Jahnava Nitai Das

Generally this is done because the person is in excessive pain. But what they fail to understand is that the exact same pain (and more) is going to be there while they remain in their subtle bodies as ghosts. They are not escaping from the pain, they are only increasing it. Thus it is a waste of time.

Also we should consider the fact that Vedic astronomers have been able to calculate the exact moment of eclipse, down to seconds, thousands of years ago. Do you think they had such accurate calculations while simultaneously being fools? They obviously understood the nature of an eclipse perfectly, and texts such as Surya Siddhanta do mention the shadow of the earth.

You automatically assume the scriptures are wrong about this matter, when there are countless other possibilities. Just for example, you could just as well assume that it is a figurative description, you could believe that the "head of Rahu" is the earth's shadow, you can think it refers to a higher dimensional description of what occurs at these times, etc. There are so many possibilities as to what the scriptures are speaking about, but you choose the idea that there is a gigantic head floating in space trying to bite into a planet. If you accept scientific views, Why do you even need to look for a fault beyond the idea that there is a giant head floating in space? Rather than get stuck in your inability to understand the codes of the scriptures, try cultivating direct spiritual experience by chanting Krishna's names. Absorb yourself in sadhana and find answers within.

Srila Prabhupada's view on this matter: "If you actually love God, then your love for insects is also there, because you understand, 'This insect has got a different kind of body, but he is also part and parcel of God—he is my brother.' Samah sarveshu bhuteshu: you look upon all living beings equally." "Other people are always envious, but the sädhu is always thinking how to save others from the clutches of mäyä. A sädhu is kind not only to human beings but to cats, dogs, trees, plants and insects; he will hesitate even to kill one mosquito. He does not simply think, "I shall just take care of my brother." He looks on all living beings as his brothers because Krishna says that He is the father of all living entities." "A devotee is friend to everyone. He does not want to kill even an ant or a mosquito."

The Bhagavad Gita states that any food eaten without first offering it as a sacrifice to God is a sin. This includes vegetarian food. Eating plants involves killing, and thus is sinful unless it is first offered as sacrifice to God to remove the sinful reactions: yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ bhuñjate te tv aghaḿ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt "The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin."

To commemorate the opening of a new branch in Avinashi, the Bhaktivedanta Ashram has organized ‘Hare Krishna Festival’ at the 800 year old Sri Lakshmi Narasimha temple in the famous temple town of Avinashi. Avinashi is otherwise known as Dakshina Varanasi, and is considered as one of the very sacred Shaivite pilgrimage places after Kashi Viswanatha. The age old Sri Lakshmi Narasimha temple is located approximately 8 km away from the temple town. This unique Lakshmi Narasimha temple attracts around three thousand devotees every Saturday. Bhaktivedanta Ashram devotees from Avinashi and Coimbatore jointly organized the festival, in which more than one thousand five hundred plates of mahaprasadam were distributed. The program started at 8:00 am with devotees speaking on the glories of Hari Nama Sankirtana, followed by chanting of Krishna’s names throughout the day. Annadanam (prasadam distribution) commenced at 8:30 am and continued up to 3:00 pm, serving all of the devotees, who came from more than fifty neighboring villages. A local devotee has been kind enough to donate half an acre of land in Avinashi for establishing a branch of the Bhaktivedanta Ashram. Weekly Satsangas are being held at this location every Wednesday from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. The program consists of kirtans, bhajans, Bhagavad Gita discourse, harinama mantra japa and prasadam distribution. We invite all devotees residing nearby to participate in the weekly Satsanga. For more details please contact 9486176204. [ Satsanga at Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Temple ] Children attending weekly Satsanga at Bhaktivedanta Ashram in Avinashi Children attending weekly satsanga are taught Bhagavad Gita, Bhajans, Mantra Japa and Yoga For more information please visit our website: www.bvashram.org

According to the Gita, every single action we perform leads us to bondage (yajnarthat kamano 'nyatra...). Krishna goes as far as saying anyone who simply cooks food for himself is eating verily only sin, and will suffer in future lives. You cannot escape the karmic reactions, and resultant suffering, simply because something is convenient for yourself and makes your material life more enjoyable. Acting on Krishna's direct order for the purpose of protecting dharma is quite different than acting for your own sense gratification (or for your own avoidance of discomfort).

Srila Prabhupada's point was against the made up idea that poor people are "poor incarnations of narayana". "Sometimes so-called svamis are very eager to feed poor people, thinking them to be daridra-narayana, the Lord's incarnations as beggars." Ramakrishna manufactured this idea of Daridra Narayana ("poor narayana"), saying there is no need to worship in the temples because you can worship the poor narayanas in the street. Srila Prabhupada was against any philosophy that tried to claim Jivas (living entities) as Bhagavan (the Supreme Lord).

By this logic it is equally fine to kill a human being or any animal. Those of us who follow Srila Prabhupada's teachings may do well to read what he taught on this subject, rather than speculate as to what actions are right and wrong. The basic philosophy being promoted here is that selfishness somehow makes us free from the karmic influence of our actions. We experience discomfort from another living entity, and our solution is to kill that living entity to free us from discomfort. This is clearly a case of simple selfishness, and obviously an absurd philosophical point of view. For Redsox, you can get electronic devices for as little as $6.00 on amazon.com that will make all cockroaches, mice and small pests leave your house. There is no need to kill them.

Here is an article that was written on this topic some time ago: "Food For Life or Food For Death?" http://www.bvashram.org/articles/100/1/Food-For-Death If you see Srila Prabhupada's comments in full, everything becomes clear.

The last few months have been a time of increased activity for us. In September, a renewal of monsoon rains led to severe flooding throughout Orissa, leaving more than 1.5 million people homeless in the state. Every year Orissa seems to bear the brunt of monsoon flooding in India, but this year it was even more so, with miles and miles of land submerged under water. Click here to read the complete report.

I think you can just follow the Vaikuntha Ekadashi day that all temples follow in South India. Since it is the biggest festival of the year, it should be well known.

Each caste has 50 or so main gotras under which all the 1 billion people of India are subdivided. So it isn't as rare an occurence as one might think by reading this thread.

The status you give to an Acharya and their writings are based on your personal faith in them. You will not find any evidence that Bhaktivinoda Thakur was in samadhi when he wrote Jaiva Dharma. Even in the case of the Bhagavatam, the only evidence you will find is in the Bhagavatam itself. But logically a text can not be used as evidence to establish the authenticity of itself. Thus we are in a situation where: 1) Having accepted the Bhagavatam as truth... then we can conclude that Vyasa was in samadhi. 2) Having accepted Bhaktivinoda Thakur as a pure devotee... then we can conclude that his writings are revelations. There are plenty of other Bengali "saints" who wrote books which we do not consider as revelations. That is because of the status we accord those individuals, and our faith in their spiritual realizations.

NEW DELHI (ICNS) -- Contrary to beliefs, majority Indians eat meat or fish but at least eight percent of Christians in the country eat only vegetarian food, revealed a survey that two media organizations jointly held. The Hindu -CNN-IBN State of the Nation Survey, conducted between August 1 and 6, is based on interviews with 14,680 respondents, spread across 883 villages and urban areas in 19 states. The findings show that only 31 per cent of Indians are vegetarians. The figure is 21 percent for families (with all vegetarian members). Another nine per cent of the population is “eggetarian” or vegetarians who eat eggs. The survey shows that vegetarianism is a habit inherited by cultural practice rather than individual belief. However, religion and community do matter because as many as 55 per cent of Brahmins are vegetarians. But only 12 percent tribal people are vegetarians. It also says Hindus who does daily worship are more likely to be vegetarian, but the majority of all Hindus are non-vegetarian. While 45 percent Upper caste Brahmins eat meat, people of other upper castes eating meat are said to be 72 percent. Generally, Christians in India are considered to be meat eaters but the survey says, eight per cent of India’s 25 million Christians are also vegetarians. More women are likely to be vegetarian than men. Also, those who are above the age of 55 are also likely to be vegetarian, showing a relation between age and vegetarianism. Among the young, the figure is only slightly below the national average. Location too matters than caste, religion or community. The lowest number vegetarian families are in coastal states such as Kerala (two per cent), Tamil Nadu (eight per cent), Andhra Pradesh (four per cent), Orissa (eight per cent) and Bengal (three per cent). Most land-locked States, especially in the west and north, are places with the highest proportion of vegetarian families: Rajasthan (63 percent), Haryana (62 percent), Punjab (48 percent), Uttar Pradesh (33 percent), Madhya Pradesh (35 percent) and Gujarat (45 percent). An alarming revelation was on hunger in India. Some 35 per cent of people said at least once during the last year, they or someone in their family could not have two square meals a day. Seven per cent say this happened `often.' This incidence is higher among Dalits and tribals and the urban and rural poor. The survey is a reminder that hunger is not related only to natural calamities or famine, but reality of daily life.

I would also suggest you try to associate with Srila Prabhupada directly through his books and lectures. His association is divine and transcnedental, beyond all mundane designations.

www.bvashram.org On Kartika Purnima the Bhaktivedanta Ashram inaugurated special "Chandana Argali Parikrama" of Lord Jagannatha. Every full moon day devotees are allowed to enter the inner altar, usually reserved for temple priests, and perform parikrama of Lord Jagannatha while offering flowers to His lotus feet. This is the only temple in Orissa that allows people from all castes and communities to enter the garbhagriha to worship the Lord. "Chandana Argali Parikrama" is a custom unique to Puri Jagannatha temple, but in all other temples people from lower castes are never allowed to participate. Many temples in Orissa even bar lower caste people from entering the temples altogether. Below are some newspaper articles covering the occassion. Aaj Tak (Hindi News Channel) also aired a segment on it yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to see what they included. <hr color="#c0c0c0" size="1" width="93%"> Thousands Participate in Purnima Parikrama From India First (Weekly Newspaper) Julian Parker, the American born Hindu convert who built a temple of Lord Jagannath in Bhadrak, Orissa, inaugurated "Purnima Chandana Argali Parikrama" on Karthik Purnima, allowing people from all castes and communities to enter the temple inner sanctum (garbhagriha) for worshiping the Lord. 5,000 devotees performed parikrama inside the temple sanctum sanctorum, and offered pushpanjali, flower offerings, to the feet of Lord Jagannath. Over 1,000 of the devotees belonged to dalit communities, which are usually refused entry into many temples throughout Orissa. Upon entry into the temple sanctum, each devotee was provided with flowers free of cost, to offer at the feet of the three life-size deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra. Following completion of the parikrama, the devotees were then given free deepams (clay lamps) to offer to Jagannath, "the Lord of the Universe". The temple, located in Kuansh village of Bhadrak, is offering devotees the rare chance to enter the inner sanctum, usually reserved only for temple priests, on each Purnima day (full moon), for a special up-close darshan of Lord Jagannath. The opportunity is especially unique, as this temple does not discriminate against anyone based on caste or community. People from all religions and castes are invited to enter the Lord's inner sanctum and offer their heart-felt prayers to Jagannath personally, face to face. 'In recent weeks we have seen the corrupt practice of caste discrimination at several Jagannath temples in Orissa highlighted in the news. In response to this injustice, we felt it is necessary to invite people from all castes and communities to enter our Jagannath temple and worship the Lord as equal human beings, all children of God', said Parker, who has renamed himself as Jahnava Nitai Das after becoming a devotee of Lord Jagannath 13 years ago. 'In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says a learned priest (pandita) sees all living entities equally: panditah sama-darshinah. Unfortunately today we are seeing that the priests are not learned, and instead they act against the teachings of Gita by discriminating against God's children. Such practices are not at all supported by our Hindu scriptures, and we are prepared to challenge any such temple priests or temple administrators to public scriptural debate to prove this point,' he pointed out. The Jagannath temple in Bhadrak says they will celebrate every Purnima in a similar manner, opening the doors of the garbha-griha to the public so that people of all castes can have the same right to worship Lord Jagannath. Parker originally constructed the temple in response to the Puri temple's policy barring foreign devotees from entering the temple to worship Lord Jagannath. 'These priests who discriminate against our dalit brothers and sisters are doing the greatest disservice to Hinduism. Because of them, thousands of Hindu dalits are converting to other religions every year. Hindu organizations and Hindu spiritual leaders need to speak loudly against these injustices, but they are all remaining silent', said Parker, when asked about temples barring dalits from entry. <hr color="#c0c0c0" size="1" width="93%"> Orissa Temple for all Castes From the Hindustan Times You do not have to be of a particular gender, caste, religion or community to enter the Jagannath temple at Kuansh village in Bhadrak district. All you need is faith. On Kartika Purnima, the village temple saw a crowd almost as big as the one at the more famous Jagannath temple in Puri. Nearly 5,000 devotees belonging to different castes and communities entered its sanctum sanctorum to perform the parikrama and offer flowers at the feet of the Lord. This unique temple is the brainchild of Los Angeles resident Julian Parkar. Parkar — who has converted to Hinduism — has been living in Bhadrak for the last 12 years and spent Rs 26 lakh to build the temple. Devotees can enter the sanctum sanctorum every full moon day. Parkar even offers free diyas and flowers to devotees. Parkar's initiative comes in the wake of Dalits being denied entry into a Jagannath temple by upper castes at Keraragard village in Kendrapara district and is an effort at bringing about an egalitarian temple entry system. "In recent weeks, we have witnessed devotees being discriminated against on the basis of caste and religion at several Jagannath temples in Orissa. In response to this, we deemed it imperative to invite people from different castes and communities to enter our Jagannath temple and worship the Lord as equal human beings," said Parkar. Of the 5,000 devotees who thronged the temple on Kartika Purnima, nearly 1,000 were Dalits. Parker does not stop here. Next year, he plans to organise a ‘rath yatra’ in Kuansh village. Also coming up is a second temple of Lord Jagannath in Bhadrak, which is likely to cost him nearly Rs 3 crore.

If we study the history of ISKCON, we will find that 99% of the actual preaching and work has been done by the regular devotees, but all credit is passed up to the gurus. Most of the gurus just fly in and out for a one night lecture, but the real work of making devotees, bringing people to the temple, preaching to them, etc., is done by regular devotees.

In regards to the above, this is not the GBC's, nor ISKCON's, stated position ("mystical authorization"). The GBC's position is, and has always been, that Srila Prabhupada physically instructed devotees to be diksha gurus after his departure. Since this is their claim, it is their responsibility to show the physical evidence for this. If the GBC said that "Prabhupada mystically authorized all the people we have voted in as diksha gurus", then one would not request them for physical evidence of such a mystical experience. But since they themselves do not accept this "mystical authorization", and instead they claim they received physical instructions from Prabhupada on this, it is therefore natural that they may be questioned on this supposed evidence. Also note that I am not raising any objection to this diary, nor to any of the people mentioned in it. I am only speaking in regards to the above quotation.

A picture of samadhi ceremony:

How do you read Pancha Tattva? Pancha Tattva are five incarnations of the Lord. They are not something you read, nor have they written any books. Their teachings have been passed down in parampara through acharya's such as Srila Prabhupada. He has presented their perfect teaching as follows: "Lord Krishna, as the teacher of human society, personally showed by His acts that the mercantile community, or the vaisyas, should herd cows and bulls and thus give protection to the valuable animals. According to smriti regulation, the cow is the mother and the bull the father of the human being. The cow is the mother because just as one sucks the breast of one's mother, human society takes cow's milk. Similarly, the bull is the father of human society because the father earns for the children just as the bull tills the ground to produce food grains. Human society will kill its spirit of life by killing the father and the mother." (purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 3.2.29) The problem in India is many people think they know what is dharma simply because they are born in vaishnava families. But once they open their mouth, only nonsensical gibberish comes out. Better to follow the teachings of Acharyas such as Srila Prabhupada. All living entities belong to Lord Krishna, as He confirms in Gita, isvara sarva bhutanam. Just a ludicrous statement. This has nothing to do with Lord Krishna's teachings at all. I would suggest you read the books of Srila Prabhupada to get a proper understanding of Lord Krishna's message. More ludicrous statements. Please don't waste people's times with such writings here.

sa eva go-dhanam lakṣmyā niketaḿ sita-go-vṛṣam cārayann anugān gopān raṇad-veṇur arīramat "While herding the very beautiful bulls, the Lord, who was the reservoir of all opulence and fortune, used to blow His flute, and thus He enlivened His faithful followers, the cowherd boys." - Srimad Bhagavatam 3.2.29 Lord Krishna did not abandon his male calves. He took care of them properly. In a temple goshala all of the cows belong to Krishna. Who could imagine that He would sell his childen off for slaughter. A newspaper article came out last month saying the famous temple of Simhachalam was selling all the donated bulls for slaughter. In that district it has been an ancient custom that people will donate their first good bull to that temple as an offering, but the temple was selling them for meat.

There is a day called maha-dvadashi, where ekadashi is observed on a different day. It occurs around the appearance of Vamana Avatar.

From past experience I would say the money is just a personal salary, nothing to be used for temple projects or anything spiritual. This is not an isolated case, there are hundreds of devotees, temple presidents, etc., who receive salary in ISKCON, even in India. For example one devotee quit his job as a software enginner in Chennai because he was offered a higher salary as an ISKCON president (or vice-president) in Calcutta. Prabhupada's spiritual movement is being turned into a corporate profit making company with all the leaders dividing the profits. I have seen temple leaders with 35,000 Rs. cell phones. Where does that money come from? They collect it in the name of spiritual activity and then divide it as salaries.

You can try this one as well: http://vcal.iskcongbc.org/