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His Holiness Mukunda Goswami has written a counter point to my recent ISKCON News.com op-ed piece.

His justification for annotations is good. We do need annotations from an academic point of view. The first set of annotations that we need is a separate edition of the Bhagavad-gita and other books with annotations explaining the difference between the pre- and post-78 books. These would go a long way toward reinforcing the credibility of the post-78 books, for those who are unsure about the edits made, and would also establish annotation on a solid basis within the society.

However, the annotations as proposed in Resolution 311 are not academic in nature, and Mukunda Goswami's piece is neither an input into considerations for Resolution 311, nor an explanation for it, but rather a tangential piece about annotating the books.

Resolution 311 on the other hand, is a specific executive measure designed to achieve certain outcomes.

The GBC has to address strategic issues. That's part of its function. When it meets in Mayapura the members are looking across the society as a whole and considering macroscopic issues.

One of the big ones is ISKCON's declining influence in Western countries. Book distribution is down, recruitment is down.

This is considered to be partly due to external cultural changes which make our presentation dated (such as "Chant and Be Happy" with the Beatles in it), and statements in our books which people would consider old-fashioned, culturally, like "women are less intelligent". It is also considered to be due partly to the internal problems which have alienated many people from the movement.

We have a real image problem in these countries due to our troubled internal history. We have a rap as chauvinistic, even criminal organization that oppresses and exploits women.

To deal with this they have proposed this resolution. People think we are chauvinistic because they read the books and they encounter these statements that say things like "women as a class are generally less intelligent" etc. By annotating these, it is thought, we can somehow explain them away.

At the same time, internally, these kind of statements have been recited as mantras and philosophical justification by people who have done things like abuse women and children. For an example of this social dynamic see "No One Stopped My Rape", an article from a 2001 issue of Glamour Magazine .

As a result of this there is a big disconnect between many of the women and the second generation of devotees on one hand, and the movement itself, meaning the formal organization.

The justification for the resolution is not the thrust of Mukunda Goswami and Madhava Ghosh's advocacy for annotations. It's not an academic approach. If it were, then the first annotation would indeed be the pre- and post-78 editions.

The resolution is a strategic measure by a managerial body. Not a principled one by a brahminical body, replete with philosophical justifications and deep deliberation of the possible consequences.

The resolution seeks to increase the influence on ISKCON in the outside world, recruiting more people to its ranks, and to change the internal culture by not allowing people to "misinterpret the words of Srila Prabhupada", and use them as justification for deviant acts.

I would, myself, say that the failure to punish transgressors such as rapists and child abusers is the actual cause of internal problems. A woman may like to be raped, but nevertheless a rapist must be punished by the state.

It's this failure to punish appropriately that has lead to anarchy - a leaderless society.

Thought for the day:

There is no more revolutionary action than to be yourself in Krishna Consciousness.

With food prices rising, the dollar falling, and the economy reeling, it is becoming increasing important that we learn how to grow a portion of our own food. The first steps are obtaining and sprouting seeds, so we'll explore those topics here.

Winning the War on Food: Sprouting Seeds and Saving Seeds is a great article today from Natural News.com.

The glories of sprouted pumpkin seeds were extolled on Krpamoya Prabhu's blog a short while ago.

At Atma Yoga we've been sprouting seeds and using them in the salads.

This morning on the way to work Param and I were talking about the rising cost of food. Luckily we only eat a few grains and vegetables. It must be really hard for people who eat a lot of processed foods and especially meat.

Spiraling Food Prices Result in Deadly Violence Around the World, another story today on NaturalNews.com, was the topic at the dinner table the other night at Atma. We ended up discussing the relative merits of the HK416 assault rifle (can be fired after being submerged in water or sand - not sure about both) versus the Barrett M468 (fires the 6.8mm round - more accurate than the AK-47, more powerful than the M16; which is exactly what you need to stop a zombie or a feral human), and how the Australian Government should stockpile a million of them to arm the Australia populace to repel 300 million feral Indonesians after their country gets submerged by rising sea levels.

Either that, or it should be encouraging people to reduce their consumption, not allowing the unrestrained inflammation of their material desires.

World-wide, meat consumption is increasing at the rate of 4.7 million tons per year [source].

In China, annual meat consumption has jumped from 16 kilograms per person in 1983, to 53 kilograms per person today [source].

Check out this data table that I generated over at Earth Trends:

World meat consumption is going up, and the Chinese are contributing a huge amount to that.

These people want to live like you.

The conclusion is staggeringly obvious: we need to nuke the Chinese now.

The longer we wait, the stronger they grow. The more meat they eat, the more aggressive and strong they become. The more time they have, the more they build their industrial capacity and their war machine.

It is us or them - the world is not big enough for both. In fact, the world is not big enough just for them, if they live like us.

There are only two things that a responsible leadership can do: waste them, or reduce our consumption.

If you think that nuking the Chinese is a ridiculous proposition, then think of the alternative. Continuing the way we are now the world will very, very quickly run out of resources. It's not just the current rate of consumption: the Chinese are increasing their meat consumption at 12% per annum. There are a billion of them.

Every pound of beef requires 16 pounds of grain. It requires land to be cleared to graze cattle. It produces methane. It uses and contaminates water in processing.

If you think that the idea of reducing your consumption is ridiculous then you have to consider the alternatives:

• Option 1: nuke the Chinese now.
• Option 2: get a whole lot of assault rifles and lots of ammunition for when it all goes down.
• Option 3: reduce consumption and model a more globally responsible, sustainable lifestyle.

Which one do you feel like choosing? Oh, by the way, if you don't want to choose we will arrange one of Option 1 or Option 2 for you, automatically.

The most revolutionary thing that you can do to combat global warming, resource depletion and the eventual war between the Chinese and America / Australia is to become a vegetarian.

It's probably the best thing you can do for your health and your emotional wellbeing as well.

It's certainly the best thing you can do for the health and well being of 270 million tons of animals per year, and climbing.