January 2015

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ww w . 16 ro u n d s. c o m

( previous issue's cover )

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CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP In this excerpt from the Srimad Bhagavatam (1.1.22), a group of people speak to a sage they are about to accept as their spiritual teacher.

16Rounds to Samadhi 16Rounds is published: ● To propagate spiritual knowledge and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world. ● To bring people closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler and more natural way of life. ● To expose the faults of materialism. ● To bring about the well-being of all living entities.

16Rounds is an independent magazine compiled, written, and published by a few Hare Krishna monks.

It is produced in an attempt to benefit its readers, for our own purification, and for the pleasure of our spiritual grandfather, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhakti­ vedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder and spiritual guide of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

The first copy is free. Additional copies of the same issue are $10 each. © 2014 16 Rounds to Samadhi. All rights reserved.

16Rounds Staff: Editor: Mahat Tattva Dasa In 1995, at the age of twenty, instead of opting for college, Mahat chose the monastic life and education. Since, he has taught and guided hundreds of new monks.

Layout: Bhismadeva Dasa Bhismadeva has been a monk since 2008 and is currently serving at the ashram of the Hare Krishna community in San Diego.

English editor: Matthew McManus Born and grew up in Los Angeles. Graduated from San Diego State University in 2011. Currently a monk at the ISKCON ashram in San Diego.

“We think

that we have met your goodness by the will of providence, just so that we may accept you as captain of the ship for those who desire to cross the difficult ocean of the age of Kali, which deteriorates all the good qualities of a human being.”

COMMENTARY BY SRILA PRABHUPADA:

The age of Kali is very dangerous for the human being.

Human life is simply meant for self-realization, but due to this dangerous age, people have forgotten the aim of life. In this age, the life span will gradually decrease. People will gradually lose their memory, finer sentiments, strength, and better qualities. A list of the anomalies for this age is given in the Twelfth Canto of the Srimad

Bhagavatam. And so this age is very difficult for those who want to utilize their life for self-realization. The people are so busy with sense-gratification that they completely forget about self-realization.

Out of madness they frankly say that there is no need for self-realization because they do not realize that this brief life is but a moment on our great journey towards selfrealization.

In the age of Kali, the whole system of education is geared to sense-gratification, and if a learned person thinks it over, he sees that the children of this age are being intentionally sent to the slaughterhouses of so-called education. Learned people, therefore, must be cautious of this age, and if they at all want to cross over the dangerous ocean of Kali, they should follow the footsteps of the sages and accept an authentic spiritual teacher

CONTACT: 16rounds@gmail.com www.16ROUNDS.com Call/text 858-405-5465 facebook.com/16roundstosamadhi ADVERTISE www.16rounds.com/advertise Call/text Mahat at 858-405-5465.

SUBSCRIPTIONS 10 issues = $25 www.16rounds.com/subscribe DISCLAIMER: Views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors.

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as the captain of the ship. �

MEANING OF “16ROUNDS” Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means “union” or “linking.”

Meditation is a process of yoga by which the spiritual practitioner achieves union with the Divine. The recommended process of meditation for the age we are currently living in is mantra meditation. This process involves chanting of mantras. The Upanishads, the classical spiritual texts of ancient India, say that the best mantra is the Hare Krishna mantra: hare krishna, hare krishna, krishna krishna, hare hare, hare rama, hare rama, rama rama, hare hare.

A “Mala” is a set of 108 beads strung on a thread, sort of like a rosary. The spiritual practitioner prayerfully and with great concentration recites/chants the whole mantra once for each bead of the mala. The mala or the string of beads is held in the fist of the right hand and is meant to help us count how many times we chanted the mantra. It also helps engage the sense of touch in the process of meditation.

Once we have chanted the mantra 108 times, or once for each bead, we have completed “one round.” Serious practitioners of this spiritual discipline take a vow to chant at least sixteen times round the mala every day; thus the name “16 Rounds.”

CREDITS Articles Freedom - Complete vs.

Part Freedom and Libel for Liberty - Politics of Unconsciousness and Use of Language were originally published on KRISHNA.com

Photo credits: ©1 flickr.com/kevinl8888 ©2 Theo Wargo/Getty Images ©3 flickr.com/h-k-d

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ww w . 16 ro u n d s. c o m going to touch upon a thirst that cannot be quenched by politics and economics. I'd like to introduce the most important human right that distinguishes us from the birds, the bees, and the beast.

After World War II, many nations of the world came together in the United Nations and approved the Universal declaration of human rights. The world was still traumatized by the horrors of World War II, in which 55 million people died. The consciousness at that time was "Never again! Let us make this universal declaration of human rights, and in that way clear a path forward for the progress of humanity.”

FIVE MYTHS OF HUMAN PROGRESS

There are five great myths of human progress, and they have all turned out to be suspect.

FREEDOM Complete vs. Part Freedom

By Devamrita Swami

Freedom is a

topic that resonates with all human beings. You can approach the concept from many angles: political freedom, economic freedom, intellectual freedom, religious freedom, academic freedom, artistic freedom, and so on. People are enamored by freedom of movement, freedom of assembly. Whenever you hear that something is free, you get the sense that there are no boundaries, no limitations: free elections, free markets, free love, free thinking.

Marketers tap into humans’ love of freedom and things free. You go to a store and what do you see: “by two, get the third one free." Marketers know you don't need it, but you cannot resist the temptation of getting something for free. You rationalize: “I came to the store to get one, but maybe I could stash away the other two or give them to a friend.”

My point is that there is something attractive about freedom and things that are free. Yet we need to try to broaden our understanding of the concept of freedom.

I am attracted to a statement by Nelson Mandela: “There's no such

thing as part freedom.” But “part freedom" is what our economic and political leaders have been offering the world. We need to go much deeper; we need to have a broader understanding of freedom, based not simply on materialism but on spiritual reality. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada exhorted the students, the general population, and the leaders to build their nations on the spiritual platform.

What I'm going to propose to you is that indeed; if we are going to have real progress, we need to consider the spiritual platform, then we can understand freedom in contrast to partial freedom. I'm

Myth number one: Money brings happiness. A few years ago at a university, in front of an audience of 200 students and professors, I asked:"I'm sure you're familiar with the current science of happiness– now about twenty years old. You're familiar with the research showing that beyond a middle-class level of financial attainment, any further increase in wealth will not make you any happier?" I asked for a show of hands.

About 80% were aware of the finding. Academics will quibble about details, but the general concept is accepted. So then I said, "Knowing this, and knowing your level of intelligence and potential success, how many of you are prepared to live your life at a basic middle-class standard?" No hands were raised.

So what we see is a disconnection between knowledge and lifestyle. The problem is that it's not real knowledge. Real knowledge is evidenced in our actions. If we don't demonstrate knowledge in our actions, we actually don't know.

Now myth number two: Technology brings well-being. Are our technologically complicated lives actually better in terms of freedom from anxiety, freedom from stress?

Yet we seem to have bought very deeply into the money goals, the technology goals.

And that brings us to myth number three: Weapons bring security. In some “revered” nations

of the world, at least 50% of the government revenue is spent on the military. And the taxpayers are convinced: "All this spending on the military is for the security and protection of humanity.”

Myth number four: The Earth provides virtually unlimited resources for our exploitation.

And myth number five: The Earth provides limitless room for disposal of waste after we've done our exploiting.

REPLACING THE MYTHS

These myths are being punctured these days, but what are we going to put in their places? Unless we have a deep spiritual understanding of what the self is, we will never be able to escape these material traps– economics, politics, and so on. These are necessary, but we have come to a time when the greatest concepts of material life are shaky. Even the whole idea of democracy and its emphasis on economic growth as a cherished destination is shaky.

A few weeks ago The Economist magazine ran a special report on democracy. The Economist, published in the UK and distributed around the world, is known to be the party line for many news publications around the world. Social scientists, contributing to the special report, said, “We have to be honest: democracy is in trouble."

The 20th century was the great peak for democratic motivation.

The fall of the Soviet empire, the fall of apartheid–these events and others brought exhilaration. But as we go into the 21st-century, for the past eight years, according to political studies, democracy has been receding in the world. There are two main causes for that. These causes are important to understand because many of our concepts of freedom are tied to the democratic process.

Hundreds of years ago Plato pointed out that the Achille's heel of democracy is that the people can be easily bought off with populist propos-

w w w .1 6 r o unds .c o m als that just focus on short-term gain, short-term stimulations.

What has upset the applecart? The global financial crisis - democracy could not prevent that. It could not reform the banking system.

But there is an even greater reason: China. China is showing that what is important is not freedom of expression, of speech, of thought.

What is important is growth– economic growth achieved by any means. When America was at its economic peak, for it to double the standard of living took thirty years.

China does that every ten years.

And their leaders are now quite upbeat: “What is all this talk about freedom? Where is your economic growth? Look at our example! We have a tightly controlled society run by professional managers. We decide what's good for the people.”

Go to China and you will see gleaming airports, brand new highways, super fast transport systems. People around the world are thinking:"This is what we want– the fruits of rapid economic acceleration. We can do without the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of thought, if we have the temporary stimulations that an advanced consumer society can give.”

What can we say to that, if the goal is rapid economic acceleration? If that is what will satisfy the human being, then let us do whatever is necessary to get that. If prosperity is more important than freedom, then we should restructure our political economies.

The Chinese are saying that this is the way. “What is the use of your democratic systems?" Their leaders openly say, "You elect incompetent leaders; you elect sweet talkers. Look at us! We assemble the brightest, most competent people, and we tightly control society. Look what we are able to provide the people. Look at our standard of living and how rapidly it increases!”

THE NEED FOR PRECISE SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE

I point this out because what we're seeing is a misguided, mistaken understanding of what is best for the human being. Forgetting our nonmaterial identity, we're struggling to seek fulfillment through matter. Sentimentally, we may talk about our spirituality, our spiritual self, but where is the precise, scientific knowledge of the spirit soul?

In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna presented as the supreme source, the Absolute Truth, the ultimate reality - says that as long as we think we are matter, as long as we have no precise understanding of our spiritual identity, we must be subject to illusion. Our efforts for progress must be thwarted because we actually don’t know that our number one priority is enlightenment.

Yes, we must take care of our material needs, and certainly there has been great injustice in the distribution of economic prosperity in the political sphere. While taking care of those external priorities, we have forgotten how powerful our spirit soul is, and we have forgotten our connection to the Supreme Soul. Unless we have a class of leaders who can uplift the people with spiritual knowledge, we will always see society declining, despite so many revolutions, so many restructurings of the political economy.

We will see that actually not much changes. There seems to be a potential for change, a great hope, and yes, in terms of the externals, there is adjustment. But then, again and again, the people become disappointed.

Often political change means the ins become the outs and the outs become

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the ins. Is there a way we can focus on the real needs of the human being?

BEYOND THE MATERIAL

The culmination of the different levels of spiritual realization is known as ananda-maya. It is the crown of human achievement: relishing the love supreme, the relationship between the individual soul and the Supreme Soul, of which the individual soul is part.

In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna explains that this relationship will satisfy your core being. No amount of material adjustment, of material construction, deconstruction, reconstruction, will satisfy you or society, because our real problem is disconnection from the Supreme Absolute Truth, disconnection from God.

When we say Krishna, we are referring to God. The precise meaning of the word Krishna is "the unlimited, all-attractive source of pleasure." In the Bhagavad-gita he claims that all living entities, no matter what species, are all his parts, his children. Yet we have become distracted by existence in the material world and have forgotten our purpose in life: how to be truly free.

I was reading about Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela spent eighteen of his 27 years in prison), and I noted the prison system in the apartheid days. According to your perceived ethnicity— white, Indian, mixed, or African —you would receive a certain standard of food. Moreover, based on periodic evaluations of your tractability, you would be designated as a class D prisoner, class C prisoner, class B, or class A. What would you do in those circumstances? Would you try to improve the prison conditions? Of course, and those political prisoners, those anti-apartheid fighters, certainly acted in such a way that their privileges within the prison would increase. But, while focusing on the struggle within the prison, they always kept their vision on the struggle without.

And this is what the ancient Vedic texts advise us - how to live in this temporary world of matter. We are spirits souls entrapped in temporary material bodies in a temporary material world. Yes, we should live comfortably; we should live with justice and dignity. But at the same time, we should know that the real freedom is not on the ma-

THERE IS SOMETHING ATTRACTIVE ABOUT FREEDOM AND THINGS THAT ARE FREE. terial plane. Real freedom is in the spiritual reality. Until we can act on that, we will always be frustrated.

I am reminded of another statement by Nelson Mandela: "Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished."

How good is the human being? We need transcendental knowledge to inform us, knowledge beyond matter; then we can understand the true potential, the true goodness of the human being. Then we can truly understand that plane, which is hidden, because after all, by material methods we cannot see our spiritual identity, and therefore we forget all about it. We are then easily manipulated by external material desires.

People need to be educated in spiritual knowledge. I am not talking about religious belief. Regardless of whatever religion you may identify with, what is the nature of the self? Am I material or spiritual?

And what is the ultimate reality I am part of? This knowledge is essential. If the people get this kind of knowledge, they will not be so manipulated by temporary promises

of economic acceleration, which will not satisfy them anyway.

THREE E’S

Three E’s are troubling humanity today: environment, energy, and economics. Problems on these fronts are eluding solution. You see, no amount of material gain will contribute to your deep and crucial satisfaction. There are not enough resources in the world to fulfill the ever-increasing material desires of the people nor is there enough space for disposing the waste. Just this fact alone should tell us we need to adopt a different approach. It is not just a good idea– it is absolutely necessary.

My request is that you all consider how to go another route. Yes, we need to correct corruption and faulty political and economic systems. But while we are trying to survive in the “prison,” let us not forget what full freedom is: freedom of the spirit self in relationship to the Supreme Self. This is the knowledge Krishna gives. It is this

Cont'd on pg. 7 ›››

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MOM, SPIRITUAL ECONOMICS, AND BHAKTI YOGA

You Have Got To Love Your Mom Enough To Change the World

By Seth W. Spellman, Ph.D. (Sesa Dasa)

You are

standing outside a burning building. The flames and smoke are getting denser, but there is still one way to enter the building. Trapped inside it are the following: 1) Your beloved mother.

2) A Nobel-prize-winning scientist that is close to discovering a cure for cancer.

3) A highly intelligent ape that may unlock the secrets of the missing link.

You only have time to save one being, and each is equally distant from where you are standing.

Given that you could save any one of them, which one would you choose, and why?

I use this ethical dilemma found in Understanding Ethics by David Ingram and Jennifer Parks in my introductory ethics course. My students love it.

What to do? Save your mother?

Of course, save your mother. So, what’s the dilemma? Well… not all ethical theories conclude that your choice to save Mom is the most ethical. Indeed, at least one dominant theory of ethics, the utilitarian approach to moral decision-making, which focuses on the consequences of your act, reasons that the most ethical thing to do would

be to make an impartial choice that considers the greatest good for the greatest number. Meaning that choice 2, or even choice 3, may be more ethical than saving Mom. Huh...!?

Fortunately, there are more ways than this to ethical choices.

The Ethic of Care is a different approach that starts with the importance of relationships, and goes as far as saying that it would be unethical not to save mom. Unfortunately, the utilitarian approach has been around a lot longer and thus has skewed many aspects of our lives.

Take economics, for example.

The economic choices we face are often very similar to the choice of who to save from the burning building. When we begin with the idea of a cost/benefits or bottom line/consequence analysis we often end up with dicey results.

Alfredo Sfeir-Younis Ph.D., Senior Adviser to the Managing Directors Office, The World Bank, and advocate of the new discipline, Spiritual Economics, gives these examples of bottom line economics gone wrong. “Simply focus on poverty, environmental degradation, discrimination of all sorts, and so many other negative results of the so-called economic progress.”

Interestingly Dr. Sfeir-Younis

notes, “the founders of economic thinking have not begun as economists, in the way we understand the profession today. Many of them were philosophers, moralists, ethicists, priests, etc.” In other words, these are the same guys who would have us sacrifice Mom in pursuance of what has proved to be an all too elusive greater good.

There’s got to be a better way.

important, the intrinsic value, direction and identity of human life (like solidarity, caring, sharing) are given by, and are in the nature of, the 'being'.”

He talks about the need to realize “that many of the states of human welfare we are all seeking belong to our non-material existence.

And, that attaining our own goals in life - material and non-material, individual or collective - depend mainly on our process of 'self realization'.”

Dr. Sfeir-Younis claims that Spiritual Economics is that better way, in a manner similar to how the Ethic of Care is an alternative to utilitarianism.

“At the center stage of the debate of what economics should be all about there is a fundamental fact we must not forget; i.e., that we, human beings, are living on this planet not just in the pursuit of material welfare. And, therefore, 'material welfare' is only one aspect of 'human welfare'.” He asks and answers, “whether we would be able to formulate economic policies and programs that are essentially void of, or indifferent with regard to, the spiritual dimensions of people's lives. In my view, the answer is a flat ‘No’.”

I agree, but that’s easy to say.

A harder question is figuring out what Spiritual Economics actually look like. By definition it seems that “material welfare” is external and thus activity based on this concept should be fundamentally different from activities based on “human welfare” that address the internal spiritual needs of society.

But, as I look around I see that many spiritual traditions are rife with external consequence-based approaches to spirituality that don’t seem to address the inner spirituality, even the Vedas.

Consider this perspective on the Vedas offered by Professor Kedar Nath Tiwari in his work, Classical Indian Ethical Thought, “The Vedas in general seem to give us an

And, he notes that, “nothing will change if we do not change from within. Inner change is the root of all change.”

But unfortunately, his ideas remain vague.

ethic of overt duties rather than inner virtues, an ethics of doing rather than of being, and all duties are clearly directed towards worldly ends, such as, health, length of life, offspring etc. Thus, on a whole, the Vedic view of morality seems to be externalistic, and it has little scope for the consideration of inner motive or intention of the doer for judging his act to be right or wrong.”

My question remains, how is Spiritual Economics supposed to fundamentally shift our economic outlook on life when the goal of economic activity remains the same, i.e. “material welfare?” Simply by spiritualizing our endeavors (whatever that means)? I don’t think so.

Dr. Sfeir-Younis has some good ideas. He talks about the ‘human being,’ “Too much attention has been paid to the 'human doing', the 'human having' and the 'human knowing' and much less to the 'human being'. While 'having', 'doing' and 'knowing' are extremely

Fortunately, Srila Prabhupada’s explanation of the principles of Bhakti-yoga give practical shape to both Dr. Sfeir-Younis’s ideas and Spiritual Economics and offer an effective way to make the internal changes essential to a new approach to economics. His solution is plain living and high thinking.

Srila Prabhupada differentiates between the real and artificial needs of society.

“Human civilization is meant for purifying the senses, and objects of sense satisfaction should be supplied as much as absolutely required, but not for aggravating artificial sensory needs. Food, shelter, defense, and sense gratification are all needs in material existence.

Otherwise, in his pure, uncontaminated state of original life, the living entity has no such needs. The needs are therefore artificial, and in the pure state of life there are no such needs. As such, increasing the artificial needs, as is the standard of material civilization, or advancing the economic development of human society, is a sort of engagement in darkness, without knowledge.”

Srila Prabhupada also describes the method of internal purification,

w w w .1 6 r o unds .c o m which should be the aim of civilization.

“Human energy is primarily meant for purifying the senses in order to engage them in satisfying the senses of the Supreme.

The Supreme, being the supreme possessor of spiritual senses, is the master of the senses God is not the servant of the senses, or, in other words, He is not directed by the dictation of the senses, but the conditioned souls or the individual living entities are servants of the senses. They are conducted by the direction or dictation of the senses, and therefore material civilization is a kind of engagement in sense gratification only. The standard of human civilization should be to cure the disease of sense gratification, and one can do this simply by becoming an agent for satisfying the spiritual senses of the Lord (Srimad Bhagavatam 2.5.30, commentary).”

In my opinion, it’s all about relationships. If you don’t love your mom enough to save her, your acts aren’t going to be motivated enough to change the world. And, if you don’t develop your relationship with the Supreme Lord, then you won’t have the means to change the world, as your change will remain a material one. �

PERPETRATORS OF HISTORY

Cont'd from pg. 8 the religion? And if not, how is one to know that he/she is not being subject to the same cheating that I described earlier?

UNDERSTANDING DISCIPLIC SUCCESSION

One can easily misrepresent an entire tradition and create entire movements from an initial deception, whereby followers blindly accept that initial deception as divine intervention. Thus the contamination of misinformation is created, spewing out self-perpetuating generations of teachers and students that are taught to believe a lie.

For example, in the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer, creates a religion in 1954 after having a lackluster writing career. He quotes, “writing for a penny is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.” He shortly after establishes the Church of Scientology. Today Scientology has thousands of followers and is a multi-million dollar organization.

In conclusion and summary, a legitimate disciplic succession is necessary to preserve the original teachings of a religion. This is actually the perfection of deductive reasoning, not based on our imperfect senses, or limited intelligence. What is a disciplic succession? A disciplic succession is a line of teachers or gurus that preserves and carries the original message of

God. If there is an uninterrupted link of spiritual masters and disciples (genuine saintly persons, not persons of doubtful character) coming down from the spiritual realm, then there is very little chance for corruption. In this day and age, corruption is all too prevalent and contagious. Furthermore, one should test through analysis and critical study, as I mentioned earlier, the character of the people that make up the chain to see if they are indeed trustworthy. Seek truth sincerely and without compromise. �

FREEDOM

Cont'd from pg. 5 knowledge Bhaktivedanta Swami came to give: build your nation on the spiritual platform. Amidst all your economic and political endeavors, don't forget the real you– the spirit soul – and your relationship to the Supreme Soul.

Don't succumb to the global, materialistic mantra. I was in China last year, and I explained to my audience of psychologists that China has a mantra, the same mantra that has shackled the whole world: “Work, buy, consume, die.” This is the tragedy. And if our leaders cannot offer anything higher than this as the main goal, the main lifestyle of the human being, there will be no solution to the problems of today.

I appeal to you all to please consider another route. Yes, live comfortably. Yes, take care of your body and mind. But understand

that such endeavors are external; they're not the main goal of life. We want the full freedom, not the part freedom. Full freedom can happen only on the spiritual platform. �

LIBEL FOR LIBERTY

Cont'd from pg. 13 allows us to erect factories of death for animals lay the groundwork for our treating humans in the same way.

The idea that life is the property of souls is derisively referred to by mechanistic thinkers as “vitalism” or “animism.” They assert that there is no evidence for souls. Yet it has been a singular failure of materialistic science to demonstrate how out of a world composed of nothing but matter something arises that experiences matter. Moreover, the ability to apprehend souls is not possessed by everyone—it is not, in particular, possessed by those who have become unconscious because of their exploitative mentality. A society whose ideal is to reduce everything to exploitable objects will not produce many people conscious enough to see what is living and personal. That society will advance only into the increasing obscurity of unconsciousness and impersonality.

Yet it is possible to counteract this corruption of our experience, this brutalization of consciousness that annihilates our ability to enter into personal relations and condemns us to an absurd, insipid existence in a lifeless, soulless world.

We do not have to be victims of the politics of unconsciousness.

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According to the Bhagavad-gita, the desire to control and enjoy others is not natural in us. Desire itself is the symptom of life; desire is natural, but in its original state that desire is manifest as unrestricted love for God, Krsna, the Supreme Person—and through Him, for all other persons that come from Him and are part of Him. Only in our unconscious state have we forgotten the real object of our love and allowed our love to be transformed into lust, into the desire to exploit others for our selfish purposes.

This transformation can be reversed.

The practical method that reconverts lust into love, unconsciousness into consciousness, is called bhakti- yoga. This yoga redirects the use of the senses from dominating and enjoying others to serving Krsna, who is the natural master of the senses. In the course of that devotional service, all the potentialities of the soul become manifest. We experience the true pleasure of full consciousness, of life without limitation or qualification. This advancement into complete consciousness and unimpeded personal relations is the aim of human life.

Even though consciousness is a live option, the future for human society still looks bleak. The acceptance of abortion is a great victory for the politics of unconsciousness.

Still, unlike the millions of innocent children it has ruthlessly destroyed, we do not have to become its hapless victims. We do not have to succumb to this monstrous negation of life. We can still accept the invitation of Krishna and rejoin the world of the living. �

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PERPETRATORS OF HISTORY Finding Truth beneath Fiction

no innocence? Therefore, to lose these principle elements is to lose identity and purpose; it is to literally and figuratively transform into something else. Because these transformations are possible, it is testament to the limitless varieties that reality holds and to the limited scope of language and ideology of the small-brained human.

When one takes advantage of a perception or idea in order to manipulate others, posing as something that he is not, then deception surely arises, not in reality, but in the minds of confused people who think that which is real to be unreal and that which is false to be truth. Failing to see everything in its proper perspective, proselytizers of ignorance further bewilder themselves and their naive cohorts.

In every situation one is subject to circumstances beyond our limited control but what ends one is trying to achieve makes all the difference in how those circumstances are perpetuated. Therefore one should be very attentive to the message and the motives of the messenger.

By Mathew McManus (Madhava Puri Dasa)

The

pursuance of truth, either subjective or objective truth, is very attractive for people in general. But how does one know what to accept and reject as objective truth? One form of deductive evidence in determining if something is credible to accept, is to analyze its history. By scrupulously studying the events of the past, which shaped what we know today, one can have a more comprehensive understanding of that which one is examining. With such understanding one can discern how and why something has changed or remained consistent and pinpoint times in history when that may have occurred. In the field of epistemology, this investigation is the fundamental principle upon which faith in knowledge rests and dogma is cast aside.

Religion is a subject that is often-

times barred from critical analysis.

It is skirted around as inviolable to scientific inquiries, relegated to the infamous land of blind faith and blind acceptance. You are taught to accept a religion because that is the way of ‘truth;’ for those who reject it, they are labeled as fools to the believers; whereas, the nonbelievers, may label religious sectarians as dogmatic, ignorant and/or brainwashed. Materialism and selfinterest becomes veiled by religious or non-religious fervor. In the midst of the polemical chaos, very few will put aside their bias and emotions to scientifically search out answers. Which answers? To find truth; and that is the common ground - truth and reality - upon which both factions can peacefully coexist.

Reality and truth, synonymous with each other, are reserved for those who are intelligent. To try to approach reality requires insight and a multifaceted, balanced approach because these are the characteristics of reality itself. It is nev-

er so rigid or narrowly interpreted.

However, to attempt to deceiver reality by use of one’s intelligence alone is to handicap oneself from seeing reality on its own terms, not just from our severely limited perspective. There needs to be a qualified teacher whom we trust to impart accurate information and practical realization, if we hope to approach reality as it is.

PEARLS AND THE SWINE

We often hear the expression that ‘I had good intentions’ as a precursor to some anomaly. The same dynamic can be said on a grandiose scale; for example, social reformations, grassroots efforts, acts of philanthropy, etc. Certain standards, principles, and activities that are not compromised are what actually define and distinguish it. For example, would you recognize that person as a friend who only wished ill of you? Would you identify a bank as a place that has no money, a library as having no books, a small child as having

Let’s take a polemical situation to serve as credence of this dynamic that I have discussed. Following the September 11 attacks, the then President of the United States, George Bush, made a press conference calling for revenge on the attackers. He claimed justice, liberty, and war on terrorism. That sounds like an idyllic message; however, the “terrorist” attacks would serve as impetus for american terror overseas; ‘terror’ would be used as a buzz word excuse for seizing more power; the result of a tragedy bringing a much more tragic result because of his hidden agenda.

CHARACTER SHAPES HISTORY

It is a historical fact that those who are the leaders, and the winners of war will shape the historical record and promote their own accounts over those of whom they conquered. Many historical accounts are no longer available because they fell into the hands of the opposing party. That is one way of subjugating and colonizing a newly acquired culture; by erasing their ties to the past, they are also erasing their sense of cultural identity and thus are more amiable to assimilating to the culture of the conquering people. One example of this is the Western ideol-

ogy that links modern historical records back to ancient Greece but fails to account for Asiatic historical accounts which greatly predate Greece. The Western ego wants all credit for culture, art, engineering, etc. However, if one were to do a careful study of the history of India, one would find these advances in humanity to have originated from the Indian motherland.

It is curious that one cannot get an accurate account of history unless the source is a trustworthy one, but this consideration is rarely mentioned by mainstream information outlets. We oftentimes assume that if it is coming from authority, it must be true and credible. However, it is most significant to note that a person’s character, not his badge, is a critical component of getting accurate information. Would you be more inclined to accept the words of a criminal or a saint? I hope I am invoking your credulity, that we should not be so apt to trust someone simply because they carry some authority.

That alone is not enough nor will it bring satisfaction on any level.

CHRIST AND THE CHRISTIAN

The history of Christianity is a long series of cases of misplaced trust in religious authority. When analyzing the rich history of Christianity, one finds many anomalies of philosophy and practice when compared to Jesus’ teachings, as they are described in the New Testament.

Fast forward to the present, and what new policies will be set forward in the coming years that will mark yet another precedent in what it means to be Christian?

How will Christians know these changes are in line with what Jesus wanted for his followers? Ironically, there are many denominations of Christianity (Lutheranism, Protestantism, Catholicism, etc.) that each claim dominion over the original teachings of Jesus.

How do I handle the rapidly changing society while preserving the original teachings of the religion? This an heir apparent problem that many religious leaders are confronted with. Are the religious leaders expected to have had divine revelations prior to their decisions that affect the policies of

Cont'd on pg. 7 ›››

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LIBEL FOR LIBERTY? Politics of Unconsciousness & Use of Language

By William H. Deadwyler, Ph.D. (Ravindra-svarupa Dasa)

In

“Politics and the English Language,” an essay published in 1946, George Orwell showed how political writing and speech, which, he said, are “largely the defense of the indefensible,” corrupt language through wordiness, hackneyed expressions, vagueness, ambiguity, and euphemisms. The intent of the writer or speaker, Orwell said, is to conceal what he is actually saying—even from himself. For example: “Defense-less villages are bombarded

from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up

mental pictures of them.”

Orwell’s essay has become famous, but that did not inhibit American officials from using these very euphemisms during the Vietnam War.

More recently, the American public was given a dramatization of Orwell’s lesson in the widelyviewed television show Holocaust.

A leading character in the story was one Eric Dorf, a bright young lawyer who rose to prominence in the S.S. chiefly because of his talent for manufacturing euphemisms.

Dorf named the ghettos in which

Jews were confined “Autonomous Jewish Territories;” the removal of Jews to death camps he called “resettlement” and “relocation;” the murder of Jews en masse he named “special handling.” Thus Dorf provided the S.S. a way to talk about their activities without making themselves and their listeners unduly conscious of what they were actually doing.

“Political language,” wrote Orwell, “is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.” But neither Orwell’s essay nor the popularization of his

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lesson in Holocaust seems to have deterred people from using political language. It continues to fulfill a great need. One particular contemporary American instance is very revealing.

The political issue here is abortion. But abortion is an ugly and brutal word because what it names is ugly and brutal. A billboard advertising ABORTION in yard-high letters would shock our sensibilities. But we are not made needlessly conscious of the service offered when we read PREGNANCY TERMINATION. Here is political language at its finest. A clumsy cluster of polysyllables is substituted for a short, direct word. The new expression slyly sidesteps the fact that a life is ended by suggesting only that a pregnancy is. The phrase, to use Orwell’s words, “falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up all the details.”

Moreover, when the mother comes to have her pregnancy terminated—that is, her fetus aborted—she never hears that anything so crude and offensive as the killing of a child will take place. Rather, she hears that the tissue will be removed, an expression that puts the operation comfortably on the level of the cutting out of an ingrown toenail or the lifting off of a wart.

Obviously some anonymous Eric Dorf has been diligently at work, doing a necessary service.

The very fact that proabortionists take refuge in political language is itself a strong argument against their case. There would be no need for euphemism if there were nothing to hide. The transparency of the deception only shows how desperate people are to become unconscious of their acts. Although at heart they recognize the self-deception, they carry on the ruse, for the clarity of consciousness would be unbearable.

“Depersonalization is neccessary for us to dominate and enjoy others.”

Orwell saw that when language is corrupted, thought is corrupted, consciousness is corrupted— people are corrupted. To improve language is to improve human beings. Yet the appearance of political language among abortion advocates especially shows how difficult the problem is. For most, proabortionists are liberals and, as such, claim to be sensitive to the kind of language needed for the to-

Cont'd on pg. 12 ›››

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T

he intent of the writer or speaker, Orwell said, is to conceal what he is actually saying—even from himself. For example: “Defense-less villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them.�

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LIBEL FOR LIBERTY

Cont'd from pg. 9 talitarian bureaucratization of evil.

They, above all, listened to Orwell.

Yet they are sadly susceptible to the same corruption. Pregnancy termination and removal of the tissue must be added to pacification, elimination of unreliable elements, and special handling as part of the particular contribution of our time to the corruption of human life.

I suspect, however, that an advocate of abortion would charge that my case is question-begging and assert that I must deal with tissues more substantive than language. Pregnancy termination and removal of the tissue, the proabortionist might say, are somewhat

euphemistic, but they are more than that. The mother seeking an abortion has made a difficult choice, and much of her difficulty is due to her conditioning by a specious outlook that regards the fetus as a person and its destruction as homicide. This view is based on the unscientific idea that the fetus is a person by virtue of a “soul.”

Calling the fetus “tissue” only emphasizes that tissue is all the fetus, in fact, is, and tissue is all that is destroyed. My argument presupposes that the fetus is a person, but that assumption is precisely what is in question.

Here, then, abortion is justified by a view of the world that (appealing to the authority of science) sees everything in existence, human beings included, as arising out of ultimately accidental combinations of

blind and lifeless matter. Everyone is familiar with this position. As a justification for abortion, however, it has problems. According to this view, a fertilized ovum becomes a human being through a gradually increasing complexity in organic structure. Yet the point in this process at which the entity is complex enough to be called “human” is acknowledged to be arbitrary. Any number of different criteria can be picked for any number of reasons.

Granting the principle that reduces human beings to complexities of matter, a strong case has been made that a child becomes human only well after birth—for example, when it has developed the neural connections associated with language. The point is that we decide, arbitrarily, whether or not we want to recognize some being as human.

After all, the same reductionistic philosophy that decrees a fetus to be tissue also decrees you and I to be tissue. We are, all of us, nothing but tissue. But because we have chosen to kill the unborn child, we now make a point of calling it “tissue.” If we chose to kill others, we could classify them as “tissue” also.

Are the mentally retarded “tissue?"

Are the old and infirm “tissue”? Of course they are, and if we decide that it is too expensive and bothersome to take care of them (or, in political language, that it involves “too high a social cost”), we will start calling them “tissue” and beg for their “termination.”

We are back to language. It makes it easier for us to kill people if we don’t think of them as such.

By word magic, we make them less than human: “scum,” “gooks,”

“pigs,” and, in this case, “tissue.”

That we have a philosophical justification for this procedure only makes it worse. Certain Eric Dorf’s language was based on the philosophy that Jews were not human and killing them not murder—but only “special handling,” like disposing of unwanted warehouse stock.

The linguistic issue and the substantial issue really come to the same point: depersonalization.

Historically, depersonalization began with nature. Before nature could be conquered and exploited, it had to be depersonalized. As long as nature was thought to be controlled by personal forces, one had to placate and satisfy them through propitiation and sacrifice.

The powers were stronger than men and easily offended; one had to be careful and subservient; at

w w w .1 6 r o unds .c o m best, control was indirect and precarious. But the mechanistic view the world as nothing but structures of dead matter shoved about by unvarying impersonal forces, which made possible the innovation of technology for the direct human domination and control over nature.

This depersonalization, however, has already begun with Christianity, which banished the pagan gods and the myriad local spirits of woods and streams and mountains. Christianity recognized a single transcendent Deity entirely separate from His creation. Thus nature lost both its personal and its sacred character. In fact, with Christianity, the nonhuman part of creation became something of an anomaly; it had no significance in itself but was merely the backdrop for the central human drama of redemption. Humans alone had immortal souls, and all the excess of furious and intricate life that otherwise fills the world was an unintelligible addendum, meaningful only when it serve some human end. The world, thus depersonalized and desacralized, could now be regarded entirely as a thing, as an object for detached study and the mechanical manipulations of an impersonal, science.

There was some success in this endeavor, and naturally the question arose: why should humanity itself be unique, categorically different from the rest of creation?

If laws are universal and nature a unity, why shouldn’t human beings be subject to the same categories of explanation that cover everything else? And as for God—God was already seen as essentially disconnected from the creation,

so transcendent that we can properly form no positive idea of Him at all, and the vision of the world as a field of impersonal forces operating according to unchangeable laws made Him even more remote and finally irrelevant. God went into eclipse, and humanity was no longer unique.

That human life itself is now becoming more and more impersonal and machines are simplythe latest stage in this historical development. We depersonalized nature; we depersonalized God; now we are busy depersonalizing ourselves. The domination of the mechanistic and reductionistic view of the world in our culture insures that the process will continue. Although people continually complain about being treated as things, these same people fully accept a view of the world that makes them into things. This is why the nightmare vision of society turned into a numbered, robotized collective, enslaved to mindless routines by an inscrutable bureaucracy or a remote, omnipotent leader haunts us with such persistent force. It is genuinely prophetic, for the future is already in us. We have accepted all the conditions for it, and now we fearfully await the manifestation.

The establishment of abortion brings the nightmare closer to reality. We may fear the growing depersonalization of life, but to justify the killing of an unborn child because it is nothing but tissue is to advance that depersonalization one terrifying step further.

Depersonalization means the deadening of life, the transformation of what is vital into something

inert and mechanical. It signifies a loss of consciousness. This is important to realize, because it brings to light the fact that no one can depersonalize others without at the same time depersonalizing himself. The people who make an unborn child less than human; thereby, make themselves less than human, and they unwittingly reveal this by adopting language that is designed to foster unconsciousness. Orwell himself particularly observed that a speaker of political language is more like a “dummy” than a live human being: he “has gone some distance toward turning himself into a machine” and entered into “a reduced state of consciousness.” Reduction of consciousness precisely defines the regression of the human race.

Progressive human life means a continual struggle against unconsciousness. The enhancement of consciousness is the triumph of life over death, of spirit over matter.

Depersonalization or unconsciousness, threatens everything of value human life can achieve. Yet we have for some time already been reduced in consciousness. The depersonalization of God and of nature were significant steps toward our own depersonalization; seeing God and nature as insentient is a function of our own reduced sentience.

Before we can do anything about depersonalization, we have to understand its cause. Depersonalization is necessary for us to dominate and enjoy others. When I, a conscious subject, recognize another as a conscious subject like myself, the kinds of relationships we have are what we call personal, based on a mutual re-

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spect for each other’s subjectivity.

If, however, I set out to dominate another in order to use that person as an instrument for my own enjoyment, then I change him or her into an object, a mere means.

The person becomes merely a tool to be manipulated and controlled. I do not consider that the other has significance for himself, and thus I lose the consciousness of the other as a person. For example, a factory owner interested only in profit will not really consider his employees to be humans. As such, they are merely tools of labor, factors in an economic equation, usable commodities. In a similar way, women are exploited by men when men regard them only as objects for enjoyment, mere instruments. The exploiter of workers or of women depersonalizes them, but in the process he has depersonalized himself, for he has become unconscious. Thus incapacitated, he is unable to experience personal relations and has emptied his own life of significance.

damental kind of human reformation. This may seem radical but it should not be surprising. We have seen how the steady encroachment of depersonalization and unconsciousness into our lives— exemplified in our acceptance of abortion—is a function of a longestablished, fundamental view of the world. Constitutional amendments, legislation, and similar superficial measures are not going to change that. Rather, the impersonal, mechanistic view of the world must be abandoned. But that will happen only if we can become free from the desire to make others instruments to our own enjoyment.

For this reason, we must accept the hard but unavoidable conclusion that depersonalization and unconsciousness can be eliminated only by eliminating the desire to enjoy others. Since this desire is so deeply rooted, its eradication would seem to require a very fun-

A conscious person will not kill even animals (much less very young humans) for his pleasure or convenience. Certainly the unconsciousness and brutality that

Thus, the drive to satisfy human appetites causes depersonalization and unconsciousness. All human relations in which this drive is a factor, are to that extent corrupted, and the would-be enjoyer, his consciousness diminished, becomes deprived of the only real source of happiness: genuinely personal relations, which alone enhance consciousness and life itself.

The vision of the world that is fully personal, that sees both God and all fellow living beings as irreducibly conscious and personal, is taught by Lord Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita and elaborated further in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. According to this view, not just humans— and human fetuses—are souls: all living beings are souls. The soul is a minute but eternal spiritual entity with consciousness as its essential characteristic. Souls animate bodies of matter; they are the living force. Thus, there is no living creature without significance for itself.

A person who has become fully conscious by following the directions of the Bhagavad-gita sees this, and he will not exploit any creature for his enjoyment. His love is unrestricted and unimpeded.

Cont'd on pg. 7 ›››

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ROBOCOPS PATROL SILLICON VALLEY

Progress in Technological Development and Regress in Humanity

By Mate Radovcic (Mahat Tattva Dasa)

I was born in

1975. As a child and through my teens I was exposed to a fair number of artistic expressions of a fear that many humans have, the fear of the machine-takeover. Novels, prose, theater, movies were a few of such media.

IT WAS OK IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING “BETTER”

I remember the times when the phones were corded and had round dial pads. To dial a number you had to push your finger into a corresponding hole and then turn the dial. Dialing a long number, like when calling out of the country, took a while. If the connection dropped, which was not completely unusual, and you had to dial the whole lengthy number again, you

would find yourself cursing. No! We would not curse. We did not know of any better system and were thus happy with what we had. We were happy that we did not have to drive to the other side of the planet just to talk to a relative in a foreign land.

Our expectations were not inflated and so we were simply happy with what we had.

PROGRESS AND REGRESS

Comparing then and now, I see simultaneous progress and regress. I see the progress in technological development and regress in humanity. Machines seem to be getting more and more sophisticated and seem to be gradually replacing humans. We seem to have increasingly pronounced relationships with instruments, gadgets, machines, electronic devices, etc. than with people, animals, trees,

w w w .1 6 r o unds .c o m t Figh E! s t o Rob JUSTIC ror

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Da Costa. Violation of penal code 2219, today at bus stop 34B. Max: Yes. That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, I believe there’s been a misunderstanding.

Parole officer: Immediate extension of parol by further eight months.

Max: What!? No, no, no, no…I can explain what happened. I just made a joke and…

Parole officer: Stop talking. Police officers detected antisocial behavior. We regrettably must extend parol. (Short pause.) Elevation in heart rate detected. Would you like a pill?

Max: No. Thank you. What I’d like to do is explain…

THE BEST APPROACH IS TO LOOK THE BEAST DIRECTLY IN THE EYE. live stuff. It almost seems that machines are replacing humans. (Machines are definitely taking over jobs that humans used to have.)

Our relationships are progressively involving more machines than humans. Consider social media which is there to connect humans (besides the fact that their creators are primarily seeking monetary gains), but somehow or other the machine gets inserted in between, to the point that we are having more of a relationship with the machine than with another human being. Human beings almost seem to be excuses for our relationship with the machines, namely our computers, cellphones, tablets, etc.

Who on Facebook posts pictures of themselves exactly as they look?!

We all want to show ourselves in

the best possible light. So when we are socializing on the internet, we are not socializing with people exactly as they are. We are socializing with imaginary people who merely resemble the real people. In this way a machine inserted itself between two humans and so humans seem to be socializing with machines rather than humans.

ELYSIUM

Elysium is a 2013 science fiction thriller film starring Matt Damon who plays the role of Max. The following two scenes communicate a human fear of machines. Machines are stupid and rigid. They lack complexity, compassion, and are merely programed to limitedly respond and react to complex and often emotionally charged circum-

stances. They are impersonal.

Scene 1:

Max is going to work and is waiting in the line at a bus stop to board the bus. Two police officers, both robots, are scanning people in the line. When they reach Max, who is on parole, they stop.

Max: Good morning officer.

Robocop: Extensive criminal history. Multiple felonies. What’s in the bag? (Robot is referring to Max’s backpack.)

Max: Hair products, mostly. (Max is obviously joking because he is bald, he has no hair.)

Robocops start to aggressively close in on Max and grab for the backpack.

Max: I am just messing with you.

Hey! Hey! I am just going to work, man. There is nothing in the darn bag. Come on.

Robocops (while pulling max out of the queue): Misdemeanor.

Citizen disobedience.

Max: I am just going to work, man. Come on.

Robocops now hit Max’s arm with a baton, injuring it. They inspect Max’s backpack and issue him a citation for misdemeanor due to disobedience.

Scene 2:

Max is now at the office of his parole officer, a robot.

Max: Hello. Before we start, I would just like to explain that…

Parole officer (a robot): Max

Parole officer: Stop talking. Personality matrix suggests 78.3% chance or aggression to all behavior patterns. Grand theft auto, assault with deadly weapon, resisting arrest. Would you like to talk to a human?

Max: (Imitating the voice of the robot) No. I am OK. Thank you.

Parole officer: Are you being sarcastic and or abusive?

Max: (Still imitating the voice of the robot) Negative.

Parole officer: It is a federal offense to abuse a parole officer.

Max: Understood.

FIRST ROBOCOPS

And now we have, in the Bay Area, the first robots to replace police officers. Yep, machines are starting to police humans in Silicon

Cont'd on pg. 17 ›››

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ww w . 16 ro u n d s. c o m items and services is an excellent use of your energy.

I also think that just focusing on making money and buying stupid things is a good way of life.

I believe materialism gets a bad rap. It is not about the amount of money. Nothing is better than a VW Beatle, or a pair of regular Levis. If your things don’t make you happy, you are not getting the right things. This will all be in my new book, Soulful Materialism, which is in the planning stages at this moment.

ON ADVERTISING

I Love Advertising Because I Love Lying

By Mate Radovcic (Mahat Tattva Dasa)

At the 2014 Clio awards in New York, Jerry Seinfeld, the famous comedian, receiving an honorary reward for his work in the advertising industry, critiqued and mocked the dishonesty and illusion upon which the industry rests. Here is a good portion of his speech transcribed.

I love

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advertising because I love lying. In advertising everything is the way you wish it was. I don’t care that it will not be like that when I actually get the product being advertised, because in between seeing the commercial and owning the thing, I am happy, and that’s all I want. Tell me how great the thing is going to be. I love it. I don’t need to be happy all the time. I just want to enjoy the commercial. We know that the product is going to stink. We know that because we live in the world and we know that everything stinks. We all believe, “Hey, maybe this one won’t stink.” We are a hopeful species.

Stupid, but hopeful.

We are happy in that moment between the commercial and the purchase, and I think spending your life (referring to all present who are in the advertising business) trying to dupe innocent people out of hard earnings to buy useless, low quality, misrepresented

Thank you and have a great evening. �

'TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY

Cont'd from pg. 19 Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

and is a call to be engaged in spiritual service. This form of meditation also has the favorable side effects of focusing and grounding the mind, helping one become more present, and bringing a sense of inner happiness and fulfillment to the self.

You can chant anytime - either as a more structured sit down form of meditation on meditation beads, while walking, while engaged in other activities like cooking, cleaning, working, or shopping, or you can sing the mantra alone or with a group accompanied by musical instru-

ments. You can even engage in self care by finding some youtube links of the beautiful Maha Mantra and simply listen to this meditation while performing your other holiday related duties. Additionally, you can take a break and visit your local Krishna temple or other place of worship for some spiritual self care during this busy holiday season in order to connect with the original meaning of these holy-days (holidays).

In summary, amidst your shopping marathon, string of holiday parties, pageants, and performances, take some time out for self care.

Eat healthfully, plan some self nurturing time, exercise, and meditate or pray, and in this way keep your body, mind, and yourself - the spiritin a balanced, energized, healthy, and happy state during the holidays. Your sense of calm will then rub off on others, and you will then be sharing actual holiday joy and cheer, rather than just barely getting through the season while feeling stressed and tired.

Happy Holidays and Hare Krishna! �

w w w .1 6 r o unds .c o m ROBOCOPS From pg. 15 Valley. The security robots, called Knightscope K5 Autonomous Data Machines, were designed by a robotics company, Knightscope, located in Mountain View, California.

These robots are programed to detect “unusual” behavior and report it to the control center. They can remember up to 300 number plates a minute, monitoring traffic.

But wait a sec! What is going on here? Are humans, and dare I say, dumb humans, giving judicial power over other humans to a machine?

Knightscope may not be completely invested with this power yet, but have we made a step in that tragic direction? Are we really starting to hand power over to machines?

Don’t think that these fears and concerns are unwarranted and baseless. Humans have a long history of dumbness. Humans are the only species we know of that destroy the very environment in which they live, their own habitat. A while ago a friend of mine half jokingly concluded that if bugs were to be exterminated, the food chain would be disturbed and the world would collapse. But, if instead of bugs, the humans were to somehow get exterminated, everything would flourish. It just goes to show that humans are actually capable of being colossally stupid. Humans handing the judicial power over to machines is not an unwarranted fear. As far as I can tell, we are making solid steps in that direction.

BLIND CREATORS

The inventors, developers, and researchers in the field of artificial

intelligence and robotics seem to be thrilled by their discoveries and, not always expressed in the public media but still pretty obvious, prospects of earning large sums of money. This thrill is powerful enough to cripple, stunt, and arrest the human ability to clearly think and to desire goodness rather than pleasure and personal profits.

Worst evils, by the way, often begin with the search for personal pleasure and profits.

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

Looking at the situation from the spiritual perspective, we could ask ourselves, “What in the world is going on here?”

The modern mind tends to criticize the industrially underdeveloped countries, but they don’t know that many of the modern, third world countries lost the industrialization race because they refused to enter this race. Their culture, very often spiritually based, demanded a simple lifestyle to allow for sophisticated thinking. As one of my spiritual teachers often said, “Simple living - high thinking.” Such spiritually based cultures were aware that “complicated” living is grounds for poor thinking. From such a perspective, industrially developed countries have actually regressed.

To use the Vedantic language, this is called “maya” or illusion.

In this illusion, you are not satisfied with who you are; you don’t understand that you “are” and that that is enough. You are not incomplete. “om purnam” - Sri Isopanisad states: “You are complete.”

Only due to illusion do you think yourself incomplete and therefore

there is this constant strive for completing oneself. You are complete even without Google Glass.

Until someone invented it, you did not know you “needed” it. Google Glass, and the whole slew of modern inventions, is simply a product of a dissatisfied civilization; people who are trying to complete themselves by add-ons. This seems to be a trigger for constant technological “progress;” an endless race that keeps humans constantly dissatisfied and eventually takes them, individually and collectively, to some dark destinations.

“Completing” the physical body does not complete the self. The self-realized, self-actuated person understands that he is complete as he is; a being of spiritual nature, a spirit soul encased in the physical and imperfect body, a spirit soul having a human experience. The purpose of life, from this perspective, is not to create more and more add-ons for the physical body, but to learn our lessons, become wise, and then continue our spiritual existence even after the physical body drops dead. Without the spiritual perspective, I am afraid that the disturbing struggle for “completion” will not end. People will continue to stick into their bodies add-ons such as Google Glass, bluetooth… stick, stick, stick.

Without spiritual realization, I am afraid that humans will continue on the path of unnecessary technological progress and one day may even hand over their lives into the hands of the machines, machines they themselves have created. Something like the bugs who build cocoons around themselves in which they then get entangled and die. �

DHARMA vs.

RELIGION The

English word religion is a little different from the Sanskrit word dharma. Religion conveys the idea of faith, and faith may change. One may have faith in a particular process, and he may change this faith and adopt another, but dharma refers to that activity which cannot be changed. For instance, liquidity and heat are essential characteristics of water and fire respectively.

Without these qualities, fire and water can not exist. Similarly, the eternal function of the eternal living entity cannot be taken from the living entity. Dharma is eternally integral part of the living entity.

That which is eternal, which has neither end nor beginning, must not be sectarian, for it cannot be limited by any boundaries. Dharma is the business of all the people of the world—nay, of all the living entities of the universe.

A particular religious faith may have some beginning in the annals of human history, but there is no

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By Srila Prabhupada

beginning to the history of dharma, because it remains eternally with the living entities. Insofar as the living entities are concerned, the authoritative scriptures state that the living entity has neither birth nor death. In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated that the living entity is never born and that it never dies. He is eternal and indestructible, and he continues to live after the destruction of his temporary material body. In reference to the concept of dharma, we must try to understand the concept of religion from the Sanskrit root meaning of the word. Dharma refers to that which is constantly existing with a particular object. We conclude that there is heat and light along with the fire; without heat and light, there is no meaning to the word fire. Similarly, we must discover the essential part of the living being, that part which is his constant companion. That constant companion is his eternal quality, and that eternal quality is his eternal religion or dharma. �

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'TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY

Self Care Tips to Stay Jolly During the Holiday Season

By Sara Bock

As we are in

the midst of the holiday season, you might find yourself so much in the spirit of giving that you neglect your own self care and end up drained, stressed, or exhausted.

This article will suggest ways in which you can care for yourself throughout the holidays, and will also touch upon the meaning of self care and what actually is the meaning of self.

Spiritual seekers are taught to be givers, compassionate, and caring of others. We may worry that taking time for self care comes in the realm of selfishness, especially during this holiday season of giving. You may think, I will just bake one more fruit cake to give to a

friend, write one more Christmas card, or I will attend one more holiday party, when really inside you are running on empty. We must remember that self care is not selfishness in the negative sense of the word. In order to really be of service to others, we need to be fit, healthy, and of a balanced mind ourselves.

On that note, if you find your batteries running low during your third round of holiday shopping, or while baking that fourth batch of holiday cookies, take a step back and try the following holiday self care techniques:

1) Take inventory of your diet.

It is ok to say a polite "no thank you" to all those holiday treats at work. It is not about watching

your waistline, but about fueling your body with the proper energy sources (whole grains, fruits, nuts, legumes, vegetables, etc.) and minimizing the high sugar, artificial foods. At a party, accept a small sampling to be polite if needed, but stick to small portions of the sweets which can give you a short term sugar high but a bigger energy crash later. One tip is to fill your stomach with healthy snacks and vegetables before attending a party so that saying "no thanks" to the sweets will be easier. Avoid crash diets or the binging and purging cycle, but rather take time to eat healthy and balanced meals mindfully while sitting down, to keep your batteries running strong during the holiday season.

2) Take a spa day (or hour). If the holiday season seems to be go, go, go, schedule into your calendar some self care time, be it a trip to the spa, a massage, restorative yoga class, day at the beach, journaling, or any other healthy and relaxing activity. If you are always on the move, literally pencil this self care time into your calendar.

If your mind starts screaming at you about your mile long to do list, gently allow your intelligence to inform your mind that you will be more productive after taking some rejuvenation time.

3) Exercise! Exercise reduces stress and renews energy; so, do not neglect your regular workout schedule during this busy time of year. If time is short you can at

the very least go for a brisk walk, do some sit ups at home, or turn on your favorite music and take a dance break.

4) Meditate and breathe. Nothing helps bring a frenzied mind back to feeling grounded and calm like some meditation time. Whether you have a morning breathing practice (see page ? for one suggested calming breathing exercise), silent meditation practice, prayer or mindfulness session, mantra practice or visualization, starting the day with meditation (or taking a mindfulness break during a busy day) can help us step back and see the bigger picture of life and not get stressed out by the little details.

Meditation can also help us turn

w w w .1 6 r o unds .c o m inwards and get in touch with the spiritual aspect of the holidays.

After all, Jesus Christ did say to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Let's not neglect the loving ourselves part. This takes us to our last point of discussion on what really is self care in the spiritual sense. In order to care of the self, we need to know who the self is.

Caring for the health of our bodies and minds is essential, as the body is a vehicle for us to move around in this world, and the mind a more subtle aspect of ourselves which can become our own best friend or worst enemy depending on our ability to guide our thoughts accordingly. However our bodies and mind change, our sense of self is constant. As Miley Cyrus recently posted on her Instagram account a photo from the Bhagavad Gita, our bodies were once in the baby form, but then grew, but inside there is a spark of consciousness or sense of self identity that remains constant throughout our lives despite our physical transformations. This spiritual spark, according to the Bhagavad Gita and other authentic spiritual texts, IS the real self.

How do we care for this true self, the spirit soul? That is a very large topic of discussion, but as a basic introduction, any activities that connect the self to its source, to the Supreme Soul, or God (known as Krishna among many other names), is an act of spiritual self care. Praying, hearing from authentic sources about God, glorifying Him, remembering Him, serving Him and His devotees, and offering one's heart to Him in love, are all spiritual activities that enliven and bring happiness to the permanent self. Chanting the Maha

Mantra, which is a form of prayer and meditation combined, is a very simple, free, and easy method of engaging in self care, and connecting to this source of pure love. The mantra is as follows:

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NADI SHODHAN PRANAYAMA Alternate Nostril Breathing

By Sara Bock

One form of

a breathing exercise that can help you destress, and feel calm, grounded, and balanced during the holiday season (or any time of year) is alternate nostril breathing. This breathing exercises helps to balance the left and right (lunar and solar) pathways of breath in the body and instantly calms and focuses the mind.

Sit comfortably in a place free from distractions. Sit with a straight spine as much as possible, or use support for the spine if needed. Rest your left hand comfortably in your lap, or in jnana mudra with the thumb and index finger touching and the remaining three fingers extended. This is the mudra, or hand position, of knowledge and wisdom. Close eyes and turn attention inward.

Make a loose fist with your right hand. Keeping index and middle finger folded into the palm, extend the ring finger and thumb. Plug right nostril with your thumb and inhale through left nostril for a slow count of three. Keep thumb plugging right nostril while you plug left nostril with your ring finger and hold breath calmly for a slow count of 9. While holding breath, keep face and jaw relaxed and keep your inner gaze at your third eye, your point of intuition between the eyebrows. Release thumb while still plugging left nostril with ring finger, and exhale right nostril for a count of 6. Repeat on the other side by inhaling right for 3, holding breath while plugging both nostrils for 9, and exhaling left for 6. Continue - inhale left for 3, hold for 9, exhale right for 6, etc. for five minutes. Then return breathing to normal with eyes closed, and simply observe the calming effects on the mind.

You can make counts shorter or longer but the ratio should be 1-32, and should be as long as possible without straining. �

THIS BREATHING EXCERISE HELPS TO BALANCE THE LEFT AND RIGHT (LUNAR AND SOLAR) PATHWAYS OF BREATH IN THE BODY AND INSTANTLY CALMS AND FOCUSES THE MIND.

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