Archive for January, 2008
25 Jan: Progress of the pavilions
Some photos by Citta Hari Prabhu, on the progress of the pavilions for the Vraja Project, as they are being worked on in the workshop. Six holy places still remain to be sponsored.
Click here to view as a slideshow.
1 comment January 25th, 2008
Jan.25: Tisztelettel bánjunk mindennel!
Reggeli lecke Budapesten a SB.4.12.29 versből.
- Bhadarikasrama jelentősége.
- Krisna és a Vele kapcsolatban álló dolgok nem különböznek. Ld. Jagannatha szekere, Vrndavana-dhama stb.
- Sokszor nem látjuk a dolgok valódi értékét. Az indiánok egy marék gyönygyért eladták a mai Manhattan szigetet.
- Dhruva Maharaja saját testében ment vissza a lelki világba.
- Minden dologgal bánjunk tisztelettel. Ez a jóság minősége.
- Dhruva csak képletesen lépett a halál fejére, hiszen a halál személyisége Yamaraja és egy bhakta sosem lépne a fejére.
- A vaisnavák nem félnek a haláltól, hanem várják: jó lehetőség a lelki világba menni.
Add comment January 25th, 2008
25 Feb: Books
- Sales and distribution of Suddha-bhakti-cintamani.
- Pavilions at New Vraja-dhama (see Share It later today for photos)
- …and other things.
Add comment January 25th, 2008
Lonely Death Raises Community Question
CANBERRA (Reuters) – The death of elderly man in his Sydney apartment, which went undiscovered for more than a year, had Australians questioning their loss of community spirit on Thursday.
Jorge Chambe, 64, died a lonely death in Sydney’s southwest and his decomposing body, dressed and lying on the bed, was only found after firefighters and police broke into his apartment after a neighbor noticed his letterbox overflowing.
“It’s amazing. This guy lives in the suburbs and he dies and no one notices for a year,” Detective-Inspector Ian Pryde told local media.
“For some reason the guy has been left there undetected for some time which is so sad, terribly sad.”
Australia’s Council on the Ageing said it was a terrible reflection of modern society and followed the 2006 discovery of another three elderly people in their homes, more than six months after they had died.
“I’m 60 and I recall when I was growing up that the neighbors were friendly,” said the council’s deputy director Geoffrey Bird.
“We didn’t live in each other’s pockets, but we certainly knew what was going on. We shared little social events.”
State Housing Director-General Mike Allen said the dead man was still paying his rent through direct debit and his bank accounts suggested he had been dead for up to a year. He had also continued to receive government welfare payments.
His electricity company cut power in July 2007 but did not raise any alarm.
Police urged people to check on their elderly neighbors.
“It could save a life,” Pryde said.
Add comment January 25th, 2008
25 Jan: Scots Comedy
A comedy routine performed at Karuna Bhavan on the weekend: the last ten minutes are great :)
Note:
 *Or in English, “This is solely the work of the Scottish yatra and no correspondence about the content will be entered into.” :)
Add comment January 25th, 2008
24 Jan: Pearls of Wisdom
Eternal answers from Yudhisthira Maharaja.
“What makes one learned? How does one attain an exalted status? What is one’s second self and by what does one become wise?”
“By study of the Vedas one becomes learned. Asceticism raises one to an exalted status. Intelligence is his second self, and serving elders makes one wise.”
“What is the Brahmins’ divine attribute? What is their virtuous practice resembling that of the pious, what is their human attribute, and what practice of theirs resembles that of the impious?”
“Study of the Vedas is the Brahmins’ divine attribute. Their asceticism is like the virtuous practice of the pious, death is their human attribute, and slander by them is their impiety.”
“What is the divine attribute of ksatriyas, what is their piety and impiety, and what is their human failing?”
“Arrows and weapons constitute their divinity, sacrifice is their piety and abandoning the distressed their impiety. Fear is their human failing.”
“What is the Sama of sacrifice, what is its Yajur and what can it not do without?”
“Life is the sacrificial Sama, mind is its Yajur and it is the Rg which it cannot do without.”
Yudhisthira understood his actual meaning. By sacrifice he meant the spiritual sacrifice for obtaining pure knowledge. In the objective sacrifice which one normally performs with fire and mantras, the three Vedas”“”“Sama, Yajur and Rg”“”“are required. In the subjective, spiritual sacrifice, the acquisition of true knowledge, along with life and mind, are as necessary as the mantras of the three Vedas are for the objective sacrifice. Particularly spiritual sacrifice depends upon prayer, which is represented by the Rg mantras.
The Yaksa went on without pause. “What is of greatest value to cultivators, to those that sow, to those wishing for prosperity and to those who bring forth?”
“Rain is the most valuable thing for cultivators, for showers it is the seed, for those desiring prosperity it is the cow and for those who bring forth it is the son.”
“What person, although breathing, endowed with intelligence, respected by the world and enjoying sensual pleasures, is nevertheless said to be not alive?”
“The person who does not satisfy the gods, guests, servants, ancestors and his own self with offerings of sanctified food is said to be dead even though breathing.”
“What is weightier than the earth? What is higher than the sky? What is fleeter than the wind? And what is more numerous than grass?”
“The mother is weightier than the earth. The father is higher than the sky. Mind is fleeter than the wind and thoughts are more numerous than grass.”
Yudhisthira understood that by serving the mother one was said to obtain the earth and by serving the father one could rise to heaven.
The Yaksa continued, “What does not close its eyes when sleeping? What does not move after birth? What has no heart, and what swells with its own force?”
“Fish do not close their eyes when sleeping. Eggs do not move after birth. A stone has no heart and a river swells with its own force.”
“Who is the friend of an exile, of a householder, of a sick person and of a dying man?”
“An exile’s friend is his companion, that of a householder is his wife, the physician is a sick person’s friend and charity is a dying man’s friend.”
“Who is the guest of all creatures? What is the eternal religion? O king of kings, what is life-giving nectar, and what pervades this entire universe?”
“Agni is the guest of all creatures. Cows’ milk is life-giving nectar. Offering ghee into fire sacrifices made to the Lord is the eternal religion, and this entire universe is pervaded by air.”
“What is it that wanders alone? What is born again after its birth? What is the antidote to cold, and what is the largest field?”
“The sun wanders alone. The moon is repeatedly born. Agni is cold’s antidote, and the earth is the largest field.”
“What is the highest refuge of virtue? What of fame? What of heaven, and what of happiness?”
“Liberality is virtue’s highest refuge, of fame it is charity, of heaven it is truth, and of happiness the highest refuge is good conduct.”
“What is the soul of a man? Who is the friend given to him by destiny? What is his chief support, and what is his chief refuge?”
“The soul of a man is his son, his wife is the friend given by destiny, clouds are his principal support, and charity his best refuge.”
“What is the best of all laudable objects, of all sorts of wealth and of all kinds of happiness? And what is the most important of all gains?”
“Skillfulness is the most laudable object. Knowledge is the greatest wealth. Health is the greatest gain, and contentment is the highest happiness.”
“What is the greatest virtue in the world? What religion always bears fruits? What is it that which if controlled never leads men to misery? And with whom does friendship never break?”
“Abstention from harming any creature is the greatest virtue. The religion of the three Vedas is always fruitful. The mind if controlled never leads to misery, and friendship with the righteous never breaks.”
“What is it that, by renouncing, makes a man dear to others? What is it which if given up never leads to misery? What is it which if renounced leads to wealth, and what is it which if renounced leads to happiness.”
“Giving up pride makes one dear. Abandoning anger never leads to misery. Desire, if renounced, makes one wealthy, and abandonment of avarice leads to happiness.”
“For what does one give charity to Brahmins, to dancers, to servants, and to kings?”
“One gives to Brahmins for religious merit, to dancers for renown, to servants for their support, and one gives to kings for freedom from fear.”
“What is it that envelops the world? What prevents a thing from discovering itself? Why are friends forsaken, and what prevents one from going to heaven?”
“The world is enveloped with darkness. Spiritual ignorance prevents self-discovery. Friends are forsaken due to avarice, and connection with the world bars one from heaven.”
“For what is a person regarded as dead? What causes a kingdom to be seen as dead, and what makes a sacrifice dead?”
“A poor person, although living, is considered as good as dead. A kingdom without a king is considered dead, and a sacrifice without charity is dead.”
“What is the path one should follow? What is spoken of as water, as food, and as poison? What is the proper time for a sraddha?”
“Following in the footsteps of the righteous constitutes the proper path. Space is spoken of as water in the Vedic texts on cosmogony. The cow is considered as food, as it is from milk that ghee is obtained; ghee is then used in sacrifices, and thanks to sacrifices there is rainfall, from which we get food grains. A request is poison. The proper time for a sraddha is whenever a qualified Brahmin is available.”
Yudhisthira was unsure if his answers were satisfying the Yaksa. He looked at him quizzically. “What is your opinion, O Yaksa?” But the Yaksa simply went on placing more questions.
“What is the characteristic of true asceticism? What of self-control? What constitutes forgiveness and shame?”
“Following one’s religious duties is asceticism. Self-control means keeping the mind fixed in remembrance of the Lord. Forgiveness consists of tolerating enmity, and freedom from shame means abstaining from all vile acts.”
“O King, what is said to be knowledge? What is tranquility? What is known as the greatest kindness, and what is simplicity?”
“Understanding Brahman is true knowledge. A peaceful heart is tranquility. Kindness consists of a desire for the welfare of all creatures, and simplicity means equanimity of mind.”
“What is man’s invincible enemy? What is his incurable disease? What man is regarded as honest, and what as dishonest?”
“Anger is the invincible enemy. Covetousness is the incurable disease. A man who is friendly to all creatures is honest, and the cruel man is dishonest.”
“What, O great monarch, is known as ignorance? What is spoken of as pride? What is understood to be idleness? And what is called grief?”
“Not knowing one’s religious duties is ignorance. Pride means thinking oneself to be the doer of acts in this world, without recognizing that there is a supreme power in control of everything. Idleness is not performing one’s religious duty, and ignorance is grief.”
“What is known by the rsis as steadiness, and what as patience? What is said to be the best ablution, and what is spoken of as charity?”
“Steadiness means adhering firmly to one’s religious duties. Patience is controlling the senses. The highest ablution is to cleanse the mind of all impurities, and charity means to protect all creatures.”
“Who is considered learned? Who is an atheist? Who is ignorant? What is spoken of as desire, and what as envy?”
“One who knows his duties is learned. An ignorant man is an atheist, and thus is an atheist ignorant. Desire means longing for worldly things, and envy is nothing more than grief of the heart.”
“What is hypocrisy? What is the grace of the gods? What is called wickedness?”
“Falsely posing as a religious man is called hypocrisy. The grace of the gods is the result of charity. Wickedness means slandering others.”
“Virtue, profit and pleasure are opposed to one another. How then can these three co-exist?”
“When a husband and wife are happily united for the purposes of performing religious duties, then these three can exist together harmoniously.”
“Who, O best of the Bharatas, is doomed to eternal damnation? Speedily answer this question of mine.”
“One who summons a Brahmin for alms, but then gives nothing, is condemned to everlasting hell. He also goes to unending hell who denies the truth of the Vedas, the Brahmins, the gods and the religion of his forefathers. Also that man who although wealthy refuses to give charity must suffer everlasting damnation.”
“O King, tell me with certainty what makes one a Brahmin? Is it birth, good character, learning or study of the Vedas?”
“Hear, O Yaksa, O worshipable one, what are the true characteristics of a Brahmin? It is by behavior alone that he is recognized. Birth and learning, even knowledge of all the Vedas, are useless if there is no good character. He alone is a Brahmin who performs his religious duties, offering sacrifices and keeping his senses under control. Otherwise he must be considered no better than a sudra.”
“What is gained by agreeable speech? What is gained by he who acts only after careful thought? What does the man with many friends gain? And what does he gain who is given to virtue?”
“One who speaks agreeably becomes dear to all. One who acts with care obtains whatever he seeks. The man with many friends lives happily in this life, and the virtuous man obtains happiness in the next life.”
“What makes the soul rise out of his entanglement in matter? Who keeps him company, who is his guide on that spiritual journey, and on what is he established?”
“It is knowledge of the Supreme Lord which makes the soul rise. Godly qualities are his companions, dharma is his guide, and he is established on truth.”
“What makes one learned? How does one attain to that which is most exalted? How does one acquire a second self, and by what, O King, does one become wise?”
“One becomes learned by studying the Vedas. By asceticism one attains what is most exalted. Intelligence is like a second self, and serving one’s elders makes one wise.”
The Yaksa then asked about all kinds of subjects, ranging from worldly wisdom to knowledge of religion to spiritual matters. Yudhisthira answered them all without hesitation. Finally the Yaksa said, “I am satisfied. Answer my last four questions and I will restore one of your brothers to life. Who in this world is happy? What is the most wonderful thing? What are the tidings of this world, and how can one find the eternal path of religion?”
With folded palms Yudhisthira replied, “He who is neither in debt nor exiled and who lives simply, eating simple food in his own home, is happy. The most wonderful thing is that although every day innumerable creatures go to the abode of death, still a man thinks he is immortal. The tidings are that in this world”“”“which is like a cauldron with the sun as its fire, days and nights as its fuel, and months and seasons as its wooden ladle”“”“all creatures are being cooked by time. The eternal religious path is found only in the heart of great mystics.”
The Yaksa smiled. “You have rightly answered every question. Tell me which of your brothers you wish to have restored to life?”
“O Yaksa, let Nakula, as tall as a sal tree and endowed with a broad chest and long arms, be brought to life.”
The Yaksa was surprised. “Bhimasena is surely more important to you than Nakula, O King, and Arjuna is your chief support. Why do you ask for Nakula to be revived?”
“He who sacrifices virtue is himself destroyed,” replied Yudhisthira, “and he who preserves virtue is in turn preserved by it. I am therefore careful to always observe virtue. For me, great virtue lies in refraining from cruelty; it is superior to all worldly gain. Thus I ask for Nakula. Both Kunti and Madri are the same to me. In myself Kunti still has one son, but Madri now has none. With a desire to behave equally toward my two mothers, I ask for the life of Nakula.”
“Since, O Pandava, you consider abstention from cruelty superior to both profit and desire, then let all your brothers be restored to life.” As the Yaksa spoke, the four brothers rose from the ground as if from a sleep. They felt refreshed and free from hunger and thirst.
Yudhisthira then asked the Yaksa, “Who are you, O great being, who assumes the form of a crane? Tell me in truth your identity. Are you a god? Perhaps you are my father himself.”
Yudhisthira had guessed correctly and the Yaksa replied, “I am indeed your father, O best of the Bharatas. Know me to be Dharma. I have come here with the intention of meeting you. Fame, truth, self-control, purity, simplicity, charity, modesty, steadiness, asceticism and celibacy are my limbs. I am reached by abstention from cruelty, impartiality, peacefulness, asceticism, purity and humility. You possess all these qualities, dear son. By good fortune you have conquered your mind and senses and practice virtue. I wanted to test you and I am fully satisfied. Ask me for boons and I will bestow them. Those who are ever devoted to me need never experience misfortune.”
2 comments January 24th, 2008
Cultivation
A recent talk by Sivarama Swami, transcribed by Hari Dasa.
All of one’s questions are answered when one’s chanting is very nice, when it is free from offense. Particularly when the heart becomes clean, purified. There are so many details in the mind but they all become resolved by chanting Hare Krsna nicely.
Actually that is the only thing that we really need to do. It is the most important thing, and when it is neglected and becomes secondary, what to speak of a tenth thing. If it’s not done regularly with quality, maybe sporadically, sometimes yes, sometimes no, then Krsna consciousness just becomes mental. It is just all going on in the mind and it is not a dynamically spiritually evolving thing. Gunarnava prabhu used to have as his motto, he used to say “you can judge a man by his japa.” In the material world they judge a man by his friends, so ultimately that is what Krsna consciousness means. A devotee is known by his attachment to the holy name and how he chants Hare Krsna and we shouldnt expect any more than what we put into chanting.
That is how much we should expect out of Krsna consciousness—how much we put into chanting Hare Krsna. Just like eating: don’t expect to run any faster or be any healthier, be any stronger, than how you eat. If you have an irregular diet, if you don’t eat nicely, if you don’t eat healthy foodstuffs, and if you don’t drink enough then it will affect your whole life. Everything will be affected. It affects how you eat, if affects how you sleep, it will affect how you work. It will affect how you play, how you look—it will affect everything.
So the same thing in chanting Hare Krsna: it is the root, it is the basis of everything and when that is done very nicely then it just sweeps everything else out of the way. It all becomes insignificant. Sometimes we have experience of that. Everything is just undisturbed, everything is clear when one chants Hare Krsna. That should be our real business because it is anusilana, it is a cultivation. It is not just something that you are able to do: “OK now I am determined to do it.” It is like Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, bhakti lata bija, it is like growing a plant, it is not that you neglect the plant, you don’t water it, you don’t give it any fertiliser and you all of a suddent say, “OK I am pouring water on it and tomorrow I am having fruit!” That is not the way it works: it may be not long dead but even if it is still alive it is not all of a sudden going to respond just because today you decide you are going to water it.
It is a process and that is what we need to prepare ourselves for. If Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Prabhupada, or Krsna want to intervene and they want to do something special for some reasons of their own, that is krpa, that is very rare. It can happen but rather than trying to be the exception, figure what the ordinary folks get.
Add comment January 24th, 2008
Only in India (cont’d)
NEW DELHI: Buying a new car? What about going to a dealer who offers a free puja for the car with a priest in attendance?
As priests hop from household to household performing pujas in the capital, they now have a new job opening, performing quick puja for the customers at showrooms before they drive away with the four-wheeler.
Aware of the fact that in a country like India where most of the Hindu acts are followed by a mark of religiosity, many dealers have now started to provide the grand-old service of performing customary rituals and ceremonies right at the car showrooms.
Raman Gupta who is a manager (Operations) in a leading IT company, recently bought a new Maruti from a car dealer in the capital. Like many middle-class Indians, he also believes in starting any new work after performing some rituals.
Just as he was about to leave for a Hanuman mandir in the nearby area, a person from the showroom approached him and introduced himself as Pandit Radhamohan Tyagi, a priest deployed by the outlet manager for carrying out the “customary rituals and ceremony” for the occasion.
“We are here for your convenience sir. Don’t worry I will take care of your feelings,” remarked the priest. In just 15 minutes, he along with his disciple performed all the rituals from coconut-breaking and ’swastik’ smearing to ‘aarti’ and all.
“I am really delighted at the service being offered by the company at no extra cost”, says wife of Raman, Seema Gupta.
Panditji is happy too. “We perform every ritual as per the demand of customer and get paid by the company”, he says.
Add comment January 24th, 2008
Jan.24: A Podcast jövőjéről
Beszélgetés jan. 23-án a sivaramaswami.com üzemeltetéséről és továbbfejlesztéséről.
5 comments January 24th, 2008
Siberian Exile for Youths
GERMANY: Florian was nasty piece of work: a pathologically aggressive binge-drinking 16-year-old who attacked his mother and beat up a teacher.
Today he is an exile, plucked from the comfortable German town he had once terrorised and dumped in one of the most godforsaken corners on Earth.
In a revolutionary trial, German officials are sending feral juveniles to Siberia for nine months at a time, cut off from their families, friends, their booze, mobiles and computers.
And it seems to work. Florian, by his own assessment and in the opinion of his social worker, is an entirely different boy.
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But could it be the answer to the problem of violent alcohol-fuelled youngsters plaguing Britain?
In this harsh land once populated by Stalin’s exiles, the German boys must build themselves wooden outside toilets, walk miles through the snow to school, fetch logs for the fire and haul water from a well.
The Mirror tracked down Florian in Sedelnikovo, hundreds of miles from the nearest city, Omsk.
Standing in his military fatigues, iced-up spectacles frozen to his nose, he doesn’t look much like the thug who, on the rare occasions he wasn’t playing truant, violently attacked his mother and his teachers.
The temperature was a bonechilling minus 23C, but it can dip as low as minus 55C.
Florian, from the central German town of Giessen, doesn’t have much time to talk. He has just emerged from the Russian school he attends daily, but his minder, sent from Germany to monitor him, expects him back to fetch the logs for the fire.
“I do all the work around the house,” he says. “Although, actually, it’s not more than any other local does here. Now I’m used to it, but when I first arrived it was all unknown.
“The first thing I had to do was build a wooden toilet by myself.
I had to dig the hole in the ground.”
If he gets caught short in the night, there’s no option but to venture outside and hope the Siberian wolves are elsewhere.
“I’ve spent eight months here and I reckon this has worked for me,” he says. “I should leave at the end of February.
“I’m a better person now. I want to get back home and start a new life. I’ll be different when I get back. I know for certain I will.”
Sedelnikovo is a dreadful backwater untouched by the oil-powered economic boom Russia has enjoyed under President Vladimir Putin. It had a population of 36,000 in Soviet times, but the timber mills closed and now it has shrunk. All the locals who could get out did so long ago.
Those who can’t are mainly the elderly, who shuffle around in traditional felt boots and sheepskin coats.
For those with Ladas, it takes four hours drive on the icy road to reach Omsk. But many still rely on the horse and cart.
Florian’s life here is one of grim monotony. He attends school each day, and though he speaks hardly any Russian and is clearly an outsider, he wouldn’t dream of avoiding the one-and-a-half mile walk through thick snow. There’s nothing else to do – school is a highlight in a chore-filled week.
“Basically, I like it here,” says Florian. “It’s really cold, and I could never get used to it.
But as for the rest, I feel OK here.
“Being in a Russian school is tough. I can only say a few phrases in Russian, so I usually don’t understand the lessons.
“But the other kids are friendly, and the teachers are nice, so I like going to school.”
Social worker Vasily Bander is Florian’s minder, as he has been for other young German troublemakers sent to this lonely outpost. He is convinced that this regime, much tougher than any boot camp, can turn yobbish lives around.
“Florian is my fourth,” says Bander, a Russian-speaking German. “Like the others before him, I haven’t had any problems.
“When those kids come here, we often don’t understand why they’ve been sent to us. The only rule for someone in my position is that I must be an authority for them.
“They must learn to respect the authority. Together with a regime of tough manual labour, it gives remarkable results.”
Vasily believes the shock therapy brings out young people’s good sides, however bad they have been back home.
He says: “This is a very interesting project and I think it works well. Nine months here changes them so much. As an experienced social worker, I’m sure that we can find the way to bring out the good in them.”
The facilities here are starkly basic.
They share a wooden shack with no hot water, and have only a wood-fired stove to protect them from the incredible cold.
Florian has to fetch water from the well and heat it on the stove. He must clear the path after the frequent snowfalls.
And apart from school, he is not allowed to communicate with the local kids.
After his exhausting months here, Florian seems a transformed figure. “He seems nice and friendly, even shy,” says one classmate Katya, also aged 16.
“I can’t believe he’s a violent thug back home. There is nothing to show that.
He gets on well with the boys even if he’s not encouraged to mix.
“He stays away a bit from the girls, but we don’t know why. It’s a pity he doesn’t speak Russian better. Sometimes you see he’s bored in classes. But not when it’s the German lesson, of course!
“He’s not the first German boy to come here. We’ve had a few of them. It must be tough to be so far from home so we try to be friendly.”
The German state of Hesse paid for Florian to come here for this “somewhat unusual” treatment, explains Stefan Becker, head of the youth and social affairs department.
Stefan says: “Siberia is very low on excitement and contacts.
If he doesn’t hack wood, his place is cold. If he doesn’t get water, he can’t wash.
“The aim is to remove him from the stimuli of consumer culture. Things there are like we were 30 or 40 years ago.”
It’s also a cheaper option, at around £111 a day, than a detention centre in Germany.
The scheme, called the Road to Life project, is the brainchild of Frank Krener, a German youth expert.
His philosophy in treating the 43 youngsters who have come out here in the past few years is to bring them back to basics. “We give them all a chance to begin from scratch,” says Krener.
And for Florian, at least, it seems to have worked.
Add comment January 24th, 2008
The holy name of Lord Krsna is just like the sun that rises in the clear sky of the heart of the devotees.
- Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Add comment January 23rd, 2008
Nuclear Pre-emptive Strikes a Must
THE West must be prepared to carry out pre-emptive nuclear strikes to halt the spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, a radical new manifesto argues.
The document – written by five of the West’s most senior military officers and strategists – has been presented to the Pentagon and NATO’s secretary-general.
They argue there is a need for urgent and comprehensive reform of NATO, The Guardian reports.
A new pact – involving the United States, NATO and the European Union – was also essential to face the challenges ahead, they said.
The manifesto is likely to be discussed at a NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, in April, the paper said.
The authors include some of the top defence minds in the West, including General John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff and NATO’s ex-supreme commander in Europe.
The others are General Klaus Naumann, Germany’s former top soldier and ex-chairman of NATO’s military committee; General Henk van den Breemen, a former Dutch chief of staff; Admiral Jacques Lanxade, a former French chief of staff; and Lord Inge, field marshal and ex-chief of the general staff and the defence staff in the United Kingdom.
The former armed forces chiefs from the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands insist that a “first strike” nuclear option remains an “indispensable instrument” as there is “simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world”, The Guardian reports.
It said the manifesto had been written following discussions with active commanders and policymakers, many of whom were unable or unwilling to publicly air their views.
“The risk of further (nuclear) proliferation is imminent and, with it, the danger that nuclear war fighting, albeit limited in scope, might become possible,” the authors wrote, according to The Guardian.
“The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction.”
It identified a number of key threats to the West’s values and way of life, including international terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction and political fanaticism and religious fundamentalism.
It also cited the weakening of organisations such as the United Nations, NATO and the EU.
To prevail, they said, NATO’s decision-taking methods must be overhauled, moving to a majority rather than a consensus model, putting an end to national vetoes.
A new “directorate” of US, European and NATO leaders must also be established to respond rapidly to crises.
The five also proposed the use of force without UN security council authorisation when “immediate action is needed to protect large numbers of human beings,” The Guardian reported.
Ron Asmus, head of the German Marshall Fund thinktank in Brussels and a former senior US state department official, described the manifesto as “a wake-up call”.
“This report means that the core of the NATO establishment is saying we’re in trouble, that the West is adrift and not facing up to the challenges,” he told the paper.
Gen Naumann admitted the plan’s retention of the nuclear first strike option was “controversial” even among the five authors.
But he said proliferation was spreading, and NATO needed to show “there is a big stick that we might have to use if there is no other option”.
Lord Inge argued that “to tie our hands on first use or no first use removes a huge plank of deterrence.”
1 comment January 23rd, 2008
Jan.23: Lemondani nem elég
A bhakta az ideiglenest használja, hogy elérje az örökkévalóságot. Reggeli lecke Budapesten, SB. 4.12.27.
“í“h, halhatatlan! Ezt a páratlan repülőgépet az Istenség Legfelsőbb Személyisége küldte, akit válogatott himnuszokkal imádnak, s aki a legfőbb élőlény. Te igazán megérdemled, hogy egy ilyen repülőre szállj.”
- Halhatatlanul halandónak tudjuk vélni magunkat, ha az anyaggal azonosulunk.
- Aki szenvedélyben van, az a szenvedések miatt le akar mondani a világról, de íly módon nem válhat valaki felszabadulttá.
- A világot nem lehet megtagadni, hanem kötelességből el kell fogadni és Isten törvényei szerint kell használni.
- Nem elég a nirbandha, az elkülönülés, kell a krsna-sambandha is, az, hogy mindent összekapcsoljunk Krisnával.
- Mivel minden nőnek mindig menedékben kell lennie, Mayadevinek is – használjuk az anyagi energiát mindig Krisna szolgálatában.
- Csak ilyen gyakorlattal tudunk belépni a lelki világba.
- Az életere szóló szolgálatunkkal tudjuk bizonyítani, hogy megbízhatóak vagyunk és megérdemeljük a lelki világot.
Add comment January 23rd, 2008
23 Jan: Fear
- Draupadi’s golden hair? (Please send the quote Maharaja asks for to him at this address
- Fear due to past or current karma robs us of enthusiasm and intelligence.
- When our hearts are purified we become free from the influence of illusion.
- Learning and memorizing the Nrsimha-kavaca, and practicing disciplines to control and overcome fear.
Add comment January 23rd, 2008
Prahlada Maharaja
Prahlada Maharaja
Transcript of a podcast given on 20 December (transcribed by Bh Fiona)
Sivarama Swami: “Today after kirtana I just had a brief class and this was the verse which continued yesterday’s topics. This is Hiranyakasipu speaking to his cohorts:
“Just as uncontrolled senses are the enemies of all yogis who are engaged in advancing in spiritual life, this Prahlada, who appears to be a friend, is an enemy because I cannot control him. Therefore this enemy, whether eating, sitting or sleeping, must be killed by all means.”
Purport by Srila Prabhupada: Hiranyakasipu planned a campaign to kill Prahlada Maharaja. He would kill his son by administering poison to him while he was eating, by making him sit in boiling oil, or by throwing him under the feet of an elephant while he was lying down. Thus Hiranyakasipu decided to kill his innocent child, who was only five years old, simply because the boy had become a devotee of the Lord. This is the attitude of non-devotees toward devotees. (SB 7.5.38)
Of course, Hiranyakasipu, he really embodies and is the epitome of materialism. Hiranyakasipu ““ soft bed and gold ““ these are the emblems of materialistic persons and persons who are then naturally antagonistic towards Vaisnavas, because the values of Vaisnavas and the values of materialists are different, and therefore the two are incompatible.
Yesterday, I was speaking about some of the horrors that mankind perpetrates on itself, it’s brethren, other living entities ““ animals – as well as on the planet itself. And this isn’t a coincidental thing. It’s a systematic, planned consequence, of a belief, a value. That belief is that ““ asatyam apratistham te jagad ahur anisvaram ““ that sense enjoyment is the ultimate goal of life. People should gratify their senses, gross and subtle, by all means.
And even those who want a moderate approach to carbon emissions and so on, they still support the same values as those who spew out unlimited amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from factories that produce useless consumer products or unnecessary consumer products. Wanted, but unnecessary.
And that’s what it means to live in the material world. It is to live in Hiranyakasipu’s kingdom and it’s why Srila Prabhupada began a revolution. He did not introduce a religion which is meant to “fit in” or go “mainstream”. This is terminology we sometimes use: just be accepted by all others who conduct their lifestyle in the same way that they have before.
But rather, Krishna Consciousness is a spiritual culture. It’s meant to usher in a new type of lifestyle, the consequence of which is to protect the environment, not to slaughter innocent animals, not to have wars, not to have prostitution, intoxication and so on.
It’s a natural consequence of sense control. It’s a natural consequence of living according to the laws of God and offering all of one’s activities as acts of devotion to the Supreme Lord.
Therefore the two are incompatible. Just like Hiranyakasipu finds Prahlada’s conduct incompatible, Prahlada finds Hiranyakasipu’s is incompatible, and it is why Srila Prabhupada didn’t want devotees living in cities, and working and participating in the society which produces the evils that it does, because you’re implicated.
Someone may say: I want to be a teacher, or, I’m a computer technician. But your being a teacher, your being a computer technician may appear to be some type of neutral employment ““ it’s not being a butcher, or not opening a discotheque, or not selling drugs. By that I mean drugs used for entertainment, not for health purposes. But even if you’re engaged in so-called neutral work there is no question of being neutral. One is working for, and perpetrating that world which may use computer programmes and may use computers ““ to do what?
To have a very systematic, organised approach to all of it’s sense diversion and sense gratification and exploitation and violence.
Therefore people who work in the system, and live with the system, and accept the system are implicated. They are cohorts of Hiranyakasipu and Kali, and the only way that Srila Prabhupada gave as an alternative for devotees to free themselves from the implication, the karmic and sinful reaction for that type of compromise is to give fifty percent of their income for furthering the mission, furthering the revolution of the Krishna Consciousness movement. Otherwise, you’re implicated, and it’s illusion to think otherwise.
Even those who are not devotees, who are not even necessarily believers, but who have a certain value system that can just not accommodate what goes on in the world today, and the impetus for what makes things tick in the world today, retire from the world. They go off into the mountains, they buy a farm, they try to be self-sufficient and they try to live according to what they believe, because not living according to what you believe is, in one word, called hypocrisy. And more and more people are turning to that type of lifestyle of educating their own children, making their own food, of protecting certain values that they believe in rather than sacrificing everything that’s good and honest and just, all for the sake of gold and soft bed.
And of course, farming communities and self-sufficiency were Srila Prabhupada’s answer to this. His self-sufficiency was not even a matter of just feeding ourselves and not being dependant upon unnecessary manufactured products, but self-sufficiency means that we’re not in anyway compromised. In our values, in our beliefs, and by a system which is, in short, a slaughterhouse, and which can accommodate in the name of globalism, in the name of democracy, in the name of making people happy, values that are destructive to the very fibre of mankind, values that deny the existence of God or values that demote God simply to an “order supplier”, some impersonal energy, some kind of void, something that you pay lip service to in some house of God, but [Who has] nothing to say over your lifestyle, nor interferes with your meat-eating or intoxication, illicit sex and so on.
So our revolution needs to go on. I don’t know if the word is actually “go on” or “happen”. It certainly happened when Srila Prabhupada was here. Prabhupada certainly started a revolution. We need to keep Srila Prabhupada’s revolutionary spirit, and Srila Prabhupada’s revolution going. Which is: We must be able to show an alternate lifestyle to the world that we’re in today and making that happen is the responsibility of all Vaisnavas, be they city dwellers, temple dwellers, farm dwellers etc.
Otherwise, we may be nice guys and have a great philosophy, we may have a wonderful lifestyle and we may worship Deities. But when we’re integrated into Hiranyakasipu’s system and dependant upon it, then we’re implicated in the Hiranyakasipu mentality and the Hiranyakasipu deeds and sins. Hare Krishna. “
Add comment January 23rd, 2008
23 Jan: Back to Hungary
A review of the UK visit while on the train back to Hungary yesterday.
- The state of England’s cleanliness levels.
- Increased preaching in Wales.
- The Welsh yatra’s success in the book marathon.
- …and other things…
Add comment January 23rd, 2008
Only in…Australia??
Two Australians have been jailed for a failed heist which left one of them with a bag of bread rolls and the other with a bullet in the backside.
Benjamin Jorgensen, 38, and Donna Hayes, 36, were sentenced to seven and eight years respectively for the robbery in a Melbourne restaurant.
During the robbery, Jorgensen grabbed what he thought was a bag of money – only to find it contained bread rolls.
He also accidentally fired his gun, hitting Hayes in the buttock.
Judge Roland Williams described the two, who had expected to steal takings worth about A$30,000 ($26,000, £13,000), as a “pair of fools”.
Hayes was hospitalised for a month as a result of her injuries.
The two pleaded guilty to armed robbery at the County Court in Victoria.
Add comment January 23rd, 2008
When the transcendental name is worshipped by the devotee, the name Himself spreads His glories within the heart of a devotee.
- Srila Prabhupada
Add comment January 23rd, 2008
Global Shares Tumble
Global stock markets have tumbled, with European indexes heading for their worst day in four years, amid growing fears of a recession in the US.
London’s FTSE 100 index fell 3.6% to 5685.2, in Paris the Cac-40 fell 6.7%, and Frankfurt’s Dax dropped 5.4%.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index slid by 3.9% to its lowest close since October 2005, while India’s Sensex shed 7.4%.
Investors have taken little comfort from emergency measures proposed by President George W Bush on Friday.
“It’s another horrible day,” said Francis Lun of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong.
“Today it’s because of disappointment that the US stimulus is too little, too late and investors feel it won’t help the economy recover.”
US markets have closed for a public holiday on Monday and will re-open on Tuesday.
‘Panic mode’
The worry is that tax breaks and spending measures will do little to boost consumer spending in the US because of problems in the housing market.
Many shoppers are struggling under higher mortgage repayment costs, and default rates have surged.
At the same time, banks have had to become more careful about who they lend to because they have lost billions of pounds on investments linked to the US housing and mortgage markets.
The state of the US economy is very important to many of Europe’s and Asia’s biggest companies as it is one of their biggest export markets.
Any slowdown in demand is likely to hurt corporate profit growth, and push share prices even lower, analysts warned.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult as the market is now in panic mode,” said Hugues Rialan of Robeco France.
“We’re falling back into the crisis of confidence in the financial sector.
“The banks have been reassuring the market over their exposure to US mortgage-related investments, but now we realise there is nothing reassuring about it,” he said.
Global trend
Markets in China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and the Philippines all fell.
In Mumbai, the main Sensex index fell 1,408 points, or 7.4%, adding to an 8% fall last week. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slumped 1,383.0 points, or 5.5%, to close at 23,818.9,
Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 index closed down 2.9%, or 166.9, points at 5,580.4, which is its lowest level for a year.
It was also the 11th consecutive negative day for the index, the longest losing streak in more than 25 years.
“People are certainly nervous about a potential recession in the US spilling over to the rest of the world,” said David Cohen at Action Economics.
So far this year, Japan’s Nikkei has dropped 13% percent, the Hang Seng is down more than 14%, and China’s main Shanghai index has slipped almost 7%.
Add comment January 22nd, 2008
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