The meat eaters are outraged!

http://www.naturalnews.com/025547.html

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Actually, not all meat eaters are outraged, for some it is a huge wake up call and some are making drastic dietary changes, which definitely gives us an opening to preach. One man who was a work related colleague for the last 15 years who I would characterize as a deep South “cracker” redneck, who for years made fun of me for being a vegetarian (always in a so called good humored way) got diagnosed with prostate cancer…. he immediately decided to lose weight and went on the high protean diet. I thought at the time it was insane but did not venture an opinion other than he should research a little more the value of vegetables in his diet.

The next time I saw him he had lost weight and told me that he had decided to go with the Weight watchers plan and was including vegetables. I saw him a year later and he looked really healthy and I asked him how was weight watchers? He said, you won’t believe this, but I am a vegan now. I researched online and decided that was the healthiest option. He even said ” who would think an old cracker like me would go vegan, but I never felt better in my life and the cancer has responded to treatment and I am doing great”. Even his wife was now a vegan most of the time, except for ice cream once in a while. So at that point I could tell him, well if you really want the best health, prasadam is the way to go and pointed him in the direction of Krishna. com and the Food for life website. Of course that is a big leap from mundane materialist to KC, but he has shown himself to be someone open to good instruction, so who knows?

Kdd

I just learned that our Godsister Bimala dd left her body 2 days ago. She had been in remiscion (sp) from breast cancer and was recently diagnosed with metasticized liver cancer. Her passing was very fast after that, less than 3 weeks. Her family did manage to be with her in Alachua before she died.

YS
JayaLalitadd

Dhanistha d. d.: We received your Sudama musical as a gift. My son loves it. We listen to it just about everyday, and quite often multiple times a day. He especially likes marching around while the guards are singing.

Caitanya Nitai das (GRS): We just received your CD’s. They are very wond- erful. My daughter especially loves them. She told me that, when she used to attend the gurukula at New Varshan (Auckland, New Zealand), all the children loved your CD’s so much that they would listen to them all the time, and they actually knew all of them by heart! So, your CD’s played an important part in the life of many devotees!

Vrajabhakti dd: Thank you so much for your musical CD’s. They are awesome and my six year old son really enjoy them so much and act them out aswell After I bought them he doesn’t want to listen to anything else. I let the whole community hear the Govardhana Musical CD and everybody enjoyed and loved it so much. All your CD’s are really helping the whole family to be Krishna Conscious. We’re really greatful to you for doing such an incred- ible service to the whole world. Thank you once again.

Listen to songs and scenes of my musicals, dramas and comedies by clicking on one of the speakers on the PRODUCTIONS page of my website: pdp. harekrishna. nl

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* MUSICALS, COMEDIES & DRAMAS *
· ·
* A host of musicals and dramas, depicting the pastimes of the Lord *
· and His associates and comedies, elucidating the Vedic philosophy, ·
* whilst exposing the flaws of atheistic science. *
· Recorded in England with Gaurangi, Jayadeva, Kripamoya, Arjuna, ·
* Radha Mohan, Jaya Gopala, Sakshi Gopala, Lilavati and many others. *
· ·
* 1) Govardhana Musical *
· 2) Sudama Vipra Musical ·
* 3) Princess Rukmini Musical *
· 4) Krsna Janma Musical ·
* 5) Dhruva Maharaja Musical *
· 6) Sri Sakshi Gopala Drama ·
* Transylvania Transcended Comedy *
· 7) The Syamantaka Jewel Comedy ·
* 8) The Wrong Bank Account Comedy *
· The Boatman & The Scholar Comedy ·
* The Test of Bhrigu Muni Drama *
· 9) Cafe Concoctione Comedy ·
* The Bird in the Cage Comedy *
· The Drowning Man Comedy ·
* 10) The Marriage of Samba Drama *
· The Genie in the Lamp Comedy ·
* 11) The Chess Match Drama *
· The Cobbler & The Brahmana Comedy ·
* *
· ·
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PRICES: 50 euro £40 US $79 CAN $80 AUS $82 NS $105

Suresvara das (ACBSP) Hawaii: Bravo, Parividha Prabhu! Your productions are beautiful samskaras for our youth and powerful medicine for us older folks, still recovering from Kali’s ravishments. Play on, O cultural warrior, and “catch the conscience of the king,” our spirit’s sense of the Lord within.

Sravaniya dasi (ACBSP): Your musicals are delightful and imaginative! Not only is your work entertaining, but you have taken the care to keep it rigorously correct in scriptural details. The scenarios in the stories that amplify the themes are all properly portrayed. The only spin here is the tale. These CD’s make great gifts for parents and their kids, –I mean knock-your-socks-off great — and are a real Trojan horse as far as getting the message of Krishna consciousness across to a broader, more general audience. Bravo!

Nrsimhananda dasa (ACBSP) ITV: I have dreams of producing movies of your musicals. The work is professional, and the messages inspiring. You have taken Srila Prabhupada’s instructions to heart and dovetailed your prod- ucing and composing abilities in Krishna’s service. The music is bold. The voices are celestial. You have created an admirable body of work, and you have set the stage for ambitious productions. I hope to work with you.

Shyamasundar das (ACBSP) Vedic Astrologer: For the first time since 1987. I spent Janmastami alone. I hardly noticed the strains of fasting all day and standing up on my feet cooking a feast, because I was listening to the CDs that you did starting with Krsna Janma. By the time it was over I was very elated. The CD’s are very professionally done. My only complaint is that there are only 11 CD’s. You should consider making more.

Vrinda Nath das (RNS): Each one of your musicals is a transcendental work of art. The beautiful voices and extraordinary soundtracks combined are a delight to the ear and to the heart.

Dayal Nitai das (TKG) Taiwan: Your impressive productions reflect the person whom you are, as I know you’re driven by an awesome sense of perf- ectionism. Besides being very well directed, your plays and musicals are captivating, philosophically and historically correct, and always inspir- ing to the heart. I’ve been moved to tears while listening to some of them, and laughed when I heard some other parts, and still laugh rememb- ering them. I’ve learned many things as well, and I’ve pleased guests at our home by having them listen. I hope to get the opportunity to see more of them acted out.

Sivarama Swami: Overall I think your Dhruva Maharaja musical is a wond- erful production. It woves nicely, Arjuna’s narration is seamless, prof- essional. The songs are short and the music is pleasing. I would be int- erested to see it performed.

Ekanath das (ACBSP) Bhaktivedanta Archives: You have done a superb job. It’s spiritually enlivening for the whole family.

Yadubara das (ACBSP): Thanks Parividha Prabhu. My daughter is enjoying your creations immensely. They are very professionally done. Keep them coming! I would like to one day work with you on a film.

Radha Madhava d. d. Malasya: I am so glad that I’ve bough the CD’s. They are great! I love theatre, therefore I’m so happy that you have presented KRSNA’s stories in this way. They are fantastic! I love listening to them and I can visualize the scenes on my mind. This is especially good for my future baby! My mind calms down and I am absorbed by the stories. I love this feeling! Once again, thank you! I can feel the hard work behind all the wonderful CD’s, and please have faith: they are really helping people to know more about the beauty of the Lord!!

Yaduvendu das (ACBSP) England: Prabhu you’re productions are wonderful. Kirtana Rasa and I love them and when we go to bed early we listen to them. They are nothing like the old American story tapes but are 100% professional productions, like something the BBC might be capable of if their producers were Krishna Conscious. The lines of the actors are del- ivered with such expertise, which I imagine must be due to your direct- ion and experience as a professional actor.

Sacinandana Swami: Our Krsna consciousness movement needs a cultural bas- is, because it is the human condition that it requires culture in order to grow and blossom. I’m very thankful to the devotees who supply such cultural basis in their many endeavours. Especially I welcome your talent of presenting ancient Krishna consciousness through western musicals. I think that in times to come, your productions will serve as a bridge, over which many sincere souls will walk into the blissful land of Krishna consciousness. Your last CD of Dhruva Maharaja is no exception of your musical and Krsna conscious genius.

Racitambara d. d. (ACBSP): We have your set of your CDs, but I wish we had more. My grand children listen to them all the time in the house. They love them! They sing the songs and act out the plays. It is a wonderful engagement for them and keeps them focused on Krishna’s eternal pastimes. In the Gurukula, the boys love to hear them. We also use them for Drama class. Please keep up the good work and produce more and more for the benefit of all our aspiring devotees, young and old! May Krsna bless you for such a wonderful and selfless service.

Mahaprabhu das Radhadesh: Your musicals and plays are not only very prof- essional but very devotional as well. I love to get transported into a world of transcendental pastimes of the Lord and his devotees. You must be ISKCON’s best director.

Krsna-ksetra das (ACBSP) Your Dhruva musical is a pleasure to listen to. As a musical it renders the story of Dhruva in a dramatic and entertain- ing way, highlighting the determination of the child hero to have the Lord’s darshan. It shows great promise as a way to render so much more of our tradition’s narratives, making the tradition so much more access- ible to a much wider audience than would otherwise be attracted. And of course it will be especially attractive to children. You have done a good presentation all around, and I wish you all the best for many such future productions. Haribolo!

Giridhari das (GRS) Mauritius: I have a few of your musicals and am very impressed. My family enjoy them very much.

Urmila d. d. (ACBSP): Your dramatic productions are professionally done and fascinating for both adults and children. Children who grow up list- listening to such dramatic renditions of Krishna’s pastimes come to see Krishna consciousness as fun and are far more likely to dedicate thems- elves to become devotees of Krishna than those who have not had such exposure. By absorption in Krishna’s lila through these audio recordings one comes to forget all material misery and remember the true goal of life. One is fortunate if one can have the complete set.

Madhumati d. d. New Zealand: My 3 children + husband! are in much bliss! We listen to them everyday. They love them. All my congratulations for producing such wonderful dramas and musicals. It is great credit to you + the participants. Keep producing more + I will keep purchasing! You are doing a fantastic service to all vaisnavas, great + small. Thank you.

Rati Manjari d. d. (TKG) Holland: I am a single mother who tries to give her five year old son some Krsna consciousness - and in such a way that he will not curse my attempts when he is fifteen. One powerful tool in my mission are your CD’s. Everything about them is attractive: The music, the songs, the lyrics, the covers. They are full of interesting details in the dialogues and everyone of them contains many funny jokes. When my son and I listen to your CD’s, his dreamy eyes tell me how a whole new world is opening up to him and becoming a reality, instead of merely a story in an old book. Thank you very much for your good work and I hope you will make many more.

Hari Sauri, Sitala and Rasarani: Our family love them. We listen to them often when we take prasadam.

Dhana Hong Kong: I found your Govardhana-musical CD on my shelf, which my wife bought from you and played it. It is a beautiful CD with great voices and equally catchy music. It was so good I landed up listening it twice. It creates the entire vision of Govardhana right in front of my eyes. I was so pleased that I wanted to write to you but your e-mail doesn’t show up on the CD. I searched your website on the net and thankf ully it was there. I wasn’t really feeling good this evening, but by listening to your CD I felt as if Krishna’s entire village stood there in front of my eyes in 3D. Congratulations. I have your entire collect- ion on my shelf and I am going to make time to listen to it all. Great work - so professionally done! With lots of love and regards.

Lokanath Swami: I was thinking, it was one of the first stories I was ever told as a child. The story of Dhruva Maharaja should be popularis- ed. You have nicely packaged this dramatic narration with contempor- ary western music. It’s quite a unique presentation. I really liked it.

Jagadananda das (RPS): Prabhuji, we have bought a few CD’s from you in the past. They are ecstatic. We love them! They are priceless! Espec- ially my wife, Ananda Vrindavan devi dasi can’t stop raving about them. We have Sudama Vipra, and Govardhan Hill. I checked out the previews for some of the dramas as well. We would like to buy multiple copies of some of the CDs to give as gifts to our friends and family members.

Gurubhakta dasi (ACBSP) U. S. A.: Your productions are so expertly done. Listening to them simply transports one to the transcendental world. I only wish there were many more like it! My children spend hours listen- ing to them. Your rendition of the proud brahmana was so funny. Batu Gopal happen to hear the story of Sakshi Gopala. He said: “What a nice job they did! Such nice service, and for the benefit of countless gener- ations to come. Imagine the benefit they will get for doing this. Your latest musical of Dhruva Maharaja was so very sweet. I love the lyrics and the choice of voices. It brings his story to live so perfectly. Thanks for doing this great service for all of us!

Vrajasundari d. d. (SRS) Vrindavan: I don’t know, who enjoyed the tape more. My son or my husband.

Rashmi Agrawal UK: Your CD’s have been compiled for the benefits of us children, who are only just discovering what delights lay ahead, if we would try to understand our Lord and His leelas. Your gifts have been very inspiring and am most thankful for letting me understand the beauty of the path I have chosen.

Caru Das (ACBSP) USA: Dandavats to you, your cast, and sound technicians for producing a rich spiritual celebration in the form of your latest musical of Dhruva Maharaja. We performed “Genie in the Lamp” at our Him- alayan fest. It was a big success. Four or five hundred watched it on the outdoor stage, laughed lustily at all the right times, applauding enthusiastically. It was ideal for us as the play only took five actors.

Amrita Gaurangi d. d. (JPS) Malasya: When I heard the Rukmini musical for for the first time it touched my heart. Your plays are just so real. As I am a visual person, I am seeing it all in my mind. It makes me feel closer to Krsna, as if I’m there. Thank you so much for this experience.

Sucharya d. d. (ACBSP) USA: Thanks very much for producing such wonderful pastimes of the Lord and His devotees. With your permission we used your tape for a children’s play of “Sakshi Gopal” during our last years Ratha yatra Festival in Chapel Hill, N. C. The play was a smash hit with every one and the children themselves had such a good time acting out the many parts of your drama of “Sakshi Gopal”. Many thanks to all the actors for the expert presentation of these beautiful pastimes of the Lord.

Jaya Bhadra d. d. (ACBSP) Radhadesh Belgium: I especially like that you extract scripture which is so essential. Narada’s first instructions to Dhruva could convince anyone, but it is wonderful how you portray that they didn’t persuade Dhruva. Also Dhruva’s mood towards his father and brother after he received Lord Vishnu’s darshan. And before that King Uttanapada’s heart-rending repentance and concern for Dhruva. I also like the demigods’ prayers to be relieved from being suffocated. Looks to me like you did it again prabhu — another masterpiece…

Cintamani d. d. USA: I’m the daughter of Gurubhakta. I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy listening to all of your productions. I brought them to the Gurukula a while ago, and we listen to them while we eat lunch. All the kids like them a lot. They especially loved the funny comedies. The latest musical that you finished was very nice. I liked the singers that you chose for the different parts, and everything was so professionally done. I felt as though I was actually there within the story of Dhruva Maharaja. Thank you so much for the work that you do to produce them. I hope that you continue making more of them so that we can always fill our ears with the sound of Krsna Conscious pastimes.

Hemanga das Germany: On our way back to Wiesbaden I had the time listen- ing to the musical. After the first two parts I imagined myself how wonderful preaching tool you have produced and how nice it will open the hearts for our philosophy in the western world. Mixed with this vision and the feelings of leaving Radhadesh my hairs stayed on end and I wept literally tears almost the whole way up to Liege. My dear wife had to calm me down by massaging my arm all the way.

Vinode Manjari d. d. (SDG) Belgium: I love the song you sang as Narada, describing the beauty of the Lord. You must have sung it with full devo- tion from your heart, as I want to hear it again & again. Your contrib- ution to our movement through music and drama is wonderful, enlivening, relaxing & inspiring.

Janmastami das (LOK) Belgium: Dhruva Maharaj: Good Storyline - Wonderful music - Professional sound - Amazing voices -Very good acting. The prof- essionalism throughout the whole musical is very pleasing. The wonderful voices of the singers. It’s nicely mastered and technically finalized. I appreciate the balance between the entertaining and instructive parts. What struck me is the devotion which the lyrics, the music and the perf- ormance radiate.

Lilananda das (RNS) Italy: The CD’s all sounded very professional. It seemed to me as if I was there. I hope someday I could stage them in one of the squares here in Rome. I appreciated very much the fact that the stories are very close to the way it is described in the Bhagavatam. In this way, the listeners will never forget these wonderful lilas.

Yogindra das (ACBSP) Sweden: Our Stockholm temple’s drama group has been benefited by your works prabhu. Besides being first class entertainment, they are very useful for actors specifically and ideal to be used as a soundtrack for big festivals.

Nila: Your musicals are so impressively sweet. I listened to them non- stop as a child and I still enjoy listening to them.

Lilavilasini d. d. (JPS) Italy: I can hear you have put a great amount of energy and devotion in these CD’s and I enjoy listening to them while cooking or cleaning …..

Madhavi d. d. Orlando USA: The musical CD of Kidnapping of Princess Rukm- ini was indeed a very interesting presentation on the pastimes of Lord Krishna. It is very nicely done with music and professional orchestra. The sound too was great!

Radhanuga dasi (KCS): The CD’s are very enlivening and professional. Our family loves them.

Giridhari das (SRS) Kenya: Thank you for the theatrical sound tracks. They have a clear quality. Very professional. We found them a great asset on our Hare Krishna festival tour in East and Central Africa. We were confident the wide variety of people in our audiences, Africans, Asians, students and villagers alike, were able to follow and appreciate the meanings and messages of the dramas with feeling.

Surapala das Las Vegas USA: Your productions are very unique. I think nothing like this has been done in ISKCON before. They are very profess- ionally produced, and of a high quality. Once you start to listen to one of them you cannot stop, since your curiosity grows with every minute, and you want to know what will happen next. They are enjoyable for both young and older devotees, as well as for new comers. Please make more.

Bhawesh Shaz (England):I bought a CD of Dhruva Maharaja at Bhaktivedanta Manor on Sunday. That night I listened to it in the car while taking my friends home. I am just writing to say that me and my friends happened to really enjoyed it. It made our journey very transcendental. Since then I have also listened to it at work, and the more I listen to it the more I love it. All the devotees involved have done a tremendous job of bringing the pastimes of Dhruva Maharaj & Lord Vishnu to life. The music is ecstatic and the voices are very befitting too. I particularly like yours, Gaurangi dasi’s and Kripamoya’s voice. Truly a work of Art, which I would like to see on live stage one day! I would be interested in purchasing the whole set of CD’s.

Pancaratna das (ACBSP): Your work has been a treat for our family.

Manasi ganga d. d. (Sri Mayapur International School): Our junior school students love the drama CD’s, and have used them to stage several plays for the community. Lots of devotional fun and full of humour, these CD’s are professional and versatile Vaisnava resources - ISKCON classics, in fact! My own son owed a lot of his early enthusiasm for Krishna’s past- imes to his bed-time sessions with the song of The Guards of Dwaraka from Sudama and other favourites.

Kausalya d. d. (LOK) Belgium: I know all your musicals and plays almost by heart. I can hear them in my mind. I love them!!!

Haraprana d. d. (RNS) It is really a pleasure listening to your Goverdhan musical. I can listen to it again and again, its so enlivening. Not only because it is so professionally done and has beautiful lyrics, vocals and music, but also because the pastimes become very alive, as if they mani- fest before our eyes.

Kanta d. d. (ACBSP) USA: I have loaned your CD’s to several groups, who are interested in drama and they were very well received and appreciated. Your CD’s are very nicely done. They keep you absorbed.

Kaivalya Sundari d. d. USA: I have been very inspired by your musicals. My children grew up with them. They are very professional. Both the music + lyrics are outstanding. I hope you continue with this amazing service.

Malati Priya d. d. Ireland: Your CD’s are wonderful and VERY entertaining. Over the past few years my daughter (now 10 years old) and me have been listening to them over and over again. They were a great help when I had to work and my daughter needed some entertainment, which is very hard to come by in Krsna consciousness. I’m appreciating you providing this serv- ice. Please inform us whenever you have produced another one so we can purchase it immediately!

Kalindi d. d. (BCS) USA: I started to listen to your musicals and they are great. They are so uplifting, like being actually in the spiritual world. I love listening while walking in the park. It is a great way to engage body and mind in devotional service. All glories to your service.

Vrajanath das (JPS) Mayapur: Hare Krishna. Prabhuji today I got the CDs. They are really wonderful and we are so thankful to you and the devotees who have contributed to the making of these musicals. We hope one day to have all your CD’s!

Bharat Santani Mumbai India: Both the CD’s i bought in Vrindavan are just mind blowing. The lyrics are very, very good, and once you sit to listen to it, how times flies. i cannot decide which track of the Soul Time CD is my favourite, since i like them all! i’m so grateful that i had an oppurtunity to meet you and had the chance to purchase the CD’s. The CD of Sudama is brilliant. i love the tracks “We are the guards of Dwarka”, Rukmini and Krsna and Sudama and his wife. The mahamantras on this CD is just tooooooo amazing! It feels so good. It makes your heart melt.. and u feel that separation from the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna….

Sridevi d. d. Hilo Hawaii: Your musical presentations are extraordinary. They are quite innovative and creative. What a great way to present Krsna conscious stories and philosophy. My 3 year old loves Govardhana.

Bharat Samtani India: I want to tell you that I’m just in love with the Sudama CD… It’s so amazing… The words are so sweet… It’s a beauty!

Suniti d. d. Germany: After listening to the songs, and experiencing the loving creative artistry that you have put into them, sharing your own heartfelt feelings and realizations of Sri Krsna’s sweet sweet pastimes, I’m greatly enhanced and touched. Your devotional works pour joy, gratit- ude, and a more than vivid picture of the divine Lilas into my heart and mind. A shower of nectar! Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

Lavanga manjari d. d.(GRS) USA: My sons listen to your CD’s in their room It is such a relief to hear these sound vibrations behind closed doors rather than the endless Harry Potter or other talking stories. They like to have them playing as they go to sleep. We also listen to them when we drive to the temple. Oh how we laughed at Halavananda Bhattacarya Puri Pakora Pandit - it was hilarious. My daughter of six has also listened intently and learnt from your re-enactments of Krishna’s pastimes. I am really glad I purchased these CD’s as uplifting audio material for them. They will be played many times I’m sure because they’re so entertaining.

Damodar das (BCAIS) South Africa: Thank you very much for the wonderful presentations. My family and I enjoy your CD’s very much. They are very professionally produced. I found the covers unique and expertly designed While listening, the scenes come alive, and are appealing to all of us.

… and go to ‘listen to previous programs’ and choose “14 July UFOs”

It includes a recent discussion I took part in on BBC Radio 4, on the subject of UFOs and religion.

It includes: “What challenges would the existence of aliens pose for some of the great faith traditions? And has the increased interest in UFOs coincided with a decline in religious belief? These are some of the questions he will be asking Dr David Wilkinson, Principal of St John’s College, Dr David Clarke from Sheffield Hallam University who has studied UFOlogy for many years and Radha Mohan Das from the Hare Krishna Movement.”

– ys Radha Mohan das Bhaktivedanta Manor Communications Secretary

Srila Loknatha Gosvami was born in the village of Talkhari, within the district of Jessore, Bangladesh, as the son of Sri Padmanabha Bhattacarya and his wife, Sri Sita devi. Talkhari can be reached from Sonakhali and Khejura.

Sri Padmanabha Bhattacarya was a devoted follower of Sri Adwaita Acarya, who was very fond of Sri Padmanabha. The younger brother of Lokanatha was Pragalbha Bhattacarya. His descendants are still residing at Talkhari.

From his childhood Lokanath was disinterested in worldly affairs. He decided to leave his home and came to Navadwip to have darshan of Mahaprabhu. Sri Gaursundara very lovingly embraced Lokanath and instructed him to go to Vrindavana as soon as possible. Lokanath could understand that Mahaprabhu would renounce His family life within a few days and he was aggrieved at this. Mahaprabhu consoled him and told him that they would meet again in Vrindavana.

“With tears flowing from his eyes Lokanath offered his obeisances to Mahaprabhu. The all-omniscient Lord lovingly embraced him and after explaining some hidden truths to him, He instructed him to go to Vrindavana. Thus Lokanatha, after surrendering his self at the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu, set out for Vrindavana. [B. R. 1st Taranga]

Lokanatha never returned home. Being afflicted greatly by separation from the Lord, he set out to tour the holy places, and then finally came to Vrindavana.

Meanwhile Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted sannyasa and then came to Nilacala. After some time, when Mahaprabhu set out on His tour of South India, Lokanatha, having received this news also journeyed to the south. Then Mahaprabhu came to Vrindavana; Lokanatha followed Him there. But by the time he reached Vraja? bhumi, Mahaprabhu had already left for Prayaga. Lokanatha was extremely sad. Again having missed darshan of his Prabhu, He decided to leave the next morning for Prayaga.

In a dream however, Prabhu came to console Lokanatha and requested him to stay at Vrindavana. Thus Lokanatha remained at Vrajadhama, not wanting to neglect the order of Mahaprabhu. He stayed alone, his presence unknown to anyone. But after some days he met the dear disciples of Mahaprabhu - Sri Rupa, Sri Sanatana, Sri Gopal Bhatta, Sri Bhugarbha, and others. They were all very affectionate to one another and it was as though they were of one mind.

Amongst the Goswamis, Lokanatha was the eldest. He was always intensely absorbed in loving ecstatic mellows. In Hari bhakti vilasa we find this verse: “I worship Srimate Kasisvara, Srimate Lokanath and Srimad Krsna das Kaviraj, who have taken shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Govinda and who are very dear to Sri Vrindavana.”

Lokanatha Goswami used to visit the many places of Krsna’s pastimes within Vrajadhama and in this way he was always absorbed in intense ecstasy. Lokanath came to the banks of Kisori-kunda within the village of Umrao, by the side of Chatrabon, and remained there for a few days. Lokanatha wanted very much to be able to worship the Deity form of the Lord, and Sri Krsna, who is within the heart of everyone, thus presented a Deity form of Himself to Lokanatha to worship. This Deity’s name is Radha-Vinoda. Having received this Deity, Lokanath looked up to see who had brought Him, but seeing no one present he began to reflect on the mystery of His appearance.

Seeing Lokanatha deep in thought, Radha-Vinoda laughed, “Who would have brought Me here! I have come Myself! I live here on the banks of Kisori kunda and this is My village - Umrao. Now please give me some thing to eat.”

Lokanatha was beside himself with bliss and being immersed in that ecstasy, he prepared some foodstuffs and offered them to Radha-Vinoda. Then he made a bed of flowers and made the Deity lie down to take rest. He fanned the Deity with some leaves and meditated on massaging the lotus feet of his Lord. Having surrendered his body, mind and very life itself, he was totally absorbed as though drinking a flow of honey-like nectar.

Lokanatha Goswami had no permanent abode. Some Vrajavasi villagers wanted to build a little hut for him but he wouldn’t agree. He made a bag for Radha-Vinoda which he kept around his neck. Radha-Vinoda was as though a rare gem suspended on a necklace round the neck of Lokanatha. His activities represented the crest jewel of asceticism and the other Goswamis managed to keep him in their company only by great endeavour.

It is very difficult to describe the character of Lokanatha Goswami, who was so dear to Mahaprabhu. When Mahaprabhu and some of the other Goswamis began their pastimes of disappearance, Lokanatha maintained his life only due to the desire of Mahaprabhu. Sri Lokanatha Goswami initiated Narottama dasa Thakur Mahasaya in the divine mantra. There is no mention anywhere of any other disciple of his. It is not possible to describe the care with which Narottama Thakura served his guru. In the early morning he would clean the place where his guru passed stool and urine.

Lokanatha Goswami, having become quite advanced in years, entered into his eternal pastimes, while residing at Khadir bon (Khoyra gram). There is a large lake there called Sri Yugal kunda on the banks of which his samadhi has been established. His worshipable Deities Sri Sri Radha-Vinoda are at present being worshiped in Jaipur, Rajasthan. His puspa samadhi is within the courtyard of Sri Gokulananda Mandira.

It is said that Srila Krsna das Kaviraja Goswami approached Lokanatha Goswami for his blessings and any information that he might be able to supply in order that he might satisfactorily compose Sri Caitanya- caritamrta. At that time, Lokanatha forbade Kaviraj Goswami to mention his name or describe anything about him. In order to honor the request of this great Vaisnava, he therefore didn’t write anything about him. His disappearance is on the eighth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Sravan.

Sri Narottama dasa Thakur Mahasaya has prayed at the lotus feet of his guru as follows: “Oh My Lord, Lokanatha! Please keep me at your feet, and if it pleases you, please let your glance of mercy fall upon me. I have a great longing that my mind’s desires might be fulfilled. Wherever one gets the association of Lord Caitanya, there also he gets the association of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna. If you are not merciful to me, then who will be? This time, please fulfill my mind’s desires. In the three worlds I have no one other than you. Please keep me near your lotus feet, where I might hear, day and night, your songs describing the lila of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. Without you, the desire of Narottama cannot be fulfilled.”

Hare Krsna Dear Friends,

Please accept my most humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada, our ever well wisher.

On this day of July 3, 2008 @ 5:45 PST our dear godsister, Kaumudaki dd, disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, has been lovingly guided by her spiritual master to depart this world, carried by the transcendental sound vibration HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA
KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.

In loving service
I beg to remain…

Kriyashakti dd

More pictures

Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Many of you know our dear godsister Kaumadaki devi dasi through her years of devoted service at the BBT or Legal Department in Los Angeles. She was diagnosed over 7 years ago with stage 4 ovarian cancer.

Kdd is now in her final days in a hospice facility in Burnaby, BC, just 1.5 miles from the temple. She is being lovingly cared for by our godsister Kriyashakti devi dasi. Please read the latest update from Kriya below.

Thank you for your time.

with gratitude, Nirakula dasi

Dear Friends My respects and regards to all. Jai Srila Prabhupada.

Kaumadaki dasi has made a turn in the road on this journey. This change has been happening gradually over the past week. She now has random moments of wakefulness in a dreamlike/ coma state. This is all happening on a cellular level as her body is beginning to shut down. The short poem that she wrote, responding to Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur was a superhuman effort of determination and will on her part. Her eyesight was failing and her hand could barely hold the pen. If I surprise her with an unexpected “Hare Krsna! Radhe Radhe !” when I enter the room … her eyelids flutter and she responds like a little parrot…. sometimes. Each day is different… but Mother Earth will soon feel the burden of another wonderful devotee who has left us.

Srila Prabhupada is chanting bhajan 24/7 as per her request…. as always. I have put a small earphone in one ear to make it the most prominent sound in her consciousness. Everyday, since I have been here, I protect the room with Nrsingha oil from Mayapur Dham. The nurses all comment “how nice it smells in here.” Several times during the day, I shower mist her with the sacred waters of Radha Kunda.

If there was ever a time for us to collectively petition and pray to our Srila Prahupada to please take her hand and guide her …. it is now.

Please pass this request along.

Begging to remain in service, Kriyashakti dd

Yudhisthira Maharaj said, “Oh Supreme Lord, I have heard the glories of the NirjalA EkAdasii, which occurs during the light fortnight of the month of Jyeshtha (May – June). Now I wish to hear from You about the suddha EkAdasii that occurs during the dark fortnight of the month of AshADha (June – July). Kindly describe to me all bout it in detail, Oh killer of the Madhu demon (Madhusudana).”

The Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, then replied, “Oh king, I shall indeed tell you about the best of all fasting days, the EkAdasii that comes during the dark part of the month of AshADha. Famous as Yogini EkAdasii, it removes all kinds of sinful reactions and awards supreme liberation.

“Oh best of kings, this EkAdasii delivers people who are drowning in the vast ocean of material existence and transports them to the shore of the spiritual world. In all the three worlds, it is the chief of all sacred fasting days. I shall now reveal this truth to you by narrating a history recounted in the PurANas.

“The king of AlakApuri – Kuvera, the treasurer of the devas (demigods) – was a steadfast devotee of lord Shiva. He employed a servant named HemamAli as his personal gardener. HemamAli, a Yaksha like Kuvera, was very lustfully attracted to his gorgeous wife, SwarUpavatii, who had large, enchanting eyes.

“HemamAli’s daily duty was to visit MAnasarovara Lake and bring back flowers for his master, Kuvera, with which he would use them in the puja offerings to lord Shiva. One day, after picking the flowers, HemamAli went to his wife instead of returning directly to his master and fulfilling his duty by bringing the flowers for the puja. Absorbed in loving affairs of a bodily nature with his wife, he forgot to return to the abode of Kuvera.

“Oh king, while HemamAli was enjoying with his wife, Kuvera had begun the worship of lord Shiva as normal in his palace and soon discovered that there were no flowers ready to be offered in the midday pUjA. The lack of such an important item (upachara) angered the great Koshad-yaksha
(treasurer of the devas) even more, and he asked a Yaksha messenger, ‘Why has dirty-hearted HemamAli not come with the daily offering of flowers? Go find out the exact reason and report back to me in person with your findings.’ The Yaksha returned and told Kuvera, ‘Oh dear lord, HemamAli has become lost in freely enjoying coitus with his wife.’

“Kuvera became extremely angry when he heard this and at once summoned lowly HemamAli before him. Knowing that he had been remiss and dawdling in his duty and exposed as meditating on his wife’s body, HemamAli approached his master in great fear. The gardener first paid his obeisances and then stood before his lord, whose eyes had become red with anger and whose lips trembled in rage. So enraged, Kuvera cried out to HemamAli, ‘Oh you sinful rascal! Oh destroyer of religious principles! You are a walking offense to the devas! I therefore curse you to suffer from white leprosy and to become separated from your beloved wife! Only great suffering is deservedly yours! Oh lowborn fool, leave this place immediately and betake yourself to the lower planets to suffer!’

“And so HemamAli fell at once from grace in AlakApuri and became ill with the terrible affliction of white leprosy. He awoke in a dense and fearful forest, where there was nothing to eat or drink. Thus he passed his days in misery, unable to sleep at night due to pain. He suffered in both winter and summer season, but because he continued to worship lord Shiva himself with faith, his consciousness remained purely fixed and steady. Although implicated by great sin and its attendant reactions, he remembered his past life because of his piety.

“After wandering for some time here and there, over mountains and across plains, HemamAli eventually came upon the vast expanse of the HimAlayan mountain ranges. There he had the wonderful good fortune to come in contact with the great saintly soul MarkanNDeya Rishi, the best of ascetics, whose duration of life it is said, extends to seven of the days of BrahmA.

“MarkaNDeya Rishi was seated peacefully at his Ashrama, looking as effulgent as a second BrahmA. HemamAli, feeling very sinful, stood at a distance from the magnificent sage and offered his humble obeisances and choice prayers. Always interested in the welfare of others, MarkaNDeya Rishi saw the leper and called him near, “Oh you, what sort of sinful deeds have you done to earn this dreadful affliction?’

“Hearing this, HemamAli painfully and ashamed replied, ‘Dear sir, I am a Yaksha servant of lord Kuvera, and my name is HemamAli. It was my daily service to pick the flowers from the MAnasarovara lake for my master’s worship of lord Shiva, but one day I was negligent and was late in returning with the offering because I had become overwhelmed with lusty passion for enjoying bodily pleasures with my wife. When my master discovered why I was late, he cursed me in great anger to be as I am before you. Thus I am now bereft of my home, my wife, and my service. But fortunately I have come upon you, and now I hope to receive from you an auspicious benediction, for I know that devotees such as you are as merciful as the Supreme Lord (Bhakta Vatsala) and always carry the interest of others uppermost in their hearts. That is their – your nature. Oh best of sages, please help me!’

“Softhearted MarkaNDeya Rishi replied, ‘Because you have told me the truth, I shall tell you about a fast day that will benefit you greatly. If you fast on the EkAdasii that comes during the dark fortnight of the month of AshADha, you will surely be freed of this terrible curse.’

HemamAli fell to the ground in complete gratitude and offered him his humble obeisances again and again. But MarkaNDeya Rishi stood there and lifted poor HemamAli u to his feet, filling him with inexpressible happiness.

“Thus, as the sage had instructed him, HemamAli dutifully observed the EkAdasii fast, and by its influence he again became a handsome Yaksha. Then he returned home, where he lived very happily with his wife.”

Lord Sri Krishna concluded, “So, you can readily see, Oh Yudhishthira that fasting on Yogini EkAdasii is very powerful and auspicious. Whatever merit one obtains by feeding eighty-eight thousand brahmins is also obtained simply by observing a strict fast on Yogini EkAdasii. For one who fasts on this sacred EkAdasii, she (EkAdasii Devi), destroys heaps of past sinful reactions and makes him most pious. Oh King, thus I have explained to you the purity of Yogini EkAdasii.”

Thus ends the narration of the glories of AshADha-krishna EkAdasii, or Yogini EkAdasii, from the Brahma-vaivarta PurANa.

Notes:
1/. One daytime of BrahmA (twelve hours) is said to last for one thousand cycles of the four yugas – Satya, TretA, DvArpara, and Kali. Since these four ages last 4,320,000 years, a full twenty-four hour day of BrahmA is
8,340,000,000 of our solar years, and seven of these days is 60,480,000,000 such of our years. This is MarkaNDeya Rishi’s astounding life span, the longest on this earth.

2/. The Vedic literature state:

pibanti nadyA swayam eva nA jalagM swayagM na khAdanti phalAni vrikshA nAdanti sashyagM khalu pArivAhA paropakArAya satAgM vibhUtayaH

“Just as the rivers do not drink their own water but flow for other’s benefit, just as fruit-bearing trees do not eat their own fruit but bear it for others, and just as clouds do not drink their own rain but shower it down for others, so saintly devotees live simply for others.” ChANakya PaNDita says:

SAdhUnAgM darshangM puNyagm Tiirtha-bhutAr hi sAdhavaH KAlena phalate tiirtha SadyaH sAdhu-samAgamaH

“Merely seeing a pure devotee of Lord Sri Krishna is more purifying than visiting a sacred place of pilgrimage, for while a sacred place can purify after a long time, the sight of a pure devotee purifies at once.”

3/. Because HemamAli desired to return to the heavenly planets and his wife, his observance of EkAdasii resulted in his attaining this material goal. But a devotee of Lord Krishna observes EkAdasii only with the desire to increase his devotion for the Lord, and thus he attains a spiritual result.

During her last six month’s ICU time Sarang thakur Prabhuji, Nirguna Mathaji and Sukha priya mathaji and many other devotees did all the menial services.. We would like to thank them whole heartedly.

Iskcon-Vrindavana
Temple management

Lord Sri Krishna said, “Oh king, your inquiry is wonderful because the answer will benefit the whole human society. This EkAdasii is so sublime and meritorious that even the greatest sins can be erased by its purity.

“Oh great saintly king, the name of this unlimitedly meritorious EkAdasii is AparA EkAdasii. Whoever fasts on this holy day becomes famous all over the universe. Even such sins as killing a brAhmana, a cow, or an embryo; blasphemy; or having sex with another man’s wife are completely eradicated by observing AparA EkAdasii.

“Oh king people who bear false witness are most sinful. A person who falsely or sarcastically glorifies another; one who cheats while weighing something on a scale; one who fails to execute the duties of his varna or Ashrama (an unqualified man’s posing as a brahmin, for example, or a person’s reciting the Vedas wrongly); one who invents his own scriptures; one who cheats others; one who is a charlatan astrologer, a cheating accountant, or a false Ayurvedik doctor – all these are surely as bad as persons who bears false witness, and they are all destined for hellish punishments. But simply by observing AparA EkAdasii, all such sinners become completely free of their sinful reactions.

“Warriors who fall from their kshatriya-dharma and flee the battlefield go to a ferocious hell. But, Oh Yudhishthira, even such a fallen kshatriya, if he observes fasting on the AparA EkAdasii, is freed of that great sinful reaction and goes to heaven.

“That disciple is the greatest sinner who, after receiving a proper spiritual education from his spiritual master, turns around and blasphemes him. Such a so-called disciple suffers unlimitedly. But even he, rascal though he be, if he simply observes AparA EkAdasii, can attain to the spiritual world. Listen, Oh king, as I describe to you further glories of this amazing EkAdasii.

“The merit attained by one who performs all of the following acts of piety is equal to the merit achieved by one who observes AparA EkAdasii: bathing three times daily in Pushkara-kshetra during Kartika (October-November); bathing at Prayag in the month of Magh (January-February) when the sun is in the zodiac of Capricorn; rendering service to Lord Shiva at VarANasi
(Benares) during Shiva-ratri; offering oblations to one’s forefathers at GayA; bathing in the sacred Gautami River when Jupiter transits Leo (Simha); having darshan of Lord Shiva at KedArnAtha; seeing Lord BadrinAth when the Sun transits the sign of Aquarius (Kumbha); and bathing at the time of a solar eclipse at Kurukshetra and giving cows, elephants, and gold there in charity. All the merit one gets from performing these pious acts is gained by a person who observes the AparA EkAdasii fast. Also, the merit attained by one who donates a pregnant cow, along with gold and fertile land, is attained by one who fasts on this day.

“In other words, AparA EkAdasii is an axe that cuts down the fully matured forest full of trees of sinful deeds, it is a forest fire that burns sins as if they were kindling firewood, it is the sun blazing before one’s dark misdeeds, and it is a lion stalking the meek deer of impiety.

“Therefore, Oh Yudhishthira, whoever truly fears his past and present sins must observe AparA EkAdasii very strictly. One who does not observe this fast must be born again in the material world, like one bubble among millions in a huge body of water, or like a small ant among all other species. NOTE

“Therefore one must faithfully observe the sacred AparA EkAdasii and worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Trivikrama. One who does so is freed of all his sins and promoted to the abode of Lord Vishnu.

“Oh BhArata, for the benefit of all humanity I have thus described to you this the importance of the holy AparA EkAdasii.

“Anyone who hears or reads this description is certainly freed from all kinds of sins, oh best of saintly kings, Yudhishthira.

Dandvats. Jay Srila Prabhupada.

I would like to humbly request you by falling at your feet for an prayers and your best wishes for HH Atmanivedan Maharaja’s best health.

Maharaja was doing an 4 Dhams Yatra with small group of devotees from UK up in Himalaya, where Maharaja had chest pains and underwent some basic treatment..

One of the devotees from UK Damodar Krsna Prabh (Mr. Durgesh Desai) a disciple of HH Radhanath Maharaja brought him down to Delhi by car asap and took Him this (Saturday, 24th May) early morning to private hospital for appropriate check up.

After conducting various tests, the doctor informed that Maharaja had already suffered a mild heart attack. Further tests revealed that one of Maharaja’s artery was blocked and that there is danger to his health.

Maharaja was planning to return back to UK for treatment, but doctor advised against this.

Then doctor discussed situation with Damodar Krsna Prabhu and he authorized the doctor provide Maharaja full appropriate medical treatment, and requested Maharaja should not face any problem with medication.

While, this was going on, I was kept updated in London by phone from Max Devi Devika Heart Hospital in Saket, New Delhi, by Damodar Krsna Prabhu. Treatment took place for good few hours, and Damodar Krsna Prabhu stayed at hospital and chanted for Maharaja. When Maharaja was brought out of O/T, He was in good spirits and focused on chanting the holy names.

For next few days He will remain in Max Devi Devika Heart Hospital under the supervision of the doctors.

We have arranged a phone number where Maharaja could be reached, since Damodar Krsna Prabhu will flying back to UK on Sunday morning, because he has to return back to work. We will be keeping touch with Maharaja by phone on daily basis from UK.

+91-98-73-467-480.

On behalf of HDG Srila Prabhupada, HH Bhakti Swarup Damodar Maharaja and all the Vaishnavas I would like to offer my sincere gratitude and heartfelt appreciation from bottom of my heart to His Grace Damodar Krsna Prabhu & Her Grace Rasika Mataji for taking such a wonderful care for our Atmanivedana Maharaja.

Thank you.

Ys,

Sriman Pandit das

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Just came a cross with a Geiger counter (radiation meter) in India, and found something, you may be concerned with, if you spent time in the villages, and not only, here. Most common to this days alternative to electric lights are Thorium oxide coated gas lamp mantles used in ornamental gas and kerosene pressure lanterns and gas burning camping lamps.

Production of thorium oxide coated mantles was stopped in US 18 years ago. Now it is replaced with yttrium oxide, non radioactive element. But in the places like India, it is still on the market.

Normal radiation level is 0.12 micro siemens. My Geiger counter is reporting 15.24 micro siemens next to a few packed mantles, I just got from local shop. It is 125 times above the normal level. And it is Beta and Gamma radiation, without counting Alfa. (Thorium is known as mainly Alfa emitter) The half-life of total decay for Thorium is a few billions years. That means, if we are inhaling that smoke in our longs, or ashes from old mantles remain on, or mix with mud floor, or around, in the house, it is with us forever! And if this is the case for many years, than there will be increased risk for lung cancers for first generation and 6 fingers children in the next, in the best case… So, please be careful with these things in India. Try not to be around, and do not come in direct contact with new, old mantles, ashes. Also, avoid inhalling smoke, coming from it.

Precautions from Wikipedia. org “Natural thorium decays very slowly compared to many other radioactive materials. Owning and handling small amounts of thorium, such as a gas mantle, is considered safe if care is taken not to ingest the thorium — lungs and other internal organs can be penetrated by alpha radiation. Exposure to aerosolized thorium can lead to increased risk of cancers of the lung, pancreas and blood. Exposure to thorium internally leads to increased risk of liver diseases. This element has no known biological role.”

Hope this letter meets You in good health Your humble servant Savyasachi Das

E-mail savyasachi.nrs@pamho.net E-mail radha16@gmail.com Ph. +91 (0) 992 7 000 994 (India) +91 (0) 976 00 16 32 0

In the Bhagavad Gita (7.16), Krishna says, ‘four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me — the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.’ Jim was searching for answers from the material miseries, and in such a mood took his first step towards his destiny.

The beginnings
************** Jim was instantly attracted to the Indian Swami, who was none other than Srila Prabhupada, the founder acarya of ISKCON. He had been in the U. S. A for only a year and was in the process of establishing his mission of bringing Krishna consciousness to the Western world. Jim began to regularly attend the morning Bhagvatam lectures of Srila Prabhupada. On some occasions Jim would be the only guest listening to the morning lecture. Soon he became very attached to Srila Prabhupada and his teachings. Prabhupada lovingly reciprocated and would sometimes personally cook prasadam for Jim and serve him. Soon thereafter Srila Prabhupada accepted Jim as his disciple and initiated him with the spiritual name Jayananda.

In Cc Madhya 19.151 Caitnaya Mahaprabhu says that ‘. out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.’ In this way Jayananda received the seed of devotion, out of the causeless mercy of Srila Prabhupada. From the instructions and teaching presented by Srila Prabhupada, he understood his special relationship with Krishna, with Guru, and that there is an authorized process to establish this relationship.

Attraction to Krishna consciousness
*********************************** Jayananda was completely enamored by Krishna consciousness. He would rise every day morning before four, do a little arati, chant his rounds of japa, read and cook prasad. Then he would go for his ‘incense run’ (selling incense sticks). He never deviated from this, he was completely happy as long as he was practicing Krishna consciousness.

Jayananda worshipped prasadam. When a little prasadam spilled on the floor he would lick it up. He loved to cook, eat, offer and distribute prasadam in a big way. He even said ‘prasadam’ with so much love and devotion that it made one immediately want to take some.

Another example of his attachment to Krishna consciousness was his love for the holy name. He was always seen chanting and dancing enthusiastically during kirtans. One day after working hard for ten hours straight, when all the other devotees were looking forward to some rest, Jayananda enthusiastically bounced into the temple room for kirtan. His japa was very intense, very focussed, as he strove to personally associate with each and every syllable of the mahamantra.

In Bhakti-rasamrta sindhu, Srila Rupa Goswami mentions that the process of sadhna bhakti begins with a little faith (sraddha). This faith then blossoms into a desire for devotee association (sadhu-sanga) and then into bhajan-kriya (devotional service).

Similarly, Jayananda, after receiving the association of Srila Prabhupada and other devotees at the temple began to execute devotional service as per the instructions he received from his spiritual master. As he executed his sadhna sincerely, he became purified of the material impediments to devotional service(anartha-nivrttih) and began to manifest the all-attractive qualities of a pure devotee.

Humility
******** Humility was certainly Jayananda’s most prominent quality. He treated everyone as his superior, even new devotees. Although his service was glorious, he never wanted any glory. He avoided praise like the plague. Devotees got to know that if they wanted to keep Jayananda’s association they would better not praise him. His humility was very natural and he always found something other than himself that was praiseworthy. Even though he was a senior devotee, older than most of the people around him and eminently qualified, he was happy to simply serve.

Once a new boy at the temple wanted to do some service and was asked to help with the trash. The weekly trash run was done by Jayananda, who cheerfully took the little help the boy gave. Later when the boy became a devotee, he remembered thinking, ‘If the garbage men at this temple can be so blissful, just imagine what the rest of the devotees are like!’

Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in the third verse of Siksastakam lays down the qualification for offenseless chanting. ‘One can chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking himself lower than the straw in the street. One should be more tolerant than the tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.’ Jayananda exemplified this verse. He was so humble that just being in his association would make one feel ashamed of one’s pride. He was very special, yet no one paid any special attention to him. That was just the way he liked things.

Service attitude
**************** Jayananda was an expert at everything: cooking, preaching, Deity worship, public relations, sankirtan, selling incense, construction, and anything that it took to spread Krishna consciousness. He was a tireless worker, first to rise in the morning and last to sleep at night. He was always running out to get flowers, washing dishes, cleaning the kitchen or taking out the trash. Whatever service he was given, he would make sure that it was done, no matter how busy he was or how much personal hardships he had to endure for it. No matter how hard he was working, he would never stop for a nap during the day. He seemed inexhaustible.

Many times when Jayananda went to Berkley to distribute leftover prasadam, he would first organize a crew to clean the kitchen, working twice as hard as anybody else, then he would transfer the prasadam, load it into the van, drive it to Berkley, organize the distribution there and have kirtan while all this was going on. Many years later he readily accepted the position of the driver for the Radha Damodar travelling sankirtan party, working side by side with brahmacharis scarcely half his age. In spite of his advanced position and seniority he never asked for anything special and readily accepted menial position under new devotees.

In the Vishnu purana, Sri Krishna informs Arjuna that ‘one who claims to be My devotee is actually not My devotee. One who claims to be the devotee of my devotees is in actuality My devotee’. Jayananda completely manifested this quality. He was always striving to be the ‘dasanudasa’, the servant-of-the-servant. But there was no artificial humility in him. Material humility is relative, it is predicated on the qualifications of the recipients. Jayananda had spiritual humility, it was absolute, without any consideration of the status or qualities of the recipient. He served every one and expected no one to serve him.

The process of remembering, discussing or enumerating the qualities and pastimes of the Lord and His devotees is very purifying. This week we continue the discussion of the qualities of Jayananda Prabhu, who in the relatively short time he was associated with Krishna consciousness, perfected his devotional service and left us many instructions by example.

Freedom from fault finding
************************** Perhaps the most defining characteristic of Jayananda was that he never criticized anyone. Even if a devotee did something that warranted criticism, he would usually not say anything, or else make the mistake appear as something perfectly natural. He never spoke harsh words or chastised anybody. Sometimes devotees would come to him with expansive ideas of how to spread Krishna consciousness. Jayananda would encourage these ideas, however extraordinary. At the same time he was not a fool. He could always pick up the right man for the job.

In the Nectar of Instruction (Verse 5), Srila Rupa Goswami says, ‘one should associate with and faithfully serve that pure devotee who is advanced in undeviated devotional service and whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others.’ Jayananda could not even bear to hear the criticism of another devotee. If such a thing were happening he would simply leave the room. These are the characteristics of an uttama-adhikari, one who has reached the highest level of perfection in his sadhana bhakti.

Dear to everyone
**************** Like the six Goswamis, Jayananda was dear to both the gentle and the ruffians. He was as much at home with the Italians at the produce market as he was with the Brahmacharis at the temple. Once a devotee was approached by a staggering drunk in San Francisco, who looked at his robes and asked, ‘Hey, where is my old friend Jayananda?’

Many devotees who took over Jayananda’s old territory would meet people who would say things like, ‘Where is Johnny Ananda?’ or ‘That man - he’s the nicest and most pure man I’ve met’ or ‘I don’t know much about your philosophy, but if Jayananda is into it, it must be all right.’

One woman public official on the San Francisco board was famous for giving the devotees a hard time during Ratha-yatra. One year when the devotees approached her, she asked, ‘where is Jayananda?’ On hearing that he had passed away she broke down and began to cry. The purity in Jayananda’s heart would touch the even most cynical.

In BG 5.7, Sri Krishna says that ‘One who works in devotion, who is a pure soul, and who controls his mind and senses is dear to everyone, and everyone is dear to him. Though always working, such a man is never entangled.’ Every one loved Jayananda, since he had completely transcended the bodily conception. He would approach a drunk, a hippie or a devotee with the same compassion and enthusiasm. He spoke to the Supersoul in everyone, and everyone responded accordingly. Like Maharaja Yudhisthira, Jayananda’s enemy was never born.

Expert at engaging everyone
**************************** It is said that though Krishna has nothing to do with non-devotees, His devotees are even more compassionate than Him and will try and engage them in the Lord’s service. Jayananda was eager to see everyone engaged in Krishna’s service. Whenever a new bhakta would come. Jayananda made him feel he was engaged in important work. He was older, bigger and stronger than just about anyone in the temple, and everyone was glad to be working under him.

His preaching style was very simple and direct. He would speak from the heart to the heart. Once he was preaching to a couple of hippies, while crawled under an automobile. All that was visible of him was a pair of legs, yet the two hippies stood there, transfixed by his message. During Ratha-yatra time he would organize a crew of cynics, hippies, bloopers, uncooperative personalities and non-devotees off the street to help build the carts. He would get them to work for ten to fourteen hours a day, always glorifying them.

The Cc Antya 7.11 it is stated, ‘The fundamental religious system in the Age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of Krishna. Unless empowered by Krishna, one cannot propagate the sankirtana movement.’ Because of the genuine compassion in Jayananda, Krishna gave Him the unique ability to make people want to render devotional service, directly or indirectly.

Materially renounced
******************** Jayananda had almost no possessions, even during his years as a householder. What ever he had, he used for the service of the temple and Srila Prabhupada. When he was gifted five thousand dollars, he promptly donated that to Srila Prabhupada. In the introduction of the Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada acknowledges this contribution. For many years he was almost single handedly supporting the temple by driving his cab for 12-14 hours a day. When he was in his last days of his life, he used the money given to him for his treatment to support the Ratha-yatra in Los Angeles.

He was extremely careful with what he considered to be Srila Prabhupada’s money. When selling incense, he would sleep on park benches in bitter cold rather than spend money on a motel. He used his considerable charm to get people to donate almost every thing that was needed. What he could no get for free, he made sure that he received a good value for the money spent.

His final lesson in material detachment came when it was discovered that he was suffering from cancer of the lymph and blood. Jayananda continued as if nothing had changed. When his body became frail and weak, he continued preaching, inspiring and organizing from his bed in the hospital. For him the body was simply a means to render devotional service to the Lord.

In Cc. Madhya 6.254 Caitanya Mahaprabhu summarizes in the phrase ‘vairagya-vidya-nija-bhakti-yoga’, which means ‘renunciation through the wisdom that comes from practicing devotional service.’ Jayananda was a true sannyasi, as one who did not just renounce material objects but actually renounced the desire for these material objects. He was always eager to use everything for the service of Krishna, however he had no personal desire for anything material.

Jayananda: king of the Ratha-yatra
*********************************** Jayananda was the backbone of the Bay area Ratha-yatra for several years. Behind the scene he would do everything for the preparation of the festival. He would beg food, flowers, funds - buy materials and build the carts. He would arrange for the permits, organize the cooking and serving of prasad. Although things always went right down the wire, he would consistently succeed in fulfilling all this plans every year. After the festival he would cook a cake or a pie for each and every person who had some how helped in the festival. Because of his efforts the Bay area devotees to this day enjoy an amazingly harmonious relationship with the city officials.

In his last days Jayananda was busy organizing the Ratha-yatra from the hospital bed. He would talk to people on the phone, send his associates to meet various persons and things began to miraculously materialize. Every moment of his life was preciously used in the service of Krishna.

Mystic opulence
***************** It is said that pure devotional service brings about much opulence. Thought the devotees never seek them out, once they are there, they are used for the service of Krishna.

Jayananda apparently could function with very little or even no sleep. Towards the last few days of the Ratha-yatra he would sleep less than three hours a day, yet he was the most energetic and enlivened member of the crew. His propensity to consume prasad was astounding. He could consume buckets of halva, plates of samosas and potatoes without any side effect. When he was in his last days, he was put on an intravenous diet, yet he would often ask devotees to sneak in huge quantities of samosas and cheese-potatoes for him, which he would happily consume without any apparent distress. He would some times sleep in the Bhagavatam classes, since he was very tired, yet later on he could perfectly quote from the class or have a deep discussion about its contents.

In BG 4.26, Sri Krishna declares that, ‘One who is engaged in full devotional service, unfailing in all circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.’ In the N? rada-pancaratra, devotional service to the Lord is likened unto a queen attended by her maidservants in the form of material opulences, liberation and mysticism. Jayananda never had any hankering for these, but when they came, he simply used them in the service of Krishna.

Special relationship with Srila Prabhupada
****************************************** Jayananda has complete faith in Srila Prabhupada. He perfected his devotion by making the instructions of Srila Prabhupada the very core of his life. He was advanced enough to realize that real association was through following the instructions of the spiritual master. Unlike most of the other devotees, who would go out of their way to get some personal association of Srila Prabhupada, Jayananda was contend to work in the background, carrying out his instructions. He exemplified the superiority of association by vani
(instructions) over vapu (personal association). Srila Prabhupada would invariably call of Jayananda when he was in the temple. Jayananda would resist saying, ‘No, I cannot go. I am too dirty. I am too fallen,’ such were the transcendental exchanges between the spiritual master and his dear disciple.

In Cc. Madhya 19.151, Caitanya Mahaprabhu says that, ‘Among all the living entities wandering throughout the universe, one who is most fortunate comes in contact with a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus gets the opportunity to execute devotional service.’ Jayananda was one of these fortunate souls who came in contact with a pure devotee of the Lord and under his guidance was able to perfect his devotional life.

Conclusion
********** Jayananda passed away on May 1, 1977. He joined the Krishna consciousness movement in 1967, just when it is in its beginning, and left the planet a few months before Srila Prabhupada. In the scriptures it is said that when the pure devotees of the Lord appear to execute His will, their associates invariably accompany them. One cannot help but speculate that Jayananda had only come to serve his eternal spiritual master. The fact that Srila Prabhupada was on this planet at the time of his passing away is also significant. It let Srila Prabhupada affirm that ‘every one should follow the example of Jayananda.’

We offer our most humble obeisances to Sri Srimad Jayananda Prabhu, the exemplary teacher of devotional service in Krishna consciousness.

by Hariballabha dasi and Sulabha dasi

Rohini devi dasi, a Prabhupada disciple, who has performed decades of dedicated service in the German yatra, primarily doing book distribution and Deity worship, has been hospitalized with third degree burns to 30% of her body. This happened when her sari caught fire on the altar in the temple in Vienna during arati.

She has received one skin transplant and is scheduled for at least one more and is expected to remain in the hospital for at least another 6 weeks. Rohini is currently on a ventilator and not able to talk, but she communicates by writing and has let visitors know that she greatly appreciates and draws strength from hearing from devotees. The best way to contact her is to send emails to temple@radha-govinda.net (Please add “To Rohini” in the header to make sure they are printed out and brought to her.)

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

It is with great pleasure we would like to announce the dates for Sri Jagannatha Snana Yatra and Ratha-Yatra in London. Please make a note in your diary or calendar of these two importants events. This year will be the
40th Anniversary of our London Ratha Yatra, so please join us in commemorating this spiritual milestone.

Sri Jagannatha Snana Yatra will take place on the Sunday 8th June 2008 at Bhaktivedanta Manor starting at 9am.

Sri Jagannatha Ratha-Yatra will take place on the Sunday 22nd June 2008. The procession will begin at 12pm at Hyde Park Corner in London, with an ecstatic festival at Trafalgar Square.

For further information you are welcome to visit our website at www. rathayatra. co. uk or respond to this email.

If you are in Europe, then there are cheap flight tickets you can get by checking on the internet with the following web sites. You can get these cheap tickets if you book well in advance. Make a day or weekend trip by flying with these airlines.

1. www. ryanair. com

2. www. easyjet. com

We look forward to your association.

Your servants,

The Ratha-Yatra Festival Committee

This is a reminder that we are having an exciting European Communications Seminar and it would be great if you could come and give and take association with other devotees who are also interested in Communications preaching. Looking foward to seeing many of you in Radhadesh!

ys, Mahaprabhu dasa

NEW we will visit Brussels on the 24th of April seeing places like the Cathedral (with Guided Tour), Grand Place, European Parliament.

I am happy to announce and invite you all to the European Communications Seminar 2008 which will be a wonderful opportunity to associate with devotees from all over Europe who are doing important Communications preaching; to learn from experienced and expert devotees on different topics as well as guests who will bring their expertise and different angle on certain topics; and to share your realizations, successes as well as challenges.

The Seminar will focus on some important issues and topics for all those doing Communications preaching.

Some of the highlights of the Seminar are:

Anuttama prabhu (International Minister for Communications) Will begin the Seminar with a presentation on “What is Communications all about?” discussing the underlying principles and values of Communications preaching and will close the Seminar with a discussion on “Toward a Global Strategy: Puting Theory into Practice” concluding with practical suggestions on how to improve our Communications strategies and network worldwide.

Saunaka Rsi prabhu (Director of the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies and Communications Director for Europe from 1987 to 2003) will give us a historical and analytical account of Communications preaching in Europe as well as realizations and experiences in pioneering the ISKCON Interfaith dialogue in Europe.

Gauri prabhu (Temple President from Bhaktivedanta Manor)-”Am I a Hindu” will discuss the issue of Hindu Identity for ISKCON leaders and followers.

Vinnay Tanna (In Charge of Communications-Bhaktivedanta Manor)- “The costs of flirting with Hindu organizations”.

Vyenkata Batta (Director of ISKCON Communications US)- “Revisiting the Blind Man Lame man analogy” will make a presentation on seeing ISKCON and Hinduism through the eyes of a second generation diasporic Hindu and ISKCON’s opportunities in seeking their participation

Yadunandana prabhu- (Principal of Bhaktivednata College) Will bring us to higher spiritual consciousness by organizing a retreat for all the Participants

Mahaprabhu dasa (your servant)-European Issues like the Hindu Forum of Europe, Communications Publications, Report on State/Religious organizations/ISKCON relationship through out Europe, Yatra Representation, etc.

1 Representative per Yatra will have an opportunity to speak for aprox 10 minutes to present the Communications successes and chalenges of their Yatra preferably with visual support (powerpoint) or at least a written report.

Special Guests:

Interfaith Patrick Hanjoul (President of URI Europe as well as Bond Zonder Naam a very influential catholic organization in Belgium) will speak about his realizations and experiences in interfaith dialogue and will briefly present the activities of United Religions Initiative.

Two different perspectives on Hindu Nationalism Koenraad Elst is a scholar from Antwerpen, Belgium specializing in Hindu Nationalism and has given many public presentations and written papers on the subject. Professor Ram Prasad Chakravarthy teaches in the University of Lancaster in the UK.

Religious Freedom Willy Fautre is the Director of Human Rights without Frontiers and is a specialist in religious freedom issues. He will give an update on religious freedom in Europe.

European Communications Seminar 2008

Dates : 22 till 26 April

Place : Radhadesh, Belgium

Costs: 150 euros per person on shared rooms in the Guest House from 21st till 27th of April. This price includes the conference, prasadam, one day visit to Brussels with prasadam and one lunch in the Radhadesh restaurant.
(for double rooms 200 euros and for single rooms 250 euros).

New: Cost 120 euros for dormitory facilities in the Guest House.

Themes: “Interfaith: Being Proactive Amid 21st Century Pluralism” “The Hindu Polemic: Yes, No, or All of the Above” “European Issues and Country Reports”

Organizer: Ministry of Communications and Iskcon Communications Europe

This year’s Seminar will focus on the practical application of a communications strategy, in our own local, as well as a pan-European context.

We will look at the opportunities presented by the increasing global interest in interfaith dialogue, hear reports how ISKCON is taking a leading role in some regions, and analyse how to improve interfaith work in different countries.

Second, we will return to the question of ISKCON identity to understand how to better position ourselves as a voice for eastern monotheism. We know that pure devotion transcends worldly designations, but living in this world of names, how do we function effectively as communicators?

We will also hear reports from our fellow communicators about recent successes and challenges they have faced, and work to develop a cohesive strategy for moving forward in 2008-9.

For registration, bookings and transport please contact Rasa Parayana prabhu at the Radhadesh Guesthouse: Radhadesh.Guesthouse@pamho.net

For any further enquiries on the Seminar please contact me at: Mahaprabhu.be@pamho.net

The Seminar will be followed by a Communications Course at the Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesh from the 27th of April till the 2nd of May. For more registration and further information please contact Bhaktivedanta College website: www. bhaktivedantacollege. com

TRAVEL When you are in Belgium, how to travel to Radhadesh?

Radhadesh Guesthouse Petite Somme 5
6940 SEPTON DURBUY BELGIUM

0032(0)86.387131

Radhadesh.guesthouse@pamho.net

*From Airports:

By Taxi (private pickup service):

For our pickup service please confirm by e-mail to radhadesh.guesthouse@pamho.net or with the driver directly via krishnapandu@hotmail.com , when you want to be picked up and where you will be arriving.

***IMPORTANT*** Please remember that there are *2* airports near Brussels. One is called ‘Brussels International’ ( Zaventem) and is very close to the city centre. The other is called ‘Charleroi’ *or* ‘BRUSSELS SOUTH’. This airport is a little bit closer to Radhadesh.
*PLEASE* check which airport you are going to. Sometime there is confusion between Brussels International (Zaventem) & Brussels South (Charleroi). These 2 airports are a long way apart so please confirm which one you are arriving at. This is to avoid long waits, which can occur if we get incorrect information. Give us details of where you want to be picked up from. Please give your flight information: flight number, arrival date, departure date & airport
(or station).

Prices - ONE WAY [calculated at 0.30 euro/km]

*Zaventem - 70 Euro *Charleroi - 55 Euro *Airport Luxembourg - 90 Euro *Liege - 30 Euro *Namur - 30 Euro *Marloie - 13 Euro *Barvaux - 6 Euro

By Train:

From Brussels there is a train every hour to Arlon-Luxembourg. This train stops in Marloie, which is the station to get off. The price for the train from Brussels to Marloie is about 15.00 Euros. From Marloie you can phone to 0032(0)86/387131 (Radhadesh Guesthouse: from
10 a. m. to 5 p. m. daily) or 0032(0)494-384171 (Pandu Vijaya prabhu) and a devotee will pick you up from the train station.

*From Liege:

From Liege there is a train to Barvaux every 2 hours (direction Jemelle). For pick up : please contact the driver (see above) 1 hour before arrival.

By Car:

*From Brussels

Take motorway direction Namen-Luxemburg. After Namen take Marche exit. Drive into Marche. In Marche take the N63 - direction Liège (Luik). Exit Somme-Leuze. In Somme-Leuze drive direction Durbuy . Next follow the signs Petite Somme and Château de Petite Somme (Radhadesh) on the left.

*From Maastricht

Follow direction Namen (E40). Turn left at the fork E40 Seraing/Flémalle. Exit Flémalle and drive into Flémalle. After the roundabout in Flémalle cross the Meuse (river) and follow direction Marche until you are on the N63, Luik-Marche. On N63 take Somme Leuze exit. Next follow the signs Petite Somme and Château de Petite Somme.

*From Liege

In Liege take the N63 - direction Marche. Exit Somme-Leuze. Next follow the signs Petite Somme and Château de Petite Somme.

For the pleasure of their Lordship “Sri Sri Prahlad-Nrsimho”, we want to make a special effort through book-distribution. There will be a Marathon from:

Monday 28th of April untill Saturday the 10th May. You are all invited to participate and contribute!!!

Give your results to your respective local scores-masters or to me in pamhO-net or phone: 0049-2841-41911; latest at Saturday (10.05) 20:00 No book is lost.

We all will meet at Simhacalam at Narasimha-caturdasi (17./18.05) to offer our scores to the Lord and Srila Prabhupada. We hope to meet you there.

Details for the festival will be posted by the management from the Simhacalam-dhamvasis.

We wish you a nice and successfull Narasimha-Marathon, yours the servants from the German Sankirtan

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

On the auspicious day of Gaura Purnima, March 21st Purnacandra Dasa became Purnacandra Goswami. He received sannyasa danda from Hiss Holiness Mukunda Goswami in Sri Sri Radha-Giridhari Temple (Auckland, New Zealand).

Hundreds devotees witnessed this wonderful ceremony and then all merged into kirtana leaded by Sri Prahlad Prabhu.

We all wish the best to new sannyasi and hope that he will share his realizations in Krsna Consciousness with us and will please Srila Prabhupada, Guru Parampara and Krsna with his preaching activities.

Haribolo!

Your servant, Dina Bandhu Dasa

“Rama has mighty arms that extend down to his knees, and His throat is marked with three auspicious lines like those on a canticle. He has high and broad shoulders, a wide chest, a beautifully formed head, a graceful forehead, powerful jaws, and deeply embedded collarbones. His eyes are large. He is majestically medium-tall in stature, and all His limbs are well formed and symmetrical. His bodily complexion is greenish and has a great luster. His intelligence is unfathomable, His manner is grave, and His speech is superb in tone and eloquence.

“Lord Rama has a supremely pure character and is a follower of true religious principles. He is full in self-realization, and is the upholder of varnasrama-dharma. Truly, He is the support of the entire universe. He is simultaneously the destroyer of all foes and the only shelter for those who are fully surrendered. Lord Rama is the absolute knower of the Vedas. Furthermore, He is fully conversant with the use of all weapons. He possesses unflinching determination and is a genius with unfailing memory. Indeed, His learning is without bounds. He is wise, compassionate and heroic in battle. He is loved by all creatures and is impartial toward friends and foes alike. He is grave like an ocean.

In fortitude He is like the Himalayan Mountains. In strength He is like Lord Visnu. In beauty He is like the moon. In forbearance He is like the earth, and in anger He is like the fire that blazes forth at the time of universal destruction. In wealth He is like Kuvera, and in devotion He is like Dharma, the lord of righteousness.”

(from the beginning of Ramayana)

1838 - 1914

“Those who think that devotion to God and kindness to living entities are different to each other and act accordingly in their life will not be able to follow devotional culture. Their attempt is only a resemblance of devotion.

All types of beneficence to others like kindness, friendliness, forgiveness, charity and respect are included in devotion to God. Giving shelter during adversity; teaching academic and spiritual education; giving charity of medicine, clothes, food and water are activities included in devotional culture

(Sri Tattva-sutram, 35)

To view the latest Bhaktivedanta Manor Newsletter, please visit the temple website homepage:
www.krishnatemple.com or download it directly from here

–
Yours sincerely
Radha Mohan das

Rupa Raghunatha Prabhu left his body on Shivaratri day, last Thurdsay afternoon.

He was one of the first devotees in former Soviet Union. He was in the second group that got initiated by Harikesh. It was in 1978.

He preached in many places in eighties. Including Russia, Armenia, Estonia, Latvia. Many times he was “invited” into KGB. He is very well known in both former SU and India. Only in western countries he is not known so much.

We all miss him a lot as he was a very kind person.

He left this world peacefully in his bed looking at the altar.

The official reason is asphyxia. He had a deformed body since the birth and his lungs didn’t feel very well in this body…

We will create a little homepage for him here http://krishna.ee/rupa/

I will also upload his latest lecture in Russian language given two weeks ago.

Some pictures:

http://krishna.ee/DSCF0023.jpg
http://krishna.ee/IMG_0110.jpg
http://krishna.ee/IMG_0111.jpg
http://krishna.ee/IMG_0112.jpg
http://krishna.ee/ind-tajmahal3.jpg

Your servant, Abhirama das

Please Accept My Humble Obeisances All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

I would be very obliged if someone could help me with material or ideas on how to convince Jehovah’s witnesses on the authenticity of our faith.

They regard Deity worship as paganism and consider that all other faiths are misled by the Devil. They seem to derive a lot of this from their version of the Bible and from some book called Daniel’s prophecies.

It would be very helpful if someone who has been in this faith before can provide ideas and guidance to me in this endeavour.

Their people are not ready to take the name of Krishna also. They believe that only Yahweh is the Name of the Lord and no other Name is revealed or bonafide.

Your servant in the service of Guru and Gauranga

Mahaprabhu Caitanya Das ( K.S. Mahesh K.S.Mahesh@pamho.net)

King Mandhata once said to Vasishtha Muni, “O great sage, kindly be merciful to me and tell me of a holy fast that will benefit me eternally.” Vasishtha Muni replied. “O king, kindly listen as I describe the best of all fast days, Amalakii EkAdasi. He who faithfully observes a fast on this EkAdasii obtains enormous wealth, gets free of the effects of all kinds of sins, and attains liberation. Fasting on this EkAdasii is more purifying than donating one thousand cows in charity to a pure brAhmana. So please hear me attentively as I tell you the story of a hunter who, though daily engaged in killing innocent animals for his living, achieved liberation by observing a fast on Amalakii EkAdasii and following the prescribed rules and regulations of worship.

“There was once a kingdom named VaidishA, where all the brAhmanas, kshatriyas, vaishyas, and shudras were equally endowed with Vedic knowledge, great bodily strength, and fine intelligence. Oh lion among kings, the whole kingdom was full of Vedic sounds, not a single person was atheistic, and no one sinned. The ruler of this kingdom was King PAshabinduka, a member of the dynasty of Soma, the moon. He was also known as Chitraratha and was very religious and truthful. It is said that King Chitraratha had the strength of ten thousand elephants and that he was very wealthy and knew the six branches of Vedic wisdom perfectly.

“During the reign of Maharaja Chitraratha, not a single person in his kingdom attempted to practice another’s dharma (duty) so perfectly engaged in their own dharmas were all the brAhmanas, kshatriyas, vaisyas, and sudras. Neither miser nor pauper was to be seen throughout the land, not was there every drought or flood. Indeed, the kingdom was free of disease, and everyone enjoyed good health. The people rendered loving devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vishnu, as did the king, who also rendered special service to Lord Shiva. Moreover, twice a month everyone fasted on EkAdasii.

“In this way, O best of kings, the citizens of VaidishA lived many long years in great happiness and prosperity. Giving up all varieties of materialistic religion, they completely dedicated themselves to the loving service of the Supreme Lord, Hari.

“Once, in the month of Phalguna (February - March), the holy fast of Amalakii EkAdasii arrived, conjoined with DvAdasi. King Chitraratha realised that this particular fast would bestow especially great benefit, and thus he and all the citizens of VaidishA observed this sacred EkAdasii very strictly, carefully following all the rules and regulations.

“After bathing in the river, the king and all his subjects went to the temple of Lord Vishnu, where an Amalakii tree grew. First the king and his leading sages offered the tree a pot filled with water, as well as a fine canopy, shoes, gold, diamonds, rubies, pearls, sapphires, and aromatic incense. Then they worshiped Lord ParashurAma with these prayers: ‘Oh Lord ParashurAma, Oh son of RenukA, Oh all-pleasing one, Oh liberator of the worlds, kindly come beneath this holy Amalakii tree and accept our humble obeisances.’

Then they prayed to the Amalakii tree: ‘Oh Amalakii, Oh offspring of Lord BrahmA, you can destroy all kinds of sinful reactions. Please accept our respectful obeisances and these bumble gifts. O Amalakii, you are actually the form of Brahman, and you were once worshiped by Lord RAmachandra Himself. Whoever circumambulates you is therefore immediately freed of all his sins.’

“After offering these excellent prayers, King Chitraratha and his subjects remained awake throughout the night, praying and worshiping according to the regulations governing a sacred EkAdasii fast. It was during this auspicious time of fasting and prayer that a very irreligious man approached the assembly, a man who maintained himself and his family by killing animals. Burdened with both fatigue and sin, the hunter saw the king and the citizens of VaidishA observing Amalakii EkAdasii by performing an all-night vigil, fasting, and worshiping Lord Vishnu in the beautiful forest setting, which was brilliantly illuminated by many lamps. The hunter hid nearby, wondering what this extraordinary sight before him was. ‘What is going on here?’ he thought. What he saw in that lovely forest beneath the holy Amalakii tree was the Deity of Lord DAmodara being worshiped upon the Asana of a waterpot, and what he heard were devotees singing sacred songs describing Lord Shri Krishna’s transcendental forms and pastimes. Despite himself, that staunchly irreligious killer of innocent birds and animals spent the entire night in great amazement as he watched the EkAdasii celebration and listened to the glorification of the Lord.

“Soon after sunrise, the king and his royal retinue - including the court sages and all the citizens - completed their observance of EkAdasii and returned to the city of VaidishA. The hunter then returned to his hut and happily ate his meal. In due time the hunter died, but the merit he had gained by fasting on Amalakii Ekadasii and hearing the glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as well as by being forced to stay awake all night, made him eligible to be reborn as a great king endowed with may chariots, elephants, horses, and soldiers. His name was VasUratha, the son of King VidUratha, and he ruled over the kingdom of Jayanti.

“King VasUratha was strong and fearless, as effulgent as the Sun, and as handsome as the Moon. In strength he was like Shri Vishnu, and in forgiveness like the Earth itself. Very charitable and every truthful, King VasUratha always rendered loving devotional service to the Supreme Lord, Shri Vishnu. He therefore became very well versed in Vedic knowledge. Always active in the affairs of state, he enjoyed taking excellent care of his subjects, as though they were his own children. He disliked pride in anyone and would smash it when he saw it. He performed many kinds of sacrifices, and he always made certain that the needy in his kingdom received enough charity.

“One day, while hunting in the jungle, King VasUratha strayed from the footpath and lost his way. Wandering for some time and eventually growing weary, he paused beneath a tree and, using his arms as a pillow, fell asleep. As he slept, some barbarian tribesmen came upon him and, remembering their longstanding enmity toward the king, began discussing among themselves various ways to kill him. ‘It is because he killed our fathers, mothers, brothers-in-law, grandsons, nephews, and uncles that we are forced to aimlessly wander like so many madmen in the forest.’ So saying, they prepared to kill King VasUratha with various weapons, including spears, swords, arrows, and mystic ropes.

“But none of these deadly weapons could even touch the sleeping king, and soon the uncivilised, dog-eating tribesmen grew frightened. Their fear sapped their strength, and before long they lost what little intelligence they had and became almost unconscious with bewilderment and weakness. Suddenly a beautiful woman appeared from the king’s body, startling the aborigines. Decorated with many ornaments, emitting a wonderful fragrance, wearing an excellent garland around her neck, her eyebrows drawn in a mood of fierce anger, and her fiery red eyes ablaze, she looked like death personified. With her blazing chakra discus she quickly killed all the tribal hunters, who had tried to slay the sleeping king.

“Just then the king awoke, and seeing all the dead tribesmen lying around him, he was astonished. He wondered, ‘These are all great enemies of mine! Who has slain them so violently? Who is my great benefactor?’

“At that very moment he heard a voice from the sky: ‘You ask who helped you. Well, who is that person who alone can help anyone is distress? He is none other than Sri Keshava, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He who saves all who take shelter of Him without any selfish motive.’

“Upon hearing these words, King VasUratha became over-whelmed with love for the Personality of Godhead Shri Keshava (Krishna). He returned to his capital city and ruled there like a second lord Indra (king of the heavenly regions), without any obstacles at all.

“Therefore, Oh King Mandhata,” the venerable Vasishtha Muni concluded, “… anyone who observes this holy Amalakii EkAdasii will undoubtedly attain the supreme abode of Lord Vishnu, so great is the religious merit earned from the observance of this most sacred fast day.”

Thus ends the narration of the glories of Phalguna-sukla Ekadasi, or Amalaki Ekadasi, from the Brahmanda Purana.
—————————————–

Madhavendra Puri

During Nityananda Prabhu’s tour of all the holy places of India for the purpose of purifying them, by the will of providence, he happened to meet Madhavendra Puripada somewhere in western India. When Nityananda Prabhu saw Madhavendra Puri Goswami he fainted away in a swoon of ecstatic love and His transcendental body became completely still. Similarly, when Madhavendra Puri gazed upon Nityananda Prabhu, he completely forgot himself and fainted to the ground. Sri Gaurcandra used to repeatedly remark that, in relishing the mellows of love in devotion, there is no one to compare with Madhavendra Puri. When the disciples of Madhavendra Puri, headed by Isvara Puri, saw their spiritual master and the Prabhu fallen in a faint of ecstatic love, they began to cry. Gradually, Nityananda Prabhu and Madhavendra got back their external consciousness. When their eyes opened and they again got sight of one another, they put their arms around each other’s necks and cried tears of joy. Then they began to roll in the sandy earth carried by the waves of ecstatic love, while rending the sky with their loud roaring. As a river of love began to flow from their eyes, Mother Earth considered herself to be blessed in being flooded by that inundation. With the appearance of the transformations brought by bhava, trembling, tears, and standing of the hairs on end, it could be understood that their bodies had become a place of pastimes for Caitanya Gosai.

Nityananda exclaimed, “Today I have received the fruit of all my travels to the holy places. In seeing the feet of Madhavendra Puri, I have received the treasure of love of God, and thus my life has become blessed.”

Madhavendra Puri continued to embrace Nityananda Prabhu tightly to his chest. He wanted to say something but his voice was choked up due to experiencing intense emotions. Isvara Puri, Brahmananda Puri and the other disciples of Sri Puripada present, became completely enamored by Nityananda Prabhu. Some other pilgrims were present at that place but due to being devoid of devotion, they couldn’t understand what was going on and continued to converse amongst themselves. The devotees felt some sorrow to see the behaviour of those dullheaded brutes so they retreated into the forest to be rid of their company. When they were alone together again, their distress was destroyed and they continued to relish the mellows of Krsna-prema. In this way Nityananda Prabhu and Madhavendra Puri spent some days together in the happiness of Krsna-katha.

Madhavendra Puri’s love of God was very uncommon. Simply upon seeing a dark raincloud he would fall down unconscious. Day and night he imbibed the spirituous liquor of Krsna-prema, and thus remained intoxicated, sometimes laughing, sometimes crying, sometimes raising a tumultuous hue and cry. Nityananda also behaved just like a madman, falling down on the ground, his body agitated by waves of ecstasy. As lava belches forth from avolcano, loud laughter erupted from his mouth while his whole body, as if in the throes of a great earthquake, trembled violently.

Never before having seen such unprecedented displays of ecstatic emotions, Madhavendra Puri’s disciples continuously remained engaged in Hari-kirtana. No one knew whether it was day or night. Having become completely absorbed in the mellows of Krsna-prema, the days were passing though it seemed to them that not even a moment had elapsed yet. Whatever was discussed between Madhavendra and Nityananda is known only to them and Sri Krsnacandra. Who else is capable of understanding such subject matter? Madhavendra Puri was unable to give up Nityananda’s company and so he continued to roam about, keeping Nityananda with him.

Madhavendra Puri told his disciples, “Never before anywhere in all my travels to all the holy places, have I ever seen such love as this. I could understand that the Supreme Lord is merciful to me when I got a friend like Nityananda as my close companion. Whenever one gets His association, that place becomes the sum total of all holy places and non-different from Vaikuntha itself. Whoever simply hears about Him will definitely get the association of Sri Krsnacandra. And whoever bears even the slightest enmity towards Him, though he may be a devotee, is not dear to Krsna.” In this way, day and night, Madhavendra praised the attractive qualities of Nityananda Prabhu.

Lord Nityananda respected Madhavendra Puri as his guru and always behaved with him in that relationship. After travelling together for some days finally Nityananda Prabhu set of in the direction of Setu Bandha while Madhavendra Puri started for Sarayu. Having lost contact with the external world neither of them was aware of his own body. In order to maintain body and soul together, they thus remained in these transcendental states of consciousness. If in external consciousness, they would cease to live. [C. B. Adi 9.158-192]

At the time of his departure from this world, Madhavendra Puri was completely absorbed in separation from Krsna and constantly repeated one sloka. This verse is considered by Gaudiya Vaishnavas to be the essence of expression of the mood of separation.

Among his associates and disciples were Sri Advaita Acarya, Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi, Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Sri Iswara Puri, Sri Paramananda Puri, Sri Ranga Puri, Sri Ramacandra Puri, Sri Nrsimha Tirtha, Sri Raghupati Upadhyaya, Sri Sukhananda Puri, among others.

“Madhavendra Puri’s body is totally imbued with divine love, as are his followers as well. He takes nothing other than the juice of the mellows of love for Krsna as his foodstuffs. Thus his body has become the place of pastimes of Sri Krsna.” [C. B. Adi 9.155]

His worshippable Deity, Gopalji, is presently residing at Nathdwar in Rajasthan, and is worshipped by the followers of Vallabhacarya.

Prabhupada: No, then they should live in the temple if they want to give service in the sankirtana party.

Ramesvara: We always try to encourage them to come back to the temple.

Prabhupada: Yes. If he does not join the sankirtana party, that does not mean his spiritual life is hampered. He has to follow the rules and regulation. He may not be able to join the sankirtana party, but he must follow the process, rules and regulation. That is wanted. And because he is living outside the temple, therefore he will forget all rules and regulation and do whatever he likes — then it will ruin the whole thing.

Devotee (1): Srila Prabhupada, is it faster if one lives in the temple and goes on the sankirtana party. Is it faster?

Prabhupada: That depends on him. Even in the temple, if his mind is in a different subject matter, then how it will help him?

Bali Mardana: The temple authorities like to preach that anyone who’s living outside the temple is going to hell.

Prabhupada: Generally.

Bali Mardana: But even devotees who are following. They like to preach that.

Prabhupada: No, that is not. That is not. Just like even in ordinary business, if you transact business in the stock association, you get good business. And outside the stock association you don’t get. Because association is there, there are many purchaser and many seller. So if you have to sell, you get immediate purchaser. And if you have to purchase, there is immediate seller. That is… Therefore the stock exchange is there. That is the way, that if we live together in the stock exchange of devotional service, then you can help me; I can help you. So our business will go on nicely. And outside the market, you can live three hundred miles away from the stock exchange. You will not get so many business. Like that.

Devotee (2): You’ll miss the opportunities.

Prabhupada: Yes. Therefore it is helpful. If you want to do business, you must take the first opportunity, the greatest opportunity, do your business. That is intelligence. And if we think, “All right, I shall do slowly. In seven hundred lives I shall become perfect,” that is another thing.

Bali Mardana: It is riskier to stay outside.

Prabhupada: Oh, yes. Otherwise why you are opening so many centers and making arrangement that “We shall provide you with shelter, with food. These are the facilities. You live here, do whatever is your capacity. Don’t sleep, but work.” This is our teaching. Satam prasangat, this is also, and Rupa Gosvami says, sato vrtteh sadhu-sange sadbhir bhaktih prasidhyati: “If you live with the association of sadhu, devotee, then it will be quickly fruitful.” And if you live with these ordinary men, then whatever you have got will be finished very soon. There is another verse. It is said there that it is preferred to live within the cage surrounded by fire than to live with the nondevotees. It is preferred.

Ref. VedaBase = Morning Walk — February 3, 1975, Hawaii

By this letter I would like to offer free information which can help temples and individual devotees in saving Krishna’s energy. Short story: in our temple, we were spending 1000 Euros monthly on heating (aprox. 1000 square meters), using the oil which is the main source of heating for our central heating system. Two years ago, we implemented new heating system by which we are spending 10 times less during the winter, and 20 times less during the summer, because heating includes warming the water.

I also need to say that this system which we are using now is highly ecological and since some of the temples are surrounded by forests, heating could be for free. Heating is based on the use of wooden waste (most economical), or wood. The system works on producing the bio gas, which means that smoke (gas) which is produced by burning the wood is not released to the chimney but rather is transferred by ventilators to the special chamber in which it is mixed with the oxygen and then burned creating very high temperature, up to 900 degree and reaching the efficiency of 92 percent.

So now we are spending less than 100 Euros per month during the winter and you can walk in short sleeves. That means a lot of saving but if you are too lazy to collect wooden waste, you can just buy the wood (it doesn’t need to be cut in small pieces, one meter long, 30 cm radius is ok). You will still save at least 5 time more. If anyone is interested please contact me by e-mail or best by telephone +38513492468 or handy +385917529798

Trying to be a servant Sundarananda das (TP Zagreb)

Ps If some of you are into ecology, I would like to say that this is a wonderful way to save the planet and to preach how to practically act for the benefit of the planet Earth against global warming because the emission of CO2 is amazingly low in comparisson with oil or gas.

Dandavat Pranams.

with deep sorrow, I regret to inform about the sad news of the passing away of a great woman her Grace Mother Lorriane, the Mother of His Holiness Jayapataka swami. She was an admired woman with strong faith in God and very much devoted to charity and help to others, many times she visited Mayapur Dham and had asociation with many devotees, we ask your blessings for Her and prayers at this moment. The Mother of the spiritual master is also like our mother.

In fact it was one of my desires to have her coming to Mayapur and leave the body here in the holydham, but seems krsna has other palns for her, we pray to Their lordships Sri Sri Radhamadhava to have her in Their Transcedental abode, serving Their lotus feet.

Dear Devotees

dandavat pranams.

We are posting a conversation of Srila Prabhupada with some of his senior disciples about the mother of HH Jayapataka Swami, who passed away early in the morning in whitewater-wisconsin - USA. (at a very auspicious time and day on the 26th of Feb - 2008 when we celebrate the Disappearance of Sri Purusottama Das Thakur & Srila Gour Govinda Swami and the Appearance of HDG Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupad). As you all know Mother Lorraine was a great lady full of devotion and very much religious person. She was very freindly with devotees and with Krsna Consciousness, whenever she used to come to Mayapur or visit Atlanta temple during Panihati festival was like a visit of an important personality as well, her gentleness, kindness and understanding made her very popular amongst devotees. Her appreciation for all the services that Srila prabhupada was doing for the whole world was very much appretiated by all of us. She was very proud that her son was a follower of our founder Acarya and Jagatguru Srila Prabhupada who even mentioned this as you can read in this text below. Her Grace is very dear to all devotees who met her and they always felt she had something very special and very close to our hearts, I personaly had a lot of exchanges with her and lately we use to talk by the phone, even once requested her to please come to be in Mayapur for the last years of her life, but Krsna Had other plan for her in this case. We pray for her to get the mercy of Lord Caitanyadev and the Panca Tattva to be at the service of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madhava. We also offer our deepest condolences to our Spiritual Master, HH Jayapataka Swami for this big loss. The Mother of the Guru is also to be considered as our mother.

ys

tusti mohan krsna das.

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Subject: HH JPS Maharaja’s Mother and Srila Prabhupada

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FOLLOWING IS THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN SRILA PRABHUPADA AND GURUMAHARJA MOTHER EXCERPT FROM VEDABASE

Prabhupada: Here is mother of our Jayapatäkä Mahäräja. She is attracted, how the situation is nice. Now she wants to take instruction from her son as mother Devahüti took instructions from her son, Kapiladeva. So…
Jayapatäkä’s mother: I have some questions for him already. I have some questions for him already.
Prabhupäda: Your son could not answer the questions?
Jayapatäkä’s mother: I will see him this evening.
Prabhupäda: Yes, your son will be able to answer all questions. Like Devahüti, you can take instruction from your son. That is in the history. Son is instructing mother. Generally mother instructs the son, but there is that history son is instructing mother.

(21 feb 1977, room converstation Mayapur, India)

Jayapatäkä: Srila Prabhupäda? My mother left this morning, and she wrote a letter to you. I’d like you… If I could read it… ”
Srila Prabhupäda: I am sorry to hear of your illness. Jayapatäkä tells me swift changes in temperature cause many illnesses in Mäyäpura. A place so beautiful must have its thorns. May your recovery be soon. It was auspicious for me to have met you. Not having seen my son for so long, finding him in the midst of God’s blessings at ISKCON with a spiritual master of such great repute was humbling in its magnitude. Perhaps in some small measure I can help parents understand what their children are into and weaken their weapons. This visit will be shared with others. It was propitiously enjoyable. As far as fund-raising, there is a seminar on new methods I am trying to get to, but Krsna seems to be pulling me back. Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to go to Calcutta and Delhi. I will be corresponding regularly with Jayapatäkä. In a few months I plan to move to California. You have taken good care of my son. You have brainwashed the cobwebs of materialism (laughter) and elevated his soul. Your goodness radiates to all who meet you. May God bless your body with good health. Hare Krsna. Jayapatäkä’s Ma.”

(3rd march 1977 Mayapur)

Prabhupäda: Where is Jayapatäkä’s mother?
Tamäla Krsna: Where is Jayapatäkä’s mother?
Jayapatäkä: She’s in California. Citsukhänanda Prabhu said that… (to Citsukhänanda:) You said you saw her in Los Angeles? She is coming to the temple? My mother? What is she doing?
Citsukhänanda: She’s coming now. There’s another lady, Mrs. Forkash, and she has been working with Mrs. Forkash, and she’s been attending the programs and also organizing for good publicity for the movement all over America. And she’s been attending major functions that we do. Like we had a major function with all the important people of Los Angeles—movie stars, directors, politicians—and so she also assisted, and she was preaching, speaking about Krsna consciousness.
Tamäla Krsna: She’s becoming a devotee.
Citsukhänanda: Yes, very much.
Svarüpa Dämodara: She’s also connected with that Parents for Krsna? There’s one parent’s group called Parents for Krsna?
Citsukhänanda: Parents for Krsna, yes. She assists in that Parents for Krsna group.
Tamäla Krsna: That is your magic touch, Srila Prabhupäda. Anyone who contacts you becomes a devotee. You’re just like the associates of Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu. Whoever saw them…
Prabhupäda: She’s already a good lady. Otherwise how she can have such nice son? (laughter)
Citsukhänanda: I asked her if she had met you, Prabhupäda. I asked Jayapatäkä’s mother if she had met you, and she said, “Yes…”
Prabhupäda: A fortunate lady. All your mothers, they are all fortunate…

(9th November 1977 vrindavan)

(Thanks to Madhava Kanta prabhu for the research.)

“It will work!” “It will work!” It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing people everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there. Having little time for their God or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of GOD to change lives.

I guess the question is, has Mayadevi been successful in his schemes?
*You be the judge!!!!!

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Under the guidance and direction of Sannyasa ministry of the GBC we are planning to put on the conference or series of discussions on topics relating to and relavant for the celibate ashrams. The program has not gone beyond the idea stage. We are looking for volunters to help organize the conference. We have yet to choose a place, a date and an agenda. This conference is to be held in North America. If there are any T. P. who would like to offer suggestions a location, please do so. We are hoping to have the conference either in late September or in October of this year. Again we are looking for volunters to help organize publize and financially support the program.

Volunters may contact either Prahladananda Maharaja or myself.

Thank you very much

Hare Krsna.

Your Servant, Candramauli Swami

Email, in your own words, the 5 individuals below. Express your outrage about how the RSPCA and their vets entered Bhaktivedanta Manor uninvited and killed our cow Gangotri.

For background info, please visit www.justiceforgangotri.org

In your letter, you could ask for:

- An investigation into the matter by the government
- The resignation of Tim Wass, the RSPCA Superintendent
- Ask for a change in Legislation to be considered, so that cows on sacred premises can be protected

The five people to email include:-

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
PS.Hilary.Benn@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Minister for Animal Welfare (DEFRA) - Lord Rooker:
PS.Jeff.Rooker@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Shadow Secretary for DEFRA- Peter Ainsworth MP: ainsworthp@parliament.uk
Lib Dem Spokeperson for DEFRA- Steve Webb MP: webs@parliament.uk
DEFRA Animal Welfare: aw-slaughter@defra.gsi.gov.uk

You should also send a copy of your letter to your local MP, bringing to his/her attention the “Early Day Motion’ (EDM) number 576 and ask them to sign it.

When you write your letter to the five individuals (as in previous letter), please cc the following address so we know you have wirtten: justiceforgangotri@gmail.com

Thanks for your help.

ys
Radha Mohan das

A research team at the University of Oxford will be shelling out 1.9 million (about Rs 15 crore) to find out the reason behind why people believe in God.

The Oxford academics have been given a grant to try to discover whether belief in a deity is a matter of nature or nurture. The team said they would not examine the question of whether God exists but will look at evidence in an effort to prove whether belief in God bestowed an evolutionary advantage to mankind.

They added that they would also judge the possibility that faith developed as a by-product of other human characteristics, such as sociability. Researchers at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion and the Centre for Anthropology and Mind in Oxford will use the cognitive science disciplines to develop ‘a scientific approach to why we believe in God and other issues around the nature and origin of religious belief’. ‘We are interested in exploring exactly in what sense belief in God is natural. We think there is more on the nature side than a lot of people suppose,’ Times Online quoted psychologist Justin Barrett, as saying. Dr Barrett compared believers to three-year-olds who ‘assume that other people know almost everything there is to be known’. He explained that the childish propensity to believe in the omniscience of others was reduced by experience as people grew up.

But this tendency, essential to let human beings to socialise and cooperate with each other in a productive way, continued when it came to belief in God. ‘It usually does continue into adult life. It is easy, it is intuitive, it is natural. It fits our default assumptions about things,’ he said. He further revealed that the study would look into other areas, such as whether the conflicts linked to religion are a product of human nature.

The project will also inspect whether belief in life after death is something that needs to be taught or is a product of natural selection. ‘The next step therefore is to look at some of the detailed questions which religious beliefs are most common and most natural for the human mind to grasp?’ he said. The three-year study is being funded by a 1.9 million grant to the Ian Ramsey Centre from the John Templeton Foundation, which supports research into religion, science and spirituality.

I heard from my grand mother that when I was in my mother’s womb, one day one astrologer came and told “the soul that is going to take birth soon, will be a great saintly person and will become very famous one day.

But listen carefully, on birth he will appear as if dead, don’t worry, simply keep pouring water on his head until he cries and then stop watering.” In the childhood I was not much interested in playing.

I was vegetarian from birth. In our village many families were vegetarian. Though I passed SSC (School Secondary certificate), I never wore pant-shirt, only Dhuti-Kurta. That time Pant-Shirt was hated in society. Our social customs were so high that no one could dare to smoke at that time. Only few old men used hookah (one kind of smoking). I never smoked or boozed. After that I entered into Grihasta life and started business.

I was having a Shop in the market. It was a kind of whole sale shop. Whatever profit I obtained I used it in welfare activities. Everyday I used to distribute Batasa (one very famous Bengali sweet) and other items. I used to give very little Laxmi to my family. For doing welfare activities I did many things like repairing broken bamboo bridge, making road, planting tress etc so much so that I didn’t even care for repairing my own house. In the market at Mohanpur I used to organize Durga puja every year and I also started with yearly Astha Prahar Harinam Sankirtan Yajna (one day-night Mahamantra Kirtan) which used to be at the end of Chaitra (May) Month and distribute large quantity of Khichari Prasadam.

After my father’s departure we separated into two families. I was staying with my younger brother Vishnupada. All my natives who were vegetarian started eating fish, it even started in our family. I could not stop them so I was forced to live separately in my shop and cook for myself. It happened ten years before I joined ISKCON Vrindavan. My thought was those who never eat meat they also live then why I have to eat.

That time I established a Tulasi Mandapa in the middle of the Market. I used to get up early in the morning and go outside in the field to answer nature’s call with the help of a lantern because in those days there was no electricity in our village. After my morning duties I offered puja to Tulsi devi. I used to worship all the demigods but I was attached to Krishna and chant his Holy name specially Hare Krishna Mahamantra. I was having one Kirtaniya party and I was darkidar kirtaniya (second main Kirtaniya). One day I went to Mayapur ISKCON and met with Srila Prabhupada. He gave me with his transcendental hands puffed rice mixed with jaggery. I told Prabhupada “Maharaja I want to go to Vrindavan”.

He said “yes you can go”. That was the blessing I got from Prabhupada to come to Vrindavan. Rupa Sanatan Prabhu: This is all I heard from Dadu. In his shop he used to feed the ants everyday, which he continued here also. Therefore even today in our room one will find sugar candy lying in one corner and the ants keep themselves to that corner only not disturbing the residents. Dadu never allowed killing even an ant. Dadu has two sons Sridhar and Bhudhar and one daughter. They came here few times to meet Dadu. He even doesn’t like to talk to them.

He was completely detached from them. At the time of leaving the house Dadu told to his wife not to come to him and disturb his Bhajan therefore she never came here. No one knows this thing that Dadu’s wife is still living. She is very old now. Dadu always used to instruct me as follows, ” asat sanga theke dure thakve, sat mana sat mana niye bhagavaner seva karle kona asuvidha havena” - if you always keep yourself away from bad association and serve the Lord with honest mind and honest thinking then there will be no problem.

“Always follow this and if I become angry on you don’t become angry on me.” This is what I received from Rupa sanatana Prabhu (personal servant of Vibhucaitanya Prabhu) until now. You may wait for more till the next mail. Please be in touch for more nectar on the divine life of H. G. Vibhu Caitanya prabhuji.

In one of the earliest initations, Prabhupada asked one mataji: “So what is your name?” She said “Nancy.” He said: “Your name is Nandarani.” “No, no,” she said, “Nancy!” And when Prabhupada said they should bow, they understood they should blow, and they were blowing in the fire. When Prabhupada gestured how they should hold the bananas in between their hands, some started peeling and eating them. Then Srila Prabhupad simply said: “Now chant Hare Krsna.” (Told by Umapati Maharaja)

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By the bliss of bhakti, karma is uprooted

Srimad-Bhagavata says that the devotees, they can very easily uproot the causes of our material miserable condition of life.

Yat-pada-pankaja-palasa-vilasa-bhaktya. Vilasa. Vilasa means enjoying, and bhaktya means devotees. They are always attached to the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayoh [SB
9.4.18]. The devotees are always engaged, they are always attached, padaravindayoh. Aravinda, lotus flower and the lotus feet. So devotees, they are concerned, always seeing the lotus feet of the Lord. They do not try to see even the face. Beginning with the lotus feet. The devotee begins offering tulasi leaves with sandalwood pulp and offering to the lotus feet of the Lord. That is their vilasa, enjoyment.

Yad-pada-pankaja-palasa-vilasa. They enjoy. That is transcendental bliss, offering a little sandalwood pulp and tulasi leaves on the lotus feet of the Lord. Yat-pada-palasa-vilasa… pankaja-palasa-vilasa, vilasa. That is their vilasa.

Vilasa means enjoyment. Bhoga-vilasa. Devotees, they have no bhoga. They have vilasa, enjoyment. And indirectly, this is also bhoga, transcendental bliss, ecstasy. Sometimes they are crying. Sometimes they are shivering. Sometimes they are laughing. There are eight kinds of sattvika transformation. So when one is completely pure devotee, these symptoms are visible. That is called vilasa, enjoyment.

Yat-pada-pankaja-palasa-vilasa-bhaktya karmasayam. When one is engaged in that vilasa, enjoyment, spiritual blissful life, then the root cause of karma becomes vanished.

Ref. VedaBase = Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.26 — Bombay, January 3, 1975
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…we are not advocates of vegetarian and nonvegetarian…

So our business is, so far we are concerned, Krsna conscious people, we are not advocates of vegetarian and nonvegetarian. Of course, vegetarianism is very good, even for health’s sake. But we do not take vegetables even if it is not offered to Krsna. That is our principle. If Krsna said that “You give Me nonvegetarian diet,” then we can eat also. But Krsna does not say. Krsna says, patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati [Bg. 9.26].

Ref. VedaBase = Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.9-10 — Delhi, November 14, 1973

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KC is not a religious system…not a movement for making Hindus

Srila Prabhupada said: “If I would have preached that Hindu religion is better than Christian religion, they would have kicked me out long ago.”

my note:
(If you preach in non-hindu country, that you are (born-again) Hindu, with that you make provoking statement, that Hindu religion is better than their native Christian or Muslim religion. And you risk being kicked out of country (as we have seen) for presenting yourself as hindu, because saying that hindu is better religion than muslim or christian religion, presents threat to that national religion.)

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Therefore there is great necessity of spreading this Krsna consciousness movement to actually educate the human being to the highest perfect of life. That is required. It is not a religious system, competing with some other religion. Just like they are thinking that we are making Christians, Hindus. This is nonsense. We are not concerned with Hindus, Muslims or Christians. We are not… If these boys… They’re educated boys; they have no business to come…, become Hindu from Christian. They have no business. They’re… Many people before me, many swamis went there to make Christians, Hindu. They kicked there on their face. They did not become successful. Because they talked nonsense. Why one should, Christian become Hindu, Hindu become Christian? They should know what is God, what He is, what is his relationship with God. This Krsna consciousness movement is. It is not a movement for making Hindus to Muslim or Muslim to Hindus or Christian to Hin… This is not that movement. They clearly understand this. Therefore they are following. They are accepting. If I would have preached that Hindu religion is better than Christian religion, they would have kicked me out long ago. It is a science; it is a philosophy.

Ref. VedaBase = Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.26 — Vrndavana, November 6, 1972

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*you* must do the work

In Bombay a man approached Srila Prabhupada, offered pranama, and said, “Oh Swamiji, you will save me.” Srila Prabhupada replied, “No, I cannot save you; I can teach you how to save yourself, but you must do the work.”

Told by Kausalya d. d.

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Deity worship: don’t make a farce

Pradyumna: “Especially for the householder-devotees, the path of Deity worship is strongly recommended. As far as possible, every householder, by the direction of the spiritual master, must install the Deity of Visnu, forms like Radha-Krsna, Laksmi-Narayana, or Sita-Rama especially, or any other form of the Lord, like Nrsimha, Varaha, Gaura-Nitai, Matsya, Kurma, salagrama-sila and many other forms of Visnu, like Trivikrama, Kesava, Acyuta, Vasudeva, Narayana, Damodara, etc., as they are recommended in the Vaisnava tantras or puranas, and one’s family should worship strictly, following the directions and regulation of arcana-vidhi.”

Prabhupada: Hm. Now, this is the important point. I understand that some of our householder devotees are ordering for Deities in India. But here is the point. The point is that they “worship strictly, following the direction and regulation of arcana-vidhi.” Don’t make a play. If you follow strictly the Deity worship method, then you establish; otherwise, don’t establish. It will be offense. One who is able to manage… Just like we are showing the example, how to worship Deity in the temple. In the same way, if one can… The idea is, as here, our devotees are engaged in the worship of the Deity, similarly, a householder, when all the family members are trained up how to worship the Deity, then they can establish. Not that make a farce. Cleanliness, and the rules and regulation, that must be.

Ref. VedaBase = Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.22 — Los Angeles, June 19, 1972

————————————

Your love for me…

“Your love for me will be shown by how much you co-operate to keep this institution together after I am gone.” This is a quotation from the Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta.

In Tamala Krsna Gosvami’s diary entry of 23 May 1977, this statement is recorded in a slightly different form:

Srila Prabhupada emphasised, ‘Your love for me will be tested how after my departure you maintain this institution.

here is a way to engage our Bullocks and save money.

Generate power, don’t buy it

The ‘bullock powered energy machine’. Run in the same way as the oil-presses of old (Kolhu in Hindi, Ghani in Marathi), this machine converts the 2 RPM input from a bullock into a 1500 RPM output with the help of a simple gear box. The machine is stationery (no cart is involved), with a long lever like the lever of a kolhu (oil press). A bullock is tied to this lever, and it runs the machine by walking in circles around the machine, like a bull operating an oil press. The circular motion generates electricity.

This machine is extremely versatile — it can be used to run a five horse-power centrifugal pump, and all small machines like a 1 KV generator, a flour mill, an air compressor and so on. A single machine can run the entire water supply system of a small village. Run for two hours, it can keep ten street lights burning for the whole night.

About the power-generation potential of rural India, Pathak says that there are some 8,20,000 bullocks in Maharashtra. Even if just ten per cent of these bullocks are put to work on such power-generating machines for two hours a day, plenty* of electricity can be produced per day. “So where is the power crisis, tell me?” he asks.

Power for women

Another subject Pathak has devoted considerable attention to is electric power for rural women. In rural India, the entire agricultural and economic system is against women. Women don’t own bicycles and bullocks; and even though most of the bicycle-powered gadgets invented by Pathak can be run comfortably by women, cycling is still anathema for them in many parts of rural Maharashtra.

On a sudden inspiration, Mr Pathak landed on the swing — a traditional mode of amusement and play for women and children all over India — as a means of power generation. “The to and fro movement of the swing can be used to run a piston pump ten times as powerful as a hand-pump,” says he. The swing pump is Mr Pathak’s latest innovation, and can pump water from a depth of 10 metres and up to a height of 30 metres at the rate of 20 litres per minute. Some 10-12 schools in the Pune and Ratnagiri districts are using this pump effectively to pump their drinking water. The swing also has great potential in the area of air-compression and power generation, and Pathak is currently exploring these possibilities.

Your humble servant, Hrimati dasi

http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/jan/eco-pathak.htm

The lemon tree laden with 11 kinds of fruit is pictured in Onga, Fukuoka.

ONGA, Fukuoka — A lemon tree that bears 11 different kinds of fruit is earning attention for a resident here who has had it growing in his garden for years.

The tree, which is about 30 years old, is growing in the garden of 71-year-old Onga resident Manabu Fukushima. It is loaded with 11 kinds of fruit including dekopon, hassaku orange, iyoyan, amanatsu, and banpeiyu, a variety of pummelo.

Fukushima started receiving citrus tree saplings from neighbors about 15 years ago, and grafted them onto his lemon tree because he wanted to eat the fruit quickly. Since then, the varieties of fruit have gradually increased. Now locals often come too see the unusual tree.

Successful grafting can produce fruit in one to three years.

“The harvesting is really fun,” Fukushima says. “Next year I want to increase the varieties.”

source

The practices and utterances of this truly transcendental teacher of religion are so strikingly unlike and so emphatically opposed to the spirit of all the current notions and activities of the world of today, but are withal so cautiously and so reverently broad-based on the highest teachings of the whole body of the scriptures of this country, that they have already most powerfully agitated religious opinion all over India, and are bound to compel even the most thoughtless to pause and reflect. Sri Paramahamsa Thakura has astounded everybody by the declaration that his practices and teachings are identical with those of the Vaisnava teachers of old, and strictly in conformity with the teachings of Mahaprabhu Sri Caitanya. Or in other words, what appears to us to be so profoundly and aggressively original, as he tells us, is nothing but the old, eternal, and universal religion in its pure form.

The distinctiveness of Srila Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s teachings and practices is all-pervasive, and may be illustrated by a few concrete examples. This is, for instance, what Paramahamsa Thakura says regarding Truth:

Do not try to discover the nature of Truth by the exercise of your imagination. Do not endeavor to attain the Truth through experience of this world. Do not manufacture Truth in order to satisfy your erring inclinations, nor hastily accept anything for the reason that it satisfies such inclinations. Do not regard as Truth anything that has been “built up,” or has the support of a majority of people like yourself-nor as untruth, anything that is rejected by the overwhelming majority. According to the scriptures there is to be found hardly one in a crore of human beings who really worships the Truth. That which is proclaimed by the united voices of all the people of this world as Truth may turn out to be false. Therefore, cease to confront the Truth in a challenging mood. The Truth is not brought into existence by such arrogance. One has to approach the Truth in the spirit of absolute submission. It is necessary to listen to Truth. Truth is self-revealing, and it is only when it is pleased to reveal itself that the real nature of the Truth can be known to us, and not otherwise.

In all it minutest details, the conduct of this great teacher of religion corresponds to his teaching. In his personal conduct he never deviates by the breadth of a hair from the truth of Srimad-Bhagavatam to please any individual or body of individuals. He always tries to please only God in the manner that is laid down in Srimad-Bhagavatam. It is in this sense that his conduct is superhuman. He also never countenances the slightest deviation from the Truth-not even in the most eminent, or dearest and nearest, persons-and holds every single word of the Bhagavatam to outweigh the opinion of all the people of the world. He does not admit that all thinkers and religionists are approaching the Truth by diverse ways. On the contrary, he holds that all so-called truths that pass current in the world point only to a limited ideal formulated by the imagination, and are really untruths and, as such, positive obstacles in the way of the realization of the Truth. This would most certainly seem to be opposed to the judgment of the modern world.

Srila Paramahamsa Thakura’s teachings and practices regarding right and wrong are opposed to all accepted ethical conclusions. He says that the so-called ethics of those who are averse to God stop dead before the transcendental conduct of the devotee of God. The ethical law of the devotee is exclusive devotion to God. The moral codes of utilitarianism or idealism are made by man, whereas the holy feet of the Lord are the fountainhead of the law of the devotees. Our empiric knowledge judges right and wrong by the measure of the highest point of view that is attained by its ascending effort. That which is regarded as right and wrong from that distant point of elevation is accepted as the ethical code of this world. Such a code is liable to modification in accordance with the length of vision of the legislator. All worldly morality is confined within the four corners of human knowledge and jumps up and down with the varying height of such knowledge.

Too often we confuse this manmade ethics with spiritual religion. But religion is not general knowledge or mere morality. Under the impression that this morality is identical with religion, we are led to regard as religious such activities as yoga, vowed observances, asceticism, fruitive work, empiric knowledge, service to the poor, to society, to country, to brutes, to the body, to parents, etc. But every one of these spring from the moral law concocted by the imagination of man. This concocted ethical religion bears the name of smarta-vada (canonical creed) in this country. But the law of the devotee possesses such wonderful power that these improvised ethical rules are completely neutralized in its presence. The devotee knows the feet of the Lord as higher than all other things. The law of the devotee may be compared to the downward rush of a mighty river that sweeps away, in its irresistible progress, all the ethical speculations of this world-like bits of flimsy straw lying athwart its course, relegating them to their proper insignificance in an obscure corner of the vast expanse of its vivifying current. Those speculations are no longer able to assume a lofty attitude, or exercise a dominating power, even in their respective limited spheres.

The propounders of all changing creeds of this world have proclaimed the law of devotion as being only one among a multitude of such a miscellaneous body of rules of conduct. A few may have assigned to devotion a slightly higher place than the rest. There are those among them who say that devotion to parents or to one’s country belongs to the same category as devotion to God, and is a constituent part of spiritual devotion. There are some preachers of religion who have declared that it is permissible to disregard devotion to God for the purpose of serving one’s parents. Some have gone further, holding that there can be no devotion to God by causing pain to the minds of parents or wife, that the service of Krsna is not valid if it stands in the way of the service to parents or the maintenance of the wife. But such is the transcendental power of the sacred stream of the superhuman, non-evil-producing kindness of Sri Krsna Caitanya Candra, that it is able to build up a stratum of the most unflinching firmness in the hearts of all jivas to whom He proclaims-with a deep reverberating sound like unto the blessed peal of the conch Pancajanya-this sublime Truth: There is no other rule, there can be no other land, for the jiva, than the service of Krsna. The only severe Truth, although it may not pass current amidst the orgy of perverted notions of a perverted world, is enshrined in such texts as sarva-dharman parityajya, “Seek only My shelter”; satyam param dhimahi, “Contemplate the Absolute Truth”; bhaktya vimucyen narah, “Man is liberated by devotion to God”; and so on.

This transcendental teacher of the spiritual religion, this great follower of Sri Rüpa Gosvami, has so thoroughly laid bare the utter triviality of the current conception regarding renunciation, that it has administered a rude shock to the entire body of the purveyors of pseudo-asceticism. Therefore naturally enough, these latter affect to regard his discourses as perverse and unscriptural. The discriminative renunciation (yukta-vairagya) enunciated by Sri Rüpa Gosvami Prabhu, by command of Sri Gaurasundara, in his great devotional work Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, has been set forth-decked out in such diverse and beautiful decorations by this great acarya, through his practices and discourses, that to one who may have the good fortune of making its acquaintance, the trivial renunciation that prevails in the world is bound to disclose its real face as that of the accursed goddess of destitution (Alaksmi). Only those who are averse to God deceive themselves by worshiping at her shrine.

It is because we cannot keep on our legs without our three meals a day that we regard one who can go without food for three days as unattached to the world. It is because we ourselves are so much addicted to material enjoyment that we regard as unworldly anyone who practices abstinence from such enjoyment. To the doer of evil deeds, the doer of good works appears to be unselfish. The Epicurean considers the pervert ascetic as one who has truly renounced the pleasures of the world. To the ignorant the learned may seem to be devoid of earthly passions. But such one-sided judgment is not the impartial verdict of the Kingdom where everything is perfect. The ideal of this sort of renunciation has a very good superficial look, resembling the consistency of level, dry land. But if one looks two inches beneath the surface of this sundry film of renunciation, he is sure to find the foul water-stagnant and muddy-of selfish enjoyment or of the realization of selfish desire. Our acarya, this great follower of Sri Rüpa Gosvami, never gives the place of honor to this perverted asceticism, this embodiment of the goddess of destitution and misfortune. He says that the constant and single-minded employment of oneself, and all things of the world, for the gratification of the senses of God is the only true asceticism.

Take again the all-important subject of universal concord, of which the world undoubtedly stands in need. The solution offered by the non-evil-producing mercy of Sri Caitanya Candra is so diametrically opposed to all current ideas of comprehension as to have necessitated the addition of two most important chapters to the science of logic, entitled “perverted interpretation” (viparita-rüdhi) and “enlightened interpretation”
(vidvad-rüdhi), of the etymology of words. Not to destroy the peace of anybody, not to cause annoyance to anybody over any matter, to patch up a compromise, or seeming absence of opposition between the weak points of individuals or aggregates, is the denotation of the term “concord” in the current usage of the age. The fear of ourselves being attacked by those whose weaknesses we are to point out recommends to our prudence the adoption of this convenient principle of “I am silent if you are also dumb.” The so-called concord of the age is only another name for: drifting according to one’s individual tastes with the current of laws concocted by the mind, and to not in any way oppose the similar efforts of others.

But the power of the mercy of Sri Caitanyadeva does not tolerate such deception. The great spiritual concord declared by Him is a wonderful instrument yielding delightfully harmonious music charming the ears of Sri Krsna Himself. In that music there is no tendency, like that to be found in all so-called efforts at comprehension, toward the ultimate destruction of all diversity. In that harmony there is present eternal diversity, but no mutual conflict; there is variety of tune and cadence, but no want of agreement. The objective of that harmony is not abstraction or neutralization. Its goal is the Absolute Truth. This divine instrument of harmonious music, although it may fail to gratify the senses of the jiva, serves nevertheless to perfectly gratify all the senses of the Absolute Truth. This spiritual concord, although it may not build in the empty air enchanting gardens of imaginary flowers, nevertheless admits to the boundless treasures of the real Truth, the knowledge of which is our highest realization. This concord is not the fictitious, temporary absence of conflict brought about by law concocted by the human mind; it is the eternal spiritual harmony.

Sankirtana is that kirtana of Hari which is performed by many in company. These words make an offering of such concord as was never known before. In this argumentative and querulous age it provides the only never-failing weapon for imposing universal spiritual harmony. The rationale, and absence of self-contradiction, of all the conclusions of the Vedas is to be found in this great spiritual synthesis. Sarvajna-sükta, Parijata-saurabha, Sri-bhasya, and Sarva-samvadini (which establishes the spiritual and scientific validity of Pürnaprajna-darsana by lighting up the lotus feet of the Absolute Truth in the act of adoration) scatter the fragrance of this universal spiritual concord across the infinity of worlds. The great acarya is proclaiming through the medium of the Harmonist this message of universal spiritual concord, for the delight of the votaries of the Absolute Truth in all parts of the civilized world. Founded by this great religious teacher, the Gaudiya is pointing the way to spiritual agreement by demonstrating the futility of the endeavors for non-spiritual harmony.

In the Kartik festval he distributed a very useful gift to all his Godbrothers, Godsisters and to other devotees. I was fortunate enough to be engaged by his His Grace to do this distribution.

We asked Dadu (HG Bibhu Caitanya Prabhu) “what is your plan? Are you not going to be with us for the next Kartik?” He just smiled and said Srimati Radharani is very mercyful upon me. She took a lot of service from me, the humble servant.
Then he continued glorifying Srimati Radharani and Vrindavan Dham. Whenever he was very sick we used to ask Dadu “do you need any medicine?” He would, then, say that “He, The Supreme Lord, will make me OK, Who has put me in such a situation.” Dadu went out side of the Temple premises only once. He still does not know where is Kesighat, Vansivat, Mathura, Varsana, Nandagram etc.

Srila Prabhupada told him that you need not go out side, you be satisfied in the temple premises only. He joined iISKCON in 1975 as told by Hari suri prabhu.

Hari Suri Prabhu: I was temple comander and I used to put all the new-comers with me for few days and check either they are eligible and fit candidates or not. I found that he was a perfect candidate.

One day someone complained to Srila Prabhupada that Bibhucaitanya Prabhu was not chanting because of the paucity of time. We were walking behind the Krishna Balaram Temple and Bibhucaitanya Prabhu was chanting very melodiously in the Deity Kitchen. Prabhupada asked “who was chanting so sweetly”? “Prabhupada, that is Bibhucaitanya Prabhu”. “Oh! He need not chant his rounds conventionally as he is always chanting there” “He is pure devotee of the Lord” Said many of our ISKCON spiritual leaders. HH Mahanidhi swami mentioned this in his lectures several times. HH Subhaga swami said, “he is going back to Godhead, this is his last life”. HH instructed disciples to serve Bibhucaitanya Prabhu and learn from him. One who knows him well he never misses the opportunity to visit and take his lotus dust.

Let us, all sincere devotees, pray Lord Krishna to give this pure devotee shelter unto His lotus feet.

Hare Krishna Vaisnava dasanudas Madhavendu das

Now please send this to everyone you know.

Thank you

Ys Gauri das

http://www.radhe.net/history/en/vslovena.htm

“VEDA SLOVENA
Bulgarian folk songs from pre-historical and pre-christian time.
Discovered in Thrace and Macedonia and published by
Stefan I. Verkovich”

The author has been collecting these songs for more than 10 years from 2 main regions – Rodopi, the biggest mountain in Thrace, where the Bulgarians, speaking the pomashki dialect /therefore others call them pomatsi/ were living.
And the other is Eastern Macedonia, where the Bulgarians who lived there spoke marvashki dialect /marvatsi/.
“These tribes live in the most isolated places and despite all changes of time, somehow or other, they have saved their authentic folklore. They have small idea of christianity. And others know some muslim prayers but basically they continued to follow their old tradition.” Doctor Shafarick, a friend and a sponsor of the first edition - 22 July 1874.
And in that book there are a couple of songs about Orpheus, as well.
One of them is from a village named Eleshnitsa, East Macedonia, nowadays – Greece.
It is No 13 in the collection and consists of 625 lines. I’ll quote a few of them:

The Birth of Orpheus

“Brava krale… si se moli:
Oi ti Boje, Vishnu Boje!
Ja dai si mi Boje,
na staro vreme edno chedo
Lu da si gu vide pa da si um
Toi da si mi zeme nasledi…”

“Dete yunak…sha si furka na nebetu,
sus svirka Vishnu Boga da si fail.
Sova dete moshtne nishanlie sha si bode,
sha zaptisa sita zeme I planini,
da si bode purva krale na zemeta.”
Reche staru dedu ne otreche,
pa si furkna gore na nebetu,
du si fail Vishnu Boga,
shto si pravi chuda na zemeta.

“An old king was praying:
Oh, Great God, Vishnu
Please give me oh, God
a child in my old age.
Let me see him and then I die,
Let him inherit my land…

Later, a saintly person came down from the sky and said predicting:

“You’ll have a son from heaven,
he’ll glorify Lord Vishnu with his flute.
This child will have all good qualities,
He’ll pacify all lands and mountains,
He’ll be the king of the earth.”
The saintly man said all that,
and flew back in the sky
to glorify Lord Vishnu
who’s performing His miracles on earth.

Verkovich had collected 56 songs and they published only 15. Later he selected the best from the unpublished songs and sent them to the French Consul in Plovdiv – August Dozon and he published them as “Unpublished Bulgarian Folk songs” – “Chanson populaires Bulgares inedites” Paris, 1875. They are now found in the archives of the Bulgarian Academy of Science. There’s another interesting song about Orpheus, who was heartbroken after his wife’s departure. It consists of 462 lines. Here are a few of them:

Orpheus finds his wife Dana

Orpheus was wondering why and how she disappear?d and a voice from the sky told him:

“Ni ta klel Siva boga
ya ta klel Visnu boga”…
“Vishnum Dana Defina
Defina mi trisuletna”…

…“It is not done by Lord Siva,
but it is done by Lord Vishnu
…“Dana became a servant of Vishnu,
servant for three years.”

Although he understood this, he had a strong desire to see her and he started praying:

“Vishnu le Boje
tebe sa Boje mole
che na tebe dumilevam!”
Orfei sa molba moli
Vishnu mu molba chue…

“Oh, my dear Lord Vishnu
I’m praying unto You
You are my only shelter!”
Orpheus is humbly praying
And Lord Vishnu hears him

Vishnu mercifully fulfills his desire and He takes him back in His palace in the upper sky.

By the way the name VISHNU is mentioned hundreds of times in all of the songs and he’s always depicted as the Supreme Lord /Gulema Boga/. There are other interesting songs about Siva, Durga, Surva /Surya/, Agne, etc.

Atheists and communists call them mythology or mystification…
Christians anathemize as eres, paganism – and therefore the Bulgarian Ministry of Education rejects their publication until 1997. But the serious scientists agree and confirm that they are authentic and are pre-christian.

Krishna is not mentioned in the songs about Orpheus, but he appears on the pages of Veda Slovena under the name Kolada /which means the Young or little Krishna/ and the name Krusni /the cowherd boy, who became the king of the earth/.

60 Lines for Krishna from Volume 2 VEDA SLOVENA:

Bre li mi Krusnyu,
bre mi na pole tsare
mene sa lyutum kani,
chi da si rodi mujku dete,
zlatna si sabe vie,
ta mi dete seche.

Oh my dear Krishna,
Look, this evil king
Who wants to kill me badly
‘cos of the son I’ll bring.
Golden sword he’s waving,
He wants to kill my kid.

F sarae mu star bilarin,
blirna mu kniga pee,
blirna mu kniga kitape,
chi sha rode mujku dete.

A prophet in his fancy palace,
Sings an ancient book for him.
And the ancient book is saying,
That I will bear a male kid.

Tsaryu sa dosta nalyuti,
nalyuti sa, razedi sa,
ta ma metna u zandana
da ma seche zaluk pu zaluk.

The king is really angry
Angry - really mad!
He threw me in the prison,
And will cut me bit by bit

“Stara mi maika u gora,
u gora u Vida
mujku si dete rodila,
mujku hi dete Krusna.
Chi hi sa tsare kani
da hi dete seche.”

“My old mother in the woods,
In the woods of Vida,
Gave birth to a shiny son,
And His name is Krishna.
And the king he does
Want to chop her son.”

Malu mi mlogu devet godini
sivu mi stadu pase…

More or less nine twelve months
Krishna tends His countless cows…

Krusna mi mlada pastuha
sivu mi stado pase,
Veda si kniga pee,
ta si mi yuda mae.

Krishna, my cowherd boy,
Tends gray herds, oh my,
And he’s singing Veda book,
Charming all the goddesses in wood.

Pa mi na pole sleva
tsare mu na urdie,
ta mi sa borba bori,
ya gu s karlika nadbori,

Then he walks down at the ring,
At the challenge of the king.
After a very terrifying fight,
With a stick He showed his might.

Ta mu sarae pleni.
Krusna mi mlada tsare

And he conquered the court.
Krishna – young king of the world,

pusta zeme zaselil,
pusta mi zeme Zain,
det mu chuvek ni fodil,
det mi pile ni furkanalu.

Populated the desert land,
The desert land before the end,
Where no one has ever been.
Neither birds do fly nor sing.

Pa mi sa Krusna ni jeni,
chi e na nebe Vedyu,
Vedyu mi diven.
Krusna mi kniga pee,

By then Krishna never wedded,
He’s omniscient and divine.
He’s the Knower of the Veda,
Krishna sings it all the time.

ta si tsare nadbori
ta mu pleni saraete,
Krusna mi mlada tsare.

he defeated the evil king,
and took over his nice courts.
Krishna – my young Lord!

Ya mi sedi malu-mlogu,
malu-mlogu tri godini,
zakara si mladi yunatsi,
mladi yunatsi, malki momi,

Years passed not more or less,
He ruled there for three twelvemonths.
Then accompanied by His brave friends,
His brave friends and His young wives,

ta mi utide na pole,
det’ mi e pole pustu,
pustu mi zapustenu,
Zaina mi zeme zaseli.

Went where no one else has been,
Desert land no one has seen.
To populate that wasted land,
Which is just before the end.

Krusna mi veke stara,
ya mu dusha ni izleze,
lu si furkna na nebetu,
ta mi na nebe Vedyu,

Krishna lived for many years,
But His Soul did never leave,
He rose to heaven – as He is,
Beyond the sky is where He lives.

Vedyu mi diven.
Subrali sa malki momi,
subrali sa av sarae,
ta mu pesna,
ta mu pesna ustanala.

Oh, my Lord omniscient and divine!
Young girls gathered,
Gathered in the palace,
And they sang a song,
And it stayed forever.

If you want to see the whole book click here

Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

We humbly beg for your assistance and prayers. Recently sankirtana devotee from our yatra (Vladimir city, Russia), Ramayana Prabhu (aka Kuritsyn Ivan), was injured in a car accident.

He got a comminuted fracture inside the femur’s joint and the fracture of left pubic and sciatic bones. Swivel is not inside the joint, therefore there is no way for him to walk without a joint prosthesis. For that, Ramayana Prabu has to undergo difficult surgery.

It would cost up to USD 10.000 in Moscow (joint prosthesis cost included). We have already collected approximately 20 percent of this sum. We require the rest in months to come, so that we could send Ramayana Prabhu to hospital early next year. Too much a delay with surgery may cause necrosis.

Ramayana Prabhu (21 y/o) is a devotee since his early childhood. He is a book distributor and a co-leader of children’s summer traveling sankirtana party. This party consists of school age children, who travel in Summer throughout Russia learning to preach Krsna Consciousness and distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. It was during their last Summer tour that Ramayana Prabhu had this accident while driving sankirtana car.

Our special thanks go to all the devotees from Russia and UK who have already donated for Ramayana Prabhu’s recovery.

ISKCON Vladimir Temple President,

Abhinanda das

If you require any additional information, write to krsna@mail.ru. You can send
your donation:

Your can send your donation:

through Western Union:

For: Kuritsyn Ivan Sergeevich,

Address: Russia, Vladimir, prospekt Stroitelei, 16-78

through “Contact” system (http://contact-sys.com/eng/index.phtml) for:

Bank: Vladbusinessbank
Bank address: Russia, 600015, Vladimir, prospekt Lenina, 35
Bank code: XKIV

For: Kuritsyn Ivan Sergeevich

Please inform us of payment details by emailing to sankirtana@mail.ru and by
sending SMS to +79157693346

This is what you can learn from the Gita Coaching courses:

The GITA Model

* GITA model in action
* Principles of coaching
* Purpose, impact and importance of goals
* Features of great goals
* Moving from topic to session goal
* Deep questioning
* Sequencing questions
* Summarising and reflecting
* Understanding reality
* Completing great reality checks
* Identifying obstacles to progress
* Avoiding making unhelpful assumptions
* Building and sustaining motivation in clients
* Ways to generate options
* Taking different perspectives
* Working with success strategies
* Identifying resourceful selves
* Designing actions
* Helping clients commit to action
* Motivational approaches when clients don’t complete their actions
* Dealing with procrastination.

Getting Started As A Coach

* Responding to telephone enquiries
* Explaining coaching and coach expectations
* Pre-contact information
* Contracts/agreements
* Running an intake session
* Keeping control of sessions
* Not giving advice
* Looking after own energy
* The image of a professional coach
* Building a series of sessions
* Beginnings and endings
* Setting homework and exercises

Empowering The Coaching Relationship

* Building rapport
* Establishing trust
* Creating complete attention
* Pacing the session
* Expressing empathy
* Being non-judgemental
* Active listening
* Challenging clients
* Reframing
* Developing awareness in clients
* Dealing with client emotions
* State management for coaches

Values and Beliefs

* Definitions of values and beliefs
* Alignment of values and goals
* Importance of values - coach and client
* Role of beliefs - coach and client
* Identifying limiting beliefs - coach and client
* Overcoming limiting beliefs - coach and client
* Building confidence - coach and client

Building A Successful Coaching Practice

* What is a niche?
* Possible niches
* Deciding on a niche
* Essentials – cards, website etc
* Marketing your niche

Plus

* You answer the phone to a new client
* Someone tells you that your fees are too high
* A client misses or is late for a session
* You are not sure whether coaching is the right type of intervention
for this client
* You are looking for new business and you would like to get referrals
from your clients
* You want to get media coverage - this is the best way of approaching a
journalist

If you would like to discuss how this course can benefit your center or
project or yourself, please contact me on akrura@pamho.net and we will
arrange a Skype or a phone call.

your servant
Akrura dasa

Gita Coaching
http://vedicilluminations.com/gitacoaching
http://gitacoaching.blogspot.com

Here in Radhadesh we have a professionally equipped kitchen with adjoin storage place suitable for cooking and/or baking. It complies with all rules and regulations necessary for running prasadam business according to European standards.

If you are interested in prasadam business you can contact me either by email, phone or Skype.

Thank you very much. Your servant Manohara dasa

ISKCON Radhadesh Asbl, Petite Somme 5, 6940 Durbuy, Belgium Office: +32 (0)86 45 69 93 Reception: +32 (0)86 32 29 26 Skype: manohara dasa www. radhadesh. com Manohara.das@pamho.net

All Glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!

Dear Devotees

Hare Krishna! All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!

At Srila Prabhupadas Dissappearance Day at Bhaktivedanta Manor recently I talked with Rupa Vilas Prabhu who is preparing a book about the life of Haridas Thakura.

For the publication he needs photographs of the places of Haridas Thakura’s pastimes. Most of them are in Bangladesh. One is in Haridaspur near the Bangladesh Border. Another is near where HH Tamal Krishna left his body.

If you can help please contact Ranchor at the above address and he will forward the information to Rupa Vilas Prabhu. Thank you.

Hoping that this finds you well in Krishna consciousness,

Your Wellwishing,

Mahavishnu Swami

One of ISKCON Baroda’s congregational devotees and a disciple of HH Bhakti Vikas Maharaj, Sriman Krishnamrit Prabhu, an elderly retired gentleman who was “shaved up” and attending the temple in dhoti/kurta daily, left his body on Wednesday, October 31 at about 2:00 PM in the afternoon, after suffering through cancer for the past 6 months.

He had come to know that he had cancer when it was diagnosed in an advanced stage and had spread throughout his body.

He was around 64 years old and had retired from the Sarabhai Pharmacutical Company here, where he spent most of his adult life as an employee.

He had come in touch with ISKCON Baroda around 5 years ago, after his retirement, and was regularly attending the temple daily with his wife, both during the morning “darshan arati” (greeting the Deities) and again during the sandhya arati. He would attend the Srimad Bhagavatam morning lecture regularly.

In the evenings he and his wife would look after the “laddu sales counter” in the temple.

He was a very humble devotee, who’s behavior was exemplary. He never was seen in an angry or chastising mood. He was always smiling, friendly and was respectful towards one and all.

Yesterday most of the temple devotees went to his humble dwelling - a very small house - and engaged in harinam sankirtan for at least a half and hour as preparations were being made for his final journey to Baroda’s Kareli Bagh crematorium. The kirtan continued there at the burning ghat on the bank of the Vishvamitri river, where it is said that sage Vishvamitra performed austerities thousands of years ago, in what was then a forest of Banyan (”Vata vriksha” in samskritam) trees.

Krishnamrit Prabhu’s always smiling, carefree personage will be missed. He is survived by his wife and three sons, one of whom was also attending the temple daily in the evenings with his parents.

We pray to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar to bless the eternal soul of Sriman Krishnamrit Prabhu.

Going to Vaikuntha. We had a very interesting discussion on today’s SB verse 4.12.36: “The self-effulgent Vaikuntha planets, by whose illumination alone all the illuminating planets within this material world give off reflected light, cannot be reached by those who are not merciful to other living entities.

Only persons who constantly engage in welfare activities for other living entities can reach the Vaikuntha planets.” I started the class by explaining the term Vaikuntha indicated that the spiritual planets were free from anxiety, but in actuality when one become Krishna conscious anxiety (of a different sort) increases and the method for becoming Kcon is to put oneself in anxiety. The residents of Goloka experience extreme anxiety when they can not see Krishna or when Krishna goes to the forest with His cowherd boy friends or appears to go to Mathura. Even the Gopis experience anxiety when they are separated from Krishna by the blinking of their eyes. They experience so much anxiety that a moment is like twelve years or more.

Of course this anxiety is transcendental ecstasy and should not be confused with material anxiety that is based upon selfish considerations. But spiritual anxiety naturally arises because of love. Just like when mother loves a child, she is in anxiety when he/she cries. If there is no love the crying of a child is simply a botheration. When I am in a plane and there is a mother with a screaming child everyone except the mother is angry at the child because there is no love for the child. So, when there is love for Krishna one is always in anxiety about seeing Him, serving Him nicely, His safety, His happiness, etc. That is the Goloka mood.

In addition one is in anxiety about the plight of those parts and parcels of Krishna who are not serving Him at present. In the 5th Canto of the Bhagavatam, Pariksit Maharaja is presented with a description of the hellish planets. His response is to feel anxiety for the souls that are being punished and to enquire from Sukadeva Goswami as to the remedial measure for alleviating the suffering of these poor souls. Sukadeva Goswami tests his disciple Pariksit by first describing the process of atonement (prayascitta), but Pariksit (who is not a blind follower but an independently thoughtful pure devotee-not caught up in a hierarchical dynamic) rejects Sukadeva Goswami’s prescription of atonement because atonement does not effect a change in the heart and a change in the counterproductive behavior of the materialist.

Sukadeva therefore describes the actual cure for material suffering in the famous verse SB6.3.31: “Sukadeva Gosvami continued: My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore the chanting of the sankirtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will take it seriously.”

For more Krishna conscious philosophy, please visit http://www.BKGoswami.com/.

One of the qualifications is daksa: he must be very expert in doing things very nicely.

Not that because one is Vaisnava he’ll be callous in the worldly things. No. Therefore I repeatedly request the management that you must be very expert in managing these temple affairs.

Everything to the right point. Not a single farthing should be wasted.

A Vaisnava must be daksa, expert in everything.

This is no excuse, that “I have become a devotee. Therefore I am callous to all material things.”

What material things? Nirbandhah krsna-sambandhe yuktam vairagyam ucyate.

Anything in relationship with Krsna, that is not material; that is spiritual.

I have several times explained that this temple, don’t think it is ordinary building. It is Vaikuntha. Cintamani-prakara-sadmasu. Krsna has His house, prakara-sadmasu. Cintamani-prakara-sadmasu. Sadma. Sadma means house.

So we should take very, very careful attention that this temple is kept very nicely, managed very nicely.

Not that “I have become Vaisnava. Let everything be stolen or spoiled or broken. I have become Vaisnava. I cannot take care. That is not my consideration.”

SP Lecture, Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.40 — Vrndavana, October 1, 1976

Forgiveness is letting go of the pain and accepting what has happened, because it will not change.

Forgiveness is dismissing the blame. Choices were made that caused the hurt; we each could have chosen differently, but we didn’t.

Forgiveness is looking at the pain, learning the lesson it has produced, and understanding what we have learned.

Forgiveness allows us to move on toward a better understanding of universal love and our true purpose.

Forgiveness is knowing that love is the answer too all questions, and that we all are in some way connected.

Forgiveness is starting over with knowledge that we have gained.

It is saying: “I forgive you, and I forgive myself. I hope you can do the same.”

- Judith Mammay

Ten Things to Remember

When Your Feelings

Have Been Trampled On

1. Whether it’s a family member, somebody at work, or your best friend who’s hurt you badly, put yourself in their shoes and treat them the way you would want to be treated, even if they don’t deserve it.

2. If you’ve heard something you didn’t want to be hear, remember it may not be 100% true. So lighten up. If it’s not urgent, put off thinking about it for a couple of days. Forgive the person who wronged you; don’t forget, you’re doing this for yourself, too. Prove to yourself that you can practice what you believe. Try to be as understanding of others as you would want them to be of you.

3. There will always be losers and winners. Act according to how you want to feel about yourself when all is said and done. Don’t judge what others do if you don’t want them to judge you.

4. Remember, what other people do is their responsibility. Don’t let them cause you to carry a grudge and let their actions weigh you down. They are not responsible for your actions, no matter what they do. You are.

5. If someone has said something untrue about you or done something intentionally to hurt you, wish good things for that person – even if you don’t feel like it. Ask for them what you desire for yourself, and it will draw those things to you.

6. If you’ve made a mistake or disappointed yourself or others, apologize quickly and earnestly; that’s all you can do. Let your remorse teach you how to have compassion for others when they make mistakes. Nobody’s perfect, even though we all try to be. If someone can’t accept your apology, that’s okay, too. Just do the right thing and go on.

7. Talk less and listen more; you could learn something about others and about yourself. If you feel like yelling, go outside and throw rocks on the cement instead. Take a walk or, better yet, sing… it will put a melody back in your life.

8. If you think someone is making fun of you or someone you love, disarm them, not with your fist, but with your best smile. Give them something they don’t know how to give. Speak to them; be bold. Ask that they be blessed and you’ll be blessed, too. Forgiveness is a powerful thing; it will help your body and soul. Don’t let anyone cause you to act they way they’ve acted toward you, and remember that they have a right to do whatever they choose also.

9. Don’t hide your hurts and pains and feelings inside where they will harden your heart. Use common sense and understanding to process them. Don’t react just from your feelings; respond with maturity rather than childish habit. You won’t regret it.

10. Get in touch with the person you want to be and become that. Listen to your heart… you can find the answer there to every question you have. Remember, no matter how you’re treated, just treat others the way you would want to be treated when your feelings are getting trampled on.

- Donna Fargo

Love is without reason

True religion teaches causeless love of God. It does not say, “I love God because He supplies me nice objects for my sense gratification. ” That is not love. God is great, God is our eternal father, and it is our duty to love Him. There is no question of barter or exchange. We should not think, “Oh, God gives me my daily bread; therefore I love God.” God gives daily bread even to the cats and dogs. Since He is the father of everyone, He is supplying everyone food. So loving God for daily bread is not love. Love is without reason. Even if God does not supply us our daily bread, we should love Him. That is true love. As Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, aslisya va pada-ratam pinastu mam adarsanan marma-hatam karotu va: “I know no one but Krsna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me broken-hearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord, unconditionally.” That is the sentiment of one who is established in pure love of God. When we attain that stage of love of God, we will find that everything is full of pleasure; God is full of pleasure, and we also are full of pleasure.

suhrn-mitrary- udasinamadhyasth advesya-bandhusu sadhusv api ca papesu sama-buddhir viisyate

“A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards all–the honest well-wisher, friends and enemies, the envious, the pious, the sinner, and those who are indifferent and impartial–with an equal mind.” (Bg.6.9) This is a sign of real spiritual advancement. In this material world we are considering people friends and enemies on the bodily platform–that is, on the basis of sense gratification. If one gratifies our senses, he is our friend, and if he doesn’t, he is our enemy. However, once we have realized God, or the Absolute Truth, there are no such material considerations.

01. Knowledge is the legacy of the Prophets; wealth is the inheritance of the Pharaohs. As the Prophets are superior to the Pharaohs, so knowledge is better than wealth.

02. You have to guard your wealth, but knowledge guards you. Therefore, knowledge is better than wealth.

03. When knowledge is distributed it increases. When wealth is distributed it decreases. As such knowledge is better than wealth.

04. A man of wealth has many enemies, while a man of knowledge has many friends. Therefore knowledge is better than wealth.

05. A learned man because of his wider outlook is apt to be generous while a rich man because of his love for money is apt to be miserly. As such knowledge is better than wealth.

06. Knowledge cannot be stolen, while wealth is constantly exposed to the danger of being stolen. Accordingly knowledge is better than wealth.

07. With the lapse of time, knowledge gains in depth and dimensions. Hoarded coins get rusty, or cease to be legal tender. Therefore knowledge is better than wealth.

08. You can keep account of wealth because it is limited, but you cannot keep account of knowledge because it is boundless. That is why knowledge is better than wealth.

09. Knowledge illuminates the mind, while wealth is apt to blacken it. Therefore knowledge is better than wealth.

10. Knowledge is better than wealth, because knowledge induced the humanity in the Holy Prophet to say to God “We worship Thee as we are Thine servants”, while wealth engendered in Pharaoh and Nimrod the vanity which made them claim Godhead.