Accepting and wearing brand name designer clothes from Italy, isn’t any kind of attempt to pose as an Italian. Rather, we accept and import the brand because it is a nice quality product. Similarly, higher knowledge which is of superior quality, should be accepted from any religious tradition without unnecessary fear of religious or cultural indoctrination.

Orwell & Huxley – comparison

Orwell feared those who would ban books.
Huxley feared that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. 


Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us.
Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.


Orwell feared we would become a captive culture.
Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. 


In 1984, Orwell said that people are controlled by inflicting pain.
In Brave New World, people are controlled by inflicting pleasure. 


In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us.
Huxley feared that pleasure will ruin us.

When hunted, polar bear runs away from the hunter gradually and eventually forming a circle. Because the bear moves faster than the hunter, the bear eventually comes behind the hunter. Thus the hunter becomes hunted. There is a lesson to learn from this.

Talk by Mahat:

KRISHNA CULTURE FESTIVAL TOUR 2011
Friday, Aug 5th 2011
7—9 pm
Admission $10
Seaside Center for Spiritual Living
1613 Lake Drive, Encinitas, CA 92024

Experience an evening of cultural entertainment based on on the Krishna culture of India, featuring:

Kirtan Music
The call-and-response devotional music of India. With traditional drums, cymbals, harmonium and mantras, the musicians weave a meditative blanket of sound to transport you into a sacred space beyond time.

Classical Temple Dance
Wrapped in ornately flowing costumes, an ensemble of dancers perform Bharata Natyam, the classical south Indian temple dance. Hand gestures, movements and facial expressions help to portray stories of divine love, complemented by traditional rhythms and melodies.

Drama: The Three Lives of Bharata
Maharaja Bharata was the first emperor of India. In his final years, he retired from public life to focus on spiritual pursuits. Using an international cast, elaborate costumes and life-size puppets, this classical drama explores the many adventures along Bharata’s colorful sojourn that led him to take his next birth as a deer, and then as a mendicant, before completing his quest. Based on an epic story from the Bhagavata Purana.

The Krishna Culture Festival Tour is comprised of young students of Bhakti yoga who practice the joyful process of connecting with the Divine through acts of loving service, the main focus of the sacred text called the Bhagavad-gita. They are volunteering to travel and share their passion for an ancient culture with audiences in 15 cities across the USA and Canada this summer. Even though their visit to San Diego will be short and on a weekday evening, be sure to stop by and visit their performance if you’re interested in yoga, mantras, and eastern mysticism.

• 7:00 pm Welcome and Kirtan
• 7:30 pm Bharata-natyam dance by Vani and Ksamesvari, two very talented students of Anapayini’s Bhakti Dance academy in Alachua.
• 7:45 pm Drama: The Three Lives of Bharata. Presented by Bhaktimarga Swami and his theater troupe.

Are we to love or despise conformity? Considering that no person is an island and that people naturally gravitate towards group membership, what are we to think of conformity which is difficult to resist as a member of a group? To find insightful answers to these questions, check out this discussion by Devamrita Swami.

Remote causes are the real causes of our suffering. Immediate causes are mere agents, the delivery boys – they deliver what was coming to us.

This Thursday, July 14th, we’re having a really special guest, a swami, Devamrita Swami.

You are invited.

Swami had visited us before. Use the search engine in the upper-right corner to look him up.