theist

SB 2.1.11: O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.

This is why I support the voucher system. It would mean breaking up the public school monopoly and allow for different schools to have their own curriculum. It is ridiculous to try and harmonize a study course that will please the atheist and the theists. Or even one theist from another. Some Christians want to teach the Earth is only six thousand years old. Sorry.

Since knowledge of God and ourselves and the relationship is the beginning of real knowledge of course it should be taught. Simply teaching computer skills, some mundane history and literature and outlawing knowledge of transcendence amounts to a form of intellectual butchery. Secular state should mean that goverment is not allowed to force any one form of religion over another. Use of the term God should not be restricted as it doesn't force on anyone a particular conception of God. Instead of telling people they shouldn't publically display their belief in God let the atheists quietly dis-believe.

I hear there never was an income tax until sometime during the last century. Not sure of the details. There should be a flat tax I believe. Say 25% at the top. Graduated up according to income. The very poor pay nothing etc. Say someone makes $50,000 and pays 25% ,they then pay $12,500. If someone makes a million they pay $250,000. It makes no sense to envy the rich as actually they are the most harrassed by their attachment to their wealth and all that it takes to manage it all. "It is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." ps thanks for the encouraging call sometime back paz.

Guest, yes I adhere to a vegan lifestyle. Karma or no karma why participate in that level of suffering? A few years ago I slipped back and bought some leather shoes but I'm past that one now. I am also mostly silent on this issue when I go to the temple. If someone offers me some maha that I know has dairy in it I accept a portion with gratitude. I don't want to be in a "vegan faction" that makes waves. On the periphary (sp?) though it should be dealt with. I have seen so-called gurus get in verbal battles with vegans. Better I think to acknowledge their arguments when they are right and suggest remembering or offering to the Supreme source their vegan foodstuffs. krsna, it sounds like you are avoiding commercial dairy and only accepting Krsna prasad from protected cows. Perfection. Thanks for the link to those Prabhupada quotes. Hare Krsna

VINA | General News ABORTION IN THE LAND OF DHARMA by Swami B.A. Paramadvaiti Many people are not aware that abortion has been legal in India since 1972. Every Indian hospital and Indian doctor is obliged to perform abortions if so requested by the people. The number of unborn babies being destroyed in this way is becoming a karmic burden, diminishing the luster and piety of many people, leaving them in no higher position than that of a brutal baby-killer. In addition, female embryos have very little chance of being born. By Indian tradition, in order to get your daughter married you have to produce a great deal of money as a dowry to obtain a husband of the same social ranking and to help the new family establish their independent existence. This system is accepted and it is expected when girls leave home to get married. Since few people want to give away their wealth while they are still alive, female infants are not very welcomed. This situation is so serious that in some regions such as Punjab, very few girls are born. No wonder Indian people increasingly cannot understand why they shouldn't eat a cow. If you can kill your baby which has taken shelter in the mother's womb, then why not kill the animals as well? It is amazing to see that very little protest exists in India against the practice of abortion. The Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Bombay made a laudable attempt at encouraging people to make a campaign against abortion. Of course many pious people in India reject abortion. But one should expect an entire anti-abortion movement, especially coming from the teachers of dharma. Srila Prabhupada clearly stated that since we cannot create life, we have no right to take anyone's life. Whoever kills a baby does not respect life. The propaganda of materialism is making rapid progress and obviously those persons in India who participate in abortions do not really know the law of karma, because if anybody realized that their participation in abortion would lead to the same fate, why would they go ahead and thus condemn their existence to the unfortunate position of an aborted fetus in the future? Whenever you see a smiling little child please remember that he or she could have been killed in the womb without committing a crime according to modern Indian law. Most people live by the maxim that out of sight is out of mind, but even karma may remain out of sight to most people. It is manifesting every second. And nothing remains unseen.

Sorry, but its true. This article came from http://www.peta.org/ Veal: A Cruel Meal -- The veal calf industry is one of the most reprehensible of all the kinds of intensive animal agriculture. A Fate Worse Than Death Male calves used for veal are taken from their mothers one or two days after birth. They are chained inside tiny crates barely larger than their bodies and are usually kept in darkness, except to be fed two or three times a day for 20 minutes. During their brief lives, they never see the sun or touch the earth. They never see or taste the grass. Their anemic bodies crave proper sustenance. Their muscles ache for freedom and exercise. They long for maternal care. About 14 weeks after their birth, they are slaughtered. Solitary Confinement The veal calf’s permanent home is a veal crate, a wooden restraining device that is so small (22 inches by 54 inches) that the calves cannot turn around. Designed to prevent movement (exercise), the crate does its job of atrophying the calves’ muscles, thus producing tender “gourmet” veal. The calves often suffer from open sores caused by the constant rubbing against the crates. In 1996, the European Union voted to ban the veal crate across Europe; it will be phased out over 10 years. By 2007, this cruel contraption will be gone from Europe for good. Yet it is still perfectly legal in the United States. “Feeding” Time The calves are generally fed a milk substitute intentionally lacking in iron and other essential nutrients. This diet keeps the animals anemic and creates the pale pink or white color considered desirable in veal. Craving iron, the calves lick urine-saturated slats and any metallic parts of their stalls. Farmers also withhold water from the animals, who, always thirsty, are driven to drink a large quantity of the high-fat liquid feed. Because of such extremely unhealthy living conditions and restricted diets, calves are susceptible to a long list of diseases, including chronic pneumonia and “scours,” or constant diarrhea. Consequently, they must be given massive doses of antibiotics and other drugs just to keep them alive. The antibiotics are passed on to consumers in the meat—and that’s not all that’s passed along. Federal agents have found more than a dozen veal production companies giving calves clenbuterol, a dangerous and illegal drug that speeds growth and increases anemia in the calves, producing more expensive white meat.(1) Calves treated with clenbuterol can be sold for slaughter at 12 to 13 weeks, rather than the standard 16 weeks. Even trace amounts of clenbuterol can cause severe illness in humans, including increased heart rate, tremors, breathing difficulties, fever—even death. The Dairy Connection Veal calves are a byproduct of the dairy industry; they are produced by dairy cows, who are kept constantly pregnant to keep milk production high. Their female calves are raised to be living milk machines like their mothers—confined, fed synthetic hormones and antibiotics, artificially inseminated, and slaughtered after their milk production drops—or they are slaughtered for the rennet in their stomachs (used to make commercial cheese). Since male calves cannot produce milk, they are often taken away from their mothers at 1 or 2 days old and put into crates to be killed for veal. The milk that nature meant for them ends up on our supermarket shelves instead. What You Can Do • Reflecting on the fate of a calf raised for veal, author John Robbins writes: “[T]oday, because of the way animals are raised for market, the question of whether or not to eat meat has a whole new meaning, and a whole new urgency. Never before have animals been treated like this. Never before has such deep, unrelenting and systematic cruelty been mass produced. Never before has the decision of each individual been so important.”(2) Don’t buy or eat veal, and tell friends, relatives, and neighbors why. • Tell restaurant managers about veal cruelties, and ask them to remove veal from their menus. • Don’t buy or eat dairy products because of the dairy industry’s role in veal production. • Ask your state legislators to sponsor bills that would prohibit the use of veal crates. References (1) Daniel P. Puzo, “Probe Links Toxic Drug to Some Veal Producers,” Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 1994, p. A4. (2) John Robbins, Diet for a New America (Walpole, N.H.: Stillpoint Publishing, 1987), p. 121.

the reply you were hoping for but I can't help myself. Best to offer only cheese from protected cows. That is just my prejudiced vegan view. Please investigate how the dairy cows are treated then make up your own mind. Hare Krishna

the one they were showing me was out on the counter of the bookroom and not plugged in at all. I still am sure we are talking of the same thing. On a plug in timer it would make a nice way to wake up. Time to get outa bed and "sit properly"

I remember two Indian devotees showing me that when I was in Vrndaban. I didn't know how it was working and they didn't speak enough English to tell me. I want one.

I remember this one devotee who took one of those things for holding a harmonica around your neck and he would attach various pictures onto it instead of a harmonica. He could then walk around with a picture of Radha/Krishna right in front of his eyes and still be hands free. Devotees are great! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

SB 1.8.25 purport excerpt This material world is certified by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gita as a dangerous place full of calamities. Less intelligent persons prepare plans to adjust to those calamities without knowing that the nature of this place is itself full of calamities. They have no information of the abode of the Lord, which is full of bliss and without trace of calamity. The duty of the sane person, therefore, is to be undisturbed by worldly calamities, which are sure to happen in all circumstances. Suffering all sorts of unavoidable misfortunes, one should make progress in spiritual realization because that is the mission of human life. The spirit soul is transcendental to all material calamities; therefore, the so-called calamities are called false. A man may see a tiger swallowing him in a dream, and he may cry for this calamity. Actually there is no tiger and there is no suffering; it is simply a case of dreams. In the same way, all calamities of life are said to be dreams. If someone is lucky enough to get in contact with the Lord by devotional service, it is all gain. Contact with the Lord by any one of the nine devotional services is always a forward step on the path going back to Godhead.

Haribol Priitaa, I love this section also. I think the Uddhava Gita (not sure where it begins and ends exactly) would make a nice small book unto it's self for distribution. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

to the above post. That is wisdom. Besides have you made a vow to chant a certain number of rounds? I am glad I never did. It has been hard accepting that I am just an awkward unsteady beginner and not some elevated yogi from the past, but things have become a lot better when I remember that fact. Let others accelerate ahead before me. God's speed to them. I have my own mind to deal with and will get there eventually. Also rather than number of rounds,while not to be ignored, the real goal is one pure name. Hare Krishna

SB 11.11.8: One who is enlightened in self-realization, although living within the material body, sees himself as transcendental to the body, just as one who has arisen from a dream gives up identification with the dream body. A foolish person, however, although not identical with his material body but transcendental to it, thinks himself to be situated in the body, just as one who is dreaming sees himself as situated in an imaginary body.

Saw Palemetto Berrie and DHT. Testosterone is changed to dhydrotestoterone sp? and DHT clogges up the hair roots preventing the nourishment. Saw Palemetto prevents(Or inhibits) the conversion to DHT. This is offered as a clue for further investigation. Hare Krsna

SB 11.11.2: Just as a dream is merely a creation of one's intelligence but has no actual substance, similarly, material lamentation, illusion, happiness, distress and the acceptance of the material body under the influence of maya are all creations of My illusory energy. In other words, material existence has no essential reality.

The only bone fide reason for dropping out is to have a nervous breakdown or something closly related.

sounds like good sport.

I haven't read anything on this thread so I have no opinion. But certainly there should be no surprise as to the motives behind whoever is getting together to 'run' it. This is the field of exploitation afterall. It's why we came here. Turns out bigger demons were just ahead of us and more skillfull. We have to change our motives from one of exploitation to service, then Krsna will personally protect us.

SB 11.11.12-13: Although the sky, or space, is the resting place of everything, the sky does not mix with anything, nor is it entangled. Similarly, the sun is not at all attached to the water in which it is reflected within innumerable reservoirs, and the mighty wind blowing everywhere is not affected by the innumerable aromas and atmospheres through which it passes. In the same way, a self-realized soul is completely detached from the material body and the material world around it. He is like a person who has awakened and arisen from a dream. With expert vision sharpened by detachment, the self-realized soul cuts all doubts to pieces through knowledge of the self and completely withdraws his consciousness from the expansion of material variety.

Depends on how you define battlefield. If it wasn't for people like you this society would be ruled by anarchy. It would be absolute madness. Thin blue line is too thin in my opinion. God consciousness can't spread very well in a society ruled by chaos. It's not that all cops should quit being cops and become devotees. Rather all cops should continue being cops and become devotees.

Score one for Bin Laden and co. That is why the bomb went off two days before the election.

to you as well soul. I am glad to see your siksa is still available here. t.

We chose to forget Him.