December 28 2008

These bright young things are my daughter Rasarani-priya and her best friend, Tara. Two effulgent young sixteen years old devotees who are eager to take advantage of their fortunate births and increase their devotional service.  Rasarani is already initiated by HH Indradyumna Swami and currently doing the three month Bhakti Shastri course at the Mayapur Institute for Higher Education and Training (MIHET). She spent two months this year on the Polish Festival of India Tour and is planning to repeat the experience again next year.

Tara is Australian and has been living in Mayapur for the past  four years with her mother Siddhi dasi, and two brothers, Jahnu and Radha Raman. She is also an aspiring disciple of Indradyumna Maharaja and she would love to also go on the two month Polish tour next year with Rasarani.

This is where you dear reader, can help. Due to circumstances beyond her control Tara doesn’t have the funds to get to Poland and back.  If anyone has a desire to help and encourage this fine young lady to develop her devotional creeper, you can do no better than offering to partly or wholey sponsor her trip. Its a wonderful way to encourage our youth to become Krsna conscious and to give Krsna consciousness to others. Anyone who helps is sure to get the blessings of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya.

If anyone is interested, please contact myself anytime between now and April.

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December 28 2008

Here’s a wonderful story from Sriman Nanda Kishore prabhu to add to my post on December 3 2008 about miracles:

“On 18th March, 2008, Sri Maheshbhai Dhokia, congregation member from London called me and told me that His wife, Srimati Jayshree Dhokia is suffering from acute uterine cancer and she is being flown to Frankfurt for the last time. Maheshbhai asked me if the devotees in Mayapur could do some prayers for his wife. Doctors in London had given up the hope and claimed that she may not last more then 3 months as the cancer had spread to most parts of lower body that is abdominal and pelvic area.

The following morning, I humbly requested HG Pankajanghri prabhu and explained him the whole situation. We were both in the pujari room near Radha Madhava altar. I was dressing Mahaprabhu at that time of the year and HG Pankajanghri prabhu was making his final preparations for all the abhisekha of Lord Nrisimadeva.

HG Pankajanghri prabhu asked what is the name of the mataji. I just gave the name written on a piece of paper.

In Germany, it was just during the same time the operation was going on to save Srimati Jayshree mataji. After she gained her consciousness she told her husband that she dreamt of lord Nrisimhadev of Mayapur. Bhakta Pralad Maharaja was there  to tell her the glories of Lord Nrisimhadev.

She also told her husband that she completely feels like a new person and something evil has left her body.

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December 23 2008

Here’s the second of five questions Sriman Krsna Mitra dasa sent me in October:

Question:

“Krsna says in Bhagavad-Gita 5.29, “I am the proprietor and I am the supreme enjoyer”, so how can I preach this point to normal peoples?”

Answer:

Ownership means control. If someone actually owns something, they consequently have control of it. And if you have control of something, you have the right and ability to enjoy it.

However, it’s not difficult to understand that none of us minute living beings own anything. We have nothing that we can call our own possessions. Even our bodies, what to speak about anything associated with them, do not belong to us. At any moment they can be taken away.

On a visit to New Mayapur in France on August 2 1976 Srila Prabhupada spoke to the assembled students of our gurukula there.

He explained that the root cause of all our difficulties lay in our false desire to want to become masters of all we survey:

[TD 3] “Quoting from Bhagavad-gita 18.66 he said devotional service begins with surrender. But he said the material disease is that everyone wants to become master; nobody wants to become a servant. Therefore there is a struggle for existence.

He said the history of Europe is one of war — one leader after another trying to become the master. “The “mastership competition” is going on life after life and in different species of life, but it is a false ambition.

whoops! Sorry, wrong dictator…

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December 17 2008

Here’s an interesting (to put it mildly) follow up on my posting about recognising strokes and taking early action.

This one is from Sriman Jayatirtha Caran prabhu (JTC) in NZ. He’s an expert purohit (priest) and runs the website http://www.salagram.net/Sri-Shaligram-Tirtha.htm

This is JTC conducting the pujas for the opening of the new Sri Sri Radha Giridhari temple, Bhakti Bhavan, in Auckland January 2004. As you can see, he’s a man of substance:

From JTC:

pamho., agtsp., agtsg&g.,

Thought you might like this after reading your thing on strokes, and yeah I did all those tests that you said.

About ago (Friday)(three weeks now) I was doing the Salagram puja and pondered over how it would be nice if we could relieve Jayapataka swami of his stroke effects and restore him to good health much the same way as Vasudev Datta took the suffering of the people, obviouly a nice sentiment but way too much for an aspiring devotee like me rather than Vasudev Datta.

That day I had a cardiologist appointment at Tauranga hospital, and he was really pleased at my progress since the heart attack in March. The ECG was good, blood pressure was 136 over 85, kidney function was good, they did a diabetes check at the hospital also it was 7.9 which they said was good too. Now they are booking an appointment in a TIA clinic and CT scan later in the week to see if there is some blockage in the neck arteries which they say they may be able to fix in that be the case. Meantime I’d still been drinking Fenugreek tea morning noon and night hoping it will help clean the cobwebs out……

Then on the Monday I was out in the Lord’s garden trimming the edges with the whipper snipper and my wife called me and I went to answer and the words were muddled in my head to reply, and I struggled like anything to finally slur the words out, and she noticed a full right side facial droop. We called an ambulance and off I went to hospital where I was admitted for tests.

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December 15 2008

I am not much of a poetry aficionado. I rarely write it, and seldom read it. But poetry is a powerful medium of expression and can move one’s emotions and spark one’s imagination like few other mediums.

Srila Prabhupada read and wrote poetry and at school he was exposed to British literature and its exponents. One of the great poets he sometimes quoted was William Cowper (pronounced Cooper – 1731-1800):

Cowper was well known for his love of the Divine through nature:

Jnana das: Srila Prabhupada, in Kenya the great majority of people live in the country rather than the towns.
Prabhupada: That’s nice. “Country is made of God, and city is made by man.” That is the remark by poet Cowper.”

Of course, Srila Prabhupad’s realizations went deeper and broader:

Paramahamsa: Life becomes so artificial. In the big city, people don’t see that they depend on God.
Prabhupada: No, no. City or country, that I don’t say that Mr. Cowper is perfect in his statement. City is also created by God. City is also created by God. God has given you the ingredients, He has given you the intelligence, and you create. Eh? Wherefrom you get the intelligence? Eh? Who will answer this? Wherefrom the man gets his intelligence?”

Nevertheless he appreciated Cowper and men like him for their insights into human life and the natural arrangements provided by Krsna for real human development:

“Actually, I have no desire to start the school in any city. City life, especially in this age of kali yuga, is very much polluted. Poet Cowper stated that the city is made by man and the village is made by God. So in the village there is a natural tendency for Krishna Consciousness, so we want to develop such atmosphere in New Vrindaban. “–Letter to: Satyabhama  —  Los Angeles 27 December, 1968 

Cowper, the son of the chaplain of King George II, expressed his god consciousness through verse, to great effect. As Cowper noted about his own ability to write verse and its effect on others:

… I, who scribble rhyme
To catch the triflers of the time,
And tell them truths divine and clear
Which, couched in prose, they would not hear.

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December 14 2008

A few months back I got a question from Samatma Gour das in the CIS about Srimati Tulasi devi that I couldn’t answer:

“I heard recently that Tulasi should not be worshiped on dwadashi (take off leaves, touch etc).

I do not trust any “new” information (that appeared after passing away of Shrila Prabhupada) reg. the process of devotional service. So I decided to ask you. Is there any authoritative information about this and what did Shrila Prabhupada say about this?”

At the time I answered non-committally:

“Sorry prabhu, I don’t know anything about this topic. I never heard this before, that Tulasi cannot be touched or leaves picked on dvadasi. Maybe there is some shastric injunction but if there isn’t I wouldn’t give much credence to it unless someone can show some authoritative source to back it up.”

I recently put out the question on the Prabhupada Disciples conference on Pamho.net  and got this excellent answer from Sriman Gaura Kesava prabhu, an old friend and fellow disciple of Srila Prabhupada from Australia and an expert on various forms of Deity worship and pujas:

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December 8 2008

Just got this in my emails. In the light of HH Jayapataka Swami’s current predicament it would seem very pertinent:

Please have a look….This 5 min may save a life and lots of tears…..

You could save a life.

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters… S.T.R ..
My friend sent this to me and encouraged me to post it and spread the word.
I agree. If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some
folks.

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
During a party, a friend Ingrid stumbled and took a little fall – she assured everyone that she was fine and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. (they offered to call ambulance)

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food – while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid’s husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken o the hospital – (at 6:00pm, Ingrid passed away..) She had suffered a troke at the party. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, erhaps Ingrid would be with us today.

Some don’t die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this…

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke…totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Remember the ‘3’ steps, STR. Read and Learn!
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster.
The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE ..

T * = TALK. Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (eg ‘It is sunny out today’).

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS .

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call the ambulance and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

NOTE : Another ‘sign’ of a stroke is:

1. Ask the person to ‘stick’ out their tongue.

2. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.

A prominent cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

and it could be your own..

PLEASE….. PASS THIS ON

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December 3 2008

Here’s an interesting question from Acyuta Krsna das in Perm, Russia:

 “Why during the last epoch there were various miracles which were made by the Lord and His devoted, sacred persons, and now – today there are no miracles? Why today we do not see miracles? Why now it is not observed at all any phenomena connected with acts of demigods . . . Earlier there were obvious proofs, which many could observe, and now all is reduced only to religious writings. Differently now it is necessary to take on all belief .”

Answer:
 First of all we should understand what ‘miracle’ means. Here is the dictionary meaning:

 “miracle — an event that is contrary to the established laws of nature and attributed to a supernatural cause.”
 “any amazing or wonderful event”

 I think most people will describe a miracle similarly.

 It is not a fact that such things are not going on nowadays. But in modern times most people are atheists or skeptics and will not accept such events even if they see it with their own eyes. Take the events at Fatima, Portugal for instance:

In 1916 three shepherd children reported seeing an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

She told them she would visit them again on specific dates, and give information about the future. The news became widespread. By the time of the third visit, on October 13, 1917, 70,000 persons had gathered to see the event. They were spread over several square miles of countryside.

An eyewitness account was written by Dr. José Maria de Almeida Garrett, a professor at the Faculty of Sciences of Coimbra, Portugal:
“It must have been 1:30 p.m when there arose, at the exact spot where the children were, a column of smoke, thin, fine and bluish, which extended up to perhaps two meters above their heads, and evaporated at that height. This phenomenon, perfectly visible to the naked eye, lasted for a few seconds. Not having noted how long it had lasted, I cannot say whether it was more or less than a minute. The smoke dissipated abruptly, and after some time, it came back to occur a second time, then a third time

“The sky, which had been overcast all day, suddenly cleared; the rain stopped and it looked as if the sun were about to fill with light the countryside that the wintery morning had made so gloomy. I was looking at the spot of the apparitions in a serene, if cold, expectation of something happening and with diminishing curiosity because a long time had passed without anything to excite my attention. The sun, a few moments before, had broken through the thick layer of clouds which hid it and now shone clearly and intensely.

 “Suddenly I heard the uproar of thousands of voices, and I saw the whole multitude spread out in that vast space at my feet…turn their backs to that spot where, until then, all their expectations had been focused, and look at the sun on the other side. I turned around, too, toward the point commanding their gaze and I could see the sun, like a very clear disc, with its sharp edge, which gleamed without hurting the sight. It could not be confused with the sun seen through a fog (there was no fog at that moment), for it was neither veiled nor dim. At Fatima, it kept its light and heat, and stood out clearly in the sky, with a sharp edge, like a large gaming table. The most astonishing thing was to be able to stare at the solar disc for a long time, brilliant with light and heat, without hurting the eyes or damaging the retina. [During this time], the sun’s disc did not remain immobile, it had a giddy motion, [but] not like the twinkling of a star in all its brilliance for it spun round upon itself in a mad whirl.

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