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jeffster

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Posts posted by jeffster


  1. Of course, we can't just artificially renounce our material desires. "What good does repression accomplish? " asks Gita, I believe. But we must moderate our desires and attempt to dovetail them with the wishes of Guru & Krishna. For a householder, that would mean marriage and begetting children who could be instilled with KC values.

    jeffster/AMd


  2. Suchandra,

    That U-Tube VDO was highly authoritative. Hearing from an acned 17 year old, especially on U-Tube, left no doubt in my mind that it was certainly stoned wallabies that made those perfect crop circles. We all know that everything posted on the web has been thoroughly examined, check and verified as accurate before being posted. Just like that boy who claims to be Prabhupad reincarnated. That must be valid also, because, after all, it was posted on the web.

    jeffster


  3. Re: John 14:6, when Jesus said that he was the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except through him, I take it in the context that he was very likely the most realized personality in Israel at that time, and that in acting in the capacity of guru to his "flock" (congregation), he was suggesting that he could take members of his congregation back to the kingdom of God. I don't feel that he was saying that he was the only guru for all time and circumstances, but he was the only guru available to those people in that place at that time. We will likely never know his exact meaning.

    jeffster/AMd


  4. They really should have live coverage of all North American Rathayatras on ESPN or SPEED channel, hopefully displacing NASCAR races as Merican's motorsport of choice. Of course, Rath carts don't have motors per se, they have blissful devotees pulling the ropes, which is even better than dead matter motors. And, of course, they should have blimp shots of the Rathayatra course, but I feel that the traditional Goodyear blimp would be sufficient, not this fabulous blimp. Actually, when Jagannath Swami das used to manage S.F. Rathayatra, he hired an airplane that flew around the festival with a banner. If I remember correctly, the banner said "Hare Krishna..." Later, different management took over the Rathayatra festival, and when I asked why Jagannath Swami no longer managed the festival, I was told that Jagannath Swami gave management "too much trouble." And I think that that attitude reflects the general attitude of some, not all, Iskcon managers: if the devotees don't just kowtow to management idiocy, management feels that they are "too much trouble." Feeling that they give management "too much trouble," so many sincere devotees have left, not wishing to disturb the minds of management. Perhaps this is why so many of these temples are now nearly empty - devotees are "too much trouble."

    jeffster/AMd


  5. Certainly quarrelling isn't new, just read the Mahabharata, but it becomes highly prominent and visible even in ordinary dealings in Kali yuga.

     

    Also, in Kali yuga, a person is considered noble if he has wealth, regardless of how he obtained it and regardless of his personal character. Being a wealthy sudra is Kali yuga chic, for example the Tuttles of Orange County Choppers fame, or most gangsta rappers. That would also include most Hollywood and Bollywood actors and actresses, since actors are considered sudras.

     

    So everything is topsy-turvy in Kali yuga. Sudras, such as actors, are revered, and brahmanas are scorned and considered an unproductive burden on society.

     

    jeffster/AMd


  6. I could not find ( I also didn't look thoroughly ) a link to "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party," but I will type some excerpts from a print version I have of commentary seven, "On the Chinese Communist Party's History of Killing."

     

    "In the most serious famines in China's history prior to the CCP, there were cases in which families exchanged one another's children to eat, but nobody ever ate his own children. Under the CCP's reign, however, people were driven to eat those who died, cannibalize those who fled from other regions, and even kill and eat their own children.

    The writer Sha Qing depicted this scene in his book "Yi Xi Da Di Wan" ("An Obscrure Land of Bayou"): In a peasant's family, a father was left with only his son and daughter during the Great Famine. One day, the daughter was driven out of the house by her father. When she came back, she could not find her younger brother, but saw white oil floating in the cauldron and a pile of bones next to the stove.

    Several days later, the father added more water to the pot, and called his daughter to come closer. The girl was frightened, and pleaded with her father from outside the door. "Daddy, please don't eat me. I can collect firewood and cook food for you. If you eat me, nobody else will do this for you."

    The final extent and number of tragedies such as this are unknown. Yet the CCP misrepresented them as a noble honor, claimed that the CCP was leading people bravely to fight the "natural disasters," and continued to tout itself as "great, glorious, and correct."

     

    "This Great Famine was also a qualifying test for the CCP's cadres. According to the CCP's criteria, the cadres who had resisted telling the truth in the face of tens of millions starving to death were certainly "qualified." With this test, the CCP would then believe that nothing such as human emotions or heavenly principles could become a psychological burden that would prevent these cadres from following the Party line."

     

    "Facts of the Political Campaigns after the Founding of the People's Republic of China" reported, "In May of 1984, after 31 months of intensive investigation, verification, and recalculation by the Central Committee of the CCP, the figures related to the Cultural Revolution were the following:

    Over 4.2 million people were detained and investigated; over 1.73 million people died of unnatural causes; over 135,000 people were labeled as counter-revolutionaries and executed; over 237,000 people were killed; and over 7.03 million were disabled in armed attacks; and 71,200 families were destroyed. Statistics compiled from county annals show that 7.73 million people died of unnatural causes during the Cultural Revolution."

     

    Persecution continues to this day within China with the persecution of the Falun Gong, a group whose only crime is wanting to follow principles based primarily on the yoga system. Because of its gross ignorance, the Chinese government sees the Falun Gong as enemies of the state. All this is truly symptomatic of Kali yuga.

     

    jeffster/AMd


  7. Yes, Ragu, these are deep philosophical points which we must meditate on scrupulously !! LOL

     

    But actually, Prabhupad called industrialization (industrialisation) ugrakarma. Can someone here define ugrakarma precisely ? On tape, Prabhupad says that Tata makes "big iron bars." Now, in their quest for industrial advancement, they simply want to make cars and trucks as well as iron bars. But Prabhupad said that "dog is running on four legs, and man is running on four wheels." This is to say that modern man is just like a dog, only more sophisticated, because he uses four wheels. Does that mean that we should all take up motorcycling, so we can run on two wheels and escape being called dogs ? LOL. Of course, seriously, it is our duty to beat our dog-like minds everyday, as Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur suggested, in an effort to surrender to Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

     

    As far as Kali yuga goes, I believe that shastra teaches that Kali still has approximately 427,000 more years to run. So this is only the beginning and it is already getting rotten. We can see that there must only be 10,000 years left of even the possibility to publicly pursue God and self-realization, before the bulk of the populous becomes so demonic that no one can openly proclaim himself a theist. As we know from shastra, later in the age there is cannibalism, which has already happened in China during the Great Famine and later during the Maoist cultural revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1976. See commentary 7 of "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" at www.epochtimes.com.

     

    jeffster


  8. To be able to import the Tata into the States, they will have to meet all the emissions regs + meet all the frontal and side impact crash standards. It will require many modifications to the existing design plus extensive testing with the EPA and DOT. In other words, a lot of investment. If and when the Tata ever gets here, it will likely be not less than $7500 - $8500, possibly more.

     

    jeffster


  9. Hello Varun,

    In your mind it is a curse that you cannot attract women. But if you would be willing to repose your loving sentiment in Krishna, you would actually see that your curse is really a blessing in disguise. It would allow you to concentrate 100% on spiritual life and possibly make enough spiritual advancement in this lifetime to go back to Godhead.

     

    I am an unfortunate wretch, I gave vent to my lust with women and am now saddled with marriage for 16 years. I personally find marriage miserable. One always thinks that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Of course, one can also be spiritual within grihasta ashram, but it is much, much more difficult.

     

    Please take to spiritual life as a top priority, that way you won't be so upset with your material circumstances. It is somewhat offensive to invoke a spiritual mantra to satisfy material desires, so please refrain from doing that.

     

    Also, you should become a vegetarian immediately, whether you remain single or marry. By being a vegetarian, you will be able to think more clearly, and thus perhaps gain some insight about the subject of women and man/woman relationships.

     

    jeffster


  10. Hi again, Suchandra,

     

    Please don't misunderstand me. I am not calling everything you say humbug, I am only pointing out an alternative way of thinking about this issue. I have no problem with social networking by Muslims for their survival purposes; in fact, in my post # 15 I acknowledged the "social networking" that you are implying is all that there is to Islam. My problem is when they think that we must all follow their so-called religion or they'll attempt to kill us. It's this fundamentalism, this craziness I have a problem with. Do you acknowledge that there is a problem with suicide bombers, or do you just want to dart around the issue and whitewash Islam ? Answer this question; if you don't, I'll consider you not up to my challenge.

     

    As far as Lord Chaitanya goes, he was dealing with very high-minded Muslims, Muslims who were basically open to Krishna consciousness. Islamic fundamentalists, those who do horrible acts, such as suicide bombing, are NOT open to K.C., please trust me on this one. So please don't compare the Gosvamis and namacharya with fundamentalists or even with ordinary contemporary Muslims. Fundamentalists decry the worship of the deity as idol worship and their conception of divinity does not extend past Brahman, and usually not even that far. I feel that you need to take a little more discriminating look at your own viewpoint, taking into consideration what I have just said.

     

    Here is what Prabhupad said in Krishna Book, in "Prayers to the Personified Vedas" : "Because of ignorance, these living entities are misidentifying themselves in different species of life, and especially when they are elevated to the human form of life, they identify with a particular class of men, or a particular nation or race or so-called religion, forgetting their real identity as eternal servants of Your Lordship."

     

    jeffster/AMd


  11. Hello Suchandra:

    To be fair, you should show a drought map of the middle east. It is already a desert due to their expert killing of cows and saintly people.

    Your argument that "Islam is primarily a social network of poor people helping each other materially," is wholly specious. You make it sound like Islam is akin to the welfare department of our local government, which it is NOT. Also, not every Islamic country is poor: Saudi Arabia is a prime example of an Islamic country that is wealthy, primarily due to oil revenue.

     

    Did you know that Saudi Arabia intends to spend U.S. $10 per person to proselytize each American citizen for Islam ? "Proselytize", from "proselyte". "Proselyte, see CONVERSION".

     

    The point you seem to fail to realize, Suchandra Prabhu, is that Islam is a threat to your ability to practice Krishna consciousness. If you're O.K. with that, than keep on the way you are, although you might eventually want to consider changing your avatar from Krishna with a cow to something a little more...Islamic. I'm not O.K. with that, and that is why I am vocal about the issue.

     

    Lastly, Prabhu, you did not answer my question, "Certainly people have to be educated to follow religious principles, but to a Muslim a religious principle is to convert or kill the infidel. How do you deal with that?"

     

    To answer the OP's ?, "Has Hawaii Officially Endorsed Islam," I would say no, the fact that they let an Islamic propagandist make that statement was not an official endorsement of Islam. They were just being nice and politically correct...

     

    With this, I am going opt out of any further discussion at least on this thread, as 1.) I have other things to do, 2.) I want to concentrate on my personal sadhana, and this is mostly a disturbance to it, 3.) I am finding internet forums in general mostly useless, 4.) I don't feel that I am helping anyone with my comments, and 5.) Jahnava-nitai das will close down this thread at some point, right in mid-stream.

     

    jeffster/AMd


  12. Did the deserts come about because of cow killing or killing saintly brahmanas ? The way I heard it, and I don't consider it authoritative, is that deserts came about because of brahmana killing. If deserts came about because of cow killing, than the entirety of Europe should be a desert.

     

    To call Islam "a social network," although that is certainly an aspect of Islam, or any religion for that matter, is an oversimplification. Yes, governments are corrupt, and that only exacerbates the problem. However, to attempt to ease the situation by strapping on suicide belts and blowing up civilians in bazaars, no matter how much they're convinced that they are correct, is just plain demonic.

     

    Certainly people have to be educated to follow religious principles, but to a Muslim a religious principle is to convert or kill the infidel. How do you deal with that ? How would you convince them that our religious principles of sanatana-dharma is superior ?

     

    jeffster/AMd


  13. I urge all Muslims to renounce Islam, and take to Krishna consciousness. If you are afraid to renounce Islam under threat of death, than at least add the practice of Krishna conscioiusness to your life. If you are still afraid to practice it openly, than chant the maha-mantra silently during your prayers. Jaya, Hari Bol !!!

     

    jeffster/AMd


  14. Are you suggesting that those who take the Koran seriously must, by following the Koran, be fundamentalists ? If that is what you are suggesting, than that is exactly what is wrong with Islam. And that is exactly my point: the Koran itself incites to violence. They either need to alter the Koran, renounce their affiliation with this "brotherhood," or come up with a kinder, gentler interpretation and practice of it.

     

    jeffster/AMd


  15. I don't object to them if they stay moderate. However, their goal is to have a world-wide "ummah," that is, congregation of Islam, which includes the entire world populace, and as we know from their history, when strong enough, they often use forced conversions or kill those who won't submit. THAT I object to vehemently.

     

    It is good that they are theistically-minded and that they have some moral sense. I know a good many Muslims from my business, mostly Palestinians and Jordanians, and most of them I like as persons. But we needn't give them any special Islam Day, especially in this country, which has separated church from state. In other words, no special favoritism. No prayer rooms, no foot baths, no special days.

     

    One thing I have never seen, other than with Sufis, is a transcendental approach to their practice. It is mostly a ritualistic practice. It is here especially that the Indian religions go much farther than Islam.

     

    jeffster/AMd

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