Candidasa writes about the power of eating together.

A recent article in Time magazine discussed the same subject:

Studies show that the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words and know which fork to use.

THE Devil has been unfairly and wilfully maligned and deserves a reassessment, according to a new study.

Finally the big man gets some understanding.

This new reading of the Christian material is closer to the philosophical understanding of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas and Hindus (as in philosophical / religious traditions originating in India) in general.

It also resolves several problematic questions about free will, predestination, and agency - specifically with regard to Satan’s free will, role, and responsibility for his actions.

Most Christians believe that Satan was an angel named Lucifer who rebelled against God at the beginning of Creation. After being thrown out of Heaven, he tempted Adam and Eve into sin, and since then has strived to win souls for his kingdom of Hell.

But Professor Kelly argues that none of this is in the Bible, and that it represents conclusions drawn by the early church fathers and read back into the Bible.

Professor Kelly argues from Luke iv that Satan is a minister of God in charge of the world.

“He’s a government heavy, whose main job is to test human beings and to accuse them of their misdeeds, but he is cynical and overzealous in performing his duties,” the professor says. “We can think of an unscrupulous and feared official investigator or prosecutor, like J.Edgar Hoover or senator Joseph McCarthy.”

source

An interesting special report in the Guardian that looks at how soya has traditionally been consumed, and how it has been prepared and presented for the past 50 years in the West, as the result of economic and technological changes precipitated by the Second World War:

Dawson, a lifelong vegetarian, does not drink soya milk and only eats tofu in moderation. “I will only use a product for my family if there is 200 years of tradition behind it. You are asking for trouble if you take an isolate from soya - yet so much effort seems to go into taking industry’s waste and turning it into new food.”

The effort that has gone into creating the global soya market has indeed been enormous. Today it is dominated by a handful of American trading companies. Three of them - Bunge, ADM and Cargill - control 80% of the European soya bean crushing industry. These three, together with allied companies, are also estimated to control up to 80% of European animal feed manufacturing. They dominate the US soya market, and also account for 60% of Brazil’s soya export

Should we worry about soya in our food?

Here is an article on the world’s first Hindu Mega-temple.

“There is no doubt about it — we have taken the concept from Disneyland,” said Jyotindra Dave, the chief public relations officer for the organization that built the temple, which opened in November. “We visited five or six times. As tourists, I mean. And then we went away and worked out how they did everything.”

Stefan Trellenkamp, a University of Kaiserslauten researcher, engraved a tiny soccer field on a tiny piece of acrylic glass using an electron beam. It took him an entire day to make it precise in every detail at 500 nanometers by 380 nanometers - meaning that it and 19,999 others just like it would fit on the tip of a human hair. Trellenkamp is “really, really proud” of his achievement.

But there is just one problem: Since no one can see it, there’s no point in putting it on display. So? “I guess,” he told reporters, “it’ll just stay in my drawer for the time being.”

20,000 on the tip of the hair makes it “half the size of the human soul”. The old preaching line of: “They can’t see the soul because it’s too small” is now out.

The Svetasvatara Upanishad (5.9) confirms (…):

balagra-sata-bhagasya
satadha kalpitasya ca
bhago jivah vijneyah
sa canantyaya kalpate

“When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each of such parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the spirit soul.” Similarly the same version is stated:

kesagra-sata-bhagasya
satamsah sadrisatmakah
jivah sukshma-svarupo ‘yam
sankhyatito hi cit-kanah

[Cc. Madya 19.140]

“There are innumerable particles of spiritual atoms, which are measured as one ten-thousandth of the upper portion of the hair.”

Bhagavad-gita 2.17 purport

The essential idea is that the soul is “outside the range of sense perception”. It may be that size in one sense, but it’s also imperceptible in another sense. That means that even if they can see things of that magnitude, they still can’t (as yet) directly perceive it.

The original reason given by the US Government for going to war in Iraq was two-fold.

On the one hand, to the international community, it was sold as being necessary because of Saddam Hussein’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, a pretext that was not taken seriously by any reasonably informed person at the time. Iraq had been systematically bombed and blockaded into a starved and subservient position, its industrial power diminished. It was in no position to launch any kind of attack, even if there were attempts to gain “weapons of mass destruction”, and there was no real evidence to suggest that such a thing was taking place.

To the domestic market it was sold as being connected somehow to Al Qaeda and the attack on the Twin Towers of September 11, 2001. The attack was part revenge, part pre-emptive strike before Iraq could launch its own follow up to September 11 with the weapons of mass destruction. The convenient anthrax mailing scare that followed September 11 allowed the connection between “developing weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq and attacks on the US and its population.

After the invasion the reason was changed post-facto to a human rights based “liberation” of the Iraqi people from an oppressive and abusive dictator, Saddam Hussein.

The real reasons for the invasion have more to do with geo-political balance of power and access to and control of material resources.

The situation today in Baghdad, capital of Iraq, is in many ways worse than it was under Saddam Hussein. While much is made of the violence meted out by Saddam and his cronies, you have to give them one thing - like Hitler, they imposed order on the society. Today that order is gone, replaced by chaotic violence as warring forces struggle to gain the traction they need to overthrow their rivals for control of the instruments and institutions of power.

As the resident of an inner city Baghdad suburb said in a recent CS Monitor article entitled “In the struggle for Iraq, tug of war over one Baghdad neighborhood“:

When the Americans first came to Iraq, I thought we’d be kings. We hated Saddam and now I’m nostalgic for those days. It makes me sick.

In a previous age a murderous dictator was overthrown and killed by a liberating force, and the consequences were the same - where there was once dictatorial order, chaos ensued.

SB 4.14.37: In those days there were various disturbances in the country that were creating a panic in society. Therefore all the sages began to talk amongst themselves: Since the King is dead and there is no protector in the world, misfortune may befall the people in general on account of rogues and thieves.

SB 4.14.38: When the great sages were carrying on their discussion in this way, they saw a dust storm arising from all directions. This storm was caused by the running of thieves and rogues, who were engaged in plundering the citizens.

SB 4.14.39-40: Upon seeing the dust storm, the saintly persons could understand that there were a great deal of irregularities due to the death of King Vena. Without government, the state was devoid of law and order, and consequently there was a great uprising of murderous thieves and rogues, who were plundering the riches of the people in general.

However, the great difference in this case is that the same liberating force that overthrew King Vena, namely the sages, was able to install a suitable replacement administration which was able to impose order on the kingdom and serve the people competently and compassionately.

Prior to the invasion US Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki voiced his opinion publicly that tens of thousands of troops would be needed to handle the aftermath of the invasion and the transitional period that would be needed to establish a new government. He was publicly refuted by the US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who stated that this was imagination.

Perhaps if Donald Rumsfeld read more Srimad Bhagavatam he could have seen this coming….

I just wanted to comment on this piece over at stuff.co.nz: Internet Dater found not guilty of sexual assault.

I’ll leave all the complex social analysis to social commentator Krishna-kirti. I don’t agree with everything that he writes, but his social analysis is from the same playbook as mine.

Let me give a brief commentary inspired by the lyrics of some hardcore band, the exact origins of which escape my memory right now:

She uses sex for love, he uses love for sex.

The lady in this situation was looking for a long term partner because she was lonely. The man was looking for a random sexual encounter. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Because she is “a professional lady in her 40s” she is expected to look after herself and be accountable for her actions, so the court has found the man not guilty.

The very fabric of the social structure around her has left her completely unprotected. There is no-one to look after her. No-one to be concerned about her loneliness. No-one to shield her natural vulnerability. She has been left to try to deal with that as best she can. In isolation she reaches out to try to make contact with someone, and is brutally taken advantage of.

Living enmeshed in a complex world of frustration and insatiable desire, this man has been driven to perform a despicable act which has brought shame upon him and upon this woman.

This is not an isolated incident, but a massively increasing wave across the world.

Our mission is to create authentic community. To bring people together, with Krishna in the center, to experience authentic community. To answer that primal need within so many people today who are alone in a crowd, isolated, alienated.

Our mission is to provide protection to those who cannot protect themselves, by strengthening the social fabric. To create strong bonds of support and sustenance. To create a vibrant culture that nourishes the body, mind, and spirit.

Our mission is to help protect people from themselves by educating them and giving them a higher taste, allowing them to act as they see fit, while helping them to see clearly.

Our mission is to mold our daily lives in such a way that these aims are realized.

This is not the work of a day, it is not the work of a year, it is not the work even of a lifetime. We should not expect victory, nor should we accept defeat in this life, or the next, or the following. Our mission, as Srila Prabhupada put it to Tamal Krishna Goswami is “to be recorded in the annals of history as having saved the world in its darkest hour.”

That hour is approaching.

Here is a disturbing report of the systematic rape of women in the African nation of Congo by soliders. The use of extremely violent rape as a strategy has become increasingly widespread in civil conflicts.

When you read what these women have experienced - one lady was raped in front of her children and husband by a group of soldiers, her husband was then disembowelled, and she was then gang raped repeatedly for three days along with her 8 and 10 year old daughters - you should become serious about doing something about yourself. Stop sitting around wasting your life worrying about how you can make things more comfortable for yourself. The world is sliding into a dark pit.

The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter.

One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train.

Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, The Art of Peace

We must become the change we wish to see in the world

Mohandas K Gandhi

This world is burning! This world is burning! Wake up! Wake up and FOCUS! Get it into perspective and get moving.

The Editor, Eurasia Daily Monitor

Dear Sir,

In his recent article “KAZAKHSTAN EXACERBATES “RELIGIOUS THREAT” BY MANEUVERING BETWEEN BEIJING AND WASHINGTON” your correspondent Marat Yermukanov writes:

Recently the local government of Karasay district, Almaty region, dispatched police to forcibly evict 50 families of Hare Krishna followers from their leased land. Members of the sect staged a sit-down strike in protest and ultimately won their case in court.

Firstly, allow me to thank you for writing about this situation and bringing international attention to this issue.

As of May 10th, 2006, the legal situation has still not been resolved, as you can read on their website at www.palaceofthesoul.com, and the Kazakhstani Krishnas are still facing the threat of forced evictions and having their homes demolished.

The Kazakh national government takes pains to point out that the Hare Krishna movement is not being persecuted throughout the country, but it does seem apparent that in this instance, in this particular part of the country, these people are being discriminated against on the basis of their religious faith, and that due legal process and their basic human rights are being violated.

If you hadn’t heard, at the moment it appears that the Hare Krishna devotees in Kazakhstan are being unjustly persecuted. They have a farm community over there called Palace of the Soul, and the government has seized the farm, and the police are evicting the devotees and bulldozing their residences. You can see a video and read more about it here.

You can also read more on in the ISKCON News.Net archive for the 27th of April, and on Forum 18 news.

If you live in Australia and wish to register a protest against this, then contact the Kazakhstan Consulate at:

144 Clyde Street
North Bondi, Sydney
NSW 2026 Australia

phone:(612)9365-3011,
fax:9365-3044
consul@bb.com.au

Update: I tried emailing this address, but it bounced. I called to speak with the Consul, and left a message on the voice mail for them to call me back.

Gen-Y’s opt-out vision, an editorial piece from Christian Science Monitor that talks about a growing disillusionment with the previous generation’s work ethic.

Park and Write - from the BBC, a piece about an intelligent, educated lady who lives in her car. It talks about the psychological and sociological factors that lead to homelessness. The support networks of family and community are becoming increasingly thin.

The Dying Art of Conversation - again from the BBC. This piece talks about talking, and about the death of conversation in common society, accompanied by its rebirth in the form of reading groups. Sounds like Sacred Pathways at Atma Yoga on Tuesdays.

Australian meat-eaters are blissfully ignorant of the miserable pre-dinner lives led by many of the creatures they eat, according to this report by Patricia Bolton in Melbourne daily The Age.

The tide is turning. As Kurma pointed out to me last year, ten years ago advertising meat eating (ala Sam Kekovich) was as ridiculous as advertising for people to drink water. Today people are waking up to the ethical, health, environmental, and economic implications of meat-eating and starting to be more conscious about what they do, and why. Check out the article for some more information. Think before you act, and know what you are doing and why.

It is a fact that the destruction of the family unit, the basic building block of human society, leads to an increase in psychologically disturbed and sociologically dysfunctional population, as explained in the Bhagavad-gita:

An increase of unwanted population certainly causes hellish life both for the family and for those who destroy the family tradition. By the evil deeds of those who destroy the family tradition and thus give rise to unwanted children, all kinds of community projects and family welfare activities are devastated.

-Bhagavad-gita 1.41-42.

Here’s an excerpt from a recent news article published in New Zealand, acknowledging this very phenonemon, its increasing occurence, and proposing measures to address it:

A child in the first three years of their life exposed to neglect and violence may be heading for a life of crime, a former Human Rights Commissioner and recently retired district and family court judge says.

Graeme MacCormick has released a paper calling for all newborns to be placed on a national “at-risk” register so child services can identify which children, and their caregivers, need assistance and support - before it’s too late.

“It is from disadvantaged children, those not given a good start in life, that most of our young and not so young criminal offenders come,” Mr MacCormick said.

“We cannot afford more police, more court staff, more judges, more prisons, more accident and emergency and mental health workers, more wasted lives, than we already have.”

New research by New Zealand’s Brainwave Trust shows a baby’s brain is only 15 per cent formed at birth, with the remaining 85 per cent being formed in the first three years.

“Neglect, violence and abuse during these years can damage normal brain development resulting in the profound and permanent disruption to the brain’s structure, leading to lifelong social, emotional and learning difficulties,” according to website of the trust made up doctors, educationalists, academic and business professionals.
….
Mr MacCormick acknowledged there would be high costs and a lot of manpower needed to establish and implement an at-risk national registry.

“(But) the costs of doing nothing are huge.”

From stuff.co.nz

The proposal here is the proverbial “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff”. An at-risk register does nothing more than identify the mangled victims - what about taking a good hard look at the sociological forces that are pushing them off the cliff - the behaviour patterns and lifestyle choices that people are offered and encouraged to take? The advice and access to knowledge that they are given? The formation of values across the society?

Thought - Action - Habit - Destiny.

Simply registering people once they reach the last stage is like putting a band aid on a tumor. Unfortunately our present leaders are largely unequipped with the necessary vision to understand the root causes of the problems and how to address them. They also lack the determination to carry out the courses of action necessary to address them in cases where they have some knowledge - either due to their own weakness of character, or because they fear losing their position, elected as they are in many cases at the whim of the people.

People want to be to be happy - and as Krishna asks rhetorically in Bhagavad-gita: “how can there be any happiness without peace?” (Bg 2.66). Real leadership means to empower people with a vision that enables them to make the best choices. At the moment people are being blinded by the glimmer of economic interests, and the ultimate wellbeing of the very society they live in is in jeopardy.

In Peru I saw many people with a lot of money - but they were unable to enjoy it because they had to spend it on private police forces and barbed wire fences. If our own short term interest (preyas in Sanskrit) leads to a deterioration of our environment - both the social environment and the physical environment - then how is that ultimately fulfilling?

The Bhagavad-gita contains a systematic exposition of timeless fundamental principles, beginning with individual consciousness and leading up to wider social implications. Without addressing the individual and the lifestyle choices they make, it’s meaningless to discuss social issues. Without addressing their own personal character, the persons in positions of authority in our society will be unable to provide us with authentic leadership.

NASA have released data that shows that 2005 was the hottest year on record globally since temperatures started being recorded in 1880.

In his seminal preface to the translation of Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes:

Human society, at the present moment, is not in the darkness of oblivion. It has made rapid progress in the field of material comforts, education and economic development throughout the entire world. But there is a pinprick somewhere in the social body at large, and therefore there are large-scale quarrels, even over less important issues. There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the respiritualization of the entire human society.

There are a number of different indices that indicate the growing problems faced by human society, and in fact the whole planet.

One of the most glaring and incontrovertible is the phenomenon of global warming. It’s becoming increasing hard to ignore the situation. The calls of “it’s a natural cycle”, and “it’s nothing to do with human activity”, always pretty far-fetched, are losing the little bit of credibility that they had, even with the most gullible of people. The question of “if” has now become one of “when” and “how“.

While the arguments about how to deal with climate change roll on, scientists in the difficult business of working out just how it will affect our future are sounding increasingly urgent warnings. (from news.com.au)

I’m on a training course downtown in Brisbane, Australia right now. At lunchtime I walked through King George Square, in the city center with Param, my wife, and Prahlad, our son. Param pointed out to me what was previously the fountain. It is now a sludge consisting of water logged bark. A sign advises that Brisbane is experiencing the worst drought in 100 years, and the fountain has been converted into a “Watersense” garden to preserve water supplies. As the sign goes on to explain, Brisbane is currently under Level 2 water restrictions. The Council website warns: ” As the dam levels drop, stronger restrictions will be put in place.”

The three dams that supply Brisbane’s water are at less than 35% of capacity. This has been the hottest year on record in Australian history.

The greenhouse effect, where heat is trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere by high levels of carbon dioxide, is caused by industrialization, especially the combustion of fuels for energy. Ironically, as the temperature rises in Australia, more people buy air conditioners. The waiting list for a major domestic goods retailer (Harvey Norman) for someone to perform the installation of their air conditioners is six months. Increased use of air conditioning causes greater consumption, and hence production, of electricity. Electricity in Australia is produced through burning coal. Burning coal produces more greenhouse gases, resulting in higher temperatures. Welcome to hell.

As I mentioned previously, a new concern in New Zealand are environmental refugees - people fleeing to New Zealand because their own environments have become uninhabitable. As things get worse in more places, demand will increase. The social structure and urban infrastructure of New Zealand cities, especially Auckland, is already under strain. A massive influx of displaced peoples will only make this worse. And New Zealand has its own environmental problems to deal with. According to a recent report, New Zealanders receive 40% more UV radiation than North Americans living at similar latitudes. This is due to ozone layer depletion, caused by the release of industrial gases. The situation is even worse here in Queensland, Australia.

Srila Prabhupada once remarked wryly:

We are not against technological advancement, even though it is suicidal.

If you look at the economic and sociological forces which are drivers for these problems, global warming / the greenhouse effect, and ozone depletion, the situation does indeed seem bleak. Analyzing them to expose the root cause reveals deep rooted practices and a prevalent lifestyle that people are simply not willing to give up, especially on the large scale that is needed in order to avert the impending disaster.

As Albert Einstein so perceptively observed:

No problem can be solved by the same level of consciousness that created it.

The world is crying out for leadership in this area.

I would like to reiterate a quote of Srila Prabhupada related in Tamal Krishna Goswami’s autobiography Servant of the Servant:

The mission of this Krishna Consciousness movement is to be recorded in the progress of history as having saved the world.

The Krishna Consciousness movement, the movement for a revolution in consciousness, a return to sanity, to an individual lifestyle and a social organization that remove the impulses in the individual that in their aggregation are causing our now globalized human civilization to slide closer and closer to an irredeemable disaster, is the only hope. It addresses the root cause of the problem: the fundamental misconception of the self as matter, the loss of consciousness of our intrinsic identity and our relationship with the universe, the loss of consciousness of our purpose in this universe, and indeed the purpose of the universe itself.

Life is not simply about living and trying to squeeze as much enjoyment out of life, out of other people, out of this body, out of objects, out of the environment, as possible. Life has a purpose - you were born with a purpose, and ultimately it is a spiritual purpose. It is related to that part of us that is alive, the persistent identity that experiences the different bodies from birth to childhood and on to adulthood. Without fulfilling our spiritual needs, without knowing our spiritual nature, our spiritual identity and relationship to the complete whole, we will never be able to be satisfied.

As the sage Canakya Pandit says:

There is not enough gold, grains, or women in this world to satisfy the desires of one man

When we have a civilization of such people, organized and with industrial capacity and advanced technology, the result is a disaster. Widespread war over resources, uncontrollable resource exploitation, and unbridled resource consumption with attendant pollution.

When we understand our identity and our purpose, and act on that platform, we are able to be satisfied, and the raging desire for “progress” and “growth” that is thinly disguised serial exploitation of people and products in a disposable society subsides.

Read our books: Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam. Talk to some of our people. Examine Krishna Consciousness for yourself with a critical and inquiring mind. We are looking for good men and women, who are willing to head up this crucial mission. Now is the hour of need. Who will step out of the crowd and give their life for the most worthy cause, and who will simply remain in pointless participation in the madness of so-called material progress, in pursuit of pleasure which always remains out of reach, until the body and the environment have been destroyed through that pursuit?

Krishna wants you, and the world needs you.

“Teach the science of Krishna Consciousness to everyone. On my order, become qualified as a teacher of real knowledge and save this land. ” - Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu

Prahlad is sick at the moment. Fever and vomiting.

NZ Emergency managers are making noises about staying in your house for six months during a bird flu epidemic. You can get rid of a sickness, but not sickness per se - it is a fact of material existence.

Gurudeva left today from his week-long visit to Brisbane and went to Auckland.

Here is an interesting resource: Changethis.com. It is a collection of manifestos - well written, well laid out, good, interesting contents.

Examples:

• Speak Softly - one that Candidasa and Ekendra would like, asks where America’s humility has gone.
• How to speak a teen’s language - good advice on presenting to modern teenagers.

Oh, there’s so much good stuff there. Just check it out when you have some time.

Here’s a report (.wmv video) from New Zealand’s TV3 on Environmental Refugees. My personal contingency plan is to retreat to NZ as global warming devastates Australia. It looks like a whole lot of other people from places more immediately affected have the same idea…

Here is an instructive excerpt from a discussion between Savyasaci das of the Hare Krishna Student Center and Krishna Lunch program (website) at the University of Florida and Will Finnin, Chaplain to the University at Southern Methodist (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, who recently spent three weeks with the devotees there. I’ve taken the liberty of bolding the sections that really jumped out at me.

Savyasaci: After seeing it in action, what are your views on the Krishna Lunch program?

Will Finnin: If ever there was a program that had proven its bona fides or certification to be here, the Krishna Lunch program has. At the heart of your program is service to God and the gift of food. You offer an alternative to the dominant culinary culture of meat eating. The quality of the food is exemplary.I was amazed after my first visit. The longevity, the complexity of organization required to provide a meal of this quantity and quality, the volunteer program that embraces and welcomes scores of non-Krishna volunteers are remarkable. I know that other ministers are impressed by the competence required, the clarity of the vision of this project and the enormous commitment of the people involved. It is a very impressive ministry.

SS: Did you notice anything about the interaction with the students?

WF: The way you go about sharing your knowledge is in the mode of invitation never in the mode of coercion - an opportunity to learn rather than an ultimatum. I wish I could say that about my own tradition where exclusivity can pervade the outreach. The approach you take is one for which I have great respect. You avoid “in your face” evangelizing.

SS: Could you give us some ideas of where you see us going in the future?

WF: I think to have some sort of community space for people to meet for fellowship would be the next step. A sort of lounge or living room area where students and devotees could mingle informally. Hangout space. It will be a tool for building community. At the lunch the people see smiles, good food and heartfelt singing which I think attracts people. The vegetarian information opens a door to learning more about Krishna Lunch.

From a link sent to me by Tirtharaj: “Ancient Aust deposits show early Earth crust”

Basically the story is that zircon crystals dated to 4.4 billion years ago have been found that indicate that the surface of the Earth at that time contained liquid water, and may even have been habitable.

When asked once whether scientific discoveries that seemed to corroborate scripture strengthened his faith in scripture one devotee replied: “No, they strengthen my faith in science”.

I’m afraid that I’m still a non-believer in the so-called modern scientific method. Here’s an example of why, from the story above:

“We don’t know how life got started. But if it happens so quickly, that might mean it’s common - that it’s easy,” he said.

“And that looks well for finding habitable planets outside Earth.”

Did you get that? Logic 101:

“We don’t know …. but if …. that might mean …. and that looks ……”

It’s such a pity that the mainstream media keeps pumping this stuff out authoritatively. It’s just leading people further astray. What he is describing are speculations, not science. The method is fundamentally flawed, and it’s irresponsible to keep promoting it.

Most of the buzz in mainstream media vis “Hare Krishna” at the moment centers around the movie Bee Season, starring Richard Gere. It has a Hare Krishna recruiter character in it, and a kirtan scene at a temple.

Here is an article published earlier in the year on chakra that gives the background of the filming.

From that article:

On the day of the film shoot, I spoke with Cristina Solletti a legal clearance/Krishna devotee liaison on the crew, who commented, “Until we all got to meet with Hansadutta, no one had ever been able to so clearly articulate to us what Krishna Consciousness actually is. He made it so easy for us to understand the philosophy. It was just amazing”.

Communication is so important. Understanding the philosophy of Krishna consciousness is one thing, being able to articulate that in a way that another person with a different set of assumptions and background knowledge can assimilate or appreciate it, is something else.

We have a running joke here, where we say: “and Garbodaksayi Visnu, and a lotus flower, and then Lord Brahma is born there, and the secondary creation….. and so that’s why we shave our heads…”

Spending time to boil things down to easily communicated concepts that capture the essence and don’t demand too many gymnastics from the audience is time well spent.