Jahnava Nitai Das

Some foods such as onions and garlic have a negative effect on one's mind, and thus the scriptures advise one to avoid them. It isn't sinful to eat them, not like eating meat or something, but for those following spiritual paths it is considered better to avoid them. According to the Bhagavad Gita all food falls into three categories (according to the three modes of goodness, passion and ignorance). One should eat foods in the mode of goodness (sattva), for they will increase one's duration of life, keep one healthy, and keep one's mind pure. Foods in the mode of ignorance should be avoided, as they decrease one's life span, cause disease, and disturb one's mind and senses. For this reason onion and garlic are avoided. This is not that important, certainly not as important as avoiding meat. Eating meat is sinful, for it causes pain and suffering to other animals. Eating onion and garlic is just not beneficial to one's health and state of mind.

I went through the article and couldn't find any scriptural quotes to substantiate your position about women, namely that: Could you quote an exact verse from a scripture that clearly states this. Otherwise it is impossible for anyone to answer your statements, as they are baseless till now.

You just have to find a more natural source for these things. Try a farmers market or something similar.

Just as Lord Shiva is worshipped by Vaishnavas in Vrindavana as Gopishvara, in the same way he is worshipped in Puri as Dhameshvara. Lord Shiva is always worshipped and respected by Vaishnavas in some form or another.

[From ISKCON Amhedabad] Dear Maharaja/Prabhus, Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! We are glad to invite you to Bhagavat Saptah by His Holiness Radha Govinda Swami, which starts on 25th November 2002 to 1st December 2002 at Ahmedabad Temple. This year, we are celebrating Gita Jayanti Month by 3 days Pandal and First Ratha Yatra in Gandhinagar. Last year we had Pandal Programme at Gandhinagar especially for preaching of Bhagavad-gita. This year, 6 and 7 December will be Pandal Programme from 6:00pm to 9:00pm at Gita Maidan, Swastik Society, Gandhinagar. On 8 December, we are having First Rathayatra in Gandhinagar. Rathayatra will start from Panchadev Mandir at 2:00pm and will end at 6:00pm at Gita Maidan, Swastik Society, Sect.27, Gandhinagar. It will be followed by lecture and distribution of Bhagavad-gita and 7:30 is Prasadam feast. His Holiness Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaja and His Holiness Radha Govinda Swami Maharaja are kindly attending the Festival. It will be our great pleasure if you kindly participate in these festivals. Please let us know the date of your arrival so that we can make necessary arrangements for your stay, Prasadam etc. Hare Krishna! Your servant, Visvarupa Das ISKCON, Ahmedabad

Please cite the relevant statements from shastra so we can deal with actual scripture and not personal opinion.

Don't worry. There will always be differing opinions, with some people on the far left and others on the far right. The majority of the people will hold moderate views somewhere between the two extremes. There are literally hundreds of texts held holy by Hindus which you could benefit from studying. I would suggest you begin by thoroughly studying the Bhagavad Gita (to understand philosophical concepts), and then go on to studying some of the bhakti texts such as the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Who is more religious? Here is a picture of the devotees attending the ISKCON temple in Chennai. Count how many men you see in this picture. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Anyone who has attended religious functions in India knows there are always 3 times as many women attending than men. Women are more devotional than men. Men are usually more analytical.

There is a picture of Archibishop Osta, second from left.

I think this is a statement made by Jagat.

I think this is a statement made by Jagat.

Whenever you read someone's post here, just take it as their personal opinion and not as an official view of Hinduism, Vaishnavism or any other group. I don't think you will find a second person here who agrees with this statement quoted above. As far as our perception of others based on their body, the Bhagavad Gita instructs us as follows: vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmane gavi hastini shuni caiva shva-pake ca panditah sama-darshinah "The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana [a preist], a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste]." Srila Prabhupada says in his purport to this verse: "A Krishna conscious person does not make any distinction between species or castes. The brahmana [priest] and the outcaste may be different from the social point of view, or a dog, a cow, and an elephant may be different from the point of view of species, but these differences of body are meaningless from the viewpoint of a learned transcendentalist. This is due to their relationship to the Supreme, for the Supreme Lord, by His plenary portion as Paramatma, is present in everyone’s heart. Such an understanding of the Supreme is real knowledge."

Paratrooper Survives Chute Failure at 3,300 Feet Mon Nov 4, 8:58 AM ET BELGRADE (Reuters) - A Yugoslav Army paratrooper survived a drop from an altitude of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) after both his parachutes malfunctioned, the Belgrade daily Glas Javnosti reported on Friday. The paper said 40-year-old Dragan Curcic escaped with minor cuts and bruises after his main and spare parachutes first failed to open and then became tangled when they opened simultaneously during an exercise on Tuesday. "He went through the roof of an army building. Only God himself saved him from certain death," an eyewitness said. Curcic, a Yugoslav vice-champion with more than 3,000 jumps to his name, performed another parachute drop on Thursday, this time without problems. Another Yugoslav holds the record for surviving a fall from the greatest altitude without a parachute. Air hostess Vesna Vulovic plunged 33,330 feet into a snowbound forest in Czechoslovakia in 1972 when the airliner she was on exploded.

I think Theist can give you some good advice on this. The first thing is you will have to get used to reading the ingredients of the food you buy. Sometimes they sneak in nonvegetarian ingredients under complex names, or sometimes they use the generic "natural flavours". With a little practice you will know what is actually vegetarian and what is not.

Signatures are now set to 400 characters. I will look into the bio part.

nama cintamanih krishnas caitanya-rasa-vigrahah purnah shuddho nitya-mukto 'bhinnatvan nama-naminoh "The holy name of Krishna is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Krishna Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Krishna's name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Krishna Himself. Since Krishna's name is not contaminated by the material qualities, and there is no question of it's being involved with maya, Krishna's name is always liberatied and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because Krishna's name and Krishna HImself are identical." (Padma-Purana)

krishna-caitanyeti nama mukhyan mukhyatamam prabhoh helaya sakrid uccarya sarva-nama-phalam labhet. "The name Krishna Caitanya is the topmost and most important among all the names of the Lord. By chanting this name once, a person attains the results of chanting all the holy names of the Lord." Other sampradayas do not consider Sri Chaitanya to be an incarnation of Lord Krishna, thus they don't chant this mantra. Those belonging to other sampradayas who have come to understand Chaitanya as Krishna Himself generally take to the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the Gaudiya Sampradaya.

The Kamasutra is claimed to be written by Vatsayana. It is classified by some as "Hindu" simply because it is written in Sanskrit. It contains nothing about religion or spiritual knowledge. Language can be used for anything. There are also bad words and obscene texts in sanskrit. Simply because something is written in sanskrit does not mean it is a scripture.

This is because they consider the river form of Yamuna to be the consort of the mountain form of Govardhana.

When it says women and shudras (workers) are of lower birth, it means they have a more difficult life than others. It does not mean they are bad people, or somehow less in the eyes of God. Shudras have to work a very hard life, earning little, but laboring hard. Women have so many dificult responsibilities, such as giving birth to children, raising, them, etc. Thus in this sense, they undergo more hardships then men.

In the Brahmanda Purana we find the following verse: sahasra-namnam punyanam trir-avrittya tu yat phalam ekavrittya tu krishnasya namaikam tat prayacchati. "The pious results achieved by chanting the Vishnu Sahasranama three times can be attained by one utterance of the name of Lord Krishna."

"...it is said in the scriptures that one thousand names of Vishnu are equal to one name of Rama, and three names of Lord Rama are equal to one name of Krishna." Srimad Bhagavatam 1.19.6 purport by Srila Prabhupada

"According to the Varaha Purana, as quoted by Srila Jiva Gosvami, there is no difference between the water of the Ganges and the Yamuna, but when the water of the Ganges is sanctified one hundred times, it is called the Yamuna." (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.19.6 purport by Srila Prabhupada)