Pratyatosa Dasa

The freedoms that we enjoy as Americans did not come easy. Many brave Americans have fought and died to win the freedoms that we now enjoy. These hard won freedoms include the right to be an atheist, and the right of the atheists to freely express their views. Right now, the attempt by some atheists to remove "under God" from the American "Pledge of Allegiance" is in the news. If and when they achieve this goal, their plan is to also remove "IN GOD WE TRUST" from all American coins and currency! Many interviews are currently being conducted with these vocal atheists. Here are some questions which are not being asked, but which probably should be: 1. Are you willing to fight and die to defend your country? 2. Statistically, what percentage of atheists are willing to fight and die for the defense of our freedoms, including the right to be an atheist? 3. How does this compare to the percentage of Christians willing to fight and die for the right to be a Christian? 4. The same for Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc. 5. How many famous cases of people giving their lives for the defense of freedom here in America involved atheists? 6. Is there even one such case? 7. This country is currently being attacked by people who are obviously willing to die for their beliefs. Are the atheists, as a group, willing to die for defending against these attacks, or are they simply looking for a free ride?

"The animal fat required for the human body can be well derived from cow's milk. Cow's milk is very important for human energy, and the economic development of society depends on sufficient food grains, sufficient milk, and sufficient transportation and distribution of these products." (Light of the Bhagavata, Chapter 27)

Every chance that she gets, she narrates the Ramayana to her 1914 New York City boarding school classmates. Whenever she does this, the Ramayana is shown being acted out, including a handsome, blue Lord Rama, a beautiful Mother Sita, and an amazing ten-headed Ravana. For more info. and a nice review, see http://us.imdb.com/Title?0113670. [This message has been edited by Pratyatosa Dasa (edited 05-21-2002).]

Use http://www.google.com/ to search for "hiv does not cause aids" (including the quotes), and you'll get about 1800 hits. Check it out! [This message has been edited by Pratyatosa Dasa (edited 05-21-2002).]

Before I came into contact with the devotees, I used to feel a sense of relief if something got stolen from me, realizing that I had paid back some of my bad karma. Now, if something gets stolen from me I get very upset, thinking that, "I'm such an idiot for allowing Krishna's things to get stolen so that they are no longer going to be used in His direct service." Also, I've heard that Lord Chaitanya said, "It's a sin to steal, but it's not a sin to be stolen from."

The Pentagon buzz: bomb-sniffing bees ( http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=54&u_sid=392041 ) THE NEW YORK TIMES Scientists working for the Pentagon have trained ordinary honeybees to ignore flowers and home in on minute traces of explosives - a preliminary step toward creating a buzzing, swarming detection system that could be used to find truck bombs, land mines and other hidden explosives. The research, under way for three years, initially focused on using bees to help clear minefields. But scientists since have broadened the effort. In two tests last summer, trained bees picked out a truck with traces of explosives. "It appears that bees are at least as sensitive or more sensitive to odors than dogs," said Dr. Alan Rudolph, program manager for the Defense Sciences Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is overseeing the experiments. The Air Force Research Laboratory at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, has just completed an analysis of a round of tests of bees' bomb-sniffing ability. The bees found the explosive chemical more than 99 percent of the time, project scientists said. For many years, biologists, notably a group at the University of Montana, have been training bees to prefer different scents, using sugar as a reward. After one bee learns the new cue, it somehow transfers that knowledge to others. Within hours, an entire hive - and sometimes adjacent hives - switches to searching for the new scent. Scientists have found that it takes less than two hours to use sugar water as a reward to condition a hive of honeybees to eschew flowers and instead hunt for 2,4-dinitrotoluene, or DNT, a residue in TNT and other explosives, in concentrations as tiny as a few thousandths of a part per trillion. In tests of 12 trained bee colonies last summer at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, one to two bees an hour were seen flying around uncontaminated controls, while "we were getting 1,200 bees an hour on the targets," said Philip Rodacy, a chemist in the explosives technology group at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.

Interesting! What's the URL of the original article?

QUOTES ABOUT KINDNESS ---- Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. -Robert Louis Stevenson Kindness is a language which the deaf man can hear and the blind man read. -Mark Twain He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. Keep your words sweet! You never know when you will have to eat them! Joy comes not to him who seeks it for himself, but to him whoo seeks it for other people. -H. W. Sylvester We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give. He that has done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged. -Benjamin Franklin Kindness is a language the dumb can speak and the deaf can hear and understand. -Christian Nestell Bovee You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. -Ralph Waldo Emerson The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. -William Wordsworth Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much. -Erich Fromm We are each of us angels with but one wing, and can only fly by embracing each other. -Luciano Decrescenzo That which is beautiful is not always good. But that which is good is always beautiful. ( http://wisdom.hyperlink.cz/topics/kindness.htm )

Srila Prabhupada: "A Vaisnava is described as para-duhkha-duhkhi because although he is never distressed in any condition of life, he is distressed to see others in a distressed condition." (Srimad Bhagavatam 4.6.47 Purport) The Christian church banned the belief in reincarnation and the law of karma. Why? Could part of the reason be that it could lead to a merciless, cold-hearted way of thinking among the people in general?

Maybe I'm just prejudiced, but I don't think squishing testicles and squishing breasts are in quite the same category!

Very good point! "Einstein found himself increasingly humbled and awed—closer to God—the more he learned about science and the laws of the universe." ( http://www.sunshinepress.com/ptd-text.htm )

Using dairy products from the local market is authorized by Srila Prabhupada, but Srila Prabhupada also wanted that each ISKCON temple eventually own a self-sufficient farm where the cows are protected. He wanted the temples to then get all of their dairy products from these farms. Since Srila Prabhupada's instructions were never followed, and since we have to have animal fat in order to keep body and soul together, what else can we do except purchase dairy which, unfortunately, is a product of violence? Just make sure that you offer it, following Srila Prabhupada's instructions, before partaking of it. May be of interest: "Protecting Krishna's Cows by Letting Them Play!" By Pratyatosa Dasa, March 23 1998 Dear Prabhus, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Here's an idea that would give the cows and oxen a fun thing to do with their time, and would also allow them to earn their keep. The idea is that we would build a contraption that they could play on that would also generate electricity. The contraption would consist of a ramp leading up to a platform. The oxen walks up the ramp onto the platform. When the oxen is completely on the platform, he would push a lever in front of him that would cause a door to close behind him, and the platform to be released. The platform would then be allowed to be slowly lowered to the ground, due to the weight of the oxen, and would be connected to a system of gears which would charge batteries by causing an electrical generator to turn at high speed. After the platform is on the ground, a door would open in front of the oxen, and the oxen would walk forward into a pen. When the oxen was completely off of the platform, he would push a second lever in front of him. Pushing this lever would cause the door to close behind him, the platform to be released, so that springs could return it to it's upward position, and a special treat to be released. After the treat was eaten by the oxen, a door in front of him would open, so that he could go out and graze, or walk up the ramp again for more fun and treats! I believe that the cows and oxen would enjoy this activity so much, that there would be a constant line waiting to get on that platform! Old cows and oxen could be put in a separate pasture that has one of these same contraptions, but with a more gently sloping ramp, and perhaps not such a high platform. If we wanted to get really sophisticated, a video camera could monitor the whole operation to make sure everything was working, and that no cow or oxen got into trouble. An automatic transmission could vary the gear ratio depending upon the weight of the animal. Sound and video effects could be added to make the experience even more fun and enjoyable for Krishna's cows! Many of the parts for this "gizmo" are already available "off the shelf", I've been told, as they are currently being manufactured for automated slaughter houses. Cow protection is one of the keys to successful varnashrama, so this idea may be an important step toward fulfilling one of Srila Prabhupada's most cherished desires! Your servant, Pratyatosa Dasa [Note from jndas: added linked article for easy reference.] [This message has been edited by jndas (edited 05-01-2002).]

( http://www.rts.edu/quarterly/winter98/hippocratic.html ) "I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly, I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art."

Pain killers don't cure anything. All they do is cover up the pain caused by something which may need to be cured. Covering up the pain may even cause us to injure ourselves more, and thus cause even more pain in the future. On a more subtle material level, if we are destined, by the law of karma, to receive a certain amount of suffering, then we're going to receive it no matter what. I don't mean to imply that we shouldn't try to find a cure for a disease. Chanakya Pandit says that there are three things which must be taken care of immediately: debt, disease and fire. Pain is not a disease, but a symptom of a disease or injury. "No pain; no gain."

"Taking aspirin to ward off heart disease could be harmful for people at low risk, say researchers." ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1168000/1168850.stm ) Try using one of the following cures instead of aspirin. You may find that, in the future, you will get headaches less often. That's what I've experienced. 1. Try massaging your head and/or neck. If possible lie down and get some rest. or... 2. Into a small (preferably disposable) bowl put a couple of handfuls of "Swad Chevdo" (A "spicy, crunchy mixture of rice, beans & nuts" - Available at East Indian stores - Call 800-800-SWAD to locate a dealer in your area). Eat plain or with yogurt in the morning or with sour cream in the afternoon or evening. Recommended yogurt: Dannon Plain (no sugar added) Natural (not "Fat-Free", "Light", "0% Fat", etc.). or... 3. Exercise the jaw by talking a lot or by eating a bag of microwave popcorn. [This message has been edited by Pratyatosa Dasa (edited 05-01-2002).]

I haven't taken any pain pills (including aspirin) for years. Lately I've been using headache cure #2 (See: "Simple Cures For Common Ailments" - http://www.llbest.com/MedicalCures.htm ), with good results. I figure, "If Krishna wants me to have a certain amount of pain, then I'm going to get it no matter what!", right? So, how can a pain killer possibly decrease our pain in the long run? All it can do is to delay the inevitable. Eventually, we'll receive the pain anyway, only with "interest" added. Ultimately, only through becoming more Krishna conscious can our karmic allotment of pain and suffering be mitigated. [This message has been edited by Pratyatosa Dasa (edited 05-11-2002).]

I'm not sure what you mean, Tarun Prabhu, but for anyone who might be interested in the difference between than and then, the following may help: Example sentence using than: She is a better athlete than I. Example sentences using then: I was still in school then. Come at noon; I'll be ready then. I watched the late movie and then went to bed. It costs $20, and then there's the sales tax to pay. The star was nervous, but then who isn't on the first night of a new play. If traffic is heavy, then allow extra time. The case, then, is closed. Eamples excerpted from Microsoft Bookshelf 2000

Than!

<font size="3" face="Times New Roman,Times" color="#0000ff"> <UL> <LI> Women who wore their bras 24 hours per day had a 3 out of 4 chance of developing breast cancer (in their study, n=2056 for the cancer group and n=2674 for the standard group). <LI> Women who wore bras more than 12 hour per day but not to bed had a 1 out of 7 risk. <LI> Women who wore their bras less than 12 hours per day had a 1 out of 152 risk. <LI> Women who wore bras rarely or never had a 1 out of 168 chance of getting breast cancer. The overall difference between 24 hour wearing and not at all was a 125-fold difference. ( http://www.all-natural.com/bras.html )

"Studies have shown, however, that breast-feeding a child reduces a woman's chance of developing breast cancer later." ( http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/895_brstfeed.html )

"then I thought"? Who taught you English? It's "than I thought"! (One of my pet peeves.)

The Israelis used to know how to deal with terrorists, but they seem to have forgotten: For every Jew killed, get revenge by indiscriminately killing 10 Arabs (Ten eyes for an eye). President Bush could simply declare: "The next time there's a terrorist attack by Muslims on Americans, a Muslim city will be chosen at random and destroyed by a nuclear bomb." This tactic would cost very few dollars, would not cost the lives of any American military personnel, and would rapidly bring the suicide bombings to an end.

http://imdb.com/ does not give "Nine Hours to Rama" as high a rating as Gandhi (6.9 vs. 7.9), but if I get a chance, I'll definitely take a look at the former.

Previous insanity from the French: "Salinger 'totally sure' TWA 800 missile theory is true" (http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/13/twa/). After seeing the network TV special on the subject, which proved how completely ridiculous the missile theory is, I became really angry that such idiocy was being preached to the gullible public. [This message has been edited by Pratyatosa Dasa (edited 04-09-2002).]

More info: "No Plane in 9/11 Pentagon Crash?" ( http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=1404 ) [This message has been edited by Pratyatosa Dasa (edited 04-03-2002).]