Climate Change Harinam

Date: Saturday, 19th July 2008
Time:: 2pm
Location: Corner of Rosemount Tce and Prospect Rd, Windsor

Every week, just go out.

Date: Saturday, 5th July, 2008
Location: Corner of Franklin St and Hunter St, Herston
Time: 2 pm

Please note the time: 2 pm.

The Climate Change Harinam series continues. We will chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and dance in every single one of Brisbane's 150 suburbs.

This Saturday we are in Herston.

Please remember that we also have a weekly harinam on Fridays leaving at 4.30 pm from Govindas at 55 Elizabeth St, in the city.

Last weekend we had a one week hiatus, in order to attend the wedding of Mitul and Neesha, and do the Brisbane Yoga Festival.

We are an anachronism - out of our time. We don't fit into the current frame of reference, we jar the world view. While we make attempts to do so gently, we challenge the underpinning paradigms of the current civilization - we challenge the value structure with our own.

We are not interested in being absorbed or becoming an accepted part of it. We want to supercede it, to subsume it. However, we don't want to do this through force, but through voluntary participation of the people.

What we have to offer is indeed a higher taste, a superior way. And when people are given the chance to experience that, it acts.

Growing up in New Zealand I saw the Hare Krishnas dancing in the street. I didn't understand it, and I remember one time even mocking them with some friends (in good humour, of course). However, they did not rely on my understanding or appreciation to continue, and the Holy Name did not rely on my understanding or appreciation to act.

We must go out as a duty, every week, everywhere.

See you in the street! :-)

Location: Corner of Simpson Rd and Greer St, Bardon
Date: Saturday, June 21, 2008
Time:: 1 pm

Raivata Maharaja is in town this weekend. Unfortunately he had to leave Bhakti the bull back in Christchurch, but His Eminence will be coming on harinam in Bardon.

He'll also be at Atma Yoga tonight and tomorrow night doing kirtan, and at the Hare Krishna Sunday Feast at Govindas on Sunday.

Some disciples of Srila Prabhupada have spoken out publicly saying that harinam is no longer relevant preaching, that as the movement matures we should change our dress on harinam, or that we stop doing public chanting all together.

With all due respect and deference to their statements, which I am sure are filled with profound and subtle points which I am presently incapable of grasping - personally I think that loudly chanting the Holy Names of the Lord always has immense value. In fact, I was just reading the other day in the Caitanya-caritamrita: nama vinu kali-kale dharma nahi ara - "In Kali Yuga there is no other religion than the chanting of the Holy Name of the Lord".

That's not to say that the realization of these senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada is not correct, and maybe (probably) when I'm a senior citizen I'll also think the same way.

However, in the meantime there is nothing to be done except to go out and chant for the benefit of the living entities inhabiting Brisbane, human and non-human, and for our own purification.

Maturation goes on, but there will always be immaturity in any family or movement that isn't dying out, as a new generation goes through the same stages of development that the previous generation went through.

Stay on the edge, stay young forever. As H.H. Subhaga Swami put it: "Die chanting!"

And have fun while you're alive doing it. :-)

Kali-yuga dharma harinam sankirtana

Chant Hare Krishna and Enjoy Life!

See you on Saturday.

Pandu das, who works professionally as an Environmental Inspector, shared the following on Pariprashnena.com:

I just composed the following e-mail in response to a "hot dog sale," which I intend to send to my office of about 200 people during lunchtime today:

Considering that we are an agency meant to protect the environment and that meat production causes tremendous environmental degradation and resource consumption, it is very disappointing to see year after year that not only is meat-eating promoted at the DEP but there are not even vegetarian equivalents offered.

Presently there is a substantial interest in biofuels production, but the conflict over land resources has been a significant factor bringing a dramatic rise in food prices, which in conjunction with rising fuel prices, increases the hardship felt by the poor. It has long been known that a vegetarian diet requires only 10% of agricultural land needed to produce food for the average American diet. Instead of growing corn to fatten cows for slaughter, this corn could be used to produce abundant ethanol without added resource conflicts.

Also relevant in regard to energy is the fact that it takes 18 times the petroleum to produce beef compared to producing most food grains. This can be analyzed various ways, but one is to say that if 10% of the American people quit eating meat (currently vegetarians represent about 2% of the American population) the United States would not need to import oil. One can imagine how that might affect world politics.

Climate change has been getting a lot of attention in the past few years. In 2006 the United Nations sponsored a report (Livestocks’ Long Shadow – “LLS”) that identified agriculture as a greater producer of atmospheric greenhouse gases than transportation. In regard to atmospheric impacts, the report also stated that the livestock sector emits 65% of atmospheric nitrous oxide and 64% of anthropogenic ammonia emissions, both significant contributors to acid rain and the acidification of ecosystems.

Although flooding in the Midwest is presently an issue, water shortages are more common and have a much broader impact. To feed a vegetarian for one day requires 1,200 gallons of water, whereas the average American diet requires 4,000 gallons per day. The math shows an annual savings of about 1 million gallons of water for each person who quits eating meat. Water shortages are expected to become more acute as the Ogallala Aquifer, which underlies several states in the Midwest and is not being replenished, is expected to become dry in 25 years at current rates of consumption. Other statements in LLS related to meat production and water include the facts that livestock are responsible for an estimated 55 percent of erosion and sediment, 37 percent of pesticide use, 50 percent of antibiotic use, and a third of the loads of nitrogen and phosphorus into freshwater resources.

I realize that people’s diets are a sensitive topic of discussion and that some may see this as inappropriate for the workplace, but I since I learned of these issues sixteen years ago, my environmental ethics have required that I abstain from eating meat and to help teach these facts to others. I have been surprised to discover that not only have other Department employees been mostly unresponsive to these issues, but also that meat-eating is so prominent here that I have been practically excluded from every Department social function, including the annual awards banquet. Now that these facts have begun to appear in the popular media, perhaps the response will change. I had some recent e-mail exchanges with a SAC representative about this hot dog sale in which it was suggested that I sponsor a vegetarian hot dog alternative, but when I stipulated that my donation should not give profit to support a meat oriented picnic, the discussion stopped. Therefore as an alternative I am offering this brief summary of the environmental impacts of meat production that could be greatly alleviated if we would consistently make vegetarian food choices. The abuse and suffering of farmed animals, 10 billion of which are slaughtered each year in the USA, is also an issue that warrants at least a mention, although it is mostly outside the scope of this e-mail. Please forgive me for any disruption, but also please consider the ways our diets affect all of us. Thank you.

Date: Saturday June 14th, 2008
Time: 1 pm
Location: Bayswater St and Baroona Rd, Rosalie

I'm out of town, but the show must go on. Be there to support the troops. Lord Caitanya's sankirtan must continue - His Name must be heard in every town and village of Brisbane. The mercy must be distributed without discrimination.

The dawning of the golden age - participate in the pastime! :-)

"Only the Hardcore"
Bhata Seean, Sita-pati, Prahlad, and Guruttama.

Param Satya shot this picture but couldn't come with us.

It was a nice walk through a very scenic and bush-like suburb, surprising to find near the city. It's in a bowl so it was quite cool and dank for Brisbane. It reminded me of Titirangi, for those of you who know that.

That expression on my face is one of tiredness. Friday regularly turns into a 20+ hour day for me, with waking the Deities, 8 hours at the office, harinam, and Atma Yoga all in the mix. Saturdays I can be a little worn out... but the harinam must go on.

As Pastor Perry Noble put it: "We're busy trying to save the planet while the people on it are meanwhile dying and going to hell..."

Not exactly our theology, but the conclusion of urgency is non-different.

Location: Haig Rd and Payne St, Torwood
Time: 1 pm
Date: Saturday 7th June, 2008

Shave your head, go out, and chant. :-)

Or just go out and chant.

Chanting is the active principle. The shaved head and the robes are part of the overall brand identity. The Hare Krishnas - we're here to save the world in its darkest hour. We were doing it before everything fell to pieces, we'll be doing it while everything is falling to pieces, and we'll doing it amidst all the broken pieces afterwards.

Some people might say that "oh come on now - people have been predicting the end of the world as we know it for thousands of years now", and undoubtedly they have.

All macro-issues (like peak oil, competition for scarce resources, food and water shortages, and global climate change) aside - every minute of every day our life is being taken away from us. We cannot hold on to it. It's not that if we don't give our life to Krishna and His service we get to keep it.

There is nothing that we are saving ourselves for. Every day that goes by when we don't invest our life energy in the service of the Lord's mission is another day gone with nothing to show for it. It's another day down the drain. The fleeting experiences of sense gratification are flickering illusions projected onto the mental television screen of life.

Here today, gone tomorrow, with no lasting results.

Invest in your future now. No day is ever saved, they are all spent - one minute at a time. Our lives are dripping through our fingers like sand. No matter how hard we try to grasp them, they are slipping inexorably away.

Yes my friends, the end of the world is coming - for each of us.

And on that note: Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

See you on Saturday! :-)

Date: Saturday May 31st, 2008
Location: Railway Tce and Martindale St, Corinda
Meeting time: 1.30 pm

This week we're going to Corinda. Please note that we're meeting a half hour later than usual, at 1.30 pm.

Last week we visited Toowong, an inner city ring suburb with a significant shopping center. We had visitors from Melbourne (Jolie and Sukhanti Radha dd), New Govardhan (Craig) and Perth (Sita Ram Laxman das brahmacari).

Here's a video of Sita Ram Laxman prabhu leading:

Date: Saturday 24th May, 2008
Location: Ascog Tce and Pioneer St, Toowong
Time: 1 pm

The world is on a collision course with destiny right now. "We are not against technological advancement, although it's suicidal," Srila Prabhupada said.

If we were to choose one word to characterize modern global civilization, it would have to be "unsustainable".

What can we, as individuals do about this? We are like small screws in a gigantic machine that is chewing up the resources of the planet and converting them into cash that flows into the pockets of a few people.

What we can do is spread the chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord. The Holy Name of the Lord is the most powerful purifier - the direct sound incarnation of the Lord Himself.

Although we may be tiny and insignificant ourselves, in contact with the Holy Name we are in contact with the most powerful. By serving the instruction of Lord Caitanya to chant the Holy Name in every town and village we are fulfilling another prophecy, another date with destiny that this world has: the 10,000 year golden age of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

The mission of this Krishna Consciousness movement is to be recorded in the annals of history as having saved the world in its darkest hour

- Srila Prabhupada

Participate in the Pastime!