Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Photos from Aug. 22, 2008


Sujit took these photos of me in my office around Janmastami time.


Sujit...

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Sanskrit Classes Resume

Well, almost. At least we got the AC working.

The students had a busy week with the yoga camp, which they executed very well. Swamiji then gave them three days' holiday as a reward. But now, holiday is over...

Ahh, but it is 40 degrees out there and even 3 o'clock is too soon after lunch in this heat. So only three students showed up. We will try to do better tomorrow.

Back when I was a boy... well not exactly... but when I was living in Nabadwip, I studied for a while at the Nabadwip Sanskrit College. I would eat early and walk through the midday heat to get there at 12, because for some reason, the college was open from 12-4. The reason, I believe, was because the brahmins need all that time in the morning to get all their various pujas performed. Or so I heard it said.

Of course, NO students were ever there before 2 at the earliest, and the few teachers who showed up would be lolling on their gaddis. Even if some students did appear early, they and their teachers spent the time fighting off sleep. How anybody learned anything, at least in the summertime, is beyond me.

Luckily, for the few months that I went, my teacher, Kanailal Adhikara Panchatirtha, was very conscientious and always there. I went through Jiva's commentary on Brahma-samhita with him and a little of Vedanta-sara, but that was about it.

Only one month left before I leave for Canada. Not really looking forward to it. But I would like to accomplish something with these students before abandoning them for the rainy season.

In the meantime, this blog and the other have taken separate lives. I have split off all the non-Vaishnava related posts and put them here. The other blog will now have the main purpose of only discussing Vaishnavism-related concerns.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Teaching Sanskrit in Rishikesh

Sujit took these photos of my Sanskrit class yesterday.



Gita class in Rishikesh

Someone took this picture recently and sent it to me.