Re: The Food-Price Crisis

dandavats Maharaj's and vaisnavas

We know from history the Irish potato famine between 1846 and 1849. The famine was at least fifty years in the making; many people died 750,000 deaths are attributed to starvation. And people were forced to leave their homes due to starvation. Since then many lessons were learnt. 
The main one was don�t rely on one crop you have to diversify. Also don�t rely on one main stable food source.

There are many stable food sources these days such pasta, millet, buck wheat, and corn gits just to name a few. My self do not eat rice as I found I did not need so much carbohydrates. I am very happy eating vegetable, and not so much protein when offered to Sri Guru Gauranga. The other day I watched a video on Ghana (Africa) Where the local farmer were struggling to grow rice, the Americans were importing their cheaper, than the locals can grow it.

Just like in the UK in the 80s the coalmine were forced to close because country like India and other third world countries sold the coal cheaper the they could mine it in the UK. So almost all the mines closed in the UK.  UK became dependent on cheap coal at the mercy of cheap importers.

What happens next the price goes up and up. Now we can see the same thing happening with the so-called cheap rice and other foods. In India and other country�s people should go back and work on the land. Simple living high thinking.

Plant the seeds chant the holy names, and wait for the harvest to come in. Buy artificial fertilizer and grown two or three crops a year.
As Srila Prabhupada said there is no shortage of food, even the ants, and elephants and not hungry.

lowerthanarat

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Radha's lotus feet

Why should Radharani's lotus feet give darshan only once a year?

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New Technology Tools Page which may be useful for Preaching

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Jaya Shri Guru Parampara! Pranams!   I quickly browse for the new technology news in the world for a few minutes daily since advances in technology sometimes do simplify our service to the Lord, especially preaching. I thought I can make use of that time also in the service of the devotees. Thus, I have setup a simple system in which while glancing through these new technology articles, if I do come across some articles which may be useful to the devotees in the service of the Lord, I will just bookmark them and they will instantly appear on this new linkTechnology page. Though I will try to add only the most relevant articles, these articles may or may not be useful to you and it is up to you to read them or not as they are strictly not directly devotional topics about the Lord.  I hope it is of some use to some devotees.



Daaso'smi, Swami Gaurangapada.

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Re: un answered question

Nityananda, Gauranga, Hare Krishna!

quote
"Even the most learned man cannot understand the words, activities and symptoms of a person situated in love of Godhead."C.C.Madhya 23.39
unquote

Well, I'm no "pure" devotee, but there's the other expression: "It takes one to know one" which might give you an answer...

When one tries to understand what is written in the scriptures with the necessary modern "Cartesian logic and reason", one very often stumbles over paradoxes and  contradictions and can not grasp what is so apparent. For example, the mind can not really understand what  is 'love'. It has already been explained in terms of chemistry, but is that it? Are we merely a giant sum of pure biochemical processes?  Or is there something more? This is the question we need to ask ourselves.

Anyway, I've learned that one needs to put both the ego and the mind aside to discover the love of Godhead. And this humbling journey on our way to Godhead is a marathon and not a sprint...

Your servant,
Damodara Svarupa dasa

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Re: Manasika japa

Don't venture, as kanistha adhikari. You'll be turned into an atheist.

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krsna
Does it means that kanistha-adikari must render sadhana and preach only on stage of madhyama-adhikari?How to properly understand "you'll be turned into an atheist"?
Another question arose:
How can sadhaka know is he or she kanistha or  madhyama adikari? What are symptoms and qualifications?
Forgive me on my endless stupid questions and mental speculations.
Mercy case, Igor

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The Food-Price Crisis

Nityaananda! Gauraanga! Hare Krishna! The below article proves that meat eating not only kills innocent cows etc. but it also may end up killing millions of human beings due to causing a shortage of grains etc. which are in turn is fed to the cows to make them fat before killing them for meat. So is it not a simple decision for a kind hearted person who does not want to harm anyone, to give up eating meat and animal products before one can even think about other forms of compassion and mercy to others.

Daaso'smi, Swami Gaurangapada.



The Food-Price Crisis
By Steve Sampson of Knowledgenews.net.
Sat, Apr 26, 2008.

New sprouts needed now!

Friends, the world is facing a "silent tsunami" driven by skyrocketing global food prices--a crisis that could wreak as much havoc as the Asian Tsunami of 2004, and maybe much more. So says the executive director of the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP).

She doesn't just mean that folks are feeling the pinch of inflation at the grocery store checkout counter. From South America to Africa to Asia, a wave of steep food price increases is threatening to undo decades of anti-poverty efforts and plunge millions of people into hunger and malnutrition. Why is this happening?

Analysts say higher oil prices and freakish weather are partly to blame for the price hikes. But the problem also involves simple supply and demand. More people, more animals, and more automobiles are consuming more grain than ever, and supplies are running short. Today, let's survey the global food-price crisis by the numbers.
Member Tools

Price-Crisis Counts

83 percent � The increase in overall global food prices in the last three years, according to the World Bank. Global wheat prices have increased 181 percent in that period. The prices of rice and corn are way up, too. Such staples provide the basis for most folks' daily bread.

100 million � Number of people worldwide who could soon be plunged into hunger, according to the WFP. Right now, the WFP has approved projects to feed 73 million people in 2008, and there aren't any resources for adding 100 million more. In fact, the WFP says it already needs $755 million in additional funding just to cover the increased cost of food and fuel since June 2007.

Grain Drain Tallies

110 � Amount of meat each person in China now eats per year, in pounds (50 kg). Generally, economic development leads to more meat eating, and more meat eating means more grain goes to feed animals. That can drive up prices of the staple foods poor people rely on. China's per capita meat consumption is still lower than that of some developed countries, but China's number has more than doubled in the last 20 years, and China has more than 1 billion people.

27 � Percentage of the U.S. corn crop that was diverted for ethanol production last year. Other major grain producers are also investing heavily in biofuels. Again, the effect is a big increase in the economic demand for (and so price of) grain. Like the grain that goes to feed animals, corn that goes to feed cars can't go to feed people. And, unlike grain-fed animals, cars don't feed people either.

24 � Number of people killed last month in Cameroon in riots triggered by food and fuel prices. Meanwhile, protesters chanting "we're hungry" have forced Haiti's prime minister to resign, and food protests have cropped up from Italy to Indonesia. As governments struggle to find short-term solutions, experts say cultivating a long-term food-supply fix could take 10 years.

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