das's blog

Recordings of lectures given in Melbourne, Australia in July 2007:

at Melbourne Mahaprabhu Mandir:
[ download ] The utmost necessity of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in our lives & Mahaprabhu's pastimes at the house of Advaita Acarya

at Urban Yoga Melbourne:
[ download ] Wake up to your real identity
[ download ] Seeking the highest pleasure

Recordings of further lectures given in Wellington, New Zealand in May 2007:

[ download ] Any Benediction You Want!
[ download ] Real Relatinoships vs. The Itch
[ download ] Dealing with the Samsara Bija
[ download ] Urban Community Meeting
[ download ] Real Horror (sf)
[ download ] Past Scars

Recordings of lectures given at Radha Gopinath Mandir, Mumbai, India in March 2007:

[ download ] Cricket Consciousness
[ download ] Observe the Flow of Time

Recordings of lectures given in Wellington, New Zealand in May 2007:

[ download ] Disgusted by material sense enjoyment
[ download ] Non-violence
[ download ] Bhakti Yoga Context

Recordings of lectures given in Toronto, Canada in May 2007:

[ download ] Spirit of Food
[ download ] Spirituality at Work: more choice equals less happiness
[ download ] Spiritual Economics

Recordings of lectures given in Wellington, New Zealand in January 2007:

Dealing with the Monster of Male Sex Desire [ download ]
Understanding God [ download ]
Advaita Acarya's Appearance Day [ download ]
Understanding Yoga [ download ]
Dealing with Mass Consensual Trance [ download ]
Drugs vs. Real Pleasure (Sunday Feast) [ download ]
Evaluating Different Religions [ download ]

Recordings of lectures given in Brisbane, Australia in December 2006:

Bali Maharaja's Promise and Science [ download ]
Material Delusion vs. the Vedic Process [ download ]
Introduction to the Matsya Avatar [ download ]
Initiation: Indranatha das, Gurutama das, Prema Yogi das, Campak Gaur devi dasi [ download ]

Bali Maharaja's tolerance [ download ]

While the alarm clock buzzed, in unison every bone and muscle screamed at me: “You haven’t taken even a short break for twenty days! ” Yes, I had been “on the burn,” since I left HH Giriraja Swami’s place in Santa Barbara, California, May 24. Now, three continents later, June 13, at the flat of Candidas das, in Manchester, UK, the body demanded I pay the price.

After four medical appointments in seven days, I felt as ready as I would ever be. International austerity beckoned: time to depart my base in New Zealand for devotional service overseas. July 22 I flew to Melbourne, Australia. Due to the superlative efforts of Nityananda Priya and his crew, I had agreed to visit Melbourne again, twice in the same month, for another weekend retreat, designed especially for Indian university students and young professionals. Held at New Nandagram, a small ISKCON farm outside of the city, the first retreat hosted eighty newcomers, and the second one gathered sixty budding practitioners. Bhakti philosophy is not the only item on the retreat menu. We focus upon “the dilemma of the hybrid”: the young, bright overseas Indian, with a foot in both traditional India and untamed Australia. We explore the social and psychological tensions rampant in such a dual world.

Like a commando team, our group of devotees, in the predawn darkness, drove off in a van for a special, sacred mission. Our secret target: the lotus feet of Sri Jagannatha, Sri Baladeva, and Sri Subhadra. It’s the Day After—the wee hours of the morning following Rathayatra. The carts and the Deities are now parked outside the Gundica Temple. Later this day the Deities will come down and enter their temporary home at Gundica.

We’ve been tipped off that the senior pandas (caste-brahmana priests), recuperating from the Rath parade, will rise late this morning. Little do they know that while the casteism cats are away, Prabhupada’s mice will play.