Author Archives: Candidasa dasa, UK

God & Science: God and the Laws of Physics
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(God and Science by Richard L. Thompson is a collection of essays and papers on those subjects. I??(TM)ll be summarizing each essay over the coming months. The book’s website may be found here. Please buy the book if you want to full story and full theoretical background.)

Our consciousness is non-material, a supreme consciousness exists, which also non-material and matter exists, which is a very complex machine. We are conscious living beings with free will, but are seated as in a rollercoaster ride in our material bodies. We experience our lives, but cannot directly influence events in the material world. We may think we can lift our arm when we desire to, but actually we cannot do anything.

However, we do have the capacity to desire. This is where the supreme consciousness comes in. It acts as a link between the physical world and our spiritual consciousness. This super-conscious living being is aware of all our desires and arranges for them to be fulfilled as best possible, taking into account other people??(TM)s desires, the laws of physics, subtle laws, such as the reactions to our past activities (karma) and his own universal plan.

Well known experiments show how people can influence a random number generator simply by trying to ??oewill it?? in a certain direction. This phenomenon can easily be explained in the above model of reality. The supreme consciousness, to a certain extent, fulfills the living beings??(TM) desires for the random number generator to produce a certain output. Quantum mechanical uncertainty is the result of God making micro-adjustments in the physical world to fulfill everyone??(TM)s desire.

Krishna’s personality
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After analyzing my personality I thought I would think a bit about Krishna’s personality. To better understand it, I’ll try to characterize it in terms of its similarity to several popular personalities from Star Wars and Star Trek. I’m no expert, so please correct me if and when I am wrong.

The Nectar of Devotion, Second Wave, Chapter 23 describes Krishna’s personality. It characterizes him as simultaneously having four opposing personalities. This is not contradictory. I would, in fact, expect nothing less from him. This is God: far from being an impersonal oneness, he has the most variegated and interesting personality in existence. Moreover, it??(TM)s all described, in detail, in the Vedic literature.

Dh?«rod?tta

A dh?«rod?tta is a person who is naturally very grave, gentle, forgiving, merciful, determined, humble, highly qualified, chivalrous and physically attractive. Krishna exhibited this mood when he lifted Govardhana Hill. The NOD also gives the example of Lord R?macandra as a dh?«rod?tta personality.

To me like this sounds like an introverted, task oriented/thinking personality. That would make Krishna similar to the personalities of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Boba Fett and Yoda from Star Wars.

“Things are only impossible until they’re not.” – Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: TNG)

Dh?«ra-lalita

A person is called dh?«ra-lalita if he is naturally very funny, always in full youthfulness, expert in joking and free from all anxieties. Krishna shows this personality when he teases and embarrasses R?dh?r?n?£?«. Cupid is also described as a dh?«ra-lalita.

To me this seems to be an extroverted, people oriented/feeling personality. This personality is similar to Anakin Skywalker, Jar-Jar Binks and Captain Kirk.

“We’re Starfleet officers. Weird is part of the job.” ??” Captain Janeway (Star Trek: Voyager)

Dh?«ra-pra?>?nta

A person who is very peaceful, forbearing, considerate and obliging is called dh?«ra-pra?>?nta. Krishna, when serving the P?n?£d?£ava brothers, is an example of this aspect of his personality. Some scholars also characterize King Yudhis?£t?£hira in this way.

This sounds very much like an introverted, people oriented/feeling personality. Film characters who share this trait with Krishna include Princess Padm?© Amidala, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker and C3PO.

“Why don’t we look at this from a mosquito’s point of view?” ??” Dr. Beverly Crusher (Star Trek: TNG)

Dh?«roddhata

A person who is very envious, proud, easily angered, restless and complacent is called dh?«roddhata by learned scholars. Such qualities were visible in the character of Lord Kr?£s?£n?£a, because when He was writing a letter to K?layavana, Kr?£s?£n?£a addressed him as a sinful frog. Sometimes Bh?«ma, the second brother of the P?n?£d?£avas, is also described as dh?«roddhata.

An extroverted, task oriented/thinking personality-type fits this description. Characters like R2-D2, Han Solo and Jabba the Hut also have this personality.

“No one gets the best of me in my kitchen!” ??” Neelix (Star Trek: Voyager)

Cheating education system
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The UK government has decided to change the way university fees work. They claim this change is to help the poorest students to be able to afford an education. It’s fairly complicated with different amounts of loans, bursaries, grants and fees. However, cutting through all the fluff, it turns out that, on-average, students starting university this September will end up paying about double the amount of money for their education (tuition fees have tripled, but do not need to be paid until after gradation).

Average student debt (from Natwest Student Money Matters Survey):
2002: ?£2,489
2003: ?£8,125

Estimated average student debt at graduation (from annual Barclays Student Survey):
2004: ?£12,069
2006: ?£17,561
2010: ?£33,708

According to the NatWest survey the average monthly expense of a student breaks down as follows (figures for 2004):

Rent: ?£289.60
Food shopping: ?£78.73
Alcohol: ?£74.14
Going out: ?£62.40
Cigarettes: ?£70.00
Clothes: ?£53.56
Eating out: ?£53.47
Utilities: ?£58.76
Transport: ?£54.56
Phone: ?£44.29
Books: ?£38.13
Monthly total: ?£877.64

The UK government isn’t stupid. They have as a target: “to have 50% of young people enter higher education by 2010”. Why do they want nearly everyone in the country to have the equivalent of NZ$ 100k debt? Is this some conspiracy to control the people?

Guru’s answer: “It’s the new version of the old serfdom.
University students now equal the peasantry.”