Myra

I read a news and saw a videotape today showing slaughterhouse workers of Kentucky Fried Chicken supplier jumping up and down on live chickens, drop-kicking them like footballs and slamming them into walls, apparently for fun. Please check this out: www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com. http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=kfc_cruelty_usa http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=pilgrims_web This is a very sorrowful fate for humble and submissive chickens. I really cried watching this and I feel I would throw up. Is innocence of the law (thou shalt not kill) would excuse them from karma? Thanks.

Most of us have known these all along, these are hard, historical facts that are well, overshadowed by whatever press release that U.S. cooked, in my opinion. Please do your research if you are not convinced. It's up to you if you want to have stand with this issue or what. US is wealthy? The American economy is an economy of false appearances. There is no real economic ballast to the American economy. The American GDP of is something around $10 trillion, of which just 1 percent represents agriculture, and just 24 percent represents industry. Therefore, 75 percent of the American GDP is service and most of this is financial speculation. If you understand economics, and it appears that the American Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neil, doesn't or doesn't see it, it's enough to say that the USA acts like a huge "dot-com," and dollars, strictly speaking, are its shares. Furthermore, the value of a company's shares is directly proportional to the profitability of the enterprise. When a business is just a service provider and doesn't produce any durable goods, the value of its shares depends on its credibility. Which is to say that if the credibility of the USA were shaken, its shares (the dollar) would fall with incredible rapidity and the entire American economy would begin to collapse. This already happened after the 9/11 attack. Now, the US government wanted to find a scapegoat, a way to heal it's wounded HUGE ego. In my personal capacity as a citizen of a humble "democratic republic" (I'm not from US FYI), I add my voice to the global chorus of protest and feeling of disappointments against the impending US war on Iraq.

TAKE THE WAR-ON-IRAQ IQ TEST Q: What percentage of the World's population of the world does the US have? 6% Q: What percentage of the world's wealth does the US have? 50% Q: Which country has the largest oil reserves? Saudi Arabia Q: Which has the and largest oil reserves? Iraq Q: How much is spent on military budgets a year worldwide? $ 900 billion+ Q: How much of this spent by the US? 50% Q: What percent of the US military spending would ensure the essentials of life to everyone in the world according to the UN? 10% Q: How many have died from wars since WW2? 80 million Q:How long has Iraq had chemical and biological weapons? Since the 1980s Q: Did Iraq develop these chemical and biological weapons on their own? NO. The governments of US and Britain supplied the materials and technology through private companies. Q: Did the US govt condemn the Iraqi use of these weapons on Iran? NO. Q: How many people did Saddam Hussein kill using gas in the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988? 5,000 Q: How many western countries condemn this act at that time? 0 Q: How many gallons of Agent Orange did the US use in the Vietnam war? 17 million Q: Are there any proven links between 9/11 and Iraq? No. Q: What is the total estimated civilian casualties in the Gulf War? 35,000 Q: How many casualties did the Iraqi forces inflict on the western forces during the Gulf War? 0 Q: How many retreating Iraqi soldiers were buried alive by US tanks with ploughs mounted on the front? 6000 Q: How much of Iraqi's military capacity did the US claim it had detsroyed in 1991? 80% Q: Is there proof that Iraq plans to use its weapons for anything other than deterrence and self-defense? No Q:How many civilian deaths did the Pentagon predict in event of a 2002/2003 war on Iraq? 10,000 Q: Were the US and Britain at war with Iraq during Dec 1998 to Sept 1999? No. Q: How many pounds of explosives were dropped on Iraq during Dec 1998 to Sept 1999? 20 million Q: How many years ago was the UN resolution 661 introduced, imposing strict sanctions on Iraq's imports and exports? 12 years Q: How many Iraqi's died by Oct 1999 as a rsult of the sanctions? 1.5 million Q: How many Iraqi children have died due to sacntions since 1997? 750,000 Q: Did Saddam order the inspectors out of Iraq? No Q: How many inspections were conducted in November to December 1998? 300 Q: How many of these inspections had problems? 5 Q: Who said that by Dec 1998, "Iraq has in fact, been disarmed to a level unprecedented in modern history? Scott Ritter, UN SCOM chief Q: In 1998, how much of Iraq's capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction did the UN claim to have dismantled? 90% Q: IS Iraq willing to allow the weapons inspectors back? Yes (and they did!) Q: How many UN resolutions did IRaq violate? 1 Q: How many UN resolutions did Israel violate since 1992? Over 65 Q: How many UN sanctions against Israel did the US veto? 30+ Q: How many countries are known to have nuclear weapons? 8 (US, UK, FRANCE, CHINA, INDIA, PAKISTAN, NORTH KOREA, RUSSIA) Q: How many nuclear warheads does Iraq have? 0 Q: How many nuclear warheads does the US have? 10,000 Q: How many nuclear warheads does Israel have? 400+ Q: Which is the only country to use nuclear weapons? The United States Q: When did they use these nuclear weapons? WW2. Nagasaki and Hiroshima Q: Was there a consensus among US leaders for using the A-Bomb? No. In fact, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, and other top US officials at the time disagreed with President Truman on this action. Q: How many people died when the US dropped these atomic bombs? about 10,000 per city Q: How many died in the 9/11 attacks? about 3,000 Q: Are the casualties of the atomic bombs soldiers? No. Mostly the elderly, women, and children. Q: Were the US tried as War Criminals for genocide because of the Atomic Bombs? No. The leaders of the Axis powers (Japan, Germany, Italy) were tried as war criminals Q: Who said "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"? Marthin Luther King

I believe that liberation is achieved when karma ceases to exist. But how could this be happened if we are still paying the karma (bad but we can't even remeber) of our previous lives, and everyday, we can't avoid to do things which are bound for another karma?

Dear, I'm sorry, I wasn't online these past few days. May I have your e-mail please? Thanks! Myra

Thanks Guest! My concern has already been resolved, but thanks so much for your willingness to help. I really appreciate it. God Bless You. Myra

If you have earphones, you can listen to the teachings Sri Prabhupada or others, it works for me. For the whole day, it's either I am listening to Bhagavad gita and Audio Bible or Songs of Praises to the Lord. I have a Read Plus that I can just paste the stories in it and the computer will read it for me. If you want I can share it with you. In this way, I won't put my company's production at stake at the same time, learning and growing spiritualy. Also, if you have a Microsoft Outlook, you can make your own Calendar/Reminders that would pop up for your time to pray, even at least twice a day, depending on your schedule. It helped me also when I asked assistance from our Technical people to put a Background that everytime I open my computer it says "Isn't it nice to start you day with a prayer?" and also having a devotional/ scriptures screensaver. Also during free time, I really love to visit this site and read helpful advices and stories of devotees, though I am a Christian, I can say that I gained more wisdom through this site. Do your best to listen and be closer to our God, and He will do the rest for you. Jaya Yahshua! Hare Krishna!

Thank you mahak. This story brought tears into my eyes. It touches me deeply. Jaya Yahshuah! All glories to Mama Mary...

Excerpt from Og Mandino's "Greatest Miracle in the World". -"How to know if He exists?"- "Are you blind? Does the sun rise and fall without your witness? No. You can see ... and the hundred million receptors God have placed in your eyes enable you to enjoy the magic of a leaf, a snowflake, a pond, an eagle, a child, a cloud, a star, a rose, a rainbow ... and the look of love. Count one blessing. Are you deaf? Can a baby laugh or cry without your attention? No. You can hear ... and the twenty-four thousand fibers God have built in each of your ears vibrate to the wind in the trees, the tides on the rocks, the majesty of an opera, a robin's plea, children at play ... and the words I love you. Count another blessing. Are you mute? Do your lips move and bring forth only spittle? No. You can speak ... as can no other of God's creatures, and your words can calm the angry, uplift the despondent, goad the quitter, cheer the unhappy, warm the lonely, praise the worthy, encourage the defeated, teach the ignorant ... and say I love you. Count another blessing. Are you paralyzed? Does your helpless form despoil the land? No. You can move. You are not a tree condemned to a small plot while the wind and world abuses you. You can stretch and run and dance and work, for within you God have designed five hundred muscles, two hundred bones, and seven miles of nerve fiber all synchronized by Him to do your bidding. Count another blessing. Are you unloved and unloving? Does loneliness engulf you, night and day? No. No more. For now you know love's secret, that to receive love it must be given with no thought of its return. To love for fulfillment, satisfaction, or pride is no love. Love is a gift on which no return is demanded. Now you know that to love unselfishly is its own reward. And even should love not be returned it is not lost, for love not reciprocated will flow back to you and soften and purify your heart. Count another blessing. Count twice. Is your heart stricken? Does it leak and strain to maintain your life? No. Your heart is strong. Touch your chest and feel its rhythm, pulsating, hour after hour, day and night, thirty-six million beats each year, year after year, asleep or awake, pumping your blood through more than sixty thousand miles of veins, arteries, and tubing ... pumping more than six hundred thousand gallons each year. Count another blessing. Are you diseased of skin? Do people turn in horror when you approach? No. Your skin is clear and a marvel of creation, needing only that you tend it with soap and oil and brush and care. In time all steels will tarnish and rust, but not your skin. Eventually the strongest of metals will wear, with use, but not that layer that God have constructed around you. Constantly it renews itself, old cells replaced by new, just as the old you is now replaced by the new. Count another blessing. Are your lungs befouled? Does your breath of life struggle to enter your body? No. Your portholes to life support you even in the vilest of environments of your own making, and they labor always to filter life-giving oxygen through six hundred million pockets of folded flesh while they rid your body of gaseous wastes. Count another blessing. Is your blood poisoned? Is it diluted with water and pus? No. Within your five quarts of blood are twenty-two trillion blood cells and within each cell are millions of molecules and within each molecule is an atom oscillating at more than ten million times each second. Each second, two million of your blood cells die to be replaced by two million more in a resurrection that has continued since your first birth. As it has always been inside, so now it is on your outside. Count another blessing. Are you feeble of mind? Can you no longer think for yourself? No. Your brain is the most complex structure in the universe. He knows. Within its three pounds are thirteen billion nerve cells, more than three times as many cells as there are people on your earth. To help you file away every perception, every sound, every taste, every smell, every action you have experienced since the day of your birth, God have implanted, within your cells, more than one thousand billion billion protein molecules. Every incident in your life is there waiting only your recall. And, to assist your brain in the control of your body God have dispersed, throughout your form, four million pain-sensitive structures, five hundred thousand touch detectors, and more than two hundred thousand temperature detectors. No nation's gold is better protected than you. None of your ancient wonders are greater than you. Why have you betrayed yourself? Why have you cried that all the blessings of humanity were removed from you? Why did you deceive yourself that you were powerless to change your life? Are you without talent, senses, abilities, pleasures, instincts, sensations, and believe in yourself and Him who created you? Are you without hope? Why do you cringe in the shadows, a giant defeated, awaiting only sympathetic transport into the welcome void and dampness of hell? You have so much. Your blessings overflow your cup ... and you have been unmindful of them, like a child spoiled in luxury, since He have bestowed them upon you with generosity and regularity." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If we don't believe that God exists, who are we?

Dear lover soul, A true devotee has not gained his faith from a mere succession or transfer of faith from a guru "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." "To see/hear is to believe" is not a statement of faith. Faith sees beyond our eyes could reach and beyond our ears could capture of any tiny sounds. Faith is trusting, confidence and loyalty to God. "Even after getting a guru, it is coming from a person, not Him telling you", this is a sort of a rebellious statement. If "God will ever speak in person, are you sure these atheist will believe? This might arise another blinding questions in their mind. The Gurus are there to be the witnesses of their own faith to God for the devotees to see the wonder having such faith. God speaks every second in our lives. Through your heartbeat, through the air and even through the sound of silence, I think this is the most favorite of the spirit of God within us, whenever we are silent. Many people speak too much, that they don't give time to listen to God. We are preoccupied of asking so many things and rushing God to asnwer all their prayers. And if they ask and God is slow in answering it, common people will ready to say, that God doesn't exist or God is not there becasue he is not listening. If we only have even one minute of every day to say "God, please speak and I will listen", God will not only speak to you, but will touch you deep, and you can even see him. Personally, I know if God is distant to me, becasue If I am silent and I close my eyes and I can see the light in a distant, I know I need to keep track of what He wants for me, and when I close my eyes in silence to speak to Him and I see Him so bright covering me I know I pleased Him and I can feel the tender breeze soothing my soul, the unexplainable joy will enter me that I only wished that the time will freeze to stay like that forever. But the bliss is only temporary just to make us to crave to please Him more so that He will award us later on the eternal Bliss. Just sharing.... Do these atheist can recognise the voice of God when they don't even believe in Him? The flock of sheep recognised their Shepherd, and the cows recognized the Cowherd, they know Him when He speaks and He knows them.

Dear Theist and Prthaa, Thanks for you enlightening words. Now I feel much better. There are many ways to offer our God in return of His blessing through sharing our talent and fruits of our labor to His children. Yet so true that there are a.k.a. christians who only know God when they ask something but can't remember to thank God when they are already an answered prayer. But I believe time will come that they will be called, in His way...sooner..later. Jaya Yahshua! Hare Krishna! Myra.

Thank you yasodanandana! Hmmmmmm I really appreciate your suggestions/advices regarding these. I have a question though, what is a "gopi" dress? I searched the itnernet and I only found ghagara choli, is this the dress you were referring to? Or is it Salwar Kameez with Pants? Haribol! Hare Krishna, Myra

Haribol! I can't fully relate to the intricate personality or characteristics of these 3: Ganesh, Hanuman, Garuda. Sooner or later, I believe I will. My question is, is it an offense if I won't worship them yet until I fully understand and enlightened about them? I do respect them, but I honestly feel quite uneasy to put them in my altar together with the picture of Lord Krishna Lord Jesus, Mama Mary and Radharani because I don't much know about them. Though I read books about them, but they are not yet interwoven in my existence unlike those I mentioned in my altar. Sorry for my ignorance. Hare Krishna, Jaya Yahshuah! Myra

Haribol mahaksadasa! "Mary's day" a must read. "By failing to recognize the intercession of Mary, those who claim to follow Lord Jesus Christ may fall quite short of tasting actual flavor of rasa. Many follow Him but cannot conceive of actually being with Him as He is. Even the beginnings of actual love of God, the peacefulness of spirit upon witnessing His activities (santa rasa), cannot be attained without seeing Him in relationship with His eternal associates. Without proper appreciation of Mother presenting Her Glorious Son to the world, there is no pleasing of the Son, the Father, or any of the associates. Home is never seen." - SO TRUE!!!!

Hare Krshna Everyone, Is it a must for matajis in Vrindavan to wear Saree or any Indian clothing even she is not an Indian? Is a long skirt and modest western clothing acceptable? Jaya Yahshuah! Myra