Tattva-viveka
Making Guru Maharaja Widely Available
Gauravani Dasa - March 4, 2006 4:22 am
During lunch this afternoon, Guru Maharaja strongly expressed his desire to have his talks made widely available as MP3s. Despite the success of the Audarya Audio CD subscription program, GM would like to see broader distribution.
We immediately began making plans to make GM's vision a reality. The MP3 project is very straightforward, but we could use your help.
MP3 Project Plan
- Convert CDs into MP3s. Some have already been converted by Nanda-tanuja or I.
- Create a topical outline of GM's talks based on the audio, as well as selecting a portion of the talk to use as a preview (sample).
- Edit the outlines into consistent descriptions of the talk.
- Store the files and their related information in a database to be accessible online.
- Create a web page front-end for the collection.
Step 2 is where we need your help. It involves listening to GM's talks and creating an outline. This will allow us to accurately describe the lecture and the topics that GM covers. This only takes as long as the lecture lasts--usually an hour.
I am personally very excited about this project. I've wanted to see GM's talks more accesible for a long time.
Please contact me if you are interested in participating. I can send you an MP3 to start with.
As an incentive, I would like to mention that GM stated he was going on "strike" until the project is finished. I'm not exactly sure what that entails, but I know this is important to him.
Caitanya-daya Dd - March 4, 2006 4:55 am
Podcasting! Brilliant! I know that Dhanurdhara Maharaja is doing that with at least his biweekly sangas.
I would like to be included in at least step 2 or step 3, please.
Gauravani Dasa - March 5, 2006 1:17 am
Guru Maharaja explained what he meant by being on "strike":
He is not going to produce any more new material until we have caught up with him. There is an excess of honey and the worker-bees have to catch up. 
Babhru Das - March 5, 2006 1:46 am
Sign me up, please, for steps 2 and 3. I'll have to get on the ball and finish other projects as well. Thanks.
Shyam Gopal Das - March 5, 2006 8:16 am
I could help out with step 2 too! I will be driving around a lot and what better time to sit in the car and listen to Guru Maharaj!
Robertnewman - March 5, 2006 3:09 pm
Please count me in as well.
Gauravani Dasa - March 5, 2006 3:39 pm
Thank you all for your eagerness to participate!
In order for me to deliver MP3s to you, I have to use http://www.yousendit.com/ This service allows me to upload large files and have a link sent to your email. I was able to do this succesfully with Citta-hari, but I am having some trouble send to Rama-priya. I will try to send some out today.
I would also like to point out that in addition to ceating an outline of GM's talk, we also need a time range which would make a good sample/preview of the talk. In other words, while you are listening look for a possible 1-2 minute snippet that would make a good preview for the lecture. Write down the time range (2:45 - 3:45) and give that to use along with your outline.
Shyam Gopal Das - March 5, 2006 6:27 pm
how long or short should these outlines be?
Gauravani Dasa - March 5, 2006 11:20 pm
how long or short should these outlines be?
Good question!
We decided that since everyone outlines in different ways (some more detailed than others) it would be best if everyone just outlined in whatever way they are comfortable with. Then the need for step 3 comes in--these various outlines need to be consistently edited by ONE person. This will filter out the variations in outline details and make for a uniform presentation.
So, the answer is: long enough to make multi-sentence description.
Gauravani Dasa - March 5, 2006 11:32 pm
I was able to sucesfully send an MP3 to Rama-priya to her Yahoo! email address. The service could not use her Polish address. So I will begin to send out MP3s this evening to those of you who have volunteered.
You will receive an email from yousendit.com which will provide a link to the file. You will have 7 days to download it. You should have a broadband connection, otherwise the file will download very slow. Files will be between 15 and 50 MB.
You can send your outlines and samples to me.
Thanks for all of your help!
Gauravani Dasa - March 6, 2006 12:00 am
Babhru, could you send me and email through your currently active email account. I want to make sure I use the right one.
Also, Syama Gopala, I don't think you email address will work because it is in a different country. Do you have an alternative?
I have to send files out one at a time because they take so long to upload. Here is my current list of volunteers I will be sending to:
Caitanya-daya
Babhru
Syama Gopala
Tharshan
Robert Newman
Sridama Dasa - March 6, 2006 6:31 pm
I'd like to participate in this as well. I already have a stack of CDs in my "to listen to" pile -- would it be of any value to start going through those, or do you already have a specific list of the lectures you want mp3'd?
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - March 6, 2006 8:16 pm
Gauravani, I think we should take "step 1" offline and talk about it first -- what compression/encoder to use, how to identify CDs, so diferent people will not encode them multiple times, standardise ID3 tags, etc.
Caitanya-daya Dd - March 6, 2006 11:58 pm
gauravani prabh, what's the timeframe/deadline
Gauravani Dasa - March 7, 2006 12:40 am
Gauravani, I think we should take "step 1" offline and talk about it first -- what compression/encoder to use, how to identify CDs, so diferent people will not encode them multiple times, standardise ID3 tags, etc.
I completely agree. However, I am currently fully engaged in assigning what we do have converted to listeners from whom we can get descriptions.
I will look into the details and make some test samples when I get caught up. A balance between quality and file size should be reached because online storage of over 300 lectures is an issue.
Thanks a bunch for your suggestion! 
gauravani prabh, what's the timeframe/deadline
We don't have a solid deadline but we are doing one lecture a day per person here. That is potentially 120 lectures a month. With strong effort by our volunteers we could have the whole collection described in less than three months.
Gauravani Dasa - March 7, 2006 2:28 am
We were throwing around some ideas during lunch today, and we decided it would be a very formidable task for one person to look at over 300 lecture outlines and come up with consistent descriptions.
So we have decided to use more than one person for this. Guru Maharaja will write up a sample description for a lecture which the listeners will use as a guide. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, please write a description along with your outline.
PS - don't forget about the sample
Citta Hari Dasa - March 8, 2006 6:23 pm
In the interest of clarity for those who will be doing lecture descriptions I thought I would post the process as I did it so far.
I took notes of the main points while listening to the lecture, as well as noted down start and end times for the audio clip. Then I made a list of the main points and wrote the description from that, and sent both to Guru Maharaja for him to edit. His email reply is below.
(GM) Very good. See my edit below.
On Mar 6, 2006, at 1:58 PM, Citta Hari dasa wrote:
Bhagavad-gita Darsana 1.2-20 (5.1.01 A &
• Qualifications of a true disciple
• Introduction of the characters taking part in the drama of the battle
• Description of how not to be a disciple in as exemplified by Duryodhana
• Guru as the local dispensation of Krsna
• Four motivations for bhakti; contrast between love (raga) and law (vaidhi)
• Daiva-varnasrama of Bhaktivinoda: right livelihood, which begets mystic insight, resulting in detachment, from which arises spontaneous attraction to Krsna
• Vani more important than the vapuh, and the vani of the vani more important than the vapuh of the vani
• Significance of the term "Madhava" used by Sanjaya to introduce Krsna
•Story of the nirupadhi vaisnava
•Significance of the sound of Krsna's conch and the efficacy of sound as a means of spiritual realization
This lecture opens with an introduction of the "cast of characters" who will take part in the dramatic battle that is about to be waged. Swami discusses the qualifications of a disciple; here the negative qualities to be avoided—as exemplified in Duryodhana—are brought out in great detail. Also, a discussion of the motivations for taking up bhakti and a contrast between raga (love) and vidhi (law). Includes an overview of Bhaktivinoda Thakura's conception of Daiva-varnasrama which covers right livelihood, mystic insight, detachment, and spontaneous attraction for Krsna. Swami stresses that the vani (instructions) of the guru are more important than the vapuh (the physical form of the guru), then he moves into an insightful exposition on the significance of the word "Madhava" which is used to introduce Krsna. Ends with an in-depth discussion of the significance of the sound of Krsna's conch and the efficacy of sound (specifically, the sacred sound of scripture and the names of God) as a means of spiritual realization.
(GM) Here it is edited, which is a lot easier for me to do than writing it from scratch.
Swami introduces the cast of the dramatic battle that is about to be waged, leading to a discussion of the qualifications of a disciple; here the negative qualities to be avoided—as exemplified in Duryodhana—are brought out in great detail. The motivations for taking up bhakti and a contrast between raga (love) and vidhi (law) are also discussed. Includes an overview of Bhaktivinoda Thakura's conception of Daiva-varnasrama which covers right livelihood, mystic insight, detachment, and spontaneous attraction for Krsna. Swami stresses that the vani (instructions) of the guru are more important than the vapuh (the physical form of the guru), then he moves into an insightful exposition on the significance of the word "Madhava," the first mention of Krsna within the text. Ends with an in-depth discussion of the significance of the sound of Krsna's conch and the efficacy of sound as a means of spiritual realization.
Igor - March 8, 2006 7:12 pm
Gauravani, I would like to take part in this task.
you can contact me at balgavi@fastmail.fm or balgavi@neobee.net
All glories to Guru Maharaja
Hari Bhakti - March 9, 2006 5:07 pm
Gauravani: I would love to be involved if there is more seva to go around.
Gauravani Dasa - March 11, 2006 12:40 am
Here is a simple list that I am working from.
You can sort the list by cliking on the titles. In the future it will indicate what lectures have been described, sampled and transcribed.
Also, if the listeners would like to propose a new title for their lectures, please do so. Vrndanraya also suggested this morning that the listeners can rate the lecture (1, 2 or 3 stars).
Robertnewman - April 22, 2006 6:28 pm
Is this project complete? I have not seen anything for over a week.
Gauravani Dasa - April 22, 2006 10:01 pm
Due to problems with our internet connection, I have been unable to send any MP3s. We should be back on track within a week of two.
Bhrigu - April 23, 2006 10:05 am
A question that came back to me when looking at the list of lectures: What's the difference between Contemporary Talks and Contemporary Preaching?
Gauravani Dasa - April 23, 2006 10:28 pm
My guess is that one is geared towards an audience of devotees, the other non-devotees. Based on the title of the lectures, I would say that Contemp. Preaching is towards non-devotees. Realistically it is probably all a mix.