suchandra

One of my most hated things in this world is/was the IRM, they made a mockery of being a Prabhupadanuga. <!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--IBF.ATTACHMENT_36995-->(jatayu, if you read this, jump off the titanic now, and join us on the Jaladhuta!)

Jatayu is surely on the Jaladhuta - but without hate. Do you say that you also hate Prabhupada's letter where he says, "please - new disciples are my disciples"?

Dear theist dandavat pranam,<?xml:namespace prefix = o />

 

This is not good. It sounds quite prejudieced.

One should be open to analize the evidence the "oposed" party is presenting

The point was that your statements were not sustained by proper evidence.

So, is quite hard to accept them as truths?

Proper evidence on the path of bhakti in Gaudiya Vaishnavism comes only from the authorized bona fide representative of the guru parampara. Otherwise we can quote from sastra without end and still dont find the conclusion. Therefore it is said in Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam (4.8.54, purport):

"One should take initiation from a bona fide spiritual master coming in the disciplic succession, who is authorised by his predecessor spiritual master. This is called diksa -vidhana."

 

Therefore theist's quoting Srila Prabhupada is presenting the ultimate conclusion. Of course vedantists will never agree and instead put forward so many quotes but which will ultimately not please Krishna but imstead will cause disturbance on the path of bhakti, Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.101:

sruti-smrti-puranadi-

pancaratra-vidhim vina

aikantiki harer bhaktir

utpatayaiva kalpate

The purport is that to become a devotee one must follow the principles laid down in shruti and smriti. One must follow the codes of the puranas and the pancaratrika-vidhi. One cannot be a pure devotee without following the shruti and smriti, and the shruti and smriti without devotional service under the guidance of a genuine authorized bona fide spiritual master cannot lead one to the perfection of life. SB 7.11.7" If we don't follow accordingly, it is simply a disturbance to society "utpatayaiva kalpate".

................while I may not be a lawyer I nonetheless have been forced to play one in real life...

Perfect definition of an actual dilettante....

Hello dear Devotees,

Hopefully you can help me on this; I am a Student Social Work and I really want to give a schoolprogram/college on my University.

Do you know if there are some PDF-files or standard documents availible how to give a presentation about Krishna Consicousness and were I can find them?

myself I was thinking just to be very basic, tell about the Bhagavad-Gita plus

the basic fillosofy and what it does to me and how to combine by being a student...is that okay?

greetz

Zara

I posted preaching brochures for download at http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/1038156-post1.html

which can be printed and distributed to the students so they can take something with them. Basically any Krishna conscious presentation is always the same steps, we are not this body, what is the soul, what is the material world, what is Krishna, chanting Hare Krishna, what are the vedas, etc.

You can also speak about the Bhagavad-gita historically and at the same time explain the philosophy.

Also see distributebooks.com

One God

<O:Phttp://www.mauritiustimes.com/020207reader.htm</O:P

<O:P</O:P

I would like to comment on what Mona R.Babajee wrote in your paper of 28 December 2006. I can understand her frustration of having to deal with such people supposedly spreading the word of God. I also have had such visits and these have at times put me off. But now I have thought out a way to deal effectively with such people and, believe me, it works: these visits have decreased considerably and I have not had any for some time now.<O:P</O:P

I have bought quite a few religious booklets from the ISKCON people, and each time these people come knocking at my door I hand out one booklet to them and invited them to come and discuss the issues addressed in the booklets with me. Nobody has turned up to date!!!<O:P</O:P

You are right when you say that when you have been born in a family you stick to it. You can’t be a “transfuge”. As my dad used to say – all the trees live entwined in a jungle but you never see a mango on a litchi tree or vice versa. People who cannot stick to the religion they are born in will never stay for long or be happy in any other religion.<O:P</O:P

I do not flaunt my religion and I expect people to respect mine as I respect theirs. I am convinced that there is one God, but different interpretations make different sects and with time different cultures. Just as there is one nature and a large variety of trees, fruits, and flowers – the same way there is one God but a large variety of interpretations and religions.<O:P</O:P

So many wars have been fought in the name of religion; so many atrocities have occurred and religion itself has been given a bad name – so much so that some people repudiate and deny their religious roots to appear modern.<O:P</O:P

If Mrs Babajee feels that the only valid caste for the moment is money, I pray that soon she is proved wrong. We made money and we need money to transact in society. But when we go back home after a hard day’s work we pray and meditate to the Supreme power – not to money. And we feel at peace. We shed away all the negative energies and revel in the communication with the inner self and in our power to trace and capture GOD.

<O:P</O:P

<O:P</O:P

R Neha<O:P</O:P

Q-Bornes

Also see distributebooks.com

Where are the brochures on this website?

What actually is BDM's problem?

Obviously Vivekananda was such a mundane character that all people just liked him and therefore he could teach whatever he wanted, people accepted everything from him. He must have a nice situation in this life however his future was surely samsara - for spiritually misleading people the most heavy karmas are waiting.

 

Hard to believe that the exploitation of African oil by India and China will benefit the poor Africans....

The Rise of China and India - What's in it for Africa?

Andrea Goldstein, Nicolas Pinaud, Helmut Reisen and Xiaobao Chen

African countries are not simply spectators to the economic rise of China and India, they are party to it. This book demonstrates how the growing economic power of China and India is already influencing the growth patterns of African countries, particularly oil- and commodities-exporting ones. As world prices for commodities rise, producer countries in Africa and throughout the world will gain, but there is more to the story than that. Some African countries are redirecting part of their trade and other relationships from their traditional OECD partners to China and India. The book explores the consequences of this, and comes to some surprising conclusions.

This book is a must-read for anyone who is concerned with the changes in the world economy being brought about by the extraordinary economic growth of China and India. Not only do they represent over a billion workers, but these workers are also consumers and investors. As China and India consolidate their positions in Africa, the results could be unexpected and dramatic.

Wednesday January 31 2007 11:02 IST

TIRUPATI: The temple town has one more landmark - the Lotus Temple of Radha Govindji, the largest temple of ISKCON (International Society of Krishna Conscience) in the country.

[url="http://www.iskcontirupati.info/temple_ing.htm"]

The stage is set for its opening. It is located on Hare-Krishna marg near Alipiri. Several hundred gurujis of ISKCON from more than 50 countries have arrived to attend the mega event.

For the past three days homams and other rituals are being performed at the new temple and the final puja for installing the statues of Radha, Krishna and their Ashta Sakhis will be performed at an auspicious muhurtham on Wednesday.

ISKCON global head Jayapathaka Swamy, Ambareesha Dasa (former Alfred Ford), the great grandson of Henry Ford and others will be in attendance. With over two lakhs devotees expected to turn up for the opening of the temple, ISKCON has made elaborate arrangements.

A huge tent was erected in the ground beside the Lotus Temple with carved arches welcoming everyone to take part in the colourful event.

The grandeur of the three-storeyed temple is arresting. According to Revathi Ramana Das, director of the temple, Rs 25 crore was spent on building the temple, largest ISKCON temple in the country.

The architecture of the imposing structure which seems to be sitting on a petal of lotus is the confluence of North and South Indian temple architecture and is a judicious blend of the traditional and the modern. Every inch of the temple is richly decorated and speaks volumes about the untiring efforts of the artists and artisans from all parts of the country.

The main door is of magnificently carved wood and the shapes and motifs on it are amazing. The first floor has an exhibition hall, dioramas of the Lord’s different incarnations and several mythological episodes. The second floor has an auditorium and an audio-visual studio and the temple is located on the third floor.

The main temple, which is a grand hall with sculpted pillars will have Radha Govindji and Ashta Sakhis installed on a raised dais and on the left of it will be the seat of Guruji.

There is also a modern guest house adjacent to the temple for ISKCON members. It will have a restaurant serving Satvik food soon.

Haribol Suchandra prabhu. This is really nice. We should go out and just distribute these to anyone who has the slightest interest. It can be taken while going to festivals for book distribution. Those that cannot afford books or don't want to pay to buy books, we can hand out these brochures.

I tried to make a brochure and it took me hours - Nandanandana prabhu surely did a great job to make all this, thanks to him!

Just found an illustrating pic which could be included in the chanting of Hare Krishna brochure:

Recent years the Israel government repeatedly made worldwide appeals asking the globally scattered 20 Mio Jewish people to please return to their homeland Israel. After all, Israel is not only homeland but also is G-d's chosen land. In fact according Judaism the holiest land in the world is the land of Israel. According to the Bible, particularly in Genesis, the Land of Israel was promised as an everlasting possession to the descendants of the Jewish patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by G-d, making it the Promised Land. Additionally according to Halakha every Jew has an obligation to dwell in the Land of Israel, and may not leave except for specifically permitted reasons. There are also many laws dealing with how to treat the Land itself.

Now we see the very opposite happening. Not only that the Jewish people persist not to return to Israel, they actually leave Israel for good.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=550 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>More than 500 Israelis seek asylum in Canada

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

Canada is granting residency to growing numbers of Israeli asylum seekers, including ethnic Russians, ultra-orthodox Jews and political dissidents who say they are victims of political or religious persecution in Israel.

This is upsetting Israeli authorities and members of the Jewish community in Canada. They say the refugee claimants are smearing the image of the Middle Eastern state as one that offers a haven to persecuted Jews the world over.

"It upsets people in Israel because immigrant absorption in Israel is a key value," said Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Ottawa. "We're very hurt when we hear of these claims."

Israel's ambassador to Ottawa has recently called the claims "bogus" and urged officials here not to accept Israeli asylum seekers. Mr. Gendelman stressed that Israel is a democratic state with human-rights institutions that serve all of its citizens.

But in many cases, Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board has disagreed.

More than 500 Israelis applied for refugee status in Canada last year, up from 253 in 2000. The acceptance rate rose from 5 per cent to 31 per cent in 2005 and 18 per cent last year, when IRB accepted 45 claims -- an implicit recognition that these individuals suffered persecution in a state that could not protect their rights.

"In terms of refugee determination, the [questions are]: does the person have a well-founded fear of persecution, is there no other in-country flight alternative, and is there state protection available?" IRB spokeswoman Melissa Anderson said.

The recent spike in numbers has put Israel in the top 10 countries ranked by the number refugee applications in Canada, along with Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.

IRB officials are hard pressed to explain the increase in numbers.

Some observers have suggested that the surge in hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians is creating a climate where political dissidence and religious difference is less welcomed.

"Israel is a state that perceives itself as under siege," said William Sloan, a Montreal lawyer for many ultra-orthodox Jews who say they have been persecuted in Israel. Many ultra-orthodox Jews have publicly disagreed with many of Israel's policies, including its stand on the conflict with Palestinians.

"Anyone within the walls who tries to break that unity when you're under siege is not well viewed."

Shimon Fogel, of the Canada-Israel Committee, said these refugee claimants sometimes draw contempt from established Jewish community members in Canada. Mr. Fogel qualified the claimants as opportunistic migrants seeking a shortcut into Canada's immigration system.

A notorious case soon to be heard by IRB involves the son of a Yemeni rabbi critical of Israeli authorities, who was jailed during the 1990s after an armed standoff.

Emanuel Meshulam came to Canada in 2005, claiming persecution at the hands of the Israeli police and the spy agency Mossad.

His father, Rabbi Uzi Meshulam, had accused Israel's European-dominated authorities of abducting hundreds of Yemeni children. The infants were separated from their parents during their chaotic immigration to Israel in the late 1940s.

The disappearance itself stirred much controversy, fuelling allegations that European Jews look down on Jews from Arab countries. Mr. Meshulam's charges were invalidated in several state investigations.

But in 1994, his armed followers demanded a fresh inquiry. After a standoff, Israeli forces stormed his compound, killing one of his devotees. Since then, Emanuel Meshulam says he was constantly followed by police and at one point threatened at gunpoint by Mossad agents.

"They threatened to take my children away," he said through a translator.

Other refugees are believed to be Russian-speaking citizens of the former Soviet Union, a group that forms something of an economic underclass, often working in jobs that fall far below their skill levels.

Some refugee applicants are also believed to be Arab-Israelis, many of whom complain of outright racism in Israel since the beginning of the second intifada.

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Therefore a disciple should be careful to accept an uttama-adhikārī as a spiritual master.

 

And if you cannot find an uttama-adhikari in ISKCON then if you are sensible you will go and search for an uttama-adhikari outside of ISKCON.

This is surelly correct but the GBC passed the Action Order that there are NO specific qualifications required to be an ISKCON guru. The GBC explicitly does NOT say, our gurus are uttama-adikaris.

Srila Prabhupadas version is that one never accept a fool, never "necessary".

 

"We have to find an exalted person and willingly surrender before him. The sastras enjoin that before we take a guru we study him carefully to find out whether we can surrender to him. We should not accept a guru suddenly, out of fanaticism. That is very dangerous. "

 

haribol, mahaksadasa

But that is exactly what 3000 devotees who carefully studied Harikes and 3000 who carefully studied Bhagavan where doing. Do you want to say 6000 people behaved like idiots and if they have listened to you they would have not made that desastrous mistake? The problem seems to be somewhere else. For example present ISKCON gurus are called by the GBC in good standing and not fallen. But how do we know that there're some of them not fallen right now but just pretend to be bona fide gurus, how do you find out? If a so called guru says I leave with my girl-friend and take my disciples money then of course people know, how about someone stays within ISKCON, pretends to be a guru but actually is in fallen condition, how do you find out?

Are our svarupa in the spiritual fixed.Or it depends on our surrender.

 

Regards

 

Bhakt Arun

Hari Bol Bhakt Arun, below Lord Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad-geeta, it depends upon our surrender and the reward (bhajami) is surely what you say, our svarup in the eternal spiritual world. Since there is no such thing as bondage in the spiritual world but instead full freedom it cannot be that we are forced into a svarup which we dont like or which we cannot change when we decide to serve the Lord in a different rasa.

ye yathā māḿ prapadyante

tāḿs tathaiva bhajāmy aham

mama vartmānuvartante

manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ

SYNONYMS

ye — all who; yathā — as; mām — unto Me; prapadyante — surrender; tān — them; tathā — so; eva — certainly; bhajāmi — reward; aham — I; mama — My; vartma — path; anuvartante — follow; manuṣyāḥ — all men; pārtha — O son of Pṛthā; sarvaśaḥ — in all respects.

TRANSLATION

As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.

PURPORT by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Everyone is searching for Kṛṣṇa in the different aspects of His manifestations. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is partially realized in His impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence and as the all-pervading Supersoul dwelling within everything, including the particles of atoms. But Kṛṣṇa is fully realized only by His pure devotees. Consequently, Kṛṣṇa is the object of everyone's realization, and thus anyone and everyone is satisfied according to one's desire to have Him. In the transcendental world also, Kṛṣṇa reciprocates with His pure devotees in the transcendental attitude, just as the devotee wants Him. One devotee may want Kṛṣṇa as supreme master, another as his personal friend, another as his son, and still another as his lover. Kṛṣṇa rewards all the devotees equally, according to their different intensities of love for Him. In the material world, the same reciprocations of feelings are there, and they are equally exchanged by the Lord with the different types of worshipers. The pure devotees both here and in the transcendental abode associate with Him in person and are able to render personal service to the Lord and thus derive transcendental bliss in His loving service. As for those who are impersonalists and who want to commit spiritual suicide by annihilating the individual existence of the living entity, Kṛṣṇa helps also by absorbing them into His effulgence. Such impersonalists do not agree to accept the eternal, blissful Personality of Godhead; consequently they cannot relish the bliss of transcendental personal service to the Lord, having extinguished their individuality. Some of them, who are not firmly situated even in the impersonal existence, return to this material field to exhibit their dormant desires for activities. They are not admitted into the spiritual planets, but they are again given a chance to act on the material planets. For those who are fruitive workers, the Lord awards the desired results of their prescribed duties, as the yajñeśvara; and those who are yogīs seeking mystic powers are awarded such powers. In other words, everyone is dependent for success upon His mercy alone, and all kinds of spiritual processes are but different degrees of success on the same path. Unless, therefore, one comes to the highest perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all attempts remain imperfect, as is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.3.10):

"Whether one is without desire [the condition of the devotees], or is desirous of all fruitive results, or is after liberation, one should with all efforts try to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead for complete perfection, culminating in Kṛṣṇa consciousness."

I'm looking for this pic of Krishna without the borders trimmed, anyone knows the link?

Who is that guru?

This is of course advanced Vaishnava etiquette - you say bhakta so and so is more advanced than the temple president, but actually this is just meant to encourage a new devotee.

It' sort of weird, sometimes India deals with US, some weeks later with Russia.

"U.S. and Indian officials in New Delhi wrangle over..."

Manoj Joshi

New Delhi, January 26, 2007

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1912573,0008.htm

At first sight, the United States should be uneasy, if not upset, at the new India-Russia deal. Having put in all the hard work, they are forced to watch the Russians take up the inside track in the race to meet India’s demand for civil nuclear energy.

But they are not. A senior diplomat involved with the Indo-Russian Summit told Hindustan Times a senior US official had indicated that they can "live with the agreements and statements (made during the visit)". He said the US had taken the view that as long as Russia and India have upheld the centrality of an Indian deal with the Nuclear Suppliers Group as a precondition to the cooperation, they have no problem.

According to Naresh Chandra, former ambassador to the US, "the deal is no longer a merely US thing". It has implications for the entire NSG, of which Russia is a member. He says there is no reason to assume the US is not committed to this procedure, or will do anything to "encourage dissidents (in the NSG)." In his view, as long as US President George W Bush is around, there will be no negative fallout. However, he did note that "greenhorns" in the NSG — smaller countries like Australia and New Zealand — may take umbrage.

The joint statement on the peaceful uses of atomic energy agreed on by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday uses language identical to the July 18, 2005 Indo-US statement describing India as a state "possessing advanced nuclear technologies".

Its reference to assisting the process that would enable "India to realise its goals of promoting nuclear power and achieving energy security in a self-sustaining manner", however, indicates that Russia is game for the stringent conditions India wants in relation to reprocessing of spent fuel and maintaining fuel reserves within the country.

In contrast, the statement of policy attached to the American Hyde Act speaks of such reserves being "commensurate with reactor operating requirements", and reprocessing remains a contentious issue that needs to be ironed out.

A senior government official involved in the nuclear negotiations said India would have to carefully nuance its policies and statements. "The Russian commitment may have expanded the envelope of our options," he said, "but that envelope should not be allowed to burst." He said it would be wrong to try and play off the Russians and Americans even as India negotiates the ‘123 Agreement’ to operationalise the Hyde Act with the US, or get the NSG go-ahead for civil nuclear cooperation.

According to Chandra, the Russian agreement was not a surprise and its major benefit would be to save time, once the NSG go-ahead is worked out. India will be able to straightaway begin construction of additional reactors and begin receiving nuclear material.

The process otherwise requires environmental clearance for the site of the reactor, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s certification of the reactor type and various financial closures, a process that can take anywhere up to three or four years.

E-mail Manoj Joshi: manojjoshi@hindustantimes.com

Live on in your fantasy world...

"Hello, darkness, my old friend,

I've come to talk with you again,

Because a vision softly creeping,

Left its seeds while I was sleeping,

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains ... within the sound of silence."

--- The Sound of Silence, Paul Simon (1964), recorded with Art Garfunkel (1966)

Just be a Protestent and read your Bible and interpret it on your own. The specific meanings in Srila Prabhupada's books are now being debated on the internet on a daily basis. But some insist that there can be no interpretation. This is similar to writing a book about how books are not necessary.

Lets say KC realy spreads globally in every town and village - as it is predicted, how can you believe that all these devotees can base their spiritual life on such a shaky guru system like present ISKCON teaches to the world? The very dynamic of the Sankirtan movement is not meant to report about fallen gurus - there's just no room for such messages. Just imagine in CC it would have been mentioned, "..and then this guru fell down and was fallen......"

Just impossible! Only demons fall when killed by Krishna.

It is of great import to note that just at that time around 1976 so many sannyasis fell down and Prabhupada said that he wants to stop giving sannyasa and made repeatedly announcements that instead he wants to change his movement towards a varnashrama society. Prabhupada never considered the fall down of a sannyasi as something peanuts or as we see presently instruct the devotees to seek for psychological help in cases of traumatization after some prominent devotee fell down and learn from professional psychologists how to peacefully live with it. The very opposite is true, Prabhupada taught that there is no such thing as falldown in vedic society, especially when falldowns take up epedemic dimensions like we have seen in the past. Therefore it should be clear that if Prabhupada wanted to abolish the giving of sannyasa why should he have appointed neophytes to sit on the sampradaya's vyasasana? And at the same time Prabhupada had already witnessed in the GM what great damage happens when a so called acarya falls down.

Prabhupada surely knew, when his sannyasis fall down like windfall, the diksa-gurus would do the same. Why people like Mahak prabhu consider Srila Prabhupada as so brainless that Prabhupada is too silly to conclude from A to B?

The only answer could be that there's an attempt to kick out Gaudiya-Vaishnavism altogether from western countries and keep people as enslaved as cannon fodder for the super rich globalization elite.

ISKCON's answer is just the opposite. In order to solve the falldown problem they do the same as the Church, to install only people as "sannyasi" and "guru" who cant falldown because they are fallen already when taking office. This is what you call then people who are glued in their armchair.

They cant preach properly, cant reach people's hearts but still are officiating for fourty years because they belong to the club.

Thats what Mahak prabhu obviously supports.

I dont think Prabhupada wanted to stop the sannyasa completely in 1977 - there is no reference to such a statement from him. After all, it is an important part of the varnashram system. He simply wanted to make it based on REAL qualifications, and not on a mere ambition for fame, profit, and distinction, as it clearly was the case before. The "easy sannyasa policy" of yesterday was clearly not working - so Prabhupada changed it. He was very pragmatic.

If I understand your question correctly, you are asking in essence:

If Prabhupada knew his disciples were not qualified for sannyasa, why would he think they were qualified to be gurus?

There are a number of possible answers here. But lets start with more questions related to this issue.

First of all: why was Prabhupada giving sannyasa to unqualified disciples in the first place? Was it neccessary? I dont think so. But he did give sannyasa to a lot of less than worthy people. He was criticized for that by his godbrothers and he even admitted they were right. So why did he do that? You may not like my answer, but it simply my opinion on this issue.

Prabhupada gave sannyasa to unqualified disciples because he thought it will help in the mission. When it turned out that yes, it was somewhat helpful, but carried a very high price - he backed off that idea.

Lets now look at the issue of succession. It is very clear that from the begining SP saw his disciples as the future next link in the disciplic succession. There is absolutely no indication to the contrary in all the volumes of his written or spoken word. He does not indicate ANYWHERE that he is planning to change the sampradaya mechanism. Yet he does realize his disciples are not ready for the job. And this is where the comparison to the sannyasa issue can be used.

option 1. SP somewhat reluctantly names devotees who will continue the succession. To me, the "appointment tape" very clearly proves just that.

option 2. Prabhupada has so little faith in his disciples that he decides to continue the expedient "ritvik guru" system, turning his branch of Lord Chaitanya's tree into a "Sikh-type" church.

Where does the "Talmudisation of the Vedas" happen? In other words: where does a legitimate tradition gets debased and compromised for the sake of creating fake spirituality in order to maintain the greedy and materialistic priestly class?

It certainly happened to a large extent in Iskcon. But the ritvik system you support has two serious flaws:

1. post-humous ritvik system is completely un-Vedic, and even the ritvik system as practiced by Prabhupada out of sheer neccessity is very controversial. thus if adopted - our tradition runs the risk of being seen as an apa-sampradaya by the vast majority of Vaishnavas in various lineages.

2. adoption of the "ritvik system forever" gives you zero protection from the process of "Talmudisation of the Vedas" as that process is only dependent on the quality of individuals in charge of the movement.

I dont support "Talmudisation of the Vedas" in any form, be it Iskcon or ritvik.

Oh, forgot the link: dailyindia.com/show/107028.php/UKs-first-state-funded-Hindu-school-in-midst-of-spiritual-row

Seems like there is some misunderstanding between what we've both been saying and understanding. But then that's common on the internet!

 

Back to subject ... I saw personally what happened in my temple, so no chance of being misled by propaganda. Also, the people that I said went to mayavada temples are not congregation devotees who were shocked by ritvik stance on gurus. the congregation devotees that I know have a strong taste for devotional service. Issues such as ritviks are just too weak a reason to make them stop. These are devotees that have taken up this path very seriously and whose preaching of pure philosophy helped me be unaffected by the ritvik propaganda. They didn't spend their time telling me ritviks were evil. On the contrary, they inspired me to engage in krishna's service. It's the newcomers that were handed BTP's at Ratha Yatra festivals that subsequently never came back. Innocent people that might otherwise have had a chance, were misled by the propaganda that you guys are spreading and just decided to go elsewhere.

 

As regards the school, please don't take this personally but I think you're simply displaying the common ritvik symptom of fault finding. In my opinion, sending his daighter to that school is preferable to sending her to a regular school where meat is served and there is a different culture prevailing. With this Hindu school, at least they're vegetarian and there is some semblance of our culture. Please try to look beyond all of these trivial things instead of trying anything to pick faults. This is the attitude that hasn't endeared the ritviks to most people, including me.

Seems like Gauri das is glued to his armchair and doesnt move one inch although it is stated that temple presidents have to be elected by the temple community and after three years, re-elected or NOT elected again. Why ISKCON UK has such severe problems to follow this simple instruction by Srila Prabhupada? If there's such heavy opposition to what Prabhupada ordered in this regard, how can we believe that other guidelines&formulas of Srila Prabhupada are being followed in detail?

UK's first state-funded Hindu school in midst of spiritual row

By Mike Lockey

London, Jan.25 (ANI): Britain's first state-funded Hindu faith school has recently become involved in a major row. This row involves the man who is scheduled to become the spiritual head of the school's affairs when it opens in 2008.

Two campaign groups, Hindu Human Rights and Vivekananda Centre, are concerned about the involvement in the school's affairs of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

This organisation is to become an affiliated faith partner of the school. According to the Eastern Eye newspaper, there are worries that the president of Bhaktivedanta Manor temple in Watford, to the north of London, in Watford, hit children when he was teaching at an ashram in India. The president, Gauri Dasa, is a member of ISKCON.

As Arjun Malik, spokesman for Hindu Human Rights, said to the paper: "We have received emails for a while now, expressing concerns about allegations that Gauri Dasa used to beat children. Parents will obviously not feel safe sending their children to a school which has such a man involved".

In answer to this, Gauri Dasa has stated that corporal punishment was part of the disciplinary structure of ISKCON schools in the '70s and '80s and has claimed that: "All these allegations stem from an anonymous email sent out to some website. Its contents are full of half-truths...We run a very successful school as part of the Bhaktivedanta temple."

But the information, regardless of whether or not it is anonymous, is believed by many, including one Gurukuli Dasa - it is assumed no relation to Gauri - and a former member of ISKCON's Vrindavan ashram in India. He has said in an article on the web that: "Ashram teacher Gauri Dasa used to beat the kids with slaps and sticks".

But, as Jay Dilip Lhakani, who is the co-ordinator of Vivekananda Centre, an academic body that promotes Hindu studies in schools in Britain, pointed out: "None of the allegations against Gauri Dasa have been proven, but ISKCON has a poor reputation due to the child-abuse lawsuits filed against it in the US".

And Ramesh Kallidai, secretary-general of the Hindu Forum of Britain, has, in effect, defended Gauri Dasa by saying that: "Gauri Dasa is our spiritual ambassador. We are yet to see any hard evidence against him. We are glad ISKCON is associated with the first faith school".

Mr. Kallidai, incidentally, is an initiated member of ISKCON. (ANI)

Since it became widely known how Europe/US is simply exploiting the medical, agricultural and mineral ressources of the African continent but carefully keeps the African population in total poverty, it surely makes a lot of sense that all those African victims of our western affluent societies take birth in the families of USA and Europe for material compensation. Not actually to serve these countries but to get back what was stolen from them. Would also explain the strange outbreak of piercing- and tatoo-cult in Europe and US (see African lady below).

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