atma

Gaya: Call them money savvy or greedy. But when girls in Gaya's Tekari sub-division found that marriage and the money don't come easy, they decided to fend for themselves. And found a novel way out: 'invest' in ganja trees. Most of the upper caste families grow ganja in their courtyards and backyards. Young girls tend to these trees and later trade them when they need the money to pay for their dowries......... The girls nourish these trees in all earnestness. Their home made manure is a deadly concoction of water mixed with milk. This made the ganja toxic and what's more, fetched a lot of money, the girls assured us. The returns are by no means small. Each manages to save at least Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000 a year. The police and the authorities are aware of the new 'investment' options that the girls of Tekari have come up with. But the girls are undeterred.

For me nothing compare to Srila Prabhupada's bhajans and kirtans. The potency and devotion in his voice is amazing to say the least.

Already to many homosexuals around. For the last 2 months of 10 men that I met 8 were homosexuals. No choice, gays or Hare Krishnas, and even worse gays Hare Krishnas.

Is this continue like that it will be 3 alternatives: 1- Preach from very beginning to the boys to be brahmacharis(that it won't work anyway because is Kali Yuga) 2- Fights for women. 3- Do it like in Tibet, women have several husbands (hellish). Society will be in total chaos, prostitution and rapes will increase, more unwanted children will be born and everything will be out of control.

A woman can easily have an abortion in India for even less than $5. There're clinics sponsor by the goverment and advertisements all over the place even in the Railway Stations. I was pregnant in India and even though by law they no supposed to tell you the sex of the fetus when you have the test (to check the development of the baby), for a few rupees the technician tells you what sex the baby is. For me was never important but the guy did offered to tell me. Abortion is so common, everywhere, villages, cities, poor or rich people. As I said before in another posting, they don't want girls because of the financial burden that brings to the family in the future when they have to get marriage. Many fathers prefer to kill the daughters and themselves when they realize that they can't afford to marriage the girls. We have also the husbands that burn the wives and they can married again and have more dowry. A very bad situation that will bring disaster in the near future.

1. If you throw a cat out of the window, does it become kitty litter? 2. If you choke a smurf, what color does it turn? 3. If you take an Asian and spin him around, does he became disoriented? 4. Is it ok to use an AM radio in the afternoon? 5. What do chickens think we taste like? 6. What do u call a male ladybug? 7. What hair color in on the license of a bald man? 8. When dog food is new tasting, who taste tests it? 9. Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitos? 10. Why do they sterilize needles for lethal injections? 11. Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle? 12. Why is it called tourist season if we can't shoot at them? 13. Why are there interstates in Hawaii? 14. Have you ever imagined a world w/out hypothetical situations? 15. If you squeeze olives to get olive oil, then where does baby oil come from? 16. If a cow laughs, does milk come out her nose? 17. What would Geronimo yell if he jumped out of an airplane? MEEEE!!!!??? 18. If con and pro are opposite, then is Congress and progress opposite? 19. If flying is safe, why is the airport called the terminal? 20. If American mothers give their babies tiny fork and spoons, then what chinese mothers give their babies? toothpicks?

Little bit more from the book (the monk went to a bengali village for the Vyasa Puja celebrations of one Vaishnava that he met in Vrindavan): In the afternoon the intelligentsia arrived - the teachers, schoolmasters, pandits and petty officials of the neighbourhood. Their questions were interesting, at least for a farming village. In Europe, it would be extremely difficult to find a village where, earnestly and with genuine interest, questions such as these would be discussed: Does God have a shape or not? Is there only one savior or are there several? Does one earn grace or is it only obteinable as a gift? Certaintly, these are questions belonging to the classical repertory of Indian philosophical discussions; but it is remarkable with what persistence and competence these questions are discussed. Hour after hour we sat, talking, discussing; ocasionally one or the other would intersperse a harmless joke. Some came, some went...... The return trip in the train was similar to the journey there.. Overcrowded compartments. At least I managed to get a seat for the 30 hours ahead of me. A family with 8 children had occupied the floor of one of the compartments and made it into their dormitory. Towards morning, the people tried, one by one, to squezze themselves through to the washroom..... At the junction, I had to wait for a connection to Vridavan. I went to the Catholic parish. When I told the father there where I have been, he laughed at me. Nobody came to him to speak about religion - he was only approached for milk powder, oil and flour, gifts from American Catholics. Nobody asked whether God's grace was free or had to be earned. In order to receive the tangible gifts from the missionary, one had to do what he said. 'You will not get far with your idealism,' he said, and perhaps he was right. I had never sent home any statistics of successes and baptisms.'We are realists,' he said. 'Come and eat meat again, it will make you think more sensibly.' (the monk was fully vegetarian while in Vrindavan)

MC, I won't post anything about robberies but you should avoid traveling at night, even in the Highway. I would recommend to visit Jaipur and Sri Sri Radha Govinda. Last year we went for darshan and while waiting for the curtains to open, all of the sudden the local people started chanting this beautiful song calling for the Deities. The sound vibration was so powerful and devotional that tears started flowing from our eyes. It is a must to go there. The pujaris are very kind and allowed us to go in front even though was really packed and we got the garland of the Lord. On the way from Vrindavan to Jaipur you may go to Karoli to take darshan of Sri Sri Radha Mohan. Get as much mercy as you can, is freely available in Vraja.

From what I observed in India, 'plays' are an important part of life in the villages. Many times the women that used to work with me in Mayapur came completely worn out because of lack of sleep due to some play that took part the night before. In Vrindavan was the same thing. Where is everybody going at 10PM? To watch the new play about Radha-Krsna. In Bangladesh the most popular part of the preaching program was at the end with the devotees acting. Everything strted late to beat the heat and thousands of people used to stay until past midnight to see the 'drama' If you want to convey any message in India, of any kind, make it into a play and you'll be heard and seen. Troupes go from village to village and their fame precedes them. I saw some of them and they're quite good. I believe that in the past the tradition was the same.

A little bit from the book: Sacred Vrindavan For two years I have lived in Vrindavan, one of the most popular Hindu places of pilgrimage in Northern India. Situated on the Yamuna, forty miles north of Agra, Brajbhumi, the area around Mathura, represents the "body of Krishna" for the Krishna bhaktas - divine in an inmediate and tangible sense. Mathura has been revered for more than two thousand years as the birthplace of Krishna. Romantic Vrindavan, about ten miles up-river, is the place of the Krishnalila, the love play of Krishna with the gopis, the milkmaids. Radha is his favourite gopi; present-day bhaktas regard her as the earthly incarnation of the consort of God. Vrindavan is Krishna's paradise; only in Vrindavan can the highest degree of prema-bhakti be attained, as the gopis possesed it. The everlasting bodily presence of Krishna is strictly divided among the separate villages of Brajbhumi district. An elderly gentleman, who accosted me in the market-place to hold an impromptu speech on bhakti for my benefit, explained to me that "in Vrindavan, he who has eyes to see can observe Krishna and Radha at their love-play even today". Every year, an average of over two million pilgrims come here. Quite an upheaval for a town of hardly 40,000 inhabitants. Vrindavan has a number of big temples and countless small ones. The people here mantain that 'Vrindavan has seven thousand temples'. I am often asked whether I did not also feel the special divinity of the place, the presence of Krishna manifest, as it is for a bhakta, in so many places. One of my friends would only call me Krishnakumar and he would urge me constantly to give myself up to Krishna. 'Radhe Shyam" is the greeting of the people here; I should do the same, they say, thus honoring those who praise is sung by thousands day and night here in Vrindavan. Vrindavan is the shrine of Krishna-love.......... Life in Vrindavan is typical of what in an orthodox Hindu town, still living largely in and by Hinduism. Twice a day, a narrow-gauge train chugs the ten miles from Mathura to Vrindavan. Arrival and departure times are always approximate; no one in Vrindavan is in a hurry. The saffron-coloured robes of sadhus abound even in the train. No sooner do the first temple towers of Vrindavan come into sight that the devout women pilgrims break into a chorus of rapturous praise for Krishna. The same happens in the bus, which runs 'frequently'. So, too, in the tongas, those fleet little horse-carriages, still the main transport of pilgrims. During times of major pilgrimages, camel buses move on Vrindavan: large, cage-like wagons, double-decked and with room for about 25 passengers; speed, two miles per hour. The camels pulling the wagons pretend to have nothing whatsoever to do with the people they are pulling..... Atma: more later, I have to go to work.

Just give me a little time. I'm half way with the book and for me it is nice because his description of Vrindavan is so accurate that he transports you there.

I just heard Srila Prabhupada on tape saying that:"Just love Krishna, don't try to understand Him, because that is not possible" I think that sometimes we make our life too complicated trying to understand God in whatever form. It is so simple, just love Him.Definitions or not definitions it doesn't matter because Krsna will still be blue, playing His flute and dancing with the gopis. I think is better to be simple minded than trying to prove scholarship.

I just heard Srila Prabhupada on tape saying that:"Just love Krishna, don't try to understand Him, because that is not possible" I think that sometimes we make our life too complicated trying to understand God in whatever form. It is so simple, just love Him.Definitions or not definitions it doesn't matter because Krsna will still be blue, playing His flute and dancing with the gopis. I think is better to be simple minded than trying to prove scholarship.

A friend gave me a book yesterday called:"In the paradise of Krishna". Hindu and Christian Seekers. By Klaus Klostermaier, a German monk. He decided to make his home in Vrindavan during the 60's for two years. For what I read in the first pages, it seems a very nice book. Any comment on it?

I'm sitting on this plane, eating my dinner, when aal of a sudden the captain comes in the loudspeaker and tell us that the plane is about to crash land into the mountains. The next thing I know this woman from the front of the plane jumps up from her seat and starts screaming like a lunatic. "I can't die today! I WON'T die today! I'm 27 years old! I have been on countless dates and no one has ever made me feel like a woman! Please, I don't want to die like this! Is there anyone on this airplane that can make me feel like a woman? The entire plane went from hysteria to complete silence. Then, from the back of the plane, someone stood up. He was a dark, tall, well built, handsome man. "I can make you feel like a woman", was his reply. He started walking slowly down the aisle to the woman, who was now shaking with anticipation. One by one he started unbuttoning his shirt buttons, revealing his rippling stomach muscles. He quickly took his shirt off, slowly reached for her trembling hand, looked in her eyes and said "Iron this."

So true! Still I don't think the guys will get it.

No, I'm not taking guarana. Somebody suggested though. I remembered that the Guarana taking in Brazil was something under the table. I don't think that Brazilians need guarana to have speedy kirtans, they have so much energy, ghosh, is the land of Samba and other things. Sleeping is little better, I'm just not getting up even if I wake up early to let the body rest. The problem is the mind. How come yerba mate has caffeine? Thanks Maitreya for the suggestions. I was writing about the goondas in Vraja and when I almost finished, I press the wrong key and everything went off. I think Srimati Radharani doesn't want me to scare you with those stories

A 70 year old man goes to the doctor's for a physical. The doctor runs some tests and says to theman, "Well, everything seems to be in top condition physically, but what about mentally? How is your connection with God?" And the man says, "Oh me and God? We are tight. We have a real bond, he's good to me. Every night when I have to get up to go to the bathroom, he turns on the light for me, and then, when I leave, he turns it back off." Well, upon hearing this the doctor was astonished. He called the man's wife and said, "i'd like to speak to you about your husband's connection with God. He claims that every night when he needs to use the restroom, God turns on the light for him and turns it off for him again when he leaves. Is this true?" And she says, "That idiot, he's been peeing in the refrigerator!"

Thanks God he's ex. For my own sake.And for his sake he's in a different continent, not question of using the pillow here,even though he was whining

But my ex-hubby thought that I was boring and dull.

Men are always whining about how we women suffocate them. Well, in my opinion, if you can still hear them whine, you're not holding the pillow hard enough.

Any idea from where Guarana comes and its properties? Vaguely remember that the devotees in Brasil used to take early morning Brahma Guarana to have energy before going out in sankirtan.

Talasiga: "atmashraya" sounds good. Call me as you like.

OK. What about "Nidra"?

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