Tattva-viveka
It's the Finns... again
Kamalaksa Das - March 18, 2009 9:49 pm
On a forum like this I think many of us would have so many nice things to share with each other - things that have happened, realizations that have been made, events we have participated in - that never find their way to the attention of the other board members. The reason, I suspect, being more often than not that vaisnavas seldom wish to call attention to themselves.
This humility in many senses is a fine ornament, but when it cuts back on inspirational communication I feel it to become a counterproductive force. As the saying in Finland goes, who will lift the cat's tail, unless the cat itself does it. (Admittedly very obscure when translated, but the purport being that sometimes you have to take it upon yourself to call attention to yourself. Or in this case those close to you.)
Thus I take upon myself to tell you about our recent doings and ongoings. Well aware of the other proverb: "Fools rush into places where angels fear to tread".
Should any of you feel that this is an inappropriate path to tread I will stop right on the spot. But for now, I will let my enthusiasm guide me.
Kamalaksa Das - March 18, 2009 9:50 pm
B H R I G U
Bhrigu continues his successful venture in the world of publishing. Not only is he the ever-so-successful Ananda's editor in chief, but now he has been voted to serve as the chairman of board for Kultti Ry, the umbrella organization under which most of Finland's cultural (the terms used here in the broadest sense, as opposed to purely commercial) magazines and publications gather. Giving final proof that devotees can be active participants in the discourse of the day.
A few links, presenting kultti for the english speakers:
And another one worth checking out. Even if it is written only in Finnish and Swedish. It presents Bhrigu's vision and opinions. At least check out the picture - very stylish indeed!
http://www.kultti.net/uutiset/108/
Bhrigu is also working on some pretty interesting other projects I am not alowed to give further information about. Other that to say that one of them is very respectable, while the other is just plain crazy. Just the way I like it! 
Kamalaksa Das - March 18, 2009 9:50 pm
K R I S H A N G I
Krishangi, as some of you might know, is a bit of a mini-celebrity in Finland. Thus both her cartoons and writings as well as interviews decorate many magazines and other publications. She also finds time in her busy schedule to give talks at different events on a variety of themes, ranging from the role of a disabled woman to that of representing hinduism.
As a small sidenote, she was also asked, some would venture as far as to say coerced, into running for the European Parliament as a candidate of the Green Party (which, mind you, is a quite legitimate party in Europe!). This offer was, however, turned down, as plans are that we would try to spend some more time pursuing devotional goals.
Krishangi recently gave two talks to a predominately christian audience. Or in the first case a solely christian audience, as the listeners were all priests. Krishangi was invited to Jyväskylä, Guru-Nistha's old home town, to speak to Lutheran priests working at hospitals, prisons and workplaces. She was asked to talk about her own relatioship to the church, and why she felt that the church didn't have answers to the questions that she found important.
Krishangi delivered quite a hearty dose of criticism of the church's attitude towards animal rights and also discussed the problem of evil in a pholosophical system that doesn't acknowledge karma and rebirth. One might imagine that the priests coming to an event such as this represent the most liberal wing of the Lutheran church, but nonetheless Krishangi was very happy to hear that some members of the audience agree that the animal rights debate is something the church has neglected until now and should get involved in. A committee has recently published an environmental program for church employees, where a less meat-based diet is recommended. Devotees might not find the statement "eat meat only once a week" so radical, but it's a huge shift from the "animals were created by God and we should eat them" attitude that's prevailed until now.
One thing the audience was curious about was how Gaudiya Vaishnavas feel about the modern-day Indian caste system, whose evils have been discussed quite a lot in the Finnish media. But for a follower of Caitanya Mahaprabhu the question is quite an easy one to answer, as well as the question of women's rights in the movement is for a follower of Guru Maharaja.
One member of the audience disagreed with Krishangi on the point that the church should provide its members with experiences beyond the everyday life. She strongly feels that the Lutheran mass is simply too ritualistic, too stiff, too distant from the audience - which is getting thinner every year. On the contrary, in an arati there are sounds, scents, sights, everyone gets pulled in to this wonderful experience of being in contact with the spiritual realm. The Lutheran priest felt, however, that we shouldn't compete with the material society in luring people in with crazy stunts. For him the Lutheran mass, almost similar every Sunday, creates a feeling of security. There naturally also is some truth to that - Krishangi certainly wasn't proposing that we tempt people with the world's biggest mridanga or oldest acarya - but fact is that the Lutheran church is losing members fast.
After the talk Krishangi continued the discussion more privately with a few of listeners, when one commended her for her bold preaching. And this is an exact quote, not my words. (Except for the obvious fact that he spoke Finnish.) He was wondering if Krishangi was some kind of a leader in our Finnish movement, to which she replied that we all are equal, helping one another. She was quite amused by the fact that the man clearly thought that we have quite big and influential movement, with Krishangi preaching to large audiences. It's good to keep the competitors on their toes... 
All in all, the audience was very appreciative of Krishangi's presentation. Christians usually have quite a low opinion of Gaudiya Vaishnavas and were probably happily surprized to meet a rational person who, as they noted afterwards, had thought deeply about these subjects.
(Sorry, now pictures, Lutherans being opposed to pictoral represenation perhaps... 
)
Kamalaksa Das - March 18, 2009 9:54 pm
K R I S H A N G I + K A M A L A K S A
For those of you who still haven't dug deep enough in your pockets, now would be a good time. This entry is about the book we published last fall telling Gurunistha's story. Most of you have read about it on Tattva-viveka. But if someone out there is still unsure about the quality of the book, I will simply state that Vrindaranya considers it Krishangi's best work to date!
But apart from the books apparent content value, it has received some acknowledgement for it's design. Most recently at the Finest Finnish Books award ceremony, which I attended as the representative for Absolute Truth Press, as visible in the pictures attached. The event took place in the beautiful Cupola Hall of the National Library in Helsinki last Thursday.
In one of the pictures you can see a lady with a glass of vine in her hand. She is the head for the National Library's collection of rare books, and she was very impressed with our book! (A copy of which now is in the permanent collection of the National Library.)
Our book was nominated in the category for illustrated works. Those who want to see the other books awarded (and of course ours), there is a link:
http://www.kauneinkirja.fi/en/illustrated/#top
Unfortunatley the descriptions as to why the books were worthy of an award are omitted from the English version, so I'll give a brief ad hoc translation from Finnish:
"Kokeilevaa, erilaista ja samalla jotakin perinteikästä: syntyy mielleyhtymä japanilaiseen sarjakuvaan ja esinemuotoiluun. Esteettinen kokonaisuus muodostuu pienistä, vihkomaisista osista. Osa osalta avautuva kirja on sympaattinen. Sidonta on omintakeinen ja sitä leimaa tietty käsityöläisyys. Sarjakuva sinällään on kiinnostava taidonnäyte.
Experimental, different and at the same time something traditional: a parallel to japanese comic books and design can be found here. The aesthetic whole is formed by small, booklet like parts. The story that opens part by part is sympathic. The binding is unique and gives an impression of craftmanship. The cartoon in itself is an interesting tour de force."
I must say it was a proud moment receiving the award. For close to fifteen years I have been working with Absolute Truth Press, trying, with various success to shed positive light on vaisnavism. And here I was, accepting the award, not only for myself, not only for Krishangi, not only for Absolute Truth Press, but as a representative of Guru and Krishna. Grateful in my mind that I had been bestowed the priviledge to stand there that day, seeing the audience give praise to a book telling the story of a vaisnava of our sangha!
[i am well aware that putting feelings such as these in either speach or writing reduce them to pathetic at best, but this is a limitation of language we all have to cope with. Plus I rarely allow myself to put forth statements as that above...]
*
For those interested in the book, it is still available through the both of us. Just send us a message, and we'll work out the details.
*
All in all, our group might be small in numbers here in Finland, but as opinion formers in regard to vaisnavism (in the terms positive sense) we are much bigger than mere numbers would indicate.
Thank you for reading. And good night!
Vrindaranya Dasi - March 19, 2009 2:19 am
Congratulations!
Madan Gopal Das - March 19, 2009 2:30 am
Well done! You Finn folk impress me so much in your service to GM, and what to speak of how you do it all with such style! Congratulations on your award. Keep up the good work!
Bijaya Kumara Das - March 19, 2009 6:20 pm
K R I S H A N G I
Krishangi delivered quite a hearty dose of criticism of the church's attitude towards animal rights and also discussed the problem of evil in a pholosophical system that doesn't acknowledge karma and rebirth. One might imagine that the priests coming to an event such as this represent the most liberal wing of the Lutheran church, but nonetheless Krishangi was very happy to hear that some members of the audience agree that the animal rights debate is something the church has neglected until now and should get involved in. A committee has recently published an environmental program for church employees, where a less meat-based diet is recommended. Devotees might not find the statement "eat meat only once a week" so radical, but it's a huge shift from the "animals were created by God and we should eat them" attitude that's prevailed until now.
great news and congradulations 
The aposal Paul wrote " I will not eat of the flesh there of lest i cause my brother to fall ( I believe it is in Corinthians chapter), as well as other bible coments about being vegetarian. The old testement is vegetarian based and Jesus lived on milk and honey and was also a vegetarian, there are no references that he ever eat flesh. The 7th day Adventist have all the data on this. Luther left the church because of the corruption and was believed to be a vegetarian. It is documented by the Caythars wars in the 1100's,who were wiped out during the Cursades which were persued to kill all the true christians, the followers of the old testement. I used to know all of this 30 years ago but these are only recollections so more research should be done before you quote me.
Tadiya Dasi - March 20, 2009 12:17 pm
Well done...and good for you Kamalaksa for bringing all this up because some of it is even news for me! (I had no idea of Bhrigu's achievements with the Kultti Ry, for example).
p.s. Bijaya Kumara, I highly doubt that the Old Testament is vegetarian based, but I am sure that Luther was not a vegetarian. If you read his sermons he greatly advocates eating meat (sausages etc.) and drinking alcohol (he even goes to say that drinking beer keeps the devil at bay! 
)
Gaura-Vijaya Das - March 20, 2009 5:41 pm
Well done...and good for you Kamalaksa for bringing all this up because some of it is even news for me! (I had no idea of Bhrigu's achievements with the Kultti Ry, for example).
p.s. Bijaya Kumara, I highly doubt that the Old Testament is vegetarian based, but I am sure that Luther was not a vegetarian. If you read his sermons he greatly advocates eating meat (sausages etc.) and drinking alcohol (he even goes to say that drinking beer keeps the devil at bay!
Yes, but the fact that Saint Aquinas or Luther ate meat or drank beer should not be used as an excuse for not taking good spiritual insights from them. I personally feel that there is unnecessary discrimination practiced by devotees to spiritual minded people who have taken alcohol and eaten meat and it is similar to their discrimination of gays. Personally I didn't like the fact that SP attacked Ramakrisna on the premise that he had eaten meat and devotees did the same with Vivekananda. Why don't they have a philosophical debate rather than a dietary debate?
But anyway I accept that is how things are.
Bijaya Kumara Das - March 20, 2009 11:43 pm
p.s. Bijaya Kumara, I highly doubt that the Old Testament is vegetarian based, but I am sure that Luther was not a vegetarian. If you read his sermons he greatly advocates eating meat (sausages etc.) and drinking alcohol (he even goes to say that drinking beer keeps the devil at bay!
oh but it is you must read romans to find out. only 1 lamb per forth moon night per klan was allowed to be eaten and then the person offering must agree to take his next life as the animal he killed. Read the 5th canto for all the prescribe formulas.
i have never read luthers sermons or ever heard that they existed it is news to me he advocated such
the point is moot
the asecians and the benedictine monks also follow the old ways which are vedic in nature.
chant and be happy and follow the 4 regulative principals and all will be good.
Kamalaksa Das - April 4, 2009 7:44 pm
Once again our Ananda magazine receives some recognition:
Invited to give a short speech and be part of the panel Krishangi was representing Ananda at the Helsinki Media Conference today. Some more information about the event, if you are interested:
http://www.mediapaivat.fi/english/
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The topic Krishangi was asked to speak about was how a small magazine with limited resources still can do good journalism.
Krishangi started by showing the crowd some select spreads from recent Anandas, and explained the importance of hiring good visualists to be part of the team. Noting that most small magazines usually fall short on just this point - there's no editing being done, and no suggested specifications of article lenghts or treatment of graphics. Often times acompanied by really bad photography.
Krishangi told the audience that It is not enough that the authors write about something that might be of interest to them, put that text on a page, and call it a magazine.
(What we really would have liked to say, but Krishangi felt that the crowd would not have been able to take it, was that if the editorial staff consists of three jouralists, the only way to make the magazine good is fire one of them, and hire a graphic designer/editor instead. 
)
What she said though, was that if (as is very common at least in Finland) we accept that a writer can take pictures, we should similarily accept that a photographer might write. Krishangi then proceeded to tell how the new technology makes publishing much less rigid, and illustrated this by explaining that there is no need for fancy (and expencive) photo studios, but that the kitchen table works just as well. Without anyone really noticing much difference in quality. (You should see how ad hoc many of our photo shoots really are, and you would be more so amazed that the magazine looks as good as it does... )
The audience was quite active, and the discussion lively. (Measured by our extremely low key Finnish scale.
)
One funny fact: of the three magazines represented in this panel discussion, one was the culture magazine Parnasso. Which really isn't that small compared to us guys. It was with envy that Krishngi listened to their former editor in chief.
He told the audience that last year Parnasso made a loss of 70.000 euros. But that this was a clear upturn, as in the beginning of the century they made an annual los of 100.000 euros!
And after giving these numbers the editor in chief expressed that he was really ok with this - they are backed up by one of the bigger publishing houses in Finland, who see Parnasso as a kind of cultural contribution, and need not focus on making money. Instead they consider themselves opinion formers.
The editor in chief continued to say that the magazines policy was not to publish anything too easy or too popular. He was elitist and proud of it!
Oh how I wish we would one day have those same financial resourses for Ananda!
Kamalaksa Das - July 30, 2009 6:27 am
With our date of arrival at Audarya growing increasingly closer a sense of anxiety has started to creep in when confronted with my very lacking mood of surrender. So with not much to show for in the realm of devotion I had to devise a plan.
Taking some hints from the best (Putana in Krishna lila) I realized that the only way I was going to pull off a one month stay at Audarya was to get a good disguise. And what better disguise than a cow? I mean, everybody loves cows at Audarya.
Thus I will with good probability be arriving at Audarya donning my brand new Milram uniform, hoping to blend in nicely. And everyone has to like me!
See all of you soon.
Especially you, Gurunistha! (Remember cows cannot dig trenches.)
Nitaisundara Das - July 30, 2009 4:57 pm
Unfortunately we do not have any blue, malnourished cows, so your cover may be blown. We will see.Syama Gopala Dasa - July 31, 2009 6:29 pm
Kamalaksa and Krsangi are on their way to Audarya. Kamalaksa wasn't sporting the cow outfit but he left a message on the way to the airport:
Audarya-lila Dasa - July 31, 2009 7:10 pm
Kamalaksa and Krsangi are on their way to Audarya. Kamalaksa wasn't sporting the cow outfit but he left a message on the way to the airport:
you are going home - where your heart is - to be with Guru Maharaja and and all the Audarya vasis
Tadiya Dasi - August 1, 2009 5:27 pm
:He He: at Nitai's reply 
. And Audarya-lila, you took the words right from my mouth!
Kamalaksa, I am sure that once the month at Audarya is over you'll be writing another message: Help! I don't want to leave! I left my heart at Audarya! 