Andrew Firestone Gets Srila Prabhupada’s Original Bhagavad Gita

picture of Kansas and Andrew shooting in front of murtis of Krsna and Balarama

Andrew Firestone, heir to the Firestone tire family, and heart-throb star of the television reality show, The Batchelor, was the recipient of a Bhagavad-gita from ITV’s Nrsimhananda dasa at the Pyramid House in Topanga.

”E” entertainment, a nightly show-biz program broadcast nationwide, was taping an interview with resident, Kansas Carradine, daughter of veteran Hollywood actor, David Carradine, star of the famous “Kung-fu” television series.

Andrew was very pleased to receive something “spiritual,” and the inscription pointed his attention to the following verse:

“The unsuccessful yogi, after many many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy.” (Bhagavad-gita 6:41)

We pray that Andrew, a very nice young man, takes full advantage of his real good fortune… A moment’s association with the pure devotee [Srila Prabhupada] can save one from the greatest danger.

The crew all took prasadam at the end of shooting.

( add’l picture of Kansas and Andrew shooting in front of murtis of Krsna and Balarama)

Review of Bee Season Staring Richard Gere

Review of Bee Season Staring Richard Gere

I recently went to see Bee Season, starring Richard Grere. The long awaited film that employed over 40 devotees from Berkeley and LA temples.

Hare Krishna! All Glories To Srila Prabhupada. Please accept my humble obeisances.

I recently went to see Bee Season, starring Richard Gere. The long awaited film that employed over 40 devotees from Berkeley and LA temples. Last year ISKCON Berkeley approached me to help with the dealings between the Temple and this troupe of Hollywooders because I had just graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Cinema and they thought I would be helpful.

When I received the script, I was a bit taken back by the Buddist/Hindu concoctions that were emanating from the pages, but I took it as a challenge and an opportunity to preach.

I ended up giving them back a completely revised edition of the Hare Krishna scenes. They sent them back to me with what they thought would be satisfactory, but actually they only used maybe 2 or 3 lines that I had written. They said they wanted to “preserve the beauty of the scene”.

We went back and forth a few times until we came to a pretty good explanation of what Krishna Consciousness is all about, but nothing that I wrote ended up in the final cut. I would say they used maybe 30% of what they filmed. They filmed two kirtan scenes and they only used a small portion of one of them. They filmed Srila Prabhupada rising and embracing Aron (Richard Gere’s son in the Film), but they cut that scene also.

On the good side of things, they have a large picture of Srila Prabhupada on the wall of the temple they built in Oakland. Aron chants the entire Holy Name very clearly on beads and the kirtan lead by Lokanatha prabhu is very nice. Kuva prabhu greets Gere at the temple door and they dub his voice in (in order to avoid paying him for speaking lines). He says “Haribol” and his expressions were quite good. When Chali (Aron’s Hare Krishna girlfriend) comes down the stairs with Aron, Kuva is in the back peering curiously into the uncomfortable situation. They asked me to make a Srila Prabhupada T-Shirt so that the audience would know that Aron didn’t give up his Krishna Consciousness, but the T-shirt isn’t on long enough for anyone to catch it.

My impression is that it is very successful in spreading the Maha Mantra to millions of people across the world and it is also favorable to Srila Prabhupada’s movement.

BEE SEASON stars Richard Gere, Juliette Binoche, Kate Bosworth and introduces two promising newcomers in their first major films roles: Max Minghella and Flora Cross as Aaron and Eliza Naumann.

Russell Brand and Perry married in India

Russell Brand and Katy Perry have married in a traditional Hindu ceremony

Chart beauty Katy Perry has tamed the one-time lothario Russell Brand as they married in an Indian ceremony.

A Hindu priest conducted the wedding, the first stage of days of celebrations with friends who are thought to include Jonathan Ross.

Both Brand and Perry wore traditional Indian clothes, with the bride dressed in a sari.

The couple, who met at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2009, where Brand,35, was host, tried to keep their celebration under wraps.

They flew in earlier this week with Perry, 25, covering her head and face as she and her fiance touched down in Mumbai.

The ceremony took place at the Aman-e-Khas luxury resort outside the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary, 80 miles from the "pink city" of Jaipur.

A hotel official told the Associated Press that the venue's trees were illuminated by colourful lights and luxury tents were decorated with flower garlands.

One of the tour operators let slip this week that it would be a six-day celebration beginning with a Hindu ceremony. About 80 guests are expected to be taken on tours of the tiger sanctuary in the days after the wedding.

News agency Press Trust of India reported that 21 camels, elephants and horses formed part of Brand's wedding procession from a nearby resort. He was also accompanied by traditional dancers and musicians.

Perry has already appealed for privacy on Twitter while the couple took a break from the limelight to get married.

GERMAN ACTRESS - ''Claudia Ciesla'' Converted to Hinduism

Claudia Ciesla’s announcement of her interest in converting to Hinduism is a heartening sign. Hindu society should welcome her into our fold with affection and provide her a place of dignity in the 1 billion strong Hindu community. We must leave behind rigid orthodoxy in such cases to allow brand Hinduism to grow stronger in the West. There are many others like Claudia who are equally interested in converting to Hinduism but they fear retribution from the Church. There are others who shy away from the Hindu identity because of the negative stereotyping in the English language media. So, many of them live by Hindu philosophy and traditions but avoid the label and the stigma assocated with it. This is a great disadvantage for Hindu society. We musthave a systematic programme of brand building for Hinduism in western countries and provide social support to any person who sincerely wishes to convert to Hinduism, irrespective of the convert’s past background.

Buddhism is today the fastest growing religion in the West, according to survey reports. Buddhism, luckily, does not suffer from the image problem and its practices which are similar to Christian rituals have been of great appeal to disillusioned Christians. But, Hinduism is richer and more profound in terms of ritual and philosophy, so there is no reason why Hinduism should not aim to become the fastest growing and largest faith in the world.


SOURCE : Times of india