Author Archives: Candidasa dasa, UK

Devamrita Swami: Jihad versus McWorld consciousness
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Place: Nienburg, Germany
Time: 69 min.

Summary:
Jihad consciousness is the traditional, village culture, not necessarily exclusive to Islam. It is any group of people that value their cultural uniqueness and ethnicity. These kinds of people want to fight the ongoing globalization by any means.

McWorld consciousness is the global consumer culture. Global brands, global food, global pop-stars, global morality (make up your own religion and do whatever feels right). These people look down on the primitive tribespeople. The McWorld is ruled by big business. It is good business if everyone wants the same food. Big Macs can then be mass produced in large quantities for large profits.

Both types of consciousness are merely polished animal life. They are in what is known as ??oesilpa jnana??. Higher than that is ??oebrahma vidya??, or knowledge of a spiritual reality beyond the bodily identification. However, that is just the beginning, the kindergarten, of spiritual knowledge. Higher than that is knowledge of ??oeparamatma??, the Supersoul. The peak of knowledge is knowledge of ??oebhagavan??, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This level includes all the lower levels.

Questions:

  • How can this absolute knowledge manifest in our daily lives?
  • In the Bhagavad-Gita it says that a householder must perform his duty? What is this duty?
  • How can be become perfect if our karma is in the way?
  • When following the spiritual path there are often so many obstacles, impediments and unfortunate circumstances that one gets confused. I have so many problems with my children that I can no longer believe in God.
  • Is it possible to enlighten the Jihad and McWorld people with real spiritual knowledge?

Vedicsoc: session #8
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The Vedicsoc session was interesting yesterday. One of the students from last week liked the Power Yoga so much that she enthusiastically brought one of her friends along. Word of mouth is the best advertising. Altogether four people attended the session.

I taught I rather good slow-deep aerobic class that was well received. We then chanted the Hare Krishna mantra for a while on beads. This was received with some suspicion. Then, coming to the discussion, the two new girls affirmed that they were perfectly happy with their life and did not want to have anything to do with any spiritual process or ??oereligion??. Yuck! (though I explained, or at least attempted to explain, that it was actually a very scientific process)

They continued to affirm: ??oewe like passion and are perfectly happy with our lives as they are. We like stress: it gives us the opportunity to learn to manage our time better.??

I tried loads of approaches to introduce them to spirituality, but no chance. They almost certainly won??(TM)t come back next week. In any case, they have gotten a lot of benefit from their brief exposure to Krishna consciousness.

On intelligent design
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I heard a researcher make the following comment in a recent mp3 lecture I was listening to: ??oeThe fact that all species use DNA as their means of copying and reproduction is the single most compelling proof of the theory of evolution.??

Juxtaposing that with the following: ??oeThe fact that computers all use transistors is the single most compelling proof that they came about by random mutations of silicon ore.??

Devamrita Swami: Questions & Answers
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Place: Goloka Dhama, Abentheuer, Germany
Time: 38 min.

Questions:

  • The king and householder Maharaja Rantideva didn??(TM)t teach spiritual knowledge directly, so how can we learn from him?
  • How will someone learn from the reactions to their bad deeds in past lives if they can??(TM)t remember them?
  • How can we possibly offend Krishna? Who are we to be able to offend God?
  • How to be so compassionate that we accept other??(TM)s suffering?
  • Was Citraketu??(TM)s insulting Lord Siva and being cursed by Parvati Krishna??(TM)s arrangement?
  • When and how do we get the mercy of the devotee?
  • What is the nature of ??oerealization???
  • How can we change our tactics to better connect with present-day people?
  • How do we understand the Bhagavad-Gita where Krishna says that he who explains him to the devotee is most dear?
  • Krishna is self-satisfied and has only created this material world for our sake, but he arranged for Jaya and Vijaya??(TM)s falldown so he could have a good fight. Isn??(TM)t that some selfish desire on his part?