DECEMBER 2011 by 16Rounds

www.16ROUNDS.com DEC '11/JAN '12

Cover story: Pg. 10

JUSTICE FIGHTERS OCCUPY

Did they get you to trade cold comfort for change? www.16rounds.com

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INTRO

WAYS OF ECONOMY

These quotes are taken from The Light Of The Bhagavata, a book written by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami way back in 1961. It is intriguing to witness today the relevance of those thoughts.

Trade is 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. © 2011 16Rounds to Samadhi. All rights reserved.

16Rounds Staff: Editor: Mahat Tattva Dasa Mahat has been a monk since 1995 and is currently serving as the president of the Hare Krishna temple in San Diego. Graphic design: Rukmini Priya Poddar Rukmini is a student of Fine Arts & Graphic Design at the University of Florida. She was born and grew up in Alachua, Florida.

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.

meant only for transporting surplus produce to places where the produce is scanty. But when traders become too greedy and materialistic they take to large-scale commerce and industry and allure the poor agriculturalist to unsanitary industrial towns with a false hope of earning more money. The industrialist and the capitalist do not want the farmer to remain at home, satisfied with his agricultural produce. When the farmers are satisfied by a luxuriant growth of food grains, the capitalist becomes gloomy at heart. But the real fact is that humanity must depend on agriculture and subsist on agricultural produce.

No one can produce rice and wheat in big iron factories. The industrialist goes to the villagers to purchase the food grains he is unable to produce in his factory. The poor agriculturalist takes advances from the capitalist and sells his produce at a lower price. Hence when food grains are produced abundantly the farmers become financially stronger, and thus the capitalist becomes morose at being unable to exploit them.

Agriculture is the noblest profession. It makes society happy, wealthy, healthy, honest, and spiritually advanced for a better life, even after death. � CONTACT: 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.

COMMENTS FROM FACEBOOK: Leonardo Daniel Henry: Monsanto, DuPont, and Tyson etc. The list goes on forever!

Pancha Tattva Dasa: Yes, Monsanto. The industrialist has now found a way to exploit the agriculturalist by controlling the seeds. Demons!

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. 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/peoplesworld ©3 flickr.com/fuzzytek ©4 radicalgraphics.org ©5 flickr.com/fuzzytek ©6 flickr.com/wallyg ©7 flickr.com/treehouse1977 ©8 Anders Young/bluedevilhub.com ©9 flickr.com/yilka ©10 flickr.com/captainkimo ©11 flickr.com/cheriejphotos ©12 Anders Young/bluedevilhub.com ©13 Anders Young/bluedevilhub.com ©14 flickr.com/diekatrin ©15 flickr.com/mzn37

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SOCIETY

OCCUWHY? America's Most Actively Inactive Activists By Devin O’Rourke

“Awh

S@#t Man!? They killed Frank?!” All heads in the camp whipped around and eyes were suddenly fixed on the hysterical man with a cell phone in his hand. A stream of expletives gushed from his mouth, with brief interludes of tamer words like “Frank,” “why?” and “how?” Almost as quickly as the heads had turned,

three men came jogging with an urgency defying the stereotype of men who lived 'out of doors,' and soon our belligerent, bereaved friend was screaming “I'm COOL! I'M COOL!!” in a tone that didn't help his case. The three men, apparently Judge, Jury and Jailor, came to the conclusion that this man was in fact not 'COOL' and they escorted him out of the otherwise public park.

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This incident happened upon my second trip to Occupy Detroit's camp. It was a sunny, unseasonably warm Tuesday afternoon in Detroit Michigan's prophetically named Grand Circus Park. Grand Circus Park is the token green space of the only 4 blocks within the 143 sq. mile city that visitors bother to venture anymore. Within these 4 blocks, one can access the new pro baseball and football stadiums (Co-

Only in a country where the average citizen sees 3,000 advertisements a day encouraging them to lick, stick, wear, tear, smoke, suck, nip and tuck until the cows come home can a group of people sitting in a public park be called courageous. America's consumptionbased frenzy has been agitated to such a state by the State, that a couple people doing nothing can and has become a whole lot of something. merica Park and Ford Field respectively,) the Detroit Opera House, the famous Fox Theater and all the accompanying bars and restaurants that cater to the patrons of these establishments. A city with 30% unemployment would certainly have time to

enjoy all such bread and circus, but who would have the money? The Suburbanites of course! Convenient access to all major highways at this epicenter of entertainment allow for residents of the deliciously affluent suburban doughnut surrounding

Detroit to come and enjoy all the big city fun without ever having to see any of the big city blight that the once mighty 'D' is now famous for. Indeed this small strip of Woodward Ave, the Wall Street of the working man,

SOCIETY

CATHOLIC PRIEST JOINS THE PROTESTS IN DETROIT is all that's left of Detroit's glory days. Largely thanks to union organization, the Motor City was richest in the world based on per-capita income (circa 1950). Detroit is now the buckle of the rust belt. The story is somewhat familiar by now, and the right or wrong of the details doesn't matter so much. The jobs that were there in 1959 went to machines or Malaysians by 1999, and all the people that could afford to move out did so... and it was assumed all those who stayed were either stuck or stupid. But at least this little chunk of Woodward, with its quaint, open stores, glass windows and functioning

street lights, is a place where those who quit on Detroit could come and forget why they'd forgotten about the city. That was the case: at least, until the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement took hold smack in the middle of this mirage o' merriment.

Folks here in Detroit are very thankful for the Occupy Movement. Rather than Detroit being considered a social anomaly, Occupiers across the land are waking people up to the reality of the Motor City being the canary in America's coalmine. Occupiers understand a country that spends $38,000 per year on each prisoner in its penitentiaries and $8,000 a year on each student in

its schools is not operating with the best interest of all its citizens in mind. Occupiers understand the system is designed to keep the 1% in progressively growing power through a network of financial institutions, media outlets and government policies. (Possession of cocaine, for example, which is the drug of the rich, is a misdemeanor, while the possession of crack, the drug of the poor, is a felony.) These are truths the American populace in general is slowly coming to realize, and the Occupiers should be commended for being some of the first to collectively say they want nothing to do with this sorry state of affairs.

"But, for all its inwardness and self-contemplation, the [Occupy Wall St] movement has achieved one obvious, and stunning, outward success. It has pierced the veil of silence that, for decades, has obscured the astounding growth of what can fairly be called plutocracy (gov't by the wealthy)." - H. Hertzberg, journalist This is actually the movements strength, inaction. Only in a country where the average citizen sees 3,000 advertisements a day encouraging them to lick, stick, wear, tear, smoke, suck, nip

and tuck until the cows come home can a group of people sitting in a public park be called courageous. America's consumptionbased frenzy has been agitated to such a state by the

State, that a couple people doing nothing can and has become a whole lot of something.

But this loitering for libCont'd on pg. 7 ›››

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SOCIETY

THE SHEEPLE OF AMERICA United We're Blinded by the Wolf of Consumerism

As I walk down the streets of downtown San Diego on a Saturday night, I observe flocks of people with shopping bags and glazed expressions, intoxicated from the rush of just having spent a good portion of their pay check at the mall. By Jessica Robbins

Walking

past the various clubs, I feel the vibrations of the bass and I can see herds of party-goers grazing on their cigarettes and booze. Inside the doors, I see men puffing up their chests and barking across the dance floor at nearly half-naked females, hoping their mating call will attract a suitable member of the opposite sex for fornication later on that night. Once I pass this scene, I am immediately bombarded with the stench of seared flesh. I turn and see the predator sitting down to consume its prey; he then boxes up the leftovers to bring home to his nest. I turn the corner and am confronted with looming billboards and flashing lights ominously trying to coax my will into purchasing this liquor, that new meal at McDonalds, or whatever unnecessary necessity is out

on the market today.

SHEEP AMIDST WOLVES

I cannot help but feel overwhelmed by senseoverload. Am I a mere sheep expected to blindly follow down a path seemingly laden with promises of lush greenery yet precariously set amongst many wolves? Can grazing on the pastures of unrestricted sense gratification bring me solace or real fulfillment?

It seems that few question the efficacy of a society who works very hard in order to indulge in primal, animalistic urges such as mating and eating flesh, and whose main purpose is making exorbitant amounts of money in order to satisfy one’s every whim via shopping sprees, intoxication, and mind-numbing television.

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CONSUMERISM SYMPTOM OF A MATERIALLY MOTIVATED SOCIETY It is quite clear that the economic order of consumerism is an influential force in America. With the advent of the industrial and technological revolutions, products can be produced in larger quantities and at faster rates. Subsequently, corporations must now artificially impose a desire for their product, often times at the expense of the consumer’s well-being, in order to be successful.

Most of the population is hypnotized by the concept that material acquisition can make one happy. And with competition as the driving force, consumerism herds many down a path of ultimate dissatisfaction and subsequent disconnection, as we perform work for the sake of personal sense enjoyment.

Americans more and more are subscribing to a “culture of affluence,” a term in psychology which describes a culture that values ‘stuff’ over people, competition over cooperation, and the individual over the group (Levine, 2007). In other words, with so much value placed upon our external attachments and with an ever pressing need to make it to the top in society; we end up exploiting persons and things around us for our own personal benefit. We exploit animals for the

satisfying taste of their flesh, we exploit our lovers and once they no longer satisfy our mind and senses we divorce, and wars are fought over the exploitation of the natural resources. With our personal enjoyment at jeopardy, why let things like solidarity, service, or reciprocity get in the way, right? Such unscrupulous behavior is clearly a source of suffering, yet it’s the trend in most affluent countries—the consequences of which can be seen in young adolescents in our country today.

AFFLUENCE-NOT AN INDICATION OF HAPPINESS Most research regarding adolescent mental health finds that affluent teens and preteens, in both public and private schools, have the highest rates of some of the most substantial emotional problems of any group of kids in this country (Levine, 2007). From depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse to psychosomatic disorders, the youth today are becoming more affected from the

SOCIETY OCCUWHY? Continued from pg. 5

OCCUPY DETROIT ASSEMBLY ©4

results of a consumerist society.

Yet, how can we blame them? Bodily-pleasure idolization is publicly displayed in every major source of influence such as television, magazines, mainstream radio and billboards. “Buy this car, eat this cheeseburger, look like this woman so you can be attractive for men, et cetera” and you will be happy and fulfilled. In fact, our culture of affluence suggests that one’s value can be based upon one’s ability to attain such external achievements and temporary material pleasure.

Researchers at Princeton University have found that there is no correlation between material affluence and genuine happiness (Quinones, 2006), calling the link an “illusion.” And the quest to live up to such an illusion leads to the misallocation of our precious time, where we accept dismal and lengthy commutes, which are stressful and aggravating, and we sacrifice time spent socializing with friends and loved ones due to long work hours (Quinones, 2006). Why do we do this to ourselves just to afford “nice things”? If we accept the premise that the consumption of commodities brings happiness, we will inevitably be distracted away from the true sources

of our well-being.

QUEST FOR INTERNAL SATISFACTION – SYMPTOM OF INTELLIGENT LIFE

Why work so diligently all day only to enjoy the most basic material pleasures and comforts at night? Although we all must perform some work in order to survive, we should really question the purpose behind it all. Am I working for temporary sense gratification, or am I working towards a higher goal? And furthermore, are my endeavors bringing about suffering or genuine fulfillment?

Even animals perform some labor to keep themselves alive and maintained, and they too enjoy basic material pleasures such as eating, sleeping, and mating. But a human’s ability to enjoy these activities in a more comfortable, sophisticated way does not equate to more pleasure or happiness, because these things in themselves are not the goal of life! Are we no better off than a hog or a dog; working solely for the purpose of gratifying the senses without questioning higher truth? The truth is—those things that make us truly happy are things such as meaningful,

compassionate friendship, love, knowledge, and selfless service to others. Making money makes us happy only in so far as it provides for us the basic necessities so that we may cultivate such things. Working solely to satisfy our outer whims, which consumerism puts forth as the means to an end, leaves us with a flickering sense of happiness, and ultimately we’re left frustrated due to lack of internal fulfillment. So, unless we come to the point of sincerely questioning whether or not there is a higher purpose for which to work, instead of just our base desires to enjoy material pleasure, we are no better off than an animal. � Sources:

Quiñones, E. (2006, June 29). Link between income and happiness is mainly an illusion. Princeton University. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http:// http://www.princeton. edu/main/news/archive/ S 1 5 / 1 5 / 0 9 S 1 8 / i n d ex . xml?section=topstories Levine, M. (2007). Challenging the Culture of Affluence. NAIS. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http://www.nais.org/publications/ismagazinearticle. cfm?ItemNumber=150274

erty can only last so long. America is watching, and absorbing. American was designed to absorb, or to "control the causes of faction" as James Madison put it in his 10th Federalist Paper. Faction was the greatest fear of the Federalist debaters who ultimately won out in the argument for America's foundational structure. Federalists said that "big government means little people can never be too dangerous, they'll kill each other before they can become strong enough to kill us." Shocking that such a system was adopted by the men who were already in power... Thomas Jefferson and his Anti-Federalists were given a concession, the Bill of Rights. Jefferson said the beauty of the 2nd Amendment was that 'it will not be needed until they try to take it.' He understood their would again come a day when 'we' would be 'they.' Upon my first visit to Occupy Detroit, a few days before I saw 'Frank's' grieving friend, I strode into camp optimistic and confident. I felt very grateful for the opportunity to share bhaktiyoga with these progressive thinkers. Expecting to find a park full of souls searching for meaning, truth and justice in this bankrupt world, I had a bag full of Bhagavadgitas and a mridanga on my back, ready for spiritual dia-

logue.

The Bhagavad-gita As it Is is pure spiritual knowledge, infallible logic explaining the science of the soul. The mridanga is a double-headed drum that creates an intoxicating sound perfectly suited to accompany the congregational singing and chanting of God's ecstatic holy names. For the average bread and beer American, this spiritual potency descending through mother India can often be too much. However, it is just what the doctor ordered for people who realize they are not what they own. Occupy Detroit, I thought, would be like preaching to fish in a barrel. But instead of coming upon the languid, bohemian scene I had hoped and prayed for... I arrived at camp during a committee meeting. Jefferson would be pleased... Nathan was speaking. A burly, bearded, 'outdoorsy' type... and was offering a summary of his sub-committee's, the 'Get S@#t Done Team's' efforts over the past week. Nathan's crew proved to be aptly eponymous. Through their efforts, the local plumbers union had volunteered all the necessary time and resources for repairing the bathrooms that Occupiers were being permitted to use by a local business. The local electricians union had pledged $1,000 plus cable and wire to 'im-

prove camp infrastructure' and they were in talks about developing a system to heat the tents of all Occupiers through the coming winter. 'Infrastructure?!' Now it was my turn to use expletives.

Taking a look around, I saw a few of the knappyheaded vagabonds whom I thought would comprise the majority of the Occupy population. There seemed to be a few people who, if given the chance, would let me know how long it'd been since they'd showered with an air of accomplishment in their voice. But far outnumbering the couchsurfprotesters were the 20 and 30 somethings dressed in 'casual Friday' clothes, as though they themselves had just left work. This was, I realized, the case... as it was 7 o'clock when I came upon camp. I learned the crux of that, and every meeting, was the week's demonstrations. On the docket this week was a proposal for everyone to march to a bridge that connects Detroit with Canada. The bridge is privately owned by a man the committee heads gave a long list of reasons not to like. It was unanimously decided that on the following Thursday, Occupy Detroit would be taking up space near the bridge in an effort to draw Cont'd on pg. 15 ›››

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OPEN MIC

PORTRAIT OF A DONKEY A Cautionary Tale By Sri Devi (Andrea Sonia)

Mr. Donkey

was extremely pleased with his three little donkettes. He loved nothing more than coming home after a hard day’s work to their soft little bodies and sweet voices. “Daddy, daddy,” they would cry gleefully and embrace him with their miniature hooves. He would instantly forgive his two eldest, boys, for sometimes getting a bit rough with ol’ dad in the course of their tomfoolery, and he would have done anything, just about anything in the world, to protect his youngest, his princess. The sound of her tiny ankle bells tinkling combined with silly giggles as she climbed all over him was like music of mystical sea sirens to his weary ears. After a long day at Evilco, the chemical plant where Mr. Donkey was gainfully employed, these exchanges with his children made his job seem, with all its concomitant complications, worthwhile.

At Evilco, Mr. Donkey tried his best to please his manager, Mr. Rhinoceros. This was not at all an easy task. Popping out of his too-small shirts and always sporting

a teeny dribble of saliva in the corners of his mouth, this corporeal gentleman was often in a bad mood. Mr. Rhinoceros would throw inexplicable tantrums, demanding from his employees things which seemed impossible or unnecessary, or both. If Mr. Donkey or any of the other donkeys would show the slightest signs of protest, the Evilco manager would charge at them with his massive body and hooked horn. So the donkeys learned to be quiet, to not think or say too much. After all, there were many many donkettes waiting at home, their soft little bodies depending on the fact of the donkeys’ continued employment. The beasts of burden soothed themselves with the idea that Mr. Rhinoceros had been with Evilco for many years, and therefore this must somehow attest to his knowledge and authority. To make the work situation even less enjoyable for Mr. Donkey, there was the matter of Mr. Fox. This hot shot was a recent graduate of Money U. and

had initially come across as very helpful. He would offer to type Mr. Donkey’s reports, fix the formulas in his spreadsheets, have his shoes polished, fetch him hay sandwiches. Mr. Donkey, father-like and tickled pink, had as a result taken this fledgling under his wing, offering to teach him everything he knows about the chemical business.

Then one night, having forgotten something in his office, Mr. Donkey returned to find Mr. Fox in a hole which had been dug in the floor. In the hole were stacks and stacks of papers, which, upon closer examination, Mr. Donkey found to be his own reports - but which now bore Mr. Fox’s name! Threatening to report the incident, Mr. Donkey soon found him-

self with a fox attached to his feet, who was drenched in tears, repentant, citing a minor mental disorder which was easily curtailed with pills, pills which weren’t affordable right now because of his dying mother’s hospital expense, pills which were currently unobtainable you see, pills which he didn’t have! Since Mr. Donkey was the type to believe that the Brooklyn Bridge was indeed for sale, and because he was an ass, the incident was forgiven. Six months later Mr. Donkey was asked to order new office furniture for the new vice president, Mr. Fox. Out of frustration and lustiness, Mr. Donkey liked to enjoy sex life with his wife on the weekends. Actually this statement is not entirely true. In reality Mr. Donkey “would have liked to have enjoyed sex life with his wife on the weekends,” but this endeavor was wholly dependent on the mood of the female ass. Using a mixture of emotional blackmail involving her loveless childhood, an appeal to Mr. Donkey’s duty to protect and care for her, and strategically worn black-lace nighties, this master politician kept him just

Since Mr. Donkey was the type to believe that the Brooklyn Bridge was indeed for sale, and because he was an ass, the incident was forgiven. Six months later Mr. Donkey was asked to order new office furniture for the new vice president, Mr. Fox.

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OPEN MIC DONATELLA. HIS SIN, HIS SOUL.

all his might, drenched, pathetic. He had been a most pitiable sight to the speechless neighbors, who were unsure whether to offer him warm tea and a towel or call animal control.

It hadn’t always been like that. Mr. Donkey recalled earlier days, when his better half was sweet, agreeable, when she liked to prepare his favorite meals and put little notes in his pockets. And she would wear such pretty clothes, lots of pinks and blues, accentuating her perky bosom and rotund behind. And heels, always heels for any special occasion. Her luscious donkey mane grazing his face, smelling of far away green meadows - into which she would sometimes stick exotic-looking flowers.

where she liked him, under her hoof. It was most convenient for Mrs. Donkey to have the timings of sex with her husband be intimately linked with upcoming expeditions to the mall. We need not mention the few times the neighbors discovered Mr. Donkey naked in the rain outside of his house. Braying incessantly for his female counterpart, trying,

unsuccessfully, to shield his private parts from curious onlookers, this poor fellow was quite literally “left out in the rain.” It had been the spring season, you see, and there were forces in effect beyond Mr. Donkey’s comprehension, powerful forces, which made him behave in certain ways. Why does she have to do this, he would call out to the heavens, pounding on the front door with

Mr. Donkey didn’t like the thought of it, but because sometimes he felt like he had no choice, (because he still had many spring seasons left inside him), and out of a mixture of uncontrollable impulse and also revenge, the idea of having an affair came to him at one point. To fan the flame of this idea and also of his loins, there was a cute new donkey-specimen at Evilco - Donatella. He could have sworn she looked at him “a certain way” on more than one occasion. Yes, he could understand her drift, and how she probably could not help but be overwhelmed by a slightly older donkey in charge of a whole department - who

still had some spring seasons left inside him. Donatella. His sin, his soul.

Actually it hadn’t been that dramatic. This young equus asinus did in fact look at Mr. Donkey in a certain way on more than one occasion, but she was new, the poor thing, and one cannot even be sure that she did not have some kind of retinal disorder or that she did not look at all the other donkeys in a certain way. Encouraged by her titillating glances, Mr. Donkey immediately set out to buy four new suits and a 12-pack of Manuré cologne. Trying his best to appear dapper and “down with things,” this ass made the brave decision of striking up conversations with the young secretary. Leaning his elbow on her desk, invading her space entirely, grinning ineffectually, he heard himself say things like “chill,” “word,” and “dope,” words which he had obtained from his teenage nephew upon massive amounts of bribery. Because Mr. Donkey was not very expert in the art of taking hints, or dappery, and because he was delusional, this poor fellow thought he was actually making headway with Donatella. Providence allowed Mr. Donkey to belabor within his delusion for a couple months. Then, ominously, the moment of truth arrived - at the company Christmas party. It was delicious irony, to some at least, that

the very night and the very spot where Mr. Donkey planned to make his intentions clear to Donatella, (in a certain darkened corner of the office floor, and under a mistletoe), he would come upon his beloved in a lusty embrace with another, and to add insult to injury - a horse. This scene was like a very bad dream to Mr. Donkey, as he watched, in what seemed like slow-motion, the apple of his eye stroking the superior species’ sinewy muscles and laughing idiotically at whatever this beast was whispering in her dainty donkey ear. Mr. Donkey could not take it; he ran to the toilet, knocked over the perplexed hedgehog sitting on it, pulled back his ears, and vomited. Then he galloped to his office, on all fours now, seething with a mixture of rage and purpose, wildly unearthed his stash of the cologne (which was almost out), and with all his might, through hot tears, hurled it out the window.

So Mr. Donkey was back to his donkettes. These three little creatures, with their soft little bodies, were the only things which gave his life any meaning, Mr. Donkey penned mythically in his journal later that evening. But then the donkettes became teenagers. The oldest turned into the school bully, terrorizing all the female chickens in particular, and the other boy was odd

and unpopular, obsessing over his leaf collection and spouting crypto-Marxist ideas. The girl, although she was bright as a child, unfortunately grew very large breasts, and because of this quickly took an honorary title as one of the high school hussies. Years later, at Evilco, Mr. Fox successfully absconded with the company’s 401-k plan to South America, leaving the donkeys without retirement funds for their old age. Fortunately Mr. Donkey, copying his neighbor Mr. Squirrel, managed to maintain a secret IRA savings account throughout his long and thankless years at Evilco.

A year after retirement, however, Mr. Donkey came down with cancer. On his deathbed his lovely wife and children began to quarrel over the money, and Mr. Donkey then cursed it. This picture of his family arguing, which unfolded to his weakening eyes like a cheaply made film noir, was Mr. Donkey’s last glorious vision of this world, as he checked out of it. Floating higher and higher above the scene, feeling a great sense of relief at last, Mr. Donkey looked down at his family, who were pecking at his corpse just like turkey vultures, and vowed, with strength of conviction he had never experienced before, to do it differently next time around. �

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COVER STORY

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COVER STORY

JUSTICE FIGHTERS OCCUPY Did they get you to trade cold comfort for change? By Mahat Tattva Dasa

There is

a lot about the Wall Street occupiers and their message one can sympathize with. The commonality of their ideals is so ubiquitous that it makes it natural for many to identify with the movement. Even I, a monk who is keeping somewhat of a distance from much of what is going on in the society, am feeling a dose of attraction. As a friend and fellow monk of mine wrote, commenting about the Occupy Wall Street movement: “I feel the pain of my own parents' financial troubles. I feel the pain of so many people from the wasted city of Detroit, where I grew up and honed my roots. I feel the pain of people just like me, just like you, who have found that precepts of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," as guaranteed in The Declaration of Independence, are a cruel joke laid upon them. I look at many of the young people saddled with college and credit-card debt and I also feel gratitude for my current shelter as a monk, which has allowed me to keep a certain space from being plunged into that kind of angst; an angst which is visceral and existential all at once. Most of all I feel that there are people who are done with being stuck with the survival of the fittest. The 99% are people who

are sick of being manipulated and exploited by the 1% who, by all appearances on the surface and underneath, are rigging the system and benefiting beyond any sense of means and decency by a dependence on the inherent shocks and chaos programmed into the system itself.”

By now, similar “Occupy Wall Street” protests have spread to 36 American States. Even the people in England and Canada have joined in. On Friday, October 7th,

2011, I headed to downtown San Diego to hang out with the San Diego occupiers and to possibly connect with some interesting, progressive-thinking individuals. I met a lot of folks who were just the type I admire: exuberant, thoughtful, creative, aggressive yet gentle, and happy. The first person I interviewed was Bob. He was with the International Socialist Organization. Bob said, “We have seen ordinary people being hammered down. Right now is a period

AUTHOR (ON THE LEFT) TALKING WITH & INTERVIEWING SAN DIEGO OCCUPIERS

of economic turbulence, one in which ruling powers that be have decided that ordinary people should pay for it rather than those who caused the crisis - the people at the top of the society.” The two of us chatted about socialism. I see socialism as something very human, natural, and noble. We both were marveling at how the 99% of the American populace were cheated for years by the 1%. The deception is so deep that even now most of the 99% folks equate socialism with something demonic, associate it with former communist Russia, and look

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COVER STORY to support capitalism, the system which clearly favors the 1%. Besides that, capitalism is a runaway train of materialism. It forces everyone to severely compete for their market share. It is a “no mercy” system where everyone is trying to step over everyone else. It is brutal and needlessly disturbing. People should rather learn to live simply, quiet their otherwise disturbed minds, and go deeper into life, rather than just skimming on the surface. Another fellow I met there was expressing his disapproval of “the corporate

influence over government and humanity,” as he put it. He had another good thing to say: “This country thinks that competition is good and that infinitely consuming the planet’s resources is not having any effect on us whatsoever. We, rather, want to propose that instead of putting profit before people, we put people before profit.” “Another socialist idea,” I thought. Cool.

“We don’t think for ourselves a lot of the time. We think under the terms we’ve been told to think about. We have all these thoughts that are not ours.” a girl standing

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next to us joined in the conversation.

I interrupted, “However, don’t you think that is inevitably happening in every society? Whenever people try to organize themselves, group members tend to conform to the group’s ideals.”

At this point I remembered something George Orwell wrote in his work 1984. To anyone who knows anything about the history of this world, this should sound very familiar.

“Throughout recorded time there have been three kinds of people in the world: the High, the Middle, and the Low. They have been subdivided in many ways, they have borne countless different names, and their relative numbers, as well as their attitude towards one another, have varied from age to age: but the essential structure of society has never altered. Even after enormous upheavals and seemingly irrevocable changes, the same pattern has always reasserted itself, just as a gyroscope will always return to equilibrium, however far it is pushed one way or the other. The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconcilable. The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim—for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery

to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives—is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all people shall be equal.

Thus throughout history the same struggle occurs over and over again. For long periods the High seem to be securely in power, but sooner or later there always comes a moment when they lose either their belief in themselves or their capacity to govern efficiently, or both. They are then overthrown by the Middle, who enlist the

Low by lying to them that they are fighting for liberty and justice. As soon as they have reached their objective, the Middle thrust the Low back into their old position of servitude, and the Middle themselves become the High. Presently a new Middle group splits off from one of the other groups, or from both of them, and the struggle begins over again. Of the three groups, only the Low are never even temporarily successful in achieving their aims. Throughout history there

has been progress of a material kind. But no advance in wealth, no softening of manners, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality an inch nearer. From the point of view of the Low, no historic change has ever meant much more than a change in the name of their masters.” As I was thinking about this passage, my thoughts were interrupted by another guy standing in our small circle. He was saying that we should not just blame the rich because everyone

SOCIETY

FOOLS & RASCALS IN THE STRICT SENSE OF THE TERMS By Mahat Tattva Dasa "I MET A LOT OF FOLKS WHO WERE JUST THE TYPE I ADMIRE: EXUBERANT, THOUGHTFUL, CREATIVE, AGGRESSIVE YET GENTLE, AND HAPPY." makes decisions based on options given by our environment. Therefore we should strive to change the environment in order to change everyone, including the rich. I was not too happy with how the conversation was developing. I felt we were dwelling too much on the details. Details merely run on the platform of principles; so detecting principles is way more important for me. The details of who stole what and how to prevent future theft, even though having its own merit, was somewhat of a superficial plane in my opinion. Principles first, details later. Otherwise you may end up successfully climbing a ladder just to find out that the ladder was resting on a wrong wall. I asked everyone that was gathered if what they deliberated on was to be considered details, what would be the principles? Not too many liked this question. Some left the circle. In my experience, this often happens. Every time you try to get down to the deep principles, as if sensing a devil, some folks flee. Certain people are just

determined to remain on the superficial platform. I wonder why? It might be a psychological thing. It might be that digging deep down to where the principles lie is to run the risk of discovering that which will demand our own personal change. Unless we are sincere seekers, we may opt to give up the truth in exchange for comfort. Pink Floyd sang, “Did they get you to trade cold comfort for change? Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?”

One of the guys who stayed with the conversation, a tall 22 year old with curly, long hair, attempted to answer the question. Answers following questions and questions following answers, we were getting deeper and deeper into the issue. Finally he said that the thing he was uncomfortable about, the thing he was rebelling against, was injustice, inconsistency, and lies. I said that physical pleasures are extremely seductive. Money and power, besides providing for such pleasures, also tame the beast of fear for bodily comfort and security. Remember-

ing the above mentioned quote from George Orwell, I asked, “Even if the regime is toppled and replaced with a new one, a good and moral one, how do we make sure they don’t get contaminated by greed for money and power?” My conversation partner, obviously knowing that I am a monk and therefore focused primarily on internal, spiritual development, understood where this train was going. He lowered his head, for some reason, and said with a soft voice that the most important thing is individual internal purity and loyalty to the truth. That is the thing that is seldom taught anywhere in the modern society, and almost never instructed on a large scale and in an organized fashion. If one is rebelling against injustice, inconsistency, and lies, one should feel morally obliged to wipe those out of one’s own heart first. Dr. Martin Luther King said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

On January

28th, 2011, the president of the United States, Barack Obama, publicly commenting about the then current events of political and civil unrest in Egypt, said the following:

"I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protestors. The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights. And the United States will stand up for them everywhere."

Less than a year later, all over the United States, hundreds of thousands of Americans, often inspired by the people of Egypt, started to gather in public places to practice everything Mr. Obama called

"universal rights". Such inalienable rights include peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the right to determine their own destiny. How did the US government respond? They used brute force. In hundreds of American cities, police in riot gear brutally violated the peaceful protestors, physically hurting and arresting numerous people - young, old, healthy, and infirm, without discrimination.

Just as we were ready to print the December issue of the 16 Rounds magazine, police had shamelessly attacked a group of peaceful UC Davis students who had gathered on the campus. The incident was followed by a UC Davis students rally. Students demanded that the university's chancellor, Linda Katehi, resign. The incident in particular as well as nuCont'd on pg. 17 ››› ©8

I propose that unless we are ready to be true and loyal to the truth, and if we do

Cont'd on pg. 17 ›››

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PHILOSOPHY

THE SCHOOL OF LIFE I Learned Three Things From Children Today By Vic DiCara

One thing

I do occasionally is teach English in preschools here in Japan. Its a lot of fun, and I learn a lot of things. Today especially I learned three things…

1. THE MEANING OF LIFE

Every living being, especially when they are still new and unruined – like kids, will always come running towards love. Why? Love is the meaning of life. The whole point of life and

spiritual realization should be to seek out the purest, deepest, most sublime form of love. Philosophy and religion and spirituality is not really supposed to be about morality (dharma) or mysticism (siddhi) or knowledge (jnana) or even liberation (mukti). These things are only supports leading us towards the perfection of love – the ultimate goal, premabhakti: divine love.

2. LOVE HURTS

The next thing I learned is that love hurts. OK, there is this one little

Yeah, from kids.

If you need a philosophy degree to learn the meaning of life, I do not really think it is the meaning of life –since life does not exist in a university library.

The most basic truth about a kid is that it doesn’t matter how fat or skinny or pretty or ugly or tall or short or light or dark or rich or poor or “cool” or “uncool” you are. If you treat a kid with love, the kid will come running to you with a smile on his or her face every single time you come around. That is the meaning of life. Love.

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It just goes to prove that the ultimate essence of a living entity is love. We are made of it, made for it, and we need it even more than we need food, water or air.

There is this one little boy who especially loves me. But whenever I come to the school, on that day he always gets very cranky, cries all the time, and gets "tired" very fast. Why?

PHILOSOPHY boy who especially loves me. But whenever I come to the school, on that day he always gets very cranky, cries all the time and gets tired very fast. Why? Love hurts. Now this gets me thinking… if love is the goal and meaning of life, why does it hurt?

And then I realized there are two grades of love. One is like iron, the other like gold. Both are metallic and so appear similar at a glance from a distance but the value of each is dramatically different. One kind of love is common, the other is uncommon. One is base, the other is purified.

Animals and human beings start out by developing common love. And that love hurts. Common love retains the faulty ego-centered concept of life. You see, my little friend at school, he cries when I come because he hates it when I play with any other kid. He always wants me to pick him up, play with him, talk to him, et cetera. His concept of love is self-centered. As far as he is concerned, everything about me exists only in terms of how I relate to him. He is the central figure and I am an accessory which brings him happiness due to possessing love for him. He has not learned yet that such love causes agony – even though he spends his whole day crying when I come in. Unfortunately, only a

few of us ever learn this lesson.

There is another type of love, which is purified and puts the beloved in the center and the self as an accessory for the beloved. This love is extremely blissful and practically never seen on earth in its full form. The main obstacle making it so rare is: Who is really qualified for the absolutely central position that absolutely pure love requires?

Now, people have many different ideas of who or what “God” is. All of them have some truth in them, but to me the central and most important feature of the Supreme Life is to be the one entity perfectly qualified and attractive to be the absolute center of infinitely pure love. This conception of divinity looks almost nothing like an old man

on a throne, and has just about nothing to do with thunderbolts or stone tablets, nor even a meditation posture. It looks a lot more like a beautiful young boy and girl in a natural setting, surrounded by intimate friends, and intrinsically rooted into the soul of every soul. We call this conception of Godhead “Radha-Krishna”.

Common love hurts because such love results in selfish attachment to the object of love. And such attachments are the cause of all suffering – according to all my favorite philosophers, and according to all the little kids I hang out with, too. Therefore, even the joys of such love eventually become pains, and induce philosophers and housewives alike to doubt that love is really the meaning of life. Divine love, however – radha-krishna-prema – results in selfless attachments to the object of love. Thus both the joys and tears experienced in such divinity are blossoming expansions of the most sublime spiritual bliss inherent (though in only a potential form at present) within the deep soul of both you and I. ©11

3. JOY IS NATURAL I watch these kids, and play with them a lot. We play with stuff like… cardboard, paper towel rolls, sometimes something fancy like a plastic ball. When I hang out with adults it is a lot different. It seems like with adults “having fun” usually means doing something elaborate or unusual like going out to karaoke, a restaurant, a movie, or whatever. But kids, they do not seem to need any props to have fun. I think it means that the soul is ananda-maya – it is composed of bliss (an intrinsic quality of pure love). When the body and mind are very young they are soft and fresh and working great. They don’t get as badly in the way of the natural bliss in the soul.

Of course kids get bored too, but it is usually not really young kids who get bored. It is the older ones whose minds and hearts have started solidifying from prolonged exposure to object-oriented, externalized human culture. But even those kids, watch them. Look at the enthusiasm they display when they do go to the amusement park or get a new video game. They dive into it. Adults just can not compete with their zeal. I think it is because the aging body tends to form an increasingly hard shell over the soul’s natural energy and happiness. �

OCCUWHY? Continued from pg. 7 attention to the proprietor's improprieties. The meeting culminated with a clear delineation of those individuals who would be performing 'civil disobedience' i.e. 'getting arrested,' and those individuals who would be occupying until they were asked not to. Naturally the casual Friday crowd would be bowing out graciously when the boys in blue arrived.

And who could blame them? Especially in a city like Detroit, when 30% unemployment has a 1/3 of the city wondering how they're going to eat... who's going to throw away work just to try and piss off a guy who makes more money in a week than you will in a lifetime? Upon realizing this, I affirmed my own desire to be there in Grand Circus Park and also confirmed my fears about the Occupy Movement.

Srila Prabhupada writes in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gita (5.25): "A person engaged only in ministering to the physical welfare of human society cannot factually help. Temporary relief of the external body and mind is not satisfactory." In other words, if Occupiers focus solely on the material circumstance of our current situation... the war is already lost. The biggest scam ever pulled by Wall Street has

nothing to do with Mortgage Rates or Crude Oil Prices. The most awful thing those men and any man could ever do is encourage a fellow human to think they are simply the body and nothing more. If we think we are merely a bag of blood, bones and piss, we can be coerced into dedicating all our precious time here on Earth to maintaining that sack of flesh. If that's all we are, that's all we got... then that's all we should do.

But if that's the case, then why would the collective attention of the world be set on a few people sitting in a park? Why would such seemingly insignificant inaction draw so much attention from individuals whose real interest should be the affordability of botox? Because we are more than the skin we are in. Our consciousness can transcend, as Srila Prabhupada put it, 'the external body and mind' if it is properly cultivated. Our creativity, our potency, our supreme potential goes so much beyond the name on our jeans or size of their inseam.

This is what I stand for when I visit Occupy, and what could be captured from this inspiring movement is a sincere effort as a society to nurture and encourage authentic spiritual growth outside the limiting Cont'd on pg. 17 ›››

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OPEN MIC

HARMONY Lessons from a LifeChanging Move to the Wilderness By Visakha Devi

INTRODUCTION

In June

of 1999 my family and I moved from our Los Angeles apartment to Sharanagati, a remote 1600-acre valley in British Columbia where a small band of semi-rugged, spiritually-minded individualists had settled. My mother-inlaw said, “They’ll last two years there – three at the most – before they move again.” (In the twenty-eight years since my husband and I have been married, we’ve moved every two to five years, so my mother-in-law wasn’t being unduly pessimistic.)

The Sharanagati community was isolated, off the grid, hours from a significant city, and functioned at its own sweet pace – a slow-motion crawl. Here we planned to start a new life, one free of electric bills, fluorinated water, noise, traffic, bad air, billboards, crime and TV. The home we rented, and then bought ten months later, was a small wooden house on a knoll overlooking grassland. In the distance, a mile-long lake shimmered through trees, flanked by fir- and pine-covered mountains. We were living inside a picture postcard. Our 5-year-old daughter was the twenty-second student in the valley’s one-room schoolhouse that accommodated grades Kindergarten to 12. We renovated our home, used a woodstove for

"Perhaps observing the habits of Canadian loons and black bears, taking long walks in dense forests, working the soil, feeling glad about the things we grew and the miracles around us, we would begin to distinguish reality from illusion. Surely, with less stress and more open sky, epiphanies would reveal our essential identity and the purpose of existence." heat and an outhouse for nature’s call. Our tap water was gravity-fed from a small aquifer on the mountain slope a quarter-mile away; our electricity was from a solar panel; we grew vegetables and planted fruit trees. Except for our old Toyota Camry sedan and “3000” Honda generator (back-up power for overcast days), our self-sufficiency was nearly tangible.

Sharanagati, formidably enough, means “surrender” in Sanskrit. Here, among the rhythms of nature, close to sincere fellow seekers and confronting the wildness of our own mind, perhaps we could purify our lives. Perhaps those long winter nights and endless summer days would forge different people out of us: people closer to the earth, to simple faith, to contented, noncommercial, commodity-free

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lives. Perhaps observing the habits of Canadian loons and black bears, taking long walks in dense forests, working the soil, feeling glad about the things we grew and the miracles around us, we would begin to distinguish reality from illusion. Perhaps our new life, nourished by good cheer and harmony, could be our tiny contribution to the wellbeing of others. Surely, with less stress and more open sky, epiphanies would reveal our essential identity and the purpose of existence. What actually happened was quite different. Black bears ate our carrot crop and broke our apple trees to get our apples. Aphids attacked berry bushes and overpopulated our Russian kale. Mice used almost mystic powers to get into our sealed root cellar. A neighbor’s nineteen-year-old son

broke into and robbed our house. In January it was minus 30 degrees F. In July it topped 100. The winters were dreary, the summers mosquito-filled, the autumns dry. In 2003, a forest fire burned 25,000 forested acres just north of us. At one point, drenched in terror, we saw flames shooting over the eastern ridge less than a mile from our home. Through all of this, except the forest fire (which was too intense), I continued to read the renowned spiritual guidebook of the East, the Bhagavad-gita, and to become more conscious of my incredible small-ness, ignorance, and uncertainties. I wondered about my purpose in living in Sharanagati and the purpose of living in the world generally; I wondered about countrystyle survival and about the urban cycle of continually

Softbound, 6”x8”, 200 pages, 62 photographs. By Jean Griesser, a.k.a. Visakha Devi AVAILABLE AT:

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making and spending money; I wondered about innocent and less than innocent diversions from the daily grind; I wondered about the relationship between values and happiness.

Gradually, my disparate experiences and reflections drew together under the canopy of harmony: the pleasing and diverse unity overarching all things and all beings. The saint Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who translated and commented on the verses of the Bhagavad-gita, once said, “Material or spiritual, everything is in harmony. That is God’s law. Everything is in harmony.” The simplicity and complexity of how this is so is for me the ecstatic mystery the Bhaga-

vad-gita explores. This, the true harvest of daily life in Sharanagati, is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning.

The three of us have been living in Sharanagati for many years now, and our daughter has grown up. But sadly my mother-in-law can’t be surprised by the news of our perseverance in the wilderness for so long, as she passed away three years after we moved here. I think she would have liked the harmony in Sharanagati too, at least in the spring, summer and fall. �

[ X ]

RETHINKING DARWIN For more than

a century, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution has been the theoretical framework - the paradigm - in mainstream biology and related life-sciences. Nevertheless, great advances in biochemistry over the past decades have created an Intelligent Design opposition which maintains that the theory of evolution is beset with anomalies.

In Rethinking Darwin, Danish science writer Leif A. Jensen, in collaboration with leading Intelligent Design proponents such as Dr. Michael Behe, Dr. William Dembski, and Dr. Jonathan Wells, points out flaws in the Darwinian paradigm and examines the case for intelligent design. The argument for design is next expanded with further evidence from archeology, cosmology, and studies of consciousness. Finally, based on the irreducible nature of consciousness, the book suggests an alternative paradigm drawn from the Vedic texts of ancient India. Softbound, 256 pages, 5" x 7.5". Price: $11.95 Item Code: NEBH725 By Leif A. Jensen Company: BBTInternational

FOOLS & RASCALS Continued from pg. 13 merous other similar actions by the police is an offense to the people of this country. The police department seems to rather be a department of mercenaries who work for the company called government. The ridiculous part is that the mercenaries are paid by the very people, the tax payers, whom they are brutally offending. This is a colossal injustice that none of us should be capable of tolerating. So what are we to think about Mr. Obama? AVAILABLE AT:

STORE.KRISHNA.COM

OCCUWHY

JUSTICE FIGHTERS OCCUPY

Cont'd from pg. 15

Continued from pg. 13

concepts of man, woman, old, young, black, white, wall street, main street... Though I understand the sentiment behind standing next to bridges and outside banks; ultimately such protesters are like a farmer who paints his barn and then expects the crops to grow. If we don't address the real issue at hand, we are likely to not see a change that lasts the winter. �

not make our internal, spiritual development the topmost priority, we are bound to find ourselves climbing a ladder that is resting on a wrong wall. Materialism is a lie, a disease, an inconsistency, it is gross, and it hurts. We ought to endeavor for an achievement that is categorically different. First things first, right?

Now I am reminded of something Tolstoy said, "There can be only one permanent revolution—a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man." Sukadeva Goswami, the speaker of the Srimad

Bhagavatam said, “What is the value of a prolonged life which is wasted, inexperienced by years in this world? Better a moment of full consciousness, because that gives one a start in searching after his supreme interest."

Is he a liar and therefore yet another disgusting creature that does not lose sleep over the exhibition of grotesque forms of immorality? I can not say that, as I do not know him personally. Perhaps he is a righteous person, but unable to do much. His hands might be "tied". Perhaps he is just a puppet that those who are really running the show dangle before the eyes of the public. Even though this might be possible, I cannot say it with much certainty, as I am not intimately familiar with politics in such echelons. I can, though, certainly say one thing great injustice has been done, and if toler-

ated, it will yield to further injustice everywhere, including the government. Due to the tolerance of previous acts of injustice, we are witnessing gross forms of injustice now. Injustice and lies result in more injustice and lies. Srila Prabhupada wrote, more than 30 years ago, the following:

"At the present moment the so-called executive heads are more or less selected from materially ambitious persons (read 'materialists') who simply look after their own personal interests; they have no spiritual education. In other words, the executive heads are fools and rascals in the strict sense of the terms, and the people in general are simple workers (shudras). This combination of fools and rascals and simple workers (shudras) cannot bring about peace and prosperity in this world. Therefore we find periodic upheavals in society in the forms of battles, communal riots, and fratricidal quarrels. Under these circumstances, not only are the leaders unable to lead the people toward liberation, but they cannot even give them peace of mind. In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated that anyone who lives on concocted ideas, without reference to the standard books of spiritual knowledge (shastras), never becomes successful and does not attain happiness or spiritual emancipation." �

I think it is great that the Occupy movement is addressing a good number of lies and inconsistencies. I also hope that the movement does not stop at the mere economic level. A Vedic proverb says, “satyam jayate” - “truth is victory.” Or, as a friend of mine said ,"Truth works!" �

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LIFESTYLE

By Sara Bock

When

following an Ayurvedic diet, it is important to eat according to season. Remember that an Ayurvedic diet involves balancing the elements in the body. Different elements become more prominent in the body during various seasons (fire in summer, air in autumn and winter, and earth/water in spring), and we should eat accordingly. During the winter season,

the cold and wind aggravate vata (air and ether elements) in the body. A winter diet should thus serve to reduce aggravation of vata. If an element becomes overly aggravated within you, it relocates to a particular area in the body, remains, spreads, and disease follows. Eating and acting to balance an element before it spreads through the body is essential in the prevention of certain diseases. Following is a guideline of which foods and lifestyle practices can

SPICES FOR DESTROYING: MUCUS, SORE THROAT, AND RUNNY NOSE Black Pepper Honey Cinnamon Cardamom Ginger 18

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serve to reduce air/ether in the body, and to heat the body. Always check with an Ayurvedic practitioner about which foods are best for your particular body type. The following examples serve only as a general guide for Ayurvedic winter eating, based on reducing and balancing vata. Sweet, sour, and salty foods pacify the air element in the body, as do heavy grains such as oats, rice, and wheat. Large amounts of all dairy products except cheese are helpful in reducing vata. Mung beans, tofu, and kidney, and navy beans are also beneficial. Large amounts of almonds, cashews, pecans, sesame seeds, and coconut are warming in the winter, while fruit should be taken

in only small amounts when vata is high, as their light qualities only increase the air/ether in the body. Raw vegetables should be eaten in moderation or completely avoided in people with too much vata or during the winter season, as their cold and light nature further aggravates the cold we feel in the winter. Warm, cooked, earthy vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, beets, and yams, are most soothing for vata. Warm, heavy oils such as sesame, flaxseed, and almond oils help keep the air element in check. The best sweeteners for balancing vata are jaggary, sucanet, molasses and honey. All sugars should be taken in moderation however, for optimal health. Certain spices can also keep us warm during

the winter. Try adding some cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves to hot milk at night for a warming, ideal winter treat that promotes rest and well-being.

In general, winter is a time for hot tea, warm soups, oatmeal, and other heavy, warm, moist foods. Salads and dry toast can wait until another season. If you find yourself wanting to eat more during the winter, do not be alarmed. The body is designed to put on a few extra pounds in the winter to help keep us warm. As daylight grows shorter in winter, your body might also crave more rest. Instead of turning to caffeine to fight off your tiredness, listen to and respect your body’s desire for extra rest. Winter is

an ideal time to turn inward – to reflect, study, meditate, and introspect. The bears hibernate, and so can we (figuratively speaking). Also avoid high stress, as stress can reduce immunity which we need to fight off colds and flus.

During the winter, try to wake by seven am to experience more daylight during the short, winter days. If you suffer from seasonal depression, which is more common in people of vata nature, make an extra effort to spend time with warm, loving friends, to catch your daily dose of sunlight, and to maintain regular daily routines in regards to eating, sleeping, and working. Warm oil massage can be very soothing during the

winter time. Sesame oil is particularly helpful for balancing vata, but check with your doctor which oil is best for you. You can do this selfmassage (called abhyanga) in the morning, letting the oil soak in your body for at least twenty minutes before you shower. Flowing yoga poses and pranayama (breathing exercises) can also keep the body fit during the winter, and warm steam rooms are a treat to find relief from the cold, dry weather.

In sum, although we live in a fast paced culture where year round productivity and performance are expected, try to take a break to listen to and respect your body’s requests during this winter season. Eat warm, heavy, nourishing foods, follow a regular schedule, take time to rest and introspect, and

enjoy the company of your loved ones around a fireplace on a cold winter’s night.

To order Ayurvedic massage oils and other products,

visit www.banyanbotanicals.com but do check with an Ayurvedic practitioner about which products are best for your unique, Godgiven body type. �

SPICES FOR KEEPING

WARM IN THE WINTER Cinnamon Turmeric Cloves Black Pepper

WINTER SEASONAL RECIPE

SWEET CARROT HALVA Serves 6. Taken from ayurvedicyogi.com Carrots are a nutritious vegetable, rich in Vitamin A. They heat the body and can help keep us warm in winter. Carrots purify the blood and tone the kidneys. The following is a recipe for a warming winter pudding, which is pleasing for the mind. This recipe is balancing for all doshas but Kapha types should eat in moderation.

Ingredients:

1 pinch saffron 1 tbsp water 2 cups of organic carrots (very finely grated) 6 tbsps ghee (found at Indian spice stores) or organic butter 1 cup of m i lk (cow, goat, almond, rice or soy) 1/3 cup sweetener such as agave syrup or sugar 1/2 tsp ground cardamom 1 tbsp sliced almonds

To make: Soak the saffron in 1 tbsp water for 10 minutes. Melt the ghee (or butter) in a heavy pot and add grated carrot. Cook for 5 minutes until they are slightly brown. Add milk, stirring all the time, then add the soaked saffron and other ingredients. Cook on low heat, uncovered until all liquid absorbs (about 15 minutes). Keep stirring or it will stick! Offer the pudding in love and devotion to the Supreme. Serve in small dishes. You can also make this with other vegetables such as sweet potato, or add dried coconut, raisins, dates etc. �