Archive for June, 2007
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
Birds Sighted
flicker: digging in our lawn
ruby-throated hummingbird: staring at me, from the opposite side of a glass storm door
turkey:Â flushed into flight on Rt. 88, at the old farmhouse near the sharp turn (past the cemetery)
turkey:Â ambling down the road across from our deck
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by Ms. Rural
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
Sicko by Micheal Moore
I just watch a bootlegged copy of Michael Moore’s new documentary, Sicko.
Sick is a very good word to describe how I felt after watching the movie. I found it very painful to see so much suffering caused by greed and selfishness.
On the surface the movie is about the health care system is the United States. But what the movie is really about is how the greedy people of this world are terribly exploiting the poor.
The health care system is cruel and inhumane for only one reason, money. The people on top want to make as much money as possible and they don’t care at all about the suffering anyone else. This documentary brings to light a small portion of how the rich exploit the poor, I am sure this is just the tip of the proverbial iceburg. It is astounding when you realize that one percent of the population controls eighty percent of the worlds wealth.
Of course as devotees we are not so concerned about politics and certainly we wouldn’t let something like this disturb our Krishna Consciousness. Whether every country in the world has free health care, or whether no country in the world has free health care we will still chant Hare Krishna, read Srimad Bhagavatam, preach Krishna consciousness.
But seeing a movie like this is a powerful reminder of the truly demoniac forces in the world who care nothing for the suffering they cause to others. It is a reminder to take Krishna consciousness to heart, and try our best to create a revolution in society so that the people in general can take to God consciousness. But most of all it is a reminder to never come back to this sick material world.
Seeing this movie also made me think about how America is actually the most corrupt country in the world and how the demoniac forces that manipulate and control the world have such stronghold here, and therefore spreading Krishna Consciousness in America is one of most important factors for changing the world.
Param vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam!
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by Gauranga Kishore Das
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
First Week of Bhakti Sastri
June 11 was the first day of this year’s Bhakti Sastri course! Many devotees from around the US, the Caribbean, and from as far off as South Africa and even Mayapur have come to New Vrindaban to study Bhagavad-Gita in the Dham. His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami conducted the classes for the first week.
Maharaja, […]
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by ATD
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
The Comfrey Story
( from May 18, 1975 Issue of the Brijabasi Spirit )
by Madhava Gosh dasa
“I think that we should all go to the forest known as Vrndavana, where just now there are newly grown plants and herbs.”—KRSNA BOOK
We took the first cutting of comfrey this week. The best time to take it is just when the […]
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by jm
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
Daisies
“I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular . . .”
—-from When Death Comes, by Mary Oliver
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by Ms. Rural
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
Deer Visits
This is the young buck who visited our yard. His antlers are about 3-4 inches long.
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by Ms. Rural
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
Barbara Kingsolver and Eating Locally
   I’ve just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver. It is the account of her family’s one year experiment in eating locally grown food (theirs and others nearby). In order to do this, they moved from Arizona to Virginia. They already owned an old family farm in the Virginia countryside, so they didn’t […]
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by Ms. Rural
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
Special Rare Happenings This Weekend at New Vrindaban dhama
All devotees, friends, and members of New Vrindaban are invited to Gaura Arati followed by Lila-Kirtans (kirtans interspersed with lila narations) this coming Friday and Saturday from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm. Friday will feature H H Lokanath Swami and H H Radhanath Swami. Saturday will feature H H Govinda Maharaja and his Khazakstan Band […]
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by jm
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
?an endless flow of written words? by Judy Malloy
“Elusive Krishna - Hacker -
sending me reports of your welfare
in elevators
in the applications of prospective tenants
on licence plates
in error messages, unseen items, filenames
on baseball jerseys -
I long for the sound of your wheels outside my cabin.
Krishna - truant systems operator -
I (like an account
expired for lack of logon)
have nothing to offer you
except for the sweet […]
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by Madhava Gosh
Monday, June 18th, 2007
New Arrivals
As of last night or early this morning, New Vrindaban has four new residents, pictured here with their parents. The swans first started “setting” on the 12th of May. Â
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by jm
Monday, June 18th, 2007
Harsha Shoka
Yugal Kishore Prabhu no longer drives because he has not renewed his driving license. That was his survival strategy. He does so much service that if he sits down for a minute it is almost guaranteed that he will fall asleep, so now he has to have someone to travel with him to do the driving.
Harsha Prabhu has become Yugala Kishore Prabhu’s sidekick for the summer. He is a pharmacy student from MSU who is staying with with us for the summer. Anyhow today Harsha (joy) turned into the inevitable Shoka (lamentation) when he got us lost somewhere in the middle of Ohio.
Well, we eventually made in back to New Vrindaban. The drive was somewhat arduous because it took eight hours, about two hours longer than the normal six.
I realized that trying to be happy in the material world is like trying to be comfortable laying down the back seat seat of Toyota corolla while suffering from a back spasm. It is not possible.
In Srimad Bhagavatam there is the story of Maharaja Chitraketu. He wanted a son but all of this thousands of queens could not give birth. Anyhow he did a yajna, pleased the sages and they blessed him with a son, but they said this son would be the cause of great joy and great sorrow. So they named him Hasha Shoka.
Everyone was in ecstasy when the son was born. Everyone forgot about the prophecy that he would also cause grief. They addressed the child as Harsha, because Harsha Shoka is too long to pronounce. Little Harsha gave joy to everyone, except the rival queens who didn’t like that Harsh’s mother was getting all the attention from the king. So they poisoned the child. The child who was a cause of joy (harsha) now became a source of sorrow (shoka).
Of course the child represents all happiness in this world, any object that brings happiness is guaranteed to bring suffering at some point. So it is actually our attachment to happiness that is the cause of our suffering. How Ironic.
When Yugala Kishore Prabhu introduced me to Harsha, I said “Oh, Harsha Shoka.”
He replied “No, only Harsha.’
But I knew it was only a matter of time.
ye hi samsparsa-ja bhoga
duhkha-yonaya eva te
ady-antavantah kaunteya
na tesu ramate budhah
An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them. Bhagavad Gita 5.22
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by Gauranga Kishore Das
Monday, June 18th, 2007
Pastures Burning Up
I came home the regular way from my blood draw today, along the ridge tops, so I can’t say this still holds true, but the last time I came home the back way along Wheeling Creek, I noticed that all the weeds that grow on the sand bars in the creek bed were bright green.
Typically, […]
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by Madhava Gosh
Monday, June 18th, 2007
Acting With a Swami
If you unfocus your eyes, you’ll see we were wearing military fatigues
Maharaj shows us his definition of serious
Mahraj shows Gopinath how to “feel it!”
Gopinath “feels it!”
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts…”-Jaques- As You Like It Act II, sc. vii-William Shakespeare
The week before the recent International ISKCON GBC meetings here at New Vrindaban, I visited Haridas Prabhu hard at work tilling the land, where he informed me that his Guru Maharaja His Holiness Bhakti-Marg Swami would be running a theater workshop/producton during his stay.
Haridas told me that I would have to shave up…my stomach, and put on a sari for my role. I blanched. He laughed, and vaguely told me he was just kidding. In any case, after some very fruitful theater experiences during the winter here at the New V, the first ones of my life, I was down for much more of the real thing.
Bhakti-Marg Swami is not your average member of the renounced order. Canadian by birth, he has been practicing the monastic order for the past thirty years.He can be found in these modern times visiting Radha-Krsna temples worldwide and engaging all and everyone daring enough to put on unique and powerful productions of ancient Vedic tales and truths.
I was drawn to Maharaj right away. He is the kind of personality with an immense and even ferocious amount of creative energy, yet he doesn’t put up any pretensions and all he wants to do is share his passion of devotional theater with you and bring out your own unique talents, no matter how hidden.
As another rag-tag group of New Vrindaban Players assembled before Maharaj, we were all a little uncertain of ourselves and if we can hold up to the professional standards that Maharaj was very well-known for. We began by displaying our emotions of anger. I looked more peeved than furious, and Maharaj graciously said “we’ll work on that.”
And work it was….every night for two hours we had to try and lose ourselves, to abandon our heavy egos, and to fine-tune so many subtle details. If you were paying enough attention, there were many a lesson to be kept and saved for everyday devotional life as well, which is an entirely different kind of performance theater, but nevertheless…
I was thrust into one of the lead roles, as Vasudeva, father of Krsna, as we performed the pastimes of Krsna’s birth up to his smashing of the demon Kamsa from the Tenth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
What got smashed was my poor temporary body, as the role of Vasudeva required me to be thrown and kicked across the hard temple floor numerous times a night during rehearsal, and I also had to stand-in in the role of Krsna a few times during the climactic pro-wrestling scene of the show.
I’m pretty sure I mildly sprained my ankle at one point during the rehearsal, of which I’m still recovering from. But I’ve never had more blissful bruises.
Maharaj was expert and gracious and demanding and a real saint to be with and work with as we got closer to showtime. With more time, we would’ve no doubt been able to rise up to a fully professional standard, but the real magic was seeing how a bunch of inexperienced thespians were shaped and molded into a real group of Players, ready to dazzle and enlighten.
The performance of “Tenth Canto”, complete with the compositions of the grand Igor Stravinsky, closed out GBC Week at the New V in smashing form, wowing sannyasis and simple souls alike. With hope and pleasure, Maharaj asked us to keep the show alive and make it a regular feature of the ever-growing New Vrindaban Players. We plan to perform it next for Janmastami in September.
P.S Check out www.thewalkingmonk.org for updates on Bhakti-Marg Swami’s third walk all the way across his home-turf of Canada.
P.P.S I have suspicions I might be able to find a video of our production of “Tenth Canto”, so stay tuned here, as I will post it as soon as possible
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by Bhakta-Chris
Sunday, June 17th, 2007
A Liberated Cow
What did the dyslexic cow who attained liberation say?
OOOOMMM !
No Comments » - Posted in Contributors by Madhava Gosh
Sunday, June 17th, 2007
Mahabharata Seminar
Everyone is invited to a five day seminar on the Mahabharata by Sankirtana das this Monday thur Friday (June 18-22). The sessions will be in the temple room right after the evening arati at 7:30 and run for about 45 minutes.
Sankirtana will be reading excerpts from the first five chapters of […]