Author Archives: Candidasa dasa, UK

Last Saturday I hosted a meeting at my flat. It had been a long time since I had done such a thing.
Just 3 guests came. Two regular friends and one friend of a friend: a German exchange student from Berlin who was new to Krishna consciousness.
We star…

Last Saturday I hosted a meeting at my flat. It had been a long time since I had done such a thing.
Just 3 guests came. Two regular friends and one friend of a friend: a German exchange student from Berlin who was new to Krishna consciousness.
We star…

I had to laugh when Steve Jobs showed this comparison of the new cleanly designed iMac versus a normal Dell PC with a rat’s nest of cables behind it.

Steve Jobs’ presentation
iMac design website
Dell XPS 410

I had to laugh when Steve Jobs showed this comparison of the new cleanly designed iMac versus a normal Dell PC with a rat’s nest of cables behind it.

Steve Jobs’ presentation
iMac design website
Dell XPS 410

My personalDNA Report: respectful analyst
(as inspired by Sitapati and Urmila)

My personalDNA Report: respectful analyst
(as inspired by Sitapati and Urmila)

In this visit of mine to Dr. Philip Weeks’ clinic I was surprised by the number of people in the waiting room. A whole bunch of other doctors and health-care practitioners have moved into the practice with Philip. Their skills very much complement each…

In this visit of mine to Dr. Philip Weeks’ clinic I was surprised by the number of people in the waiting room. A whole bunch of other doctors and health-care practitioners have moved into the practice with Philip. Their skills very much complement each…

“The division of gross time is calculated as follows: two atoms make one double atom, and three double atoms make one hexatom. This hexatom is visible in the sunshine which enters through the holes of a window screen. One can clearly see that the hexat…

“The division of gross time is calculated as follows: two atoms make one double atom, and three double atoms make one hexatom. This hexatom is visible in the sunshine which enters through the holes of a window screen. One can clearly see that the hexat…

I just had a paper accepted for publication at this year’s Knowledge Capture conference (K-CAP 2007). My paper is “A Methodology for Asynchronous Multi-User Editing of Semantic Web Ontologies”. It will serve as the basis of my upcoming PhD thesis.
You …

I just had a paper accepted for publication at this year’s Knowledge Capture conference (K-CAP 2007). My paper is “A Methodology for Asynchronous Multi-User Editing of Semantic Web Ontologies”. It will serve as the basis of my upcoming PhD thesis.
You …

This video site has a number of how to and self-help videos. For example, the hilarious: how to give a great man-to-man hug video. The videos are informative and often really funny. I could see this site becoming quite popular in the future. They have …

This video site has a number of how to and self-help videos. For example, the hilarious: how to give a great man-to-man hug video. The videos are informative and often really funny. I could see this site becoming quite popular in the future. They have …

60 minutes has a report (A Pill to Forget?) (videos here) on a drug that can erase memories. Propranolol is a drug that (among other things) seems to erase link between an intense emotional event and the memory.
Psychiatrist hope to treat patients suf…

60 minutes has a report (A Pill to Forget?) (videos here) on a drug that can erase memories. Propranolol is a drug that (among other things) seems to erase link between an intense emotional event and the memory.
Psychiatrist hope to treat patients suf…

Do it three times!
The news media is more than willing to publish a story, any story. If something is moderately well written and seems to be interesting, a local newspaper will publish it. If something is of interest to a broader spectrum of people, t…

Do it three times!
The news media is more than willing to publish a story, any story. If something is moderately well written and seems to be interesting, a local newspaper will publish it. If something is of interest to a broader spectrum of people, t…

Two weeks after my maha-long flight my body started malfunctioning. Digestion went down the drain, stomach wound itself up in pain and PhD work showed no gain. This if fairly normal for me. Two weeks after some damage to the body I get the delayed reac…

Two weeks after my maha-long flight my body started malfunctioning. Digestion went down the drain, stomach wound itself up in pain and PhD work showed no gain. This if fairly normal for me. Two weeks after some damage to the body I get the delayed reac…

Just back from my trip to New Zealand I saw Dr Phil again. He did a brief calculation of my astrology. The result: it seems just around the time I’m due to finish my PhD my planetary influence moves from “study” to “work”. My health should get a bit be…

Just back from my trip to New Zealand I saw Dr Phil again. He did a brief calculation of my astrology. The result: it seems just around the time I’m due to finish my PhD my planetary influence moves from “study” to “work”. My health should get a bit be…

After my stay in Wellington I went onwards to Auckland for a brief two day visit. I went to the Loft for one evening. It is very similar to Gaura Yoga in mood, style and popularity, although maybe a little more industrial looking. It is a very nice pla…

After my stay in Wellington I went onwards to Auckland for a brief two day visit. I went to the Loft for one evening. It is very similar to Gaura Yoga in mood, style and popularity, although maybe a little more industrial looking. It is a very nice pla…

A realization I had while reading the Srimad-Bhagavatam: the place commonly known as “hell” is not underground or anything like that, but in the sky. In the place between heaven and earth.
“Living entities who are associates of Rudra develop in the th…

A realization I had while reading the Srimad-Bhagavatam: the place commonly known as “hell” is not underground or anything like that, but in the sky. In the place between heaven and earth.
“Living entities who are associates of Rudra develop in the th…

While in Wellington (New Zealand) I gave a Sunday presentation at Gaura Yoga. I talked on Scientific Spirituality. I talked about science in general and how it works (or not). Then I went on to talk about Krishna consciousness explaining how it is a ve…

While in Wellington (New Zealand) I gave a Sunday presentation at Gaura Yoga. I talked on Scientific Spirituality. I talked about science in general and how it works (or not). Then I went on to talk about Krishna consciousness explaining how it is a ve…

After the amazing Bhakti-retreat I headed off to Wellington, New Zealand. I had stayed in Wellington for one year in 2003. So, it was quite emotional to be back.

Gaura Yoga is the main hub around which all Krishna conscious activities in Wellington revolve. All other outreach centers around AU and NZ are based on this remarkable establishment. Gaura Yoga is not a temple. Rather it has the look and feel of a high-quality caf?©. Yoga classes and seminars take place during the week and a three hour-long kirtan is held every Saturday, followed by a massive masterfully executed festival on Sundays. An average of 25 people attend each yoga night and 30 – 100 guests come to the Sunday programs (and these are paying guests wanting to hear about Krishna, not devotee staff).

Visnumaya devi dasi manages Gaura Yoga. Throng of pictures here.

I want to move to Wellington after finishing my PhD, so I spent most of my time looking for jobs while there. Lucky for me: there is currently a huge shortage of software engineers in New Zealand. I’m told it works something like this:

A while ago (during the .com boom) everyone in the world (and more than everyone in India) studied computer science even if they had no interest, talent or skill in the subject in hope of cashing in. However, now that the good times are over, suddenly no one in NZ is interested in computers anymore. CS student numbers have gone way, way down. Thus getting a job in academia is nigh on impossible at the moment. University departments are funded based on how many students they teach. Fewer students, means less money, which means no hiring of new staff. However, because no one is studying computer science, very few people are graduating with software qualifications (and even those that are, are mostly moving to the USA where salaries are much higher than in NZ). This leaves the NZ IT companies clamoring for every last software engineer they can get their hands on.

Most companies hire via various recruitment companies, so I got in contact with a number of these recruiters. They had a whole slew of companies they wanted to represent me to. However, they preferred to do this closer to the time of my actuall arrival. Nevertheless, I got three job offers from the different companies I interviewed with. So, I can pick my job.

Wellington, here I come!

After the amazing Bhakti-retreat I headed off to Wellington, New Zealand. I had stayed in Wellington for one year in 2003. So, it was quite emotional to be back.
Gaura Yoga is the main hub around which all Krishna conscious activities in Wellington rev…

After a short stay in Brisbane the devotees headed off to a retreat center two hours out of town on Mount Warning, Murwillumbah, NSW. The center had been shut down for many years, but the owner wanted to get it going again. However, fixing it up was a …

After a short stay in Brisbane the devotees headed off to a retreat center two hours out of town on Mount Warning, Murwillumbah, NSW. The center had been shut down for many years, but the owner wanted to get it going again. However, fixing it up was a …

I was watching this interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs and tech-writer Walt Mossberg on (among other things) the upcoming iPhone. One thing definitely comes through in the video: Jobs really believes in his product. He isn’t trying to “push” or “hype”…

I was watching this interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs and tech-writer Walt Mossberg on (among other things) the upcoming iPhone. One thing definitely comes through in the video: Jobs really believes in his product. He isn’t trying to “push” or “hype”…

The next destination in my travels (a short plane flight away) was Brisbane, Australia.
Brisbane is very different from Melbourne. While the climate in Melbourne is mild, Brisbane is downright tropical. I did not like it very much. Too hot. The city al…

The next destination in my travels (a short plane flight away) was Brisbane, Australia.
Brisbane is very different from Melbourne. While the climate in Melbourne is mild, Brisbane is downright tropical. I did not like it very much. Too hot. The city al…

I took a 6 week break from my PhD study. During that break I traveled to various places down-under. My first destination: Melbourne, Australia.
I stayed in the glorious Melbourne Mahaprabhu Mandir. It is a beautiful and amazing temple run under the ski…

I took a 6 week break from my PhD study. During that break I traveled to various places down-under. My first destination: Melbourne, Australia.
I stayed in the glorious Melbourne Mahaprabhu Mandir. It is a beautiful and amazing temple run under the ski…