suchandra

Smiling spirits in white robes wandering through waist-high grass Shiny hippy people http://www.budapesttimes.hu/index.php?art=2037 A valley on the southern bank of Lake Balaton is home to around 130 people, all with a common aim: to be happy. They are not seeking instant gratification, artificial intoxication or superficial joy but rather a lasting state of spiritual bliss. This is reached via endless recitation of a mantra revolving around the words hare, krishna and rama, which puts believers into a trance-like meditative state that, taken to its highest point, can be consciousness altering and lead to a state of perfection they believe. The landscape that unfurls from the entrance to Krisna-völgy (Krishna Valley) makes a decidedly unreal impression. Within it are perfectly arranged trees, well tended plants, meticulously mowed lawns, a babbling stream and colourful new buildings. The whole area appears so orderly, so tidy and so well arranged that you cannot help but think of a film set. As if to confirm the impression, shrouded women and men with straw hats wander through the scenery. Their robes waft, their step is deliberate, and when they come nearer and voice the greeting “gouranga” (be happy) each one beams the familiar Hare Krishna smile. Even the small wrinkles on Dvaipáyana dásas face form the shape of a perpetual smile. Previously he was called László Gyöngyösi and worked as a maths and physics teacher in Szeged. He was - as he readily admits - a fully-fledged atheist: “I couldn’t bear it when others talked about God,” he said. Despite this he still had questions which neither teachers nor professors at the university could answer. What is the fourth dimension? How can time be overcome? What lies beyond the boundaries of the universe? One day, Gyöngyösi met a Hare Krishna on the street who was selling books and collecting donations. He began to discuss these questions with him, and within two minutes he had received answers to his questions. After a sceptical phase and posing many questions bordering on interrogation, his interest in the movement had been awakened. That interest led him, in 1995, to the Krishna Valley, a kind of village commune which had been established two years earlier under the auspices of the Hare Krishna organisation Iskcon (International Society for Krishna Consciousness). Then 25 years old, he left behind his previous life and even his name. He became Dvaipáyana dása the first part of which literally means “born on the island” whilst the second part means “servant of god”. Initially, his parents were not happy about the idea. Now, however, they visit him regularly. He makes his contribution to the community by guiding tourists, classes of schoolchildren, and the merely curious around the village. He does not receive money for this, but is given a kind of credit that he can spend in the shop in the valley. Dvaipáyana wears a turban on his head and he has drawn a symbol in yellow powder on his forehead. His upper body is covered by a long shirt and he wears brown sandals. The colours of the four-metre long cloth that he wraps around his waist each morning and the ring on the finger of his left hand show that he is married. Marriages in the Hare Krishna community are arranged. “One decisive point in their favour is that the stars indicate that a couple is compatible,” he said. After a kind of engagement period during which a third person chaperones them, the marriage takes place. Divorce is not allowed. Almost all women marry because they need “the protection of men - first that of the father, then that of the husband and, as a widow, that of the son,” said Dvaipáyana. The same is not true for men. They do not have to marry. “Whoever has the strength in his heart for chastity should use this strength to give up sexuality,” he says. Not only is marriage strictly hierarchical - society is also organised this way. A five-member temple council is responsible for administration and law making. “They are not elected but selected. They stand on a higher spiritual level and so have the ability to lead,” he explained. In addition to the decisions of the council there are religious rules which regulate the life of the settlement. The four most important ones are abstention from eating meat, forbearance of gambling, the eschewing of drugs of any kind, and sex only within marriage - and even then only for the purpose of procreation. “These laws might seem strict to many Western people,” says Dvaipáyana, “but they are necessary in order to practice our religion.” Most members of the Hare Krishna movement - he puts the figure in Hungary at 9,000 - lead less regimented lives. They pray daily, eat vegetarian food and practice yoga. The construction of the school, in which four teachers are responsible for two students, was made possible by a Hungarian businesswoman. The other pillars of finance are the income that the village’s inhabitants get from entry fees, events, their restaurant, guesthouse and a clothing and jewellry shop. They also adhere to the principle of leading the simplest and, thus, the least costly lives. The only electricity in Krisna-völgy comes from a couple of solar cells and wind turbines, the kitchen uses a lot of home grown vegetables and milk comes from their 30 dairy cows. To “live on a low level, think on a high level,” is how Dvaipáyana describes it. People from outside the village are employed to take care of the grounds. The meticulously tended gardens and the many new buildings, the shiny prospectus, the Internet site, and the many entertainment opportunities for tourists do not really point to a life led as simply as possibly. Also, the smiling openness on the face of Dvaipáyana, and his interest in the opinions of others, changes as soon as he enters the colourful and almost clinically spotless temple. Then he asks about the colour of god’s hair, thereby asserting his existence and form to be an absolute truth, and admits of no further discussion. The once open talk then assumes a rehearsed form and every question and answer oozes with proselytising zeal. Apparently, this evangelical element is also one of his tasks within the village, and of his religion too. Lysann Heller

Nice instruction manual how to solve BDM's gordian knot - to solve the Islamic question. Waging War in the Information Age: ISKCON's Role by Krishna-kirti das September 03, 2006 In the history of warfare, seizing different positions on a battlefield from which it is easier to hit one's enemy than it is for one's enemy to hit back has always been an advantage--often a decisive one. Traditionally, this advantageous position has been the high ground, but over the ages, this "high ground" has progressively evolved. With the advent of air power, whoever controlled the skies also controlled the battlefield--this was true on land as well as on the sea. And later, with the advent of satellite surveillance, space became the new high ground. The Internet, however (and before that the printing press, film, radio, and television), provided a distinctly new high ground that is even above outer space: it is the realm of ideas, the abstract, the high-ground of the symbol. Information can now be considered, along with air power and space, a distinct dimension of any battlefield. And nowadays, because the battlefield of the 21st century has extended into nearly every facet of society, dominating the realm of information has become more important relative to other, traditional areas of the battlefield. On this all-pervasive and increasingly abstract battlefield, winning the hearts and minds of the members of a society is virtually now the only way to win a battle. In the article "No Neutral Position Left on Islamic Aggression", I argued that ISKCON has no choice but to take seriously Islamic aggression and develop it's own means of countering it. Some recent news gives us hope that ISKCON not only is capable of rising to the task but can also take a lead in the matter of countering Islamic aggression. In a recent email, we have news of the first printing of the Srimad-Bhagavatam in Urdu: Dear Maharajas and Prabhus, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I just inform you that now I am published Srimad Bhagavatam first Canto in Urdu language. After waiting a long period of 25 years, Srimad Bhagavatam, now in our hand. Thank you, Your Servant, XYZ das Urdu, of course, is the mother tongue of Muslims in Pakistan and much of India. It is also spoken by many Hindus in India, too. Considering that India has close cultural and linguistic ties to Pakistan and India's Eastern neighbor Bangladesh, another Islamic country, South Asia represents the cultural soft-underbelly of the Islamic world with India as the world's best staging ground for a cultural counter-offensive. On the other hand, the Islamic world's dearth of information of other cultures and religious ideas has allowed radical Islam to persist (bolding added): Religion-shaping will not aim at the Protestantization of the global umma, but rather at the de-Salafization of the global ulema. Don’t say, “Unlike Christianity, Islam does not recognize the distinction between public and private spheres.” Say instead, “So long as there is no adequate knowledge base, any religion in any society will occupy a hegemonic position in the public sphere.” Be it ethnic or religious, identity-shaping is not rocket science. Since U.S. marketers do that routinely every day, it can be outsourced to a large extent by the public diplomacy bureaucracy. Knowledge-building will require a three-pronged approach. Now that the famous 2002 UNDP Arab Development Report has revealed that the number of books translated by the whole Arab world over the past thousand years is equivalent to the numbers of books translated by Spain in one year, the most urgent program will have to be an old-fashioned, if massive, book-in-translation program, which will contribute to the shrinking of the role of religion in the public sphere. Tony Corn. "World War IV As Fourth-Generation Warfare." Web Special, Jan 2006. Policy Review. 2 Feb 2006 http://policyreview.org/000/corn.html A cultural counter-offensive against Islam means dominating the information networks in that culture, or at least keeping them out of the control of their elites, and a protracted Internet and traditional mass-media campaign that presents religious ideas that automatically compete with Islam has the best chance of accomplishing this task. Since we in ISKCON already have a book-in-translation program and are ideologically motivated to pursue it, we are also in a position to take a lead on this. At a linguistic level, ISKCON can probably leverage more resources to get Urdu translations out faster. This will receive priority in proportion to the urgency ISKCON's leadership gives such a program. (25 years is a long time.) At a technological level, ISKCON is in an excellent position to leverage existing talent in information technology or recruit it. Getting books out in print should not be our only priority. Getting transcendental information into the hands or computer monitors of people whose mother tongue is Urdu is just as important. At an artistic level, coming up with creative entertainment mixed with the ideas and precepts of bhakti targeted specifically at Muslims who speak Urdu and Bengali is very important. An illiterate person won't be able to read a book, but he can certainly watch TV or any multimedia presentation. One time, when I was living in India, while I was purchasing printing paper at a paper market run by a Muslim, one of his workers, a young Muslim boy, was singing quietly to himself the "Hare Krishna" song in the movie Pardes. Considering that ISKCON has a number of important ties to the film and television industry in India, it should also be in a position to recruit artistic talent that can produce such entertainment. At a strategic infrastructure level, what would it take to create an Internet in Kashmir that was fully wireless? What would be involved to create a wireless Internet terminal that had some of these specifications: Runs on standard AC power locally available. Can tolerate wide fluctuations and spikes in the power source. Does not require the mounting of an antenna or parabolic reflector outside of a residence. Fast enough and robust enough to reliably stream multimedia. Uses a standard television as a monitor. Affordable by most people (even if subsidized). Perhaps a reasonably inexpensive technical solution would be to create a wireless network with routers using a wi-fi standard of 802.11n (or faster) but that can broadcast a much stronger signal that is accessible over several kilometers. A standard like 802.11n would be necessary for streaming multi-media because much of the population is illiterate. Of course, such a network can be disrupted by electronic jamming, but law enforcement and the military would have the task of suppressing such electronic countermeasures.Technically, creating such a network and its hardware is easily within reach of Indian capabilities. However, it would need the political will to implement it. A coalition of ISKCON and a number of other sympathetic religious or semi-religious organizations could generate the political gumption to implement such a network. With a widely implemented network capable of streaming multimedia that is not subject to suppression, as one might bomb a television station or issue death threats against a newspaper editor, we might be able to truly win a propaganda war in Kashmir and elsewhere in Islamic South Asia. If ISKCON were to provide quality entertainment and informative programming targeted at an Islamic audience and delivered over such a network, then we can turn the tides against radical Islam and Islamic aggression. Recruiting technical experts, artists, law enforcement, and politicians to aid in this effort by creating entertainment, the technical means to deliver it, and the political will to implement and protect such an effort will unquestionably be of great benefit to all. This would take the propagation of the bhakti cult and Vedic culture to a new level and provide a spiritual solution to a very serious material problem: Islamic aggression.

Looks like India's police has no means to even find out where these explosives were manufactured. AMUCO wants whole truth out in ISKCON blast IMPHAL, Aug 31: The All Manipur United Clubs` Organisation has taken serious view of the chain of events that followed after the ISKCON bomb blast particularly after the arrest of leaders of civil society bodies. While expressing strong condemnation over arrest of two important functionaries of the Threatened Indigenous Peoples Society in the aftermath of the ISKCON bomb blast, a AMUCO statement stressed that it is against any form of terrorism, be it by state or nonstate actors. Asserting that the organisation has been vocal in expressing condemnation over any act of terrorism unleashed to the people of Manipur, the AMUCO said it has been keenly observing whether the bomb blast at ISKCON was handiwork of the state or by non-state actors. Manipur government must be sincere enough in making thorough investigation into the blast incident and all the facts about the ISKCON bomb blast are made public, the AMUCO said adding people deserved to be aware of the truth about the incident or else Manipur government should be termed anti-people. The AMUCO also appealed to all the underground groups to make a thorough investigation into the incident without any hesitation in the best interest of the people. Meanwhile, expressing strong concern over the circumstances of the release of a press statement by the Apunba Lup in connection with the ISKCON bomb blast accusing security forces, the AMUCO asked all concerned not to cross organisational discipline in future. The AMUCO alleged that the contents of Apunba Lup`s press statement was opposed by one of the coordinator namely Ph Deban. However, the Apunba Lup went ahead in distributing the press handout to newspapers offices in Deban`s absence who had suggested deletion of some lines in its contents.

BBC SCIENCE obviously mastered the art how to present scientific content that makes people convinced for the rest of live. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" /><o:p></o:p> Their magic word is Nano-technology, using a tiny, little Nano-camera which travels through the speech-center within the brain, watch the functioning of a living eye inside the optical nerve, how visual content is being processed and transported to the brain, travel through the inside ear and watch how sound is send to the brain where we become conscious about what just having heard and where in our brain all this is being stored, either in short- or long-term memory. How major parts of our brain actually never sleep but manage all the 120 trillions cells of our body day and night which all are linked and interact and are constantly replaced in such a way that even old people's body cells, even bone cells are only a few years old but are put on in such way to make the person look and feel old. Then travel inside a single body cell which is more complex than a city and consists of 300,000 different proteins which all are linked with each other and receive information from the brain. <o:p></o:p> Then of course the tiny little Nano-camera shows how our complete genetic material is copied and saved millions of times upon mini hard-disks, how food is being digested 24h daily and transported to each and every of the 120 trillions body cells, the body temperature being kept continual, hostile cells from the outside are averted and when the end comes the brain pours out hormons what prevents the feeling of too much pain when dying.<o:p></o:p> By now the viewer almost bows down of getting so much overhelming inside live recording from this tiny little Nano-camera travelling within a living body and finally they present their conclusion:<o:p></o:p> Consciousness is being generated by all the brain cells together - something like a huge orchestra, "a soul was not detected". And why the human brain started to develop to become special among all species? In the human evolution the first humans were vegetarians but then “they jumped out of the trees and started to eat red meat and only these natural proteins helped our brain to grow and develop to what it is right now”. <o:p></o:p> Question, where to find vedic scientific information how to rebut the argument consciousness is generated by all the brain cells in total, but is in fact coming soley from the soul?<o:p></o:p> Obviously their trick is to use scientific content to make people impressed and pliable and then seduce unsuspecting people to sinful activity under the disguise of this being scientific and of course present evolution as scientific.<o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p>

How do you know for sure if black magic really works? It is known that God is all-merciful, but God is never merciful to the demoniac - those who think they can do black magic on others are nothing but envious and punished by the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. We should never think that such people can harm us, indeed they only harm themselves: "Bewildered by false ego, strength, pride, lust and anger, the demons become envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated in their own bodies and in the bodies of others, and blaspheme against the real religion. Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, I perpetually cast into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life. Attaining repeated birth amongst the species of demoniac life, O son of Kunti, such persons can never approach Me. Gradually they sink down to the most abominable type of existence." (Bg. 16.18-20)

Haribol Pratyatosa prabhu, PAMHO AGTSP Nice work! I downloaded the 41.6 MB file - after unzipping about 207 MB, it all works nice, I use Windows Millenium and XP. Of course when audio files are included it will become a pretty huge file, probably 30 DVDs with 200 GB all together. But for me I'm glad with how it is right now, to have all 3500 Prabhupada lectures as text. I also downloaded "Superior Search" at http://www.download.com/Superior-Search/3000-2248_4-10560797.html?tag=lst-0-1 and with this tool you can search offline in huge text files on your pc for specific words like for example, tulasi. Again thanks for this valuble tool of having Prabhupada's teachings so nicely put together, best wishes ys Suchandra das

Because large scale transaction is there, therefore the capitalists hoarding. Talks on Varnashram Dharma, Los Angeles, 1973 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Morning Walk Conversation, Los Angeles, 31 December 1973 Cheating Business Prabhupada: Yes. The sinful activities have increased because the world has produced too much wealth. Because they can purchase sinful activities. And that is being increased by inflation. False money I have got, and with that false money I can purchase all this illicit sex, wine, intoxication, and... It is just like nowadays, bank is giving you a card, Americard... What is that? Karandhara: Charge card. Bank Americard. Prabhupada: Ah. So you simply show the card, you get the goods. So to exchange, it has become very cheap. So cheaply you can purchase. Therefore cheaply you can purchase sinful things also. The people are becoming sinful. The modern economy is, "Engage people in hard working to produce, and by artificial cheating, secure the goods, commodities." This is modern economy. So a worker is getting three thousand dollars per month, but he is getting paper. But he is thinking that "I am getting money." He is giving his labor, and things are being produced. This is the policy. "Cheat him. Without giving money, give him paper, and get his labor, and produce goods." This is modern economy. Is it not? A laborer, a worker, is given high salary, high wages. So what he is getting? It is paper. And he is very enthusiastic to give his labor. So production is more. And when you go to purchase the products, then you have to pay again. Whatever you have earned, you have to pay everything, pay to the bank or pay to the man. Simply cheating process is going on. There is no solution. People are cheaters. They have been taught how to cheat. Everyone has got a cheating propensity. That is conditioned life. Four defects: to commit mistake, to become illusioned, to cheat and imperfectness of the senses. So cheating propensity everyone has got. So that cheating propensity is being encouraged more and more. Instead of minimizing it or stop it, it is being encouraged. Bahulasva: So unless they become Krishna conscious, then there is no solution. Prabhupada: No. <CITE>Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah</CITE>. There cannot be any good quality in human society unless accepts Krishna consciousness. This is the... This dog is thinking that we may not cheat him, from the back we may not attack him. Just see. Therefore he is stopping. Bahulasva: He doesn't know that you are the ever well-wisher, Prabhupada. Prabhupada: So you are going to carry the message to the government? Prajapati: Yes. Srila Prabhupada. We're working on a... Prabhupada: They issue metal coin and the problem will be solved. But they will not take your advice. Prajapati: This is part of our platform. To even run for political office, we need solutions to the problems to offer as a platform. We will draw up various bills, ready for legislation, show them that we are serious. Prabhupada: So how you'll present it? The cheating process is going on. Unless you become God conscious, the cheating process will not stop. So there is no solution. Prajapati: So therefore we introduce bill into the schools to introduce God consciousness to all the children there. Prabhupada: Yes. God consciousness. Then everyone will be honest, and everything will be adjusted. Everyone can understand this is pure cheating. I give you a hundred dollars, a piece of paper. That's all. And you accept it. You want to be cheated. You thought, that "I have got now daily, hundred dollars. So let me work very hard." He does not consider that "I am not getting a hundred dollars. I am getting a piece of paper." So people have no brain to understand even. "This is not hundred dollars. Give me cash, hundred dollars." Then everything, solution will be... There will be no inflation. Because I know that paying you a piece of paper, I can cheat you, therefore I am printing notes, to cheat so many people. Therefore inflation. But when there will be no possibility to cheat you, then there will be no inflation. Here I have got the opportunity, because I know that pushing forward a piece of paper, I can cheat so many people. So there must be inflation. Is it not? This is not psychological? If I know that I can cheat you by this instrument, so why shall I not increase that? That is inflation. What do you think, Karandhara? Karandhara: That's the basic principle, yes. Prabhupada: Yes. I am cheating you, and people accepting my cheating. Karandhara: The governments actually started the whole thing. They instituted paper money and they instituted it because it is a cheating process. But everyone is participating. So it is just going on and on. That is the real cause of inflation. Prabhupada: Yes. That's it. They are getting encouragement in their cheating business. Bahulasva: They won't let you have any gold. Prabhupada: Now they have made law that you cannot store gold? Karandhara: That's been since 1933. Prabhupada: Just see. Karandhara: Americans cannot own gold, store gold. Pretty soon they are going to pass the same law for silver. Prabhupada: Just see. Even they cannot have ornaments. Karandhara: Well, you can have ornaments, jewelry. Prabhupada: So by law they are cheating. So how you can stop? Karandhara: Now they have introduced a law that even the penny, which is the smallest denomination, it used to be made out of copper, so now they are going to make it out of aluminium, because copper is too expensive. Prabhupada: Just see. Bahulasva: It will be worth less than a penny when it is made out of aluminium. Prabhupada: Why not cement? [laughter] Because by law everything will be acceptable. Make it cement. Bahulasva: Srila Prabhupada, what can we do to curb down these rascals? Prabhupada: Chant Hare Krishna. Bahulasva: That will curb them down. Prabhupada: Yes. They will be purified. The more you chant Hare Krishna, they will be purified. This is... All problems are there on account of misunderstanding. What we are distributing? We are simply moving misunderstanding and bringing them to knowledge. This is our propaganda. So Mr. Theologician, is this suggestion appealing to you? Prajapati: It seems all right for ordinary dealings, Srila Prabhupada, having this money, what's going on, but for large scale transactions it might be very difficult. Prabhupada: Huh? Prajapati: And as the practical basis, transactions of thousands and thousands of dollars, would be... Prabhupada: That will be good for the people. Because large scale transaction is there, therefore the capitalists hoarding. Capitalists hoarding. Goods are there, everything is there. You pay black price, you get it. Then, when somebody's hoarding, he is not giving to the market. So if the large scale industry and trade becomes stopped, that is good for people. Jagajjivana: Does that mean the same amount of gold is here? Prabhupada: No, larger scale... Suppose if you want to store, say, thousand kilos or a thousand bags of rice, so you have to pay me gold. But you have no such gold. Therefore large scale industry will be stopped. Just see. Karandhara: Then the price of rice would go very low. Prabhupada: Yes. Then you get actual price and actual value. Goods are there, any part of the world you..., there is enough commodity. But these rascals, they are hoarding, and they are not giving in right time. So people are suffering. Karandhara: Yes. There's a... They buy now. They buy the goods before they are even grown, from the commodity market. Prabhupada: Yes, because they can pay in this paper, the bank will advance. So as soon as you... You have to introduce this metal coins, value. The whole cheating scheme will fail. Jagajjivana: In the past there was a lot of gold on the planet. What has happened to it? There used to be a lot of gold on the planet? Prabhupada: Yes. They used as utensil, as household pots. Just like now you are advanced, using plastic, because you have become very advanced. So you are using plastic. They were using gold. Jagajjivan: So what has happened to that gold? Prabhupada: What happened? If you keep utensil at home, what happens? You eat nicely on the plate. That's all. Why you are concerned, what happening? It is in your store. That's all. And gold is such a metal, any part of the country, any part of the world you go, you get immediately value. Karandhara: Yes. Whenever there is an economic depression, then gold remains valuable. Just like when the stock market crashed in 1929, if you had gold you could still purchase goods. No matter how bad the economy was, people would accept gold as barter, but not currency. Prabhupada: Yes. Indian economy was that if you have got extra money, you get gold ornament for your wife. So then your money is stocked there. Or purchase some utensils, silver utensils. That was Indian economy. This depositing in the bank and thinking that I am getting good interest, that is another cheating. It is another cheating. If things are not available, what will you get by getting interest? Therefore I am advising that purchase land and produce our own food. There will be no problem. Karandhara: The inflation rate is higher than the interest rate. If you earn 5-3/4 % interest in a year, the inflation has gone up 6% in a year. So actually your money, at best it's kept the same. Prabhupada: The money is to be kept in cattle and grains. That is Indian economy, cattle and grains. If you have got many cows, you get milk. Milk preparation. And if you have got grain, then where is your problem? You prepare your foodstuff at home and eat and chant Hare Krishna. Where is your problem? You want to eat and live peacefully. So if you have got grains and milk, you have got enough food and there is no problem. You haven't got to go fifty miles for your work, and then you require a tin car. So many problems. But if you get your food at home, then eat them and chant Hare Krishna and go back to home, back to Godhead. Simple thing.

Your spirit speaks of action not just talk! I dont know if this is the right target group - members of an internet forum are basically all tarred with the same brush: spineless cyberspace "snobs" who sit all day exposed to electromagnetic waves and basicly unrelated/cut off to reality. People who transpose important content into the real world and actually get things done you wont find in the world of cyberspace. Not that this is all what happens at internet forums, but often it's just like that.

I find your work well researched and quite interesting, since you started this topic on spiritual socialism you surely want to discuss details in order to make things more clear. My question is who actually controls the monetary system in your model of spiritual socialism? When looking at the root of modern global "capitalism" we soon discover a very questionable global monetary system. Without changing this how you want to introduce socialism? Wherever you find nations stuck within huge indebtedness it should be clear that they have a corrupt monetary system installed. Under the Federal Reserve Bank Act, private bankers control our economy. The private FED controls interest rates and the amount of money in the economy. These factors determine either economic prosperity or the lack thereof. If we don't change this system in near future the only thing our taxes will pay is the interest on the national debt. By abolishing the FED, we would not pay interest on Federal Reserve Notes. So, the first way is to have the government print the money, debt and interest- free, and circulate it through the economy for use as a medium of exchange. There is no tax levied to pay interest on the currency in circulation because it is debt and interest-free. Under the FED system, when a new dollar is issued, we pay taxes to pay for the dollar as the principal (debt) plus interest on the dollar. We pay for each new dollar twice, and who gets most of the money? The private bankers, who control this money. England never gave up on owning the United States. They are still silently fighting the same Revolutionary War. The private Bank of England, owns and controls the FED - not only the FED - the ECB, Bank of India, Bank of China as well, in sum 98% of the global currencies. The private FED banking system collects billions of dollars in interest annually and distributes the profits to its shareholders. The Congress illegally gave the FED the right to print money (through the Treasury) at no interest to the FED. The FED creates money from nothing, and loans it back to us through banks, and charges interest on our currency. The FED also buys Government debt with money printed on a printing press and charges U.S. taxpayers interest. Many Congressmen and Presidents say this is fraud. But how to introduce socialism on the basis of a global monetary system controlled and owned by private bankers? -- MyWay, Thursday, March 16, 2006--Senate Passes $2.8 Trillion 2007 Budget The Senate on Thursday passed an election-year budget plan forsaking President Bush's tax cuts and Medicare curbs, hours after lifting the ceiling on the national debt to $9 trillion. BY Andrew Taylor Treasury Secretary John Snow applauded Congress for "protecting the full faith and credit of the United States." He said it ensures that the government "can deliver on promises already made, such as Social Security and Medicare payments and aid for the victims of the 2005 hurricanes." The present limit on the debt is $8.2 trillion. The increase is an unhappy necessity - the alternative would be a disastrous first-ever default on U.S. obligations - that greatly overshadowed a mostly symbolic, weeklong debate on the GOP's budget resolution. Democrats blasted the bill, saying it was needed because of fiscal mismanagement by Bush, who came to office when the government was running record surpluses. "When it comes to deficits, this president owns all the records," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "The three largest deficits in our nation's history have all occurred under this administration's watch." ------------------------------ Morning Walk with Srila Prabhupada, Johannesburg, October 16, 1975 You are cheated Harikesa: So actually this money doesn't even exist in Vedic society—money. Prabhupada: Money is not required. You require things. Just like instead of money, you are getting papers. Money means gold. Where is gold? You are cheated. Money means gold. So instead of possessing gold, you are possessing some paper, written there, "hundred dollars." And you are such a fool, you are satisfied. You are being cheated. Bank's cheque and currency notes, you keep it in your...—"Oh, here is my money." Is that money? Just see. Devotee: They only do that to make it easier for them, because they've got so much money that they can't carry it... Prabhupada: That's all right, but actually it is not money. You are befooled. You are such a fool that you accept a piece of paper as money. Therefore I say you are rascal. That is my business. If I say "Government, give me gold," and government has passed law, "No, you cannot possess gold," that means cheating. How I shall keep gold, that is my business. First of all you give me gold. It is due to me. But you are giving me paper. That means cheating is begun from you. Harikesa: How will the government decide what my gold is and what his gold is? How does the gold get distributed? Prabhupada: Gold coins. Formerly there was gold coins. We have seen in our childhood gold coins, silver coins. There was no paper. Harikesa: But you have to do something to get it. Prabhupada: Yes. I will have to do something. That is another thing. But why you are cheating me? Instead of gold, you are giving me paper.

When reading article below it becomes clear why we live today in a society of cheaters and cheated: Mad for greed of gain U.S. processed foods firms dont hesitate one second to use questionable methods that destroy peoples health. posted by Michael Rivero, August 21, 2006 The New Scientist carried an article recently, Can Taxation Cure Obesity?, in which the writer wondered if taxes on food and drink would help combat the global epidemic of obesity. Here's Michael Rivero's reply: Food and drinks high in sugar should be taxed just like cigarettes, say economists who believe it is the only way to combat the global crisis in obesity. Leave it to an economist to be ignorant of science. The Obesity "epidemic" is the result of the chemicals added to food that make people want to eat MORE, to increase the profits of food companies. First is MSG, or Monosodium Glutamate. This compound is actually prescribed for eating disorders, and used to create overweight rats for lab tests (rats normally will not over-eat). Disguised under numerous names to conceal its presence, MSG is found in almost all processed foods and is billed as a "flavor enhancer". But the reality is that it makes you want to eat more food, which means you BUY more food. That is why food companies love it so much and resist public calls for discontinuance of it. Another chemical villain is Aspartame, the artificial sweetener. Billed as a diet-aid, in point of fact use of Aspartame creates cravings for carbohydrates. This is why supermarkets will often have bundled product deals where you purchase diet soft drinks together with various corn and potato chip products. Finally, there are the growth hormones fed to farm animals to increase their growth which get into the meat and dairy products, and from those products into humans. Humans react to those hormones as do the farm animals. They put on weight. I have avoided MSG for years because it triggers migraines, but earlier this year I quit all aspartame and use only hormone free dairy products. So far, I am down 25 pounds without changing my exercise level or otherwise altering my eating habits.

"We have to do it as a devotional act in order to make the world a place fit for Krishna to be worshipped in all His glory." If I understand you correctly your approach is to first of all remove material injustice (rampant capitalism) from this world and then start to make people self-realized and God-conscious? Introduce socialism as preliminary state towards the goal of a spiritual human society? This is of course a most noble way of thinking - not just a few rare souls as Krishna says.. "After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare." ...but instead changing the whole world into a place of transcendentalists, pure servants of Krishna. Actually one is wise when surrendering unto the Lotus feet of Krishna, but such a mahatma, great soul, is very rare. Dont you assume that the world's population is already so advanced that they consider spiritual live as worthwhile? What about if the opposite is true, the whole world wants to enjoy materialism? Introducing socialism by force and then forcing people to develop love of God? May be I'm too realistic, but for me it's even hard to see presently a lot of human beings in this world, rather I see animal consciousness within human bodies, so called humans but acting like crocodiles and rattlesnakes. Socialism like you say has to be introduced by force - but how does it work to change peoples heart of becoming detached from all those pleasures of this world? </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="100%" colSpan=2> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Seemingly your practical points were worthless - where is peace? When suggesting spiritual solutions you call this "utopian". "As you sow, so shall you reap" - why blame others for a bad result? Israeli reservists slam leaders over Lebanon war By Jeffrey Heller Mon Aug 21, 5:04 AM ET JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli reservists, in a scathing open letter published on Monday, accused government leaders and top army officers of inept handling of the war in Lebanon and called for a broad investigation of their actions. The letter, which appeared in the newspaper Haaretz, was signed by hundreds of veterans of the Lebanon campaign, the left-leaning daily said. An Israeli general said the military had been "guilty of the sin of arrogance" in its approach to the 34-day battle against Hizbollah guerrillas, remarks that appeared to justify growing public criticism of the conduct of the campaign. "I failed to prepare the infantry better for war," Brigadier-General Yossi Heiman, the outgoing chief infantry and paratroops officer, told troops on Sunday in comments broadcast a day later and not directly related to the reservist manifesto. In the letter, troops of the Spearhead Paratroop Brigade did not challenge the decision to go to war after Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, reflecting a national consensus the campaign was justified. But they raised questions about how the government and senior officers conducted a war in which the Israeli military failed to deliver a knockout blow to the Lebanese group or prevent it from firing nearly 4,000 missiles into Israel. "At the back of his mind, each and every one of us knew, that for the just cause of protecting the citizens of Israel, we would even put our lives on the line," said the letter, published a week after a ceasefire went into effect. "But there was one thing we were not and would not be willing to accept: We were unwilling to accept indecisiveness." "COLD FEET" The soldiers, who were called up for duty on July 30, said "the cold feet" of decision-makers was evident everywhere. "The indecisiveness manifested itself in inaction, in not carrying out operational plans, and in canceling all the missions we were given during the fighting," the petition said. "This led to prolonged stays in hostile territory without an operational purpose and out of unprofessional considerations, without seeking to engage in combat with the enemy." Accusing the army of failing to prepare properly for war against Hizbollah, the reservists demanded "a thorough and worthy investigative commission under the auspices of the state." Such a commission would have broader powers, including a mandate to investigate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other cabinet members, than an inquiry panel, set up by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, that began work on Sunday. Olmert indicated on Sunday that he might order a wider inquiry going beyond the Peretz-appointed panel, which is examining only the military and the defense ministry. One security official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters that military intelligence on Hizbollah's strength and positions in southern Lebanon had been inadequate. The official said troops were often sent into villages with little idea of the type of opposition they would face. Reservists have formed the backbone of Israel's fighting forces in past wars. After the 1973 Middle East war, in which Egypt and Syria scored initial successes that caused heavy Israeli casualties, demobilized reservists were at the forefront of public criticism that ultimately forced Prime Minister Golda Meir to resign. Nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis were killed in the latest conflict in which villages across southern Lebanon and areas of Beirut were heavily damaged by Israeli air strikes, and northern Israel was shut down by Hizbollah rockets.

First of all it would be important to know how far you came in understanding varnashrama dharma, the vedic idea of socialism? You say you're a socialist, could you explain this more precise how you define socialism?

Indeed Yogesh, wise words - just googled around and found this: CC Madhya 18.202: "I have studied the Muslim scripture very extensively, but from it I cannot conclusively decide what the ultimate goal of life is or how I can approach it. CC Madhya 18.203: "Now that I have seen You, my tongue is chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. The false prestige I felt from being a learned scholar is now gone." CC Madhya 18.204: Saying this, the saintly Muslim fell at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and requested Him to speak of life's ultimate goal and the process by which it could be obtained. CC Madhya 18.205: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Please get up. You have chanted the holy name of Kṛṣṇa; therefore the sinful reactions you have accrued for many millions of lives are now gone. You are now pure." CC Madhya 18.206: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then told all the Muslims there, "Chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa! Chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa!" As they all began to chant, they were overwhelmed by ecstatic love. CC Madhya 18.207: In this way Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu directly initiated the saintly Muslim by advising him to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. The Muslim's name was changed to Rāmadāsa. Another Pāṭhāna Muslim present there was named Vijulī Khān. CC Madhya 18.208: Vijulī Khān was very young, and he was the son of the king. All the other Muslims, or Pāṭhānas, headed by Rāmadāsa, were his servants. CC Madhya 18.209: Vijulī Khān also fell down at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and the Lord placed His foot on his head. CC Madhya 18.210: After bestowing His mercy upon them in this way, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu left. All those Pāṭhāna Muslims then became mendicants. CC Madhya 18.211: Later these very Pāṭhānas became celebrated as the Pāṭhāna Vaiṣṇavas. They toured all over the country and chanted the glorious activities of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

The circumstance might be complex but many say that Israel and all those Muslim countries in neighborhood are more or less in war since the very foundation of the State of Israel. Muslims are well aware that they are more in number - how to expect there will be a normal living side by side with people who follow such a primitive religious system which cant even be called religion? For example in material sense, Australia is made for Australian creatures, if animals like rabbits are mixed into their nature's situation the whole organic equilibrium collapses like WTC. Same happened when at the Galapagos islands goats could aggrandize unchecked and in order to maintain the original biological balance they all had to be removed. This is of course the material platform. As long people are stuck on the material bodily concept of live there wont be living side by side as long they aren't forced to stay in their territory. People feel threatened wherever Muslim communities start to grow fast and build a state within the state. There're 30 Mio Muslims all over Europe and they demand to be treated according Human Rights Convention respectful. Meanwhile 95% non-Muslims believe that the Muslim strategy is to produce 5 times more children than any other people only for that reason to ultimately take over due their superior number. Since there isnt anymore a solution on the material plane to have a peaceful living on earth there's only one solution: Lord Chaitanya's strategy to convert Muslims. Basically Lord Chaitanya made Muslims to reject Islam like nobody else. Haridas Thakur (chief of this Universe, Lord Brahma) took birth in a Muslim family only for that reason - to teach the world how to forswear of being a militant Muslim rascal by chanting Hare Krishna. Otherwise Bush is presently in pretty bad shape :

Amazing news: Hezbollah doesn't wish to disarm! In other words, same situation like the past 40 years, if things go on like this another Hundred Years' War without solution. "Because I'm a dog a have to fight the cat, and because I'm a cat I have to fight the dog." Nice animal kingdom!

Good idea how to make people curious:

The Audio Recordings of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Type out their opinion? Whats to type? - 154 Israelias killed are 154 too many. Did those 154 souls go back to the spiritual world? They of course have to take birth again. What's the nonsense to present opinions? This forum 'world review' is about facts and this activist with Gush Shalom has the facts: The death rate at present in this world stands at 106 people - per minute! Each passing 60 seconds finds another 106 people leaving their present body for destinations unknown! Most without having heard or recited the Holy Names even once! Thirty three days of war. The longest of our wars since 1949. Uri Avnery - August 17, 2006 On the Israeli side: 154 dead--117 of them soldiers. 3970 rockets launched against us, 37 civilians dead, more than 422 civilians wounded. On the Lebanese side: about a thousand dead civilians, thousands wounded. An unknown number (400?) of Hizbullah fighters dead and wounded. More than a million refugees on both sides. So what has been achieved for this terrible price? "Gloomy, humble, despondent," was how the journalist Yossef Werter described Ehud Olmert, a few hours after the cease-fire had come into effect. Olmert? Humble? Is this the same Olmert we know? The same Olmert who thumped the table and shouted: "No more!" Who said: "After the war, the situation will be completely different than before!" Who promised a "New Middle East" as a result of the war? * * * The results of the war are obvious: * The prisoners, who served as casus belli (or pretext) for the war, have not been released. They will come back only as a result of an exchange of prisoners, exactly as Hassan Nasrallah proposed before the war. * Hizbullah has remained as it was. It has not been destroyed, nor disarmed, nor even removed from where it was. Its fighters have proved themselves in battle and have even garnered compliments from Israeli soldiers. Its command and communication stucture has continued to function to the end. Its TV station is still broadcasting. * Hassan Nasrallah is alive and kicking. Persistent attempts to kill him failed. His prestige is sky-high. Everywhere in the Arab world, from Morocco to Iraq, songs are being composed in his honor and his picture adorns the walls. * The Lebanese army will be deployed along the border, side by side with a large international force. That is the only material change that has been achieved. This will not replace Hizbullah. Hizbullah will remain in the area, in every village and town. The Israeli army has not succeeded in removing it from one single village. That was simply impossible without permanently removing the population to which it belongs. The Lebanese army and the international force cannot and will not confront Hizbullah. Their very presence there depends on Hizbullah's consent. In practice, a kind of co-existence of the three forces will come into being, each one knowing that it has to come to terms with the other two. Perhaps the international force will be able to prevent incursions by Hizbullah, such as the one that preceded this war. But it will also have to prevent Israeli actions, such as the reconnaissance flights of our Air Force over Lebanon. That's why the Israeli army objected, at the beginning, so strenuously to the introduction of this force. * * * In Israel, there is now a general atmosphere of disappointment and despondency. From mania to depression. It's not only that the politicians and the generals are firing accusations at each other, as we foresaw, but the general public is also voicing criticism from every possible angle. The soldiers criticize the conduct of the war, the reserve soldiers gripe about the chaos and the failure of supplies. In all parties, there are new opposition groupings and threats of splits. In Kadima. In Labor. It seems that in Meretz, too, there is a lot of ferment, because most of its leaders supported the war dragon almost until the last moment, when they caught its tail and pierced it with their little lance. At the head of the critics are marching--surprise, surprise--the media. The entire horde of interviewers and commentators, correspondents and presstitutes, who (with very few exceptions) enthused about the war, who deceived, misled, falsified, ignored, duped and lied for the fatherland, who stifled all criticism and branded as traitors all who opposed the war--they are now running ahead of the lynch mob. How predictable, how ugly. Suddenly they remember what we have been saying right from the beginning of the war. This phase is symbolized by Dan Halutz, the Chief-of-Staff. Only yesterday he was the hero of the masses, it was forbidden to utter a word against him. Now he is being described as a war profiteer. A moment before sending his soldiers into battle, he found the time to sell his shares, in expectation of a decline of the stock market. (Let us hope that a moment before the end he found the time to buy them back again.) Victory, as is well known, has many fathers, and failure in war is an orphan. * * * From the deluge of accusations and gripes, one slogan stands out , a slogan that must send a cold shiver down the spine of anyone with a good memory: "the politicians did not let the army win." Exactly as I wrote two weeks ago, we see before our very eyes the resurrection of the old cry "they stabbed the army in the back!" This is how it goes: At long last, two days before the end, the land offensive started to roll. Thanks to our heroic soldiers, the men of the reserves, it was a dazzling success. And then, when we were on the verge of a great victory, the cease-fire came into effect. There is not a single word of truth in this. This operation, which was planned and which the army spent years training for, was not carried out earlier, because it was clear that it would not bring any meaningful gains but would be costly in lives. The army would, indeed, have occupied wide areas, but without being able to dislodge the Hizbullah fighters from them. The town of Bint Jbeil, for example, right next to the border, was taken by the army three times, and the Hizbullah fighters remained there to the end. If we had occupied 20 towns and villages like this one, the soldiers and the tanks would have been exposed in twenty places to the mortal attacks of the guerillas with their highly effective anti-tank weapons. If so, why was it decided, at the last moment, to carry out this operation after all--well after the UN had already called for an end to hostilities? The horrific answer: it was a cynical--not to say vile--exercise of the failed trio. Olmert, Peretz and Halutz wanted to create "a picture of victory", as was openly stated in the media. On this altar the lives of 33 soldiers (including a young woman) were sacrificed. The aim was to photograph the victorious soldiers on the bank of the Litani. The operation could only last 48 hours, when the cease-fire would come into force. In spite of the fact that the army used helicopters to land the troops, the aim was not attained. At no point did the army reach the Litani. For comparison: in the first Lebanon war, that of Sharon in 1982, the army crossed the Litani in the first few hours. (The Litani, by the way, is not a real river anymore, but just a shallow creek. Most of its waters are drawn off far from there, in the north. Its last stretch is about 25 km distant from the border, near Metulla the distance is only 4 km.) This time, when the cease-fire took effect, all the units taking part had reached villages on the way to the river. There they became sitting ducks, surrounded by Hizbullah fighters, without secure supply lines. From that moment on, the army had only one aim: to get them out of there as quickly as possible, regardless of who might take their place. If a commission of inquiry is set up--as it must be--and investigates all the moves of this war, starting from the way the decision to start it was made, it will also have to investigate the decision to start this last operation. The death of 33 soldiers (including the son of the writer David Grossman, who had supported the war) and the pain this caused their families demand that! * * * But these facts are not yet clear to the general public. The brain-washing by the military commentators and the ex-generals, who dominated the media at the time, has turned the foolish--I would almost say "criminal"--operation into a rousing victory parade. The decision of the political leadership to stop it is now being seen by many as an act of defeatist, spineless, corrupt and even treasonous politicians. And that is exactly the new slogan of the fascist Right that is now raising its ugly head. After World War I, in similar circumstances, the legend of the "knife in the back of the victorious army" grew up. Adolf Hitler used it to carry him to power--and on to World War II. Now, even before the last fallen soldier has been buried, the incompetent generals are starting to talk shamelessly about "another round", the next war that will surely come "in a month or in a year", God willing. After all, we cannot end the matter like this, in failure. Where is our pride? * * * The Israeli public is now in a state of shock and disorientation. Accusations--justified and unjustified--are flung around in all directions, and it cannot be foreseen how things will develop. Perhaps, in the end, it is logic that will win. Logic says: what has thoroughly been demonstrated is that there is no military solution. That is true in the North. That is also true in the South, where we are confronting a whole people that has nothing to lose anymore. The success of the Lebanese guerilla will encourage the Palestinian guerilla. For logic to win, we must be honest with ourselves: pinpoint the failures, investigate their deeper causes, draw the proper conclusions. Some people want to prevent that at any price. President Bush declares vociferously that we have won the war. A glorious victory over the Evil Ones. Like his own victory in Iraq. When a football team is able to choose the referee, it is no surprise if it is declared the winner. Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is one of the writers featured in The Other Israel: Voices of Dissent and Refusal. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch's hot new book The Politics of Anti-Semitism. He can be reached at: avnery@counterpunch.org

BY: S. GURUMURTHY <CENTER> </CENTER> Aug 12, SOUTH INDIA (HINDUTVA) — Talk given at the International Seminar on Thiruvananthapuram. Never before have I felt so uncomfortable before an audience. The reason why I am called to speak before you is not that the organizers felt that I am scholarly enough to make a presentation on Gita. But because the challenge of Globalization has given rise to the Swadeshi response in this country with which I am associated. So, the idea of globalization, or the challenge of globalization how it has sought forth as Indian response and its intimate relationship with the soul of this nation - that has a lot to do with the Bhagavad Gita. The Indian soul is not related to a particular script or a book or a particular author. The Indian soul is a continuous evolution, in which as many scholar presented from this platform for the last few days the Gita occupies the central place or the most compact definition of the thrust of the Indian soul. If you look at the present world, globalization is the latest manifestation of how the world has been moving in the last 500 years. If you look at the journey where we started and look at where we have reached, it is largely a Protestant Christian construct. The western world - is the world today. The legitimate world is the western world and globalization as understood today is a western thrust and the present west is a Protestant Christian construct. And the journey was a very instructive and informative journey. All the problems faced in the world where opened up by the journey. Whether it is economic or political or environmental problem, or problem of war and peace, you will find the issues unfolding from the last 500 years as the causes. And the present day globalization is presented as a platform for the upliftment of the world, the development of the world and this is the main line establishment thinking almost accepted by world leaders, almost without question 5 years ago though there may be some kind of question mark hanging around the kind of conclusion they reached about a decade ago. Globalization has a certain definition and the are certain assumption underlying that. It is standing on certain pillars. The present day assumption of globalization is that the experience of the WEST in the BEST and it can be experimented on the REST. This is substance, the basic fundamental of globalisation. There are 3 basic philosophical as well as economic implication of globalisation? First it is based on exploitation of nature. I am not talking purely from the environmental point of view, it has certainly altered the relation between men and nature and legitimized that alteration. ? Second, it is based on Individual liberty and freedom. There are all very basic and profound concepts and even we talk about it. We agree with it, but we have to understand what this individual freedom or liberty mean. ? And the last, but not a very dismissible item survival of the fittest. These are 3 pillars of globalization as it is understood today. But before we get into the mechanics of globalization and its impact on the world, on us particularly is anything global wrong? We should not get caught in the semantics to deceive the idea of global exchange. Global exchanges are valuable for human program. For the very program of the society, comparative experience, relative or sharable experience with other countries is a process of graduation. And so global exchange, global trade global understanding, global harmony are an integral part of human program. But the globalization that we are talking about has nothing to do with any of these things. So we should not confuse ourselves between global trade and globalization even in economics. Globalization is a far more intense continuation of IMPERIALISM, COLONIALISM and it is the THRUST of the WEST against the REST. This, we must clearly understand because this is not something which is concealed. It is something which is set out as an agenda. Whether you look at Francis Yukuhama who wrote that book “End of History and Last Men” or even “Samuel Huntington who said “well, others are inferior but we have to live with them”. The WEST in the BEST - they know what is good, not only for themselves but also for others. But unfortunately, others will live like this, you can’t help it. So the ’superior’ civilization of the west, in order to avoid bloody clashes at the ground level will have to live with other civilization which are inferior and this he called harmony of civilizations. So the idea is very clear - the thrust is what THEY consider as ‘Superior’. And this has its more focused manifestation in economics. This is not the whole, but is a somewhat hazy definition of globalisation, as I understand it. Is there are any alternative to it?. The alternative to an agreeing globalization is not an Ashoka or Buddha. You look at Ashoka, you are reminded of not Krishna, but Arjuna. You look at the two wars - the Kalinga and the Kurukshethra. All that Arjuna perceived and apprehended before the war, Asoka experienced after the war. None of Arjuna’s arguments question, apprehensions, feelings, which he demonstrably employs to Sri Krishna, could be dismissed. “For the sake of a chair, you want me commit all there sin?. “And this is precisely the question that hits Asoka after the Kalinga War. But a Krishna was there to clarify the confused mind of Arjuna. Arjuna’s questions in the first chapter were not reflective of his clarity. They were products of his confusion. And Krishna had to carry him through 18 chapters to clear his mind. You will be amazed that the last question that Arjuna raised is that “I am confused So I surrender to you. Please tell me what I should do”. In the 18th Chapter, the last sloka also says “I am willing to do whatever you want”, but in between. In Gita the surrender of Arjuna was complete even before Krishna started the lectures to Arjuna. By why is it that Krishna did not say immediately after Arjuna surrendered in the second chapter “come on take the weapon and flight the war”?. Because a confused mind cannot do it. So he had to remove the cobwebs in Arjuna’s mind; clear his mind and as result of this conviction will come the valour and the courage to fight the war. It is not simply that - look at the evolution of Arjuna’s mind, how Krishna makes him evolve - he attacks his lower ego - “People will call you impotent. If you are running away from war, you will incur infamy “. He appeals to his lower instincts. Then he slowly upgrades him. He teaches him different yoga. He teaches him detachment. He slowly upgrades him. He brings him to a state of self inquiry and finally grants him freedom of action. It is in the 63rd sloka in the last chapter, Krishna says, “Now you do whatever you want to do”. That means the idea of freedom is not based on the number of people who deserve it, but on the quality of people who deserve it. So when we talk of the freedom of an individual and when the present paradigm of west - whether you call it globalization, liberalism or democracy- the freedom which is implicit in it are of two opposite folds. One is freedom from pleasure and another is the freedom to enjoy. There are of two different dimension. The whole world - the globalization the current economic policies, the global trade, the model for development is based on the right and the freedom to enjoy. It has not come out of suspension. It has come out of a tradition. If you look at the Abrahamic tradition there, enjoyment of the world is theologically sanctified. God has created the whole world for the enjoyment man and so there no restraint on ones enjoyment. And when this theological guarantee is there naturally the result of it is competition. Who will enjoy more? Who will posses more?. That is how it is an admitted intellectual position among the socio-economic writers of the west. - That the present day development plant whether you call it consumerism or competition or global trade or specialization capitalism - the components of which the present day glob is made off is drawn from Christian ethics. So it has a theological sanctions. It is part of the spiritual progress of the west obtained through Protestant Christianity. This is a big challenge. This is a challenge to the west also. It is definitely a challenge for us. What is it that we can do? or should do? to formulate our responses. That’s why I said the response cannot come from Asoka. It can come only from Krishna. Krishna clarified Arjuna’s mind, lend conviction to him and made him fight battle. In contrast, look at Asoka. Many of us wrongly interpret Asoka as a FOLLOWER of BUDDHA. He was not a follower of Buddha. Asoka copied Buddha. Buddha left the chair. He left the kingdom. He ceased to be a king. And so the dharma of the ruler did not attach to him. But Asoka instead on being a king and also be a Buddha. So the confusion of the Indian society is directly drawn from the Asokan Ethics. I am glad that Mr. Gautier- he is here today - he wrote an article recently on briefly as him intellect would enable him to do. And I may not be able to do justice in the same way. I certainly site that article (ref to the article by Francois Gautier in NIE on Buddhism,). Buddhism - The Cause of India’s Downfall The intellectual confusion in India is because of Asoka. And you look at the secular Indian state. Asoka was the only king in India who declared a state religion - never before, never after any king declared a state religion. Chathrapati Shivaji ruled as a Hindu King. But Hinduism was not the state religion. Ashoka ruled in the name of a faith. And Asoka is the symbol of secular India. You know why - he was the least objectionable person. The most acceptable king would not become the respectable symbol in India. It is the least objectionable. Symbol which has been accepted. This is the intellectual confusion in India. So the answer to the challenge of globalization has to come from Krishna. The reformed Arjuna was able to take the challenge. The challenge had in fact come from within. It was not from outside Every one know his qualities, his competence, his valour - but the challenge came from within. It came in the form of confusion. And this is precisely where the Indian society is. When Sri Parameswaranji undertook this exercise of this Gita Sibhiram, I was there the day the whole exercise commenced in Kaalady. We never thought - at least I never thought - that this could become some kind of a movement. But when it did become a movement, and when it manifested in an international conference like this, when a serious audience - as Mr. Kireet Joshi said - was sitting and discussing such profound issues and problems, as contrasted with the leaders of this country trivializing the whole country and themselves (the parliamentary discussion or rather thamasa was going on regarding Ayodhya dispute), We can understand what Gita holds forth. And Gita is, the vanguard of our challenge to globalization. I have no doubt about it. If you go a little further and look at two or there essential differences between globalization as it is understood today and the alternatives Gita has to present, or as a challenge - in this competitive world, it is survival of the fittest and might is right. It is not only that it has been accepted as something which has to be accepted recklessly, but it is something which is presented as the ‘legitimate proposition. “Yes, This is how the world not only will be, but should be”. In contrast Bhagavad Giita says “Parithraanaya Sadhunam”. The word sadhu here does not mean sanyasis. It is those who cannot match the vice and the wit of the world. Those who cannot take care of themselves in this world on a run. It is they whose protection is Dharma. And it is not that they have a right to be protected. You have a duty to protect them. This is not a duty of the government the political system or of the leaders, it is the duty of everybody. Dharma is shared by everybody, not the rules alone who is responsible for Dharma. So for the Survival of the Fittest” the Gita alternative is “Parithraanaya Saddhunam”. So there is a diametrically inverse relationship between globalisation and dharma. The present day glob represents, in core, adharma. And on man’s relation with nature, Gita’s principle is very clear. “Parasparam Bhavayantah”. It is a complementary relationship. In order for us to exist, nature has to exist. We protect nature, nature protects us. And this is the platform on which this whole civilization has continued without disturbance and in perfect harmony with nature for thousands of years. A disruption has occurred. Disruption has occurred not in the way of living, but in our mind. There in initiate relation between the way you think and the way you live. The object of your life decides your lifestyle. Your lifestyle decides your habits. The habits decide your needs. So, once the object of life is disturbed, once confusion occurs in the aim or purpose of life, it will have a cascading effect downstream, and the distortion that we see, with our Ganga polluted, with Jamuna ceasing to exist, Cauvery refusing to flow. There are 75,000 lakes in Tamil Nadu. - 75000 lakes. Only 39,000 exist. In the last 150 years we have lost half of them. And out of this 39,000 less than half is functional. So, the distortion in where we are going has resulted in distortion at the ground level. Man’s relation with nature has been disturbed. And Gita says “you protect the water and it’ll protect you, you protect the tree and it‘ll protect you,”.-Now one environmental movement says-and there is a slide show-there is one eco-feminist movement in America which has produced enormously valuable literature. And eco-feminism traces why women are being treated this way in the western society, and they zero in on the Christian philosophy-theology-as the reason for it! Many of you may be aware till the seventh century there was a debate in the Christian church, as to whether women should be regarded as human beings at all or not. And they trace their entire problem to the Christian theological propositions and said that. “We are being treated in the same way as a tree, or an animal or generally the nature is being treated, and so we are equal to flesh and so we will not eat flesh”. The thrust of ecofeminist movement in US is vegetarian and that is for a theological reason. Why I am commenting on this is that the entire environmental, ecological problems of the west is not a mere incidental result of economic development, or technological devices that have come into play in the last 500 years, but there is a clear theological sanction behind this, which we often fail to note. The third point is the right of an individual this is a very important issue. And I’ll take 2-3 minutes to explain what is its impact on the day to day life, on the society. The right of an individual has seeped thro’ communities, localities, even families in the west. This right is Aasuric. This is right to enjoy. This is freedom to enjoy. And not freedom from enjoyment. So when we talk of individual freedom, it is not the freedom of Bhagavad Gita As a result of this, today in America or other western countries, you see the enormous amount of social security cost which is being incurred, to take care of people who are ordinarily taken care of by families, by communities, by social grouping - 1/3 the GDP in America is spend for this purpose; Nearly half in many European countries. And in India, and generally in the East, the family shares this responsibility. It is considered to be their sacred duty. A son’s sacred duty to take care of his parents, to marry off sisters, to educate them, to take care of even their surroundings, to take care of animals, to take care of trees, to take care of neighbors. This is part of the overall living style, living ethics. This cannot be legislated. There is so legislation in India asking the son to take care of their parents. But this in one duty discharged unfailingly by all children, and see the enormous amount of responsibility taken off the shoulder of the government. In fact when I was talking to a leading economist who had come to advice India, I asked him “which is the most privatized economy in the world?”, he said Guru, “I cannot understand what you are trying to drive”. I said, “Which is the most important public function in the west which can never be privatized?.” You can privatize a company, an Airlines- because there are assets. They have properties. So, there may be people willing to buy them. But can you ever privatize the social security cost, which is a liability of the western government? Can you privatize the responsibility to take care of parents? An unemployed Son or a daughter is an unemployed citizen not a son or a daughter. There is no relationship between brother and brother in the matter of money -there could be some other relationship. This enormous amount of public responsibility has been transferred from the society, from the family, from the community to the state, by the marketisation of the society on the insistence of the idea of freedom in the most distorted fashion. If the Indian society is functional, it is because it has chosen to follow and it will follow Gita and not the market economics of the west. And the last point is civilizational clashes. It is not directly part of globalisation but it is the unmentioned part . There is jihad, there is crusade. And there is dharma yuddha. And many people try to interpret that Hinduism is also as violent because it also speaks of dharma yudha. But see the contrast. The Pandavas and the Kauravas seek Krishna’s help. Krishna says “Come on, take my army or take me without arms”. There is freedom to join either side. And Krishna says “You have to fight was without hatred”. Hatred is not the driving force of that battle. Everybody have a choice. Never can such wave be compared to a jihad or a crusade. And today’s civilizational clashes are not based on the principle on which Mahabharatha was fought, or the principles expounded by Krishna -it is because of jihad and crusade - Hindus must have clarity on this. The Hindu intellectualism is so weak today, that people like Mr Gautier and Mr Michel Danino have to come to one's rescue (claps from audience). It's not a very happy scene. The Hindu society must assert itself. It has so much in it to demonstrate to the world. And if Gita is understood and Krishna is internalized, the Hindu society can not only face the challenge of globalisation but can make it rest on entirely different propositions and formulae. Thank You.

Modern warfare is a complex affair and doesnt necessarily come along with highly advanced weapons. Rather a take over can also be triggered by raising unemployment and indebtedness. Indebtedness of US households has risen 45.7% and although the Government might proclaim, "the number of unemployed persons (14.0 million) was essentially unchanged in June, and the unemployment rate held at 8.6 percent", this doesnt say anything about the constant abolition of well-paid jobs by assisting economic invasion. Chinese Regime Eyes Texas Port Facilities Mike Blair – American Free Press August 14, 2006 Negotiations are under way for communist Beijing to utilize as a “logistics hub” the former Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, which was closed in 1995 during the Clinton administration’s base reduction program. If the deal is consummated the Chinese will also gain access to two major Texas ports at Corpus Christi and Houston on the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico, an 11,000-foot-long airstrip, which is part of the Kelly base facilities, rail links with railcar switching facilities and links with five interstate highways. The Chinese are keenly interested in the deal because the San Antonio base will help facilitate its trade with Mexico. San Antonio will give China access to a highway corridor along I-35, linking San Antonio to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, which is just across the border from Laredo in west Texas. Nuevo Laredo is a major staging ground for Mexican drug cartels, which have fostered an atmosphere of lawlessness in the city. Almost daily people, including police, are shot in the streets. In addition, frequent clashes occur between drug smugglers and U.S. Border Patrol and state and local police on the U.S. side of the border in Laredo. There have also been reports that Chinese military units have been operating with Mexican army troops, who assist the drug smugglers and have made incursions into the United States. “San Antonio is a strategic site for commerce between China and the United States and for the exportation of Chinese products to Mexico and Latin America,” Zhou Ming, general director of the Chinese State Agency of Promotions and Chinese Investments, said after a Chinese delegation visited San Antonio last year, according to a report in the Spanish-language newspaper Rumbo, which reports on activities in Mexico and U.S. border states. Like most Chinese industrial, investment and commerce kingpins, Ming has ties to the People’s Liberation Army, which controls most industry in China with much of the profits going to build up the Chinese military. Considerable slave labor is used, making it impossible for U.S. workers to compete. A year ago, San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger and other municipal officials traveled to China to promote the former air base facilities, now renamed the San Antonio Port Authority. The mayor’s office is working with the Port Authority, the Free Trade Alliance San Antonio and the San Antonio based Omega Group International, which maintains offices in Austin, Texas, San Francisco, Mexico City and Beijing and Qingdao, China. According to <>Rumbo<>, Omega International sponsored visits by Chinese officials last year to San Antonio. J.J. Saulino, press secretary to Hardberger, told AFP that the mayor is interested in the project and traveled to Guangdong province in China to promote it. Jorge Canavati, vice president of the San Antonio Port Authority, claimed the Rumbo article was “not accurate” and abrasively brushed off questions about the effort to get the Chinese into the former U.S. air base facilities. The former air base, often referred to as a “dry port” or an “inland port,” because it is not a coastal facility or located on a navigable waterway, “has no limits for the products, from toys to heavy equipment [from China],” Vivian Lee, president of the Omega Group, was quoted by Rumbo as saying. AFP was told by Rogello Garcia, a spokesman for the Free Trade Alliance San Antonio, that a Chinese delegation was in San Antonio last spring to further work out details of the project. Kelly Air Force Base was opened in 1916 as a training facility. Nearby Lackland Air Force Base was a spin-off from Kelly. The Texas Air National Guard 149th Fighter Wing still utilizes the facility, along with the Air Force Reserve 433rd Airlift Wing. A spokesperson with the Port Authority told AFP that the base has been used to repair and maintain C-5A Galaxy transport planes, which are the largest aircraft in the Air Force. The base has an 11,000-foot runway to accommodate the C-5A, which the military shares with the Port Authority. In addition to the airstrip, the Port Authority has a 1,200-acre yard operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. The Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad is also linked to the inland port. A retired Air Force intelligence officer told AFP that taking over the San Antonio base would likely streamline Chinese exports to the United States and would give them access to ports in Houston and Corpus Christi on the Gulf coast. The Chinese already control the Panama Canal, through the Hutchison-Whampoa Company, and maintain a major airfield and port facility at Freeport, Bahamas, where Hutchison-Whampoa has a contract through the Bush administration to provide security for container ships bound for U.S. ports on the East Coast. Chinese state-owned shipping company Cosco has taken over port facilities and warehousing space at the California ports of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Long Beach. This is one of the reasons cited for China’s interest in the San Antonio inland port, as it has extensive space available for constructing warehouse buildings. According to Port Authority sources, a 108,800-square-foot warehouse facility has already been built at the former base at a cost of $5 million and a slightly smaller 102,400-squarefoot building has also been built.

We are presently in the kali-yuga of the 28th maha-yuga of the 7th manvantara (Vaivasvata) of Brahma’s day. The last time Lord Ramacandra appeared on earth was in treta-yuga of the 5th maha-yuga of this manvantara. Duration of one maha-yuga is 4,320,000 years - so we have to count 23 maha-yugas back to come to the 5th maha-yuga of this manvantara and then go to the treta-yuga, starting in that maha-yuga after 1,728,000 years (duration of satya-yuga) and lasts for 1,296,000 years.

This disc (efficient luminaries compass) was recently found, they say it was made 1600 B.C. The seven Pleiades stars are seen together between Sun and Moon. They say that the Pleiades announce the proper time for sowings and crops.

Actually Dhruva Maharaja appeared in the first manvantara of this day of Brahma which is called Svayambhuva. Each of the 14 manvantaras on one day of Brahma consist of 71 maha-yugas. Right now we are in the 28th maha-yuga of the 7th manvantara which is called Vaivasvata. Dhruva Maharaja appeared in a Satya-yuga of the first manvantara but since each manvantara consists of 71 maha-yugas in which maha-yuga of the Svayambhuva manvantara Dhruva appeared. Any suggestions?

sorry prabhu, this wasnt actually a reply to your post but to the main topic in general: At "Online Vegetarian Restaurants Guide", http://www.naturalnirvana.com/Braja-Mandala/Braja-Mandala/Madhuvana-Forest.htm we find: But do we know which Satya-yuga from the 1000 Satya-yugas of this Kalpa (one day of Lord Brahma)? Or was it a Satya-yuga of the 1000x360x49 Satya-yugas from the past 360x49 Kalpas (days) of our present Lord Brahma who just became 50?