namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

“In all directions of Dvaraka City, wherever one would turn his eyes he would find green parks and gardens, each of them filled with trees and plants laden with fruits and flowers. Because there were so many nice trees of fruits and flowers, all the sweetly chirping birds and buzzing bumblebees joined together to make sweet vibrations. The city of Dvaraka thus fully displayed all opulences. “

Krishna Book 90:  Summary Description of Lord Krsna’s Pastimes

Living Near Green Lowers Anxiety, Depression Rates, Study Finds

By Kristen Hallam

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — People living near gardens, parks and other green spaces have lower rates of anxiety, depression and poor physical health than those living in urban areas, Dutch researchers found.

I found the TIME Magazine article Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin, by John Cloud, informative and useful in shattering some commonly-held myths, which also devotees might implicitly accepts as facts.

Among the essential messages distilled by the author—a committed (self-defined) "gym-rat"—is the notion that "fiery spurts of vigorous exercise could lead to weight gain." How could that be? Simple: After strenuous workouts people get hungry and eat more calories than what they loose; plus they tend to reward themselves with foods they would have avoided if they did not exercise; plus the fatigue accumulated tends to make them more reticent to perform more physical work during the rest of the day.

by HH Dhanurdhara Maharaja

“Is there therapy in the Vedas?” I was a bit taken aback by this inquiry from a young and dedicated yoga practitioner. He had been struggling for years with psychological problems. Although he had embraced a traditional path of yogic transformation, he found the help he needed in a more modern self-help process based on contemporary psychology.

As I thought about his inquiry, however, the answer seemed obvious. Rich in a tradition of intact family and community support, those born in traditional India did not need to rely on specialists to sort out mental afflictions caused mostly by social dysfunction. Classical Indian philosophy, especially its traditions of yoga, does, however, have detailed information on the nature of the mind.

This is the findings of a joint study by research universities in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Although the link in looking at how diet influences virus activity is in many ways the initial outcomes strongly points to the fact that a simple vegetarian diet does reduce risk.

You can read it here (source BBC News/Health).

by Vasu Murti das

In 261 B.C., the Indian emperor Ashoka witnessed firsthand the innumerable casualties he caused during one of his many military campaigns. His heart was filled with grief. He converted to Buddhism. 19th century scholar and writer H.G. Wells considered Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism one of the most significant events in world history.

Ashoka, formerly a bloody and ruthless emperor, became a remarkably kind and gentle leader. Ashoka established some of the first animal rights laws. He stopped the royal hunt, stopped the sacrifice of animals in his capital city, stopped the killing of animals for food in the royal kitchens, and gave up the eating of meat. Ashoka made it illegal to kill many species of animals, such as parrots, ducks, geese, bats, turtles, squirrels, monkeys and rhinos. He forbade the killing of pregnant animals, or animals that were nursing their young. He declared certain days to be "non-killing days," on which fish could not be caught, nor any other animals killed. He established wells and watering holes, places of rest and hospitals for humans and animals alike.

One can understand the Supreme Soul and one’s position in relationship with Him when one is completely freed from the unwanted association of ordinary men. In this way one can become fit to cross the ocean of nescience. The cause of conditional Life is attachment to the external energy. One has to conquer these mental concoctions: unless one does so, he will never be freed from material anxieties.

Although mental concoctions have no value, their influence is still very formidable. No one should neglect to control the mind. If one does, the mind becomes so powerful that one immediately forgets his real position. Forgetting that he is an eternal servant of Krishna and that service to Krishna is his only business, one is doomed by material nature to serve the objects of the senses. One should kill mental concoctions by the sword of service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotee (guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija).

SB 5.11 Summary

This letter was sent to me by a friend, a reaction to the report of the road accidents following this year's Gaura-purnima festival. It wasn't really meant for publication, but it's very relevant for devotees everywhere, so I'll publish it here without disclosing the author's name.

Reading about the recent road accidents here makes me very sad. At the same time I know that road safety is not being ignored in India only, but all over ISKCON, including Germany. At least here materialists are often more responsible than devotees in this regard; HH Bir Krishna Maharaja writes about this on his website www.bkgoswami.com.

Only recently did I travel with devotees by car when I noticed that I was the only one using a seat belt. Everyone else, including driver and co-driver, didn't—in spite of snow and ice on the road, and the fact that German law imposes heavy fines on those caught without seat belt.

by Bir Krishna Das Maharaja

I mentioned that I would write about living longer in the present body. In order to understand this topic one has to understand the larger topic of how the material energy affects the bodies and minds of devotees, whether or not they are aware of it, or even in denial of it.

If we had the siddhis that yogis have, such as laghima, becoming light enough to float on a sunbeam, or mahima, becoming very big or heavy—and I am not talking about getting fat—or prapti, being able to reach out and grab something from a distant locale, we could definitely ignore certain aspects of the material nature. But since we don't have these siddhis, it behooves us to be aware of how the material nature affects our bodies.

It is amazing to me how devotees are oftentimes in denial of this: in our diet, sleeping habits, use of spiritual paraphernalia, eating habits, safety procedures, etc.

Welcome to your new vending machine!

Jeremy Page, Delhi

Does your Pepsi lack pep? Is your Coke not the real thing? India's Hindu nationalist movement apparently has the answer: a new soft drink made from cow urine.