Planet ISKCON

Not much to report on for Vedicsoc today. None of the new people from last week came. However, three of the regulars attended. Slow-deep stretch yoga was so relaxing that it put two of the attendees to sleep. Oh well. I repeated the discussion from last week, since this was an (almost) entirely new audience.

Not much to report on for Vedicsoc today. None of the new people from last week came. However, three of the regulars attended. Slow-deep stretch yoga was so relaxing that it put two of the attendees to sleep. Oh well. I repeated the discussion from last week, since this was an (almost) entirely new audience.

download
Place: Heidelberg Temple, Germany
Time: 76 min.

Summary:
There is a huge gap between belief in God and understanding Krishna. Any civilized human being can believe in God. So what? Understanding Krishna however gives freedom from repeated birth, doing the same few basic activities over and over again and eventual death. Many people however want God to stay out of our affairs. Krishna hides himself from such people.

Devamrita Swami gives the example of his father??(TM)s desire to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing his children happy at Christmas. Some slight selfishness is always there in us, but Krishna acts without motives. He acts simply to please his devotees.

While Krishna gets no reactions for His actions, we most certainly do. Devamrita Swami??(TM)s father, after returning from a world-trip, told his fianc?©e: ??oeI??(TM)ve seen that there are other ways of relating to God than through Jesus?? and received a heavy reaction. If we act according to Krishna??(TM)s direction we??(TM)ll be free from reactions, but as long as we have material motives then there will be reactions.

Questions:

• Is it part of Krishna consciousness to become free from karma?
• Doesn??(TM)t Krishna have some desire for us to become Krishna conscious and he therefore isn??(TM)t desireless?
• Do we relate with Krishna, or does he relate with us?
• New devotees might be serving Krishna for his own benefit. Will selfless service automatically develop?
• Is it similar with serving the devotees? Will the heart gradually soften simply by mechanical service?

download
Place: Heidelberg Temple, Germany
Time: 76 min.

Summary:
There is a huge gap between belief in God and understanding Krishna. Any civilized human being can believe in God. So what? Understanding Krishna however gives freedom from repeated birth, doing the same few basic activities over and over again and eventual death. Many people however want God to stay out of our affairs. Krishna hides himself from such people.

Devamrita Swami gives the example of his father??(TM)s desire to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing his children happy at Christmas. Some slight selfishness is always there in us, but Krishna acts without motives. He acts simply to please his devotees.

While Krishna gets no reactions for His actions, we most certainly do. Devamrita Swami??(TM)s father, after returning from a world-trip, told his fianc?©e: ??oeI??(TM)ve seen that there are other ways of relating to God than through Jesus?? and received a heavy reaction. If we act according to Krishna??(TM)s direction we??(TM)ll be free from reactions, but as long as we have material motives then there will be reactions.

Questions:

• Is it part of Krishna consciousness to become free from karma?
• Doesn??(TM)t Krishna have some desire for us to become Krishna conscious and he therefore isn??(TM)t desireless?
• Do we relate with Krishna, or does he relate with us?
• New devotees might be serving Krishna for his own benefit. Will selfless service automatically develop?
• Is it similar with serving the devotees? Will the heart gradually soften simply by mechanical service?

20|1Over the following weeks I'll be posting lectures of my spiritual master, Devamrita Swami, recorded during his recent tour of Germany (be sure to subscribe by pressing the green button). Thanks to Guruvani for expertly recording these. I sadly could not join my guru on the tour due to poor health.

These pictures are of Guruvani's and Bhumna Krishna's visit to my parent's house in Germany shortly before jetting off to a far away country.

20|1Over the following weeks I'll be posting lectures of my spiritual master, Devamrita Swami, recorded during his recent tour of Germany (be sure to subscribe by pressing the green button). Thanks to Guruvani for expertly recording these. I sadly could not join my guru on the tour due to poor health.

These pictures are of Guruvani's and Bhumna Krishna's visit to my parent's house in Germany shortly before jetting off to a far away country.

There are a couple of new features on my blog that I though I??(TM)d tell you about. Have you notice the colorful buttons under the ??oemeta?? heading on the right side of the page? Here??(TM)s what they do:

Do you want to be automatically kept up to date with the latest interesting sounds from the spiritual world? Well, today is your lucky day. Just click the green button.

You can automatically subscribe to my MP3 Podcasts using Apple??(TM)s iTunes application by pressing the green ??oeSubscribe?? button. By doing this your computer??(TM)s iTunes media player software (and iPod, if you have one) will automatically download the latest talks and lecture I publish. I??(TM)ll be releasing a bunch of new MP3s very soon, so keep your ears primed.

Using iTunes is easier, if you know what you??(TM)re doing you can use any RSS Podcast aggregator (like iPodder) to subscribe. ??oeRSS Podcast?? button allows you to get the standard Really Simple Syndication (RSS) news/mp3 feed from my website.

Finally, the ??oeBF Mapstats?? button allows you to see many people from around the world who visit this website. Click on and see the physical location of the last five people who visited in a Google Map. Neat stuff (it??(TM)s a service offered by a website called BlogFlux, hence the BF title).

There are a couple of new features on my blog that I though I??(TM)d tell you about. Have you notice the colorful buttons under the ??oemeta?? heading on the right side of the page? Here??(TM)s what they do:

Do you want to be automatically kept up to date with the latest interesting sounds from the spiritual world? Well, today is your lucky day. Just click the green button.

You can automatically subscribe to my MP3 Podcasts using Apple??(TM)s iTunes application by pressing the green ??oeSubscribe?? button. By doing this your computer??(TM)s iTunes media player software (and iPod, if you have one) will automatically download the latest talks and lecture I publish. I??(TM)ll be releasing a bunch of new MP3s very soon, so keep your ears primed.

Using iTunes is easier, if you know what you??(TM)re doing you can use any RSS Podcast aggregator (like iPodder) to subscribe. ??oeRSS Podcast?? button allows you to get the standard Really Simple Syndication (RSS) news/mp3 feed from my website.

Finally, the ??oeBF Mapstats?? button allows you to see many people from around the world who visit this website. Click on and see the physical location of the last five people who visited in a Google Map. Neat stuff (it??(TM)s a service offered by a website called BlogFlux, hence the BF title).

I reinstalled Windows XP on my computer over the weekend. My lowly Dell Inspiron 4150 laptop was showing its age. The operating system was clogged up lots and lots of old applications and orphaned data. It was time for a spring clean.

I deleted everything (after doing a backup) and started from scratch. It took three days to install all the many, many programs, utilities and applications I use. I must have downloaded gigabytes of updates and software. Windows itself is the worst culprit. The amount of patches and updates Microsoft has released in 3 years is mind-boggling.

As Gopala-Guru has remarked recently: something as complex as Windows needs constant tweaking and fixing by highly intelligent software engineers. Something even more complex, like the human body, supposedly came about completely by chance and involved no intelligent design whatsoever. Uh-hu ??¦

Yes, sometimes it is necessary to tear down the decrepit, old, moldy, rotten and highly unstable foundations and start over. A fresh new beginning to break free from past paradigms can work wonders. Free from debt and in a new attractive, city-center location ...

It certainly worked well for my computer. It runs so much faster now. Almost like new. The austerity of the re-install will help me get a few more months of life out of this machine.

I reinstalled Windows XP on my computer over the weekend. My lowly Dell Inspiron 4150 laptop was showing its age. The operating system was clogged up lots and lots of old applications and orphaned data. It was time for a spring clean.

I deleted everything (after doing a backup) and started from scratch. It took three days to install all the many, many programs, utilities and applications I use. I must have downloaded gigabytes of updates and software. Windows itself is the worst culprit. The amount of patches and updates Microsoft has released in 3 years is mind-boggling.

As Gopala-Guru has remarked recently: something as complex as Windows needs constant tweaking and fixing by highly intelligent software engineers. Something even more complex, like the human body, supposedly came about completely by chance and involved no intelligent design whatsoever. Uh-hu ??¦

Yes, sometimes it is necessary to tear down the decrepit, old, moldy, rotten and highly unstable foundations and start over. A fresh new beginning to break free from past paradigms can work wonders. Free from debt and in a new attractive, city-center location ...

It certainly worked well for my computer. It runs so much faster now. Almost like new. The austerity of the re-install will help me get a few more months of life out of this machine.

One of my colleagues gave a internal departmental presentation of some of his research results a few days ago. Apart from the usual mix of students and professors, one American research, who happened to be visiting our University at the time, also attended.

My colleague was ripped to shreds. Everyone asked him very difficult question. They did not properly understand the research and asked very challenging question based on their false conceptions. He, in turn, did not realize what they had misunderstood and ended up unable to give clear answers to the questions.

What struck me was that this American research was so (over) confident. He would make bold statements and people believed and agreed with him, simply because he seemed so confident in his presentation.

He would say things like: "I don't think those results are true!" and everyone would nod their head in agreement. I happened to know that the results in question were indeed true, but this didn't seem to matter. His confidence was too powerful.

This kind of confidence seems very prominent in the USA. Americans??(TM) idea of the ideal personality is the domineering, over-confident superstar (jerk). This is part of the reason why I??(TM)m not too keen on living and working in the United States. My personality is better suited for a more mellow country (*cough* ... New Zealand ... *cough*).

On the topic of confidence: Srila Prabhupada had great power to convince others by virtue of his firm faith. I remember listening to one conversation between him and disciple.

The disciple said: "Prabhupada, the scientists say there are 2 million different species of life"
Prabhupada??(TM)s reply: "2 million? No, 8,400,000!"

That settled the matter. He sounded so certain of this fact that no one could argue.

One of my colleagues gave a internal departmental presentation of some of his research results a few days ago. Apart from the usual mix of students and professors, one American research, who happened to be visiting our University at the time, also attended.

My colleague was ripped to shreds. Everyone asked him very difficult question. They did not properly understand the research and asked very challenging question based on their false conceptions. He, in turn, did not realize what they had misunderstood and ended up unable to give clear answers to the questions.

What struck me was that this American research was so (over) confident. He would make bold statements and people believed and agreed with him, simply because he seemed so confident in his presentation.

He would say things like: "I don't think those results are true!" and everyone would nod their head in agreement. I happened to know that the results in question were indeed true, but this didn't seem to matter. His confidence was too powerful.

This kind of confidence seems very prominent in the USA. Americans??(TM) idea of the ideal personality is the domineering, over-confident superstar (jerk). This is part of the reason why I??(TM)m not too keen on living and working in the United States. My personality is better suited for a more mellow country (*cough* ... New Zealand ... *cough*).

On the topic of confidence: Srila Prabhupada had great power to convince others by virtue of his firm faith. I remember listening to one conversation between him and disciple.

The disciple said: "Prabhupada, the scientists say there are 2 million different species of life"
Prabhupada??(TM)s reply: "2 million? No, 8,400,000!"

That settled the matter. He sounded so certain of this fact that no one could argue.

21|1Here the promised set of pictures from Vedicsoc session #5. All 18 of these people have practiced Krishna consciousness to some extent, or are indeed very distinguished Vaisnavas. I narrated the stories of when, where and how these people came upon Krishna consciousness and where they ended up because of it.

Apologies to anyone how embarrassed by my using them as an example. Just keep in mind that it was for a greater good.

You can view the gallery here.

In case you are wonder who some of these people are. Here a run-down of names (left to right):

1. Lord Brahma
2. Dhruva Maharaja
3. Steve Jobs
4. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura
5. Bhakta Tirtha Swami
6. Ambarish Das / Alfred Ford
7. Elias and Mangala Vaisnava Das
8. George Harrison
9. Krishna
10. Narada Muni and Vyasadeva
11. Devamrita Swami
12. Sukanti Radha Devi Dasi
13. Bhakta Hitesh
14. Hriman Krishna Das
15. Carana Renu Devi Dasi and Mukunda Das
16. Atmananda Das
17. Vrinda Devi Dasi
18. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

21|1Here the promised set of pictures from Vedicsoc session #5. All 18 of these people have practiced Krishna consciousness to some extent, or are indeed very distinguished Vaisnavas. I narrated the stories of when, where and how these people came upon Krishna consciousness and where they ended up because of it.

Apologies to anyone how embarrassed by my using them as an example. Just keep in mind that it was for a greater good.

You can view the gallery here.

In case you are wonder who some of these people are. Here a run-down of names (left to right):

1. Lord Brahma
2. Dhruva Maharaja
3. Steve Jobs
4. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura
5. Bhakta Tirtha Swami
6. Ambarish Das / Alfred Ford
7. Elias and Mangala Vaisnava Das
8. George Harrison
9. Krishna
10. Narada Muni and Vyasadeva
11. Devamrita Swami
12. Sukanti Radha Devi Dasi
13. Bhakta Hitesh
14. Hriman Krishna Das
15. Carana Renu Devi Dasi and Mukunda Das
16. Atmananda Das
17. Vrinda Devi Dasi
18. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

7 guests came to the Vedicsoc session yesterday. I was surprised: very few of the regulars came, but 5 new people replaced them.

All the newcomers found flyers and were attracted by those. Better late than never, I suppose. It certainly shows the value of not requiring a subscription. So many clubs want people to pay an up-front fee to join. This might make them money, but it certainly does not encourage membership. No one wants to commit to anything these days.

People said they liked the kundalini-yoga I taught, but they didn??(TM)t seem too enthusiastic about it. I have to admit, it was kind of weird. Strange breathing, chakra energy manipulation, it??(TM)s not for everybody. It is also incredibly difficult to teach. I had to constantly refer back to my notes. Who can remember all those crazy asanas, breath rhythms and transition?

I??(TM)ve found there to be two kinds of students. One group want to get fit and therefore prefer fast paced, give it all you got, passionate power yoga. Others aren??(TM)t fit and don??(TM)t want to be because it??(TM)s too much work. They prefer mellow, relaxing, de-stressing, slow-deep stretch yoga. I try to give them both.

The discussion was about past and present practitioner of Krishna consciousness. I printed out pictures of 18 people that have practiced Krishna consciousness to some degree. I then let the students choose which persons??(TM) stories they wanted to hear. My aim was to alleviate some the fears and doubts people might have about KC. Hearing real human success stories makes it so much easier to see oneself also practicing this ancient and mysterious science of self-realization.

(I'll post the pictures I used tomorrow.)

Summary: the samosas I made were very well received. Two girls bought beads and wanted to start chanting. Two more didn??(TM)t have any money on them, but were eager to purchase their set of beads next week. All guests said they would definitely return next week. We shall see.

7 guests came to the Vedicsoc session yesterday. I was surprised: very few of the regulars came, but 5 new people replaced them.

All the newcomers found flyers and were attracted by those. Better late than never, I suppose. It certainly shows the value of not requiring a subscription. So many clubs want people to pay an up-front fee to join. This might make them money, but it certainly does not encourage membership. No one wants to commit to anything these days.

People said they liked the kundalini-yoga I taught, but they didn??(TM)t seem too enthusiastic about it. I have to admit, it was kind of weird. Strange breathing, chakra energy manipulation, it??(TM)s not for everybody. It is also incredibly difficult to teach. I had to constantly refer back to my notes. Who can remember all those crazy asanas, breath rhythms and transition?

I??(TM)ve found there to be two kinds of students. One group want to get fit and therefore prefer fast paced, give it all you got, passionate power yoga. Others aren??(TM)t fit and don??(TM)t want to be because it??(TM)s too much work. They prefer mellow, relaxing, de-stressing, slow-deep stretch yoga. I try to give them both.

The discussion was about past and present practitioner of Krishna consciousness. I printed out pictures of 18 people that have practiced Krishna consciousness to some degree. I then let the students choose which persons??(TM) stories they wanted to hear. My aim was to alleviate some the fears and doubts people might have about KC. Hearing real human success stories makes it so much easier to see oneself also practicing this ancient and mysterious science of self-realization.

(I'll post the pictures I used tomorrow.)

Summary: the samosas I made were very well received. Two girls bought beads and wanted to start chanting. Two more didn??(TM)t have any money on them, but were eager to purchase their set of beads next week. All guests said they would definitely return next week. We shall see.

4 people turned up for the Vedicsoc session yesterday. I did a basic power yoga class. Someone commented how it was amazing and almost mystical the way the yoga generated so much heat in his body. That reminded me of Hiranyakashipu's yoga austerity and his ability to thereby increase the heat of the entire Universe.

Most of the people who came were into speculating, giving their own thoughts and ideas. I asked them how they might verify their speculations. This they could not do.

The Vedic literature gives authorized spiritual knowledge that is back up by countless sages and the Supreme Personality of Godhead himself (and even he quotes other authorities in the course of the text). I explained the deep intricacies of karma and why bad things happen to good people.

One Indian guest had loads and loads of questions. An insatiable appetite for knowledge, but, at the same time, vague Hindu conceptions of pseudo-mayavadi philosophy. He'll only be able to understand the Bhagavad-Gita if he purifies himself by the regular chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. We shall see.

Devotees are so very, very rare in this material world (BG 7.3).

One fellow PhD-student friend of mine came along to the session. She wanted to see what it was all about and experience the yoga (as well as see why I have a stack of Bhagavad-Gitas in my office). She was a pious Muslim and didn't feel comfortable chanting the maha-mantra, so it didn't press her on that. However, she was happy to chant "om namo bhagavata vasudevaya" and liked it very much. Islam, when practiced property, is a very powerful process. I was impressed by her chastity and purity.

4 people turned up for the Vedicsoc session yesterday. I did a basic power yoga class. Someone commented how it was amazing and almost mystical the way the yoga generated so much heat in his body. That reminded me of Hiranyakashipu's yoga austerity and his ability to thereby increase the heat of the entire Universe.

Most of the people who came were into speculating, giving their own thoughts and ideas. I asked them how they might verify their speculations. This they could not do.

The Vedic literature gives authorized spiritual knowledge that is back up by countless sages and the Supreme Personality of Godhead himself (and even he quotes other authorities in the course of the text). I explained the deep intricacies of karma and why bad things happen to good people.

One Indian guest had loads and loads of questions. An insatiable appetite for knowledge, but, at the same time, vague Hindu conceptions of pseudo-mayavadi philosophy. He'll only be able to understand the Bhagavad-Gita if he purifies himself by the regular chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. We shall see.

Devotees are so very, very rare in this material world (BG 7.3).

One fellow PhD-student friend of mine came along to the session. She wanted to see what it was all about and experience the yoga (as well as see why I have a stack of Bhagavad-Gitas in my office). She was a pious Muslim and didn't feel comfortable chanting the maha-mantra, so it didn't press her on that. However, she was happy to chant "om namo bhagavata vasudevaya" and liked it very much. Islam, when practiced property, is a very powerful process. I was impressed by her chastity and purity.

Due to popular request, here is a record of a day in my life. This is what I did on Tuesday 1/11/2005:

5:30 alarm clock rings
5:45 get up, shave, shower, ayurvedic oil self-massage
6:10 hot drink (to flush out toxins built up during the night)
6:15 start chanting
7:35 finish chanting @ 16 rounds of the Maha Mantra
7:35 physical (yoga) exercise
7:45 cook breakfast and lunch (kept warm in thermos flask)
8:25 sing Damodarastaka prayers
8:30 have breakfast
8:45 pack gear for Vedicsoc meeting
8:50 vacuum my flat
9:00 talk to my parents on the phone/skype (advise my mother to get a Sony Ericsson W800i (K750i) phone/camera/mp3-player)
9:30 walk into University
9:50 check email at my office in University
10:00 attend meeting with visiting research from Harvard Uni.
12:00 have lunch with fellow researchers
12:45 check email
13:00 start writing a chapter of a new research paper
15:00 do experiment measuring the speed of my segmentation algorithm
16:00 go shopping for some fruit & veg
16:20 eat some fruit
16:30 do a bit more writing
17:00 walk to Vedicsoc meeting room
17:15 arrive and chat with the five guest
17:20 start teaching slow-deep stretch yoga (peace on earth set)
18:10 start discussion reincarnation and the nature of Krishna
19:15 serve prasadam (Chinese almond cookies ??" very popular with attendees)
19:30 clean-up room
19:40 talk with Ben about some philosophical issues
20:10 walk back to flat
20:30 fix and eat some light prasadam
20:50 read Caitanya Caritamrita
21:20 take rest/sleep

Due to popular request, here is a record of a day in my life. This is what I did on Tuesday 1/11/2005:

5:30 alarm clock rings
5:45 get up, shave, shower, ayurvedic oil self-massage
6:10 hot drink (to flush out toxins built up during the night)
6:15 start chanting
7:35 finish chanting @ 16 rounds of the Maha Mantra
7:35 physical (yoga) exercise
7:45 cook breakfast and lunch (kept warm in thermos flask)
8:25 sing Damodarastaka prayers
8:30 have breakfast
8:45 pack gear for Vedicsoc meeting
8:50 vacuum my flat
9:00 talk to my parents on the phone/skype (advise my mother to get a Sony Ericsson W800i (K750i) phone/camera/mp3-player)
9:30 walk into University
9:50 check email at my office in University
10:00 attend meeting with visiting research from Harvard Uni.
12:00 have lunch with fellow researchers
12:45 check email
13:00 start writing a chapter of a new research paper
15:00 do experiment measuring the speed of my segmentation algorithm
16:00 go shopping for some fruit & veg
16:20 eat some fruit
16:30 do a bit more writing
17:00 walk to Vedicsoc meeting room
17:15 arrive and chat with the five guest
17:20 start teaching slow-deep stretch yoga (peace on earth set)
18:10 start discussion reincarnation and the nature of Krishna
19:15 serve prasadam (Chinese almond cookies ??" very popular with attendees)
19:30 clean-up room
19:40 talk with Ben about some philosophical issues
20:10 walk back to flat
20:30 fix and eat some light prasadam
20:50 read Caitanya Caritamrita
21:20 take rest/sleep

UK newspaper The Independent published a very interesting article about Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple and Pixar. It talks about his eating at a Hare Krishna temple every week when we was young and traveling to India. He is a Buddhist and has a realistic outlook on the material world. Now if he could only add Krishna ...

UK newspaper The Independent published a very interesting article about Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple and Pixar. It talks about his eating at a Hare Krishna temple every week when we was young and traveling to India. He is a Buddhist and has a realistic outlook on the material world. Now if he could only add Krishna ...

I got my parents a new Mac mini computer (cost: US$500). I was using it when I visited them last week. Here are my impressions / review:

Shortcomings:

• No preview of image files in the Finder. Windows can easily do this. What was Apple thinking?
• Inconsistent Home/End key effects. End usually goes to the end of the document (expect in Word or some other Windows centric text editors).
• I have to relearn to use the Windows/Cloverleaf/Apple key. Nearly all keyboard shortcuts use it. Of course, I can remap the key to CTRL and all is well.
• Safari is a decent enough web-browser, but it crashes too much. Firefox rulez!
• When the Dock crashes, spin-locks, or hangs the Apple equivalent of Ctrl-Alt-Del, which is Command-Alt-ESC, cannot be used to Force Quit and restart it. It is a special hidden process. I have to start the Activity Monitor to restart the Dock. However, when Dock crashes it is impossible to start the Activity Monitor (because I have to use the Dock to start the application). Bad design!
• The 1.42 Ghz G4 processor is seriously underpowered. Compared with a modern Pentium-M based notebook this machine is a real dog, especially when I??(TM)m heavily multi-tasking. No wonder Apple is switching to Intel processors.
• The dual-core P-M (code name Yonah) processor (due to come out in early 2006) will hopefully fix all this.

The good:

• Expos?© is great. Instead of Alt-Tab I found myself flicking to a screen corner and clicking on a preview-window. It is a much more sure way of switching between applications. No more guess work when I switch applications.
• The Dock: It may be inconsistent and bastardized to do too many different things, but, somehow or other, it just works. It does what it should and does so very well. I like it.
• Setup via System Preferences is very nice, understandable and clean. Much better than the Windows control panel and much, much, much (!) better than the various home-grown Linux config tools.
• Application installation and uninstallation is (mostly) very intuitive. Just drag and drop.
• Software update is quick and painless. Unlike Windows-Update, it doesn??(TM)t bewilder you with too many unnecessary options.
• Core applications are small, light and start quickly. No overblown monsters like Microsoft Outlook.
• The H.264 video codec is amazing. Downloaded HD-video content looks terrific. However, decoding the video bring the processor to its knees. Major meltdown (cooling fan kick-in).
• Security is really good. One can clearly see that Apple have thought about protecting users from viruses and spyware without insulting our intelligence, or hurting ease of use.
• Blend transitions are used everywhere. No harsh flicker. The whole interface looks very elegant and refined. Animations are smooth, fast and useful.
• The maximize button is smart. It makes a window use only as much screen space as it needs. This makes using widescreen displays useful. Applications can be placed side-by-side with a minimum of effort.
• Bluetooth support is excellent. Plug and play. Bluetooth on Windows is a nightmare. I??(TM)ve never gotten any Bluetooth gear to work with a Windows-box.
• Scroll-wheel focus actually works. Windows don??(TM)t suddenly loose focus for no reason. However, web-browser windows do frequently and annoyingly steal the focus. Just like in Windows.
• The Mac mini computer itself is tiny and beautiful. 30 times smaller than the old tower case it replaced. Faster too.

I got my parents a new Mac mini computer (cost: US$500). I was using it when I visited them last week. Here are my impressions / review:

Shortcomings:

• No preview of image files in the Finder. Windows can easily do this. What was Apple thinking?
• Inconsistent Home/End key effects. End usually goes to the end of the document (expect in Word or some other Windows centric text editors).
• I have to relearn to use the Windows/Cloverleaf/Apple key. Nearly all keyboard shortcuts use it. Of course, I can remap the key to CTRL and all is well.
• Safari is a decent enough web-browser, but it crashes too much. Firefox rulez!
• When the Dock crashes, spin-locks, or hangs the Apple equivalent of Ctrl-Alt-Del, which is Command-Alt-ESC, cannot be used to Force Quit and restart it. It is a special hidden process. I have to start the Activity Monitor to restart the Dock. However, when Dock crashes it is impossible to start the Activity Monitor (because I have to use the Dock to start the application). Bad design!
• The 1.42 Ghz G4 processor is seriously underpowered. Compared with a modern Pentium-M based notebook this machine is a real dog, especially when I??(TM)m heavily multi-tasking. No wonder Apple is switching to Intel processors.
• The dual-core P-M (code name Yonah) processor (due to come out in early 2006) will hopefully fix all this.

The good:

• Expos?© is great. Instead of Alt-Tab I found myself flicking to a screen corner and clicking on a preview-window. It is a much more sure way of switching between applications. No more guess work when I switch applications.
• The Dock: It may be inconsistent and bastardized to do too many different things, but, somehow or other, it just works. It does what it should and does so very well. I like it.
• Setup via System Preferences is very nice, understandable and clean. Much better than the Windows control panel and much, much, much (!) better than the various home-grown Linux config tools.
• Application installation and uninstallation is (mostly) very intuitive. Just drag and drop.
• Software update is quick and painless. Unlike Windows-Update, it doesn??(TM)t bewilder you with too many unnecessary options.
• Core applications are small, light and start quickly. No overblown monsters like Microsoft Outlook.
• The H.264 video codec is amazing. Downloaded HD-video content looks terrific. However, decoding the video bring the processor to its knees. Major meltdown (cooling fan kick-in).
• Security is really good. One can clearly see that Apple have thought about protecting users from viruses and spyware without insulting our intelligence, or hurting ease of use.
• Blend transitions are used everywhere. No harsh flicker. The whole interface looks very elegant and refined. Animations are smooth, fast and useful.
• The maximize button is smart. It makes a window use only as much screen space as it needs. This makes using widescreen displays useful. Applications can be placed side-by-side with a minimum of effort.
• Bluetooth support is excellent. Plug and play. Bluetooth on Windows is a nightmare. I??(TM)ve never gotten any Bluetooth gear to work with a Windows-box.
• Scroll-wheel focus actually works. Windows don??(TM)t suddenly loose focus for no reason. However, web-browser windows do frequently and annoyingly steal the focus. Just like in Windows.
• The Mac mini computer itself is tiny and beautiful. 30 times smaller than the old tower case it replaced. Faster too.

I'm feeling a lot better today. My body seems to have healed itself. It seems that last week's breakdown was simply a (severe) temporary reaction to the hardship of international travel. The sickness disappeared as quickly as it came. I'm pretty much back to normal (minus a few kg).

My spiritual master told me I should be grateful. It could be a lot worse. He, for example, was sick for 25 years.

I'm feeling a lot better today. My body seems to have healed itself. It seems that last week's breakdown was simply a (severe) temporary reaction to the hardship of international travel. The sickness disappeared as quickly as it came. I'm pretty much back to normal (minus a few kg).

My spiritual master told me I should be grateful. It could be a lot worse. He, for example, was sick for 25 years.

(chapter summary from God and Science by Richard L. Thompson)

The basic unit of measurement in the Vedic literature is the yojana. Thompson has calculated a yojana to be 8.59 miles long. One yojana is 32,000 hastas. One hasta is 432 millimeters (the number 432 should be familiar to anyone well read in the Vedic literature).

One might ask why there such a correspondence between the Vedic and Western distance measurement units? It surely is not simply coincidence?

The answer is that both a latitude based, that is, they are based on the size of Earth. The Greek astronomer Eratosthenes was (supposedly) the first person to calculate the size of earth. He used a well (in Syene) with the sun directly overhead as a reference point, measured the length of a shadow from a post some distance away (in Alexandria) and used the angled derived to estimate the size of the Earth.

There is evidence that the ancient Egyptians knew of latitude and longitude long before Eratosthenes. Similarly, Vedic civilization seems to also have had exact knowledge of the size and shape of the Earth.

The circumference of the Earth as the poles is very close to 108 x ten-billion hastas (108 is another number which should be familiar to students of the Vedic literature).

Interestingly, the distance from the Earth to the Sun (using figures from modern astronomy) equals 10821.6 thousands yojanas. Again, a figure surprisingly close to 108. Further suggesting a connection between the map of the Earth and map of the solar system.

The Vedic civilization that the Bhagavatam describes is both mysterious and amazing. It had incredibly advanced scientific knowledge and it's traces can be found on nearly every continent of the world. Thompson urges us to be on the lookout for more evidence that may shed light on this hidden chapter of human history.

(Thus ends the book: God & Science by Richard L. Thompson. I have left out much of the detail, many of the examples and analogies and all the mathematical proofs in my short summaries. Please buy the book and support Thompson's efforts if you are at all interested in learning more.)

(chapter summary from God and Science by Richard L. Thompson)

The basic unit of measurement in the Vedic literature is the yojana. Thompson has calculated a yojana to be 8.59 miles long. One yojana is 32,000 hastas. One hasta is 432 millimeters (the number 432 should be familiar to anyone well read in the Vedic literature).

One might ask why there such a correspondence between the Vedic and Western distance measurement units? It surely is not simply coincidence?

The answer is that both a latitude based, that is, they are based on the size of Earth. The Greek astronomer Eratosthenes was (supposedly) the first person to calculate the size of earth. He used a well (in Syene) with the sun directly overhead as a reference point, measured the length of a shadow from a post some distance away (in Alexandria) and used the angled derived to estimate the size of the Earth.

There is evidence that the ancient Egyptians knew of latitude and longitude long before Eratosthenes. Similarly, Vedic civilization seems to also have had exact knowledge of the size and shape of the Earth.

The circumference of the Earth as the poles is very close to 108 x ten-billion hastas (108 is another number which should be familiar to students of the Vedic literature).

Interestingly, the distance from the Earth to the Sun (using figures from modern astronomy) equals 10821.6 thousands yojanas. Again, a figure surprisingly close to 108. Further suggesting a connection between the map of the Earth and map of the solar system.

The Vedic civilization that the Bhagavatam describes is both mysterious and amazing. It had incredibly advanced scientific knowledge and it's traces can be found on nearly every continent of the world. Thompson urges us to be on the lookout for more evidence that may shed light on this hidden chapter of human history.

(Thus ends the book: God & Science by Richard L. Thompson. I have left out much of the detail, many of the examples and analogies and all the mathematical proofs in my short summaries. Please buy the book and support Thompson's efforts if you are at all interested in learning more.)

My body is still not working right, but now slightly better. Some new advice just in from Dr. Philip on how to heal the ulcer(s):

• Drastically increased dosage of Probiotics
• Drastically increased dosage of Bentonite Clay and Slippery Elm powder
• As much Aloe Vera juice as I can drink
• No food

My body is still not working right, but now slightly better. Some new advice just in from Dr. Philip on how to heal the ulcer(s):

• Drastically increased dosage of Probiotics
• Drastically increased dosage of Bentonite Clay and Slippery Elm powder
• As much Aloe Vera juice as I can drink
• No food

It has been two weeks since my trip to Canada for the K-CAP conference. Traveling to the out-of-the-way town of Banff took a total of 22 hours of continuous travel each way. The ordeal of traveling for such a length of time twice within one week certainly took its tole on my body. I'm feeling the damage now.

I've found that one faces three reactions for neglecting the body. One the next day, the next two weeks afterwards and another as a reduction in one's overall life-span. While I haven't yet experienced the last one (or I can't remember those many past lives where I have experienced it), the first two certainly hold true.

Now, two weeks after my return from Banff, my digestion system has gone on strike. "I will digest food no more!", it says. "Too much unhealthy (wheat and dairy) food, too much flying in toxic airplanes, too many long nights without adequate rest".

For the last week I've been having intense stomach pains exactly an hour after attempting to eat any type of food. The undigested food passes straight through me.

I know what this is, of course. It's not like it hasn't happened before. A newly formed ulcer is sabotaging my colon. Ulcerative colitis in all its glory. The result: I've lost what little weight I had (now weight 57 kg), sleep for 12 hours a day, have no energy and am really irritable when I am awake.

Solution?

I'm (again) taking a colon cleansing juice-mix that Dr. Philip Weeks recommends:

• juice of 3 apples
• juice of 3 carrots
• 1/4 of a lemon
• thumbnail size chunk of fresh ginger
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic

I hate this juice and certainly don't recommend it for anyone. The garlic especially wreaks havoc on my consciousness. It has great healing properties, but has equally great disturbing effects on any kind of meditation practice. I can't concentrate on anything.

Anyway, lets hope my body starts working again soon. It's really annoying when this happens. I'll have to start all-over, slowly building the body back up. If nothing else, it is a good lesson for what the time of death is like.

It has been two weeks since my trip to Canada for the K-CAP conference. Traveling to the out-of-the-way town of Banff took a total of 22 hours of continuous travel each way. The ordeal of traveling for such a length of time twice within one week certainly took its tole on my body. I'm feeling the damage now.

I've found that one faces three reactions for neglecting the body. One the next day, the next two weeks afterwards and another as a reduction in one's overall life-span. While I haven't yet experienced the last one (or I can't remember those many past lives where I have experienced it), the first two certainly hold true.

Now, two weeks after my return from Banff, my digestion system has gone on strike. "I will digest food no more!", it says. "Too much unhealthy (wheat and dairy) food, too much flying in toxic airplanes, too many long nights without adequate rest".

For the last week I've been having intense stomach pains exactly an hour after attempting to eat any type of food. The undigested food passes straight through me.

I know what this is, of course. It's not like it hasn't happened before. A newly formed ulcer is sabotaging my colon. Ulcerative colitis in all its glory. The result: I've lost what little weight I had (now weight 57 kg), sleep for 12 hours a day, have no energy and am really irritable when I am awake.

Solution?

I'm (again) taking a colon cleansing juice-mix that Dr. Philip Weeks recommends:

• juice of 3 apples
• juice of 3 carrots
• 1/4 of a lemon
• thumbnail size chunk of fresh ginger
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic

I hate this juice and certainly don't recommend it for anyone. The garlic especially wreaks havoc on my consciousness. It has great healing properties, but has equally great disturbing effects on any kind of meditation practice. I can't concentrate on anything.

Anyway, lets hope my body starts working again soon. It's really annoying when this happens. I'll have to start all-over, slowly building the body back up. If nothing else, it is a good lesson for what the time of death is like.

(chapter summary from God and Science by Richard L. Thompson)

The Srimad-Bhagavatam describes the Bhu-mandala, the Universe. At first glance these descriptions are inconsistent and constantly contract one another. However, when viewed with the correct understanding, it all makes sense.

Bhu-mandala simultaneously describes four things:

• a topographical map of south-central Asia
• a polar-projection map of the Earth
• a map of the solar system
• a map of the celestial heavens of the demigods

Bhu-mandala can be seen as a topographical maps of south-central Asia. The various peaks of the Himalayan mountains are accurately depicted on the North/top of the map.

The Bhagavatam certainly doesn't have the primitive idea that the Earth flat. There are plenty of indirect references to a globe-shaped Earth. Bhu-mandala, understood as a map of the Earth, is an astrological map. Lines on the map show the exact orbital paths of various stars and planets from the Earth's perspective.

Bhu-mandala can also be taken as a map of the solar system up to Saturn. The orbits of the planets in the solar system lie on a nearly flat plane, so the flatness of the map does not cause any trouble here. Furthermore, the distances given in the Bhagavatam closely match the recent astronomical measurements.

Finally, Bhu-mandala, viewed as a map of the paradisiacal lands of the demigods, explains the extremely large distances which are sometimes quoted in the text. For example: India is described to be 72,000 miles across (3 times the circumference of the Earth). This is no mistake, after all demigods like Lord Siva are said to be nearly the size of Europe.

The various maps are overlaid because they are interconnected. Mystic yogis could use the various points of interconnection as "short-cuts" through space in order to very quickly transport themselves between Earth, the celestial realms and other planets.

(chapter summary from God and Science by Richard L. Thompson)

The Srimad-Bhagavatam describes the Bhu-mandala, the Universe. At first glance these descriptions are inconsistent and constantly contract one another. However, when viewed with the correct understanding, it all makes sense.

Bhu-mandala simultaneously describes four things:

• a topographical map of south-central Asia
• a polar-projection map of the Earth
• a map of the solar system
• a map of the celestial heavens of the demigods

Bhu-mandala can be seen as a topographical maps of south-central Asia. The various peaks of the Himalayan mountains are accurately depicted on the North/top of the map.

The Bhagavatam certainly doesn't have the primitive idea that the Earth flat. There are plenty of indirect references to a globe-shaped Earth. Bhu-mandala, understood as a map of the Earth, is an astrological map. Lines on the map show the exact orbital paths of various stars and planets from the Earth's perspective.

Bhu-mandala can also be taken as a map of the solar system up to Saturn. The orbits of the planets in the solar system lie on a nearly flat plane, so the flatness of the map does not cause any trouble here. Furthermore, the distances given in the Bhagavatam closely match the recent astronomical measurements.

Finally, Bhu-mandala, viewed as a map of the paradisiacal lands of the demigods, explains the extremely large distances which are sometimes quoted in the text. For example: India is described to be 72,000 miles across (3 times the circumference of the Earth). This is no mistake, after all demigods like Lord Siva are said to be nearly the size of Europe.

The various maps are overlaid because they are interconnected. Mystic yogis could use the various points of interconnection as "short-cuts" through space in order to very quickly transport themselves between Earth, the celestial realms and other planets.

(chapter summary from God and Science by Richard L. Thompson)

The Greek author Aratos wrote tales of progressively more degraded ages. In the final bronze age "they tasted the meat of cows, the first who did it". Protecting cows is a prominent theme in the Vedic literature, but not so common in Europe. It is therefore surprising to find a classical author highlighting these principles. Unless, of course, he got the idea from the Vedic culture. The Vedic literature also describes cycles of ages called yugas: Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali. Each with progressively shorter human life-spans (100000, 10000, 1000 and 100 years respectively).

The Sioux Native American Indians say they were visited by a celestial woman who gave them their religion. She was said to have talked about four ages and a sacred buffalo that loses one leg during each age. In the present age the buffalo has only one leg. This story will sound familiar to anyone who has read the Srimad-Bhagavatam's story of Maharaja Pariksit and the bull of Dharma.

The Bible describes only a very short time-span of human history. Still, it is interesting that the people in the early Biblical stories lived for around 1000 years, as we might expect for people living in Dvapara-yuga:

• Adam: 930 years
• Seth: 912 years
• Enos: 905 years
• Noah: 950 years
• Jared: 962 years
• Kenan: 910 years

After the great flood life spans gradually decreased to the around 100 years we have today.

• Shem: 600 years
• Salah: 438 years
• Abraham: 175 years
• Issac: 180 years
• Jacob: 147 years
• Moses: 120 years

The flood is generally believed to have taken place sometime in the second or third millennium B.C. Similarly, the date given in the Vedic literature for the beginning of Kali-yuga is February 18th, 3102 B.C.

Norse mythology is also surprisingly similar to the Vedic world-view. The Norse Ragnarok, for example, tells of the destruction of the Earth. Its timeline fits in well with the Vedic period of 1000-yuga cycles, called a day of Brahma, after which the most of the Universe is destroyed.

(chapter summary from God and Science by Richard L. Thompson)

The Greek author Aratos wrote tales of progressively more degraded ages. In the final bronze age "they tasted the meat of cows, the first who did it". Protecting cows is a prominent theme in the Vedic literature, but not so common in Europe. It is therefore surprising to find a classical author highlighting these principles. Unless, of course, he got the idea from the Vedic culture. The Vedic literature also describes cycles of ages called yugas: Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali. Each with progressively shorter human life-spans (100000, 10000, 1000 and 100 years respectively).

The Sioux Native American Indians say they were visited by a celestial woman who gave them their religion. She was said to have talked about four ages and a sacred buffalo that loses one leg during each age. In the present age the buffalo has only one leg. This story will sound familiar to anyone who has read the Srimad-Bhagavatam's story of Maharaja Pariksit and the bull of Dharma.

The Bible describes only a very short time-span of human history. Still, it is interesting that the people in the early Biblical stories lived for around 1000 years, as we might expect for people living in Dvapara-yuga:

• Adam: 930 years
• Seth: 912 years
• Enos: 905 years
• Noah: 950 years
• Jared: 962 years
• Kenan: 910 years

After the great flood life spans gradually decreased to the around 100 years we have today.

• Shem: 600 years
• Salah: 438 years
• Abraham: 175 years
• Issac: 180 years
• Jacob: 147 years
• Moses: 120 years

The flood is generally believed to have taken place sometime in the second or third millennium B.C. Similarly, the date given in the Vedic literature for the beginning of Kali-yuga is February 18th, 3102 B.C.

Norse mythology is also surprisingly similar to the Vedic world-view. The Norse Ragnarok, for example, tells of the destruction of the Earth. Its timeline fits in well with the Vedic period of 1000-yuga cycles, called a day of Brahma, after which the most of the Universe is destroyed.

(chapter summary from God and Science by Richard L. Thompson)

Asa Gray, a Harvard professor of botany and evangelical Christian, was a friend of Charles Darwin's. Gray accept evolution, but insisted that God had to have designed and created the bodily forms of all living beings. However, the laws of physics, as we know them, do not allow for some supernatural being influencing physical events. Other theologians such as George Frederick Wright, a geologist and Calvinist minister, argued that God is only interested in the ultimate cause of nature. God merely set up the laws of nature and then let nature unfold naturally.

Science has not been able to show that all universal events follow the laws of nature as we know them. The Vedic view of creation may give us more insights:

Saint Augustine (borrowing an idea from Plotinus) described seeds of creation. Similary, the Srimad-Bhagavatam described God injecting bijas, creative seeds, that hold the information to form the Universe into the material world at the moment its creation. Brahma and other subtle beings then use this information, much like user might use a virtual reality computer program, to build the Universe as we know it.

This solves Gray's and Wright's dilemma. God doesn't violate the laws of nature and still plays a significant role in the creation of the Universe. However, it does involve subtle laws of nature which are outside the purview of modern science.

(chapter summary from God and Science by Richard L. Thompson)

Asa Gray, a Harvard professor of botany and evangelical Christian, was a friend of Charles Darwin's. Gray accept evolution, but insisted that God had to have designed and created the bodily forms of all living beings. However, the laws of physics, as we know them, do not allow for some supernatural being influencing physical events. Other theologians such as George Frederick Wright, a geologist and Calvinist minister, argued that God is only interested in the ultimate cause of nature. God merely set up the laws of nature and then let nature unfold naturally.

Science has not been able to show that all universal events follow the laws of nature as we know them. The Vedic view of creation may give us more insights:

Saint Augustine (borrowing an idea from Plotinus) described seeds of creation. Similary, the Srimad-Bhagavatam described God injecting bijas, creative seeds, that hold the information to form the Universe into the material world at the moment its creation. Brahma and other subtle beings then use this information, much like user might use a virtual reality computer program, to build the Universe as we know it.

This solves Gray's and Wright's dilemma. God doesn't violate the laws of nature and still plays a significant role in the creation of the Universe. However, it does involve subtle laws of nature which are outside the purview of modern science.

(chapter summary from God and Science by Richard L. Thompson)

In 1987 an article in Nature seemed to show, by studying the mitochondrial DNA of people from all continents, that they all had a common ancestor, one woman living in African 200,000 year ago. However, in 1992 Alan Templeton from the University of Washington showed that the original computer simulations were inaccurate and both the time and place of "Eve" were incomputable.

Humans and apes are not, as evolutionist believe, similar because they descended from the same creature. Instead, as the Srimad-Bhagavatam reveals, Brahma, the original superhuman being, generated beings called prajapatis, who, in turn, created generations of lesser creatures: plants, animals, humans, etc.

These living beings are similar to each other because they are modified versions of the same original template. Just as a computer programmer might re-use a program he has written in the past, the intelligent designer who created us worked from a basic design which he modified to suit different purposes.

This theory of intelligent design overcomes the difficulty that evolutionists have in explaining how some organisms have complex structures. Given complex feature, there often is no clear chain of mutations that could have produced it by evolution, nor is there evidence of an intermediate form.

(chapter summary from God and Science by Richard L. Thompson)

In 1987 an article in Nature seemed to show, by studying the mitochondrial DNA of people from all continents, that they all had a common ancestor, one woman living in African 200,000 year ago. However, in 1992 Alan Templeton from the University of Washington showed that the original computer simulations were inaccurate and both the time and place of "Eve" were incomputable.

Humans and apes are not, as evolutionist believe, similar because they descended from the same creature. Instead, as the Srimad-Bhagavatam reveals, Brahma, the original superhuman being, generated beings called prajapatis, who, in turn, created generations of lesser creatures: plants, animals, humans, etc.

These living beings are similar to each other because they are modified versions of the same original template. Just as a computer programmer might re-use a program he has written in the past, the intelligent designer who created us worked from a basic design which he modified to suit different purposes.

This theory of intelligent design overcomes the difficulty that evolutionists have in explaining how some organisms have complex structures. Given complex feature, there often is no clear chain of mutations that could have produced it by evolution, nor is there evidence of an intermediate form.