Mr Microsoft Bill Gates in ISKCON

[Guest guest]

I was addressing the Guest Moderator who didn't feel the recent posts were relevant to the topic about Mr. Nicrosoft.

[stonehearted]

Yes, Ambarish and Urmila (who's a daughter of the Manishewitz family, but who I understand was cut off because of her surrender to Krishna) joined, but I'd guess folks just preached to them as regular young people, not necessarily someone extraordinary. I remember Atulananda telling about when he and Ambarish decided to check out the Krishna feast. It's not as though someone targeted the Fords as a way to save ISKCON. There are others as well. I remember hearing that Dristadhyumna was from a wealthy corporate family.

 

I had some success preaching to folks who knew me while I was in the Navy. They came to the temple to see me and what I was up to, took up chanting, bought books, and a couple even lived in temples. My brother spent some time in the Laguna Beach temple in 1970 because of my influence. We should not neglect rhinos when we encounter them, but we should never neglect everyday hunting in the meantime.

[Guest guest]

 

 

Yeah good idea except for the fact that I do promote Krishna consciousness to the people around me and most of the time they don't want to hear it. My Dad even covers his ears when I start going off on Krishna consciousness philosophy. I am lucky that I am at a point now where most people like me and they only think I am a little bit strange. When I was younger I started asking my family and friends why they are so obsessed with the bodily conception of life and they had me thrown in a mental hospital so in my older age I have learned to play it cool and now they just think I am just crazy like Mohammad Ali but not crazy as in really crazy.

 

 

Don't get me wrong I understand what you are saying about pie in the sky thinking etc. I was just thinking Tiger Woods would be a great Hare Krishna because He is from a Buddhist family so he would probably be open minded but you are probably right. If the Beatles couldn't get the general public interested in Krishna than noone can. It was kind of funny because the other day I was driving down the road thinking about Krishna and that song by George Harrison came on the radio My Sweet Lord or whatever it is called. Coincindence, I think not.

[Guest guest]

 

 

 

In fact people get quite upset at me when I tell them that the soul falls to the Earth in the form of rain and then transmigrates through various species of life until it finally gets a human body which provides the soul the opportunity to execute devotional service and get out of the miserable conditions of birth and death. So I guess I can only continue to dream and scheme my big plans for spreading Krishna consciousness to the masses because the people I live around are quite frankly much more interested in barbeques and drinking 40's than they are in executing devotional service to Lord Krishna.

[Guest guest]

 

 

 

detects a note of sarcasm in the previous poster

[stonehearted]

Guest: Yeah good idea except for the fact that I do promote Krishna consciousness to the people around me and most of the time they don't want to hear it. My Dad even covers his ears when I start going off on Krishna consciousness philosophy. . . . In fact people get quite upset at me when I tell them that the soul falls to the Earth in the form of rain and then transmigrates through various species of life until it finally gets a human body which provides the soul the opportunity to execute devotional service and get out of the miserable conditions of birth and death.

 

Well, the trick is to try to meet them where they are and understand what they'll be able to handle. It takes work, but it's worth the trouble. In the meantime, there's always the odd person who's attracted by the idea of the soul descending to earth in the form of rain, etc. Some of those are good candidates for devotional service, but some are good candidates for that other institution you mentioned. But don't stop preaching according to your understanding.

 

BTW, are you aware that most people in the world don't give a darn about golf? /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Guest guest]

I don't think there's any doubt that when a famous influential person endorses your product, people listen. Otherwise, why would Nike Shoes have signed a $100 million contract with LeBron James, who is going to play basketball in the NBA straight out of High School. Celebrities like John Travolta and Tom Cruise and others have lended some credence and respectability to the cultish Scientology church. What is that sloka from the Gita, "whatever a great man does, others will follow." No doubt Cassius Clay and Lew Alcindor influenced impressionable young Blacks to become Muslims after they changed their names to Muhammed Ali and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The list goes on.

 

Iskcon has recruited big names in the past. Sometimes it backfires though. In England during the mid 80's, a couple of semi-famous pop singers joined the Temple at the Bhaktivedanta Manor and a couple of years later became disgusted with all the excesses and phoniness that they filmed some type of expose~ movie which was aired on national TV in Great Britain, doing more harm than good.

 

Perhaps one question to ask ourselves beforehand is "Are we prepared to accomodate the rich and the famous?" Are you satisfied in having them become "Hare Krishnas", or must they join Iskcon before you will be happy? If so, can Iskcon fulfill their spiritual needs without taking advantage of their wealth and making them feel like nothing more than ATM machines? Singer Annie Lennnox married an Iskcon devotee, and was quite interested in Krisna Consciousness for a while, but the devotee did not live up to her standards and she became disgusted, then even recorded a song which expressed that disgust. Some of her friends had become interested as well, such as Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, but after Annie's bad experience, it all went downhill. So first of all, we have to make sure that we have their best interests in mind. Believe me, they can very quickly sense when someone is genuine and when someone is simply exploiting their celebrity status.

 

I don't know if the Madonna fiasco from a few years back is applicable, but from what I recall, she had some interest in Krishna, and was even reading Bhagavad Gita, but when she started doing her shows dressed in Hindi garb, there was some outrage and many devotees and Hindus alike sent in thousands of letters of protest. No doubt that experience must have discouraged her from Krishna Consciousness before she even had a fair chance of developing that first tiny drop of faith.

 

One thing that came to mind is that when a practitioner of bhakti yoga becomes pure in heart, people are automatically attracted to him (or her.) Look at Srila Prabhupada. He wasn't famous when he set foot in New York City in 1966. But, that changed quickly after people began to approach him with a spark of submission and inquisitiveness. Srila Gaur Kishore dasa Babaji was famous as a Krishna Bhakta, and he chose to live in an outhouse so as to avoid all the adoration. What it boils down to is that we must somehow or other become pure devotees ourselves. Especially those of us who have been practicing for 20 or 30 years or more. If we're still neophyte after 30 years, how will newcomers feel inspired to join? It might be a bit difficult to recruit new members if you tell them "oh, just try it out for 8 or 10 lifetimes and see what you think." People want results. They want to see results. They don't want to hear stories of how many hundreds and thousands of devotees have come and gone through the Temples, either through falldowns, or being driven out by beaurocratic leaders, or just becoming disgusted and leaving of their own accord. I was lucky, at the time that I joined the Hare Krishnas, there were not yet any horror stories of abuse or massive falldowns. Devotees who had been around only 4 or 5 years longer than me clearly seemed to be on a high level of purity, which in turn gave me the needed role models for inspiration. If I was a young kid today thinking of joining Iskcon, and reading all the negative things out there on the Internet, I don't think I could do it. Not even if Bill Gates himself shaved up.

 

[Guest guest]

Sri Vakrathunda mahaakaaya kotisuryasamaprabha

nirvighnam kurume deva subhakaryeshu sarvadaa

 

Thank you gHari

Krishna is perfect and everything he does is perfect .He is beyond logic and there I was trying to understand his Krapa with logic. My faith in him should not leave any room for doubts.

 

Window of opportunity for Bill Gates. Bhagvat Gita no other ‘ Version’

Perfect Course challenge for Tiger Wood 18(ch) holes

 

After some time conversation between the two could be!

Tiger: Hi Bill when is a new version due out?

Bill: I have got this version its language is so perfect I cannot add any more to it.

Tiger: Come on Bill you have had more Version than I had tee off.

Bill: Talking off tee off how are you doing yourself?

Tiger: Man I had tackled some obstacle in my playing days but this course has some off the hardest.

Bill: you never what is it?

Tiger: You don’t want to know but I tell you any way, it is Lust, Anger and Greed.

Bill: Have faith I am working on this new version it is very simple really it’s a Childs play. This version can help you overcome your obstacle.

Tiger: Please tell me more do not joke about it how much does it cost what is in it for you

Bill: I have no monopoly on this one unfortunately. It is free and easy to apply. I have heard he has thousands off name so I can have new ‘version’ every day just chant Hari naam and you will cross your hurdles.

Tiger: Thanks Bill is it easy to install?

Bill: Easy my son it is speech recognizable

Hari bol

 

Jai Shree Krishna