go ahead and cancel them, and instead make yourself an appointment with the ecstatic chanting of sacred mantras. Welcome to kirtan, Madhava-style.

About Kirtan:
Kirtan is a folk form that arose from the devotional Bhakti movement of 15th century India. The primary musical feature of kirtan is the use of call and response, a figure that also deeply informs Western bluegrass, gospel music and jazz. The form is simple: a lead group calls out the melodies and the mantras. The crowd responds, clapping and dancing and the rhythms build and accelerate.

The mantras that are used in kirtan are mainly Sanskrit names for the Divine. Sanskrit is the oldest language known, and its sounds and their meanings are primordial. Kirtan is a consciousness-transforming and raising activity, where music and song are used to bring everyone together in a beautiful experience of collective expression of the divine. The mantras quiet the mind, the music frees the heart.

About Madhava:
A native of Mauritius, Madhava – né Joy Naidoo – was given his first drum at the age of 5. At 18, he moved to Vrindavan, a place of pilgrimage in India where kirtan has been practised continuously for centuries. He spent the next seven years living in an ashram, doing kirtan daily with the Krishna Balarama 24 Hour Kirtan Mandali, under the direction of legendary 24-hour kirtan leader, Aindra Dasa. While there he played the mrdanga drum for hours on end, day after day, honing his rhythmic skill and sensitivity. Unbeknownst to himself, through bootleg recordings he was also becoming an influential figure in the global kirtan scene, all while sitting on the dusty floor of a small temple in a village in India.

When Madhava left to return to the West, his mentor Aindra impressed on him that he had to take the kirtan back with him from Vrndavan — telling him: "Now it is you who must lead the kirtan".

Now based in Switzerland, Madhava travels extensively through Europe and the US with his partner Radhika and his band Gaura Prema, enlivening audiences with the power of devotional kirtan. He fuses his Mauritian roots with the influences of India to produce a unique style of kirtan, but one in which the main ingredient is the heartfelt bhakti. This year Madhava visits the shores of Australia for the first time.

Others on Madhava:
"Madhava's kirtan is one of the most transcendent kirtan experiences I've ever had. He sings with so much heart and dedication that every one who is present is effortlessly transported to another universe on waves of his chanting. His melodies are rich and inviting, his voice is honest and true, and he always surrounds himself with beautiful musicians and artists - all part of his artful way of revealing a doorway to the divine world through sacred chant. Madhava is a treasure to hear and to join with in kirtan. I pray that I'll be chanting with him for many years to come, basking in the warm glow of the names of the divine."
— Gaura Vani
Bandleader - As Kindred Spirits
Creative Director - Mantralogy

"Madhava is a powerful and inspirational devotional singer and master of mantra singing. His music and melodies bring ecstacy to our singing and dancing, bathing us in happiness as we respond to his illuminating voice."
— Loren Russo
Yoga teacher, Miami FL, USA

"Madhava’s singing touches the heart.... his chanting is always sweet and full of energy. It is a wonderful experience being in his kirtans."
— Dr. Nisha Vastani
Research Scientist, Uni Hospital- Zurich, Switzerland

"The kirtana of Madhava has an almost magnetic influence. The mind and heart get totally attracted, then drawn into the inside world where one can meet the soul of the universe. Tune in and you will have a deeply rewarding, spiritual experience."
— Sacinandana Swami
Inspirational speaker and spiritualist