Is God improbable because he has to be more complex than his creation and complex things have very low probability of emerging?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

From Paul:

Richard Dawkins argues that by proposing to explain the complexity of the world using a God, theist don't solve but end up doubling the problem of complexity because God has to be at least as complex as his creation. What is the answer to this argument?

Answer Podcast

Why Caitanya Caritamrita is the authoritative source of Lord Chaitanya’s teachings
→ The Spiritual Scientist

In  order   to  understand the  teachings of  Lord  Caitanya, we  must   refer  to  the  Sri Caitanya Caritamrta. Lord Caitanya himself  did   not leave any written works,  except the eight  verses  of the Siksastaka.  There  are few verses  attributed to him  in the Padyavali, but  from  those  verses  we cannot  take  any  systematic instructions.  There  is also  a few very  small  books  which   some  people claim  were  written by  Lord  Caitanya.   After examining everything, we must  conclude that  these  are all false claims.   From the many works   which   the  Goswamis  wrote   we  can  thoroughly understand  Lord   Caitanya's teachings, but  they  do  no  mention any  works  written by  Lord  Caitanya Himself.  Sri Caitanya Caritamrta is the authoritative work.   From  this  work  we can understand the Lord's  character and  teachings. These teachings are confirmed perfectly by the words of the  Goswamis.  For this  reason  Sri Caitanya Caritamrta is given  so much  respect.   Sri Krsna  Dasa  Kaviraja  appeared immediately after  Lord  Caitanya.   Mahaprabhu's direct disciples, Raghunatha Goswami, Rupa  Goswami and  many  others   assisted Krsna  Dasa in writing his work.        Before him  Kavi Karnapura had  written Sri Caitanya Candrodayanataka and  Vrndavana das  Thakura had  written Sri Caitanya Bhagavata. These works  were  a great  help  to Krsna  Dasa Kaviraja.

Chaitanya Shikshamrita, Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Wednesday, May 21st, 2014
→ The Walking Monk

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Day At Winnipeg

Newly arrived from India are Vishvambar and his wife, Mahasundari, a young couple.  It was Vishvambar whom I lead to a park near his home, hoping that I could convince him of the joys of early morning outside freshness.   I hope he makes it a routine to get out and walk.  Both he and his wife arrived in March of this year when they were met by a blast of cold at 40 below Celsius, and just after coming from India’s temperature at 40 above.  Successfully, they have weathered the weather after the most unforgiving winter of all time (in my humble opinion).  I see that the couple are a pair of optimists.

We do have the great wisdom of the Bhagavad-gita to console us over the extremities of life.  In chapter two, the speaker, Krishna, explains that dualities such as winter and summer, come and go, as do happiness and distress.  “One must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.”

In the afternoon, I found myself for a time in Winnipeg’s major downtown library, where 18 years before I gave an address to the inquisitive about my then trek through the nation.  While sitting there in conversation with someone, I could witness a diverse group of people in the course of my chatting.  Judging by clothes wear and behaviour, I saw extremities in people’s life approaches.  It was interesting.  In this case, I took in the dualities as entertaining and not so threatening. 

The beautiful closure to the day had me conducting a Kirtan Standards Seminar at the ISKCON Centre on 108 Chestnut Street.  Our group was discussing standards for mantra meditation, and adherence to traditions established by sages from the ancient past.  It’s always cool to have blessings that come from those who have been here before us. 

May the Source be with you!

3 KM

Some good advice
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 08 April 2014, Cape Town, South Africa, Rama Naumi Initiation Lecture)
kks_radhdesh_2013Initiation is not only about the ceremony but afterwards, success in spiritual life always depends on blessings. So, always look for blessings – blessings of the Supreme Lord and blessings of great devotees, either from the past or from the present. By always seeking blessings, we will make it and we will be successful!

My role is to give you good advice now and after the initiation to continue to guide you. Also, I am suppose to pray for you, for your benefit. On the strength of whatever service I have done, I pray that Krsna may accept your service! So my prayer is there, that Krsna will take you back to Godhead at the end of this life. All that is there but at the same time though, I cannot be there always.

In the Chandogya Upanishad, three types of spiritual masters are described. One is like the bird who feed their young constantly, endlessly. The other one is like the fish who supervises but lets its young go on its own but at the time of danger, the fish is there. The third type of spiritual master is like the tortoise who places the eggs in the sand on the beach and waits for the sun to create heat and then the eggs germinate – he meditates on them. So, this relationship is going to be a bit of all three.

Sometimes, I am really ready to come in and give lots of personal attention and at other times, it is going to be really as cold as a fish. Or even worse, the tortoise mediating at a distance for the well-being of the disciple. But do not forget that the spiritual master is our ever well-wisher and we should not think, ‘Oh, he has not answered my mail!’  We should not think, ‘I do not have a relationship with him.’

If we think that we do not have a relationship with our spiritual master then it means that the fault is placed with us – it means we are not coming forward in service; it means that something is lacking in our service attitude! Because when we think that the spiritual master is the one who has to do all these things, ‘He has to come and inspire me. He has to say deep things. He has to do psychoanalysis on me and fully understand me better than I understand myself, then he has to enlighten me in that. So, I have to be able to feel that. So, he says things that are deep and profound and go really deep like that.’ No, he may or he may not.

Srila Prabhupada said, ‘I am instructing my disciples intimately in public!’ I really like that – intimately in public, so much is said in public. We must keep that in mind that the onus is on us, as disciples, to dedicate ourselves. We should understand that the spiritual master is always dedicated even if he does not give much attention, still his well-wishes and his prayers for us are there and he is always thinking of us. He may have so many disciples and he may not have the time to speak to each one of them but still, for each of these disciples, his prayer to Krsna is there that the mercy may come and he is meditating like that. So, we should not under estimate what is really going on behind the scenes.

 

Tuesday, May 20th, 2014
→ The Walking Monk

Kenora, Ontario

Kenora the Good

Jen is a jem.  Her partner, Dan, and her, took us up in their home for the night.  Jen, good soul that she is, networked and organized a gathering in Kenora’s outdoor pavilion.  The event entailed a walk from this huge marquee, to the town’s icon, Huskie the Muskie, a massive steel and fiberglass image of a fish.  This stunning statue symbolizes the real attraction of the area – water, and a lake known as Lake of the Woods.  In a town that heralds a banner saying, “We love our lake”, you can also be assured that people love people. 

About 50 of them, some of them families, all newcomers to the bhakti yoga scene (and our first time to hold any event here), took to the walk, then my talk, and then to the drum and then to the chant.  Jen arranged for djembes and a drumming circle.  I projected mantras into that circle and the people responded so nicely.  Brad, the maintenance man to the pavilion, came to me tearfully.  He asked if I could offer a prayer for his boss.

Such gentle people. 

And for wildlife today – an eagle, a seagull, a crow and a pelican pair brought excitement to the eyes.  The Mink Bay Trail was our little escape from the world humans have made.  I won’t be sarcastic though when I say that I credit humans for the upkeep of this sweet trail. 

May the Source be with Kenora!

6 KM

Initiation Ceremony, May 19, Houston
Giriraj Swami

06.houston-initiation-2014051901.houston-initiation-2014051908.houston-initiation-2014051907.houston-initiation-2014051910.houston-initiation-2014051902.houston-initiation-2014051903.houston-initiation-2014051905.houston-initiation-2014051909.houston-initiation-20140519———————–
Rtadhvaja Swami, Gunagrahi das Goswami, Hanumat Presaka Swami, Radha Raman Swami, and Giriraj Swami spoke at the ceremony. Prabha Ajmani became Krishna Priya dasi, David Garvin became Dayal Nitai dasa, Ravi Jadhaw became Radha Vinod dasa, Ganesh Pillai became Gauranga Chandra dasa, Anish Pillai became Nilamadhava dasa, and Mohini Patel became Madhuri Radha dasi—and Kalpataru dasi received second initiation.

“Regarding being inattentive while chanting the holy name, Srila Prabhupada, in an initiation lecture in Los Angeles, said, ‘While you chant, you hear also. You don’t turn your attention to anything else—mechanically chanting and thinking of something. Thinking of Krishna is all right, but if I think something which is not in Krishna consciousness . . . Best thing is that I shall chant Hare Krishna and each word I shall hear; then it will be very much effective. Yes.’ These instructions are very simple. There is nothing that Srila Prabhupada said or that I have said that a child cannot understand. But the challenge is the application, and that requires good association. It is up to us to seek that association and place ourselves in such association that is favorable for always remembering Krishna and never forgetting Him—for speaking only about Krishna and nothing else, for tasting only Krishna prasada and nothing else.” —Giriraj Swami

Rtadhvaja Swami
Gunagrahi das Goswami
Hanumat Presaka Swami
Radha Raman Swami
Giriraj Swami

Shadow of Samadhi
→ Seed of Devotion

The teacher training weekend with Sondra and Raghunath began with us all sitting in a giant circle, knee-to-knee. Each of us were sharing how the past month had gone. For most of us, the month had been rough, even dire. But we were here.

When my turn came, I said, "I have been reflecting how progressing through the 8 limbs of yoga seems like so much work, it's all about my endeavor to work my way up to samadhi [complete absorption]. It seems so overwhelming, so exhausting.

"But bhakti yoga is the path of grace. Bhakti turns the entire system of yoga on its head, because it's not about my endeavor any more. The endeavor is mainly there to show that hey, I care." I looked around the giant circle of aspiring yogis. The words just came out of my mouth: "So really, I could experience samadhi right here, right now."

"Okay, do it, right now," Raghunath challenged almost playfully. Everyone laughed.

My heart pounded. I raised my arms, closed my eyes, and called out the holy name:

"Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare."

While I had been chanting, the laughter had died down. In those moments, I felt the Lord's presence in my heart.

I opened my eyes. I folded my palms to my two teachers.

Thank you, Raghunath, for opening the path of grace, even if for only several moments.


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Dropout prevention
→ Servant of the Servant


Every year, over 1.2 million high school students drop out of high school in the United States. This is a significant number especially considering the advanced educational system in the US. Without a high school diploma, it is practically impossible to be economically self-sufficient. It is in this situation, these desperate young adults engage in social ill activities such as substance abuse, illicit sex (leading to abortion), crime etc. It does not stop there; these activities have a chain effect impacting other people, families and the bigger community.  They become unproductive citizens spiraling down more and more into poor decision making to the point where they destroy their lives. Because we live in such a competitive society, students who stay behind due to various reasons end behind and just cannot catch up with rest of society. 

Poverty, broken homes, and abuse are seen as strong predictors of high school dropouts. However, the number one reason kids’ dropout is because they become disconnected with their peers, teachers and counselors. Disconnected youth is the singular immediate cause for students to not return to school. With poor attendance against them, they eventually stop going to school. This disconnection exists because they feel that nobody cares about them. They feel parents don’t care or their friends don’t care or their teachers don’t care etc. This makes sense because as young adults, we all need social and emotional support. We need mentors and care-takers that we know we can turn to at the time of need. Rarely will we find a young student motivated from within. Although it sounds simplistic, this is a complex social problem. 

More and more the culture becomes materialistic, more and more people go inward to just operate on the platform of use, abuse and neglect. Gone are the days where the individual is appreciated for his natural qualities (the Varnashrama system was designed to appreciate every individual for their natural self and not based on some artificial economic monetary system).  The psyche is wired spontaneously (in subtle ways) to use and abuse things, money and people for promoting selfish interests. Such tendencies manifest in an individual right from puberty or perhaps even earlier. As the material culture advances, we will find our civilization becoming more and more impersonalistic. Video games, computer technology, political correctness, box stores like Walmart, cookie cutter city planning strategies, Government secularism etc are subtle manifestations of impersonal material culture. In these environments, you will find minimal human interaction and even if there is it is not intended for personal engagement of the individual. It is intended for fulfilling some other cause or purpose more important than the individual. Disconnected youth dropping out of school is but a natural product of this sort of impersonal culture. 

If we want to reverse this trend, we need to reverse our impersonal tendencies and connect more with the people at a personal level. We need to build families, communities and societies based on human interaction and scale. Bigger the city, scarier and lonelier it feels. So we need to reverse this trend of bigger is better and bring it back to a human scale where every individual matters no matter how big or small the individual may seem. This sort of reversal is possible only if we understand that each individual is as valuable as the other and not meant to be used for our personal motives. 

This can happen only if we see the deeper picture that every individual, animal and plant is part and parcel of God. When we appreciate everyone is part of God, then neglect and abuse can never be common place in our society. Therefore what is missing for these dropout kids is that they need to be appreciated because they are children of God and that they are as important as anybody else. When we have such sanctity of vision, our disposition toward other people, animals and plants will be of personal care, respect and love. 

This is the ultimate message of Bhagavad Gita – to see all beings as part of Krishna and Krishna as part of all beings - thus - we will always be connected to everyone and Krishna at a personal level. We will no more have spiraling social problems instead everyone will be happy – sarve sukhinah bhavantu!

Hare Krishna 

ISKCON Continues to Bring Aid to Flooded Balkans
→ ISKCON News

ISKCON devotees are assisting people affected by the catastrophic floods that have ravaged the Balkan countries of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Crotia. NPR, which called the floods the worst in a century, reported that three months of rain fell in just a few days. This caused the river Sava, which flows through all three countries, to burst beyond its banks and sweep through towns and villages.

Inspiring Day of Communications for ISKCON UK and Ireland
→ ISKCON News

Over thirty devotees from the UK and Ireland attended a special ISKCON National Communications Training Day at Bhaktivedanta Manor, UK.Taking part in a series of innovative and interactive workshops, the group learned about why engaging with the media matters, what makes a good news story and how compatible the worlds of spirituality and media really are.

Preaching in Rathtala, Krishnanagar
→ Mayapur.com

There was a Kirtan Mela Program at Krishnagar Rathtala on 09-05-2014, Where 18 devotee took part including 15 foreign devotees. This program was specifically for the purpose of collectively chanting of Hare Krishna mahamantra with different musical instruments, where  more than 500 Krishnagar local inhabitants joined in that assembly. The whole campus was full of local […]

The post Preaching in Rathtala, Krishnanagar appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Dhubulia Bhakti Vriksha
→ Mayapur.com

Under the banner of Sri Mayapur Local Preaching, there was a huge Bhakti Vriksha Nagar Sankirtan Program on 14-05-2014 at Dhubulia town. Total 30 devotees from Mayapur including 7 foreign devotees participated. At one of our Bhakti Vriksha member Sri Sambhu Putatunda’s house, the local Bhakti Vriksha members received the devotees with throwing flowers on […]

The post Dhubulia Bhakti Vriksha appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Revelation is the complement, not the replacement, of reason (Countering Scientism 1)
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Suppose your mother makes a magnificent cake as a surprise for you. Suppose also you have a colleague who is a fanatical advocate of scientism – the belief system that science alone can answer all questions.

If you asked questions related to the cake, your colleague would summon a battalion of science specialists. For example, dieticians to answer questions about calories and nutritive values of the cake’s ingredients; chemists, about the bonding of those ingredients; mathematicians, about the equations describing the behavior of the involved fundamental particles.

Yet none of them would be able to tell why the cake was made. For that, you would have to ask your mother. Suppose your colleague rejected such an “unscientific” source of knowledge and instead adjudged: “Because science hasn’t found the purpose for which the cake was made, it has no purpose – it just happened.”

How would your mother’s respond to such dismissal of her labor of love by a “just-happened” hypothesis?

Disbelief, dismay, outrage.

Suppose instead that your mother, being a levelheaded lady, dismisses the hypothesis and calmly informs: “Today was the day twenty-seven years ago when your first tooth emerged. To commemorate that day, I wanted to make something soft and sweet and special for you – hence this cake.”

There’s no way the world’s best scientists would have been able to figure that out. Does their inability invalidate this information?

Not at all; it still remains valid and valuable.

A similar dynamic applies to the study of the universe. The world’s best scientists according to their specialties determine what it is made of and how it works. Their intellectual zeal notwithstanding, they won’t be able to find out the purpose of the universe. And this inability is not their fault – it’s the fault of the overzealous proponents of scientism who have unfairly cornered scientists with such out-of-syllabus questions.

To know the universe’s purpose, we need to turn to the maker of the universe: God. He offers answers through revelation in the form of scriptural wisdom. Revelation thus grants us access to vital information that unaided reason cannot reach.

Skeptics may object, “By accepting revelation, you will end up rejecting reason – the source of all our scientific knowledge.”

Such alarmist objections stem from a stereotyped conception of revelation as opposed to reason.

But actually it is reason that helps us recognize the need for revelation and to comprehend it.

Going back to your mother’s purpose for making the cake, you would still need reason to understand her “revelation.” Your pet dog, lacking the reasoning faculty, wouldn’t understand it.

Thus, reason and revelation work in tandem to further our quest for knowledge.

 

Hungarian yatra sends 4 devotees, 7 seats car and 1000 euro to help Sarajevo devotees’ prasad distribution (Album 9 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

Floods are slowly getting better, but water is leaving all the mud, trash, dead animal bodies, infections, mosquitoes, and horrible smell behind. Real problems are just about to begin for all the people who have lost everything. Therefore, our prasadam distribution has just begun! Hungarian yatra sent us 4 devotees, 7 seats car and 1000 eur. They will come on friday and serve with us untill the end of May. Big thanks goes to all devotees and communities in Slovenia, Nederlands, Belgium, Simhacalam-Germany. Indian ambassador in Hungary, Mr. Malay Mishra also gave his contribution. Big thanks to our local devotees who neglected their daily duties, took days off work and coming to serve day and night with their small and big children! Thank you all! Read more ›

Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest Gets Awarded
→ ISKCON News

Sankirtana Das disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is a sacred storyteller, workshop leader and author of Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest. The book was recently awarded Finalist in 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. He is interviewed by Lilasuka Devi Dasi, Communications Director at New Vrindaban.

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 05/22/14
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

NV TBT 05-22-14

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 05/22/14.

Each week we highlight an earlier era of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

This week’s challenge: Can you identify all six devotees in this photo?

What to do: Post your guesses on the “who, what, when, where & why” in the comment section at the New Vrindaban Facebook Page.

Technical stuff: We share a photo Thursday and confirm known details Sunday. Let’s keep it light and have a bit of fun!

Special request: If you have a photo showing New Vrindaban devotees in action, share it with us and we’ll use it in a future posting.