Bhaktavasya

No, misinterpeted political references the therapist within can agree to be tied in empathy to the left and understanding to the right, while reserving the right to be free from bondage to either side of the political body. What were YOU talking about when introducing the idea of mutually bound/tied up wrists?

Theraputically considered, an intriguing proposition.

In keeping with the subject, medicinal use of marijuana, it seems to me that the 'goal' is to be as pain free as possible, if possible. There are a number of different websites dedicated to the use of medical marijuana. Some people prefer to make a tea with the buds and leaves, others find that by smoking it the effect is quicker and more direct. A word to the wise; with the 'holy herb', less is more. In other words, there is no need to get blasted by smoking excessively, which can and does put one into a stupour. Too much of it can cause depression, whereas just a few tokes can have the opposite effect. A main point is that it is very individual; some people need to have some on a daily basis, others only on occasion. A couple of Bhagwatam verses come to mind in relation to this: "A thing is only evil or good according to the purpose for which it is used" and "That which is the cause of bondage, applied theraputically, can be the cause of liberation." Ultimately, as Jayaradhe says, it is a private matter, between the person making the decison about her/his body and God.

www.rabble.ca. for more information

I like to see that quote as meaning that 90% of SP's disciples would leave iskcon high school and whosoever they meet, wherever they go, tell someone something about Krishna (Radha-Krishna, Sri Chaitanya, the Bhagavad Gita), even if in an indirect way.

Tarun, do you have an address for Kaumodaki? She went to Toronto after New York and was always regarded as a saintly woman by the other devotees there. While I was making up my mind about taking 'the big step' and moving into the temple, Kaumadaki said to me; "You've wasted so many lifetimes in the material world, why not give this one to Krishna?" Why not, indeed, Kaumokdaki. Too many godsisters and godbrothers leave their bodies without us having a chance to pay our final respects, or tell them how much we appreciate them. [This message has been edited by Bhaktavasya (edited 11-13-2001).]

Tulasi serves Sri Hari in curing the ailments of the suffering conditioned souls. She served the devotees of Hari by reminding them always of Radha Krishna Sita Rama.

Logic, smalljic The word love is conspicuous by it's absence

Joining in here, may I say that the glaring ommission of the relevance of Buddha as one of the major avatars of Vishnu in orthodox Hindhuism (Krishna Himself coming to say "Forget about worshipping me, find a way to end the suffering of all sentient beings.") is part of the problem. It isn't as if the Manu Samita wasn't around during the time of Lord Buddha. Before the Manu Samhita, an 'essence' teaching of Srimad Bhagwatam is not to cause pain to any living entity. Buddha took it a notch further, extolling his followers to work selflessly for the end of all suffering (thus the vow of the Boddhisattva, akin to the desire of Vasudeva Datta, as expressed to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Basically, that he undergo the karma of all the entangled, destined to forever suffer souls, so that they could all go back to Godhead. A long shot, but it made Chaitanya cry, so it wasn't all for naught. Not only that, but if we recall, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that because of the desire of Vasudev Datta, all the conditioned souls are already delivered. Just a matter of time, I guess.

"Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brother-sisterhood of man Imagine all the people Living (Divine) Life in Peace Ooh ooh oooh oooh You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one Perhaps someday they'll join us (Dreamers) And the world will live as One" Thanks be to John and Yoko

Here's the lyrics to the U2 song 'Peace on Earth', released before the world trade tragedy and the declaration of WW3; Heaven on Earth We need it now I'm sick of all this Hanging around Sick of the sorrow Sick of the paind Sick of hearing again and again That there's gonna be Peace on Earth Where I grew up There weren't many trees Where there was we'd tear them down And use them on our enemies They say that what you mock Will surely overtake you And you become a monster So the monster will not break you It's already gone too far Who said tht if you go in hard You won't get hurt Jesus could you take the time To throw a drowning man a line Peace on Earth Tell the ones who hear no sound Whose sons are living in the ground Peace on Earth No whos or why No one cries like a mother cries For peace on Earth She never got to say goodbye To see the color in his eyes Now he's in the dirt That's peace on Earth They're naming names over the radio All the folks the rest of us won't get to know Sean and Julia, Gareth, Anne and Breda Their lives are bigger, than any big idea Jesus can you take the time To throw a drowning man a line Peace on Earth To tell the ones who hear no sound Whose sons are living in the ground Peace on Earth Jesus this song you wrote The words are sticking in my throat Peace on Earth Hear it every Christmas time But hope and history won't rhyme So what's worth? This peace on Earth Peace on Earth Peace on Earth Peace on Earth

thankyou, Jayaradhe. Am I alone here or did you and anyone else find the story of Tulasi, where she was once cursed by Radharani (as was poor Sudhama), and her alleged description of the heart of a woman a little far-fetched, a sort of take off from a similar alleged quote from Lami devi inserted in the Srimad Bhagwatam. Otherwise, wonderful information.

Tonight I can't get it out of my mind, so it must mean something. The image of Krishna''s friend, was it Subala, 'tricking' Krishna by asking Him to close His eyes, that Subala would pop a sweetball in His mouth. Instead Subala, or was it Madhumangal, popped a flower in His mouth. Krishna made face, everyone laughed. The Omniscient Lord AGREED to suspend His mystic powers of all-knowing, all pervasiveness, just to please His friends. Let them think that they actually pulled on over on Him. That same Krishna, Who appeared time and time again to 'save the planet and make the gopas laugh' is the object of my meditation tonight. Radha wouldn't mind. I don't want to steal Him away, don't want to Kiss Him on the lips (necessarily.) Just want to see Him do His Thing, if you know what I mean.

Taking stonehearted's advice, I woke up early the next morning and read through the Krishna Book, volumn one. Wonderful Krishna, Whose pastimes soothe the troubled mind and fills the heart with joy. Reflecting on how these stories are not confined to a time in the past, but are relevant to the here and now (eternal pastimes), I found renewed inspiration reading about the cowherd boys fearlessly entering into the mouth of Agha, knowing that Krishna would save them in any circumstances. Even though Agha swallowed them up and they fell into a state on unconsciousness (what happens to devotees when they forget Krishna), Krishna expanded Himself inside the demon's head, forcing Agha's lifeforce to burst out of his head and into the Brahmajoti. Then just by glancing mercifully over His dear friends, the gopas became revived and ready to go off on another adventure with the Lord. When the Kaliya serpent polluted the waters of the Yamuna River, causing distress to all the residents of Vrndavan, Krishna was so cool that he adjusted his belt before diving into the poisonous waters to subdue Kaliya. Just to increase His devotees love for Him, He allowed Kaliya to capture Him in his coils for 2 hours. Everyone thought that Krishna was finished, Mother Yasoda tried to enter the waters to save her boy, and all the residents had to hold her back. Krishna is the life and soul of all the Vrijbasis, of the cowherd men and women, the gopas, the gopis and the cows. For a tense moment in time, they felt as if their lives were finished, if Kaliya succeeded in defeating Krishna. Then, just as it seemed all was lost, Krishna not only broke free from Kaliya's coils, but began to dance on the sepent's heads, until Kaliya was the one who was about to be finished. Because of the prayers and tears of the wives of Kaliya, Krishna never killed his body, but told him in no uncertain terms to leave, to go away and pollute the Yamuna or disturb the residents again. I thought of how, as people of the Earth become more conscious of the sacredness of Mother Bhumi, Krishna in the hearts of all will give strength and wisdom to insure that major polluters will cease and desist pouring dangerous chemicals into the rivers, lakes and oceans and in time they will become pure and pristine again. And who can forget the time the cowherd boys became hungery, and Krishna saw it as an opportunity to favor the wives of the brahmans, (who were so wrapped up in ritualistic ceremonies, pronouncing mantras perfectly and offerring all the articles of worship in the precise order, yet couldn't understand the Divinity of Krishna and Balarama, or the cowherd boys). He gave meaningful instruction to all when He told the gopas to ask for charity in the name of Balarama, because Balarama was born of a ksatriya family, whereas Krishna (as the son of Nanda and Yasoda) was from a vaisya family. A sublte dig towards the caste system, long before the 2 brothers appeared as Chaitanya and Nityananda and embraced Haridas Thakhur and the Nam Acharya. Krishna's flute playing, attracting all living creatures, causing even the deer to stand still and shed tears, the gopis to leave their household duties, husbands and religious principals to meet with Him in the dead of night. Krishna, hiding from the gopis and stealing Radharani away to a secret place, carrying Her on His shoulders. Krishna with the shark-shaped earrings, the garland of fresh flowers, the kaustuba necklace, the mild smile and side-long glances that reassure His devotees of His loving protection. Krishna, bewildering Mother Yasoda when she looked into His mouth to see if he had eaten dirt....only to discover the entire cosmic manifestation inside her child's mouth! Showing His boundless mercy on her by withdrawing the vision and appearing again as an ordinairy child. Krishna, stealing the garments of the unmarried gopis, who worshipped goddess Katyayani for the benediction of having Krishna as their husband. Krishna and Balaram returning home after herding the cows, the dust from the hoofs of the cows covering their faces and hair. Krishna expanding Himself during the Rasa Dance, so that there were as many forms of Krishna as there were gopis, while in His original form He never leaves the side of Radha. Wonderful, wonderful Krishna. May we never forget Him.

You pompous self-righteous ass. This post is costing me by the minute, so I'll be brief. I stopped communicating personally with you and nixed a meeting in Toronto because you started giving me the creeps, to tell the truth. I don't care to impress you, and have lived in this 52 year old body long enough to know what helps my mind, body and spirit and what brings it down, sucks out the life force. Stop with the patronizing fake concern.

I have to agree with this post. Valaya: what you don't seem to realize is that most of us don't have all day to sit at the computer and reply to a multiplicity of threads. As pointed out by gopal, some of us are content to contemplate and appreciate various posts with HAVING to reply to them. After being away from this forum for a while, it is glaringly evident to me that instead of a forum for devotees of Radha and Krishna and Lord Chaitanya to come together to discuss and share topics relating to Them, everywhere one looks it is Valaya RR. It's called overkill, feeling the need to put 'your mark' on everything that is said here. Quite frankly, it's a real turnoff. As is your "I'm the best devotee and only appreciator of Radharani". Please, can't you just shut up for a while? As someone said, you are not the centre of the universe, Krishna is. And His love for Radha is what we're interested in, not hearing of your's over and over and over and over again!

I haven't had the chance to go on line much, and have just read your '2 cents worth' this morning. I'm going to put the same question to you as I did to Bhuta Bhavana; How is it that other people have 'admitted' to smoking pot, including Mahaksha, and you don't brand them as (always?) slightly intoxicated whenever they contribute a post. You really do hit below the belt, because you know that I am hepatitis C positive and have said that smoking marijuana helps with the wasting effects of the disease, particularly with nausea. Are you intimating that anything I have to contribute to these forums is somehow 'contaminated' because I'm not 'strictly following the rules and regulations of sadhana bhakti'? Are you? [This message has been edited by Bhaktavasya (edited 10-23-2001).]

That's one of the best ideas so far...if he is actually the 'real mastermind'. Granted, he said he thanked God for what happened on September 11th, which doesn't automactically mean that he organized the plot. Personally, I have a problem with George junior and company refusing to present the evidence to the international court of justice. Doesn't anyone think it strange that for people who are supposed to be very clever master-minds, no-one clued into the well-known fact that anyone who looks remotely like a hippie, Rastafarian, middle-eastern descent, the border guards on the American side of the Canadian-American border have routinely torn apart their cars and often body-searched such 'suspicious looking people'. Then why did suspected terrorist Ressam try to cross into the United States from Canada with explosive-making material in the boot of the car just before last New Year's Eve celebrations in Seattle, thus laying the groundwork for islamic terrorist scare. He could have easily secured the same materials in the states, why not just go there 'clean', assemble a bomb once he got to Washington state?

Before the bombing campaign started I had the good fortune to help a woman with her own campaign called 'Not in my name', an extention of a peace group from England, mostly older, seasoned women peace activists, who promote the choice of paying one's taxes for peaceful purposes instead of pouring them into the war machine. While speaking with people on the street from the united states and other tourists, as well as from here in Victoria, young and old and in between, from various cultural backgrounds, I realized that the polls can't be taken at face value. For example, if you ask almost anyone if terrorism (training terrorists, funding terrorists, harbouring terrorists) should be 'wiped out', they'll almost all agree. Then we have to say that the School of the Americas, the original blueprint from which all other terrorist camps have been patterned after, should have been shut down decades ago. The petition I helped present to people said, basically, that in light of the tragedy of September 11, the undersigned agree that the suspected perpetrators of the crime be brought to justice and tried by the international court of justice. That no innocent civilians should be victimized or killed because of any action taken in bringing the criminals to justice. Here are some examples of responses: An American woman, mid 30's, biologist; "Most of the American people DIDN'T vote for Bush, everyone I know thinks the Republicans are arrogant, greedy ********. I'll sign this but I really don't believe that they'll start bombing. They wouldn't be so stupid, now that so much information if coming about about the people suffering in Iraq because of the Gulf War bombings and the U.S. enforced sanctions, and what we did in Yugoslavia...bombing their infrastructure and killing citizens there. People in America wouldn't stand for it again. (The bombing began 3 days later) 2 local Victorian, late 30's, slightly intoxicated: (half-reading the petition before handing it back angerly) "Do you realize that over 6,000 people died in New York on September 11th?" me: "Of course I realize it, why do you think I'm standing out here?" Chris (the woman from 'Not in my name'): "Do you realize sir, that 200 Iraqi children die everyday, because of American backed sanctions against that country?" slightly intoxicated guy no.1: (shrugging) "Oh well. There's overpopulation over there anyway." s.i.g. no.2: " Ya, who gives a ****, come on, let's get going." A young (20-something) local girl signed the petition, as did an elderly couple from England, an elderly woman from 'out of town' (her husband didn't want to get involved), some people just walked by, another man got angry and called us names but wouldn't read the petition, another young man (20's, longish hair, deceptively attired to affect a 'cool, hip' look) "They should just go in there and blast the whole country to bits, man! Those guys started it first." Chris reminded him that the people of Afganistan never were responsible for what happened, but that still didn't pacify the man's thirst for seeing 'them all' blasted off the face of the earth. In conclusion, it is ignorance that fuels and consents to this 'new war'. p.s. I'll bet bin Laden is off somewhere in the Sudan or Tripoli, sipping iced marqaritas!

Valaya, there is one thing about your repeated experience with the Diety of Radharani that changed your life, softened your heart forever, that bothers me and probably others, and that is you seem to assume that no-one else has had similar soul-devastating (and I mean that in a good/transcendentally blissful way) experiences. Most people keep them private. Shivering, standing of the hair on end, the Deity revealing Him/Herself out of causeless mercy. I won't say anymore about this, because you get quite upset (in my opinion) if anyone questions your 'special status' as the 'favorite' devotee of Radha. But I must remind you that rather than being exceptionally evolved as the intimate confidant of Sri Radha, there is such a thing as the symptom of a kanista devotee (not bad, just unaware) thinking that he/she is the best devotee, that no-one else is serving God (or knows God) better than he/she. Just imagine all the people who never go on line, whose hearts are continuously melted in love for the Divine Couple, some of them living and some already taken by Krishna. While I'm at it, it's irritating to hear you go on at times about how angry you are with Krishna for making Radha sad, leaving Her. These pastimes are considered fully ttranscendental, the separation necessary for the bliss of union. "Sometimes these 2 lovers are joined and sometimes separated again. They have come together again in the body of Mahaprabhu." This is why Chaitanya is the most merciful, most magnanimous incarnation to date. Millions and millions of glories to the all auspicous Union of the 2 Lovers! [This message has been edited by Bhaktavasya (edited 10-19-2001).]

Condolences in regards to the house fire and the death of your brothers. it must require incredible strength to even type out the message on computer. In my understanding, we have come to this world to understand who we are, who God is, and what is our duty. Bhaktivinode Thakhur saw a vision of the planet transformed into Goloka. Chaitanya said that wherever there is remembrance of Vrndavan in the heart, wherever that person (absorbed in internal meditation of the spiritual land of Vrndavan) travels, the land becomes transformed into the spiritual world.

Yea, really, Valaya. It's about time someone began to put you in your place. How is it that whenever someone begins to speak of having a relationship with Krishna, you 'correct' him/her and say "Krishna belongs to Radharani alone" (without fully appreciating the deeper esoteric meaning of that statement, in that all of the hundreds and thousands of gopis are expansions of Radha). Now you have been indicating that Radha belongs to you alone, instead of Krishna. You even have the nerve to use Her initials by your name; instead if Radha-Krishna it's Valaya-Radharani. Sorry, but it has to be said.

I thought freedom of choice is supposed to be 'the American Way', but looks like it's demonizing anyone you don't agree with. No intelligence, you say, Mahaksha? People who promote peaceful alternatives over feeding their young men and women to a heartless war machine are hardly idiots. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." It takes intelligence to connect the dots and observe how the CIA and American policy has trained and financially supported dictators and now terrorists for decades then oops, the bad guys suddenly turn on them and became their worst enemies. And nobody mentions the filthy rich arms merchants who continue to sell arms, rocket-launchers, etc. to both sides of any given confict happening on earth. You put your faith in who you please, and some of us will try to seek out new ways of making peace over warmongering.

Valaya, you are SO dramatic! In the words of Sri Chaitanya, "Your body is not yours to give up, it belongs to Radha and Krishna", and you are using it for Their Service, so what's the problem? be of good cheer, a new beginning is near

May I jump in with a few sentences? thankyou. I say that the root of the problem here is Rishi referring to what should be a very private, sacred act between 2 people who are supposed to be in love with each other, as a falldown. No wonder his fiance got ticked off with him! Traditionally throughout millennia, the brahmacarya ashram was intended for young males, somewhat like high school. Rsi speaks in old, immature iskcon lingo and naturally the women veterans of iskcon far-right chauvanism react forcefully. In love there is no shame, no falling down from Grace. It's all in the higher consciousness, respect and loving intent.