Sit Properly

Hello Vaikuntha!! ARE YOU READY TO ROOOOOOOCK?!?!

Remember back when you were a kid, back when you’d rock out to Kiss or Journey, probably had a van with purple tinted windows and an airbrushed painting of a wizard on the side… You’d throw on your denim jacket with the Judas Priest patch on the back and head out to a metal show on a Saturday night. And when you weren’t bangin’ yer head in the front row, you’d be at home listening to your favorite rock gods on your Solid State stereo system! The studio albums were great and all, but nothing could capture the raw energy of the live show like the obligatory live album!

Classics like Kiss’s Alive to Cheap Trick’s Live at Budokan, if you weren’t there rockin’ out, you were at home rockin’ out to the live albums!

And now that you’re a devotee, the same is true for kirtans!

Vs.

Everybody knows that kirtans are best when you’re there in person, jumping around and swaying in the temple or on the street… but what if you could take that very same feeling home with you? Too good to be true, you say?

Well think again, prabhus! THINK AGAIN!

Trade in your van with purple tinted windows for a sankirtana van, your ripped up denim jacket for a nice wool chadar and your Frampton Comes Alive LP for this….

LIVE New York Kirtans!!

Ah yes! The illustrious KT-4! You were just itchin’ for KT-4, weren’t ya! Good! KT-4 is stuffed full of LIVE kirtans from the New York Temple!

KT-04 – Hare Krishna Kirtans (New York)

1) – 5) Five tracks of Live New York kirtans!

Click here to download and rock out! ….and no, they will not play “Freebird,” so don’t ask, ok?

[93MB, btw... oh and if you get an error message, try again later, mediafire.com has been wonky lately]

And here’s a list of all the tapes…

Boy George charged with false imprisonment…

All too often, many devotees engage in this weird ritual of celebrity worship. I’m not talking about how some book distributors will post pictures of themselves handing a book to an awkward “deer in the headlights” movie star or politician (though, that’s questionable as well).

I’m talking about how some devotees will get all into celebrities (usually musicians) who appear to take to Krishna consciousness. We practically canonize them. Look at “The Famous Sriman George Harrison,” for example. Though we sainted him, he was hardly a saint.

And neither is “The Famous Sriman Boy George,” who has a long history of drug abuse, violence and, most recently, false imprisonment for chaining a male escort to the wall of his apartment. Bow down, Mister!!

So, let’s set the record straight, Boy George is not a devotee. He really never was. He was attracted to Krishna and wrote a song about it. Sometimes he invites (or tolerates) the devotees to come up on stage with him to help sing his cute little song. And then he chains some dude to the wall of his apartment. Jaya, prabhu!

We should really be careful about celebrities. I think a lot of discrimination is in order. Celebrities will almost always continue their insanely materialistic lifestyle.

Sure, they have a voice that millions of people listen to, but when they become disenchanted with Krishna consciousness (or certain institutions promoting Krishna consciousness), that voice is just as loud and often much more forceful.

The Bhagavad-gita states: Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues. (Bg 3.21) And this is the verse quoted when handing a Gita to a celebrity or politician. And while what the Gita says is definitely true, celebrities and politicians aren’t great men. They have few exemplary acts and basically no standards.

Celebrities don’t make devotees (and politicians definitely don’t). Sincere, happy and honest devotees make devotees.

Local musician Earl Pickins asked me to be in his new video. I’m not really sure why he’d do that, but he did.

This has nothing really to do with KC, but it does show my bookstore and my goofy mug.

It’s a really cute video, very safe (and FUN) for kids of all ages.

If you’d like to see it, click here…

I’m in the beginning and end.

He who brought the treasure of divine love and who was filled with endless compassion and mercy — where has such a personality as Advaita Acarya gone?

Where are my Svarupa Damodara and Rupa Gosvami? Where is Sanatana? Where is Raghunatha dasa, the saviour of the fallen?

Where are my Raghunatha Bhatta and Gopala Bhatta and where is Krsnadasa Kaviraja? Where did Lord Gauranga, the great dancer, suddenly go?

I will smash my head against the rock and enter into the fire. Where will I find Lord Gauranga, the reservoir of all wonderful qualities.

Being unable to obtain the association of Lord Gauranga, accompanied by all of these devotees in whose association He performed His pastimes, Narottama dasa simply weeps.

- Narottama dasa Thakura

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(From the “Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas” collection)

or

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(From the “Songs of the Vaisnavas” collection, Vol. 4 – Intense Longing – Songs by Srila Narottama dasa Thakura)

So spiritually, appearance and disappearance, there is no difference. Just like in material point of view, if a person takes birth… Suppose you get a son born, you become very happy. The same son, when passes away, you become very unhappy. This is material. And spiritually, there is no such difference, appearance or disappearance. So although this is the disappearance day of Om Visnupada Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, so there is nothing to be lamented. Although we feel separation, that feeling is there, but spiritually, there is no difference between appearance and disappearance. There is a song, Narottama dasa Thakura’s song, ye anilo prema-dhana. Do you know, any one of you? Can you sing that song anyone? Oh. Ye anilo prema-dhana, karuna pracura, heno prabhu kotha gelo.

-Srila Prabhupada on His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day, Lecture — Los Angeles, December 13, 1973

Disappearance and appearance the same. His disappearance here, appearance somewhere. Just like sunset somewhere is immediately, sunset and sunrise, simultaneously. So for a Vaisnava, because he is under the order of Krsna, he appears somewhere and disappears somewhere because he is order-carrier. He says, “Now go there. Preach Krsna consciousness. Go there.” So appearance here, disappearance there. Therefore the same thing.

-Srila Prabhupada, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta lecture, Madhya-lila 20.105 — New York, July 11, 1976

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Wow! What an incredibly weekend! I’ll tell you about some of it.

I pulled into Rati and Dwija’s lovely little house around 8:30. From then till 2am, we sat and talked. There was a break for the Damodarastikam, of course (it being the month of Damodar and all). Their deities are beautiful! Jaya Nitai-Gauracandra!

It’s sometimes strange to stay at a devotees house because of the weird “standards” issue. Every devotee has slightly different standards. Sure, we know of all the standards, these tiny rules and regulations we should be keeping, but usually those are anywhere from impossible to impractical. So, at the last minute, some devotees will try to implicate standards they don’t normally keep and it becomes this awkward and rather schizophrenic situation. That and it’s just lying.

Thankfully staying with them was nothing of the sort. I was comfortable and having a blast.

Often when talking with devotees, it’s hard to be honest. It’s hard to be yourself. But with them, I could just be me. I think it’s hard to relate what I’m exactly talking about here. I felt at home and at ease. Hey, thanks!

Like I said, we were up till 2am. It’s been since Seattle that I’ve been up that late just talking.

Saturday was Govardhana-puja. We woke up and continued discussions – it was like a summit! Discussing world problems, devotee problems, community problems. No real solutions, but addressing (and ranting) about the problems is a great first step, no?

Today was also the day I was to hang out some with Gokula and Kunji. I’ve known Gokula for eleven or twelve years now, though we’ve only recently been back in touch. Kunji is her ridiculously awesome four year old. I drove over to their apartment and passed a lovely afternoon. Kunji is into transformers, darth vader and vampires, which sounds oddly like a four year old version of me – throw in 80′s synthpop and you’ve got a match!

The evening was spent at the temple for the festival. I saw a few folks I recognized. Was thrilled to see Lila-suka Seva and Lotus – I wish I could have hung out more with all of them. Madhava Ghosh found me and that made for even more great conversation. I kind of live for that.

Ghosh doesn’t know this, but he was the first devotee I met on my first visit to New Vrndavana. He looked like this wildish West Virginian, and talked about Nrsmhadeva and the sphinx. It was wild and totally sold me on the place, I’ve been in love with it since then.

Saturday night, again up till 2am. Same deal.

Sunday, my all too sad last day, was again spent talking. More about solutions this time. You know, digging around for what Srila Prabhupada really wanted. I compared the ideal of Prabhupada’s vision for a community to an anarchist community. There is little, if any, difference.

It was from Sunday’s conversations that a lot of ideas formed. It was a pretty big day for lots of reasons. More on that later. Some of it anyway.

There was a lot that I didn’t get to do and I really wish I could have stuck around for longer. Heck, I didn’t even buy gamshas! Hardly what I’d call a wasted weekend, of course. But much too short.

New Vrndavana dhama ki jaya!

Saturday mornings, for me growing up, were all about cartoons. I’d look forward in oh-so-great anticipation. Through the whole week, I could hardly wait to wake up early on Saturday, grab a bowl of cereal and plop myself in front of the TV. Nothing better growing up, right?

Well now I’m bringing Saturdays back. No, it’s not cartoons, it’s Classic ISKCON music! So wake up early on Saturday, grab yourself a bowl of cereal, put on your dancin’ shoes (or.. um.. take off your nondancin’ shoes, I guess) and download the latest selection!

This week’s is New York Kirtans.

KT-03 New York Kirtans*

1) Samsara Prayers
2) Govindam Adi Purusam
3) Hare Krishna Kirtan
4) Gaura-arati Kirtan
5) Tulasi Kirtan
6) Hare Krishna Kirtan
6) Hare Krishna Kirtan

Click here to download.

Some caveats: The sound quality isn’t great. These are from old tapes recorded by devotees. Quality wasn’t a priority. Also, they’re MP3s encoded at 128kbs – not the highest quality. But listenable.

Here’s a list of all the tapes…

*This is the first time I’m using MediaFire.com to host the file. Also, this is the first time I’m hosting it as a rar file. Please let me know if you have problems.

Sometimes, in Krishna consciousness, we do things a certain way because “that’s how they do it in India.” Our culture originates there and sometimes certain things carry over that don’t really seem to make sense to outsiders (or even to us if we really think about it).

Things that don’t really have a spiritual benefit. Like only eating off of stainless steel.

It’s cleaner, right? Sure is – just as clean as anything what now with the invention of soap! Even so, I will pretty much only eat off of stainless steel.

And don’t forget Bollywood movies, brass trinkets and anything with a “Made in India” sticker on it!

And what about Gamshas? Ah, yes, the towel of the demigods! Are they really all that great? Honestly, I’ve used a gamsha since becoming a devotee and have rarely used anything else. Maybe at the occasional motel…

But really nothing more. Even when I stay at a friend’s house, I’ll bring a gamsha. I like it! It packs really neatly and it’s small. It also dries really quickly. And no lint! I hate lint.

Oh sure, some of my friends giggle, “why you using that Krishna towel!?” And if they ever try it out, ohh they generally hate it. I’m pretty sure you have to be a practicing devotee to really get the gamsha.

Nikki started using gamshas for a bit and hated them. She switched back to regular towels – a big fluffy gray one. Oh but when she was backpacking for the summer, what did she request? That’s right.. THREE of my gamshas! She even paid me for them!

Yeah, once you go gamsha, you never go back.

I need new gamshas. I’m down to one (never replaced the ones I sold to Nikki). And look at it…

It’s pathetic. But it’s lasted me at least five or six years. Can hardly beat that, huh.

Why the crap am I posting about this? Well, I just wanted to let the readers know that I use a gamsha and I’m not ashamed! And now, faced with this breath-takingly important crossroads, I choose to take a stand and buy a few more gamshas when I’m at New Vrndavana. Yeah, I could go back to big fluffy karmi towels chalked full of mode of badness and MAYA!!

But I know better.

And remember, kids… karmi towels are Satan’s fluffy fingers!!

ME! That’s who!

This weekend! I’m pretty jazzed about it.

Anyone else going? Radhanama? Chris? Would be fun. I promise!

I’ll be staying with Rati and Dwija and will be at the festival on Saturday and hopefully at the feast on Sunday.

It’s Ekadasi! Haribol! On Saturday I posted a tape produced by Golden Avatar Productions. And today I’m posting a record produced by them. This is a fun record called Every Town & Village. It’s definitely one of the rarer releases, though it does seems to be one of the few that was released exclusively in the US.

Unlike most of the albums, this one has full production credits. You can read them on the back of the album cover.

The songs on Every Town and Village were recorded at the 1972 San Francisco Ratha Yatra and the New York Temple. It was released in 1972.

It was impossible to separate the individual songs into tracks as often one song would fade into the next. I wanted to preserve that feeling so each side is one track. It’s much better this way, I assure you. However, this does mean that I won’t have previews for you. My apologies.

Side One

1) Samkirtan 1:40 – A great tune. I don’t know who is leading, but the tune is great. I’m pretty sure I’ve not heard it before. Luckily, it’s repeated quite a lot. Simple kirtan with harmonium, kartals and mrdanga.

2) Temple Kirtan 11:13 – This slow but kind of rowdy kirtana seemed like a bunch of fun. We don’t really have kirtans like this anymore. Sort of a subdued rowdiness. It picks up the pace in the end. It’s blissful, trust me.

3) Samkirtan :50 – And it’s back for 50 seconds of fun!

4) Arati 5:13 – A really sweet recording of Gaura-arati with Hansadutta on vocals (I’m pretty sure about this). Though it does slightly speed up towards the end, our dear vocals restrains himself and stays pretty much on script.

5) Samkirtan 1:41 – What a way to end side one!

Side Two

1) Samkirtan 1:40 – And why not start side two the same way? Same great melody!

2) Jaya Radha Govinda 5: 58 – This, I assume, was recorded in New York at the Radha Govinda Temple. Though I seem to think I hear Malati Prabhu’s vocals in the response (she’s fairly noticeable). Whichever, this is slow and sweet.

3) Samkirtan :54 – Hey! How about 54 more seconds of it?! Jaya!

4) Jaya Jagadisha Hare 8:53 – I think this was also lead by Hansadutta. This is the slowest rendition of Jaya Jagadisha that I’ve ever heard. It’s kind of droney, but nice. It picks up a bit towards the end. Hansadutta does a bit of improvising, but not much at all (especially compared to the European recordings).

5) Samkirtan 5:30 – Same tune. Heck, maybe it’s all of them put together into one long cut. It’s hard to tell, while this one is a wonderful melody, it doesn’t change much. Only the mrdanga gets a bit boisterous. Still, this is one great kirtan!

As requested, I have better quality scans for this one. My scanner isn’t quite big enough to do album covers, and for that I apologize. The bottom 1/2″ of the cover is cut off. I’ll try to even it out for next time.

Anyway, this is a rare one. There’s one up on Ebay for $100. But why spend it when you can just download it here?

Click here to download the entire album in one big zip file! (85 MB)

[ps - the higher quality scans are *not* in the zip file - you'll have to grab them right from here - sorry]

There was recently an article published on some devotee news sites about the environment and how simply by chanting Hare Krishna all of the environmental woes will disappear.

Many articles like this are floating around. The author finds a serious and news-worthy problem and then says “Simply by chanting Hare Krishna, this problem will go away!” I recently saw one about eating disorders. That’s pretty reckless.

I think articles like this make it appear like we aren’t really concerned about whatever problem we’re supposedly addressing. It looks like we just want to convert the masses and that we’re superstitious and woefully short-sighted.

The thesis of this particular article was that all of our environmental problems can and will be solved by chanting. However, the Srila Prabhupada quotes that were used only address water. And while water is important, drought is only one small piece of the environmental problem.

Srila Prabhupada has never said that simply by chanting Hare Krishna all the environmental disasters will cease. He never said that simply by chanting Hare Krishna you suddenly won’t be anorexic or subject to racism or have a fully belly. He never said a good deal of things like that.

The real problem with this mentality is that it allows us to be lazy, to not care. Sure, we think we’re caring because we are telling people to chant Hare Krishna, but that is not how it’s going to be seen. If we tell people that our mantra can save the environment and they see that we aren’t doing jack to help the environment (reduce, reuse, recycle, buying local, composting, etc.) we will never be taken seriously, they will think we’re frauds.

It brings to mind a “bait and switch” that happened to me while hiking at Gettysburg Park this past summer. It was the hottest day of the year and there was a group of people giving away free bottles of ice water. I pick one up, thank them and open it. As I was taking my first sip, a man walks over and asks me if I’d like to drink from the “living water.” “You’ll never be thirsty again!” Of course, he was speaking of Jesus, trying to convert me. But at least they were solving my material problem (thirst) while addressing my spiritual problem.

We can do that too!

We are already chanting Hare Krishna. We do it a lot and can certainly do it more. But we also need to start addressing the material problems as well. We aren’t experts, so we probably can’t solve them. But we definitely don’t have to be part of the problem.

For the environment specifically, we can focus on our vegetarianism. Vegetarians have a much smaller environmental footprint. We are already eating this way, so why not use it?

Acting like these material problems can automatically be solved by chanting is setting up our audience for failure. If things get better, they might think “hey, maybe it works!” But if things get worse (and it being kali-yuga, I’m betting it’s going to get worse), they might think “where is your god now?” What a gamble!

And if people see that we are trying (in this case) to help the environment and we are still chanting Hare Krishna, going on harinam, etc while doing it, they will have a much greater respect for us. They won’t think that we’re some freaky little cult. And who knows, they may just start chanting Hare Krishna along with us no matter what happens with the environment!

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Note: I wrote this last week about a specific article. Since that time Sita-pati prabhu has posted his articles about Harinams for Climate Change. While some of the points are the same, this was not written about those harinams. There is never a bad reason to have harinam.