suchandra

What the heck is it? Beyond the personality tests that we've all seen what is the philosophy?

At one point L. Ron Hubbard sold his movement and the new owners made a global enterprize out of it by using Hollywood actors to advertise for it. It has nothing to do with religion they simply sell different kind of psychological tools which are working.

Reacting in difficult situations: "Do not try to placate your friends at the height of their anger; do not attempt to confront them in the first shock of bereavement; do not question their sincerity at the moment when they make a solemn promise; do not be overeager to visit them in the hour of their disgrace." Rabbi Shimon be Elazar

Reaching out to others: "He who saves a single life, it is as though he has saved the entire world." The Talmud

Having realistic expectations: "You are not required to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to abstain from it." Rabbi Tarfon

Making the most of each day: "Repent one day before your death," he said. His disciples asked: "How can one know which day that day will be?" He replied: "Precisely! Repent today, therefore, in case you should die tomorrow. Thus will you spend all your days wisely." Rabbi Eliezer

Making choices: "Do not imagine that character is determined at birth. We have been given free will. We ourselves decide whether to make ourselves learned or ignorant, compassionate or cruel, generous or miserly. No one forces us, no one decides for us, no one drags us along one path or the other; we ourselves, by our own volition, choose our own way." Maimonides

Being yourself: It is said that just before his death, Rabbi Zusya wept in the presence of his students. He realized that, on Judgment Day, God would not ask him why he wasn't like Moses, why he wasn't like David, or why he wasn't like Isaiah, because he was not any of them. Instead, he realized God would ask: "Why were you not Zusya? Why did you not live up to the best that is in you?" Turning to his students, Zusya asked, "What then shall I answer?" Hasidic Tale

Hopefully they expect these soldiers to come back alive and get amnestied.

Out of jail, into the Army

Facing an enlistment crisis, the Army is granting "waivers" to an increasingly high percentage of recruits with criminal records -- and trying to hide it.

By Mark Benjamin

Feb. 26, 2007 | We're transforming our military. The things I look for are the following: morale, retention, and recruitment. And retention is high, recruitment is meeting goals, and people are feeling strong about the mission.

It was about 10 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2002, when a drug deal was arranged in the parking lot of a mini-mall in Newark, Del. The car with the drugs, driven by a man who would become a recruit for the Delaware Air National Guard, pulled up next to a parked car that was waiting for the exchange. Everything was going smoothly until the cops arrived.

"I parked and walked over to his car and got in and we were talking," the future Air Guardsman later wrote. "He asked if I had any marijuana and I said yes, that I bought some in Wilmington, Del., earlier that day. He said he wanted some." The drug dealer went on to recount in a Jan. 11, 2005, statement written to win admission into the military, "I walked back to my car [and] as soon as I got in my car an officer put his flashlight in the window and arrested me."

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Under Air National Guard rules, the dealer had committed a "major offense" that would bar him from military service. Air National Guard recruits, like other members of the military, cannot have drug convictions on their record. But on Feb. 2, 2005, the applicant who had been arrested in the mini-mall was admitted into the Delaware Air National Guard. How? Through the use of a little-known, but increasingly important, escape clause known as a waiver. Waivers, which are generally approved at the Pentagon, allow recruiters to sign up men and women who otherwise would be ineligible for service because of legal convictions, medical problems or other reasons preventing them from meeting minimum standards.

The story of that unnamed Air National Guard recruit (whose name is blacked out in his statement) is based on documents obtained by Salon under the Freedom of Information Act. It illustrates one of the tactics that the military is using in its uphill battle to meet recruiting targets during the Iraq war. The personnel problems are acute. The Air National Guard, for example, missed its recruiting target by 14 percent last year. And the regular Army missed its goal by 8 percent, its largest recruiting shortfall since 1979.

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<!--OAS_AD('x10');//-->This is where waivers come in. According to statistics provided to Salon by the office of the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, the Army said that 17 percent (21,880 new soldiers) of its 2005 recruits were admitted under waivers. Put another way, more soldiers than are in an entire infantry division entered the Army in 2005 without meeting normal standards. This use of waivers represents a 42 percent increase since the pre-Iraq year of 2000. (All annual figures used in this article are based on the government's fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. So fiscal year 2006 began Oct. 1, 2005.)

In fact, even the already high rate of 17 percent underestimates the use of waivers, as the Pentagon combined the Army's figures with the lower ones for reserve forces to dilute the apparent percentage. Equally significant is the Army's currently liberal use of "moral waivers," which are issued to recruits who have committed what are loosely defined as criminal offenses. Officially, the Pentagon states that most waivers issued on moral grounds are for minor infractions like traffic tickets. Yet documents obtained by Salon show that many of the offenses are more serious and include drunken driving and domestic abuse.

Last year, 37 percent of the Army's waivers (about 8,000 soldiers) were based on moral grounds. Like waivers as a whole, these waivers are proliferating -- they're 32 percent higher than in the prewar year of 2000. As a result, the odds are going up that the soldiers fighting and taking the casualties in Iraq entered the Army with a criminal record.

"The more of those people you take, the more problems you are going to have and the less effective they are going to be," said Lawrence J. Korb, an assistant secretary of defense under Reagan and a senior fellow at the progressive Center for American Progress. "This is another way you are lowering your standards to meet your goals." Retired Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, who was the Army's chief intelligence officer from 1981 to 1985, also called the increase in waivers "disturbing."

He expressed concern that the lower standards would place a burden on military commanders who have to deal with "more lawbreakers and soldiers with anti-social behavior in their units."

Even without the waivers, the Army has lowered its standards for enlistees. The Army has eased restrictions on recruiting high school dropouts. It also raised the maximum recruitment age from 35 to 39. Moreover, last fall the Army announced that it would be doubling the number of soldiers that it admits who score near the bottom on a military aptitude test.

In response to inquiries about the number of waivers being used, the Pentagon's assistant secretary for public affairs issued a three-page statement to Salon on Monday, headlined, "Military Recruiting -- High Standards With Limited Waivers." Regarding the use of moral waivers, it argues that "in most cases, the [criminal] charges were from a time when the applicant was young and immature." The Pentagon document contends that many waivers were "simply for an unusual number of traffic violations." It also cites as typical in waiver cases such minor offenses as "curfew violations, littering, disorderly conduct, etc."

Other Pentagon officials, who requested anonymity, cautioned against regarding this statement from the public affairs desk as the definitive word on the waiver question. These personnel experts stressed that the Army has a major problem with its use of exemptions from normal enlistment standards. These sources went on to say that the Army's statistical data appears to have been scrubbed to make its use of waivers look more infrequent than it actually is.

One Pentagon official, whom Salon asked to inspect the Army's official waiver figure, said the Army's claim that it has issued waivers to 17 percent of recruits "is not a correct number." In fact, the percentage should be higher. The Army has made the number appear lower by combining data from Army Reserve forces, including the Army National Guard -- even though the Guard has its own separate recruiting program and (based on information provided to Salon under the FOIA) used waivers in only 6 percent of all cases in 2005.

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When pressed, the office of public affairs admitted that it had lumped together data from several military services to derive the official Army waiver number. Lt. Col. Ellen G. Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman in the office of public affairs, confirmed that the data provided to Salon had combined the waivers records of the regular Army, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard into a single entry. She confirmed by e-mail: "Yes, these numbers include the active duty and reserve components."

Krenke referred questions about the Army's actual waiver rate to its Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky. Julia Bobick, an Army spokeswoman there, said her unit had received the document that the Pentagon had provided Salon and was "re-looking" at its own data in light of the follow-up questions. Until that reexamination is complete, Bobick said, the Army would have no additional comment. "The numbers that we have are not releasable," she said. "We are re-looking at these numbers in light of that query."

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<!--OAS_AD('x10');//-->In short, the military's explanation seems a variant of Catch-22. Officials now admit that the Army waiver data originally given to Salon was contaminated with extraneous numbers, but the Army cannot comment on what its actual waiver percentage might be, since the Pentagon figures are so muddled. When told of these numbers games, Korb said, "I'm sure that somebody on Capitol Hill is going to demand the answers."

It is no secret to Congress that the Army, which is fighting the brunt of the war in Iraq, is facing a severe personnel crisis. A Pentagon-commissioned report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments leaked last week warned that prolonged deployments and recruiting problems were "breaking" the Army. A chapter of that report, titled "A Recruiting and Retention Crisis?" goes so far as to say that the grind of war on the Army -- rather than any political imperatives from Washington -- will accentuate the pace of military withdrawal from Iraq.

Odom offered a similar interpretation: "We will get out this year, not because we want to; we don't have any more troops to send. What we are seeing is the declining capability of the Army caused by the administration's manning and deployment policies."

A contrary, though far from surprising, view was offered by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Asked about the report warning of a broken Army at a press conference last week, Rumsfeld said, "I just can't imagine someone looking at the United States armed forces today and suggesting that they are close to breaking."

This fits with the Pentagon's official response that most Army waivers on moral grounds are for minor infractions like traffic tickets and littering. While there is no way to independently verify those claims regarding the Army, records from another branch of service suggest how recruiting waivers can easily be misused.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, Salon obtained copies of a one-inch stack of waivers granted by the Air National Guard from January to July 2005. Many of the offenses excused are significantly more serious than driving with a defective tail light or failing to return overdue library books.

Lt. Gen. Daniel James III, the Air National Guard director, told the House Committee on Armed Services last July 19, "The Air National Guard's success is rooted in the quality of our recruits and our ability to retain them. Our people are unequivocally our most valued resource."

Yet according to the waivers, just four days earlier the Air Guard's national headquarters had approved the enlistment of a California recruit who had been charged in October 2003 with "assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury." True, the recruit was a 17-year-old juvenile when he committed the crime for which he was later convicted, but that date was less than two years before he was admitted to the Air Guard.

Other examples from the Air Guard files suggest a wider problem: After his parents filed a domestic-abuse complaint against him in 2000, a recruit in Rhode Island was sentenced to one year of probation, ordered to have "no contact" with his parents, and required to undergo counseling and to pay court costs. Air National Guard rules say domestic violence convictions make recruits ineligible -- no exceptions granted. But the records show that the recruiter in this case brought the issue to an Air Guard staff judge advocate, who reviewed the file and determined that the offense did not "meet the domestic violence crime criteria." As a result of this waiver, the recruit was admitted to his state's Air Guard on May 3, 2005.

A recruit with DWI violations in June 2001 and April 2002 received a waiver to enter the Iowa Air National Guard on July 15, 2005. The waiver request from the Iowa Guard to the Pentagon declares that the recruit "realizes that he made the wrong decision to drink and drive."

Another recruit for the Rhode Island Air National Guard finished five years of probation in 2002 for breaking and entering, apparently into his girlfriend's house. A waiver got him into the Guard in June 2005.

A recruit convicted in January 2004 for possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and stolen license-plate tags got into the Hawaii Air National Guard with a waiver little more than a year later, on March 3, 2005.

Taken together, the troubling statistics from the Army and anecdotal information derived from the files of the Air National Guard raise a warning flag about the extent to which the military is lowering its standards to fight the war in Iraq. The president may be correct in his recent press conference boast that "we're transforming the military." But the abuse of recruiting waivers prompts the question: In what direction is this military transformation headed?

A devotee should never accept any work from non-Vaishnavas - strong words by Srila Prabhupada, but surely true. Madhya 24.325

TRANSLATION

"I am a most lowborn person. I have no knowledge of good behavior. How is it possible for me to write authorized directions about Vaiṣṇava activities?"

PURPORT

Actually Sanātana Gosvāmī belonged to a very respectable brāhmaṇa family. Nonetheless, he submitted himself as a fallen, lowborn person because he had served in the Muslim government. A brāhmaṇa is never supposed to engage in anyone's service. Serving others for a livelihood (paricaryātmakaḿ karma) is the business of śūdras. The brāhmaṇa is always independent and busy studying śāstra and preaching śāstra to subordinate social members such as kṣatriyas and vaiśyas. Sanātana Gosvāmī felt unfit to write Vaiṣṇava smṛti about the behavior of Vaiṣṇavas because he had fallen from the brahminical position. Thus Sanātana Gosvāmī clearly admits that the brahminical culture should be standardized. Presently in India, so-called brāhmaṇas are almost all engaged in some mundane service, and they do not understand the import of the Vedic śāstras. Nonetheless, they are passing themselves off as brāhmaṇas on the basis of birth. In this connection, Sanātana Gosvāmī declares that a brāhmaṇa cannot be engaged in anyone's service if he wants to take a leading part in society. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Nārada Muni states that even if a brāhmaṇa is in a difficult position, he should not accept the occupation of a śūdra. This means that he should not be engaged in service for another, for this is the business of dogs. Under the circumstances, Sanātana Gosvāmī felt very low because he had accepted a position of service in the Muslim government. The conclusion is that no one should claim to be a brāhmaṇa simply by birthright while engaging in someone else's service.

There is a picture of Srila Prabhupada with some devotees in New Vrndavana being offered on eBay, developed in August of 1971. There is a copy for view with the eBay ad. It is an informal snapshot, not an official picture.

 

I'm not allowed to put up the link (not enough posts) but here is the number to use in a search on eBay:

 

260091063731

It is said that a soul comes to a body of human from three animals: cow monkey lion.

Do you know where I can find this in the scriptures?

This is of course the discription of the natural evolution of the soul through the 8400,000 forms. If a human being kills an animal, this animal immediately gets the human form and that human being who killed that animal is taking birth as this animal in the next birth. Thats at least what I was taught. Makes a lot of sense when observing how degraded many humans are and sastra also speaks of dvi-pada-pasu, something which looks like human being but behaves animalistic. Once there was a public-opinon poll and 98% of these people said if there would be something like a next life they want to become animals. In other words people have that foreboding that this is going to actually happen.

If we consider to agree with the truth of the Old Testament, to enforce a usury based monetary system upon a nation - this can be called war. In 1948, short after Mahatma Gandhi was killed the Rotschild's (East India Company) private Bank of India, RBI, branch of BOE (Bank of England) introduced the usury based monetary system in India, a fact which many Indians still cant accept.

The biblebelievers in Australia give further details: The extraction of usury is "one of the oldest professions of man." (Forrest M. Smith, III, The Regulation of Interest: Practice and Procedure, 10 ST. MARY'S L. REV. 825, 1979). First came the Temple Priests, then the Goldsmiths and the commercial bankers of today. The first use of the fractional reserve system was in the Temple of Shamash under Hammurabi -- the sixth king of Babylon (Peter Cook, FEDERAL RESERVE FRACTIONAL RESERVE AND INTEREST-FREE GOVERNMENT CREDIT EXPLAINED 4, 1991). The ecclesiastical doctrine of interest was the greatest obstacle to modern banking. It was primarily based upon 1) Aristotle's condemnation of interest as an unnatural breeding of money by money, 2) Christ's (supposed) condemnation of interest (Luke 6:34) and the reaction of the Fathers of the Church against commercialism and usury in Rome. (Will Durant, THE AGE OF FAITH 630, 1950). The moral condemnation of this ancient practice has been summarized: "It comes as news to most people to learn that practically all important ethical teachers -- Moses, Aristotle, Jesus, Mohammed, and Saint Thomas Aquinas, for instance -- have denounced lending at interest as usury and as morally wrong" (Lawrence Dennis, "The Squirrel Cage of Debt," Saturday Review of Literature 661, June 24, 1933).

Usury has been condemned since biblical times. (George Braden, II THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: AN ANNOTATED AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS 729, 1977). It was originally considered usurious to make any charge for the use of money. Id. Originally the word interest had the same essential meaning as usury. Smith, III, p. 826. The word "usury" used to mean any interest. It came to mean interest that exceeds the rate established by law (Ken Warner, GIVE US A KING 120-121, 1988).

Interest comes from the Latin verb "intereo" meaning to be lost. F.W. Maisel at 141, The ancient Israelites called usury "a bite." It is like the slow poison of a serpent: "Usury does not all at once destroy a man or nation with, as it were, a bloody gulp. Rather, it slowly, sometimes nearly imperceptibly, subverts the victim's constitution until he cannot prevent the fatal consequences even though he knows what is coming." Mooney, p. 23. The practice of lending to an enemy was "as a means of destroying him" (Jno. H. Kimmons, Usury: What Is It, and Does the Law of God Forbid It? 163, Undated).

The Old Testament "classes the usurer with the shedder of blood, the defiler of his neighbor's wife, the oppressor of the poor, the spoiler by violence, the violator of the pledge, the idolater, and pronounces the woe upon them, that they who commit these iniquities shall surely die." Id. at 2. The usurer was put in the same category with extortioners, Sabbath-breakers, those who vex the fatherless and widows, dishonor parents and accept bribes (Ezekiel 22). Id. at 17. The usurer was also classed with the liar, the unrighteous, the backbiter, the slanderer and perjurer, and denied the right to inherit the New Jerusalem (Psalm 15). Id. The usurer is further classed with the meanest and lowest of men and the vilest of criminals (Ezekiel 18). Id.

Before the Babylonian captivity, Ezekiel denounced the practice of usury as a great evil and mentioned the practice of oppressing strangers as part of the great wickedness. Id. at 9. Interest repayments on loans, even to resident strangers was forbidden in the year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:35-37) whereas in regular years it was permissible to charge interest to strangers (Deuteronomy 23:19-20). Id. at 3.

Zechariah forbade "the oppression of the stranger, classing it with oppression of the widow, the fatherless and the poor..." Id. at 9. Malachi "enjoins regard for the stranger's rights." Id.

Nehemiah, after the captivity, boldly denounced usury (Nehemiah 5:9-11), instituted a reform and had retribution made for all usurious holdings. Id. Those who can abide in the Tabernacle or dwell in the holy hill include (Psalm 15:1): "He that putteth not out his money to usury." Id. at 9.

Solomon gave us the proverb, "the borrower is servant to the lender." Id. at 15.

The New Testament embraces both Jew and Gentile. Id. at 3.

The New Testament continued the prohibition of usury: "In the fullness of time the Messiah came, and no part of the moral law was abrogated. The prohibition of usury as to the Jew was extended, to include mankind, and the permit as to the stranger was declared inoperative and void. The Jew was taught to sympathize with strangers remembering that they were once strangers in Egypt." Id. at 9-10.

Jesus taught (Luke 6:34-35) "love ye your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again." Id. at 10. Usury was the basis for Jesus's calling the money changers thieves: "The commerce of the world is conducted on principles as much at variance with the teachings of the master, as are the practices of a sneak thief or burglar. So the Master taught, as with whip of cords, he indignantly drove its representatives, from the sacred precincts of the Temple, denouncing them as thieves. Every well-informed mind knows that the money changers in the Temple, on that startling occasion, were at the very center of the Jewish Banking system, and of the pitiless and grinding commerce of Palestine." Id. at 19.

In Jesus' parable on the subject of usury (Matthew 25:26-27; Luke 19:22-23) "only the hard, austere man, one whose conscience will not interfere with his reaping where he has not sown, and taking up where he has not laid down, would extract usury, for he makes the lord of the parable tell the servant of it: You say I am a hard and austere man, then why did you not act accordingly, and earn me my usury as my nature demanded?" Id. at 3.

Assuming there is a stranger exception, "where is the authority for the practice of usury on our brethren?" Id. at 3. The taking of interest is "subversive of the principles of a sound state policy, contrary to good morals, and opposed to the teaching of God's Word." Id. at 10. The meaning of "usury" has been changed "to mean exhorbitant interest.

The Apostle Peter publicly told his vision: "And in another lake, full or pitch and blood and more bubbling up, there stood men and women on their knees: and these were usurers and those who had taken interest. . ." Antinicene Fathers, Vol. IX, p. 146. The Apostle Paul, in telling his vision, said: "And I saw another multitude of men and women, and worms consumed them. But I lamented and sighing asked the angel and said, 'Who are these?' And he said to me: These are those who exacted interest ON interest, and trusted in their riches and did not hope in God that He was their helper." Antinicene Fathers, Vol. IX, p. 160.

A long-existing and self-perpetuating tax-immune internationalist-transnationalist group uses fronts with inter-locking corporate and or fraternal group of individuals, whose membership is either secret or semi-secret, with undisclosed ownership shares, has usurped the sovereignty of borrowing national governments (who serve their lenders). It includes largely unrevealed yet reported campaign contributors who also control the media and press, all major political parties, and dictates presidential appointments. It abhors the direct issuance of money by elected officials and through the creation of a system of privately-owned and controlled central banks, holds all of the world's gold and all loan and mortgage paperwork.

Its business is conducted in secret meetings which determine the future of all national economies and the timing of expansion (through loans) or contraction (through no loans). It exercises an exclusive monopoly of the issuance of money created out of thin air and issued solely as debt, does not create money to repay the interest, and lives off perpetual national debts that consume future income and under international law cannot be repudiated even by an internal political revolution. At least for others, it tends to be pro-bureaucracy, pro-abortion/population control, pro-government education, anti-family, anti-nationalist, anti-inheritance, anti-private property and anti-Jesus Christ. This group can demand special privileges and even military force to collect "national" debts.

It plans to soon accomplish global disarmament (of both civilians and nations) and have a monopoly on force (including nuclear weapons). It has the privilege of a guaranteed untaxable income enforced by liens on all public and personal property and collected by the coercive force of the taxing structure of the various governments. The basis for its continued existence is continued usury and unforgiving collection of all debts resulting from committing the highest crime of usury.

'The Lie,' Usury, and Spiritual Discernment

I have head about you guys from my friend in NY, he says your inteligent, but I am amazed how you miss the concept of those first 11 being DISQUALIFED to represent Prabhupada now. So what you say is moot.

 

Initiations by ritvic is all at this time nul and void, disfuntional movement can't initiate on behalf of guru. Nor should they install deities, I think Krsna is not there, link is broken. New functioning DVD movement, then new ritvic qualified person will show and be test over a long period of time. Then ritvic can happen. Much time to heal is needed.

 

Hare Krsna, CB-R

These are good points and based upon facts. Today we find nobody within ISKCON to even following the simple vow of celibacy. Without being linked to the pure representative of the disciplic succession, Srila Prabhupada, by actually following his orders, how can there be spiritual joy and happiness which is a basic quality of Vaishnava? Instead we find in the leading department all kind of questionable personalities who even draw up laws to become a GBC resolution, which are clearly based on karmi knowledge and not upon sastra.

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Indians! Discover Your Glory!

http://www.iskconpune.com/SS/indians_discover_your_glory.html

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<HR>Once a poverty-stricken descendent of a once-prosperous clan went to a foreign land in search of better prospects in life. He struggled hard to succeed there. Meanwhile a resident of that foreign land heard about this person’s ancestral wealth, came to his family estate, found a vast treasure buried there and became a millionaire.This allegory illustrates the state of modern Indians vis-a-vis Westerners. Indians are going to the West in search of greener pastures and are struggling to make it big amidst cut-throat competition in the corporate jungles there. But Westerners are coming to India to understand the Vedic philosophy and culture. And by studying, assimilating and adopting the Vedic principles, they are finding complete fulfillment in their lives. In this series of articles entitled 'Indians, Discover Your Glory', we will examine Western culture and its shallowness, Western science and its limitations, Vedic science and its coherence and Vedic culture and its sagacity. This knowledge will pave the way for all intelligent Indians to discover their own glory and thus help India lead the world through spiritual culture.

The first article in this series discusses the evidence that testifies to the glory of India.

The June 1 issue of The Week carried the cover story ‘The Legend of Dwarka’. The eleven-page article reported the archaeological discovery of a submerged city under the seabed off the coast of Dwarka in Gujarat. The team led by Dr S R Rao, one of India’s most respected archaeologist, discovered a well-fortified and planned township that extended for over half a mile from the shore. The harbor found in the submerged city is the earliest clear example throughout the world of natural rock being modified to serve the needs of a harbor. The findings of stone moulds, ancient pottery with inscriptions and especially a seal with the images of a bull, unicorn and goat engraved in an anticlockwise direction, as well as the general layout of the submerged city, constitute strong evidence that this city is indeed the Dwarka described in the ancient Vedic texts. Dr Rao, an emeritus scientist at the marine archaeology unit of the National Institute of Oceanography, writes in his book, The Lost City of Dwarka, about his undersea finds: "The discovery is an important landmark in the history of India. It has set to rest the doubts expressed by historians about the historicity of Mahabharata and the very existence of Dwarka city."

Till recently, most scholars considered the Vedic texts to be mythological writings of superstitious aborigines. Indology, though a popular and respected subject in universities today, has a lamentable history of prejudiced scholarship. The modern study of Indian literature and culture started in the eighteenth century during the early days of the British rule in India. The first Indologists – Sir William Jones, H H Wilson and F Max Muller among others – are generally considered to be brilliant scholars who made the glory of Vedic literature known to the world. However the covert agenda that they all shared is mostly unknown. They all conceived of themselves as "bearers of Christian light to ignorant and superstitious Indians". Their religious convictions impelled them to study the Vedic literature, not open-mindedly to understand those texts on their own merit, but with the express objective of proving their inferiority to Christian theology. Although they superficially appreciated the Vedic literature, their overall presentation was intended to discredit those literature as incoherent and mythological. For example, Theodore Goldstucker, in his deceptively-named book Inspired Writings of Hinduism, assailed the validity of Vedic literature. His aim was to demonstrate to Indians that he had scholastically annihilated their scripture and that they should show their appreciation by adopting European values and "improving their character."

This biased scholarship was motivated not just by religious zeal, but also by political expediency. It was an essential part of the overall British political strategy to consolidate their hold of India. Since the Indians far outnumbered them, the shrewd British knew that they could rule India only with the cooperation of the Indians. And the easiest way to get that cooperation was by proving intellectually to the Indians that their own culture was pathetically inferior to what the British were offering them.

"The theories we like we call them facts and the facts we don’t like we call them theories." This succinct remark of Felix Cohen summarizes the British approach to the study of India’s history and heritage.

The British no longer rule India politically, but the worldview they taught continues to rule the Indian intellect. Almost all Indians suffer from feelings of national inferiority resulting from prolonged foreign subjugation and the consequent economic under-development. As a knee-jerk reaction to this inferiority complex, most modern Indians tend to reject everything Indian as primitive and irrelevant. The deep-rooted Vedic culture is treated at best as an embarrassing anachronism and at worst as a serious impediment to progress. Many Indians proudly say, "Mera Bharat Mahan" (My India is great), but they do precious little to even inquire what it is that is great about India. With their words they declare the greatness of India, but through their actions they denigrate everything that is essentially Indian by adopting wholesale Western dress, lifestyle, culture, values and goals. Of course some Indians still appreciate the greatness of traditional India, but even they feel that ancient Indian culture and philosophy can do little to help modern India. "Give up traditional religious and spiritual values, advance in science and technology, develop economically and then India will be glorious." Ideas like these have gained an unquestioning acceptance that can be compared only to what religious revelations commanded in times of yore. In the blind pursuit of materialism, the fact that citizens of nations with technological advancement and economic prosperity are battered by stress, depression, marital rupture, childhood delinquency, addiction and criminality just does not matter The fact that the Vedic literatures contain astoundingly accurate information on subjects as intricate and wide-ranging as embryology, medicine, psychology, architecture, cosmology, atomic physics, art, politics and warfare fails to prompt Indians to seriously examine their own inheritance.

The recent findings in Dwarka linking archeology and literature may mark the beginning of a new era in world history, an era of correcting the wrongs that have been perpetrated on India. If they lead to a systematic and unbiased study of India’s heritage, we may still arrive at a coherent picture of "the wonder that was India". A proper understanding of her past glory will empower modern India to play her due role in the shaping of a future world. Or maybe the excitement over the findings will just fizzle out. India is too crippled by poverty to take up extensive archaeological explorations. The political unsteadiness ensures that nothing else occupies the national mind for long. The bureaucratic delays throttle individual initiative. And most importantly few Indians have the courage to differ from the overwhelming superstition that economic development alone holds the key to India’s future.

There was one Indian, however, who dared to differ – His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, founder-acharya of ISKCON. When Srila Prabhupada visited Britain during one of his worldwide preaching tours, a reporter inquired about the purpose of his visit. Srila Prabhupada replied that the British plundered India of all her wealth, but they forgot to take India’s most precious jewel. Srila Prabhupada informed the nonplussed reporter that he had come to offer Britain that jewel – the timeless wisdom of the Vedic literature. Srila Prabhupada presented the essential Vedic conclusions with striking clarity and relevance. To a world striving for universal brotherhood, Srila Prabhupada poignantly pointed out that universal brotherhood was possible only when the people of the world accept the Universal Father, God. To individuals searching for inner fulfillment, Srila Prabhupada explained that the highest happiness can be experienced only when one lives in harmony with the will of God. To a world infatuated by technological advancement, Srila Prabhupada warned that when humanity individually, socially and globally neglects or rejects God, it courts total disaster.

Along with this revolutionary philosophy, Srila Prabhupada brought to the West a unique gift - a practical and joyful way of life, centered on selfless spiritual service to God and all His children. He also presented easy and effective mantra meditation techniques, which constituted the distilled essence of all Vedic methods for self-realization. Thousands of people, when they adopted the Vedic way of life as taught by Srila Prabhupada, experienced their lives transformed from confused despair to enlightened fulfillment. Addicts, who had been wrecked by the perverted pleasures offered by tobacco, alcohol and drugs, found themselves freed from the shackles of self-destructive behavior. Seekers, who had been disillusioned by the mindless pursuit of inane pleasures as espoused by modern society, found unlimited happiness streaming into their lives from the spiritual stratum. Intellectuals, searching for meaning and purpose to the cosmos and the life within it, discovered a body of knowledge that answered fully the deepest questions that humanity has ever pondered. Even scholars could not but appreciate Srila Prabhupada’s comprehensive, coherent, cogent and potent presentation of Vedic knowledge, especially his commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, entitled Bhagavad Gita As It Is.

"If truth is what works, as Pierce and the other pragmatists insist, there must be a kind of truth in the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, since those who follow its teaching display a joyful serenity usually missing in the bleak and strident lives of contemporary people."

This remark of Dr Elwin H Powell, Professor of Sociology, State University of New York is typical of the critical acclaim that Bhagavad Gita As It Is has won among the world's leading scholars. Srila Prabhupada spearheaded a cultural and spiritual revolution that continues to bring meaning and joy to the lives of millions all over the world even today. Thus the evidence that Srila Prabhupada has provided to testify to the glory of Vedic India is not just a few forms of dust dug out from some parts of the earth. His evidence is living and global: it is the vibrant lives of thousands of people, who have dedicated themselves to the selfless service of humanity and God.

In the next issue we will examine Western culture and see how it is decaying from within due to the lack of a spiritual foundation, which can be provided by the Vedic texts of India alone.

<HR><CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=7 width=558 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top height=142><CENTER>The Spiritual Scientist</CENTER><CENTER>Investigating Reality from the Higher Dimensional Perspective of Vedic Wisdom </CENTER><CENTER></CENTER><CENTER>Published by ISKCON Youth Forum (IYF), Pune </CENTER><CENTER>Dedicated to </CENTER><CENTER>His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, </CENTER><CENTER>The Greatest Spiritual Scientist of the Modern Times </CENTER><CENTER>Founder-Acharya: International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) </CENTER><CENTER>Magazine Committee: </CENTER><CENTER>Radheshyam Das (M Tech IIT, Mumbai), Director, IYF </CENTER><CENTER>Chaitanya Charan Das (BE E&TC), Editor, The Spiritual Scientist </CENTER>

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>

hare krishna!

i often listen that energy gets dissipated when we engage our mind in unholy thoughts...my question is how does the saved energy help us?

is it that we get more stamina? or is it like we get brave and uneffected by undesirous effects...or does it help in concentration....or does it gives us power over our sensual gratification....how does this saved energy help us?

please elevate me.

thanks

hare krishna!

What I start to think of when reading your post is the transformation of matter into spirit by engaging matter in bhakti-yoga, devotional service. Prabhupada gives the example of an iron rod put into fire - gradually this iron rod heats up and at one point this rod does the same like fire, it fully adopted the quality of fire.

In the same way our material body, material senses and material mind when engaged in spiritual activity become spiritualized and the quality changes from matter to spirit. As you say the material energy is changed into spiritual energy especially by engaging our material mind to listen to spiritual sound like Hare Krishna, Hare Rama what spiritualizes our whole existence.

And the saved energy helps us to do more and more wonderful things for pleasing Krishna. Just like opening one temple after the other and making more and more sleeping souls to wake up from the bodily concept of life.

Harinama is the dharma of the Golden Age - 'kali kaler dharma nama sankirtana', and one who preaches that dharma all over the world is empowered with Krishna's energy, Krishna sakti -

'krsna sakti vina nahi tara pravatana'

kali-kālera dharma — kṛṣṇa-nāma-sańkīrtana

kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana

SYNONYMS

kali-kālera — of this age of Kali; dharma — the duty; kṛṣṇa-nāma-sańkīrtana — chanting the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa; kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā — without being empowered by Lord Kṛṣṇa; nahe — is not; tāra — of that; pravartana — propagation.

TRANSLATION

"The fundamental religious system in the Age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Unless empowered by Kṛṣṇa, one cannot propagate the sańkīrtana movement. Antya 7.11

Would be interesting if the karmis can manage to overcome the Stone Age level of burning oil or if they destroy this planet by air-pollution?

Monday view: Cheap solar power poised to undercut oil and gas by half

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/02/19/ccview19.xml

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Last Updated: 11:31pm GMT 18/02/2007

<!--NO VIEW-->

Within five years, solar power will be cheap enough to compete with carbon-generated electricity, even in Britain, Scandinavia or upper Siberia. In a decade, the cost may have fallen so dramatically that solar cells could undercut oil, gas, coal and nuclear power by up to half. Technology is leaping ahead of a stale political debate about fossil fuels.

Anil Sethi, the chief executive of the Swiss start-up company Flisom, says he looks forward to the day - not so far off - when entire cities in America and Europe generate their heating, lighting and air-conditioning needs from solar films on buildings with enough left over to feed a surplus back into the grid.

The secret? Mr Sethi lovingly cradles a piece of dark polymer foil, as thin a sheet of paper. It is 200 times lighter than the normal glass-based solar materials, which require expensive substrates and roof support. Indeed, it is so light it can be stuck to the sides of buildings.

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Rather than being manufactured laboriously piece by piece, it can be mass-produced in cheap rolls like packaging - in any colour.

The "tipping point" will arrive when the capital cost of solar power falls below $1 (51p) per watt, roughly the cost of carbon power. We are not there yet. The best options today vary from $3 to $4 per watt - down from $100 in the late 1970s.

Mr Sethi believes his product will cut the cost to 80 cents per watt within five years, and 50 cents in a decade.

It is based on a CIGS (CuInGaSe2) semiconductor compound that absorbs light by freeing electrons. This is then embedded on the polymer base. It will be ready commercially in late 2009.

"It'll even work on a cold, grey, cloudy day in England, which still produces 25pc to 30pc of the optimal light level. That is enough, if you cover half the roof," he said.

"We don't need subsidies, we just need governments to get out of the way and do no harm. They've spent $170bn subsidising nuclear power over the last thirty years," he said.

His ultra-light technology, based on a copper indium compound, can power mobile phones and laptop computers with a sliver of foil.

"You won't have to get down on your knees ever again to hunt for plug socket," he said

Michael Rogol, a solar expert at Credit Lyonnais, expects the solar industry to grow from $7bn in 2004 to nearer $40bn by 2010, with operating earnings of $3bn.

The sector is poised to outstrip wind power. It is a remarkable boom for a technology long dismissed by experts as hopelessly unviable.

Mr Rogol said he was struck by the way solar use had increased dramatically in Japan and above all Germany, where Berlin's green energy law passed in 2004 forces the grid to buy surplus electricity from households at a fat premium. (In Britain, utilities may refuse to buy the surplus. They typically pay half the customer price of electricity.)

The change in Germany's law catapulted the share price of the German flagship company SolarWorld from €1.38 (67p) in February 2004 to over €60 by early 2006.

The tipping point in Germany and Japan came once households twigged that they could undercut their unloved utilities. Credit Lyonnais believes the rest of the world will soon join the stampede.

Mike Splinter, chief executive of the US semiconductor group Applied Materials, told me his company is two years away from a solar product that reaches the magic level of $1 a watt.

Cell conversion efficiency and economies of scale are galloping ahead so fast that the cost will be down to 70 US cents by 2010, with a target of 30 or 40 cents in a decade.

"We think solar power can provide 20pc of all the incremental energy needed worldwide by 2040," he said.

"This is a very powerful technology and we're seeing dramatic improvements all the time. It can be used across the entire range from small houses to big buildings and power plants," he said.

"The beauty of this is that you can use it in rural areas of India without having to lay down power lines or truck in fuel."

Villages across Asia and Africa that have never seen electricity may soon leapfrog directly into the solar age, replicating the jump to mobile phones seen in countries that never had a network of fixed lines. As a by-product, India's rural poor will stop blanketing the subcontinent with soot from tens of millions of open stoves.

Applied Materials is betting on both of the two rival solar technologies: thin film panels best used where there is plenty of room and the traditional crystalline (c-Si) wafer-based cells, which are not as cheap but produce a higher yield - better for tight spaces.

Needless to say, electricity utilities are watching the solar revolution with horror. Companies in Japan and Germany have already seen an erosion of profits because of an effect known "peak shaving". In essence, the peak wattage of solar cells overlaps with hours of peak demand and peak prices for electricity in the middle of the day, crunching margins.

As for the oil companies, they are still treating solar power as a fringe curiosity. "There is no silver bullet," said Jeroen Van der Veer, Shell's chief executive.

"We have invested a bit in all forms of renewable energy ourselves and maybe we'll find a winner one day. But the reality is that in twenty years time we'll still be using more oil than now," he said.

Might he be wrong?

Krishnas mark auspicious day

<!--subtitle--><!--byline-->By Jessica Ravitz

The Salt Lake Tribune

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5244738

<!--date-->Article Last Updated: 02/16/2007 08:27:01 PM MST

Of the thousands of deities in Hinduism, one of the principal and most powerful gods is Shiva, or Lord Shiva, whose name is Sanskrit for "auspicious one."

He's considered the third part of the Hindu trinity. Lord Brahma is the creator, Lord Vishnu the protector. Lord Shiva's role is to destroy.

In a belief system where reincarnation and karma reign, where death leads to rebirth and where destruction leads to re-creation, Shiva is responsible for overseeing the life cycle. He keeps evil forces in check. His hand is in all realms as a supreme commander.

Given these powers, millions of worshippers observe Maha Shiva Ratri, the Night of Lord Shiva, a festival in his honor. Starting today at 5 p.m., the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork will host its own celebration.

Lord Shiva is "in the world but not of it," says Caru (pronounced "Cha-roo") Das, the festival coordinator and the temple's chief priest. "He's an emblem that there is another world. . . . This world which we live in is less substantial than the spiritual world."

The impetus behind the Night of Lord Shiva is rooted in a story. It is said there was once a great churning of the ocean. From the water came a pot full of poison. While other gods panicked, fearing the world's destruction, Shiva stepped in and drank the poison. But rather than swallow, he kept the poison in his throat, which turned it blue. Saving the world earned him a celebration observed by millions. Devotees of Shiva, on this day, observe a fast and an all-night vigil.

Part of the attraction to Lord Shiva, says Caru Das, is his "mystical personality."

In constant meditation, Shiva's eyes remain half-closed. He's often depicted dancing, to what some describe as the beat of creation, and with many hands. A third eye rests in the middle of his forehead, a symbol of wisdom. Around his neck, he wears cobras, a reminder of his destructive powers. He sits on or wears tiger skin, showing he is above all forces, including tigers, which symbolize lust.

For this evening's celebration, Caru Das expects a full house of about 500 people, of whom many will be first-time visitors. To educate guests, he begins the festival with a PowerPoint presentation, so that the rest of the evening will hold fuller meaning. From there, he says the celebration will include dramatic presentations of famous Lord Shiva stories. Neda Devi, born in Yugoslavia, will offer a traditional dance to re-enact the time in which the holy waters of the Ganges River flowed from the heavens and through Lord Shiva's hair before reaching the Earth.

The evening also will include the sacred bathing ceremony, during which people will be invited to ritually bathe a Lord Shiva statue with what Caru Das calls "five auspicious substances" ghee (clarified butter), yogurt, milk, honey and fruit juice. Later, spoonfuls of the gathered substances will be distributed into right palms. Tasting the mixture, Caru Das says, frees people from sins.

An estimated 200 Utah families half Western, half Indian are active in Hare Krishna worship services, says Caru Das, although many more people are drawn to the group's cultural elements, including cuisine and performing arts.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON or Hare Krishna), based in Los Angeles, has 400 temples and reportedly 1 million members worldwide. There are about 45 temples in the United States; Spanish Fork's temple is the only one in Utah.

jravitz@sltrib.com

Celebrate Maha Shiva Ratri, the Night of Lord Shiva

* The Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork is hosting a celebration today at 5 p.m. Guests are welcome. The event will include an instructional presentation, drama performances, classical Indian dance, the sacred bathing ceremony, music, chanting and a festive meal. Admission is free, although guests are asked to contribute $6 if they plan to enjoy the feast. Vegetarian contributions to the feast are encouraged. The Krishna Temple is at 8628 S. Main St., Spanish Fork. For more information, visit www.utahkrishnas.com.

Women's desks 'harbour more bugs'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6367795.stm

<!-- S BO --> <!-- S IIMA --> <table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="203"> <tbody><tr><td> Keyboards can harbour germs

</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IIMA --> <!-- S SF --> Women's workstations tend to harbour far more germs than those of their male colleagues, research suggests. A University of Arizona team found the average office desktop harbours 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet seat.

However, they also found that on average women have three to four times the amount of germs in, on and around their work area.

But men's wallets provided the most fertile bug breeding ground of all. <!-- E SF -->

<!-- S IBOX --> <table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="208"> <tbody><tr> <td width="5"></td> <td class="sibtbg"> It is not whether bacteria are present, or how many there are, but what type they are

Professor Sally Bloomfield

International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene

</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IBOX -->

The researchers said women's habit of keeping snacks in their drawers could explain why their desks were more germ-ridden.

They also warned that make-up and lotions helped to transfer bacteria.

Lead researcher Professor Charles Gerba found that 75% of female employees kept food in their work area.

He said: "I thought for sure men would be 'germier'.

"But women have more interactions with small children and keep food in their desks. The other problem is make-up.

"I was really surprised how much food there was in a woman's desk.

"If there's ever a famine, that's the first place I'll look for food."

Professor Gerba added that men's wallets provided a very attractive breeding ground for bugs.

He said: "It's in your back pocket where it's nice and warm, it's a great incubator for bacteria."

Don't take risks

Professor Sally Bloomfield, chairman of the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene, said people should not be unduly worried by the findings, as most bacteria did not cause disease.

She said: "It is not whether bacteria are present, or how many there are, but what type they are.

"But if you leave food on your desktop that you would usually put in the fridge at home, then you are asking for trouble."

The Arizona team took samples from 100 offices at the university and in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oregon and Washington.

They swabbed eight sites in each office: the phone, desktop, computer mouse, computer keyboard, exclamation key on the computer keyboard, pen, bottom of desk drawer, and handle of desk drawer.

They also took samples from workers' personal items.

The mouldiest spot was the bottom of the desk drawer, where many people stash food.

The study was commissioned by disinfectant maker Clorox.

<!-- E BO -->

By Shyamakrishna Das

Respected Maharajas, Prabhus and Matajis

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Devotees from around the world are hereby informed that in pursuance to an interim order passed by the Hon’ble High Court at Allahabad on 12th February, 2007, Srila Prabhupada’s Bhajan Kutir is now re-opened.

Srila Prabhupadas deity and his other belongings were moved inside the rooms in a small function organised at Radha Damodar Mandir today morning. H.G.Srestha Prabhu, Co-Temple President, ISKCON, Krishna Balaram Mandir and Nirmal Chandra Goswami, Sevayat Radha Damodar Mandir led the event. ISKCON devotees have resumed their seva puja to the deity of Srila Prabhupada.

The bhajan Kutir shall remain open for offering homage to Srila Prabhupada during the Temple opening hours.

Millions of thanks to all the devotees who responded to our appeal and prayed for us. We invite all of you to visit Vrindavan and give us an opportunity to serve you.

Your Servant,

Shyamakrishna Das

Your first point about devotees going to narayana Maharaja. Can one go back to Godhead only through ISKCON? If not, why the concern with devotees going to Srila Narayana Maharaja? Devotees will go to that person that they think can deliver them from bondage of this material world. It's not something we can take lightly. Good for those that sought his shelter. They're in safe hands.

Does one have to be part of a society to preach? If not, is there something we can do rather than just point out what they should be doing?

ISKCON claims to offer everything what is required to make your live fully perfect and go back home back to Godhead. If people leave ISKCON like described at the Biblical account in Exodus, 1500 BC, when thousands of Hebrews left Egypt for good, why then should ISKCON build such a gigantic representing emblem to demonstrate successful global preaching?

This doesnt have anything to do if Narayana Swami is bona fide or not.

Does one have to be part of a society to preach? If not, is there something we can do rather than just point out what they should be doing?

This is of course a good question, how to preach without being part of a society and stop wasting time and energy by pointing fingers to others?

May be for this reason Krishna gave us the internet.

This will probably remain a secret forever, is Bangalore ritvik or ISKCON?

Some photos from B’lore

Here is something after one week here.

— http://www.nizzoli.net/index.php/2007/02/14/some-photos-from-blore

ISKON temple is the latest, biggest achievement of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. From the site:

Impressive, isn’t it! The next time you see some hippie in a park singing the mantra, think again! Here is the mantra:

—

Then the palace where the Karnataka parliament is.

The palace is huge. Also, just to make things clear of who is ruling and what is expected from the population, at the entrance is engraved: “Government Work is God’s Work“. You have been warned!

—

Another thing. Sujit daughter, Sejal, turned one. She is cute! In the following photos: the invite, a photo of Sejal with his grandparent, and a photo of Ramu with Winnie the Pooh.

NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 14, 2007: India has an estimated five million ancient manuscripts, most of which lie unknown and neglected. The National Mission for Manuscripts, set up by the Ministry of Culture has been tasked to locate, preserve and promote the manuscript wealth of India. Their activities range from conducting nation-wide surveys to discover each manuscript, the documentation and cataloguing of manuscripts and their conservation, training personnel in manuscript studies, publishing important research on manuscripts, organizing lectures, seminars and debates for students and workshops for children. For this, the Mission has established a network of partner institutions across the country. The attempt is to involve scholars, academics, students and the general public. Today, four years into the project, Ambika Soni, Culture and Tourism Minister, launched the National Database of Manuscripts along with a proclamation of 45 selected manuscripts as the manuscript treasure of India.

 

Now more than ever, said Minister Soni, as India is emerging onto the world stage as a modern society, there is renewed focus in rediscovering the past and integrating it with the present to revive the ancient stream of knowledge for contemporary society. She said the task is to engage in a search for India's own intellectual resources with full awareness of the components of our rich culture. The knowledge from India's past has been forgotten by many. As a result, contemporary Indians have begun looking at the past with scorn and indifference which has resulted in these ancient systems becoming lost or neglected.

 

The Minister called upon NGOs, scholars and all interested individuals to come forward and contribute in spreading the message about the value and wealth of old manuscripts. India has the largest collection of manuscripts in the world, the Minister said, and this was a momentous occasion for the nation to have an electronic catalogue of one million Indian manuscripts is unsurpassed by any other country.

 

The Minister also launched the online database, Kritisampada, and opened it to public. Individuals can search on title, author, script, language, subject and material. The database hosts information on individual manuscripts, manuscript collections and printed catalogues and will be accessible in Hindi and English. The National Electronic Catalogue of Manuscripts, will be available on the internet through the Mission's website here: namami.org

 

Citations were awarded to several scholars and institutions who helped the National Manuscripts Mission launch the electronic database and Information and Broadcasting Secretary S.K. Arora, Indologist Dr. Lokesh Chandra and Prof. V. Kutumba Shastri also spoke on the occasion.

Years ago there was a fuzzy governmental release that they wanted to stop the scrupelous theft of India's intellectual property of being commercialized by Western publishing houses who just steal and translate ancient books and sell them on the world market to millions of people. Seems this issue is very suddenly of no more the slightest importance for India's leaders.

One example: India's Gods and Goddesses published globally by Mandala Publishing,

http://mandala.org/product_info.php?products_id=BK1103HB

Since modern science still claims to know they tell us now, please go on to burn oil, coal and wood in order to get energy as taught to us through the lineage started by the stone-age people. May be they forget one thing, people are anyway doing this without modern scientists telling them.

An experiment that hints we are wrong on climate change

Nigel Calder, former editor of New Scientist, says the orthodoxy must be challenged

<!-- END: Module - Main Heading --><!--CMA user Call Diffrenet Variation Of Image --><!-- BEGIN: Module - M24 Article Headline with no image (a) --><!--set value for print friendly --><!-- getting the section url from article. This has been done so that correct url isgenerated if we are coming from a section or topic --><!-- Print Author name associated with the article --><!-- Print Author name from By Line associated with the article -->

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When politicians and journalists declare that the science of global warming is settled, they show a regrettable ignorance about how science works. We were treated to another dose of it recently when the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued the Summary for Policymakers that puts the political spin on an unfinished scientific dossier on climate change due for publication in a few months’ time. They declared that most of the rise in temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to man-made greenhouse gases.

The small print explains “very likely” as meaning that the experts who made the judgment felt 90% sure about it. Older readers may recall a press conference at Harwell in 1958 when Sir John Cockcroft, Britain’s top nuclear physicist, said he was 90% certain that his lads had achieved controlled nuclear fusion. It turned out that he was wrong. More positively, a 10% uncertainty in any theory is a wide open breach for any latterday Galileo or Einstein to storm through with a better idea. That is how science really works.

Twenty years ago, climate research became politicised in favour of one particular hypothesis, which redefined the subject as the study of the effect of greenhouse gases. As a result, the rebellious spirits essential for innovative and trustworthy science are greeted with impediments to their research careers. And while the media usually find mavericks at least entertaining, in this case they often imagine that anyone who doubts the hypothesis of man-made global warming must be in the pay of the oil companies. As a result, some key discoveries in climate research go almost unreported.

Enthusiasm for the global-warming scare also ensures that heatwaves make headlines, while contrary symptoms, such as this winter’s billion-dollar loss of Californian crops to unusual frost, are relegated to the business pages. The early arrival of migrant birds in spring provides colourful evidence for a recent warming of the northern lands. But did anyone tell you that in east Antarctica the Adélie penguins and Cape petrels are turning up at their spring nesting sites around nine days later than they did 50 years ago? While sea-ice has diminished in the Arctic since 1978, it has grown by 8% in the Southern Ocean. <!--#include file="m63-article-related-attachements.html"--><!-- BEGIN: Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements --><!-- BEGIN: Comment Teaser Module --><!-- END: Comment Teaser Module --><!-- BEGIN: Module - M63 - Article Related Package -->

• ‘Blame cosmic rays for warming up the planet’

• No excuse for soft climate change laws

• Jeremy Clarkson: Cornered by the green lynch mob

<!-- ENd attachments of article package --><!-- attached links -->Related Internet Links

• New Scientist on Climate Change

<!-- end attached links --><!-- END: Module - M63 - Article Related Package --><!-- BEGIN: POLL --><!-- END : POLL --><!-- BEGIN: DEBATE--><!-- END: DEBATE-->

<!-- END: Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements -->So one awkward question you can ask, when you’re forking out those extra taxes for climate change, is “Why is east Antarctica getting colder?” It makes no sense at all if carbon dioxide is driving global warming. While you’re at it, you might inquire whether Gordon Brown will give you a refund if it’s confirmed that global warming has stopped. The best measurements of global air temperatures come from American weather satellites, and they show wobbles but no overall change since 1999.

That levelling off is just what is expected by the chief rival hypothesis, which says that the sun drives climate changes more emphatically than greenhouse gases do. After becoming much more active during the 20th century, the sun now stands at a high but roughly level state of activity. Solar physicists warn of possible global cooling, should the sun revert to the lazier mood it was in during the Little Ice Age 300 years ago.

Climate history and related archeology give solid support to the solar hypothesis. The 20th-century episode, or Modern Warming, was just the latest in a long string of similar events produced by a hyperactive sun, of which the last was the Medieval Warming.

The Chinese population doubled then, while in Europe the Vikings and cathedral-builders prospered. Fascinating relics of earlier episodes come from the Swiss Alps, with the rediscovery in 2003 of a long-forgotten pass used intermittently whenever the world was warm.

What does the Intergovernmental Panel do with such emphatic evidence for an alternation of warm and cold periods, linked to solar activity and going on long before human industry was a possible factor? Less than nothing. The 2007 Summary for Policymakers boasts of cutting in half a very small contribution by the sun to climate change conceded in a 2001 report.

Disdain for the sun goes with a failure by the self-appointed greenhouse experts to keep up with inconvenient discoveries about how the solar variations control the climate. The sun’s brightness may change too little to account for the big swings in the climate. But more than 10 years have passed since Henrik Svensmark in Copenhagen first pointed out a much more powerful mechanism.

He saw from compilations of weather satellite data that cloudiness varies according to how many atomic particles are coming in from exploded stars. More cosmic rays, more clouds. The sun’s magnetic field bats away many of the cosmic rays, and its intensification during the 20th century meant fewer cosmic rays, fewer clouds, and a warmer world. On the other hand the Little Ice Age was chilly because the lazy sun let in more cosmic rays, leaving the world cloudier and gloomier.

The only trouble with Svensmark’s idea — apart from its being politically incorrect — was that meteorologists denied that cosmic rays could be involved in cloud formation. After long delays in scraping together the funds for an experiment, Svensmark and his small team at the Danish National Space Center hit the jackpot in the summer of 2005.

In a box of air in the basement, they were able to show that electrons set free by cosmic rays coming through the ceiling stitched together droplets of sulphuric acid and water. These are the building blocks for cloud condensation. But journal after journal declined to publish their report; the discovery finally appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society late last year.

Thanks to having written The Manic Sun, a book about Svensmark’s initial discovery published in 1997, I have been privileged to be on the inside track for reporting his struggles and successes since then. The outcome is a second book, The Chilling Stars, co-authored by the two of us and published next week by Icon books. We are not exaggerating, we believe, when we subtitle it “A new theory of climate change”.

Where does all that leave the impact of greenhouse gases? Their effects are likely to be a good deal less than advertised, but nobody can really say until the implications of the new theory of climate change are more fully worked out.

The reappraisal starts with Antarctica, where those contradictory temperature trends are directly predicted by Svensmark’s scenario, because the snow there is whiter than the cloud-tops. Meanwhile humility in face of Nature’s marvels seems more appropriate than arrogant assertions that we can forecast and even control a climate ruled by the sun and the stars.

The Chilling Stars is published by Icon. It is available for £9.89 including postage from The Sunday Times Books First on 0870 165 8585

<!-- End of pagination -->

Did Srila Prabhupada say to keep these rooms for posterity? Don't get me wrong I like the idea, but it is in someone elses temple. Espescially we see that to control anothers house is liken to controling the wind.

 

Knowing ISKCON management there is every possibility that the agitation was started from Krsna-Balarama Temple. On the other hand there is much negative history concerning general temple management in India. So how to know the truth on the other side of the world?

 

Hare Krsna, Caturbahu das

Hari Bol Caturbahu prabhu, thats of course right - spot on. Prabhupada always said dont go to court - you wont get justice, even the judge is helplessly being committed to all those laws nobody can know but which have to presented at court. Only then the court can pass a decision which can be objected and the whole procedure re-starts. Now in Vrindavan it can easily happen that these people who run Radha Damodar temple have a relative who is a perfect lawyer and does everything for them to find out legal means to present at court, this simply drives you crazy. Sometimes such lawsuits last for years - back and forth. Now imagine some newspaper reports on the front page - Vaishnava temple vs Vaishnava temple - people start to consider, wait if I donate at Krishna Balarama Mandir my donation is being used for this courtcase, etc. etc...

Looks like fighting at court is the only solution, although Srila Prabhupada warned us that actual justice is rarely to be gained at court.

<TABLE class="Panel ViewArticlePanel"><TBODY><TR><TD class=Heading colSpan=2>An Urgent Appeal!</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class="Panel ViewArticlePanel"><TBODY><TR><TD class=Heading colSpan=2></TD><TR><TD class=Details><HR align=center width="100%" SIZE=1>By Shyamakrishna Das | Published Today

http://www.utahkrishnas.com/main/page.asp?id=1621

</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Devotees from around the world are aware that a dispute between ISKCON, Vrindavan and the Goswamis of Radha Damodar Temple, in respect of Srila Prabhupada’s rooms in Radha Damodar Temple, Vrindavan, is presently being heard in the Hon’ble High Court of Allahabad, India. The local court at Mathura has passed an interim order in favour of ISKCON, against which the Goswamis have preferred an appeal in the Hon’ble High Court. The final hearing on this appeal is going to be held on 12th February at Allahabad.

Our legal team is doing its best to produce all the legal evidences before the Hon’ble High Court.However, we would like to humbly beg and make an appeal to all the communities of devotees from around the world to offer your sincere and intense prayers to Their Lordships Sri Sri Krishna Balaram, Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar, Sri Sri Gaur Nitai and Srila Prabhupada that They may inspire the Judicial board to pass an order granting justice to ISKCON, against the atrocities of the Goswamis

Offering prayers is an important medium through which we can attract Lord’s mercy upon us. At this crucial juncture, a sincere and intense prayer from each one of you will be of immense value for us. You may offer your prayers to The Presiding Lordships in your respective Temples.

We express our deepest heartfelt gratitude to all of you, in advance, for your sincere prayers.

On behalf of the Legal team fighting this battle,

Your Servant,

Shyamakrishna Das

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

That is why we believe in rejecting both Iskcon and Iskcon Rehash Movement, both neglect the Mission of Srila Prabhupada. His Mission is Simple Living/ High Thinking. Live at home, worship Lord Chaitanya, Chant Hare Krishna, offer your food to Him, and Protect Children, Woman and Cows!

Just see what Madhai das says in interview below, Prabhupada changed his live!

http://mayapurkatha.blogspot.com/2007/02/story-of-madhai-prabhu.html

Mayapur Katha das: Hare Krishna. Thank you for giving your interview. Please introduce yourself.

Madhai Das: My name is Madhai Das. I’m 66 years old. I am from Krsnapur, West Bengal. I was initiated by H.H. Jayapataka Swami in 1978.

Mayapur Katha das: Tell about your life before joining and about the spirituality you were practicing before.

Madhai Das: In my house when I was a child they were doing Hare Krishna bhajan, but also worship of Kali and Ganesh. They were doing a big kitchri. When I went to school, I wanted to separate from this tradition and try to find my own way.

I joined Gaudiya Math, Krsna Math, Aravinda Mission and Bharat Sevasram Sanga, a impersonalist sannyasi ashram. I was practicing astanga-yoga, celibacy and meditation on omkara, to purify myself and become God. We were doing philanthropic activities, like distribution of food and medicine to the villages, but my mind was not satisfied. I was inclined to do kirtan, but because of association I had to follow impersonalism. I was like a yogi, with a big beard and big hair, with a rudraksa necklace, many rudraksas on my arms, and the marking of tilak on my forehead.

Then I saw some foreign devotees in Amedhabad, Gujarat, chanting here and there, and I was very surprised. “Why have they rejected their wealth to preach Sanatana Dharma? I could not do that.”

I met Srila Prabhupada in Bombay at a pandal program, and I spoke with him for few minutes, but I don’t remember.

After we came back to Amedhabad, a western mataji from America used to come to our ashram because our ashram and the ISKCON ashram were on the same road, side by side. She was coming every day to give a garland to our Krishna Deity and some prasadam to me. I was joining time to time at the ISKCON Temple, morning and evening, and I had a long talk with the ISKCON ashram President Yasomatinandana Prabhu.

In 1977, 15th, 16th, and 17th of January we attended the Kumba Mela for food distribution, and there was an ISKCON camp in Gangadwip, where I had darsan of Srila Prabhupada. In a very angry mood I asked many questions to Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada used to say, “I am servant of God” and I said “I’m God”. H.H. Bhakti Caru Swami, Bhavananda Prabhu and Rameswara (his secretary) were there when the discussion was going on, and Srila Prabhupada convinced me in a very humble way, that I should take initiation from the Vaishnava side. Srila Prabhupada said, “Which kind of God are you? You are going to get old, be sick and die.” Once Srila Prabhupada asked me to take some prasadam and I agreed. Somebody gave him an apple and Srila Prabhupada said, “This is prasadam, just take it”, and again some argument came out. I said, “You are like another Sai Baba! You raise your hand and somebody gives you a fruit prasadam.” Srila Prabhupada said, “I’m not producing this prasadam. Somebody was keeping it, then gave it to me and I’m giving it to you.” I said, “Why is this apple not open? How has Krsna taken it and it become prasadam?” Srila Prabhupada was trying very seriously to look in my eyes to understand what I was saying. Then I asked for a knife and Bhavananda became very angry with me, but Srila Prabhupada said, “Give him a knife.” Bhavananda Prabhu asked, “Why do you need a knife?”

Srila Prabhupada said, “I know what he would like to do--he is a typical Bengali brahmana, karma kandi.”

Bhavananda Prabhu gave me the knife, but they were in anxiety. I peeled the apple and cut it into 16 parts. I gave one piece to Srila Prabhupada and I said “Give me half,” and Srila Prabhupada was laughing. I gave to him all 16 parts keeping half. At the 15th piece he told me “Start to take them, or you will loose them all.” But when I gave him the last piece, all the devotees jumped on the plate and all the maha-prasadam scattered here and there. Srila Prabhupada took one piece and put it directly in my mouth and said, “I told you to take it before, but this is enough for you. Now you’ve had Krsna prasadam, so you have to do something for Krsna.” Hearing his voice, a tremendous change happened in my mind--I left my ashram and my family. He asked me to chant the Hare Krsna Mantra and he said after associating with devotees, he would give me initiation and after a few months, the second initiation, and at the end of 1977, he would give me sannyassa because, he said, I was already in the sannyassa order. He told me that I have to follow the regulative principles, (that I had been already following for several years.) He gave me a mala, a Bhagavad Gita signed by him and a letter for Mayapur management. I asked him some questions. I didn’t cut my big beard and hair and I didn’t change my sannyassi dhoti. I said “Before taking initiation, I also want to test you” (I was such a rascal that you cannot imagine!) I put some conditions. “For one year wherever you go, I’ll be with you,” and several other conditions. Srila Prabhupada said “If you put conditions you’ll be cheated. You cannot cheat Krsna--He is the biggest cheater. Do you have any more questions?” I said, “no.” Then Srila Prabhupada said, “I said okay to all your conditions, now whatever I request you, you have to say okay.” In the letter he wrote that I have to stay in Mayapur from that day. I said, “No!” but Srila Prabhupada replied, “I was keeping silent to your conditions. Now you have to keep silent. This is etiquette. You asked to stay with me for one year, but you didn’t put the date--I’ll put the date--if Krsna recommends then you can stay with me.”

When Srila Prabhupada gave me prasadam, Rameswara asked if he had to put my name as a disciple in the diary, but I said, “No, I have to check.”

H.H. Satsvarupa Maharaja was writing in the Prayag chapter [of Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita] “How a Sanyassi Mayavadi Can Become a Devotee,” but in ‘78 there was a very big flood. All the photos and my documents were gone-- he couldn’t prove it and so he didn’t write it in his book. Afterwards, I took initiation from H.H. Jayapataka Swami, Srila Prabhupada’s representative, in ‘78. I was appointed as Gurukula teacher and after that, H.H. Jayapataka Swami sent me to Nepal to open a new school. After two years I became temple commander and sankirtan leader . ‘85-‘86 I was Temple president and I came to Allahabad. Srila Prabhupada had asked me if I could do something in Allahabad, and after a very hard struggle, I opened a centre which is existing now. I was there from 1990 to 2001, then I resigned and I came here to take sannyassa. H.H. Prabhavisnu Swami and H.H. Maha Visnu Swami helped me a lot and they recommended me for sannyass. In 2001, I became very sick and Mayapur devotees took very nice care of me. From that time I’m staying in Mayapur. My service is in the library, at the top floor of the brahmacari building, and I’m doing Bhakti Vaibhava course.

Mayapur Katha das: Do you have some stories that you’d like to share?

Madhai Das: 1) When I was in the Sevasrama, the Gaudiya Math Temple was attacked by Mohammedans and the Swami of Sevasrama ordered us to go and protect the temple. All the brahmacari went there, the devotees left, and the Muslims cut their sikhas [of the devotees who remained] and threw the Deities out! Some people died. About this, I put some questions to Srila Prabhupada. I said, “Why do the devotees, when there is need for action and to protect the Temple, leave?” and he said, “Everything happens under Krishna’s sanction.”

2) In ’78, the rainy season flood flooded the area, and then came the news that some dacoits will come to Mayapur to attack the goshalla. During night time, we had no light, no boat, so we cut two banana trees, and we put them under our arms and swam to the goshalla to protect it. We didn’t have facilities at that time, but we were so enthusiastic to work for Krishna that we stayed there all night and came back next morning.

3)We went (H.H. Jayapataka Swami, myself and other devotees) to distribute flat rice and gur in a village and some boys were saying some ill words to the devotees. Blasphemy. But they couldn’t understand the meaning. When the boys came to me, I slapped them but H.H. Jayapataka Swami told me they were innocent boys, and that we have to tolerate them, and that they didn’t hurt me. From that day, I realized that my duty is to preach to ignorant people, and I don’t have to hurt them.

4) I was traveling with a sankirtan van in Sikkim and I went to a Buddhist temple in Mangpur. There they were killing cows and eating them. I gave a lecture and I preached not to kill the cows. The Buddhists became very angry with me and started to chase me. I was running and I arrived in the house of Kailash Sahlvalla. I entered into a room and his wife had just delivered a child a few minutes before. There was a lot of blood and clothes and I hid myself under the bed. I was afraid and I was praying to Krsna, “Krsna, I was preaching. This is my duty. I have to protect the cows that are so dear to You. Please help me!” The Buddhists came in the room, but the ladies didn’t speak and the husband took a gun and start to scream at them to go away and leave his wife peacefully with the child and fortunately they left.

After this, I went to the Defense Minister of the city. He brought me back to the temple and I gave again the lecture. The Defense Minister became a devotee that day, and also a Buddhist of that temple became a devotee.

5) When the Gurukula was in the boundary wall in the beginning, there was a big problem with the bathroom. The water was stuck and the bathroom was full of filthy water. I went to Navadvip and I collected a lot of money to repair the bathrooms, but the devotee in charge didn’t fix them. Srila Prabhupada came in my dream, and he was angry with me: “You cannot do it by yourself? Are you the teacher of these boys? You don’t want to serve? Wake up and do it by yourself.” So I did my best to follow Srila Prabhupada’s order and with great determination I opened the bathroom. I cleaned everything, I repaired and the bathrooms became very nice. I was completely wet with the filthy water, but I obeyed Srila Prabhupada’s order to me.

Mayapur Katha das: What attracted you the most that convinced you to join?

Madhai Das: I liked how they care for the devotees’ lives, and how they try to keep the devotees together, working cooperatively. In the math, they force you to do things but in ISKCON, they ask, “What are your skills, and what do you most like to do?” Srila Prabhupada used to say, “Whatever you are able to do, do this for Krishna.”

Mayapur Katha das: What’s keeping your faith and enthusiasm after so many years?

Madhai Das: The Deities and the chanting. The Deities inspire me with Their very charming faces. It seems that They want to say something when I look at Them. They want for us to chant offenselessly and always pray to Them. They have a very special feature in Mayapur, that as soon as you have some desire and ask Them, They arrange something to fulfill that desire. When you look at Them, your desires disappear.

Mayapur Katha das: Which is the biggest obstacle you have had in your spiritual life and how did you survive?

Madhai Das: I was Bhagavan! It took me a lot of time to understand Krishna is Bhagavan, that He is Paramesvara, the Controller of the controllers. I overcame it by the association of the devotees. They helped me to rectify that idea. Also, in the Bharat Sevasram ,they were trying to kidnap me and telling that alive or dead, my head should be there. I was very afraid of them, but Bhavananda Prabhu and Nitai Candra Prabhu helped me very much.

Mayapur Katha das: Do you have any special friend in Mayapur?

Madhai Das: Yes, H.H. Gauranga Prema Maharaja, even if he is younger, we are very nice friends. And Adwaita Acarya Prabhu. Their lives and advice always revive my consciousness, and I appreciate very much their personal dealings. Of course H.H. Jayapataka Maharaja is my main inspiration. He gives me the enthusiasm to work and work, and to put Krsna in the center.

Message from IRM, Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:11 pm - surely an analysis that is spot on: "...Unfortunately due to frustration at what has happened in ISKCON, people just want to start their own mission.

But only an Acarya has both the ability and authorization to do that. And this is proven by the fact that whoever has attempted this has failed miserably. Not only have they given ISKCON a ‘free pass’ to do their nonsense, but they have not exactly set the world ablaze with their own ‘preaching’. Such one temple ‘mathas’ will eventually flounder and die out, whilst ISKCON will continue to destroy Srila Prabhupada’s legacy, in Srila Prabhupada’s name. Interestingly, even from a mundane example, one can see that the ‘Protestants’ also misused Luther’s actual mission to fix the Catholic Church to start their own separate independent churches, which today are ‘entangled in their mini missions’, with over 20,000 such churches, and even after 500 years, their adherents are still outnumbered almost 3 to 1 by the Catholics, whilst allowing the Catholic church to peacefully continue with what they are supposed to consider the biggest deviation.

It is correct that this is exactly what ISKCON wants. That all the ritviks dissipate and dis-unite, whilst starting dozens of tiny competing missions, fighting each other for a dwindling band of dissident followers, rather than that they unite and come together to permanently stay in ISKCON’s face, exposing, harassing, educating, enlightening and fixing the problems. This is why they always tell us – start your own temples, organize your own festivals, why come and ‘leech’ of us. But it is THEY who have leeched of Srila Prabhupada, and will not allow them to get away with it. It is the duty of anyone who considers himself a follower of Srila Prabhupada to defend and fight for him in this manner. And yes, it's correct that if we do not do this, then we are accomplices to this crime, because “evil prevails when good men do nothing”, and “if you are not part of the solution you ARE the problem”.

Dear Suchandra prabhu,

 

PAMHO. I can understand Neha R is coming from, if she was indeed sincere in her desire to discuss the booklet with a Hare Krishna. However, if she was simply using that tactic to drive them away, she is the one that is at great loss, not the devotee. However, ISKCON devotees on book distribution are always eager to preach, so I fail to understand why when someone invited them to discuss, they refused to show up?

 

These devotees going out to distribute books door to door, tolerating some of the terrible abuses coming their way, for what ... nothing but to please their spiritual master & Lord Sri Krishna. They are not ordinary souls but Mahatmas. If I could have just a fraction of their commitment and dedication, I would have a good chance of overcoming samsara, repeated birth & death. I bow down at their feet.

 

I hope people like Neha R can learn to appreciate what these devotees are doing. It's a great loss to turn away the mercy that the Lord sends your way, causeless mercy that comes once in a lifetime.

Thanks guest for pointing out that you realy want to adress me, the above was not posted to critize anyone but to improve things. But still thanks for highlighting and reminding me that bookdistributors are great devotees, it is surely right!

But everyone DID accept them as the next successors, and these 11 claimed the letter authorized them to be successors even up till late 1980's.

 

In other words, the actual history is that they took this letter and told people it appointed them as guru successors, and enough people went along with it. They never used this letter to say they were appointed as ritviks.

 

So your argument that no one would have believed a forged letter that said these 11 are the next gurus is proven wrong. Even without such a forged letter they made that claim and 90% of the devotees believed it.

 

Further this letter is based on recorded conversations which anyone can listen to. The conversations said the exact same thing as the letter.

 

Prabhupada had already appointed these people as ISKCON leaders and GBCs. Why do you think he wouldn't appoint them as ritvik representative?

The problem is that many folks still believe a ritvik is something like an acarya, whereas the plain fact is that a ritvik representative is just someone who holds an office like those laymen who are on the jury at court. They do something important but are repleacable immediately.

Looks like many people are envious about the job of a ritvik priest.

Also in Narayana Swami's matha this discussion seems of great import since Narayana Swami has in 2 weeks his 86th appearance day.

http://www.purebhakti.com/articles/bvnemi_rtvik_part3.shtml

http://www.purebhakti.com/articles/jdv_rtvik_part1.shtml

http://www.purebhakti.com/articles/bvnemi_rtvik_part4.shtml

http://www.purebhakti.com/articles/bvnemi_rtvik_part2.shtml

Haribol !

I've been posting some pics every now and then on this forum.

I'm happy to share my new photowebsite with you:

 

http://ivisual.com/sunanda/

 

I hope you'll enjoy it !!

LOVE

Indeed, this seems to be a 100% guarantee not to be born again into a material body!

bhaktachris, you may have a point about the letter. I just have a question; I

 

f Tamal forged the letter why does it only talk about Ritviks? Why not full fledged acharya? That part doesnt make sense to me, if Tamal forged the signature which means he didnt even show it to Prabhupada why doesnt it say clearly that the 11 selected are Guru's? But it only says they are Ritviks.

 

Forging the letter to single out 11 could be possible BUT.......

 

why would someone forge a letter which only authorises a position which is contrary to the desires of the forger? i.e Ritvik if he wanted to be Guru?

Good point, additionally, why TKG would write a letter which the GBC had to hide for so many years? TKG could also not have written it because he didnt know that term "rittvik representatives of the acarya" so well. He might have heard it from Prabhupada but didnt take it inside in such a way as to write it in that letter the way it is written. At that point they surely knew that they want to be gurus who make their own disciples, why then would he write in that letter, "newly initiated devotees are disciples of Srila Prabhupada"? This doesnt make sense. When Bhakta Chris, the cowherd boy of "protect_a_cow.com" presents a suspicion, "TKG forged that letter", there should be at least some solid arguments with logic and reason. At that time the only motive would have been to forge a letter in order convince the ISKCON movement that Prabhupada appointed these eleven to be diksa-gurus who should initiate their own disciples. This letter says the opposite in such a way that they had to hide it.