A blind man was once trying to negotiate the path to his father-in-law’s house with the help of only his walking stick. In a field nearby he heard a cowherd boy humming a tune to himself. The blind man hailed the boy and asked, “Kindly lead me to the house of my father-in-law. It is…

Each morning the brahmanas gathered on the bank of the holy Ganges and offered their prescribed prayers to the Lord. Each of them brought with him a copper vessel for offering water. Unfortunately, because these copper vessels were indistinguishable from one another, they were always getting mixed up between brahmanas. So one old brahmana got…

A wretched beggar stood outside the entrance to a temple, supporting his emaciated body by embracing a pillar. A gentleman approached the temple after having bathed in the Ganges. Seeing the ragged fellow clinging to the pillar outside, the gentleman felt compassionate and purchased some popcorn. He brought it to the poor man and offered…

Taught two classes today – one maths and one IM. The maths one was at the last period of the day so that presented a few challenges. I tried to engage their higher thinking skills by explaining how algebra (and all maths based upon it) is really just a matter of simplification – or taking…

Once a man fell into a deep well. There was no way for him to free himself. He shouted for help, and finally a kind-hearted passerby flung a rope down to him, telling him “Just hold tightly to this rope and I will pull you up.” The man shouted back, “Help me to hold the…

Srila Prabhupadevastaka Eight Prayers Offering Obeisances to Srila Prabhupada sri-sri-navadvipa-para-pradipah sandipyamanah satato bhuviha cetas-tamo hanti hi yasya yatnan namami tam sri-prabhupadadevam sri sri-most glorious; navadvipa-of Navadvipa; para-transcendental; pradipah-lamp; sandipyamanah-brilliantly blazing; satatah-eternal; bhuvi-in the world; iha-here; cetah-of the heart; tamah-the darkness of ignorance; hanti-destroys; hi-indeed; yasya-of whom; yatnat-because of the endeavor; namami-I offer my respectful obeisances;…

A very poor non-Hindu brought a hen to market to sell. He had no experience in bazaar salesmanship, but he observed that the more aged rice, tamarind and ghee was, the bigger price it fetched. Thinking that older goods must be somehow always be more costly, he thought he should advertise his hen as being…

Today I taught a new group of girls for the first time. We went over classroom procedures and the rules of the computer lab. I also got to introduce myself and tell them a little bit about me. They immediately responded and were very attentive throughout the whole period. They really like personalism although my…

There was an upstart who developed a philosophy of protest against the rule of nature over the living entities. Once, while musing over his ideas he concluded that the sky caused the most problems of all features of nature, because from the sky came thunderstorms, lightning, hurricanes, tornados, hail, sleet and snow. In a sudden…

Today I had an interesting experience. After my maths class I went to my year 9 Technology class where I expected to observe a relief teacher take over the class. I had actually wondered why they woulden’t just let me do the relief teaching as I have taught these students about 4 times already. Well…

There was a well not far from the oceanside in which a frog had lived his whole life. Being foolish and proud, he considered the well to be his own property, and thought there was no better place for a frog to live. Indeed, the frog thought the well to be the whole world. One…

Today I just observed one class and prepared my resources for the teaching I’ll have to do starting Wednesday this week. I like to put a lot of time into my resources as I have experienced that the students can tell whether or not there has been much of an effort put into their lesson.

A landlord engaged a professional priest to worship the family Saligram-sila. Daily he brought chestnuts to the priest that he might offer them to the Deity. The priest received the nuts, took them onto the altar and closed the door, and–as far as the landlord knew–offered them to Sri Saligram. But what actually happened would…

In the courtyard of a king a pack of monkeys sported happily in the trees. Their leader was old and exceptionally wise. Now, once the wise old monkey was reflecting upon the happenings in the courtyard. He observed that the sons of the king played there every day with pet lambs. These lambs would often…

Sweetest Description of Janmastami-lila from Ananda Vrindavan Champu by Srila Kavi Karnapura Translated by Bhanu Swami & Subhaga Swami Published by Mahanidhi Swami —————————————— Now we will discuss the truth about the transcendental birthplace of Bhagavan and the appearance of Lord Sri Krishna. Once upon a time, Bhumi, the predominating deity of the earth, felt…