Kurma

By the way, as well as teaching cooking here in Belgium, I gave a 5-day course from my biographical work, "The Great Transcendental Adventure". The classes were well-attended.

Here's a course description:

Kurma Dasa's 'Lessons from "The Great Transcendental Adventure - Pastimes of His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami in Australia and New Zealand"'.

While in Europe this June-July, Kurma Dasa will conduct seminars based on his highly-acclaimed 700-page book about Srila Prabhupada in Australia.

Srila Prabhupada has written:

"As the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Lord are pleasing to hear, hearing about His devotees, who are very dear to the Supreme Person, is also pleasing and potent. If one simply reads over and over again about such pastimes, one can attain the highest perfection of life in any way he desires; most importantly, he gets the chance to become a great devotee. To become a great devotee means to finish all miserable conditions of materialistic life."

The extraordinary details of the life of Srila Prabhupada are an important and absorbing subject. Not only are they enjoyable and uplifting, but they are also tangible proof of the existence of spiritual reality and love of God.

Prabhupada visited Australia six times and New Zealand three times between 1971 and 1976, staying a total of eighty days. Srila Prabhupada personally installed the three sets of Deities now worshiped in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.

In the cool early morning hours, Srila Prabhupada took a total of seventy-five morning walks at fifteen different parks, gardens and beaches around Australia and New Zealand. He gave a total of sixty-eight morning and evening classes there on Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita and Sri Caitanya Caritamrita.

Srila Prabhupada was eager to speak to whomever would hear his message. Many guests heard from Srila Prabhupada in his various rooms around the yatra. These people included a bishop, priests, reporters, monks, scientists, politicians, trade union leaders, mothers and fathers of devotees, journalists, surfers, writers, doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, students, members of the Indian community, initiated, aspirant and wayward disciples.

Srila Prabhupada spoke at twenty public speaking engagements in Australia and New Zealand, including universities, schools, TV stations, monasteries, town halls, chapels, hotels, an art gallery, Indian community halls, and theatres.

While in Australia and New Zealand Srila Prabhupada also worked on his translation and commentaries to Srimad Bahavatam, cantos 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 and Sri Caitanya Caritamrita. He completed the preface to his “Bhagavad-gita As It Is” in Sydney on May 12, 1971.

Srila Prabhupada danced at the 1974 Melbourne Ratha-yatra Festival, gave eight press conferences, presided over eleven fire yajnas and initiated over two hundred disciples in Australia and New Zealand.

Prabhupada’s personal life created an astounding and permanent impression on this Southernmost continent.

Join Kurma Dasa as he lectures on those amazing and exemplary South Seas pastimes: the establishment, nourishment and maintenance of Srila Prabhupada's International Society for Krsna Consciousness in Australia and New Zealand — the “great transcendental adventure”.

Discuss Comment [0] Trackback [0] Good Vibrations

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily
Joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,
Logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
Clinical, intellectual, cynical.

There are times when all the world's asleep,
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned,
I know it sounds absurd,
But please tell me who I am.

Now watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical,
Liberal, fanatical, criminal.
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're acceptable,
Respectable, presentable, a vegetable!

At night, when all the world's asleep,
The questions run so deep
For such a simple man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned,
I know it sounds absurd,
But please tell me who I am.

(The Logical Song, by Supertramp)

Discuss (1 response) Comment [1] Trackback [0] Who am I?

My flight to London departs Sunday noon. I'll keep you posted.

Discuss Comment [0] Trackback [0] Back to London

The students at my final cookery class in Belgium yesterday asked me what I thought about microwave ovens.

Here's a bit of information:

In a paper titled "Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking", natural health physician Dr. Joseph Mercola recently stated:

"Recent research shows that microwave oven cooked food suffers severe molecular damage. When eaten, it causes abnormal changes in human blood and immune systems. Not surprisingly the public has been denied details on these significant health dangers "

Apparently a Dr. Hans Ulrich Hertel, who is now retired, worked as a food scientist for many years with one of the major Swiss food companies that do business on a global scale. Some years ago, he was fired from his job for questioning certain processing procedures that denatured the food. In 1991, he and a Lausanne University professor published a research paper indicating that food cooked in microwave ovens could pose a greater risk to health than food cooked by conventional means.

An article also appeared in issue #19 of the Journal Franz Weber in which it was stated that the consumption of food cooked in microwave ovens had cancerous effects on the blood. The research paper itself followed the article. On the cover of the magazine there was a picture of the Grim Reaper holding a microwave oven in one of his hands.

Dr. Hertel was apparently the first scientist to conceive and carry out a quality clinical study on the effects microwaved nutrients have on the blood and physiology of the human body. His small but well controlled study showed the degenerative force produced in microwave ovens and the food processed in them.

The scientific conclusion showed that microwave cooking changed the nutrients in the food; and, changes took place in the participants' blood that could cause deterioration in the human system. Hertel's scientific study was done along with Dr. Bernard H. Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University Institute for Biochemistry.

The rest of the study is lengthy, but for those interested, I can send some more material.

Discuss Comment [0] Trackback [0] Microwave Mayhem