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SPANISH FORK, UTAH (USA) - "My kids were excited,� he said of his three children. The wife and kids piled into their car about 7 a. m. to drive to the new Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple high on a knoll south of Spanish Fork. "This is like my life is here,� Chaudhari said.

I would like to comment on Niscala devi dasi's article "Can the Guru Make Mistakes?" Prabhupada said once, "This same man, he's guru, so long he gives the real knowledge of Krishna. And the same man, he's ordinary man, as soon as he cannot give." So actually Srila Prabhupada is the most perfect, because he gave real knowledge.

Thanks to Danavir Goswami for pointing out a possible misinterpretation of the parable of the gardeners. Following is the interpretation I intended. The unfortunate gardeners are the conditioned souls in this modern world, and the fields represent their bodies and minds. They are unfortunate because their lives (the gardens) are largely based on useless and dangerous ideas (seeds).

Miedzyzdroje is another popular resort town on the Baltic Sea coast that attracts the Polish elite. Unfortunately, it is another of the places where certain members of the town council don't like us.

I believe Jayasri failed to think of some aspects of Kali yuga before writing her recent article on CHAKRA.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 � The Bush administration is moving on a broad front to strengthen relations with India, a nation it views as a neglected and potentially important strategic ally and trading partner in Asia.

Kolobrzeg is one of the principle beach resorts along the Baltic Sea coast. It's fine, white sandy beaches and quaint port attract hundreds of thousands of Polish tourists each summer.

The Shri Ram Sharnam Ashram on Parikrama Marg is located at very near to the Krishna Balaram ISKCON temple in Vrindavan, India.

This paper suggests one major safeguard which will definitely help to avert future calamities.

CHAKRA (Teluk Intan, Malaysia) - August 19 and 20, 2001: ISKCON Malaysia organizes a minimum of 14 Ratha Yatras a year in the Peninsula.

I strongly disagree with Nrsimhananda's suggestion that they be banned from all ISKCON temples, for the following reasons:

You have to choose a guru that you can fully surrender to otherwise you will only be a disciple of your mind.

Although the premise of this article is correct, I think the emphasis is all wrong. Rather than focusing on who should be the head of household, and how a wife should be this, that and the other with her husband, why not instead focus on devotional service period?

BANGALORE: Misuse of ultra-sonography by hundreds of unlicensed clinics has led to female foeticide being rampant in several districts in the state.

A rough estimate of the crowd that lined up to have the holy darshan of Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar, Sri Sri Gaur Nitai and Sri Sri Sri Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadradevi at Hare Krishna Land, Baroda on Sri Krishna Janmastami day would be well over the 100,000 figure.

In celebration of 15th anniversary of the temple, the devotees and members of New Biharvan Boise, Idaho, USA made an offering of 10,001 flowers to Sri Sri Radha Bankebihari on Janmashtami day.

Niscala devi suggests a relative view of the spiritual master, particularly Srila Prabhupada, where disciples are free to accept or reject portions of his teachings. This opinion represents well the faithless, mundane scholars who always fail to understand transcendental knowledge by tinkering with Vedic literature.

Regarding your parable published on CHAKRA, perhaps I missed the moral of it and that may be okay. However it did cross my mind that the Old Gardener was supposed to be Prabhupada.

One day it was a rainy day. So this particular day he called me and asked me to make halava.

This new state, as we all know, is situated in the lap of the great Himalayas - famous for Chaar Dhaam /Do Dhaam Yatra- Yamunotri, Gangotri, Shree Kedarnathji, Shree Badrinathji...

CHAKRA (Los Angeles) - August 21, 2001: Distributors can't compete with people who don't have to pay any royalties and can sell for less.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A city ordinance that prohibits solicitors from seeking donations at Los Angeles International Airport violates free speech rights, a federal judge has ruled.

Lord Jagannath will bestow His blessings upon all present at the Charolotte, North Carolina Ratha Yatra on Sunday Sept 9, 2001.

ISKCON Seattle is hosting the Sixth Annual Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannath and the Festival of India, during the Labor Day weekend (Sep 1-3).

I would like to introduce a new technique of chanting the Maha Mantra, which has proved to be quite potential for a beginner like I am.

I congratulate Mother Niscala devi dasi for her article, "Can the Guru Make Mistakes?� The article contained many insightful points.

Srila Prabhupada often states that the main reason that a marriage ends is because of an interruption in sense gratification.

For the pleasure of Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari and Srila Prabhupada ISKCON Juhu, Bombay (Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari Mandir) hosted one of the most splendid Janmashtami festival from 10 - 12 August 2001.

MONTVILLE NJ, USA - About 400 people gathered Sunday at the temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness of New Jersey in Towaco to celebrate Janmashtami, the 5, 000th anniversary of the appearance of Lord Sri Krishna, who the followers believe to be the true god.

The final festival of our spring tour in Konskie was the best of all. After Lodz we had planned to move north to our summer base but at the last minute decided to do one more town, just 45 minutes away.

According to the draft law the Ministry of Religious Affairs has the power to deny or cancel the registration of any organization they deem unfit. A denial of re-registration would make all ISKCON's institutional activities illegal.

A parliamentary commission in Chile, established by the Minister of Justice has named twenty religious movements as destructive cults and intends to cancel their legal registration.

We were special guests in the city and the authorities had made all the arrangements for our festival program.

We have done a web-based photo-diary of ISKCON's Birmingham Ratha Yatra, which was held on July 29th.

Sometimes we anchored in coral reef bays and played water sports in tranquil waters. We would sooth our parched desert-like tongues with the flow of the nectarine Ganges waters of Lord Caitanya's transcendental pastimes.

New Delhi, INDIA - (11 August 2001): Indian Prime Minister Atal B.Vajpayee sent his complimentary message for the occasion of the 30th anniversary of ISKCON in Russia.

The trouble is we are invested in a Prabhupada who is not. Srila Prabhupada said he was not these things we project onto him, i.e. perfect in all respects. If our faith is based on our projections rather than on the criteria in sastra, it is blind. "In this respect, blind following is condemned". This is precisely why there should not be blind following, but a necessity to present the essence unchanged, and make adjustments to other things we may have been following out of sentiment.

Once upon a time, in an unfortunate land, there were gardeners who lived by whatever they could grow in their gardens. Unfortunately they knew very little about cultivation, and couldn't distinguish between useful plants and useless ones. Even worse, their supply of seeds, which they gathered from everywhere indiscriminately, mostly gave rise to useless or even poisonous plants. So, they were in a very bad condition.

I very much thank you for publishing my letter in your site ("Breaking Down Prejudice" By Bhakta Omer). But I'm afraid you've done a little mix up: The "full story" link that should to bring you to the article is linked Robert Newman's letter, which is a very good letter, but don't leave a place for reading the one I wrote.

The heaviest element known to science was recently discovered by physicists at Yale's Research Center.

The element, tentatively named administratium, has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of 0. However, it does have one neutron, 125 assistant neutrons 75 vice-neutrons and 11 assistant vice-neutrons. This gives it an atomic mass of 312.

The ISKCON Hawaii temple would like to invite senior devotees to visit New Navadvipa Dhama to give classes and enliven the local devotees here. We humbly request ISKCON gurus, GBC members, sanyassis, Prabhupada disciples, or other senior devotees to come visit our temple.

While planning our next festival in Lodz (the second largest city in Poland), we received a call from town council officials in Gorzow Wielkopolski, the capital of northwest Poland and the site of our final program last autumn. They desperately wanted us to participate in their upcoming annual city festivities. We explained that we were in the middle of a tour in the center of Poland and it would be difficult for us to move our whole show north. The town secretary said, "Your program last autumn was the biggest festival we've had in years (8, 000 people attended), and without your presence at our annual event we're afraid we'll get a poor turnout. "

We would be sleeping, and father would be doing arati. Ding ding ding-we would hear the bell and wake up and see him bowing down before Krsna.
-Srila Prabhupada

It was Janmastami, the annual celebration of the advent of Lord Krsna Some five thousand years before. Residents of Calcutta, mostly Bengalis and other Indians, but also many Muslims and even some British, were observing the festive day, moving here and there through the city's streets to visit the temples of Lord Krsna. Devout Vaisnavas, fasting until midnight, chanted Hare Krsna and heard about the birth and activities of Lord Krsna from Srimad-Bhagavatam. They continued fasting, chanting, and worshiping throughout the night.

The Birth of Lord Krishna
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Editor's Note: Sri Krishna Janmastami, the appearance day of Lord Krishna, will be observed on August 11, 2001 in North America, and August 12 in Europe. The following day is the observance of the appearance day of Srila Prabhupada, Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says that His appearance, birth and activities are all transcendental and that one who understands them factually becomes immediately eligible to be transferred to the spiritual world. The Lord's appearance or birth is not like that of an ordinary man, who is forced to accept a material body according to his past deeds. The Lord's appearance is explained in the Second Chapter: He appears out of His own sweet pleasure. When the time was mature for the appearance of the Lord, the constellations became very auspicious. The astrological influence of the star known as Rohini was predominant. This star is considered to be very auspicious and is under the direct supervision of Brahma. According to the astrological conclusion, besides the proper situation of the stars, there are auspicious and inauspicious moments due to the different situations of the different planetary systems. At the time of Krishna's birth, the planetary systems were automatically adjusted so that everything became auspicious.

On Sunday morning, the day after the attack on our festival in Tomaszow, we started our morning program a little late. I wanted to give the devotees some extra rest. Many had been shaken by the events of the previous night. Devotees had not seen our injured men, most of whom had returned late from the hospital, and as they entered the temple one by one, covered with bandages and in some cases bare stitches on their heads, it was obvious the damage that had been done. A number of men had black eyes and bruised knuckles. My heart went out to them. These devotees are front-line soldiers, risking their lives to spread the message of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They mean more to me now than ever before.

CHAKRA (Spanish Fork, Utah, USA) - The Appearance Day of Shree Krishna (August 11 in North America, August 12 in Europe) for Hindus compares to Christmas Day in Christendom. Five thousand three hundred years ago this Avatar of the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared on earth to protect the pious, annihilate the miscreants, and re-establish the principles of religion. This was accomplished in a span of 125 years even at the end of which the Lord appeared as a fresh blooming youth of 16 or 20 years.

Editor's Note: This article, previously posted, had a bad link, and therefore here it is again.

I found Amara dasa�s website "Tritiya-prakriti: People of the Third Sex" through CHAKRA. The very idea that CHAKRA published Amara�s article was encouraging. People mostly relate God and religion with fanaticism and intolerance. I feel this is due to their contact with western fundamentalism and its twisted conception of religion.

Actually Bhakti Caru Mahararaja is a gentleman to the core and an extremely tolerant Vaishnava. That is why he has spared Adridhran Das of further humiliation by omitting to mention that in addition to the Carts, Adridharan also had allegedly broken the seven floats that were in his custody at ISKCON property on 22 Gurusaday Road.

I woke up yesterday prepared for an exciting day of preaching, but I had no idea that before the next 24 hours had passed I would be forced to make two of the most difficult decisions I could imagine.

CHAKRA (Vrindavan, India) - In a sudden move that has shocked the entire community, Mahaman, Temple President of Vrindavan, had the foundation stone put in place by Srila Prabhupada's own hand ripped off the Gurukula wall. You can see the photo in many Vyasa Puja books of Srila Prabhupada, trowel in his lotus hand, cementing this plaque in place. We feel like our hearts have just been ripped out is the reaction we hear from most devotees.

On the flight from New York to London on April 23, my heart was full of mixed feelings. On one hand I was happy because my tour of the temples in America had gone well. A number of devotees had expressed gratitude that I had taken the time and energy to visit there. But I knew it wasn't just me . . . it was me and Sri Prahlad. The trip was successful because we did together what we've done for the past 10 years: we shared the entire effort - the classes, the kirtans, and the interactions with all the devotees.

LONDON: The snazzy and the spiritual are coming together as thousands of Hindu youths converge on several acres of green London parkland to bond, listen to katha, sing along to soulful rap and resolve the contradictions of being both Hindu and British. The 10-day Hindu Youth Festival, the largest and first of its kind in Europe, has the blessings of everyone who matters: British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Prince of Wales, sundry corporate sponsors such as Laxmi Mittal and the Hindujas and various Hindu peers such as Lords Navnit Dholakia and Raj Bagri. But its organisers say it is not a youthful indulgence or a super-spiritual sort of all-night rave.

On April 7 our traveling party arrived in Detroit, Michigan. Several weeks ago while visiting San Francisco where my parents raised me, I experienced a few moments of nostalgia seeing the places where I had grown up, but controlling myself I reflected that since I have been in the material world, I have called so many places "home" and have adored millions of "mothers and fathers. " However, this current life is certainly the most important, because I met my spiritual master, my eternal father, who is directing me home, back to the spiritual world.

On April 12 our party left Detroit for the community of New Raman Reti in Alachua, Florida. On the way I visited my sister, Anne, who lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We had last seen each other five years ago at our mother's funeral in California. Mother's passing away was especially difficult for my sister and at that time we talked a lot about death, the soul, and God. As a result we had kept in touch, and her faith in Krishna consciousness had deepened. We spent the day in Chattanooga continuing our discussions, and at one point I asked her what she saw as her ultimate goal in life. She surprised me when she replied, "To remember Krishna at the moment of death."

Thank you for printing the article by Mark Miles on ISKCON's intolerance of homosexuals. I have been an initiated devotee since 1993 and I carefully follow the regulative principles as given by Srila Prabhupada. I am also a lesbian.

The degree to which a person regulates his sexual desire and activity is the primary criterion for evaluating his spiritual standing on that basis, not the details of his particular desires and activities. In case anybody is curious, I am a lifelong heterosexual.

Estonia: Hare Krishnas Cater for Growing Spiritual Appetite
By Tim Ocuser, RIGA

Take a stroll along Krisjana Barona Street in the morning and you will see a long queue of despondent-looking elderly people outside the Hare Krishna Center. It's plain to see from their disheveled appearance and long faces that they're not there to sing religious praises. They are there for the Food For Life program, which the Krishna devotees run from the center.

There is a principle in their religion, as Indranuja Das, an eight-year devotee of the temple told me, that states nobody within a 10 kilometer radius of a temple should go hungry. About 1, 000 portions of food are served up every day, to a mixture of pensioners and homeless people, thus providing a lifeline to some of Riga's most vulnerable citizens.

Devotees in the Washington, D.C. area invite you to attend the joyous devotee reunion and 25th Anniversary of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohana residing in Potomac, Maryland. Reconnect with old friends, share stories of the past, and create stories for the future. Watch the original video footage of Srila Prabhupada's only visit to Washington, D.C., 25 years ago in July of 1976. There will be plenty of fun activities for children and lots of great prasadam for everyone.

CHAKRA (Vrindavan, India) - 30th July, 2001, Pavitropana Ekadasi: In a very touching ceremony today, Toshan Krishna and his two younger sons, Govinda and Naveen Krishna, sprinkled the ashes of Sunita Mataji in the sacred waters of Sri Yamuna.

There is an entire community that has been neglected by most religious traditions and is patiently anticipating the arrival of Vaisnava devotees. Our combined efforts can be helpful in distributing the Holy names of the Lord to all fallen and conditioned souls of this material world.

Sukadeva Gosvami said: Surrounded by His blissful companions, who constantly chanted His glories, Sri Krsna then entered the village of Vraja, which was decorated with herds of cows. While Krsna and Balarama were thus enjoying life in Vrndavana in the guise of ordinary cowherd boys, the summer season gradually appeared. This season is not very pleasing to embodied souls. Nevertheless, because the Supreme Personality of Godhead was personally staying in Vrndavana along with Balarama, summer manifested the qualities of spring. Such are the features of the land of Vrndavana.

CHAKRA (Bhaktivedanta Manor, England)- August 1, 2001: The "Code Red" computer worm, which infects only computers running Windows 2000 and Windows NT, has infected Hare Krishna devotee computers around the world.

CHAKRA was instrumental in debunking the theory that Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, died by poisoning - a theory that was, up until a year or two ago, very prominent on anti-ISKCON websites. Now we hardly hear the theory expressed anymore, largely because of the release of a book entitled, "Not that I am Poisoned." A PowerPoint presentation of the main points of the book can be found on CHAKRA. You may also download the presentation by clicking here.

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House Demanding Strict Guidelines on Arsenic Levels

By DOUGLAS JEHL (NY TIMES)

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Earlier August 2001 Stories Read Still Earlier Stories

House Demanding Strict Guidelines on Arsenic Levels

By DOUGLAS JEHL (NY TIMES)

Earlier August 2001 Stories
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