Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!
Dandavats and obeissances.
Thank you very much Guruji. The VLC player is perfect. I might check out the shareware PowerDVD later if needed.
Thanks again. When I get home later I will watch all your new videos you posted. Jai Nitai!
Sincerely
Jagannatha Gaurnanga dasa
Nityaananda! Gauraanga! Hare Krishna! The new VLC Player 0.9.4 is the best player to play our videos as VLC is the producer of the H.264 video codec we are using for our mp4 videos. This new version has an advanced playlist option which should suffice for your use. Also, VLC is light-weight and loads and starts the video much faster than even Real Player. With this new version, VLC player also plays FLV videos now and VLC is available for almost all operating systems. WMP will not play these mp4 video files. The appearance of VLC Player can be spruced up if required by adding new skins from here.
Daaso'smi, BR Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada.
Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!
Dandavats and obeissances.
I was able to download these mp4 files from blip.tv like 64 samadhis, but I don't have any player that will play them. I guess I will have to find a player that does. I wanted to be able to play in RealPlayer or Windows Media Player to make a playlist and be able to loop from one movie to the next. At least the silverlight player plays these files fullscreen.
Sincerely
Jagannatha Gauranga dasa
Nityaananda! Gauraanga! Hare Krishna! Dear Jagannatha Gauranga dasa, There are two ways. You can go to the Blip page of each video, scroll down and in the right sidebar expand the Files and Links section, and you will see the link to the original mp4 video file below the thumbnail link. The other way is that we have added almost all the Blip videos in our main video player here. You will see a download "D" link in the beginning of each video title in the right playlist which is the direct link to the original video files. Right-click and save link or target as. Actually, Blip has some bug in converting big MP4 files to FLV. I have written to them and they are trying to fix it.
Daaso'smi, BR Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada.
Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!
Dandavats and obeissances.
Dear Swami Gaurangapada,
There are some videos on blip.tv that I cannot download because they are in mp4 format and they only play in Quicktime, these are the videos that only play audio and show a white screen. When I click view as source then I can watch in Quicktime but I can't download. Is there some way I can download these files from somewhere and play in Real Player?
Sincerely
Jagannatha Gauranga dasa
Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!
Here is another nice account:
BY GAURIDASA PANDITA DASA
USA, Jun 6 (VNN) � June 2, 1949 was the birthday of one of ISKCON's first saints. Visnujana Swami was one of the first pioneers to help Srila Prabhupada spread the Sankirtan Movement all over America. He traveled all over America and to India chanting so nicely that he melted the hearts of thousands of fortunate souls.
Visnujana's devotion for the Holy Names and his Deities, Sri Sri Radha Damodar, was so deep that all those who came in contact with him could sense it and became enlivened. Even though he was so advanced in spiritual life he remained and became more humble. That is the real attractive feature of any advanced devotee.
Visnujana woke first and cooked the manala sweet performed Kirtan then bathed and dressed the Deities with great love and devotion. Once in awhile we got to see Radharani's lotus feet. This was because she was/is at the young age of Damodar. Otherwise Srimati Radharani's feet are never shown on the Deities.
If you can organize a Harinam Party in his honor it would be very nice for all. You can go to a nice park or College and perform nice Harinam. Listen to Visnujana's sweet kirtans. I just found out recently from VJ's sister about his birthday so every year we can do a better and better festival in his honor.
Here is a few stories from my website about H.H. Visnujana Swami:
"Visnujana In Berkeley"
Traveling with Visnujana Swami and the Radha Damodara Traveling Sankirtan Party was always exciting. When we were in Berkeley in the summer of 74 we performed sankirtan at the front of the university every day for about 2 weeks. There was one Christian man preaching fire and brimstone every day. He was about 6'4" & 250#s. His voice was as loud as our amplified kirtan and he was really an agitation to the devotees. The bus driver and some of the others waited to force him to leave but Visnujana wouldn't let them. He tolerated this man day after day until he went a little too far.
The man had a cane with him and raising it up he declared that we were worshipping idols and that he could break the idols into a thousand pieces. Visnujana had been blissfully playing his harmonium but when he heard that he poped up like Nasringadeva; grabbing his rather large dunda from the side of the alter he charged the shocked Christian. The man looked like death personified was approaching. He turned and ran as fast as he could down the street. All we could see was Visnujana hitting him back and forth with his danda all the way down the street. Needless to say the man never returned. My feelings for Visnujana Maharaja increased more and more the whole year that I traveled with him.
"Visnujana Swami in Boston"
Visnujana Swami was so devoted to Sri Sri Radha Damodara it was inspiring for me and all of the devotees. He would wake up first, bath with cold water, sometimes breaking the ice outside, and dry off with the dhoti he would put on. He was a true sanyasi. He would then cook the Deities a milk sweet, wake Them, and then lead Mangal-arati. Then he would bath and dress Them and lead the greeting of the Deities. When he spoke it was usually short and sweet. He spoke with such love that our hearts would melt and we would never become tired or bored with his talks. He would lead kirtans and bhajans about 8 hours a day, sometimes more! He still found the time to always chant his rounds and arrange for and perform the Deitie's services.
One time we were in Boston in 1974. Visnujana was giving class and he described that the Deities were made out of 5 metals including gold and silver. I being a foolish new devotee that I still am, made a big blunder. When it came time for questions I said that even materially speaking if you melted the Deities down They would be worth a lot of money. That was it! Visnujana who rarely ever got angry, became very upset. He told me to never say anything like that again. I felt miserable. I didn't mean it that way. This incident showed me again how Visnujana felt about Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha-Damodara. He knew They are Persons, not just statues.!
The day before Rathayatra in San Francisco in 1974 Visnujana Swami was giving a lecture in the Armenian Hall. I was a recovering impersonalist and was staring at the Deities while he spoke. Damodara had a blue light on Him and Radharani had a gold one on Her. Visnujana said, "Don't think that these Deiites are idols. This is Krishna!" At that point a flower fell from Damodara's cheek over His arm and down. This convinced me that it was true. Krishna was telling me that He was there.
The day after Rathayatra I ended up joining the R.D.T.S.P. I traveled withVisnujana for the first year and I thought he was a pure devotee. When I made this statement in the Phily Brahmachari ashram I was blasted. They said nobody's a pure devotee but Prabhupada. Later when Srila Prabhupada had left the planet and I raised doubts that all of the 11 'gurus' were pure devotees and again was 'blasted' for doubting them. I couldn't win either way! I still think Visnujana was/is a pure devotee and hope to have his association, and of course Srila Prabhupada's, in my next life.
"Visnujana's Cooking"
When Visnujana cooked the offerings were saturated with love and devotion. He would rise up usually first in the morning and take his bath. He would dry himself with the dhoti that he would put on. He was so austere it was unbelievable. He would go into the kitchen and cook the mangala arati sweet; usually milk cooked down with coconut. You knew you were getting 'prasadam' when you got Sri Sri Radha Damodara's remnants.
On Sri Radhastami in 1974 we were in Philadelphia. Visnujana and Tamal Krishna Swami's stayed up all night cooking 25 preparations for each of Radharani's qualities. All of the devotees were sitting in the back yard honoring the temple feast. Visnujana came and asked us why we were sitting in the back yard when the bus was full of prasadam. We got up and charged for the bus like a bunch of bees. The whole floor was covered with plates of prasadam. It was a first come first take system. Devotees were going mad after the prasadam. It was awesome!
One of my favorite Visnujana preparations was strawberry malpura. It seemed like Visnujana had the 'midas touch'. Everything he touched turned to gold. His chanting, his speaking, his cooking and his Deity worship were full of devotion so much so that he inspired all who were fortunate enough to come into contact with him.
"Visnujana in Key West"
Traveling on Sri Sri Radha Damodara's bus was always an adventure. There was hardly a dull moment. In the winter months we traveled in the southern states and in the summer the north. In the winter of 1974 we were in Florida. We left most of the devotees in Ft. Lauderdale and took a small crew for an sankirtan outing in Key West.
There is a famous place where people gather to watch the sunset. It's also one of the only places where the sunrise and sunset can be observed from the same place.
We pulled up to the site about an hour before sunset. Alot of people had started to gather already for the evening ritual. Some of the people noticed us and began to jeer. They didn't want us interfering in their sense gratification I guess. Tamal Krishna Maharaja expressed reservations about setting up in such a situation. Visnujana Swami however was never dissuaded from spreading the glories of the Holy Names and assured us that it would be ok. We didn't drive hundreds of miles for nothing. We set up and started to chant. A few of the people continued to mock at us. Some came over and sarcastically danced with beers in their hands. Visnujana Swami stopped the kirtan and in his esoteric and amiable voice he told them that we wanted them to dance with us but could they leave their beers elsewhere. They left laughing and we didn't expect them back. Within an hour more and more of the hundreds of people had turned from the upcoming sunset to join our kirtan. Finally it seemed everyone on the whole dock was dancing and chanting with us. Even the guys from before had rejoined us. (Probably because all of the girls had!) As the sun set beautifully in the distance hardly anyone noticed. They were absorbed in the sunrise of Sri Chaitanya's Hari Nama Sankirtan Mission. I saw a potentially dangerous situation turn into a spiritual festival of love of God. Visnujana Swami did this day after day. It was amazing. His heart was so pure and he was so humble that he had a positive influence on everyone who was fortunate enough to come in contact with him.
All glories to the mission of Sri Sri Guru & Gauranga!!! The bus program was so successful. Why don't we repeat history? It's tried and true! Ooooom namo Bhagavate Vasudeviya!
Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!
Here is another nice account from a devotee:
Visnujana Maharaja In New Orleans
(New Orleans 1974)
Arriving at the temple we were warned by the temple president, Nityananda Prabhu, not to park in the front. Some local pranksters had been harassing the temple by driving by and throwing eggs etc. Visnujana decided to go ahead and park in the front anyway. We were having the evening arati when I heard a thud on the side of the bus. Sticking my head out the window to take a look I saw the car driving away. They had plastered the side of the bus with eggs. Yuk! Visnujana told me to go up the block and yell if I saw the same car come back. He told everyone else to find the biggest rocks etc. they could find and line up along the street.
About 5 minutes later the car jam packed with teenagers came by. I yelled out that was the one and the devotees began to batter the new car with whatever they could get their hands on. The car slowed to about 5 miles per hour and more and more devotees converged on them. Sanjaya came from behind a big tree in the middle of the road and dropped the huge rock onto the car. Visnujana had some kind of tree trunk and he proceeded to dent every side of the car. The prankters were given some of their own medicine. They sped off. We all reboarded the Bus and finished the arati. Visnujana said, "Just see! Arati was not disturbed!" We all got a kick out of that. The bus driver stood guard all night but they never came back. Even when we called back to the temple some months later to ask about it the temple president said that they havn't had any problems since that night and thanked us for coming.
Those kind of events were actually very rare. Most of our days were spent blissfully chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. Having a bit of the Ksatriya spirit we enjoyed confronting Maya once in awhile.
