I published my last blog post while on standby power from my Uninterrupted Power Supply then goodbye computer for almost three business days due to the 15 inches (38 cm) of snow we received in a 24 hour period.  Trees fall, power lines get tangled, fuses blow and viola! No juice.

Vidya got a little cabin fever because there isn’t enough natural light in her basement studio to do any painting and other gourd work needs electric powered tools. So instead of working, she was cooped up in the house. She survived.

We were basically okay as we had water and our heat source is a biomass thermal conversion unit that utilizes natural convective forces for distribution. Which is to say we have wood stoves that aren’t dependent on fans.

US Renewable Energy Industry Needs the Heat in Biomass

The U.S. biomass thermal industry is poised to offer significant carbon and financial savings for consumers. Biomass for thermal energy is up to 90% efficient; in contrast, using biomass for the production of electricity is up to 40% efficient, and producing transportation fuels from biomass resources uses only 15% of the energy potential in this precious resource. It is vital to our economy – and our planet – to promote energy resources that are efficient and renewable. As part of the broader renewable energy solution, biomass thermal can uniquely address the need for low-cost, locally supported energy sources…

Read full article here.

I spent the time undistracted by the computer finishing up my seed, fruit and nut tree, berries, and ornamental orders. I have totally succumbed to catalog fever and ended up ordering from 14 catalogs.

I will type them up and share the lists later. My thinking is I feel reasonably well that with some help I can get a lot of stuff planted this year and next year I may not be able to.

2 catalogs are just growers supplies like floating row cover and some tools, one I only ordered two things from including a passionflower that is hardy to Zone 5. Fragrant blooms and edible fruit, how could I resist? A couple of catalogs were only fragrant perennial flowers, vines and shrubs but they all sound so great, I have no willpower.

We also spent a lot of time digging paths and driveways out so we can move around easily.

The car chose this time to not start. During some routine maintenance I had discovered the positive clamp on the battery was loose and tightened it but it came loose again and the battery was dead. We tried jumping it, using two sets of jumper cables hooked together to reach the battery from behind the vehicle but no luck. I pulled the battery and we drove up to Janaki’s who lives out on Rt. 250 and still had electric.  I hooked up the battery to a charger and left it there over night, then drove into town and bought a new battery clamp.

We had to take the Astro van which even with a few hundred pounds in the back for traction  is still less capable of tackling an icy road then the front wheel drive Toyota.

I had to swing into the left lane at Billy Aston’s and then gun it into the turn which required a sliding turn to maintain enough momentum to pull the slick hill. I slowly lost speed to a crawl by the top but made it — you can’t gain speed going up slick hills. All that practice cutting cookies on icy roads in North Dakota as a bored youth paid off.

It is all good today, Toyota running, electric back on, most of the orders placed. Hare Krishna.

“In all directions of Dvaraka City, wherever one would turn his eyes he would find green parks and gardens, each of them filled with trees and plants laden with fruits and flowers. Because there were so many nice trees of fruits and flowers, all the sweetly chirping birds and buzzing bumblebees joined together to make sweet vibrations. The city of Dvaraka thus fully displayed all opulences. “

Krishna Book 90: Summary Description of Lord Krsna’s Pastimes

Living Near Green Lowers Anxiety, Depression Rates, Study Finds

By Kristen Hallam

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — People living near gardens, parks and other green spaces have lower rates of anxiety, depression and poor physical health than those living in urban areas, Dutch researchers found.

The scientists reviewed the medical records of more than 345,000 people in the Netherlands and calculated the percentage of green space near the patients’ homes. For those with 10 percent of green space within a 1-kilometer radius of their homes, the prevalence of anxiety disorders was 26 out of 1,000 people, according to the study. In a residential area that was 90 percent green, the prevalence was 18 out of 1,000.

Better health may stem from access to fresher air and more opportunities to relax, socialize or exercise, though more research is needed to confirm those theories, said Jolanda Maas and colleagues at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam. Expanding green spaces may help prevent chronic illnesses that cost billions of dollars to treat each year, they said.

“The role of green space in the living environment for health should not be underestimated,” they wrote in the study published in the British Medical Journal’s Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. “Most of the diseases which were found to be related to the percentage of green space in the living environment are highly prevalent in society and in many countries, they are the subject of large-scale prevention programs.”

The study also found fewer cases of depression, heart disease, back pain and asthma among those living near green spaces. The link between green space and health was strongest for children and people with low incomes, who are less mobile and spend more time closer to home, the study found.

The research was funded by a grant from the Netherlands Organization forScientific Research.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aaVDXmgskQmg

“Muhahaha and enter. This place in Warsaw, Poland, was once a fluorescent light factory. The plant was called many things but is known as “Polam” aka “Rosa Luxemburg.”  Rosa was born in Poland in 1871, and was a philosopher, activist, and ideologist of the Polish and German worker’s movement. She was shot with a pistol to her temple. Her corpse was thrown into the Berlin Canal Division and not found until 1919. As turbulent as her life was, so too is the history of this abandoned factory…

“The sign on the right reads, “This building is out of order! You are not allowed to enter because you may DIE!” Welcome to the abandoned Polam Philips factory in Poland. “Polam” manufactured fluorescent lights, mercury lamps and electron tubes. The factory was partially modernized before renovation stopped due to a very high mercury contamination…”

52 Photos of a Poisonous, Abandoned Factory: Enter & Die

“Grains and vegetables can sumptuously feed a man and animals, and a fatty cow delivers enough milk to supply a man sumptuously with vigor and vitality. If there is enough milk, enough grains, enough fruit, enough cotton, enough silk and enough jewels, then why do the people need cinemas, houses of prostitution, slaughterhouses, etc.? What is the need of an artificial luxurious life of cinema, cars, radio, flesh and hotels? Has this civilization produced anything but quarreling individually and nationally? Has this civilization enhanced the cause of equality and fraternity by sending thousands of men into a hellish factory and the war fields at the whims of a particular man?”

Srimad Bhagavatam 1.10.4

Sunday, Feb. 28th, will be the appearance day of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Since this celebration is on a Sunday, we have an opportunity to organize an all day celebration. That requires the community devotees to participate in the organizing and running of the festival. Please step forward to help us honor Lord Caitanya. By his mercy, we have been saved from clutches of Maya. Let’s show our thanks by taking on some responsibility for the festival.

All those who are willing, please meet with me at the temple this Sunday, Feb 7th, at 3 pm (after Sunday Feast!) in Nityo’s office/conference room. I can be reached via phone, 304-843-1600 ext 105, if you want to talk or via email, sikhimahiti(at)gmail.com

Thanks!

ys,
Sikhi Mahiti das

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras

It’s not ambrosia, and it’s not even pepperoni pizza. Hint: It’s far cheaper. A year’s supply costs less than the cheapest hamburger.

Give up? Here’s another hint: It’s lifesaving for children and for women who may become pregnant. If you know of a woman who may become pregnant, make sure she gets this miracle substance.

A final hint: It was a lack of this substance that led to a tragedy that I encountered the other day at a hospital here in the Honduran capital. Three babies lay in cots next to one another with birth defects of the brain and spinal cord.

In the first cot was Rosa Álvarez, 18 days old and recovering from surgery to repair a hole in her spine. She also suffers from a brain deformity.

In the next cot was Ángel Flores, soft tissue protruding from his back.

Closest to the door was José Tercera. His mother unwrapped a bandage on his head, and I saw a golf-ball-size chunk of his brain spilling out a hole in his forehead.

The doctors believe the reason for these deformities, called neural tube defects, was that their mothers did not have enough micronutrients, particularly folic acid, while pregnant. These micronutrients are the miracle substance I’m talking about, and there’s scarcely a form of foreign aid more cost-effective than getting them into the food supply.

“It’s unnecessary to have these kinds of problems,” Dr. Ali Flores, a pediatrician and expert on these defects, said as he looked over the three babies.

If a pregnant woman does not have enough folic acid (also known as vitamin B9) in her body at the very beginning of her pregnancy, then her fetus may suffer these neural tube defects. That’s why doctors give folic acid to women who plan to become pregnant.

Equally important is another micronutrient, iodine. The worst consequence of iodine deficiency isn’t goiters, but malformation of fetuses’ brains, so they have 10 to 15 points permanently shaved off their I.Q.’s.

Then there’s zinc, which reduces child deaths from diarrhea and infections. There’s iron, lack of which causes widespread anemia. And there’s vitamin A: some 670,000 children die each year because they don’t get enough vitamin A, and lack of the vitamin remains the world’s leading cause of childhood blindness.

“In the early stages of life, the die is cast,” said David Dodson, the founder of Project Healthy Children, an aid group that fights micronutrient deficiencies in Honduras and other poor countries. “If a child is not getting the right micronutrients, the effect is permanent.”

Nine years ago, Mr. Dodson was simply an American businessman running a 300-employee waste company that he had founded. Then he happened to visit Honduras and, in a hospital, encountered a mother whose newborn baby had a hole in the skull. He learned that negligible amounts of folic acid would prevent such heartbreaking defects — and his life was transformed.

“I had never seen anything in my life that could have so much impact for so little money and be sustainable,” Mr. Dodson said. He and his wife, Stephanie, sold their company and used some of the proceeds to start Project Healthy Children.

The most cost-effective way to distribute micronutrients isn’t to hand them out. Mary Flores, a former Honduran first lady who is active in nutrition, notes that impoverished women can be hard to reach, and even if they are given folic acid pills they sometimes won’t take them for fear that they actually are birth control pills. So micronutrients instead are often added to such common foods as salt, sugar, flour or cooking oil.

Adding iodine, iron, vitamin A, zinc and various B-complex vitamins including folic acid to a range of foods costs about 30 cents per person reached per year. Groups focusing on micronutrients also include Helen Keller International and Vitamin Angels.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has required that flour be fortified with folic acid since 1998. Even in America, with better diets, medical care and widespread fortification, not all women get enough micronutrients, but the problem is far worse in poor countries.

Mr. Dodson notes that it is much cheaper to prevent birth defects than to treat them.

“It’s not a sexy world health issue, but it’s about the nuts and bolts of putting together a healthy population,” Mr. Dodson said. “Putting small amounts of iron, iodine and folic acid in the food supply hasn’t drawn attention the way it does when you treat someone who is sick or in a refugee camp. Until recently, this has been off everybody’s radar screen.”

As the United States reorganizes its chaotic aid program, it might try promoting what just may be the world’s most luscious food: micronutrients.

•

I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, On the Ground. Please also join me on Facebook, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter.

NEW VRINDAVANA, June 1973. The growth of the Hare Krishna Movement into an accepted worldwide religion has been decorated with the sacrifices of many wonderful, brave devotees. This is the story of one such incident, described by a Vaishnavi author who was there. An armed motorcycle gang shoots up the temple during the morning Bhagavatam class, and two devotees are wounded. In her fascinating caper through ISKCON’s early history entitled Shrila Prabhupada Is Coming, our ever-devoted Godsister Mahamaya dasi ( on the photo ) shares this first hand account of the events…

…Once married, I survived six weeks on the road with Tribhanga selling Spiritual Sky incense and eating only his homemade version of trail mix. His recipe called for a couple of tins of mixed nuts and salted peanuts, a package of dates, and a bag of shredded, sweetened coconut, all mixed together in a paperbag.

During our travels, Tribhanga got a huge order for incense in Louisville, Kentucky, so we returned to New Vrindaban to fill the order. There we saw Dharmatma dasa, a sankirtan leader from Vancouver, who was looking for a place to repair an old Road Show bus he’d just bought. Tribhanga invited Dharmatma prabhu and his group to come with us to Louisville, because there he knew a favorable couple, whose house we’d stayed in.

Dharmatma drove his bus to Louisville and parked on the street in the couple’s neighborhood. We filled our order and left town, but he and the other devotees with him stayed three weeks longer. One brahmacari befriended a neighborhood girl, who showed up at the bus with packed bags just as the bus was leaving for a festival at New Vrindaban. Dharmatma refused to bring her along because she was underage and her father was the leader of a motorcycle gang. When the devotees left, she ran away from home.

Her father thought she was also going to New Vrindaban, and he drove there to look for her during the weekend festival. The festival attracted more than two hundred devotees, and Vishnujana Swami led the most beautiful kirtans during the festivities. Not only was an Ananta Sesa Deity buried under the cornerstone of a future temple, but also two sets of small, brass Radha-Krishna Deities were installed, one set for the Vrindaban farm and the other for Madhuban. It was an open-house festival, and the girl’s father showed up in his old convertible—one of those really huge ones. He came with another man and the local sheriff. Devotees escorted them around, to convince them his daughter wasn’t here. The father returned a second time, with his friend and two ladies, to see more and ask more questions. However, the matter wasn’t settled that weekend.

After my six weeks on the road with him, Tribhanga traveled and sold incense alone, returning occasionally, while I lived at the Bahulaban farm, following a tight schedule. I went on the altar mornings and evenings, helped to roll hundreds of chapatis for lunch and baked the four p.m. offering. I came to Bahulaban too late to get Mother Silavati’s training—she had moved to New York—but Kutila dasi, Kuladri’s wife, was an excellent head pujari and a stickler for kitchen cleanliness. I loved the pujari service. Following a rotating schedule in the mornings, I dressed Radharani once a week, Vrindaban-candra once a week and either tiny Radha-Krishna or Lord Jagannatha the other days.

However, every evening for nine months, I dressed the same Deity: Srimati Radharani. I took off Her day clothes and jewelry and put on Her nightclothes. I became quick and adept, because we had little time. One night, in the usual rush to finish on time, I looked at Radharani’s face and froze, thinking, “This is Radharani!” But I had to set aside that thought to continue my service. I knew a passage from The Nectar of Devotion about Daruka feeling ecstasy while fanning Krishna, but setting aside his feeling to continue his service. I wasn’t on Daruka’s platform of devotional love, but I felt something similar that day by recognizing Radharani and then continuing to serve Her under time pressure.

Later, I heard a class that helped me better understand the Deities and Their feelings and interactions with pujaris. When Srila Prabhupada himself installed Deities for the first time in ISKCON—small brass Radha-Krishna Deities, in Los Angeles, on July 16, 1969—at the end of his class he said:

“If you think it is a brass-made doll, I mean to say, idol—ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham—if you think this is a brass-made idol, then it will remain a brass-made idol to you forever. But if you elevate yourself to a higher platform of Krishna consciousness, then Krishna, this Krishna, will talk with you. This Krishna will talk with you.

‘There is a Vamsidas Babaji Maharaja, he was talking with his Deity. And the Madana-mohana Deity—He was talking with Sanatana Gosvami. Sanatana Gosvami at that time had no temple; he was hanging his Deity on the tree. So Madana-mohana was talking with him: “Sanatana, you are bringing all these dry chapatis. And it is stale, and you don’t give Me even little salt. How can I eat?”

“Sanatana Gosvami said, ‘Sir, where shall I go? Whatever I get I offer You. You kindly accept. I cannot move; I am an old man.’

“You see. So Krishna had to eat that [chuckles]. Because the bhakta is offering, He cannot refuse. Ye mam bhaktya prayacchati: real thing is bhakti. What you can offer to Krishna? Everything belongs to Krishna. What you have got? What is your value? And what is the value of your things? It is nothing. Therefore real thing is bhaktya, real thing is your feeling. ‘Krishna, kindly take it. I have no qualification. I am most rotten, fallen, but [begins to cry] I have brought this thing for you. Please take it.’ This will be accepted. Don’t be puffed up. Always be careful. You are dealing with Krishna. That is my request. Thank you very much.”

In June, 1973, during the week following the open-house festival, an armed motorcycle gang attacked the temple. It was a local gang hired by the distraught Louisville father, who was with them, still looking for his runaway daughter. Surrounding the temple in the early morning, as the Srimad-Bhagavatam class was being held, they fired shotguns through open windows and doors, hitting two men, to gain control.

I was on the altar bathing the Deities. Kutila prabhu and I managed to place the small Deities—Jagannatha and Radha-Krishna—out of sight behind the altar before we were ordered into the temple room. There I saw Bidhan Candra and Krishna Katha prabhus lying bleeding on the floor.

We chanted the Nrsimha-deva prayers for the Lord’s protection, but a gang member demanded, “Stop your chanting!” and shot another bullet through the ceiling.

“If you don’t give us the girl, we’re going to kill all of you!” one of the villains threatened.

Terrified, I truly thought we were all going to die because the girl wasn’t there and had never visited New Vrindaban. The previous weekend, when her father had looked for her at our festival, he’d seen a cornerstone-laying ceremony, at which a Deity of Ananta Sesa was buried in a deep pit. He thought we had sacrificed the girl, and was convinced the pit was the girl’s grave.

The father demanded: “Who is your leader?”

Kirtanananda Swami identified himself.

“Who was the leader down in Louisville?”

“I was,” Dharmatma prabhu admitted.

“We’re taking you both to dig your own graves where you cut up and buried my daughter. I’ve heard about cults like yours!”

We helplessly watched Kirtanananda and Dharmatma being taken away. Miraculously, the girl’s father did not recognize the brahmachari who’d befriended his daughter, though he was right there, in the corner of the temple room, fearing for his life.

We softly chanted japa, praying fervently to Lord Krishna.

“What’s behind the curtain?” one of the thugs asked. Tearing down the Deity curtain, he saw the marble forms of Radha–Vrindaban Chandra, still not dressed because Their bath was interrupted. This monster forced one of our men to push over Shrimati Radharani. Then he himself pushed over Lord Vrindaban Chandra! The Deity broke slightly as He hit the lower shelf of the marble altar, which cracked and broke beneath Him. Standing on the altar, this envious demon declared—just like Hiranyakasipu—”Now I am God. Worship me!”

The loud sounds of the two Deities hitting the marble floor frightened the gang members walking up the hill. While the first crash was startling, the second sounded like a gunshot, and they thought the devotees had gained control of the situation. They began to run away, yelling at those inside to join them. Thus the ordeal suddenly and unexpectedly ended.

The wounded men were taken to the hospital and Radha–Vrindaban Chandra were carried to Kirtanananda’s house. Kutila and I retrieved the small Deities. She hid Radha-Krishna somewhere safe, while I and others carried the Jagannatha Deities to Talavan, a more secluded farm.

We prepared for the gang’s return because one thug had threatened, “We’ll be back tonight to burn the place down.” The police refused to protect us, so by nightfall the devotees had armed themselves. Several devotees stayed up all night to guard the farm, hidden from sight with all the lights out. But by Krishna’s mercy neither the father nor the gang ever returned.

Hearing about these unfortunate events, Srila Prabhupada wrote to Kirtanananda on June 14, 1973:

“I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 6, 1973 and have noted the contents with great care and concern. The Deities may be immediately repaired and worshiped. Now we must take precaution as you have suggested. You may get some guns and some of the boys may be trained as ksatriyas [warriors]. Such gun shots could have taken place long ago since we are challenging everybody. So we must be prepared to fight. We cannot stop this movement. It is actually a fight against Maya. So Maya may also sometimes cause casualties in our camp. So, we must only thank Krishna and seriously dedicate everything for Him. So, you are Kirtanananda Maharaja, take pleasure in performing kirtana. That is our real weapon against Maya”.

On June 22nd, Srila Prabhupada wrote again:

“After the shooting affair what precaution have you taken? Bharadraja is here and he gave report that the devotees were very frightened. I further understand that the attack was for the second time. Here in Mayapur there are reports of dacoits at least once or twice in a month surrounding our place. So we have now taken two guns under regular license from the government. So when New Vrindaban has been attacked twice, thrice, why are you not keeping guns? We are not advocates of non-violence; when there is aggression we must kill them. So I think you shall immediately arrange for guns and at least 10, 12 men should be trained up so when there is again attack you can properly reply the aggressor.

“. . . In the meantime I shall be glad to hear from you what defense measures you have taken to protect the life and property of New Vrindaban. This is very important and you must take all steps. Actually the government should have arrested all the gang and punished them properly for their atrocious behavior on unarmed people. Is there an attempt to have the government punish the gang who are well known to your country? We just take measure against occasional attacks by criminals.”

To add insult to injury, these gang members were tried in the local court but not convicted, despite the testimony of many devotees. Justice, it seems, would be attained only on a higher plane, not in the material world.

I left New Vrindaban on January 3, 1974, three years to the day since I had joined ISKCON.

end story

I purchased my copy of Shrila Prabhupada Is Coming some years ago from the author herself at a San Francisco Rathayatra. But it was a recent reading of Suhotra Maharaja’s In2Me-C Diaries that reminded me what a great book this is. Suhotraji loved Mahamaya Mataji’s spirited romp through the seventies for the same reasons I do. Her writing overflows with all sorts of rare Prabhupada-centered lessons. Her recounting of events is an honest history of the movement with scrupulous attention to detail. She squarely faces the devotees’ struggles in service and in preaching, and—as the title implies—the book radiates with our ever-present excitement of the pure devotee’s soothing appearance in our lives. Therefore, this is not a “ladies only” book; it is written for all devotees who yearn for the blessings of Krishna’s representative, those who share in the same goal we all crave that Shrila Prabhupada called Krishna consciousness.

-Contact Patita Pavana das c/o dhimanakrishna@yahoo.com

Guest post by Bhakta Ed.

The events of this post are actually set in time prior to my leaving Minnesota in the RV. I was so deeply traumatized by the things I am about to disclose to Gosh’s loyal readers, that I am only now able to “go public”.  Let’s just dive in.  Bad choice of words.  Sorry.

Poop, feces, bowel contents, fecal material and waste.  There, I said it.  There are many other names for the stuff, but these set the mood well enough.  Poop is important.  We have to deal with it, whether it is the poop of a baby or an entire city.  I once read a very interesting article on the advancement of Western Civilization being dependent on the invention of the flush toilet and sewer lines. In fact, between 1868 and 1883 the rate of death from typhoid per 100,000 in Germany dropped from 80 to 10. This was due to the invention of the Lindley sewer lines by William Lindley, British engineer.

In many healthcare systems such as Chinese medicine, the frequency, color, odor, amount and consistency of poop tells a lot about the patient’s condition.  Diagnosis and treatment can be resting on the patient’s poop. That sentence could conjure up some odd visuals, but I am going to leave it.

So, I hope you understand that I have nothing against the stuff.  It must be acknowledged and handled. It must be dealt with.  Better.  It’s just that I don’t really care for it that much.  When asked if I was bringing any pets or people on my pilgrimage, I replied, “Not if they poop”.  Naturally this does not include me.  Exceptions must be made.  For an informative article on different ways of dealing with personal poop check this out.

With all this as a backdrop let the tale begin.  Romapada Swami had told me that I could come down to Chicago early in December to meet with him concerning various Krishna conscious topics. I flew down after securing lodging in the ashram during my stay.  After greeting the amazing Deities a very nice devotee showed me to my room.  It was a Sunday, so later there was kirtan, a talk and the feast.  I spoke briefly with Romapada Swami that night reminding him of our meeting the next day.  I went to bed early and slept well.

In the morning, my body wants water and a place to put some waste materials.  It can be demanding about this.  I went to the bathroom where I found the floor around the toilet to be wet.  “If you can’t aim your pee into the bowl then sit like a female”,   I thought.  I finished and reached for the toilet paper.  And that is all I did.  There was none.  Not even a toilet paper holder.  I carefully got up and walked rather like a cowboy who has spent too many days in the saddle.  I looked everywhere.  To my absolute and genuine horror there was no toilet paper.  Then I noticed a bottle of water on the floor.  It was half full.  I didn’t care if it was somebody’s drinking water.  I poured it where it was needed.  The floor got wetter.  That didn’t work, so I just got in the shower and did my best without touching any poop.  Now look! Stop laughing.  My mother taught me never to touch poop.  Period.

I felt disgusting.  I was going to walk to a gas station.  Luckily there was a devotee walking down the hall.  I said, “You are out of toilet paper”.  He gave me the strangest look.  I asked where I could get some and he replied that he didn’t think that there was any in the entire building.  None???  Things were worse than I imagined.  I felt bad for all the devotees so I thought I would go out and buy one of those big 50 roll packages.

On my way out of the building I saw the public or guest restrooms.  I looked inside.  Thank Krishna!!!  Toilet paper.  That nice devotee was wrong.  There was some after all.  I corrected the problem and changed clothes.  Then I had a nice 70 – minute meeting with Romapada Swami up in his room.  Civilized people do not talk about poop.  The problem was solved so I didn’t mention it to him.  Thankfully.

Little did I know that I had stumbled on to exactly how it is to be done.  Really?  Yes.  No toilet paper was not a mistake… no kidding.  This is something they don’t tell you when they say “chant the Maha Mantra and your life will be sublime”.  They don’t reveal that if you chant Hare’ Krsna you will never use your left hand again.

Well, I have decided that enlightenment has nothing to do with how you deal with poop.  I now carry a roll with me.  I have decided that some water in addition is a great idea.  But my return  “back to Godhead” is going to include toilet paper and sewers.  Maybe squatting for increased anatomical and physiological advantage too.  But if we ever meet, you need not fear the bacterial count of my left hand.  It will be pristine.

On the road in his RV Bhakta Ed visits a trucker’s bathroom that does have  toilet paper.

Okay, for those who have  experienced this cultural shock vicariously through Bhakta Ed, the humor in the following will now be revealed:

Militant Brahmacaris Protest Charmin Toilet Paper Factory

Posted Dec 22nd 2009 5:00PM by Joseph Lazzaro

Can any fuel form make a serious run at oil use in the U.S. in the decade ahead? Natural gas might — largely as a result of natural gas’ abundant domestic supply, if new drilling techniques are deemed environmentally safe.

Briefly, the new techniques — including one called ‘hydraulic fracturing’ — enables natural gas suppliers to profitably access more gas than before. As a result, the Potential Gas Committee says the United States now has a more than a 100-year supply of natural gas.

However, issues regarding possible well water and ground water contamination at sites that used the new drilling techniques are currently under investigation by several U.S. environmental regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The New York Times reported. If proven to be unsafe, that would, most likely, decrease the U.S.’s natural gas reserves from current estimates.

But assuming most of the high tech-accessed new natural gas is safe and added to the nation’s supply, could natural gas play a larger role in the nation’s energy picture? At first review, it appears it can.

Up Ahead: Big Natural Gas?

Utilities who operator electric power generation plants are already turning to natural gas as a cleaner fuel than coal. Coal, remarkably cheap but also enormously damaging to the environment, has an uncertain future. If natural gas’ price remains low — and bountiful supplies would help achieve that goal — natural gas can continue to make major gains in electric power generation and in industrial use — substantially reducing the air-polluting particulates that coal-fired plants spew in to the atmosphere daily.

Likewise with home/commercial heating: assuming natural gas remains cheap, the energy form will likely see increased use in the decade ahead for heating. Natural gas already is the dominant form of home heat in the Midwest; in the Northeast, oil heat has been pervasive, but has seen its market share fall since the first oil shock in 1973-74.

However, use as a fuel for vehicle transportation may present the biggest hurdle for natural gas. The ease of use and wide availability of gasoline give it a decided edge over natural gas in the U.S. Further, although fleets of buses and vans have converted to natural gas, an entirely new infrastructure of natural gas filling stations would have to be built to enable universal use of natural gas for civilian vehicles. Still, natural gas does have one trump card in this struggle: price. If oil, which closed Tuesday up 21 cents to $73.93 per barrel, again trends toward the $100 level and beyond, natural gas’ price advantage over oil will widen: at some point — perhaps at $5 per gallon or $6 per gallon for gasoline, a major auto manufacturer will begin large-scale production of a natural gas vehicle, and those Americans concerned about fuel prices will be drawn to it.

Energy Analysis: The view from here argues that the energy form is not as important as the fact the American drivers need a domestic-based auto fuel competitor to gasoline. I don’t count the problematic ethanol from corn. And so far, no other alternative fuels (biodiesel, 100% electric cars etc.) present affordable, universal options. But natural gas, if the new supplies can be accessed without contaminating wells and ground water, could offer a serious challenge to gasoline in the next decade.

Here comes the wise man in the story of sick times,
telling you how to find the passage of satisfaction.
He is many million years old and has been walking
many thousand miles, more miles, more lengths of road
than the shrunk-up earth of these days possesses,
to find you. He has a veda from before creation
to sing you and, lo and behold, it is about you,
it means everything to you. Though they’ve made a rope
out of rough, heavy smoke, like a whale-thick hawser
for a steamer of dead star, and pulled it through you
from throat to crotch, from ear to ear, and hag-tied
your hands and feet with the ends, though each of them
has your own face molten with leprosy,
though your brain makes the sound of crowded trains
colliding in Kashmir and a stadium that roars hosanna,
it is still possible now, in the next moment, to know God.
That is, not die in confusion. But maybe, then, this guru
is too soon. Maybe he hasn’t come from far enough.
Maybe he’s still much too young. Maybe he’s never
asked himself clearly what happens when someone like you
hears that a lightning-opened living fig tree or a mountain
and a blue sky can be lived in and sets out
on the long road never moving from his realm in pain.

The following was from a discussion on the declining use of the sari. See the original article here.

Dandavat pranams. Jaya Srila Prabhupada.

Indians are undoubtedly and, imho, most unfortunately imbibing an ever increasing number of modern/western secular life style choices, including non-devotional dress, because they are now thinking sense gratification is the goal of life. Yet, as you and others mentioned, the mode of dress, for instance, still varies greatly depending on where you are in India.

For instance, Phalini devi and I just returned from a two month tour around India and in Udupi, the birthplace of our Madhavacarya Maharaja, and in the outlying areas, you will see some men, albeit a small percentage, wearing lungis, as mentioned by Gaura Keshavaji.

Yet, almost ALL the women there will wear saris only. Not only do the ladies wear saris daily, their hair is braided and decorated with fresh flowers. We regularly took local buses to visit devotees in areas outside of Udupi and it was hard to find any women, young or old, without fresh flowers in her hair. The exception was when you go through nearby Manipal, a university town 10 kilometers from Udupi. There, most of the college age young ladies worn jeans, untied hair and occasionally a salwar kameez. Young men wearing a dhoti/lungi are hard to find, even in a very nice, small city like Udupi.

We found a somewhat similar situation in the villages of Assam in Northeast India. Almost all the ladies worn saris and quite a few of the village men wore either a gamsha or a lungi folded at the knees and tucked in or tied at the waist. The men are mostly farmers who plow their paddy fields, which are flooded with water from the monsoon rains, with beautiful oxen. No farmer there plows his field wearing pants, as his legs will sink halfway to his knees in a muddy paddy field.

The ladies focus more or less entirely on all manner of domestic arts and services, centered around raising the children and grandchildren and assisting their husbands as needed, much like Mother Yasoda, who never commuted daily to nearby Mathura to a job.

Kindly see enclosed photos of village life in “Awesome Assam.” :-)  We plan to return to Assam soon to observe and spend time learning the time tested art of simple living from the villagers there. And depending on how that goes, we are considering the possibility of establishing a daivi-varnasrama village project there. The idea we have is to gather together a relatively small core of ISKCON devotees, mostly grihasthas, who are committed to living very simply in a non-electric, traditional village setting (mud/bamboo homes with thatched roofs).

Instead of following the modern day concept of working to make money to then purchase one’s necessities of life from stores, we will focus entirely on personally producing, from the land and our cows, all our basic necessities, namely food, shelter, cloth, herbs for medicine, etc. Srila Prabhupada referred to it as “living in the lap of material nature, depending on Krsna.”

Along with these routine daily activities centered around cow protection and farming, we envision cultivating loving relationships with the local villagers, based on advocating the principles of pure devotional service to Lord Krsna and steeped in constant Harinam sankirtan. Our plans include holding many Vaisnava festivals throughout the year at our central village ashram and traveling regularly in ox cart processions from village to village, distributing books and prasadam, and having always ecstatic kirtans wherever we go. Rather than importing many Vaisnavas from far away places, we think it more reasonable to preach to and encourage the local villagers to take up devotional service on a regular basis. Hopefully, what we establish will be able to be duplicated in many other locations throughout the world.

Being endowed with free will and realizing that our quality of life hinges, to a large degree, on the choices we make, Phalini devi and I have decided to relocate to India and try to please Srila Prabhupada by establishing Vrndavan villages. Your blessings, of course, would be most welcome. Haribol.

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,

Haripada dasa

Devotees Pray for Yamuna’s Future With Global Kirtan

Written by Madhava Smullen and originally posted at the ISKCON News website on January 27th, 2010.

Hundreds of thousands of devotees, holy men and pilgrims will gather for the Vrindavana Kumbha Mela, taking a ceremonial dip in the sacred Yamuna River at Keshi Ghat on Saturday January 30th.

The event is held once every twelve years, alongside the official Kumbha Mela, which rotates between the holy places of Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik.

The Vrindavana Mela, held in the village where Lord Krishna appeared on earth 5,000 years ago, and at the river where He once bathed, is always special. But in recent times, there has been an added urgency to the participants’ prayers.

Devotees say that the sanctity of Vrindavana, and especially of the Yamuna River, is in danger. Among other efforts, ISKCON’s second-generation—known as “Kulis”—have launched “Global Kirtan for the Yamuna River,” a prayer which is offered with the intention to save the future of the Yamuna River and Vrindavana in general, and which they will synchronize with ISKCON Vrindavana’s 24-Hour Kirtan chanting program.

This year’s event is the second in a series of Global Kirtans. Organizer Krishna Devata McComb introduced the first in November 2008 after a trip to Vrindavana revealed how much the sacred village had changed since her childhood.

“I was born a Krishna devotee and first bathed in the Yamuna when I was five years old, with my two-year old brother Bala Gopal,” she says. “I have very precious memories of that time.”

The next time Krishna Devata returned to the Yamuna in 1998, it was to offer Bala Gopala’s ashes into its waters. The sacred river offered her solace in her grief at her brother’s passing, as she offered incense, flower garlands, and petals into it and then bathed in the water herself.

“Bathing in the Yamuna is a tradition of transformation, rejuvenation and purification,” she says. “Yet today, we see this place of deep personal prayer and meaning under heavy construction, with its waters diverted, and sewage and garbage being dumped into it. When I visited the river recently with my own daughter and son, who were the same ages as Gopal and I had been when we first bathed there, it was shocking to see how much had been lost in only one generation.”

According to Krishna Devata, many holy sites related to the Yamuna have been covered and displaced from its banks. The tree at Chir Ghat, where Krishna is said to have enacted His pastimes with the Gopis, is now hundreds of yards from the Yamuna, and the view of the holy river has been replaced by the on-ramp of a by-pass highway. The focus of development in Vrindavana, Krishna Devata says, has become service to the automobile rather than to God.

Perhaps the development currently taking the most prominence is a bridge being constructed alongside the Yamuna. Started back in May 2008, the project is intended to facilitate a 130km pipeline through Vrindavana, Mathura and Agra, which will provide water in areas that have been battling a shortage for decades.

It’s essentially a good cause. However, local and international devotees and environmental activists, working under the Save Yamuna to Save Vrindavan campaign, are saying that the implementation needs to be rethought. “They are destroying nature and culture,” said environmentalist Swami Sewak Sharan. “Ordinary folks in Vrindavan have no voice while the ‘developmentalists’ are out to murder a rich heritage.”

Mathura-Vrindavan Development Authority Vice Chairman R.K. Singh denied the charges and claimed they had been raised by people who do not understand development or environment. “They are just obstructing,” he said. “We have got proper studies done. The Keshi Ghat was any way crumbling. The bridge is a little distance away from the ghat. Pointless controversies are being raised.”

PWD Chief Engineer C.D. Rai added, “The bridge on the river does not affect environment in any manner, nor does it obstruct the flow of the river. We will later take up the renovation of the Keshi Ghat.”

But devotees and Vrindavana residents say that the developers have not revealed the full plans of their project to the community and show no sensitivity to the historic sacred site. The bridge will facilitate traffic to Delhi, Agra, and the Taj Mahal, and they fear that the noise, dirt and pollution will render Keshi Ghat a place that’s no longer peaceful for spiritual reflection.

“Some solutions include restoring water flow to ancient ghats, garbage management and water-treatment, although it will take collaboration and care from tourists and residents of Vrindavan to create lasting change,” Krishna Devata comments.

She admits that much of this is beyond her understanding or capacity to impact. However, what she can do is bring people together to make them aware of Yamuna Devi’s plight, and to unite their voices in prayer—in a Global Kirtan.

The January 30th event is backed by the Kuli Mela Association, which organizes ISKCON second-generation festivals and projects around the world, and which Krishna Devata is a founding member of. Other entities lending their support include World Prayer and Kirtan Day, Mandala Publishing, World Vaisnava Association, UNESCO, Sri Sri Radha Raman Temple, Save Yamuna to Save Vrindavan campaign, and many participating ISKCON Temples.

The Global Kirtan concept is that people “think globally and pray locally.” So far over one hundred locations around the world—in India, Canada, the United States, Europe, South America, South Africa, the Carribean, and Russia—have confirmed their participation, holding kirtans which will coincide with the Vrindavana Kumbha Mela and 24-Hour kirtan at the Yamuna River.

Many of these participants are ISKCON temples and preaching centers, while some are home programs, yoga studios, book-stores, and sanga groups. Some 24-hour kirtan events—such as those in Radhadesh Belgium, Hillsborough North Carolina, and one hosted by Radhanatha Swami in Mumbai—were prescheduled, yet their organizers decided to dedicate their prayers to the Global Kirtan cause.

“Because this is about calling attention to the current condition of the Yamuna River, which affects many people from many different lines and faiths, this is a call-out to all who will answer,” says Kuli Mela Association member Chaitanya Mangala. “The mood is one of openness and inclusiveness—this is an opportunity for everyone to come together and share in a time of solidarity.”

Those participating will include many well-known kirtan singers: Gaura Vani and As Kindred Spirits will perform at the ISKCON temple in Brooklyn, New York; Karnamrita will perform in Durban, South Africa; The Kirtaniyas will perform in Los Angeles; and the Mayapuris will perform in San Francisco.

“At this auspicious time of Vrindavana Kumbha Mela, sadhus, yogis and pilgrims of all kinds and from all traditions will gather to honor the Yamuna River,” says Krishna Devata. “On the full moon, thousands will simultaneously bathe in the river in a huge act of devotion and peace—chanting, dancing, and honoring Yamuna Devi together.”

Already, she says, kirtans are sounding in tents along the Yamuna, and puja and prayer offerings are being made.

And it looks like the prayers are already being answered. On January 21st , an Uttar Pradesh High Court Order was issued stating: “Until further order of the Court, the respondents are directed to stop further constructions over the bridge which is being constructed along side river Yamuna and other illegal constructions on the land which falls between the ghats and river Yamuna on both the sides and to stop dumping of garbage in river Yamuna or its bank. Respondents are further directed to ensure that no constructions are raised in the aforesaid area by any person.”

Devotees are preparing themselves for a further hearing at the High Court on February 23rd. Until then, their prayers for their beloved Yamuna River will resound across the globe.

The Global Kirtan organizers can be contacted at: thedancingmama@gmail.com.

Or join the Global Kirtan Facebook group here.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=245684587045&ref=search&sid=1096860333.4131406006..1

Add your name to the petition against building a bridge at the Yamuna below:

http://bvhalliance.org/guestbook/gbook.php

By Staff Writer for Press Trust of India on 23 Jan 2010

Al-Qaeda militant Ghulam Rasool Khan alias Khan Mirza, who was formally arrested in Purnia in Bihar while trying to cross over to Bangladesh early this week, has put forward an unusual demand.

“Provide me two kg of mutton and one kg of chicken daily or else I will sit on hunger strike inside Purnia jail”, the militant informed the jail authorities.

Jail authorities said Mirza refused to take vegetarian food served to him for two days after he was lodged in the jail, saying he was a habitual meat eater.

Confirming this, IG (Prisons), D Kumar said “We will, like other prisoners, serve meal to the prisoner in keeping with the jail manual…But, at the same time, we will abide by any court directive in this regard”.

end story

“At the present moment, so-called civilized men do not sacrifice animals to a deity in a religious or ritualistic way. They openly kill animals daily by the thousands for no purpose other than the satisfaction of the tongue. Because of this the entire world is suffering in so many ways. Politicians are unnecessarily declaring war, and according to the stringent laws of material nature, massacres are taking place between nations.”

Chaitanya Caritamrta  Madhya 24.250