Gauracandra

I understand the major temple in Guruvayur is wooden as well. I've seen pictures of it, and recall it having a nice, simple design. I couldn't find any real good pictures of it, but here is one I found:

A while back I had started a thread on modern architecture and sacred space. These images below aren't modern, but I found the stave church design to be pretty interesting. They're mostly in Norway. They are natural (all wood), and some have intricate carvings.

In relation to television news, how much do we really need to know. I expect that at most we need maybe 5% of the news coverage. The rest is just "entertainment" of wallowing through other people's miseries. Someone's house burns down, another person is on murder charges, some CEO defrauds his shareholders... none of which directly affects me. But I invite the world's troubles into my living room, and rather than feeling happy about my life, because nothing bad is going on, I see 24 hours of bad news, and every so often a happy story. The news is naturally skewed to bad news, because it is event driven.

There have been studies that show a link between television and agressive behavior. I remember George Will (from This Week) mentioning a study of two towns, neither of which had television, and then monitoring the increase in violence as tv was introduced in one but not the other. The thing is, it happens so subtly that you don't notice and can't directly tie it to the television. I think even with good programming there is an overstimulation effect. Your senses are bombarded with edits and shifts in light and sound every few seconds, for hours on end. Even with a good program, there is a sort of constant sensory interaction, that I must believe doesn't help with a peaceful mind. So while the content might be good, it might be inherently bad, but on such a level that we don't even notice the changes it has on us, and assume we are naturally the way we are. Its too late for me /images/graemlins/smile.gif but ever so often its good to have a television detox session /images/graemlins/smile.gif

There is also the story of the tower of babel. Still, it is a pretty interesting idea. If you could tap into the 24hour spinning of the earth to generate energy you'd have a perfect supply of clean, and cheap (once built) energy. Also, the tethering idea to slingshot things into space is interesting.

Apparently about 10% of U.S. beef sales go overseas, and many if not most of these countries have now put a ban on U.S. beef. Thats good. All the fast food restaurants saw stock prices drop rather significantly. Its their own fault. I mean you only get mad cow disease through cannibalism, by feeding dead cows to living cows. Thats the process that creates these rogue proteins that kill the brain.

Here is a Siddhaswarupananda summary that has two useful quotes: http://www.audarya-fellowship.com/showflat/cat/hinduism/46561/31/collapsed/5/o/1 Psalms 54:1 “Save me oh Lord by thy name.” Psalms 124:8 “Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.”

There is an interesting idea for space development called a space elevator. Basically it would require super strong material to create a tether cable hundreds of miles into space. There would be three benefits. First, you could ride an elevator into space to move large quantities of materials. It would simply slowly climb up the cable. Second, the tether could be used to slingshot space ships out into space. Essentially a ship would connect to the tether and would be spun around as the earth spun, and then released. Third, and perhaps most interesting, is that as the cable moved through parts of the atmosphere it would generate large quantities of energy. You would have a wire extending through the atmosphere, and 24 hours a day spinning through earth's magnetic field to generate clean energy. Of course the material hasn't been created yet, but there is research into what is called carbon nanotubes, that apparently can make material far stronger and lighter than steel.

I went to my healthfood store and looked for clove oil. The only thing I could find was labeled clove oil but said only for external use only, not to be ingested. The stuff I saw looked more like the aromatherapy kind of stuff, so I didn't buy it. Is this what you mean? I suppose it is external if only applied to the gums, but still it would result in some ingestion, so I figured better not to buy this stuff I found.

My impression was that Pita Das was writing these "in the moment" to these forums. I could be wrong but I don't think they have been formally compiled and put on the web anywhere.

My only complaint is that it seemed in some scenes that they had to do some major editing to fit the time schedule. As is, the film clocks in at 3 hours 20 minutes. There will definitely be extended scenes when it comes out on dvd. I don't want to give any spoilers, but an example of this major editing was towards the end of the major battle when the ships dock on the battlefield to bring reinforcements for the enemy. Also, notice that the white wizard wasn't in this third film (he was in parts 1 & 2). Apparently his part had to be cut from the third film and this didn't make the actor very happy. But it is a great series.

Right now China seems to be getting the bulk of the low end manufacturing jobs. This means lots of capital is flowing into China to build factories and their economy is booming. But India has a distinct advantage over all other countries in the world. It has a large population, thus less expensive labor. But it is also an English speaking country, something China won't probably ever be able to accomplish. This is a huge advantage for India in software and support.

I've seen tests like this, but have never understood how a psychologist decides that a certain element in the story means something.

and keep his mouth shut. Here is one quote he gave: Now if he was sincere, he would just keep his mouth shut and go on with life. But he has to instruct us that other teachers are cheaters, but he himself is the real thing. He is simply marketing his own product.

My advice is to keep going to your local temple. Develop friendships with those at the temple, as they obviously have some spiritual pursuit. It is natural to feel uncomfortable if you enter a place and don't know the people. The only solution is to make friends and that can only happen if you keep going.

I was thinking about science and religion. There are so many different fields of science that I don't think it is safe to say that science is at odds with God. There is chemistry, physics, biology, astronomy, mathematics etc.... Now, the odd thing is, when it comes to evolution (which is generally seen as the scientific alternative to God), very few scientists are evolutionary scientists. That is, very few scientists have developed their own conclusions about evolution. Instead, they may accept the conclusions of other predecessor scientists in fields that they themselves have not studied. So they accept based on faith the conclusions of others, they have never met, and likely have only studied in cursory detail. What does a mathematician know of evolution? What about a chemist? or a Physicist? This is simply another form of faith.

There are situations in life when we realize that we can't control the world. Its probably best not to try and convince your husband. Instead, make progress yourself, and the happiness you exhibit should be convincing in itself.

I can definitely see it as a system of justice. From Western culture it seems very primitive. The wealthy will get away because they can pay it off. But the wealthy already get away (note Ghari's OJ Simpson comment, that man was guilty). So this way there is some compensation.

The last few days I've had the same problem. I went to the health food store and bought something called IPSAB Concentrate. The ingredients are water, prickly ash bark, ethyl alcohol, salt, pepermint spirits, calcium spirits, and atomidine. Anyways, it works like a miracle. It would be best if you had an eye dropper to put it on, but q-tips work well also. The pain is numbed right away.

Imagine a world where everything was one dimensional. The world would be a dot. Now imagine a two dimensional world. We can move flatly on a piece of paper. If a three dimensional object (say a pencil) came into a two dimensional world, we could (as two dimensional beings) experience a two dimensional slice of the three dimensional objected. In other words there is a dimensional order. In a three dimensional world we can see all orders below us (two and one). A two dimensional world can see a one dimensional world below it, but could never really see a three dimensional object. It could only possibly get a faint idea of a two dimensional aspect of a three dimensional object. We could right now be surrounded by fourth dimensional objects and never know it. What does a 4th dimensional object look like? I have no idea because I've never experienced one as a 3 dimensional being. Now God is beyond all orders and so sees everything below him. But we are infinitesimal beings trying to calculate whether God exists. It can't be done. The only way possible is if God descends and gives us the vision to see him. Our own mechanical processes will never succeed.

Whenever this type of question comes up, I always know to suggest reading "Stages and Varieties of Faith" by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur. You can read it here: http://www.indiadivine.org/bhaktivinoda-thakur-stages-faith1.htm To me, he lays out the spectrum of faiths and gives a logical progression of the faiths, explaining why they differ, and where they lead.

I think once you accept the responsibility of having a deity you need to maintain the worship. If you are touring, then you should arrange with friends to take care of the deity. Thats my advice.

I suppose the key to understand how to serve God even while working, is to understand what our role is in society. We each have certain duties. A priest can spend all day praying. But that is not possible for a software engineer. You perform your duties as best you can, and make progress where you can. Probably association is the most practical change you can make. Try to find those people in your office who have a similar spiritual outlook. Then even during lunch or breaks, you can make progress simply by their association.

I think many kirtaneers assume that louder means better. But if you start loud you have no where to go. You peak too early. I think kirtans should start off soft and simple, and build, build, and then explode at the end. It just makes more sense in terms of rhythm. I've seen some who start the kirtan at full blast and they have no where to take it. As for the study, it would be interesting. I'm not sure what it would show. I would guess nice kirtans would lead to more peaceful experiences. Not sure if it is due to the words or the melody. One could test it out - one with devotional words and melody, and one with made up wording and same melody.

What is surprising is the growing acceptance of Wicca. Go to any bookstore and you will see shelf after shelf of new age garbage passing as spirituality.