Newsletter Number #144  ( January issue 2005 A.D. Gaurabda 518)
http://www.hknet.org.nz/index.htm
http://welcome.to/hknetworks

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ki jaya

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Please Accept My Respectful Obeisances & Best Wishes To All

_0____,

All Glories To Srila Prabhupad.

\o/
(_)
/ \ All Glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.

Welcome to the latest re-vamped edition of the on-line HKSRNewsletter, and our humble attempt to render some service to the devotee community. As you can see we've changed the format, and everything is here hyper-linked on-line, we hope it's now easier for you all. This newsletter now goes out to way over 2108 receivers. We trust that all is well with everyone by the Mercy of the Lord. However, if anyone would like to be removed please just send us a message requesting me to do so, and we will do it promptly. If you are receiving this from a friend, and would like to be added directly to the mailout please also let us know and we will do the needful there too. Removal and Subscription details at the very end of this newsletter.

Hare Krishna. =>B-) JTCd

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The Nectar in this Issue 

See the events on Interactive Calendar site for details:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2002-2003.html
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2003-2004.html
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2004-2005.html

Vaishnava Calendar for 2005-2006????
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2005-2006.html
(some selected locations are available already below)

The present year's calendar:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2004-2005.html

Download the Vaishnava Calendar software VCAL 4.01

Local temples

Words of Wisdom - Shastra & Shastrakaras speak:
... (Srila Prabhupad & the previous Acharyas)
... Coming Festivals
... Local temples
... Verses from Shastra
... Hare Krishna Maha Mantra
... Hare Krishna as ancient religion - NOT a cult
... Vaishnava Songs
... Samskaras and Agama Tantra
... Articles - Topical links - Do bad things happen to good people??? etc
... Vedik revival - Vedik World Heritage

Advertisements - what's on where: check them out...
... Cyber Community Notice Board
...lastest important news items !!!!

... Hare Krishna School in Auckland
... Ayurvedic health - and seminars - Radiance Ayurved has new site
... Fire Safety - Water Safety - Internet Safety
... Singles - Hare Krishna Singles - Vegetarian Singles - Marriage Compatibility checking
... FREE CD Rom
... Sri Shalagram Tirtha Pradarshini web-site and new newsletter
... Vegetarianism and Beyond site gets re-vamped
... Gaura Yoga - Wellington
... The Loft Auckland
... The new Auckland Temple now open

... Boxing Day Asian Tsunami Disaster Food (prasadam) Relief Appeal

... and much more

At Grass Roots: Topical stuff
... Seasonal Greetings...Happy 2005
... Have a Happy Year - Gaurabda 518

Prasadam Recipes: To slake the thirst of body, mind & soul
... some really useful Vege links and support
... inspiring Vegetarian articles
... Eggless cooking - baking - cakes
... Vegetarian Cheeses - new page (try the Tuxford range...)(updated August 2004)
... Vegetarian clubs
... Hare Krishna Food For Life - local and international food relief
... check out the new Ekadasi recipes link
... 101 reasons to be a vegetarian
... Meat substitutes - Tofu - Soy - TVP - tempe recipes
... White Sugar free from bone char in NZ
... FREE Meet your Meat CDRoms
... How to offer your food to God
... You mean that's in the Bible?
... visit our Vegetarianism and Beyond Award winning web-site
... Kurma's new web-site
... The Meatrix
... Holiday Season & Xmas survival recipes

Krishna conscious - Vedikly acceptable jokes:
... cut loose have a laugh
... serious therapy in humour !!!
... did U ever wonder -  Ways of the world - Strange but true

Thanx 2 our sponsors and supporters:
... sponsorship and support
... add or remove - sub or unsub
... HELP !!!
... donations welcome

Now you can view the FULL years 1999-2000 & 2000-2001 & 2001-2002 & 2002-2003 & 2003-2004 & 2004-2005.
All Calendar entries are explained - Appearance or Disappearance
days, festivals, fasts, feasts, etc.

View previous years festival dates on the Calendar:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2001-2002.htm
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2002-2003.html
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2003-2004.html
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2004-2005.html
Vaishnava Calendar for 2005-2006????
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2005-2006.html
(some selected locations are available already below)

The present year's calendar:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2004-2005.html

Sri Devananda Pandit - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Fasting for Saphala Ekadasi - (Fasting from Beans and Grains - 7th January 2005  in NZ)

Sri Mahesa Pandit - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Sri Uddharana Datta - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Sri Locana Das Thakur - Appearance  - Avirbhav

Srila Jiva Goswami - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Sri Jagadisa Pandit - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Makara Sankranti (Sun enters Capricorn)
Makara Sankranti all about Makara sankranti

Fasting for Putrada Ekadasi - (Fasting from Beans and Grains - 21st January 2005  in NZ)

Sri Jagadisa Pandit - Appearance  - Avirbhav

Sri Krsna Pusya abhisheka

Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami - Appearance  - Avirbhav

Sri Jayadeva Goswami - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Sri Locana Das Thakur - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Fasting for Sat-tila Ekadasi - (Fasting from Beans and Grains - 5th February 2005  in NZ)

Sri Ganga Sagara Mela

Sri Vasanta Pancami

Srimati Visnupriya Devi - Appearance  - Avirbhav

Srimati Sarasvati Puja

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi - Appearance  - Avirbhav

Sri Raghunandana Thakur - Appearance  - Avirbhav

Sri Raghunatha Das Goswami - Appearance  - Avirbhav

Kumbha Sankranti (Sun enters Aquarius)

Sri Advaita Acarya - Appearance  - Avirbhav (Fasting till noon)

Sri Bhismastami

Sripad Madhvacarya - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Sripad Ramanujacarya - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Fasting for Bhaimi Ekadasi - (Fasting from Beans and Grains - 20th February 2005  in NZ)

Sri Varaha Dvadasi - Appearance of Lord Varaha deva
(The fast is observed till noon on the Ekadasi)(Feasting is done today.)

Sri Nityananda Trayodasi - Appearance of Nityananda Prabhu (Fasting till noon - 22nd Feb in NZ)

Sri Krsna Madhura utsava

Srila Narottama Das Thakur - Appearance  - Avirbhav

Sri Purusottama Das Thakur - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Srila Gour Govinda Swami -- Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupad - Appearance  - Avirbhav (Fasting till noon)

Fasting for Vijaya Ekadasi- (Fasting from Beans and Grains - 7th March 2005  in NZ)

Sripad Isvara Puri - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Sri Shiva Ratri - Appearance Day of Lord Shiva

Srila Jagannatha Das Babaji - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Sri Rasikananda - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Sri Purusottama Das Thakur - Appearance  - Avirbhav

Mina Sankranti (Sun enters Pisces)

Fasting for Amalaki vrata Ekadasi - (Fasting from Beans and Grains - 21st March 2005  in NZ)

Sripad Madhavendra Puri - Disappearance  - Tirubhav

Holi

Sri Krishna Chaitanya (Gauranga) Mahaprabhu - Appearance - ( 26th March 2005 in NZ )
Gaura Purnima - (Fasting Ekadasi style untill moonrise)

Jatakarma Festival of Srila Jagannatha Misra for Birth of Baby Lord Chaitanya

This year's also now available for viewing:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2004-2005.html

All Calender information HERE
http://www.hknet.org.nz/CalendarWhosWho-page.htm

http://panjika.pagehere.com/

Check out the Ekadasi pages with links to every Ekadasi:
(also find out from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada what is, and what constitutes a mahadwadasi)
Find out about Dwadasi and Mahadwadasi here:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/dvadasi.htm

NEW EKADASI RECIPES:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/ekadasi-page.htm

kasmad ekadasi jata tasyah ko va vidhir dvija
kada va kriyate kim va phalam kim va vadasva me

ka va pujyatama tatra devata sad-gunarnava
akurvatah syat ko dosa etan me vaktum arhasi

"Oh Gurudeva! When did Ekadasi take birth and from whom did she appear? What are the rules of fasting on the Ekadasi? Please describe the benefits of following this vow and when it should be followed. Who is the utmost worshippable presiding deity of Sri Ekadasi? What are the faults in not following Ekadasi properly? Please bestow your mercy upon me and tell about these subjects, as you are the only personality able to do so."

Find out what was said HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/ekadasi-page.htm
 

Download yourVaishnava Calendar and make a hard copy for this
last year's ( 2003-2004 AD - 517 Gaurabda ) from our site:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2003-2004.html

This present year ( 2004-2005 AD - 518 Gaurabda ) from our site:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2004-2005.html

Vaishnava Calendar for 2005-2006????
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar2005-2006.html

Vaishnava Calendar Program Vcal 4.01 FREE Download, and make your own Calendar for 2004-2005:
http://www.iskcon.org/calendar/vcal401.zip

or if you can't do that and you'd like a 2004-2005 Calendar for your longitude, latitude and time zone ANYWHERE in the world I can do that for you and e-mail it to you - FREE    Vaishnava Calendar Software 4.01

MAKE YOUR OWN CALENDAR FOR YOUR LOCATION,
no more dodgy calendars/panchangas/panjikas from India

...some already made for you http://www.hknet.org.nz/Cals2005-2006-World.html

Vaishnava Calendar maker for your region - on-line:
http://www.iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/vcalndx.pl

Astrologically/Astronomically Accurate and FREE

Please download the software from:
http://www.iskcon.org/calendar/vcal401.zip

How to use the VCAL calendar program:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/VcalHow2use.html

mailto:jtcd@xtra.co.nz

Vaishnava Calendar maker for your region - on-line:
http://www.iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/vcalndx.pl

Festivals on the Vrindavan Calendar
http://www.naturalnirvana.com/Braja-Mandala/Braja-Mandal-Files/Braja-Vrindavan-Festivals.htm

Time Zones and Countries World-wide:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Here's a few Vaishnava Calendar locations around the World friends asked for us to post !!

Newsletters:
Do you get the Hare Krishna Newsletter from Auckland?
If not send a message to Mother Madri to add yourself to their list:
mailto:madri@pamho.net
mailto:harekrishnanews_auck-owner@yahoogroups.com

See Auckland's latest newsletter HERE:

Christchurch Temple Times:
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Wellington Temple Newsletter:
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Gaura Yoga Centre (Wellington) newsletter:
mailto:gaurayoga-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

...and across the ditch in Aus': 
Brisbane temple newsletter
to subscribe - mailto:brisbane@pamho.net

Melbourne Temple F.O.L.K. News Daily Newsletter/diatrobe:
http://anitest.manilasites.com/

Sydney Temple Newsletter:
http://www.iskcon.com.au/Mailing_list.html

Other Journals, Newsletters, & KC Blogs:
Aniruddha's blog:
http://www.iskcon.net.au/aniruddha/

Ekendra's Mrdanga
http://www.gopinatha.net/journalKC/index.php
This is my new journal where I hope to contribute something worth reading to the world. The inspiration for this comes from Nectar of Devotion wherein it is stated that to reveal one's mind in confidence is one of the loving exchanges between Vaisnavas. Ekendra dasa.

The Conch newsletter - Radha Giridhari temple Auckland
http://www.hknet.org.nz/TheConch-newsletter.html
The Conch Newsletter is a subscription newsletter that is sent out in Word format either as a printable attached file through e-mail, or hard-copy by snail mail. The newsletter is monthly, and compiled by Amrita-pani devi dasi in conjunction with the editorial advisor HH Mukunda Goswami.

From the virtual pen of Sita-pati dasa http://blog.worldsankirtan.net/sitapati/
News and views from Sita-pati dasa.

The International Society for Education in Krsna Consciousness http://www.isekc.com/ has a Blog called Vaishnava Sanga which one can access from the ISEKC home page.

News stories, articles, comment, insights, features, and Vaisnava perspectives available on-line from http://www.iskcon.com/new/

Mahakarta Dasa (Prabhupada's disciple) is the temple president of ISKCON Sri Lanka, and he is the coordinator of this Food for life relief program for the tsunami victims.
The program starts from today (31st December 2004). The Temple President has gone to Trincomalee (worst affected area) this morning to directly supervise the program with some congregational devotees where prasadam will be cooked and distributed to the victims, beginning from 5000 plates per day. We are starting from Trincomalee and it is the worst affected area in Sri Lanka.

This food for life program will continue for a long period and the program will expand to the other affected areas in the country and for this your help is very much needed.

Sri Lanka is among the worst affected by the recent earthquake in Sumatra (Indonesia) and the subsequent tidal wave which has affected many countries in this region. The tide was 40ft high. In the recent news this morning, the death rate has increased to more than 25000 and many thousands are still missing. Over a million are refugees. The refugees have taken shelter in hospitals, schools and temples. Hospitals have been washed out along with the patients and doctors. To continue this, we need assistance and we have to also go to different affected areas.

So the food for life project by ISKCON (Sri Lanka) should provide a minimum of at least ten thousand plate per day or it will be insufficient for the victims.

How to donate

100% of the donations will be given to the tsunami victims. We will also supply medical items, sleeping mats, bed sheets etc as we receive.

We need assistance from you also for this humanitarian service. Please donate generously for this cause and inform your friends to donate for this purpose. Contact us for further information.

Mahakarta Dasa (Prabhupada's disciple) is the temple president of ISKCON Sri Lanka, and he is the coordinator of this relief program for the tsunami victims in Sri Lanka.

We are the only authorized ISKCON center in Sri Lanka :

Address:  Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple (ISKCON Sri Lanka)
               188, new chetty street,
               Colombo 13
               Sri Lanka

e-mail: iskcon@slt.lk
phone: (00941) 2433325
fax: (00941) 2471099

GBC: H.H.Jayapataka Swami
Co GBC: H.H.Bhanu Swami

Your donations could be sent by draft/cheque/ money order on behalf of the ISKCON account mentioned below to the ISKCON Sri Lanka address:

ISKCON Sri Lanka, 188, New chetty street, Colombo 13, Sri Lanka

Bank account name: ISKCON
Account no: 1050669901
Bank name and address: Commercial bank company Ltd
Kotahena branch
Colombo 13
Sri Lanka

Or,

If you deposit the cheques or drafts in any bank of your country (eg. western union) it will be transferred to the bank here.

Or,

If you wish to send the money through your credit card, you could also do that the same precedure via the bank in your country directing it to the ISKCON account here in sri lanka.

But you should mention the bank and the branch name and address where the money is to be transferred.

Please contact us via email for further information.

Thanking you
Your humble servant
Nandarani dd
Secretary
ISKCON Sri Lanka

Festivals Coming Soon
 
 

click on the above

14th January 2005 (in NZ)
 

See you local temple to find out what's going on in your area and how to be part of it......


Visit Your Local Hare Krishna Temple
See a full NZ list of contacts HERE under Communities:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/index.htm

See the Kiwi yatra HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/NZKiwi-yatra.html

Australian yatra here:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/aussie-yatra.htm

International here:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-int.htm

Iskcon World-wide @ a centre near you:
http://www.iskcon.com/worldwide/centres/index.html

Words of Wisdom - Shastra & Shastrakaras speak

For Books and shastra downloads see Main Index, under Books:
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

The Complete Works of Srila Prabhupada
All the books, the letters and conversations at your fingertips

Requirements: DOS or Windows, 173 MB free disk space, 286 PC or better.
http://wald.heim.at/sherwood/530002/

Srila Prabhupada's Audio lectures to listen to on-line:
http://www.hare-krishna.org/srila-prabhupada-lectures.htm

Listen to Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on-line - all 900 of his lectures are available HERE:
http://www.prabhupadavani.org/

Srimad Bhagavatam - the entire lecture series listen and read along on-line - Narrated by Amala Bhakta dasa:
http://www.prabhupadavani.org/SB_index.html

All Srila Prabhupada's books and more on one disk
http://www.vedabase.com

Visit "Prabhupada Connect" for all manner of Prabhupad Nectar:
http://www.prabhupadaconnect.com/Index.html

Download all the Hare Krsna teachings which includes all Vaisnava and
Vedic concepts by visiting one of the sites listed at the following address.
http://www.geocities.com/suci123/bookdownloadsites1.html


33 Books Online Including Srimad Bhagavatam!
http://www.geocities.com/freeprabhupadabooks

Download or Listen to Prabhupad Bhajans HERE:
http://www.prabhupadavani.org/web/text/Bhajans.html

On-line 1972 McMillan edition - Bhagavad Gita As It Is:
http://www.asitis.com/

Bhagavad Gita AS IT IS on-line through the Tirupathi Balaji site:
http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/

Bhagavad Gita Study guide on-line book:
http://chantandbehappy.com/gita/studyguide/StudyGuide-main.htm

Bhagavad Gita Study guides by numerous Iskcon devotees - FREE downloads:
http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/library/#3

All the Scriptures you'd ever need 4 FREE
http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-books.htm
http://www.hknet.org.nz/DDB.htm
http://www.hknet.org.nz/DDB2.html

last updated 4th August 2003

 

Srimad Bhagavad Gita AS IT IS

Bhagavad Gita:  Chapter 2 - Contents of the Gita Summarized

                                 TEXT 57

                         yah sarvatranabhisnehas
                       tat tat prapya subhasubham
                         nabhinandati na dvesti
                        tasya prajna pratisthita

WORD FOR WORD
   yah--one who; sarvatra--everywhere; anabhisnehah--without affection; tat--that; tat--that; prapya--achieving; subha--good; asubham--evil; na--never; abhinandati--praises; na--never; dvesti--envies; tasya--his; prajna--perfect knowledge; pratisthita--fixed.

TRANSLATION
   In the material world, one who is unaffected by whatever good or evil he may obtain, neither praising it nor despising it, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.

PURPORT by HDG Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:
   There is always some upheaval in the material world which may be good or evil. One who is not agitated by such material upheavals, who is unaffected by good and evil, is to be understood to be fixed in Krsna consciousness. As long as one is in the material world there is always the possibility of good and evil because this world is full of duality. But one who is fixed in Krsna consciousness is not affected by good and evil, because he is simply concerned with Krsna, who is all-good absolute. Such consciousness in Krsna situates one in a perfect transcendental position called, technically, samadhi.

 - His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with permission.

 - His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - http://www.asitis.com/

View our Bhagavad Gita Overview:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/BG.html

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with permission.

Archive: http://www.cs.rice.edu/~vivek/btg/archive/
Home Page: http://www.cs.rice.edu/~vivek/btg/

Join Bhagavad Gita eGroups HERE
mailto:bhagavad_gita-owner@egroups.com

Prabhupada Uvacha:
(here's some nectar, sometimes it comes in the form of Srutakirti prabhu's diary, other times from Govinda dasi's diary, or sometimes from a letter, but still nectar...)

Prabhupada Tells Short Stories

"There is a very instructive story, and it is a historical fact. The Muslim emperor Akhbar once inquired from his minister, 'How long does one remain in lusty desires?'

"The minister replied, 'Up to the last point of death.'

"Akhbar did not believe it, and he said, 'No, no, how can you say that?'

"'All right,' said the minister. 'I shall reply in time.'

"So one day,  all of a sudden,  the minister approached the emperor and said, 'You be immediately ready to come with me with your young daughter.' Akhbar knew that his minister was very intelligent and that there must be some purpose. He went with him,  and the minister took him to a person who was going to die. The minister then asked Akhbar, 'Kindly study the man who is about to die, on his face.'

"So Akhbar noticed that as he and his young daughter were entering,  the dying man was looking to the face of the young girl. In this way, Akhbar understood, 'Yes, what he said is true. Up to the last point of death the desire is there to see the face of a young girl.'

"This is called duspurena -- it is never fulfilled. This attraction of man and woman and family life continues."

To receive little snippets of nectar like this on a daily basis subscribe HERE: or If you want to introduce anyone else in reading Srila Prabhupada Nectars, please send their eMail addresses to mailto:krpamaya_gauranga@hotmail.com

Please Chant:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Listen to Srila Prabhupad on-line
....a different lecture, morning walk, conversation or class daily.

"Don't Think God Has No Feeling"

Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.5
Mayapur, February 25, 1977

Listen to the entire lecture on-line:
http://prabhupadavani.org/Bhagavatam/RAMfiles2/SB572.ram

Pradyumna: "Translation: When Lord Nrsimhadeva saw the small boy Prahlada Maharaja prostrated at the soles of His lotus feet, He became most ecstatic in affection toward His devotee. Raising Prahlada, the Lord placed His lotus hand upon the boy's head because His hand is always ready to create fearlessness in all of His devotees."

Prabhupada:

sva-pada-mule patitam tam arbhakam
vilokya devah krpaya pariplutah
utthapya tac-chirsny adadhat karambujam
kalahi-vitrasta-dhiyam krtabhayam
 [SB 7.9.5]

So to become devotee or favorite to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very easy. It is not at all difficult. Here we see the example, Prahlada Maharaja, a five year old boy... [break] He's a devotee. He only knows the Supreme Lord, and he offered obeisances. That is his qualification. Anyone can do that. Anyone can come here in the temple and offer obeisances. Where is the difficulty? Simply one must have the sense that "Here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna or Nrsimhadeva or any one of His multi-expansions."

In the sastra it is said, advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam [Bs. 5.33]. Krsna has ananta-rupam. Therefore every rupa is expansion of Krsna's original rupa. The original rupa is Krsna. Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam [SB 1.3.28]. Then there are so many rupas: Rama, Nrsimha, Varaha, Balarama, Parasurama, Mina, Tortoise, Nrsimhadeva. Ramadi-murtisu kala-niyamena tisthan [Bs. 5.39]. He's always existing with different forms, not that he is existing only in Krsna form. Every form... Ramadi-murtisu. The same example, as we have given many times: just like the sun, time of sun, twenty-four hours, so out of the twenty-four hours or twenty-four incarnations, any time is present. It is not that now it is, say, eight o'clock. Then seven o'clock is finished. No. There is seven o'clock in any other part of the world. Or nine o'clock. Nine o'clock is also present. Twelve o'clock is also present. We have got one watch given by Gurukrpa Maharaja. (laughter) He has brought from Japan. It is very nice. Immediately you can see what is the time now in different places, immediately. So all of them are existing. Therefore Krsna's lila is called nitya-lila, not that one lila is going on, other lila is finished, no. Everything is existing simultaneous. Therefore this word is used, ramadi-murtisu. Ramadi-murtisu kala-niyamena tis... Niyamena. Exactly in due time... Just like the sun, exactly. Formerly there was no watch, but by the shadow one could study. You can study now also. Even now. In our childhood we used to study by seeing the shadow. "Now it is this time" -- and exactly the same time. So kala-niyamena tisthan, not that haphazardly -- now this shadow is one o'clock here, and next day, one o'clock there, no. The same place, you'll find. Kala-niyamena tisthan.

Similarly, Krsna's lila, niyamena tisthan -- exactly. There are innumerable universes. Here Krsna is born. Now Krsna is taken by Vasudeva to Vrndavana. Same thing -- immediately here born, Krsna has gone to Vrndavana -- in another universe Krsna is born. Krsna is born again. In this way His lila is going on. There is no cessation, neither there is any discrepancy of time. Exactly. Just like Krsna comes upon this earth once in Brahma's day. So so many millions of years, Krsna will appear again, if not personally, by His expansion, amsena. Caitanya Mahaprabhu will appear exactly in due course of time. Lord Ramacandra will appear. So ramadi murtisu kala-niyamena tisthan [Bs. 5.39]. So this lila, Nrsimhadeva, that is also exactly in time.

So sva-pada-mule patitam tam arbhakam. Very innocent child. If an innocent child like Prahlada Maharaja, he can get so much mercy of Nrsimhadeva, so pierceful appearance of the Lord that even Laksmi could not approach... Asruta. Adrsta asruta purva. There was no such form of the Lord. Even Laksmi did not know. But Prahlada Maharaja, he's not afraid. He knows, "Here is my Lord." Just like the cub of a lion, he is not afraid of the lion. He immediately jumps to the head of the lion because he knows, "It is my father. It is my mother." Similarly, Prahlada Maharaja is not afraid, although Brahma and others, all demigods, became afraid to approach the Lord. He simply as an innocent child came and offered his obeisances. Tam arbhakam vilokya. So, so God is not impersonal. Immediately he could understand, "Oh, here is an innocent child. He has been harassed by his father so much and now he's offering his obeisances unto me." Vilokya devah krpaya pariplutah. He became very much, I mean to say, melted with mercy. So thing, everything is there. Don't think that God has no feeling, thinking, feeling. No. Everything is there. Unless He has got sympathetic feeling in Him, where we have got it? Because everything is coming from God. Janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.1].

Athato brahma jijnasa. What is Brahman? Brahman means the original source of everything. That is Brahman. Brhatvat brhanatvat. So if this feeling is not there in God, then how He can be God, this feeling? Just like if one innocent little child comes and offers some respect to us, immediately we become feelingly merciful: "Oh, here is a nice child." So Lord Krsna, Nrsimhadeva, He also became pariplutah, feelingly merciful, not ordinary merciful, feeling that "How innocent this child is." So feelingly, utthapya: immediately got him up. "My dear child, get up." And immediately put his hand on the head. Utthapya tac-chirsny adadhat karambujam. Karambhuja, lotus hand, lotus palm. So these feelings are there. And He wanted... Because this boy was bewildered that such a big murti came from the thumbs(?), the columns and the father, gigantic father, is dead, naturally he is little disturbed in mind. So therefore vitrasta-dhiyam krtabhayam: "My dear child, don't be afraid. Everything is all right. I am present and there is no fear. Be pacified. I will give you protection." So this is the exchange. So there is no need of very, becoming very learned man, Vedantist and... Simply these things are required: you become innocent, accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and fall down at His lotus feet. Everything is complete. This is wanted, simplicity. Simplicity. Believe in Krsna. As Krsna said, mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhanan... [Bg. 7.7], believe it! There is no more superior authority than Krsna

...............continued

 There is a new book out complied by our recently departed godsister, Mulaprakriti dasi. Its called "Our Srila Prabhupada, A Friend to All." It is a series of interviews with people who knew Srila Prabhupada before he came to the West. One of them, Gopal Chandra Ghosh, who works at the Vrndavana Research Institute, recounts how in the early 60s when Srila Prabhupada was living at Radha Damodara temple, Srila Prabhupada told him how he had been chanting one night and three effulgent personalities appeared before him, dressed in kauping and kanti mala and chanting japa. Two were older, one was younger. They were Srila Rupa, Sanatana and Jiva Goswamis. They instructed him on his writing of the Bhagavatam (which Srila Prabhupada had just started at that time) and how to preach.

 Of course, many people may claim to have special relationships with Srila Prabhupada now that he has departed, but at least in this instance, I had a confirmation from Srila Prabhupada himself about this incident.

 In 1976, I had heard from Harikesa that Rupa Goswami had appeared to Srila Prabhupada but he didn't know any details. I was intrigued and one day I asked Srila Prabhupada about it. Here's my entry from TD vol. 3:

July 26, 1976 -- London

When Harikesa went out to attend to some work, I remained a few minutes more, alone with His Divine Grace. During the conversation I had flipped through the pages of the new book and had noticed a picture of Srila Prabhupada's kitchen in the Radha-Damodara temple in Vrndavana. I now told him about it.
"Oh! Where it is?" he enthusiastically asked. I found the page for him. Opportunities like this don't arise frequently, so as he inspected the brownish photo I asked a few questions about Prabhupada's life before ISKCON. "Through that window you could see Rupa Gosvami's samadhi. And for those two rooms they were charging five rupees a month?"
"Yes," Prabhupada said. "These rooms were broken. So they told me that 'You can repair these, and whatever you like, you can give.' So I thought, 'Don't need much space.' Before me there was a tenant in that other room, he was paying three rupees. So I thought, 'Two rooms, but I have spent money. So I'll give him five.' Now I am giving them ten rupees."
"To retain it."
"Yes."
"Sometimes the devotees go down there and clean out the rooms," I told him,
"and they have kirtana there sometimes. I think this is the first book that someone included this photo."
"Yes. It was very calm and quiet. And people used to offer obeisances from outside because they knew. Practically everyone knew me. So they used to offer ..."
"You were very well known in Vrndavana before you came?"
"Not very well known, but people knew me."
"Because you were writing?"
"Yes."
"Or because of your ambition to come to the West?"
"No, at that time there was no such thing," Prabhupada replied. "I was living there, retired man."
"So when you went to Vrndavana, you'd given up the idea of coming to the West?"
"No, coming to the West, the idea was there, but I was planning how to go, how to go there, how to preach there, how to take some books, how to bring them -- everything alone ..."
"So as soon as you had some books then you were ..."
"Yes. Then I decided. Everything was being dictated by superior."
With Srila Prabhupada in such a congenial mood, I took the courage to broach something Harikesa once mentioned to me. "I was told that one day you were told by Rupa Gosvami that you must go."
Prabhupada's mood changed slightly. "But that was open secret," he said dismissively. "Everyone knew." Then he changed the subject.

>> Ref. VedaBase => TD 3-4: London

Bhaktivedanta Vedabase Network ...
http://vedabase.net/

The Scientific - Mathematical Proof for God's existence:
http://www.god.temple.at

(Collection of philosophical and mathematical proofs for existence of God can be found in this site.)

Scientifically Philosophical Books for the layman
.........
Click on any of these books to read more about them and where to get a copy

or contact your local temple for purchases

sample of Life comes from Life HERE.pdf

Quotes from Shastra - scriptures
dehino 'smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati

"As the embodied soul continually passes in this body from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul in not bewildered by such a change." [Bhagavad Gita. 2.13]

The Holy Name Cannot be Realized Through the Material Senses

ataù çré kåñëa nämädi na bhaved grähyam indriyaiù
sevon-mukhe hi jihvädau svayam eva sphuratyadaù

          Therefore the material senses cannot appreciate Kåñëa's holy name, form, qualities, and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kåñëa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord's holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord's food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kåñëa really is. In other words, the holy name of Kåñëa can never be grasped by the material senses. Only by rendering devotional service, beginning with vibrating the Lord's glories upon the tongue, can one realize Kåñëa, for he will reveal Himself directly to the sincere soul. The formula for perfection in chanting the holy name. (Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu 1.2.234)

Hare Kåñëa is the Mahä-mantra for the Age of Kali

hare kåñëa hare kåñëa kåñëa kåñëa hare hare
hare räma hare räma räma räma hare hare
ñoòaçaitäni nämäni dvätriàçad varëakäni hi
kalau yuge mahä-mantraù sammato jévatäraëe
varjayitvä tu nämaitad durjanaiù parikalpitam
chandobaddhaà susiddhänta viruddhaà näbhyaset padam
tärakaà brahma-nämaitad brahmaëä guruëädinä
kalisantaraëädyäsu çruti-svadhigataà hareù
präptaà çré brahma-çiñyeëa çré näradena dhématä
nämaitad-uttamaà çrauta-päramparyeëa brahmaëaù
utsåjyaitan-mahä-mantraà ye tvanyat kaepitaà padam
mahänämeti gäyanti te çästra-guru laëghanaù
tattva-virodha-saopåktaà tädåçaà daurjanaà matam
sravathä parihäryaà syädätma-hitärthinä sadä
hare kåñëa hare kåñëa kåñëa kåñëa hare hare
hare räma hare räma räma räma hare hare

            Hare kåñëa hare kåñëa kåñëa kåñëa hare hare, hare räma hare räma räma räma hare hare: This sixteen-name, thirty-two syllable mantra is the mahä-mantra in the age of Kali by which all living beings can be delivered. One should never abandon chanting this mahä-mantra and take to other so-called purificatory processes which are practiced by rascals, or engage in chanting other metrical compositions of the name of Kåñëa that are against the pure conclusions of the scriptures, or are filled with rasàbhäsa. About this divinely spiritual mahä-mantra, which delivers one from material existence, the original guru, Lord Brahmä, has said, kali-santaraåädi çrutite, "The çrutis have declared this mantra to be the best means of deliverance in the age of Kali". Having all heard this from Brahmä, the sons and disciples of Brahmä, beginning with Närada, all accepted the Hare Kåñëa mahä-mantra and, having meditated on it, attained perfection. (Ananta-Saàhitä)

The Principal Result of Chanting the Holy Name is Kåñëa-prema,
Not Dharma, Artha, Käma or Mokña

bhaktistvayi sthiratarä bhagavan yadi syäd
daivena naù phalati divya-kiçora-mürtiù
muktiù svayaà mukulitäïjali sevate'smän
dharmärtha-käma-gatayaù samaya-pratékñäù

          O Lord when a devotee, by good fortune, develops unflinching devotion to Your transcendentally beautiful, youthful form, then liberation herself waits with folded hands to be his maidservant. And right behind liberation, piety, economic development, and sense enjoyment will wait for the chance to serve. (Kåñëa-karëämåta 107)

Take a mini-pilgrimage to Mathura and Vrindavan on-line - you will not be disappointed:
http://www.vrindavan-dham.com/general.php

The wonders of Vraja Mandala Parikrama
http://www.touruniversal.com/

Pictures of Prabhupad in Australia and Indonesia:
http://www.iskcon.net/gauranga/ppad.htm

taken by Amogha prabhu ACBSP

Prabhupad photo gallery - US:
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/srila_prabhupada_photo_gallery.htm
compiled by Srinandanandana prabhu ACBSP

European Krishna conscious festivals - photo galleries:
http://www.bharatavarsa.net/Gallery/albums.php

Foto galleries of Latino America with Rasananda Swami
http://www.rasanandaswami.com.br/fotos.htm

Krishna conscious instructive dramas - plays:
http://www.cedarpost.com/krsnaconsciousplays/TableOfContents.htm

"Glory to the Sri Krishna Samkirtan which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years together. Thus the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death, is extinguished. The Samkirtan Movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction Moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge, it increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it helps us to have a taste of the full nectar for which we are always anxious."

(Every Town & Village, album cover)

On-line Virtual Arati to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai - check it out
http://www.in2-mec.com/GNpuja.html

http://www.hknet.org.nz/harernam-page.htm
http://Harinam/rulestheweb.com

What's So Special About Chanting Hare Krishna?
By Stephen Knapp (Sri Nandanandan dasa ACBSP):
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/chanting_hare_krishna.htm

Hare Krishna is NOT "a Cult":
Is ISKCON a Cult or part of the "Hindu Culture" or Something Else?
http://www.hknet.org.nz/not-a-cult.html

Hare Krishna is NOT a Cult letter by Kunti dd editor of Hare Krishna World:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/HK-no-cult.html

38 Years of Krishna Consciousness through Iskcon.........
http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa081201a.htm

Very nice articles and numerous links on the About Hinduism web-site.

What is ISKCON ???
http://www.iskcon.org/main/twohk/iskcon/what.htm

Is Iskcon a Cult?
http://www.hknet.org.nz/not-a-cult.html

Iskcon and Hinduism
http://www.hknet.org.nz/IskconHinduism.html

SONGS AND MANTRAS by Vaishnava spiritual masters:
http://web.tiscali.it/no-redirect-tiscali/gopala/Vaishnava-Songs/index.html

Vaishnava Song Book:
http://www.iskcon.org/sastra/f_vs.html
http://www.iskcon.org/sastra/vs_other.html

Vedic Art Publications
http://www.vedicarts.net/catalogmain.html

.........this library is temporarily not working

Listen to or download Prabhupad lectures and bhajans
http://chantandbehappy.com/prabhupada/index.html

Devotional Bhajans and kirtans
http://chantandbehappy.com/bhajans/index.html

Hundreds of devotional songs by various artists - singers - performers - and many more coming soon:
http://www.radiokrishna.com/modules.php?name=NukeView&file=index&query=http://www.radiokrishna.com/rkc_archive_new/index2.php

Download songs
http://www.harekrsna.cz/mp3/folk/

Krishna Vision of Krishna Prema dasa ACBSP Sound Track Vol. 4 samples:
http://www.krisnavision.narod.ru/

Sydney temple Audio page
http://www.iskcon.com.au/Audio.html

Leicester Temple UK Audio page - many bhajans and kirtans
http://www.gauranga.org/audio_page.htm

Listen to Krishna Radio on various subjects on-line:
http://www.krishna.com/newsite/main.php?id=260

Agama Tantra and the Vaishnava Samskaras as a way of life:

Recently I was asked, "Don't you find it an inconvenience to always be checking to see when is the right time to do this or the best time for that?"

In simple terms my answer was and still is; if you go to the bus or railway station or airport it is probably an intelligent venture to enquire about the times and routes of vehicles than to just hope that one will be along soon, or one is going in your direction.

There are subtle influences in the Universe that, for thousands of years gone by, advanced cultures have honoured, respected and utilised. Before the corruption of the Vedik literatures by the Christian and Moslem invaders to India all these things were used; Ayurvedik Medicine; Vedik Astrology; etc. Today there's a rennaisance among many to revive these arts.

We have been trained and studied to be able to provide these services. See some of my sites:

http://www.hknet.org.nz/jtcd-samskaras.html
http://www.iskcon.net/nz-namahatta/jtcd/1-homepage.html

or contact me directly: mailto:jtcd@xtra.co.nz

aham kratur aham yajnah
svadhaham aham ausadham
mantro 'ham aham evajyam
aham agnir aham hutam

"But it is I who am the ritual, I the sacrifice, the offering to the ancestors, the healing herb,
the transcendental chant. I am the butter and the fire and the offering."(Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita 9.16)

Krishna conscious affirmations:

 Always remember Krishna and never forget Him

Join and receive Krishna conscious affirmations:
mailto:Sravana.SPGTSI@pamho.net

Topical Articles:
Abortion - http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-abortion.htm
Genetic Engineering ( GE or GM ) - http://www.hknet.org.nz/GE.html
Environment - http://www.hknet.org.nz/Environment.htm
Encroachment - http://www.hknet.org.nz/WE-Day2004.html
Cloning - http://www.hknet.org.nz/cloning.htm
Science - http://www.hknet.org.nz/science2KC.html
Cow Protection - http://www.hknet.org.nz/Cow-protection.htm
The Four Regulative Principles of Freedom - http://www.hknet.org.nz/Regs-4page.htm
seX-files - http://www.hknet.org.nz/seX-files.htm
Mundane Knowledge - http://www.hknet.org.nz/mundaneknowledge.html
Death (Yamaduttas - Terminal Restlessness etc)- http://www.hknet.org.nz/death.html
Near Death Experience - http://www.hknet.org.nz/NDE.htm
Ghosts - http://www.hknet.org.nz/ghosts.htm
Reincarnation again here - http://www.hknet.org.nz/Reincarnation-page.htm
Gain some insights in the TV culture  - http://www.hknet.org.nz/television.html
The aweful Truth about softdrinks - http://www.hknet.org.nz/theREALthing.html
Changing the face of the Earth - http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1390/index.html
UFOs - http://www.hknet.org.nz/UFOs.html
Vegetarianism & Beyond - http://turn.to/Vegetarianism
Articles for newcomers to Krishna consciousness - http://www.krishna.com/newsite/main.php?id=87
Self Help and Motivational pages - Deals and Affiliate programs: - http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-selfhelp.html
Myth of the Aryan invasion by Dr. David Frawley: - http://www.hknet.org.nz/Aryan-invasion-mythDF.html

.........many other articles - http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-articles.htm

and from there go to the Main Index http://www.hknet.org.nz/index.htm

“I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda [Kåñëa], who is always situated in various incarnations such as Räma, Nåsiàha and many subincarnations as well, but who is the original Personality of Godhead known as Kåñëa, and who incarnates personally also.” (Brahma samhita 5:39.)

The Devotee List - Iskcon and Gaudiya math(s):
(It's still being developed, and a lot of devotees are not here......)
http://devotee.s5.com/index.html

Mail box full - over quota - newsletters bouncing.......

Still waiting for an internet company to come forward
and give you a massive mailbox for FREE like it's been rumoured for months.

HELP IS HERE AT LAST.

Tired of that wimpy 2mb mailboxs?  rejecting important emails cause
its always overflowing but still too cheap to spring for a "real" ISP..
No computer but need an email address? Need a stealth email address? Got
a friend who fits that description?... Well here are some other free
options for you. Note that a couple of these offer HUGE 100-200mb mail boxes...

http://www.hotmail.com   ..................2 mb
http://www.yahoo.com ....................4 mb
http://www.freeserve.com ..............5 mb
http://www.myownemail.com ........5 mb
http://www.lycos.com ......................5 mb
 http://www.softhome.net ................6 mb
http://www.bigmailbox.com ...........7 mb
http://mail.uk2.net ...........................10 mb
 http://www.gmx.net
http://www.graffiti.net
http://www.hotpop.com
http://www.mail2world
http://www.mail.com
http://www.mailandnews.com
http://www.mail15.com .................15 mb
http://macnews.de .........................20 mb
http://xms.ms ..................................20 mb
http://balls.com ............................100 mb
http://ukonline.net .......................200 mb

Vedik World Heritage pages

Read enlivening articles
See pictures of exhumed relics
Understand conspirital deceptions...
Join the renaissance to rebuild the Golden Age in the Kali-yuga
Find out about Vedik heritage items all around the world.....

Send in your articles and news:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/VWH.html

See more similar pages and links http://www.hknet.org.nz/VWH.html and http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-Vedik.htm

Vedik Culture list
 mailto:vediculture-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

A selection of interesting Krishna conscious articles from New Panihati - Atlanta temple USA:
http://newpanihati.tripod.com/NewsGroup/KCNectar/KCNectarMain.htm

Paradigms - where things are not all they seem

Krishna conscious Dramas and plays:
A collection of 88 transcendental dramas assembled and presented for the pleasure of
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
http://www.cedarpost.com/krsnaconsciousplays/default.htm

Wonderful modern Krishna conscious plays:
http://www.cedarpost.com/krsnaconsciousplays/TableOfContents.htm

These are great for Sunday feasts, or school programs or street presentations, or just for our own understanding.

Read here what Prabhupad says about such plays and dramas:
http://www.cedarpost.com/krsnaconsciousplays/PlaysP2SPquotes.htm

The Formidable Audio page - Bhajans, Kirtans, Lectures many Iskcon devotees:
http://www.iskcon.com.au/Audio.html

and

Bhajans and Kirtans
http://chantandbehappy.com/bhajans/index.html

and

Download latest Real Player for Free:
http://software-dl.real.com/22e4968a89f121132020/windows/mrkt/AUN03D/RealOnePlayerV2GOLD.exe

Listen to audio and view videos on-line here:
http://www.prabhupada.org/prabhupadadesh/a_deposito_oggetti/Archivio_Audio-Video/index.php?q=t&t=EN
http://www.prabhupada.org/prabhupadadesh/a_deposito_oggetti/Archivio_Audio-Video/index.php?q=f&f=%2FAudio
There's literally hundreds of bhajans, kirtans and videos segments to check out.............try all the folders too.......

Nectar for kids and adults alike:
http://www.rasa-music.com/Bodies/body-shop.html

...........more Audio sites linked HERE

Food For Life Global helps Tsunami victims

Tsunami Kills More than 125,000 in Nine Countries
http://www.ffl.org/html/tsunami.html

(A.P.) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Dec 27, 2004 — Rescuers piled up bodies along coastlines devastated by a tsunami that obliterated seaside towns in Asia and Africa, killing 22,000 people in nine countries. Hundreds of children were buried in mass graves in India, and morgues and hospitals struggled Monday to cope with the catastrophe.

The death toll rose sharply a day after the magnitude 9 quake struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia. It was the most powerful earthquake in the world in four decades.

Walls of water sped away from the epicenter at more than 500 mph before crashing into the region's shorelines, sweeping people and fishing villages out to sea. Millions were displaced from their homes and thousands remained missing Monday.

The governments of Indonesia and Thailand conceded that public warnings came too late or not at all. But officials insisted they could not know the seriousness of the threat because no tsunami warning system exists for the Indian Ocean.

Officials said the death toll would continue to rise, and the international Red Cross said it was concerned about waterborne diseases.

Sri Lanka said more than 10,000 people were killed along its coastlines, and Tamil rebels said 2,000 people died in its territory, raising that country's toll to more than 12,000.

Indonesia reported about 5,000 deaths and India 3,000. Thailand a Western tourist hotspot said hundreds of people were dead and thousands more were missing. Deaths also were reported in Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Somalia, 3,000 miles away in Africa.

On the remote Car Nicobar island northwest of Sumatra, Police Chief S.B. Deol told New Delhi Television he had reports that another 3,000 people may have died. If confirmed, that would raise India's death toll to 6,000 and the overall number to 23,900.

"The Andaman and Nicobar islands have been really badly hit," said Hakan Sandbladh, senior health officer at the Geneva headquarters of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Offers of aid poured in from around the globe, as troops in the region struggled to deliver urgently needed aid to afflicted areas.

In Bandah Aceh, Indonesia, 150 miles from the quake's epicenter, dozens of bloated bodies littered the streets as soldiers and desperate relatives searched for survivors Monday. Some 500 bodies collected by emergency workers lay under plastic tents, rotting in the tropical heat.

"We have ordered 15,000 troops into the field to search for survivors," Indonesian military spokesman Edy Sulistiadi said. "They are mostly retrieving corpses."

Refugees in nearby Lhokseumawe, many of whom had spent the night sleeping outside on open ground, complained that little or no aid had reached them. The city's hospital said it was running out of medicine.

The Indian state of Tamil Nadu reported thousands of deaths. Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa called the scene "an extraordinary calamity of such colossal proportions that the damage has been unprecedented."

Nearby beaches resembled open-air mortuaries as fishermen's bodies washed ashore, and retreating waters left behind others killed inland. In Cuddalore, red-eyed parents buried more than 150 children laid in a mass grave that a bulldozer filled with sodden earth.

The tsunamis came without warning. Witnesses said sea waters at first retreated far out into the ocean, only to return at a vicious pace. Some regions reported a crashing wall of water 20 feet high.

"The water went back, back, back, so far away, and everyone wondered what it was a full moon or what? Then we saw the wave come, and we ran," said Katri Seppanen, who was in Thailand, on Phuket island's popular Patong beach.

Sri Lanka and Indonesia said at least 1 million people were driven from their homes in each country. Warships in Thailand steamed to remote tropical island resorts to search for survivors as air force helicopters in Sri Lanka and India rushed food and medicine to stricken areas.

In Indonesia, villagers near northern Lhokseumawe picked through the debris of their ruined houses amid the smell of decomposing bodies.

One man, Rajali, said his wife and two children were killed and he could not find dry ground to bury them. Islamic tradition demands that the deceased be buried as soon as possible.

"What shall I do?" said the 55-year-old man, who, like many Indonesians, goes by a single name. "I don't know where to bury my wife and children."

Dozens of bodies still clad in swimming trunks lined beaches in Thailand.

In Sri Lanka an island nation some 1,000 miles west of the epicenter about 25,000 troops were deployed to crack down on sporadic, small-scale looting and to help in rescue efforts. About 200 inmates took advantage of the chaos, escaping from a prison in coastal Matara.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake's magnitude was 9.0 the strongest since a 9.2-magnitude temblor in Alaska in 1964 and the fourth-largest in a century.

The quake occurred more than 6 miles deep and was followed by a half-dozen powerful aftershocks. A 620-mile section of a geological plate shifted, triggering the sudden displacement of water.

Countries around the world were touched. Italy reported 11 of its citizens had died; Norway 10; Britain four; the United States and Denmark three each; Australia, France, Sweden and Belgium two each; and New Zealand one.

Those numbers likely would rise. Sri Lanka said 72 foreign tourists were killed there, and Thailand said 35 of the dead were foreigners.

President Bush expressed his condolences over the "terrible loss of life and suffering." From the Vatican, Pope John Paul II led appeals for aid for victims, and the 25-nation European Union promised to quickly deliver $4 million.

Aid agencies and governments around the world began pouring relief supplies into the region Monday. Japan, China and Russia were among the countries sending teams of experts.

Jasmine Whitbread, international director of the aid group Oxfam, warned that without swift action, more people could die.

"The flood waters will have contaminated drinking water and food will be scarce," she said.

In Thailand, Gen. Chaisit Shinawatra, the army chief, said the United States has offered to send troops stationed on Japan's Okinawa island to assist. Thailand was considering the offer.

Tsunamis as large as Sunday's happen only a few times a century. A tsunami is a series of traveling ocean waves generated by geological disturbances near the ocean floor. With nothing to stop them, the waves can race across the ocean like the crack of a bullwhip, gaining momentum over thousands of miles.

An international tsunami warning system was started in 1965, after the Alaska quake, to advise coastal communities of a potentially killer wave.

Member states include the major Pacific rim nations in North America, Asia and South America. But because tsunamis are rare in the Indian Ocean, no system exists there. Scientists said deaths would have been reduced if one had.

Associated Press reporters Lely T. Djuhari in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Sutin Wannabovorn and Alisa Tan in Phuket, Thailand, and S. Srinivasan in Cuddalore, India, contributed to this report.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Ravindra Swarup prabhu speaks from his book of the same name (2.91 Mb) among some devotees,
he plays the devils advocate to gain further insights into the situation.

Download the article by clicking on the above icon.

Why do Bad Things Happen to Us?

From your views Why do 'bad' things befall us? How does all that come into play? Is everything karma or can anything just happen?
How would a KC devotee deal with let's say he's on the road preaching and someone stabs him badly, how would you view that?

Read the article HERE
http://introduction.krishna.org/Articles/2002/10/023.html

DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?
by Ravindra Swarup dasa

About five years ago, when we were having an altar installed in our new temple, the overseer from the marble company would regularly bring his seven-year-old son along to watch. The boy was very handsome, with jet-black hair and pale skin and long, dark eyelashes. He was well behaved and always seemed in good humor
even though he could hardly walk at all. I never saw him take more than a few steps, leaning on a wall and straining his torso with an awkward twisting motion and
then swinging forward a leg clamped into a large, clumsy brace.

The boy had been born crippled. While he was cheerful despite that, his father was not. His father was an angry man. "When that boy was born I stopped going to
church," he told me once, as he knelt on our altar putting grout between the marble slabs. "I never did anything bad enough to deserve this. Sure, I'm not a saint, but
I don't deserve this. And even if I did, what could HE have done?"

The aggrieved father, an unsophisticated marble contractor, was raising a problem that has long preoccupied Western religious thinkers, so much so that it has
created a special discipline called THEODICY, a branch of theology concerned with justifying the ways of God to man. Theodicy deals with what is usually called
"the problem of evil." St. Augustine cast it into the form of a dilemma: "Either God cannot or God will not eliminate evil from the world. If He cannot, He is not
all-powerful; if He will not, He is not all-good." This formulation makes the logic of the problem clear: to show that the existence of a world with evil in it is
compatible with the existence of a God who is BOTH all-powerful AND all-good. To deny either one of these attributes would easily explain evil, but orthodox
theologians have always considered that unacceptable.

Those who find the problem of evil intractable usually deny the existence of God outright rather than settle for a God limited either in power or goodness. Would
such a finite being really qualify to be called "God"? Would he be worthy of our worship?

Although philosophers and theologians have left us a huge body of technical literature on the problem of evil, it is far from a theoretical concern. It is everybody's
problem, sooner or later. Suffering is universal. But oddly enough, practically as widespread is the sufferer's feeling that he has been unfairly singled out. From
millions comes the outraged cry: "Why ME! What did I do to deserve this?"

It is for such people that Harold S. Kushner, a Massachusetts rabbi, has written his book WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE. It is a painfully
honest treatment of what the author claims is the one theological issue that reaches folks "where they really care."

Kushner's book grew out of his personal pain; his testimony commands respect. He tells how his son was afflicted from infancy with progeria, a disease that brings
on rapid aging, so that Kushner saw the boy grow bald and wrinkled, stooped and frail, until he died of old age in his fourteenth year. Kushner presents the victim's
point of view, and he lets us hear the real voices of people in pain. In that stark light, the standard religious justifications for our misfortunes, which Kushner lays out
one by one, do indeed seem like facile verbal shuffles that don't take people's suffering seriously but simply try, however lamely, to get God off the hook.

Kushner effectively criticizes the standard answers handed out by priests, ministers, rabbis, and he offers instead his own radically unorthodox solution. His book has been a bestseller for months, and he has attracted a large and grateful following among Jews, Catholics, and Protestants. Indeed, the popularity of his view among
members of America's mainstream churches and synagogues suggests something of a grassroots theological rebellion.

The most reprehensible device of theodicy, in Kushner's view, is to remove the blame from God by putting it onto the sufferer, to explain suffering "by assuming that
we deserve what we get, that somehow our misfortunes come as punishment for our sins." To accept that bad things happen to us as God's punishment, Kushner
says, may help us make sense of the world, give us a compelling reason to be good, and sustain our belief in an all-powerful and just Deity - yet it is not "religiously
adequate."

By "religiously adequate" Kushner means "comforting." Seeing suffering as a punishment for sin is not comforting, because it teaches people to blame themselves for
their misfortunes, and so creates guilt, and it also "makes people hate God, even as it makes them hate themselves."

Kushner tells us of a couple who blamed their teenage daughter's sudden death on their own failure to observe the prescribed fast on a Jewish holy day: "They sat
there feeling that their daughter's death had been their fault; had they been less selfish and less lazy about the Yom Kippur fast some six months earlier, she might still
be alive. They sat there angry at God for having exacted His pound of flesh so strictly, but afraid to admit their anger for fear that He would punish them again. Life
had hurt them and religion could not comfort them. Religion was making them feel worse."

It is a virtue of Kushner's work to bring up anger at God up front, to talk at length about what few believers have had the courage to admit, even to themselves.
Many people must be grateful that someone has recognized their real feelings and has dealt with them openly.

But the worst thing about the belief that our misdeeds cause our misfortunes, says Kushner, is that it doesn't even fit the facts. People do suffer ills they don't
deserve; bad things happen to good people all the time. Kushner adamantly maintains this. To the thousands who resent life's unfair treatment, who proclaim in
outrage and indignation, "I didn't do anything to deserve this!" Kushner answers, comfortingly, "That's right, you didn't."

And Kushner is not talking about saints, about people who never do wrong. Rather, he wants to know "why ordinary people, nice friendly neighbors, neither
extraordinarily good nor extraordinarily bad, should suddenly have to face the agony of pain and tragedy... They are neither much better nor very much worse than
most people we know; why should their lives be so much harder?"

Here, tapping into a great psychic underground of resentment, Kushner has found his following. He has been willing to openly acknowledge a vast repressed sense
of betrayal, a great silenced accusation that leaks unwillingly from the hearts of the believers and wends its way up to the divine ear as the universal unvoiced
antiprayer: "You didn't hold up Your end of the bargain!"

Kushner insists that the innocent suffer, and as conclusive proof he advances that grievance which has been the bane of Judeo-Christian theodicy and which
occasioned his own harrowing foray into the problem of evil: the suffering and death of children.

This is what drove the marble contractor to take up atheism, the usual response of those who feel God has failed them. But atheism is the response Kushner wants to prevent with his book. To restore the faith of those who have been spiritually devastated by misfortune, Kushner offers his own story of how he and his wife
"managed to go on believing in God and in the world after we had been hurt."

Kushner is indeed convinced that the existence of a God both all-good and all-powerful is incompatible with the evils of our world; yet he wants us to go on
believing in God - but not in a God who is all-powerful. God is good, but there are limits to what He can do. God does not want us to suffer; He is as angry and
upset at our misfortunes as we are. But He is also helpless.

This is Kushner's credo: "I believe in God," he says, but - "I recognize His limitations." As a result, Kushner tells us in relief, "I no longer hold God responsible for
illness, accidents, and natural disasters, because I realize that I gain little and I lose much when I blame God for these things. I can worship a God who hates
suffering but cannot eliminate it more easily than I can worship a God who chooses to make children suffer and die, for whatever exalted reason."

It is not hard for me to put myself in the place of Kushner or the marble  contractor: I have children of my own. I can even understand why, given the kind of religion
they know, Kushner can worship only a finite deity, and the marble contractor can't bear to enter a church. Nevertheless, I don't have the problem with God that
they do. When bad things happen, I don't find myself calling into question either His power or His goodness.

Of course, I am a devotee of Krsna; my religious convictions are founded upon the Vedic theism revealed in the BHAGAVAD-GITA and the
SRIMAD-BHAGAVATAM. To espouse those convictions has been viewed by most normal Americans as a radical thing to do. But now we find that many normal Americans are willing to do something that, in its way, is more radical than what I've done. They are abandoning one of the most basic and universal theistic tenets:
they are becoming worshipers of God-the-not-almighty.

I want to tell you how we handle the problem of evil. If you, like so many others, are unsatisfied with the standard Judeo-Christian theodicy, perhaps you will
consider our Krsna conscious view before following Rabbi Kushner.

In the BHAGAVAD-GITA Krsna explains that you and I, like all living beings, are spiritual entities, souls. We now animate bodies made of matter, but we are not
these bodies. Our involvement with matter is unfortunate, for it is the cause of all our suffering. We rightly belong in the spiritual kingdom, where life is eternal, full of
knowledge and bliss. There everyone is joyously surrendered to the control of God as they directly serve Him in love. Every action is motivated exclusively by the
desire to satisfy God.

But some of us perversely wished God's position for ourselves. We wanted independence so that we could try to enjoy and control others like God does. Yet we
cannot, of course, take God's place; He alone has no master. But to grant our desires, God sends us to the material world, where He now controls us indirectly,
through His material nature and its laws. Here we can forget God, strive to fulfill OUR desires, and have the illusion of independence.

Yet we are controlled by the laws of nature, and these force us to perpetually inhabit a succession of temporary material bodies. In ignorance, we identify ourselves
with each body we enter, and we suffer again and again the pains of birth, old age, disease, and death. Life after life we transmigrate through plant, animal, and
human bodies, sometimes on this planet, sometimes on far better ones, sometimes on far worse.

Once we take a human birth, our destiny is shaped by KARMA. In the BHAGAVAD- GITA (8.3) Krsna succintly defines KARMA as "actions pertaining to the
development of material bodies." This means that there are actions we do now that determine our future material bodies. What kind of actions? Those motivated by
material desire. We may do them directly for ourselves or indirectly for our extended self - our family, friends, community, nation, and the like. All such acts sentence us to future births in the material world, there to reap what we have sown.

KARMA is of two kinds: good and bad. Every civilized society recognizes a set of commandments that have divine authority and that regulate material enjoyment.
Such commandments, for example, restrict the enjoyment of sex to marital relations and oblige the wealthy to be philantropic. They also encourage religious and
charitable acts, which earn the performer merit. And they prescribe atonements for transgressors. Thus people are allowed to pursue material enjoyment, but they
must observe moral and religious codes. And those who follow these codes, who live pious lives of restricted sensual pleasure, are assured of even greater
enjoyment in the life to come.

If we act according to scriptural regulations, the VEDAS tell us, we will produce good KARMA and in future births enjoy the benefits of our piety. For example, if a person is born in an aristocratic family, is beautiful, well educated, or very wealthy, he is reaping the benefits of good KARMA. The VEDAS also tell us that if a
person is extraordinarily pious he may be reborn on one of the higher planets in this universe, where the standard of sensual pleasure is far greater than anything we
have on earth.

Conversely, there is bad KARMA. We create bad KARMA when we disregard scriptural injunctions and restrictions in our pursuit of sensual pleasure - that is,
when we act sinfully. Bad KARMA brings us suffering and misfortune, such as birth in a degraded family, poverty, chronic disease, legal problems, or physical
ugliness. Exceptionally bad KARMA will take us into animal bodies or down to lower planets of hellish torment.

The law of KARMA is as strict, relentless, and impartial as the grosser natural laws of motion and gravity. And, like them, it applies to us whether we know about it
or not. For example, if I eat the flesh of animals even though I can live as well without it, my bad KARMA will force me to be born as an animal and to be
slaughtered myself. Or if I arrange to have a child killed in the womb, I simultaneously arrange for myself to be killed in the same way, again and again, without ever
seeing the light of day.

So when you and I were born we inherited, along with our blue eyes or our black hair, the consequences of our past good and bad deeds. We have a long history,
and the happiness and distress our lives will bring is set. We are indeed children of destiny, hostages to fortune, but it is a destiny we created for ourselves, a fortune
self-made. And in this life we are continuing to create our future.

But of all this Kushner is unaware, and he can make no sense of his suffering. He has the unshakable conviction that God owes him an agreable and happy life, that
God is obliged to arrange matters for his satisfaction. But God fails, bringing on Kushner's crisis of faith. It can only be that God is either bad or weak, Kushner
reasons, and then settles for weakness.

Yet in spite of Kushner, God is both all-good and all-powerful. But He does not engineer our suffering - we do. We are the authors of our KARMA. And it is our
decision, not His, that brings us down into the material world, into the realm of suffering.

So the answer to the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?" is "They don't." All of us here in the material world are - how shall I put it? - NOT OF
THE BEST SORT. Reprobates and scapegraces - each of us persona non grata in the kingdom of God. We are sent here because we seek a life independent of
God, and He grants our desire as far as possible. But since His position is already taken, we can only play at being God while deceiving ourselves that we are
independent of Him.

At the same time, the material world reform us, teaches us through reward and punishment to acknowledge God's supreme position. For by natural law we are
rationed out the pleasures we desire according to our observance of the divine regulations, following the ways of good KARMA. The practice of good KARMA,
then, amounts to a materially motivated religion, an observance of God's orders on the inducement of material reward. By this practice, spanning many lifetimes, I
may, it is hoped, become habituated to following God's commands and reconciled to His supremacy. Thereupon I become eligible at last to take up the pure and
eternal religion, in which, completely free from all material desires, I serve God in loving devotion, asking nothing in return. This religion, called BHAKTI in the
VEDAS, causes my return to the kingdom of God. The acts of BHAKTI are KARMA-less: they produce no future material births, good or bad.

From the VEDAS, then, we learn of two clearly distinct religions, one pure and the other impure. Practicing good KARMA can elevate us in the material world,
secure for us a vast life span on heavenly planets, and so on. In other words, it can make us first-class inmates of the material world. But BHAKTI alone can release us from the prison altogether. Even the best KARMA cannot free us from suffering, as Krsna warns in the BHAGAVAD-GITA (8.16): "From the highest planet in
the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery where repeated birth and death take place." But BHAKTI destroys all karmic reaction, extirpates all
material desires, revives our pure love for God, and delivers us beyond birth and death to His abode. There we never taste temporary, material pleasure but rather
relish eternal, spiritual bliss by serving Krsna and thus joining in HIS bliss.

It is a signal of virtue of the Vedic tradition that it distinguishes so clearly between the religion of good KARMA and the religion of BHAKTI and  offers BHAKTI
purely, without compromise. Most of us, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Jew, have been taught a kind of common karmic religion: God has put us on this earth to
enjoy ourselves, and if we do so within the ordained limits, not forgetting to show God gratitude and proper respect, He will see to our success. We should ask God to meet our needs and fulfill our lawful desires, for He is the greatest order supplier. If we are observant and good, He will reward us well in this life and even better
in the next.

This is the religion Kushner professed: "Like most people, my wife and I had grown up with an image of God as an all-wise, all-powerful parent figure who would
treat us as our earthly parents did, or even better. If we were obedient and deserving, He would reward us. If we got out of line, He would discipline us, reluctantly
but firmly. He would protect us from being hurt or from hurting ourselves, and would see to it that we got what we deserved in life."

Of course, Kushner begins to reconsider his religion when he discovers that it doesn't work. At this point, most people (like the marble contractor) become atheists.
The idea of God as order supplier is thus responsible for a great deal of unbelief. But Kushner wants to preserve his faith in God, or at least in God's goodness, by
denying His power.

Kushner's chief defense of his position is that it is "religiously adequate," that is, comforting. You will recall that he accused conventional theodicy of making people
feel worse - causing them to feel guilty and to hate God. The explanation of suffering I have presented shouldn't make anyone feel worse. True, it says that we cause
our own suffering, yet the point is not to make us feel guilty. The point is to let us know we've made some mistakes and should correct them. And why should we
resent God for our suffering? Suffering comes by the law of KARMA. But KARMA is the impartial working of causal law.

Hostility toward God is what has put us under that law; it certainly won't help us get out. For His part, God is making every effort to get us out: He comes to this
world from time to time to teach the path of BHAKTI, which will destroy all our KARMA, He sends His representatives throughout the world on the same mission,
and He even stays with us as the indwelling Supersoul during our sojourn in the material world, ready to give us the intelligence to approach Him when we put aside
our ancient enmity.

Kushner has the right instincts: he too would like people to cease their enmity toward God, and he even recognizes the ignobility of worshiping Him on the condition
that He satisfy our demands. But if only we recognize God's limitations, he says, we won't be angry at Him when things go wrong in our life, nor will we worship Him for the satisfaction of our desires. Kushner thus urges the religious adequacy of his own theodicy.

But it is far from adequate. Kushner's problem is that he cannot overcome the conditioning of karmic religion. He needs something more spiritually powerful than
good instincts to free him from the implicit hostility toward God, the unconscious, deep-seated unwillingness to serve Him unconditionally, that binds the conditioned
soul to KARMA.

Kushner is still hostile. Because God did not satisfy his demands, Kushner must think of Him as ineffectual and weak. Kushner once thought of God as a parent who always gratifies our desires. But now Kushner's views Him as needing our forgiveness - for having failed as a parent: "Are you capable of forgiving and loving God
even when you have found out that He is not perfect, even when He has let you down and disappointed you by permitting bad luck and sickness and cruelty in His
world, and permitting some of those things to happen to you? Can you learn to love and forgive Him despite His limitations... as you once learned to forgive and love your parents even though they were not as wise, as strong, or as perfect as you needed them to be?"

Kushner asserts that his hostility toward God is no more, but what he has really done is simply change the form in which it is expressed - from rage to
condescension. And this idea of God will only support our unwillingness to acknowledge His supremacy, and thus it will help keep us in the material world, where
we will continue to suffer. Thus Kushner's theodicy will not make us feel better; it will only make us feel worse.

Furthermore, if we think God weak and ineffectual, it is certain that we will not be able to surrender to Him fully and serve Him without any personal consideration.
The condition that makes such service and surrender possible is His promise of complete protection. "Declare it boldly," Krsna tells His disciple Arjuna, "My
devotee never perishes." (Bg. 9.31) Because we can depend upon God completely, we can surrender to Him completely: "Abandon all varieties of religion and just
surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Therefore you have nothing to fear." (Bg. 18.66)

If we accept Kushner, we will always have to look out for ourselves; we will have to act for our own sake, and so we will remain involved with KARMA. Our
service to God will never be total and unconditional. Indeed, as long as we insist on taking care of ourselves, God will leave us to our own devices.

But if we accept Krsna, if we give up independent action and depend completely on God, devoting all our effort to His service, He will take complete care of us.
We shouldn't expect God to remove all inconvenience, but if difficulty comes we should simply tolerate it, recognizing that our residual bad KARMA is playing itself
out, and continue to expect God's mercy.

God will minimize the karmic reaction due us, but the ultimate way He protects us is by bestowing spiritual consciousness upon us and destroying the ignorance by
which we identify ourselves with matter. Krsna describes that consciousness in the BHAGAVAD-GITA (6.22-23): "In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses... Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken even in the midst of the greatest
difficulty. This, indeed, is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact." God frees us not so that we can goof off, not so we can get some "reward,"
but so that we can serve Him wholeheartedly, without any other concern.

So if we accept Krsna, we can solve the problem of evil. That solution doesn't lie in rejecting either the goodness or the power of God, but rather in taking
advantage of that goodness and power to perform pure devotional service - and in that way end all our suffering forever.

Read more on Karma here:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/karma.html

Why me! What did I do to deserve this?" The outraged cry that comes from a person who feels he has been unfairly singled out for suffering by cruel providence.

"Why do bad things happen to good people?" The perplexing question that haunts the minds of many when they see pious people victimized by painful reverses in life.

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

"The problem of evil" has been the bane of Western theologians and thinkers for centuries together. In simple terms, the problem is: Why does evil exist in the world despite the presence of an almighty God?

The Vedic scriptures give a clear understanding of the problem of evil. They explain that evil is not God's creation; evil comes upon us due to our own bad karma. When we succumb to our lower nature, we exploit the resources of mother nature in an unlawful way and / or cause suffering to other living beings just for the fulfillment of our base desires. By such actions, we fix up appointments with suffering in the future. (And all living beings share a remarkable memory quirk - they forget their own wrongdoings very quickly) So when our due suffering reaches us, we have conveniently forgotten the wrongs that we did in the past. And so the indignant outburst, "Why me?"

KARMA - NOT-SO-UNFAMILIAR

John walks into his house and sees an ugly burn scar on the right hand of his father. Shocked, he cries out, "Father, what happened?"
Mr. Adams calls his family physician early morning, "Doctor I am having a sever stomach upset." The doctor promptly asks, "What did you have for dinner last night?"
Mr. Dull is having respiratory problems. After examining him, the doctor asks him, "At what age did you start smoking?"
These are simple, everyday incidents, but all of them involve implicit acceptance of the concept of karma. On seeing a particular effect, the person involved desires to know its cause. This is what the law of karma actually is: to every action there is a reaction. (Newton's third law, which deals with only the gross physical level, is a subset of this general law of karma) Thus karma is not a sentimental religious concept; its implicit acceptance forms the basis of practically everything done by everyone from every walk of life. Just try to imagine life without any cause-effect relationship! Chaos would reign supreme.

Read the full article HERE

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 26: The quake that had its epicentre in Sumatra today shook several coastal districts of Orissa, including capital Bhubaneswar, around 6.30 am.

Tremors were also felt in the districts of Jajpur, Balasore, Kendrapara, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Talcher and Raygada. No loss of life was reported in the state.

The Met office in Bhubaneswar said the impact of the quake was felt at 6.33 am. The tremor lasted for about 30 second and measured between 2 and 3 on the Richter scale, according to the director of the Met office, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra.

Panic gripped residents in the city, who rushed out of their houses as doors and windows rattled. Several apartments in Bhubaneswar developed cracks.

Dhamra in Bhadrak district and Gopalpur in Ganjam district witnessed tsunamis as high as 4-6 metres between 8.30 am and 11 am.

Officials said a young boy - part of a picnic party from Berhampur - was washed away into the sea at Gopalpur but was rescued by fishermen. Many boats and nets have been washed away near Gopalpur.

The sea level was also reported to have risen at Paradeep port.

This is the first time that Bhubaneswar has witnessed such an earthquake.

What Orissa experienced was the result of a ripple effect, Mohapatra said,as the place of origin was about 2,100 km southeast of the state.

"It felt as if the whole building shook," said 80-year-old Tarapada Banerjee, who lives on Ratha Road. He said all the residents of the apartment block rushed downstairs.

Puri untouched

The aftershocks did not affect Puri, where 90 per cent of the tourists are from Bengal.

"I did not feel a thing. Nothing has happened here," said Partha Ray Chowdhury, who had checked into Puri Hotel yesterday and planned to go around the town this evening.

"Was there an earthquake?" asked Kalyan Chakraborty, manager of Rani Hotel.

samasrita ye pada-pallava-plavam
mahat-padam punya-yaso murareh
bhavambudhir vatsa-padam param padam
padam padam yad vipadam na tesam

"For one who has accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Mukunda, or the giver of mukti, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf's footprint. param padam, or the place where there are no material miseries, or Vaikuntha, is his goal, not the place where there is danger in every step of life."

Owing to ignorance, one does not know that this material world is a miserable place where there are dangers at every step. Out of ignorance only, less intelligent persons try to adjust to the situation by fruitive activities, thinking that the resultant actions will make them happy. They do not know that no kind of material body anywhere within the universe can give life without miseries. The miseries of life, namely birth, death, old age and diseases, are present everywhere within the material world. But one who understands his real constitutional position as the eternal servitor of the Lord, and thus knows the position of the Personality of Godhead, engages himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Consequently he becomes qualified to enter into the Vaikuntha planets, where there is neither material, miserable life nor the influence of time and death. To know one's constitutional position means to know also the sublime position of the Lord. One who wrongly thinks that the living entity's position and the Lord's position are on the same level is to be understood to be in darkness and therefore unable to engage himself in the devotional service of the Lord. He becomes a lord himself and thus paves the way for the repetition of birth and death. But one who, understanding that his position is to serve, transfers himself to the service of the Lord, at once becomes eligible for Vaikunthaloka. Service for the cause of the Lord is called karma-yoga or buddhi-yoga, or in plain words, devotional service to the Lord. (Bhagavad-gita 2.51 pp)

Wed Dec 29, 6:18 AM ET

By GEMUNU AMARASINGHE, Associated Press Writer

YALA NATIONAL PARK, Sri Lanka - Wildlife officials in Sri Lanka expressed surprise Wednesday that they found no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the weekend's massive tsunami — indicating that animals may have sensed the wave coming and fled to higher ground.

An Associated Press photographer who flew over Sri Lanka's Yala National Park in an air force helicopter saw abundant wildlife, including elephants, buffalo, deer, and not a single animal corpse.

Floodwaters from the tsunami swept into the park, uprooting trees and toppling cars onto their roofs — one red car even ended up on top of a huge tree — but the animals apparently were not harmed and may have sought out high ground, said Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, whose Jetwing Eco Holidays ran a hotel in the park.

"This is very interesting. I am finding bodies of humans, but I have yet to see a dead animal," said Wijeyeratne, whose hotel in the park was totally destroyed in Sunday's tidal surge.

"Maybe what we think is true, that animals have a sixth sense," Wijeyeratne said.

Yala, Sri Lanka's largest wildlife reserve, is home to 200 Asian Elephants, crocodile, wild boar, water buffalo and gray langur monkeys. The park also has Asia's highest concentration of leopards. The Yala reserve covers an area of 391 square miles, but only 56 square miles are open to tourists.

The human death toll in Sri Lanka surpassed 21,000. Forty foreigners were among 200 people in Yala who were killed.

NEW DELHI: What was till Sunday morning a picture postcard holiday, turned into a nightmare for Atul Dighe and his family. The 33-year-old employee of an infrastructure finance company, was at the Vivekananda Rock at Kanyakumari with his wife Meenal and their five-year-old daughter, when Tsunami waves arrived in force at the tourist spot on Sunday.

"At 9 am, we took a ferry to Vivekananda Rock, which is located in the middle of the sea. At about 10.30 am, the water started receding and moved away from the shore. I could actually see the floor of the sea," said Atul, a resident of Bandra in Mumbai speaking to TNN over telephone.

What he saw next was even more terrifying. "There was a huge wave, about 30-40 feet high coming towards us from the Arabian sea side. There were about 2,000 people on the spot, including about 100 children. Everyone was screaming and running in different directions and it was a stampede," recalled Meenal.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004 (New Delhi):

Latest satellite images show that Sunday's killer tsunami has changed the topography of India's coastline.

The southern part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands consists of 19 islands known as the Nicobars, in which Great Nicobars, Mancowrie, Car Nicobar and Trinket are prominent.

Nature's wrath

A satellite image of Trinket island, taken on December 21 compared to a latest image shows the destruction the tsunami has done to the island.

Another satellite image taken on December 26 shows that the tsunami waves have swamped the centre of the island almost splitting it in two. Trinket is an island with a majority tribal population.

The satellite pictures show big changes in Chennai as well. Satellite images taken early this year shows Chennai's waterfront - the famed Marina beach.

The Adiyar river can also be seen running through the city.

Another satellite picture taken of the same area on December 27 shows how the tsunami has washed away a major segment of the beach. Around 200 people died in Chennai alone.

Kakinada Bay submerged

It is the same story in Andhra Pradesh where nearly 100 persons lost their lives.

Satellite pictures of the Kakinada Bay in Andhra Pradesh taken in January this year compared to an image taken on December 27 show the glaring images of destruction.

The picture shows many of the islands in the bay have been submerged by the tsunami.

The trigger for the tsunami ­ a destructive wave train created by an undersea disturbance ­ was a 9 magnitude earthquake, just off the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island.

December 27, 2004

Dr V Rajamani is a professor at the School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, specialising in the field of geo-chemistry. He explained the factors behind Sunday's earthquake and its implications to Deputy Managing Editor Amberish K Diwanji.

8.9 on the Richter scale. That is a massive earthquake. How often do such earthquakes occur?

It is a massive earthquake, especially if we remember that the Gujarat earthquake that caused so much death and destruction measured 7.3 on the Richter scale. Earthquakes of such magnitude are very rare, perhaps occurring once every few hundred years. But earthquakes of lesser magnitude are more frequent; thus we can say less the magnitude, more the frequency.

'Earthquakes do not give prior warning' http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/dec/26quake3.htm

This was a submarine earthquake. Would you explain this phenomenon and what happens?

Such quakes occur in the earth under the sea or ocean. If they occur 30 kilometres or more deep in the earth, they are called deep earthquakes and their devastation is much less since the earth is able to absorb the energy released by the quake.

In this case, the epicentre was just 10 kilometres deep in the ground, so it was a shallow earthquake, which is much more dangerous. Also, the depth of water makes a difference. The more the water depth, more of the energy unleashed by a quake can be absorbed, and vice-versa.

When such a submarine quake occurs, it generates seismic sea waves, otherwise known as tsunamis. I have heard some reports term them as tidal waves; they are not tidal waves which are caused by the tides due to the moon's gravity pull; these are tsunamis that are caused by earthquakes.

When the quake occurs, tsunamis of small amplitude are caused on the surface (that is, waves that range from centimetres to half a metre in height). These tsunamis travel very fast, up to 800 kilometres per hour, which means that in the present case, the quake occurred at 6.28 am, and the tsunamis hit Tamil Nadu three hours later.

The thing is, as the tsunamis travel, they become larger, especially as they enter shallow waters, which means a beach or when approaching land and here the high goes up to a few metres. There have been tsunamis as high as 30-40 metres, but the tsunamis that hit India were about 3 metres to 4 metres high.

Yet, no one can recall tsunamis crashing into India?

That is true but the fact is that earthquakes must have occurred and such tsunamis must have occurred. In fact, one of the greatest earthquakes also occurred in the Indonesian islands when the Krakatoa volcano blew up (in 1883, considered the greatest volcanic explosion in recorded history).

'India not prepared to tackle tsunamis' http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/dec/27quake.htm (pictures)

Every volcanic explosion causes an earthquake, though not vice-versa. So when Krakatoa blew up, it must have caused tsunamis but no one remembers them because it must not have caused much damage at all.

Earthquakes by themselves don't kill; what kills is human error.

So in the present case, the deaths are more due to human failure?

I have just come back from Chennai a couple of days ago and I had noticed that all along the beach there are huge settlements. It is common knowledge that staying alongside the beach is fraught with risk and is never to be done. So when the tsunamis came, they no doubt killed many of the poor people who live along the beach.

In fact, two reasons why the death toll in villages is less is, one, of course the density of the settlements is much less than say in Chennai; second, because in the villages, the villagers don't live on the beach but behind the beach. A beach is like a ridge that prevents the sea from entering the village. So the death toll in Chennai and towns is high because without regard to elementary rules, people have been settling down on the beach and this has been encouraged by the politicians.

The tsunamis have also caused flash floods that claimed lives.

While a beach or seafront creates a natural ridge to prevent the tsunamis from going deep inside, the exception is at the mouth of a river where no such natural formation occurs. Here, tsunamis force their way up the river from the mouth and thus cause massive flash floods. But here again, it is the poor people who will die because they live along the banks of the river when they should never have been there in the first place.

Every time there is a flood in India, the death toll is among those who live on the banks. This happens every year along the Yamuna in Delhi.

India is a considered a seismic active region. Would you throw some light on this?

This earthquake -- and all the earthquakes that happen in India -- occurred because the Indo-Australian tectonic plate is grinding into the Asian plate, and sinking under it. Where the two plates meet is an arc that runs from the Himalayas down to the Indonesian islands past Australia. So every decade or so there is an earthquake, every 50 or so years there is a massive earthquake, and every few hundred years there is an earthquake of this very huge magnitude. This is all part of the tectonic plates shifting and there is nothing we can do to stop that.

Also earthquakes have their advantages: they push land further up, thus helping vegetation flourish. So it is part of the shaping of the earth.

The problem is even after we know that India is in the active quake region, we have done so little to prepare for earthquakes. For instance, Delhi is in the high seismic zone, yet unscrupulous builders keep making their houses taller. So the next time there is a tremor, these houses are going to tumble and cause huge death and destruction.

We cannot predict where and when the next earthquake will strike. What we can predict is that it will happen, sooner of later, though now we can say that the magnitude is likely to be less. What we can do is prepare for it so that the death toll is low. Please remember, after the Gujarat earthquake, there was a massive quake in the western part of the US and the death toll was negligible. The reason was that they are ready for quakes. We are not.

Some victims of India's earthquake would link their suffering to past karma. How do we make sense of tragedy?

By Arvind Sharma

This article originally appeared on Beliefnet in January, 2001, after an earthquake killed thousands of people in Gujarat, India.

An earthquake does more than shake up the world; it shakes up our worldview. It forces us to ask that most difficult question of all: Why? And not just why me, but why us?

There are three distinct yet interrelated ways of answering these questions: through science, through God, and through the Hindu concept of karma.

Science states simply that the cause of this particular suffering is natural in origin. Earthquakes are the result of tectonic activity, and if we happen to be in the wrong place, we're simply victims of a random occurrence. Our fate is determined by statistical contingency.

Science deals with causes, not purposes. "What purpose does a volcano have in blowing up?" is the wrong question for a scientist to ask, for "purpose" presupposes a conscious principle at work. If no such principle exists, then we're helpless.

Would we rather feel guilty than helpless? This is where religion enters in. One strand in religious thinking identifies God as the supreme conscious principle. Once we do that, the whole line of questioning takes a different turn. When causation becomes conscious, there's a reason why we suffer. We're compelled to respond like Yesica del Carmen Berrius, the coffee picker from El Salvador. After witnessing the killer quake that hit his country, he asked, "What have we done that God has punished us like this?" (Time, January 29, 2001, p. 5)

We run into the problem of Job and come out with the conventional response from theism - that the will of God is inscrutable. The gulf fixed between us creatures and the creator is so vast that we cannot comprehend God's actions no matter how hard we try, no more than a dog can comprehend his master's. Some religious scholars, like Rabbi Kushner, have proposed a less forbidding response: that God is doing his best to manage the world, but sometimes he slips up too. In that sense, even God can err.

But to err is human too, and tragedy could in some way be a punishment for our sins. This is precisely what Mahatma Gandhi claimed of the earthquake that devastated Bihar in India in 1934: that it was God's punishment for the sin of untouchability practiced by the Hindus. Of course, many did not accept this explanation. Rabindranath Tagore, the rationalist and Nobel laureate, was vehement in his opposition, condemning Gandhi for promoting irrational and even superstitious thinking.

The principle of karma plays a key role in the Hindu moral universe. It’s a principle which can operate on its own like any natural law, such as that of gravitation. Many victims of the recent earthquake in India would account for the suffering inflicted by the earthquake in terms of past karma.

But just as there were two views regarding the extent to which God might be complicit, there are two views of how karma might be involved.

According to the more fatalistic version of karma, the suffering caused by the earthquake would be present-day payback for the victims' past misdeeds. According to a more Buddhist version, however, only a Buddha's insight could determine whether the actual earthquake was a purely natural event, or in the nature of a moral event, involving punishment for bad karma. And if bad karma, whose bad karma? Is the Chinese occupation of Tibet the outcome of the past bad karma of the Tibetans, or simply the perpetration of bad present-day karma by the Chinese?

Clearly, any "explanation" is profoundly ambiguous. If we are religious and accept a conscious God, we face ambiguity -- is our suffering caused by our failing or God's? If we decide to go past God and rely on karma, we still face ambiguity as to whether the earthquake was a karmic or natural event.

Our suffering is straightforward. Our responses -- whichever route we take -- lead us into ambiguity. So should we give way to despair?

I don't think so. For ambiguity contains within it the possibility of choice. In fact, ambiguity makes our choice genuine. If we knew for certain that an earthquake was the outcome of only natural causes or divine causes or karmic causes, would we be free human beings? For if ambiguity comes with choice, then with choice comes freedom.

To sum up: Perhaps we should be thankful that we can't be sure whether earthquakes are solely a natural process or are to some degree a punishment for sins. Not knowing helps us function--without feeling completely powerless in the face of natural disasters, and without feeling complete despair when confronted with our past misdeeds.

After all, no matter to which chain of causation we are bound, we're entirely free to help the victims. At another level, we may find the noble resolution of ambiguity in such altruism.

According to news reports, one victim of last week's devastating earthquake was a schoolteacher who used to ask his students: "What remains when everything is lost?"

He is no longer with us to provide the answer, so we must: "The future."

Courtesy of www.Beliefnet.com

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, December 15 2004: A British philosophy professor who has been a leading champion of atheism for more than a half-century has changed his mind. He now believes in God - more or less - based on scientific evidence, and he says so on a video released Thursday. At age 81, after decades of insisting that belief is a mistake, the professor, Antony Flew, has concluded that some sort of intelligence or first cause must have created the universe. A super-intelligence is the only good explanation for the origin of life and the complexity of nature, Flew said in a telephone interview from England. Flew said he was best labeled a deist, like Thomas Jefferson, whose God was not actively involved in people's lives. "I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and far and away from the God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Saddam Husseins," he said. "It could be a person in the sense of  a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose."

Courtesy of http://www.HinduismToday.com/

Read more about Atheism and it's related causes HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/atheism.html

"Here in this world there are thousands of newspapers and magazines reporting the stale, repetitious happenings of this limited space. So for reporting the news of the unlimited spiritual realm, concerning the eternal, ever-fresh Supreme Personality of Godhead, we could publish a newspaper at every second, what to speak of daily."

- Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad.

Courtesy of Ekendra's Mridanga:
http://www.gopinatha.net/journalKC/

Christians See Conversion Opportunities in Disaster Relief
http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/1303677.html

VIRGINIA, USA, December 28, 2004: The Christian website, Crosswalk.com, published a long story about Christian relief efforts following the tsunami ("source"). While the Christian charity exhibited by the rapid response of Christian organizations is admirable, the ulterior motives of conversion expressed by some are disturbing:

Some excerpts:

...."Doctor Ajith Fernando, who is considered by some to be the "Billy Graham of Sri Lanka,' heads up the Youth for Christ (YFC) office there. A long-time friend and partner of NDI, he wrote to Williams from Sri Lanka: 'What a sad day this has been! We keep hearing of more and more friends and loved ones of friends who have died or lost much of their belongings. The death toll for Sri Lanka alone is over 10,000 and keeps rising. We have prayed and wept for our nation for many years. The most urgent of my prayers has always been that my people would turn to Jesus. I pray that this terrible, terrible tragedy might be used by God to break through into the lives of many of our people.' "

...."In the wake of this disaster, Gospel For Asia's 1.5 million-member Believers Church in India is rallying support and deploying its leadership and members to minister to those suffering both physically and spiritually. 'In times like these, we know that God opens the hearts of those who suffer, and we pray that as our workers demonstrate God's love to them, many of them will come to know for the first time that real security comes only through Him,' Gospel For Asia president K.P. Yohannon said. He add, 'We ask that our brothers and sisters in the West take the time today to pray for these millions of victims, that they will feel God's presence and grace in a special way.' "

Courtesy of http://www.HinduismToday.com/

NOTE:
The Naxilites did a similar opportunistic collecting of votes during the floods and famine of war torn Bengal and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971. The people of that region who were formerly mostly followers of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the decsendent followers such as Narottam Dasa Thakur mahasay etc. So they are naturaly devotional and rely on God for help. As the devotees prayed for help from God the Communist Naxilites intimidatingly mocked and told them not to bother with God, there is no God, there's no God who can help you, look at the mess......... They preached like that to give up their devotions and prayers and instead to approach the Russian backed CPI (Communist Party of India and the Naxilite mission to get rid of religion) Some who obviously had shorter vision in their plight and need gave up their devotions to Vaishnavism (Hinduism) and embraced Communism for the price of some chappatti flour, fresh drinking water, and some chattai roofing handed out by propagandist Communists. The faithful however, saw only the hand of God answering their prayers. After all they didn't pray, please give this way or that way, they simply prayed out of necessity for help. So who can we blame the opportunist Communisits trying to further their goals by using such disasters to their advantage, or is it the lack of faith of the foolish people who gave up God for a handful of rice and chappatti flour? It is easy to blame one thing or another, but the fact is that for those who are faithful, EVEN the most horendous event happens and they are forced to give up their bodies and die, if they remain faithful they are still at an advantage on the eternal spiritual tredmill. Those who out of ill informed desperation sell themselves short for some food in their belly etc actually lose everything. They lose devotion to God, they lose their self respect, they lose their culture, and are treated as "ignorant" "uncultured" "uncivillized" "savages" etc by the triumphant conquering western religions like Christianity and Islam.

Future hope in hands of Iskcon:

There is a lot of evidence round the world to suggest that at one time Vedic culture was prevalent throughout the world. In course of time, however, it broke down and gave rise to many unhealthy practices. People seemed to forget the main point of the Vedic culture that one should submit to the will of the Supreme Being. Their faith was reduced to endless, empty rituals and blatant propitiation of various gods and Goddesses for all sorts of mundane favours. Hereditary caste system came into being and smothered the urge to improve spiritually. So, in response to all this, many new religions came into being. As the Lord tells us in the Bhagavad Gita," Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion -- at that time I descend myself."
So, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism -- all these religions appeared in reaction to the unhealthy state of the correct spiritual culture. Christianity, Islam and Sikhism -- all are fiercely monotheistic because, when they appeared, polytheism was rampant. Also, all these are strongly against the hereditary caste system. Buddhism and Jainism put a lot of emphasis on 'ahimsa' or non-violence because when they appeared, animal sacrifice was very much the order of the day. These two religions also put a lot of emphasis on righteous thought and action because at that time people were indulging in many undesirable activities, in the hope that they would escape any painful consequences by propitiating their gods and Goddesses.

Fortunately for all of us, Srila Prabhupad has now resurrected the Vedic system in its purest form. It is pure, it is practical and it is concerned with the spirit of things and not with mere labels. It has every thing that a truly universal spiritual culture needs to have. It is rooted in authentic scriptures and it completely ignores one's place of birth, colour of skin or any other physical peculiarities. It puts equal emphasis on one's own efforts and on the Lord's grace. It also draws on the teachings and personal examples of generations of past spiritual masters. Last, but not least, it has no political aspirations. So, it is bound to sweep over Christianity, Islam and other religious systems which came into being to fill in the spiritual vacuum. Christianity seemed to have lost its original spritual message. It has become more or less a superficial Sunday morning ritual. Its highest reach seems to be material welfare work. And Islam with its fanaticism and violence seems to have something very disturbing at its very core. Lord Buddha was the very embodiment of non-violence but Buddhists of to-day very rarely follow his example. Mankind seems to be crying for spiritual guidance. Fortunately we have something worthwhile in our hands now. The future is full of hope but also many challenges. It is fervently hoped that we would rise up to them.

Sent in by Mr GL Mehta, former President of the South Taranaki (NZ) Indian Association.

See our pages supporting these views HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/VWH.html (Vedik World Heritage)
Western Indologists been exposed page:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/WesternIndologists-page.htm
How British Misguided World on Vedic History
http://www.hknet.org.nz/MotiveBritishRajMissionaries.html

http://www.be-free.org/b-media/market-bfree03/cinema.php

yeah kick the butt
...and remember from 10th December 2004 no more smoking in public places in New Zealand by law

Once there was a monkey who was jumping around in the forest when he saw a big tree that was half cut through with a plug wedged in it. The system of the wood cutters was that they would sometimes half cut through a big tree, leave it for the day, and then come back and cut the rest of it the next day. In the meantime, to preserve their cut, they would put a plug there. This monkey became very curious about the half-cut tree and he managed to push out the plug. The big tree suddenly joined and cut off his tail.

The moral: Do what one is asked of and otherwise mind your own business:

See similar inspirational snippets HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/parables.htm

Prabhupada: Fifth Canto, fifth chapter.
Tamala Krsna: Fifth Canto, fifth chapter? I don't have the first volume, Srila Prabhupada. We only have the second volume of Fifth Canto with us.
Prabhupada: No other Bhagavatam?
Tamala Krsna: We do. We have Prahlada Maharaja's teachings, Seventh Canto.
Prabhupada: No, Bhagavata original?
Tamala Krsna: Original Bhagavatam.
Prabhupada: Then?
Tamala Krsna: Panditaji might have taken.
Prabhupada: Ask Pradyumna.
Upendra: Is he downstairs?
Tamala Krsna: I don't think so.
Prabhupada: Hm?
Upendra: Panditaji's not here.
Prabhupada: Why he does not remain here?
Tamala Krsna: He does his work at the Svargasrama. He's supposed to come here to explain. He's been coming every day.
Prabhupada: You recite that verse, nunam pramattah kurute vikarma yad indriya-pritaya aprnoti [SB 5.5.4]. The instruction of King Rsabhadeva to His sons. He said that "This body, human body..." Ayam dehah. Nayam deho deha-bhajam nrloke. Deha. Everyone has got deha, body. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said, tatha dehantara-praptih: [Bg. 2.13] "After this body is finished, another body...," because atma, na jayate na mriyate va, nityah sasvato 'yam na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg. 2.20]. Atma is eternal. There is no birth, no death. Nitya, eternal; sasvatah puranah, the oldest; and na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg. 2.20]. Therefore this is the problem. The atma has no birth, no death, and neither he is dead after the annihilation of this body. But we are put into this condition. We are not put, but we have put ourself. We are putting ourself in this condition of repetition of birth and death. Bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg. 8.19]. Once we take birth, and again we annihilate this body. So Rsabhadeva says, "This ignorance of self-realization must be removed." Therefore He says, ayam dehah: "This body should not be misused like animals," ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithuna. This is the advice. Ayam dehah nrloke. He especially mentions, nrloke: "in the human form of body." The dog, cat, or doglike man, catlike man, they may remain in ignorance. They have no chance. There are uncivilized men. Although they have got two hands, two legs, but because there is no knowledge, they have been described as dvi-pada-pasu. They are animal with two legs. Other animals, they have got four legs, and this rascal has got two legs. That is the difference. So ayam dehah, this body, na ayam dehah nrloke... Nayam dehah nrlo..., deha-bhajam. Deha-bhajam. This is also very significant. There are innumerable living entities. Jiva-bhagah sa vijneyah sa anantyaya kalpate [Cc. Madhya 19.140]. These jivas, living entities, part and parcel of God, anantyaya kalpate. Just like the sunshine. What is the sunshine? The sunshine, this is very atomic parts of the sun brightness. They are individual, but they are combined. We see one shining. So similarly, God is compared with the sun, and we are atomic particles of God, the same thing in a very small... Kesagra-sata-bhagasya satadha kalpitasya ca [Cc. Madhya 19.140]. You take the tip of the hair and divide it into ten thousand parts, and that one part is the formation of the jiva.

kesagra-sata-bhagasya
satadha kalpitasya ca
jiva-bhagah sa vijneyah
sa canantyaya kalpate
 [Cc. Madhya 19.140]

You cannot count how many there are. Now these, some of the jivas, not all of them... Majority of them, they live in the spiritual world, just like majority of the population of the state, they live outside the prison house. Prison house means some of the citizens who are criminals, they are put into the jail. Similarly, these living entities who are criminals, means who have rebelled against the order of God, they are sent here, in this material world. So they are suffering one term after another. Therefore here is the chance, ayam dehah nrloke. In the form of human body you can get out of it. Tyaktva deham punar janma [Bg. 4.9]. This is chance. And therefore Rsabhadeva says, "My dear boys, you don't spoil your life." "I am working and enjoying. I am not spoiling." "No, this kind of working is done by the cats and hogs." Kastan kaman arhate vid-bhujam ye: [SB 5.5.1] "For sense gratification the hogs and dogs, they also work very hard and then enjoy senses. So this body is not meant for that purpose." You are thinking that you are working so hard, karmi, and big, big skyscraper building and nice motorcar, nice roads. Electricity you have discovered. You are very advanced. Rsabhadeva says, "This kind of advancement..." [break]...motorcar. "Gow! Gow! Gow! Gow!" Therefore He warns, "No, no, no, no. This is not civilization." Nayam deho deha-bhajam nrloke kastan kaman [SB 5.5.1]. "So much hard labor for sense gratification? This is not good." Then? What it is meant for? Tapo divyam. So human life is meant for tapasya, self-realization, atma-suddhi. Atma can be purified from the contamination of the material modes of nature by tapasya. That is real civilization. Tapo divyam putraka yena suddhyet sattvam. Your existence will be purified. Now your existence is not purified. Therefore you have to accept birth and death, old age and disease. It is not purified. So here is the chance to purify your existence. Tapo divyam putraka yena suddhyet sattvam yasmad brahma-saukhyam anantam. Brahman means the greatest, unlimited. You are hankering after happiness, but if you purify your existence, then you get unlimited happiness of Brahman. Anantam: "There is no end." Here, whatever happiness you are getting, that is not unlimited. Limited. That limited happiness is available in the life of cats and dogs also. So the human life is meant for tapasya. Tapo divyam putraka yena suddhyet sattvam yasmad brahma-saukhyam anantam [SB 5.5.1]. So this tapasya can be practiced... Mahat-sevam dvaram ahur vimukteh [SB 5.5.2]. You have to render your service to mahat, mahat, mahatma. And who is mahatma? Mahatmanas tu mam partha daivim prakrtim asritah, bhajanty ananya-manasah [Bg. 9.13]. This is mahatma. Krsna says.
Sa mahatma sudurlabhah.
bahunam janmanam ante
jnanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti
sa mahatma sudurlabhah
 [Bg. 7.19]

One who has understood Krsna -- "Vasudeva is everything" -- he is mahatma. Sa mahatma. So that is recommended. Mahat-sevam dvaram ahur vimukteh [SB 5.5.2]. If you get the chance of getting such mahatma, then try to give him service. Become his servant. Then your path of liberation will be open. And tamo-dvaram yositam sangi-sangam. Those who are after sense gratification, if you associate with them, then you are going to the darkness. Two ways are open: ahur vimukteh and dvaram, tamo-dvaram. Now make your choice, "In which way we shall go, in this way or that way?" Everything is given, information, in the Bhagavad-gita and all other sastras. Bhagavad-gita is the gist of all Vedas and Upanisads, Vedanta. Vedanta-krd vedanta-vit. Krsna is vedanta-vit and vedanta-krt. Krsna, in His incarnation as Vyasadeva, He has compiled the Vedanta-sutra. He has recommended also in the Bhagavad-gita, brahma-sutra-padais caiva hetumadbhir viniscitaih [Bg. 13.5]. Brahma-sutra-padaih, everything is established very reasonably. So Krsna is speaking Vedanta-sutra. Veda means knowledge. Anta means the end of knowledge. The end of knowledge is to understand Krsna. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan [Bg. 7.19]. Man of knowledge is jnanavan. So ordinary jnanavan, little knowledge, they cannot understand. Yatatam api siddhanam [Bg. 7.3]. But a person cultivating knowledge for many lives, he can understand. Vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabhah [Bg. 7.19]. So Vasudeva personally explaining Himself, "I am like this; I am like that." Why should we not understand? What is the objection? Boliye.
Guest (1) (Indian man): There should be no objection.
Prabhupada: But people are not following Vasudeva. They are creating new Vasudeva. And somebody told that Krsna is an ordinary man? Trivikrama Maharaja or somebody told me. Avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam [Bg. 9.11].
Tamala Krsna: Yeah, the people who are coming in at night are saying that.
Prabhupada:
vasudeve bhagavati
bhakti-yogah prayojitah
janayaty asu vairagyam
jnanam ca yad ahaitukam
 [SB 1.2.7]

In order to come to the position of that mahatma, one has to render service to Vasudeva. Vasudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogah prayojitah. Then jnana-vairagya automatically will be manifested. Janayaty asu vairagyam. Real life means vairagya. Just like these boys known as hippies. They are trying for vairagya. They are coming from countries, very opulent, rich father, mother, but they do not like, inclined to vairagya, renunciation. But renunciation must be based on knowledge, jnana-vairagya. So that they are lacking. They are not fixed up. But there is a tendency of vairagya. Is it not? That is also good. (Hindi) Therefore, according to Vedic civilization, there is compulsory vairagya. As soon as one is fifty years old, he must give up family life. Pancasordhvam vanam vrajet. Aiye. (Hindi) Jawaharlal Nehru, up to the end of his life he wanted to remain prime minister. (Hindi with scattered English words) Practical application there are. (Hindi) (pause) (Hindi) (Hindi conversation with scattered English) Without bhakti, jnana is never sufficient, but bhakti does not depend... Ahaituky apratihata. It cannot be checked. (Hindi) Bhagavan is within. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. And He assures... (Hindi) The so-called jnani, he wants to become liberated and become one with the Supreme-kanksati. When actually one is self-realized, na kanksati. Yogi kanksati. (Hindi) Bhagavan is the Supreme. We are part and parcel. So I have already given you the example, these fingers, part and parcel of the body. The only desire should be how to serve the body. That is selfishness. (Hindi) Then where is that picture? The gopis are pushing Radharani to Krsna. (Hindi)
Guest (1): Krsna likes Radha-Krsna.
Prabhupada: No, no, no.
Tamala Krsna: No, no, no, no.
Guest (1): Radharani first.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Guest (1): Therefore all the cowherd girls are trying to push Her to Krsna.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Guest (1): Krsna likes Radharani.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Guest (1): Therefore all the cowherd girls are trying to push Her to Krsna.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Guest (1): (Hindi)
Prabhupada: (Hindi) "Oh? Krsna likes Her?" They become envious. But here: "Oh? Krsna likes Her? All right."
Guest (1): To please Krsna.
Prabhupada: Yes. The purpose is to please Krsna.
Guest (1): (Hindi)
Prabhupada: (Hindi) That is Vrndavana. That is described in Caitanya-caritamrta, that... Aiye. Atmendriya-priti-vancha tare bali kama [Cc. Adi 4.165]. (Hindi) The gopis' lila with Krsna... (Hindi) ...the desire is "How Krsna will be happy." (Hindi)
Guest (1): That is all sense gratification.
Prabhupada: That's all. There is no prema. There cannot be any prema within this material world. All kama.
Guest (1): This is prema.
Prabhupada: (Hindi) This picture has appealed to me, this picture, "Krsna likes Radharani? Push Her." (Hindi) This is prema, in the beginning of. (Hindi) Arcanam. This is called arcanam. Arcanam. Arca-murti-seva. (Hindi) Thank you very much. (Hindi) So next you are here... (Hindi)
Tamala Krsna: I have a photograph. Should I bring it?
Prabhupada: Yes. (Hindi)
Tamala Krsna: All we had was this Melbourne photo. We don't have the Sydney... We have the Melbourne Deities. Still, it's nice.
Prabhupada: Melbourne and Sydney, white.
Tamala Krsna: Yes, I knew it was Australia.
Prabhupada: (Hindi)
Tamala Krsna: It's about 6:30 now, Srila Prabhupada
Prabhupada: Have sankirtana.
Guest (1): (Hindi)
Prabhupada: (Hindi)
Guest (1): You have got a copy?
Tamala Krsna: I have the original, not a copy.
Prabhupada: You can give him.
Guest (1): If I... If I could have access to it?
Prabhupada: He's done(?).
Guest (1): Yes, you can safely believe. (Hindi) But I couldn't follow all the legal words.
Prabhupada: (Hindi)
Guest (2) (Indian man): He says that he passed his M.A... He passed his M.A.
Prabhupada: (Hindi)
Guest (2): And there he told it's all right to...
Guest (1): Faith.
Guest (2): Faith.
Guest (1): Faith, yes, yes.
Guest (2): Not Christianity or not Hinduism. Anything you like.
Prabhupada: Not anything.
Guest (2): Not anything?
Prabhupada: Religion.
Guest (2): Religion.
Prabhupada: Not anything.
Guest (2): Everyone has right to follow.
Prabhupada: Yes. Every man has right to follow any, mean, established religion. And they have accepted, this Hare Krsna movement is established religion in India for many thousands of years.
Guest (1): Only there should be no fault.
Prabhupada: There is no fault. There is no fault. Everyone is learning voluntarily. (Hindi)
Tamala Krsna: Should we hold kirtana, Srila Prabhupada? (kirtana begins) (end)

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Evening Darsana -- May 14, 1977, Hrishikesh

Misery Loves Company or If Anything Can Go Wrong It Will, flash file

http://gauranga.org/files/misery.swf

best with your speekers turned on.......

A very instructive Power Point Presentation entitled "How Does He Speek?"

See more on Darwin and Evolution HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/Darwin-out-page.htm

Articles from Back to Godhead Magazine:
http://krishna.org/?related=Back%20to%20Godhead%20Magazine

Listen to Krishna Radio on various subjects on-line:
http://www.krishna.com/newsite/main.php?id=260

Hundreds of devotional songs by various artists - singers - performers - and many more coming soon:
http://www.radiokrishna.com/rkc_archive_new/

Amala Bhakta dasa reciting Srimad Bhagavatam on-line:
http://www.prabhupadavani.org/SB_index.html

---

Seeing is believing...

Cheapest and best web-hosting - click on the banner above

Starting at 1Gb or 2 Gb space for one or two years @ just US$7.50 per month

Transcendental Visions Videos
Two new items being offered by Prananath prabhu in CHCH

Auckland Temple Opening Video & DVD
Puspa Samadhi Festival of HH Tamal Krsna Goswami - Double DVD only

see covers below

WWW.NECTARBOOKS.COM

Dear Prabhus,

  Please accept our respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 With thankfulness to our Founder Acharya Srila Prabhupada, Sri Gaura-Nitai, and the inspiration of all of you, we announce the Grand Opening of "NECTARBOOKS.COM". This website contains rare, wonderful Krishna Literature by our Vaisnava Acharyas, beautifully and carefully translated by Dasaratha Suta Prabhu, a scholarly disciple of Srila Prabhupada, long known for his translation work.

It was a desire of Srila Prabhupada to give all of us, his children and grandchildren, the entire Vaisnava Library of devotional writings, and we are  blessed by His Divine Grace to recieve some of this literature with which to further water our creepers of devotion.

Please consider forwarding this email to your address list in the mood of going for the mercy of Lord Chaitanya by assisting His missionary desires.

http://www.nectarbooks.com

Your aspiring servants at NectarBooks.Com

Dasaratha-suta Dasa and Dina Sharana Dasa

********
Letter to: Hayagriva
Tokyo April 27, 1972

.. It is my serious desire to devote the fag end of my life to translating Srimad Bhagavatam and so many other Vaisnava literatures so by assisting me in this regards you will be performing the highest service to Krsna....

UNITED STATES, October 20, 2004: Are you fascinated by the many things in life that cannot be scientifically explained? Do you seem to have a "sixth sense" that sometimes allows you to know what is going to happen? Do you sometimes feel so connected to nature that everything seems to be part of one living organism? To find out how spiritual you are, click on "source" above. The short test is adapted from a personality inventory devised by Washington University psychiatrist Robert Cloninger, author of "Feeling Good: The Science of Well-Being."

Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth.

Free computer and Net tutorials
http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/freeskil.html

 PRABHUPAD FESTIVAL, MUMBAI

"GLOBAL KRISHNA:  PRABHUPAD'S LEGACY LIVES!"

VENUE - CROSS MAIDAN
FEBRUARY 12 - 20, 2005

A GRAND-SCALE PRABHUPAD FESTIVAL WILL BE CELEBRATED THIS WINTER, IN THE SAME MANNER AS THE 1971 CROSS MAIDAN PANDAL, IN THE VERY HEART OF DOWNTOWN MUMBAI.

The goals of this Festival are:

(1) In the 108th year of his birth, to re-affirm Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad's pre-eminence as the single greatest Indian-born spiritual messenger of modern times.

Over the past 33 years the consciousness and worship of Radha and Krishna have increased greatly all over India. Yet the names Bhaktivedanta Swami and Prabhupad remain unfamiliar to many citizens. The name ISKCON is well recognized, but has been lumped with other Hindu societies as just another religious institution. Other personalities dominate the public image as great torchbearers of Hinduism, while the real Hero responsible for single-handedly reviving the spiritual life of India in its purest form and spreading it all over the world, has been largely forgotten.

(2) To inspire a cultural renaissance among Indian youth; to become the preferred spiritual guides for India's new generations;

Thousands of Indian youth--including a great many hi-IQ students and young professionals--are being attracted to Krishna Consciousness, especially in Mumbai.

(3) To bring together ISKCON devotees from all parts of the globe in a joyous celebration of Srila Prabhupad; from Mumbai devotees can travel onwards to the Mayapur Festival in early March.

2004's deity installation gathering in Mayapur was a major eye-opener: to have so many thousands of global ISKCON devotees assembled in one place was a blissful experience beyond compare.

THEMES:   BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPAD'S 108th YEAR!
          PRABHUPAD'S CHILDREN: 33 YEARS LATER!

    The format of the 1971 event will be followed in all respects. Each day different ones of Prabhupad's most advanced disciples from around the world will give morning and evening lectures, just as Prabhupad did back in '71. International devotees will perform kirtans under the leadership of famous kirtan leaders.
Gorgeous Radha-Krishna deities will be housed and worshipped around-the-clock.
A "Vedic Global Village" tent will be constructed where the public can view big-screen videos and check out displays and presentations by individual temples from different parts of the world.
Drama groups will stage performances.
A "Life of Prabhupad" photo display, dioramas, book stalls and information booths will surround the main pandal tent.
Krishna prasadam will be distributed throughout the day.

Public Impact:     Being in the heart of India's most populous city, there is a ready-made audience of many thousands of people per day. A widespread advertising campaign will be launched to insure large public participation. Media coverage will be extensive.

 "By the Grace of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha and Krishna our recent festival in Cross Maidan Exhibition Ground has been counted a grand success, and quite noticeably the spirit of bhakti has been actively revived in  Bombay. My blessings go especially to all of you who have joined with us in service." ---A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, April 1971.

 "On behalf of those who were blessed to witness Srila Prabhupad's wondrous pastimes  conceiving, organizing, managing-and starring in-the 1971 Cross Maidan event, I am appealing to all Devotees, especially the old Bombay hands, to help us make this 2005 show a similar resounding success!" ---Shyamasundar das, 33 years later.

Contributions, inquiries or ideas can be addressed to:

Shyamasundara1967.ACBSP@pamho.net
Telephone:  +91-22-2369-7228
ISKCON Radha-Gopinath Mandir
7, K.M.Munshi Marg,
Chowpatty, Mumbai
India 400 007

Co-Chairmen, Prabhupad Festival:    H.H. Radhanath Swami,  H.H. Giriraj Swami, Shyamasundar dasa

Finest Incense and Oils
Pure Incense, the worlds finest incense now on-line!
http://www.pure-incense.com/

Incense from the comfort of home, choose from 14 pure incense flavours. This incense is
like no other, made according to ancient principles rather than commercial constraints.
Incense made in one family for hundreds of years. Incense developed for worship of local
temple Deities and discovered by western travellers and incense hunters during the late
sixties. Pure-incense.com now offers exclusive availability real incense.

Wrapped in 50 gram bundles, it will be posted to your home and soon be taking place of
all your aromatherapy needs. On this site you will find all the ingredients that make up
these ancient recipes, plus a fascinating insight into the making and consciousness behind
a product that is made in a devotional spirit - where purity is the most important element
but.....it has to smell GREAT!

Pure-incense.com's natural sticks are steeped in over 200 years of family history using
timeless recipes passed down from father to son.

Made with focused consciousness within a family atmosphere, free from exploitation, we
are happy to be able to offer you the finest range on the planet.

The end result? A clean, natural burning, temple grade stick that is completely different
from the harsh, synthetic-perfume that has become a hallmark of cheap imports.

Again mention that you came through this site for preferential treatment.

comment by JTCd: Adi-guru prabhu in the UK sent me some samples for my Deities.
This incense is 108% Divine...and no, I'm not on a commission

ohu vaha ho
ohu vaha ho
ohu vaha ho........oh how wonderous

Congratulations to Keshava Gopal prabhu and his good wife Shyama Gopi mataji who gave birth to a baby girl on Tuesday, at the Swan Dist. Hospital, in Perth Australia. We wish them all well

Srila Prabhupad on the topic:
"Sucinäm Shrimatäm gehe. So this child is born of a devotee father and devotee mother. Now he?ll again begin from the point where he lost last life. Suppose Krishna consciousness he executed fifty percent. So he?ll begin from this life fifty-one percent. That fifty percent was in his stock. But ordinary karmis?cent percent lost. He has to begin another chapter of life according to his karma." (Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. 17th July 1971. Lexture in Detroit.)

"There are two kinds of children born of good fathers: one is educated in Krishna consciousness so that he can be delivered from the clutches of mäyä in that very life, and the other is a ray of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and teaches the world the ultimate goal of life." (Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. 8th August 1976. Srimad Bhagavatam class SB 3:22:19. Tehran, Iran)

Lord Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita 7:11.

balam balavatäm cäham
käma-räga-vivarjitam
dharmäviruddho bhüteshu
kämo ?smi bharatarshabha

SYNONYMS
balam?strength; bala-vatäm?of the strong; ca?and; aham?I am; käma?passion; räga?and attachment; vivarjitam?devoid of; dharma-aviruddhah?not against religious principles; bhüteshu?in all beings; kämah?sex life; asmi?I am; bharata-rishabha?O lord of the Bhäratas.

TRANSLATION
"I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles, O lord of the Bhäratas [Arjuna]."

"Kandarpa is the sex desire for presenting good sons; therefore Kandarpa is the representative of Krishna. Sometimes sex is engaged in only for sense gratification; such sex does not represent Krishna. But sex for the generation of good children is called Kandarpa and represents Krishna." (Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Bhagavad Gita 10:28 purport.)

See more on sex related topics @  seX-files

To see the Online 2004 Vyasa Puja Book visit:
http://www.krishna.com/vyasapuja

http://www.dipika.org/2004/05/20/13_online_vyasa_puja_book/

Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa pujan in Mayapur 2003 pictures:
http://64.28.101.188/2003/08-26-03/

Go to Links to Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Pujan

HH Bir-Krishna Goswami's site
http://www.bkgoswami.com/

HH Devamrita Swami
http://www.devaswami.com/main.php
http://www.devaswami.com/main.php?&displayPage=home

HH Gopal Krishna Goswami:
http://www.geocities.com/gopalkrsna/

HH Indradyumna Swami
http://www.traveling-preacher.com/
http://www.harekrishna.asn.au/speakers/indradyumna_swami/indradyumna_swami.htm

HH Jayapataka Swami
http://www.hearjps.com/
http://www.jpsoffice.com/
http://www.harekrishna.asn.au/speakers/jayapataka_swami/jayapataka_swami.htm
http://www.victoryflag.com/
Many lectures by HH Jayapataka Swami and HH Radhanath Swami
http://www.radiokrishna.com/rkc_archive_new/

HH Kadamba Kanana Swami
http://www.geocities.com/kksaudioministry/

HH Prabhavishnu Swami
http://home.iprimus.com.au/naractl/Biographys/ISKCON_Gurus/Srila_Prabhavisnu_Swami_Biography.html#Prabhu

HH Prahladananda Swami
http://home.iprimus.com.au/naractl/Biographys/ISKCON_Gurus/Prahladananda_Swami_Maharaja.html#mod

HH Romapada Swami
http://www.prastha.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/renderphilo.pl?ndx=2

HH Sacinandan Swami
http://www.saranagati.net/

HH Sivaram Swami:
http://www.sivaramaswami.com/

HH Sridhar Swami (the late Sridhar swami)
http://www.jollyswami.net/home.php

HH Suhotra Swami
http://www.use.cz/ss-archives/index.htm
http://www.in2-mec.com/
This takes the surfer to the startpage where they can see the cool animation.

HH Trivikram Swami
http://www.tvswami.sotiko.pl/

HG Vaiyasaki dasa Adhikari
http://www.kirtan.org/index.html

If you know of any other senior Iskcon devotee web-sites please send their URL to us to share with others through this media mailto:jtcd@xtra.co.nz

Here's a short list with some links - sadhu sanga ki jaya
http://krisna-volgy.hu/sadhu/

What's Going On Where &Adds

FESTIVAL EVENTS AND VENUES:


The New Iskcon Auckland temple

.....now open almost one year.

for more information and some wonderfrul pictures of the event see our page:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/HKAuckland-page.htm

photos updated 12th March 2004

Hare KrishnaSchool & Playgroup

Krishna Conscious education for children
http://www.harekrishna.school.nz
http://hkschool.orcon.net.nz/

Hare Krishna School in Riverhead, Auckland is a government funded school that runs from 9am – 3pm five days a week. We cover all core subjects in the New Zealand Curriculum and in addition teach Sanskrit, Sastra and Vedic arts. Children who come to this school get everything that children at state schools get plus Vedic culture and values in a serene rural environment.

We also run a preschool program for children 3 and up.

A school bus service provides transport from Auckland suburbs.

For enrolment information please contact:- HKSchool@xtra.co.nz

admin@harekrishna.school.nz

Ph: 09-412-6325
Mob: 021-265-7587
Fax: 09-412-6325

Find out what the NZ Government Education Review Office thinks of the Hare Krishna School. Click the link below.
http://www.ero.govt.nz/publish/reppub.ns4/Institution/98CA326F2C53BF0CCC256B7500174198/$File/4204.htm?OpenElement
 
 

Balgopal Krishna Conscious Preschool in Henderson Auckland prepares children for school with a nurturing academic and character development program founded on Krishna consciousness.

 For details please contact-

Vishnupadi dasi Ph.836-1214

Gaura Yoga Centre
First floor
175, Vivian Street,
Wellington

Phone:  (04) 801-5500

Learn about the Krishna conscious life-style
Learn Yoga
Learn about Vegetarianism
...all in a non-threatening friendly atmosphere.

http://www.gaurayoga.co.nz

Contact us: mailto:info@gaurayoga.co.nz

Subscribe to newsletter: mailto:gaurayoga-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Sunday Love Feasts - contact your local temple, or community for details
http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-int.htm

http://www.hknet.org.nz/NZKiwi-yatra.htm

http://www.hknet.org.nz/aussie-yatra.htm

Harinaam Kirtan and Bhajans in Tauranga BOP.
Every Saturday in the Red Square by the Strand (or Mt. Maunganui)

Come and join the throng 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

...for more details contact Trivikrama dasa

mailto:touchstone@clear.net.nz (for Trivikram prabhu)

Vegetarian Clubs
Waikato University - Hamilton campus

2 days per week serving about 100 plates each day.

for more information contact Mangala Vaishnava dasa
mailto:bhaktamark@hotmail.com

Auckland Veda club.
Auckland University - Wellesley St. campus

Its a simple weekly program thats been running for a few years, at Clubspace,
where we have a vegetarian prasadam lunch and sometimes show a video.
Srila Prabhupada's books are available to browse or buy.

For more information contact Auckland temple:
mailto:radhik@e3.net.nz

Otago University - Dunedin - Vege Club
Room 2., Clubs & Societies Building
Albany St.,

contact Jambavati dasi (03) 477 8277
mailto:jambavati85@hotmail.com

http://www.hknet.org.nz/HKDunedin-page.htm


Auckland
http://www.hknet.org.nz/AuckFFL-page.htm

Christchurch
http://www.hknet.org.nz/CHCH-FFL-page.htm

See more about Food For Life and how you can help HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/HKFood4Life-page.htm

 268., Karangahape Road., Auckland

Delicious hot inexpensive Vegetarian Meals !

Pure Vegetarian Restaurant

$5 Combo Meal

Open Mon-Fri 11am-7.30pm

Sat 11am-2.30pm

Phone (09) 300 7585

SPIRITUAL MASTER INSPIRES FOOD DISTRIBUTION

Seven hundred plates of free prasadam (food offered to the Lord) were distributed to an appreciative public and to 50 devotees who took part in a central city Harinam (chanting in the streets).

By the mercy of Guru, Gauranga and Radha Krishna, (after our first bhajan album Bhajanamrtam) we have managed to produce a new CD entitled "Bhaktivinoda", a collection of bhajans of Saccidananda Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and other Vaisnava acaryas in Orissi classical ragas.

The CD includes 8 bhajans and a 12-page booklet with all lyrics and a translation of the songs:
Gurudeva! Kabe Mora Sei Din Habe
Hari Hari, Kabe More Hoibe Sudina
Kabe Sri Caitanya More
Radha-Kunda-Tata
Narada Muni
Janama Saphala Ta'ra
Brajendranadana, Bhaje Jei Jana
Kabe Ha'be Bolo

Price, inclusive of shipping, is 15 Euros per CD. If you want to order this CD, please transfer the amount to the following account (and send us your shipping address by mail or email):

Account number 3125628, Ashok Jagram, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Bank details: Postbank, Foreign operations, P.O. Box 1800, 1000 BV Amsterdam [Swiftcode: PSTB NL2]

- HEALTHY ISSUES - Ayurveda:-
Visit Vaidya Yolande Manson's Ayurvedic practice - in Hamilton:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/YM-Ayurved.html

dhanvantaris cha bhagavan svayam eva kirtir
namna nrnam pururujam ruja asu hanti
yajne cha bhagam amrtayur avavarundha
ayusya vedam anusasty avatirya loke

"The Lord in His incarnation of Dhanvantari very quickly cures the diseases of the ever diseased living entities simply by His fame personified and only because of Him do the demigods achieve long lives. Thus the Personality of Godhead becomes ever glorified. He also exacted a share from the sacrifices, and it is He only who inaugurated the medical science or the knowledge of medicine in the universe." (Srimad Bhagavata Purana 2.7.22 )

Sacred Vegetarian Recipes - Prasadam

World Vegetarian Day 1st October each year

World Vegetarian Awareness Month - October

http://www.hknet.org.nz/VegeWVD.html

see what's already happening this year http://www.hknet.org.nz/VegeWVD2004.html

See our World Vegetarian Day issue of the newsletter for a wide range of Vegetarian issues

The Animal Spirit Newsletter - Issue #2 -  4/21/03-4/27/03

http://www.hknet.org.nz/Calendar-glossary.htm#Chaturmasya
 

Vegan Cheesy Herb Dip

Ingredients:
5.3 ounces tofu (1/3 of a 16-ounce block firm tofu)
4 tablespoons soymilk (1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dry parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
1/2 teaspoon dry marjoram
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tea spoon hing

Directions:
Put above ingredients into a food processor. Blend for a full 1-2 minutes to form a smooth and creamy dip. Transfer dip to a bowl and chill a little before serving. Serve with fresh cut up vegetables (zucchini, carrots, celery sticks), chips or wholesome crackers. Makes about 1 cup (2-4 servings).

Tofu Steaks
Submitted by Natalie

Ingredients:
Tofu, sliced into 1/4-inch thick slabs
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup blue corn meal
1 teaspoon dill weed
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon salt
olive oil

Directions:
Mix the flour, cornmeal, herbs and spices.

Cover the tofu in the mix, twice.

Fry lightly in olive oil. ( I suppose you could brush with oil and bake, too.)

Comments:
Please use organic, as most mainstream herbs and spices are highly irradiated!

I have found that you can make pretty much any veggies and grains, rice, TVP, and bread crumbs into patties and fry or bake them.

Saffron Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 tbsp double (heavy) cream
a few strands of saffron
900g/2lb potatoes

First cut and boil the potatoes in a large pan of boiling salted water. When cooked, drain, return to the pan and mash with a large knob of butter. Set aside and keep warm. In another large pan, gently warm the cream then remove from the heat. Add the saffron and leave to infuse for 2-3 minutes. Add the cream to the mash and beat well.

Dumplings:

Ingredients:
250g/9oz plain flour
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp hing
2tsp baking powder
30ml/1floz/2tbsp olive oil
60g/4tbsp freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
150ml/¼pt milk

To make the dumplings:
Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the olive oil and herbs and spices (reserving a little of the parsley for garnishing). Add the milk and using a fork mix to form soft dough. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead briefly. Shape the dough into 16 walnut sized dumplings.

Remove the stew (thick vege soup or even kirti) from the oven and place the dumplings on top. If you are doing these dumplings with a casseroled vegetable dish then increase the oven temperature to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and return that to the oven and cook, uncovered for 35­40 minutes, or until the dumplings have risen and are golden brown.
 

Xmas in Acapulco - Mexican Salad
"This salad could also be served as an appetizer with tortilla chips"

Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced (optional)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
 salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon runny honey

Method:
1  In a large bowl, combine the black beans, garbanzo beans, corn, cilantro, jalepenos, bell pepper, olive oil, lime juice, pepper, salt and honey. Mix well; refrigerate and allow flavors to blend.

Date and Walnut barfi

Ingredients
1/2 cup dates (seedless chopped)
1 1/2 cup white til/sesame seeds (roasted and crushed)
2 cups sugar/jaggery
1/2 tsp. elaichi powder - cardamom powder
1 tbsp. ghee
1 tbsp. chopped walnuts
1/2-cup water

Method: Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the sugar./jaggery and the water and cook on a low flame until it forms a thick sticky syrup.
Add in the chopped dates, sesame seeds, elaichi powder and mix well.
Pour the mix onto a greased sheet level and sprinkle the walnuts.
Cut into long finger shaped barfi, cool, offer and serve.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
Ingredients
For the Shortbread:
175g/6oz unsalted butter, softened
75g/3oz golden caster sugar
175g/6oz plain flour
75g/3oz rice flour or ground rice

For the Filling:
425ml/¾pt double cream
1 vanilla pod
45g/3tbsp icing sugar, sieved
450g/1lb fresh strawberries, washed

To Garnish:
8 whole strawberries
icing sugar, to dust

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas3.
2. Place the butter into a large bowl and, using a wooden spoon, cream until softened. Add the sugar and blend together.
3. Sift both the plain flour and ground rice together into the creamed mixture.
4. Shape the mixture into a sausage shape, cut it in half and set one half aside. Squash the mixture down onto a large baking tray. Use a 20cm/8in plain flan ring as a guide and press the mixture around the ring. Use the back of a metal tablespoon to smooth the surface of the mixture.
5. Remove the flan ring and decorate the shortcake mixture by crimping the mixture with your thumb and forefinger to form scalloped edges. Prick the surface of the shortcake with a fork. Repeat the process with the remaining shortcake mixture.
6. Place the shortcakes in the fridge and chill for 30-40 minutes until hard. Meanwhile, reserve 8 whole strawberries. With the remaining strawberries remove the stalks (or hull) and cut in half. Set aside.
7. Remove the shortcakes from the fridge and bake for about 30 minutes until pale golden brown.
8. To prepare the vanilla cream filling: pour the cream into a large bowl. Split the vanilla pod with a knife lengthways, scrape out the seeds and add the seeds to the double cream with the icing sugar. Whisk until the cream forms soft peaks.
9. Allow the shortcakes to cool for 2 minutes. Carefully release from the baking sheet with a palette knife. Using a large knife mark into 8 equal wedges. Allow to cool completely.
10. To assemble: place 8 of the shortcake wedges onto a large plate. Lay the wedges closely together. Spoon over half of the whipped cream; pile the halved strawberries onto the cream. Spoon over the remaining cream and place the remaining 8 shortcake wedges at an angle with the reserved whole strawberries underneath to keep each piece at an angle.
11. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Diabetic Christmas Cranberry Punch
Ingredients:
30 servings
7 1/2 cups cranberry juice
3 3/4 cups orange juice
22 1/2 oz sugar-free lemon-lime pop
whole cranberries

Combine the cranberry and orange juices in a punch bowl. Pour the carbonated beverage down the sides of the bowl. Float whole cranberries on the top. Serve over ice.
1/2 cup = 51 calories, 1 fruit exchange 13 g carbohydrate,
0 protein, 0 fat, 3 mg sodium

The Animal Spirit Newsletter - Issue #2 -  4/21/03-4/27/03

The book "Living a Good Life" normally selling at $21.95 is now going at the $14.95 price which lasts until just after Xmas, although we could consider extending it if anyone were to approach us after them with this reference.http://vegsoc.wellington.net.nz/livingGd.htm

 Krishna Conscious - Vedikly acceptable Jokes

Healing with humour: Taking better care of ourselves  =>;-))
http://www.hknet.org.nz/healthNhumour.html
Visit our Hasya Rasa pages

Laughter Therapy - its no joke:
http://www.healthlibrary.com/reading/yod/march98/news.htm

Two nuns who worked in a hospital were out driving in  the country when they ran out of gas. As they were  standing beside their car on the shoulder of the road, a truck approached them.

Noticing the nuns in distress, the trucker stopped and offered to help. When the nuns explained they had run out of gas, the trucker said he would be more than happy to drain some from his tank, but he didn't have a bucket or a can.

Hearing this, one of the nuns dug out a clean bedpan from the trunk and asked the trucker if it would do. He said it would and proceeded to drain a couple of litres into the pan. He then handed the bedpan to the sisters, got back into his truck and waved good-bye.

While the nuns were carefully pouring the precious fuel into their gas tank, a cop happened by. He stopped and watched them for a few moments, then said, "Sisters, somehow I don't think that's going to work, but I sure do admire your faith!"

sent in by Christine Marshall - Perth Australia

Once there was a Guru who taught prayer and methods from Vedic scriptures to a number of Students. The students were very obedient and never went against the Guru's wishes.

Every evening, the students would assemble in a Hall where the Guru would teach them the prayer versus and slokhas for them to learn. On one such evening, while the prayer class was on, a black kitten entered the hall. The Guru immediately gave asylum to the kitten and since then the kitten started living in the Ashram.

One fine evening, when the prayer class was about to start, the kitten started playing and thus diverted the students' attention. So the Guru thought of putting an end to this menace and he told a disciple student to tie the kitten to a pillar in the prayer hall, for which he handed a red silk ribbon which was used to tie the Vedic scripts and manuals. Also, the Guru instructed the student to tie the black cat to the pillar in the prayer hall, every evening before start of the prayer and to free it only after the prayer class was over. This he thought, would stop the cat from playing around while the prayer class was on.

This practice was continued everyday for a long time, prior to start of the prayer a student used to tie the black cat in the pillar. One day, the cat died, and the worried students, went in search for another black cat and found one to tie in the prayer hall. The Guru was unaware of this and kept on teaching the students.

After a few years, the Guru too passed away. Then a new person took over as Guru of the Ashram and he too allowed the students to tie the black cat to the pillar of the prayer hall, without knowing the reason, nor did he check with anybody about this practice.

Days passed on, many students had come and gone as also many Gurus changed. However, the practice of tying a black cat in the prayer hall continued, no one knowing the reason nor did anyone bother to check.

After a few generations, a gentleman came forward to write the history of the Ashram in details and wrote everything in praise of the Ashram. The concluding note read:

"The evening prayer of this Ashram is a very typical one, IT IS A MUST to tie a black cat in the prayer hall, with a Red color Ribbon before the start of daily evening prayer."

from my friend  TRS Iyengar, Mumbai - a story told to him by his father some 35 years ago.

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom.

One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"

"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?" asked the acquaintance.

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it."

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"

"No, on the contrary ...".

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you're not certain it's true?".

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued." You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really..."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"

The man was defeated and ashamed. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem. It also explains why he never found out that Plato was having an affair with Socrates's wife.

thanx to Shyamasundara prabhu ACBSP for these words of wisdom =>:-))

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be in the so-called civilized western world.

Here are some facts about the 1500s AD:

These are interesting...

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.

Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.

Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.   It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it becameslippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.

Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.  Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt.  Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.

Hence the saying "dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway.

Hence the saying a "thresh hold."

                    (Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle thatalways hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot.

They ate mostly vegetables and did not eat much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.

Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.

Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people.  So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive.  So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

And that's the truth... Now, whoever said that history was boring!!!

.......and always remember (don't forget...)

You might like to check out Krishna-conscious jokes - http://vedaveda.com/anglais/joke/deux.html
Also check out the Humour section of the Main Index: http://www.hknet.org.nz/index.htm

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