namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

Atma Yoga doco (2008) Part 2 from Sitapati das on Vimeo.. Part Two. Part One can be found here.

Hey, check this out. This is a way cool documentary that Vrajadhama made about our yoga school, Atma Yoga.

We were talking about this last night, and I think that the experience of watching the video is like coming to Atma. I summarize the experience of most people as: "I came for the yoga, I came back for the food, I stayed for the company".

Here's a draft preview of the cookbook that we've been working on - "Eating for Enlightenment".

• Eating for Enlightenment Cookbook (.pdf, 170 KB)

I haven't done anything with it for a while. On Raivata's request I thought I'd better share it now - "release early, release often".

As you may have noticed, I'm a little short on words these days. Here's an article that I whipped up for the upcoming Janmastami magazine here in Brisbane. I would have like more time to rewrite and edit it, but anyway - life is short.

In the heart of Brisbane city since 2004, Atma Yoga offers guests a yoga class, dinner and dessert five nights a week. Additionally Brisbanites can attend discussions on philosophy, join a study group reading Bhagavad-gita, or participate in a kirtan (devotional singing) session.

A comment from an Atma regular. Interesting food for thought.

Cheers Sita-pati,

Seeing that I can't find your direct email this will have to do. Please excuse the candour but that is how I operate:

Taking a strengths based approach of what little I know of the Hare Krishna movement the following seems apparent:

This Sunday, 29th July 2008, is the second annual Yoga fest in Brisbane.

Jonathan Murphy from Radiant Light Yoga has worked really hard to pull off this event, which brings together Brisbane's entire yoga community once a year.

In our strategic planning for Atma over the next three years I noticed that we will have spent half a million dollars in rent over six years. That's a huge outlay. The money that is generated and spent is a side effect of our main activity, which is sharing our spirituality and lifestyle knowledge with others. Atma is a state audited incorporated not-for-profit association. However, we need to be responsible stewards of even the side effects. That's Krishna's energy that we are leaking there.

The Old Museum
Gregory Tce, Bowen Hills
29th June 9.00 am - 7.30 pm
entry $30 (incl all workshops & classes)" title="" id="id3" />

Recently Atma was nominated for a local Business Achiever Award.

We didn't set out to achieve this, it's just something that happened along the way.

Vrajadhama sent me this video a couple of months ago with the note: "The origins of the Loft?"

Of course, we had no knowledge of or contact with this while the Loft was developing. The Loft paradigm evolved as an organic response to the environment, influenced by the interaction and realizations of devotees.

This video strongly suggests that this is indeed a natural process of cultural integration and missional outreach that Eastern traditions undergo in contact with contemporary global culture.

Orthodox at the core. Innovative at the edge.

Recently the GBC has been considering multiple ISKCON centers in one city. It's an inevitable historical development that is currently being groked. One center cannot be all things to all people. The reality is that a cutting-edge urban preaching center reaching out to a western population has radically different priorities to an established ISKCON temple serving Deities and an established congregation including many ex-pat Indians. You can't effectively do both in the same place at the same time.

In order to have these two centers functioning at their optimum we've discovered that you need to have separation and cooperation between the two—they need to be interdependent. Each can remain focused on its core values and identity. There needs to be a constant process of communication and negotiation between the two. One cannot be subservient to the agenda of the other. In this way they can coexist in a symbiotic relationship.

Yesterday was an Ekadasi day. Ekadasi is Sanskrit for "eleven", and the ekadasi day occurs twice in each lunar month, on the 11th day after the full moon, and the 11th day after the dark moon. On these days Vaisnava devotees fast from grains and beans.

Carmella Baynie doing kirtan at Atma Yoga, Brisbane, Australia.

Carmella Baynie @ Atma Yoga April 2008 from vraja dhama das on Vimeo.

Sacred Chant Volume One, our 2006 album, continues to move on Jamendo, where it is available as a free download.

A recent reviewer wrote:

On Saturday night at the recent Springbrook Retreat Param Satya gave a talk on Healthy Eating. Luckily Adina-lila recorded it, so if you weren't able to make it you can still hear it!

Here it is for your listening pleasure:

[movie inside]

It wasn't breakfast, but it was good. Vegan pizza and roasted sweet potato wedges with pesto.

It's a yoga retreat, but the food is a big part of it - you are what you eat! Here's Chris getting dinner.

Nerina came on Saturday morning.

This

plus this

equals...

Carmella is in Brisbane to do a concert and workshop. Last night she came to Atma to do kirtan.

We started out with some breathing and warming up exercises. The very first time I turned up to a kirtan there were two people - me and the Swami (Chandrasekhara Swami). I thought I was going to slip in the back and spectate. Instead it was the two of us sitting face to face on the floor and he tells me: "Ok, now we're going to sing."

Those of you who know me know that now I have no problem singing in public, but back then the only time I would sing was in the shower. Certainly not in public! So it was a little challenging...

This is a very nice way to gradually introduce people to using their voice, so that they can unleash it in praise of the Supreme Lord.

It's me, leading a discussion on "The Real Cost of the Necessities of Life".

I'll be using these two articles:

• Walking to the shops ‘damages planet more than going by car’
• Why walking to the shops might not damage the planet "more than going by car" after all

Tuesday is the biggest night of the week at Atma, with up to fifty people in the evening for the Bhagavad-gita discussion and the beginners yoga class.

Param Satya washes some dishes after leading the Bhagavad-gita discussion.

Suvilasa cooked

Here's the prasadam - some kind of hippie diary-, sugar-, and gluten-free thing... ;-)

Check out the awesomeness of Vraja's camera in these recordings of kirtan at last week's Krishnafest. You can also check out the "Black Beast" - the Remo Djembe - in action.

Here's the feast from Krishnafest last night - 90% organic, 95% raw. The rice wrapping is probably cooked during its preparation. The contents are raw.

It was awesome. Amazingly tasty, and very refreshing.

Raw is the new organic.

As Prem Yogi, who "cooked", put it: "Usually you prepare and then you cook. With this you prepare and then... you're done!"

Prem put up some curtains at Atma last weekend. Here they are, in all their glory:

Here's the end of evening kirtan for Krishnafest on Saturday night. [Movie inside!]

Bhakticandrika recorded it with Vrajadhama's HD video camera with a wide angle lens and Rhode shotgun mic. The result is extremely highly detailed footage, even compressed and streamed by youtube.

Vrajadhama in form on the mrdanga in a kirtan at Atma one evening. [Movie inside]