namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

Firstly I must apologies to those who asked me to come and see what they were doing act. Service called and I remained busy up to returning to Wales. I managed to video only two other things other than morning class which I am including in the video archive.

Two from my friend Parasurama Dasa; first some songs he has written:

Parasurama Dasa Songs

Parasurama Dasa Magic Show

The second was a wonderful presentation followed by a small discussion, this was totally inspirational and would be useful in the area were I live, which has seen a lot of suicides. I have included a clip of one of the discussions: What would you do if you had one day left to live?

Watch Video

It would be wonderful if the youth could bring this for a weekend I'm sure the local youth were I live would truly benefit from it

Again sorry for the delay in publishing these clips from Bhaktivadanta Manor 2008 Janmastami celebrations. I will edit and post some clips from the morning class over the next few days but hope you enjoy these few postings:

Sri Krishna Janmastami

Song for Lord Krishna

It was with some sweetness that some of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples shared a little bit with us:

Srila Prabhupada disciples share (Part 1)

Srila Prabhupada disciples share (Part 2)

The other day I was walking with one of my clients along the sea front and I watched the birds, sheep and the odd dog taking their owner for a walk as I looked around and took in the view I was struck by actually how short and precious this life is.

We look at the plant life the animal life how long do they live, how much suffering is there before reaching this human form?

The other day I decided to take some time to see what was on the internet relating to Krishna and ISKCON; I also wanted to see what other devotee’s had put on as viewed or subscribed to on YouTude.

To my horror I found a young individual claiming to be His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada although not offering up any evidence to back up his claim, this false claim can be put down to several factors but got me thinking and pondering on Prabhupada’s life.

The other day I was setting up a new computer for the Temple in Brighton, Ok so my knowledge is very limited but I was glad to be of some assistance.

This is an amazing clip available on youtube about association, well edited and put together, it’s a must to be checked out

Watch Video

This is a compilation of video clip from ISKCON Brighton taken during the Sunday feast.

Watch Video 1

Watch Video 3

Watch Video 2

As always I hope you all enjoy these simple clips.

It’s amazing how you are expected to have an opinion on everything even if you know little or nothing of the facts, I have been asked on several occasions on the departure of the Temple president following aligations of over punishment of children in India and if I felt that he should be retained in some capacity.

Firstly I have had a long and productive talk with the head of ISKCON child protection and the safeguards are impressive although we agree not infallible.

So I’ve finally given in and got an iphone it’s not as good as hoped but easy to use. The performance of the phone is not matched by the service from o2 who’s knowledge of the phone is limited. My e-mail is proving difficult as I use hotmail which is the main reason for getting the phone and updating my blog. We shall see over time if it’s worth the cost. I like the iPod and contact facility and the link up to my MacBook so we will see how things go.

As I sat overlooking the small Welsh Valley village were I live one thing occurred to me the importance of BOXES in our lives.

We live in a box, and we watch or listen to a box.
We then get into a box, this takes us to work we like to call it a car or public transport.

We work in a box or use boxes for work, surrounded by boxes that contain instruments for us to use or boxes to help us produce write or communicate.

As some of you who read my humble writings that some time ago I wrote about looking at expanding presenting Krishna Consciousness within schools, as the criteria for religious education is set by the local SACRE committee I have been able to gain a full set of recommendations and guidelines for teachers.

One thing that occurred to me is that the lower schools do not cover other faiths but do have to demonstrate an understanding of cultural differences.

This has got me thinking and on how to do this via puppet theatre a medium that works well with this age group.

Again it is with great pleasure that I can offer to the devotee’s this clip of Cardiff’s Ratha Yatra from 9 August 2008 as usual it is available on youtube here:

Watch Video

Yes! What is true love?

We all look for or say we love, we love our partner, our family, our pets and our friends but then what is true love?

The biggest beef burger outlet during the BSE outbreak some years ago in order to stop dwindling sales did a large advertising campaign on how there beef was well cared for and not from the UK. Now as we become more environmentally aware and there is a move that food is locally sourced, the same company advertises how it sources its beef from locally farmers.

Do we truly appreciate our temple presidents?
Are we overly critical or at best think they do very little, or appear to do very little?
Do we appreciate the sacrifice that these devotee’s make in running our centre’s and temples?
It is nice that as I live in a secluded part of Wales that it is generally peaceful surrounded by wonderful wildlife and nature, unlike the towns and cities our centres are based.

It’s amazing how we take ownership of many things, claim it as ours, we have the sole rights and no one can use it without our express permission.
It is nice to be able to take videos of classes and events happening within ISKCON and to document devotional life, great joy is benefited knowing that no matter were in the world we are we can share these events.
More important that individuals can see real devotional life, listen to classes, watch videos, listen to wonderful music how much bliss can be gathered and shared.

This week we had a wonderful class given by Praghosa Das, UK GBC. It gave us many thoughts to ponder, this small point I felt should be shared:

[Watch Video]

After the filming of the opening of Radharani's Bakery's new shop, Kripamoya Prabhu quietly mentioned that it may appear on the net soon.

Well, after much thought I have decided not to post it!

HA!

For all who want to see the opening of the shop it's available here:

[Watch Video]

And for a short tour of the facilities you can do here:

[Watch Video]

I hope as always that these clips meet the needs of the devotee's

One thing I have struggled with since childhood is my hearing, there has been some minor hearing loss and in most cases I have managed with little difficulty.
However it has got markedly more difficult to hear most conversations and unless I can see the persons face near on impossible to follow what is being said.
To make it worse many common sounds cause me much discomfort and pain whilst the ear canal has some spasmodic irritation much a like to a really bad itch.

Trust

To what extent do we trust?

As I worked on the hospital wards for many years’ strikes me is the trust that people put in you, if we said this or that procedure needs to be done very few would question.
Even on the most evasive procedure or one were a lot of dignity is lost again few would question.

Today as I picked up my young charge (5 years old) the trust his parents have in me and there unquestioning faith that he would come to no harm; and how this level of responsibility falls directly onto my shoulders, again showing a high level of trust

Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge

And is also the name of one of the newest search engines for finding information on the net.

Unlike other search engines it looks at relevance of the content rather than popularity metrics so the search is not only faster but easier to identify what you are looking at.

For me the interface is much easier and pleasing to the eye, and a search of the key word ISKCON gave me not only the official sights of ISKCON but also an option of exploring by category including:

• Forms of Visnu
• People related to Krishna
• Hindu Philosophical concepts
• Krishna
• Sanskrit words and Phrases

Surprisingly this week I was out with several of my students picking blackberries (this being very early), it is hoped to use them to make an apple and blackberry pie of crumble.
Now as most of you are aware picking Blackberries is problematic due to the prickly thorns and nettles that grow alongside them. But these are lovely fruits to eat and especially juice, YUM; YUM!

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This is a lovely clip produced by a devotee on YouTube:

[Watch Video]

Also, no meat-eating. Meat- or fish- or egg-eating — any nonvegetarian diet — is simply an attachment of the tongue. Nobody dies from not eating meat. That’s a fact. When we were babies we depended on milk, either our mother’s breast-milk or cow’s milk. Therefore the cow is also our mother. Just as we drink breast-milk from our mother, we drink milk from mother cow. You must not kill your mother; that is a great sin. Therefore meat-eating is prohibited.

Similarly, as long as we have the body, we must eat to maintain it, and we must sleep in order to give it rest. We cannot expect to negate these activities, but the Vedic literatures do give us guidelines for regulation in eating, sleeping, mating, etc. If we at all expect success in the yoga system, we cannot allow our unbridled senses to take us down the paths of sense objects; therefore guidelines are set up. Lord Sri Krsna is advising that the mind can be controlled through regulation. If we do not regulate our activities, our mind will be more and more agitated.