last updated 30th June 2008

Kazakhstani online petition

Kazakhstani online petition

By Radha Mohan Dasa

Please visit http://www.krishnatemple.com NOW and click the link to the new petition, or go straight to the petition webpage:

http://harekrishna.epetitions.net

Please sign it soon as you can, and please tell as many people as you can about it.

Background: Workers and police arrived on 15th June at the village near Almaty, Kazakhstan, where the embattled Hare Krishna commune is based to demolish twelve more Hare Krishna-owned homes. “The houses were literally crushed into dust. By ten o’clock it was all over,” said ISKCON spokesperson Maksim Varfolomeyev.

The temple, which the devotees have been ordered to destroy, has not been touched but the devotees fear it could be the next target. Human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis is outraged at the continuing destruction. “The authorities are showing that they will do what they want, despite the international outrage at the earlier demolitions of Hare Krishna-owned homes.” He believes the local administration chief “doesn’t care about the political damage to Kazakhstan’s reputation – or to its desire to chair the OSCE.”

ys Radha Mohan das

Kazak Edition of Bhagavad-gita presented to Srila Prabhupada.
This is now the 55th language in which Bhagavad-gita has been printed.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan's parliament tentatively approved a bill Wednesday intended to increase government control over the activities of religious associations.

The bill has drawn protests from rights groups, which say the changes will hinder religious minorities and could force some of them out of existence.

Under the proposed rules, missionary activities would be curtailed and fines for unregistered religious organizations sharply increased. The bill also would restrict the right to publish religious literature to a limited number of approved organizations.

Groups that are already registered would have to go through the procedure again.

"This bill will destroy all freedoms of conscience," said Ninel Fokina, head of the Almaty Helsinki Committee. "It bears no relation to the country's constitutional norms and to our obligations before the international community."

Lawmaker Kamal Burkhanov said the bill was drafted in the spirit of international democratic standards.

"We have 47 different confessional denominations in Kazakhstan, but in order for them not to disturb each other's work we have decided to put the system in order," said Burkhanov, who chairs a working group on the bill.

Kazakhstan submitted the proposed bill to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for scrutiny last month, but Burkhanov said the group had not yet voiced its findings.

The OSCE's Office for Democratic Initiatives and Human Rights said it sent its review to Kazakh authorities Tuesday evening and that further consultations will be held later this month.

Before the bill receives presidential approval, it must pass a second reading in parliament and then be scrutinized by the upper chamber and a constitutional review committee.

Kazakhstan has sought in recent years to convey the image of religious tolerance to the world. But human rights activists say its laws on religion have hampered freedom of conscience.

The oil-rich Central Asian nation hosted an international forum on religious rights in 2006, swiftly building a 77-meter (250-foot) glass pyramid-shaped venue costing more US$65 million (€42 million) in the capital, Astana, in time for the meeting.

But observers say constant changes to the law regulating religious organizations have seriously harmed minority faiths.

"Restrictions are tighter, controls are more intrusive, and those that want to peacefully practice their faith in conditions the government doesn't like face more and more restrictions," said Felix Corley, editor of Forum 18, a Norwegian-based religious freedom advocacy group.

Amendments passed in 2005, ostensibly aimed at addressing concerns about national security, required all religious activity to be registered. The OSCE condemned the measures as a breach of Kazakhstan's commitments on freedom of association, religion and expression.

Earlier this year, 82-year old Baptist pastor Yegor Prokopenko was fined 29,200 tenge (US$240, €155) by a court in eastern Kazakhstan for refusing to register his group. Baptist pastors remain adamant that even the prospect of stiffer penalties will not change their position.

"We consider all requirements to register as an interference in our affairs," said fellow Baptist pastor Dmitry Jantsen. "We lived in the Soviet Union and we know perfectly well what registration is all about."

By BB Govinda Swami

Press Release

June 17, 2008

As an effort to resolve the conflict caused by the destruction of 26 homes and confiscation of 116 acres of property of the Society for Krishna Consciousness the Kazakhstan government has continually offered unsuitable land plots.

The latest offer has been 10 acres of a landfill/garbage dump in Illi District, Almaty Province.

The directors of the Krishna Society have repeatedly expressed their willingness to cooperate with government authorities to resolve this conflict. But, they have expressed that they cannot accept an active garbage dump, which does not have drinking water or water for irrigation, as a satisfying resolve.

The chairman of the Krishna Society was informed on June 17, 2008 that the government has officially allotted this parcel of land despite the Krishna Society not having agreed to accept the plot.

In a telephone conversation with the Deputy Hakim of Almaty Province, Serik Mukanov, the officials of the Krishna Society were warned that failure to comply to this order could result in the loss of the Temple building and barn which the society still occupies in Karasai District. The deputy Hakim stated that he would contact the Karasai District government with the instruction that they resolve the issue.

The Karasai District government oversaw anti-Krishna media broadcasts, opened court cases against the society, oversaw the demolition of homes of the community members, and has had the 116 acres of community land returned to the land reserve of the district.

The pretence for the confiscation of the 116 acres is that forgery was committed in the original sales and purchase agreement. To date there has no ruling that forgery took place.

The farm of the Krishna Society was legally purchased and privatized by the society. It is presently valued as a multi-million dollar property. The farm was the main center of the Krishna religion in Kazakhstan and central Asia.

Many families were displaced by the demolitions that took place during the winter of 2006 and summer of 2007. Despite requests by OSCE, the American government, and the International Helsinki Foundation, the Kazakh government offered no humanitarian aid or compensation to the families following the destruction.

The Krishna Society has been featured in recent television reports against non-traditional religions in Kazakhstan. The latest wave of anti-sect media propaganda has intensified as the Kazakh government is reviewing controversial amendments to the religious laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Human rights observers have stated that the amendments would be in gross violation of international standards of freedom of religion and belief.

Society for Krishna Consciousness Kazakhstan

+7 701 7407943

+7 72771 34287

info@kazakhkrishna.com

Visit www. kazakhkrishna. com to see the tragedy of the Hare Krishna community in Kazakhstan.

See the video of the destruction of the Krishna Community:

http://www.kazakhkrishna.com/en-video/4.htm

Read HERE how the original issue began in Kazakstan

Read HERE what the previous articles from November 2006 were

Iskcon Kazakstan
http://www.palaceofthesoul.com/news/index.php

PLEASE VISIT THIS PAGE
http://kazakhkrishna.com/en-main/

Kazakh
http://vedabase.net/kazakhstan/

Britain's First Hindu state school has been launched with a traditional ceremony of Indian drums and the chanting of ancient prayers.

Pupils at Krishna-Avanti Primary School will have dedicated yoga and Sanskrit lessons and will grow vegetables, in line with the strict vegetarian principles of the school.

A traditional Hindu temple will take pride of place in the courtyard of the new school, in Harrow, north London. It will have about 240 pupils, with an admissions policy giving priority to practising Hindus.

However, the school was forced to abandon even stricter entry requirements which would have required parents to be vegetarian, teetotal and pray daily if they wanted their children to win a place.

Nitesh Gor, chairman of governors, said there had been no Hindu state school until now because the community had not been ready to take on the responsibility. "It has taken the Hindu community the last few decades to establish its roots in this country.

"There has been no focus on education yet because the school system is a strict statutory regime and only now are we coming up to that level of expertise to say 'we can deliver this'," he said.

Two more Hindu state schools, one in Leicester and one in Barnet, north London, could open in the next few years. There are nearly 7,000 faith schools in Britain ­ about a third of all state schools. The large majority are Christian, but there are also 37 Jewish, seven Muslim and two Sikh.

Ministers have been sympathetic to the argument put by minority faiths that, given the large numbers of Church of England and Roman Catholic schools, they too should have their own schools.

However, critics claim that separate schools for minority faiths will lead to increased racial segregation in education. The National Secular Society has called the Hindu school an "exercise in religious proselytising" funded by taxpayers.

Pupils of Indian origin, who are mostly Hindu, have a strong record of academic success in British schools. They pass 59 per cent of their GCSEs with grades A to C, compared with only 44 per cent among white pupils.

The head teacher of Krishna-Avanti, Naina Parmar, said that there would be no religious studies lessons, but pupils would learn about "faith nurture". Music, dance and drama lessons will include Indian instruments and styles.

She said: "We are very conscious about the negative attention a state school can get. After 9/11, anything to do with religion or faith is a sensitive issue. It is our duty at the school to promote community cohesion."

The school is also being hailed as one of the most environmentally friendly ever built. It will have solar panels to generate electricity and grass on the roof to keep heat in the building.

Abhimanyu-Das Sircar, 32, an architect from Harrow, will send his four year-old son to the Krishna-Avanti school when it opens in September. He said: "There is a lot of excitement across Europe about this school. People are moving here from India, Germany and France to send their children there."

LUCKNOW, INDIA, May 22, 2008: Sadhus, saints and religious leaders in Varanasi will embark on a new mission from next week. These religious leaders will perform shramdan (voluntary labour) to clean up the Ganga river in the holy city. Led by Swami Avimukteshwaranand, a representative of Shankaracharya of Jyotis and Sharda-Dwarka Peeth Swami and Swarupanand Saraswati, they will start offering shramdan in Varanasi from May 26.

“The state of the Ganga in Varanasi is bad enough to make one cry. The size of the river has been reduced to half and the pollution is almost nauseating. The Ganga is the holiest of all rivers in the world and people come to Varanasi for a holy dip because they believe that the waters of Ganga can wash away their sin and lead them to salvation. We have waited all these years for the government to do something about the pollution in the Ganga but now we will do it ourselves,” says Mahant Acharya Vignesh who has come down from Haridwar to participate in the shramdan.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

LONDON, ENGLAND, June 1, 2008: Jyoti is the Hindi word for light. It’s something Pranav Mehta has never had to live without. And he is lucky. Near where he lives in Gujarat, one of the most prosperous states in India, thousands of rural villages lack electricity or struggle with an intermittent supply at best. “Rural India is suffering a lot because of a lack of energy,” said Mehta.Much of that electricity will come from coal-fired power plants, like the US$4 billion so-called ultra mega complex scheduled to be built south of Tunda Wand. Yet Mehta has another solution for India’s chronic electricity shortage, one that does not involve power plants on the ground but instead massive sun-gathering satellites in geosynchronous orbits 22,000 miles in the sky.

His dream is to have satellites that would electromagnetically beam gigawatts of solar energy back to ground-based receivers, where it would then be converted to electricity and transferred to power grids. And because in high Earth orbit, satellites are unaffected by the earth’s shadow virtually 365 days a year, the floating power plants could provide round-the-clock clean, renewable electricity. “This will be kind of a leap frog action instead of just crawling,” said Mehta, who is the director of India operations for Space Island Group, a California-based company working to develop solar satellites. “It is a win-win situation.”

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

NEW YORK, USA, May 20, 2008: When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party, they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead, the research finds, the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit. Shelley H. Carson, a psychology researcher at Harvard whose work was cited in the book, said “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind.”

For example, in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases, adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean, older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling over the extra information, but are taking it in and processing it.

When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers, the older adults responded much better than the students. “A broad attention span may enable older adults to ultimately know more about a situation and the indirect message of what’s going on than their younger peers,” said Lynn Hasher, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the Rotman Research Institute. “We believe that this characteristic may play a significant role in why we think of older people as wiser.”

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

Why the good old stiff upper lip is the best therapy of all…

by Max Hastings for the Sunday Mail:

Although I never expected to be grateful to the University of Buffalo, today I feel a glow of goodwill to its researchers.

Contrary to all the received wisdom of our times, they want to bring back the stiff-upper-lip. They do not go so far as to say that counselling is bosh.

But they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to show that, in times of stress, letting it all hang out may not be nearly as good for us as we have been told.

They report this month in the U.S. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology on interviews with 3,000 Americans over two years, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York.

Their conclusion? Most of those who did not keep talking about the horror fared better than those who did.

‘We should be telling people there is likely nothing wrong if they do not want to express their thoughts and feelings after experiencing a collective trauma,’ says Dr Mark Seery, who directed the research.

‘They can cope quite successfully and, according to our results, are likely to be better off than someone who does want to express his or her feelings.’

Now, this is what lots of us have been thinking for years.

We questioned if the great public sob-in which followed the death of Princess Diana was good for her, for the sobbers, or for Britain.

Shock and grief are profound human sensations. Yet until recently, grown-up societies believed that our responses were best indulged in private, among our loved ones, and not before millions of strangers.

Yet in the past decade or two, we have been bombarded with propaganda about the merits of exposing emotion, revealing ourselves and being ‘honest’.

Hardly a night’s TV is complete without some celebrity revealing in detail on a chat show his or her experience of divorce, failure, bereavement, alcoholism, drug addiction or childhood abuse.

I am not making light of such problems. I am merely sceptical about whether it does most of us any good to expose our most intimate experiences to the eyes and ears of anybody other than our loved ones.

But the traffic in exposure of grief grows apace. The counselling industry expands relentlessly. Should you be burgled or have a car stolen, there is precious little chance that police will find the perpetrator.

But you are sure to receive, as I once did, a sympathetic note from your local constabulary, offering contact details for a counselling service. This seemed both frivolous and insulting.

Please do not misunderstand: I am not suggesting that all counselling is a waste of time, in all circumstances. Individuals must make a personal choice about whether such assistance may be helpful to them, after experiencing loss or trauma.

Some people are unlucky enough to lack husbands, wives, lovers, close friends in whom to confide. Professional counsellors may thus be of real service to them.

But I turn to an old dictionary definition of carrying a stiff-upper lip: ‘To be self-reliant, to bear oneself courageously in the face of difficulties or danger.’

SULs, as I shall call them, are today the object of so much scorn that we are in danger of forgetting their virtues, their contribution to human dignity.

A few years ago, I came across a manuscript of the wartime experiences of a young Polish Jew named Jerzy Hertzberg in Nazi concentration camps.

He concluded his awful story with an account of his liberation in 1945, and adjustment thereafter. ‘I believed,’ he wrote, ‘that we were fortunate that there were no psychologists or social workers with us, to help sort out our problems.’

Restored to freedom, he was merely invited to get on with a new life - and so, somehow, he did.

It is now routine practice for soldiers, policemen, fire-fighters and suchlike who see terrible sights, to be offered counselling afterwards.

Some, indeed, pursue profitable litigation against their employers because such a service was not made available to them.

There is clear evidence that some soldiers benefit from what the army calls ‘decompression’, when they return from a battlefield, before they meet their loved ones.

This includes encouraging them to talk about their experiences, if they want to do so.

But what some need and find helpful, others do not. It seems grotesque to invite policemen to visit a counsellor after attending a bad motorway smash.

If men and women join a service in which some fortitude presumably goes with the turf, they may think better of themselves if they show it when needed.

No universal panacea for horrors is to be found in self-revelation. Some remedies must come from within ourselves.

Women are, on the whole, better than men at displaying an SUL. In the face of pain or grief, I am often moved by how much better most wives and mothers cope than husbands and fathers.

My own mother is now 95, and experiences the sort of discomforts and indignities which are inseparable from her age. I have never admired her more than for the cheerfulness and lack of complaint with which she bears them.

Two factors have done much to promote the decline of stoicism and the rising demand for professional counsellors to take the strain: the decline of family and that of the Church.

Once, in times of trouble most people turned with assurance to those with whom they lived most closely. Now that many families do not even see each other at meals, never mind weekends, that bond has been drastically weakened, that prop is less likely to be there.

In former times, the Church provided another vital recourse when things went wrong. Our ancestors, who were so often obliged to mourn the deaths of children, accepted that consolation for such tragedies had to be sought from God.

Over many centuries, it is remarkable how much religion, and prayer, contributed to reconciling people to the most terrible events.

Today, faith retains meaning only for a shrinking minority. The local priest no longer plays much part in our lives, even in the event that we know who he or she is.

Instead, amid adversity we are invited to join hands with strangers, to tell our woes to them. ‘I feel your pain’ has become a cliche, even exploited by politicians such as Tony Blair. The notion is commonplace, that we can cope better with distress by sharing it around.

Yet even if you are unconvinced by the virtues of an SUL, there seems much to be said for Churchill’s version of it - KBO, ‘Keep Buggering On’.

The Buffalo University study acknowledges that talking about our tragedies can help some people, sometimes. But it does well to make the case that today we grossly overvalue the virtues of crying our troubles from the rooftops.

Amid sorrow, we need the help of those we love, and who love us. It can be a false comfort, by contrast, to pretend that strangers can convey us through difficulties which we should properly expect to face for ourselves.

The stiff-upper-lip does not deserve to be a thing of mockery. It describes courageous and admirable human behaviour.

WASHINGTON, D.C. June 14, 2008: [HPI note: We were surprised to see this negative report on the “Speak Sanskrit” movement in India and Sanskrit in general, which includes statements including, “Such camps, run by volunteers from Hindu nationalist groups, are designed to promote a language long dismissed as dead….” “Dismissed as dead” is an inaccurate statement given that Sanskrit is the liturgical language of Hinduism and in daily use by hundreds of thousands of priests in tens of thousands of temples, including those in the Washington, DC area itself. The Post should have made more effort to understand the place of Sanskrit in Hindu religious life before running such an uninformed article.]

The article opens:

Hemant Singh Yadav, a lean and sprightly 15-year-old, was sent by his parents to a summer camp to learn to speak Sanskrit, or what he calls the language of the gods. He had studied the 4,000-year-old classical Indian language at school for six years. He knew its grammar and could chant the ancient hymns. But he could not converse in it. During a two-week course at the camp, Sanskrit Samvad Shala, he had no choice: He was forbidden to speak any other language. “At first I thought it was impossible. The teachers and attendants spoke to us only in Sanskrit, and I did not understand anything,” said Hemant, one of the 150 students gathered inside a Hindu temple on the outskirts of New Delhi. “I knew big, heavy bookish words before, but not the simple ones. But now Sanskrit feels like an everyday language.”

Such camps, run by volunteers from Hindu nationalist groups, are designed to promote a language long dismissed as dead, and to instill in Hindus religious and cultural pride. Many Sanskrit speakers, though, believe that the camps are a steppingstone to a higher goal: turning back the clock and making Sanskrit modern India’s spoken language. Their endeavors are viewed with suspicion by many scholars here as part of an increasingly acrimonious debate over the role of Sanskrit in schools and society. The scholars warn against exploiting Indians’ reverence for Sanskrit to promote the supremacy of Hindu thought in a country that, while predominantly Hindu, is also home to a large Muslim population and other religious minorities. “It is critical to understand Sanskrit in order to study ancient Indian civilization and knowledge. But the language should not be used to push Hindu political ideology into school textbooks,” said Arjun Dev, a historian and textbook author. “They want to say that all that is great about India happened in the Hindu Sanskrit texts.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/14/AR2008061400892.html?hpid=topnews
For rest of the text, click URL above.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

WASHINGTON, DC, July 23, 2008 (RNS and RPRS ): [HPI note: While the results of this telephone survey are representative of major tendencies in the USA, we remind our readers that telephone interviews tend to neglect non-native speakers, who can not or will not hold a fluent conversation on the phone. This could lead to an underestimation of groups such as Hindus.]

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life today released its second report on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which finds that while many Americans are highly religious, most are not dogmatic in their approach to faith. “The fact that most Americans are not exclusive or dogmatic about their religion is a fascinating finding,” said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum. Based on telephone interviews conducted in English and Spanish with a nationally representative sample of more than 35,000 adults, it explores the social and political attitudes of religious groups, including members of many small religious traditions - such as Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and agnostics - not typically analyzed in public opinion surveys.

“Many religions ­ maybe even most ­ can be perceived as having an exclusivity clause: We’re right and therefore everybody else is wrong,” said John Green, a senior fellow with the Pew Forum. “What we’ve found is that many Americans apparently don’t invoke the exclusivity clause. While Americans may have firm religious commitments, most are unwilling to impose them on other people,” Green said.

Some highlights are:
Seventy percent of Americans with a religious affiliation say that many religions - not just their own - can lead to eternal life. Most also think there is more than one correct way to interpret the teachings of their own faith. Even among evangelicals, more than half said that many religions can lead to eternal life, despite the central evangelical tenet that preaches otherwise.

This does not mean, however, that Americans take religious matters lightly. Most say they rank the importance of religion very highly in their lives.

More than nine-in-ten Americans (92%) believe in the existence of God or a Supreme Spirit. Six-in-ten adults believe that God is a person with whom people can have a relationship; but one-in-four - including about half of Jews and Hindus - see God as an impersonal force. 29 percent of Catholics see God as impersonal, even though the Catholic Catechism teaches the opposite.

Almost two-fifths of Americans report meditating at least once a week. This practice is particularly common among Buddhists, but nearly half of evangelical Protestants and Muslims say they meditate at least weekly. About one-quarter of the “unaffiliated” report weekly meditation.

Religion is closely linked to political ideology. The survey shows that Mormons are among the most politically conservative groups in the population. Jews, Buddhists and Hindus, by contrast, are among the most likely to describe their ideology as liberal.

The margin of error for the overall sample is plus or minus 0.6 percentage points, but ranges widely for distinct religious groups (7.5 percentage points for Hindus, for example).

You can read the study here http://pewresearch.org/pubs/876/religion-america-part-two

MADURAI, INDIA: The famed Meenakshi temple has taken up a project to digitally document the thousands of magnificent sculptures adorning the nine towers of the shrine. Renovation of the various towers was underway now and the documentation would also help in preserving the originality of the sculptures, temple officials said. The digital pictures would give details about the position of the sculpture and the dress, ornaments etc. The albums could be used for research in future by students of history and architecture.

“Each sculpture of the nine towers is being documented… that is a picture is taken and a number given. Even the minute details are not left out so that the renovation work does not affect the originality of the sculpture in anyway,” temple Executive Officer and Joint Commissioner B Raja said.

The sculptures in the five main towers of North, East, West and South and the “Rajagopuram” have already been covered. The West and South towers together have 2,600 sculptures.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

Check out this five year old girl who is an expert pianist, who in her short life was never taught to play, but who at three years old began to play incredibly complex pieces of music. Not only that but sings quite philosophically meaningful songs at the same time, she also can expertly play any song or tune by just hearing it once. They call her Genius Mozart, but who knows who she was previously in a previous birth to have carried her skills into this life:
http://www.thepostmanscorner.net/da/movies2200.html
YouTube has better quality http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntReE2n15bo

Blind Pianist Ye Eun & Connie Talbot - listen to the voice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bppXP91b4nE

or this three year old child artist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrdRrAjpcDM&feature=related

Or these three kids, titled "Talent on Loan from God"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pYAHps2HmI&feature=related

Read more on Reincarnation HERE:

Transcription of a podcast given some months ago by Sivarama Swami

It’s a shame that these questions need to be addressed, but there’s a need for it because the phenomena exists, and devotees become bewildered when they see this inappropriate conduct from Vaisvavas. But then, that’s variety in Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness doesn’t mean that there are only pure devotees. Srila Prabhupada gave us pure devotional service, as did Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but it means there will also be a whole spectrum of Krishna consciousness practiced by different types of devotees, from very strict and conservative, to the very liberal, accommodating, or those not very faithful to the main principles Srila Prabhupada gave in terms of sad-acara and sadhana.

And that’s to be expected. People are individuals, they have different modes of nature, association, goals in life, and the result is that when they come in contact with Krishna consciousness they will practice differently. The objectionable thing is that devotees should not rationalize that a lower variety of Krishna consciousness is OK and is acceptable, no big deal, and we should therefore not change those standards.

Rather, we accept that a variety of practice will be there, that some will follow 4 regs, others 3, others 2, in the same way some will be more strict with these things like no TV, no movies, forbidden foods, coffee, etc., and others won’t be.

How can we avoid that? We can’t just force that only one type of Krishna consciousness will be followed. But based on Srila Prabhupada’s teachings and books, we should readily accept what the standard is.

But regularly watching TV and movies: there are two main defects in this activity, whether they’re done regularly or even occasionally. The first is that this media always includes intoxication, graphic sex life, violence, and gambling. Therefore watching it means to break the regulative principles. What reason do we have that we would go out of our way to observe and watch these activities of Kali-yuga when already it’s difficult enough to stay away from it, when even walking down the street, going into a shop or going out on harinama or sankirtana, these things are bombarding us and challenge the consciousness of a serious practitioner. So why would I want to bring these things into my own home, to give ideas to children? Answer: because people have material desires and they give into them. I’ll come back to that in a moment.

The second defect is that anything you see makes an impression in the heart. So the rampant violence, sex, intoxication, bad language, immoral behavior, irreverence for the real values of life, and fairytale worlds like Spiderman jumping off buildings and flying through the air, these make an impression in the heart, and when they do they become a source of meditation, something to meditate on, because these impressions will come out at a later time. Not only as a reflection of the mind but something that creates seeds of material desires in the heart and which will also water existing seeds of desire in the heart.

So it is a very detrimental practice. But back to the first point, breaking principles. Initiated devotees vow to follow regulative principles. When referring to brahmacaris and sannyasis in this regard, we say that even in the mind if one contemplates these things he is breaking the principles. But while grhasthas might have license, they only have that within their own marriage situation. They don’t have a license to view sexual activities or these other things. So for them to contemplate it, to view it, to enjoy it: it’s all breaking the principles. How then can an initiated devotee do these things with a clear conscience?

And what is the effect of breaking the regulative principles? We commit sin. And by committing sin, we complicate our spiritual lives, entangle ourselves in material existence, and suffer from the results of that sin.

By committing sin there’s an effect in the mind, and that is that sinful thoughts linger in heart. They come up like bubbles from the mud and become the source of other sinful desires, which then become the result of further sinful acts. Ultimately what devotees see on TV and in movies, they’ll end up doing. If they see infidelity, they’ll end up doing it. If they see violence or other activities, they’ll do that. When they become bewildered thinking materialism, egoism, pride in the material body is the ultimate goal, they become more body conscious and egotistical.

All these things strangle the creeper of devotional service and make one’s devotional life more or less null and void. Why do they do this? Well, obviously because they’re not doing what they should be, which is chanting Hare Krishna and hearing Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrita. They’re not doing those activities without offense and they’re not doing them enough. And so they don’t have enough spiritual strength to resist the social pressure from those who are doing these things, nor do they have the strength to resist the inner desires that are still there in conditioned souls.

So this may be the way of mixed devotional service. OK, so maybe we can say that is the way of broad-based preaching and Krishna consciousness spreading to all kinds of people. What can be done? Some will be like that. But it shouldn’t be passed off as ok, desirable, that it’s no big deal, that it’s conducive to pure devotional service. Otherwise in due course of time we’ll become like other religions whom we criticize for compromising their own values, religions for whom eating cows is no big deal.

Recently when I was in the UK there was this issue in the media where some Hindu organization was objecting to the proposal that Hindus don’t eat meat. They were publicly arguing that Hindus are meat eaters. Now maybe it is a fact that Hindus do eat meat, but still to be in a situation where we are publicly standing up in the media and saying that in Hinduism you eat meat when less than 30 years ago 80% of Hindus didn’t eat meat, it’s an indication of how people are willing to change a standard.

Everyone has their own choice, but it should be very clear that it’s against Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, that it’s not ok, it’s a compromise and a lowering of standards. And it should be clear that a lower standard indicates a different type of devotee than one who is practicing a higher standard. Even if that devotee who has made so many compromises in his Krishna consciousness is nicer, more polite, and so many other things, at least that’s something on the behavior of sad-acara, and that’s one thing, but where does the mixture of TV and movies and devotional service lead?

Krishna says, yam yam vapi smaram bhavam. When you fill the mind with superfluous things, when they’re rampant in the heart, it is inevitable that this will be our consciousness. We won’t be Krishna conscious, we’ll be Spiderman conscious. We will not be Krishna conscious. What will happen? At the time of death we won’t be able to think of Krishna. We haven’t practiced, and our thoughts of Krishna have been subdued by such an oppressive, fast-moving, violent and aggressive media that locks these things in the mind like a Xerox. They’re not just going to go away, they have to be purified and only pure devotion will purify them.

So, yam yam vapi smaram bhavam, devotees will think of these things. And what will happen? Devotees will go there, to where these things are. Spiderman-loka. Great. You go there.

But how can a real devotee, a real follower of Srila Prabhupada, conscientiously sit and spend his time watching these things, knowing that Srila Prabhupada rose at 1am and toiled in the early hours to give us Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrita, he sacrificed his life, shortened his life, just so we could purify our consciousness, to put Krishna in our hearts, that we’d be ale to think of Krishna while living in this world and when we leave this world, that when we leave our bodies we will ultimately go to Him.

I really hope I never become entangled in such compromising acts: I would consider that I was being unfaithful and ungrateful to Srila Prabhupada, and I hope I am never in a situation where I try to rationalize my illicit and foolishly materialistic behavior in the name of Krishna consciousness. I would not consider that if I was doing these things that I was a Prabhupada man, or the type of man that Srila Prabhupada wanted his followers to be.

Hare Krishna

LONDON, ENGLAND, June 20, 2008: More than half of Britons think Christianity is likely to have disappeared from the country within a century, according to a survey. Research by the Orthodox Jewish organisation Aish found that just over a third of people thought religions like Christianity and Judaism would still be practiced in Britain in 100 years’ time. Although four in 10 people said they would choose to be a member of the Christian religion, almost the same number said they would rather practice no religion at all. Buddhism however, proved more attractive than both Islam and Judaism, and was chosen by nine per cent of those questioned. Aish UK’s executive director Rabbi Naftali Schiff said the results of the YouGov poll of 2,000 people were alarming. “It clearly demonstrates that religion, including Judaism, is becoming unattractive to the British public.

Research published earlier this year suggested that church attendance is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation. Â According to Religious Trends, an analysis of religious practice in Britain, the huge drop off in attendance means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. In contrast, the number of actively religious Muslims is predicted to increase from about one million today to 1.96 million in 2035.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

By Srinath das

From India to Ireland, Scotland to South Africa, America to Australia, Moscow to Mauritius, ISKCON (popularly known as the Hare Krishna Movement) is accepted as a bona fide religious organization around the world and is recognized among learned academics (e.g. University of Cambridge, England). In France however, the influential anti-cult bureau (funded by the French government) has successfully introduced laws and policies constricting the activities of minority religious organizations and in 1989, has unfairly and unlawfully branded the Hare Krishna movement a dangerous cult, thereby creating unfounded fears in the public against us and curtailing our efforts to serve French society.

But there are winds of change - “Paris is Europe’s largest city, the world’s number one tourist destination, metropolis of culture, architectural wonders, night life, tree lined avenues, monuments, cafes, education, museums, revolutions. I thought people don’t like us here. Who said that ­ it’s fantastic…. ” - Janananda Gosvami.

Two communication teams have been created in Paris & New Mayapur and they have met with the government representative for observing the cult issue and dealings with religious minorities. She has spoken positively on the Hare Krishna movement on French TV channel 2 and some more meetings will take place with her and the communication team.

Establishing Krishna Consciousness in Paris had not been easy due to discrimination for many years but there are positive signs now due to a number of auspicious things:
* The devotees have acquired a fully owned property for the new Temple in Paris.
* The French authorities will not allow us to open the temple unless our visitors have some space to park their vehicles. We have found such a car park, close to the temple and we are negotiating with the owner in order to get it.
* One devotee has been kind enough to buy a 50 square meter storefront for a preaching center on Rue de Pontoise, near one of the most famous restaurant in Paris ­ La Tour D’Argent and near to the Notre Dame Cathedral.
* Better relationships with the government representatives.
* The new President of France, Mr.Nicolas Sarkozy is establishing better relationship with religious minorities and also with other faith organizations like Hinduism.
* Devotees have attended some Interfaith meetings regularly, particularly in New Mayapur area.
* Harinam in the Paris Metro is going on everyday and is known as the Metro Yoga ( http://metroyoga.fr ). People appreciate it so much that they often clap hands after the performance.
* The magazine ‘Bhakti’ is coming up again in French. The first special issue is titled - Le Rem de la Violence (Remedy for Violence).
* On the new year’s eve more than a thousand people followed the devotees chanting on the world’s most glamorous street ­ the Champs-Elysees.

“If anyone wants to really experience bliss ­ or as close to it as you can imagine - then take a break in Paris and go on Harinam. Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower. It’s terrific ­ the place is crawling with thousands and thousands of tourists and locals and they really love the devotees, at least when they are dancing and chanting”. - Janananda Gosvami.

For pictures and videos - http://krishnaparis.com

- Srinath das

Read more on Chanting Hare Krishna HERE:

USA, July 20, 2008: The latest character to test the good humor of Indian Americans is Mike Myers’ “The Love Guru,” a narcissistic spiritual leader whose goals in life are to meet girls and appear on “Oprah.” The film opened Friday (June 20) in theaters nationwide.

Enough is enough, some Hindu activists claim. For them, lampooning a guru crosses the line from acceptable social satire to mockery of a minority religious culture little understood by Americans. Some Hindu groups have asked Paramount Pictures for an apology and other initiatives. Rajan Zed, a Hindu chaplain from Nevada and a vocal protester, said “the problem is that cinema is a powerful medium, and people who are not well-versed in Hinduism get misinformed.”

But opinions differ inside the Hindu community. The Washington-based Hindu American Foundation had taken a wait-and-see approach and after a screening in Minneapolis on Thursday, board members found it “vulgar, crude … and tasteless” but nonetheless few screeners thought it “anti-Hindu or mean-spirited.” Vijaya Emani, former president of the Federation of India Community Associations in Ohio, had plain-spoken advice to Hindu protesters after seeing the film: “Lighten up.”

In the movie, Myers portrays the Indian-trained “Guru Pitka,” who oversees a self-help empire built on books such as “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Think Again.” Much of the humor seems to be aimed at 8-year-olds, with scores of attempts to elicit laughs based on bodily functions. Most reviews have been unfavorable, and the New York Times called the movie “unfunny.”

Deepak Sarma, an associate professor of religious studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, expressed concern that the film could fuel “a kind of jingoistic Americanism” that makes fun of those who are different.   “The amount of damage for the understanding of Hinduism in America will be tremendous,” said Sarma, editor of “Hinduism: A Reader.”

Virginia Lam, a spokeswoman for Paramount said the new film is in the same spirit as Myers’ Austin Powers films. “No one could confuse, or has confused, this film as intending to tackle serious issues surrounding faith and religion ­ just as no one confused Austin Powers as being a commentary on globalism and trans-Atlantic relations,” Lam said in a statement. While some advocate a boycott, others see the controversy as an opportunity to better explain Hinduism to an attentive media. “Sometimes, it takes perceived provocations such as this address topics such Hinduism in front of a larger audience,” said Brent Plate, an associate professor of religion and the visual arts at Texas Christian University. “In a strange way, they get us talking about these issues.”

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

On June 20, 2008, Paramount Pictures releases The Love Guru nationwide. The film tells the story of Guru Pitka (Mike Myers), a westerner raised at an Indian ashram, who grows up to be a high-profile and eccentric holy man come west.

While the level of humor contained in the film is crass, the comedy has drawn significant attention even before its official opening—both pro and con—and from Hindu-Americans concerned that it violates appropriate boundaries in dealing with a religious subject.

On behalf of the North American chapters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Vaishnava, or devotional Hindu organization with an ethnically diverse membership, we understand that many Hindus are concerned that the film may mock their faith. At the same time, having seen the film in its entirety, we find it to be a typical satire that does not intend to hurt religious sentiments.

While we respect the rights of others within the community to draw their own conclusions, we disagree with the calls to protest or boycott the film. We encourage the Hindu-American community to view the film in its context as a comedy, and to draw on the tolerance and broadmindedness that are hallmarks of our faith.

The Love Guru is a satire, a genre that typically replaces reality with contradictions and exaggerations. If however, some mistake satire for truth, then rather than be angered, we could take the opportunity to clarify misrepresentations and educate others about our authentic traditions. If approached in a constructive and proactive way, the film may even lead to increased tolerance, dialogue, and understanding between Hindus and non-Hindus.

We believe that pressuring filmmakers to censor , re-rate, or otherwise limit their artistic freedom is generally antithetical to the spirit of pluralism and tolerance within the Vedic, or Hindu culture. We recognize that, in certain cases, media depictions may so egregiously distort or maliciously denigrate our faith that boycotts, petitions, and other acts of protest are warranted. The Love Guru, however, is not such a case.

Members of most faith traditions are sensitive about aspects of their tradition being used as sources of humor. However, The Love Guru reminds us that it is wise for people of faith to also maintain a sense of humor-and to take the time to laugh (even at ourselves) once in a while.

Anuttama dasa
ISKCON Minister of Communications

Sample video snip of the movie:
http://news.iskcon.com/node/1071/2008-06-22/hare_krishnas_weigh_in_on_the_love_guru_controversy

Jun. 13 - Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but water.

The car has an energy generator that extracts hydrogen from water that is poured into the car's tank. The generator then releases electrons that produce electric power to run the car. Genepax, the company that invented the technology, aims to collaborate with Japanese manufacturers to mass produce it.

SOUNDBITE: Kiyoshi Hirasawa, CEO, Genepax.

READ MORE on Environmental Issues HERE

NEW DELHI, Jun 14, 2008: Indian scientists are very much secular but that doesn’t go against their belief in God. A survey has found that many of them seek divine blessings before embarking on major scientific missions.

The study, “Worldviews and Opinions of Scientists in India”, carried out by the Trinity College of the US with help from Centre for Inquiry (CFI) India, a non-profit organization, has found that 49 percent of scientists believe prayer is “efficacious as therapy”. Though most of the 1,100 Indian scientists surveyed described themselves as “secular”, they refused to be called irreligious. The survey came out last week. “The majority of scientists think of themselves as spiritual people,” the study says.

“In 2005, space scientists went to Tirupati to seek the blessings of Lord Venkateswara before launching their satellite,” the study reveals. It also found that only eight percent of the scientists said they would refuse to work on stem cell research because of moral or religious beliefs. Nearly 83 percent of respondents described secularism as the “separation of religion from state and government” and 93 percent said it includes “tolerance for religions and philosophies.” Only 20 percent considered that secularism implies an atheistic approach.

“Indians are by nature God-believing people. They don’t put spirituality versus science. Our ethos is broad - while we are rooted to our belief we are also open to new ideas, knowledge and innovations,” renowned scientist Y.S. Rajan told the media.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

INDIA, June 26, 2008: (HPI note: This is a moving account from the Nepal-based magazine Himal of the experience, mostly of those who stayed behind, when tens of thousands of workers were shipped from the Bhojur region of India to the British colonies.)

Nearly 150 years ago began an agonising saga of migration from the Bhojpur region of India. With Britain actively engaged in agriculture in colonies across the world, there was a great need for skilled labourers – a need that was larggely filled by the impoverished people of what is today western Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, who were particularly skilled at growing sugarcane. In their efforts at controlling Indian life, the British had systematically destroyed many rural enterprises, in particular the colony’s small-scale sugar and molasses industries. This dynamic had led to the creation of a large group of surplus labor in the region, which in turn was shipped off to work on plantations in Suriname, Mauritius and the Caribbean islands. Between 1873 and 1916, 64 shiploads of workers – more than 34,300 men andd women – were ‘recruited’ to work as indentured laborers on sugar plantations in the far-off islands.

The multitudes of the Subcontinent, of course, have experienced migration for tens of thousands of years. But the migration of the colonial period took place on a massive and sudden scale, and the places where the emigrants found themselves were often very far away, where contact with the homeland was exceedingly difficult. This inevitably caused significant pain to huge numbers of people, both those who had left and those who were left behind.

For the rest of the article, click URL above.

HPI also recommends reading about the Chinese Opium Wars here, another striking portrait of the extremes of colonization.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

Hare Krishna!
This brings tears to my eyes...
Now we foreigners have to preach to them about their lost culture...

Your humble servant,
Hrimati dasi

there is a book on this subject
http://www.ciks.org/pub-other.htm
The British Origin of Cow-slaughter in India - Dharampal & T.M. Mukundan

Of all beings the cow is treated in India as the most sacred, auspicious and sanctified. Since about 1860 AD British and European scholarship started a new school of vedic interpretation to impress on the westernised class in India that the ancient Vedas, and allied texts also advocated, celebrated, and feasted on the flesh of the cow, or bullock, on special occasions. This book traces the British Origin of Cow-slaughter in India from the 18th Century. It also has British Origin of Cow-slaughter in India from the 18th Century. It also has British documents on the Anti-kine killing movement from 1880 - 1894.

Indian Price :
Rs.495/-

International Price :
US $ 21.00

The Two most astonishing thing for the British who invaded India were.

1)      The Indian gurukula system.

2)      The Indian agriculture system.

The then Governor of British India Robert Clive made an extensive research on the agriculture system in India.

The outcome of the research was as follows:-

1)      Cows were the basis of Indian agriculture and agriculture in India cannot be executed without the help of cow.

2)      To break the Backbone of Indian agriculture cows had to be eliminated.

The first slaughterhouse in India was started in 1760, with a capacity to kill 30,000 (Thirty thousand only) per day, at least one crore cows were eliminated in an years time.

He estimated that the number of cows in Bengal outnumbered the number of men. Similar was the situation in the rest of India.

As a part of the Master plan to destabilize the India, cow slaughter was initiated.

Once the cows were slaughtered, then there was no manure and there is no insecticide like cow urine.

Robert Clive started a number of slaughter houses before he left India.

A hypothesis to understand the position of Indian agriculture without slaughter houses:-

In 1740 in the Arcot District of Tamil Nadu, 54 Quintals of rice was harvested from one acre of land using simple manure and pesticides like cow urine and cow dung.

      As a result of the 350 slaughterhouses which worked day and night by 1910. India was practically bereft of cattle. India had to approach England’s doorstep for industrial manure. Thus industrial manure like urea and phosphate made way to India.

After India attained independence in the name of “Green Revolution” there was extensive use of industrial manure.

Before British left India. The daily news paper Guardian interviewed India.

      To one of the questions Gandhiji answered, that the day India attains Independence, all the slaughter houses in India would be closed.

In 1929 Nehru in a public meeting stated that if he were to become the prime minister of India, the first thing he would do is to stop all the slaughterhouses.

The tragedy of the situation is since 1947 the number has increased from350 to 36,000(thirty six thousand) slaughter houses.

Today, the highly mechanized slaughterhouses Al-kabir and Devanar of Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra has the capacity to slaughter 10,000(ten thousand) cows at a time.

It’s a warning signal to one and all in India to rise to the occasion!!!

http://akincanaforum.eponym.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/12/2798182.html#949462

Vedic World Heritage links:

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 the World on Vedic History
http://www.hknet.org.nz/MotiveBritishRajMissionaries.html

TIRUPATI, INDIA, June 10, 2008: The sacred laddu “prasadam,” popularly known as “Tirupati Laddu” at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala near Tirupati, would soon get patent rights under Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act. Opportunistic merchants have been producing and selling a similar product near the temple under the same name, bypassing the traditional quality standards. The famous Tirupati laddu was introduced at the hill temple some eight decades ago. Over 25 million laddus are prepared annually at India’s richest hill temple which is being thronged by about 20 million devotees from all over the country and abroad every year.

[via the BBC]

“The best solution would be for us all to become vegetarians”.

So suggested the head of the UN climate agency, Yvo de Boer, who is attending UN-led climate talks in Germany this week. He was responding to criticism that measures to tackle climate change are partly to blame for the rise in food and energy costs. Carbon-cutting biofuels, for example, use food crops to make alternatives to gasoline.

Meanwhile, Patrick Wall, chairman of the European Food Safety Authority, has questioned whether it is “morally or ethically correct” to be feeding grain to animals while people starve. Speaking to the Times, he argued that it’s time to end the EU ban on the use of animal remains to feed pigs and chickens. Lifting the ban would allow grain to be diverted to millions of starving people.

And the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, hosting a much publicised summit in Rome this week, has warned of global catastrophe unless food reaches parts of the world where it is needed most.

So, does the global food crisis demand a radical rethink of how we distribute food? Should we worry less about feeding our animals and prioritise getting grain to people suffering food shortages - even if that affects the availability of meat?

Is it time for us all to become vegetarian?

No joke. You read that title right. As a part of the deal that KFC Canada has just signed with PETA (a.k.a. a huge campaign victory), the chain has agreed to start offering a vegetarian chicken sandwich at 461 of its 711 stores.

The Classic Vegetarian Sandwich, which can easily be made vegan by asking for it in a wrap and with no mayo, should be available sometime in July. I don't have any more details at the moment about which company will be making the vegan chicken or if KFC Canada will do that itself, but stay tuned for updates. Also, I hope that all of you Canadian readers will try it out as soon as it's available and let us know how it is. I personally have never found a vegan chicken I don't like, and I suspect this one will be yummy too.

Read more about PETA's KFC Canada victory here http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/canada_kfc_victory

Radha Mohan das: Please visit this blog and make comments. Last night Nightnight on the BBC discussed the issue of vegetarianism because the issue came up in the UN Conference.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2008/06/is_it_time_to_turn_vegetarian.html
­
ys
Radha Mohan das
Bhaktivedanta Manor Communications Secretary
07818 815 978 (m)
01923 851 003 (w)

Talk about Newsnight
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2008/06/is_it_time_to_turn_vegetarian.html
Is it time to turn vegetarian?
Newsnight
3 June 08, 12:30 PM

"The best solution would be for us all to become vegetarians".

So suggested the head of the UN climate agency, Yvo de Boer, who is attending UN-led climate talks in Germany this week. He was responding to criticism that measures to tackle climate change are partly to blame for the rise in food and energy costs. Carbon-cutting biofuels, for example, use food crops to make alternatives to gasoline.

Meanwhile, Patrick Wall, chairman of the European Food Safety Authority, has questioned whether it is "morally or ethically correct" to be feeding grain to animals while people starve. Speaking to the Times, he argued that it's time to end the EU ban on the use of animal remains to feed pigs and chickens. Lifting the ban would allow grain to be diverted to millions of starving people.

And the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, hosting a much publicised summit in Rome this week, has warned of global catastrophe unless food reaches parts of the world where it is needed most.

So, does the global food crisis demand a radical rethink of how we distribute food? Should we worry less about feeding our animals and prioritise getting grain to people suffering food shortages - even if that affects the availability of meat?

Is it time for us all to become vegetarian? Leave your comments below.

And remember when Ethical Man went vegan for a month to reduce his carbon footprint?
Watch again here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2008/06/is_it_time_to_turn_vegetarian.html

I don't know how I missed this, but on the last episode of Hell's Kitchen, Chef Ramsay asked the remaining contestants to identify the missing ingredient in three dishes: chicken parmesan, beef stew, and sausage ravioli. Not one of the chefs could identify the missing ingredient in any of the dishes—meat.

That's right, Chef Ramsay replaced the chicken and beef with vegetarian Gardein "meats" (available at Whole Foods deli counters and in California and Arizona as the brand It's All Good), and the sausage with Lightlife's soy sausage. Even Ben, who claims that he has "the best palate in the world," couldn't tell that they were faux meats.

Similar products are available here in NZ http://www.blissfulvege.com/ in Auckland)

If you're a fan of these products or Morningstar Farms Meal Starter Strips, this probably isn't very surprising to you either, since these products taste great and have a convincing texture. As always, I was amused by the show, but definitely not surprised. You can watch the clip here:

See our World Vegetarian Day Newsletters 2004 - 2005 - World Vege Day

See similar articles at Vegetarianism & beyond:
http://turn.to/Vegetarianism

There is a story about an the expert craftsmanship of a plasterer who worked on the construction of the Taj Mahal.  One of the top directors of the construction was inspecting the building in progress and noticed for three days in a row a certain plasterer who was sitting in the same place mixing plaster.  On the third day the inspector became angry and said, "Why are you still simply sitting and mixing this plaster?  You are so lazy!"  The man who was mixing the plaster also became very angry, and he threw a handful of his plaster at the inspector.  The plaster missed the inspector but landed on a wall.  The plaster was so well mixed, however, so solid and hard, that no one could get it off the wall, and it is still there today.

MORAL:  We must do everything nicely in Krsna's service

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

The phaomnneil pweor of the hmuan mnid: Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig!
Mybae the I can sotp slpel ckchenig?

http://www.gaura-gambhira.com/

Written by HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami

Dear Maharaj/ Prabujis/ Matajis,

It is my great pleasure to inform all the devotees of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that a great service opportunity has been offered by the temple authorities of Gambhira, in Puri dham, where Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spent the final years of His manifested pastimes on this earthly planet. Kasi Mishra's house, also known as Gambhira, and the Radha Kanta math, were both under the care of the Orissa government due to 20 years of litigation. Finally, this litigation problem has been resolved and the management of the institution has been returned to the temple mahanta.

The temple has sustained much damage over the years due to lack of proper maintenance. The whole place is very dirty and the roofs and walls are falling down. The temple roof is also cracking. Additionally, the temple has a lack of proper income for the maintenance of the devotees and for deity puja—and, of course, the more the Gambhira is allowed to deteriorate, the fewer visitors it will have.

At this crucial point, the mahanta of Gambhira has requested ISKCON to extend kind assistence to him in order to protect and maintain this most holy place. Devotees from all over the world come to offer their prayers and obeisances at Gambhira. This is one of the most important places for the followers of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and must be maintained nicely.

Thus, this is a golden opportunity for devotees to render service to this most sacred cause. I request all devotees to kindly donate towards this purpose. There are many things to be fixed at the place. For the time being we have prepared a rough budget, for whatever the most urgent needs are, just to bring the situation up to  survival position. Later on, we will let you know about further opportunities for service in the development of the Gambhira.

For further information contact

Bhakti Purusottama Swami

Phone: ++ 91 9434506434

E mail: bps@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
Vegetarianism in the major Religions - All manner of religions
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

The Peace Formula - (By HDG Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada) http://www.hknet.org.nz/PeaceFormula.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

Iskcon News Articles now available - many topical insights
http://www.iskcon.com/new/index.html

Paradigms - where things are not all they seem

 The Peace Formula
http://www.hknet.org.nz/PeaceFormula.html

The Real Peace Formula
http://www.hknet.org.nz/PeaceRealF.html

See more on Yoga and Meditation HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-yoga.html

World Vegetarian Day October 1st yearly &
World Vegetarian Awareness Month of October yearly
...please visit our links and see what you can do to help

World Smoke Free Day
31st May Every Year 

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