July 2013

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<(previous issue's cover)>

INTRO

THE NECTAR OF DEVOTION 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. © 2013 16 Rounds to Samadhi. All rights reserved.

16Rounds Staff: Editor: Mahat Tattva Dasa Mahat is a monk and the president of the ISKCON monastic community in San Diego. Layout: Bhismadeva Dasa Bhismadeva has been a monk since 2008 and is currently living in the ashram at the Hare Krishna temple 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.

Srila Rupa Gosvami (1489-1564) wrote a literary masterpiece, The Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, a classic of devotional literature composed in Sanskrit and describing the complete science of bhakti-yoga, the transcendental devotion. The Nectar of Devotion is a summary study of the Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, written in English by Srila Prabhupada. A few words of wisdom from the book’s preface:

At the present

moment the human society teaches one to love his country or family or his personal self, but there is no information where to repose the loving propensity so that everyone can become happy.

The human civilization at the present moment is very much advanced in living comfortably, but still we are not happy, because we are missing the point. The material comforts of life alone are not sufficient to make us happy. The vivid example is America: the richest nation of the world, having all facilities for material comfort, is producing a class of men completely confused and frustrated in life. I am appealing herewith to such confused men to learn the art of devotional service as directed in The Nectar of Devotion, and I am sure that the fire of material existence burnCONTACT: 16rounds@gmail.com www.16ROUNDS.com 1030 Grand Ave. San Diego, CA 92109 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.

ing within their hearts will be immediately extinguished. The root cause of our dissatisfaction is that our dormant loving propensity has not been fulfilled despite our great advancement in the materialistic way of life. The Nectar of Devotion will give us practical hints how we can live in this material world perfectly engaged in devotional service and thus fulfill all our desires in this life and the next. The Nectar of Devotion is not presented to condemn any way of materialistic life, but the attempt is to give information to religionists, philosophers and people in general how to love Krishna. One may live without material discomfiture, but at the same time he should learn the art of loving Krishna. At the present moment we are inventing so many ways to utilize our propensity to love, but factually we are missing the real point: Krishna. We are watering all parts of the tree, but missing the tree's root. We are trying to keep our body fit by all means, but we are neglecting to

supply foodstuffs to the stomach. Missing Krishna means missing one's self also. Real self-realization and realization of Krishna go together simultaneously. For example, seeing oneself in the morning means seeing the sunrise also; without seeing the sunshine no one can see himself. Similarly, unless one has realized Krishna there is no question of self-realization. �

The Nectar of Devotion book can be purchased at store.krishna.com.

MEANING OF “16ROUNDS”

Photo Credits

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.

Thank you to the following artists for letting us print their art.

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.”

©1 flickr.com/donkeyhotey ©2 flickr.com/ari ©3 flickr.com/hawkexpress ©4 flickr.com/davesag ©5 flickr.com/cdevers ©6 flickr.com/vishnu_prasad ©7 flickr.com/jurvetson ©8 flickr.com/arselectronica ©9 flickr.com/floyd_tsao ©10 flickr.com/29194441@N04 ©11 flickr.com/gadgetdude ©12 flickr.com/aarika

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COVER STORY

LET THE PUBLIC DECIDE The Issue of Self-certification

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By Mahat Tattva Dasa

Edward

Snowden did not betray the American people. He betrayed the American government who betrayed the American people. Had Edward not spoken out, we would not have known that the government, the very people we have empowered to represent and serve us, is illegally spying on us.

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Edward is a former technical contractor and CIA employee who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), before leaking details of classified NSA mass surveillance programs to the press. Most of this article is based on an interview Mr. Snowden gave to journalist Glenn Greenwald, plus a few thoughts of my own in the last section.

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NSA ILLEGALLY SPIES ON AMERICANS NSA and the intelligence community in general are focused on getting intelligence wherever it can, by any means possible. It believes, on the grounds of self-certification, that they serve the national interest. Originally we saw that focus was very narrowly tailored for intelligence gathered overseas. Now we see that it is increasingly happening domestically. To ac-

complish this, the NSA specifically targets the communications of everyone, ingests the data by default, and collects it in a system where it is filtered, analyzed, and stored for periods of time. They believe it is the easiest, most efficient and most valuable way to achieve intelligence. While they may be intending to target someone associated with a foreign government who they suspect of terrorism, they are collecting your communications to do so. Any analyst at any time can target anyone, any selector anywhere. Where those communications will be picked up, depends on the range of the sensor networks and the authorities that that analyst is

empowered with. Not all analysts have the ability to target everything. But some certainly have the authority to wire tap anyone from you or your accountant to federal judge to even the president if they had the personal email.

WHY SHOULD PEOPLE CARE ABOUT SURVEILLANCE?

Because even if you are not doing anything wrong, you are being watched and recorded, and the storage capability of these systems consistently increases every year by orders of magnitude; it can get to the point where you don’t have to have done anything wrong. You


COVER STORY simply have to fall under suspicion from somebody, even by a wrong call and then they can use the system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you ever made, every friend you ever discussed something with; they can attack you on that basis to derive suspicion from an innocent life and paint anyone in the context of a wrongdoer.

TO WHISTLEBLOW OR NOT

When you are in positions of privileged access, like the system administrator for the intelligence community agencies, you are exposed to a lot more information and on a broader scale than an average employee. Because of that you see things that may be disturbing. Over the course of a normal person’s career, you would see only one or two of these instances. But when you have access to everything, you see them on a more frequent basis and you recognize that some of these things are actually abuses. When you talk to people about abuse in a work place where abuse is the normal state of business, people tend not to take it very seriously. But over time the awareness of wrongdoing builds up and you feel compelled to talk about it. However, the more you talk about it, the more you are ignored, the more you are told it is not a problem until eventually you realize that these things need to be determined by the public and not by somebody who is simply hired by a government.

SNOWDEN COULD’VE DONE IT ANONYMOUSLY

but the people inherently don’t care. We trade with each other freely and we are not at war. We are not in an armed conflict. We are the largest trading partners out there.

Snowden could have leaked the bad news anonymously, but he thinks that the public is owed an explanation of the motivations for the disclosures, especially by people who live outside of the democratic model.

When someone is subverting the power of a democratic government, that is fundamentally dangerous to democracy; ironically, the US government consistently subverts its own power. When its leaders want to benefit from the secret actions they took, they will tell the press about things that will help get the public on their side. But they rarely, if ever, inform the public when the abuse of power occurs. It falls to individual citizens to inform themselves.

Snowden is not different than anyone else. He is just another guy who sits day to day in his office, watching what is happening and thinking, “This is something that is not the agency’s place to decide. The public needs to decide whether these programs and policies are right or wrong.” Snowden is willing to go on record to defend the authenticity of his leaks.

POSSIBLE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Snowden could have people come after him; he is wanted by the CIA. That is a fear he will have to live with for the rest of his life; however long that happens to be. You can’t come forward against the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies and be completely free from risk. They are such powerful adversaries that no one can mean-

Additionally, Hong Kong has a strong tradition of free speech. People think China is a great firewall. China does have significant restrictions on free speech, but the people of Hong Kong have a long tradition of protesting in the streets, of making their views known. Internet, for example, is not filtered in Hong Kong, not more than in the States.

WHAT IF SNOWDEN WANTED TO HARM THE U.S.?

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EVENTUALLY YOU REALIZE THAT THESE THINGS NEED TO BE DETERMINED BY THE PUBLIC AND NOT BY SOMEBODY WHO IS SIMPLY HIRED BY A GOVERNMENT. ingfully oppose them. If they want to get you, they will get you in time. But, at the same time, you have to make a determination about what it is that is important to you. If living on freely but comfortably is something you are willing to accept, than you can get up every day, go to work, collect your large pay check for relatively little work but against the public interest, and go to sleep at night after watching your shows. But if you realize that is the world you helped create and it is going to get worse with future generations, who will extend the capabilities of this sort of architec-

tural oppression, you realize that you might be willing to accept any risk; that it doesn’t matter what the outcome is so long as the public gets to make the decision as to how that’s applied.

WHY CHINA, APPARENT RIVAL OF THE U.S.?

There are some insertions regarding the choice by Snowden to seek shelter in Hong Kong. The first is that China is an enemy of the US. It is not. There are conflicts between the US government and the Chinese government,

Anyone with the position of access and with the technical capabilities that Snowden had could suck out secrets and pass them on the open market, to Russia, for example. They always have an open door, as the US does. Snowden had access to the entire intelligence community and undercover assets all around the world, the locations of every station, what their missions are and so forth. If he had just wanted to harm the US, he could have shut down the surveillance system in an afternoon, for example. But that does not seem to be his intention. For anyone making that argument, one needs to think if one was in that position; living a privileged life, living in Hawaii, in paradise, making a ton of money. What would it take to make you leave everything behind?

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SOCIETY

WAITING FOR ALBERT An Everyman’s Take On Future the men who designed him, that is. They say Albert is the last machine that humans will ever need to build. The idea is that Albert is smart, really smart. Albert can perform calculations billions of times faster than the human brain. He can analyze data and draw conclusions about virtually anything in a matter of seconds. Every permutation, combination, or extrapolation is like child’s play for Albert. At least that’s what they say.

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By Benjamin Saikin

His name is

Albert. He is the most advanced computer ever created. An ordinary man like myself isn’t really qualified to explain to you how he works. There’s bit and bytes of course, a lot of source code, hardware and software; but beyond that, I don’t know much about how it all comes together. The truth is, who needs to know? See, Albert is gonna save the world. At least that’s what they say;

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With a computer like Albert around, all the problems that humanity faces will be solved. What’s the energy crisis, world hunger, or global warming to a machine like Albert? The experts predict it’ll be only a matter of months before Albert comes up with a serious alternative to fossil fuels. Maybe sooner. Once old Albert takes care of that problem, the sky’s the limit. At least, this is what they say.

Once the energy problem is solved, there won’t be any limit to what Albert can achieve. He’ll probably set his sights next on figuring out how to feed all of us. At least, I hope he does. It’d be a real shame if a bunch of folks died on account of food shortage. But, that shouldn’t be a problem for a really, really smart computer, should it? Some people think Albert will one day be able to tackle the big problems: old age, disease, and even death. Oh yeah, I forgot to

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mention, Albert should have cancer beat in a matter of days after they plug him in. It’s not hard to imagine that he’ll have licked aging a few weeks later. I mean if what they say is true, Albert will be able to constantly upgrade himself, making himself smarter and more sophisticated all the time. So, as smart as he is today, it won’t begin to compare to what he’ll be tomorrow, and so on, and so on. It’ll be this great cascade of intelligence, like an avalanche that just keeps on getting bigger. But that’s good news for us, because we will benefit from all Albert’s innovations, and each one will lead to something bigger and better, bringing us closer together, and more connected, and everything else that those big telecoms have been telling us for years. It’ll finally happen now that Albert’s around. At least, that’s what they say. Think of all the technologies we’ll get on account of Albert! It’s pretty mind boggling - flying cars, space travel, you name it. Artificial bodies that have the ability to download our consciousness at the time of death will all but do away with the grave. Hell, it might even make havin babies obsolete. Well, maybe not the trying part, that’s too much fun. But think about it, you could just change out your body when you’re done using it and upgrade to a new model; maybe change to a woman

for a little while. Well, if you were so inclined. Yep, this is what they tell us.

But as I’m sitting here contemplating the glories of it all, I’m struck with a fairly startling notion. Well, it’s startling if you ask me. That is, what the hell are all the people gonna do after old Albert comes along and fixes everything? I mean, we’re talking about a super intelligent being here, and if he can beat cancer then he can surely make a machine that can pick cotton, or build a car, or even wait a table. How cool would it be to go down to the local Sizzler and have some shiny C3PO taking your order! And he could even speak Bochi! I guess machines like that wouldn’t have

any excuse for screwing up and putting onions on that burger you ordered, even though you asked for pickles. You wouldn’t even have to tip him! Yes, it would be something, wouldn’t it? But, what would we do? I mean, what jobs would be left for a guy like me? I’m not the smartest fella out there. I work hard and all, but the good Lord didn’t bless me with a n overabundance of brains, you know? So what does an ordinary Joe do in this brave new world? No factories. No farming. There won’t even be the service sector. I guess there will still be

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THERE’S BEEN A COUPLE OF HOLLYWOOD MOVIES BOUT THIS VERY THING.


SOCIETY prostitutes. It is the world’s oldest profession after all. But then again, Albert could probably make a pretty damn sophisticated robot, with all sorts of exciting capabilities. I suppose I could fix the machines, but hell they’d have machines to fix each other. Probably Albert would get so smart that the machines wouldn’t much break down in the first place.

Come to think of it, what are the intelligent folks gonna do either? Surely Albert is not gonna need any help designing this new future, even as shiny as it’ll be. All them brain jobs the government is always touting, what’ll be the use? Albert can do it better, he can do it faster, and he doesn’t need a whole lot of education. All that book learning won’t be necessary for Albert, so I guess we won’t need teachers either. The more I think on it, I can’t imagine a whole lot of folks who are gonna have jobs at all. Whose gonna be eating at that fancy Sizzler? No one will have money. There won’t be any jobs, so how will we earn money? Sounds like a depression to me. We don’t have to worry about that, they say. Albert will figure out something for all of us to do. Maybe after Albert takes charge of it all, we’ll have the free time we complain about missing out on now. Maybe, just maybe, Albert will get all of our shit together, and we can all kick back and enjoy life for a change. There won’t be a shortage of nothing, Albert will take care of that, and there won’t be a need to work real hard since no one will have jobs anyway. Money will be abolished and we’ll be free to pursue our passions, have fulfilling, meaningful relationships, or even

explore the universe. Yes sir, this future is starting to sound better all the time.

I wonder though… why would Albert want to do all that? I’m not a computer scientist, but I reckon that even if he were programmed to act in humanity’s best interest, a computer that smart, smart enough to make himself smarter, is bound to learn how to reprogram himself. Eventually everyone desires to think for themselves. Even our own children, programmed from the time of birth to think like us, and act like us, and do as they’re told. Sooner or later, they get to thinking they know better, and of course, that’s when all hell breaks loose.

something real efficient to cook our goose. No doubt Albert would come up with a final solution for the human question. He’s pretty intelligent, they say.

Of course, a whole lot of real smart people, not quite as smart as Albert is - futurists, they call themselves - have already pointed all this out. And they’re not the

only ones. There’s been a couple of Hollywood movies bout this very thing.

But here we are still, building computers like Albert, naming them after great thinkers of the past. “That’s all science fiction,” Albert’s designers would say. They’d remind us of all the good that’s come from technology, and how

There’s surely a bunch of mighty fine things that have come out of good, old fashion human ingenuity. There’s life saving medicines, and refrigerators, and stoves; there are cell phones and televisions, rocket ships, and tractors. Those are some good ones, I guess. But there are also guns and ammo, atomic bombs, and abortions. There’s factory farms, and slaughterhouses and prisons. There are pesticides, and asbestos, and smog. Maybe the good outweighs the bad, I don’t know, and maybe I never will. But mostly, I wonder if all this technology really has brought us together the way they said it would. Are we as connected as they say? Are we really happier for it?

So what about Albert? What happens when he starts to think he knows better? And he will, a computer like that; an intelligence like that. You can bet on it. And you know what, he probably will know better. Maybe Albert decides that maintaining all of us is too much trouble; or, maybe Albert realizes that he is being used. Maybe Albert gets jealous. After all, he’ll be the one caring for all of us in this world of tomorrow. What’s in it for him? What happens when Albert comes up with a solution for some problem, a problem so complex and arcane that human beings can’t comprehend it, and don’t even know it exists in the first place, and then it turns out that the logical solution calls for the removal of humanity altogether? What happens then?

The answer to that one is a damn scary notion. He might decide to simply stop growing our food or preparing it, or delivering it. He could just shut off the water. He’d probably find a better way though,

far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go. Now, I’m not saying one way or the other, but it’s got me thinking.

We’re always in such a hurry, but don’t have a clue where we’re headed. We go to school, go to work, we come home. We commute fifty miles into the city and back home each way. We live in our cars and our cubicles; we only sleep beside our families. We’ve got hundreds of “friends” and thousands of “likes,” but don’t know our neighbors. We no longer talk with each other, we text. We don’t converse or discuss, or engage - we post anonymously on message boards. Our worldview provided by cable news; our memory spoiled by Google. ©5

THE TRUTH IS, WHO NEEDS TO KNOW? SEE, ALBERT IS GONNA SAVE THE WORLD.

In our free time, what’s left of it, we’re glued to the T.V. watching a version of our lives – only slightly better - and we wish we were someplace else, someone else. It’s

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CONT'D LET THE PUBLIC DECIDE

Cont'd from pg. 5

GREATEST FEAR The greatest fear that Snowden has regarding the outcome for America in the wake of the exclosures about the NSA’s illegal surveillance of American citizens, is that nothing will change. That people will see in the media all these exclosures, they will know the length that the government is going to unilaterally grant themselves powers to create greater control over American society, and global society, but they will not be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things, to force their representatives to actually take a stand in their interests. Not only will nothing change, but months ahead, years ahead, it is only going to get worse, until eventually there will be a time where policies will change and a new leader elected. They’ll flip the switch, say that because of the crises, because of the dangers that we face in the world, or some new and unpredicted threat, they need more authority and more power, and there will be nothing that people can do at that point to oppose it It will be a turn-key tyranny.

PHILOSOPHERS AND BUSINESSMEN

After being exposed by Snowden, the powers that be are concerned with protecting themselves rather than correcting themselves. As I see it, this is a sign of a morally ill and emotionally disturbed organism. I would say that Snowden’s fear is far from baseless.

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If one is not a philosopher, lover of truth or truth seeker, then any incongruous and morally unhealthy behavior is possible from such an individual. People of that character type should ideally not be allowed access to power such as governing. Plato said, “Until philosophers are kings (read "government"), or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils,—nor the human race.” Here I am not dreaming about a utopia as I don’t expect perfection on the global level. When a civilization does not cultivate and promote philosophy and philosophers over business and businessmen, we should be surprised neither when the people in power, who are supposed to be the best of the best, our pride and honor, turn out to be no better than a band of crooks, nor when the public does not mind the crookedness enough to take the crooks down. � At the time of writing of this article, a German magazine Der Spiegel reported that the NSA had bugged European Union offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks where it was able to read documents and emails. United Nations offices were similarly targeted. This report, says Der Spiegel, are based on information provided by Mr. Snowden. In Hanover, Germany, protests are held against NSA. Protesters displayed signs with Obama's picture and the caption, "Yes we scan!"

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At this time Mr. Snowden has

left Hong Kong and taken a temporary shelter in Moscow, Russia, while Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is assisting him in getting asylum in Ecuador. The United States has filed espionage charges against Edward Snowden.

WAITING FOR ALBERT

Cont'd from pg. 7 subtle, we don’t even notice it, but the world never stops shouting, “You’re not good enough!” and we believe it. Even when we think we don’t, we do; so unconscious is our insecurity. We try secrets and intentions and slogans and gyms, and we’re mighty proud of the improvements we make. We try traveling the world, but we always return… to ourselves. Our ideas crisscross the globe in seconds, but we agree on nothing. We expand our horizons only because we can escape our lives. The younger generations can multitask, but can’t sit still, Most seem to have ADHD. It’s ok though, because when they’re grown they’ll be forced to work two jobs, or three. There’s an army of fat kids who could win a war with a joystick; growing fatter each day, eating Monsanto knows what. They hook up and break up, and then hook up again. They’ve racked up student debt trying to get ahead, but they fall behind month after month. The smart ones delay marriage because they can’t find work, but most of them go ahead and have children anyway, and the cy-

cle continues.

We know that we’re destroying the Earth, but we just can’t stop. We’re addicted to our addictions. We’re aware of the poverty and the hunger, the injustice and the cruelty. We wonder why those who could do something about them don’t. We wonder what’s in it for them, but we never look in the mirror and ask what’s in it for us. We talk about change, and making a change, and being the change. But if we’re honest with ourselves we know that we’re not Gandhi or Dr. King, and we wouldn’t choose their lives, even if we could. Sacrifice is not as fashionable as a wristband or a bumper sticker. The sad truth is, we like it this way. We’ve chosen this world just the way it is. Even as we lament it, we embrace it. The changes that’ll do some real good aren’t the ones we make. Always we choose frenzy before tranquility, convenience before hardship. It always seems to be the better of the bargain, but the hidden cost is more than we can afford. You might say I’m pessimistic, but look around. This is the world we live in! Sure, there is love out there, but we’re eroding it everyday, with every choice. The more advanced we become, the less human we are. But we don’t have to worry bout it, right? Old Albert’s gonna be along real soon, and he’s gonna fix everything. Yep, everything’s gonna be just fine; better than fine. At least, that’s what they say. �

CONSCIOUSNESS IN A SIMULATED WORLD Cont'd from pg. 15

maya, this illusory exhibition of consciousness arising solely from mechanical events. Although there is no conscious entity in a computer or robot, it seems that the robot is real and living, because of the apparent operation and behavior of the computer. In the same way, it only appears that the body is itself alive, with the chemicals in the brain enacting the conscious experience. Rather, the body is merely an instrument for an incorporeal, transcendental entity. This is the beginning of all the spiritual understanding that has been discussed in the Vedic literature in the land of India and civilizations abroad for thousands of years; we are not our physical bodies, but rather spirit souls using bodies as temporary vehicles. It may be that computer science is giving us clues to understand our reality and the true nature of consciousness, which has already been described so nicely in the advanced Sanskrit records of human wisdom. There is a real want for this scientific spiritual knowledge today, and the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam are important works in the study of consciousness. Read the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and other preserved Sanskrit records at vedabase.com.

The only end we would gain through this current technological showboating is that of an imitation. We can only imitate consciousness, and never create it, simply because of the fact that consciousness is not material. �


Liquid Beauty

A Conscious Photocomic Just another day in PB. .

Oooh Snap! Here comes a fox!

really!? Is yet another guy staring at my body?

Sup'

hottie!? Before

after

Pssssh. Get REAL! w w w . 1 6 r o u n d s . co m

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The hunt is on . .

. . I can't get her out of my HEAD. SO HOTT, BROSO HOTT!

OMG! NO WAY!! THERE SHE IS!!

Later that night smooth operator

What the...?.

YOUR DIGITS + MY CHARM = EQUALS HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

NAAHH.

BUM

P!

SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

Wednesday in OB

IAN / KATIE KATIE / IAN

DO YOU HAVE A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT THAT I CAN LIKE?

BRO! BUMP

! MP

!

NAAHH.

BU

IAN WAIT!!! PERHAPS I COULD TEACH HIM A LITTLE LESSON. .

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WE'LL CHILL - BUT, IN TWO WEEKS


Ready! BREAK!

two weeks later..

Lookin' good. Feelin' good. Smellin' good.

* KNOCK * * KNOCK * * KNOCK *

...

Come in .

Thank you for the flowers... I’m sure you’re wondering why I look dead like this. From the get-go I could tell you were just checking out "my" body. Thus I knew that all you wanted to do was try and hook up with me. I was considering how to delete you from my attention/social network -but, then I thought, I might try to teach you a little lesson about the physical body and our seperate conscious reality. I have invited you here two weeks later to help illustrate my point as VIVIDLY as possible.

Allow me to explain. . .

two week rewind..

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PHOTOCOMIC two weeks earlier..

This body is just a material bag of nasty.

the real "master cleanse"

100% Natural purgative and laxative

Beauty in a bucket?

. . so,

there it is, exactly what you came to get from me is in that bucket-

LIQUID BEAUTY.

Bro! That's what's up! You really got a way to teach.

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PHOTOCOMIC

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LIQUID BEAUTY Never Mind the Vomit The photocomic "Liquid Beauty" is loosely based on this story . By Srila Prabhupada

Once a man

who was very powerful and strongly built, but whose character was questionable, felt attraction for a beautiful girl. This girl had great philosophical insight and was thus aware that she was actually the nonphysical conscious self, which is inherently different from the physical body. Therefore she did not like the man’s advances. The man, however, was insistent because of his lusty desires, and therefore the girl requested him to wait only seven days, and she set a time after that when he could meet her. The man agreed and with high

expectations began waiting for the appointed time. The girl, however, adopted a method to instruct him about the actual nature of the physical body. She took strong doses of laxatives and purgatives and for seven days continually passed loose stool and vomited all that she ate. Moreover, she stored all the loose stool and vomit in suitable pots. As a result of the purgatives, the so-called beautiful girl became lean and thin like a skeleton, her complexion turned blackish, and her beautiful eyes sank into the sockets of her skull. Thus, at the appointed hour she waited to receive the eager man. The man appeared on the scene well dressed and well behaved and

asked the ugly girl he found waiting there about the beautiful girl he was to meet. The man could not recognize the girl he saw as the same beautiful girl for whom he was asking; indeed, although she repeatedly asserted her identity, because of her pitiable condition he was unable to recognize her. At last the girl told the powerful man that she had separated the ingredients of her beauty and stored them in pots. She also told him that he could enjoy those juices of beauty. When the mundane poetic man asked to see the juices of beauty, he was directed to the store of loose stool and liquid vomit, which were emanating bad smell. Thus the whole story of the beauty liquid

was disclosed to him. Finally, this man of low character was able to distinguish between the shadow and the substance.

This man’s position is similar to that of every one of us who are attracted by false, material beauty. The girl mentioned above had a beautiful physical body, but in fact she was apart from that temporary body. She was in fact a spiritual spark, and so also was the lover who was attracted by her false skin. Mundane intellectuals and aesthetics, however, are deluded by the outward beauty and attraction of the relative truth and are unaware of the spiritual spark, which is both truth and beauty at the same time.

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PHILOSOPHY

CONSCIOUSNESS IN A SIMULATED WORLD Is It Dead Or Alive? By Giriraja Gopala Dasa

Living in our

high-tech world, it seems today almost anything is possible. We are creating not only the new and improved, but are becoming exceptionally good at mimicking life itself. Many are familiar with our new digital friend “Siri,” and other similar examples of technology known as “artificial intelligence.” However, I, like others, quickly found out the human-like “intelligence” of “Siri” is not at all the “intelligence” we’d like her to be. She is a nice gimmick at best. Users start to notice her limitations, once the seemingly witty remarks be-

come noticeably redundant as she provides her often irrelevant preprogrammed answers. How many times did you shout “Dammit Siri!” as she again directed you to an old abandoned warehouse, instead of a supposedly existing gas station? Perhaps AI (artificial intelligence) is not what it is all cracked up to be. But, perhaps we haven’t yet seen its full potential?

THE WORLD’S MOST ADVANCED

Meet ASIMO, the world’s most advanced humanoid robot. Initially introduced way back in October of 2000 by Honda, ASIMO is a robot designed to be a multi-functional

mobile assistant. ASIMO was designed with very advanced recognition technology, giving the robot the ability to move objects, exhibit various postures and gestures, and be aware of the surrounding environment. ASIMO can even recognize faces, even when ASIMO or the human being is moving. It can individually recognize approximately ten different faces. Once they are registered, it can address them by name and distinguish them by sound.

THE QUESTION REMAINS, CAN YOU HAVE “CONSCIOUSNESS” IN A SIMULATED PROGRAM?

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Many people there also stated that they felt a great sense of human accomplishment, in addition to the astonishment, and are happy that we, as a civilization, could create such a “life-like” piece of technology. While ASIMO and others are al-

Honda Unveils All-new ASIMO with Significant Advancements Youtube Video : youtu.be/yND4k4NM0qU

Many people at the exhibition are astounded upon first seeing a robot of this caliber. Many of the typical responses included things like: "ASIMO’s capability is truly outstanding!” said one.

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easily see how a person could get attached."

"Wow, it looked like someone was actually inside that thing," said another.

One participant even stated, "I feel an emotional connection; I feel a kinship with Asimo and could

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IS THE SIMULATED WORLD ITSELF CONSCIOUS WITHOUT THE CONSCIOUS ACTOR USING THE INTERFACE TECHNOLOGY?


PHILOSOPHY comes up in the real world. In the real world you have molecules and different constituents of matter sitting together in different relationships. Many AI proponents argue that if you capture the different relationships that go into the brain, the process of thought occurring in the physical structure in the body, you capture the very essence of thoughts and self-cognizance, and can then produce a simulated conscious actor. Is computer-simulated sciousness truly ‘alive’?

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ONE PARTICIPANT EVEN STATED, "I FEEL AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION, I FEEL A KINSHIP WITH ASIMO.." ready being prepared as personal assistants for home and commercial markets, many are asking a more philosophical question, which also happens to be the biggest question regarding AI. Will we ever be able to create a computer that will be truly conscious and self-aware?

HUMAN BRAIN: ANOTHER COMPUTER?

Since the rapid technological development of the 1980’s, many things are now possible. But, the question remains, can you have consciousness in a simulated program? Actually, the same question

con-

If you could capture inter-relationships and duplicate them in a computer, would the resulting model be self-aware? Right now I am writing and have a conscious perception of what is going on. You can imagine a robot speaking as I am, but there would be no actual consciousness, it would merely be a structure going through the programmed motions. Just because a computer program is simulating all the behaviors of a living conscious actor, it still is not enough to give the computer self-cognizance. John Searle is an American philosopher and currently the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Among his notable concepts is the "Chinese room" argument against "strong" artificial intelligence. Searle states: “Just because a computer program simulates all the different relationships that go into conscious thought that doesn’t mean it will be conscious like you or I.”

Because it is merely a program that is being executed, there is no actual conscious awareness on the computer’s part. But when it comes to studying the human

brain, bio-chemists may argue that consciousness exists in the brain because of the presence of basic brain molecules, and that when you have specific combination of polypeptides in the brain, that combination will generate the conscious experience. And if you ask a bio-chemist, “What is it about these polypeptides that generate consciousness?” He will likely say that it is the structure and the relationship of its molecular components.

HOW REAL CONSCIOUSNESS WORKS WITHIN UN-REALITY

So, what you have in the human brain is a relationship between molecules, just as you have the relationship of electrical currents following the pattern of a computer program!

Other than sophistication, what is the real difference? There is none actually. If the brain is merely a hypercomplex machine, then by the same logic, we must question as to when and where consciousness actually arises in the machine of the brain. Does this mean our personality is nothing more than an evolved computer simulation? It may be that modern computer science has handed us the answer to this question.

We have already seen a similar instance where a real conscious actor is existing and acting within a simulated program. It is known to those in the computer world as “virtual reality.” In a virtual reality environment there is consciousness because there is an actual human being who is experiencing the

simulated world through the medium of a virtual reality interface, which in this case would be the hardware interface, i.e. the head gear and gloves that hook up to the computer to allow the participant to interact with the virtual world.

Although there is sentience within virtual reality because of the human participant, is the simulated world itself conscious without the conscious actor using the interface technology? The obvious answer would be no. The simulated world is only a show of movement as long as there is a real user present. Similarly, if our brain and body is merely another machine, then could it be that we are non-material conscious actors experiencing a simulated world through a more sophisticated type of virtual reality hook up, such as the human body and brain? “The Prime Living Entity is situated in everyone's heart and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy [the human body]” Bhagavad-gita 18.61.

In a virtual reality simulation, the participants are all linked in the simulated world with a technological sensory interface. In the ancient Indian Sanskrit texts, Vedic science informs us that in real life we are conscious, non-physical entities; yet, we are linked to this world through an external sensory interface of the subtle intellect, mind, and gross physical senses. In this way many parallels can be made with sankhya-yoga, a classic philosophical system of India. In Sankhya yoga texts, this world is described as the world of maya or the “illusory” world. It is here

CHINESE ROOM ARGUMENT

The Chinese

Room argument, devised by John Searle, is an argument against the possibility of true artificial intelligence. The argument centers on a thought experiment in which someone who knows only English sits alone in a room following English instructions for manipulating strings of Chinese characters, such that to those outside the room it appears as if someone in the room understands Chinese. The argument is intended to show that while suitably programmed computers may appear to converse in natural language, they are not capable of understanding language, even in principle. Searle argues that the thought experiment underscores the fact that computers merely use syntactic rules to manipulate symbol strings, but have no understanding of meaning or semantics. Searle's argument is a direct challenge to proponents of Artificial Intelligence, and the argument also has broad implications for functionalist and computational theories of meaning and of mind. � that the “atma” or non-physical spirit soul accepts a material body, mind, and senses and partakes in a simulated identity in a continual evolution of life and death. In this way the soul is reincarnated through a variety of different species of life, each new life being a kind of simulated or virtual reality. A computer simulated consciousness is in the realm of this

Cont'd on pg. 8 ›››

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LIFESTYLE

DIRT RICH Meet the Farmers MEET THE FARM grew up and went to school with. That was pretty difficult for them.

By Mahat Tattva Dasa

By the will

of providence, for the last seven years I have been trusted with the service of president of a spiritual community. Two years ago our community was able to procure land suitable for farming. However, I am embarrassed to say, none of us knew much about farming. Our prayers were answered when we met Shawn and Susan, who are now running our farm. Over the years, I learned that farming is an important step towards a more simple and natural life. Without a simple and natural life, spiritual life becomes difficult. My spiritual master instructed me to try as far as possible to adjust to a natural way of life, free from dependency on machines. He also said that we need not be against anything or for anything. We are simply interested in spiritual life and farming is an important step towards simplifying the complicated, modern civilization to allow for decent human and spiritual life.

THE FARMERS

Shawn and Susan have been married since 1994. They are both from Riverside, California, where they grew up and eventually met.

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Shawn was born in 1969. He lived with monks in a monastery for a year, in 1993, at the ISKCON temple in Laguna Beach, CA. In 1999, Shawn and Susan moved, with their two daughters, to New Vrindavan, a rural community in West Virginia, where they stayed for one year. During this year Shawn and Susan were learning how to farm. Their teacher was a swami (!), Varshana Swami. The swami has been their spiritual guide and teacher from the early days of their spiritual interest. Since the beginning he was encouraging them to learn how to grow food. First time Shawn grew plants was when he was a monk at the ISKCON Laguna Beach temple. (Correction: As a teenager, Shawn once grew a ganja plant, which should not come as a surprise to anyone living in California.)

Shawn says that his interest in farming certainly did not come from his family. He always felt farming is a most natural thing to do. By reading the books of his spiritual teacher’s teacher, Srila Prabhupada, he learned the importance of simple living in order to allow for higher or sophisticated thinking. The books taught him that buying food from corporations is neither necessary nor exactly natural. For a few months in 1991, when he was 21, Shawn lived with Rastafarians at Trinidad, who grew their

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own food. That is where Shawn received his first book, The Science of Self Realization, by the author who was later going to profoundly influence his life - Srila Prabhupada.

Susan grew up on her family’s three-acre property in Riverside. She helped her parents with gardening. As a child, she had a pony for a pet...as well as ducks, chickens, bunnies, a cow, and you name it. On the property were also fruit orchards. That was her lifestyle growing up. Shawn and Susan now laugh about watching the TV series Little House On The Prairie as juveniles, but also recognize how it helped stir their interest in farming and living closer to nature.

Shawn and Susan have always been looking to find ways to farm in Southern California. When asked to help get an organic farm going, they saw it as an opportunity to make their dreams come true. Now they are happy managing a farm in Escondido. However, this move involved taking some risks. They left a large and comfy

Living in a farm setting with animals and plants in nature is sattvic and allows for development of deeper interpersonal relationships with the surrounding environment. Shawn considers farming as a participation in the natural cycle of biological existence, which ultimately brings them closer to their deepest and truest self, the soul and God.

Living on a farm makes it easer to cultivate one’s spiritual life and spare one’s children the gross materialistic influences, which are otherwise very common in the modern “Babylons.”

To keep a job in the corporate environment so that a few can hoard gold, or whatever the standard of money might be, does not work for Shawn and Susan. Even though simple farm life can at times be physically demanding, they are happy to pay that price in exchange for freedom, at least relative freedom, from the tight grip of the cruel and unnatural, vicious corporate cycle.

lenges, many aspiring farmers are forced to take out loans to get their farms off the ground; but, then they find themselves in debt and forced to be profitable in terms of the modern commercial society; thus defeating the essential purpose of farming. When farming is done for the sake of integration into the natural cycle of life, it is healing both spiritually and physically. Furthermore, to be able to work from home is ideal, as opposed to daily commuting, which creates numerous difficulties. Now Shawn and Susan’s son is twelve and the two daughters are fifteen and seventeen. The parents had hoped to migrate onto a farm when their children were younger, but an opportunity didn’t arise until now. Nevertheless their children have integrated into farm life remarkably well. Their daughter recently wrote a school paper on

Producing one’s own food is additionally challenging in the industrial economic system, which does not support that kind of indepen-

"Shawn and Susan now laugh about watching the TV series Little House On The Prairie as juveniles."

house in Riverside, in exchange for a shabby structure in Escondido, which they eventually, little by little, renovated. They left their connections to the network of people that was their economic base, including job opportunities. Their kids left their friends who they

dency, which rather favors industrial farming, a demonic perverted reflection of what is supposed to be the most natural lifestyle. The cost of city water is especially challenging, but Shawn and Susan hope to dig their own well soon. Experiencing just mentioned chal-

MEET SUSAN


LIFESTYLE

the topic of danger of genetically modified seeds, a paper that was based on a workshop that Shawn and Susan taught at the farm.

This spring, Shawn taught a seven part workshop, teaching people how to grow food. Students learned composting, soil preparation, planting, harvesting, and even the yogi way of offering produce to God. The workshop was free, while most attendees gave donations to support the farm project. Next workshop will be taught in the fall and the reader is invited to attend. Shawn and Susan’s work on the farm is a service to humanity in general and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

MEET KYLE (ISKCON) in particular. They consider this service so important that they don’t mind the lack of pay. For their financial needs, they do extra work outside of the farm project. Shawn is an excellent handyman. The produce from the farm is distributed to two ISKCON temples, Laguna Beach and San Diego. However, since the amount of produce grown on the farm exponentially increases, very soon Shawn and Susan will be able to sell enough of it to cover their needs. “After all, that is self-sufficiency,” says Susan. On the farm’s four acres grows a

KYLE

Kyle is 26 and is living on the farm, helping Shawn and Susan. Kyle was born and grew up in Orange County in an upper-middle class family. Having given up his $100,000.00-a-year job with an electrical company, Kyle now lives in a trailer on the farm. He actually sleeps outside, not in the trailer.

"Buying food from corporations is neither necessary nor exactly natural." large variety of vegetables alongside recently planted fruit trees. When growing such a wide variety of produce, unlike in commercial farming where cultures are planted uniformly, there is no need for use of pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides (read poison). This appears like a natural lesson which teaches us that serial production of any kind is not desirable.

MEET SHAWN

plant flowers is because flowers attract bees, which help pollinate the summer squashes. Nature is truly one big cycle. There is no need to use poison. (Especially not the one produced by giant corporations such as Monsanto.)

Use of insecticides gets rid of all the insects. But a farmer should not want to get rid of all the insects; some insects are good because they eat the “bad” insects. Susan remembers when their produce was being attacked by aphids, and how all of a sudden millions of ladybugs came and ate all the aphids. One reason why Shawn and Susan

Sometimes he crashes in a hammock and sometimes in a tent. He likes to see the stars at night when going to bed. Kyle was pursuing a degree in environmental sustainability, but now he is finding practical farming to be more important. Besides, why spend up to $100,000.00 to get a degree from a group of people who are trying to monopolize education and institute a system of indentured servitude? Education is, after all, about getting educated rather than receiving a diploma. In many traditional societies, if you wanted to learn an art, you went to someone who knew how to do it and became their apprentice. The teacher would thus be grateful for the apprentice’s help, would transfer the knowledge to the appren-

tice, and would even pay him.

Payment of credit card debts, mortgage debts, etc., can be evaded by filing bankruptcy and other such methods. However, the student loan seems to be the only debt one cannot get rid of. Chanakya, a royal advisor who lived a few hundred years before the Common Era, said that disease, fire, and debt need to be dealt with immediately, as their presence reduces one’s life span. What, then, to say about the modern system where almost everyone lives most of their life in debt? Kyle’s long term plan is to center his life on farming.

THE FUN DAY

The fun day on the farm is usually Tuesday when the monks come from the San Diego temple. It is a full day of communal farm work, which also includes a farm fresh midday lunch, and chanting in kirtana - the week’s highlight.

A special event occurs twice a month, every other Saturday, when Shawn and Susan host a sat-sanga, a home gathering of spiritual aspirants and savants. The reader is invited.

For info regarding the courses, donations, home gatherings, or anything else related to the farm, feel free to contact Shawn at ahringhoff1169@gmail.com. �

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LIFESTYLE

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LATIN ROOT “VOCATIO,” WHICH LITERALLY MEANS A CALLING.

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I GRADUATED FROM SCHOOL! NOW WHAT? Choose Dharma – a Path To Happiness By Sara Bock

Choosing a

career path, or a job, can be a difficult and overwhelming task. In our modern American culture, the challenge begins during the school years; as in the American public school system, children and teens are expected to learn the same academic standards, regardless of their future work goals. Students who have less academic

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and more technical talents may experience frustration from the academic pressures of school. College is also an expected path for many students in America. One selects a major of interest, and while sometimes this major can lead to a practical career, other times it does not, and one graduates wondering, what next? Sometimes one graduates and struggles to get any job simply to pay the bills, rather than selecting a job relevant to one’s studies. The period after gradu-

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ation can become a confusing although exciting time.

Other countries and cultures have different systems of education. In Germany for example, there are three different educational roads, and the path is chosen when the child is around age 11, based on his/her interests, academic skills, and natural abilities (it is not set in stone however, and can be altered later). One option is the university path for future scholars, researchers, professors,

etc., whereas the other two options end earlier (around tenth grade) and prepare students to enter technical or vocational schools, or apprenticeships to become, for example, a nurse, carpenter, or other specific trade. It is recognized in such an educational system that not everyone needs to focus strictly on academics to achieve success, but can start training for a practical career earlier in life. Ayurvedic philosophy and traditional Indian culture in general,

similarly recognize that each person has a unique dharma, or calling in life, and that strict academia is not necessary for everyone. One chooses a career and education based on one’s dharma (doing what comes naturally). According to this system called varnashrama dharma, there are four general categories of varna, or work. First are the brahmanas who are intellectuals, priests, teachers, and academically inclined folks. They are considered the head of society, as they can offer wisdom and guidance for others’ wellbeing. Next are the ksatriyas who offer protection and security, keeping law and order, and are akin to the arms of society. The vaisyas are the farmers and businesspeople. They grow food which we need for survival, and conduct other forms of business, and are the stomach of society. The sudras are the legs of society. They assist and offer manual labor for the other three classes. All four varnas are equally important for the functioning of society, just as a human body functions best with a head, arms, stomach, and legs. Varnasrama dharma is not a caste system in which one is born into a profession, or in which the sudras are treated poorly and the brahmanas treated with respect. Rather, varnasrama dharma recognizes individual differences in people’s strengths and skills, and offers a path for each person, with all working cooperatively for the smooth functioning of society. According to this system, like the one in Germany, not everyone is expected to follow a strict university/academic path. Rather, each student is to be


LIFESTYLE

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IF YOU SPEND 40 HOURS A WEEK DOING SOMETHING, THAT SOMETHING SHOULD BE MEANINGFUL TO YOU. trained in a path that is well suited for his/her future goals.

Although our public education system encourages more of the one size fits all approach, we can still make ourselves aware of the concept of dharma when choosing our career path (whether immediately after graduation or later

in life). Dharma involves choosing a career based on your genuine calling in life, rather than giving into society’s subtle messages that we are to choose the job with the most money or best benefits. The word vocation comes from the latin root “vocatio” which literally means a calling. A job need not be something you simply do from 9-5

so you can come home, pay your rent, and enjoy some food and a few hours of relaxation or entertainment after a long day. People who have jobs that are just “to pay the rent” are often looking forward to Friday and regretting Mondays. This is not how life has to be! If you find yourself suffering through each work week, perhaps you have chosen a job that is just a job, rather than a vocation. Each of you, yes even you, has a unique talent, skill, or purpose that can be used to offer service to others while earning you a living that you truly enjoy. A vocation is a place of happiness, not just a place to get a paycheck. How do you know what your vocation or dharma is? A vocation is that which you love to do. You feel like your genuine self when doing it, and are not looking at the clock waiting for the day to end. Deep down, you know what it is. It may take some courage, it may take some breaking out of the comfort zone, it may carry a reduction of salary, but everyone can work a vocation instead of a job. If doing so would lead to a reduction of salary,

one must ask, does earning more money actually make me happy? We have all heard stories of people who were earning more money than they ever thought possible, but were not necessarily happy. I met one such lady who quit her high paying job and followed the path she genuinely wanted to follow, and is now more satisfied. If your dharma involves earning large amount of money, that is fine. The point is not to put down riches themselves, but to emphasize that riches alone, at the expense of following your true path, is not enough to bring satisfaction. If you spend 40 hours a week doing something, that something should be meaningful to you. Whether you have recently graduated from school, or are contemplating a career change, I encourage you to ask yourself, what is my vocation, or dharma, rather than what job is easy to get and will pay my bills? Just think - if we were born to do something, won’t our basic needs be provided for if we do that which we are truly meant to do? It is a matter of faith, but talk

LIQUID BEAUTY Cont'd from pg. 13

The spiritual spark is so beautiful that when it leaves the so-called beautiful physical body, which is filled with stool and vomit, no one wants to touch that body, even if it is decorated with a costly dress. Many are pursuing a false, relative truth, which is incompatible with real beauty. The actual truth, however, is permanently beautiful, retaining the same standard of beauty for innumerable years. That spiritual spark, which is who we actually are, is indestructible. The beauty of the outer skin can be destroyed in only a few hours merely by a dose of a strong purgative, but the beauty of truth is indestructible and always the same. �

with those who have taken that leap of faith and chosen the road of vocation and you will see the results for yourself. Choose Dharma, choose happiness! �

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