Websites from the ISKCON Universe
I visited the Swansea Govinda's Restaurant / Temple a few weekends ago.
The pictures of me were taken with a 3 megapixel Nokia mobile phone camera. All the other pictures were taken with my trusty 5 megapixel Minolta A1. Can you tell the difference in quality?
View the pictures here.
I visited the Swansea Govinda's Restaurant / Temple a few weekends ago.
The pictures of me were taken with a 3 megapixel Nokia mobile phone camera. All the other pictures were taken with my trusty 5 megapixel Minolta A1. Can you tell the difference in quality?
View the pictures here.
Photographer Bill Sullivan's website has a gallery of a bunch of people walking through subway turnstiles. The pictures present an interesting view into life. Not one of the 48 people is smiling. Such an unhappy world we live in (though Krishna consciousness is always happy).
Photographer Bill Sullivan's website has a gallery of a bunch of people walking through subway turnstiles. The pictures present an interesting view into life. Not one of the 48 people is smiling. Such an unhappy world we live in (though Krishna consciousness is always happy).
For this week's Vedicsoc session we got two of our regulars. We discussed prison.
I asked: who wants to be imprisoned? Who wants to be restricted in their activity? Who wants someone else constantly telling them what to do? Who wants their life dictated to them? Who wants to do the same things over and over and over again?
Well, guess what? That is our present situation in the material world.
We all must suffer birth, death, disease and old age. We don't have a choice. The various sense objects control us.
(have you ever done anything you knew was bad for you?)
Breaking the four regulative principles of freedom imprisons us because we turn into animals without free will. Drunkards (and other drug addicts) can't control their senses and become utterly predictable in their behavior. A gambler can't help but gamble his wealth away. Eating meat turns people into violent wild beasts. And finally, illicit sex is the strongest of all. It makes up the invisible bars in the prison of the material world. It makes us desire to remain in the prison even if we know better, let alone if we are completely under its sway.
Even discounting all that, we still can't do what we want. Material nature and our previous activities (karma) control us. I told the story of the blood donor scandal in China that caused millions of people to become infected with HIV and hepatitis. Listen to that story here (really shocking). These people didn't choose their plight, and yet material nature forced it upon them. Again, no freedom.
There is danger at every step in this world (SB10.14.58). Everyone is controlled, but everyone is thinking they are in control (BG 3.27).
So, what is the solution? Eliminate desire altogether? No! That is impossible (BG3.5).
The solution is to control the senses by following the regulative principles of freedom (BG2.64). We must act without attachment to the fruit of our work and practice karma yoga (BG3.19). And ultimately, if we do this, Krishna will help us out and free us from this prison (BG7.14). After all, he is the director of the prison (BG9.10).
I ended by telling the story of King Citraketu. He desires a son and gets lots of joy, followed by even greater misery. However, this learning experience motivates him to become self-realized (after some preaching by Narada Muni). He is later cursed by Uma (Siva's wife) to take birth as a demon. However, he doesn't mind at all. As long as he can remember Krishna, birth in a demon body is irrelevant for him. Siva's response: "just see, such is the character of a devotee".
Tvasta summons this demon now named Vrtrasura to kill Indra (because Indra beheaded Tvasta's son Visvarupa). The demigods attack the giant demon but have all their weapons eaten by the monster (which is kind of depressing for them). Indra consults Visnu who tells him to construct a weapon from the bones of the sage Dadhici. Dadhici is quite happy to sacrifice his body for the higher purpose of killing the demon. He doesn't mind at all. Visvakarma (the architect of the demigods) then uses the bones of Dadhici to construct a lightning weapon for Indra (Indra is the same guy who is known as Zeus / Jupiter in Greek / Roman mythology - hence the thunderbolt).
The demigods once again attack the demon. This time there is an evenly matched fight between Indra and Vrtrasura.
Indra throws his club, but Vrtra catches it with his left hand and smacks Airavata (Indra's mighty elephant). Indra heals Airavata with his magic hand. Vrtra throws his trident, but Indra blows it up in mid-air with his thunderbolt and cuts off Vrtra's arm in the process. Vrtra then uses his remaining arm to attack Indra with his mace and manages to knock his thunderbolt away. Indra is disheartened and wants to give up, but Vrtra preaches to him and tells him to pick his weapon back up and continue fighting. Vrtrasura says:
Everything is controlled by Krishna: only a fool thinks he is in control. If we understand the power of Krishna then we get freedom from distress, happiness, fear, etc. No one wants death, yet is comes; everything is dependent on Krishna, so don't worry: see fame/infamy, victory/defeat, life/death as all the same and know you are just an observer, not the material body.
Encouraged by the sage/demon's words, Indra resumes fighting. He manages to cut off Vrtra's other arm. Vrtra uses his mahima mystic perfection to grow in size and swallows Indra. However, Indra is protected by Narayana-Kavaca which he obtained in a previous story. He cuts a hole in the belly of Vrtrasura and cuts off the demon's head.
Indra and the demigods win the day, and Vrtrasura, the reincarnation of the pious King Citraketu, goes back to Godhead.
For this week's Vedicsoc session we got two of our regulars. We discussed prison.
I asked: who wants to be imprisoned? Who wants to be restricted in their activity? Who wants someone else constantly telling them what to do? Who wants their life dictated to them? Who wants to do the same things over and over and over again?
Well, guess what? That is our present situation in the material world.
We all must suffer birth, death, disease and old age. We don't have a choice. The various sense objects control us.
(have you ever done anything you knew was bad for you?)
Breaking the four regulative principles of freedom imprisons us because we turn into animals without free will. Drunkards (and other drug addicts) can't control their senses and become utterly predictable in their behavior. A gambler can't help but gamble his wealth away. Eating meat turns people into violent wild beasts. And finally, illicit sex is the strongest of all. It makes up the invisible bars in the prison of the material world. It makes us desire to remain in the prison even if we know better, let alone if we are completely under its sway.
Even discounting all that, we still can't do what we want. Material nature and our previous activities (karma) control us. I told the story of the blood donor scandal in China that caused millions of people to become infected with HIV and hepatitis. Listen to that story here (really shocking). These people didn't choose their plight, and yet material nature forced it upon them. Again, no freedom.
There is danger at every step in this world (SB10.14.58). Everyone is controlled, but everyone is thinking they are in control (BG 3.27).
So, what is the solution? Eliminate desire altogether? No! That is impossible (BG3.5).
The solution is to control the senses by following the regulative principles of freedom (BG2.64). We must act without attachment to the fruit of our work and practice karma yoga (BG3.19). And ultimately, if we do this, Krishna will help us out and free us from this prison (BG7.14). After all, he is the director of the prison (BG9.10).
I ended by telling the story of King Citraketu. He desires a son and gets lots of joy, followed by even greater misery. However, this learning experience motivates him to become self-realized (after some preaching by Narada Muni). He is later cursed by Uma (Siva's wife) to take birth as a demon. However, he doesn't mind at all. As long as he can remember Krishna, birth in a demon body is irrelevant for him. Siva's response: "just see, such is the character of a devotee".
Tvasta summons this demon now named Vrtrasura to kill Indra (because Indra beheaded Tvasta's son Visvarupa). The demigods attack the giant demon but have all their weapons eaten by the monster (which is kind of depressing for them). Indra consults Visnu who tells him to construct a weapon from the bones of the sage Dadhici. Dadhici is quite happy to sacrifice his body for the higher purpose of killing the demon. He doesn't mind at all. Visvakarma (the architect of the demigods) then uses the bones of Dadhici to construct a lightning weapon for Indra (Indra is the same guy who is known as Zeus / Jupiter in Greek / Roman mythology - hence the thunderbolt).
The demigods once again attack the demon. This time there is an evenly matched fight between Indra and Vrtrasura.
Indra throws his club, but Vrtra catches it with his left hand and smacks Airavata (Indra's mighty elephant). Indra heals Airavata with his magic hand. Vrtra throws his trident, but Indra blows it up in mid-air with his thunderbolt and cuts off Vrtra's arm in the process. Vrtra then uses his remaining arm to attack Indra with his mace and manages to knock his thunderbolt away. Indra is disheartened and wants to give up, but Vrtra preaches to him and tells him to pick his weapon back up and continue fighting. Vrtrasura says:
Everything is controlled by Krishna: only a fool thinks he is in control. If we understand the power of Krishna then we get freedom from distress, happiness, fear, etc. No one wants death, yet is comes; everything is dependent on Krishna, so don't worry: see fame/infamy, victory/defeat, life/death as all the same and know you are just an observer, not the material body.
Encouraged by the sage/demon's words, Indra resumes fighting. He manages to cut off Vrtra's other arm. Vrtra uses his mahima mystic perfection to grow in size and swallows Indra. However, Indra is protected by Narayana-Kavaca which he obtained in a previous story. He cuts a hole in the belly of Vrtrasura and cuts off the demon's head.
Indra and the demigods win the day, and Vrtrasura, the reincarnation of the pious King Citraketu, goes back to Godhead.
Questions are the natural product of affection. Complexities will inevitably be part of practicing KC in the material world. It's like trying to remain dry while immersed in water.
The pushings of senses are reactions for your sensory activity. People say life is a learning process, but what is the lesson?
What is good material advice? "Ride the waves, roll with the punches, life is not a spectator sport you have to get into it". SB gives you more important advice. Other advice is trivialized in comparison.
Notice the way Vidura asks questions. It is not just like someone shouting out a car window. Ask questions like Vidura does. Ask older devotees, no need to wait for Maitreya to come along. Glorify the current teacher.
Ask to understand the pastimes of Krishna that will stimulate our KC, do not ask idle question e.g. "How many toilets were there in Dwaraka?"
Materially you can't be the friend of everyone. You can't meet all the human population.
Why does Krishna say such strong things in BG? Shouldn't He be more positive?
Everyone living in Kali-yuga has lost their vision. You may be thoroughly experienced, but still you cannot see.
"Experience is the best teacher ... because a fool will learn no other way."
Divine knowledge can only come from the devotees. They can stop repeated birth and death.
Question: doesn't maya lead you to the devotees?
Question: I'm still not convinced, doesn't experience at least something to a fool?
That is the problem with the world's population: "I don't know what I'm doing, you don't know what you're doing, so lets have a kid" The illusory energy throws a blanket over your head and then tells you: "now make progress, create a civilization." We aren't trying to be a Spielverderber (kill-joy). We are trying to cure a severe disease. We take precautions because we want to love. Love is not a cheap thing. It requires great preparation and qualification. Material romance lasts on average 12 - 16 months. That's the best the material energy gives you. We want real eternal love, but we have to become qualified. How many of you would fall in love with someone who has no qualification? Real love grants you immunity from material miseries. Has a lover ever offered you that?
Questions:
There is great potential for Krishna consciousness in Germany. People appreciate that there may be another possibility in life rather than the mundane. People are open and accepting. Right here there are 4 devotees here in Berlin who came to KC in New Zealand. In Melbourne Australia the personal driver of the current German Chancellor (Angela Merkel) volunteered to wash dishes in the temple. There is so much potential, so now you need to think how you can take advantage of this potential. There will always be setbacks, but the devotees qualification is that he keeps pushing forward. The future is in your hands.
Questions are the natural product of affection. Complexities will inevitably be part of practicing KC in the material world. It's like trying to remain dry while immersed in water.
The pushings of senses are reactions for your sensory activity. People say life is a learning process, but what is the lesson?
What is good material advice? "Ride the waves, roll with the punches, life is not a spectator sport you have to get into it". SB gives you more important advice. Other advice is trivialized in comparison.
Notice the way Vidura asks questions. It is not just like someone shouting out a car window. Ask questions like Vidura does. Ask older devotees, no need to wait for Maitreya to come along. Glorify the current teacher.
Ask to understand the pastimes of Krishna that will stimulate our KC, do not ask idle question e.g. "How many toilets were there in Dwaraka?"
Materially you can't be the friend of everyone. You can't meet all the human population.
Why does Krishna say such strong things in BG? Shouldn't He be more positive?
Everyone living in Kali-yuga has lost their vision. You may be thoroughly experienced, but still you cannot see.
"Experience is the best teacher ... because a fool will learn no other way."
Divine knowledge can only come from the devotees. They can stop repeated birth and death.
Question: doesn't maya lead you to the devotees?
Question: I'm still not convinced, doesn't experience at least something to a fool?
That is the problem with the world's population: "I don't know what I'm doing, you don't know what you're doing, so lets have a kid" The illusory energy throws a blanket over your head and then tells you: "now make progress, create a civilization." We aren't trying to be a Spielverderber (kill-joy). We are trying to cure a severe disease. We take precautions because we want to love. Love is not a cheap thing. It requires great preparation and qualification. Material romance lasts on average 12 - 16 months. That's the best the material energy gives you. We want real eternal love, but we have to become qualified. How many of you would fall in love with someone who has no qualification? Real love grants you immunity from material miseries. Has a lover ever offered you that?
Questions:
There is great potential for Krishna consciousness in Germany. People appreciate that there may be another possibility in life rather than the mundane. People are open and accepting. Right here there are 4 devotees here in Berlin who came to KC in New Zealand. In Melbourne Australia the personal driver of the current German Chancellor (Angela Merkel) volunteered to wash dishes in the temple. There is so much potential, so now you need to think how you can take advantage of this potential. There will always be setbacks, but the devotees qualification is that he keeps pushing forward. The future is in your hands.
Devotees tend to want to focus on Krishna, on the pastime of mother Yasoda binding Krishna. Now that Krishna is bound to the mortar, what happened then? Time for more mischief: I shall knock down these two Yamala Arjuna trees.
Let us go to the heavenly planets: two sons of Kuvera were engaging in material enjoyment. They were sporting with young girls in the heavenly planets. Manigriva and Nalakuvara were so arrogant and intoxicated. Drunk and enjoying with young girls, this is the essence of life. Everyone should be like this, right?
Civilized life begins with controlling the senses. So Narada Muni become transcendentally angry. Of riches, great learning, good birth and personal beauty, riches are the most degrading. Queen Kunti says: People maddened by these things can't chant the names of Krishna.
Who here is materially exhausted? Better to be poor. Now, you may become afraid of KC? "If I become serious about KC I might loose all my wealth"
The example of a mother pinching her child to wake her up to give her medicine. See only a part of the picture and you might think this is cruel. The demigods emerging from the trees began to glorify Krishna. Krishna was thinking: "I'm just a cowheard boy, why are they saying these things?" Just see the paradox of the situation: first the unlimited is bound by Mother Yasoda, then the bound person is setting others free.
You all work but always get an "Urlaub" (vacation). But the senses never give you an "Urlaub". So you take intoxication, but that doesn't solve the problem, it just makes you forget for a few hours.
Nalakuvara and Manigriva were enjoying in heaven where the sense enjoyment was 10,000 and 100,000 better than here and still they are praying to Krishna for no more material enjoyment, just pure love of God.
Questions:
Devotees tend to want to focus on Krishna, on the pastime of mother Yasoda binding Krishna. Now that Krishna is bound to the mortar, what happened then? Time for more mischief: I shall knock down these two Yamala Arjuna trees.
Let us go to the heavenly planets: two sons of Kuvera were engaging in material enjoyment. They were sporting with young girls in the heavenly planets. Manigriva and Nalakuvara were so arrogant and intoxicated. Drunk and enjoying with young girls, this is the essence of life. Everyone should be like this, right?
Civilized life begins with controlling the senses. So Narada Muni become transcendentally angry. Of riches, great learning, good birth and personal beauty, riches are the most degrading. Queen Kunti says: People maddened by these things can't chant the names of Krishna.
Who here is materially exhausted? Better to be poor. Now, you may become afraid of KC? "If I become serious about KC I might loose all my wealth"
The example of a mother pinching her child to wake her up to give her medicine. See only a part of the picture and you might think this is cruel. The demigods emerging from the trees began to glorify Krishna. Krishna was thinking: "I'm just a cowheard boy, why are they saying these things?" Just see the paradox of the situation: first the unlimited is bound by Mother Yasoda, then the bound person is setting others free.
You all work but always get an "Urlaub" (vacation). But the senses never give you an "Urlaub". So you take intoxication, but that doesn't solve the problem, it just makes you forget for a few hours.
Nalakuvara and Manigriva were enjoying in heaven where the sense enjoyment was 10,000 and 100,000 better than here and still they are praying to Krishna for no more material enjoyment, just pure love of God.
Questions:
Weimar is a great University city. Apply your great education to understanding Krishna. Proof of Krishna is not in logic and reason, the proof is in the scripture. But sometimes logic and reason is useful to help you understand the scripture. Logic and reason cannot stretch into completely spiritual topics. It can only take you so far.
Who has never felt attraction to anyone? All this attraction originates in Krishna. Once you understand Krishna you can understand the source of all attraction. The goal isn't to become some dry theologian. The goal is to train you to feel the natural dormant attraction to Krishna. Krishna isn't some theoretical construct, but the source of all attractiveness. He drowns the inhabitants of Vrindavan in unlimited pools of ecstasy.
Most people today think that the result of getting knowledge is increased income. Without the financial reward most students wouldn't go to school. The result of transcendental knowledge is to go to a place from which you will never return.
"All I know is that my body needs some sensuality and my crazy mind needs some intoxication. And while I'm doing that I'll study something that will hopefully make me some money."
That is life as it is lived today.
The vow to sing this particular song during the kartik month is a necessary part of bhakti. To truly appreciate the damodara-lila you have to have an understanding of the spiritual paradox. What is the use of education without understanding Krishna?
This is the highest science of pure love: the one who binds everyone through maya is bound by his devotees' pure love.
Every time Mother Yasoda tried to bind Krishna the rope was two fingers too short. But how do you bind someone who has no beginning or end? That is real knowledge. But Mother Yasoda had bhakta-nista, devotional stubbornness. She was determined to discipline her child. Krishna's determination is called sva-nista. Krishna's stubbornness is that he will always reciprocate with his devotees.
Who has been bound before? Remember the old DDR days when you were bound? You couldn't go where you want, or do what you want. One secret police informer for every three persons in the country. And what about the "ropes of affection"? How many have been bound by that? You go out looking for someone: "please bind me, please bind me". Being bound is a faulty situation. But people nowadays are gloried for being in bound:
"I don't know anything: it's great! I don't understand who I am, but 'who cares'? Knowledge to get to the root of anything: that is impossible."
Because of these contaminations we don't feel the thirst to understand Krishna.
Have you ever gazed into someone's face continually and the beauty just increased and increased? With your husband you can try. Go ahead, try it. How long can you look at his face continuously? Do you ever curse the creator: "oh, why just two eyes to look into my husband's face"? Therefore, there is not real beauty in this world.
Everyone here has just a few basic desires, but you go through so many tribulations just to satisfy them. Now think of having unlimited desires. And think of having the unlimited ability to satisfy those unlimited desire. That is God. He has the surajaya-laksmi ability.
These are some paradoxes you can meditate upon and they will bring great joy to your life. Do any of your professors at university tell you: "upon graduating with this degree you will not take another material body"? Just Professor Krishna said that.
Questions:
- You said that by understanding Krishna we will understand everything else, but I have heard Prabhupada say that we must first become conscious before becoming Krishna conscious?
- How can we love everybody, because someone might be very nasty and not fulfill the necessary requirements that I could love them?
Weimar is a great University city. Apply your great education to understanding Krishna. Proof of Krishna is not in logic and reason, the proof is in the scripture. But sometimes logic and reason is useful to help you understand the scripture. Logic and reason cannot stretch into completely spiritual topics. It can only take you so far.
Who has never felt attraction to anyone? All this attraction originates in Krishna. Once you understand Krishna you can understand the source of all attraction. The goal isn't to become some dry theologian. The goal is to train you to feel the natural dormant attraction to Krishna. Krishna isn't some theoretical construct, but the source of all attractiveness. He drowns the inhabitants of Vrindavan in unlimited pools of ecstasy.
Most people today think that the result of getting knowledge is increased income. Without the financial reward most students wouldn't go to school. The result of transcendental knowledge is to go to a place from which you will never return.
"All I know is that my body needs some sensuality and my crazy mind needs some intoxication. And while I'm doing that I'll study something that will hopefully make me some money."
That is life as it is lived today.
The vow to sing this particular song during the kartik month is a necessary part of bhakti. To truly appreciate the damodara-lila you have to have an understanding of the spiritual paradox. What is the use of education without understanding Krishna?
This is the highest science of pure love: the one who binds everyone through maya is bound by his devotees' pure love.
Every time Mother Yasoda tried to bind Krishna the rope was two fingers too short. But how do you bind someone who has no beginning or end? That is real knowledge. But Mother Yasoda had bhakta-nista, devotional stubbornness. She was determined to discipline her child. Krishna's determination is called sva-nista. Krishna's stubbornness is that he will always reciprocate with his devotees.
Who has been bound before? Remember the old DDR days when you were bound? You couldn't go where you want, or do what you want. One secret police informer for every three persons in the country. And what about the "ropes of affection"? How many have been bound by that? You go out looking for someone: "please bind me, please bind me". Being bound is a faulty situation. But people nowadays are gloried for being in bound:
"I don't know anything: it's great! I don't understand who I am, but 'who cares'? Knowledge to get to the root of anything: that is impossible."
Because of these contaminations we don't feel the thirst to understand Krishna.
Have you ever gazed into someone's face continually and the beauty just increased and increased? With your husband you can try. Go ahead, try it. How long can you look at his face continuously? Do you ever curse the creator: "oh, why just two eyes to look into my husband's face"? Therefore, there is not real beauty in this world.
Everyone here has just a few basic desires, but you go through so many tribulations just to satisfy them. Now think of having unlimited desires. And think of having the unlimited ability to satisfy those unlimited desire. That is God. He has the surajaya-laksmi ability.
These are some paradoxes you can meditate upon and they will bring great joy to your life. Do any of your professors at university tell you: "upon graduating with this degree you will not take another material body"? Just Professor Krishna said that.
Questions:
- You said that by understanding Krishna we will understand everything else, but I have heard Prabhupada say that we must first become conscious before becoming Krishna conscious?
- How can we love everybody, because someone might be very nasty and not fulfill the necessary requirements that I could love them?
I attended a talk by a "science communicator" who was visiting my University. He was speaking on intelligent design from a neutral (yeah, right) perspective.
He outlined both the evolution and intelligent design theories. He quoted anti-evolution argument of the molecular motors that some bacteria use to propel themselves. These little spinning corkscrews propellers consist of over 30 different proteins. Anti-evolutionist have long argued that it would be impossible for these 30 proteins to come together in just the right configuration all at once in one evolutionary step, yet they would have had to in order to form a working and useful motor. However, apparently scientists have now discovered a bacteria that does a similar thing with just 6 proteins. Ha! (although how or why they got from 6 to 30 is not yet known)
He also gave the famous example of the eye, which is way too complicated to have "evolved". However, scientists have now discovered "light sensitive skin". Creatures with such skin obviously gradually evolved into animals with modern eyes. Ha! (although the exact details of how this happened are not yet known)
Another common misconception is that evolution happens by "chance". It is not at all chance. There is no planned outcome. it is not like drawing a specific pair of card from a deck of cards (which would have a small probability). Much rather, it is like getting any pair of matching cards from a deck (much more likely). Lots of different evolutionary paths will work. Nature just happens to have evolved the way it has. If the Universe's dice had rolled differently then we'd all be completely different. So, the ridiculously low probabilities quoted by some opponents of evolution are inaccurate. They are actually much smaller (but still pretty unlikely).
The final steak in the heart of intelligent design is the motivation of intelligent design advocates. Leaked internal documents reveal that they are all Christians who are trying to use it as an inroad to have their religion taught in public schools. This is against the American constitutions, so it is no wonder that the "evolution is just a theory" stickers on text-books and other such attempts get struck down by the courts. The judges aren't stupid. They know there is an ulterior motive behind it.
Christians are being trained up in special universities like the elite Patrick Henry College and the Opus Dei society. They are then tasked with infiltrating key positions of power in school boards, etc. to push their (unconstitutional) Christian agendas.
After his "neutral" talk I asked him about Michael Cremo's books. His answer (and I paraphrase):
Oh yeah, he is another one of those religious types. Which organization does he belong to? The Hare Krishnas, right? However, he does come up with a few very uncomfortable facts. So, yes, I recommend everyone at least has a browse through one of his books. But, don't read any of them, because they are - like - "this" thick. But keep an open mind and at least look at some of the controversial archeological findings he presents.
So, in summary (according to this science communicator person), intelligent design is a concocted idea that ultimately aims to have Christian creationism taught in schools. Science (the new God) will very soon discover the exact detailed mechanism of evolution (even if a few minor missing links are still missing at the moment). And the world will continue to ignore the extremely detailed (non-Christan) intelligent design theory offered by the Vedic literature (even if it does make perfect sense and answer many of the open questions).
I attended a talk by a "science communicator" who was visiting my University. He was speaking on intelligent design from a neutral (yeah, right) perspective.
He outlined both the evolution and intelligent design theories. He quoted anti-evolution argument of the molecular motors that some bacteria use to propel themselves. These little spinning corkscrews propellers consist of over 30 different proteins. Anti-evolutionist have long argued that it would be impossible for these 30 proteins to come together in just the right configuration all at once in one evolutionary step, yet they would have had to in order to form a working and useful motor. However, apparently scientists have now discovered a bacteria that does a similar thing with just 6 proteins. Ha! (although how or why they got from 6 to 30 is not yet known)
He also gave the famous example of the eye, which is way too complicated to have "evolved". However, scientists have now discovered "light sensitive skin". Creatures with such skin obviously gradually evolved into animals with modern eyes. Ha! (although the exact details of how this happened are not yet known)
Another common misconception is that evolution happens by "chance". It is not at all chance. There is no planned outcome. it is not like drawing a specific pair of card from a deck of cards (which would have a small probability). Much rather, it is like getting any pair of matching cards from a deck (much more likely). Lots of different evolutionary paths will work. Nature just happens to have evolved the way it has. If the Universe's dice had rolled differently then we'd all be completely different. So, the ridiculously low probabilities quoted by some opponents of evolution are inaccurate. They are actually much smaller (but still pretty unlikely).
The final steak in the heart of intelligent design is the motivation of intelligent design advocates. Leaked internal documents reveal that they are all Christians who are trying to use it as an inroad to have their religion taught in public schools. This is against the American constitutions, so it is no wonder that the "evolution is just a theory" stickers on text-books and other such attempts get struck down by the courts. The judges aren't stupid. They know there is an ulterior motive behind it.
Christians are being trained up in special universities like the elite Patrick Henry College and the Opus Dei society. They are then tasked with infiltrating key positions of power in school boards, etc. to push their (unconstitutional) Christian agendas.
After his "neutral" talk I asked him about Michael Cremo's books. His answer (and I paraphrase):
Oh yeah, he is another one of those religious types. Which organization does he belong to? The Hare Krishnas, right? However, he does come up with a few very uncomfortable facts. So, yes, I recommend everyone at least has a browse through one of his books. But, don't read any of them, because they are - like - "this" thick. But keep an open mind and at least look at some of the controversial archeological findings he presents.
So, in summary (according to this science communicator person), intelligent design is a concocted idea that ultimately aims to have Christian creationism taught in schools. Science (the new God) will very soon discover the exact detailed mechanism of evolution (even if a few minor missing links are still missing at the moment). And the world will continue to ignore the extremely detailed (non-Christan) intelligent design theory offered by the Vedic literature (even if it does make perfect sense and answer many of the open questions).
3 new people this week. However, two of them had to leave within the first 10 minutes. They had just wanted to buy a mantra-meditation kit to practice some chanting at home (fine by me).
I did some chanting with the one person that stayed and we also discussed a little bit of the basic Krishna conscious philosophy.
I'm thinking of moving the Vedicsoc day. Tuesday seems to be difficult for lots of people. However, it is good to keep a consistent day for the occasional people that show up out-of-the-blue. In any case, I sent out a few emails to past attendees asking them which day they would prefer. We will see...
3 new people this week. However, two of them had to leave within the first 10 minutes. They had just wanted to buy a mantra-meditation kit to practice some chanting at home (fine by me).
I did some chanting with the one person that stayed and we also discussed a little bit of the basic Krishna conscious philosophy.
I'm thinking of moving the Vedicsoc day. Tuesday seems to be difficult for lots of people. However, it is good to keep a consistent day for the occasional people that show up out-of-the-blue. In any case, I sent out a few emails to past attendees asking them which day they would prefer. We will see...
I recently attended a round-table discussion with Grady Booch. Yes, the Grady Booch. What, you've never heard of him? If you studied Computer Science you are sure to have at least one book of his. He is one of the gurus of software development. He is now working as "chief scientist" for IBM.
Read his blog here and another blog of his here.
You can also watch his recent Turing Lecture on "the promise, the limits and the beauty of software". It is very interesting.
Here some tidbits from the discussion with him :
Functional programming languages (like LISP, Scheme and SML) failed largely because they made it very easy to do very difficult things, but it was too hard to do the easy things.
The current buzzword for revolutionizing the software industry is SOA: Service Oriented Architecture. Grady calls it "Snake Oil Oriented Architecture". It is just re-branded "Message Oriented Architecture". The idea is to expose services and describe them using WSDL. This decreases coupling between systems. The service becomes the thing to test things against. The rest of the software application becomes a black box. A meta-architecture emerges: no software is an island onto itself.
It is a good idea, but the hundreds of WS* standards are so complicated and ill-defined that Microsoft's and IBM's implementations end up being incompatible. Lesser companies have no hope of ever implementing these crazy so-called standards. Just another scheme by the big companies to lock people into their software.
Bill Higgins' REST-style of SOA is much more promising. It builds upon the idea of something like HTTP instead of the complex transfer protocols of the WS-Vertigo world.
But back to software architecture...
The next big challenge in software architecture is concurrency. Raw clock speed has just about reached its physical limit. Chip companies are now putting multiple copies of the same CPU onto a single chip. The result is that applications can no longer just be run faster. They have to be run in parallel in some way. For example:
Dreamworks computer animation uses 10,000 serves in a production pipeline to render movies like Shrek 3. They will soon switch to using multi-core processor, but will have trouble distributing the work-load to take advantage of all these multiple cores.
The game company EA has the same problem. the Playstation 3 uses the Cell processor which has an 8-core CPU. How does on take advantage of all these 8 cores? EA segments their games into simple concerns: graphics on one core, audio on another, AI on yet another, etc. But the company admits that they are using only about 10% of the processor's capacity. So much potential computing power is wasted because it is really difficult to parallelize something as complex as a video game.
A typical Google node (and there are many around the world) consists of about 100,000 servers, but Google have a relatively "easy" problem. Search is "easy" to parallelize.
The perfect architecture doesn't exist. Good architectures have evolved over time. The first version of Photoshop wasn't very good, but it has undergone many rebirths. Amazon's computer systems can handle the loss of an entire data-center without a shopper ever noticing. It certainly wasn't always that way, but by gradual refinement they have built (and are continuing to build) a better and better architecture.
A typical EA game costs about $15 million just in development cost (that is without the cost involved in licensing, marketing, or distributing). Two kids in a garage can no longer create amazing software. They can have a great idea, but it has to evolve into something much more complex to be truly useful (on that note: Google is a company most seriously in need of adult supervision; way too much money in the hands of kids. They will soon face a mid-life crisis just like IBM has in the past and Microsoft currently is right in the middle of - just look at the state of Windows Vista).
Some principles for a good architecture:
How to tell a good architecture when you see one? Ask the following questions?
If the answer to all three questions is "yes", then chances are you have a good architecture, or even if you do not have a good architecture at the moment, you will gradually evolve to having one.
Want to learn about good architecture? A good place to start is the 4+1 model view of software architecture. Software needs to be envisioned from multiple different perspective simultaneously. Just like their can't be just one 2D diagram outlining the plan for a house, there can't be a single view of a software application. [I might add that there can't just be a single view of the Universe. The Vedic literature therefore describes the Universe from 4 different viewpoints simultaneously.]
As for Web 2.0: it is a meme, an idea, a flag pole that you can hang almost anything off.
As for the Semantic Web? Developers don't understand normal software architecture properly, so what chance is there for them to understand something as complicated as semantically aware software? So, in Grady's opinion, the semantic web is a long, long way off.
I recently attended a round-table discussion with Grady Booch. Yes, the Grady Booch. What, you've never heard of him? If you studied Computer Science you are sure to have at least one book of his. He is one of the gurus of software development. He is now working as "chief scientist" for IBM.
Read his blog here and another blog of his here.
You can also watch his recent Turing Lecture on "the promise, the limits and the beauty of software". It is very interesting.
Here some tidbits from the discussion with him :
Functional programming languages (like LISP, Scheme and SML) failed largely because they made it very easy to do very difficult things, but it was too hard to do the easy things.
The current buzzword for revolutionizing the software industry is SOA: Service Oriented Architecture. Grady calls it "Snake Oil Oriented Architecture". It is just re-branded "Message Oriented Architecture". The idea is to expose services and describe them using WSDL. This decreases coupling between systems. The service becomes the thing to test things against. The rest of the software application becomes a black box. A meta-architecture emerges: no software is an island onto itself.
It is a good idea, but the hundreds of WS* standards are so complicated and ill-defined that Microsoft's and IBM's implementations end up being incompatible. Lesser companies have no hope of ever implementing these crazy so-called standards. Just another scheme by the big companies to lock people into their software.
Bill Higgins' REST-style of SOA is much more promising. It builds upon the idea of something like HTTP instead of the complex transfer protocols of the WS-Vertigo world.
But back to software architecture...
The next big challenge in software architecture is concurrency. Raw clock speed has just about reached its physical limit. Chip companies are now putting multiple copies of the same CPU onto a single chip. The result is that applications can no longer just be run faster. They have to be run in parallel in some way. For example:
Dreamworks computer animation uses 10,000 serves in a production pipeline to render movies like Shrek 3. They will soon switch to using multi-core processor, but will have trouble distributing the work-load to take advantage of all these multiple cores.
The game company EA has the same problem. the Playstation 3 uses the Cell processor which has an 8-core CPU. How does on take advantage of all these 8 cores? EA segments their games into simple concerns: graphics on one core, audio on another, AI on yet another, etc. But the company admits that they are using only about 10% of the processor's capacity. So much potential computing power is wasted because it is really difficult to parallelize something as complex as a video game.
A typical Google node (and there are many around the world) consists of about 100,000 servers, but Google have a relatively "easy" problem. Search is "easy" to parallelize.
The perfect architecture doesn't exist. Good architectures have evolved over time. The first version of Photoshop wasn't very good, but it has undergone many rebirths. Amazon's computer systems can handle the loss of an entire data-center without a shopper ever noticing. It certainly wasn't always that way, but by gradual refinement they have built (and are continuing to build) a better and better architecture.
A typical EA game costs about $15 million just in development cost (that is without the cost involved in licensing, marketing, or distributing). Two kids in a garage can no longer create amazing software. They can have a great idea, but it has to evolve into something much more complex to be truly useful (on that note: Google is a company most seriously in need of adult supervision; way too much money in the hands of kids. They will soon face a mid-life crisis just like IBM has in the past and Microsoft currently is right in the middle of - just look at the state of Windows Vista).
Some principles for a good architecture:
How to tell a good architecture when you see one? Ask the following questions?
If the answer to all three questions is "yes", then chances are you have a good architecture, or even if you do not have a good architecture at the moment, you will gradually evolve to having one.
Want to learn about good architecture? A good place to start is the 4+1 model view of software architecture. Software needs to be envisioned from multiple different perspective simultaneously. Just like their can't be just one 2D diagram outlining the plan for a house, there can't be a single view of a software application. [I might add that there can't just be a single view of the Universe. The Vedic literature therefore describes the Universe from 4 different viewpoints simultaneously.]
As for Web 2.0: it is a meme, an idea, a flag pole that you can hang almost anything off.
As for the Semantic Web? Developers don't understand normal software architecture properly, so what chance is there for them to understand something as complicated as semantically aware software? So, in Grady's opinion, the semantic web is a long, long way off.
(source)
Or, in Latin, if you prefer: "aurora musis amica"
That is a German proverb that literally means: "the morning hour has gold in the mouth". It kind of loses something in the translation...
Anyway, in a survey of 20 top CEOs, 80% of them get up before 5:30am. So, if you want to be successful: rise and shine! The early bird catches the worm!
(and, if you aren't into worm-eating, the morning hours are also the best time to meditate)
(source)
Or, in Latin, if you prefer: "aurora musis amica"
That is a German proverb that literally means: "the morning hour has gold in the mouth". It kind of loses something in the translation...
Anyway, in a survey of 20 top CEOs, 80% of them get up before 5:30am. So, if you want to be successful: rise and shine! The early bird catches the worm!
(and, if you aren't into worm-eating, the morning hours are also the best time to meditate)
The Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian book publisher in the world, talks about the core values of his company in this blog posting.
The core values of Thomas Nelson are:
1. Honoring God
2. Serving Others
3. Focus and Discipline
4. World-Class Talent
5. Collaboration
These mesh well with Krishna consciousness, I think.
(Nice company logo, too)
The Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian book publisher in the world, talks about the core values of his company in this blog posting.
The core values of Thomas Nelson are:
1. Honoring God
2. Serving Others
3. Focus and Discipline
4. World-Class Talent
5. Collaboration
These mesh well with Krishna consciousness, I think.
(Nice company logo, too)
Only one guest this week. It was a student from Iran who came because I advertised that this week's discussion would be on "nuclear weapons". With the controversy over Iran's nukes in the media he came to hear the Vedic perspective.
He had visited the local temple 3 years ago for a new years party and told me that he still remembered the meal. He raved about the amazing beverage he was served. He said he has never tasted anything like it.
We did a bit of yoga. I then explained the meaning of the maha-mantra and how and why it was compatible with Islam. We chanted together for a bit.
After that we discussed all sorts of things: big media manipulating people's thoughts by propagating a one-sided view of Iran, different conceptions of God and the nuclear weapons described in the Srimad Bhagavatam and Mahabharata:
I told the story of Robert Oppenheimer, the chief scientist who developed the first nuclear bombs in the United States. When he saw the first bomb test he quoted a verse from Bhagavad Gita:
kalo 'smi loka-kshaya-krit pravriddho
lokan samahartum iha pravrittah (BG 11.32)
Later when asked if this was the first nuclear explosion he replied:
"Yes, in modern times, ..."
What Oppenheimer knew was that there were descriptions in the Vedic literature of warriors using nuclear weapons over 5000 years ago. Just as scientists now use high voltage electric sparks (and other methods) to start the chain reaction that results in a nuclear explosion, the most skilled ksatriyas (elite warriors) of the Vedic times could use special sound vibration (mantra) to either fuse or slip atoms and thereby achieve the same explosive effect.
Here is a passage from the Mahabharata describing a nuclear attack:
...a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and flame, as bright as the thousand suns, rose in all its splendor...a perpendicular explosion with its billowing smoke clouds...
...the cloud of smoke rising after its first explosion formed into expanding round circles like the opening of a giant mushroom...
It was an unknown weapon, an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas...the corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. The hair and nails fell out; pottery broke without apparent cause and the birds turned white. After a few hours all foodstuffs were infected...
...to escape from this fire the soldiers threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their equipment.
In the Bhagavatam there is a description of the misguided warrior Asvatthama being chased by the more powerful Arjuna and, out of desperation, launching a nuclear attack against his enemy. However, Asvatthama didn't know how to properly control the weapon and the chain reaction cascaded out of control, threatening to destroy the entire world. Arjuna, on Krishna's advice, released a nuclear weapon of his own, merged its explosion with that of Asvatthama's weapon and then slowed the joint reactions and retracted both weapons, saving the day.
Point: people who can't property control the great power of nuclear energy shouldn't have access to it, but nukes are perfectly alright for those people of high moral and intellectual standard (which is practically no one today) like Arjuna who can utilize the power properly.
Only one guest this week. It was a student from Iran who came because I advertised that this week's discussion would be on "nuclear weapons". With the controversy over Iran's nukes in the media he came to hear the Vedic perspective.
He had visited the local temple 3 years ago for a new years party and told me that he still remembered the meal. He raved about the amazing beverage he was served. He said he has never tasted anything like it.
We did a bit of yoga. I then explained the meaning of the maha-mantra and how and why it was compatible with Islam. We chanted together for a bit.
After that we discussed all sorts of things: big media manipulating people's thoughts by propagating a one-sided view of Iran, different conceptions of God and the nuclear weapons described in the Srimad Bhagavatam and Mahabharata:
I told the story of Robert Oppenheimer, the chief scientist who developed the first nuclear bombs in the United States. When he saw the first bomb test he quoted a verse from Bhagavad Gita:
kalo 'smi loka-kshaya-krit pravriddho
lokan samahartum iha pravrittah (BG 11.32)
Later when asked if this was the first nuclear explosion he replied:
"Yes, in modern times, ..."
What Oppenheimer knew was that there were descriptions in the Vedic literature of warriors using nuclear weapons over 5000 years ago. Just as scientists now use high voltage electric sparks (and other methods) to start the chain reaction that results in a nuclear explosion, the most skilled ksatriyas (elite warriors) of the Vedic times could use special sound vibration (mantra) to either fuse or slip atoms and thereby achieve the same explosive effect.
Here is a passage from the Mahabharata describing a nuclear attack:
...a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and flame, as bright as the thousand suns, rose in all its splendor...a perpendicular explosion with its billowing smoke clouds...
...the cloud of smoke rising after its first explosion formed into expanding round circles like the opening of a giant mushroom...
It was an unknown weapon, an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas...the corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. The hair and nails fell out; pottery broke without apparent cause and the birds turned white. After a few hours all foodstuffs were infected...
...to escape from this fire the soldiers threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their equipment.
In the Bhagavatam there is a description of the misguided warrior Asvatthama being chased by the more powerful Arjuna and, out of desperation, launching a nuclear attack against his enemy. However, Asvatthama didn't know how to properly control the weapon and the chain reaction cascaded out of control, threatening to destroy the entire world. Arjuna, on Krishna's advice, released a nuclear weapon of his own, merged its explosion with that of Asvatthama's weapon and then slowed the joint reactions and retracted both weapons, saving the day.
Point: people who can't property control the great power of nuclear energy shouldn't have access to it, but nukes are perfectly alright for those people of high moral and intellectual standard (which is practically no one today) like Arjuna who can utilize the power properly.
A friend of mine, David, who has had a blog on Microsoft's "Live" for a while, has recently switched to using WordPress. Check out his beautiful new blog at:
http://david.deltaflow.com
(please update your bookmarks)
A friend of mine, David, who has had a blog on Microsoft's "Live" for a while, has recently switched to using WordPress. Check out his beautiful new blog at:
http://david.deltaflow.com
(please update your bookmarks)
"The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." (United Nations LEAD report)
Meat eating is destroying the planet!
In an article over on huffingtonpost, blogger Kathy Freston describes how a vegetarian diet can do more to reduce pollution than, for example, switching to a fuel-saving hybrid car like the Toyota Prius.
Reducing the environmental (and karmic) impact of the 10 billion animals that are killed each year in the United States (that's 300 deaths every second), is far more important than reducing the pollution caused by the 250 million passenger cars in the USA. Of course, there is nothing wrong with more fuel efficient cars, but vegetarianism should be the given much greater priority as a quick, easy, cheap and effective first step to save the planet.
Q: What is the best way to become and maintain a vegetarian diet?
A: Krishna consciousness automatically transforms one's consciousness so that one looses the desire for flesh eating. Repression the desire for meat is very difficult, but by experiencing a higher taste one is fixed in consciousness (see BG 2.59).
"The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." (United Nations LEAD report)
Meat eating is destroying the planet!
In an article over on huffingtonpost, blogger Kathy Freston describes how a vegetarian diet can do more to reduce pollution than, for example, switching to a fuel-saving hybrid car like the Toyota Prius.
Reducing the environmental (and karmic) impact of the 10 billion animals that are killed each year in the United States (that's 300 deaths every second), is far more important than reducing the pollution caused by the 250 million passenger cars in the USA. Of course, there is nothing wrong with more fuel efficient cars, but vegetarianism should be the given much greater priority as a quick, easy, cheap and effective first step to save the planet.
Q: What is the best way to become and maintain a vegetarian diet?
A: Krishna consciousness automatically transforms one's consciousness so that one looses the desire for flesh eating. Repression the desire for meat is very difficult, but by experiencing a higher taste one is fixed in consciousness (see BG 2.59).
Time, time again for another consultation with Philip Weeks. My digestion was starting to degrade again. A few (actually quite a large amount of) acupuncture needles sorted that out. The healing effect of the needles seems to require a "boost" ever so often.
I also had developed a weird cramp in my jaw. I could hardly open my mouth without a painful spasm shooting through my jaw bone near my ear. Speaking wasn't a problem, but yawning and eating was a little difficult.
Philip used about four needles in the side of my face to release the cramp (or whatever it was). He said these kinds of things are quite common if one grinds one's teeth while sleeping. I obviously wouldn't know if I do. In any case, it is better now. Still not completely gone, but much improved.
Dr. Weeks then also stuck needles into my feet, shins, thumb joints and the side of my nose (!) (which was kind of weird). He explained that a meridian runs all the from the thumb up to the jaw. If one sticks a needle the correct place, one can remove someone's teeth without them feeling a thing.
My body responds well to acupuncture. I would do well to find a good acupuncturist wherever destiny might take me next. However, sorting the good from the demoniac is difficult for the ignorant (i.e. me). According to Philip most of the really good acupuncturists stay in China and only the mediocre to incompetent ones are allowed to leave the country and "heal" westerners. He kindly offered to vet any potential doctor I might find in a foreign country to see if their style matches his own.
Time, time again for another consultation with Philip Weeks. My digestion was starting to degrade again. A few (actually quite a large amount of) acupuncture needles sorted that out. The healing effect of the needles seems to require a "boost" ever so often.
I also had developed a weird cramp in my jaw. I could hardly open my mouth without a painful spasm shooting through my jaw bone near my ear. Speaking wasn't a problem, but yawning and eating was a little difficult.
Philip used about four needles in the side of my face to release the cramp (or whatever it was). He said these kinds of things are quite common if one grinds one's teeth while sleeping. I obviously wouldn't know if I do. In any case, it is better now. Still not completely gone, but much improved.
Dr. Weeks then also stuck needles into my feet, shins, thumb joints and the side of my nose (!) (which was kind of weird). He explained that a meridian runs all the from the thumb up to the jaw. If one sticks a needle the correct place, one can remove someone's teeth without them feeling a thing.
My body responds well to acupuncture. I would do well to find a good acupuncturist wherever destiny might take me next. However, sorting the good from the demoniac is difficult for the ignorant (i.e. me). According to Philip most of the really good acupuncturists stay in China and only the mediocre to incompetent ones are allowed to leave the country and "heal" westerners. He kindly offered to vet any potential doctor I might find in a foreign country to see if their style matches his own.
No one came.
No one came.