An unofficial, eclectic, mostly tangential, view of aspiring devotee life. Best viewed with Sense of Humor 8.0 or higher. The cows may come, the cows may go, but the bull is always here.
Ecstatic pic from PIT airport. I did not get the gurus until you pointed them out. You are definitely right about Varsana M.
You have done a valuable service, Prabhu.
Are you sure that wasn’t August 1972? I don’t recall SP going to Pittsburgh more than once. I was there in 1972. We came from Boston w Suhotra Brahmacari. This was after the Buffalo Rathayatra. Somehow we missed the Syria Mosque performance. Then on to NV for Janmastami. How am I doin’? (Gosh’s note: Sp came to NV in 1969, 72, 74, and 76, the pic is from 1974, but so happy to hear about 1972 visit).
The Pittsburgh temple had just moved into a really high end neighborhood that managed shortly thereafter to get the devotees and deities expelled.
I got to carry Prabhupada’s trunks from the tarmac to the trunk of a vehicle as I recall. K Swami ordered everyone to wait in a press room of some kind, but I decided I’d sneak down to the gate. As I was hustling down there, I felt a tap on my shoulder. The brahmacari pointed me back to see KS hustling toward the gate. He gave me a glare and a thumb, and – properly disciplined – I joined everyone else.
I remember also that Prabhupada spoke for a while, then devotees brought in a scooped out watermelon. Prabhupada took one morsel and popped it into his mouth, got up and left. It was just like the sun went down. It was incredible. Just like a child’s long day playing in the sun. Then the sun just went down. Everyone was affected the same way, I think. There was just like a long exhalation and sigh, and everyone took a breath. THEN – Prabhupada prasadam!!! Renewed – all the devotees converged on that watermelon. As I recall, I got a grape and a slice of coconut.
I had a similar experience as yours the first time I saw Prabhupada. That was at NY airport. I don’t remember which one. He was smaller than I thought, and he was super-effulgent. Also, he seemed to float. Because of the glowing and floating, I cheated on obeisances and lifted me head sideways to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. He did, and I wasn’t.
Somehow, we are attached – at least a little bit to Srila Prabhupada and each other. Please bless me that I may have the association of devotees life after life. I’d like to get your association again, also, before the end of this life. I guess, though, I’ll have to come to New Vrindaban. All glories to Sri Sri Radha-Vrindaban Chandra! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
No, nothing really socially redeeming about this advertisement, other than a glimpse of Indian ambiance, but interesting none the less. Here is the spot that is playing on TV:
For those who have already seen that, here is the extended YouTube version. More stuff but not as good, IMHO.
“Such knowledge in Krsna consciousness can be achieved by a faithful person who believes firmly in Krsna. One is called a faithful man who thinks that simply by acting in Krsna consciousness he can attain the highest perfection. This faith is attained by the discharge of devotional service, and by chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, which cleanses one’s heart of all material dirt.”
Bhagavad Gita 4.39
“Prayer is then the first and most important step. All through the life of faith one must resort constantly to prayer, because faith is not simply a gift which we receive once for all in our first act of belief. Every new development of faith, every new increment of supernatural light, even though we may earnestly working to acquire it, remains a pure gift of God.”
Thomas Merton, Life and Holiness (New York: Image, 1963). p. 81. Prayer is therefore the very heart of the life of faith.
That night the moon drifted over the pond,
turning the water to milk, and under
the boughs of the trees, the blue trees,
a young woman walked, and for an instant
the future came to her:
rain falling on her husband’s grave, rain falling
on the lawns of her children, her own mouth
filling with cold air, strangers moving into her house,
a man in her room writing a poem, the moon drifting into it,
a woman strolling under its trees, thinking of death,
thinking of him thinking of her, and the wind rising
and taking the moon and leaving the paper dark.
JOHNS CREEK – Johns Creek Police Officer M. Meberg was driving on Medlock Bridge Road, heading to police headquarters on Aug. 25 when a civilian flagged him down.
The resident pointed out what seemed like a lifeless dog lying in the roadway and asked Meberg for help.
“The dog wouldn’t move,” said Meberg. “When I touched him, he yelled…you could see his whole body was in pain…but finally, he jumped up on me.”
Meberg put the dog – which had a collar without identification – in the back of the patrol car and went to police headquarters to wait for animal control to pick him up.
“As an animal lover, I couldn’t let the dog sit there in the road,” said Meberg.
And after arriving at headquarters, city officials and Meberg decided they would help find the dog a home. Officials contacted Jones Bridge Animal Hospital in Johns Creek, where Dr. John Neiland treated the 50-pound, 2-year-old dog for non-contagious mange –while forgoing all medical costs.
Back at City Hall, communications manager Doug Nurse was working on finding the dog a home when he an idea: why not take the dog, now called “Ajax,” home to live with his own family.
“I went and met the dog, and he was such a sweet guy, it was hard to resist,” said Nurse, who also has a 6-year-old dog named Gaia. “I took him home, and he’s fit in really well. At first, there was the get-to-know-you period…but now he wakes me up in the morning by licking my face.”
Nurse said he also refers to Ajax as “The Great Sharpitador” – as he looks like he could be part Great Dane, pit bull, Labrador and part Shar Pei.
City staff were discussing Ajax’s story, and decided it was the kind of act that needed to be recognized – and appreciated. At the Oct. 25 city council meeting, Neiland and Meberg were honored with a privileged resolution from council.
“I appreciated (the resolution),” said Meberg. “I would hope that all of us have the compassion to do the right thing in a situation like this.”
Prabhupada: Harer nama, harer nama [Adi 17.21]. Everyone is happy, the children, the woman. They don’t demand anything, that “Give us this, give us that.” They have simplified, automatically they have simplified their life. And gradually develop, make little cottages, grow little vegetable, little barley or wheat and milk. That is sufficient. We don’t require much.
We don’t want luxury. We want just to subsist. Yavad artha prayojana. We hate the idea of luxury, unnecessary. Do the outsider come to see? Yes?
Bhagavan: Yes.
Prabhupada: What do they say?
Bhagavan: They are impressed with how much we have done.
Prabhupada: They will be more and more impressed. What is this city life? In Paris, simply to fulfill the necessities of life, a professional prostitute, so many. And people from all over the world, they come here for indulge in prostitute. From our childhood we know. What a civilization they have made. Spoiling the life. Then, after finish this life, you just become a cat, a dog, or a tree and stand up. And all other planets are vacant. Simply this planet is filled up, overpopulation. Kill them. Why not send there? So vacant land.
(laughter) “That we cannot do.” Then what is your scientific research? “Yes, we are trying. Wait millions of years.” (laughter) These bluffing rascals. Don’t be misled. Live peacefully here, chant Hare Krsna.
Hari-sauri: If you like, we can set up for the film now.
Prabhupada: Now I have given the ideas, the philosophy, in the books. So it is your business to develop all over the world. You are very intelligent, Europeans and Americans. Give it a shape, for the world prosperity. Give it a practical…. It is practical. There is no difficulty. So much land. Very good fertile land in Africa, Australia, in America. All of them can be utilized for the happiness of the whole world.
Milked only by hand to the sound of sacred mantras, these garland-wearing cows could be the most pampered in the UK.
But they are producing the most expensive milk in the land, costing £1.70 per pint – nearly four times more than usual.
The animals are being reared on a farm run by Hare Krishnas meaning, as per Hindu rules, that none must come to any harm.
As a result, none will ever be slaughtered when their yield dries up.
Radha Mohan Das poses by one of the cow which produce the most expensive milk in the land, costing £1.70 per pint – nearly four times more than usual
Mechanical milking pumps are banned from the manor. Instead, milking is carried out by hand so that the cows are not distressed
Even male calves will be spared the butcher’s cleaver and not be fattened for their meat. They will live out their natural lives tilling the land and transporting food and waste around the farm.
Their comfortable existences begin at birth. Each new arrival at Bhaktivedanta Manor, near Watford in Hertfordshire – which was donated to the Hare Krishna movement by George Harrison – is celebrated before a naming ceremony is held several days later.
It seems like a business model doomed to failure but those producing Ahimsa Milk – Sanskrit for ‘without harm’ – believe the good karma, or perhaps cowma, that goes into their produce will win over British animal lovers.
‘This premium milk will offer consumers the chance to avoid buying from an industry which is based around slaughter and suffering and instead buy from a fresh, new, and compassionate alternative,’ said spokesman Radha Mohan Das.
‘People are prepared to pay extra for organic and more healthily produced milk and we think our products will appeal to anyone who cares about animals.
‘This premium milk will offer consumers the chance to avoid buying from an industry which is based around slaughter and suffering and instead buy from a fresh, new, and compassionate alternative,’ said Radha Mohan Das
‘Instead of taking calves away from their mothers early to yield more milk we allow them to suckle and take their fill as long as they like.
‘We also carry out all of our milking by hand because milking machines can be painful for dairy cows.
‘Sacred mantras are played whenever the cows are milked and we allow them to live out their natural lives even when their supply dries up. Normally, dairy cows are killed when they can no longer provide milk but in Hinduism cows are revered as a symbol of Mother Earth.
‘Although it won’t be the cheapest available it will be worth the cost because we will treat the cows with love and care throughout their lives.’
At present there are 44 Dairy Shorthorn cows. The females will not be given hormones to increase their yield and will produce just under 1,800 pints per week, generating a turnover of around £3,000.
A pint of milk at a supermarket normally costs around 45p.
One of the three barns in the £2.5million centre where the cows are being housed. The facility is being officially opened tomorrow by 30 priests chanting 5,000-year-old Vedic mantras
Each new calf at Bhaktivedanta Manor, near Watford in Hertfordshire – which was donated to the Hare Krishna movement by George Harrison – is celebrated before a naming ceremony is held several days later
They are being housed at a £2.5million centre, named New Gokul, which has taken five years to complete and is being officially opened tomorrow by 30 priests chanting 5,000-year-old Vedic mantras.
It has three barns, constructed from imported French oak, an ox mill for grinding grain, and a milking area, all with viewing areas for visitors.
The manor is home to 75 people, including 35 monks and nuns, as well as employees.
It was donated to the Hare Krishna movement in the early 1970s by Harrison, along with 78 acres of land including formals gardens and a lake.
It first hosted the Janmashtami festival, which celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, in 1973 and was attended by 250 people including the ex-Beatle and Eric Clapton.
The festival is now the largest of its type in the UK and attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.
A devotee should not see anything as being separate from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Ether, fire, air, water, earth, the sun and other luminaries, all living beings, the directions, trees and other plants, the rivers and oceans -- whatever a devotee experiences he should consider to be an expansion of Krsna.
Thus seeing everything that exists within creation as the body of the Supreme Lord, Hari, the devotee should offer his sincere respects to the entire expansion of the Lord's body.
Chaitanya Caritamrta Adi 1.106:
"Essential truth spoken concisely is true eloquence."
Rabindranath Tagore:
A mind all logic
is like a knife all blade.
The hand that uses it will bleed.
Albert Einstein:
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Marcel Proust:
The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes but in having new eyes.
David Packard
Take risks. Ask big questions. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; if you don’t make mistakes, you’re not reaching far enough..
Claude Debussy:
Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.
Thomas Merton:
There comes a time when it is no longer important to prove one’s point, but simply to live, to surrender to God and to love.
Albert Einstein:
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Jack Rebney (the Winnebago man):
I don't want any more bullshit from anyone and that includes me.
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View From a New Vrindaban Ridge 