Gauracandra

Protect A Cow, Can you give some numbers of what an ideal cow protection program would look like? For instance, if you had a community of 500 devotees: 1) How many cows (& equal number of bulls) would be needed to provide the milk for the devotees with a cow only getting pregnant twice in their life (ie. maintaining population parity). What I'm wondering is assume an old cow, a middle age cow, a newly born cow, so the full spectrum of a population of cows. 2) How much milk can a cow give immediately after birth and for how many years? 3) How many acres would be necessary to provide most of the grasses a cow would need to eat and walk around? 4) What is the estimated cost to take care of a cow by year? I think cow protection must first be viewed as seva. It can never be done trying to make money because the economics just don't work. However, I would imagine one could structure a system, if the infrastructure was in place (acreage, barns etc...) to be self-maintaining.

Darren Aronofsky’s next film is called The Fountain. The details are sketchy but from what I can tell it tells follows a man on his quest through time searching for The Tree of Life. Hugh Jackman stars first as a Conquistador in the New World, then in modern times, then hundreds of years into the future. I’m not sure if the film uses this structure to explore reincarnation ie. This is the same person in each time or is it just the same actor playing different people in the times searching for the same thing. Anyways, looks to be pretty psychedelic. Here is the movie website: http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/thefountain/flashsite/index.html Here are some pictures from the trailer:

There is a lot to be said for having a decentralized energy system. I have heard about these manure digesters before. I remember reading that the average cow wil produce like 100 pounds of manure per day. So even a small farm with 100 cows has to find a suitable way to dispose of 10,000 pounds of manure every single day (or 3,650,000 pounds per year). Unfortunately I don't really know how much a kilowatt hour is. Would 1 cow provide all the cooking gas needs of a family? Back to the decentralized aspect. First it provides greater safety especially in today's environment. Because the energy is locally produced there is a diffused threat. Second, it is good for a local economy. The cost for an individual might be higher but if individuals spend their money on locally made energy it cycles through the local economy several times ie. $1 might be cycled through the community 3 or 4 times, thus the cost is actually reduced by 1/3 or 1/4 on a community level. Finally, we don't often think about it, but our cities beneath our feet have thousands, if not millions of miles of pipes to transport water, gas, sewage. Its actually a rather infrastructure heavy system that must take resources just to be maintained. Compare this to say a septic tank for sewage, or a well for water. Its decentralized so almost no threat from Al Qaeda etc..., it has virtually no major infrasture to be maintained.

There seems to be some miscommunication on my part. Here is what I wrote: "They basically cut the tree and 'bleed' its sap out. But then again, is this really bad, since we see no harm in cutting down trees for wood, or uprooting all sorts of plants." And here is what you say I wrote: "they cut down trees and bleed the sap" The problem I think comes from my saying they cut the tree. I didn't mean they cut DOWN the tree but rather they cut INTO the tree. My next statement about cutting down trees is in relation to "if its ok to cut down trees then it should be ok to cut a tree." That is the relative damage is much less for maple syrup. Ultimately this was a question for Vaisnavas if it is ok to drink tree sap. I have discussed this with various Vaisnavas and have decided it is indeed ok to have maple syrup on my pancakes.

Mel Gibson is right now filming Apocalypto (www.apocalypto.com). Apocalypto is Greek meaning “I reveal” or “I am unveiling.” For other trailer types (QuickTime, Windows Media Player, Real Player): http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=12420 The trailer opens with a quote by Will Durant as follows: “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” Some believe Gibson will use this film to “reveal” the decline in American culture and how by rotting within America will be destroyed. In particular, some are speculating that Gibson will make this a movie with heavy pro-life symbolism (notice in the trailer there is a pregnant woman). The film will be entirely in Mayan.

Bhakta Don Muntean, If you believe the Jews represent Vishnu because it is said in the Protocols, then you would have to believe the Protocols are true. Basically you would have to believe Jews are evil individuals out to destroy society from within in order to control it. If you don't believe the Protocols then who cares if it says the word Vishnu in them? Because they would be false. So whats your point? If they are true then you are wrong and the Jews are trying to dominate society (what you have called 'blah, blah, blah'). If it is false, then why are you even talking about it?

The name Vishnu is in fact in The Protocols. Most people consider The Protocols a fraud designed to attack Jews in tsarist Russia. Here is a Wikipedia entry on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_protocols_of_the_elders_of_zion They note one reason to believe it wasn’t written by Jews is because of the mention of Visnu. They point out that these entries on Vishnu match very similarly to Machiavelli’s Dialogues. Examples follow: Machiavelli: "Like the God Vishnu, my press will have a hundred arms, and these arms will give their hands to all the different shades of opinion throughout the country." (Dialogues, p. 141) "These newspapers, like the Indian god Vishnu, will be possessed of hundreds of hands, each of which will be feeling the pulse of varying public opinion." (Protocols, p. 43) Montesquieu: "Now I understand the figure of the god Vishnu; you have a hundred arms like the Indian idol, and each of your fingers touches a spring." (Dialogues, p. 207) "Our Government will resemble the Hindu god Vishnu. Each of our hundred hands will hold one spring of the social machinery of State." (Protocols, p 65) The translations I’ve seen vary between the use of the word 'apologia' and simply saying "will resemble". In this translation Vishnu is summoned to describe a sense of omnipresence. There is a big difference between the two translations. Which is the correct translation I don’t know.

This week’s Srila Siddhaswarupananda television program concerns ‘loneliness’. I just bought a digital camera so I have taken a picture of the screen. The picture isn’t the best but I thought I’d include it with the summary. Audience Member: I’ve experienced many times being at a party surrounded by many friends and still feeling lonely. Why is this? Srila Siddhaswarupananda: Many people have experienced this. I remember as a kid during Christmas we’d have family gatherings. Now these weren’t strangers like at a football game. Everything would be going well, no one was arguing, you’d be surrounded by loved ones, parents, kids and yet you’d feel empty. So when we are talking about loneliness we are describing an emptiness and also a fear. What is the cause of this loneliness? Why do we experience this? According to the saints and scriptures the reason we experience this loneliness is because we are away from God. We must look at this issue from the perspective of our true identity. In the Srimad Bhagavatam the Lord says “Long ago you knew me as your dear friend. But now you have forgotten and are trying to live separately.” Our natural condition is to be with the Supreme Perfect Person. You are spirit in essence, part and parcel of God. God is a person. He is our ever fresh, ever beautiful friend. The problem is you have forgotten this relationship. This is the root cause of loneliness. We have all experienced this. No matter what country, age, economic situation we have all experienced this. Right now we’ll take a short intermission to give you some information on how to contact us. [intermission. Phone number to contact is 1-800-755-1981] We are continuing our discussion on loneliness. Because our original relationship has been lost we feel alone. Audience Member: If what you say is true then why do atheists also feel lonely. Srila Siddhaswarupananda: Because it is their eternal nature as well. You may not believe in God but that doesn’t matter. Too be happy we must reestablish this relationship. We try to fill that loneliness with all sorts of relationships trying to find the perfect relationship but inevitably it gets shattered like a dream. Audience Member: My sister some years ago gave up on a family to pursue her career. Now she is in her late 30s and is terrified of never having a husband and children. What can I say to her to console her? Srila Siddhaswarupananda: You can tell her the truth. That even if she found a husband she’d still be lonely. I’m not saying having a husband is bad. But we can cover up our loneliness. It is actually good to experience loneliness. We can turn a negative into a positive. People will advise to go out and party to have friends or take some valium to cure your loneliness. People try to cover up the symptoms. The fact is we are alone. The solution is to use our loneliness and turn it into a spiritual longing for God. This will help us focus our full attention on God. In this way our loneliness can be our lifeline to God. The problem is if we don’t experience loneliness then we are very far gone. We start to think that this world really is our home. So we hide our loneliness until death. But at death you will experience the greatest sense of loneliness. At the time of death you will be forcibly separated from the world. Then you will feel truly alone. However, if we focus not on the forms of the world but on our love for God then at the time of death we are prepared to go to our friend. Audience Member: I have heard that God is an impersonal force and that to get rid of loneliness we should merge into this force. Srila Siddhaswarupananda: God has both a personal and an impersonal feature. The Buddhist idea if you can overcome loneliness by merging into this Brahma Jyothi. This is spiritual annihilation. We get rid of loneliness because we cease existing. If we merge into this ocean of light we can stay there temporarily. Then we are pulled into this material dimension again in order to experience relationships. Audience Member: I understand what you are saying. But while aiming towards God I feel I need friends and a partner as well. Srila Siddhaswarupananda: We must be pragmatic. We are not only related to God but we are also related to one another. We can’t cure our loneliness simply by relating to one another but we are social beings. Its not just me and God. There are vertical and horizontal relationships. We should not let our relationships interfere with our love for God. But if we develop horizontal relationships with individuals who are also trying to develop their love for God then their association can help us. We try to provide this way of associating with one another.

Because according to the Mayan's the world ends in 2012 /images/graemlins/smile.gif Actually, if you want to read about Mayan cosmology I believe there is a book called the Popul Vuh that describes their view of the universe, the upper planetary systems and lower planetary systems etc.... I don't think there is an English translation but there might be sights that describe it. I've only read about Mayan cosmology on a very surfacial level but they viewed the universe like a cosmic tree with different levels. You can try reading this and seeing if you find any similarities: http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/pvuheng.htm

Look, if I'm not wanted in a place then I don't go there. If a meat eating Indian walks into the temple they allow it just fine. But if Haridas Thakur tries to go in he is forbidden. It doesn't really matter if I can't get into Jagannatha Puri. I can just go to my local temple and see the deities.

I believe a large part of the problem is sugar that is put into all of our foods. The food companies are always trying to perfect the taste of something. And we all love sweet things. So they add sugars to everything. I believe I've read the average American will consume about 40 pounds of sugar each year. In other words, cut out the sugar from your diet and you drop 40 lbs in one year.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/CSM/story?id=1500343 The West has many problems and India has many problems. I have no problem acknowledging that 1/3 of all pregnancies in the U.S. end in abortion. Its terrible. Its sinful. At the same time I don't see why someone would be up in arms that India has an abortion industry and that many people select to abort the female child. Would it be better if they aborted the male child? No. I don't see how one can view this as some sort of myth perpetrated by Westerners to make India look bad. You can count up the number of boys and the number of girls in an area and if it comes out significantly different from 51% girls and 49% boys then you have some sort of phenomenon for the missing gender.

Its my understanding that the Dalai Lama does eat meat. I've asked some Buddhists about this and they say that the Buddha gave restrictions on meat eating as follows: You can eat meat so long as the animal wasn't killed specifically for you. That is, a grocery store isn't killing a cow for John Doe, they just kill generically. So you can eat that. But if you go out and kill the animal or ask someone to go out and kill the animal then that is a sin. I have also heard that pretty much all Buddhists eat meat except Taiwanese Buddhists are very strict. A friend of mine who is fluent in Chinese, travels to China & Taiwan, says that in Asia, only in Taiwan are there strict Buddhists. If you go into a Taiwanese Buddhist temple it will be pure vegetarian. But if you go to one in Korea, China, Japan, etc.... they will serve meat.

I found these over at www.kanglaonline.com: Sansenba is a festival celebrated at Shri Shri Govindaji Temple. Children dressing up as child Krishna , Balaram and their cowherd friends perform a play depicting the killing of demons by child Krishna and brother Balaram at Gokul. Courtesy:Santos Child Krishna confronting a demon disguised as a giant bird Courtesy:Santos Child Balaram fighting with a demon Courtesy:Santos

Keep up the good work.

Princess Bimbavati herself was so overwhelmed that she renounced the world and spent the rest of her life serving Lord Krishna and singing His holy names. She became famous as ‘Sija Lairoibi’, meaning ‘the princess who owned the Lord’. The golden deity of Radharani at the Govindaji temple was later made in her likeness. King Bhagyachandra was an ardent follower of Srila Narottama Das Thakur, an exponent of GaudiyaVaisnavism. He was initiated by Srila Ganga Narayana Chakravarti, a disciple of Srila Narottama Das Thakur, who visited Manipur to spread the Bhagavata Culture. In 1798, after ruling for 39 years, King Bhagyachandra decided to retire from political life. With his sons, several queens and several hundred associates, he left the kingdom for a pilgrimage to Murshidabad (West Bengal), the birthplace of Srila Narottama Das Thakur. The King handed over his state of Manipur to his eldest son, Labanyachandra, and spent the rest of his days in a life of detachment and devotion. He passed away in October 1799 at Murshidabad. His body was cremated there, near the tomb of Srila Narottama Das Thakur, of whom many devotees in those times believed him an incarnation. The brahmanas of those days gave him the title ‘Rajarsi’ meaning a sage in the form of a king. According to the King’s will, a portion of his ashes was bought back to Manipur and buried at the royal cremation ground, while another portion was brought to Navadvip, the abode of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. After Rajarsi Bhagyachandra, from 1798 A.D. to 1955 A.D. Manipur was ruled by the following kings: Labanyachandra, Modhuchandra, Chourajit, Marjit, Gambhirsingh, Narasingh, Debendra Singh, Chandrakirti, Surchandra, Kulachandra, Churachand and Bhudhachandra. They were great devotees of Lord Sri Govindaji and Srimati Rasheswari and patronized the Vaisnava culture in Manipur. It is really heartening to see that even today the deity of Sri Govindaji continues to be worshipped as the presiding deity in almost all the temples of Manipur. The people of Manipur have been initiated by the priestly brahmanas in the guru parampara of the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition of Srila Narottama Das Thakur

After the installation of Govindaji, what remained to be fulfilled was Krishna’s order that the King arrange for the performance of rasa-lila. The King now set about this in earnest. He engaged various experts to compose the music, design the costumes, and conceive the dances. The King himself provided guidance in all matters. The dance was not to be merely an artistic performance. It was to be done for the pleasure of the deity and the spiritual upliftment of the audience. Krishna’s pastimes take place at the highest level of spiritual devotion, and the performance had to convey the pastimes of the Lord in all their purity. Grace, chastity, and deep spiritual feeling were to be hallmarks of the rasa-lila. The rasa-lila was to be performed not in a theatre but in a ‘rasa-mandala’ specially constructed for the deity, Lord Govindaji. Govindaji Himself would be in the center of the rasa-lila. At the time there was no deity of the Lord’s consort, Srimati Radharani. Who then would play her role? For the pleasure of Lord Govindaji, the King selected his own daughter, the young and beautiful princess Bimbavati. The King himself became one of the mrdanga drummers for the satisfaction of the Lord. The rasa-lila was held in November 1779, on the night of the full moon. By all accounts it was splendidly performed. Over the years, the rendering of rasa-lila through dance and devotional song developed into a highly refined art, and even today it is celebrated as a sacred tradition in Manipur. Whenever it is performed, a prayer is made to Govindaji on behalf of King Bhagyachandra.

For some reason, some say because of repeated Burmese invasions, Bhagyachandra did not at once install the Deity of Govindaji. But one day a tribal woman appeared at the gates of his palace, insisting on having an audience with the king. She bore a message, she said, from someone even higher than him. Granted a private audience, the woman told the king that while she was cultivating vegetables in her field a young boy came before her and began playing tricks. He won the woman’s affection and asked her to convey to the king a message: He had made a promise, but now he was neglecting it, and the boy was very angry. The king at once understood that the boy was Krishna Himself. He returned with her to her village – on the slope of Kaina – and there found the old jackfruit tree of which Lord Krishna had spoken. The king arranged to fell the great tree, had it brought back to his capital, Langthabal, and appointed expert sculptors to carve the Deity. He described to the sculptors precisely how the Lord should look, according to the vision he had seen, and advised them also to consult the descriptions in Srimad-Bhagavatam. The sculptors carved a beautiful image, and when the king saw it he acknowledged that the form was superb. But it did not, he said, match his vision. By the king’s order, the Deity was named Sri Vijaya Govindaji and opulently installed. An elderly uncle of the king became the priest of the Deity. The king then ordered the sculptors to carve another. They began again, but again the deity differed from the form the king had envisioned. This happened several times. Each time, the king had the Deity opulently installed in a different temple and told the sculptors to try again. The sculptors were getting anxious because not much was left of the tree – but at last they carved a Deity that the king said matched his vision precisely. With joyous festivities the Deity was installed on the auspicious full moon day of Karttika month in 1776 and from the very beginning Govindaji was revered as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The king himself, his court, his entire state – all were dedicated to Govindaji. Skillfully, the king introduced all the features of traditional worship of Lord Krishna as taught by the followers of Lord Chaitanya. Rather than try to stamp out previous traditions of Manipuri religion and culture, by his own example he inspired his people in devotional service to Govindaji. Devotion to Govindaji became the focus of the spiritual and cultural life of Manipur. The people became Vaisnavas, devotees of Krishna, but they expressed their devotion with a special Manipuri spirit. They were Manipuri Vaisnavas, and they are still known as such till this day.

www.iskconmanipur.com The Victory of King Bhagyachandra Rajarsi Bhagyachandra ascended the throne in 1759, but in 1762 the Burmese, acting in concert with his envious maternal uncle, invaded Manipur, and the king, with his queen and a few attendants, fled to the neighbouring state of Ahom, now known as Assam. The King of Ahom, Rajesvara, had heard of King Bhagyachandra’s virtues and was pleased to receive him. They became close friends, and Rajesvara arranged for Bhagyachandra to stay in the vicinity of the royal palace. But Bhagyachandra’s crafty uncle wrote a letter to the king saying that the person taking refuge at his court was an imposter, not the great Bhagyachandra. The uncle advised the King of Ahom to destroy him. The message seems to have influenced King Rajesvara. Though not entirely persuaded, he began treating Bhagyachandra with coolness and suspicion. The real Bhagyachandra was said to have supernatural powers. So finally, on the advice of senior ministers, King Rajesvara reluctantly devised a test: In a public arena, Bhagyachandra, unarmed, was to catch and tame a wild elephant! The night before Rajarsi Bhagyachandra's trial, Loard Krishna appears to him in a dream. Confronted with this humanly impossible task, King Bhagyachandra prayed to Lord Krishna for guidance. Lord Krishna then appeared to him in a dream and advised him to enter the arena with a garland and japa beads in hand. Victory, Lord Krishna told him, was assured. In the future, the Lord said, Bhagyachandra would be the sole king of Manipur. Upon regaining the kingdom, he should install a Krishna Deity. The Deity, Govindaji, should be carved from a certain old jackfruit tree growing on the slopes of a hill known as Kaina, and the physical features of the Deity should match those the king was seeing now. After installing the Deity, the Lord said, the king should arrange for the performance of a rasa-lila, in which the Deity should be worshipped with songs and dances. The Lord enabled Bhagyachandra to envision in detail the kinds of dress the dancers should wear and the manner in which the songs and dances should be composed. The next morning, crowds waited on rooftops and treetops to see the fate of the supposed King of Manipur. Bhagyachandra solemnly entered the arena, holding the garland and japa beads chanting the holy name of Lord Krishna. The elephant charged from a distance, but as it neared Bhagyachandra it slowed down and then knelt before him. According to some accounts, the elephant seemed as though struck repeatedly by some unseen enemy. King Bhagyachandra alone, we are told, could see Lord Krishna sitting atop the elephant’s head like a mahout. And to that Lord, the King offered the garland from his hand. The king then mounted the elephant and rode triumphantly through the cheering crowds. Thoroughly convinced, King Rajesvara profusely apologized and offered his full assistance. He supplied men and arms to help King Bhagyachandra win back his kingdom. After an arduous trek from Ahom through the jungles, Bhagyachandra returned with his forces to Manipur and regained the throne. He restored the kingdom to normalcy and set about to consolidate its small kingdoms into one state, while still preserving cultural diversity.

To me the three modes of material nature are a great prism for analyzing everything in the world. You can look at the reactions of an activity to help determine what mode it is in. Here is how I'd break it down: Tamasic - Mode of ignorance. This involves activities, or items that involve destruction, pain, instability. Has no creative capability. In terms of movement things spiral down. Rajasic - Mode of passion. This involes items or activities that are very turbulent, can have both creative functions but with great costs or effort, often have no creative results, have negative side effects. In terms of movement think of a wave that occilates up and down. Satvic - Mode of goodness. These are items or activities that are creative, generate good works in the world. There is a permanence and stability. In terms of movement this would be a gently sloping curve upwards. Now lets get to some practical examples. The most obvious one is food: 1)Tamasic foods are foods created through pain and suffering (usually of animals). So meat is tamasic. Because it comes from pain it also results in pain. Thus you will find many medical studies that have shown a correlation between meat eating and cancer. 2) Rajasic foods are described as very salty, bitter, or hot and inflame one's passions. Garlic is considered rajasic. It creates foul smelling bodily odor (I don't think those who like garlic even disagree on this) but it does have some creative health functions (lowering cholesterol I believe) but also might lead to ulcers, bad breath, and smelling bodily odor. I think alcohol would go under this category. You take a fruit (which is satvic) and ferment it (ie. decay it) and drink this decayed fruit juice. This inflames one's passions (one gets easily agitated, goes from happy highs at a party to headaches the next morning) but it may have some benefits (like lowering cholesterol) along with its side effects. 3) Satvic food are those that prolong health, give one energy, and are created with as little violence as possible. Examples would be fruits (like pomegranites that have lots of anti-oxidants) or nuts (like almonds that also have plenty of anti-oxidants) or vegetables (like green leafy veggies that fight cancer) or grains (which give energy). From this analysis we can see that tamasic food born of violence, being decaying flesh, lead to suffering (poor health). Rajasic foods can have some benefits but also lead to more swings in reactions. Satvic foods lead to permanence and health. The three modes can be used to look at all sorts of things. Take investments. Pure gambling would most likely be considered Tamasic (perhaps with some Rajasic qualities) as you are pretty much sure to lose your money. Perhaps Rajasic investing would be something like the stock market, where you must ride out the waves of the market, rising and falling. You can make money, but it is very turbulent. While perhaps satvic investments would be those investments with a physical asset under possession such as real estate or gold. In this case the stability (a feature of satvic activities) of physical ownership of an asset would be better than virtual ownership of an asset (a stock). This is just my thinking. Now lets look at entertainment. Tamasic would be that which glorifies the worst elements of society (maybe like a horror film) - maybe like Friday the 13th. Rajasic might have lots of death also but in the end the good guys win (so you have ups and downs) - perhaps a Clint Eastwood western. Satvic entertainment would cause the mind to contemplate higher things, noble activities - maybe Schindler's List. Or clothing. Dirty clothing is tamasic (torn clothes, unwashed). Clothing that perhaps is clean, but is overly complicated or is meant to inflame the passions (showing off the body) would be rajasic (mini-skirts). Clean, simple clothing like a skirt for a woman, or slacks for a man would be in the mode of goodness. Or energy. I'm not sure what a tamasic energy source would be but I would imagine it gives very little energy but lots of pollution. Rajasic would include oil which gives lots of energy but lots of environmental degradation. Clean, renewable energy sources like wind power, which don't harm the environment and have permanence would be energy in the mode of goodness. Essentially the idea is that the ideas an individual or society accepts will manifest themselves outwardly in a physical sense. Food, entertainment, clothing, architecture, art, etc... can all be looked at based on the qualities they exhibit.

For what its worth, I figured I'd put in a few thoughts. I've never been to France so my knowledge is limited. However, I'm struck by one thing. Whenever something like this happens in America you are sure to hear Western Europe say something like "This is why we cannot be like the Americans with their disregard for the poor (substitute women, blacks, gays, or any non-White male heterosexual category)." It happened just last week I believe when the former German chancellor accepted defeat to his political rival (a pro-American, conservative). The ex-chancellor made a swipe at the U.S. saying how we failed with Hurricane Katrina (which we did fail I won't argue that) and so Germany must not follow America's approach to stripping social welfare programs. Never mind the fact that a few years before Germany had severe flooding itself through a number of its cities, and just the other year something like over 10,000 people in France died of heat stroke during the summer. Well, now we see that in Socialist France they have a large underclass. How can this be? Its Socialism. It must be paradise. You're telling me there are ghettos in gay Paree? Or how about a few months back we had reports of certain cities in Sweden that are entirely Muslim now and how the Swedish police are afraid of entering these areas because they have been attacked. How can that be? Aren't we all a beautiful multi-cultural melting pot of love? I'm being a bit sarcastic (ok, maybe more than a bit). I think this is actually good because it will force Europeans to look closely at their policies specifically as regards Islam in Europe. It will only get worse. Trust me.

One of the big problems I see with Varnashram is the confusion between qualities of an individual and occupation of the individual. The Ashram part is very objective. You are either a student, married, retired, or renounced and this can be broken down by age. However, on the Varna side we inevitably end up with a spiritual ranking of different occupations. That is Brahmana>Kshyatria>Vaisya>Sudra. We say that a Brahmana is clean, peaceful, intelligent. A Kshyatria is brave, noble and strong. A Vaisya is shrewd, easily agitated, and lusty. A Sudra is dirty, stupid, has bad breath and picks his nose. I’m somewhat joking, but that’s pretty much how it breaks down. Now, if we viewed Varna as one’s occupation then it becomes as objective as Ashram. You are a Brahmana if you are a teacher or a priest. If you aren’t actively engaged in one of these activities then you aren’t a brahmana. You are a Kshyatria if you are actively engaged in running a government (mayor, governor, senator, president) or are in a protection business (police, military, fire fighting). If you aren’t one of these then you aren’t a Kshyatria. You are a Vaisya if you are in agriculture or own your own business. Everyone else would fall into the catchall category of Sudra (afterall, there are only 4 divisions trying to fit all the diverse occupations of modern society). It is this spiritual ranking of people that I think is false. A brahmana is no better spiritually than a sudra. You can’t rank what is in one’s heart. If you want Varna based on occupation that is easy enough and objective. If you want Varna based on quality of the individual you will have great problems.

I like the idea of vouchers, but also have some reservations. The first being when you take government money you often get government intrusion. Second, it might be considered religious bigotry on my part, but I don't think all religions are valid, but such a system would have to allow the same treatment to some concocted bigfoot religious school as to an Islamic school. And of course you will have Farakhan creating his own schools teaching black militant Islam etc.... The idea has many good points, but you will have to accept the garbage as well as the good. There does seem to be a growing movement of homeschoolers. Its not such a far fetched idea. Truthfully, outside of reading, writing, and arithmetic, the vast majority of schooling is in one ear and out the next. I studied Chemistry, Physics, Biology, History, etc... and don't remember hardly any of it. I remember how to read, how to write, and I'm pretty good at math. So homeschooling that focus on the basics is doable for most families. It might be best just to ignore the government as much as possible and teach one's kids at home.

The more I contemplate this principle of Leonardo the truer it becomes. Something, anything, which can capture the essence of an idea, bringing it to a sharp point in as simple a manner has a sort of brilliance. Consider for instance toys. What toys will be around for hundreds of years. They are the simplest toys. The yo-yo was used in ancient Greece. Its a very simple toy. I bet you in a hundred years kids will still be playing with a frizbee, a hula hoop, and a round rubber ball. However, the latest fad electronic gizmo will go out of style within the year. The difference, is that the yo-yo, the frizbee, the ball all have a simple idea that they perfectly capture. I mentioned the sari and dhoti. Its a simple piece of cloth that is simply clothing. It is a cloth, turns into clothing, then returns to cloth. Even in philosophy, there are writers I've read who can in a few words cut straight to the point. Their words are sharp, clear, and in a sense very simple. If you can attain this simplicity, its actually very impressive. There is sophistication in simplicity.