amanpeter

Now shvu, you trying to get us going again? At least allow the wounded to stumble or be dragged from the battlefield for a well-deseverved respite of, say, a day or two! Later, prabhu... ------------------ amanpeter@hotmail.com

Our connection is EMOTIONAL, not TECHNICAL! PERSONAL not IMPERSONAL! Strong feelings keep us awake and if not, well perhaps it's time for a nap... [This message has been edited by amanpeter (edited 08-21-2001).]

You no want, I no do! After all, You're PRABHU! ------------------ amanpeter@hotmail.com

...and where is Atma prabhu when we need her perceptive inputs? Not to mention comedic...

From Bhaktavasya prabhu: Not meaning to make fun, but just got a strangely comic picture of an enormous wrestling ring filled with diverse passionate personalities in extreme costumes, running about, frantically grappling with each other. More are climbing over the ropes on all sides, desperately struggling to join the fracas, while Bhaktavasya in a flashy referee outfit is swinging one of the rowdier participants over her head before flinging his screaming body into the raucous crowd of spectators!!!

I was in Mayapur in 1974 and, as I remember it, Prabhupada told us that WWIII would start between India and Pakistan, with Russia and the USA coming in on the sides of India and Pakistan, respectively. Mahak, I'm not sure if you've personally experienced India or Pakistan, but to imagine the types of weapons you describe in THEIR hands is a frightening thought indeed! No offence intended to individuals, however even the basic electrical systems can't be depended on. I place my personal faith in the following, which I appreciated very much. Thank you, Jayradhe prabhu! ********** JAI JAI SRI RADHE!!! [This message has been edited by amanpeter (edited 08-21-2001).]

There is a program here in downtown Toronto called Foodshare that delivers boxes of fresh produce weekly to contracted customers. Monies collected go to the farmers prior to growing season so their crops can be planned and financial security provided from the start. All food is organic and in accordance with the customers' dietary preferences as far as possible. There is more of this or less of that, depending on the season. All is non-profit and as such some government and/or private charity help is available. Should any wish to make further inquiries, I could post the address for the group. They also give cooking classes and help establishing community gardens, I believe.

Tridandisvami Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja VRNDAVANA IS MADE OF SRIMATI RADHIKA A LECTURE ON BRAHMARA-GITA, THE SONG OF THE BEE Sri Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha in Mathura, U.P. India: August 5, 2001 [As Srila Prabhupada Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja discusses in detail, in several places of Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and Krsna Book, quoting from Ujjvala-nilamani and other Gosvami literatures, the transcendental realm is full of ecstatic emotions. All the emotions we experience in this world are perverted reflections of those experienced in that realm. Without hearing about that abode from the authorized disciplic succession, we conditioned souls can never acquire the taste to serve there. Without knowing the goal, there is no question on adopting the means to get there. Following in the footsteps of Srila Prabhupada and our previous acaryas, and in preparation for the upcoming Radhastami Festival at the end of August, Srila Narayana Maharaja gave a series of four classes, in Hindi, at the Sri Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha in Mathura, India. The following is a translation of the first in that series of Srila Maharaja's classes ed.)] Vrndavana is Radhamayi. It is made of Srimati Radhika, and everyone there is bhava-vibhor, lost in transcendental sentiments. The devotees here have just sung a bhajana in which they prayed, "I don't want to leave Vrndavana", and the main cause of that prayer is the variagated moods of Radhika and their depth of absorption. When Uddhava saw the moods of Radhika at Uddhava-kyeri, he became stunned like a wooden doll. Earlier he had been with Nanda Baba and he was very moved by his moods and amazed by his deep love. However, when he later saw the transcendental ecstasies of divyonmada and citra-jalpa in Radhika, he became stunned in helplessness. Srila Rupa Gosvami has written, "I am standing on the shore of the fathomless, bottomless, endless ocean of rasa in which there are various ripples and waves, and after seeing it I am explaining a portion of it in Ujjvala-nilamani." There are various moods in the stage of love in separation called divyonmada. One of the symptoms is that the lover speaks irrelevantly, and this is called citra-jalpa. There are ten categories of citra-jalpa, and one of them is called prajalpa. Prajalpa, in turn, has four symptoms, and they are transcendental envy, disrespect, pride, and ridicule or taunt. The type of speech in which these four are present is called prajalpa. [This is not to be confused with the mundane prajalpa, nor can the other three be compared with their mundane perverted reflections. They are all pure and transcendental, and one who hears about them from the right source becomes purified from the influence of their mundane counterparts.] In Srimad Bhagavatam, chapter forty-seven, called Brahmara-gita, Srimati Radhika talks to a bumblebee whom She takes as a messenger of Krsna: madhupa kitava-bandho ma sprsanghrim sapatnyah kuca-vilulita-mala-kunkuma-smasrubhir nah vahatu madhu-patis tan-maninanam prasadam yadu-sadasi vinambyam yasya dutas tvam idrk ["Radharani said: 'O honeybee, O friend of a cheater, don't touch My feet with your whiskers, which are smeared with the kunkuma that rubbed onto Krsna’s garland when it was crushed by the breasts of a rival lover! Let Krsna satisfy the women of Mathura. One who sends a messenger like you will certainly be ridiculed in the Yadus' assembly." (SB10.47.11)] When Uddhava wanted to meet with the gopis to give them Krsna's message, the gopis took him to where Radhika was lying down at a distance. They offered him an asana, but instead of sitting on it he paid his obeisances to it. Uddhava then saw a golden doll, on whose limbs sandlewood paste was smeared, lying on a bed of lotus petals. She was motionless, and all her friends were checking to see whether or not She was alive. She was in such a state that Her friends were completely perturbed, and they could not bring Her to consciousness. Srimati Radhika was engrossed in a mood in which She was feeling Krsna in Mathura. She was thinking, "Krsna cannot live without women, and therefore He must be associating with the Mathura-ramanis, the beautiful young damsels of Mathura. Radhika began to experience asuya, envy, towards these city girls. She saw a madhukara, bumble bee, flying around Her feet and thinking they were lotuses. In Her high class of loving mood She thought that the bee was a messenger of Krsna, and in this elevated state of divyonmada She told him, "Don't touch me." Seeing that bee had come to Her in an intoxicated state, She said, "O Madhukara, it appears that My kanta, My beloved, has sent you to pacify Me because He feels guilty that He has committed sins and offences. He therefore wants to plead through you in humble submission. "O messenger of Krsna, you are just like Him. He is a cunning cheater who deceives people of their wealth, and He is a cheater from all other points of view as well. And you are his bosom friend." Srimati Radhika never called Krsna 'Krsna' directly, but She addressed Him indirectly by the use of other names. She told that bee, "You are the bosom friend of My priya-bandhu who is durta, a cheater, and dhita, stubborn. The bumblebee replied, "Don't think in that way, Svamini. Krsna loves You and honors You, and therefore He has sent me. He is attached to You and He is very rasika. Radhika then said, " Be silent. Do you remember what He said during rasa-lila? He said, "O My dear gopis, I was always here. I never left you. I just wanted to see how you respond when I disappear. I pretended to leave in order to increase your love. A poor man may acquire a diamond and think it to be glass. He may thus mishandle it and lose it. Then a friend may come and say to him, 'Oh, where is that diamond I gave you?' The poor man will reply, 'You never gave me a diamond.' The friend will then say, 'I did.' And the poor man will then say, 'Oh, I thought it was glass and I accidentally threw it away.' 'No, it was a diamond.' When thus convinced, that poor man deeply grieves and repents. Therefore, to create a mood of eager longing in your heart, and also to show the world how much berievement My dear gopis feel, I appeared to have left you. In this way the world will come to know the depth of your love." na paraye ’ham niravadya-samyujam sva-sadhu-krtyam vibudhayunapi vah yä mabhajan durjara-geha-srnkhalah samvrscya tad vah pratiyatu sadhuna (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.32.22) ["I am not able to repay My debt for your spotless service, even within a lifetime of Brahma. Your connection with Me is beyond reproach. You have worshiped Me, cutting off all domestic ties, which are difficult to break. Therefore please let your own glorious deeds be your compensation."] Radhika continued, "Then, when He left for Mathura He said He would return in two days. But He didn't fulfill His promise. How can you say He is sincere? No, He is a number one cheater. His words are only external. They do not come from His heart. He is madhupa, intoxicated from drinking the wine of the association of the ladies of Mathura. He is apavitra, impure, and I will become impure by your association. So don't touch me. Go away!" The bumblebee replied, "I am nirdosa, faultless. I am not at all drunk from drinking wine." Srimati Radhika then said, "Don't cheat me. What is that on your mustache? You were on the garland of Krsna after He associated with different Mathura-ramanis and their kumkuma came off on that garland. It is for this reason that your mustache is yellowish at the ends. "Krsna has sent you to pacify Me, but I'll not be pacified. You don't know how to pacify someone. Carrying the signs of Krsna's meeting with others is not the right way. You are foolish like your master. The bumblebee said, "No, He is not like that. If you criticize my master I am leaving. Srimati Radhika said, "Wait. I want to say something further. Krsna is Madhupati, and that means He is Yadupati. He used to be a gopa, but recently He has changed His asrama. He was a gopa, but since He has taken upanaya-samskara, His sacred thread, in the ksatriya tradition, He is now meeting with the beautiful women of Mathura City. We are village girls with no education. We are penniless. We are without any wealth. Don’t waste your time trying to pacify us. Go to the Mathura-ramanis and they will pay you heavily. They are rich. When Krsna is with one of those women, the others will become manani. They will became angry in jealousy and Krsna will be able to spend His whole life pacifying them; because they are not easy like us. We used to be easily pacified. "You have said that Krsna loves Me and therefore He has sent you. I am surprised, then, how His messenger can be so stupid; not thinking ahead how I will react to his yellow mustaches. Krsna was the exact same way. He never used to wipe off the signs of having been with other beloveds in Vrndavana, and now He must be going with similar signs into the Yadu assembly. And they must be ridiculing Him there. How can your master be sincere? In this way, the four symptoms of prajalpa, namely asuya, envy; garva, pride; upahasa, ridicule; and avajna, disobedience; are manifest from the heart of Radhika. Gaura premanande. [This lecture was translated from Hindi by Sripad Ramacandra dasa Adhikari] ------------------ amanpeter@hotmail.com

Whatever.

RADHA You say! COME Let us PLAY! I have neither family, friends nor guru, but it is friends I miss the most. That connection I consider most intimate and precious as it is wholly voluntary at all stages. Prabhu is used by me in a generic sense to indicate a particular respect for devotees and aspirants on this path, in spite of what some may believe who are unable or simply unwilling to see what motivates my actions. As for lovers, the price is far too high for any to qualify, including Krsna. I worship Sri Radhika as my all-in-all and hold Her as most dear. What continues on these forum exchanges is not only greatly disheartening for me, but even crippling. Maybe later, `friend`...your heart calls, but you are not so alone as I. ------------------ amanpeter@hotmail.com

It seems to me that discussions move between threads, conclusions are reached and sometimes peoples' opinions or philosophy has changed by the time an old thread is picked up again. It's o.k. for those of us that know each other somewhat and have been following our posts all over, even on dharma-mela, but I thought new-comers might get off on the wrong tangent. No big thing and certainly no fault finding intended, except possibly of these internet forums as a means of personal communication. Like, we can post the words of a song, but unless the reader has heard it along with the music so much is missing... I find it somewhat frustrating and wish we could all meet face-to-face and share more intimately. Maybe that's due to my own isolation and/or something/someone lacking in my life. I tend towards unrealistic idealism and have always been a dreamer, I guess. ------------------ amanpeter@hotmail.com [This message has been edited by amanpeter (edited 08-19-2001).]

Slightly touched, perhaps, but definitely not touche'! BTW, when DOES duck hunting season begin? (dark humor, prabhus)

An intresting TRUISM! Using RELIGION is not the right thing! OyVay

I saw a dog today running with it's owner. what amazed me is that the dog ran forward with it's head turned fully back towards it's owner, never checking where it was going at full tilt! That's what I call TRUST! Something I don't even have in God, let alone other humans. Of course, if I was able to see God face-to-face, and so close, focusing as intently as that dog... [This message has been edited by amanpeter (edited 08-19-2001).]

Odd indeed!

Unlike VNN, we can't delete our messages here, but we can edit though some kind of text must be posted. jnDas will delete if you ask by Email.

Don't go `quacking` up, now. I call all the devotees or aspiring devotees prabhu, even Maitreya Christian.

...and you, prabhu?

Anonymous posting will still be permitted, however...

Dear Sabrina, Things can change quickly here, especially with Satyaraja prabhu. Renewing old threads can bring up all kinds of complications and also confusion for those who are just recently tuning in. Hope this might help in understanding and conflict avoidance. Sincerely, Peter

CULTURE? Please!

What was indicated here, I believe, is a ratio of significance rather than relative progression. Raganuga is a type of faith which can very quickly lead to prema, whereas vaidhi can just as easily become self-limiting in itself. Finding oneself caught up in a madly rushing river, there's precious little time to consider one's swimming technique... As stated, FIDELITY is what it's all about! JAI SWAMINI KISORI SRI RADHE! ------------------ amanpeter@hotmail.com [This message has been edited by amanpeter (edited 08-17-2001).]

SRIMATI? Please!

"Ours not to reason WHY, Ours but to do and DIE!" Can't help wondering how come all those self-righteously offended `followers` that supposedly LOVE their God and gurus so very much are not yet perfect themselves! Maybe they are, but I just can't see with my own still imperfect senses, obviously blinded by so many offenses...

Bowsy Wowsie!