Planet ISKCON

Once again, hosted a Saturday Feast at my flat. 5 guests attended. It was K.'s and F.'s first visit to my place. On the menu:

• gem salad with cherry tomatoes
• bengali sak spinach
• mixed vegetable curry
• sweet potato pie
• clove basmati rice
• vegan sesame seed digestive biscuits

I had planned to finish the meal at 14:10, but alas, you know what they say about the best made plans. It took me 3 hours to cook everything and we ended up eating a very late "lunch" at 14:40. On the positive side, at least everyone was really hungry.

F. was amazed at the taste of prasadam. Prasadam is spiritualized food that has been offered to Krishna. The food becomes non-different from God.

Some people ask to see God, but why should we limit ourself to just using only that one sense? Eating prasadam is, quite literally, tasting God. I remember the first time I had prasadam, I ate soooo much. It is quite an other worldly experience. No one will argue that point. Proof by direct personal experience.

After prasadam we chatted for some time. The Krishna conscious knowledge was bubbling out of Nanda Sunu, he impressed everyone with his broad, brahminical understanding; he then also lead a very nice kirtan. I learnt that one of the reasons F. was attracted to Vedicsoc was the cleverly worded answer to the question "Do I have to give up anything?" on the Vedicsoc website. Then we read the story of Madhavandra Puri, who's birthday it was.

We also spent quite some time singing the glorifies of the new Apple Macintosh computer I recently acquired (more on that later). It is a very impressive, elegant and powerful machine. Apple certainly has put lots of love, devotion and attention to detail into its design. I used it to magnify and display the story of Madhavandra Puri on screen, so everyone could follow along as we took turns reading.

After an enlivening, blissful 4 hours of each other's association, we broke up for the day. F. left carrying two volumes of the Krishna Book!

No one came.

I waited for 30 minutes in an empty room passing the time by chanting. Then, to my surprise, just before I was about to leave, three people arrived. Within the course of about 5 minutes three members arrived, each independently thinking that they were really late, but other people would have already been there and they could catch the end of the session.

So, we started the session 35 minutes late with part two of the killer power yoga session (which wasn't all that difficult).

Then we chanted a full round of the Maha-Mantra. All the attendees were regulars, so we could go at a faster speed than usual. That was blissful, as always.

We then talked about some issues of free will and (pre-)determinism that had been an ongoing issue of debate for some time. We read BG 7.21. In the purport Prabhupada says that we are completely controlled and have independent free will, both at the same time.

Amazing, it's not a contradiction. The purport makes complete sense (at least it does to me, J., of course, didn't think so).

No one came.

I waited for 30 minutes in an empty room passing the time by chanting. Then, to my surprise, just before I was about to leave, three people arrived. Within the course of about 5 minutes three members arrived, each independently thinking that they were really late, but other people would have already been there and they could catch the end of the session.

So, we started the session 35 minutes late with part two of the killer power yoga session (which wasn't all that difficult).

Then we chanted a full round of the Maha-Mantra. All the attendees were regulars, so we could go at a faster speed than usual. That was blissful, as always.

We then talked about some issues of free will and (pre-)determinism that had been an ongoing issue of debate for some time. We read BG 7.21. In the purport Prabhupada says that we are completely controlled and have independent free will, both at the same time.

Amazing, it's not a contradiction. The purport makes complete sense (at least it does to me, J., of course, didn't think so).

Once again 4 guests for the university club. A new person named K. came who was already chanting 16 rounds and had found out about Vedicsoc from J. at the temple. He was interested in Krishna conscious yoga to improve his bodily health and asked lots of questions.

I had just gotten back from London a few hours earlier. I therefore didn't have any time to prepare any food for the session, as I usually. I also didn't have much of the usual equipment and paraphernalia that I usually bring.

I taught a killer power yoga class. Everyone was sweating, groaning and asking "is the next asana savasana yet"? Maybe I was a bit too hard, but everyone said they liked it. Hey, maybe I'll be even more cruel next time (heh-heh).

I talked a bit about my experiences traveling with my spiritual master (something I'll post more about later) and answered intermittent questions from left-field.

Once again 4 guests for the university club. A new person named K. came who was already chanting 16 rounds and had found out about Vedicsoc from J. at the temple. He was interested in Krishna conscious yoga to improve his bodily health and asked lots of questions.

I had just gotten back from London a few hours earlier. I therefore didn't have any time to prepare any food for the session, as I usually. I also didn't have much of the usual equipment and paraphernalia that I usually bring.

I taught a killer power yoga class. Everyone was sweating, groaning and asking "is the next asana savasana yet"? Maybe I was a bit too hard, but everyone said they liked it. Hey, maybe I'll be even more cruel next time (heh-heh).

I talked a bit about my experiences traveling with my spiritual master (something I'll post more about later) and answered intermittent questions from left-field.

Apple has just released a new series of TV ads for advertizing the Mac. They are really well done. Fun, modern, short, to the point, good looking and trendy, imaginative. I think they'll be a huge success.

Here's a link directly to the videos.

I'm thinking that a similar type of ad for highlighting the benefit/coolness of Krishna consciousness could work wonders. Imagine:

Old disgruntled unhappy person: "Hi, I'm a religious believer."
Modern smart looking person: "Hi, I'm a Hare Krishna."

Apple has just released a new series of TV ads for advertizing the Mac. They are really well done. Fun, modern, short, to the point, good looking and trendy, imaginative. I think they'll be a huge success.

Here's a link directly to the videos.

I'm thinking that a similar type of ad for highlighting the benefit/coolness of Krishna consciousness could work wonders. Imagine:

Old disgruntled unhappy person: "Hi, I'm a religious believer."
Modern smart looking person: "Hi, I'm a Hare Krishna."

We have a server hard disk crash and we could not restore the files from the old drive. We have restored the files from the only available backup.

The available backup for your domian was backed up only on april 22nd.

Yup, the company that I use to host this website (Surpass Hosting) has had a major hard drive failure. They lost a week's worth of their client's data. I'm seriously considering moving to a different hosting provider that is more reliable. Anyone have any suggestions?

In any case, I've managed to restore most of the data from records I've kept on my personal machine and the nice cache features of MSN Search and Yahoo search (Google's cache isn't updated frequently enough, and other search engines are updated too frequently). It will however be some time before I have everything back to working order. Expect a few glitches here and there.

We have a server hard disk crash and we could not restore the files from the old drive. We have restored the files from the only available backup.

The available backup for your domian was backed up only on april 22nd.

Yup, the company that I use to host this website (Surpass Hosting) has had a major hard drive failure. They lost a week's worth of their client's data. I'm seriously considering moving to a different hosting provider that is more reliable. Anyone have any suggestions?

In any case, I've managed to restore most of the data from records I've kept on my personal machine and the nice cache features of MSN Search and Yahoo search (Google's cache isn't updated frequently enough, and other search engines are updated too frequently). It will however be some time before I have everything back to working order. Expect a few glitches here and there.

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.)