Gaudiya Kutir Newsletter
· Monday, 22nd of January, 2007
· Monday, 22nd of January, 2007
"Gaudiya Kutir has been formed to further the aims of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition – with emphasis on its classical alignments."
Editor's Preface
The first newsletter of 2007 brings about a number of changes in the newsletter format. Aside a slight layout change, the content structure will change – beginning with today's edition, which comes out a bit longer than usual. Newsletters will also be coming in a bit more frequently. Newsletter revisions:
• Quote of the Week. An inspirational passage from the writings of the Vaisnava mahajanas, a poem or a verse of wisdom.
• Project Digest. News syndicated from Madhavananda's project index, the detailed portal of most things ongoing at Gaudiya Kutir, and more.
• Gaudiya Kutir Wiki. As the editors haven't found the time to work towards producing complete articles, and yet much content of interest has been added, a new section for "Budding pages" has been added.
• Lake of Flowers Productions. New content hasn't been coming out for some time now, for the staff at Radha-kunda is currently a bit ill-equipped as far as technology is concerned. As such, the column is temporary on hold.
• Quote of the Week. An inspirational passage from the writings of the Vaisnava mahajanas, a poem or a verse of wisdom.
• Project Digest. News syndicated from Madhavananda's project index, the detailed portal of most things ongoing at Gaudiya Kutir, and more.
• Gaudiya Kutir Wiki. As the editors haven't found the time to work towards producing complete articles, and yet much content of interest has been added, a new section for "Budding pages" has been added.
• Lake of Flowers Productions. New content hasn't been coming out for some time now, for the staff at Radha-kunda is currently a bit ill-equipped as far as technology is concerned. As such, the column is temporary on hold.
Quote of the Week
From Srila Narottama Das Thakur Mahasaya's Prarthana.
Hari Hari! How so wretched have my acts been?
The feet of Rādhā and Krishna in Vraja I served not a half sesame seed's worth, I realized not the relationship of passionate love...
Svarūpa, Sanātana and Rūpa, Raghunātha and the two Bhaṭṭas, Bhūgarbha, Śrī Jīva and Lokanātha... The lotus feet of these all I served not a half sesame's worth – with what more shall my wishes be fulfilled?
Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāja, the rasika among devotees, who wrote on Caitanya's deeds... Hearing the sports of Gaura and Govinda, the stones melt... but my mind wouldn't dive amidst them!
The company of all those devotees who had his company – why did I not live amidst them? Such is my tale of grief, a life has gone in vain – shame, shame on Narottama Dās!
hari hari ki mora karama ati manda |
vraje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pada, nā sevinu tila ādha, nā bujhinu rāgera sambandha ||
svarūpa sanātana rūpa, raghunātha bhaṭṭa-yuga, bhūgarbha śrī-jīva lokanātha |
iɱhā sabāra pāda-padma, nā sevinu tila ādha, āra kise pūribeka sādha ||
kṛṣṇadāsa kavirāja, rasika bhakata mājha, ye racila caitanya-carita |
gaura-govinda-līlā, śunile galaẏe śilā, nā ḍubila tāhe mora cita ||
se saba bhaktera saṅga, tāɱra saṅge yāɱra saṅga, tāɱra saṅge kena naila vāsa |
ki mora duḥkhera kathā, janama goṅāinu bṛthā, dhik dhik narottama dāsa || 2 ||
vraje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pada, nā sevinu tila ādha, nā bujhinu rāgera sambandha ||
svarūpa sanātana rūpa, raghunātha bhaṭṭa-yuga, bhūgarbha śrī-jīva lokanātha |
iɱhā sabāra pāda-padma, nā sevinu tila ādha, āra kise pūribeka sādha ||
kṛṣṇadāsa kavirāja, rasika bhakata mājha, ye racila caitanya-carita |
gaura-govinda-līlā, śunile galaẏe śilā, nā ḍubila tāhe mora cita ||
se saba bhaktera saṅga, tāɱra saṅge yāɱra saṅga, tāɱra saṅge kena naila vāsa |
ki mora duḥkhera kathā, janama goṅāinu bṛthā, dhik dhik narottama dāsa || 2 ||
Hari Hari! How so wretched have my acts been?
The feet of Rādhā and Krishna in Vraja I served not a half sesame seed's worth, I realized not the relationship of passionate love...
Svarūpa, Sanātana and Rūpa, Raghunātha and the two Bhaṭṭas, Bhūgarbha, Śrī Jīva and Lokanātha... The lotus feet of these all I served not a half sesame's worth – with what more shall my wishes be fulfilled?
Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāja, the rasika among devotees, who wrote on Caitanya's deeds... Hearing the sports of Gaura and Govinda, the stones melt... but my mind wouldn't dive amidst them!
The company of all those devotees who had his company – why did I not live amidst them? Such is my tale of grief, a life has gone in vain – shame, shame on Narottama Dās!
Project Digest
We are pleased to present a new resource to the Gaudiya Kutir audience – a resource of resources, if you will – Madhavananda's project index at www.madhavananda.com. From the site introduction:
An offering: "Many of you know that I have been working towards offering diverse resources and services for the Vaisnava community and the large public since early 2002. There is so much more that could be done to further the interests of the tradition – I feel as if we'd barely scratched the surface.
"This portal is a list of all of my open project files with notes on future prospects for growth and continuity. Please take the time to review the the contents of the site and give your feedback on which among the projects you feel are worth most attention."
This new column is dedicated to content syndicated from the project index: Projects, updates and assistance tasks.
An offering: "Many of you know that I have been working towards offering diverse resources and services for the Vaisnava community and the large public since early 2002. There is so much more that could be done to further the interests of the tradition – I feel as if we'd barely scratched the surface.
"This portal is a list of all of my open project files with notes on future prospects for growth and continuity. Please take the time to review the the contents of the site and give your feedback on which among the projects you feel are worth most attention."
This new column is dedicated to content syndicated from the project index: Projects, updates and assistance tasks.
News - gkWiki: Budding pages
| Date |
Jan 21st 2007 - 17:52 GMT
|
| Description |
The wiki has been growing every so often, but most of the audience are likely not aware of it at all, unless they've been watching the Work-in-progress or Recent changes sections. To change this, we are introducing a new column called "Budding pages" next to "Featured pages" on the front page of the wiki. You are very welcome to hop in and edit and expand them. New budding pages will also be featured in the periodical Gaudiya Kutir Newsletter – subscribe if you haven't already.
|
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
News - Phone Conferences: Phone conferences planned
| Date |
Jan 21st 2007 - 05:48 GMT
|
| Description |
A discussion at the Vilasa Kunja forums fanned a spark of an idea I have had for a good while – deepening relationships between devotees through arranging for regular communications via a media carrying more "personal essence" than written text. This is something I would like to see becoming a reality in the not so distant future.
|
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Project - Phone Conferences
| Date |
Jan 21st 2007 - 05:43 GMT
|
| Description |
The Western traditional Gaudiya community is scattered across the globe. E-mail and online forums are often practically the only form of association they get. Yet, the written medium is so limited. There is nothing like personal contact with others, but voice is one step upward from text, carrying much more import. Regular phone conferences should be there to keep devotees in touch with each other and to facilitate a deepening of relationships.
|
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
News - Madhavananda.com: Classes, transcripts and essays added
| Date |
Jan 20th 2007 - 12:41 GMT
|
| Description |
The More page has been populated with initial content: Two series of classes and some transcripts, links to some essays online. If you have suggestions on what more should be included, please send feedback.
|
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
News - Translation: Gaudiya Vaisnava Jivana
| Date |
Jan 20th 2007 - 10:10 GMT
|
| Description |
I'll be doing some work on Haridas Dasji's Gaudiya Vaisnava Jivana (vol. 2) for the upcoming months on the request of Jagadish Dasji. I have partial drafts of translations in manuscript form at my disposal that should prove to be helpful as the work proceeds, cutting down on the need to consult dictionary and aiding in the work's integrity.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Transliteration: Transliteration help
| Date |
Jan 18th 2007 - 12:55 GMT · Updated: Jan 19th 2007 - 20:54 GMT
|
| Description |
Transliterating whichever books you are inspired to transliterate. There are some specific titles I'm working on I could use e-texts for, please contact and ask for more details if you're interested.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Bhajan Kutir: Financial assistance
| Date |
Jan 18th 2007 - 12:57 GMT · Updated: Jan 19th 2007 - 12:56 GMT
|
| Description |
Some kind devotees have donated towards the land, and some have extended themselves by offering a loan. With that, bundled with some work that has come in, we have already paid for the land – but have next to nothing for the house. The total cost for the construction is 300.000 INR (5300€). Even 100.000 INR would get us started, we could get together the small basement, a toilet and a well with a hand-pump. Something to live in until the actual house can be built up atop the basement. Donations can be made with PayPal, via Western Union or as direct bank transfers to my account. For the second two options, please mail to me for details. We would also be grateful if someone could borrow a substantial amount for a year or thereabouts to give us some time to raise more funds. |
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Website Updates: Update help
| Date |
Jan 19th 2007 - 12:55 GMT
|
| Description |
As the number of websites grows, the need to manage updates grows. Our update tasks are fairly streamlined, learning how to update each site is easy enough.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
News - Madhavananda.com: Project Index opened!
| Date |
Jan 19th 2007 - 12:33 GMT
|
| Description |
The project index, a work in progress since a while, is finally up and running. If it took me a week to figure out what I'm doing, one wonders how long it takes to do what I'm supposed to be doing... I'm sure I've missed something, especially in the way of assistance tasks. Please contact and let me know of any omissions you spot. |
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - gkWiki: Contributing and editing
| Date |
Jan 19th 2007 - 12:19 GMT
|
| Description |
There are five basic kinds of work editors may do, all of them crucial for developing the encyclopedia. Editors can participate in any one or all of them in accordance with their skills and inclinations: • Content creation • Data mining • Editing • Proofreading • Peer review |
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Gaudiya Grantha Mandira: Text input
| Date |
Jan 19th 2007 - 09:50 GMT
|
| Description |
Gaudiya Grantha Mandira hasn't seen its limits yet. There are many, many more texts you could key in. You can key in texts you have in your library, or we can look into providing you content to key in.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Translation: Translation help
| Date |
Jan 18th 2007 - 12:55 GMT
|
| Description |
For example: • Translating Sanskrit and Bengali works to English. • Reading translations against the originals to verify integrity. • Translating literature of choice to your language. • Producing localized versions of the information-oriented websites I've worked on. |
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Software Development: Software development help
| Date |
Jan 18th 2007 - 12:55 GMT
|
| Description |
Some web-based projects, like diCrunch or the undeveloped Panjika Localization tool, would work well as stand-alone applications. Especially interested in developers with experience on Windows API in a language of your choice. Knowledge of PHP GTK would make porting them over a seamless task. Some web-based projects could also be worked on – ask for details. Beta-testers are also welcome, no special qualifications required! |
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Book Publications: Graphic design
| Date |
Jan 18th 2007 - 12:11 GMT
|
| Description |
Book covers need to be designed. Books need to be laid out.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Book Publications: Editing and proofreading
| Date |
Jan 18th 2007 - 12:08 GMT
|
| Description |
We aren't running out of materials to publish, whether online or in printed media. The broader a base of editors and proofreaders we have, the quicker the production and the fewer the mistakes.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Bibliography: Bibliography data input
| Date |
Jan 18th 2007 - 11:55 GMT
|
| Description |
Typing in bibliography data from books in your library, or from resources found online.
|
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Bhasa.Net: Forum participation
| Date |
Jan 18th 2007 - 11:53 GMT
|
| Description |
Be active in the forums: Share of your knowledge in various Indic languages, participate in the discussions, ask good questions, research and share links of interest.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
News - XHK Standard: XHK v1.20 released
| Date |
Jan 18th 2007 - 05:43 GMT
|
| Description |
The next revision, v1.20, of XHK is now released based on the notes and the feedback made at a development discussion at Bhasa.Net resource. There is still some ground to cover for future revisions, tidying up some loose ends with more exotic glyphs. I have also included Devanagari glyphs in the XHK character map. With this, the change history of the XHK standard has also been included in the project development page with access to older revisions in PDF format. |
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Project - Madhavananda.com
| Date |
Jan 17th 2007 - 22:38 GMT
|
| Description |
This project index you are currently reading. Need I explain more? Browse around and see.
|
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - diCrunch Diacritic Converter: Desktop application
| Date |
Jan 17th 2007 - 21:43 GMT
|
| Description |
I'd like to see diCrunch ported to a stand-alone desktop application. With PHP GTK, the task should be fairly easy to accomplish. Beyond that, the character arrays and conversion loops (with Indic scripts) that form the core of the program should be fairly straight-forward to convert to any language.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
News - gkWiki: Feedback form fixed
| Date |
Jan 17th 2007 - 18:55 GMT
|
| Description |
The "Submit Correction" form wasn't working. Whatever and whenever broke it, I have no idea. I hope we didn't loose too many feedback messages.
|
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Archival Work: Miscellaneous archival tasks
| Date |
Jan 16th 2007 - 20:33 GMT
|
| Description |
Archival tasks include everything from scanning or photographing manuscripts to uncovering and categorizing public domain or royalty free images and other media that may be of use in future publications. The latter can be done either from various online archives or from printed materials; the collector should look at possible copyright issues while engaged in the task. You are, of course, also welcome to share your own photo archives! Read more on the need for archiving images.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Task - Transcripts: Translations of Babaji Maharaja's classes
| Date |
Jan 16th 2007 - 20:17 GMT
|
| Description |
Transcribing translations of classes by Sri Ananta Das Babaji Maharaja, translated by Madhumati Dasi or Advaitadas.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Project - Software Development
| Date |
Jan 16th 2007 - 11:42 GMT
|
| Description |
Diverse utilities come in handy. An example is the diCrunch diacritic converter tool. There are plenty of ideas in stock, there's no doubt about that. I don't have the skills to code much beyond PHP/MySQL based web applications, and don't have the time to start studying much more.
|
| Available at |
Click the title link.
|
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
News - diCrunch Diacritic Converter: 2.0 Beta 4 series
| Date |
Jan 15th 2007 - 15:47 GMT
|
| Description |
The following new features: • Added custom replacement preference field • Included a changelog-file into the zip • Some changes under Help • A font size definition box under preferences • A few capital characters added to the incomplete Shakti encoding • Options: A split screen for separate source and target texts. • Tools: Feedback Module • Minor bug fixes |
| Available at | |
| Feedback | Comment on this news item: Send feedback. |
Gaudiya Kutir Wiki
Budding and complete articles from gkWiki. We would have had a whole lot more to include here, but this newsletter is already massively long as it is... Then, a couple of picks.
Caturmasya
Caturmāsya refers to a four-month period of austerity and spiritual practice, spanning from Sayana-ekadasi in the mid-summer month of Āṣāt on and ending in the month of Kārtika. Traditionally, this is a time when wandering sages settle down for increased spiritual practice. The period known as Niyama-sevā, the last month of Caturmāsya, is held in particular importance among Gauḏīya Vaiṣṇavas.
Eight states of a nayika
Nayikas, or heroines of the amorous drama, are divided into eight classes in accordance with the incidental states they attain. A summary verse of the eight, along with deeper definitions, is found in Rupa Gosvami's Gitavali under nāyikā-bhedaḥ.
Panca-samskara
Pañca-saṁskāra refers to the five sacraments that feature as an aspect of being a Vaiṣṇava, given by a guru to the disciple at the time of dīkṣā initiation. The sacraments are: Tāpa - The brand-mark, Puṇḍra - Mark on the forehead, Nāma – The name, Mantra, and Yāga – Sacrifice.
A word of compliment
We'd like to offer a word of compliment to everyone who made it through this extra-long newsletter. Take that along with a promise that regular future editions won't be as long!
Browse our online projects at the Gaudiya Kutir Network!
To unsubscribe from the newsletter, click here or reply to this mail with the word "remove".