Archive - May 2008

“All the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to,” are memorable words taken from the drama “Hamlet.” The nineteenth-century writer Samuel Butler wrote “The Way of All Flesh” which is considered a masterpiece among Victorian novels. The passage from Shakespeare and Butler’s book title indicate that bodies are not us; or at least that human bodies are subject to birth, death, disease and old age and the six-fold process of beginning, growth, maintenance, offspring, dwindling and destruction.

In North America, Europe, Australasia and Japan, animal rights activist groups are appearing more and more frequently. Yet in the orient – especially in India -- people have been naturally kind to animals for centuries. However, some new animal rights groups have recently
arisen in India, following those of the West.

Today in the West people depend on electricity – for cordless phones, TVs, stereos, light bulbs, computers, refrigerators, cars, washing machines and many other things. Although we tend to think such advances are amazing, they are very gross and decidedly inferior, compared to the subtlety of Vedic energy.

George Bernard Shaw is supposed to have said, “The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.” Srila Prabhupada many times said words like this, “‘Country is made of God, and city is made by man.’ That is the remark by poet Cowper.” (This particular
statement was made in 1975 on a walk in Nairobi.)

Although Srila Prabhupada and his guru often railed against impersonalism, it can, nonetheless, be considered a form of realization (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.11).

When death comes knocking at your door, it’s time to concentrate on Krishna.

Maya is so powerful that one is never safe.

Maya is so powerful that one is never safe.

Many software specialists pride themselves in saying that programs like Photoshop can display “millions of colors.” But these numbers are actually tiny compared to the number of colors Krishna can display.

Among his many achievements, Srila Prabhupada was most certainly a “Patron of the Arts.” He insisted that his books be filled with colorful paintings, and what greater tribute to the arts could there have been than elaborate Deity worship, Rathayatra chariots, doll museums, books, recordings, films, and the culinary arts of restaurants and prasadam distribution?