OUT OF THIS WORLD

An article from The Times Online reports:

“There are 7.3 million MP3 players in Britain, and the under-40s now account for most sales of audiobooks. Book downloading websites are being created to meet the growing appetite for digital audiobooks”

I checked the website for the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust – www.krishna.com - to see what they had on offer. There were some audio books but I would like to see more of them, especially more recordings of Prabhupada’s books complete with purports. None of the recordings were instantly downloadable from the internet, making them less accessible to today’s impatient iPod generation who would rather not bother with such antiquated delivery systems as the post.

BBC Audiobooks believes that its digital book business will double every 12 months for the next few years and said: “The market for audiobooks on CD is not necessarily a growing market. But downloads are growing massively. We have found new audiences for our titles through the downloadable audience.” (source: The Times)

For anyone who has the patience to wait for the postal delivery, I highly recommend the Complete Bhagavad-gita in mp3, narrated by Dravida dasa. You can buy it here from the USA and here from Europe.

I always carry that one on my (non-iPod) mp3 player.

I have been thinking about how to introduce Krishna consciousness to university students in Brisbane. I’ve had some experience of doing this at universities in the UK and that seemed to go quite well. Universities in Australia seem to work in pretty much the same way as UK unis so I will try to use the same approach that I used in the past and organize meetings through a university club/society.

The benefits of being recognized as a bona fide uni club or society are numerous: free use of university rooms, some financial support, advertising on the university websites etc.

Last Saturday I got to know some of the students from Griffith Uni who come to the temple and we talked about establishing a Bhakti Club there. Some devotees from the temple are already doing prasada distribution at Griffith twice per week and I went with them on Tuesday so that I could meet some other interested students. I am still in the stage of collecting the email addresses of interested persons and when there are enough of us we can set up the club.

This week I found out that there is already a Bhakti Yoga Club established at the University of Queensland. They are doing yoga there with one of the teachers from AtmaYoga Brisbane. That is a good start. The next step would be to organize some talks and Bhagavad-gita discussions and maybe some mantra meditation workshops or mantra jams (musical jams using mantras and a variety of musical instruments). I have contacted the organizer of the club to see what can be done.

I plan to use this blog to write about my experiences with this KC @ uni project and I have created a new subcategory for it under the bhakti yoga catgegory.

According to this BBC article , some social scientists now claim to be able to measure happiness simply by asking people how happy they are.

They have identified three vital ingredients for a happy life:

1. family and friends
2. religion or spirituality or philosophy of life
3. having goals embedded in your long term values that you’re working for, but also that you find enjoyable

Looking at my own life, I can see some truth in this. As a child I had a family but hardly any friends and I definitely had none of the other two ingredients. I was quite miserable. Then I took up Krishna consciousness and suddenly I had all of the happiness ingredients in full. Since then I have been happier.

However, as the article points out, in this world there are also ingredients or events that can lead to unhappiness. One moment a person may be happy and the next they are miserable and then they may become happy again until the next misfortune.

In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna advises Arjuna how to deal with this situation:

O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed. Bg 2.14

O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation. Bg 2.15

The BBC article concludes that most people have a limited set range of happiness and “you can’t take a grouch and make him giggle all the time.” In other words, you are born with a certain allotment of happiness and you can’t do much about changing it. Therefore Krishna’s advice is appropriate. What is the use of becoming disturbed or elated about something you have so little control over?

There is, however, a different kind of happiness, beyond the limited set range that comes with our material bodies, that we can experience
in full, regardless of our material circumstances, and it is never-ending. I am talking about the spiritual happiness that comes through devotional service. As Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to Bhagavad-gita 9.2:

“The process of devotional service is a very happy one (susukham). Why? Devotional service consists of sravanam kirtanam visnoh [SB 7.5.23], so one can simply hear the chanting of the glories of the Lord or can attend philosophical lectures on transcendental knowledge given by authorized acaryas. Simply by sitting, one can learn; then one can eat the remnants of the food offered to God, nice palatable dishes. In every state devotional service is joyful. ”

Try it now by chanting

Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna
Hare Hare
Hare Rama
Hare Rama
Rama Rama
Hare Hare

So, you can see that I am not very dutiful in updating this blog. That is
mostly due to my constant moving. I often end up in places without Internet.

Since the last blog entry I have moved places a total of four times (Los
Angeles, Gainesville, Auckland and Brisbane), not counting the few room
swaps I made in the ashram in LA when the rooms were getting painted.

Here are a few of the most notable things that happened to me over the past
month:

• Saw my spiritual master again
• Got some back and neck injuries following a car crash in LA (still
  struggling with them)
• Became totally dissatisfied with the American health care system and
  with the USA in general
• Had some productive meetings in Gainesville, Florida, in the
  association of many senior and learned Vaisnavas
• Distributed some books in LA, though less than usual due to time
  spent on hospitals and doctors and insurance companies
• Had the great fortune to associate with some of my most inspiring
  godsisters in Auckland
• Gave a Sunday feast class at the Auckland Loft on the topic “Life in
  the Cosmos” using powerpoint slides for illustration

Now I am at the temple in Brisbane.

Back in Wales after a month in Mayapura, I am feeling spiritually energized.

In my first week in holy Mayapura I was busy with meetings about researching ancient Indian astronomy and cosmology. The meetings were very successful and we now have some more researchers working their way through the vast amount of material available in India.

Then my spiritual master came there and asked me to cook lunch for him. So for my second and third week there I spent most of my time trying to figure out who’s kitchen to borrow each day, choosing and buying the ingredients, cooking lunch, packing lunch and sending it over to my spiritual masters’ room, cleaning up, waiting for the remnants to come back, cleaning up the tins that the lunch was packed in, and then finally having my own lunch. That took up most of my day. On some days Shital did most of the cooking and I got some time to do my other services. I also got some help from Siromani, Amrita, and Dina Dayala on other days. Thank you to Sharon, Prijata and Monica for letting us use their kitchens.

In my fourth week I was able to relax a bit more and I finally made it to the Ganges. I know of nothing more refreshing to body, mind, and soul, than bathing in the holy waters of the Ganges at Mayapura. I spent time there with some Godsisters from New Zealand who I hadn’t seen for a couple of years. I was glad to see how nicely they are maturing in Krishna consciousness due to their dedicated devotional service.

During my month in Mayapura I stayed in three different buildings so I had to move twice. I suppose there is no escaping my constant moving, even in such a holy place as Mayapura.

Here are some of the things I realized while I was in Mayapura:

• Simple living is so conducive to spiritual life.
• I am always happy in Mayapura, even when I am physically sick.
• I do not want to live outside the association of devotees.
• Service to the spiritual master is an extremely potent and purifying process of self-realization.

This weekend I am moving house again. All my pots and pans from the kitchen, all my books, all my personal belongings, half of my husband’s belongings, all have to go into boxes and on to the next place. Actually, most things will just stay in boxes at my dad’s house for a while because in a few days I will be on the road again.

On Tuesday I leave for Mayapura (my favourite place). I am going there for two reasons. The first reason is for some meetings about researching the astronomy and cosmology of ancient India. The second reason is to chant and dance in the association of devotees.

I just found out that Mother Vrinda left her body a couple of weeks ago in Kampala. I was fortunate to have her association in my first few years in ISKCON. In 1999 I joined Tribhuvannatha Prabhu’s travelling festival programme in the UK and Ireland and got to serve alongside her. She was such an inspiration: 100% dedicated to her service, joyful, tolerant, kind. I only wish I had been able to associate more with her.

I remember being in Ireland with her in December 1999. The festival crew were staying in a small two bedroom flat in Dublin in order to collect funds for the African tour. The men were in one room and the ladies in the other. This meant that Mother Vrinda had to share a small room with about three or four younger ladies. Naturally, this must have been difficult for the more mature Vrinda but she tolerated us for some time and then she came up with a solution: she would stay in the cupboard under the stairs! I felt terrible to see her so humble and austere and I begged her not to live in that cold damp place, but she really didn’t seem to mind it and was quite happy there.

I never heard her complain about any of the austerities that she regularly endured for her service. In the UK she would live in an old converted ambulance and take cold showers. But despite all her austerities, she never looked ragged at all – she always looked nice. It was like some mystic power she had.

At festivals, Mother Vrinda would run the shop, and while the rest of us might be having fun dancing in the kirtan, she would be standing outside selling books, incense, chanting beads, samosas etc. One time, after a big festival in the UK (maybe it was Camden Hall), Tribhuvannatha Prabhu asked me what I thought of the programme and I replied that I didn’t get to see any of the programme because I had been at the door greeting the guests all night. Then he said, laughing, “Oh, you did a Mother Vrinda!”

My friend Kirti and I were amazed at her service and her humility. She was always joyfully and busily engaged. She gave everything she had and she set a shining example for us to try to follow.

Her passing was sudden as she was hit down by a car. Perhaps Tribhuvannatha Prabhu needed some help wherever he is now and called for Mother Vrinda. I have no doubt that this is where she would want to be. Dear Vrinda – please save a place there for me too.

If anyone out there has any use for a PhD scientist with experience in book distribution and promoting Krishna consciousness among university students (me) and an ethnologist with experience in volunteer coordination, institutional fundraising, and politics (my husband), please let me know. We are currently open to offers.

Been busy writing my paper on spinning black holes and looking for jobs. My husband finally turned up about a month ago and he is looking for a job too. We still have major money problems and it looks like things are getting worse as the funding for my current research project could be cut any day now. This material world really offers no stability or security, just one temporary situation after another. Some changes are minor and some are major but change is inevitable.

Yesterday my dog, Rupert, left his little dog body behind. In this life he has taken prasada and heard the holy name, so I pray that he will come into contact with Vaisnavas in the next life, whatever form he takes.

I will probably be moving house yet again in a couple of weeks due to my uncertain financial situation. I will have to move back to my father’s house. This is not very good for my spiritual progress. As Candidasa noted on his recent trip home: for those of us who are not completely transcendental, environment affects sadhana. In some situations it is possible to do something about the environment – tidy up, move out etc. but sometimes you just have to tolerate it somehow. Last time I saw my spiritual master he told me to “go with the flow” a bit more. Not sure what that means. Hope I don’t bloop (the sound the soul makes when it falls back into the material pool).

Today I am moving again. Total moves in 2005 = 6. Seven homes in one year = a little over 52 days in each place. Each move = about 1 week cleaning the place up and arranging my things. Approximate time spent away from home and travelling in 2005 = 9 weeks. Therefore, actual amount of average time spent in one place = about 36 days

When I met HH Sridhara Swami a couple of years ago at Bhaktivedanta Manor, he asked me about my situation and after I explained it he said “You move around more than me!” That was at a time when I really had no fixed abode and I was wandering from one place to the next more frequently than I am now. The thing is, I actually want to stay in one place, but I can’t seem to manage it. Like now, I could just stay at my father’s house but I have already lost weight since I arrived here due to the fact that I can’t cook in the kitchen without having to go through a whole ordeal. I had to leave the last place because there was no longer any space for me there and I had to leave the place before that because I was thrown out and I had to move out from the place before that because someone else bought the place from the owner.

If I had the money I would just stay in one place, so the solution seems to lie in getting a job. There are postdoctoral positions currently available in the UK, Germany, France and the USA. Only Krishna knows where and when I will move next, or at least I hope He knows.

Once a week, at my local Physics and Astronomy department, a group of physicists get together in their lunch break for a discussion about some topic related to the Philosophy of Science. For the past two weeks the discussion has been about a group of scholars that is organized by John Brockman who would like to see themselves as the new intellectuals. They promote themselves as well as their own views and opinions on various issues through the website www.edge.org. They call themselves the Third Culture:

“The third culture consists of those scientists and other thinkers in the empirical world who, through their work and expository writing, are taking the place of the traditional intellectual in rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are.”

In 1959, C.P. Snow wrote of two cultures: the literary intellectuals and the scientists, and claimed that, during the 1930s, the literary intellectuals took over as “the intellectuals,” marginalizing the scientists. He later predicted the emergence of a third culture that would close the communications gap between the literary intellectuals and the scientists.

John Brockman does not claim that his third culture is the same as the one predicted by Snow. This new third culture is not one where the literary intellectuals are communicating with the scientists, rather the scientists are communicating directly with the public. Brockman sees science as the dominant factor in today’s public culture. Science is the big story and the achievements of the third culture will affect the lives of everybody on the planet and shape the thoughts of their generation.

He has a point. Science and technology are becoming more and more central in everyday life and everyday discussions. So many of the issues that concern us today involve science. But what Brockman and many of his third culture members do not seem to recognize is that there is more to these issues than science alone. The neglect of all things non-scientific is a common result of materialism and reductionism, two favourite persuasions of many a modern scientist.

The methodology of modern science does not allow for anything non-material. This approach has produced some excellent results and science has gone quite far with it. Yet, this in no way implies that there is nothing beyond matter and that science holds the answer to everything. Believing that matter is all that exists is just that, a belief, and it is a belief that seems to be growing in popularity. Once you accept this belief, then it naturally follows that science can, in principle, reveal all truths and resolve all issues. Human beings become nothing more than complicated organic machines to be understood through their genes. Human society is nothing more than the struggle for survival of the fittest. The universe is just another big machine with no intrinsic meaning or purpose. Want to know something, anything? – Ask a scientist. The scientist is God.

If we are not yet prepared to accept the axiom of materialism, then we ought to be careful about appointing a scientist with the job of “rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives” and “redefining who and what we are.” Else we might find that there is no longer any deeper meaning to our lives, beyond genes, atoms or subatomic particles.

If we assume for a moment that there is more to life than matter alone, it follows that there is more to life than modern science can understand or explain. Many of the issues that the scientific intellectuals of Brockman’s group would like to influence will contain elements that are completely outside the realm of modern scientific thought. Issues such as global warming, cloning and abortion, though centred about scientific questions, are entangled in ethical problems that go far beyond science. No amount of hard scientific investigation is going to tell you whether an action is right or wrong, good or bad, because ethics and morals are not a part of current scientific thought.

Now, more than ever, science students need to get a basic education in philosophy and theology, especially topics such as the philosophy of science, ethics, and religion. In this way, they can learn to understand the limitations of the scientific method and appreciate other approaches to knowledge. They may still choose to believe in materialism, but perhaps less fanatically, and with more tolerance and appreciation for those who don’t. They would also be a little more qualified to speak on issues that go beyond science, and be more attentive to the views of philosophers and theologians. Then the gap between the two cultures could finally close and the true third culture will lead the way.

I am hiding out in my room. The last time I stepped outside my room I detected a strong odour of a fish being cooked and the distinct sound of Rugby match commentary coming from downstairs. This room is not exactly a comfort zone either as it is screaming out for decoration and none of the furniture matches and there is not enough space. If only I was truly transcendental I could easily tolerate al these things. Oh well.

I will be moving out next weekend. My brother’s girlfriend has just moved in with him, so I will rent her house. I can’t really afford it but I am desperate for a kitchen that doesn’t have the grease of cooked dead animals and hair of a cat called Jasper all over it (as is my current situation). I don’t know how long I will stay at the next place. It should be for at least one month. If I get any of the jobs I have applied for I will try to get a mortgage and buy a place.

Life is not easy. It used to be that a woman would grow up in her parents house, then get married and live with her husband, and then she would stay at home to keep the place nice and have children and look after them. That’s pretty rare these days. Now that we are ‘liberated’ we have to struggle to earn money, just like the men. Even when the husband is around, one income is often not enough for comfortable living. Even when there are children, the mother feels the need to go to work because she can earn more than the cost of child-care. Then there are the single mothers. Add to that the intense social and psychological pressure to look like a supermodel. What a struggle for existence. Is it really worth it?

Whatever position we have in this world: man, woman, rich, poor, black, white, fat, thin - there is bound to be material suffering. That is the nature of the world. Just try to make the best use of a bad bargain, as my old friend Tribhuvannatha Prabhu used to say. Whatever you have, try to use that for Krishna’s service, remember Krishna, and go back to Godhead where you belong.

I just watched part one of a two-part television programme called “Preachers to be.” It followed the journeys of trainee preachers in three of the UK’s largest religions: Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. The preachers-to-be representing Hinduism were two Hare Krishna students based at Bhaktivedanta Manor near Watford. The emphasis of their training was on becoming qualified Brahmanas and thus being allowed to serve the deities on the altar and perform a wedding ceremony and other rituals within the temple. In contrast, the training of the Christian and Muslim preachers emphasized people skills and interacting with the community.

The programme showed a student Imam speaking on his own radio show and going out to meet people. He also had to give a sermon, on which his teacher offered him some constructive feedback. The Christian trainee had to learn how to deal with conflict in the community and how to minister to people and serve out communion. And the Hare Krishnas? The students were not qualified to do anything much because they were not Brahmanas yet. One monk explained how he was not allowed to cross over the line separating him from the altar. Many of the scenes were inside the temple room. There were some strange shots of a monk sitting close to the wall and facing it, rocking slightly and chanting. One of the students, a celebate monk, was shown alone in the library as a festive wedding was going on in the temple room. The one time that a student went out on the streets, he was visiting Indian shops, trying to raise money. Something that the Hare Krishna students were trying to learn, but apparently failing at, was how to organize themselves and others.

A preacher has to be a shining example of whatever he/she represents, and for a Hare Krishna that means developing the qualities of a Brahmana, but if a preacher wants to reach out to others, then he/she also has to know where the world is at and what the people want. The impression that this programme leaves me with is that the Muslims preachers are keeping up with the world around them, and the Christians are making a good effort too, but the Hare Krishnas are quite isolated.

In the programme, Sanatana Goswami dasa, one of the trainee Hare Krishna priests, faced a board of seniors to decide whether or not he was ready to become a qualified Brahmana. They criticized his weak points and failed him. As the programme was ending, the narrator asked “will Sanatana be allowed to become a Brahmana or will he leave Hinduism behind?”

This programme did not give an accurate depiction of most of the Hare Krishna preachers that I know, or of the training they received. Perhaps the title of the programme is misleading. I know many successful preachers who do not perform wedding ceremonies or serve on the altar but they do reach out to people and help them. After watching this programme, I would say that the Hare Krishna students at Bhaktivedanta Manor are being trained more as priests than as preachers. Sadly, the viewers are unlikely to know the difference and may take this style of training as representative of the training methods used in the Hare Krishna movement and in Hinduism in general.

For information about another type of training for preachers in the Hare Krishna movement, visit www.bhaktivedantacollege.com

For anyone interested in finding out what some other full-time or part-time Hare Krishna preachers (in the real world) are up to, I recommend a visit to the following blogs:
www.mayapurforum.net/namahatta/
www.sitapati.info
www.deltaflow.com

I am back to blogging after more than two months off. A few days after my last blog entry I finally got fed up with being homeless. Having no apparent prospects for finding a place to live in Slovenia, I decided to move back to my father’s house in Wales. That’s where I have been ever since.

When I arrived here I discovered that (weirdly) the ISP that my father was using could not locate the server that hosts my blog, so I would have to pay for another connection to write an entry. Besides that, it was quite inconvenient to go online due to the way things are set up here, and the connection was extra slow. A couple of weeks ago we signed up with a different ISP, got broadband and a wireless router, and now I have easier access to the internet. I don’t know how long this good connectivity is going to last as there is a good chance that I will be moving again very soon. Such is my life.

I haven’t seen my husband since September. He was supposed to come over to Wales shortly after me but there is no sign of him yet. So it’s been me and my dad, like old times. And the cat and the dog of course. The dog has cancer and is on his last legs so I am chanting to him and feeding him prasada. I hope he can get the association of Vaisnavas in the next life. I have been without Vaisnava association for a while now. It is not very nice but I am surviving (barely).

My time away from Slovenia turned out to be longer than I expected. After the camp in Serbia we decided to go back to Hungary for Radhastami as my spiritual master was there again. The whole two and a half weeks was a great adventure but pretty exhausting.

The festivals at the Hungarian farm were blissful as ever. On festival days the kirtans usually last for at least four hours in the morning and at least four hours in the evening. The temple room is beautifully decorated and the super-attractive deities, Radhe Syam, are offered the most opulent yet intimate worship. This is perhaps the closest I have come to experiencing the atmosphere of Vrindavan.

The Serbian festival was a great success with over 200 devotees in attendance. While travelling to different countries it is interesting to see how the culture of Krishna consciousness mixes with the local culture and temperament of the people. From my observations it appears that Serbians are people of the heart and they are not at all afraid to express their emotions in a most enthusiastic, animated and open way. They are very warm and friendly and this created a close family atmosphere throughout the whole camp.

It took a little adjustment for me to go from the neat, synchronized, and disciplined devotion of the Hungarian yatra to the flowing, expressive, and individual devotion of the Serbian yatra, and back again. But in all places it was clear that everyone’s heart can become fully satisfied by chanting, dancing, and feasting in the association of devotees. Thanks to the Krishna consciousness movement, even a Welsh woman like myself to can feel quite at home in Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, and all other places where Krishna is being glorified.

I didn’t get a chance to update my blog while away. Now that I am back, I have a lot of work to do but I plan to write something every few days.