Author Archive
Thursday, September 27th, 2007
The Saffron Revolution
Here’s a link to an article from today’s The Independent detailing some of the recent developments from the situation in Burma, where thousands of Buddhist monks are at the center of a popular uprising against the military junta running the country’s infrastructures.
As devotees of Krsna, we are also apt to throw ourselves into chaotic social situations, but our tendency is rather to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted, as devotees organized with Food For Life did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Indonesian Tsunami in 2005.
Still, what if we were being prevented from entering our own temples? From engaging in our worship? If devotees were being beaten and killed in the streets by state-police forces? Such totalitarian hell may seem to be only the product of the Third World, but it’s closer to home than you think.
The example of the monks in Burma is inspiring for their courage and conviction, but we as devotees must also take caution. Fighting the demons of this world at this time is usually not best served by such a direct approach. Prabhupada taught us many techniques of “guerilla spiritual warfare” (distributing books, prasadam, etc), and these are our main tools.
Still, as spiritual warriors, who knows what the future holds, and what kind of courageous stands we will have to make if things turn for the worse in our overly chaotic global situation. For now, we should send our prayers to the people of Burma that they may be able to shake loose the chains that are binding them without too much blood being shed.
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Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
The 2007 Detroit Ratha-Yatra
A photographic peek into the 2007 Detroit Ratha-Yatra, held this past Sunday, September 16, complete with The Festival of India, live at Belle Isle.
Sri-Sri Radha Kunjibihari, ISKCON Detroit, always welcoming me home….
The “Motor City Mahajana” Bharata Prabhu, basking in the glow..
Sriman Joe “JoeDasa” Swift Prabhu, working the crowds for the pleasure of Lord Jagannath
ECSTASY!
HG Yugal Kishore Prabhu was the MVP (Most Valuable Prabhu) of the Parade. His dancing lifted all to newer and better heights, way above the ugly industrial landscapes of Metro Detroit. Traveling with him, watching him always preach with such vigor and realization, seeing the way devotees respect and confide in him, I feel very privileged to be his preferred driver, sometimes-humble servant, and very good friend
Shashi, our very good friend from ISKCON Toronto, gets ready to entertain the guests and scare the kids in his role as Kamsa in HH Bhakti-Marg Swami’s wonderful bit of theater “Tenth Canto”
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Monday, September 17th, 2007
Biofuels may cause more harm that good…
Feeling good about biofuels? This so-called alternative to the our lovely national petroleum addiction may not be all it’s cracked up to be, despite what Mr. TV may say.
Then again, this is one side of the story about biofuels.
original article linked here
By Sybille de La Hamaide
PARIS (Reuters) - Biofuels, championed for reducing energy reliance, boosting farm revenues and helping fight climate change, may in fact hurt the environment and push up food prices, a study suggested on Tuesday.
In a report on the impact of biofuels, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said biofuels may “offer a cure that is worse than the disease they seek to heal”.
“The current push to expand the use of biofuels is creating unsustainable tensions that will disrupt markets without generating significant environmental benefits,” the OECD said.
“When acidification, fertilizer use, biodiversity loss and toxicity of agricultural pesticides are taken into account, the overall environmental impacts of ethanol and biodiesel can very easily exceed those of petrol and mineral diesel,” it added.
The OECD therefore called on governments to cut their subsidies for the sector and instead encourage research into technologies that would avoid competing for land use with food production.
“Governments should cease to create new mandates for biofuels and investigate ways to phase them out,” it said.
The OECD said tax incentives put in place in many regions, including the European Union and the United States, to encourage biofuel output could hide other objectives.
“Biofuel policies may appear to be an easy way to support domestic agriculture against the backdrop of international negotiations to liberalize agricultural trade,” it said.
CUT DEMAND
Instead it encouraged members of the World Trade Organization to step efforts to lower barriers to biofuel imports to allow developing countries that have ecological and climate systems more suited to biomass production.
The OECD also encouraged government to work on cutting demand for transport fuel rather than encouraging production of so-called “green” fuels.
“A liter of gasoline or diesel conserved because a person walks, rides a bicycles, carpools or tunes up his or her vehicle’s engine more often is a full liter of gasoline or diesel saved at a much lower cost to the economy than subsidizing inefficient new sources of supply,” it said.
Biofuels, made mainly from grains, oilseeds and sugar, have been accused of being responsible for a recent surge in farm commodities prices, along with other factors such as lower output and tight stocks.
The OECD, which said in July that it saw biofuels keeping prices at high levels into the next decade, said it would lead to an unavoidable “food-versus-fuel” debate.
“Any diversion of land from food or feed production to production of energy biomass will influence food prices from the start, as both compete for the same input,” it said.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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Friday, September 14th, 2007
Vegan Cooking: The Revenge
This past Tuesday, the Vegan Cooking Workshop, the ecstatic prasadam/preaching programs courtesy of the New Vrindaban Brahmacari Ashram, centered in the lovely villa of Athens, Ohio, home of Ohio University, got off and running.
Now in its fifth year, this program feeds over 100 students a week the pure goodness of home-cooked prasad, made by the artistic chef-dom of HG Balarama Chandra Prabhu. The whole experience is augmented this year by the fact that we have our own house in town.
On the outside it may look a little dingy, but on the inside a wonderful devotional atmosphere permeates. Instead of the stale smell of day-old beer, incense and the vibration of the Holy Name resounds. It is a true oasis in the middle of the typical realm of student-emanated passions and desires.
Here are some photographic highlights of the first week.
For sale, a big wooden table. Rather shiny and nice. Contact us at cfici26@yahoo.com for more details
The kids get down on an ecstatic pasta dinner
Balarama is picky. It has to be JUST right! First class!
Jason and Narin partake of The Nectar of Furniture Assembling
When I told Mauricio to open the can with his teeth, he thought I was serious!
Better association than your local bar. Preparing prasad with love and care.
Balarama plots his takeover of the Russian Federation.
The kids offer up a lovely prayer to get us all in a spiritual mood before devouring the first feast of the year
The year of Vegan Cooking madness begins! Stay tuned in the months to come for all the adventures.
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Sunday, September 2nd, 2007
Slices of Life at New Vrindaban…
This is Bhakta-Chris, reporting live on September 2, 2007, from New Vrindaban Dham.
Lots of wonderful, transcendental activities occur at New Vrindaban, and I shamelessly take many photographs of them to share with devotees worldwide. Here is this week’s attempt to embarass my good friends and comrades in devotional service…
This is a public-service announcement…if you see this young man, HG Caitanya Das Brahmacari, Spiritual Director, New Vrindaban Management Team, please humbly ask him to eat a cereal that is not designed for four-year old children. Caitanya, this is for your own good. We want you to come over to the organic world.
Yugal Kishore Das croons in costume for the Lord’s pleasure during our ongoing Janmastami festivities.
The Reverend Janak Mahajana Das looks regally over our Kailash collection for Janmastami, giving his grave approval
HG Jagadish Caitanya Das-in bliss as he expertly fans the forms of the Lord during our continuing Janmastami festival.
Madhava Ghosh is very ready to make sure that all those who attended Kesava and Madhava’s recent “sannyox” ceremony also reap the benefits. This humble photographer, after some thought and discussion, politely declined.
Janak Mahajana in his ideal state, working with the national symbol of Estonian pride, the beet
Hey Jason! Welcome back to the fire of the New Vrindaban Kitchen! Hold on tight!
Devotees who wash dishes together go back to Godhead together
Janak Mahajana has had enough of having his picture taken.
More candid shots coming soon. Beware and Haribol!
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Thursday, August 30th, 2007
Public Enemy #1: Bottled Water
From www.breitbart.com, on Aug 15, 2007. Original article linked here
It’s a hugely beneficial liquid in a slim cylinder of plastic, but for US environmentalists, it is the new public enemy number one: bottled water.
With US bottled water sales growing nearly 10 percent annually — and the trash from tossed containers climbing just as quickly — calls for Americans to go back to drinking tap water have surged since the beginning of summer.
“This country has some of the best public water supplies in the world,” the New York Times said in an editorial earlier this month.
“Instead of consuming four billion gallons (15 billion liters) of water a year in individual-sized bottles, we need to start thinking about what all those bottles are doing to the planet’s health.”
As was pointed out at World Water Week in Stockholm on Monday, US personal consumption per capita, including water from all sources, hits 400 liters (106 gallons) each day — compared to 10 liters (2.6 gallons) a person in developing countries.
And US consumers are drinking more bottled water by the day. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, growth in bottled water sales last year was 9.7 percent, making the total market worth about 11 billion dollars.
Bottled water in the United States does not mean mineral water, even if Americans grumble more and more about paying a high price to drink water with little to distinguish it.
At the end of July beverage giant PepsiCo was forced by public pressure to explain on its Aquafina bottled water that the contents inside come from … the tap.
Pepsi’s response “is an important first step,” said Gigi Kellett, director of the “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign.
“Concerns about the bottled water industry, and increasing corporate control of water, are growing across the country,” she said.
From mineral springs or from public pipes, water once in a bottle is expensive. The New York Times estimated that for some consumers the bill could hit 1,400 dollars a year — for an amount that, taken from a home faucet, might cost less than half a dollar.
And it is not always better.
“Bottled water sold in the United States is not necessarily cleaner or safer than most tap water, according to a four-year scientific study,” the National Resources Defense Council recently reported. It also said regulation has not guaranteed more pure water in bottles.
Another point of attack is the packaging waste, which Earth Policy Institute tied to an issue of US security policy: oil imports.
According to the institute, it costs the United States 1.5 million barrels of oil a year to produce the plastic bottles used for water.
And if one adds the energy required to transport it — especially premium water imported all the way from France, Italy and even the Fiji islands — the negative impact on the environment rises quickly.
The anti-bottled water campaign has gotten political support: the mayor of San Francisco has stopped supplying water in containers to his staff, telling them to drink what comes out of the faucet.
And New York has launched a campaign to persuade its inhabitants to stick to public sources to quench their thirst.
Feeling they were at the center of the target, bottled water producers went on the defense last week, in part arguing that bottled water helps liberate consumers from calorie-heavy sweet sodas.
“The bottled water industry has recently been the target of misguided and confusing criticism by activist groups and a handful of mayors who have presented misinformation and subjective criticism as facts,” the International Bottled Water Association said.
Association president Joseph Doss said they were being unfairly singled out.
“If the debate is about the impact of plastic packaging on the environment, a narrow focus on bottled water spotlights only a small portion of the packaged beverage category and an even smaller sliver of the universe of packaged products,” he said.
“Any efforts to reduce the resources necessary to produce and distribute packaged goods — and increase recycling rates — must focus on all packaging,”
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Monday, August 27th, 2007
Srimad-Bhagavatam Meditation 1:18:20
I humbly ask you to read first the translation and Bhaktivedanta purport to today’s verse, the 2oth verse from the First Canto, Eighteenth Chapter.
This month’s Time Magazine features a fascinating and heart-rending cover article about a new book about to be released on Mother Teresa, titled Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. In the article and book, we learn that underneath her saintly demeanor and fantastic efforts to provide simple material and spiritual relief for so many downtrodden people was an internal struggle so deep and acute as to make this most pious well-wisher even question the very existence of God.
I was quite taken aback when I came upon these revelations, and I began to try and understand how her expressions of pain and longing within her own personal faith fit into the paradigm of separation as we understand it in our Vaisnava tradition. We can understand that Srimati Radharani’s feelings of separation from Krsna were sometimes so intense as to make her practically lifeless. We also understand from guru, sastra, and sadhu that these feelings of separation are actually the highest ecstacy that can be experienced in relation with Sri Krsna.
There is something about the plight of Mother Teresa in her mood of separation that strikes my heart in a very mournful way. Even in my very limited understanding of scripture, there is a sense and small taste of transcendence from studying the moods of Radharani, but seems to me to be nothing transcendent in the sheer misery Mother Teresa would express of her inner spiritual plight.
For example, in quoting from the article: “She compares the experience to hell and at one point says it has driven her to doubt the existence of heaven and even of God. She is acutely aware of the discrepancy between her inner state and her public demeanor. “The smile,” she writes, is “a mask” or “a cloak that covers everything.” Similarly, she wonders whether she is engaged in verbal deception. “I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God — tender, personal love,” she remarks to an adviser. “If you were [there], you would have said, ‘What hypocrisy.’”
What is so startling is that someone like Mother Teresa, whose determination to alleviate the sufferings of so many people by spreading the mission of the Lord is an inspiration to preachers of all faiths, could do so much and carry on so diligently while having to deal with this disconnection between her soul and the Supreme. I know that for myself, my motivation in Krsna consciousness depends completely on the strength of my convictions and faith. If I was feeling no connection with Krsna, I would not be sacrificing to participate in devotional service. I am nowhere near any kind of advanced level to continue as a devotee if Krsna were to handle me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me.
The Bhagavatam verse above struck me with a feeling of connection to these revelations of Mother Teresa’s inner struggle. It is mentioned that the goddess of fortune renders all kinds of service unto the Lord, although He is unwilling and not even in need of such services. The goddess of fortune cannot even enter into the intimate circle of the gopis’ lila with Krsna despite all her service. Why, as in Mother Teresa’s case, does she incessantly and eternally continue when her most inner desire of full reciprocation is being denied. In essence, where did Mother Teresa get her spiritual strength from, and how do we define her mood of separation from what we understand in our own tradition?
In any case, I am sure I am expressing so many misunderstandings, and I pray to you, the humble reader, to please read the article about the inner struggle of Mother Teresa, and I hope you may be able to add to a discussion of this mystery. I will follow up a soon with another piece with some nice points I gathered from a discussion of this article with some of my fellow inmates here at New Vrindaban. Please feel free to add your points here or even write me at cfici26@yahoo.com. Hare Krsna.
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Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
Live from the Palace of Gold, its the 24-Hour Kirtan Festival!
This past weekend at New Vrindaban, we hosted the first annual 24-Hour Kirtan Festival, featuring some of America’s most ecstatic kirtaniyahs from NYC, Alachua, and Potomac, highlighted by the live Western debut of HG Madhava Prabhu from the Vrndavana 24-Hour Kirtan Party.
Being somewhat daring, I decided to get my fragile self out of my cozy spot on the floor at the ripe hour of 2am to head up to Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold where the 24-Hour Kirtan was pleasing everyone in the three worlds. The highlight for me was a wonderful mangala-arati where I could really see that Prabhupada was pleased to see and be with his very talented and devoted grandchildren. It was quite an explosion of the Holy Name all weekend, and an event to be cherished and repeated often.
Jaya Jagannath in the aftermath
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Monday, August 20th, 2007
“Jaya Nara-Hari!”
This is HG Janak Mahajana Das, who does so many different, needed, and wonderful services here at New Vrindaban. To me, he is a very dear friend, spiritual guide, and always so blissful to see me and offer me such services as cleaning up in the Snack Bar. Jai?!
Janak very very hard at work….
A lot of us in ISKCON know Janak and know his immense worth as a devotee, so there is no need to embarrass him by glorifying him further. But, in an effort to please the devotees, I offer a series of photographs showing you, the humble servant of the servants, his wondeful Deities, including a Deity of Lord Nrshima with Prahlada Maharaja that is over 200 years old, and is currently the oldest Deity being worshiped on the grounds of New Vrindaban.
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Thursday, August 16th, 2007
Brahmacari Bake Sale! And War Against the Roaches!
Bhakta-Justin is one of the recent additions to the New Vrindaban Bhakta Program, and he’s well on his way to be a leading favorite for Rookie of the Year. Since his arrival, he’ s displayed a refreshing aptitude for cleaning the heck out of our ashram, and also for whipping us some serious cookies for the pleasure of Sri-Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra and Their devotees (and me too!)
Justin, who hails from Asheville, North Carolina, spent a good number of years as a professional BMX stunt-rider. His body is wracked with the scars and stories of many a righteous fall. We’re hoping his life in devotional service is as adventurous as his bike-riding days, but less bruising.
Justin, like all of us here in the Bhakta Program, wants to go to India before this year is out. Problem is that its darn expensive. The solution is a Brahmacari Bake Sale (or a whole big series of bake sales….Homemade ice cream-from the udders of our very own cows coming soon!)
Justin “shows off the bling” He made about $65 last weekend, making him about 1/25th of the way there to afford a trip to India. Good thing there’s plenty of summer sun left!.
We’ll admit it. We have a cockroach problem in the Ashram. These wayward spirit souls like to run all over the floor and perhaps even into our half-opened cereal boxes. Some of us are mildly complacent about it. Not Justin. He tears apart the kitchen, seals off all possible entrances via the walls and the floors, and partakes in some much needed devotional service.
Our appreciation grows in leaps and bounds.
Also check out a piece by our resident Bhakta-Czar Caitanya Das about our other Rookie of the Year candidate, the irreverent and irreplaceable Bhakta-Cosmo aka Srila Cosmopada, straight from the mandirs and muddy sidewalks of Brooklyn. Check it out here.
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Monday, August 13th, 2007
VEGAN COOKING WORKSHOP-THE FILM!
Direct from New Vrindaban Studios, comes the culinary cinematic experience of the year!
VEGAN COOKING WORKSHOP
Starring HG Caitanya Das
Executive Producer-HG Caitanya Das
Director, Cameraman, Editor-Bhakta-Chris
Narrator-HG Balarama Chandra Das
a 2007 production of New Vrindaban Studios
For over four years, the brahmacari ashram of New Vrindaban has been creating a community and culture of service and love on the campus of Ohio University, all of it based on the motto that “the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach.” Vegan Cooking Workshop presents an inside look at how the magic happens, from the heat of the kitchen, to the risk of the road, ending up in the bliss of seeing over a hundred hungry, happy students tasting the mercy of Krsna.
This short film from the studios of the New Vrindaban Brahmacari Ashram shows what happens when hip, young gentleman in the renounced order, with talents galore, put the pedal to the max to bring first-class prasad and association to the starving young men and women of Athens, Ohio. Join in the fun, flavor, and love of progressive outreach at its finest.
www.vegancooking.blogspot.com
www.gaurangakishore.blogspot.com
www.ridewithin.blogspot.com
www.jivacow.blogspot.com «
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Thursday, August 9th, 2007
Locally-Grown Wisdom
The Garden of Seven Gates Tapah is speaking about refers to his large agricultural project here at New Vrindaban that he is overseeing, of which we all have been relishing the chard-like glories that have been now appearing in our breakfasts and lunches, thanks to Tapah’s locally-grown wisdom.
For more on this check out Tapah’s website www.farmeducation.org.
Tapah is always striving to connect the ideals of Krsna consciousness to the dirt of the land. He is especially interested to do many different educational ventures with students of all ages interested in salt of the earth. Contact him at Terry@FarmEducation.org or (304) 243-5990
By Tapahpunja dasa
This particular piece of land is called “Garden of 7 Gates”, because from a practical point of view there are 7 gated entrances the size of the one we just walked through-about 20 foot wide.
The reason for 7 gates along the fence line here is because the vision is that some day in the not too far future this will be the centre of an agrarian revolution in New Vrindaban, in the sense that persons settling intentionally around the field will have certain lifestyles and the spiritual perspective of that lifestyle that intergrates nicely with their sadhana (daily devotional practices), the temple and especially the original vision that Srila Prabhupada (the founder of Iskcon/New Vrindaban) had for New Vrindaban which was to give visual confirmation how “simple living” lent itself to “higher thinking” ( a key phrase Srila Prabhupada used for Iskcons farm communities was “simple living/high thinking”).
What is that connection? How do you prove that by your lifestyle? By depending on nature-by eating what you grow/ growing what you eat, depending on the cows (for milk to be used for making cheeses,sweets etc…). So, this particular property is our only property in which there is protection from the inbalance in the “age of kali” (a vedic term denoting the current age we are in-one of quarrel and hypocracy) in the form of deer. For every square mile, if you can picture a square mile-it is four city blocks, so for every one square mile there are 100 deer! Thats the average population and sometimes there is more!
If you cannot fence your growing space then you are wasting your time, you are basically growing deer food. This is the biggest and only protected area that there is. The way that this fence got put up is amazing. Below, there is a smaller version of this called “The Teaching Garden”. In that garden I was giving a tour to 10 persons, 2 families from Cincinnatti, and at the end of that tour I mentioned that this is a nice garden but it is not big enough to meet the growing needs of the whole community. One of the people present during the tour said “what do you need?” and I replied that we have a pasture but need a fence, a physical barrier because the deer are so bad. And he said “how much??”. At that time I really didn’t know but somehow I was inspired to say “about $8000?. The gentleman said “okay!” and on the spot he wrote a cheque for $8000!!! That amount worked out to be exactly the amount of money that was needed for the fence!
Then we want to develop this as a place where we develop the culture - the “agri-culture” where simple living based on actual connection to the land begins to develop pursuant to what Srila Prabhupada actually wanted here. This year we have a grant from West Virginia state university. They supplied $2000, all the seeds and all the transplants such as Tomato, Peppers, Okra, squash of various types and a material called black woven ground cover. The grant was given so that we can gather data for some of their organic research called “Organic Seed Partnership” and it’s an honor that they picked this particular farming project as part of that collaborative effort which is about 5 universities and around 10 farms around the country.
Actually, everybody that resided and used this property before we moved here grew corn on it for around 100 years. And then after that they basically wrecked it by throwing chemicals on it to stimulate growth. We have inherited a big problem with fertility but the good side of that is that the colleges that we are working with see that challenge as a brave endeavour on our part that we are taking an old abandoned West Virginia field and making it fertile again and in the process help develop community.
Everybody subsists on food grains , thats really the staple. To know how to develop and grow food grains you have to employ the use of draft animals to do it properly. The fact is that if you live in the country and know what is involved in working the fields in a sustainable way. Sustainable meaning not being utterly dependant on tractors , fossil fuel and that whole world of inputs from the outside-of course you want animals. We know that philosophically that the animals service is to assist in these processes. Their services to God are to assist in being co-authors in agriculture, the growing of things that can be offered with love and devotion to Him. Connecting the issue of sustainable development with spirituality is a huge preaching and educational field because the fact is that there is no such thing as sustainable development without spirituality as the only real sustainable thing is the soul and it’s relationship with God. How agriculture fits into that is: “yes, we are the stewards of this land, to use it in service to God. Without that spiritual dimension added to agriculture there is just a type of business. You are seeing now that Walmart now has “organic”, it is sort of organic but if you trace the products back to their sources in China you will find that it is not 100% organic. It is horrendous the way that they are growing produce actually. Likewise, if you live in the city and you go to a wholefood store and they are selling organic produce , you might ask “where is the farmer that you made the contract with to grow the produce?”. If you trace it back and you ask that farmer (and I have done this) - “How do you fertilise your soil? You are not using cow manure or any other kind of manure, what do you use to keep your rate of fertility up?”. They will say - “Oh we have a kind of brown powdered fertiliser that is organic”, and I will ask “can I see it?” And you then go into their storage are and you look at the bag and it says “blood meal, bonemeal, fish emulsion, it’s basically ground up cows!”
It’s made up of all the parts of a cow that they cannot use for things like ply wood , tyres, paint etc.. that they have pulverised and bagged. So, is it organic? Sort of! Is it vegetarian? No way! What organic really means is a spiritual commitment to only use what inputs are natural to the area. If you have cows, a cow on average gives 47 pounds of manure per day. To honor and revere that arrangement, to compost properly that cow manure and then apply it to your fields is actually the heartbeat of sustainability. Thats how cows fit in. Unfortunatly, within our Iskcon society, most of our farm communities are kind of fledging. We go there and see that there is really not much farming. It is more like suburban living that happens to be in the countryside. That is not going to change until we connect food production to why we have cows. If we have cows or bulls, it should be because it has something to do with how you feed yourself in a genuine way-not just out of sentiment. You have a garden and a pet cow! Then you think “Wow! This is vedic life!”. No, vedic life means that you dont go to Sams club! You don’t go to Walmart, you don’t need or want to, because your needs are contained within that community of mutually dependant and loving spiritual relationships and occupations that gainfully and properly employ everybody in connection to the local environment.
That is the actual culture of spiritual rural living. Hopefully we will develop that here. I am doing a conference next Febuary entitled ” Bad Karma is not sustainable”. The theme of it is that if you are going to enter into a career in agriculture in which you are taking the lives of other entities even if they are vegetables, what to speak of animals, that you might want to consider carefully why the patriarchs of the whole organic movement in the west. The people who wrote the treatises on why you should be organic all turned to indian thought and practice before they wrote books and articles-Sir Alfred Howard, Rudolph Steiner, the biodynamic people. Even though technically within the Iskcon movement we dont have such a great working model as yet, we do have the philosophical foundation to explain why and how spirituality is connected to sustainability and that there is no such thing as sustainability without spirituality. It is nothing but understanding the movement of the modes of nature, the permutation of goodness, passion and ignorance moving around. But the actual sustainability is that you are doing it for the pleasure and service of God. Therefore by Gods grace and his expansions or assistants, that arrangement makes everything co-operate with your effort to make nice devotional offerings. Thats actual sustainability.
My feeling is that you cannot have the physical aspects of sustainability without the social, they have to be married. Srila Prabhupada said that you cannot have brahminical culture (living in goodness and Godliness) without cow protection and agriculture-they have to go together. Our special blessing is that there are between 30-40 thousand people coming here yearly. Part of the vision of developing this is to use it as a teaching opportunity to help people become aquainted with the principle of sustainability intergrated with sprituality.
These 2 principles should nourish each other and not conflict priorities. The first priority when Srila Prabhupada was at New Vrindaban was about the lifestyle of simple living on the land and not really creating a “Hindu Disneyland!”. Not that we are on that level right now but we could easily go that way! Within Iskcon there is the whole feeling that the city temples are predominantly being “hinduised” and that there not as open to western people and they dont feel so inclined to come.
Lets take an issue like global warming , as you know there is a huge debate worldwide about this. The fact is that there is scientific evidence, it not someones opinion, nor is it debatable. The chief cause for global warming is? Meat eating. It is animal agriculture, not C02 emmisions like everybody thinks although that is also a problem. You have too many cars, trucks and factories belting out C02/carbon dioxide. To give you an idea of the scope of this problem-for every person on planet earth (6.5 billion) there are 5 cows ready to be slaughtered right now. It is not in the future, but right now as we are standing here. They are all in living arrangements that are confinded in heavily concentrated feedblocks (30 billion of such cows) and the methane generated by 30 billion cows in confined areas is certainly not good for the environment. It is 23 times more destructive to the environment and the ozone layer than C02 is. Where do you hear this information though? You dont hear it in the media, if you go to earthsave.com you can read about it. The government and media is not talking about it-who should be talking about it? We should be talking about it ! We were in the 60’s the forerunners in the cutting edge of vegetarianism and animal rights. So, what a great opportunity for us to reach out to the public and say that we have an understanding based not on a techno fix, not about hydrogen cell cars, thats not going to work! It takes 90 gallons of oil to make a car! Where is that oil going to come from? How are you going to make a transition like that? From fossil fuel dependancy to sustainability-its not a techno fix! It is a lifestyle change. The question is natural-what is the philosophy for this lifestyle change? How will we convince people that to change your lifestyle-to become simpler means that you have to become happier in ways that dont depend on all this technology. That happiness is going to come internally, by chanting of the holy names of God, embracing spiritual culture, by the joy of communal activity. Thats the actual lifestyle change that has to take place. One of our leaders (HH Hridayananda Maharaja) said that we should become guardians of the mode of goodness. Not that we use styrofoam plates and think that we are above everything! “We are so transcendental and can just use styrofoam plates-who cares, it is just the material world!”. The way that is percieved by the public is that “the Hare Krishnas think that they are so far beyond all this that they are willing to destroy the earth in real time than they are to do the right thing!”.
I know, I have been to numerous Rainbow gatherings (a North America gathering of earth friendly persons of varying backgrounds and practices) and brought people back here. They stay for 2 days and take a stroll behind the temple and see the dumpsters filled with styrofoam plates and they are out of here! They leave immediately because they think it is just such utter hypocracy. If we want inspired and courageous leadership, it is not going to come from academic institutions, the government nor is it going to come from corporations. Its going to come from local people. Ordinary sincere local people who are doing the right thing. That is what is going to change us. Because the scope of the problem is so far beyond all these institutions-its all got to turn into “local”. How you are doing and interacting locally and actually my understanding is that Srila Prabhupada’s intent for our temples all over the world is that your congregation of whatever area you live in should reflect your ability to successfully interact with your local people. Even the guy next door! We are talking about saving the whole world and we cannot even interact nicely with our neighbor-we dont even know him! We are afraid to go and talk to him. Environmental activism, personal health issues, are a great way to draw in all people but especially at this particular junction in time-people of western origin. The biggest grass roots movement in the world is the issue of sustainability. This dialogue we are having right now is going on all over the world. We are not even in the arena of dialogue right now. We have to set an example and use the most exacting and pristine philosophy there is to explain the connection between spirituality and sustainability.
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Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
Meat is Murder
I notice this particular subject coming up a few times in the past week on devotee blogs, but it’s too important to not repeat again and again and again, so imbibe these facts and share them with those who need it the most, which is the majority of the inhabitants of this planet.
Meat is murder on the environment
- 18 July 2007
- NewScientist.com news service
- Daniele Fanelli
original article linked here
A kilogram of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for 3 hours while leaving all the lights on back home.
This is among the conclusions of a study by Akifumi Ogino of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan, and colleagues, which has assessed the effects of beef production on global warming, water acidification and eutrophication, and energy consumption. The team looked at calf production, focusing on animal management and the effects of producing and transporting feed. By combining this information with data from their earlier studies on the impact of beef fattening systems, the researchers were able to calculate the total environmental load of a portion of beef.
Their analysis showed that producing a kilogram of beef leads to the emission of greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 36.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide. It also releases fertilising compounds equivalent to 340 grams of sulphur dioxide and 59 grams of phosphate, and consumes 169 megajoules of energy (Animal Science Journal, DOI: 10.1111/j.1740-0929.2007.00457.x). In other words, a kilogram of beef is responsible for the equivalent of the amount of CO2 emitted by the average European car every 250 kilometres, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.
The calculations, which are based on standard industrial methods of meat production in Japan, did not include the impact of managing farm infrastructure and transporting the meat, so the total environmental load is higher than the study suggests.
Most of the greenhouse gas emissions are in the form of methane released from the animals’ digestive systems, while the acid and fertilising substances come primarily from their waste. Over two-thirds of the energy goes towards producing and transporting the animals’ feed.
Possible interventions, the authors suggest, include better waste management and shortening the interval between calving by one month. This latter measure could reduce the total environmental load by nearly 6 per cent. A Swedish study in 2003 suggested that organic beef, raised on grass rather than concentrated feed, emits 40 per cent less greenhouse gases and consumes 85 per cent less energy.
“Methane emissions from beef cattle are declining, thanks to innovations in feeding practices,” says Karen Batra of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in Centennial, Colorado. “Everybody is trying to come up with different ways to reduce carbon footprints,” says Su Taylor of the Vegetarian Society in the UK: “But one of the easiest things you can do is to stop eating meat.”
Also check out this very informative book-sized PDF file called “Livestock’s Long Shadow” for further information for research and preaching needs.
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Sunday, July 29th, 2007
Smarter Than The Average Weatheman
Most of us came to this material world because we felt we could have a good time trying to be the Supreme Controller. Beyond this desire for mere enjoyment, some of us want to put this misconception to more practical uses.
As China gears up for the 2008 Summer Olympics, and also fights the seemingly near-worldwide drought conditions that have been plaguing this planet during this past year, they are going up to Indradeva and shoving the King of Heaven right out of his bejeweled seat!
Check out this article from Asia Times Online, which explains how China has brought the practice of weather modification out of the conspiracy theory message boards and made it into official government policy.
Here’s an excerpt…
“In the beginning, the idea was to ease drought and improve harvests for Chinese farmers, but over the decades other functions have evolved such as firefighting, prevention of hailstorms, and replenishment of river heads and reservoirs. Artificial rain has also been used by some provinces to combat drought and sandstorms. In 2004, Shanghai decided to induce rain simply to lower the temperature during a prolonged heat wave to bring relief to an increasingly hot and sweaty urban populace.
And now China’s weather officials have been charged with another important task: ensuring clear skies for the Summer Olympic Games next year.
Zhang Qiang, the top weather-modification bureaucrat in Beijing, said her office has been conducting experiments in cloud-busting for the past two years in preparation for the Games’ opening ceremony on August 8, 2008.
She said that according to past meteorological data, there is a 50% chance of drizzle on that day. To ensure blue skies, the Beijing Weather Modification Office is busy researching the effects of various chemical activators on different sizes of cloud formations at different altitudes. The aim is to catch pregnant clouds early and induce rainfall ahead of the big day so that during the opening ceremony the sky is cloud-free.
Wang said similar efforts in the past have already helped to create good weather for a number of international events held in China, including the 1999 World Horti-Expo in Yunnan and the 1993 East Asian Games in Shanghai.
However, Zhang warned that her cloud-fighters will only be effective in the event of the threat of a drizzle: “A heavy downpour will be impossible to combat.”
Her caveat goes to the heart of the primary criticism leveled against weather-modification efforts worldwide: doubts about their effectiveness. Wang himself admits that it remains notoriously difficult to establish how much real impact cloud-seeding has, since there is no foolproof way to establish how much rain might have fallen without intervention.”
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Saturday, July 21st, 2007
My Kuruksetra
HG Partha-Sarathi Das is rare-in his humility, dedication, sincerity, and compassion. Having met him at this year’s Festival of Inspiration at New Vrindaban, playing kirtans with him, watching his worship his awesome Nrshinga Silas, sharing encouragement on the paths ahead, I was struck once again by the fact that even though I’ve never met this person before in this life, like so many other devotees, I felt like I’ve been intimate associates with him for lifetimes.
He is also rare because he is currently serving his third tour of duty in Iraq as a soldier in the United States Armed Forces. As of my last communication with him, he is in an undisclosed location, suffering from unwell health, but he is alive, in the spirit of devotion, and spreading the Holy Name, even in the most hellish of hellish environments.
You may or may not agree with the politics of his personal lifestyle choice, but it doesn’t take anything to pray to Radha and Krsna for his well-being and safe return. He has many years ahead of loving devotional service that we all need to be part of.
This is the second in a series of articles written by Partha-Sarathi Prabhu about his experiences as a devotee fighting in Iraq…
My Kuruksetra Part 1
By Partha-sarathi dasa
In
Today I met with the Chaplin, in the military we have men of faith in uniform. Their jobs are to help us keep our faith and to inspire us to follow a spiritual tradition. Contrary to what some might think the military is full of spiritual individuals and a great out let to introduce people to Srila Prabhupada’s books. I was invited by my Chaplin to be involved with our first prayer breakfast while deployed. First he wanted to talk with me and understand my faith. The day came for us to met and I brought with me about five books. I brought for him, Bhagavad-Gita, Easy Journeys to Other Planets, Life After Life, and assorted small books.
As our discussion progressed he was admitting he didn’t understand the Hare Krsna movement. I smiled and said Sir, please take these books, read them and you will understand the meaning of spiritual life. Reluctantly he took the books and said we would meet again in two days.
In two days we met again, but this time his outlook changed. He said he just opened the Bhagavad-Gita to a random verse and found the following:
“For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.”
He said Srila Prabhupada’s purport in this verse touched his heart so much that he could understand the condition soul forgetful nature is.
The soul is full of knowledge, or full always with consciousness. Therefore, consciousness is the symptom of the soul. Even if one does not find the soul within the heart, where he is situated, one can still understand the presence of the soul simply by the presence of consciousness. Sometimes we do not find the sun in the sky owing to clouds, or for some other reason, but the light of the sun is always there, and we are convinced that it is therefore daytime. As soon as there is a little light in the sky early in the morning, we can understand that the sun is in the sky. Similarly, since there is some consciousness in all bodies? whether man or animal? we can understand the presence of the soul. This consciousness of the soul is, however, different from the consciousness of the Supreme because the supreme consciousness is all-knowledge? Past, present and future. The consciousness of the individual soul is prone to be forgetful. When he is forgetful of his real nature, he obtains education and enlightenment from the superior lessons of Krsna. But Krsna is not like the forgetful soul. If so, Krsna teachings of Bhagavad-Gita would be useless.
Both the Supersoul [Paramatma] and the atomic soul [jivatma] are situated on the same tree of the body within the same heart of the living being, and only one who has become free from all material desires as well as lamentations can, by the grace of the Supreme, understand the glories of the soul.” Krsna is the fountainhead of the Supersoul also, as it will be disclosed in the following chapters, and Arjuna is the atomic soul, forgetful of his real nature; therefore he requires to be enlightened by Krsna or by His bona fide representative (the spiritual master).
As he was describing his realizations I saw tears in his eyes and how the spiritual world has opened up for him. How Krsna as the super soul and through Srila Prabhupada’s books woke him up and restored his memory of what it means to be a servant of God. He asked me to give a presentation at the prayer breakfast. I agreed and as I left his office, I turned around and thought maybe I should preach some more, maybe I should explain more of the philosophy to him. As I glanced at him and noticed the way he was lovingly glancing at the cover I smiled and thought how this man truly understands the Bhagavad-Gita.