Monthly Archives: January 2015

HH Bhakti Vidyapurna Swami at ISKCON Mayapur on 2015-01-04, Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 06 02 35 37

Evaluating the validity of rituals based on their sensibility seems like a sound criterion, but is it really? Let’s consider three factors: Are we ready to reject all rituals that don’t make sense? Is making sense the essence of rituals? Are we mature enough to properly evaluate the value of rituals? Are we ready to […]

They can be, but what is the solution? When we come to know that the number we are dialing is wrong, we seek the right number by consulting the appropriate authoritative book, the phone directory. Similarly, we can find the right rituals by referring to the appropriate authoritative book, scripture. Scripture offers us much more […]

Holy Name Meditation Podcast: Download by “right-click and save content”

In Chapter Ten [of Canto Three] we get a very logical, evolutionarily sequential description of Creation progressing through 10 stages. Brahmā becomes involved from stage 7. In that 7th stage, Brahmā creates flora. In the 8th, fauna. In the 9th, humans. And in the 10th he creates super-humans. In Chapter Twelve we seem to get other details. … Continue reading The Evolution / Creation of the Universe, Detailed Overview

“The chanting of the holy name resonates in your mind and comes out your mouth. You pay attention to the quality, that each mantra is uttered clearly, each syllable pronounced and heard. You try as usual for reciprocation with the Divine Couple.”From B…

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 21 May 2014, Prague, Czech Republic, Lecture at Govindas) We have to look at our life as a whole and not only get lost in the moment. We are enjoying the material world but still it is not fulfilling. There is enjoyment, but it is not enough to fulfill the emptiness in […]

This is a continuation of Gopisa das’s India Journal.  See DAYS 1 & 2 in this Brijabasi Spirit, Dec. 26, 2014.  The link follows. http://www.brijabasispirit.com/2014/12/26/new-vrindabans-gopisa-das-discusses-rotis-and-spirituality-in-the-land-of-bharatavarsha/ DAY 3 Dearest family, Day two was comprised of seminars, workshops and bhajans. Jaya Krsna and I went to the market in the afternoon for a cotton chadar (a gift […]

Dr. Arvind Panagariya is a professor of economics at Columbia and an alumnus from Princeton. He is also an editor for India Policy Forum and Brookings Institution. He is currently the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog of India. Talking about climate change in developing countries like India and China, his solution is that developed countries such as the US should invest heavily in research in developing countries so there is enough technology using non-fossil fuels to alleviate climatic change. This may sound like a solution but so far, we have not found any convincing alternate fuel source that can be implemented at a global level. Besides, climate change, poverty and world economy are interlinked to the point that one can adversely impact the other. New technology still requires exploitation of natural resources which again may put us back to square one.

There is another solution – shutting down or at the least reduce half of the global slaughter houses that promote factory farming. This can have a significant impact on climate change and global poverty. Slaughtering animals on a mass scale (factory farming), repeated research has shown, creates massive amounts of greenhouse gases that it is the leading cause of climate change. Al Gore is on record saying “the growing meat intensity of diets around the world is bad for the planet…and the factory farming way so much of our livestock is raised now is very bad for the planet, no question about it”. While Al Gore won Nobel peace prize for elevating the climate issue, he admits he likes his meat and has no plans of giving it up. Obviously, there is an inherent hypocrisy involved in his book and movie.

Raising animals for slaughter is a highly inefficient way to use our land and its resources. The prestigious Worldwatch Institute states, “Meat consumption is an inefficient use of grain—the grain is used more efficiently when consumed directly by humans. Continued growth in meat output is dependent on feeding grain to animals, creating competition for grain between affluent meat-eaters and the world’s poor.” According to the United Nations, raising animals for food (including land used for grazing and land used to grow feed crops) uses a staggering 30 percent of the earth’s land mass. More than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals, and according to scientists’ at the Smithsonian Institution, the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed worldwide every minute to create more room for farmed animals. It takes more than 11 times as much fossil fuel to make one calorie from animal protein as it does to make one calorie from plant protein.

Raising animals for food gobbles up precious energy. Nearly half of all the water used in the United States goes to raising animals for food. In 2008, John Anthony Allan, a professor at King’s College London and the winner of the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize, urged people worldwide to go vegetarian because of the tremendous waste of water involved with eating animals. It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, while growing 1 pound of wheat only requires 25 gallons. You save more water by not eating a pound of meat than you do by not showering for six months! According to Greenpeace, all the wild animals and trees in more than 2.9 million acres of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil were destroyed in the 2004-2005 crop season in order to grow crops that are used to feed chickens and other animals in factory farms. Finally, According to Oregon State University agriculture professor Peter Cheeke, “factory farming constitutes a frontal assault on the environment, with massive groundwater and air pollution problems”

The evidence is overwhelming – animal slaughter is not only causing global climate issues, it also is promoting and sustaining food poverty. By living a vegetarian lifestyle, one can save large amounts of land and water resources. Using the saved land and water, more people across the world can be fed thus fully eliminating food poverty. When people do not experience food shortage (or food insecurity) there will not be a need to work in substandard working conditions at low-wages. This will also bridge the gap between the rich and poor thus creating a more equitable social, economic and political society.

If the leaders of society can simply take one strategy of stopping or reducing factory farming of animals, one can solve global poverty and reverse climate change. Since the desire to eat meat will always remain, a policy should be mandated to cull animals’ in small scale in local farms. As such a practice will be expensive; the frequency of meat consumption will reduce.

REGISTER FOR THE COURSE BY CLICKING HERE!Are you a student? Or maybe you work for a living? Bringing up children? Caring for elderly parents? Do you see yourself as rich, poor, lonely, worried, concerned about where the world is headed? Or just struggl…

Bhagavatam-daily podcast: Download by “right-click and save content”

What is it like to preach in New York City? (Photos with descriptions)
Srila Prabhupada: By the grace of the Lord, if a devotee, at the time of death, can simply chant Hare Krishna, he immediately surpasses the great ocean of the material sky and enter… Read more ›

Yesterday we visited the home where the great saint Madhvacharya appeared. It is not far from Udupi. Madhvacharya was an incarnation of the wind god, Vayu, and previously appeared as both Hanuman and Bhima. He was instrumental is spreading Vaisnavism t…

The glories of winter preaching in Tel-aviv, Israel (Album 42 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: There is competition of loving Krishna even in the party of Srimati Radharani. It is a kind of rasa to compete in loving affection centering around Krishna. Letter … Read more ›

The city of Udupi is situated in the southwest state of Karnataka in India. It has a population of 165,000 people, but is filled with visiting pilgrims throughout the year. Devotees come specifically to take darsan of the beautiful deity of Krishna [ U…

Gita Verse-by-verse Study Podcast: Download by “right-click and save content”

Gita Verse-by-verse Study Podcast: Download by “right-click and save content”

I have shared this short video before, but it bears repetition. I hope my readers won’t mind. It’s that time of year, after all. The beginning of a year is a good time to plan the rest of it. What … Continue reading →

by Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi Klang – Ratha Yatra 2014

by Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi Klang – Ratha Yatra 2014

by Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi Klang – Ratha Yatra 2014

by Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi Klang – Ratha Yatra 2014

by Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi Klang – Ratha Yatra 2014

by Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi Klang – Ratha Yatra 2014

by Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi Klang – Ratha Yatra 2014

by Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi Klang – Ratha Yatra 2014

by Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi Klang – Ratha Yatra 2014

by Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi Klang – Ratha Yatra 2014

Pushya Abhishek in Iskcon Vrindavan! 5/1/15 (Album 57 photos)
Pushya Abhishek of their Lordship Sri Sri Krishna Balram Gaura Nitai Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundara and Lalita Vishakha Devi with pure cow ghee!
Srila Prabhupada once explained the festival this way: “Krishna was just a toy in the hands of the Gopis, so one day the Gopis decided that we shall decorate Him. Pusya abhisheka means a ceremony to decorate the deity profusely with flowers, ornaments, cloths.
After there should be lavish feasting and a procession through the streets, so that all the citizens should see how beautiful Krishna appears.”
See them here: http://goo.gl/Ktq1Ry

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Bhaktivedanta Academy Students in Alachua, Florida, help plant Fruit Trees
The Bhaktivedanta Academy students from Shanti Day’s class came out last week to help plant the first section of the fruit orchard. The students planted 15 trees including pear, persimmon, peach and plum, and learned some basic principles of dormant planting, where the plant’s roots shoot downwards, and the tree is prevented from budding. In two years or so the students will see the fruit of their work, literally. Now that the fruit trees are in they need watering. This can be easily accomplished by drip irrigation lines, which can be put down and connected to our new water tower tank. BUT the solar well pump needs to be hooked up to the new well and the solar panels installed by an experienced person.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/X0W2nc

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A Krishna Conscious Taxi Ride – Yamaraja das
Yamaraja das likes to see each person that gets into his taxi as a potential recipient of Srila Prabhupada’s mercy. He is always looking for the right opportunity to introduce his customers to Srila Prabhupada’s books. More often than not people have been open and appreciative to receive a book and hear something about the Hare Krishna movement. The cab company owner Abhayananda das is also a devotee, which affords a degree of facility to Yamaraja prabhu’s mission.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/9egUr9

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The qualities that a civilised society is meant to inculcate in its citizens.
The post Varnasrama series 5 appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Kirtan: Meditation with a bang (6 min video)
A short video to give a people a taste of kirtan.
Kirtan is actually the recommended yoga technique for this age, to uncover our original self which is beyond the body and mind, and reconnect with the Supreme consciousness, Krishna, Source of all pleasure. Yoga actually literally means this – to connect the tiny particle of consciousness, ourselves, with the Supreme Consciousness, Krishna in our original harmonious relationship – so we can again experience that taste and full resonance we are always searching for in everything we do – the Love Supreme. That is the highest pleasure available for us. But anyway that’s a look in to the deeper meaning of kirtan, if you just want to come for relaxation and a good time, feel free!
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/2G3WUV

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Their Lordships Sri Sri Gandharvika Giridhari adorned in Traditional Manipuri Outfits (Album 15 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: In the material world, everything is full of anxiety
(kuntha), whereas in the spiritual world (Vaikuntha) everything is free from … Read more ›

The post January 5th, 2015 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

HG Jai Nitai Dasa – 25.12.2014