RIFamily

11 Apr 2003 Fr Navami G Dhriti Pusyami * Rama Navami: Appearance of Lord Sri Ramacandra (Fasting till sunset) 12 Apr 2003 Sa Dasami G Sula Aslesa 13 Apr 2003 Su Suddha Ekadasi G Ganda Magha * Fasting for Kamada Ekadasi Damanaka-ropana dvadasi <<=============== !! 14 Apr 2003 Mo Trayodasi G Vriddhi Purva-phalguni Break fast 05:05 - 09:31 (Daylight saving not considered).

I believe this is going to be a tough question to answer. On the Vaishnava Calendar, on April 13 of this year, there is a festival called Damanaka-ropana dvadasi. What is the significance of this festival, why is it on the Vaishnava Calendar? I have been unable to find any information on it, so any and all comments would be greatly appreciated.

> This is a good question; one which I had wondered about > myself, although I had more or less been under the > impression that it was "sunrise to sunrise." ----------------------- Today I found the following information in a letter by Srila Prabhupada: ----------------------- Letter to: Madhudvisa -- England 30 September, 1969 69-09-30 My Dear Madhudvisa, Please accept my blessings... Regarding you first question, we observe Ekadasi from sunrise to sunrise. The 12 midnight is western astronomical calculation, but the Vedic astronomical calculation begins either from the sunrise or the moonrise. Generally it is sunrise... -----------------------

Thanks for the Ekadasi web sites -- they answered many of the written and unwritten questions that I had.

Thanks for your help in better understanding Ekadasi!

There must be one devotee who understands Ekadasi and the vaishnava Calendar and can offer some help...

Hello, I am interested in learning more about Ekadasi and the Vaishnava calendar, and have gone to various web sites on this topic. It seems to be a very complicated task to calculate the proper dates and times for observing Ekadasi and when to break the fast etc. Fortuantely, I have located what appears to be a standard calendar generation software:Vcal401.exe. The sites that I have seen describe what not to eat, and what to eat when one is breaking the fast (depending on what one ate during the fast). However, due to my ignorance, I do not know "when" the fast starts. For instance: 12 Feb 2003 Wed Fasting for Bhaimi Ekadasi When does one start fasting for this Ekadasi? At midnight of the 12th? At sundown on the 11th? When in general does one start Ekadasi fasting? Also, when does one stop fasting? In my example: 13 Feb 2003 Thurs Break fast 06:44 - 10:14 MUST one break the fast between these times? And what happens in THIS case: 13 Feb 2003 Thurs Break fast 06:44 - 10:14 Varaha Dvadasi: Appearance of Lord Varahadeva (The fast is observed till noon on the Ekadasi.) (Feasting is done today.) One can not break the fast at the noted time... because of the fast till noon instruction? This is then followed by a feast day? And what happens when Ekadasi FOLLOWS a feast day: when does the feasting time stop and the fasting time start? As you can see, I know so very little about Ekadasi and the Vaishnava calendar. Any VERY basic help, instructions, suggestions, etc. would be very much appreciated. All the Internet sites I have gone to don't really address these most basic questions. Many thanks for any help!

Hi, Thanks for the link (and the corrected URL!) I did go to the site, but did not see any reference to Sri Rama's different colors. Within the Ramayana itself, Rama is described as "dark", "blue", "cloud like" in color. It would be very helpful if a more precise reference could be found relative to His green coloring. Thanks.

Krsna says He is the light in all luminous objects. Easy to see that in the blazing Sun, but can we appreciate that also in the sunlight as it is reflected through a piece of broken glass laying in the muddy road? ________ Below is an interesting, scientific web sight where the nature of light is discussed... What is discussed is just how much we don't understand about light -- one of the most fundamental properties in this universe, a property that scientests have been observing for hundreds of years. Yet, even today, it is mysterious and beyond our grasp of understanding. We have made wonderful advances in understanding the properties of light, but the mechanics behind it are still beyond us. How much so the all other aspects in this universe? We have advanced greatly in observations of effects, but still understand very little regarding the mechanics behind the observations. http://www.nobeliefs.com/light.htm

What is the meaning of the following? satsangatwe nissangatwam, nissangatwe nirmohatwam, nirmohatwe nischalatatwam, nischalatatwe jeevanmukthih.

Genesis says that Enosh was Seth's son. Who was Enosh's mother? Is she mentioned in Bible? ____ No, the Bible does not name who Enosh's mother was. Jewish tradition, however, states that Seth (son of Adam) married his sister, Azura (who is likewise not mentioned in the Bible), and had three children: Edna, Enosh, and Noam. Why isn't the mother of Enosh mentioned in the Bible? In Jewish tradition, the line of descendence is only valid from the male side of the family. Generally (and of course there are many exceptions) all genealogies listed in the Bible are male based. There is nothing mysterieous about it... that just the way they did things 2,000 - 4,000 years ago in the Middle East. Also, if all the descendents, male and female, from Adam to Jesus was included in the Bible, it would be several hundred times longer.

"Well RIF, looks like the conversation has come full circle. You must be pleased." ____ Hi, No, not really... My "goal" was not to start a set of dialogs but was to try and reconcile what I was reading in the Srimad Bhagavatam with my every day experience. Srila Prabhupada's letter from 1972 (thanks theist!) addressed the issue from one prespective. Shiva (12/05/02 5:49 PM) offers another prospective that in it's own way is valid: What IS reality? Is my reality the same as yours? Are there multiple realities? Here we are: Is my reality at the at the same time the same but yet different from yours? (Where have you heard a similar phrase like that before?) The other day I was considering the universe as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam, and comparing it to the universive scientests describe, and suddenly, for one second, I "saw" and/or "felt" that the universe of the Srimad Bhagavatam "could" in fact be real -- it was just a matter of shifting my perception of reality. For that brief second I experienced that "reality" is not a "fixed" certainty, but somehow more dynamic -- more fluid, yet more quantam. Then ZING! my reality solified and the universe was made up of millions of galixies of suns. But I did see that there are many things I don't know about. Many thanks for all the different prospectives and view points, I have learned a lot over the past days and have much to consider for some time to come.

Hello, Interestingly I found this letter referenced by a devotee on another topic. But it fit so well here. Srila Prabhupada appears to be answering my very question! Here is his letter, in part: ------------------------ Letter to: Krsnadasa Vrindaban 7 November, 1972 72-11-07 My Dear Krsnadasa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 30, 1972, and I have noted the contents. It appears that you are again constantly disturbed by the same nonsense doubts. These things are not very important, we may not waste our time with these insignificant questions. If we are seeking to find out some fault, maya will give us all facility to find any small thing and make it very big, that is maya. But such questions as yours: why there is so-called discrepancy between the views of Bhagavat and modern scientists regarding the moon and other planets, and whether Hitler is good or bad man, these are most insignificant matters, and for anyone who is sincerely convinced that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for him these questions do not arise. Our information comes from Vedas, and if we believe Krishna, that <center>vedaham samatitani vartamanani carjuna bhavisyani ca bhutani mam tu veda na kascana (BG, VII, 26)</center> ["O Arjuna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me no one knows."] that He knows everything, and ''vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham,'' that Krishna is non-different from Vedas, then these questions do not arise. But because you have asked me, I am your spiritual master, I must try to answer to your satisfaction. Yes, sometimes in Vedas such things like the asura's decapitated head chasing after Candraloka, sometimes it is explained allegorically. Just like now we are explaining in 4th Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam the story of King Puranjana. Just like the living entity is living within this body, and the body is described there as city with nine gates, the intelligence as the Queen. So there are sometimes allegorical explanations. So there are many things which do not corroborate with the so-called modern science, because they are explained in that way. But where is the guarantee that modern science is also correct? So we are concerned with Krishna Consciousness, and even though there is some difference of opinion between modern science and allegorical explanation in the Bhagavat, we have to take the essence of Srimad-Bhagavatam and utilize it for our higher benefit, without bothering about the correctness of the modern science or the allegorical explanation sometimes made in Srimad-Bhagavatam. But this is a fact that in each and every planet there is a predominant deity, as we have got experience in this planet there is a president, so it is not wonderful when the predominating deity fights with another predominating deity of another planet. The modern science takes everything as dead stone. We take it for granted that everything is being manipulated by a person in each and every affair of the cosmology. The modern scientists however could not make any progress in the understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, therefore we do not accept modern science as very perfect. We take Krishna's version: <center>gam avisya ca bhutani dharayamy aham ojasa pusnami causadhih sarvah somo bhutvah rasatmakah (BG, 15.13)</center> ["I enter into each planet, and by My energy they stay in orbit. I become the moon and thereby supply the juice of life to all vegetables."] "I become the moon,'' and "yac chandramasi yac cagnau,'' (ibid, 12) "I am the splendor of the moon,'' and ``jyotisam api taj jyotis,'' (BG, 13.18) ``I am the source of light in all luminous objects,'' so no one is able to give us the correct information than Krishna, that you should know...

As I walked down the street, a beautiful woman got out of her car and walked past me. Immediately sexual desire filled me. Rather than feel guilt, or worry, I observed the desire, and then released it, and moved my mind to more appropriate thoughts. My "personal" feelings are that I am currently in the process of being purified by our Lord. This purification comes about through chanting of His name, study of His word, association with His devotees, eating His food. I am so degraded and attached to this material world that it is going to take a long time. But...!...I have faith in the mercy of our Lord, and I can rest in that faith. When thoughts contrary to our Lord arise in my mind, I realize that I did not consciously initiate them, I realize that they are part of me that is in the state of purification, and I realize that the Lord is purifying me. With that, I can then place my faith in the Lord, and release them to Him. Then I move on in my thoughts. The REAL problem, it seems to me, is not that the initial thought which rises in me, but giving these lustful, evil, ungodly, selfish, materialistic thoughts consideration, and dwelling on them -- that is when material attachment is made stronger. It seems to me the initial thought is of little importance -- whether we dwell on them or move on to better thoughts is the biggest factor. How does one just stop thinking about things that one does not want to think about? Just do it -- just think about something else -- about our Lord -- just forget about it. How does one stop thinking about an elephant? Think about a lion. Release it. When an unwelcome thought comes, I recognize it, trust in the Lord and let it go. If every unwelcome thought caused one to think of our Lord, then we would, in fact, find ourselves making progress in our development of our love for Him. Hope this helps. It has helped me in the past, and continues to help me on into the future.

</p> Hi, I am currently reading the Ramayana of Valmiki, and have noted in many places that Rama is described as being dark, "blue-ish", cloud like, in color. However, in my copy of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Ramachandra is shown having green skin. I went looking in various works of Srila Praphupada, and can find no specific description of Rama's color, or why he would be painted with a green skin tone. What I did find is the following: &#8220;In the four yugas&#8212;Satya, Tretä, Dväpara and Kali&#8212;the Lord incarnates in four colors: white, red, black and yellow respectively. These are the colors of the incarnations in different millenniums. -- Madhya 20.330 The yugas are known as Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga and Kali-yuga. The incarnations of each yuga are of different color. The colors are white, red, black and yellow. In the Dvapara-yuga, Lord Krsna in black color appeared, and in the Kali-yuga Lord Caitanya in yellow color appeared. --Purport Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.5 Given that Rama did not advent in the Dvapara yuga, how can he be even described as being like a blue lotus (much less green)? What color IS Ramachandra? Thanks for your help!