"The Logic Show"

My dearest friend and confidante HG Sri-Kishore Prabhu (Satish More), currently working for his Masters degree in Film at Ohio University, was recently interviewed on Vocal Profiling Live, a local Ohio radio program. In the interview, Sri-Kishore reveals his deeply compassionate motivations and mission behind his upcoming documentary project. After listening, I became more proud to have this very special soul in my life. You may feel the same too...

www.vocalprofilinglive.com/media/radio/shows/satish.mp3 (click to listen)

Here's the blurb on the interview from Vocal Profiling Live

"A tantalizing conversation with, Satish More, a film maker who shared information about sustainability and ecological degradation and how frivolous and thoughtless people in First World countries are. His next film will concentrate on the desensitization of the American psyche and how we are numbed by the media. He feels that people are "burning with dissatisfaction" and really want to have a more meaningful life. He suggests that we start with moving motivation to an internal perspective and that TRUTH and TRUST of one's self and one significant partner is the place to start turning around our lives into one of significance and contentment. Satish is a former actor/singer/computer programmer who wants to make a difference and move people away from consumerism. Satish can be reached at moresatish@gmail.com or 408-835-3639"

Eternal Identity As Divine Entities

On one of the most sacred of days in our Vaisnava calendar, I'd like to throw up a late-evening tribute to one personality who inspires me greatly and constantly every day, HH Bhakti-Tirtha Swami Maharaja, born fifty-eight years ago this day.

From his book Spiritual Warrior IV: Conquering The Enemies of The Mind, he are some choice quotes that will inspire and deliver your mind, body, and soul.

“We should never think that God has left us alone without any help or guidance and without anyway to get us out of maya or our problems.”

“People need to develop their internal essence and nourish their souls through their own sadhana or spiritual practices. They need to engage in contemplative and introspective activities while endeavoring to enlighten themselves spiritually. Then they will be able to influence the environment.”

“We need to stop minimizing our own potency and stop blaming others...Everyone has the ability to influence their environment if they recognize their eternal identity as divine entities.”

“In this practice, one embraces love, faithfulness, accountability, loyalty, and selflessness because these qualities are an inherent part of our spiritual identity.”

“If we wait for others to care for us and love us, we will remain in a state of impoverishment.”

“In recovery, the person has to substitute the miracle of the bottle or the drug with the whole process of recovery in order to access the real miracle. The addict must then take shelter of a higher power in order to help maintain that mood.”

“It is very important for us as aspiring spiritualists to constantly try to help others in their process of spiritual growth rather than just trying to protect or save ourselves.”

“We have the ultimate security because, in spite of whatever happens to our body and our material facilities, we realize that God's love and protection for our soul always remains.”

His Holiness Bhakti-Tirtha Swami Maharaja ki jaya!

Bhakta's first khichari

For my new program with my dearest friend Shawn, live up on Roberts' Ridge in Moundsville, WV, I decided to take a great plunge this past Wednesday night and make my first attempt at cooking khichari.

Being a cook is like being a good ol-fashioned, wizard-type magician. You combine certain material elements into a pot, and you use your skill, intelligence, heart, and chutzpah to create a result that spiritually alters the consciousness of those who taste the result.

I knew I was on the right track when the combination of vegetable oil, spices, and chilles frying up (or the chaunce as we call it in Hare Krsna World) emitted the same kind of lung-clearing fumes that I always relish in our temple kitchen.

The main battle came in boiling up the whole shebang. The pot was too big. The burner too small. The burner wasn't even on for ten minutes before I noticed. But....boiling did happen.

The final result was exotically spiced with a nice intensity, but slightly undercooked. Still, it was tasty and edible and not grounds for food poisoning, and from the raging kirtans and spiritual discussions that followed the "poor man's feast fit for a king", it appears Krsna accepted this offering of love and devotion, and indeed, it became prasadam.

Best of all (or worst), our dear Russian cook Gaura Karuna decided to heat up the leftovers today for the devotees here in New Vrindaban as part of the lunch feast. I didn't tell anyone I had cooked the funky mixture, but so far no complaints and no trips to the hospital. Til next time...beware! I will cook again!

Srimad-Bhagavatam Meditation: 2:6:40-41

It is once again time for a guided meditation on the ripened fruit of the tree of Vedic knowledge, the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

I humbly ask you to read first the translation and Bhaktivedanta purport to today's verse, the 40 and 41st verses from the Sixth Chapter of the Second Canto.

viśuddhaḿ kevalaḿ jñānaḿ
pratyak samyag avasthitam
satyaḿ pūrṇam anādy-antaḿ
nirguṇaḿ nityam advayam
ṛṣe vidanti munayaḥ
praśāntātmendriyāśayāḥ
yadā tad evāsat-tarkais
tirodhīyeta viplutam

The Personality of Godhead is pure, being free from all contaminations of material tinges. He is the Absolute Truth and the embodiment of full and perfect knowledge. He is all-pervading, without beginning or end, and without rival. O Nārada, O great sage, the great thinkers can know Him when completely freed from all material hankerings and when sheltered under undisturbed conditions of the senses. Otherwise, by untenable arguments, all is distorted, and the Lord disappears from our sight

One of the main frames of the foundation of our experience as conscious entities is our personal relationships with other conscious entities-with all the resultant emotions, actions, reactions, joys, sorrows, momentum, memories, connections, separations, etc. More and more, in subtle ways, as I read the Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-Gita with a little more concentration, I begin to understand that Krsna is not some abstract concept, some unattainable overmind. I begin to realize He is a Person, a conscious entity with emotions, likes, and dislikes. I begin to realize that He is the Best Person, and that as I read about his awesome qualities, I really really want to get to know this Person with all my heart and soul.

Who wouldn't want to know and love such a Person? We all admire incredible personalities with incredible talents and achievements-leaders, athletes, musicians, educators, heroes. It is a natural tendency and desire of the heart to look up to personalities whose greatness defines our own morals, aspirations, and actions. There is no one better than Krsna in this regard.

Prabhupada writes in the purport "But here it is said that the Lord is eternally the symbol of full and perfect knowledge. This is His speciality: perpetual freedom from all material contaminations....In the Vedas it is said that the Lord is vijñānam ānandam, full of bliss and knowledge." No earthly person, no matter how money or missiles they may have at their control, is free from material contaminations and is certainly not full of bliss and knowledge. We should want to know Krsna more than anybody else, so that everybody else we know can also benefit to the highest degree.

Prabhupada continues his description of Krsna by writing "similarly, the Lord is never contaminated by sins; on the contrary, the sinful living entities become sterilized by contact with the Lord." Sin, or whatever term one wants to use, is not usually something we strive to attain, although in this post-modern age there are many who indeed strive to wallow in the pits of vikarma. But to those right-thinking people, by knowing this person Krsna, we become sterilized, cleansed, of our misguided actions and beliefs. Krsna has appeared for us in the form of the Holy Name and in the hearts of his pure devotees. We should stop our nonsense and meet Him right now in these places for a bath of pure nectar that will restore us to our natural happiness.

There are so many accomplishments we see, hear about, speak about, taste, touch, and feel. What does Krsna accomplish that makes Him the greatest? Krsna says in the Gita (4:8) To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium. So many efforts in the annals of history have been made individually and collectively to slay the impious forces oppressing the various peoples of the world, but no human effort has ever been completely responsible for the death of the demons. It is only by the mercy of the Lord, sometimes appearing personally as the Greatest Hero, that we become free from such aggressive efforts to enslave and destroy us.

Prabhupada writes further of Krsna that "He is the generating reservoir for everyone's existential capacity; He is the Supreme Truth of all other categorical truths. He is the source of everyone's opulence, and therefore no one can equal Him in opulence. Being full of all opulences, namely wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, certainly He is the Supreme Person. And because He is a person, He has many personal qualities, although He is transcendental to the material modes." All that we desire of our own personal self, all great and positive qualities we want to reflect in our own words and actions come from this Person, this Krsna. He has everything we want and need, and He is very willing and happy to give it to us. This is a true friend suhrdam sarva-bhutanam. And with this, he is beyond the material modes. Who would not want to know and love such a Person who will not burden you with unwanted lusty advances, greedy demands, envious back-talk, or uncontrolled anger?

Prabhupada concludes his purport by saying that one who is pure in devotion can know and love Krsna, the Supreme Person, in the most sublime of personal exchanges. One who is too much attached to dry speculation cannot know Krsna. For him, as stated in the translation, Krsna disappears from his sight. Many a time I encounter college students in our programs who go around in endless circles trying to define reality. Is this a dream? Is the dream actually real? Who defines knowledge? What is consciousness? Too often it is just speculative poking at the minute aspects of the Supreme, meant just to show off that one thinks "deeply", and Krsna does not appear in these spaced-out salons. If we can re-direct these genuine sentiments towards a more complete understanding of reality, and the Awesome Person, Krsna, who has created it, then we will be doing real good for these wonderful and intelligent spirit-souls.

If we can develop this understanding more and more of Krsna as a personality with whom we share all needs of love and affection with, and if we can meditate upon His awesome qualities, increasing our desire to fully meet and reciprocate with such an amazing Person, then all spiritual advancement and enlightenment is guaranteed.

What's In Your Milk Label?

I recently had a chance to watch the film The Corporation, a documentary examining the nature of the corporation as a physical, individual entity living and acting in our post-modern world, with all the various and disturbing side-effects.

Good ol' Monsanto and its prize product Posilac, or recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), used to increase milk production in dairy cows for "maximum profit potential", was prominently featured. I shuddered at the images of the cows suffering from mastitis and other various side effects from this wonder drug, and I wonder what special hellish planet awaits those who think the use of rGBH is worth the pain brought about.

In related news, the Indiana State Legislature is about to pass a bill which "would prevent dairy labels that contain a 'compositional or production-related claim that is supported solely by sworn statements, affidavits, or testimonials." In other words, anything related to the moral or ethical dimensions of the product would be off-limits."

In other other words, if you want to know whether your milk contains this hybrid chemical holocaust, too bad. It's not worth your time or health, according to the politicians and their attached lobbyists in Indiana. Check out the full article here for more info.

Solutions as always: Go vegan, buy local (non-corporate, and that includes corporate "organic"), and support cow protection programs.