Jayadvaita Swami

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satyam param dhimahi

Psychology meets reality

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Enough of those cheery motivational slogans trying to psych us into believing "it's all in the mind" and whatever we wish will be ours if only we've got the right positive attitude. The blessed souls at Despair, Inc., have come out with a series of posters (oh, and T-shirts and mugs and whatnot) designed to deflate us and bring us down to earth (and make themselves a bit of money while they're at it). Deliciously depressing. www.despair.com. Enjoy. Thank you to my godsister Urmila Devi Dasi for letting me know about this site. … [Read more...] about Psychology meets reality

BBT publishes unauthorized changes in Vaishnava Calendar, concerned devotees say

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(Exclusive to the SAMPRAJALPA SUN) "At first I couldn't believe it," said Rijidatma Dasa. "The books, yes. But who would ever think the BBT would start monkeying with the Vaishnava Calendar?" The Vaishnava Calendar has been the guide for ISKCON's holy days and festivals since the early 1970s, when Srila Prabhupada first asked for it to be published. And for nearly two decades the BBT has published an annual BBT Art Calendar with a beautiful picture of Krishna-lila for each month. But ISKCON has now been plunged into turmoil by the discovery that the BBT, unannounced, has made changes … [Read more...] about BBT publishes unauthorized changes in Vaishnava Calendar, concerned devotees say

“A man of his word”

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Class on vows and Integrity, March 2008, London (To download: right click, and save as...) This is a slimmed-down version of a class I gave in March 2008 at the ISKCON center at Soho Street in London. One mistake: I say that "some girls" who wanted Bhisma to marry them asked his guru to oblige him to do so. In fact there was only one such girl--Amba. The other girls, her two sisters, married Bhisma's half-brother Vicitravirya. In any case, my point concerning Bhisma's personal integrity remains the same, as do my points concerning our own. Full class - CC Madhya-lila 1.96 - 30 … [Read more...] about “A man of his word”

An obituary I don’t have to write

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On October 23, while I was stopping briefly at the ISKCON center in New Delhi on the way from Govardhana to Mumbai, an anguished disciple of my godbrother Jayapataka Swami told me that Jayapataka Swami had fallen unconscious while in Mumbai to attend a meeting and had been rushed to the hospital, where he lay still unconscious and in critical condition. When I reached Mumbai I got a fuller story. He had suffered a major stroke, with hemorrhaging in two locations in the brain, one of them in the brain stem, an area so neurologically delicate and so hard to reach that no direct intervention … [Read more...] about An obituary I don’t have to write

Don’t badmouth sadhus

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Here is a class I gave in India last January for a course at the Mayapur Institute for Higher Education. I spoke on this verse from the Bhagavad-gita (9.30): api cet su-duracaro bhajate mam ananya-bhak sadhur eva sa mantavyah samyag vyavasito hi sah "Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination." Cannot see the audio below? Click here... https://archive.org/download/JAS_Classes_2008/JAS_Dont-badmouth-sadhus_Jan-2008_MIHE_mayapur.mp3 The class was held on a lawn … [Read more...] about Don’t badmouth sadhus

A quantum loss

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On Thursday, six days ago, I'd been thinking of a book to send to a cousin, Bill, a semi-retired pediatrician. In response to some points I'd made in talking about the spiritual nature of consciousness, he had asked me if I'd ever read anything by Stephen J. Gould, the Harvard paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, historian of science, and author of popular scientific articles and books. The unstated message: I doubt whether your ideas about consciousness can stand up in the face of what we know from science. I haven't read more than a few brief essays by Gould, so I later wrote to ask … [Read more...] about A quantum loss

9/11: “A distant view” revisited

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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! The article further discussed the idea of divine and demonic traits of human character, a topic to which Lord Krishna devotes an entire … [Read more...] about 9/11: “A distant view” revisited

BBT turns down GBC recommendation, will not add “explanations” to Prabhupada’s books

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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 … [Read more...] about BBT turns down GBC recommendation, will not add “explanations” to Prabhupada’s books