Three years ago, I published here the article A distant view of 9/11. Its theme, in brief, was that when freedom-hating Islamic terrorists struck on 9/11/2001 and the armies of American democracy struck back, the events rolled out in patterns so exquisitely neat and familiar as to suggest that the entire show had likely been scripted and staged by powerful hands within (and beyond) the United States government itself.

Oh, paranoid conspiracy theories!

Newly posted online for downloading is the most recent updated version of the BBT Style Sheet (June 2008).

It offers the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust’s latest standards on such matters as spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and word choice.

This is a routine update.

You can always find the latest version of the style sheet (and the fonts for it) on the permanent page of BBT editorial resources.

Today the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust released this statement.

The ISKCON Governing Body Commission has recommended to the BBT trustees that we insert endnotes or appendices into Srila Prabhupada’s books to explain statements Srila Prabhupada makes in Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.25.41, 4.25.42, and 4.26.26 concerning a woman’s attitude towards the aggressive advances of a man who is “expert at rape.” The GBC has also recommended that the endnotes or appendices explain “other such statements.”

The BBT directors, at their annual meeting in June of 2008, considered these recommendations and decided to turn them down.

You may have seen things on the internet written by “Madhudvisa Dasa.” And you may have wondered, Is this the Madhudvisa, the senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada? Or perhaps you assumed it was.

In fact, there are two Madhudvisas, two entirely different people.

The senior Madhudvisa Dasa	The junior Madhudvisa Dasa

For those who doubt we live in a world where peace can be attained, I saw this advertisement today in Leicester, UK, in the window of a mortician:

“Discover the peace of mind that comes from planning and paying towards your funeral.”

Mr. William F. Buckley, Jr., the politically conservative founder of the magazine National Review, an opinionated intellectual whose views I have sometimes agreed with, sometimes disagreed with, and often not known or cared about but whose skill as a writer I have often admired, died on Wednesday at 82.

Among his other roles, for thirty-three years he served as host and combatant on “Firing Line,” a television program of highbrow discussion and debate.

An article today in The New York Times about Mr. Buckley and his program relates an anecdote told by Richard Brookhiser, a conservative writer and a frequent guest on the program:

And there was the time that Allen Ginsberg asked Mr. Buckley’s permission, in the middle of an episode, to sing a song in praise of Lord Krishna.

“That was a howl—sorry, sorry about the word choice,” Mr. Brookhiser said. “Bill was very gentle with him. He said of course.”

Mr. Ginsberg proceeded to play a long and doleful number on a harmonium, chanting along slowly and passionately, Mr. Brookhiser said. “And when he was finished, Bill said, ‘Well, that’s the most unharried Krishna I’ve ever heard.’ ”

I subscribe to a free e-mail newsletter that arrives twice a month with brief extracts from valuable Krishna conscious writings. In the latest issue I found these instructions from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, which I thought I’d share:

varjile e saba sanga sadhu ninda naya
ihake ye ninda bale sei varjya haya

One should avoid the association of persons who criticize saintly devotees.

ei saba sanga chadi ananya-sarana
krsna-nama kari paya krsna-prema-dhana

Anyone who avoids these persons, chants Krishna’s holy name, and takes shelter of Krishna and no one else attains the treasure of love for Krishna.

You can request to receive the newsletter, Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu, by writing to katha@gopaljiu.org.

Every year I make my personal finances public. Attached is an accounting of my finances for 2007.

In Vrindaban, India, on the evening of December 22, my godbrother Vibhu Chaitanya Dasa, a pure devotee of Krishna, passed away from this world, surrounded by devotees singing the Hare Krishna mantra. He was 84 years old.

Vibhu Chaitanya joined the followers of our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, in 1975. Some time earlier in Kolkata, Vibhu Chaitanya had renounced family life, and now he showed up at the Krishna-Balarama Temple in Vrindaban and asked to join. Srila Prabhupada’s followers at that time, mostly Westerners in their twenties, quickly warmed to this humble, joyful Bengali devotee thirty or forty years older.

He soon received initiation from Srila Prabhupada, who then gave him the service of cooking for the temple Deities. This entailed preparing six offerings of food every day, on simple coal stoves, starting well before sunrise and ending after 8 o’clock at night. This was a service he performed every day for the next fifteen years.

from His Holiness Bhakti Bhringa Govinda Swami, leader for the Hare Krishna devotees in Kazakhstan.

On November 8, 2007, the Supervisory Panel of the Almaty Provincial Court cancelled its decision on the transfer of 116-acre Krishna Society farm to Mr. E. Abdykalykov. The court ruled that the land be again returned to the Kazakhstan Government.

This is the second time the court has returned the property to the government of Kazakhstan.

from His Holiness Bhakti Bhringa Govinda Swami, leader for the Hare Krishna devotees in Kazakhstan

November 5, 2007

On November 4, 2007, the practitioners of the Society for Krishna Consciousness were informed that they have one week to vacate their farm.

Newly posted online for downloading is an updated version of the BBT Style Sheet.

It offers the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust’s latest standards on such matters as spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and word choice.

This is a routine update. No shockers.

The BBT’s digital edition of the Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary does work under Windows Vista, once you’ve replaced an old font file with a new one.

Without the fix, a few diacritical characters won’t show up. With the fix, all works fine.

Here’s the fix:

• Download this zip archive. (It’s small: 5 KB).
• Extract the file MWD.FON and put it in your Monier-Williams Dictionary folder, replacing the old version of the file.

You’re done.

Thank you to Ramakanta Dasa, who wrote the dictionary program, for providing the fix.

The 2007 Vyasa-puja book honoring His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, is now available as a downloadable PDF file from Krishna.com. You can find it here.