Planet ISKCON

4 guests came to Vedicsoc this week. Those are pretty good numbers considering may people have exams just after the Easter break. One newcomer was F., a lady in her 50s or 60s. She had been subscribed to the mailing list for quite some time and said she was attracted to attend this week because of the reminder email I sent out:

Welcome back, once again, step right up, this way, this way to the action packed treasure filled session of Vedicsoc!

Easter holiday is over and we're back. This week starts with a power yoga bang. We'll also do our usual meditation and discuss: inspiration!

What inspires you? What gets you motivated to get out of bed in the morning? We'll find out (and hopefully make getting out of bed in the morning a lot more delightful than it no doubt already is).

F. ended up staying almost hour longer than she intended to. She kept saying she had to leave to get to another meeting, but found it so interesting that she kept delaying for "just 5 minutes longer".

Topics that inspired people were:

• Unique, interesting spiritual people with a profound aura/sense of peace
• People that have managed to avoid doing something utterly generic and boring with their lives
• U2
• Nothing inspires me anymore

I made the point that all these sources of inspiration are fickle and limited. We should be looking for the ultimate, unlimited, uninterrupted source of inspiration. And guess what? -> Krishna provides just that.

4 guests came to Vedicsoc this week. Those are pretty good numbers considering may people have exams just after the Easter break. One newcomer was F., a lady in her 50s or 60s. She had been subscribed to the mailing list for quite some time and said she was attracted to attend this week because of the reminder email I sent out:

Welcome back, once again, step right up, this way, this way to the action packed treasure filled session of Vedicsoc!

Easter holiday is over and we're back. This week starts with a power yoga bang. We'll also do our usual meditation and discuss: inspiration!

What inspires you? What gets you motivated to get out of bed in the morning? We'll find out (and hopefully make getting out of bed in the morning a lot more delightful than it no doubt already is).

F. ended up staying almost hour longer than she intended to. She kept saying she had to leave to get to another meeting, but found it so interesting that she kept delaying for "just 5 minutes longer".

Topics that inspired people were:

• Unique, interesting spiritual people with a profound aura/sense of peace
• People that have managed to avoid doing something utterly generic and boring with their lives
• U2
• Nothing inspires me anymore

I made the point that all these sources of inspiration are fickle and limited. We should be looking for the ultimate, unlimited, uninterrupted source of inspiration. And guess what? -> Krishna provides just that.

[download mp3]
Place: Cardiff Soul Centre, Wales, United Kingdom
Time: 63 min.

Summary:
Devamrita Swami asks a group of people at the Soul Centre: "what inspires you?". Most answer that they are inspired by "Krishna". One person says he is inspired by "the general spiritual potential in everyone". A lively discussion results.

[download mp3]
Place: Cardiff Soul Centre, Wales, United Kingdom
Time: 63 min.

Summary:
Devamrita Swami asks a group of people at the Soul Centre: "what inspires you?". Most answer that they are inspired by "Krishna". One person says he is inspired by "the general spiritual potential in everyone". A lively discussion results.

Evening Soul Talk in Cardiff Soul Centre. One notable guest was Taj, a lady doing a PhD in marketing. She was kicking the advertising for the soul centre into high-gear. Being a marketing guru (as GD called her), she knew how to create a whole portfolio of offerings, membership schemes, advertisements, press releases, etc. The Soul Centre has already benefited enormously from her expertise.

GD??(TM)s advice:

??oeOur duty is just to keep on trying to present Krishna consciousness to the people, even if there seems to be no success. Very soon people will become more desperate and suddenly there will be a huge demand. Just like when the Iron Curtain came down. It was so sudden. It surprised everyone, even the CIA. A similar thing can happen anytime. From one day to the next everyone may suddenly want to practice Krishna consciousness.??

My new phone served me well. It enabled all the communication that allowed me to better serve my spiritual master throughout the day. I managed to chant 35 rounds throughout the day. Long car trips be thanked.

After the program we drove down to Swansea for futher adventures in Krishna consciousness.

Evening Soul Talk in Cardiff Soul Centre. One notable guest was Taj, a lady doing a PhD in marketing. She was kicking the advertising for the soul centre into high-gear. Being a marketing guru (as GD called her), she knew how to create a whole portfolio of offerings, membership schemes, advertisements, press releases, etc. The Soul Centre has already benefited enormously from her expertise.

GD??(TM)s advice:

??oeOur duty is just to keep on trying to present Krishna consciousness to the people, even if there seems to be no success. Very soon people will become more desperate and suddenly there will be a huge demand. Just like when the Iron Curtain came down. It was so sudden. It surprised everyone, even the CIA. A similar thing can happen anytime. From one day to the next everyone may suddenly want to practice Krishna consciousness.??

My new phone served me well. It enabled all the communication that allowed me to better serve my spiritual master throughout the day. I managed to chant 35 rounds throughout the day. Long car trips be thanked.

After the program we drove down to Swansea for futher adventures in Krishna consciousness.

As there has been some confusion, please note:

The travel diary is not real time. It describes events that happened roughly two weeks ago. I??(TM)ve only now gotten to writing up what happened. I??(TM)ll be publishing the diary gradually over the next few weeks.

Hope that clears things up.

As there has been some confusion, please note:

The travel diary is not real time. It describes events that happened roughly two weeks ago. I??(TM)ve only now gotten to writing up what happened. I??(TM)ll be publishing the diary gradually over the next few weeks.

Hope that clears things up.

I wake up, chant, fix breakfast, do a mondo-ironing session, arrange an appointment with a physiotherapist in Germany (where we would soon be going), sort out a change in driver (Mark the Driver would now transport us to Cardiff), pack my bag, answer intermittent computer questions and fix a simple lunch (due to limited time):

Cooked:

• rocket and carrot salad
• tahini pasta salad (used up all the spare vegetables, which would have otherwise spoiled while I was away)
• lentil and tomato soup
• corn on the cob
• (samosas and cake from two days ago were deemed too old by GD)

And, at 14:00, off we went. Next stop: Cardiff, Wales.

I wake up, chant, fix breakfast, do a mondo-ironing session, arrange an appointment with a physiotherapist in Germany (where we would soon be going), sort out a change in driver (Mark the Driver would now transport us to Cardiff), pack my bag, answer intermittent computer questions and fix a simple lunch (due to limited time):

Cooked:

• rocket and carrot salad
• tahini pasta salad (used up all the spare vegetables, which would have otherwise spoiled while I was away)
• lentil and tomato soup
• corn on the cob
• (samosas and cake from two days ago were deemed too old by GD)

And, at 14:00, off we went. Next stop: Cardiff, Wales.

A website called BlogZOT is doing an interesting promotion. They giving away the SubEthaEdit from CodingMonkeys software for free, provided enough people post blog entries pointing at their website (like I just did). Altogether MacZOT and TheCodingMonkeys will award $105,000 in Mac software to bloggers around the world. But mainly, I think, the idea is to increase people??(TM)s awareness of both of these websites. I think a lot more copies of SubEthaEdit will be sold in this way. If nothing else, their Google PageRank will skyrocket (PageRank is Google??(TM)s way of measuring the importance of a website on the Internet). This is a good promotion strategy.

Check it out at: BLOGZOT 2.0 on MacZOT.com

A website called BlogZOT is doing an interesting promotion. They giving away the SubEthaEdit from CodingMonkeys software for free, provided enough people post blog entries pointing at their website (like I just did). Altogether MacZOT and TheCodingMonkeys will award $105,000 in Mac software to bloggers around the world. But mainly, I think, the idea is to increase people??(TM)s awareness of both of these websites. I think a lot more copies of SubEthaEdit will be sold in this way. If nothing else, their Google PageRank will skyrocket (PageRank is Google??(TM)s way of measuring the importance of a website on the Internet). This is a good promotion strategy.

Check it out at: BLOGZOT 2.0 on MacZOT.com

[download mp3]
Verse: BG 7.1
Place: Candidasa??(TM)s flat, Manchester, United Kingdom
Time: 70 min.

Summary:
We can??(TM)t understand everything because the maya energy is bewildering us and our senses are imperfect. However, by taking knowledge from the supreme source we can understand everything.

Questions:

• What about those who don??(TM)t get the operunity to access this knowledge?
• Isn??(TM)t spirituality in everyone anyway? Why accept this process?
• So whatever Krishna says you have to accept without question, right?
• But Krishna knows everything that we are going to do, how do we have any independent choice? Krishna knows that Arjuna is going to fight and is simultaneously trying to illicit his surrender. How is there free will?
• Is there a point at which we can understand Krishna completely?
• Is there a capacity, so some people can understand Krishna more than others?
• Will the mahabharata happen again in the next yuga cycle?
• Will the BG will be the same in the next cycle?
• Are people??(TM)s souls continous throughout the cycles?
• Since Krishna is outside of time and the souls merge into him between universal annialiations, is it possible to be reborn in a time previous to the current time?
• Doesn??(TM)t it get to a point were we have to accept things with blind faith?
• Can you convey knowledge and realiation in such a way that people that aren??(TM)t following the process can understand?
• When we reach the highest destination we will have a form, right. So what will we look like?
• In paintings we see that Krishna likes a certain type of clothes, but those are just the clothes of ancient India.
• But there surely was a time when people didn??(TM)t dress like that? This is just a small part of the cycle.
• BG does give a complete picture, but my questions are always about details and I can never get detailed answers?
• So, if I did not take part in any chanting, there is no way that someone could impart the message to me?
• Can you explain something to me without me having to realize it myself?
• How far do you feel you??(TM)ve gotten?
• Don??(TM)t you get to a point in KC when you understand the way everything works, but you say it??(TM)s infinite.
• I read that a grihastra can be as good as a sannyasi, is that right?
• How long have you been practicing?

[download mp3]
Verse: BG 7.1
Place: Candidasa??(TM)s flat, Manchester, United Kingdom
Time: 70 min.

Summary:
We can??(TM)t understand everything because the maya energy is bewildering us and our senses are imperfect. However, by taking knowledge from the supreme source we can understand everything.

Questions:

• What about those who don??(TM)t get the operunity to access this knowledge?
• Isn??(TM)t spirituality in everyone anyway? Why accept this process?
• So whatever Krishna says you have to accept without question, right?
• But Krishna knows everything that we are going to do, how do we have any independent choice? Krishna knows that Arjuna is going to fight and is simultaneously trying to illicit his surrender. How is there free will?
• Is there a point at which we can understand Krishna completely?
• Is there a capacity, so some people can understand Krishna more than others?
• Will the mahabharata happen again in the next yuga cycle?
• Will the BG will be the same in the next cycle?
• Are people??(TM)s souls continous throughout the cycles?
• Since Krishna is outside of time and the souls merge into him between universal annialiations, is it possible to be reborn in a time previous to the current time?
• Doesn??(TM)t it get to a point were we have to accept things with blind faith?
• Can you convey knowledge and realiation in such a way that people that aren??(TM)t following the process can understand?
• When we reach the highest destination we will have a form, right. So what will we look like?
• In paintings we see that Krishna likes a certain type of clothes, but those are just the clothes of ancient India.
• But there surely was a time when people didn??(TM)t dress like that? This is just a small part of the cycle.
• BG does give a complete picture, but my questions are always about details and I can never get detailed answers?
• So, if I did not take part in any chanting, there is no way that someone could impart the message to me?
• Can you explain something to me without me having to realize it myself?
• How far do you feel you??(TM)ve gotten?
• Don??(TM)t you get to a point in KC when you understand the way everything works, but you say it??(TM)s infinite.
• I read that a grihastra can be as good as a sannyasi, is that right?
• How long have you been practicing?

27|1Ahead of the rest of the travel diary: here the pictures from my recent trip. Locations are as follows:

• Swansea: pages 1 - 2
• Weimar: pages 2 - 6
• Berlin: pages 6 - 9
• Leipzig: pages 9 - 11

27|1Ahead of the rest of the travel diary: here the pictures from my recent trip. Locations are as follows:

• Swansea: pages 1 - 2
• Weimar: pages 2 - 6
• Berlin: pages 6 - 9
• Leipzig: pages 9 - 11

Gurudeva was riding in a small Toyota in Los Angeles. Mukunda and Carana Renu were in the back seats. They were stopped at a traffic light when a SUV slammed into the back of the car. The driver had taken his eyes off the road and didn??(TM)t notice the red light and stopped car. The SUV hit them so hard that you could read its license plate number on the rear bumper of the Toyota. Thankfully no one was seriously injured. No visible human damage.

Taking advice from David (a qualified nurse), I tried to arrange a doctor??(TM)s appointment for Gurudeva??(TM)s whiplash, but failed on the first few attempts. Damned be NHS bureaucracy!

Cooked:

• wild/rice
• spinach salad with carrot strips and tomatoes
• french green beans
• mixed vegetable curry with coconut milk
• split mung dal soup
• broccoli and pea samosas
• peppermint tea

(GD??(TM)s comment: Hare Krishna ??¦)

I ironed a whole load of washing. I also re-scheduled a discussion with the various people that come to Vedicsoc. It had to be arranged around the only doctor??(TM)s appointment I could get at such short notice. A private doctor.

We took a taxi to a nearby private hospital. They, unlike the NHS, they were happy to see (paying) patients. Their doctors give generous 15 minute consultations (10 minutes is normal), or will even talk to a patient for 30 minutes (for double the price). All the staff were smiling and friendly - for good money, no doubt.

GD gave me some advice on how to conquer the PhD interviews:

I told the tale of my barely passing my end-of-year interview.

GD:

??oeDon??(TM)t see everything so negatively, the main thing is you passed, right? They are sharks. Don??(TM)t be a submissive momma??(TM)s boy, they won??(TM)t appreciate. Take a course in ps ychology of sales, law (both salesmen and lawyers need to anticipate possible objections and present arguments to make the sale/defined their clients), assertiveness, presentation, debating and/or negotiation.??

Other snippets of advice:

??oeIt??(TM)s not a teacher??(TM)s job to adopt the paradigm of the student. The teacher opens the student up to new paradigms. If someone asks for complex details, first give them the overall framework, only then do they have something to slot the complex details into. For example: you don??(TM)t entertain someone without knowledge who asks a really intricate computer question. They wouldn??(TM)t benefit from, or even understand the answer.??

Gurudeva was riding in a small Toyota in Los Angeles. Mukunda and Carana Renu were in the back seats. They were stopped at a traffic light when a SUV slammed into the back of the car. The driver had taken his eyes off the road and didn??(TM)t notice the red light and stopped car. The SUV hit them so hard that you could read its license plate number on the rear bumper of the Toyota. Thankfully no one was seriously injured. No visible human damage.

Taking advice from David (a qualified nurse), I tried to arrange a doctor??(TM)s appointment for Gurudeva??(TM)s whiplash, but failed on the first few attempts. Damned be NHS bureaucracy!

Cooked:

• wild/rice
• spinach salad with carrot strips and tomatoes
• french green beans
• mixed vegetable curry with coconut milk
• split mung dal soup
• broccoli and pea samosas
• peppermint tea

(GD??(TM)s comment: Hare Krishna ??¦)

I ironed a whole load of washing. I also re-scheduled a discussion with the various people that come to Vedicsoc. It had to be arranged around the only doctor??(TM)s appointment I could get at such short notice. A private doctor.

We took a taxi to a nearby private hospital. They, unlike the NHS, they were happy to see (paying) patients. Their doctors give generous 15 minute consultations (10 minutes is normal), or will even talk to a patient for 30 minutes (for double the price). All the staff were smiling and friendly - for good money, no doubt.

GD gave me some advice on how to conquer the PhD interviews:

I told the tale of my barely passing my end-of-year interview.

GD:

??oeDon??(TM)t see everything so negatively, the main thing is you passed, right? They are sharks. Don??(TM)t be a submissive momma??(TM)s boy, they won??(TM)t appreciate. Take a course in ps ychology of sales, law (both salesmen and lawyers need to anticipate possible objections and present arguments to make the sale/defined their clients), assertiveness, presentation, debating and/or negotiation.??

Other snippets of advice:

??oeIt??(TM)s not a teacher??(TM)s job to adopt the paradigm of the student. The teacher opens the student up to new paradigms. If someone asks for complex details, first give them the overall framework, only then do they have something to slot the complex details into. For example: you don??(TM)t entertain someone without knowledge who asks a really intricate computer question. They wouldn??(TM)t benefit from, or even understand the answer.??

My spiritual master Devamrita Swami arrived. He noted that the temperature was 5 C, the coldest he had experienced in over a year.

David drove us to my flat. He also gave advice about the best course of action to treat Gurudeva??(TM)s whiplash injury from a recent car crash he was involved in.

Upon arriving Gurudeva remarked:

??oeA rebounder! Just what I need??

I had bought a rebounder (miniature trampoline) the week before. Besides being great exercise, jumping on it also loosens up tight muscles (such as those resulting from a whiplash injury) and clears the lymphatic system. A good exercise programming consists of half an hour of bounding every second day with 4 minutes of lying down afterward. The rebounder is really convenient, too. It??(TM)s right there. So, no more excuses not to exercise.

Cooked:

• wild/rice, rocket leaf salad + baby tomatoes
• braised summer veg (almost added eggplant, but remembered at the last moment that GM doesn??(TM)t like it and left it out)
• bengali sak (spinach)
• peppermint tea
• broccoli & pea samosas
• David made a huge, super-healthy beetroot cake which GM consumed liberally throughout his visit

(GD??(TM)s comment: silence)

I had a conference paper rejected a few days before. I therefore spent the rest of the day rewriting the paper and submitted it to another conference for peer review.

My spiritual master Devamrita Swami arrived. He noted that the temperature was 5 C, the coldest he had experienced in over a year.

David drove us to my flat. He also gave advice about the best course of action to treat Gurudeva??(TM)s whiplash injury from a recent car crash he was involved in.

Upon arriving Gurudeva remarked:

??oeA rebounder! Just what I need??

I had bought a rebounder (miniature trampoline) the week before. Besides being great exercise, jumping on it also loosens up tight muscles (such as those resulting from a whiplash injury) and clears the lymphatic system. A good exercise programming consists of half an hour of bounding every second day with 4 minutes of lying down afterward. The rebounder is really convenient, too. It??(TM)s right there. So, no more excuses not to exercise.

Cooked:

• wild/rice, rocket leaf salad + baby tomatoes
• braised summer veg (almost added eggplant, but remembered at the last moment that GM doesn??(TM)t like it and left it out)
• bengali sak (spinach)
• peppermint tea
• broccoli & pea samosas
• David made a huge, super-healthy beetroot cake which GM consumed liberally throughout his visit

(GD??(TM)s comment: silence)

I had a conference paper rejected a few days before. I therefore spent the rest of the day rewriting the paper and submitted it to another conference for peer review.

Just two guests for Vedicsoc this week. The Easter vacation has started, so not many people are around.

As we were finishing the yoga class we got thrown out of our room, since the building was closing early during the holidays. We decided to carry on in a nearby pub. The upstairs part was fairly quiet and non-smoking.

(picture's origin)

The discussion was on beauty. I asked people what the most beautiful thing in the material universe was. Answers: girls, sports cars, art (I added that the lotus flower is considered to be one of the most beautiful material objects). However, all material beauty is temporary. Sure to quickly come to an ugly, smelly, rotting end.

We then discussed the 6 qualities of Krishna that make him supremely attractive: wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. M. to the realization that prominent Gurus have most, if not all, of these qualities (though, of course, not to an unlimited degree, like Krishna). That is why people are so attracted to following them. This lead on to a long discussion about bogus gurus, the nature of renunciation and the value of teaching spiritual knowledge to others.

M. made the point that while he respected what I was doing, i.e. running Vedicsoc and teaching the Vedic knowledge while simultaneously living and working in the "real" world, he was contemptuous of many so-called holy men. He said that he would not have been interested in joining Vedicsoc if I were using it to make a profit and/or maintain a family. That would be the same as everyone else who runs a business. Nothing special at all. Sure, the teachings might benefit some people, but the main motivation would be selfishness: i.e. making money.

He relayed how he used to visit a local Swami Narayana temple and whenever the big guru would come for a visit, everyone would compete to invite him to their home for an opulent lunch, offer him many nice things, do anything and everything for him and worship him like God. The experience left him quite cynical:

"Where is the renunciation in that?" he asked. "Being a guru is like being a CEO of company. An excellent career move. Good business. Would these gurus continue to be so "spiritual" if they suddenly had no money, no comforts and no followers?"

I explained how we must be vigilant and use a system of checks and balances (guru, sadhu and sastra) to make sure that someone who proclaims to be "spiritual" actually walks his talk. A bogus spiritualist can be detected by one with knowledge. However, a na??ve and innocent person can (and does) get cheated. We must not have blind faith and never surrender our intelligence.

Just two guests for Vedicsoc this week. The Easter vacation has started, so not many people are around.

As we were finishing the yoga class we got thrown out of our room, since the building was closing early during the holidays. We decided to carry on in a nearby pub. The upstairs part was fairly quiet and non-smoking.

(picture's origin)

The discussion was on beauty. I asked people what the most beautiful thing in the material universe was. Answers: girls, sports cars, art (I added that the lotus flower is considered to be one of the most beautiful material objects). However, all material beauty is temporary. Sure to quickly come to an ugly, smelly, rotting end.

We then discussed the 6 qualities of Krishna that make him supremely attractive: wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. M. to the realization that prominent Gurus have most, if not all, of these qualities (though, of course, not to an unlimited degree, like Krishna). That is why people are so attracted to following them. This lead on to a long discussion about bogus gurus, the nature of renunciation and the value of teaching spiritual knowledge to others.

M. made the point that while he respected what I was doing, i.e. running Vedicsoc and teaching the Vedic knowledge while simultaneously living and working in the "real" world, he was contemptuous of many so-called holy men. He said that he would not have been interested in joining Vedicsoc if I were using it to make a profit and/or maintain a family. That would be the same as everyone else who runs a business. Nothing special at all. Sure, the teachings might benefit some people, but the main motivation would be selfishness: i.e. making money.

He relayed how he used to visit a local Swami Narayana temple and whenever the big guru would come for a visit, everyone would compete to invite him to their home for an opulent lunch, offer him many nice things, do anything and everything for him and worship him like God. The experience left him quite cynical:

"Where is the renunciation in that?" he asked. "Being a guru is like being a CEO of company. An excellent career move. Good business. Would these gurus continue to be so "spiritual" if they suddenly had no money, no comforts and no followers?"

I explained how we must be vigilant and use a system of checks and balances (guru, sadhu and sastra) to make sure that someone who proclaims to be "spiritual" actually walks his talk. A bogus spiritualist can be detected by one with knowledge. However, a na??ve and innocent person can (and does) get cheated. We must not have blind faith and never surrender our intelligence.

Brand is a very powerful in business. There are three basic branding strategies:

1. Unique brand
2. Corporate brand
3. Range brand

Unique branding is used by a company like Proctor & Gamble. All its many different household products use have a unique identity. P&G owns popular brands such as: Ariel, Braun, Crest, Duracell, Fairy, Gillette, Lenor, Oral-B, Pampers, Pringles, Head & Shoulders, Olay and Wella.

A unique branding strategy allows a company to dominate a product area by building a successful brand that stands for just one thing. Such a brand can often become synonymous with the product: Kleenex, for example. Also, if a brand is unsuccessful, its failure does not affect the other brands the company owns. Moreover, the company can even compete against itself by launching different brands in the same product category. No matter which product the consumer buys, the parent company is successful. The disadvantage is that each brand must be marketed separately. It takes a significant investment in time, money and effort to establish a new brand.

Corporate brand strategy means using a single brand for all products. Apple uses this strategy. New products share the awareness of the established brand identity. Time to launch a new product is greatly reduced. Customers already know and trust the existing brand. However, as a corporation extends its product lines into many different markets, it can become difficult to maintain consistent quality for all products and the whole brand suffers as a result. One failed product can bring the entire company's image down. Also, when the company is not perceived as a dedicated provider of a single category of product, people may begin to doubt the corporation's devotion to each of its product lines. The result: brand loyalty is reduced.

Range branding is a mixture of the two. For example, Toyota created the Lexus brand in order to establish a new brand for its luxury cars. The Toyota brand already had too much of an established market identity in order to compete in the high-priced market segment.

Atma Yoga is following the unique branding strategy (or possibly range, it's too early to tell). One might consider call it Krishna Yoga, or even ISKCON Yoga, but an unsuccessfully executed corporate brand strategy prevents that from being a good idea. It will take considerable time and effort to establish brand loyalty and awareness, but the potential payoff is also quite high.

Brand is a very powerful in business. There are three basic branding strategies:

1. Unique brand
2. Corporate brand
3. Range brand

Unique branding is used by a company like Proctor & Gamble. All its many different household products use have a unique identity. P&G owns popular brands such as: Ariel, Braun, Crest, Duracell, Fairy, Gillette, Lenor, Oral-B, Pampers, Pringles, Head & Shoulders, Olay and Wella.

A unique branding strategy allows a company to dominate a product area by building a successful brand that stands for just one thing. Such a brand can often become synonymous with the product: Kleenex, for example. Also, if a brand is unsuccessful, its failure does not affect the other brands the company owns. Moreover, the company can even compete against itself by launching different brands in the same product category. No matter which product the consumer buys, the parent company is successful. The disadvantage is that each brand must be marketed separately. It takes a significant investment in time, money and effort to establish a new brand.

Corporate brand strategy means using a single brand for all products. Apple uses this strategy. New products share the awareness of the established brand identity. Time to launch a new product is greatly reduced. Customers already know and trust the existing brand. However, as a corporation extends its product lines into many different markets, it can become difficult to maintain consistent quality for all products and the whole brand suffers as a result. One failed product can bring the entire company's image down. Also, when the company is not perceived as a dedicated provider of a single category of product, people may begin to doubt the corporation's devotion to each of its product lines. The result: brand loyalty is reduced.

Range branding is a mixture of the two. For example, Toyota created the Lexus brand in order to establish a new brand for its luxury cars. The Toyota brand already had too much of an established market identity in order to compete in the high-priced market segment.

Atma Yoga is following the unique branding strategy (or possibly range, it's too early to tell). One might consider call it Krishna Yoga, or even ISKCON Yoga, but an unsuccessfully executed corporate brand strategy prevents that from being a good idea. It will take considerable time and effort to establish brand loyalty and awareness, but the potential payoff is also quite high.

This week??(TM)s Vedicsoc session was a bit out-of-order. One of the attendee had to leave early, so I started with the session with some chanting. Good thing too, because soon after a guy next door in the music room decided to "go wild" on his drum-kit.

Chanting was good. The group seemed to naturally take to the maha-mantra. We went on for 8 minutes. Somewhat longer than usual.

Slow-deep aerobic yoga was also very good. It gives people an intense yoga "experience".

In the discussion I started off asking everyone what their goals were. "What things do you plan to achieve in the next 5 - 20 years that you think will really satisfy you?" I was planning to debunk the myth of money and happiness. However, I was surprised that there was silence upon asking the question (in retrospect, I should have probably asked people to anonymously write down their goals on a piece of paper. That way, no one would feel they would revealing too much of themselves).

Finally, someone said their goal was to work in a bar on Ibiza. That would be an escape from the monotone of Manchester, though, of course, life in Manchester is really great, too.

Then someone mentioned enlightenment and I talked a bit about the non-new-age definition of enlightenment (i.e. seeing clearly who you are, what's around you and where you are going). I ended up giving a bit of a monolog "class".

When I asked for questions there was, once again, silence. I had too intense. Thankfully, Joy asked some questions and soon we were intensively (but very friendlily) debating a whole range of subjects. Everyone else leaned back and watched to fun. Everyone likes a good debate.

I remember back in 2001 there was a geography lecturer that used to come to the Southampton Vedicsoc session. He used to have lively discussion with Carana Renu. Those debates are part of what convinced me of Krishna consciousness. The Vedic philosophy held up well under attack. I myself was too shy to voice any questions or doubts, but seeing someone else doubt (and not make nearly as much sense as) the philosophy of Krishna consciousness cleared away a lot of those doubts.

Soon other people started getting involved in the debate I was having with Joy. It wasn't long before everyone was engaged in the conversations and having fun. In the end, we ended up talking for an hour longer than the session was scheduled to run.

Debates are powerful! We should use that format much more when presenting ideas.

This week??(TM)s Vedicsoc session was a bit out-of-order. One of the attendee had to leave early, so I started with the session with some chanting. Good thing too, because soon after a guy next door in the music room decided to "go wild" on his drum-kit.

Chanting was good. The group seemed to naturally take to the maha-mantra. We went on for 8 minutes. Somewhat longer than usual.

Slow-deep aerobic yoga was also very good. It gives people an intense yoga "experience".

In the discussion I started off asking everyone what their goals were. "What things do you plan to achieve in the next 5 - 20 years that you think will really satisfy you?" I was planning to debunk the myth of money and happiness. However, I was surprised that there was silence upon asking the question (in retrospect, I should have probably asked people to anonymously write down their goals on a piece of paper. That way, no one would feel they would revealing too much of themselves).

Finally, someone said their goal was to work in a bar on Ibiza. That would be an escape from the monotone of Manchester, though, of course, life in Manchester is really great, too.

Then someone mentioned enlightenment and I talked a bit about the non-new-age definition of enlightenment (i.e. seeing clearly who you are, what's around you and where you are going). I ended up giving a bit of a monolog "class".

When I asked for questions there was, once again, silence. I had too intense. Thankfully, Joy asked some questions and soon we were intensively (but very friendlily) debating a whole range of subjects. Everyone else leaned back and watched to fun. Everyone likes a good debate.

I remember back in 2001 there was a geography lecturer that used to come to the Southampton Vedicsoc session. He used to have lively discussion with Carana Renu. Those debates are part of what convinced me of Krishna consciousness. The Vedic philosophy held up well under attack. I myself was too shy to voice any questions or doubts, but seeing someone else doubt (and not make nearly as much sense as) the philosophy of Krishna consciousness cleared away a lot of those doubts.

Soon other people started getting involved in the debate I was having with Joy. It wasn't long before everyone was engaged in the conversations and having fun. In the end, we ended up talking for an hour longer than the session was scheduled to run.

Debates are powerful! We should use that format much more when presenting ideas.

My flat almost got burgled yesterday. I heard some noises, but didn't think anything of it at the time. The guy living downstairs later filled me in on what happened.

Two unsavory characters managed to open the front door with a credit card. They then immediately proceeded to open the back door to give themselves an escape route. They then knocked on people's door to see if anyone was in. Fortunately, the person living in the downstairs flat was in and answered the door, thinking it might be me knocking.

He was a bit shocked when faced with these two scruffy looking criminals. Luckily, they did not decide to fight him and instead made up some excuse and quickly exited the building.

The landlord's advice was that the "Yale" locks (which are on practically every house in the country!) are quite insecure and we should also keep the bottom bolt-lock locked at all times. Of course, the key to that lock is a very simple shape and could probably be picked quite easily.

Realization: Locks don't work. UK houses are not at all secure.

My flat almost got burgled yesterday. I heard some noises, but didn't think anything of it at the time. The guy living downstairs later filled me in on what happened.

Two unsavory characters managed to open the front door with a credit card. They then immediately proceeded to open the back door to give themselves an escape route. They then knocked on people's door to see if anyone was in. Fortunately, the person living in the downstairs flat was in and answered the door, thinking it might be me knocking.

He was a bit shocked when faced with these two scruffy looking criminals. Luckily, they did not decide to fight him and instead made up some excuse and quickly exited the building.

The landlord's advice was that the "Yale" locks (which are on practically every house in the country!) are quite insecure and we should also keep the bottom bolt-lock locked at all times. Of course, the key to that lock is a very simple shape and could probably be picked quite easily.

Realization: Locks don't work. UK houses are not at all secure.

A note on something I forgot to mention on the last post:

I forgot my portable speakers and yoga notes. However, one of the newcomers was very interested in practicing some yoga in the session. What to do?

Luckily, I had loaded both the yoga soundtracks and the lesson plans onto my phone. The sound quality was loud enough, but kind of harsh. The tiny speakers are obviously not the most high-quality in the world (but still amazing good). All in all, the session turned out quite well.

All glories to Windows Mobile.

A note on something I forgot to mention on the last post:

I forgot my portable speakers and yoga notes. However, one of the newcomers was very interested in practicing some yoga in the session. What to do?

Luckily, I had loaded both the yoga soundtracks and the lesson plans onto my phone. The sound quality was loud enough, but kind of harsh. The tiny speakers are obviously not the most high-quality in the world (but still amazing good). All in all, the session turned out quite well.

All glories to Windows Mobile.

Check out this newly launched website for Gaura Yoga Wellington. Best yoga center ever! I'm really like this redesigned website. I created the initial website, but this new one totally blows the old one away. It's clean, simple, classy, modern, stylish, informative, beautiful and fun. All in all, impressive, most impressive.

(one bit of advice: please get rid of the splash page. It makes the website more difficult to find using a search engine like Google. Sure, it looks nice, but no one is going to visit the center just because they saw a nice looking splash intro-page.)

Check out this newly launched website for Gaura Yoga Wellington. Best yoga center ever! I'm really like this redesigned website. I created the initial website, but this new one totally blows the old one away. It's clean, simple, classy, modern, stylish, informative, beautiful and fun. All in all, impressive, most impressive.

(one bit of advice: please get rid of the splash page. It makes the website more difficult to find using a search engine like Google. Sure, it looks nice, but no one is going to visit the center just because they saw a nice looking splash intro-page.)

I have to give a PhD progress report presentation every year. My end-of-second-year interview was last week. It went quite badly. I was allowed to continue (if only because it is very rare that someone is thrown out after their second year), but the panel did not think I would be able to succeed in an actual PhD viva examination.

My presentation was fine; however I didn??(TM)t handle the questions very well. Example:

Professor: why didn??(TM)t you address transactions in your system?
Me: [look of puzzlement]
Me: why would you need transactions?
Prof: you are doing a database-like locking system, all these kinds of systems have transactions.
Me: what do you mean with transaction exactly?
Prof: two-phase commit, that kind of thing. Surely you know about it?!
Me: transactions aren??(TM)t relevant in this case.
Prof: no, no, I think they are.
Me: my locking does not require transactions.
Prof: all this kinds of systems use transactions, you should have addressed them!
Me: okay, I??(TM)ll look into transactions, but I still don??(TM)t think they are relevant in this case
Prof: ah ha, you haven??(TM)t read the literature. You are far too focused on your particular subject area. A good PhD student learns to not solve just one problem, but abstracts away and finds the general scientific contribution. A second year PhD student should have a firm grasp of all the relevant literature; it is worrying that you don??(TM)t even understand what a transaction is. Furthermore ??¦

[50 minutes later]

Other professor: we??(TM)ve been going for some time already. Maybe we could wrap this up.
Prof: okay, well, good luck with your final year.

What went wrong?

1. I wasn??(TM)t confident enough in my presentation. One professor commented that my talk was very timid. Indeed, my personality is not very brash or aggressive. I need to be far more assertive.
2. I??(TM)m not very good at thinking on my feet. I was under pressure, in stuffy lecture room with four professors just waiting to jump on top of me. My brain could not think very clearly.
3. I made my presentation too simple. They audience thought they understood exactly what I was doing, when the reality was somewhat more complicated. I should have bewildered them with something so complicated that they would have no hope of understanding any of it and therefore think it was some great research. That way no one can ask any difficult questions.
4. I admitted I might be wrong. Someone told me afterwards to never do that: I must never admit that I??(TM)m wrong, even when I know that I most certainly am. The whole point is to defend my work, nothing else. Never surrender!

Personally, I find it incredibly difficult to cling to a bad idea, just for the sake of it. I mean: it??(TM)s a bad idea, why on earth should I continue to entertain it? Is this how academics should be trained? To be stubborn and uncompromising? No wonder the world is in such a bad state.

When I was first applying for this PhD research one professor told me: "I don??(TM)t think you have what it takes to swim with the sharks." I didn??(TM)t understand what she meant at the time. Now I know ??¦ and, quite frankly, I??(TM)m not sure ??¦

I have to give a PhD progress report presentation every year. My end-of-second-year interview was last week. It went quite badly. I was allowed to continue (if only because it is very rare that someone is thrown out after their second year), but the panel did not think I would be able to succeed in an actual PhD viva examination.

My presentation was fine; however I didn??(TM)t handle the questions very well. Example:

Professor: why didn??(TM)t you address transactions in your system?
Me: [look of puzzlement]
Me: why would you need transactions?
Prof: you are doing a database-like locking system, all these kinds of systems have transactions.
Me: what do you mean with transaction exactly?
Prof: two-phase commit, that kind of thing. Surely you know about it?!
Me: transactions aren??(TM)t relevant in this case.
Prof: no, no, I think they are.
Me: my locking does not require transactions.
Prof: all this kinds of systems use transactions, you should have addressed them!
Me: okay, I??(TM)ll look into transactions, but I still don??(TM)t think they are relevant in this case
Prof: ah ha, you haven??(TM)t read the literature. You are far too focused on your particular subject area. A good PhD student learns to not solve just one problem, but abstracts away and finds the general scientific contribution. A second year PhD student should have a firm grasp of all the relevant literature; it is worrying that you don??(TM)t even understand what a transaction is. Furthermore ??¦

[50 minutes later]

Other professor: we??(TM)ve been going for some time already. Maybe we could wrap this up.
Prof: okay, well, good luck with your final year.

What went wrong?

1. I wasn??(TM)t confident enough in my presentation. One professor commented that my talk was very timid. Indeed, my personality is not very brash or aggressive. I need to be far more assertive.
2. I??(TM)m not very good at thinking on my feet. I was under pressure, in stuffy lecture room with four professors just waiting to jump on top of me. My brain could not think very clearly.
3. I made my presentation too simple. They audience thought they understood exactly what I was doing, when the reality was somewhat more complicated. I should have bewildered them with something so complicated that they would have no hope of understanding any of it and therefore think it was some great research. That way no one can ask any difficult questions.
4. I admitted I might be wrong. Someone told me afterwards to never do that: I must never admit that I??(TM)m wrong, even when I know that I most certainly am. The whole point is to defend my work, nothing else. Never surrender!

Personally, I find it incredibly difficult to cling to a bad idea, just for the sake of it. I mean: it??(TM)s a bad idea, why on earth should I continue to entertain it? Is this how academics should be trained? To be stubborn and uncompromising? No wonder the world is in such a bad state.

When I was first applying for this PhD research one professor told me: "I don??(TM)t think you have what it takes to swim with the sharks." I didn??(TM)t understand what she meant at the time. Now I know ??¦ and, quite frankly, I??(TM)m not sure ??¦

Principles and values are where it's at! Someone may know something: "smoking kills". But until they have internalized the knowledge into their core value system that knowledge is not of much use.

Realized knowledge (yijnana) actually affects one's day-to-day actions. Example (that made me think about this whole issue):

The other day I was shopping at the local ASDA supermarket. I had had quite a tough week and felt myself overcome with material desires. I suddenly desired to buy more of something (anything!). "Just look: so many shelves full of product for my enjoyment. I want them!" I proceeded to picked up a random attractive-looking item, turned it over and read the ingredients.

"Yuck, full of eggs", next item
"Oh no, full of onions and garlic", next item
"Vile, this one isn't even vegetarian", next item
"Can't off this to Krishna either", next item
"Hmm, I could buy this, but it is full of wheat and dairy products. If I ate this I'll be seriously suffering the next day", next item ...

... and so it went. I wasted a lot of time looking through various products, but, in the end, didn't end up buying anything else.

The point is that I really, really wanted to buy something, but my values wouldn't let me. I was protected, in spite of myself.

Realization: the scientific process of Krishna consciousness is very good at transforming people's character. That is: imbibing people with positive values. (Also interesting how the vast majority of stuff in a modern supermarket is uneatable garbage).

Principles and values are where it's at! Someone may know something: "smoking kills". But until they have internalized the knowledge into their core value system that knowledge is not of much use.

Realized knowledge (yijnana) actually affects one's day-to-day actions. Example (that made me think about this whole issue):

The other day I was shopping at the local ASDA supermarket. I had had quite a tough week and felt myself overcome with material desires. I suddenly desired to buy more of something (anything!). "Just look: so many shelves full of product for my enjoyment. I want them!" I proceeded to picked up a random attractive-looking item, turned it over and read the ingredients.

"Yuck, full of eggs", next item
"Oh no, full of onions and garlic", next item
"Vile, this one isn't even vegetarian", next item
"Can't off this to Krishna either", next item
"Hmm, I could buy this, but it is full of wheat and dairy products. If I ate this I'll be seriously suffering the next day", next item ...

... and so it went. I wasted a lot of time looking through various products, but, in the end, didn't end up buying anything else.

The point is that I really, really wanted to buy something, but my values wouldn't let me. I was protected, in spite of myself.

Realization: the scientific process of Krishna consciousness is very good at transforming people's character. That is: imbibing people with positive values. (Also interesting how the vast majority of stuff in a modern supermarket is uneatable garbage).

Just 4 souls attended this week's Vedicsoc session. I put the relatively low attendance down to heavy coursework burden on the students (I've also been really busy with my PhD, but that's another topic). Still, two new people showed up. They had found out from a friend whom I'd never heard of. I can only assume that this person found a flyer, or signed up on the email list, never actually came to a session, but told these two friends of his about us.

One guy was really interested in learning more about meditation. He said afterward that he was initially sceptical but pleasantly surprised. One lady was interest in the yoga. She had done some yoga before (the super-intense astanga power-power-power-type) and wanted to take it up again.

I've been complaining that the usual yoga-folk are seriously unfit. This group however was pretty good. There is this distinct divide between the "easy yoga to help me relax" and "power yoga to get me fit" crowds.

Chanting seemed a bit foreign to the newcomers. People can relate to yoga. Chanting is not (yet) accepted as "cool" in society.

This is one of the pitfalls of teaching yoga. People tend to come just for the physical yoga and are not interested in any of the (weird, cult-like) Krishna-stuff. Of course, Krishna consciousness is the real, bona-fide yoga system, but they don't know that (yet).

Purifying and enlightening these people can take quite some time. However, I don't have the facility to just give them what they think they want. Instead, I bundle everything together in a big package. This may be why the beautify-my-body yoga seekers don't tend to come back for repeated sessions.

The discussion was on Ayurveda. Maybe that's also why few people came. Health is not a topic of interest to students. It involves regulating the sense ... ewww, yucky. But just wait a few years: once all their self-abusive, pseudo-pleasure seeking catches up with these students, their health will suddenly become a huge concern to them.

In any case, we did have a very nice discussion (Dr. Liladhar Gupta rocks).

Just 4 souls attended this week's Vedicsoc session. I put the relatively low attendance down to heavy coursework burden on the students (I've also been really busy with my PhD, but that's another topic). Still, two new people showed up. They had found out from a friend whom I'd never heard of. I can only assume that this person found a flyer, or signed up on the email list, never actually came to a session, but told these two friends of his about us.

One guy was really interested in learning more about meditation. He said afterward that he was initially sceptical but pleasantly surprised. One lady was interest in the yoga. She had done some yoga before (the super-intense astanga power-power-power-type) and wanted to take it up again.

I've been complaining that the usual yoga-folk are seriously unfit. This group however was pretty good. There is this distinct divide between the "easy yoga to help me relax" and "power yoga to get me fit" crowds.

Chanting seemed a bit foreign to the newcomers. People can relate to yoga. Chanting is not (yet) accepted as "cool" in society.

This is one of the pitfalls of teaching yoga. People tend to come just for the physical yoga and are not interested in any of the (weird, cult-like) Krishna-stuff. Of course, Krishna consciousness is the real, bona-fide yoga system, but they don't know that (yet).

Purifying and enlightening these people can take quite some time. However, I don't have the facility to just give them what they think they want. Instead, I bundle everything together in a big package. This may be why the beautify-my-body yoga seekers don't tend to come back for repeated sessions.

The discussion was on Ayurveda. Maybe that's also why few people came. Health is not a topic of interest to students. It involves regulating the sense ... ewww, yucky. But just wait a few years: once all their self-abusive, pseudo-pleasure seeking catches up with these students, their health will suddenly become a huge concern to them.

In any case, we did have a very nice discussion (Dr. Liladhar Gupta rocks).

"The happiness of Indian family life is ??¦ eating." - Srila Prabhupada

"The happiness of Indian family life is ??¦ eating." - Srila Prabhupada