atma

I always thought that was very weird. It wouldn't be more than 2 or 3 days before the burial. They told me why it happened because the doctor said something but I can't remember and I don't want to speculate. I can't ask my mom anymore because she passed away a few months back.

 

 

of the Vedic Planetarium will be built 5 meters above the highest recorded flood level of the Ganges. The entire structure rests atop a poured concrete slab 2.5 mt. thick covering roughly 4 acres. This slab will act as a raft to literally float the building on the muddy Gangetic delta which makes up Mayapur. (Srila Prabhupada first conceived of a large concrete raft as a foundation for the temple in August 1971.)

 

The temple consists of 3 connected domes structures. The third structure, the main temple, will stand about 35 stories tall. (Prabhupada's samadhi is about 16 stories tall) This building will house a magnificent deity chamber, with altars for Radha-Madhava, life size Panca-Tattva deities and the guru-parampara. The spires and inner dome of this building will be on scale with the largert religious structures on earth, including St Paul's in London and St. Peter's in Rome

of the Sri Mayapur Project was born from a seed (bija) mantra spoken to srila Jiva Goswami by Lord Nityananda. The mantra, spoken 500 years ago foretells the appearance of a marvelous temple dedicated to the service of Lord Caitanya - a temple destined to have a powerful influence on the world.

 

eka adbhuta mandira ei haibe prakasa

gauranga nitya-seva haibe vikasa

 

"An astounding temple will appear and will engage the entire world in the eternal service of Lord Caitanya."

 

A succession of our saintly gurus has worked diligently to bring forth that vision. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur expanded the vision to include a temple town with residents from all countries. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati built a major temple at Lord Caitanya's birthplace. Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada defined the size and design details of the temple and town. He also bought the land, laid the cornerstone, and left the royalties from his numerous books to help fund the construction

Really weird, good that I wasn't even born when that happened. I heard the story many times in the family reunions, they told me that in the end they put the body in a coffin for a 12 years old.

???

when one of my brothers died and they had to change the coffin two or three times because the body grew!! He was only 3 years old and his body stretched after death. The soul left the body already. I don't know the medical reason for that but for sure was no more soul in there.

She is 92 years old, petite, well poised, and proud. She is fully dressed

each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed

and her make up perfectly applied, in spite of the fact that she

is legally blind.

 

Today she has moved to a nursing home. Her husband of 70 years recently

passed away, making this move necessary. After many hours waiting

patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, where I am employed, she

smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker

to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room,

including eyelet curtains that had been hung on the window. "I love it,"

she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year old having just been

presented with a new puppy. "Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room...

just wait," I said. The she spoke these words that I will never forget:

 

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," she gently replied. "Happiness

is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not

does not depend on how the furniture is arranged. It is how my mind

is arranged. I already decided I love it. It is a decision I make every

morning when I wake up. I have a choice. I can spend the day in bed

recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer

work, or I can get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I will focus on the new day

and all of the happy memories I have stored away... just for this time

in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from it

what you have put in.

 

 

Put a lot of greatness into your life account this year.

 

 

 

 

............................................

 

PS - GRATITUDE. Its power cannot be underestimated. Try it - review

everything you have to be grateful for, weekly or daily. When you do,

your life will be transformed. You'll become rich, happy, calm, &

connected. You'll be ushered into a State of Grace. (But of course!

The word "Gratitude" is derived from the word "Grace".)

 

 

to add that work only on smart women.

Maybe next life, buddy.

 

 

Something funny happened to me like 2 weeks ago. I was at work serving some customers and I step outside to take something for them when a nice bird decided to go to the toilet at that moment and I got the stool on my hair and t-shirt. Fuming and remembering my mother's tongue I tried to washed off all the fertilizer from my head and cloth when suddenly I remembered what a dear friend of mine always told me about birds using you as toilet:" it was good luck". Something good was coming. I always thought that was the tolerance mantra in Calcutta to not to kill the crows that not only pass stool on you, they drop everything that they carry on their beaks and sometimes it is really nasty.

 

Trying to be peaceful I kept saying to myself,"good luck, good luck" whatever. Withing 15 minutes, I found a dollar bill all crumpled

up on the floor and I picked up, you know, because you don't leave Laksmi on the floor, etc. After 4 hours or so, I left work and when I was changing cloth at home and I took the laksmi out of my pockets, the dollar bill came out too and to my surprise when I unfolded it was a $100!!

 

Nobody was looking for the money at work and who knows to whom it belonged for so many people walk in and out of there and out of all those people I was the one who saw the really wrinkled up bill. That bird brought me good luck. So there you have an omen and when next time a bird uses you as a toilet, don't get mad, be glad, because good luck is coming your way! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

To purify the whole thing, I gave a donation to the deities.

 

And no,I won't go and sit on purpose under trees to get fertilizer on my hair thinking I'm going to make my fortune that way just in case one of you smart guys will suggest that. OK, good luck in 2003 to all of you.

Theist, I think you got Folio. Look in the morning Walks of Prabhupada. Year 74 0r 75 in Mayapur. I'm very sure he talked there about WW3 and India and Pakistan starting everything and the part that is always in my mind is when he said that India will suffer the most.

You should try to get Moov, from an Indian Store. I swear for it. It's really good for muscular pains. I used it in India and I was delighted when I saw it in my local Indian grocery store. If you don't live near one just get some local ointment or put heat on the shoulder blade. A little massage may help.

thank you for the "you are a good person..."

and I didn't take personal offense for your 'disputatiousness' that BTW, Theist, is the noun? for disputatious: tending to argue or disagree without adequate cause, (finally my Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary came in hand).

 

But I do take offence when relates to Srila Prabhupada because He is my main guru and I do a have a connection with Him and break my heart when His own disciples don't appreciate Him.

For a couple of years in the 80's I lived in a South America country where the 2 leaders wanted to make many devotees and thought the best way to do it was not to present the devotees as Hare Krishnas. They stop wearing devotional clothes, not necessarily the people have to take their shoes off when entering the temple, and they have nice parties for the newcomers. One Sunday in the middle of the lecture the TP got up and invited everybody to go with him to go and see Gandhi. The house was very nice and next to the brahmacarini ashrama was a really nice swimming pool, to our surprise after sankirtan we always found the devotees with the new bhaktins swimming together and having nice music blasting around, all devotional of course and in the spirit of making friends and we're all a big family. GEE....They made lots of bhaktas and when the local GBC showed up for his yearly visit he was very glad how many people was there for initiation. He wasn't that happy when for the moment of the yajna nobody was with devotional cloth to help him to do the initiation, I had to seat next to him to help him because I was one of the few with a sari. Everybody was wearing suits like mormons.

The atmosphere was very relaxed and they didn't mind anymore even if people came smoking, the mantra was "don't be a spoiler", let them know we're nice and accomodating. The first lady of the country even came for lunch one day.

It lasted just a few months, most of the people blooped and they had a few scandals that made them look like donkeys.

I left before everything blew on their faces, it was a farce to accomodate their materialistic desires. I won't even tell you where they are now, it's sad.

 

I think asking questions to the guru in the proper manner, time and circunstance is ok. But, the kind of questions that Maharaja wrote in the VP offering I don't get it. Those questions are for somebody that just starting to know the movement, process, etc. Not for someone who is been around for 30 years or so and had distributed books all over the world and himself is accepting disciples. How can he lead if he has those kind of doubts?

 

I'm not going to get entangled in arguing with Jagat, I can't even write English properly what to say discussing about spiritual topics. The only thing I can say if Bhakta Joe asked those questions I wouldn't mind at all but I'm not going to be quiet when Maharaja is asking these and I going to tell him so when I see him next.

 

Another thing is, they are criticizing Srila Prabhupada's books may set a wave of "brashness and insensitivity" but I still see lots of women, homosexuals,blacks, scientists, white men too, hmm this is not only for hindus, around the temples, ISKCON or not ISKCON. "Intelligent" people still reads the books. Or maybe I'm wrong, they are such fools trying to follow something that is telling them we're not this bodies.

 

And as Srila Sridhar Maharaja said so nicely:

 

Devotee: Does the disciple's advancement depend more on the guru or on his own efforts? How will the disciple make proper advancement in following the principles of his guru?

 

Srila Sridhara Maharaja: That depends on the stages of realization of the disciple. Exclusive devotion must come from the disciple towards the guru. It is said in the Svetasvatara Upanisad (6.23):

 

 

yasya deve para bhaktir

yatha deve tatha gurau

tasyaite kathita hy arthah

prakasante mahatmanah

 

"The key to success in spiritual life is unflinching devotion to both the spiritual master and Krsna. To those great souls who have full faith in both Krsna and the spiritual master, the inner meaning of the scriptures is fully revealed." The guru is Krsna's representative. We are in search of divinity, and so, we must try to concentrate all our energy wherever we find a real connection with divinity. That is the key to success, because Krsna is all-conscious. So, the response to our devotional efforts will come from Krsna according to our attentiveness to Him. He is everywhere. In the conception of infinite, everywhere there is center, nowhere is there circumference. In every point there may be the center. Prahlada Maharaja saw the center present everywhere. Hiranyakasipu asked him, "Is your God in this pillar?" Prahlada replied, "Yes. He is there." And when Hiranyakasipu demolished the pillar, Lord Nrisirnhadeva came out.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm having hope for mankind. I'm proud of you, at least you admit your shortcomings /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Avinash, my Bengali friend got 5000. I did it right, I failed the first one thought. It's ok, I'm just a woman.

Theist, I always prayed for you to pass the Quizzes. Still hope for mankind.

about it. In my years in India I had good and bad experiences. Mostly good and I had wonderful realizations.

My Indian karma still going strong, my best friend is Bengali, my roomate is Bihari, my bosses are Punjabis and my coworkers are South Indian Christians. What else can I want from life? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

And forgot to add, I smell fully like Indian Sweets and Spices. I Remember Debbie, who wants pappadams.

it seems to me those are the kind of questions that one would have answered before becoming a disciple what to say about accepting disciples.

and Playing.....

 

And for those who found the news of the week, and the year, something to forget, the movies proved to be a popular escape.

Industry sources estimate that Americans will have flocked to theaters 1.5 billion times by year's end, the most since 1959.

That helped generate $9 billion in studio revenues and renewed hope for struggling exhibitors.

One psychologist credited the news as much as Hollywood marketing muscle, noting that after 9/11, "the real world is probably more terrifying than Americans have ever known."

Pass the popcorn.

The offerings are in the 2002 Vyasa Puja book. I got the book today but I'm kind of tired to type Umapati swami's offering. Maybe is somewhere online, otherwise I'll do it tomorrow.

R U the WEAKEST LINK?

> > >

> > > Are you the weakest link?

> > >

> > > Below are four (4) questions. You have to answer them

instantly.

> > > You can't take your time, answer all of them immediately.

> > > Ready?

> > > GO!!! (scroll down)

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> > > First Question: You are participating in a race.

> > > You overtake the second person.

> > > What position are you in?

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> > > Answer:

> > > If you answer that you are first, then you are absolutely

wrong!

> > > if you overtake the second person and you take his place,

you are second!

> > >

> > > Try not to screw up in the next question.

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> > > To answer the second question, don't take as much time as you

took for the first question.

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> > > Second Question: If you overtake the last person, then you

> >are...?

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> > > Answer:

> > > If you answered that you are second to last, then you are

wrong again.

> > >

> > > Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST person?!

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> > > You're not very good at this are you?

> > > Third Question: Very tricky math!

> > > Note: This must be done in your head only.

> > > Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator. Try it.

> > >

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> > > Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000.

> > > Now add 30. Add another 1000. Now add 20.

> > > Now add another 1000.

> > > Now add 10.

> > > What is the total?

> > > Scroll down for answer..

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> > > Did you get 5000?

> > > The correct answer is actually 4100.

> > > Don't believe it? Check with your calculator!

> > > Today is definitely not your day. Maybe you will get the

last question right?

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> > > Mary's father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4.Nono.

> > > What is the name of the fifth daughter?

> > >

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> > >

 

 

 

 

 

Answer: Nunu? NO! Of course not! Her name is Mary. Read the question again.

 

 

You ARE the WEAKEST LINK!!!!!!

 

Good-bye!!! >>

 

 

What you see above is from the paper that I got, it is not the whole offering. For what I remember, in the end he wrote that he wants to born again in the sankirtan movement or something like that. Whatever.

 

He is a guru and leader and he is having those kind of questions????

 

Dependence on Srila Prabhupada's books will inhibit one's spiritual maturity?

 

Srila Prabhupada's books can bring us to the highest point of bhakti?

 

Srila Prabhupada's books are outdated?

 

In Umapati's Swami offering, he mentions about this sick mentality spreading in the society.

 

 

 

 

 

5. How are we to commingle the previous acaryas's literatures with your books, especially since you certaintly mention other sastras in your purports?

 

6. Can your books withstand time? That is, are the purports and language dated- if not now, then in the future?

 

7. Is emphasis on distributing your books, by whatever method, outmoded? Isn't ISKCON without emphasis on mass distribution a breath of fresh air for us?

 

8. Without a doubt you urged your disciples to write books. What is the relation between our books and yours, within your ISKCON society and beyond?

 

9.Should our senior devotees take the lead in demonstrating lifelong dependece on your books for their spiritual sustenance and delight? Is there a danger that by doing so they could inhibit their spiritual maturity?

 

"I can't stand on the shore of the ocean of milk, yet for the sake of ISKCON's future and my own well being I beg you for clarification: Is it pie-in-the-sky and reactionary to pine for a time when we will all be on the same page (into the same books)again, "like the good old days'?"

"Would we gain anything significant and lasting if ISKCON's leaders, in both word and example, rallied to exalt your books as the main basis of our cultural unity? And if you deem such voluntary austerity a laudable goal, then how can we avoid setting off a wave of insensitivity and brashness to attain it (like the good old days)?"

"Maybe there is no one answer to these questions. Perhaps, for your practical pleasure, we should accept the reality of a highly pluralistic ISKCON society, and learn to live with it. If that is your desire, I am ready to accept it."