Deterministic chaos is a physics concept that says the flutter of a butterfly wing can change the course of a hurricane by hundreds of miles. Like the weather, especially in maritime (seagoing vehicle) and high altitude (airplane flying) situations, life is wholly unpredictable. In this age in particular, asteroid showers, el-nino currents, and other increasingly frequent freak happenings like tornadoes, earthquakes, flash floods, hurricanes, storms and tidal waves, underscore the fact that we live in unpredictable and dangerous times. And sudden human upheavals including terrorism, political violence, warfare, terrorism and tribal hostilities, make this world a perilous place to be.

Even though most devotees understand the material world is not the place for right-thinking, civilized humans to live, we still fear and dread dying, even though we hope to reach a better destination afterward.

Even though most devotees understand the material world is not the place for right-thinking, civilized humans to live, we still fear and dread dying, even though we hope to reach a better destination afterward.

Birth is the name of a popular film. I haven’t seen it, and don’t intend to, but it’s reported to touch on the subject of reincarnation. Transmigration of the soul is a phenomenon that has captured the imagination of many a screenplay writer. Ancient and modern wisdom on this subject has been made into feature films at a cost of up to 100 million US dollars each.

Domesticated dogs, oxen (bullocks), and some birds usually need to hear human voice commands dozens or hundreds of times before they associate them with the matching actions. A similar phenomenon exists today with regard to devotees hearing the Holy Names. Lord Caitanya Himself said (as an example), “Unfortunate as I am, I have no attraction for Them.” So, human animals that we are, we have to hear the Holy Names over and over again for our natural attraction for them to be restored. We glimpse this happening when the Holy Names cause us to feel ecstasy, and make us want to dance.

Deterministic chaos is a physics concept that says the flutter of a butterfly wing can change the course of a hurricane by hundreds of miles. Like the weather, especially in maritime (seagoing vehicle) and high altitude (airplane flying) situations, life is wholly unpredictable. In this age in particular, asteroid showers, el-nino currents, and other increasingly frequent freak happenings like tornadoes, earthquakes, flash floods, hurricanes, storms and tidal waves, underscore the fact that we live in unpredictable and dangerous times. And sudden human upheavals including terrorism, political violence, warfare, terrorism and tribal hostilities, make this world a perilous place to be.

In India, two ekadasi days per month as well as many other holidays throughout the year are observed as sacred rituals. This contrasts sharply with Western superstitions and observances, which tend to be bizarre and scary. Indian events, even funerals, tend to be happy, musical and auspicious occasions.

Intelligence, as Srila Prabhupada defines it, is not being astute with mathematical equations, but is an attitude that accepts God as the ultimate controller. The world is filled with atheists who have extremely high IQs, but IQ is not, according to Krsna conscious philosophy, the mark of an advanced soul. It’s said that Einstein and Newton were believers, but unfortunately, most leading scientists these days don’t believe there is God. This is one reason Srila Prabhupada established the Bhaktivedanta Institute. He wanted his followers to convince scientists, by using their own language and research methods, to accept deeper truths. This is despite the fact that most scientists have an anti-God attitude to begin with. To change an attitude is not an easy thing.

Scientists playing God are marveling at the spider web. It is resilient and sticky beyond anything made in laboratories. They’re now using such webs in genetic engineering.

About three months after the city of Darwin (Northern Territory, Australia) was hit by a fierce storm, Srila Prabhupada spoke of “buses flying in the sky.” The Darwin cyclone (Cyclone Tracy) took place in the early hours of Christmas Day, 1974, and ravaged the entire city, which had approximately 70 million inhabitants. Seventy per cent of homes were destroyed or suffered severe structural damage, 49 people were killed and about 19 lost at sea.