vsdprasad

I guess it is dark matter that is also known as antimatter. Release of antimatter particles accounts for the missing energy released during a nuclear fusion reaction. A few weeks ago, there was a program on PBS that showed scientists whose only aim in life was to observe the supernovae in the universe!, and it showed how they do it using BIG big telescopes mounted @ various places on earth. This is the link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/universe/ Supernova is an extreme glare coming out of a star when it is about to kick the bucket! /images/graemlins/smile.gif -Prasad.

http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/language/SanskritFlashCards.pdf -Prasad.

I will take a quarter and a nickel. Obviously one of them (the former) is not a nickel. /images/graemlins/smile.gif what say? -Prasad.

Singapore, April 28 Another reason to become vegetarian: An animal rights advocacy group urged Asians Monday to go vegetarian amid fears that the SARS epidemic ravaging the region may have originated from livestock in southern China. "Stop eating meat," the US-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said in a statement sent with a mock medical mask adorned with the pink face of a piglet and the slogan "Say No to Pig-Farm Germs". The global death toll from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is about 320 with some 5,000 cases reported, mostly in East Asia. PETA, which advocates a vegetarian diet as the answer to many human ailments, said "intensively confining animals create filth that allows diseases to spread like wildfire". "As people in Asia eat more meat, they are putting the rest of the world at risk," the statement said, citing a "highly healthy" trend in the West toward vegetarian diets. PETA's Asia representative Jason Baker said "the battle against SARS and other diseases begins on our dinner plates". "No more meat means no more factory farms and no more outbreaks of diseases spread by intensively raised animals, whether from germs or from the cholesterol and fat in their flesh." Scientists are looking into the possibility that livestock in southern China may have been the source of the SARS virus, noting that in some rural parts of Guangdong province people live in close proximity to pigs, chickens and other animals.

Why are americans so scared? By Jane Spencer and Cynthia Crossen Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal (April 24) - Scott Jordan is not averse to risk. He has flown a small plane, tried bungee jumping and skied on glaciers. He once drove his sports car on a public highway at 152 miles an hour, and he is lax about fastening his seat belt on short trips. He only sometimes wears his helmet when cycling. But terrorism and severe acute respiratory syndrome have him worried. Mr. Jordan, chief executive of a small Chicago apparel company, is likely to cancel his business trip to South Korea next month. "If I go ... and some crazy person decides to bomb the Hyatt, I'm dead," he says. Mr. Jordan may not be reading his risk rationally. Even in 2001, when more than 3,000 people died in a terrorist attack on the U.S., he was 12 times as likely to lose his life on a highway as at the hands of a hostile fanatic. But who can blame him? Today, thanks to research labs, tort law and media hype, danger seems to lurk in every corner of life, from children's toys to McDonald's coffee, anthrax to secondhand smoke, West Nile virus to SARS. Faced with a barrage of warnings -- including the color-coded caveats of the new Homeland Security department -- it's not surprising that in contemporary America, the safest society in recorded history, many people feel as though they have never been more at risk. "Everyone's nerves are on edge," says Andrew Karam, radiation-safety officer at the University of Rochester, where he ensures that the use of radiation in medicine and research complies with federal regulations. "No matter where we turn, we're reading about something killing us prematurely." Armed with scientific and technological breakthroughs, Americans have dramatically reduced their risk in virtually every area of life, resulting in life spans 60% longer in 2000 than in 1900. Many deadly infectious diseases were tamed, food and water were purified, drugs and surgery helped forestall heart attacks, and thousands of safety devices -- window guards, smoke detectors, circuit breakers, air bags -- protected against everyday mishaps. Even the risk of financial disaster was reduced by insurance, pensions and Social Security. The very safety of modern life in the U.S. may amplify our sense of loss. To die prematurely today may mean losing 40 years of life instead of 10. And while humans have learned to control much of their environment, there are periodically new, unpredictable and catastrophic threats against which they feel helpless, at least initially, such as AIDS, SARS and anthrax. The past century also saw the flow of information about risk grow from a trickle to a tidal wave. Government officials, scientists, marketers and the media learned to use risk as a way to get people's attention. "It's much easier to scare than unscare," says Paul Slovic, professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. "We trust people who tell us we're in danger more than people who tell us we're not in danger." Many corporations now do formal risk assessments of their vulnerability both to financial disturbances and to physical attacks on their offices or employees. Risks are also presented in a variety of ways -- lifetime risk, annual risk, potential years of life lost, risk per 100,000 people, risk per million people -- which makes it difficult to compare them. And scientists, Mr. Karam says, "aren't very good at talking to people about risk. They won't say something is safe, they'll say it's low-risk." Since it began its color alerts in March 2002, the Homeland Security department has never designated the U.S. to be at less than a "significant" risk for terrorist attacks -- level yellow. (The two lower levels, green and blue, haven't been used, and even the safest level -- green -- warns that the risk is "low," not zero.) A half-million soldiers have been ordered to get a vaccine for smallpox, a disease that hasn't been seen in nearly 25 years. At airports, security guards direct tens of thousands of people to remove their shoes to reduce the almost-zero risk of shoe bombs. Scientists say it's risky for older women to use hormone-replacement therapy -- but it used to be risky not to. Every month, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issues recalls of commonplace items such as travel mugs, baby rattles, sweatshirts, garden chairs and Halloween "vampire capes and witch brooms." Marketers and the media have capitalized on people's desire for risk-free living by appealing to their vulnerability. "If you're alive, you're at risk," proclaim the ads of Destiny Group, a Newport Beach, Calif., company that insures against lawsuits. Women are "at risk for breast cancer just because they're women," declare the developers of a cancer-risk-assessment model. The Scottsdale, Ariz., company TriVita Way International Inc. sells its calcium supplements by cautioning in ads, "Chances are, you're at risk." As more warnings have been dispatched by more Cassandras, however, some people have started to lose their faith in the traditional authorities -- political leaders, scientists and journalists. "As consumers, we have to respond in some way to an unstable and complex stream of scientific claims and counterclaims," wrote Anthony Giddens, director of the London School of Economics, in his book "The Consequences of Modernity.We live on the edge of a technological frontier which no one completely understands and that generates a diversity of possible futures." That sense of confusion persuaded Martha Reeves, a 38-year-old nurse at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., not to get the smallpox vaccination she was offered last fall. "I don't want to be part of a group that they find out it doesn't work on," Ms. Reeves says. Program organizers "didn't have a lot of answers for things," she adds. "As with anything, you don't know how your body is going to react. And if you have an adverse reaction, then you're out of work." The very process of scientific discovery, with conflicting studies recommending different paths, can leave laymen in a muddle. Leslie Rasmussen, a 53-year-old Pasadena, Calif., attorney, had been confidently taking hormone replacements until last summer, when a federal study showed that estrogen and progestin can raise the risk for breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes and blood clots. "The fact was, here was something I thought was OK, and suddenly there's a risk to it," says Ms. Rasmussen. "Either the medical community doesn't have a clear handle on these issues when they release these studies, or the media don't present it clearly. Between the two, you aren't sure what you're being told and why." Fear is an evolutionary survival technique -- early humans who worried about other carnivores were more likely to be on guard against them. "We are hard-wired in our brains to fear first, think second," says David Ropeik, director of risk communication at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. And some people even find taking risks addictive, which is why there are people who will climb vertical rock faces, jump off bridges with only a rubber cord between them and the water or try to jump a motorcycle over Idaho's Snake River Canyon. But most people try to reduce the fear in their lives. Unfortunately, once a person has learned to fear something, he or she may always associate the experience with fear. That means that over a lifetime, fears tend to accumulate rather than supplant one another. Furthermore, humans can fear events they have only read or heard about, which is why people worry about calamities they have never endured. "In our current environment, our fear system is almost too powerful because it's trying to protect against threats that don't really exist," says Karim Nader, professor of neuroscience in the psychology department at McGill University in Montreal. "We're not running into predators at every corner." Tell that to Matthew Felling, media director of the Statistical Assessment Group, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that studies the way the media use numbers. "I worry all the time," he says. "When I get on the subway, I know I'm at risk. I've gotten out of a subway car because I didn't like the way someone looked." Based on historical data, riding the subway is much safer than driving to work. But "fear has become a commodity that's packaged to us," Mr. Felling says. "You know, 'What you don't know about your envelope-licking can kill you.' " Before humans became so good at controlling their environment, they were more resigned to the exigencies of fate -- only prayer could protect them against natural disaster or plague. But as people became more adept at securing food and shelter, they became more interested in the future and how to extend it. When they learned to calculate, they could compute, based on historical data, what events might threaten their lives. H.G. Wells once wrote, "Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write." Even Mr. Wells couldn't have predicted how many statistics people face in their everyday lives now -- and how poorly trained they are to interpret them. "I teach a short course on radiation safety in Las Vegas," says Mr. Karam at the University of Rochester, "and I wonder how I can talk about probability to people who come there confident they're going to win." In early April, Farid Tahbaz, marketing manager for a rubber and vinyl manufacturer in Buena Park, Calif., canceled a business trip to China because of SARS. "At first I wasn't really that scared," he says. "I didn't think I was going to catch it, and I figured if I did, I'd just get sick for 10 days." As the trip approached, however, and many people urged him not to go, Mr. Tahbaz began trying to find information on SARS in newspapers and on the Internet. While there are still no dependable statistics on the disease, "I took into account everything I'd read, and decided there was about a 5% chance that I would contract it," Mr. Tahbaz says. "And then there was a 5% chance that if I got it, I might die from it. When I thought about the numbers, it wasn't worth it." Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of risk now is that humans are actually manufacturing it -- with nuclear power plants, the ozone hole, toxic waste, global warming, nuclear weapons, even terrorism. Most of these systems are so huge, complex and relatively new, that the possible consequences of them are wholly unknown. "We don't know how big or small our risk is," says Baruch Fischhoff, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University specializing in the study of how decisions are made. "It's possible that the world is in transition, and there are poorly understood factors that raise questions about the validity of historical statistics." 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. .

aapka observation baagundi! /images/graemlins/smile.gif But I really don't appreciate your stand on meat eaters. Note: Telugu ABCD's may call themselves 'American Born CULTURED Desis'. /images/graemlins/wink.gif -Prasad.

The Year-long Lunch http://krishna.krishna.org/Articles/2003/04/007.html "Dear friends," said Lord Krsna to the other cowherd boys, "Look at this wonderful place!" He'd brought them to the sun-dappled bank of' the Yamuna River, after an adventurous morning in the pastures outside Vrndavana town. "This is an ideal place to eat our lunch. Afterward, we can play on the soft, sandy river bank." Krsna turned to the sparkling river and glorified its beauty. "See those lotus flowers in the water, their petals opened wide, and smell their fragrance drifting all around us. And listen--nearby in the trees the peacocks are calling out to one another, and their calls are mingling with the songs of other birds and the whispers of the leaves. This is clearly the best place for us to have our lunch. The calves can stay close to us, drink water from the Yamuna, and graze on the tasty grass. Krsna's friends were glad to hear what sounded to them like a brilliant suggestion. It was late and they were feeling hungry; what's more, they all agreed that Lord Krsna had found a perfect place for them to sit and eat. So they let loose the calves and arranged themselves in a big circle. Krsna sat in the center, and all the boys turned toward Him, so that while they ate they could see Him face to face. Krsna was like the whorl of a big lotus flower, and the other boys were like the petals. Together, they opened up the lunch boxes their mothers had given them early that morning. Then they began to eat and joke with one another. But as the boys ate, their attention given completely to Krsna and the delicious food, they failed to notice that the calves had wandered away, allured by the fresh new grass of the deep forest. Soon the calves were out of sight entirely. When the boys discovered this, they became scared and called to Krsna for help, as they always did when they were in distress. "Oh, Krsna!" they cried out. "The calves have disappeared! What should we do?" "Don't worry," Lord Krsna answered. "And don't interrupt your lunch. Go on enjoying. I'll look for them Myself." So, sparing His friends the trouble, the Lord got up and walked away to search for the lost calves. He spent much time in His search, looking in the thickets and the forests and in the nearby caves and mountain crevices. The calves were nowhere to he found. But Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, knew what was happening. He didn't really have to look for the calves, because He knows everything. Still, He was playing the part of an ordinary human being--just to please His friends. So He knew exactly where the calves were, and He also knew they hadn't left the river bank on their own. They'd been lured away by none other than four-headed Brahma, the demigod who directs universal affairs. And, as Krsna was enjoying climbing around the hills and looking in the caves, back at the lunch site Brahma was now using his mystic powers to steal the cowherd boys. Then he hid the boys and the calves in a secret place and put them into a long, deep sleep. Krsna was aware, too, of the reason why Brahma was playing these tricks on Him. Somebody had told Brahma that the Supreme Personality of Godhead was living in the little town of Vrndavana as a five-year-old boy named Krsna, the son of Nanda. On hearing this, Brahma was skeptical. So he hit upon a plan to test Krsna's powers for himself he thought, "After His friends and calves have mysteriously disappeared, what will this little boy Krsna do?" Now, by Brahma's magic, the picnic spot was deserted. Lord Krsna thought, "Brahma has taken away the boys and the calves. How can I go back to Vrndavana alone? The boys' mothers will cry in despair, and the calves' mothers will feet sick with grief." The Lord asked Himself this question, but He was hardly at a loss for an answer. At once He manifested Himself in multiple forms--boys and calves who looked and acted precisely like the very boys and calves Lord Brahma had hidden. Each new boy was in fact Krsna, but had the bodily features and behavior of one of the original boys; and the same was true of each of the new calves. Appearances thus restored, soon the happy boys and calves were making their way back to town. None of the townspeople in Vrndavana knew what had transpired that afternoon out in the pasture. They simply saw Krsna and His friends strolling into the village, casually tapping the calves with sticks to keep them in order, and raising up a cloud of golden dust in the late afternoon sun. There seemed to be nothing unusual. And, as always, the boys put the calves into their cowsheds and then went home. Long before the boys arrived, the mothers had heard the sound of their flutes. Now the mothers ran out of their homes and embraced the boys. On account of their maternal affection, milk flowed from their breasts, and they allowed the boys to drink it. Although they didn't know it, their offering was not to their sons but to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then the boys played at home, as usual. Also, during the evening the mothers bathed the children, decorated them with ornaments, and gave them the food they needed after a hard day's work. In the cowsheds the mother cows, who had been away in the pasture during the day, now called the calves. The calves came joyfully, and the mothers licked their bodies. Thus, family relations for the cows and the cowherds remained unchanged, except that the mothers' affection for the children grew and continued to grow day after day. Clearly, the cows and women of Vrndavana had even greater love for Krsna than for their own offspring. And for many months Krsna maintained Himself as the boys and calves of Vrndavana. One day, after a full year had elapsed, Krsna and His brother Balarama were in the forest tending some calves. All at once, they noticed that the cows grazing atop Govardhana Hill were looking down upon the boys and calves in the valley. On sighting the calves, the cows started running toward them and leaping down the hill. Practically melting with love for the calves, the cows didn't care about the roughness of the path down to the pasture. With their milk bags full and their tails raised, they sped toward the calves, pouring milk on the ground as they ran. The calves in the valley were older than the cows' own calves--they weren't expected to drink milk directly from the milk bag, but were ordinarily satisfied with grass. Yet the cows came running down to them anyway. When the cows reached the bottom, they licked the calves' bodies, and the calves drank the cows' milk. There appeared to be an extraordinary bond of love. While the cows had been running down the hill, the men taking care of them had tried to stop them but had failed. Now the men felt baffled, ashamed, and angry. Yet as they came down the hill and into the valley, they saw the boys taking care of the calves and felt overwhelming paternal affection. At once, the fathers' anger and shame disappeared, and they lovingly lifted the boys up into their arms. After embracing the boys, the fathers went about the business of bringing the cows up the hill. Along the way, they thought of the children, and tears fell from their eyes. As Balarama gazed upon this remarkable exchange of love between the cows and calves and fathers and boys--when neither calves nor boys needed so much care--He began to wonder how it all had come about. Before long He concluded, "It was arranged by Krsna, and even I couldn't perceive His mystic power." In other words, Balarama understood that all the boys and calves were really Lord Krsna's expansions. Balarama quizzed Krsna about the incident. "My dear Krsna," He said, "at first I thought the boys and the calves were great sages or demigods in disguise. But now I think they are actually Your expansions. They are all You! You Yourself are playing as the boys and calves. Please, clear up this mystery for Me. Where have Our friends, the original boys and calves, gone to?" Now Lord Krsna briefly explained how Brahma had stolen the boys and calves, and how He had concealed the theft so that the families wouldn't be distressed. While They were talking, Brahma returned to Vrndavana. Only a moment had passed--by his reckoning of time. By human reckoning, a whole year had come and gone. At any rate, Brahma wanted to see the fun caused by his kidnapping. But he was dumbfounded to see that the boys and calves were still playing with Krsna, just as they had been a year earlier! How could this be? He was confident that he'd put them to sleep by his mystic spell. "How is it," he marveled, "that they appear to be here, playing with Krsna?!" As Brahma stared at the scene, something even more wonderful happened. To convince Brahma that these weren't the original boys and calves, Krsna transformed His expansions into four-armed Visnu forms. Besides a bluish complexion and yellow garments, They all had four hands and held a club, a disk, a lotus flower, and a conchshell. On Their heads They wore golden, jeweled helmets that glittered. Pearls, earrings, armlets, and flower garlands also bedecked Their beautiful bodies, and there were golden bells around Their waists and legs, splendid rings on Their fingers, and strings of gems around Their smooth necks. This display of divine potency left Brahma utterly confounded. At that time Krsna took compassion upon the demigod. He saw that Brahma's mind was reeling, so He decided to change things back to the way they'd been before He had expanded Himself as calves and cowherd boys. Relieved from his confusion, Brahma felt that he was waking up from a state near death. Before him he saw Lord Krsna playing the part of a small cowherd boy--holding a lump of fruit salad in His left hand and searching for His lost calves and friends, just as He'd been doing a year earlier. With great devotion, Brahma bowed down on the ground before the Lord, his four helmets touching Krsna's lotus feet. Joyfully, Brahma washed Lord Krsna's feet with his tears. He repeatedly fell and rose, praying to Krsna and recalling His wonderful activities. Having emptied his heart, Brahma stood up, smeared his hands over his eyes, and with the Lord's permission returned to his abode. He was convinced, at last, of Krsna's identity as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krsna had left His cowherd boyfriends eating lunch on the bank of the Yarnuna--a year before. Then Brahma had put the boys to sleep and had hidden them away, but the boys knew nothing of that. Now Krsna brought them back, woke them up, and walked onto the picnic site as if nothing had happened. It was a whole year later, but the cowherd boys thought He'd returned after being away for just a moment. They laughed: Krsna could never leave them for any longer than a little while. Overjoyed, they greeted Him. "Dear Krsna, You've returned so quickly! Please, come and join us. Let's eat together." Krsna smiled and accepted their invitation. Once again He enjoyed the lunchtime company of His friends, the cowherd boys. Adapted from Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

The Year-long Lunch http://krishna.krishna.org/Articles/2003/04/007.html "Dear friends," said Lord Krsna to the other cowherd boys, "Look at this wonderful place!" He'd brought them to the sun-dappled bank of' the Yamuna River, after an adventurous morning in the pastures outside Vrndavana town. "This is an ideal place to eat our lunch. Afterward, we can play on the soft, sandy river bank." Krsna turned to the sparkling river and glorified its beauty. "See those lotus flowers in the water, their petals opened wide, and smell their fragrance drifting all around us. And listen--nearby in the trees the peacocks are calling out to one another, and their calls are mingling with the songs of other birds and the whispers of the leaves. This is clearly the best place for us to have our lunch. The calves can stay close to us, drink water from the Yamuna, and graze on the tasty grass. Krsna's friends were glad to hear what sounded to them like a brilliant suggestion. It was late and they were feeling hungry; what's more, they all agreed that Lord Krsna had found a perfect place for them to sit and eat. So they let loose the calves and arranged themselves in a big circle. Krsna sat in the center, and all the boys turned toward Him, so that while they ate they could see Him face to face. Krsna was like the whorl of a big lotus flower, and the other boys were like the petals. Together, they opened up the lunch boxes their mothers had given them early that morning. Then they began to eat and joke with one another. But as the boys ate, their attention given completely to Krsna and the delicious food, they failed to notice that the calves had wandered away, allured by the fresh new grass of the deep forest. Soon the calves were out of sight entirely. When the boys discovered this, they became scared and called to Krsna for help, as they always did when they were in distress. "Oh, Krsna!" they cried out. "The calves have disappeared! What should we do?" "Don't worry," Lord Krsna answered. "And don't interrupt your lunch. Go on enjoying. I'll look for them Myself." So, sparing His friends the trouble, the Lord got up and walked away to search for the lost calves. He spent much time in His search, looking in the thickets and the forests and in the nearby caves and mountain crevices. The calves were nowhere to he found. But Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, knew what was happening. He didn't really have to look for the calves, because He knows everything. Still, He was playing the part of an ordinary human being--just to please His friends. So He knew exactly where the calves were, and He also knew they hadn't left the river bank on their own. They'd been lured away by none other than four-headed Brahma, the demigod who directs universal affairs. And, as Krsna was enjoying climbing around the hills and looking in the caves, back at the lunch site Brahma was now using his mystic powers to steal the cowherd boys. Then he hid the boys and the calves in a secret place and put them into a long, deep sleep. Krsna was aware, too, of the reason why Brahma was playing these tricks on Him. Somebody had told Brahma that the Supreme Personality of Godhead was living in the little town of Vrndavana as a five-year-old boy named Krsna, the son of Nanda. On hearing this, Brahma was skeptical. So he hit upon a plan to test Krsna's powers for himself he thought, "After His friends and calves have mysteriously disappeared, what will this little boy Krsna do?" Now, by Brahma's magic, the picnic spot was deserted. Lord Krsna thought, "Brahma has taken away the boys and the calves. How can I go back to Vrndavana alone? The boys' mothers will cry in despair, and the calves' mothers will feet sick with grief." The Lord asked Himself this question, but He was hardly at a loss for an answer. At once He manifested Himself in multiple forms--boys and calves who looked and acted precisely like the very boys and calves Lord Brahma had hidden. Each new boy was in fact Krsna, but had the bodily features and behavior of one of the original boys; and the same was true of each of the new calves. Appearances thus restored, soon the happy boys and calves were making their way back to town. None of the townspeople in Vrndavana knew what had transpired that afternoon out in the pasture. They simply saw Krsna and His friends strolling into the village, casually tapping the calves with sticks to keep them in order, and raising up a cloud of golden dust in the late afternoon sun. There seemed to be nothing unusual. And, as always, the boys put the calves into their cowsheds and then went home. Long before the boys arrived, the mothers had heard the sound of their flutes. Now the mothers ran out of their homes and embraced the boys. On account of their maternal affection, milk flowed from their breasts, and they allowed the boys to drink it. Although they didn't know it, their offering was not to their sons but to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then the boys played at home, as usual. Also, during the evening the mothers bathed the children, decorated them with ornaments, and gave them the food they needed after a hard day's work. In the cowsheds the mother cows, who had been away in the pasture during the day, now called the calves. The calves came joyfully, and the mothers licked their bodies. Thus, family relations for the cows and the cowherds remained unchanged, except that the mothers' affection for the children grew and continued to grow day after day. Clearly, the cows and women of Vrndavana had even greater love for Krsna than for their own offspring. And for many months Krsna maintained Himself as the boys and calves of Vrndavana. One day, after a full year had elapsed, Krsna and His brother Balarama were in the forest tending some calves. All at once, they noticed that the cows grazing atop Govardhana Hill were looking down upon the boys and calves in the valley. On sighting the calves, the cows started running toward them and leaping down the hill. Practically melting with love for the calves, the cows didn't care about the roughness of the path down to the pasture. With their milk bags full and their tails raised, they sped toward the calves, pouring milk on the ground as they ran. The calves in the valley were older than the cows' own calves--they weren't expected to drink milk directly from the milk bag, but were ordinarily satisfied with grass. Yet the cows came running down to them anyway. When the cows reached the bottom, they licked the calves' bodies, and the calves drank the cows' milk. There appeared to be an extraordinary bond of love. While the cows had been running down the hill, the men taking care of them had tried to stop them but had failed. Now the men felt baffled, ashamed, and angry. Yet as they came down the hill and into the valley, they saw the boys taking care of the calves and felt overwhelming paternal affection. At once, the fathers' anger and shame disappeared, and they lovingly lifted the boys up into their arms. After embracing the boys, the fathers went about the business of bringing the cows up the hill. Along the way, they thought of the children, and tears fell from their eyes. As Balarama gazed upon this remarkable exchange of love between the cows and calves and fathers and boys--when neither calves nor boys needed so much care--He began to wonder how it all had come about. Before long He concluded, "It was arranged by Krsna, and even I couldn't perceive His mystic power." In other words, Balarama understood that all the boys and calves were really Lord Krsna's expansions. Balarama quizzed Krsna about the incident. "My dear Krsna," He said, "at first I thought the boys and the calves were great sages or demigods in disguise. But now I think they are actually Your expansions. They are all You! You Yourself are playing as the boys and calves. Please, clear up this mystery for Me. Where have Our friends, the original boys and calves, gone to?" Now Lord Krsna briefly explained how Brahma had stolen the boys and calves, and how He had concealed the theft so that the families wouldn't be distressed. While They were talking, Brahma returned to Vrndavana. Only a moment had passed--by his reckoning of time. By human reckoning, a whole year had come and gone. At any rate, Brahma wanted to see the fun caused by his kidnapping. But he was dumbfounded to see that the boys and calves were still playing with Krsna, just as they had been a year earlier! How could this be? He was confident that he'd put them to sleep by his mystic spell. "How is it," he marveled, "that they appear to be here, playing with Krsna?!" As Brahma stared at the scene, something even more wonderful happened. To convince Brahma that these weren't the original boys and calves, Krsna transformed His expansions into four-armed Visnu forms. Besides a bluish complexion and yellow garments, They all had four hands and held a club, a disk, a lotus flower, and a conchshell. On Their heads They wore golden, jeweled helmets that glittered. Pearls, earrings, armlets, and flower garlands also bedecked Their beautiful bodies, and there were golden bells around Their waists and legs, splendid rings on Their fingers, and strings of gems around Their smooth necks. This display of divine potency left Brahma utterly confounded. At that time Krsna took compassion upon the demigod. He saw that Brahma's mind was reeling, so He decided to change things back to the way they'd been before He had expanded Himself as calves and cowherd boys. Relieved from his confusion, Brahma felt that he was waking up from a state near death. Before him he saw Lord Krsna playing the part of a small cowherd boy--holding a lump of fruit salad in His left hand and searching for His lost calves and friends, just as He'd been doing a year earlier. With great devotion, Brahma bowed down on the ground before the Lord, his four helmets touching Krsna's lotus feet. Joyfully, Brahma washed Lord Krsna's feet with his tears. He repeatedly fell and rose, praying to Krsna and recalling His wonderful activities. Having emptied his heart, Brahma stood up, smeared his hands over his eyes, and with the Lord's permission returned to his abode. He was convinced, at last, of Krsna's identity as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krsna had left His cowherd boyfriends eating lunch on the bank of the Yarnuna--a year before. Then Brahma had put the boys to sleep and had hidden them away, but the boys knew nothing of that. Now Krsna brought them back, woke them up, and walked onto the picnic site as if nothing had happened. It was a whole year later, but the cowherd boys thought He'd returned after being away for just a moment. They laughed: Krsna could never leave them for any longer than a little while. Overjoyed, they greeted Him. "Dear Krsna, You've returned so quickly! Please, come and join us. Let's eat together." Krsna smiled and accepted their invitation. Once again He enjoyed the lunchtime company of His friends, the cowherd boys. Adapted from Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

who said America is the ONLY place where sinful activities go on? They happen in every place, even in India. Well, if you had read some of the sites about Srila Prabhupada, you will probably learn about a company by name Scindia ship Co. Fortuantely Srila Prabhupada got a free ticket to Boston by the manager of that ship company. If he had got a free ticket to some European or English speaking country, he might have probably gone to that country to preach. -Prasad.

plain speculation by so-called pragmatic people's narrow mind. Vivekananda came to America to speak at the Religious Conference, not to earn a comfortable living and acquire resources as you think. and Srila Prabhupada came to west after his spiritual master advised him to preach in English Speaking nations. Fyki english was not the official language of kazakhstan or namibia at that time. He came to America because it was a place where people indulge in all kinds of sinful activities and influencing others' cultures. -Prasad.

Go to http://www.krsnabook.com/ . In the contents you will find bala lilas. -Prasad.

Go to http://www.krsnabook.com/ . In the contents you will find bala lilas. -Prasad.

There is no single reason for this unfortunate situation. Right from the start of kali yuga, the culture had been wrongly practised by many people. Take for example the varnashrama dharma that has been so corrupted much beyond its original purpose. http://krishna.org/ctfote/varnash.html When the basic architecture gets spoiled, it obviously leads to break down of the social system. This reflects in all areas of the society and unsrupulous people take this to their advantage and hence the uprisings of immoral sections and the brutal history of foreign invasions. People then don't get proper education that is appropriate to their social status & they tend to lead an unregulated life that is inappropriate to their actual status. Civilization means regulation and where there is no requlation, there is no civilization. Some illiterate people are better than so-called literate but uncivilized people. Without reverting back to the sanatana dharma principles, there wouldn't be any happiness and perfect civilization. Just imagine how many people now are happier than the people of vedic period where all sections of people led a happy life with God @ the centre. Never was there a problem of economic downturn during vedic civilization and now it can happen even with a slightest unprecedented event. Think about the plight of people including millionaires when there is an economic recession. Most people in India are ignorant of their revealed scriptures. The youth who are ignorant of these gems are hankering for broken glasses by trying to imitate western civilization. Nevertheless, India produced so many saints who tried to help restore sanatana dharma and it shud be the duty of every person whether Indian or Non Indian to try to elevate themselves and others by following them and associating with the practitioners of Sanatana Dharma. -Prasad.

Follow this link for evidences based on some of the statements from vedic literature: http://www.gosai.com/dvaita/madhvacarya/Caitanya.html . -Prasad.

This link includes most of the sites that broadcast krishnaConscious Music Live and free!. http://www.shoutcast.com/directory/?s=krishna You need to have winamp and you can add all of those to your playlist. Tune in & go into bliss!! Hare Krishna. -Prasad.

Hare Krishna! Thank you for your reply. It is true that it is difficult to contemplate Vedantic teachings while being subjected to actual poverty. This is why it is important for all of us to help others in what ever way we can. Of course in our own personal cases we cannot use this as an excuse to avoid spiritual practice, as none of us using the internet are poor in the true sense of the word. An important teaching of the Gita is that it is possible to remove poverty, but it is almost impossible to remove desire. If we wait until our desires are fulfilled before taking to spiritual life, that time will never come. Spiritual life is the only thing that will help us become free from material desires. As far as financial problems go, again this is mostly a mental conception we create ourselves. There is certainly a quantity of resources we need to exist, and once one has attained that, any "financial problem" one experiences is self-made. For example, someone may need to eat a certain amount of food, etc., to exist. Being able to maintain oneself in that situation can be called a natural "financial problem", as without solving it, one will not be able to continue one's existence. The complication in society comes after we come to the point of solving that natural financial problem, and then we create a new artificial financial problem based on greater expectations and desires. Our problem is no longer based on our actual needs of existence, but instead is based on some type of greed or envy. We see others living a particular lifestyle and want to copy it, or we think we will be able to increase our happiness by some artificial acquisition. When we are walking barefoot, we strive to get a pair of chappals. After solving that problem, we then decide we need a pair of shoes as well. This is a very crude example, but it illustrates man-made financial problems. Already the natural problem is solved, but we continue our endeavour to solve the same problem by creating a larger extension of the problem. First we try to fulfill our actual needs, then once they are solved we create a new need. Now we need a house. After a house we need a car. After a car we need a TV. After that we need a satellite dish antenna. There is no end to kama (desire). The Gita describes this as being like pouring fuel on a fire. You will not extinguish a fire by pouring fuel on it, and in the same way we cannot become free from desires by satisfying them. They will only increase. God is ultimately maintaining everyone in the cosmic manifestation. Generally because we work and earn we think God has no role in our maintenance. But from where do the essential ingredients come from? Who created the air, the earth and the water we all need to subsist? We see in nature the animals do not harvest the land, yet they still eat. Some believe man must work like a slave in order to maintain himself, but it is not true. The nature can maintain us, but we are not willing to take shelter of the nature. We don't want to leave the comfort of the cities with their roads, and cars, and other such things. Everyone turns to the cities for shelter, and as a result there is over-population, despite 95% of the worlds land being un-occupied. This is a man-made phenomena, and the result is artificial poverty. It is impossible to make the population leave the cities and return to a simple and natural way of life. The only solution is to create spiritual awareness within their hearts so that they may understand the importance of helping those who are less fortunate them themselves. As long as we fail to see the qualitative oneness of all living entities we will not feel a need to help them. The Gita teaches us to develop this equal vision, and thus by spreading its message of love, the removal of poverty will be an automatic side effect. Once poverty is removed, then there is the chance for those who were poor to take to spiritual understanding - that is if they are not caught by desire. No amount of wealth will remove their desire. The Lord does not ensure that the poor man gets his meals any more than He ensures that the rich men get theirs. We have all created our own situations through our previous activities, and God does not take an active role in interfering with our desires. How can someone choose to be poor? The moment someone with money deprives someone else of what they need, at that time they are making the choice to be poor. It is just like a criminal choosing to go to jail by committing a crime. My suffering, your suffering and everyone's suffering is brought on us by our own past choices. We cannot blame anyone else for it. But this should not make us hard-hearted towards other's suffering. We must have compassion for all. They may be suffering the results of their karma, but through compassion and devotion we can change the lines of destiny. Fate can only be conquered by free will. Fate is like the rope that binds a cow. The cow has the free will to move how it likes within the limit of its rope. But if it misuses its freewill by encircling the tree to which it is tied, the freedom of movement becomes less and less. The Vedanta teaches us how to cut the rope and actually become free. The dharma shastras teach us how to comfortably move within the limits of the rope. According to our level of consciousness we will receive suitable spiritual guidance for our own situation. Some will be told how to cut the rope and attain complete freedom; others will be told how to unwind the rope from around the tree. Lord Krishna's ultimate instruction to all of us is to not be satisfied with the limitations of the untangled rope. Rather we should search for true and complete freedom, which is attainable only through self-surrender at the feet of the Lord. Yours in service, Jahnava Nitai Das, Bhaktivedanta Ashram & Bhaktivedanta International Charities http://www.foodrelief.org

There is one instance when a journalist asked Srila Prabhupad " what if at the end of ur life, you realize that there is no Krishna ? " .Srila Prabhupad answered " If that we so, we need not worry for we enjoyed , chanted , danced and took prasadam , but what if the Krishna is there ………then what about you ? ."

There is one instance when a journalist asked Srila Prabhupad " what if at the end of ur life, you realize that there is no Krishna ? " .Srila Prabhupad answered " If that we so, we need not worry for we enjoyed , chanted , danced and took prasadam , but what if the Krishna is there ………then what about you ? ."

A wonderful goldmine of Vedic Literature (Sanskrit texts) online at MUM: http://mum.edu/vedicreserve/ All of the literature in pdf format. ------------------------------- [ THE IMPORTANCE OF READING THE VEDIC LITERATURE "1. Reading the Vedic Literature in sequence is the procedure to spontaneously train the brain physiology and the whole physiology of speech to function in the most orderly way so that every thought, speech and action is spontaneously promoted in the evolutionary direction of Natural Law, and thereby spontaneously enjoys full support of the evolutionary quality of intelligence that upholds order and evolution in the entire universe. "2. Practicing Transcendental Meditation ... is the procedure to spontaneously enliven the total potential of intelligence in human physiology and train the physiology to function in the most natural way, in the most orderly manner, according to Natural Law--daily experiencing self-referral consciousness in order that the infinite organizing power of one's own Transcendental Consciousness (one's own simplest form of awareness) becomes the guiding light of every thought and action, promoting success in every undertaking and actualizing and spontaneously engaging the infinite organizing power of the Unified Field of Natural Law." Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in “Vedic Knowledge for Everyone: Introduction to Maharishi Vedic University” ] -------------------------------

[Posted in ramanuja group] ========================== sarvebhyo namaha Samskrithabharathi is conducting a 5 day residential 'Samskritha Shibiram' This is one of a kind shibiram where you are totally immersed in Samskritham for the duration of the camp. It is excellent for families to attend with children. You will be amazed how fast the childern will pick up and start speaking simple sentences on the first day even if they never spoke a word in Samskrith before. I went to a similar shibiram called Alakananda at California in 2000. It was a fantastic experience that can only be felt and can not be expressed. Eveything is Samskrithamayam from the moment you enter the camp, you hear nothing but samskritham 24 hours,the food, the entertainment, the yoga just about everything is in samskritham You can actually imagine our ancestors back in those vedic ages conducting day to day business all in samskritham. Before you know it, you will be speaking in the devabhasha too! Sri Krishna Shasthri, the man behind the Speak Samskritham movement is coming and many other interesting knowledgeable people will be there. You need not have any prior knowledge of samskritham. Attending the shibiram has helped me and many of my friends to understand the meaning of many slokas and vedas and has helped us to read understand samskritham literature. People who came to the shibiram without any samskritha knowledge are conversing in samskritham now. Please make use of this rare opportunity to experience samskritham in all its glory! Please read the brochure below for more information. You can also visit http://www.samskrita-bharati.org Best Wishes Indira Prativadi ************************************************************* !! Unique opportunity to learn Samskritam in a fun-filled camp !! Samskrita Bharati (http://www.samskrita-bharati.org)Organizes Paavanii 5-day Residential Samskritam Camp Where? Camp Nawaka, East Otis, MA. (http://www.nawaka.org) (120 miles west of Boston) When? Thu May 22 to Mon May 26, 4pm (Reporting time Wed 21, 8:00 PM) Faculty? Shri Krishna Shastri, Founder-Organizing Secretary And other dedicated volunteer instructors of Samskrita Bharati. Levels? Beginner (NO prior knowledge of Samskritam) Intermediate I and II (Some familiarity with Samskritam) Advanced (Good conversational skills &amp; Intermediate grammar) Fees? $250 (1st person in the family); $225 (2nd); $200 (3rd); Additional person: $175/- $600/- Special Family rate!! (A family of 2 adults and 1 or more children) $175/- for students (Children below 8 years free!!) Participants are encouraged to attend with family. Special programs for kids. Fee includes lodging, food and study-materials. Various sessions with emphasis on Spoken Samskritam, selected portions from Literature and Grammar. Also activities like yoga, prANAyAma, games &amp; entertainment programs will be in simple and easy-to-understand Samskritam. All in a beautiful and a natural environ similar to our ancient gurukulam. A rare opportunity indeed to learn to speak in Samskritam. Register online (http://www.samskrita-bharati.org/registration.html) or call by April 30 Sivaram 781-279-3295 Rajesh Rachabhattuni 703-691-8605 Giri Bharathan 978-362-1715 Krishna Kumar 781-284-2431 Email: paavanii2003@Y... Web: http://www.samskrita-bharati.org Treat yourself to a wonderful retreat this spring. Seats are limited. Call early to reserve yours & avoid disappointment! Samskrita Bharati is a voluntary organization that is dedicated to bring Samskritam back to daily life. </p> ===============

A patrol car has been following this vehicle for about 30 minutes now, when they finally decide to pull it over. The officer steps out and walks up to Bhola's window. "Goodafternoon, sir." "Good afternoon, any problems?" "No sir. My partner and I have been following and observing you for a half an hour now. We ascertained that you have not committed one single traffic violation, you have not gone over the speed limit by even 1 mph, you were courteous towards the fellow drivers on the road. Therefore, as a part of our new "Solid Driving Awareness Program", I would like to present you with this check for $30,000.00." Bhola lets out a big sigh of relief: "Oh good! Now I can finally pay to get my driver's license." Awkward silence, then his wife sitting in the passenger seat goes, "Don't listen to him, officer. He always talks nonsense when he has been drinking." His Grandma, who's a little hard of hearing, adds from the backseat, "Aye aye aye, didn't I tell you not to go in a stolen car?" At this time his trunk pops open and a head peeks out, "Are we over the border yet?"

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fr/stories/2003032801200600.htm </p> A RARE occurrence is attracting devotees to a pilgrim centre, a few kilometres away from Saint Tyagaraja's samadhi, in Thiruvaiyaru, near Thanjavur. The Jagadrakshaka Perumal temple, in Thirukoodalur, near Kapisthalam, on the Thanjavur-Kumbakonam route, one of the Divyakshetrams, and hence a holy centre for Vaishnavites, is being renovated. The prakarams are ready and the reconstruction of the gopuram and shrines is being carried out. A month ago, when the authorities decided to cut parts of the jackfruit tree that was in the temple complex, for use in the renovation work, they found a natural formation in the shape of a big conch, about five feet in height and two feet wide in the middle, on the trunk. As the workers and devotees felt it was a divine phenomenon, the felling of branches was stopped. Turmeric paste was applied to mark the portion so that it would be clearly visible from the ground.

number: 1234567900987654321reverse: 1234567890097654321 These are not palindromes. are they not unequal? -Prasad.

..series stops when n=10. 1111111111*1111111111=1234567900987654321 so maximum number of digits containing all 1's is "9" for getting a palindrome product. The number '9' is responsible for soo many mathematical tricks. Looks like something is wrong with it /images/graemlins/wink.gif. -Prasad.

..Depends on how you do it. It is obvious that after opening a coke can and putting it open for some time, it will lose its acidity and hence you can't expect it to dissolve a nail (much like normal water). If this is the way of doing the experiment, then there is nothing wrong in having a coke from a can that is left open for long time. BTW I haven't tried the experiment /images/graemlins/wink.gif ... and I think there wouldn't be considerable effect if CoCa-Coola (caffeine free) is had once in a blue moon. Sometimes, (except for intoxicants) it may be difficult to deny it when you are among friends. Any chemists out there to correct, if its wrong? -Prasad.