Dallas Morning News,
Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.
Recently, we discussed comments that Jon Meacham made in an address to SMU’s Perkins School of Theology. Now, here’s something else from Meacham, the former Newsweek editor,...
(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed; works best with Firefox)
43 years ago, from out of the blue
a radical change took over me
everything else fell away:
girlfriend, college, bad habits,
giving away my possessions
spiritual thirst became my life
ancient wisdom informed me
the forest my classroom study
my heart yearned for truth
my prayers to transcend the world
I thought, “I must become a monk”
Shri Chaitanya answered me
thru Prabhupada’s loving disciples
the...
By the mercy of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada and my Guru Maharaja, I received the inspiration to serve the ISKCON Prison Ministry. On Vyasa-puja day, while chanting myjapa, the inspiration came to me to serve in the prison ministry. Interestingly enough, at that time I didn't even know the prison ministry existed.
I researched the internet, saw on the web site a request from IPM for volunteer pen pals. I thought this was an easy service, one I would enjoy and could do from the...
In May 2012, a Chaplain from El-Paso, Texas, Steven Cottingham, emailed me in the hope of getting some books for the inmates he served. He said,
“My name is Steven. I serve in 5 jails, 3 federal prisons, and 2 state prisons and there are people asking for books in each of these institutions. What I do is place books in each institution’s Religious Services library, so it is cost-effective that way. Do you have books we could have?”
Of course I was very happy to help him out and...
(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed; works best with Firefox)
After reading, and remembering, very heated discussions—often intense arguing or worse—between those with seemingly great differences of opinion, I was reminded that often the issues are not that important in the larger scheme of devotional, or spiritual, advancement. Such conflicts are often more about both person’s ego of being right, than in trying to understand the real truth—which, after all, one...
Some years ago I read Ravidra Svarupa Prabhu’s blog post titled Flowers of Devotion, wherein he described different important flowers in the Vedic literature. The atasī is said to be similar to Lord Kṛṣṇa’s skin complexion. He writes:
Atasī
In the Bhāgavatam (11.5.27) the yogendra Karabhājana tells King Nimi that the Lord descends in Dvāpara-yuga with a complexion of dark blue color (śyāma). This statement is amplified in the purport: “The Lord’s transcendental body in...
Dallas Morning News,
Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.
In taking the name Pope Francis, the new pontiff made a conscious decision that reflects two different aspects of spirituality. He is a Jesuit, an order that embraces the...
Do you ever shop at thrift stores? I confess I sometimes do. You never know what you’re going to find—sometimes brand-new items, at a fraction of their department store prices. When you’re on a budget (as I generally am), you get more bang for your buck if you frequent these places. So it happened not long ago, as I was in the neighborhood of such a store, I stopped in to see whether anything jumped out at me. There was an apron which looked perfectly clean, as if it had never been used. Like...
Dancing Before the Deity
In the Dvārakā-māhātmya the importance of dancing before the Deity is stated by Lord Kṛṣṇa as follows: "A person who is in a jubilant spirit, who feels profound devotional ecstasy while dancing before Me, and who manifests different features of bodily expression can burn away all the accumulated sinful reactions he has stocked up for many, many thousands of years." In the same book there is a statement by Nārada wherein he asserts, "From the body of any...
Over the last weekend I attended two festivals in honor of Siva-ratri. One was held outdoors and included a small fire yajna as part of the ceremonies for installing* the head of Lord Siva, just like the one worshiped in Vrindavana, India as Gopisvara Mahadeva, whose main function there is understood to be to guard the arena of Lord Krishna’s rasa-lila to ensure that no unqualified people can enter there. Only those whose love for the Lord is untainted by selfish desires can take part in the...
7 weeks 3 days agoDallas Morning News, Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box. Recently, we discussed comments that Jon Meacham made in an address to SMU’s Perkins School of Theology. Now, here’s something else from Meacham, the former Newsweek editor,...0 Comment(s)135 Reads
7 weeks 5 days ago(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed; works best with Firefox) 43 years ago, from out of the blue a radical change took over me everything else fell away: girlfriend, college, bad habits, giving away my possessions spiritual thirst became my life ancient wisdom informed me the forest my classroom study my heart yearned for truth my prayers to transcend the world I thought, “I must become a monk” Shri Chaitanya answered me thru Prabhupada’s loving disciples the...0 Comment(s)194 Reads
8 weeks 12 hours agoBy the mercy of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada and my Guru Maharaja, I received the inspiration to serve the ISKCON Prison Ministry. On Vyasa-puja day, while chanting myjapa, the inspiration came to me to serve in the prison ministry. Interestingly enough, at that time I didn't even know the prison ministry existed. I researched the internet, saw on the web site a request from IPM for volunteer pen pals. I thought this was an easy service, one I would enjoy and could do from the...0 Comment(s)135 Reads
9 weeks 3 days agoDo you ever shop at thrift stores? I confess I sometimes do. You never know what you’re going to find—sometimes brand-new items, at a fraction of their department store prices. When you’re on a budget (as I generally am), you get more bang for your buck if you frequent these places. So it happened not long ago, as I was in the neighborhood of such a store, I stopped in to see whether anything jumped out at me. There was an apron which looked perfectly clean, as if it had never been used. Like...0 Comment(s)182 Reads