Planet ISKCON

I dun be as sick as a wounded dawg. Yea, I have a recurrence of bronchitis which is causing a cough from hell, plus, as if that wasn't enough, my right ear is blocked because of an infection. This is probably part of the deal of having been in India for the last 4 weeks (call it purification or karma). And so henceforth, my friends, here's another practical lesson in how the material body is not for us... Gone is skipping dainty through daffodil carpeted fields of blissful existence and joy. Imploded have the promising dreams of a healthy life in serenity and sugar candied familial love. Regurgitated are the ambrosial delicacies that were brought forth for the finer pleasures of the palate. Creamed are the memories of happiness... all that is left in their place is a deaf stupor.

In the holy words of the monty python team sometime in the 1970s; “That's nothing!” My so called cajoling with the stark inevitability of material agony is simply a stroll in the park in comparison with others' who have it much worse. One devotee here in Taipei suffered polio in early life and because of it still sustains a dysfunctional leg to this day. He learned to overcome the regret and pain associated with it, even though it also cost him the chance to pursue his dream of an occupation as a doctor, for according to Taiwanese law you can't be a doctor with such a disability. He now makes a living on the street making those little rubber stamps that Chinese people officially sign their names with. There really is no solace in material life; it leads simply to madness. But, for the majority of us, we still pray with folded hands and all sincerity that we can find some happiness in it.

Forget yoga, jnana and fruitive research. Simply meditate on the divine feet of Nanda Nandana with as much love as you can muster and beg the sublimely pure Sri for Her help. Anything else just won't do.

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

I went to visit the brahmacari monks living in "peaceful" South Auckland in a wonderful ashram environment. They live a very regulated life of distributing books (50000 Srimad Bhagavatam 1st Cantos in the warehouse, waiting to be distributed), studying books (2 hours each day), distributing prasadam (at the many Auckland universities) and chanting the Maha-Mantra (at least 16 round each day). Such wonderful character-building service to all of humanity! The brahmacaris also have a vegetable patch in their back garden. Such a moderately sized garden is enough to supply food for most of the year. So much so that they often have to give some away to the loft, because they can't eat it all. If it is so easy to feed 8 hungry men, then what is this non-sense about world hunger due to overpopulation (although granted, the population of New Zealand isn't exactly large)?

I also gave a talk about Krishna consciousness to students at Massey University in North Auckland. This was part of a series of activities the devotees had organized as part of a "spirituality week" that was going on there. Krishna consciousness was a welcome break from the legions of christians that jumped on top of every unsuspecting student that entered the main concourse the day before (I was told).

Just a few hours after that I was off on a 32 hour flight back to the UK.

Pictures from Auckland are viewable here.

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

I went to visit the brahmacari monks living in "peaceful" South Auckland in a wonderful ashram environment. They live a very regulated life of distributing books (50000 Srimad Bhagavatam 1st Cantos in the warehouse, waiting to be distributed), studying books (2 hours each day), distributing prasadam (at the many Auckland universities) and chanting the Maha-Mantra (at least 16 round each day). Such wonderful character-building service to all of humanity! The brahmacaris also have a vegetable patch in their back garden. Such a moderately sized garden is enough to supply food for most of the year. So much so that they often have to give some away to the loft, because they can't eat it all. If it is so easy to feed 8 hungry men, then what is this non-sense about world hunger due to overpopulation (although granted, the population of New Zealand isn't exactly large)?

I also gave a talk about Krishna consciousness to students at Massey University in North Auckland. This was part of a series of activities the devotees had organized as part of a "spirituality week" that was going on there. Krishna consciousness was a welcome break from the legions of christians that jumped on top of every unsuspecting student that entered the main concourse the day before (I was told).

Just a few hours after that I was off on a 32 hour flight back to the UK.

Pictures from Auckland are viewable here.

A realization I had while reading the Srimad-Bhagavatam: the place commonly known as "hell" is not underground or anything like that, but in the sky. In the place between heaven and earth.

"Living entities who are associates of Rudra develop in the third mode of material nature, or ignorance. They are situated in the sky between the earthly planets and the heavenly planets." SB3.6.29

So, to me that means "hell", or the ideal living conditions for those in the mode of ignorance, is situated in space, on other planets in the solar system, on asteroids, etc.

A realization I had while reading the Srimad-Bhagavatam: the place commonly known as "hell" is not underground or anything like that, but in the sky. In the place between heaven and earth.

"Living entities who are associates of Rudra develop in the third mode of material nature, or ignorance. They are situated in the sky between the earthly planets and the heavenly planets." SB3.6.29

So, to me that means "hell", or the ideal living conditions for those in the mode of ignorance, is situated in space, on other planets in the solar system, on asteroids, etc.

While in Wellington (New Zealand) I gave a Sunday presentation at Gaura Yoga. I talked on Scientific Spirituality. I talked about science in general and how it works (or not). Then I went on to talk about Krishna consciousness explaining how it is a very scientific process of spirituality which is in many ways more advanced and beneficial than materialistic science.

View the video of my presentation:

Download a more high-quality version of the video and download the Apple Keynote slideshow presentation (mac only).

While in Wellington (New Zealand) I gave a Sunday presentation at Gaura Yoga. I talked on Scientific Spirituality. I talked about science in general and how it works (or not). Then I went on to talk about Krishna consciousness explaining how it is a very scientific process of spirituality which is in many ways more advanced and beneficial than materialistic science.

View the video of my presentation:

Download a more high-quality version of the video and download the Apple Keynote slideshow presentation (mac only).

All the photos -- including photos of the demolition in November, which left Krishna families homeless in freezing winter snow -- can be found here.

Video can be found here.

All the photos -- including photos of the demolition in November, which left Krishna families homeless in freezing winter snow -- can be found here.

Video can be found here.

Early today, the officials in Kazakhstan demolished more homes belonging to Hare Krishna devotees at the farm in Almaty.

This ten minute video gives an overview on the background of the situation in Kazakhstan.

Preliminary reports are placing the number of homes demolished today at twelve (added to the demolitions last November, that would bring the total to twenty-six homes destroyed). As before, the officials brought busloads of laborers and police officers with them, indiscriminately taking crowbars and sledgehammers to the homes. They threw personal possessions out into the street, even as the horrified devotees pleaded with them and begged for mercy. Mechanical diggers then moved in, literally "crushing the houses to dust."

We do not think that the (makeshift) temple or cow-barn have been demolished yet. However, local officials have included these buildings on their list of buildings to be demolished. This is especially troubling because the temple is the official site linked to ISKCON's registration as a religion in the country. Because of the way Kazakh law is structured, there is a possibility that if the temple structure is demolished, ISKCON will simply lose its right to exist legally in the country at all.

The latest report is available at Forum18.org, a religious freedom watchdog news agency.

Please keep checking the following sites for updates:
Forum18.org
KazakhKrishna.com
iskconcommunications.blogspot.com

His Holiness BB Govinda Maharaj is in the United States right now in order to raise awareness about (and funds for) the crisis in Kazakhstan. He is in Washington, D.C. right now with Anuttama Prabhu and they have had several successful meetings with high-ranking US officials and human rights advocates.

I will try my best to let you know more details as they emerge; right now, please inform everyone you know about the situation and request their prayers. Organized kirtan is always a nice idea in situations such as this.

Also, now it appears certain that the devotees will have to relocate very quickly and this requires substantial funds, so any financial help would be most welcome. You may help by contacting your local ISKCON temple about how to give donations, or by visiting www.palaceofthesoul.com and clicking on "Donate Online."

Please do NOT stage any protests or contact any officials without first coordinating it with our office.

on behalf of ISKCON Communications,
your servant,
Vyenkata Bhatta dasa


PS: BB Govinda Swami's inspirational words to the devotees in Kazakhstan:

"Take shelter of Krishna. Everyone should remain very brave and remain fixed in chanting the holy name. Pull together and take care of the devotees whose homes have been destroyed. What is being done is cruel and certainly not fair but we still have our lives….so those lives should be focused on serving Krishna and our consciousness should certainly not become like that of the people who are doing this. We are witnessing a rude exhibition of material consciousness – never become like that. Pull together, even more than you did last November. Make sure the homeless devotees have shelter and try to gather together their belongings. And by this try to understand how special devotee association really is…"

Early today, the officials in Kazakhstan demolished more homes belonging to Hare Krishna devotees at the farm in Almaty.

This ten minute video gives an overview on the background of the situation in Kazakhstan.

Preliminary reports are placing the number of homes demolished today at twelve (added to the demolitions last November, that would bring the total to twenty-six homes destroyed). As before, the officials brought busloads of laborers and police officers with them, indiscriminately taking crowbars and sledgehammers to the homes. They threw personal possessions out into the street, even as the horrified devotees pleaded with them and begged for mercy. Mechanical diggers then moved in, literally "crushing the houses to dust."

We do not think that the (makeshift) temple or cow-barn have been demolished yet. However, local officials have included these buildings on their list of buildings to be demolished. This is especially troubling because the temple is the official site linked to ISKCON's registration as a religion in the country. Because of the way Kazakh law is structured, there is a possibility that if the temple structure is demolished, ISKCON will simply lose its right to exist legally in the country at all.

The latest report is available at Forum18.org, a religious freedom watchdog news agency.

Please keep checking the following sites for updates:
Forum18.org
KazakhKrishna.com
iskconcommunications.blogspot.com

His Holiness BB Govinda Maharaj is in the United States right now in order to raise awareness about (and funds for) the crisis in Kazakhstan. He is in Washington, D.C. right now with Anuttama Prabhu and they have had several successful meetings with high-ranking US officials and human rights advocates.

I will try my best to let you know more details as they emerge; right now, please inform everyone you know about the situation and request their prayers. Organized kirtan is always a nice idea in situations such as this.

Also, now it appears certain that the devotees will have to relocate very quickly and this requires substantial funds, so any financial help would be most welcome. You may help by contacting your local ISKCON temple about how to give donations, or by visiting www.palaceofthesoul.com and clicking on "Donate Online."

Please do NOT stage any protests or contact any officials without first coordinating it with our office.

on behalf of ISKCON Communications,
your servant,
Vyenkata Bhatta dasa


PS: BB Govinda Swami's inspirational words to the devotees in Kazakhstan:

"Take shelter of Krishna. Everyone should remain very brave and remain fixed in chanting the holy name. Pull together and take care of the devotees whose homes have been destroyed. What is being done is cruel and certainly not fair but we still have our lives….so those lives should be focused on serving Krishna and our consciousness should certainly not become like that of the people who are doing this. We are witnessing a rude exhibition of material consciousness – never become like that. Pull together, even more than you did last November. Make sure the homeless devotees have shelter and try to gather together their belongings. And by this try to understand how special devotee association really is…"

A letter from the Hendon & Finchley Times in the UK:

At a time when harmony between communities is seen as a matter of priority, the new Jewish Community School in East Barnet has given rise to controversy.

Karen Jordan has come up with the old objection, excessive traffic (June 7). This was the same objection raised some years ago, when an orthodox synagogue opened in Watford Way, and when the Hare Krishna movement opened Bhaktivedanta Manor, near Watford. Yet there is not a squeak from anyone about the amount of traffic generated by Christian churches.

Traffic is just an excuse for some people, thankfully a minority, for expressing objection to faiths other than their own.

Ron Isaacs
Sebright Road
Barnet

A letter from the Hendon & Finchley Times in the UK:

At a time when harmony between communities is seen as a matter of priority, the new Jewish Community School in East Barnet has given rise to controversy.

Karen Jordan has come up with the old objection, excessive traffic (June 7). This was the same objection raised some years ago, when an orthodox synagogue opened in Watford Way, and when the Hare Krishna movement opened Bhaktivedanta Manor, near Watford. Yet there is not a squeak from anyone about the amount of traffic generated by Christian churches.

Traffic is just an excuse for some people, thankfully a minority, for expressing objection to faiths other than their own.

Ron Isaacs
Sebright Road
Barnet

GBC meetings@NV

GBC meetings@NV

Come one, come all, as we celebrate the success of the Summer 2007 GBC International Meetings here in New Vrindaban Dham with some of the finest theater and kirtan New Vrindaban has to offer.

Beginning at 7PM, in the Main Temple Room, you can see and hear:

“TENTH CANTO”-A dramatic rendition of the Tenth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, featuring the New Vrindaban Players led by the one-of-a-kind direction of His Holiness Bhakti-Marg Swami

This will be followed by sublime bhajans led by HH Lokanath Swami and HH BB Govinda Maharaja.

Admission is free, and donations are appreciated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wellington, here I come!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wellington, here I come!

After a short stay in Brisbane the devotees headed off to a retreat center two hours out of town on Mount Warning, Murwillumbah, NSW. The center had been shut down for many years, but the owner wanted to get it going again. However, fixing it up was a big job, which he could not have managed on his own. So, the devotees offered to help. It took many weekends of hard work to clean out the dirt and numerous living entities that had taken up residence in the abandoned buildings. Now however, looking at the results, one would never know. It is a very nice setting.

The bhakti yoga retreat was a wonderful program of getting up early, finding one's way to the main building in the darkness of the night using a flashlight, having a nice morning program, chanting the maha-mantra on beads, having another nice program, listening to inspiring classes by Devamrita Swami, having a nice healthy breakfast, resting, attending an occasional seminar, having a sensational lunch (taking into account all the devotees' health needs) and a nice evening program that usually lasted deep into the night and exhausted everyone with hours and hours of blissful chanting.

I finally got the opportunity to meet some devotees in person who I had previously only known and communicated with online. Plus, of course, all the great enthusiastic practitioners of Krishna consciousness I met for the first time.

The last day of the retreat was a particularly memorable one. We did a one and a half hour trek over the mountain to the New Govardhana temple. New Govardhana is a huge community of devotees, complete with wild peacocks, poisonous snakes and beautiful deities. The pace of the walk was hard and fast, yet Sitapati led a transcendental kirtan all the way (while carrying his son on his shoulders and accordion strapped to his chest). I had a hard time just walking!

Near the end of the walk the heavens opened and 15-minute rain storm swept over all of us. Everyone was drenched. However, we dried off soon enough when we reached the temple and carried on chanting for what must have been another two hours of kirtan. Then Devamrita Swami arrived at the temple, gave the Sunday Feast lecture and proceeded to have another 1-2 hour long kirtan. This one even more intense than the previous ones. Then, finally, a hugely opulent feast. What a day! (If only every day could be this wonderful...)

Many, many pictures of the retreat are viewable here.

After a short stay in Brisbane the devotees headed off to a retreat center two hours out of town on Mount Warning, Murwillumbah, NSW. The center had been shut down for many years, but the owner wanted to get it going again. However, fixing it up was a big job, which he could not have managed on his own. So, the devotees offered to help. It took many weekends of hard work to clean out the dirt and numerous living entities that had taken up residence in the abandoned buildings. Now however, looking at the results, one would never know. It is a very nice setting.

The bhakti yoga retreat was a wonderful program of getting up early, finding one's way to the main building in the darkness of the night using a flashlight, having a nice morning program, chanting the maha-mantra on beads, having another nice program, listening to inspiring classes by Devamrita Swami, having a nice healthy breakfast, resting, attending an occasional seminar, having a sensational lunch (taking into account all the devotees' health needs) and a nice evening program that usually lasted deep into the night and exhausted everyone with hours and hours of blissful chanting.

I finally got the opportunity to meet some devotees in person who I had previously only known and communicated with online. Plus, of course, all the great enthusiastic practitioners of Krishna consciousness I met for the first time.

The last day of the retreat was a particularly memorable one. We did a one and a half hour trek over the mountain to the New Govardhana temple. New Govardhana is a huge community of devotees, complete with wild peacocks, poisonous snakes and beautiful deities. The pace of the walk was hard and fast, yet Sitapati led a transcendental kirtan all the way (while carrying his son on his shoulders and accordion strapped to his chest). I had a hard time just walking!

Near the end of the walk the heavens opened and 15-minute rain storm swept over all of us. Everyone was drenched. However, we dried off soon enough when we reached the temple and carried on chanting for what must have been another two hours of kirtan. Then Devamrita Swami arrived at the temple, gave the Sunday Feast lecture and proceeded to have another 1-2 hour long kirtan. This one even more intense than the previous ones. Then, finally, a hugely opulent feast. What a day! (If only every day could be this wonderful...)

Many, many pictures of the retreat are viewable here.

I was watching this interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs and tech-writer Walt Mossberg on (among other things) the upcoming iPhone. One thing definitely comes through in the video: Jobs really believes in his product. He isn't trying to "push" or "hype" the iPhone. He simply and truly believes that it will be the best phone, iPod and Internet communicator in the world. Such genuine faith is very compelling and much more effective at making others believe similarly than trying to be artificially enthusiastic, as, for example, Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer famously has been.

Indeed, such authentic enthusiasm is the best preaching. In my experience the best way to tell other people about Krishna consciousness is to be so genuinely enthusiastic about it that you can't help but tell everyone you know how great it is (not counting the initial "fanatic" stage that most people go through when they first take up the Krishna conscious practices). Faking it just doesn't work (as Sitapati also recently blogged about). People can tell the difference. Just like I'm sure everyone can tell the difference between Steve Jobs and Steve Balmer's enthusiasm.

I was watching this interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs and tech-writer Walt Mossberg on (among other things) the upcoming iPhone. One thing definitely comes through in the video: Jobs really believes in his product. He isn't trying to "push" or "hype" the iPhone. He simply and truly believes that it will be the best phone, iPod and Internet communicator in the world. Such genuine faith is very compelling and much more effective at making others believe similarly than trying to be artificially enthusiastic, as, for example, Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer famously has been.

Indeed, such authentic enthusiasm is the best preaching. In my experience the best way to tell other people about Krishna consciousness is to be so genuinely enthusiastic about it that you can't help but tell everyone you know how great it is (not counting the initial "fanatic" stage that most people go through when they first take up the Krishna conscious practices). Faking it just doesn't work (as Sitapati also recently blogged about). People can tell the difference. Just like I'm sure everyone can tell the difference between Steve Jobs and Steve Balmer's enthusiasm.

The next destination in my travels (a short plane flight away) was Brisbane, Australia.

Brisbane is very different from Melbourne. While the climate in Melbourne is mild, Brisbane is downright tropical. I did not like it very much. Too hot. The city also has more of a never-ending sprawling feel to it, while Melbourne felt more like a central city with distinct suburbs.

I stayed in the temple in Brisbane. It is not as huge or impressive as Melbourne temple, but also managed very nicely by Tirtharaja dasa. Despite being in the city, the temple was surrounded by nature. For example: I was amazed that there were quite a few wild turkeys running around the temple's gardens. My stay was comfortable. The devotees were bending over backwards to host their guests.

Besides the temple there is a Govinda's restaurant in the city center. Close to Govinda's is Atma Yoga, Brisbane's outreach center. It has been in existence a bit longer than Urban Yoga, but is also still quite new. It is managed by the venerable Sitapati dasa and his team of expert devotees.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to visit either of these establishments, but from what I hear, they are excellent places to be.

The next destination in my travels (a short plane flight away) was Brisbane, Australia.

Brisbane is very different from Melbourne. While the climate in Melbourne is mild, Brisbane is downright tropical. I did not like it very much. Too hot. The city also has more of a never-ending sprawling feel to it, while Melbourne felt more like a central city with distinct suburbs.

I stayed in the temple in Brisbane. It is not as huge or impressive as Melbourne temple, but also managed very nicely by Tirtharaja dasa. Despite being in the city, the temple was surrounded by nature. For example: I was amazed that there were quite a few wild turkeys running around the temple's gardens. My stay was comfortable. The devotees were bending over backwards to host their guests.

Besides the temple there is a Govinda's restaurant in the city center. Close to Govinda's is Atma Yoga, Brisbane's outreach center. It has been in existence a bit longer than Urban Yoga, but is also still quite new. It is managed by the venerable Sitapati dasa and his team of expert devotees.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to visit either of these establishments, but from what I hear, they are excellent places to be.

I took a 6 week break from my PhD study. During that break I traveled to various places down-under. My first destination: Melbourne, Australia.

I stayed in the glorious Melbourne Mahaprabhu Mandir. It is a beautiful and amazing temple run under the skillful direction of Aniruddha dasa. The temple buildings were originally an old school complex situated in a rich suburb of Melbourne.

In addition to the temple, the devotees also run two restaurants in the city centre: Gopals - an up-market restaurant, and Crossways - a cheaper all-you-can-eat restaurant aimed at massive prasadam distribution. Both restaurants are within 1 minute walking distance from each other on one of the busiest streets in Melbourne.

Above Crossways is Urban Yoga, a newly opened outreach center. A place for yoga, meditation, discussion, cooking classes, etc. Tri Yuga skillfully manages this inspiring program. Many young people are taking advantage and developing an interest in Krishna consciousness in this convivial setting.

I took many pictures during my visit. They are viewable in the gallery section of this website.

I took a 6 week break from my PhD study. During that break I traveled to various places down-under. My first destination: Melbourne, Australia.

I stayed in the glorious Melbourne Mahaprabhu Mandir. It is a beautiful and amazing temple run under the skillful direction of Aniruddha dasa. The temple buildings were originally an old school complex situated in a rich suburb of Melbourne.

In addition to the temple, the devotees also run two restaurants in the city centre: Gopals - an up-market restaurant, and Crossways - a cheaper all-you-can-eat restaurant aimed at massive prasadam distribution. Both restaurants are within 1 minute walking distance from each other on one of the busiest streets in Melbourne.

Above Crossways is Urban Yoga, a newly opened outreach center. A place for yoga, meditation, discussion, cooking classes, etc. Tri Yuga skillfully manages this inspiring program. Many young people are taking advantage and developing an interest in Krishna consciousness in this convivial setting.

I took many pictures during my visit. They are viewable in the gallery section of this website.

I'm sorry for the extended period of no blog entries from me. I was somewhat preoccupied with many things. Hopefully I'll be publishing more frequently again from now on.

I'm sorry for the extended period of no blog entries from me. I was somewhat preoccupied with many things. Hopefully I'll be publishing more frequently again from now on.

Group shot of some of the Taipei devotees in the Taipei center/temple


A view of a street in Taipei... this is pretty much what i wander around in most days i'm here.


A view of another street in Taipei... get the picture?


Amitofo! One of many Buddha Temples


Had to put Giriraja in here somewhere.

Where do you go for your shelter?

Where do you go for your shelter?

Emotions all mixed up. Thoughts bring dualities, one moment happiness and then distress. I have someone, finally, a spiritual partner- dreaming of this my whole life. But then mother is now in the hospital, broken down after years of struggle. I’m with a spiritual master, serving and learning. But sister is not better, no end in sight.

I don’t know where I’m going, afraid to plan. For when everything seems to be falling into place, just like that all topsy-turvy again, like the castle in the sand.

Emotions all mixed up. Thoughts bring dualities, one moment happiness and then distress. I have someone, finally, a spiritual partner- dreaming of this my whole life. But then mother is now in the hospital, broken down after years of struggle. I’m with a spiritual master, serving and learning. But sister is not better, no end in sight.

I don’t know where I’m going, afraid to plan. For when everything seems to be falling into place, just like that all topsy-turvy again, like the castle in the sand.

Just two people for the last session before the easter break. I discussed a little bit about the story of Srila Prabhupada and all the amazing things he did. We also discussed some general questions and answers.
Use of technology: everyone is really impressed by my using the Apple Remote to effortlessly control the background music of the yoga. Since the thing is so small that it can be concealed within the palm of my hand, it appeared that I was controlling the sound by the power of my mind. Doing the same thing with one of the Windows Media Center remote controls that come with some PCs would have been impossible.
Realization from the last few weeks: 2 hours are is long for a session. I was okay last year, but now almost everyone excuses themselves after 1.5 hours and leaves. Some people can only stay for 1 hour. Better to have fewer shorter sessions for the busy people of today's world that are under the illusion that 2 hours is too long to spend doing any one thing in any one place.

Just two people for the last session before the easter break. I discussed a little bit about the story of Srila Prabhupada and all the amazing things he did. We also discussed some general questions and answers.
Use of technology: everyone is really impressed by my using the Apple Remote to effortlessly control the background music of the yoga. Since the thing is so small that it can be concealed within the palm of my hand, it appeared that I was controlling the sound by the power of my mind. Doing the same thing with one of the Windows Media Center remote controls that come with some PCs would have been impossible.
Realization from the last few weeks: 2 hours are is long for a session. I was okay last year, but now almost everyone excuses themselves after 1.5 hours and leaves. Some people can only stay for 1 hour. Better to have fewer shorter sessions for the busy people of today's world that are under the illusion that 2 hours is too long to spend doing any one thing in any one place.

I went to a Klassentreffen (high school reunion) of my former high school in Germany (the Taunusschule K??nigstein) over the Christmas vacation. It was interesting and nice to see all my school mates again.
Funny that at least one third of them had been to New Zealand in the last 10 years. NZ must be a very popular destination for Germans. Tons of them take an interest in Krishna consciousness while they are there, that's for sure (non from my high school, though).

A few of the people were still students, but most have graduated now. Lots of people working for the various many banks in Frankfurt.

Only one other PhD I heard of (someone doing a PhD in chemistry). One medical doctor though.

A gallery of pictures is on my website.

I went to a Klassentreffen (high school reunion) of my former high school in Germany (the Taunusschule K??nigstein) over the Christmas vacation. It was interesting and nice to see all my school mates again.
Funny that at least one third of them had been to New Zealand in the last 10 years. NZ must be a very popular destination for Germans. Tons of them take an interest in Krishna consciousness while they are there, that's for sure (non from my high school, though).

A few of the people were still students, but most have graduated now. Lots of people working for the various many banks in Frankfurt.

Only one other PhD I heard of (someone doing a PhD in chemistry). One medical doctor though.

A gallery of pictures is on my website.

The market for amateur video content on the Internet is growing rapidly. A creative and unique video weblog (also known as vLog) can attract millions of young viewers. Carana Renu also recently blogged about this opportunity.

Market analysis
Vlogging is the practice of posting low-budget home-made video on a blog website. User created content on the net is exploding. It even has big-media companies worried. People might stop watching their stuff (heaven forbid). People are already watching less TV and spending more time on the Internet.

More successful companies like Google have also entered the market. Google recently bought an up and coming video sharing website (YouTube) for $1.65 billion. Analysts estimate that the total market worth of online video in the United States alone will be $7 billion in 2010.

Technical background information
Media players like the Apple iPod, most smartphones and the newly introduced iPhone all play video content. Practically all computers can, of course, also play video. These devices can be set to automatically download video from the Internet for later playback on the go (using a process call podcasting and rss feeds). Many people watch vlog content they have subscribed to while e.g. on the train to work. They get the new episodes automatically delivered to their device as they are published. They watch the shows they want to watch, when they want to watch them. It is time shifted TV (with more interesting content).

Examples of vlogs
All successfully vlogs have a few things in common: they have their own unique style and personality and don't try to copy something that already exists. They are fresh, funny, creative and hosted by energetic presenters who genuinely care about what they are doing. A good length for a video 3 - 5 minutes.

Here are some examples of successful vlogs:
Ask a Ninja
Jetset Show
Happy Slip
RocketBoom

Potential benefit of a Krishna conscious vlog
The Internet is the Maha-Brihad Mrdanga of our time. A normal mrdanga can be heard only in a small radius, while Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati's brihad mrdanga was book distribution. But books have to be printed and physically distributed. The Internet is not bound by physical limitations. Content can be distributed to an almost unlimited number of people, as long as they are willing to watch. More and more people are coming online every day, all seeking interesting and entertaining content. For example: 300,000 people download each episode of Rocketboom and 100 million videos are downloaded from YouTube each day! YouTube recently had an award competition for the best online videos of 2006.

Most Krishna conscious video content that I've seen freely available on the Internet is either low quality or very old. Some DVD material is much better, but suffers from very limited distribution and is too long for the short attention spans of today's youth.

A Krishna conscious vlog done correctly could have major local and global impact!

A show that covers issues local to the city will naturally attract views in that city and connect with the local population. Moreover, a member of the media (i.e. a person with a camera, distribution mechanism and audience) has a license to interview almost anyone. The vlog presenters could have access to the local celebrities, asking them relevant spiritual questions, selling them books and maybe even introducing them to Krishna consciousness. Another George Harrison would work wonders for KC. Of course, such a vlog would also help attract people to the local center or temple.
Vlog content could be be re-used globally as part of presentations anywhere in the world.

Possible topics

• Authoritatively smashing the bogus so-called spiritual activities
• Interviews with celebrities
• Ask a Hare Krishna
• Interviews with normal people on the street
• Highlighting the evils and dangers of birth, death, disease and old age
• Answering viewer submitted questions
• Teaching of yoga postures with KC commentary
• Enticing people with images of the prasasdam
• Video renditions of plays
• Covering of local news and current events from a spiritual angle
• Covering the festivals in a "news" style
• Teaching Krishna conscious philosophy and science (but keep it short, light and funny)

Potential problems

1. The production quality could be too low, or the content could not be interesting enough for normal people and no one would end up watching the vlog.
2. Someone creating a devotee vlog might not have had enough expose to the vlog medium to be able to style it in such a way that it is successful and attractive to audience.
3. The hosts might will not have the necessary enthusiasm (which will come through in the video) and it will not be very attractive.
4. Devotees might start, but, after a few episodes, loose interest/motivation and fail to produce new shows. The project would eventually fizzle out and disappear like many, many one-off hit videos that are popular one day and forgotten the next. The only successful vlogs are the ones that remain popular episode after episode.

Conclusion
Video blogging is a new upcoming style of media. A Krishna conscious vlog is a great, fun opportunity to communicate Krishna consciousness to millions of people. Someone should do it. In fact, everyone should do it.