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  1. Humour is an affirmation of dignity, a declaration of man's superiority to all that befalls him. -- Romain Gary (1914-1980) French Writer
  2. Monday, July 7, 2008 There is absolutely no comparison. Hare Krsna to All Pranams. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Yesterday most of our local devotees visited Mother Anuttama and her husband Bhakta Bill, at their place for kirtan/program about 60 miles south of Seattle and for a day of learning how our American frontier ancestors lived on a daily basis. We visited a living, working "farm museum" where the folks there described daily life and showed us the tools they used on a regular basis. From washing clothes on a scrub bucket, to scrubbing cinamam sticks on a finger grinder (it took 25 minutes to get enough for an apple pie!), to milking the local Jersey cow, and then seeing how using a flail to separate grains from the stalks and then put them into the grain thresher, and then use the hand mill grinder to grind that grain into flour and then finally, to bake an apple pie!! Whew, it was a lot of work. See the actual antique sign board in front of one of the cabins where the woman would sell a daily lunch for a quarter!! And it was a huge full meal. Below is the man showing the coal heated forge where the local farmer would basically make out of steel any tool he needed, or to repair those same tools. There was no hardware/Home Depot stores nearby. And when they actually did need something they would take a day to go there and a day to get back. So about once every 6 months they would go into "town" to get what they couldnt make, grow, or fix for themselves. This is called self sufficiency and it is what Srila Prabhupada wants us to grow into as people of solid character and eventually as pure devotees who depend totally upon God and not Safeway, Home Depot, or the local drug store.......this may take a while.... 751005rcu.mau conversations... "You have got your food grains. Dont be dependent on anyone else. Become self independent. And dont be after money. Simple produce your bare necessities of life. Keep yourself fit, strong. And chant Hare Krsna, read book. Then you'll grow strong. Is there any difficulty?".... ...everyone can grow food if he works for two months. Everyone can grow his whole year's foodstuff. There is so much land. But no they'll not grow food. They will grow hammer,tires, manufacturing it. You see? Tire tube, then atom bomb, then this and that...So everyone is busy producing things unwanted....What is the use, just have a cottage and have a garden....You'll live very peacefully. What is this rascal civilization, whole day "Where is money? where is money? where is money? where is money? Just like the hog, he is busy" where is stool? Where is stool? Where is stool? Where is stool? That is not civilization. Why shall I work so hard? The business of dogs and hogs, whole day and night simple working for getting food and sense gratification.... ....they do not understand God's arrangement. Only for food they are busy whole day and night like cats and dogs. In other words here Srila Prabhupada is saying that the basic needs, common to all life forms,-eating, sleeping, mating, and defense, can be very easily met by this above process and of growing your OWN FOOD. But the materialists are wasting all their days and nights for this same need--which is met by the devotee in only two months time.....consider this deeply...... coal forge for making/repairing tools--hand crank gets the temperature to over 2000 degrees F ...you can melt hardened steel by this simple method... Here, below, he is showing the use of the draw knife for slicing wood and bark off wood. A very simple but very effective tool. This is your traditional 'flail' for beating the grains off stalks of wheat, oats, barley ,etc.. The Japanese had their own version called nun chuks which later became a weapon for them. This is a grain thresher which basically separates the grain from the husk surrounding the inner kernal of grain. I am going to be making one of these when an out of print book I ordered from Ebay, arrives in the mail. I am going to be needing it soon because when the oats, wheat and barley I recently planted out back gets ripe, I do NOT want to be doing this same function below instead on my garage floor and taking a kalpa or two of time doing it. If your serious somewhat about growing grains, you need some kind of similiar (hand) crank machine to separate the grains from the chaff. Or a lot of bhaktas with a lot of empty time on their hands... Here is our Riya drawing religious principles from a very friendly Jersey cow. One of the genuine frontier cabins about 120 years old. Do you think your house or any of the houses they build today will still be standing in a 120 years from now??? This below is a very effective flour machine for grinding the grain. Better than todays modern models because this old one has a huge flywheel made of steel whose basic heavy weight helps keep the wheel spinning with inertia instead of your muscle power. Back at the modern day "ranch"-here Mother Anuttama and Mother Noble and her mother do their "kitchen kirtan". And here below is the generating power that drives every activity of a devotees life--Krsna Kirtan!! And to make sure the Krsna Kirtan continues, we have Krsna Prasadam!! And what a feast it was!! Fresh sweet rice made from Jersey cow milk, samosas, subji with curd, and chapuris cooked in cows ghee. There is absolutely NO COMPARISON to this kind of transcendental foodstuffs in the world--it is NOT of this world--it comes directly from Vaikuntha, as Krsna's mercy..... So, everybody convinced this IS a BETTER way to live??? We may be convinced, or may not.....I guess you will have to wait for those oil prices go a little higher.... So to actually implement these practices takes time, purity of consciousness, sincerity, and dedication to the order of our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. Hare Krsna Damaghosa das Sedro Woolley Wa
  3. Honouring Krsna Prasadam, Part 2 BY: HAREKRSNA.COM <CENTER> </CENTER> Jul 06, CANADA (SUN) — A four-part series on Srila Prabhupada's instructions for honouring Krsna prasadam. <CENTER>Shopping for Bhoga</CENTER> <CENTER><TABLE borderColor=#cc9933 cellSpacing=0 borderColorDark=#990000 cellPadding=20 bgColor=#fef9f9 borderColorLight=#cc9933 border=1><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top> "Service means activity, for when we serve someone, we are acting. When we serve Krsna, we are preaching Krsna consciousness, or cooking, or cleansing the temple, or distributing books about Krsna, or writing about Him, or shopping for foodstuff to offer Him. There are so many ways to serve." Path of Perfection, Chapter 1 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER> Shopping for bhoga (unoffered foodstuffs) should be an extension of the Krsna Consciousness with which prasada is prepared and served to the Lord. The same principles of cleanliness and orderliness that apply to one's person and kitchen facilities should also be applied to shopping. Whenever possible, shop for foodstuffs in stores that are as close to 'mode of goodness' as possible. Such stores are clean, the produce is fresh, the environment is open to air and sunlight, and the mood of people there is positive and happy. Here in the west, we are more likely to experience 'mode of passion' shopping venues, where people are frenetically rushing down florescent lit aisles, and consumerism is the religion. Avoid shopping in places that appear 'mode of ignorance', where food is left rotting in the bins, the air smells foul, and the place is dark or dirty. Shop methodically and carefully, taking the time to read labels and understand exactly what's contained in the foods you purchase. As Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water, I will accept it." Krsna will accept offerings of foodstuffs prepared from milk products, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains. Meat, fish, and eggs are not offerable, and are strictly avoided. Unfortunately, these forbidden items are often included in prepared foods, hidden under names that are indistinguishable from other additives. For example, some brands of yogurt and sour cream contain gelatin, a substance made from the horns, hooves, and bones of slaughtered animals. Many cheese products contain rennet, an enzyme extracted from the stomach tissue of slaughtered cows. Here is a detailed list of food additives and some name brand products that contain animal ingredients, and notes on foodstuff adulterations. Certain vegetarian items are also forbidden for offering to the Lord, including garlic and onions. Some Vaisnavas consider these items to be in the mode of darkness (ignorance), because they are grown underground. Similarly, mushrooms are considered unbonafide for offering. Some consider onions and garlic to be mode of passion, because they tend to heat up the blood, while others avoid them because the strength of their flavour dulls to palate to finer, more subtle tastes. Vedic cooks replace the tastes of onion and garlic with a spice called Hing (asafetida), which adds a similar rich taste to cooked foods without overcoming the palate. On the subject of onions, garlic and mushrooms, we have several interesting comments from Srila Prabhupada: "Odor, although one, becomes many - as mixed, offensive, fragrant, mild, strong, acidic and so on according to the proportions of associated substances. PURPORT: Mixed smell is sometimes perceived in foodstuffs prepared from various ingredients, such as vegetables mixed with different kinds of spices and asafetida. Bad odors are perceived in filthy places, good smells are perceived from camphor, menthol and similar other products, pungent smells are perceived from garlic and onions, and acidic smells are perceived from turmeric and similar sour substances. The original aroma is the odor emanating from the earth, and when it is mixed with different substances, this odor appears in different ways." Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.45 My Dear Harer Nama, [...] So far as explaining my letter to Kris, I have listed the ingredients which may use for preparing prasadam but these various varieties of foodstuffs may be prepared either in the given recipes or if you like you may invent nice new formulas for offering. The important thing is that your preparations be palatable for Lord Krishna and that the ingredients be within the groups of ingredients already listed. You have asked me about sassafras and yes, it may be offered. Mushrooms are generally not offered, but there is no prohibition, there is no harm in them. 68-12-01 Letter to Harer Nama My Dear Himavati, Because mushrooms grow in a filthy place, they are not usually offered to Krishna. 71-11-17 Letter to Himavati Given the lack of specific prohibition against mushrooms coupled with Srila Prabhupada's comments above, the use of mushrooms in preparations being offered to Krsna is certainly an arguable practice. This is particularly true when you consider that in today's agri-food industry in the west, mushrooms are produced in a growing medium that is nearly always pastuerized or sterilized, which means it's 'cleaner' than most field dirt. In general, if something can be offered to the Lord as part of a prescribed form of worship, then it is acceptable, otherwise not. Stimulants and intoxicants are always rejected, including coffee, cocoa, tea, tobacco, alcohol, and any items including caffeine. Caffeine-free coffee and herbal teas are acceptable. Some devotees go so far as to reject all vegetarian products that are "meat look-alikes", finding these products too close for comfort to actual animal foods, or not wanting to be tempted to re-awaken their tastes for these items. Srila Prabhupada, however, found such foods to be acceptable for offering to Krsna. <CENTER>Kitchen Standards</CENTER> <CENTER></CENTER> <CENTER>A Well-organized Vaisnava Kitchen</CENTER> <CENTER><TABLE borderColor=#cc9933 cellSpacing=0 borderColorDark=#990000 cellPadding=30 bgColor=#fef9f9 borderColorLight=#cc9933 border=1><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top> "The kitchen department should be very clean and things should not be wasted. This is the first consideration." Srila Prabhupada Letter to Aksayananda, 01-06-76 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER> When preparing food for offering to Lord Krsna, cleanliness is a most important principle. Nothing impure should be offered to the Lord, so the kitchen environment and all gear and utensils must be kept very clean. Foodstuffs being prepared for offering must be used only for that purpose: "That which is meant to be offered in yajna cannot be tasted by anyone before being offered to the Deity. In our temples, this regulation is in effect. One cannot eat food from the kitchen unless it is offered to the Deity. If something is taken before being offered to the Deity, the entire preparation is polluted and can no longer be offered. Those engaged in Deity worship must know this very well so that they may be saved from committing offenses in Deity worship." Srimad-Bhagavatam 9:6:8 Srila Prabhupada also instructed that prasadam should never be taken in the kitchen where cooking is going on. If space is limited, part of the kitchen may be partitioned off as a prasadam taking area, but this activity must be done separately from the cooking area. "One should never eat within the kitchen, there is ample place to eat so why should one eat in the kitchen? Kitchen should be considered as good as the Lord's room, and nobody should wear shoes in the kitchen, smelling and tasting of foods being prepared for the Lord should never be done, talking within the kitchen should be only what is necessary for preparing the prasadam, or about the Lord, and dirty dishes (those taken from kitchen and eaten from) should not be brought back into the kitchen (but if there is no other place to wash them, then they should be put into sink and washed immediately.), hands should always be washed when preparing prasadam, and in this way, everything shall be prepared very cleanly and pure.)" Srila Prabhupada Letter to Aniruddha, 06-16-68 "It is advisable that food being offered to the Deity be covered when taken from the kitchen to the Deity room. In that way, others may not see it. Those who are not accustomed to following the advanced regulative devotional principles may desire to eat the food, and that is an offense. Therefore no one should be given a chance to even see it. However, when it is brought before the Deity, it must be uncovered." Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya lila 4:124 At all times, animals must be kept out of the kitchen area, and away from foodstuffs being prepared. Animals may not be permitted to see foodstuffs as they're being prepared or carried to the altar. Whenever possible, it is best to have completely separate cooking facilities: a Deity kitchen, and a devotee kitchen. Of course, it is especially difficult for many householders to arrange separate kitchen spaces. At the least, one should maintain cooking pots, utensils, etc. that are only use when cooking for the Lord. Serving spoons must be kept only for Krsna's use, so that foodstuffs are not contaminated while being placed onto the serving dishes. "Formerly it was the custom of brahmanas to worship Lord Visnu daily at home and cook food in new pots. This system is still going on in Jagannatha Puri. The food would be cooked in earthen pots, all fresh and new, and after cooking, the pots would be thrown away. By the side of the house there was generally a big pit where such pots were thrown." Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi lila 14:7 <CENTER></CENTER> .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'>Pusta Krsna: "I remember when I first went to Vrndavana and I saw in the villages how they were using dirt and charcoal to clean their pots and pans... .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'>Prabhupada: Yes, they use it. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'>Pusta Krsna: I thought the.... It was my condition.... I have never seen before. I thought, "What is this? They are making their pots and pans dirty?" Because, you know, we're so accustomed to detergents and soaps, and you have to have so many things to clean. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'>Prabhupada: That is not also properly clean. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'>Pusta Krsna: No. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'>Prabhupada: The down side of the pan remains black. But if you take some dirt and rub it nicely, it become glisten. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'>Hari-sauri: Dirt is very first-class for cleaning. Prabhupada: Utensils for cooking purpose must be very, very clean. The.... If the black portion remains, in India they will not touch. Pusta Krsna: Even on the bottom? .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'>Prabhupada: Yes. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'>Pusta Krsna: On the outside? .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'>Prabhupada: They'll not touch: "Oh, it is still dirty." But our going on. What can be done? Where there is no cleanliness, little rubbed with soap, that is sufficient. What can be done? But that is not cleanliness. If there is a black spot on the..., it has to.... It will immediately be cleaned. My mother used to see every utensil, whether there is any spot. The maidservant had to surrender. Examine. Then it is no spot. Then it is finished. Otherwise she has to do again. Everything should be neat and clean. The kitchen should be very neat and clean, washed twice daily, opened nicely and smeared with water and gobar. And if you see the kitchen, immediately you'll feel comfortable. It is very cleanly prepared, then offered to the Deity. Then you take. Automatically your mind becomes cleansed." Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, 04-22-76, Melbourne <CENTER></CENTER> Mahamsa: "Yes, these people are the head of the Marwari community. They don't know how to live. They live in these slums which we saw today. They live all around that area. They are karor-patis.(?)They have crores of rupees. Prabhupada: To live very gorgeously is not good. Mahamsa: But even their houses are not so clean, shabby. Prabhupada: Even though they're not... You cannot say not... They are clean. I have seen in Bombay even the poorest man, his house, and a Parsee gentleman, his house. Kitchen habits. A Parsee's kitchen is so nasty. And here you see this poor man's house, they are neat. Their utensils how much cleansed. I had been in Parsee kitchen. All the pots black. Nothing is cleansed. For eating they use this China. So clean or unclean cannot be understood. Simply washed. But so far the kitchen pots, all are... In our also, when it is handled by this European, American devotees, the black. Down, it is black. That should not be black. It must be cleansed. Mahamsa: By the heat with these wood, it brings up a lot of soot. Prabhupada: But it must be cleansed daily. Mahamsa: It should not come on your finger if you touch it. That black thing. Prabhupada: Not even you cannot see black, any black spots. Then it is clean. Otherwise not clean. If there's a single black spot, it is not clean. You can see from this poor class of men, how their utensils are cleansed. Before taking water the jug, the waterpot... You'll like to drink water. In our school days there were sweeper, they were a different quarter. So you like to sit down. So clean. The sweeper, cleansing the toilet, bangi. But when you come to his house, living quarter, oh, it is so clean. The bed, the room, the utensils. And they also will take twice, thrice bath, then they will eat. That is a Hindu culture. Even the sweeper class, lowest class. And I have seen one sweeper class who were in Allahabad, regularly worshiping Deity. Very nice worship. Mahamsa: So a Vaisnava then... Prabhupada: They took initiation from the Vrndavana Goswami and they follow strictly rules and regulations. Cleanliness is very essential. In English also it is said cleanliness is next to Godliness. Everything should be, especially temple. It will attract them. And we are singing daily, sri-vigraharadhana-nitya-nana-srngara-tan-mandira-marjanadau. Tat-mandira-marjana. Marjana means cleanliness. And want of cleanliness means laziness. If you are lazy you cannot keep clean. "Ah, let me sleep for the time being." That is mode of ignorance. Tamo-guna. So we have to conquer over rajo-guna, tamo-guna. Tada rajas-tamo-bhavah." Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, 08-24-76, Hyderbad Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
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  5. Relatives Liberated Srila Prabhupada spoke of how the relatives of initiated devotes would be liberated, sometimes saying they would be liberated for 7, 14, 50 and 100 generations in the future and in the past. Here are some relevant quotes:
  6. I was thinking what is the tragedy of life? A destitute child begging her way through life...tragedy! A one legged man feeling his way through...tragedy! The inequalities of the material world. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. A man pulling more than he can pull to make ends meet...tragedy! A burning Buddhist monk demonstrate against the repressive government, he died without moving a muscle...tragedy! The photo was taken during the wars in Former Yugoslavia. It shows a column of Krajina Serbs being expelled by Croat forces in 1995 during Operation Storm. Over 450,000 Serbs were expelled in total...tragedy! The famous 9-11 terrorist strike. The fall of the twin- towers. More than 2000 people died...tragedy! A fall to death. A man is plunging to his death from the 9-11 attack...tragedy! An image of a father trying to protect his son in an Israel gunfire, the son died into his father's lap from the crossfire. The image was taken just before the son's demise...tragedy! The photo won a Pulitzer prize taken during the Sudan famine. The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat him...tragedy! These are powerful pictures depicting the condition of the material world. Only a fool will enjoy in this place! While these are tragic conditions prevailing around us...what is the most tragic of them all? Wasting our human form of life in mundane sense enjoyment in the name of education, career, family, art, architecture, literature, movies, philanthropy, religion etc etc etc It takes millions and millions of births to attain a human body, and then wasting it over mundane sense enjoyment is the highest tragedy of them all. So more than all the heart breaking photos above, the most tragic situation is when we frivol away our human life for mundane enjoyment. The Upanishads calls those types of people as "atma-ha" or soul-killers. ṛṣabha uvāca nāyaḿ deho deha-bhājāḿ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāḿ ye tapo divyaḿ putrakā yena sattvaḿ śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaḿ tv anantam SB 5.5.1 Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever. Here in Lord Rishabadev a great saint and incarnate of Krishna clearly defines the role one should take when one reaches the human form of life. Lord Rishabadev prescribes devotion for Krishna as the ultimate purpose of human life. However it is not easy. Krishna says in the Gita: manuṣyāṇāḿ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāḿ kaścin māḿ vetti tattvataḥ BG 7.3 Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth. bahūnāḿ janmanām ante jñānavān māḿ prapadyate vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ BG 7.19 After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare. We can infer from the verses above that human life is attained after millions of births and takes millions and millions more just to surrender to Krishna. So if we waste this one golden chance of human life in mundane affairs, then what can be a bigger tragedy than this? so much suffering, so much pain, so many tragedies...all can be averted by simply chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare This is the benediction in this golden age! Please chant! Hare Krishna by ananda (noreply@blogger.com) at July 05, 2008 09:16 PM
  7. Honouring Krsna Prasadam BY: HAREKRSNA.COM <center> </center> Jul 05, CANADA (SUN) — A four-part series on Srila Prabhupada's instructions for honouring Krsna prasadam. <center>Prasada Protocol</center> <center><table bordercolordark="#990000" bordercolorlight="#cc9933" bgcolor="#fef9f9" border="1" bordercolor="#cc9933" cellpadding="30" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"> "The word apavitra anna refers to food that is unacceptable for a Vaisnava. In other words, a Vaisnava cannot accept any food offered by an avaisnava in the name of maha-prasada. This should be a principle for all Vaisnavas. When asked, "What is the behavior of a Vaisnava?" Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu replied, "A Vaisnava must avoid the company of an avaisnava [asat]." The word asat refers to an avaisnava, that is, one who is not a Vaisnava. Asat-sanga-tyaga,--ei vaisnava-acara (Cc. Madhya 22.87). A Vaisnava must be very strict in this respect and should not at all cooperate with an avaisnava. If an avaisnava offers food in the name of maha-prasada, it should not be accepted. Such food cannot be prasada because an avaisnava cannot offer anything to the Lord. Sometimes preachers in the Krsna consciousness movement have to accept food in a home where the householder is an avaisnava; however, if this food is offered to the Deity, it can be taken. Ordinary food cooked by an avaisnava should not be accepted by a Vaisnava. Even if an avaisnava cooks food without fault, he cannot offer it to Lord Visnu, and it cannot be accepted as maha-prasada. According to Lord Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita (9.26): <center> patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati tad aham bhakty-upahrtam asnami prayatatmanah </center> "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it." Krsna can accept anything offered by His devotee with devotion. An avaisnava may be a vegetarian and a very clean cook, but because he cannot offer the food he cooks to Visnu, it cannot be accepted as maha-prasada. It is better that a Vaisnava abandon such food as untouchable." Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya lila 9:53 Purport </td></tr></tbody></table></center> In Vedic culture and Vaisnava sastra, we find many references to the protocol one should follow when preparing bhoga, offering foodstuffs to the Lord, and taking Krsna prasadam. These regulations establish how prasada should be handled for both home and temple worship. Srila Prabhupada gave instructions as to how these rules should apply for present time, place and circumstance. For example, he explained how prasada should be handled for those living under shelter of the temples. Srila Prabhupada provided a great deal of instruction and purport on Vaisnava literatures which explicitly detail how offerings are to be made to the Deities in the temple, and the prasada protocol related thereto. For example, Srila Prabhupada instructed that only twice initiated brahmana disciples were to cook in the temple. Non-brahmanas were permitted to assist, but could not themselves cook. Preparations produced by non-devotees are not to be offered to the Deities, and this regulation should extend, to the greatest degree possible, to ingredients purchased in karmi stores. At the same time, Srila Prabhupada always emphasized a common sense approach to regulative practices. For example, while regulations require fasting for Ekadasi and the observance of various religious and festival events, Srila Prabhupada instructed that one should not allow such practices to interfere with devotional service: .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'> Devotee: You said that if we fast and we can't do our work and we become weak, than this is not so good. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'> Prabhupada: This is not good, "not so" not, absolutely bad. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'> Devotee: So, our devotional service comes first? .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'> Prabhupada: Yes. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'> Devotee: So if there is, let us say there is grain and rice being offered to the Deities, and one finds that if he eats this, his service is impaired. Like so many times I've seen, practically myself if I overeat grains in the summertime, I drive around doing my service and I'm falling asleep. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'> Prabhupada: Then which foodstuff suits you? .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'> Devotee: Fruits are more... they keep me more active. .......='TEXT-ALIGN:JUSTIFY'> Prabhupada: So you take fruit. Fruit is also offered to the Deity. There are varieties of prasadam. So whichever suits, you can take. Anything artificial is bad. Srila Prabhupada Morning Walk, 07-01-75, Denver A great deal of prasada protocol is given within the context of the Varnasrama system, which regulates right living for the varnas and asramas. Different rules are given for those who are brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, and sudra, each according to their unique station in society. While the pure varnas and asramas do not exist in the age of Kali yuga, these designations are still somewhat delineated amongst those strictly following the path of Bhakti yoga. Grhasthas (householders) are expected to take a practical approach to prasadam for one engaged in family life, whereas one in the renounced order follows a different protocol. For example, a person in the renounced order of life should not cook for himself, but is permitted to cook for the Supreme Lord. A sannyasi may take prasada at the house of a grhastha, and a brahmacari helps in this connection, given that a sannyasi is supposed to be a spiritual master and a brahmacari his disciple. The husband provides for his family, and the wife offers him service, not as a servant, but so that husband and wife work together in a way that encourages spiritual advancement. <center></center> "Although she was not accustomed to such difficulties, Queen Arci followed her husband in the regulative principles of living in the forest like great sages. She lay down on the ground and ate only fruits, flowers and leaves, and because she was not fit for these activities, she became frail and thin. Yet because of the pleasure she derived in serving her husband, she did not feel any difficulties. Purport: The words bhartur vrata-dharma-nisthaya indicate that a woman's duty, or religious principle, is to serve her husband in all conditions. In Vedic civilization a man is taught from the beginning of his life to become a brahmacari, then an ideal grhastha, then vanaprastha, then sannyasi, and the wife is taught just to follow the husband strictly in all conditions of life. After the period of brahmacarya, a man accepts a householder's life, and the woman is also taught by her parents to be a chaste wife. Thus when a girl and boy are united, both are trained for a life dedicated to a higher purpose. The boy is trained to execute his duty in accordance with the higher purpose of life, and the girl is trained to follow him. The chaste wife's duty is to keep her husband pleased in householder life in all respects, and when the husband retires from family life, she is to go to the forest and adopt the life of vanaprastha, or vana-vasi. At that time the wife is to follow her husband and take care of him, just as she took care of him in householder life. But when the husband takes the renounced order of life, namely sannyasa, the wife is to return home and become a saintly woman, setting an example for her children and daughters-in-law and showing them how to live a life of austerity. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, His wife, Visnupriyadevi, although only sixteen years old, also took the vow of austerity due to her husband's leaving home. She chanted her beads, and after finishing one round, she collected one grain of rice. In this way, as many rounds as she chanted, she would receive the same number of rice grains and then cook them and so take prasada. This is called austerity. Even today in India, widows or women whose husbands have taken sannyasa follow the principles of austerity, even though they live with their children. Prthu Maharaja's wife, Arci, was steadily determined to execute the duty of a wife, and while her husband was in the forest, she followed him in eating only fruits and leaves and lying down on the ground. Since a woman's body is considerably more delicate than a man's, Queen Arci became very frail and thin, parikarsita. When one engages in austerities, his body generally becomes lean and thin. Becoming fat is not a very good qualification in spiritual life because a person who is engaged in spiritual life must reduce the comforts of the body--namely eating, sleeping and mating--to a minimum. Although Queen Arci became very thin from living in the forest according to regulative principles, she was not unhappy, for she was enjoying the honor of serving her great husband." Srimad-Bhagavatam 4:23:20 <center></center> "A sannyasi should be completely detached from fire and any residential quarters. A grhastha has a relationship with fire, either for offering sacrifices or for cooking, but a sannyasi is freed from these two responsibilities. He does not have to cook or offer fire for sacrifice because he is always engaged in Krsna consciousness; therefore he has already accomplished all ritualistic performances of religion. Aniketanah means "without lodging." He should not have his own house, but should depend completely on the Supreme Lord for his food and lodging. He should travel." Srimad-Bhagavatam 3:24:42 Purport <center></center> "After the grhastha-asrama is another asrama, known as vanaprastha, which is midway between grhastha and sannyasa. A person in the vanaprastha order is restricted in eating food grains and forbidden to eat fruits that have not ripened on the tree. Nor should he cook food with fire, although he is allowed to eat caru, grains that have been offered in a sacrificial fire. He may also eat fruits and grains that have grown naturally. Living in a thatched cottage, the vanaprastha should endure all kinds of heat and cold. He should not cut his nails or hair, and he should give up cleaning his body and teeth. He should wear tree bark, accept a danda, and practice life in the forest, taking a vow to live there for twelve years, eight years, four years, two years or at least one year. At last, when because of old age he can no longer perform the activities of a vanaprastha, he should gradually stop everything and in this way give up his body." Srimad-Bhagavatam 7:12 Summary <center>Personal Cleanliness</center> <center></center> <center>The Bathing Ghat</center> <center><table bordercolordark="#990000" bordercolorlight="#cc9933" bgcolor="#fef9f9" border="1" bordercolor="#cc9933" cellpadding="30" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"> "So you must live up to the rules and regulations of brahminical life. First and foremost is cleanliness. In your country they have so many filthy habits. For example, they don't wash after eating. A brahmana does not do like that. If he did so in India, he would be highly criticized. So even if you eat a little, still you must wash immediately. And the place that you eat at must be washed off immediately also. In this way. A brahmana's name is suci, or one who is clean. In the toilet room wash with water and wash your hands with soap. Then wash feet, face and mouth. Your cloth must be washed daily, especially any cloth used to sleep in. In the kitchen also, things should be kept spotless and cooking should only be done by brahmanas; others may assist. That is the same procedure followed with Deity worship. So these are some of the points to note in Brahminical life. Keep yourself clean outside by bathing, etc. and clean inside by chanting Hare Krishna Mantra. Go on in this way and your rapid advancement in Krishna Consciousness will be certain." Srila Prabhupada Letter to Laksmi narayana, 07-08-71 </td></tr></tbody></table></center> Cleanliness is next to Godliness. One of the most important aspects to be considered when cooking for the pleasure of the Lord is cleanliness. All things must be kept fully clean and organized, including the kitchen, equipment and utensils, and the persons who are cooking and assisting. One should always prepare for kitchen service by first performing a complete personal cleansing. In the "Hari-bhakti-vilasa", Gopala Bhatta Goswami has explicitly described the rules of Deity worship, including protocol for the preparation of foodstuffs for the Lord. One should first pass urine and stool, shave, brush the teeth and rinse the mouth, all of which are considered to be contaminated activities. Next, one must fully bathe, chant the proper mantras, and put on clean Vaisnava clothing and tilak before entering the kitchen. All effort should be made to maintain an atmosphere of cleanliness during the cooking process. If one is called out of the kitchen, or gets involved in some other activity while in the midst of cooking, always wash the hands thoroughly before resuming the cooking activities. After cooking and making the offering, one may change into clean clothing while the Lord is eating. <center></center> "But you do not know cleanliness, although you are..., that is because your, your cleanliness is with machine. And without machine, you cannot keep clean. Why not this broomstick is sufficient? If in India machine is not available, you cannot be clean? Keep everything cleansed--utensils, plates, teeth, hands, feet. Use sufficient water. There will be no (indistinct). Dirty things should be removed, and cleansed inside and outside. Inside cleansed: simply Krsna consciousness, always thinking of Krsna. That is inside clean. And outside, that is also required. You cannot neglect, because outside unclean means inside also you'll see unclean. If you keep both sides clean, then you will be healthy inside and outside. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsna punya-sravana-kirtanah hrdy antah stho hy abhadrani. Abhadrani, all inauspicious things, that will be cleaned. They should be washed. To become sacred thread means he must be suci. Satya samah damah saucam, saucam. One must be very clean. That is brahminism. Not simply having a sacred thread: "Prabhupada, give me sacred thread, sacred thread, sacred thread," everybody. You have got sacred thread, that is certificate, but what is your saucam? Cleanliness. The brahmana's name is suci. He is always cleansed. Everyone will see, and he'll immediately feel how cleansed he is. What is the difficulty? God has given sufficient water. For cleanliness you simply require water, that's all. No antiseptic bottle--Dettol, this, that, so many. You are manufacturing so many rascal things, but ultimately unclean. Ultimately unclean. But by God's arrangement, by Krsna's arrangement, simple..." Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, 12-11-71, Delhi Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
  8. Capture power with your curtains <LI _extended="true">Solar-harvesting curtains could convert sunlight into power source for homes <LI _extended="true">Rechargeable batteries slot into hem, power downloaded to larger battery <LI _extended="true">Cheap to produce but not as efficient as traditional hard solar panels "Soft House" curtain concept being expanded into plans for a "Soft City" <!-- google_ad_section_start --><!-- CONTENT --><!-- REAP --><!-- PURGE --><!-- KEEP --><!--startclickprintinclude-->........ language=JavaScript type=text/javascript _extended="true">var clickExpire = "-1";.........><!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--> <!--endclickprintexclude--><!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude-->LONDON, England (CNN) -- Imagine every time you closed your curtains, you were capturing enough solar energy to power your laptop. The technology is available, but no one's packaged it up in a handy DIY kit at your local hardware store. <!--startclickprintexclude--><!----><!--===========IMAGE============--><!--===========/IMAGE===========--> <!--===========CAPTION==========-->Solar textiles use the same technology as traditional solar panels to convert sunlight into energy.<!--===========/CAPTION=========--> <!--endclickprintexclude-->Sheila Kennedy hopes to be the first. She's not an interior designer but an architect and professor in practice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is convinced that solar textiles will revolutionize the way we collect and consume power. "I've been thinking about what happens when power and light become flexible, literally flexible," she said. She calls it "soft power," as in the "soft energy path," a term coined Amory Lovins in the 1970s as a way to describe a world where renewable energy would gradually replace the centralized grid. Later, Joseph Nye used the term "soft power" to describe the ability of persuasion, values and culture to influence change. Kennedy's work with soft power builds on both of these ideas. For her , soft power is the ability of flexible materials to convert sunlight into energy. "The soft power approach says there are some incredibly sensual, compelling, beautiful spaces and products that we can be producing using these emerging energy-harvesting materials," Kennedy said. Her Boston-based firm, Kennedy & Violich Architecture, has been working with thin-film photovoltaic material, a fabric that looks and moves like cloth but does the job of a solar panel. "These are materials which can be prepared in the chemistry lab or can be found in nature. They produce electricity when exposed to light. They are very efficient and flexible," she said. <!--endclickprintexclude-->"We are pairing the thin-film photovoltaic material with another semi-conductor material, the light-emitting diode; they're two sides of the same coin. One takes a little bit of the energy of sunlight and transforms it into electricity; some takes that electricity and turns it into light." Rechargeable batteries pocketed into the hem of the curtains gather energy that can be downloaded into a larger home battery. "From a technical view, the thin-film has the potential to be produced in very high volumes, with a very low embodied energy and a low carbon footprint. These new photovoltaic materials can be produced in the same way one might print and produce a newspaper, roll to roll. That can make it very affordable," Kennedy said. Its limitations are its performance. It's less efficient that glass-based solar technology, but Kennedy predicts that's going to change. "Right now there's research being done on developing sensitivities in thin-film that will allow the energy to continue to be harvested, even at night. That's going to revolutionize the applications for solar textiles," she said. The current technology can be found hanging in the Vitra Design Museum in Essen, Germany, in a prototype pre-fabricated home called the Soft House. Farther south and west, the designers are taking their ideas from the Soft House and applying them to a research project for a Soft City. Kennedy and her team have calculated that by covering just 10 percent of a roof area in Porto, Portugal, solar curtains could provide as much as 70 percent of the average electricity used by a typical household each day. "It goes to show that you don't need a very large area. We've calculated that 15 square meters would be enough." Kennedy envisions a future in which a single homeowner or a group of neighbors would decide to wean themselves off the centralized grid and power their homes using the energy they've "harvested" themselves from the sun. "You could look at it as a type of urban farming," Kennedy suggested, adding that one of the reasons people aren't doing it now is not the lack of technology but old habits and inherited centralized building systems in architecture. "Instead of tucking way electricity and lights in walls and accessing that with a plug, we have the possibility of thinking of a whole new experience for energy, energy-harvesting and for light." She talks about material that you could reel in from the roof and wrap around to make a new type of instant room, a Zip Room. Plastic wall plugs would cease to exist; instead you'd harness your appliance into the surface or edge of the textile. Her ideas may seem radical to homeowners who don't give much thought to where their power comes from or how much it costs, which is why Kennedy is so keen to see the solar curtains in consumer-friendly packs on hardware store shelves. "Energy-harvesting solar textiles are a very good beginning point. I think that the notion of tying in a new technology with something very familiar really has its advantages if one's about large-scale uptake and widespread adoption of a new energy regime." Regime may sound like a hard word to be used in the context of soft power, but as Kennedy says, it's up to architects and designers to convince homeowners that there are more efficient alternatives to traditional homes. Her firm is going one step further with the offer to work with developers and manufacturers who are interested in building digitally fabricated Soft House demonstration projects. "My team is actively interested in speaking to people who are serious about realizing a pilot program that adapts the Soft House model to actual needs on urban or rural sites. I do think the moment is now."
  9. Independence Day BY: ROCANA DASA Jul 04, CANADA (SUN) — Today the United States celebrates the Fourth of July, which marks the nation's independence from British rule. Independence Day is one of the few occasions when individual Americans stop to really consider the meaning of concepts like "freedom", "unalienable rights", and "just government". The mood of nationalism will no doubt be poignant in the U.S. today, particularly on this year's Fourth of July, as the country's economic and social strengths diminish, civil rights are steadily debased, and the gulf widens between citizens and their leaders and lawmakers. While devotees understand that nationalism is simply a facet of the bodily conception, there is still much to be learned from the Independence Day phenomenon. Many times, Srila Prabhupada emphasized the fact that when the citizens are suffering, it is due to bad leadership. In pure Vedic culture the King was influenced by the brahmans, whose opinions, advice, and complaints informed and shaped the King's decisions. The King was not free to assert autonomous rule over the people, because the brahmans had the spiritual potency to generate a reaction that would cause the King himself to suffer if he would not correct the course of his poor policies. In today's Kali-yuga civilization, the common people no longer have the protection of the brahmans, and our world leaders are free to lord their power over the people, for good, bad or worse. In our own spiritual society, ISKCON members are encouraged to rely upon the Governing Body Commission, put in place to function as the spiritual authority for the community of devotees. As we all know, when Srila Prabhupada was physically present he had oversight control of his GBC, much like the brahmans controlled the Vedic kings. Since the Sampradaya Acarya's physical departure, however, our GBC leaders have consistently demonstrated a lack of spiritual purity and potency, what to speak of their abject refusal to be accountable to the members for their leadership decisions. In ISKCON there is no voting, no constitution, no guaranteed rights, no functional judiciary, no free press, no means to remediate or remove corrupt leaders… no rights for the individual devotee. In fact, the devotee does not even get the benefit of recognized status in the society. A determination of "good standing" is typically only made when the leaders wish to press the point that an individual is not in good standing. So while the United States Declaration of Independence is a nationalist document intended to mandate the governance of a mundane society, we can still learn much by considering it in the context of our own spiritual society. Many devotees have called for the implementation of Srila Prabhupada's Direction of Management document, which provides for regularly scheduled elections of GBC members, but their pleas fall on deaf ears. We increasingly hear the call for a "Vote of Confidence" of our GBC body, and informal polling over the years has shown that at least for those on the outside of the institution (where more than 90% of Srila Prabhupada's direct disciples find themselves), the GBC body would get a resounding vote of "No Confidence". Unfortunately, as we have pointed out many times, our only means for voting in ISKCON is with our hearts, feet, and wallets. And we see the sad effects of this voting system, as Srila Prabhupada's beloved spiritual mission has systematically fragmented into a kaleidoscope of independent temples, centers, and mathas, many of which no longer adhere to the Sampradaya Acarya's strict standards. We hold on to the hope that one day, the grassroots devotees worldwide will stand up, shake off their lethargy, raise their voices and demand accountability and justice from their GBC leaders. With each new scandal and faith-dissolving episode in the society, that eventuality seems to come closer. Sadly, Srila Prabhupada's spotless reputation must continually be defended against nonsense behaviour and asiddhantic deviation on the part of ISKCON's leaders. We can only hope that the day of change comes quickly. In this mood, we encourage our readers to consider the United States Declaration of Independence, which is essentially a plea to God and a statement of intent by the grassroots citizens, who stood up and shook off the oppressive leaders who refused to represent the wishes of the citizenry. We're sure the similarities will not go unnoticed. We've taken the liberty (pun intended) to add emphasis to points we find particularly congruent in the context of our ISKCON society. <CENTER> Declaration of Independence </CENTER> IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another , and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation . We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights , that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government having its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed . But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government , and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient suffrance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws , the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected ; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice , by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries . He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution , and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their acts of pretended legislation. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally, the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever : He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Capitive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people . Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity , and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connection and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right out to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
  10. By Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada On the 16th of February 1957 a meeting was held at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan to discuss the above subject matter. Distinguished gentlemen from different categories spoke on the subject, but practically nobody could give us a definite direction as to what actually the matter was that was troubling the whole situation. This feeling of pinching in the existence of our life is a good sign for progress. It is an urge for enquiry what is the wrong in the world that gives us trouble? This trouble is not a new thing but it is a matter of permanent settlement in all the days of life, but it may be felt at different times in different colour. The troubles are in varieties in relation with our mind and body, in relation with our dealings with other living beings and in relation with natural phenomenons. The present pinching trouble of our political leaders in the matter of Kashmir affairs is a trouble in relation with our other friendly nations. Kashmir is a part of India, not only at present but it is so from a time immemorial but the Kashmir problem has arisen as a matter of course because the world is so created that must there exist some sort of trouble, may be it is in relation with the body or other living beings or the natural phenomenon. These troubles are like the forest fire. Fire takes place in the dense forest without any attempt by any living being. Nobody in the forest do want such fire, but it takes place without any demand. When there is fire, the living beings in the forest are put into trouble and sometimes it so happens that most of the forest creatures die in that havoc. There is no fire brigade in the forest or on the top of a forest mountain and there is no hope for of extinguishing the fire by any human attempt. It takes by the natural laws, and it is extinguished by natural laws also, that is, when there is torrent of rains in the forest. That is the natural law and these laws are so rigid and stern that no human brain, however it may be powerful, can solve these problems of natural laws. An intelligent person, who has actually developed some finer qualities of human consciousness, can understand that every law is made by an intelligent brain and behind every law there is the lawmaker who makes the law. So for all these natural laws, there is the Supreme Lawmaker, who is the Absolute Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-g…t€ we have, therefore, information that natural laws are so stringent that they cannot be overcome by anybody. But whoever surrenders unto the Supreme Lord can overcome them. The king is the lawmaker and if he likes he can forgive a law-breaker by special prerogative of the king—by the ‘king’s mercy,’ but the king can do no wrong even if he sometimes breaks the law. That is, an experience of a common man in the phenomenal world and the same thing is applicable in the matter of Supreme laws also. The natural laws are like police actions by the agents of Godhead. Men, who are too much captivated by the glamour of material beauty and tries to enjoy it falsely without acknowledgement of its Creator, are called demons. The stringent natural laws are meant for the criminals but not for the law-abiders. Therefore, the perfect answer to the question “What is the matter with the world?” is that men have become demons by breaking laws of God, and therefore they are being punished by the police action of material nature. That is the verdict of all scriptures and that is our day-to-day life’s experience. In the Bhagavad-gita a vivid description of the law-breaker demoniac men are given in the 16th chapter and such men are punished by the laws of God—are also maintained. Human civilizations are conducted in two ways. One type of civilization can make every human being as much qualified as God is. And the other type of civilization can make every man no less than a jungle beast and thereby making this world unfit for human habitation. A human being is called a rational animal. When rationality is destroyed, the human being is left an ordinary animal. The difference between a human being and an animal is based on the strength of human being’s being above the animal propensities. The animal part of a human being necessarily require food to eat, shelter to live in, protection from fear and gratification of senses. These four principles of life are common both to the man and the animals. But there is another thing which is specially meant for the human being. This is God-consciousness. This God-consciousness is conspicuous by absence in the animal life, while in the human life this God-consciousness is in dormant stage even in the society of the aborigines. This God-consciousness develops in different grades of human civilization in terms of particular place, time and persons. This God-consciousness is called Religion or Culture of Life without which no civilization can stand. The present day civilization is trying to avoid this God-consciousness of human life by artificial method of material science and forcible atheism. It is learnt from reliable sources that in an atheistic state, the village people were called in a meeting and were asked to pray in the church for daily bread. The innocent villagers prayed in the church for daily bread, and when the prayer was over the state officers asked them whether breads were supplied. The village men replied that there was no bread. The atheist politicians asked them again to pray for bread from them (the statesmen) and bread was at once supplied. And by this method the innocent villagers were made victims of propaganda by atheistic politicians with the result that all the villagers became gradually faithless in God, because wrongly they accepted that the bread was supplied by the politicians and not by God. The poor victims of such propaganda did not understand that the breads supplied by the politicians were not made by the father of the politicians but actually they were sent by God. No politician can manufacture bread without wheat. No wheat is produced without sun rays or rains from the sky. No rains are possible without obedience to God. No atheist can live and decry God without eating bread. And therefore whoever eats bread without acknowledging in gratitude of his indebtedness to God is certainly a demon and for such demons the stringent natural laws are meant for punishment. A time is nearing when there will be no wheat paddy in the field and no politician will be able to make a quick supply of bread. The food problem is already acute. The atheistic civilization is to be troubled more and more with the progress of materialism. We have such foretellings in the pages of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The more the people are turning to the atheistic, the more things of disturbing elements do appear before us. And that is the thing which matters at present. This is a wrong type of civilization. A. C. Bhaktivedanta EA 20: Perfection at Home-A Novel Contribution to the Fallen Humanity
  11. chanting is required in this age otherwise it's all bad as we all get implicated into bad karmic reactions.
  12. <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE class=contentpaneopen cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=contentheading width="100%"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=contentpaneopen cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left width="70%"></TD><TD vAlign=top align=right></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" /><o:p> Finding Shelter From The Heavy Burden of Sin<o:p> </o:p> </o:p> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
  13. :uzi: :uzi: :uzi: :uzi: :uzi: :burn: :burn: :argue: :argue: :eek: :eek: :crying2: :crying2: :mad2: :mad2:
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