November 18 2008
For those who haven’t seen it yet, there is a nice video of Laksmipriya, our Mayapur elephant, on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8wwCM89m0k
And here’s a few photos from Hrimati mataji, our defacto elephant expert.
November 14 2008
This one’s from Bhaktin Natalya in the CIS:
”In the Transcendental Diary you told about Shrila Prabhupada meetings with Dr. Patel in Bombay.
He received so much association with Shrila Prabhupada. Did he become a devotee? Did he write a manual book on Sanskrit as Shrila Prabhupada advised?”
Answer:
Dr. Patel did indeed become a devotee, at least in spirit. I don’t think he ever chanted any rounds, but he was certainly following the 4 regs. and he accept Srila Prabhupada as his siksa guru:
[TD 1] December 20 1975 - Bombay
As we walked back to greet Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari, the sound of children’s voices singing traditional Hindi songs loudly rang out from the playground of the junior school across the road. This scene reinforced the point that Srila Prabhupada emphasized during the morning walk — everyone must learn from another qualified authority.
Dr. Patel said, “Guru is necessity right from the birth. The first guru is the mother.”
Prabhupada answered, “And these rascals, they preach like that: ‘There is no need of guru.’”
“They are rascals, Sir.”
“Yes,” Prabhupada agreed. “Simply rascals. Rascal means he does not know the thing and he still preaches. That’s a rascal. Guru must be there. There are many, they say like that, ‘There is no need of guru.’”
When one visitor asked if some effort was required to obtain a guru, Prabhupada gave his confirmation. “Yes. Therefore Krsna says, tad viddhi pranipatena. Pranipat means you have to surrender. When you submit somewhere, you must test and then submit. That is sad-guru.”
“They say, sir,” Dr. Patel said, “that if you are very sincere then the sad-guru comes automatically to you … as you have come to us.”
Prabhupada answered, “Yes. Because Krsna is there. If He sees somebody is actually serious to understand Him…. Therefore Dhruva Maharaja, he did not make any guru, but with fervent desire he went, ‘Yes, I shall find out Krsna.’ Mother said, ‘Krsna can be found in the forest.’ He went to the forest and began according to his own way. Then Krsna sent Narada Muni: ‘This boy is very serious; go and give him real mantra.’ That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu, guru krsna krpaya paya bhakti lata bija. Two things required, guru and Krsna.”
The incident about the sanskrit grammar book occured on April 14 1976 on Prabhupada’s daily walk along Juhu beach:
[TD 1] Regarding Dr. Patel’s suggestion for learning Sanskrit, Prabhupada concluded that if a student is serious he can learn simply from reading his books, because in them he has given the word meanings. After studying a few sentences one can understand the verb, the subject, object, and so forth. Prabhupada told Dr. Patel that if he would have had more time he would have made a Sanskrit grammar based on Bhagavad-gita, but now he is too busy. He suggested Dr. Patel do it, since he knows both Sanskrit and English. “You can do that. People will read it, Bhagavad-gita grammar. On the Bhagavad-gita teach them grammar. Just like Jiva Gosvami compiled Hari-namamrta-vyakarana, similarly, you write. You have the knowledge of Sanskrit, and through English, [teach it using] Bhagavad-gita grammar. People will take it.”
As far as I know Dr. Patel never did it, but I am informed that there is now a book of Sanskrit grammar based on the Bhagavad-gita written by one of our ISKCON devotees (my apologies for not knowing who that is).
Today is the full moon night on which Lord Krishna holds His rasa dance with His dearest devotees, the gopis of Vrindavan.
Rasa-purnima is a big festival in Bengal. At Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir we get at least 100,000 visitors throughout the day. They come to see Sri Sri Radha Madhava and the asta-sakhis,
chant in the packed temple rooms,
November 12 2008
We sometimes hear outlandish stories attributed to Srila Prabhupada. Here’s a curious question I received some months ago from Laksmana Prana dasa:
“I heard one story that may have serious conclusions, and therefore I would like to ask your either to confirm or to refute.
One mataji who preached a lot begged Shrila Prabhapada to give her sannyasa, referring to Jahnava Ma. Prabhupada gave her sannyasa and in one month that mataji left the movement forever and got married to a karmi.”
Answer:
I never heard this before. As far as I know Srila Prabhupada never gave sannyasa to a woman. It would have been completely contradictory to everything he ever said on the topic. I think this is a completely bogus story.
In 1976 requests for sannyasa were becoming frequent. Indeed, Srila Prabhupada gave sannyasa to seven men at the Gaura Purnima festival:
But he never gave sannyasa to a woman even though he was asked:
[TD Vol 1] February 4, 1976 - Mayapur
The acceptance of sannyasa has become so popular recently that even some of the ladies are asking about it. Aditya dasi sent an enquiry from Bombay. “I am writing this letter on behalf of myself, as well as the other women in our Society. Sometimes the question has come up, but no one seems to know the real answer, about sannyasinis. I know that sannyasa is the highest order of spiritual life, therefore is it not possible that we can be eligible? Myself, I do not feel like a woman, although I am in this body.”
Prabhupada’s reply was concise and clear. Quoting from Bhagavad-gita, he told her the soul is neither man nor woman, and for those engaged in Krsna’s service, there is no distinction between man and woman. “Anyone acting for Krsna, he is a sannyas or sannyasini. Spiritually everyone is equal. But materially a woman cannot be given sannyasa. But you should not be bothered because you are serving on the spiritual platform.”
November 10 2008
Some very good news for the last two days, that Jayapataka Swami has become fully conscious. He is able to recognize his visitors, and even communicate with them despite not being able to talk yet. But he can move his head around and has limited movement in all his limbs which indicates there is no paralysis.
Things are looking a little hopeful for the first time for three weeks. May Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada grant this wonderful servant of His a full restoration of his health so that he may continue to serve Him for many years yet.
One of the nice things during offering of lamps in the temple room is to be able to offer one’s lamp to Jayapataka Maharaja.
We hope it will not be too long before we see Jayapataka Maharaja back here in Mayapur.
November 10 2008
Its getting near the end of Kartika vrata and the Damodar prayers. This is always the best month of the year. I used to like observing it in Vrndavana. When we first opened the Krsna Balaram mandira in 1975 I had the pleasure of observing the first Kartika for the temple as the temple commander. And right after that I became Srila Prabhupada’s personal servant. In those days we didn’t really know much about observing the festivals and not so many people were coming. Now you can’t move, the temple is so packed up. So my allegiance has shifted to Mayapur.
Mayapur is also packed up but not to the degree Vrndavana is.
And the Bengali kirtaneers have a different style of singing the Damodara prayers which is very sweet.
In 1976 also I was in Vrndavana with Srila Prabhupada.
November 9 2008
Today was Ekadasi. I was really happy. My doc. gave me a concession that on ekadasi I could eat potato. So I took full advantage.
Here we are, my favorite food
Cooked in ghee till golden brown
What a sight! What delight! What a bite! Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a little fresh lemon juice. Unbeatable.
I could never figure out why they are called french fries though. It seems to be the Americans that prefer that name even if the French aren’t particularly known for them. Nor do the French even call them French fries.
They are of course, chips. The Brits are well known for chips. As a young man growing up in England, there’s no way you could avoid them. I even had a friend whose parents used to own and run the local fish and chip shop.
If there is such a thing as a national food in England, its fish and chips (although nowadays thats been replaced by curry and chips-haribol for the Indian influence!) So why aren’t they called Brit chips? Or if they want to keep some French connection, in Australia they should be known as pom de terres?
At any rate, they taste irresitably good. So I had a plate; actually more than one. Well, anyway, the doc. said…
November 6 2008
So much for diets. Now here’s the other half of my get healthy program
Nice, huh. Its been sitting in my living room for the last six days, a sight to inspire me to do something I haven’t cared for before - exercise. I haven’t actually used it yet, but it looks good. For Rs. 8,700 it should. And what to speak if I begin to use it!
Now, one might ask, why bother spending so much on a bike that doesn’t go anywhere? Surely it would be more healthy and wise to just get out on a real bike, buzz around Mayapur and stay healthy that way.
Well here are a few good reasons. Some keen wit observed the state of the Indian traffic about 25 years ago and wrote the Indian Road Rules
START: Traveling in India is an almost hallucinatory potion of sound, spectacle and experience. It is frequently heart-rending, sometimes hilarious, mostly exhilarating, always unforgettable - and, when you are on the roads, extremely dangerous. Most Indian road users observe a version of the Highway Code based on an ancient text. These are the rules of the Indian road:
November 6 2008
After all the talk about die-ating, you can be forgiven for thinking today’s header is about my recent attempts to improve my health through diet. That’s a quote from Srila Prabhupada though.
Prabhupada ate carefully,
and whenever he suffered some ill health he responded by adjusting his diet. He had been a medical man in his grhastha days, and he knew the beneficial effects of eating well. But if it came to enforced dieting, his mood was a lot different.
Here’s a couple of snitchs from TD Volume 6 (unpublished) that show his mood towards doctors and their prescribed diets:
December 26 1976 - Bombay
In mid-morning, Srila Prabhupada met with an ayurvedic kaviraja, Mr. Chakrobarty. After a short discussion Srila Prabhupada agreed to go with him to his clinic. Accompanied by myself, he set off by car to the man’s home and then his clinic. It was a long drive to the other side of Bombay.
November 3 2008
While I was in Mumbai two weeks ago I visited the Bhaktivedanta Hospital at Mira Road, for a full checkup.
I haven’t had one for a couple of years, and with a number of Godbrothers and sisters facing various health crisises this year, it seemed prudent to have a look and see what was going on in the innards of this animated carcass.
The BH is more like a temple than a hospital, it is so clean and well ordered. You walk in the door and there is a murti of Srila Prabhupada right in the middle of the ground floor.
Devotees tour the floors with a portable altar of Lord Jagannatha so that the patients can offer flowers and prayers to the Lord. Devotional music and lectures are piped into every room in the building and all the food served is prasadam. These are popular features despite the fact that about 60% of the patients are Muslim or Christian. The hospital has a great reputation and is now having to expand its facilities to cope with the demand.
They also run a free meal for schools program, serving over 40,000 plates of prasadam a day to Mumbai’s school kids.
Along with first class medical care the devotees also maintain an all-important Spiritual Care dept. so any devotees going in get very well cared for in all respects.
As for me, all in all things are not so bad, a little hypoglycemia, a little extra bad cholesterol, and a bit of osteoarthritis setting in.
Could be worse, and the doc’s advice was that it can all be controlled by diet and exercise. So this a confirmation of my own diagnosis that I am now going to have to do the two things I have avoided most of my life.
Srila Prabhupada didn’t like enforced diets either, but more about that in a moment.
The BH has a good ayur-vedic doctor in residence, Nirmal Candra prabhu, and I was fortunate he was on duty when I visited. After hearing my symptoms he analysed me as a pitta constitution. Pitta is particularly centered in the pancreas and an excess of it is what is causing my hypoglycemia (too much production of insulin, which causes the blood sugar level to drop too far down resulting in fainting among other things). Pitta of course is fire. That’s me, too much fire in the body.
[TD5] November 3, 1976 - Vrndavana
As Prabhupada was walking back into the house from the garden after his noon massage today, he suddenly reached out and took hold of my hand. He shook his head and said with a sympathetic smile, “Too hot!” and then went in to bathe. This is the second time he has done this. It’s obvious that he doesn’t feel that it’s a good thing, but I am not sure what he means by it–I don’t know if he means it affects him adversely or me adversely–and there seems little I can do about my bodily constitution. I am unfortunately largely in the mode of passion, and I guess that my body being overheated must be a symptom of that. But since Prabhupada hasn’t given me any advice how to rectify this or even that I should, or indicated that it is too much of an inconvenience (for either of us), I guess I have to live with it as best I can.
So the days of blissful youthful ignorance are at an end. I can do something about my constitution and I intend to.
Dr. Nirmal Candra gave me a few herbs, and also a diet. This is the crunch–one of the items I have to avoid is potato!! Arghh! The king of vegies, I don’t know how I will live without it. Fried, boiled, baked, mashed, you name it, potato has been one of my life-long love affairs.
I had actually been told many years ago in 1986 by Damodara Prasada Sastri, the Kaviraja from Calcutta who had treated Srila Prabhupada in his final two weeks, that I should not take potatoes, but it was an impossible-to-follow advice.
This is the first time since then that I have been advised in the same way. I didn’t follow Shastri’s advice because he simply told me, but didn’t explain why. But Nirmal Candra explained with a diagram how the stomach is the center for kapha, the pancreas is the center for pitta, and the colon is the center for vata. An imbalance in these three centers means disease of various kinds in the other organs of the body.
So that’s it. Tonight I said farewell to two of my favorite preparations. One of our householders stands opposite the Samadi with a glass box perched on a rickshaw. It is filled with golf ball sized crispy brown puris, called pushkas.
I first came across them while traveling with Srila Prabhupada:
November 02 2008
Here’s a few pics. from this evening’s festival in the puspa-samadhi. In keeping with tradition, devotees sung “Je anilo prema dhana…” at the exact time of Srila Prabhupada’s departure, which is recorded in TKG’s Diary as 7.25 PM. That was followed by offerings of garlands by senior devotees, an arati and another puspanjali, and then offering of lamps for Kartika-vrata.
Umapati Swami offers a garland
Bhakti Charu Swami offers his garland
A tray of ghee wicks for offering kartika-dipa
The Mayapur ladies offer their lamps
Head Pujari Jananivas prabhu
kirtana lead by Bhakti Charu Swami
November 2 2008 - Mayapur
April 1972: Srila Prabhupada and Sydney temple president, Mohanananda dasa. Photo by Amogha dasa.
Today is Srila Prabhupada’s 31st Disappearance festival, which I am celebrating in Mayapur. I decided to return here from Vrndavana and observe His Divine Grace’s departure pastime at his puspa-samadhi in the more intimate and peaceful atmosphere of Mayapur-dhama.
There are not so many crowds and the ceremony is more simply observed, but it has its own sweetness and style. The puspa-samadhi is a beautiful building, its only drawback being the terrible accoustics. The sound echoes around the dome and the smooth concrete walls and you have to sit in the right spot to hear properly. For this reason we will be hiring one of the top accoustic engineers in India so that we don’t have the same problem in the TOVP.
After the regular morning program we gathered in the samadhi and had three hours of Srila Prabhupada katha interspersed with bhajans lead by our expert Bengali kirtaneers. We are blessed with the presence of several very senior devotees, particularly HH Umapati Swami who joined in 1966, Madhusudana and Kancanabala prabhus and their daughter who both joined in 1967, Bhakti Charu Swami, Hanumat-presaka Swami, Jananivas and Pankajanghri prabhus, Bhavananda prabhu, Sri Raga, Grahila, Suresvara, Ragatmika and others.
The main theme seemed to be “How I joined Krsna consciousness by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada.” It was engaging hearing, each story a moving testiment to the great compassion and mercy Srila Prabhupada extended to the most fallen souls of Kali-yuga.
For my part, I had skipped the regular Deity greeting and guru-puja so that I could do my own daily puja to Prabhupada before the festival program began.
As I bathed and dressed him, I listened to the first ever recording of Srila Prabhupada, made by himself in February 1966 as he sat in his windowless, furnitureless room at 100W 72nd Street. It is his Introduction to the Geetopanisad, or Bhagavad-gita.
As I absorbed myself in his resonant, careful dictation, I envisioned him sitting, alone and penniless, in the New York winter in what could only be described as a materially destitute condition. Yet with unlimited enthusiasm to execute his spiritual master’s instructions to preach Krsna consciousness to the English speaking people of the world.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had told him that even if noone else is there, you can still preach to the walls. And that is precisely what Srila Prabhupada did. When he spoke the Gita Introduction there was noone there to hear him. He was speaking to a machine. He had no idea whether anyone would hear what he had to say, but he had confidence that it was worth saying, and that if Krsna desired it would eventually be heard.
Then in my mind I fast-forwarded to Sydney, circa January 1972. I had met the devotees the year before on the streets of the same city, the second day I arrived there as a new immigrant from England. I bought a BTG, #37 with the rasa-lila dance pictured on the front. After six months working in the far north-west of the Australian outback, I had traveled back to Sydney to find the devotees.
I was materially burnt out, desperate to find some meaning to my life, seriously questioning my own sanity and looking for answers to questions that noone seemed to even understand what to speak of answer. I found the devotees and bought a Bhagavad-gita As It Is, the blue Collier MacMillan edition with a black sillouette of Lord Visnu on the front.
October 30 2008 - Vrndavana
My humble apologies if you have been logging in and not seen any new entries for the last week or so. I have been traveling to Delhi and now Vrndavana. I have to use a public internet facility so its rather difficult to put up anything substantial. I will be back in Mayapur in two days time, Nov. 1st and normal service will resume.
For those that don’t yet know, you can keep getting updates on Jayapataka Swami’s health at http://www.jpshealth.info/.
Your humble servant, Hari-sauri dasa
Now we have another major crisis with HH Jayapataka Swami in hospital in Mumbai with a severe stroke caused by brain aneurysm. His condition is very critical, and the doctors have admitted that there is not much they can do, and the main thing now is our prayers for Maharaja’s well being.
At this moment I can’t describe my feelings. The apprehension of the loss of this very dear friend is not something I want to contemplate right now. And despite his current crisis, as Ravindra Svarupa prabhu just put to me, Maharaja has more prana than anyone he has ever met. He is a fighter and he has tremendous strength of constitution.
We have clearly entered the era where the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples is going to be a regular affair. That’s the material world, always hankering and lamenting. Our consolation is Srila Prabhupada’s statement that we shall have another ISKCON in the spiritual world and that our spiritual relationships are all eternal.
I was just with Jayapataka Maharaja in Mumbai. We had our MVT meeting in Chowpatty on the 18th. He appeared to be very tired and didn’t look well, but like everyone else, I thought it was simply the symptom of the almost perpetual jeg-lag that Maharaja suffers due to his intense and continuous travels. I thought with a few days in one place he would catch up his rest and be back to his usual energetic self.
It only takes a second and everything changes.
I first saw him in 1975 but I didn’t get to know him until early 1976. Srila Prabhupada had arrived in Mayapur on January 17 and stayed for just over two months. Jayapataka Swami was his stalwart assistant in developing the Mayapur project. I remember one particular incident that nicely summed up their relationship:
[TD 1] January 18, 1976 - Sri Dhama Mayapur
With the festival only six weeks away, Jayapataka expressed doubts how it [the Long building] could be completed in time. Prabhupada told him if they engage at least one hundred men it could be done. Then Bhavananda Maharaja raised the objection that there was no money. Prabhupada told him that if that was the only problem, he would give him the money. But he said they must start immediately. Jayapataka, however, was still apprehensive. He said there was a shortage of bricks. Nevertheless Prabhupada pushed him to begin construction. He told them that they should do whatever they can, but the work must begin immediately.
Leaving the pukkur we hesitated to go down the steep incline of the embankment. Jayapataka, however, had no problem running down, even in his wooden shoes. Srila Prabhupada laughed. “Victorious flag — Jaya-pataka,” he called out, appreciating his disciple’s dexterity.
Since those days Jayapataka Maharaja has been carrying the flag of victory all over the world on behalf of Srila Prabhupada, spreading the glories of Sri Mayapur Dhama far and wide and increasing the family of ISKCON devotees for the pleasure of his spiritual master. Now that seems to be at the end of an era.
We can simply pray that Srila Prabhupada’s victorious flag is not lowered to half mast any time soon.
October 21 2008
This one is from Anuj, who bought a set of my books from me in Atlanta this summer at the Panihati festival.
He’s experiencing a common phenomena that attacks a lot of new devotees:
“For the past few weeks, I have tried to remain fixed in my service to Sri Sri Radha Krsna, but impersonalist thoughts seem to be polluting my mind. I have debated quite extensively with Mayavadi’s online in various religious forums and this has had a negative effect on my spiritual life. My mind seems to be more inclined in accepting Impersonalistic convictions although I am only really satisfied in serving Krsna.
“I keep reminding my self that the great Acharyas including Ramanuja,
Madhva,
Lord Chaitanya
and Srila Prabhupada
all preached against Mayavadism yet the fact that so many people in India and elsewhere are immersed in such impersonalism seems to persuade me that there must be some truth in their philosophy. I really dislike the way in which Mayavadi’s state that the Absolute Truth referred to in the Bhagavad Gita is not actually Krsna in his personal form but rather the Impersonal Absolute within Krsna. I really do want to want to remain fixed in my service to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu but Impersonalism seems to be the stumbling block on my path.”
“Since you were such an intimate servant of Srila Prabhupada, I wanted to ask you how Prabhupada would interact with such impersonalists and the way in which we can best preach to the Mayavadis. Although I have been advised to stay away from impersonalists, I always feel that it is my duty to preach to them. I don’t understand why I get such inclinations but is there any way in which I can remain convinced that Krsna’s personal form is his highest feature?”
Answer:
As you say, impersonalism is a pollution of the mind. It brings no satisfaction to the soul and that’s why all the big mayavadi’s ultimately come down again to the material platform and indulge in altruistic or humanitarian acts. Although they claim the material realm is mithya, illusion, they are very fond of remaining in that illusion.
The natural function of the soul is to love. That means three things-the lover, the beloved and the exhange between them.
Otober 19 2008
Here’s a recent question from Nityananda Priya dasi in the CIS about the famous prediction that within this Kali-yuga there will be a 10,000 year period of grace where people will be able to easily take to the Sankirtana movement and go back home back to Godhead:
“I would like to ask a question, if it is allowed. I am sometimes asked, what are the symptoms of the 10,000 years of the Golden Age? Can we say, it is the possibility to preach and chant the Holy Name all over the world?”
Answer:
I think that is a good summary. By the arrangement of the Lord, the conditions become favorable for preaching and for people to receive the holy names and the message of the Bhagavatam.
In the SB 11.5.38-40 it says:
“It is stated in the Visnu-dharma,
kalau krta-yugam tasya
kalis tasya krte yuge
yasya cetasi govindo
hrdaye yasya nacyutah
“For one who has Lord Govinda in his heart, Satya-yuga becomes manifest in the midst of Kali, and conversely even Satya-yuga becomes Kali-yuga for one who does not have the infallible Lord in his heart.”
And in the 12th canto it is stated:
SB 12.3.26
“According to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, within each age the other three ages occasionally manifest as sub-ages. Thus even within Satya-yuga a demon in the mode of ignorance may appear, and within the age of Kali the highest religious principles may flourish for some time. As described in Srimad-Bhagavatam, the three modes of nature are present everywhere and in everything, but the predominant mode, or combination of modes, determines the general character of any material phenomenon. In each age, therefore, the three modes are present in varying proportions. The particular age represented by goodness (Satya), passion (Treta), passion and ignorance (Dvapara) or ignorance (Kali) exists within each of the other ages as a subfactor.”
On several occasions during his last tour of the USA Srila Prabhupada specifically told us that this movement would go on for 10,000 years:
Ocotober 18 2008
Here’s a good follow-up to my entry on October 2, “Just in time” regarding inauspicious times to travel and why Srila Prabhupada didn’t travel on Thursday afternoons. These questions come up periodically and the following explanations from Shyamasundara prabhu and Bhanu Swami give the detailed and technical explanations. When in doubt, go to the experts!
[Shyamasundara prabhu is one of the foremost Vedic astrologers and you can find a link to his site on the ”Contacts” page.]
From: Shyamasundara (Dasa) ACBSP (Astrologer)
Date: 01-Aug-94
Subject: travel and Muhurta
————————————————————
Mother Urmila requests information about why Srila Prabhupada didn’t travel on Thurday afternoon and asks:
“Is this a general principle or something Prabhupada did because of personal astrological considerations?”
My understanding is that he learned this habit from his association with his own Guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta who was a renowned astrologer in his purva-ashrama. The reason is that on Thurday afternoon the Rahukalam–the time of Rahu becomes prominent.
(This is mentioned in the philosophy paper.)
The method of calculating when the Rahukalam will take place is as follows. First you must know when the sun rises for each day of the week. Then for each day the Rahukalam starts at a different time after sunrise and lasts for 90 minutes. The start times of the Rahukalam for different weekdays are:
Sunday– 10.5 hours after sunrise
Monday– 1.5 ”
Tuesday- 9 ”
Wednesday 6 ”
Thursday 7.5 ”
Friday 4.5 ”
Saturday 3 ”
If the Sun were to rise at 6:00 AM then the Rahukalam on Thursday would correspond to 1:30-3:00 PM. [From Muhurta by B.V. Raman pg 201.] Needless to say the sun rises at various times at different seasons and at different latitudes. We also see that Rahukalam is not on Thursday only.
If one doesn’t have the facility to calculate the exact planetary positions at the time of a journey then the above calculation would serve as a ready reckoner. But it should be stressed that this is really only for layman.
From astrological texts it is noted that there are numerous flaws which could severely afflict a time for travel. This is especially significant in the case of long or important journeys. No time is perfect.
Here’s where we spent our afternoon.
We means myself, Paras (pictured), Suman, and Gopa Kishore prabhu, who took these photos. Gopa Kishore is the devotee who did all the animations on the Mother Ganga film produced by Bhakti Vaibhava Swami a couple of years ago. At that time he was known as Bhakta Ezequiel Guerisoli, from Spain. He has worked for TV in Spain and he did a lot of visuals for Yadubara prabhu on his excellent Following Srila Prabhupada series.
He is a good photographer and while we were waiting for our hosts, he wandered around shooting a few pics. of the locals including this sequence of a butterfly:
He and I were just introduced yesterday. He is keen to work on the exhibits for the TOVP and put his extensive film making abilities to use for the planetarium.
At the Nehru we were met by Scott Niskach, international sales representative of Evans and Sutherland in India.
E&S are one of the largest manufacturers of planetariums in the world. They were the first company in the world to develop computer graphics, i.e. using computers for drawing pictures, way back in 1968 and made a good living making flight simulators for commercial and military use. They made the first digital planetarium in 1983 so they have extensive experience in the field.
Some of you may recall my blog entry from June 10 describing our exhibits team meeting.
October 14 2008
These two gentlemen are chiefly responsible for the creation and maintenance of this website:
Paras Sharma (left) and Suman Sankar
Suman is one of the bhaktas on the training program here in Chowpatti. He hails originally from S. Africa which is where I met him in 2005. He spent a lot of time and his own money designing and constructing this website. I have had a lot of devotees compliment me on the beautiful design, so now you know who was responsible.
Paras has taken over the maintenance in the last few months, since the launch. Suman was unable to give much time because he joined the temple full time so I advertized for help on Pamho.net. We contacted Paras through another devotee in America, Damodar Nityananda prabhu and although he is not yet a devotee, he provides all his services free.
Paras lives in Bhopal and with Suman and myself scheduled to be in Chowpatti together, Paras thought it would be good to meet both of us personally, since previous contact has always been through email and phone. He travelled 12 hrs. on the train overnight to get here and this is his first visit to an ISKCON temple. He’s a polite, bright young man of 23, and works full time for Reliance industries maintaining their servers.
We had a few hours this afternoon going over the website discussing ways to improve our services to you the reader. We will be adding a bit of video for downloading soon so please watch out for that. We also want to add streaming video and audio files to this blog and I hope that feature comes shortly.
I am deeply indebted to these young men for their kindness and service. Suman and Paras, many thanks!
October 14 2008
I came to Chowpatti temple early in the morning and will be spending the next week or so here. If Juhu beach temple is Heaven on Earth this place is Vaikuntha. Although small in comparison to the opulent Juhu beach temple, it is like a precious jewelbox, filled with gems and gold.
The Deities of Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha, Gaura Nitai and Nathaji are beautifully decorated and lovingly cared for. They attract many thousands of people every week. On Sundays an attendance of several thousand is standard.
Chowpatti is famous for its Vaisnava culture and etiquette. The devotees are humble, enthusiastic and elevated, following in the footsteps of their leader, HH Radhanatha Swami. Chowpatti has a resident population of over 100 brahmacaris, and many thousands of regular congregational members as well as hundreds of initated householders.
Maharaja is here and today begins the observance of Kartika. After greeting the Deities and guru-puja we sat down to sing the glories of Lord Damodara. Maharaja led us in the chanting of the Damodarastaka, one of my favorite bhajanas.
Throughout the month devotees offer lighted ghee lamps to the Lord and by doing so gain benedictions beyond our scope of appreciation:
Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa
Sixteenth Vilasa, Volume One
Text 99-168
Please hear the glories of offering a lamp during the month of Karttika, an
offering that is very pleasing to Lord Kesava. O king of brahmanas, a person
who offers a lamp in this way will not take birth again in this world.
