Day 1 Morning: Guru Puja, Jayapataka Swami

Agent 108 on the Moscow Film Festival, "I see God". The concert took place after the results of the competition. 25 August 2013 Read more ›

From Anand
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SRI KRISHNA JANMASTAMI

ALL GLORIES TO HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI SRILA PRABHUPADA!

Most people get a rush of exhilaration when they go to a new place and find recognition and admiration for them in the eyes of others. And some people make this fame as their supreme source of enjoyment, their primary purpose of life.
The Bhagavad-gita (16.04 – darpo abhimash) indicates that such obsession with fame characterizes the ungodly. And the next verse (16.05) states that such ungodly mentality drags people away from Krishna and liberation, and into illusion and bondage.
We are social beings and naturally need relationships. So there’s nothing wrong with seeking reciprocations wherever we go. But we don’t have to make ourselves the center of those reciprocations. Gita wisdom offers us a far more satisfying center – Krishna. Let’s understand why this divine center is preferable.
When we seek pleasure in our own glories, we sentence ourselves to perpetual insecurity. Because we don’t have too many praiseworthy qualities and abilities; because we can’t always translate whatever qualities and abilities we do have into laudable actions; and because we can’t ensure that others will notice and appreciate whatever we do achieve. Most detrimentally, our obsession with ourselves blinds us to others’ good qualities and even to the glories of Krishna. When we don’t even notice Krishna’s glories, we obviously can’t relish them and so we can’t develop prema, pure spiritual love for Krishna.
The process of devotional service helps us shift our center of attention from ourselves to Krishna. When we seek to delight in Krishna’s glories, we become forever free from insecurity and filled with gaiety.  That’s because Krishna’s glories are unlimited and eternal – they never get exhausted. Once we get a taste for glorifying Krishna, then we never run out of material for relishing.
Why then should we let obsession with fame deprive us of prema?
**
16.04 - Pride, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness and ignorance – these qualities belong to those of demoniac nature, O son of Pritha.

As long as he [the living entity] is in the city of the body, he appears to be the master of it, but actually he is neither its proprietor nor controller of its actions and reactions. He is simply in the midst of the material ocean, struggling for existence. The waves of the ocean are tossing him, and he has no control over them. His best solution is to get out of the water by transcendental Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That alone will save him from all turmoil.

Bhagavad Gita As It Is 5.14 purport

 

 

Verse 4.17: The intricacies of action are very hard to understand. Therefore one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is, and what inaction is.

In Chapter 2 we discussed at length what karma (action), vikarama (forbidden action) and akarma (inaction) are. For anyone who would like a refresher, you can check it out here. Today, however, I'd like to talk about the real life application of these concepts.

Before getting to that, I'd like to share a beautiful quote from one of my favorite bhakti yoga mentors since it relates perfectly to this topic of application.

"It's very important to practice spirituality for practical application of spiritual knowledge."

Let's meditate on that for a moment, shall we? What does it actually mean? It means that we may hear lots of beautiful concepts and ideas but unless we actually try to implement that knowledge in our daily lives, it won't actually translate to wisdom. That's because wisdom is "the art of converting an experience into learning."

If we don't strive to apply what we've heard, then chances are we'll never really learn.

That's what our lives can become if we choose to live a life of learning. Since we are constantly performing actions, whether consciously or unconsciously, we get the perfect opportunity at every moment to tune into our motivations. Why are we doing something? Is it for our own satisfaction? Is it to make ourselves feel better? Is it really helping others? By posing such questions, we are forced to evaluate what is driving our actions. And trust me, if we actually attempt to do this even a little bit, it's amazing how introspective we'll become of our own thoughts and motivations.

Of course, we'll find that many times we'll skip out on checking into our motivations and you know what? It's ok. After all, for some of us this may be a slightly foreign concept to first reflect and then act. And like any habit, it takes practice and time. Even if we are starting to reflect after the fact, that's a step in the positive direction.

If and when we do reflect afterwards, it won't be uncommon to look back and perhaps cringe. Yes...that too is part of the process. It's may be uncomfortable to recognize what motivates our behaviour and distorts our consciousness. But that too is part of the learning process.

If we are unable to see the obstacles that prevent us from acting in positive and selfless ways, then we won't learn how to overcome them.

Life is all about the journey and in it there is the potential to learn so many lessons. Karma is one of the ways these lessons are dolled out. The Gita gives us practical knowledge as to why we face our current situations (i.e. results of our past actions). Equally important, the Gita teaches us how our reactions to these circumstances will impact our future. So...are you ready to live a life of learning?

Sleep Got Interrupted

Oungre, Saskatchewan

Sleep got interrupted by some noise. Some creature was trying to poke its way into our tent at the Oungre campsite. I finally figured out what was trying to badger its way in. From the lamppost outside, I could make out its silhouette, it was the darndest cute little frog. His head was up and his legs spread out as he jumped his way up to explore our synthetic domicile. He would leap, attempt to clutch on, but he would either slide or just fall back. He tried various sides of our tent. I was just lying there less annoyed than amused.

Once it was time to rise, 4 AM, it was time to zip open that tent, zip over for a shower and zip on off to the road. The world of magic began once again. I was using my meditative beads to chant my daily mantras. It was a soft murmur of “Hare Krishna… “

From a distance shortly after sunrise, I could see a pack of coyotes running as in teamwork. Apparently local farmers sometimes lose their calves to these visitors. In any event it was exhilarating to see these wild dogs in some kind of action moving swiftly on their feet beyond the wheat field.

Daruka pulled over and had a cassette playing of Melanie, the popular folk singer of the late sixties, early seventies. The theme of this song seemed pertinent.

I Don’t Eat Animals

I was just thinking about the way it’s supposed to be

I’ll eat the plants and the fruits from the trees

And I’ll live on vegetables and I’ll grow on seeds

But I don’t eat animals and they don’t eat me

Oh no, I don’t eat animals ‘cuz I love them you see

I don’t eat animals, I want nothing dead in me

I don’t eat white flour, white sugar makes you rot

Though white could be beautiful, but mostly it’s not

A little bit of whole meal, some raisins and cheese

I’ll eat the plants and the fruits from the trees

But I don’t eat animals and they don’t eat me

Oh I don’t eat animals and they don’t eat me

Oh no, I’ll live on life, I want nothing dead in me

You know, I’ll become life and my life will become me

You know, I’ll live on life and my life will live me

It’s a great song and I remember it from over 4 decades ago. Thank you, Melanie, I also don’t eat animals.

Now the last portion of the day had Daruka, Billy and I attend ISKCON’s centre in Regina. I spoke from 9.11 of the Bhagavad Gita. The message was that divinity is everywhere.

28 KM

"The chanting and hearing is essence. Even when dealing with a practical problem, Srila Prabhupada was seeing it and soon speaking of it in absolute terms. Chanting especially promotes this: leave everything aside and chant the holy name. Then we can take up even our most demanding preaching duties in this world with vigor and endurance."
From Japa Reform Notebook
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

Tomorrow is our last harinam of the summer and the final festival of the season. Many of us are already crying ….

from Letter of 2 August 1972:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjHK9r1o

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PHOTOS

I’m Just West…

Torquay, Saskatchewan

I’m just west of Estevan, near a massive dam. Highway 18. The moon is above and in front of me. The sun sneaks up from behind. What clouds say, “You’ll be less intense today, we are here to veil you.”

The highway is lined with, from what I can make out, miniature sun flowers , actually Echinacea, and then there’s amaranth plants that ancient civilizations used as food substances. I’m glad to have their company. Muskrats are here, or what’s left of them after being run over. Caterpillars make their migration across. They have a better chance on the westerly portion of Highway 18, there’s less human traffic now.

A salamander sloths his way across. He’s absolutely adorable. With a tip of my umbrella I touch his belly. He swings his tail and actually swerves and makes a sound. I tried again to offer the softest touch, he reacted the same again and gave off a kind of a squeal. I didn’t know salamanders make noise.

I thought I would try my five finger Vibram footwear. It seems to work. The highway here is uneven, and pavement here is bumpier with a rough gravel surface. The feet like it, they like the grip.

Speaking about grip, let’s have a look at getting a hold on life. I meet a lot of young guys everyday, they are good to me, they are supportive, they seem happy and hard at work. One fellow gave me a container of cut watermelon just as I was getting so dehydrated. With some, we have some great chats about all the money they are making and about family and girlfriends and all. I make a point of them getting a grip on the term dharma, and what that means as far as responsibilities go. One fellow that I talked to was boasting, “I’ll just pick up a girl now that my ex is out of the picture.” I said, “You know women aren’t so cheap that you can just pick one up. They are valued just like you are valued.” It’s great speaking like a father to them. They really like monks.

In Torquay, the only village on today’s route, we met some great folks, especially a few bikers. I was curious to know what it’s like being on a Harley Davidson, “Check it out, Swami!” For fun, I sat there on the machine and had a good laugh. It seemed that the whole residential street was out there with us, meaning Daruka, Billy the parrot and myself. Everyone was looking at it and deciding whether the motorcycle was me or not. Ultimately consensus tells that I’m better with feet and the trail, and not putting pedal to the metal.

36 KM

PHOTOS

One of my favourite stories is the one about the boiling frog, who simply fails to realise that the water is getting hotter. His failure to comprehend the incremental rise in temperature (he’d jumped into a pan of cool water on an outdoor fire, you see) spelled his death. Similarly, the heat of fashionable nouveau atheism is increasing all around us. One writer who regularly does notice – and speaks up about it – is Melanie Phillips. I want to share her latest piece with you today.

Like a poorly knotted woggle, the attempt by the Girl Guides to rope in the new generation is now steadily unravelling.

In June, the Guides announced they were changing the historic promise made by all Guides and Brownies from ‘to love my God’ to ‘be true to myself and develop my beliefs’.

They would also drop the pledge to ‘serve my country’, which was to be replaced by ‘my community’.

According to the Chief Guide, Gill Slocombe, the old promise put some girls off because they found it confusing. The new formula, she said, would be easier for Guides to make and keep.

The change – which comes into force in six days’ time – was received with horror and outrage by Christians, and left many others bemused and uneasy. It seemed to be just a crude and shallow attempt by the Guiding establishment to rebrand itself as modern, by dumping timeless values.

Much worse was to follow, though. Guide groups in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, rightly dismayed by the proposed change, announced last week that they would encourage their girls and leaders to continue to use the old promise.

In a letter written jointly with a local vicar, they insisted the movement had to keep God at its core. Impeccably fair-minded and inclusive, they also proposed to offer the new promise to anyone who might prefer that form of words.

Yet in response, Ms Slocombe said such rebels need to accept this change, and even suggested they could be forced out of the movement altogether if they did not.

So much for diversity!

For with this not-so-veiled threat, the true intention of the movement’s leaders has been laid bare. A move they claimed to be more inclusive has turned out to be entirely the opposite.

Indeed, it now stands revealed as being actively discriminatory; far from pulling down any (mythical) barriers to joining the movement, the Guide leaders are actually putting them up.

Under the spurious guise of encouraging membership by atheists, or (inexplicably) those with an aversion to serving their country, the Guides are now threatening to expel those who wish to express a religious belief.

A belief, moreover, which forms the basis of the Christian values in which the Girl Guide movement is rooted, and on which its identity rests.

Yet this movement is now actively discriminating against those who wish to proclaim the continuation of those religious values at its own core.

Having dumped God and country altogether, it is now actually forbidding Guides – on pain of excommunication – to promise to serve anything beyond themselves.

Is this not beyond perverse? For there is no reason why the new promise needs to be exclusive of any other. After all, the Scouts apparently intend to offer atheists an alternative promise rather than abandon the existing one.

Other institutions have long done something similar to accommodate both believers and non-believers. When you swear to tell the truth in court, for example, or take the oath of allegiance as a new Member of Parliament, you are given the choice to swear on the Bible or to affirm.

Just imagine if you were forbidden to give evidence in court or take your seat in Parliament if you insisted on swearing on the Bible!

Of course, this would be utterly unthinkable. And yet that is precisely what the Guides are now doing. As church leaders have pointed out, this is nothing other than secular totalitarianism.

There is thus a weary absence of surprise upon learning that the Guides’ chief executive, Julia Bentley, formerly headed an abortion and contraception group. For it is hard to think of a background which more powerfully symbolises merciless and doctrinaire individualism.

Indeed, to Ms Bentley the Guides are the ultimate feminist organisation but  – tsk! – too middle-class.

Thus she revealed herself to be just another politically correct zealot, standing for the secular sectarianism of group rights.

For far from serving the whole of society, each such interest group exists to gain power over everyone else – and damns anyone who stands in its way.

Indeed, this is why ‘political correctness’ is not remotely liberal at all, but viciously oppressive. It is simply a mechanism for re-ordering the world according to a particular dogma – and thus inescapably stifles all dissent.

Innately hostile to traditional morality, it paves the way for a secular Inquisition in which today’s Torquemadas are the ideologues of such group rights – and it is Christians and other religious believers who are the heretics to be silenced by force.

It is, indeed, the principal weapon of unholy war wielded by the forces of militant secularism, which are intent upon destroying the Judeo-Christian basis of western morality.

It supplants traditional morality and the concepts of right and wrong, truth and lies by a creed which says in effect, ‘Whatever is right for you is right’.

It also seeks to replace patriotism and service to one’s country by serving ‘the community’. This is yet another slippery concept, which today can simply amount to membership of just such an interest group, which is in the business of elbowing out other interest groups in the greedy clamour for entitlements.

So the new Guiding promise is all about being true to me, myself and my beliefs, whatever they may happen to be. It represents the antithesis of duty to others. It says, more or less, ‘I promise to serve myself’.

It is a promise for a narcissistic, self-centred and morally vacuous age.

And now we can see also that it is about brutally trampling underfoot the beliefs of others. Pinch yourself: this is the Girl Guides we are talking about, for heaven’s sake!

They have now managed to embody the aggressive secularism and hyper-individualism that the retiring Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, talked about yesterday when he told BBC Radio’s Sunday Programme that British society was losing the plot.

As he said, religious faith underpins the existence of trust. When religion breaks down, trust breaks down. When society becomes secularised, the collapse of trust and the rise of individualism mean the breakdown of social institutions such as the family.

Worse than that, by replacing God with an ideology which brooks no dissent, individualism is a mechanism for illiberalism and even tyranny as these groups get their way through tactics of insult, professional ostracism or outright banning.

Now, though, some Christians are fighting back. Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, said that he hoped many others would join the rebellion by the Harrogate Guide groups.

And now some churches are saying they will deny the Guides the use of church halls, which hitherto hundreds of their groups have used for free.

As the Rev Paul Williamson, vicar of St George’s church in Feltham, west London, has said, it would be hypocritical of the Guides to expect to use the church’s premises after abandoning its core beliefs.

That’s the spirit! Such responses show that, faced with the kind of secular intolerance that is now in danger of pushing Christianity to the very margins of society, the Church is not altogether on its knees.

Churches should deny the Guides use of their premises. Guide groups should offer the old promise, and people should refuse to join those that do not.

Only through such mass resistance will the secular zealots who have hijacked the Girl Guides be faced down, and a great institution be restored to the defence of a decent society, rather than hastening its demise.

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A recent article headline suggests that the widespread use of Kapalabhati pranayama (skull-polishing breath) in India promoted by Swami Ramdev’s popular television campaigns and yoga camps is dangerous and may lead to death, echoing lesser admonitions voiced by B.K.S. Iyengar and other yogis concerned about the impact of selling Kapalabhati as a quick fix.

Acharya Agyaatdarshan, a yogi from Delhi, shares that Kapal-kriya is the process of releasing prana or life breath, after death. Kapalabhati is controlling one’s lifespan through one’s breath, he notes; simply put, get it wrong, and you shorten your lifespan.” Long-term Iyengar practitioner Ashwini Gokhale likens Kapalabhati to a dose of strong antibiotics which should only be prescribed by a doctor, rather than the cure-all pill it’s currently marketed as.

A 2008 study by the Asian Heart Institute found a 100% correlation between 31 cases of heart attack and the reckless practice of Kapalabhati, although these results should be interpreted cautiously without more information about study design and details.

Kapalabhati, a cleansing and purifying breathing practice, is characterized by slow or rapid repetition of passive inhalations with a soft belly, followed by a sharp exhalation, during which time the belly is simultaneously drawn in and up towards the spine. This pranayama, when practiced vigorously and rapidly, is activating to the sympathetic nervous system and generates bodily heat. Practiced more gently, with no more than 10-15 repetitions per minute, sympathetic activation is minimized.

Considerably more research remains to be conducted on Kapalabhati’s safety and efficacy. Promising are the results of a study commissioned by senior doctors with the Yoga Institute in Mumbai; their findings indicate that the pranayama, when taught under the guidance of medical and yoga experts, showed benefits in controlling diabetes, obesity, asthma, energizing the mind, and improving depression.

What does this all boil down to? Pranayama is powerful, and should be taught and employed with attention to individual medical concerns and constitution. It is not intended for mass consumption and should be taught and initially supervised by a qualified yoga instructor or expert. Like all powerful techniques if Kapalabhati is used incorrectly it can have serious side effects.

Do you practice Kapalabhati?  Have you noticed any adverse or beneficial effects on your health?

Filed under: News, Ramblings or Whatever

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