Well, maybe not exactly like you’re thinking…

I’m just posting to let the kind folks who read my blog know about two ongoing series that are featured on my blog.

Click here to learn a bit more....

This week’s verse is from Chapter Three: Karma-yoga. It’s message is one found throughout Vedic literature and is really the crux of the Bhagavad-gita.

In Chapter Three, Arjuna is asking Krishna very plainly, “why should I fight?” Arjuna is a warrior, it’s his duty to fight. However, Krishna just got through with telling him that intelligence is better than such a ghastly activity as warfare. Krishna explains that you can’t automatically achieve perfection simply by renouncing work and certainly not by renouncing your duty. One must also control the mind (a subject dealt with very specifically in the Sixth Chapter). He explains that one should work without attachment to the fruits of his activities. And one should always perform their duty.

Today's verse is 3.30

Click to read on.

Merry, merry, dear readers!

By now, everyone who had been mailed this comp should have received it. For those who have not, and for those who would rather have it as a digital download, here it is.

Click here to go here!

I've been writing about this book a lot lately. And here's a bit more, ok?

Read on

I have a segment on my blog where I take a Gita verse or two and post the translations from four different Gaudia Vaisnava Bhagavad-gitas. I use Srila Prabhupada’s, Tripurari Swami’s, Narayana Maharaja’s and Garuda dasa’s. While all four are accepted by different Gaudia Vaisnavas, it’s really nice to see the harmony in them. It’s also nice to learn how they differ. Maybe it’s some of that “unity in diversity” jazz.

I don’t do this to say “this Bhagavad-gita is better than that Bhagavad-gita!” And I don’t do this to stir, create, tickle or otherwise agitate controversy.

Today’s verse is Bhagavad-gita 4.38.

This is a bit of fun. Join in here.

In Krishna consciousness, dreaming about the Krishna is a very auspicious thing. Also in Krishna consciousness, serving the devotees is often seen as more glorious than serving the Lord. So naturally, one can draw the conclusion that my dream about zombies and Madhava Gosh is pretty much as auspicious as I’m going to get.

Click to read on!

A long, long time ago, on another coast, I picked up the Gaudiya Math's version of the Srimad Bhagavatam. I'm not really sure why I did it, but I must have been trying to add to the library and curiosity most definitely played a role.

It is in English and it's not at all easy to follow. I was expecting a verse-by-verse translation with purport on some/many verses, like Srila Prabhupada's. But I don't think it's that at all.

But then there's the introduction... that's where you find out where the author really stands.

Read all about it...

It was well over a year and a half ago (May ‘07) that I started a fun little project that compared four different Gaudia-vaisnava versions of the Bhagavad-gita. It’s been over a year since I’ve even attempted that. Strange how time flies.

While the response wasn’t overwhelming and I’ve never had anyone approach me on the street and beg of me, “hey, when are you going to do more Gita comparisons,” I had a good time with it, so I think I’ll be starting it up again.

Click yonder to read more...

My friend Rati is stirring up some much-needed talking points over in the Sampradaya Sun area of the interwebs. A few people are now openly discussing the fact that Srila Prabhupada said that no wages should be paid to temple residents/staff, etc.

A point was raised by Matsya das that temples are monasteries. Monasteries do not pay salaries.

While writing the Prajalpa Retreat article for The Hing, I got to thinking “why aren’t the japa retreats at a temple? A monastery setting would be the perfect place to be spiritual, no?

Well, in the case of our Krishna consciousness movement, no. Temples are simply not spiritual places.

More here, if'n you want.

On October 18, I'll be hitting the road, heading west with Smartz on our move to Seattle, Washington. What a great time of year to move to the Sunshine City! Rain and clouds for the next five months! But this is how it's worked out, so who am I to complain?

Find out more info here, ok?

<center><img id="image1573" src="http://www.littleblackstar.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/hing.jpg" alt="hing.jpg" /></center>

<strong><font size="4" face="arial">Just a Few Seats Left for the Prajalpa Retreat in Youngstown, Ohio</font></strong>

YOUNGSTOWN - There are only a few spots open for the Prajalpa Retreat that will be taking place at the Econolodge Convention Room #2 in Youngstown,Ohio, October 20-26.

This retreat center is nestled deep within the city limits of Youngstown, far from the spiritual trivialities of a more natural surrounding.

The week-long seminar will focus upon living a true “fringie” lifestyle without the guilt commonly associated with leading a double-life.

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.thehing.com/2008/09/26/just-a-few-seats-left-for-the-prajalpa-retreat-in-youngstown-ohio/">Click here to read on...</a>

I'm not sure if this has ever been posted, but most of us have heard stories of Alan Ginsberg really liking Srila Prabhupada and chanting Hare Krishna. He was actually chanting Hare Krishna before he met Srila Prabhupada. He went to India and heard the maha-mantra and it stuck with him. When he met the devotees in 1966, he immediately took to Srila Prabhupada, though they didn't always agree in everything.

< href="http://www.littleblackstar.com/blog/2008/09/16/alan-ginsberg-chants-hare-krishna/">Click to read more and to hear Ginsberg chanting.</a>

If you attended the Philly Ratha-yatra, hopefully you took notice of the pretty amazing action figures and plushies of the Ramayana by the newly founded toy company Kridana.

Their first series of action figures includes Rama and Hanuman - but these aren’t your naani’s Rama and Hanuman!

These are pretty tough looking. Especially Hanuman. He looks like he’s ready to take on Lanka all by himself!

Click to see more. Good stuff here.

I had a really amazing time! Probably the best Rath I've ever been to. So fun, in fact, that I'm going to devote a few posts to it.

Philly Ratha-yatra has the very distinct pleasure of being the most surreal of all of the Ratha Yatras that I've attended. Sure, on the outside, it's your fairly normal Ratha-yatra.

But once you've considered that Ben Franklin is wandering around in full period dress while holding a Bhagavad-gita and that we've got Scottish bag pipers playing Krishna conscious melodies leading the procession, you know it's something weird (good weird).

Here are pics and more!

New Hare Krishna Temple Opens Way the Hell Outside Town

ALBUQUERQUE, NM - The Hare Krishnas are moving out of town. This past week, they vacated their three story temple in the busy heart of downtown. They have relocated forty-five minutes north, along the interstate off exit 154, between Pooja Imports Food Market and Patel Bazaar.

"It was becoming increasingly difficult to preach inside of a city with so many people," relates Subhash Jeevanandam, temple president. "The philosophy is so nice that if you preach to them, they want to join up, they want to keep coming back. That becomes big, big expense."

Click here to read on...

As mentioned, I spent a few days in New Vrndavana for Radhastami. I took a few pictures, which you’ll see below.

So click here.

I’ve had several posts about this and basically figured that it would never ever happen. But thanks to some great help from Urukrama prabhu on the Ubuntu Forums, I have Vedabase running on Linux (Xubuntu 8.4.1).

Check it out.... here!

When I'm wrong about something, I admit it. It's a good policy to have. It's fair.

A couple of days ago I got a comment from Pancharatna dasa, the devotee who heads up Friends of the BBT. Now, if you remember, I questioned this organization about where the donations that are given to them are going. How much of it was going into their pockets and how much was actually going to the BBT?

Turns out, 100% of the donations go where you want them to go. That's a good thing.

Click here to read the rest of it, ok?

Despite Sweater Vest, Bhakta Alec Not Aspiring for Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu

PHILADELPHIA - Bhakta Alec, a 19 year old white bodied devotee from Abbington, moved into the Philly temple last Govardhana Puja, trading in his cigarette leg unisex jeans and band t-shirts for the standard temple devotee uniform of dhoti and kurta.

However, since moving into the Philly asrama, Bhakta Alec has acquired 3 sweater vests. "The chocolate brown one is my favorite," said Alec after a recent darshan with the ISKCON guru and GBC Ravindra Svarupa.
Click here to read on...

I was checking out Krishna.com’s selection of Prabhupada books, looking for a Teachings of Lord Caitanya. But Teachings of Lord Caitanya is out of print. So are Teachings of Queen Kunti and Teachings of Lord Kapila.

Crazy stuff.
More here.