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From Time Magazine, on the recent hurricane damage to New Orleans:
The people of New Orleans are surely not thinking about wind vortices, the coriolis effect or the dampness of the troposphere as they hunker down during hurricane Katrina this morning. They’re mostly thinking about the savage rains and 140 mph winds that have driven them from their homes. But it’s that meteorological arcana that’s made such a mess of the bayou, and to hear a lot of people tell it, we have only ourselves—and our global-warming ways—to blame.
So is global warming making the problem worse? Superficially, the numbers say yes—or at least they seem to if you live in the U.S. From 1995 to 1999, a record 33 hurricanes struck the Atlantic basin, and that doesn’t include 1992’s horrific Hurricane Andrew, which clawed its way across south Florida in 1992, causing $27 billion dollars worth of damage. More-frequent hurricanes are part of most global warming models, and as mean temperatures rise worldwide, it’s hard not to make a connection between the two.
One especially sobering study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that hurricane wind speeds have increased about 50% in the past 50 years. And since warm oceans are such a critical ingredient in hurricane formation, anything that gets the water warming more could get the storms growing worse. Global warming, in theory at least, would be more than sufficient to do that.
The difference between a temple and preaching center is simply this:
- In a temple, everything revolves around the Deity.
- In a preaching center, everything revolves around the guests.
Even if the Sunday feast is at the temple, you can still make some adjustments for first time guests, assuming that these people are your target audience for this program. As a preaching mission, we have to have at least some programs for the public, in addition to programs for already convinced and committed members of the movement.
As the old saying goes, if you try to chase two rabbits, both of them will get away. A program designed for first-time guests and persons newly in contact with the movement will likely not satiate the desires of existing members. Two hour long kirtans, on the other hand, and straight bhagavat-katha will confuse and drive most newcomers away.
If you want to be successful in meeting the needs of your target audience you need to be clear about who they are and what their needs are. There is nothing wrong with having different programs for different audiences. In fact, that’s personalism.
In the temple everything can, and should, go on in full Sanskrit and devotee-ese glory.
In the outreach preaching environment, whether that’s a Sunday feast program, a Loft, or whatever, there needs to be sensitivity to the guests.
Horses for courses.
I followed a link from Madhava Ghosh’s blog to this cartoon strip generator. It looks like a great tool. No doubt we’ll be able to come up with lots of awesome uses for it (printed publicity materials, email newsletters, Hare Krishna Network material), and many witty and insightful commentaries.
I wanted to test it, and this was all I could think of. It’s a basic concept, but an interesting one to consider. Click on the cartoons to see them full size, because they don’t fit into my blog layout:
Something that - well, I won’t say that it “didn’t go well”, because the play is not complete - let’s just say that it’s an “interesting development” at this point.
Last year we went to the Loft preachers’ festival in Christchurch at Christmas. At that time we were four in our party: Myself, Param Satya, Prahlad, and Alison. There I said: “Next time we’ll bring six people with us.”
That’s the projection for 2005 / 2006. The projection for 2006 / 2007 is that the festival will be here in Australia. There’s a point where the scales tip and you do a festival here instead of sending so many people over to NZ.
Anyway, just before the weekend I got a quote for eight people (there are an additional three who are going for a total of 11 from Brisbane). It was $2700. I didn’t act on it because of the lead up to Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day. I didn’t have time to meet with the financial controllers in the mad rush to secure the house and prepare ourselves for the weekend.
Now that things have calmed down a bit I check the prices again, and they’ve gone up to $4200!!
I rang the airline company and they told me that the earlier price was a special sale price which has since ended. I checked the quote again, and it did indeed say “Sale price”.
Lesson: Strike while the iron is hot.
Check out our new promo for the Sunday Feast. It’s the first in a series of cards and postcards that Kamala is putting together.
We had 20 people last night at the Loft (a Monday), so it looks like we’re getting into the zone for attendance. After 8 months of subsidized operation the Loft finally broke even on it’s rent and bhoga costs two months ago, and even made a $30 “profit” last month.
Next step is to increase the price. You can’t get a meal for $10 in this city, or a yoga class - what to speak of both!
This month it looks set to make more of a “profit” (we’re still not buying plant, building up a reserve to move to a bigger place, or maintaining our staff from the operation), and we are now creating the first full-time paid staff member position for a manager, who will start off on a whopping $800 a month - enough to pay their rent at the ashram and give them some pocket money. (I’m casting vision here…)
Two Sundays ago after the class I cast the vision for the Sunday Feast promotional video that we are making for the Internet (look out for www.sundayfeast.com, going live at the end of this week).
As a result of this call some people came forward, and now we have a video camera that we have the use of during the week. At the moment we are using it in the ashram to lift our game on giving class. This morning Channell spoke on Bhagavad-gita 9.27, using a microphone, and we taped it on digital video.
Now we do a review of the tape together and lift the game. This way everyone becomes familiar with the use of microphones, and being in the public eye. It’s all about losing your “self consciousness”, or actually about becoming really self conscious, and not hiding from what you really look and sound like.
I call it the “Learn to give class like a rock star” program. 
We’ve got to be bold for Krishna’s service: “A lion in the chase, and a lamb at home”, as Prabhupada characterized it.
I did a month at an academy for television and radio presenters in Peru, and this is how we did it there.
Channell is doing really good at learning to lead kirtan with the harmonium as well. She lead at the temple on Janmastami, and at the Sunday feast last week.
I’ve made a CD - “Basic Kirtans Volume 1″. It has two kirtans, each using only three chords, and potentially lasting over an hour each. Each has a string of different melodies which can be played using only the three chords. I am presently working on the song charts to go with the CD. I’m rehearsing with Shane, who plays bass, and Andy, who plays sax, clarinet and flute, so these resources are to help this project along.
I’ve uploaded the mp3s of the CD, and I’ll publish them along with the song charts as soon as I get the song charts finished.
This is the class I gave at the Sunday Feast this week. It’s part of a three part series based on a one sentence definition of Krishna Consciousness that I’ve been working on.
Krishna Consciousness is:
making your unique significant contribution with a deep understanding of who you are, including your spiritual nature and your relationship with Krishna.
The series is divided into three parts:
- Your Spiritual Nature
- Krishna, and Your Relationship with Krishna
- Your Unique Significant Contribution
Next week’s presentation is a talk show that I am hosting, with Abhilasa das ACBSP as the guest. We should have our digital projector online by then, so we’ll have the opening and closing credits on there. For the future we’ll have ads as well, short 20 - 30 second dramas that we’ll record during the week. Those of you who were at the “Hare Krishna Network” programs in Miraflores already know the style.
Hare Krishna Network in da house! 
About this week’s presentation
I used a style I got from John Maxwell, with the “fill in the blanks” class notes handout. It’s a good way to outline the class as part of your preparation, engage people during the presentation, and give them something to take away. That went across well.
Here are my own feedback items on the presentation:
- “Spiritual Malnutrition” was the hook to hang this off. Application first, then text. I did it backwards, which is the classical style of preaching. It’s fine for those who are already convinced, but others coming for the first time need to experience the benefits first. Give them the free sample.
This failure is due to lack of preparation. I should have given this class at the ashram and discussed it with advisors (especially Vrajadhama and Tri Yuga) first.
- Shorter, Shorter, Shorter!
- To be honest with you, I was planning on doing the Prabhupada videos this week, so I spent all of about two hours preparing for this. Of course, this is on top of the ongoing thinking and teaching that I am doing. Still, I want to dedicate more time to preparing. More preparation. More preparation. More preparation!
- More preparation will allow me to be more relaxed, and to take more risks. I can potentially engage the audience a lot more passionately than I have been doing so far.
Here’s a note I wrote to myself the other day: “If you are tense and nervous, the audience will be tense and nervous. If you are relaxed and confident, the audience will be relaxed and confident. If you are overconfident you will alienate the audience. The secret to confidence is preparation.”
- My vocal dynamics were suppressed because of the new WCE6T mic. It works great, but without a sound man I had to be really carefully to keep my voice at the same volume. “Nothing ruins a holy moment like a blast of feedback”. This makes the whole thing really mellow - read: boring.
I experimented with standing up, but only briefly. When you hear me say: “If I take my clothes off…. I’m not going to do it….” I stood up and pretended I was about to unbutton my shirt. People appreciated the humour. I sat right back down again. Playing it safe - read: boring.
Fear of failure is what kills you.
- I mentioned this last week - and again: I have to get rid of that nervous, short laugh.
A lot of people really liked it and came up afterwards and thanked me for it. Little do they know….
I feel so guilty these days about the lack of time and energy that I have been putting into these presentations. It is simply not fair to the public.
Anyway, here’s the schwag:
Intro (3 MB, 64kbps .mp3) - Discussion of Prabhupada’s appearance and Parampara
Your Spiritual Nature (21MB, 64kbps .mp3) - The Class
Questions (9MB, 64kbps .mp3) - And the outro to the kirtan
Handout (180K, .doc) - Presenter’s and Audience’s versions
Today is Krishna Janmastami. The others went to the temple this morning for the 7am program. Last night we got home at midnight after the Friday night program at the Loft and a catering program for a Bhangra night at the university. I stayed home this morning with Prahlad, who was still sleeping.
Tonight I’ll go to the temple for the program. I’ve been asked to lead the 7pm kirtan. I’ll probably take a wireless mic or two, a mrdanga, and an accordion. I don’t know if I’ll stay until midnight. I really want to, but I also have to be conscious of the Sunday program, which is my responsibility, so we’ll see what happens.
HALF the population will dismiss this story - but a new study claims the cleverest people are far more likely to be male than female.
Men are more intelligent than women by about five IQ points on average, making them better suited for tasks of high complexity, according to the authors of a paper due to be published in the British Journal of Psychology.Genetic differences in intelligence between the sexes helped explain why many more men than women won Nobel Prizes or became chess grandmasters, the study by Paul Irwing and Richard Lynn concludes.
They showed that men outnumbered women in increasing numbers as intelligence levels rose. There were twice as many with IQ scores of 125, typical for people with first-class degrees.
When scores rose to 155, associated with genius, there were 5.5 men for every woman.
Dr Irwing, a senior lecturer in organisational psychology at Manchester University, said he was uncomfortable with the findings. However, he said, the evidence was clear, despite the insistence of many academics that there were no meaningful gender differences in levels of intelligence.
“For personal reasons I would like to believe men and women are equal, and broadly that’s true,” he said. “But over a period of time the evidence in favour of biological factors has become stronger and stronger.
“I have been dragged in a direction that I don’t particularly like, but it would be sensible if the debate was based on what we pretty much know to be the case.”
And here’s the killer line:
“Men have larger brains than women by about 10 per cent and larger brains confer greater brain power,” (Professor Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Ulster) said.
And because you know there has to be a Sita-pati comment:
Here’s part of my reply to a student here in Brisbane who is doing a religious studies class on “cults” and wrote me asking to come to the Sunday Feast:
PS. the textbook our teacher supplied us for this unit claims that the Hare Krishna religion is strongly anti-feminist, my teacher explaining that the men believe they have greater intellectual intelligence then women. Is this true, or an extremist view?
Sita-pati sez: As far as this anti-feminist thing is concerned, both feminism and anti-feminism sound like extremes to me. As far as thinking that men are more intelligent than women, have a look at today’s news: (link).
In other words, it’s not a Hare Krishna belief, it’s a man / woman thing that you’ll find everywhere. If that’s in the news then I’m sure that you’ll be able to find some people within Hare Krishna who also think like that, especially if they believe everything they read! As far as we are concerned, everyone is an individual and unique. Some people have better looks, some people have more intelligence, some people have a sweeter voice, some people are funny, others are learned. Everyone has some special ability and special gift. We don’t get into putting people down, we are into lifting people up.
Krishna consciousness is about understanding deeply who you are, including your spiritual nature and your relationship with Krishna, and making your special, unique significant contribution in life. That’s it. Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Mumbai based home video publisher Shethia Audio Video which publishes titles under the brand name Gypsy, has announced that it will be releasing its 3D animated home Hindi Feature Film on Lord Krishna in December.
Speaking to Animation ‘xpress, Shethia Audio Video MD Amit Chedda commented,” Krishna, the film, narrates the tale of the Lords birth through to his childhood years in Gokul and then Vrindavan, where Yashodha and Nand raised him as their own son, and his slaying of Kansa, the evil ruler of Mathura. Lord Krishna’s childhood is interspersed with various adventures including his fights with demons like Pootna, Trinavarat and many more. This animated feature also brings to life Lord Krishna’s naughty aspects like breaking pots of butter, and other adventures”
From Indiantelevision.com
Monday: 8
Tuesday: 19
Wednesday: 8
Thursday: 21
20 is about our sweet spot for this facility in terms of the size. We’re going to start lunch time classes on Tuesday and Thursday from the week after next.
At the moment Hrdayananda das Goswami’s latest lectures seem to be all the rage in some circles. He’s very much in form-breaking mode, the “revolutionary leader” or “cultural prophet” style described in Refining Your Style: Learning from Respected Communicators. He’s challenging on a lot of points where things have become unconscious or ritualized.
One example is the question of “devotional clothing”.
The other day my wife, Param Satya, was talking with someone down at the temple, and they were discussing the content of these classes, and that person mentioned a point that HDG makes: where do you find anywhere in Bhagavad-gita or Caitanya-caritamrita mention of “devotional clothing”?
Of course we understand the clothing of the Hare Krishna’s as a cultural thing, not an absolute, or at least I do.
Some people refer to western clothing as “Karmi clothes” and dhoti and kurta as “devotional cloth”. In South America western clothing are referred to as ropa civil (civilian clothing) or ropa de la calle (street clothes), which I think are better nominatives.
A devotee once referred to my underwear as karmi underwear, which is a bit ridiculous. Karmi refers to a philosophical or psychological motivation for selfish activity, not a style of underwear. This same devotee then went on to ask me about my “karmi” name. I told him that I don’t have a “karmi” name, because I’m not a karmi. He then asked me what are you then, a devotee? I replied that I am a sadhaka-bhakta, an aspiring or practising devotee. I don’t have a “karmi” name, I have a civil name.
Devotional refers to a state of consciousness, a philosophical and psychological orientation toward transcendental dedication. It’s not about a particular cultural meme, some particular external manifestation.
At the same time, we can’t make the mistake of thinking that Prabhupada was confused about the two, or throw out the baby with the bathwater. If you read Prabhupada explaining to members of the public why people wear the dhoti and kurta, and even his letters to his disciples he says things like: “I am not forcing them to wear it. They are choosing to wear it.” (in other words, it’s not obligatory), and “It is like a uniform. Whenever someone sees he will recognise: ‘Ah, Hare Krishna’”
The so-called devotional cloth of dhoti and kurta are not simply ceremonial robes, they are part of our corporate identity, our brand. They contribute to our marketable image and along with other elements of our preaching mission, create a strong brand identity in the mind of the public. Here’s a nice explanation from the book Leadership Lessons from the Navy Seals on this issue.
Have a look at this post from my South American diary and scroll down to the section “Clothes maketh the man”, for some more realizations about dhotis.
Krishna Consciousness is dynamic, not dogmatic.
Let me assert for a moment that marketing is about storytelling (hence the Liars book). If you’re telling a story, though, that means that in some sense you’re an actor. Not that you’re con artist or doing something fraudulent… far from it. But that you’re an actor in that you are using emotion and amplification of ideas to make your point in a limited amount of time.
Actors do better when they wear costumes.
And at work, a costume is called a uniform.
Would a cop be as effective at keeping the peace if she was wearing jeans and flip flops? What about a surgeon in a bathrobe? Sure, they need to wear something in the operating room, but don’t try to persuade me that scrubs are just for utlity. It makes you more confident to know that they’re dressing special in order to cut you open.
From Seth Godin’s Blog
Currently Listening to:
Hrdayananda das Goswami - the recent classes (2002 -2004) that are doing the rounds these days.
Currently Reading:
Creating Messages that Connect: 10 Secrets of Effective Communicators, by Alan Nelson
Everyone of us can and must surrender to Krishna immediately.
To surrender to Krishna simply means to place yourself at Krishna’s disposal, and you have to have faith that God is not a religious fanatic.
A lot of people think that God is a religious fanatic: “I mean, He means well, but He just…”
There’s this idea that: “I’m not going to surrender to Krishna because if I do I already know what He’s going to ask me to do and I can’t do it so I’m not even going to go there.”
But the point is that we don’t already know what Krishna is going to do. If Krishna was that simple and dogmatic that everyone in the world already knew “what Krishna’s going to do”, then He wouldn’t have a very big repertoire of responses to human prayer.
The good news is that Krishna is not a religious fanatic, and if we surrender ourselves to Krishna He will engage us appropriately. He’s in our heart and He understands us. He’s not going to break us. He’s not trying to demolish us because of some fanatical but well intentioned desire. So therefore there is no reason to fear Krishna. If there is no reason to fear Krishna, then what reason is there to fear surrendering to Krishna?
While we’re on the subject of President Bush, here’s a great little video called “The Secret Evil of 9/11” (12MB, wmv) - the anniversary is approaching and we’re thinking of showing this and a couple of other interesting little documentaries (I recommend “Loose Change” also) at the Loft.
These documentaries raise some interesting questions. You can’t believe everything that you see on television. You can see here contradictory evidence, including eye witness accounts (especially if you check out Loose Change), which have been effectively expunged from the public historical record. This is after only 4 years. Once you watch these it’s not hard to understand how something like a moon landing could be faked. If 9/11 could be done in full view of millions of people and filmed from every angle and still be gotten away with, a moon landing is nothing….
My sympathy is with everyone who died in the towers, and also to the many more people who have died in Iraq over the past fourteen years, and the people who have died in Afghanistan. Of course everyone either gets what they deserve, or that’s just life, depending on your philosophy, but I can empathize with the pain of those who are left behind without their loved ones.
I know what I would feel like if something happened to my family, and that’s something that’s the same for everyone, no matter what your religion, creed, political orientation, philosophy, or language.
From CNN.com:
Getting President Bush from here to there consumes an enormous amount of fuel, whether he’s aboard Air Force One, riding in a helicopter or on the ground in a heavily armored limousine. The bill gets steeper every day as the White House is rocked by the same energy prices as regular drivers.
Taxpayers still foot the bill.
Almost every vehicle Bush uses is custom-made to add security and communications capabilities, and the heavier weight of these guzzlers further drives up gas and jet fuel costs.
This reminds me of an observation in the opening scene of Perfect Escape, by Devamrita Swami, published in 1996.
This king, Rahugana, was on a journey by palanquin, a sort of throne carried by servants. In those days, the head of state traveled either by chariot or by palanquin. A palanquin was a comfortable, usually ornate, chair mounted on two horizontal poles that protruded outwards from the front and the back. A team of bearers, half on one side and half on the other, would hoist the whole contraption on their shoulders similar to the way that pallbearers carry a coffin at a funeral. For a head of state to travel like this may seem inhumane and oppressive to our contemporary sensitivities. How much more civilized and effortless it is for our chief executives and party heads to travel via motorcade – in bulletproof limousines.
Keep in mind, however, that just as the palanquin was borne by the labor of the men carrying it, our present leaders travel about in luxury vehicles and planes paid for by the sweat of the taxpayers – but with more cost to the environment.
