From Kalanidhi Prabhu

Answer Podcast

The post August 15th, 2014 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Lecture Podcast

The tragic suicide of Academy award winning actor and comedian Robin Williams has shocked the entertainment world. Suffering from depression caused by among several things a relapse into substance abuse, he reportedly ended his life first abortively with a knife and then finally with a belt.

Conflating humor and happiness

That depression can afflict anyone, even the wealthy and the famous, is well known. After all, in America, despite its first world prosperity, anti-depressants are the third largest prescription drugs. Yet the fact that depression afflicted fatally a comedian is sobering. If forces us to contemplate the difference between humor and happiness.

Normally because comedians make us laugh, we tend to think of them as happy people. Those who are sources of such joy would be themselves joyful, wouldn’t they?

Far from being a medicine for the heart, it becomes a painkiller that hides the hole in the heart.

Not necessarily. Because humor is just like any other ability that is endowed by nature and enhanced by practice. Being good at humor is like being good at any other cerebral ability such as mathematics or writing. Or, to underscore the difference between abilities and happiness, let’s consider largely physical skills such as skating or singing. Those with such skills can dazzle us by their performances. Yet we intuitively know that a good singer is not necessarily a happy person – happiness is a different ball game. While the difference between the ability to sing and the ability to be happy is easily discerned, the difference between the ability to be humorous and the ability to be happy can be easily missed.

Emphasizing the difference between humor and happiness is not meant to give humor a bad press. No doubt, humor can bring spice to a life that is dry and demanding. Most of us could do with more doses of humor in our ultra-fast, stress-filled lives. The many popular comedy shows and columns do serve a human need to lighten life’s burdens with humor.

Yet might our culture be over-rating humor?

The humor column in the Readers Digest claims through its title, “Laughter is the best medicine.”

Is it, really?

Evidently, it was not a good enough medicine to cure a comedian of fatal depression.

Further, the very fact that laughter is marketed as a medicine points to some underlying malady, some inner emptiness. When there’s inner emptiness, humor can be a mask to hide the absence of happiness. Far from being a medicine for the heart, it becomes a painkiller that hides the hole in the heart.

Dragged down to depression 

It is a telling commentary on the state of popular culture that one of its quintessential icons – an exemplar of ability and prosperity and popularity – had to fight against depression for decades, and ended up disastrously losing the fight.

The materialistic popular culture seduces us with promises of worldly pleasures. Being enamored, we crave and slave to make our way to the top of the ladder of success. The struggle itself can be draining. If we manage to be among the few who do get to the top, we find the achievement to be unbelievably anti-climactic. The high of being high up is agonizingly short-lived. The euphoria dies all too soon, the charm of newness fades and the glamorous becomes monotonous. John Ruskin put it well, “Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.”

What was touted as a source of relief from misery itself becomes a source of misery.

When we are troubled either by emptiness after achieving the material things we aimed for or, more commonly, by frustration due to not achieving them, what does the culture offer us for relief?

Prominently addictive indulgences.

The culture impels us to drown our miseries in tobacco, alcohol or drugs with the promise of instant relief. The relief ends quickly, but the hold of those indulgences on us doesn’t; rather, it tightens with repeated indulgences till it becomes an addiction. The escape-ways often turn out to be trap-ways. What was touted as a source of relief from misery itself becomes a source of misery – and often a much greater misery.

Why greater misery?

Because this misery is almost entirely self-inflicted – we knowingly and willingly fall for indulgences that are known to be addictive.

As we fall for self-destructive addictions, our self-esteem falls too. We can’t digest the reality that we didn’t have the intelligence to see through the deception of the addiction. And we find even more mortifying the reality that we lack the self-mastery to break free. Our plummeting self-esteem drags us down into the dark ditches of depression.

Beyond biochemistry to consciousness

No doubt, depression is sometimes a medical condition that needs appropriate treatment. Drugs like Prozac have had some success, but it’s been limited and uneven. Doctor-author Siddhartha Mukherjee points to the limitations of neurological treatments in an essay titled Post Prozac Nation in New York Times: “We can only mix chemicals and spark electrical circuits and hope, indirectly, to understand the brain’s structure and function through their effects.”

The indirect approach is necessitated because emotions and their foundation, consciousness, are beyond the reach of the material methodology. Consciousness is a dimension of our inner life that is essentially non-material. As Nobel Laureate neurophysiologist John Eccles put it, “The brain is the messenger to consciousness.”

Reducing depression to neurobiology is as superficial and misleading as reducing happiness to humor. In a broader sense, reducing consciousness to chemistry is like missing the driver for the car. The brain is not me; it is a vehicle for the real me, the soul, who is the source of the consciousness that activates the brain’s chemistry

Reducing depression to neurobiology is as superficial and misleading as reducing happiness to humor.

That’s why waiting for some future magic drug as a cure for depression is tragically shortsighted. After all, millions of people have lived for millennia without those drugs – and without depression. While accounts of melancholia and similar emotions can be found even in ancient times, they were hardly ever as prevalent as they are today, a condition that caregivers call an epidemic of mental illness.

What is it that makes people in our age so vulnerable to depression?

The reasons can be many, but one fundamental, often overlooked, reason is the increasing erosion of a sense of purpose and meaning in life.

The materialism that holds much of our culture in its stranglehold refuses to admit any non-material purpose or meaning to life. But where does that leave achievers who find life’s material pleasures unfulfilling? And what about the many more who can’t achieve those pleasures?

It leaves them frustrated and depressed, going through the motions in a life increasingly stripped of meaning and purpose.

Energized by spiritual purpose

Dr Viktor Frankyl in his book Man’s Search for Meaning explains how the sense of purpose and meaning are essential for not just happy living, but for living itself. While chronicling the atrocities in the concentration camps at Auschwitz, he reports how the inmates who couldn’t find any meaning or purpose to their sufferings succumbed much earlier than their biological capacity to endure. In contrast, those who could find meaning and purpose were able to survive much longer and eventually emerged stronger through their harrowing experiences.

While we may all try to impart some subjective meaning and purpose to our individual lives, is there any objective meaning and purpose to life itself?

The spiritual wisdom-traditions of the world assert that there is indeed. The ultimate purpose is love – lasting, fulfilling spiritual love for God and all living beings in relationship with him. When we use our abilities to lovingly harmonize with him, we find the highest satisfaction and do the ultimate good for others. The various theistic traditions of the world are essentially meant for providing support systems for harmonizing with the divine.

Modern science is increasingly vindicating the benefits of such harmonization, especially how it protects people from problems like depression and suicide. The authoritative Handbook of Religion and Health published by Oxford University that compiled the findings of two thousand published studies from various parts of the world concluded that people across all ages, walks and educational levels benefitted mentally and physically by religious practice. Germane to our discussion is the finding that religious people suffered much lesser from depression and suicidal urges than their non-religious peers.

If we probe inside with the torchlight provided by yogic practice, we will find a goldmine of wisdom that will animate our life with the ultimate meaning and purpose.

Of course, religion is not just a matter of nominal affiliation but of higher realization and inner transformation. For such realization and transformation, the Vedic wisdom-tradition of ancient India provides profound philosophy and empowering yogic methodology. The Bhagavad-gita, a philosophical classic in the Vedic tradition, explains that we are at our core souls. We are meant to find enrichment and fulfillment in life at the spiritual level, in relationship with the Supreme who is the reservoir of beauty and joy.

Yogic meditation connects us with the power of the Supreme, thus empowering us to regulate our impulses and moods. If we probe inside with the torchlight provided by yogic practice, we will find a goldmine of wisdom that will animate our life with the ultimate meaning and purpose. In such spiritual animation lies the ultimate cure to depression and addiction. Indeed, thousands of people the world over have already found freedom and fulfillment – and many more are finding it as they experience the empowerment of yoga.

The Srimad Bhagavatam, a devotional classic within the Vedic library, describes its own genesis through the narrative of Vyasadeva, the sage who authored a phenomenal canon of scriptural works. He was a literary super-star. Despite his ability and productivity, he felt inexplicably incomplete.

To gain relief, what did he do?

He turned inward and upward: inward to introspect, and upward to consult his spiritual master, the celestial sage Narada. Both introspection and instruction led him to the same conclusion: he hadn’t used his talents for their ultimate purpose – glorifying the Supreme. He rectified that anomaly by profusely and purely glorifying the Lord in what became his magnum opus, the Srimad Bhagavatam.

By similarly looking inwards and upwards, we can all find greater meaning, higher purpose and richer fulfillment.

There’s nothing wrong with outer achievement as long as it doesn’t become a substitute for inner fulfilment. There’s nothing wrong with Prozac as long as we don’t let rigid materialism make our life utterly prosaic. There’s nothing wrong with laughter as long as that’s not all that we are after; when we put the pursuit of a meaningful and purposeful life first, then the laughter within such a life will be enduring.

Without such meaning and purpose, the laughter on-screen or off-screen is just a show. There’s life after that laughter, for not just the spectators but also the actors. And that life is not as rosy as is often imagined. The media doesn’t usually show that unflattering picture. When tragedy forces it into the public eye, it’s up to us to see it and to learn from it.

As we pray for the departed soul of Robbin Williams and offer our condolences to the bereaved, maybe it is time to seek deeper, spiritual meaning and purpose in our own lives too.

In celebration of Sri Krishna Janmasthami and Srila Prabhupada Vyasa Puja Part Two of the film series documenting the construction of Prabhuapada's flagship project The Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur, West, Bengal, India, has been released. While Part One entitled "The Cosmos out of the Rice Fields" explores the history and start-up of the project, Part Two of the series focuses more on the community behind this ambitious project, and points out that it is just as much selfless dedication, respect, and cooperation than bricks and marble that have been the main building blocks of the development.

Executive producer: Alfred B. Ford
Director/Producer: Dr. Krisztina Danka
Photography: Filip Cargonja, Denes Doboveczki
Sound: Stipe Kristic, Gyula Szarnyas
Editing: Szabolcs Guth
Studio: Karuna Productions (www.karunaproductions.com)
Music: BB Govinda Swami, Gaurangi Dasi, Gunagrahi Das

For more information about the project please visit: www.tovp.org

On August 18th, ISKCON celebrates the birthday of its founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977). This upcoming film celebrates his life and echievements. For more information please visit: www.acharyathemovie.com

“Srila Prabhupada first arranged and celebrated Rathayatra at the age of five on the streets of Kolkata with his neighbors and friends,” says organizer Ananga Mohan Das. “He always wanted the ISKCON Kolkata Rathayatra to be the second largest in the world after the one in Jagannath Puri. And since he established ISKCON in Kolkata in 1971, it has been growing, with an ever-increasing number of attendees.”

The Honorable Martin J. Walsh, Mayor of the city of Boston, has signed a proclamation declaring August 17, 2014 to be "Sri Krishna Janamastami Day", a first for Boston ISKCON. It was at Boston’s Commonwealth Pier in 1965 that Srila Prabhupada first set foot on Western soil, and where he composed his prayer "Markine Bhagavata-dharma", entreating Lord Krishna for the spiritual deliverance of the western countries. 

Refugees who fled the turmoil in Eastern Ukraine made a video plea, where they hold a poster with the hashtag #DontKillUs.

The Srila Prabhupada Tributes 2014 book is a collection of offerings by all initiated disciples of Srila Prabhupada. This open Vyasa Puja book provides the opportunity for all disciples to express their realizations and to share in the common purpose of glorifying His Divine Grace. 

To read more about the origin of this book, you may visit www.jswami.info. The book is available for download by right-clicking the link below and “save target as” or by visiting www.sptributes.com. So, please go ahead and start reading these wonderful memories of Srila Prabhupada in preparation for His Vyasa Puja celebration which takes place on Monday, 18 August!

Download: Srila Prabhupada Tributes_2014

FInding Fault with Finding Fault

There is one particularly complicated and sophisticated section from Aindra Prabhu’s book:

Shall not we stoop so low as to criticize the criticizers who opportunistically magnify the foibles of others? Shall we at all dare to see any fault in faulting the faultfinding of the faultfinders?

I think what he is saying is that it is not an offense to be opposed to offenses. We should criticize those who constantly criticize the minute details of other people. But I think the wording is intentionally ambiguous because in fact we have to be very careful in being critical of the critical, otherwise we just join the mess.

The fine line, in my opinion, is that we have to be critical only when necessary to root out criticism.

The first sentence (“Shall not we stoop so low…”) says “We should criticize the hyper-critical.” But it says it ambiguously, so we’re not sure if its saying “Maybe we shouldn’t bother being critical of the critical.” And the second sentence (“Shall we at all dare…”) drives it home, saying “Don’t get stuck in the loop of faultfinding.”

In my opinion he is saying “It’s necessary, to some extent, to find fault with finding fault… but it has to be done with a very sincere and pure heart or else one winds up stuck in the same mire as the faultfinders one initially wanted to be different from.”

Over the past few weeks the Ukrainian refugee crisis has intensified. Risking their lives, many more ISKCON devotees are trying to flee from the troubled region. One of ISKCON's refugee coordinators in the Donetsk region has been arrested by separatists. 

HH Kadamba Kanana Swami – Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.7.50

Touchstone Media has announced the release of the book Govardhana, the Hill that Fulfils all Desires written by ISKCON spiritual master Bhakti Caitanya Swami. The book is a virtual guide to this most holy place of pilgrimage for devotees of Lord Krishna. This book is the first of its kind that vivd take us around Govardhana Hill even without being physically there.

Back in the 70’s and early 80’s whilst I was frequenting the British education system most exams and discussions in class or even class work was set by the use of a few words which ended with a question mark ?
The use of this question mark normally required a response either verbally (the one knowing the answer put their hand up and gave it) or written to be marked or assessed on how much knowledge or understand on the subject matter you grasped.
Later on whilst doing a counselling course the use of the question mark ? Was explored; especially on how it can be used to open up or close a discussion, draw the individual out or close them off.
Now what I haven’t realised is that in modern society the question mark is no longer seen as a way of opening up dialogue, invigarating a discussion or inviting an opposite point of view to be expressed (yes I hear what your saying but); but a threat that must be counteracted by deadly force.
It’s of note that on the two occasions individuals have felt the need to either raise concerns or report me to management have been when the article or posting has ended with a question mark ? were an answer or a response could be given.
No it wasn’t a rhetorical question as they normally are followed up with the answer.
Some how the art of engaging when we see a question mark ? has been lost in modern social media even though an instant reply or response can be given and in most cases seen on a timeline/comment area. The reply if any will show your mentality in being either open or closed to it.
I will give the most recent controversial wording on my twitter feed that ended in that deadly of endings the question mark
“Leaving Cardiff Rathayatra and I must say it’s the first were no Krishna prasadam has been offered, maybe it’s their late on?”
Every devotee can answer this ending question and I’m sure you all are intelligent enough to even if it’s a one closed answer of “Yes”
Tradition is Tradition and as we know every celebration included an exquisite Krishna feast agreed? (Sorry threatening question mark used)
However tradition well in the UK is after we get to the area were Sri Jagannath has arrived at the celebration field Krishna prasadam is their waiting and tradition is their is always an orderly queue formed.
My date stamp showed the time Sri Jagannath was installed and the time I left and posted the tweet just over one hour had lapsed, however their was an opportunity to reply, and as stated any devotee could.
However anger flowed
His dare you say no Krishna prasadam was served
The question mark allowed a response “yes a little later on and it was amazing” even adding a picture or an emoticon
The interaction of social media and the power of the question mark
Interesting of note my tweet the evening of Rathayatra was not noted or reported
My latest blog posting including a video of today’s: cardiff Rathayatra david.deltaflow.com/?p=3102
I can only conclude it wasn’t note worthy due or percieved as threatening as their was one small admission the question mark ?
Or may be reporting back did you see the video this devotee attending took not the best but wow at least its 10 out of 10 for effort, but maybe that’s not the devotee way? (Sorry threatening question mark used)
So my efforts to praise and share the day in simple video form was lost in translation due to a question mark that even the newest individual in devotee association could answer.
I just also want to share how little or few read my blog/twitter
My blog shows one article had a total of 60 view’s the average is 3 unique views, interestingly that article that got 60 views was posted on behalf of another devotee.
My twitter shows that the most views for one tweet was 15 and that was the picture of the deities at Bhaktivadanta Manor
I couldn’t say if their is a more viewing via planetiskcon or if this shows as 1 view even though more may see it
However to date youtube has logged only 100 views of the minute video taken and dispite being in work quickly edited, uploaded article on blog written on the same day of the rathayatra.
Yes in reality no one is truly interested or takes noted in what I say unless for some reason I end in a question mark which instead of opening up a discussion or giving individuals an opportunity to reply, is views with disdain,contempt and hostility.
Although I guess even if the individual can’t approach or share their thoughts directly with me at least they felt the need to have a good old moan
But I feel well that may be the question mark has died as a way of opening up discussion or allowing one to reply
What’s your thought’s? (Sorry threatening question mark used)
But at least maybe one way or another their will be at least a curt reply

“The people of this world understand preventive systems. They have no idea of the unpreventive positive eternal life."

- Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura

In this spiritual movie that explores the concept of death and the afterlife, Williams' character, Chris Nielson, dies in a car accident four years after losing his two children. In the scene above, Neilson awakens to find himself in the afterlife, which is both beautiful and unexpected. 

 A tsudy examines how children need to look beyond their first-hand experience in order to learn about the world.

"I am sorry for the struggles of Robin Williams in his life, but I am grateful for his the piercing portrayal of the healing capacity of compassionate connection."

Social media interpretation or misinterpretation?
Theirs two ways to read and understand social media but even the smallest posting can lead to conflict.
For me however given that all my social media accounts give the right to reply I often scratch my head when someone is upset because they heard via 3 party individuals that I had said such and such.
Well did you not think to question or contact me for clarification?
Don’t get upset stew over it speak, you could even e-mail me directly most blog replays remain posted unless offensive towards devotees.
Today I received an email the individual was upset but also a little misinformed regarding my view of Cardiff Rathayatra.
I want to stress that all devotees should make the effort to travel to the Welsh capital and join this sweet Rathayatra as both of my articles shared on Dandavats and here on my blog stressed. Their was one personal incident I missed out although it was tweeted (the tweet was reported) as it was unimportant to share on articles used to encourage others to travel to Wales and join in.
The Rathayatra had arrived in Coopers Fields at 2pm as logged on the video I took as Sri Jagannath entered and was taken into the tent, I had sadly to leave at 3pm and sadly as I left their had been no Krishna Prasadam served and yes sadly disappointed given leaving for a 12 hour shift stupidly I had not made contingency plans for prasadam.
So I tweeted my sadness at leaving without tasting the wonderful prasadam noting if I could have stayed it would have been given and indeed it did 30 minutes after but sadly too late for me to enjoy.
The tweet was accurate I had been in the field for 1 hour but health and safety had to be cleared and we know how problematic that is.
However social media and twitter allows a reply and I received non only a curt e-mail today from one upset devotee who is not on my twitter feed, interesting.
I wondered why their was no “haribol prasadam arrived 3-30 amazing prasadam” may be a picture “a little late but amazing prasadam as always” allowing me a chance to retweet as social media allows.
After all the festival was scheduled to continue till 5 I left at 3 and sadly it was my loss that’s the way it goes, I’ve asked if their is any pictures of the prasadam and devotees serving so I can share that’s social media for you so if anyone has any please forward them to me (it will be great fully received and shared on Twitter)
However again I feel the need to again remind people that the blog, twitter are my social space and should be read with this in mind, these will include disappointment like missing out on a plate of prasadam.
And that you have the right to reply and question either in the comment’s, e-mail or in person
However I do acknowledged that to hear someone left a festival without enjoying Krishna prasadam is well embarrassing this was not the intention disappointed yes and who wouldn’t be given how awesome the local prasadam is.
I hope this clarification helps
Cardiff Rathayatra is amazing and next year make sure your their you will have the best visit to cardiff anyone can have, just make sure you keep your calendar free to remain for the full event and not leave early like me
And that’s why I missed out I left
Now that’s a lesson learnt
Don’t leave
Hare Krishna