Archive for March, 2008
Monday, March 24th, 2008
Not-Your-Average Gaura Purnima Pics
Hear ye hear ye! Come one and come all to see the delights of the 2008 celebration of Gaura Purnima at New Vrindaban Dham. There were dramatic productions from the youths, rollicking and rocking multi-hour kirtans, delicious and delightful prasadam, and wonderful devotees being completely wonderful. A sublime start to the springtime! Lord […]
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Monday, March 24th, 2008
Progress On Unpublished Prabhupada Letters
Samba, Hayagriva’s eldest son, has found previously unpublished letters from Srila Prabhupada in his father’s effects that Hayagriva had stored at his mother’s house before leaving his body. As his grandmother approached the end of her life, Samba retrieved the boxes and has had them for five years.
He is currently cataloging the […]
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Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
last year
Last year at this time I was dancing with the brahmacaris of Radha Gopinath Mandir at the farm outside of Mumbai. We were also swimming with Gurumaharaja, mud sliding with the kids, eating hot tandoori naan, birthday celebration of HG Jananivasa Prabhu, wonderful lectures, spontaneous dramas and mosquito bites!
[…]
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Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
July 1, 1969 Letter
CENTER: 1975 So. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90034
DATE……July…1…………1969
My Dear Hayagriva,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated June 27,1969, and I have noted the contents carefully. So far as the Sanskrit transliterations are concerned, I have done it, and am returning it herewith. Please do the needful. […]
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Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
Vidya Buys A House
Early in the day on Gaura Paurnima Vidya and I went on a trip up the Ohio River to the tip of West Virginia and beyond to Columbiana, Ohio to pick out a booth for her at the Shaker Woods Festival. It is held in a private woods on a farm, so the vendors […]
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Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
virtual kirtan
Last night I was “Skyping” with Talpasai Prabhu. He recently bought a new harmonium. While sitting in Upstate New York I grabbed a mridanga and he played his harmonium in in his appartment in Minneappolis. We had a nice kirtan together for some time over video chat. It was an interesting experience.
I spent the day […]
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Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Celebrating
Gaura Purnima Festival - New outfits for their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Candra, Gopal, Nrishimhadeva, Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subadra
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Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Thinning Trees
by Madhava Gosh
I will be starting thinning some trees around the temple and the area between the temple and the Palace in the next few weeks. As you can see in the picture below, taken in 1984, when they were planted they were quite small so they were planted closer than mature […]
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Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Stabat Mater
Every year around Easter time I get out my CD of Stabat Mater by Dvorak, his Op. 58 based on a medieval poem about Mary watching her son Jesus being crucified (click link to see poem). The sorrow of separation is palpable.
I prefer Good Friday music to Christmas music as it seems to represent the […]
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Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
tata rekha travels.
I just left New Vrindaban on another deviant education mission. Destination: Upstate NY.
We landed yesterday afternoon in the Holy Dhama on the auspicious appearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The place was packed with guests and I did not enter my usual winter depression as I had during the past few months. I was excited and […]
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Friday, March 21st, 2008
Happy Happy Happy HAPPY Gaura Purnima!
Happy Gaura Purnima to you and yours!
[Taken in the house of Rati + Dwija on Gaura Purnima, 2008]
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Friday, March 21st, 2008
Do I Dare Eat A Peach
Prufrock had had enough. He couldn’t take it another moment. He fled the room with all women talking about the New York Times article, “Some Ignorance Can Cure Chronic Buyer’s Remorse,” by Alina Tugend.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/15/business/15shortcuts.html
The article explains how people, more then ever, are agonizing in making decisions: small decisions as well as big decisions. There are just too many choices, too much information to sift through. It’s infuriating. Just going to the supermarket can turn into an ordeal. The amount of choices that are available to the consumer is mind boggling. There are dozens of types of cereals, spreads, coffees, sodas, and a gazillion types of potato chips. There’s the fine print to read, the weight of the boxes and the prices to compare. The article also mentioned Timothy Wilson’s book “Strangers To Ourselves,” wherein he writes about his research and observations on the confusion of many consumers. Consumers seem to be shell shocked, walking around dazed, not really knowing what to buy, and not being satisfied with their decision after they do buy something.
Prufrock found himself standing alone in the produce aisle of the neighborhood grocery eyeing the peaches. And indeed, he too began to agonize. “Do I dare eat a peach? Where are they from? Chili, Taiwan, China? They’ve gotten awfully expensive. Are they worth it? I wonder if they’re dry inside. And they can’t be very healthy with all the pesticides they use? I could wind up with cancer or Alzheimer’s. And look at these grapes, apples and strawberries. They’re not much better.”
Plagued by indecision Prufrock fled the grocery and wandered through half deserted streets. A lot of the houses were empty because of the mortgage foreclosures. Prufrock still had his home, but who knew for how long. He recently lost heavily in the stock market. He had thought surely that Bear Stearns was solid. But he had been proven wrong. He wondered if any decision he made can ever again be right or satisfying. Prufrock desperately wanted to save face. He thought there was still time, time to prepare a face to meet the faces that he would meet. He wanted to appear composed and successful at the fag end of life. At least he could have that.
But that image shattered when he caught a glimpse of himself in a store window. His hair had grown thin. And his arms and legs had gotten so thin. He was overcome with worry and wasn’t eating properly. Surely people would talk. In his youth he thought about daring to disturb his universe. But as it turned out, that was only a passing phase, and ultimately he carefully and deliberately measured out his life with coffee spoons. His life had been filled with so many details, so much minutiae and, of course, appearances to maintain. So many decisions and indecisions, and a hundred visions and revisions. Where would it all end???
He hurried on not knowing where to. “It was for the best,” he thought. “After all, the little things are important.… But what did I really do with my life? I could have easily been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the ocean floors. I didn’t have the guts to force the moment to its crisis.… I have wept and fasted and prayed. But who am I kidding. I’m no prophet. I saw death waiting and yes, I am afraid…. But I should have squeezed the universe into a ball and rolled it toward some overwhelming question. It would have been damn well worth it…. But no, that’s not me. Instead, I settled for the novels and teacups and skirts….”
Then Prufrock heard the sound of a sankirtana party coming down the street. Drums, cymbals, Hare Krishna. His mind was terrified. This was all too much for him. Wanting to avoid the Krishnas, again he fled, and this time he went for a calming walk on the beach.
“There’s too many choices, too many decisions to make. Even when it comes to religion. How can we ever sort it all out.” And his mind drifted back to his beloved peaches. “…. Now I grow old. I grow old. Perhaps I shall wear my trousers rolled. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare eat a peach?…. I have lingered here and there, lingered by the ocean, lingered with the sea-girls. I have admired their beauty…. But maybe someday, if I’m lucky, a voice will wake me from this dream and my false ego will drown.”
“The intricacies of action are very hard to understand. Therefore one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is, and what inaction is.” Bhagavad Gita 4:17
“The doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed with the weapon of knowledge. Armed with yoga, stand and fight.” Bhagavad Gita 4:42
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Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Iraq? Where Is That In Warcraft?
Despite the fact that 9/11 continues every day for the Iraqis and our own military, which is comprised of some of the best of the bunch of our youth, continues to shed blood, Iraq is not being discussed in the media other than by lip service.
Why?
The Dumbing Of America
Call Me a Snob, but Really, We’re […]
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Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
local society for bike consciousness.
Yesterday was Ekadasi and all I thought about were bicycles-atleast my right hip only thought about bicycles. If I were to die now would I be born in China or Italy or family of pious bike builders/riders? I also did my laundry, chanted with cold feet, went on a japa walk to the […]
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Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
A Real Sunday Hoedown
The musically inclined Brijabasis like to, after big-time honoring of the world-famous New Vrindaban Sunday Feast, get together with a eclectic collection of musical instruments and engage in a transcendental hoedown to the tune of the maha-mantra and other original devotional songs. It’s a sweet treat for the ears!
Join us every Sunday beginning at […]