I host a daily zoom series is called “śāstra-cakṣusā" (seeing through the eyes of ancient Vedic wisdom literature) very evening at 6 pm. Usually, it's a reading and discussion of Thom Hartmann's "Daily Take" article which he posts on weekdays along with his wife's "Daily Song" inspired by that piece which she writes and produces. It also may be based on my own writing or from another contemporary writer. On Thursdays, the broadcast will be limited to 1/2 hour, (6pm to 6:30pm) because I will be driving to the ISKCON Pittsburgh Kirtan Center. All videos of the zoom broadcast are then uploaded to my YouTube channel then posted to this Facebook group. The broadcast is contingent on at least one person RSVPing as "going". If no one does, it is cancelled. If someone RSVP'd as "going" but doesn't show up, after 10 minutes it will be cancelled. If someone actually joins me, we take turns reading, I will play the "Daily Song" or some other method of introduction.

We are currently going through a dangerously fraught period in America right now where migrants are being deported en masse and US citizens are waking up to find themselves in the midst of a highly destructive authoritarian coup. It's not enough to just quote scripture without connecting transcendental knowledge to current events and subsequently using that realization which will lead to activism/practical service to God and man. It’s essential that we talk to each other and build coalitions of support & resistance with a view of how to establish within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of the hero of Gaudiya Vaisnavas, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the pioneer of civil disobedience for the right cause in Whose footsteps I am humbly trying to follow.

Lord Caitanya is the yuga-avatar (one who descends to the material world during this degraded age of Kali - quarrel & hypocrisy to reestablish the principles of dharma), whose yoga practice of Saṅkīrtana (congregational mantra meditation) and teachings are predicted to be in extent in this world for the next 10,000 years. Here's a video of his act of civil disobedience that facilitated the spread of His movement across the subcontinent of India 500 years ago.

 

This tradition is carried to this day by his followers in the west, led by the greatest 20th century saint, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who urged his followers apply the civil disobedience tactics of Mahāprabhu whenever appropriate, and made this comment about an infamous POTUS, a topic relevant when he was on this planet a half-century ago:

Please sign to attend our online discussion group by clicking this link to our Facebook group: Coexist Kirtan Center, check out the page, and if you like the content, consider joining to be notified of future events/podcasts, & postings of illustrative slideshow videos on topics of current events produced from my audiobook narrations of prominent progressive/spiritual best-selling authors, pundits, and historians, as well as my own writing.

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