Letters to the editor

AGTSP.... Paoho.... Start a dialog with our Primary Health Provider, Dr. Amit Singh. He was Gurukuli when I was visiting Vancouver, Canada, and his father is initiated devotee. Extremely nice devotee:

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You know that NgD went for Karuna Virus testing, as he has some fever, no?

Now, we are getting pushing to go to local testing center, but we are quite hesitant.

1. We got conjuntivitis in a 1st class medical center.

2. We have no symptoms and never had any but outside safe distance association with Prabhuji.

3. We are doing voluntary quarantine. Only going for solitary walk around the block until...

4. On Wednesday NgD gets results and if it is not positive then less reason to go for testing, and even if we do test positive there is not much that we can do, no?

So rather wait until Wednesday before any testing and risk infection in the Clinic.

What is your first opinion?

Socrates viewed his death as a blessing. Mrs. Socrates viewed it as a curse.

Hare Krsna.

AGTSP!

Paoho. We have a stomach ache. How about you?

Reader: Yes, also!

ASA: Back and neck and eye ache from the computer?

Reader: Yes, yes!!

Was very good day today. Maya's army was able to drag us boy our tongue and belly, but not genitals (AGTSP), into several defeats. But by His Divine Grace and a little, little, little.... effort we were able to have many victories.

TB - ??

HpS - Sixteen good (not very good) rounds. 4-principles, NIOS Board of Director's Meeting. Blog mail!! Enough. It is 9.36PM. We are so, so tired, but we can see that there is really possibility of winning battles for Krsna, of getting Srila Prabhupada's Purports to nice, deep, people!!! Thank you. Harsh's articles are great, no? So many nice people in ISKCON.

Hare Krishna Gurudeva

Please accept my humble obeisances,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada !!

This report is about the progress of the indexing process and the final part of the edition for the publication of SOLARIS No 5, by the mercy of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, we hope to have the digital version of the magazine ready on the day of its Glorious Appearance on 30 of August.

HpS - Enthusiasm is more important than patience but without some patience turns into patience. We all look forward to the Big Voice of NIOS.

We have been in permanent communication with Miguel Polo and Héctor Béjar. With Miguel, after several sessions we have defined the standard for the presentation of the journal's articles and contents (it is the first requirement in the indexing process). In Héctor's case, he has read articles to approve their publication. In my case, as editor and coordinator of the journal, I have managed with professors and institutions the preparation and delivery of articles and content (it only remains to refine the details of the part in English to finish this point), I have also managed with the CIEPS - Center International Registration of Serial Publications the assignment of two ISSNs (one to ratify the printed version and another number for the digital version), finally, at the moment I am in the design and layout (80% ready).

HpS - Gandhava Das made excellent presentation for Viplavah etc. today in NIOS Board of Director's meeting. Everyone was very impressed. We have to put the management of NIOS in the loop as we apply for these numbers etc. Excellent work.

The work of homologizing and standardizing SOLARIS is very strong, but it is necessary, to pass, the first filter of the indexing. They are formalities, they are not difficult, but if they are laborious, they are not unnecessary formalities, on the contrary, this is currently the standard of how scientific and academic information is ordered and cataloged in the world. Basically, this first step (two more to go) consists of 3 topics:

1.- Standardize the presentation of articles according to the pattern established by the APA (American Psychological Association). The set of these standards is what is known as the APA style or standards. We follow the APA 6 style, this was the recommendation of Miguel and also of another professor, who has already indexed his journal (at this point we appreciate the valuable work of Carlos Rold who approved the footnotes and bibliographic references of almost all articles, in Spanish, he also did a bit of proofreading, a super service).

HpS - Jaya, Bhakta Carlitos.

2.- Create for each article a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) ​​is a unique and permanent identifier that provides information on the description of digital objects (in our case the articles and other contents of the journal) this makes it easy and accessible the location of content on the internet.

3.- Build a portal (your own website) where the articles can be downloaded in thematic or chronological order through metadata (author, title, publication data, etc.) this is in the process of being elaborated (in the next report more details on this point).

HpS - This was also discussed at the BOD meeting today. Subal sakha Das from Richmond, Virginia, can possible help us with general strategy for the website and NIOS web pages. His company charges $500/hour when he does this work. He will design and manage the work of teams of 25-programers as they migrate Capitol One bank's account date from one server to another in a live process over 18-hours. If it fails while moving they start losing $27,000 per hour!

In parallel, we have the validation of articles by pairs, that is, a group of academics who approve the publication of the articles in the journal.

At this point the English editing team (they can delegate validation to other colleagues) would be made up of Radhika Raman and Aja-Govinda, (humanities and applied sciences, great), okay?

HpS - Maybe!!!? We can always be fully engaged. If we become anxious for some material result, fame, prestige, I know!, then we create problems. Aja and Radhika are both pushed to the limit with their academic, profession, family, ISKCON responsibilities. ... Maybe they will not have time to do this. We have to look at things and see if we can do it. If not then O.K. we will do something else and GET a good result. Better to do something smaller with 85% good result that something bigger with 15% result, no?

The Spanish team is made up of Héctor Béjar (agrees to evaluate two articles per Magazine) Miguel Polo (agrees to evaluate two or three articles per Magazine) Paula Miranda and Lalita-gopi D.D. (Ramon Mujica, Carlos Aquino, Walter León and others are also there but they are occasional)

Here is the content of SOLARIS No 5:

INDEX / INDEX

Articles / Articles:

1. THE SACRED FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL, Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty.

2. EDUCATION, NATURE AND THE PARADIGM OF THE SACRED, Héctor Béjar Rivera.

3. A BHAGAVATA PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, Some Preliminary Thoughts, Ravi Gupta.

4. NARRATIVE AND SPIRITUALITY IN FRONT OF POSTHUMANISM, Luis Arturo Amaro Sáenz.

5. FROM THE NATURE OF ART TO THE ART OF NATURE, Raúl Zevallos.

6. THE VISUAL DISCOURSE IN THE CENTENNIAL GENERATIONS, education for a global ethics, Ma. Dolores Chávez.

7. IMAGE OF THE ORIENTAL AND INDIA SOCIETIES IN THE PERCEPTION OF LATIN AMERICAN AUTHORS, Murad Ahamad Khan.

8. THE RETURN TO THE WORLD IN DŌGEN AND IN SHINRAN: THE PRACTICE OF ZAZEN AND NENBUTSU, Rebeca Maldonado.

● Cultural Portal / Cultural Portal:

POETRY, A WAY TOWARDS THE REUNION WITH THE SACRED. In Memoriam by Rodrigo Hernández Piceros, by Carlos Rold / illustrations: Sebastián Riveros.

A POET DRESSED IN HUMILITY, Enrique de Santiago.

● Interviews / Interviews

THE ROLE OF CREATIVITY IN ZEN BUDDHISM, Miguel Polo interview with Berta Meneses.

● Round table / Round table

KARMA-VIRUS or KARUNA-VIRUS, approaches to the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic

● Reviews / Reviews

● Institutional Exchanges / Institutional Exchanges

Gurudeva, by your mercy and that of Sri Gauranga, the academic sankirtana is going well, in the next report we will talk about the interesting relationships of NIOS and SOLARIS with the Spanish Society of Religions Sciences (www.secr.es) (Spain) and the Aesthetics Center of the Catholic University of Chile (www.estetica.uc.cl).

Hare Krishna Gurudeva, his insignificant servant, Abhirama Thakur das.

HpS - Again, be careful. Keep it enthusiasm, not passion. We are just now beginning to get these projects into the Blog as practical works. Should have happened some time before, but no body (especially us) are perfect.

All glories to His Divine Grace. We all thank you! We thank Maria for giving your so much love and respect.

EDICIÓN Y PUBLICACIÓN DE SOLARIS No 5 EN LA RECTA FINAL

Hare Krishna Gurudeva

Por favor acepte mis humildes reverencias,

¡Todas las glorias a Srila Prabhupada!!

Este informe es sobre el avance del proceso de indexación y la parte final de la edición para la publicación de SOLARIS No 5, por la misericordia de Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, esperamos tener la versión digital de la revista lista el día de su Gloriosa Aparición el 30 de agosto. A continuación, los detalles:

Hemos estado en comunicación permanente con Miguel Polo y con Héctor Béjar. Con Miguel, después de varias sesiones hemos definido el estándar de la presentación de los artículos y contenidos de la revista (es el primer requisito en el trámite de indexación), en el caso de Héctor él ha leído artículos para aprobar su publicación. En mi caso, como editor y coordinador de la revista he gestionado con profesores e instituciones la elaboración y entrega de artículos y contenidos (solo falta afinar los detalles de la parte en inglés para acabar este punto), también he gestionado con la CIEPS – Centro Internacional de Registro de Publicaciones en Serie la asignación de dos ISSN (uno para ratificar la versión impresa y otro número para la versión digital), finalmente, en estos momentos me encuentro en el diseño y la diagramación (80% listos).

El trabajo de homologar y estandarizar SOLARIS es muy fuerte, pero es necesario para pasar el primer filtro de la indexación. Son formalidades, no son difíciles, pero si laboriosas, no son formalidades innecesarias, al contrario, este es actualmente el estándar de cómo está ordenada y catalogada la información científica y académica en el mundo. Básicamente, este primer paso (faltan dos más) consta de 3 temas:

1.- Homologar la presentación de los artículos de acuerdo al patrón establecido por la APA (American Psychological Association). El conjunto de estas normas es lo que se conoce como el estilo o normas APA. Nosotros seguimos el estilo APA 6, esta fue la recomendación de Miguel y también de otro profesor, que ya indexó su revista (en este punto agradecemos el valioso trabajo de Carlos Rold que homologó las notas al pie y referencias bibliografías de casi todos los artículos, en español, también hizo un poco de corrección de estilo, un súper servicio)

2.- Crear para cada artículo un DOI (Digital Object Identifier) es un identificador único y permanente que proporciona información sobre la descripción de objetos digitales (en nuestro caso los artículos y otros contenidos de la revista) esto hace fácil y accesible la localización de los contenidos en internet.

3.- Construir un portal (una website propia) donde se puedan descargar los artículos por orden temático o cronológico a través de metadatos (autor, título, datos de publicación, etc.) esto está en pleno proceso de elaboración (en el próximo informe mas detalles de este punto).

Paralelamente, tenemos la validación de artículos por pares, es decir, un conjunto de académicos que aprueben la publicación de los artículos en la revista.

En este punto el equipo editor en inglés (ellos pueden delegar a otros colegas la validación) estaría conformado por Radhika Raman y Aja-Govinda, (humanidades y ciencias aplicadas, buenísimo) ¿está bien?

El equipo en español está conformado por Héctor Béjar (se compromete a evaluar dos artículos por Revista) Miguel Polo (se compromete a evaluar dos o tres artículos por Revista) Paula Miranda y Lalita-gopi D.D. (también están Ramon Mujica, Carlos Aquino, Walter León y otros pero ellos son ocasionales)

A continuación, el contenido de SOLARIS No 5:

INDEX / ÍNDICE

Articles / Artículos:

1. THE SACRED FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL, Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty.
2. EDUCATION, NATURE AND THE PARADIGM OF THE SACRED, Héctor Béjar Rivera.
3. A BHAGAVATA PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, Some Preliminary Thoughts, Ravi Gupta.
4. NARRATIVA Y ESPIRITUALIDAD FRENTE AL POSTHUMANISMO, Luis Arturo Amaro Sáenz.
5. DE LA NATURALEZA DEL ARTE AL ARTE DE LA NATURALEZA, Raúl Zevallos.
6. EL DISCURSO VISUAL EN LAS GENERACIONES CENTENNIALS, educación para una ética global, Dra. Ma. Dolores Chávez.
7. IMAGEN DE LAS SOCIEDADES ORIENTALES E INDIA EN LA PERCEPCIÓN DE LOS AUTORES LATINOAMERICANOS, Murad Ahamad Khan.
8. EL REGRESO AL MUNDO EN DŌGEN Y EN SHINRAN: LA PRÁCTICA DE ZAZEN Y DEL NENBUTSU. SOBRE LA COMPRENSIÓN DE LA ENSEÑANZA EN LA ERA KAMAKURA DE DOS BUDISMOS OPUESTOS ENTRE SÍ, Rebeca Maldonado.

●      Cultural Portal / Portal Cultural:

LA POESÍA, UN CAMINO HACIA EL REENCUENTRO CON LO SAGRADO. In Memoriam de Rodrigo Hernández Piceros, por Carlos Rold / ilustraciones: Sebastián Riveros.

UN POETA VESTIDO DE HUMILDAD, Enrique de Santiago.

●      Interviews / Entrevistas

EL PAPEL DE LA CREATIVIDAD EN EL BUDISMO ZEN, entrevista de Miguel Polo a Berta Meneses.

●      Round table / Mesa redonda

KARMA-VIRUS o KARUNA-VIRUS, aproximaciones a las implicancias de la pandemia del COVID-19

●      Reviews / Reseñas

●      Institutional Exchanges / Intercambios Institucionales

Gurudeva, por su misericordia y la de Sri Gauranga el sankirtana académico está marchando bien, en el siguiente informe hablaremos de las interesantes relaciones de NIOS y SOLARIS con la Sociedad Española de Ciencias de las Religiones (www.secr.es) (España) y el Centro de Estética de la Universidad Católica de Chile (www.estetica.uc.cl).

Hare Krishna Gurudeva, su insignificante sirviente, Abhirama Thakur das.

Hare Krsna Dear Guru Maharaj,

  Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.

HpS - Level Feet! AGTSP.

  All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

  All glories to Guru parampara.

ASA - !!!

  Gurudev, Everyday is Vrndavan and Battle of Kurukshetra.

ASA - Hare Krsna! Sounds like Rasa-vibhatsa. Improper mixture of mellows, but..... and expert can do it!

  When in Japa there is vrndavan. Then onboard on office chariot is Kurukshetra.

HpS: Jaya!

  You teach very clearly - get up early and done your rounds early. which helped a 

  lot to understand between these two.

  There are many teachings from you. Currently focused on below two:

1. Get up early and done your rounds early.

2. mam anusmarai yudhaya ca - 'Think of Me and fight.'

 HpS - Very nice!!!!!

  am able to balance & drive with above two on both front, gives me satisfaction.

  Japa is Vrndavan. we know how you see Krsna - in person everyday, can understand 

  Very tiny now. Then thoughts come in mind how bigger and consistent you see. It 

  increases deeper respect for you.

  Thank you so much Gurudev.

your fallen servant,

Girivaradhari-Gopal Das

HpS - What projects are you doing at work? How is your family??? Temple??? Use KDPC!! Thank you. Your association is so nice.

Hare Krishna Maharaja !!

PAMHO

AGTSP

AGTHPS

According your instruction on twitter about Jack London:

https://twitter.com/huber_robinson/status/1297613408838320128  

We made a post on instagram (you can check it out in the following link below):

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEQIv5BA1p-/ 

And... yes, this trash is useful!

We just hope this post on instagram is helpful for your sankirtan.

Thank so much for your sweetness daily merciful

Your aspiring servant,

Carlos.

HARE KRISHNA!!

__'o_

HpS - Interesting, Instagram. Our computer started smoking, so we will send it to Gopinatha Das at HP and maybe he can salvage the memory from stuff we did not back up! There is some Trash there.

Hare Krsna!!! Hope you get intense Krsna Consciousness that is also fundamental!!

More Letters. Let's go.

continuation from : https://monkeywarrior.com/detail/11468/

Hare Krsna Maharaj,

Please accept our kneel down. (does horse pay obeisances?).

following the divine sound through you. we typed an article.

we got the basic thought. in place, have written some stuff.

all we could imagine that Your grace will use super editor qualities to extract some thing good out of it.

awaiting for comments

Education and Spiritual realization through the current Indian Education System- Thoughts from a Traveler within the system.

Education has etymological roots in Latin word “educare”, that which brings out. Einstein said “education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school”. Indian education was anchored in Vedas, primarily oral reception and students used to stay with guru. As time has passed , many invasions and annexation took place, which changed the education system. Currently it is based on rote learning ability with lot of information but not much transformation. Though there has been some changes in National Education Policy (2020), the manifestation of which will take time. Even in the current system there are varieties of models each have its pros and cons.

My journey in this system began in 1990s when I was in grade 1. I obtained PhD degree in 2018 and now I teach in an university. From student to teacher has been good journey, but could have been better. I was just above average in terms of grades. Exam meant writing what we have memorized majorly. For me it was more a place of socialization. For parents it was a place, where there kids go away from home and give parents some free time.

By 9^th grade I have studied english, hindi and sanskrit. Sanskrit was fun enriching, but the essence of verses taught were missing. It was mother of all languages but majority did not want to know her. I hardly asked the why question, more often it was the “what” question we were focussing on. What is the syallabus ? What is pattern of exams ? Etc etc. Teacher was primarily required to mark the syllabus, evaluate answer sheet and maintain general discipline in school.

There was a system to know the world, we had subjects based on books, divided in chapters, questions, periodic test and rank card.

Life had routine, morning go to school, attend morning school prayers, and then different subjects, back home, play and rest. The pedagogy made me a self-study student, sort of self reliant. Books were self explanatory if know to read. You get full marks if you can replicate the book. It did not matter whether we agree, believe in what is says.

In grade 10 we studied Darwin theory of evolution. In the morning we were praying to god in daily prayers, still we studied atheistic theory of Darwin. The books did not touch our heart, they just touched the brain, that to one side.

In grade 11 first time option was given. The choice between arts, commerce and science. I opted for science because I was interested in knowing the laws working in nature. Now we were studying works of different Physicist: Maxwell, Bohr, Einstein, Faraday, Planck. Most of them were from Europe which was little surprise. Nevertheless their discoveries made the world we are in. There was not much mention about their life style and hardships which motivated the discoveries. Math, Chemical Labs, Physical laws, all was fun. But still none of the books addressed the questions: When I am a son? When I am student ? Or why Universe exists.

Well, I was told higher studies can answer these questions. Hence I studied well and got myself a descent college. Now in college we were taught by Professor and Lecturers. We explored libraries of college. Thinking why does one need library ? All we have to study are some books of selected subjects.

Our life routine now changed, we stayed in college hostel far away from parents. Our interaction with people grew, we heard names of new places. I had parked my un-answered questions in memory for further investigation. Now it had clicked for us that all schools, colleges exist to give us a good job or good profession. Better the salary of the job from campus, better of its repute.

HUH! Study is for job, no way study is for knowledge? I repented a little , because my aim was not job always. Primarily I wanted to know. It seemed I was lying to myself. We left our job and again went to study, this time it was PhD. My PhD was also from world renowned Institute and finally joined as Assistant Professor in world renowned university.

Things have become more objective and quantitative, more result driven. There was no mention of duty, it was replaced with job responsibilities, for which one is paid. Every thing was transactional with clear expectations and rewards. Everybody , every system is ranked.

It was sad but true that University now days compete among themselves to have higher rankings. They issue certificates but not wisdom. I don't want to complain about flaws in the education system, but its the system where most of us devote their youth. So its impact is very prominent on us. For me I am still part of education system but now on the other side.

This system inculcated the value of obedience in me. People of my age group in schools respected teachers. But as went to higher education, we some how had to replace teachers by books and internet to gain knowledge. Teacher/professor was majorly required to award grades. As we passed through system we started exploring our own interest, tastes, strengths etc.

At current juncture we have the free will to be part of the rat race or not. All we know is that the journey is not yet finished, there are many more evolutionary levels to be crossed.

Here is where I started feeling a need of guide. I was not confident on myself to take decision. All learning came by hit and trial, changing paths , exploring them. Most of my question still unanswered.

All we knew was that at lower grades we teach facts based on the dominant paradigm in research. As we go higher we start seeing other paradigms, and gradually we realize we don't know anything and try to be happy in that, one day we will reach the destination.  

horse

HpS - AGTSP..... So very nice. We would like to hear from your good wife also!! Pariksit! I will send the link to this article to Radhika Ramana Das also. Maybe this one would be better for the Second Issue of Viplavah in 2021, but I think it is great for this one also.

I remember when I started Graduate School I talked to my Mentor and expressed that the system didn't seem to really offer personal growth. He said, "Yes, you are right. This is a career track. It is for making money. You won't be able to design your own independent research until you are at least 40-years old. If you have any manly qualities you'll cut the apron strings and take some risks and find out what are all these things about psychology and mysticism that we are seeing coming our way from Asia.".