2008 was awesome. 2007 sucked and 2006 was definitely no picnic, but 2008 was pretty amazing.

So amazing, in fact, that I decided to do a year in review! Let’s go!

January
January started off slow. I was in the process of selling the store, but it wasn’t yet finalized. I was living in a tiny as hell apartment (110 square feet) without heat and soon, due to faulty wiring, without a hotplate or a fridge. It was rough. The last bits of incredibly hellish 2007 were relinquishing their grip upon me.

Through all of that, I was planning Scoot 66. At this point, it was only going to be 42 days. 42 was also the number of my very small apartment. It is also the answer to life, the universe and everything. Despite the horrible cold, I piled blankets on top of me and started mapping out the trip.

Late in 2007, I bought a 2008 Toyota Yaris. I didn’t really want to, but I felt some urge to be responsible and get a car. I had a 1970 VW Bus, but that was in the shop since September. More on that later, I bet. In January, some asshat smashed my passenger side mirror. Maybe he hated the Yaris more than I did.

During this month, I was trying to figure out how to stay in my apartment. The only other option was living with my parents – something I really didn’t want to do. I had lived alone for quite some time and was enjoying it. Soon, I’d be traveling, so if I could just make it to then!

But no. Walking home from the cafe to my apartment one night, I fell, twisting the hell out of my left ankle. I could no longer walk, let alone walk the three flights of stairs to my apartment. Back to the parents it was.

The end of January also saw the birth of the first regular Hare Krishna satirical news site, The Hing. I had been kicking around the idea in 2007, but on January 21st, it appeared in this world.

February!
Oh fun! Back at the parents for a bit. The bookstore, for me, was in its last couple of weeks. I was finished on Feb 15. The new owner would then take over. I had decided to live in West Virginia until the trip started.

On the 10th, the townfolk and friends from Lewisburg showed how amazing they are by giving me a Going Away Book filled with messages and love from the people who have been my neighbors and friends for the last decade. Only now was it sinking in that I would be leaving.

February was also the month where Bhakta Corey and pretty much everybody had an incredibly creepy argument where he called for child marriages to be introduced into ISKCON. That’s creepy. Very creepy. Luckily, he’s a very very small minority.

With Smartz, I printed some shirts for Scoot 66, decided to keep Whitey (my 2005 White Stella Scooter) and on the 17th, finally sold my bus.

Also on the 17th, I moved to West Virginia. It wasn’t a permanent move… yet. But that was definitely an option on the table. I had a schedule that included several trips to Pennsylvania and a few other places. Really, I just didn’t want to be in West Virginia and was looking for ways to escape.

March!!
On March 6th, I spilled water on my laptop and dreamed of not being where I was in West Virginia. I was sick, some flu thing or something. I was miserable there, so I moved my stuff into Rati and Dwija’s house, the misery went away and I soon returned to PA for a little trip, hitting National Road, US 30, some abandoned Turnpike tunnels and Gettysburg on the way home.

A couple of days after that, I took a fun trip on Pennsylvania’s Route 6 with Smartz. That gave birth to the phrase “Oh I can’t wait!” And shortly after that, a trip to State College that included a bunch of fun stops along the way! And then, a day later, a trip to New Jersey! A day after the Jersey trip, I head out on my own, mostly to the ghost town of Alvira. Fun week of travels!

Liking the idea of traveling more, I extended Scoot 66 to a whopping 66 days, adding side trips here and there. On the 21st, I was back at Rati and Dwija’s for the Hare Krishna holiday of Gaura Purnima! The trip back was detailed in a three post extravaganza! And was a whole lot of fun.

Late in the month of March, I discovered the happiest picture I have ever seen. It made Smartz cry. Awesome. In all this flurry of travel, I booked a flight to Seattle. I also took a quick Civil War trip through bits of West Virginia. It was wonderful.

I then decided to cancel my trip to Seattle. Time was a factor, also my fear of flying. I returned again to Pennsylvania, this time to live, finishing this month and the next at my parents’ house.

April!!!
April at my parents’ house gave me a chance to really plan for Scoot 66. I gathered my gear and got some miles on the scooter.

April also handed me an inexplicable trip to Chicago, St. Louis, all the way down to Oklahoma and then into Memphis and back home with Smartz and Brugg. Very fun trip, taking me down Route 66, a route that I would soon become very familiar with.

Another trip, a trip to New York reared its ugly head. By the end of the day, I couldn’t walk. Thanks!

The day before I left, I hung out with friends at Cherry Alley Cafe in Lewisburg. Then, on April 30, I started Scoot 66, riding to Rati and Dwija’s house for a day off and to say good-bye.

—-

I think I’ll stop here and continue tomorrow.

I usually don’t get Christmas cards. Sure, I’ll get one from my parents and from a friend or two, but usually, it’s not much. This year, however, I feel very remembered!

A lot of people don’t like Christmas cards, and I guess I can understand that. They’re awkward, for one, I mean, you never really know what to say. You don’t want to get too long-winded or else it’s kind of weird, but you don’t want to just sign your name, because that’s sort of cold.

Because of these, most folks don’t send cards. But maybe that’s changing. This year I got more cards than I ever have. Hell, maybe even more cards than all the years combined (ok, maybe that’s pushing it).

Thanks to everyone who sent one, believe me, it was very appreciated. You made this cold and oddly snowy Seattle a much sunnier place.

I hit Jive Time Records in Fremont again this weekend. It’s nice to be able to get out again after being snowed in for well over a week. And while I didn’t pick up as much as I have in the past, I did pretty well, even throwing in a bit of variety!

Tears for Fears and Depeche Mode were prominently featured this time around. Here’s a run-down!

Depeche Mode – It’s Called a Heart 12″ single
Depeche Mode – But Not Tonight 12″
Depeche Mode – A Broken Frame LP
Depeche Mode – Strangelove 12″
Depeche Mode – People Are People 12″
Tears For Fears – I Believe 12″
Tears For Fears – Mad World 12″
Tears For Fears – Suffer the Children 12″ (their first single, from 1981)
Tears For Fears – The Hurting LP
Tears For Fears – Everybody Wants to Rule the World 12″ (Japanese Import with a great remix of “Shout”)
Grateful Dead – Reckoning Double LP (life acoustic!)
The Three O’Clock – Arrive Without Traveling LP
Pet Shop Boys – How Do You Expect to be Taken Seriously? 12″ (great remix!!)
Sparks – Propaganda LP (Dwija will be proud! I now have six or seven Sparks LPs)
The Smiths – Strangeways Here We Come LP
The Cure – Pornography LP
Fun Boy Three – Our Lips are Sealed 12″ (not picured)
Altered Images – Pinky Blue LP (not pictured)

I’m not through with listening to everything just yet, but so far, the remix of “Shout” and the remix of “How Do You Expect to be Taken Seriously” are my favorites. Unfortunately, the latter seems to never have been released on CD, so I can’t let you have a listen. But here are some other gems…

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Tears for Fears – Mad World
If you’re not familiar with this version, you might be familiar with the piano and vocal cover from the movie Donnie Darko. That was the first version I heard and really, really dug it. When I heard the original Tears for Fears version, I hated it at first. But it’s since grown on me and I now prefer it to the Donnie Darko one.

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Depeche Mode – People Are People (Different Mix)
I first heard the song when it was released and have dug it since. I saw this 12″ once when I was 10, but didn’t pick it up. I finally have a copy. That made my day.

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Tears for Fears – Shout (Extended Version)
This was another song from when I was a youngin. It reached #1 on Billboards charts on the same day I turned 10. Imagine that! Everybody loved this. Here’s a long, but great remix. It’s quite different from the more common “US Remix.”

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Fun Boy Three – Our Lips are Sealed (12″ Mix)
This is just a bit of fun, but I really dig it. I’m not sure that I heard it as a kid though. It’s one of those songs that wasn’t really big in the 80’s, but makes all the 80’s comps because it’s cool/fun/ironic.

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Tears for Fear – Wino
This is an unreleased B-Side from their first single, “Suffer the Children” that never made it to CD (or even to an album). It’s acoustic and fairly different from what you’d typically expect from TFF.

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Sparks – Something for the Girl with Everything
And let’s end this little fun fest with a really fun cut from the Propaganda LP. Again, BIG thanks to Dwija for turning me onto Sparks. Woo!

There you go, hope someone digs this.

This week’s verse is from Chapter Three: Karma-yoga. It’s message is one found throughout Vedic literature and is really the crux of the Bhagavad-gita.

In Chapter Three, Arjuna is asking Krishna very plainly, “why should I fight?” Arjuna is a warrior, it’s his duty to fight. However, Krishna just got through with telling him that intelligence is better than such a ghastly activity as warfare. Krishna explains that you can’t automatically achieve perfection simply by renouncing work and certainly not by renouncing your duty. One must also control the mind (a subject dealt with very specifically in the Sixth Chapter). He explains that one should work without attachment to the fruits of his activities. And one should always perform their duty.

This verse, the 30th, sums up the teachings so far. Krishna, a few verses down the road, brings it all home, telling Arjuna that it is better to do your duty, even if it’s flawed, than to engage in another’s duty. As Srila Prabhupada translates it: “to follow another’s path is dangerous.”

So here is Bhagavad-gita 3.30…

Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with mind intent on Me, and without desire for gain and free from egoism and lethargy, fight.
-Srila Prabhupada

Offering all of one’s actions unto me in knowledge of the indwelling Supersoul, free from desire, selfishness, and grief, fight!
-Tripurari Swami

With your mind fixed in the self and offering all your activities to Me, being reed from desire, possessiveness and lamentation, fight.
-Narayana Maharaja

Renouncing all actions in me,
    with one's thought on
    the 'principle of self',
Without longings,
    without a sense of 'mine'-
    fight, with grief cast off.
-Garuda dasa (Graham M. Schweig)

Srila Prabhupada starts off his verse with “Therefore, O Arjuna,” a phrase that isn’t actually in the sanskrit. None of our other translators do this. While the meaning is there in all of these translations, Srila Prabhupada seemed to be poking us with the point that “this is the logical conclusion to Chapter Three!” When someone says “therefore,” usually they’ve laid out a logical argument before you. And as described before the verse, Krishna did that for Arjuna.

The verse actually begins with the idea of “surrendering all your works unto Me,” as Srila Prabhupada translated it. Tripurari Swami, his disciple, puts it “Offering ones actions unto me.” Narayana Maharaja, translates “actions” or “works” as “activities,” while Garuda translates “surrendering” or “offering” as “renouncing.”

There is a bit of difference here. It’s no big surprise that the word “karmani” is translated as “actions” or “works” or “activities.” Karma actually means “works.” These words are interchangeable, as far as we’re concerned.

While Srila Prabhupada chose “surrendering,” both Tripuari Swami and Narayana Maharama chose “offering.” Garuda dasa, oddly, chose “renouncing.” There is a bit of difference in all of these. The sanskrit word is sannyasaya. The first three translations have word-for-word sections. In that, all three translate it as “giving up completely” (or some variation close to that). Garuda’s has no such word-for-word, but seeing as how “renouncing” is the same as “giving up completely,” it makes a bit of sense where he was coming from.

When we, as devotees, surrender, renounce or give something up, we do it for Krishna. This verse explains that. All of the translations, in one way or another, convey that. Garuda uses what almost appears to be a Biblical expression “Renouncing all actions in me.” Means the same thing, but it’s an odd way of saying it.

Another thing to note is the use and lack of use of the capitalized “M” in “me,” meaning Krishna, God. Traditionally, any pronouns dealing with divinity are capitalized. Lately, the scholarly trend is to not do that. Tripuari Swami’s and Garuda dasa’s follow this new rule, while Srila Prabhupada’s and Narayana Maharaja’s do not. I personally don’t like this new rule, though don’t believe that either Tripurari Swami or Garuda dasa are trying to subtly say that Krishna is not God. Both of their versions drive that point home again and again, just like the two that capitalize.

How the word adhyatma is translated and placed. In his verse, Srila Prabhupada says, “with mind intent on Me.” Tripurari Swami uses, “in knowledge of the indwelling Supersoul.” “With mind fixed in the self,” is how Narayana Maharaja translates it. Garuda dasa puts it: “with one’s thought on / the ‘principle of self’.” He uses “principle of” quite a lot in his translation.

So is our mind supposed to be fixed in “the self” or on the “indwelling Supersoul” (or “Me,” meaning Krishna)? What’s the difference between “the self” and Krishna? In his purport, Tripurari Swami indicates that it is both. We must surrender in the knowledge of both the self and of Krishna. We must understand our position, that we are not “the enjoyer,” but rather God is. Our action is carried out by material nature.

Another Gaudia-Vaisnava, B.R. Sridhara Deva Goswami, translates adhytma-cetasa as “with the understanding, ‘All my actions are under the control of the indwelling Lord.’” And that about sums it up.

I’ve seen all of the translators use “the self” in different places and it’s not always clear what it mean (to my mind anyway). But this does shed some light upon it. “The self” is the soul. Not only the soul, but everything the soul actually needs. Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakura comments, “Do not let your mind dwell on the sense objects, and give up any sense of possessiveness towards them.”

Moving now to the second stanza of the verse, Krishna instructs Arjuna (and in doing so, instructs us) to do our duty without selfishness.

Our translators use a handful of different words to convey this. Srila Prabhupada picked “without desire for gain,” “free from egoism and lethargy.” Tripuari Swami quickly sums it up, “free from desire, selfishness, and grief.” Narayana Maharaja has it as “being freed from desire, possessiveness and lamentation.” Garuda dasa, as he is writing a poetical representation of Bhagavad-gita, arranges it as it was in Sanskrit, but uses, “Without longings,” “without a sense of ‘mine’,” and “with grief cast off.”

Only Srila Prabhupada describes which desires we should be free from. We should not desire to gain.

“Egoism,” “selfishness,” “possessiveness,” and “without a sense of ‘mine’” all describe the same nasty quality the whole world could very well do without. While each translator uses a different word with slightly different meaning and implication, it’s nice to put them all together to get a feel for how awful that selfish desire is and what all it can encompass.

The sanskrit term vigata-jvarah means “without lamentation, without grief.” That is a difficult one to conquer. It should be. Grieving is a sign of kindness. None of our commentators address this lamentation. But in the chapter prior to this one, in Bhagavad-gita 2.11, though using a different Sanskrit word for “lament,” it instructs us that the “wise lament neither for the living nor the dead.” The next verse explains there was never a time when God and we did not exist, and in the future never will any of us cease to be.”

That is the lamentation we should be free from.

Krishna’s last instruction to Arjuna, in this verse, is “Fight!” as Tripurari Swami puts it. Srila Prabhupada and Narayana Maharaja simply say, “fight.” with a very somber and serious period. Personally, I like Tripurari Swami’s excited “Fight!”

However, in a very literal translation, Garuda dasa comes closest to the original Sanskrit poetry, “fight, with grief cast off.”

The message, of course, is one. While it is “fight” for Arjuna the great warrior, it is “do your duty” whatever that may be, for the rest of us. We do our duty, without all the baggage and hangups, as an offering to God. This is the whole purpose of the Bhagavad-gita.

Being a collector of “Hare Krishna” books, I’ve found myself with a slew of Bhagavad-gitas. That’s how I came up with the idea of doing the Gita comparisons (one of which will post tomorrow).

My favorite translation was done by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, entitled Bhagavad-gita: As It Is. I’ve got three different versions of it.

The first one is a purple edition from 1968. It’s small with no Sanskrit and sparse in the annotations area. It was published by MacMillan (under their imprint Collier). The introductions were done by Allen Ginsberg, Denise Levertov and Thomas Merton. Not bad, eh? I talked about this edition here and here. While this was Prabhuada’s first Bhagavad-gita released in America, he wasn’t very happy with it. He wanted the full commentaries and Sanskrit, which MacMillan insisted be edited out.

By 1972, however, demand for his Bhagavag-gita increased and they released the full version. This is the version that most older devotees and Prabhupada himself used every day. The older purple ones were set aside and the new unedited version of Bhagavad-gita: As It Is, weighing in at 1,000 pages, with full index and tons of purports and Sanskrit took its place.

In the early 80’s, several years after Prabhupada’s passing, his Bhagavad-gita was “revised and enlarged” without prior consent or request by the original author. All older copies of Bhagavad-gita: As It Is were put aside at the insistence of ISKCON itself and the new, re-edited Gita with well over 700 changes took its place. The 1972 edition, which the devotees and Prabhupada used every day was no longer to be printed, read or distributed.

As time went on, more and more books were re-edited and more and more devotees desired again to print, read and distribute the original editions.

Eventually in 2002, ISKCON decided that it would be alright to reprint some original editions as historic “facsimile editions.” They did this for Bhagavad-gita: As It Is with a caveat warning the buyer that this is not the recommended edition. The recommended edition is the revised and re-edited one.

Oddly, this facsimile edition is now out of print. Other facsimile editions are also going out of print. Thankfully, a devotee-run company called Krishna Books is printing these spiritually and historically important volumes.

I don’t have the original 1972 edition. I only have a facsimile of it. It’s big and rather cumbersome. This is also the facsimile that is out of print. Fortunately for me (and those on the street distributing books), Krishna Books has made a smaller edition. It’s much smaller in size with thinner paper and that’s just perfect. It’s still hardbound, of course, but it’s small. It can be purchased here. Many other original printing books can be purchased on that site as well.

However, my own daily Gita doesn’t really fall into any of those categories.

Of course, it’s the same edition that Srila Prabhupada and the devotees used, but its printing history predates ISKCON’s facsimile edition by a decade or so.

It was given to me by Candramauli Swami in 1995 while I was living in New Vrndavana. He was teaching a Bhagavad-gita class every night and was very insistent that we used the original Gitas. He even called the re-editors “rascals” for what “they have done to Srila Prabhupada’s words.” He was very adamant about this then, though he has since changed his tune.

This Bhagavad-gita: As It Is claimed to be published by ISKCON’s Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (ISKCON’s book printing arm) in India in “Hare Krishna Land, Juhu Road.” I apparently have the 7th printing, which was done in 1992. The first printing was in 1983, just as the revised edition was being released.

Was this really done by ISKCON? I have my doubts. Why would they release Prabhupada’s original edition when they were pushing their own revised edition so heavily? My suspicion is that it was published by devotees outside of ISKCON. Though I could be wrong.

It is very obviously an Indian printing. The cover is bubbling, the pages have huge chunks of wood floating around in them. The print is blurry and blotchy at times. The few colored plates are washed out. The inside cover is upside down! It’s a book binder’s nightmare.

Oddly enough, however, unlike most Indian printings, the binding itself is fully intact. It’s strong and sturdy. Like I said, it’s my daily Gita. I love the feel and the smell of it. The pages are soft and a brownish tan that my eyes have grown accustomed to. The printing and even nonfatal binding errors give this Gita, my Gita, a personality. Yes, this was a mass produced book, but it has its own character.

I collect many editions of Bhagavad-gita: As It Is. There are a few more I’d still like to have (the original printing of the 1972 edition, for example), but this is the Gita that I use. I was trained up in this Gita, I have turned every page, read every line again and again. It never gets old.

This is the Bhagavad-gita for me. And you should find one for yourself. It’s great daily reading. Allow me to suggest this one. It’s Prabhupada’s original, the one he personally wrote and read from every day. How can you go wrong with that?

When I was two, my parents took me to see a movie at The Ritz movie theater in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Halfway through it, I choked on a piece of hard candy, nearly died and had to be taken to the bathrooms so that I could hack it out onto a heating vent. My parents being new to parenthood were naturally freaked out. But, common sense prevailed and we re-entered the theater to watch the rest of Star Wars: A New Hope. As my parents recall it, “we didn’t want to miss the rest of the movie.”

This is my first memory. I’m a pretty lucky guy.

From that point of near death on to today, I have adored Star Wars a great deal. I’m not some wacky and obsessed fanboy. I don’t go to conventions dressed as Yoda. I haven’t built a light saber or construct a Darth Vader outfit. … But I’m jealous of those who have.

In the fall of 1994, my then new friends Ryan and Jaime lived in a cozy little house in Belpre, Ohio. I was living in Columbus, Ohio and had just discovered the World Wide Web! I was surfin’ up the emails and looking at very stark webpages on Mosaic (Netscape had just emerged and I didn’t trust it quite yet).

One of my favorite ways to kill time after sneaking into OSU’s computer labs was to hit the newsgroups. I’d hit some Hare Krishna ones (alt.rel.vaisnava, I think) and the star wars one (alt.starwars? – I have no idea). But it was there that I found one of the first scripts that Lucas churned out. I also found “The First Partial List of Kenner Star Wars Prototypes Which Failed Miserably” by Micah Wright.

Fourteen years ago, I printed it out on a noisy dot matrix printer, tore off the edges and took it with me to Ryan and Jaime’s on my next visit. We got giggles galore.

Last night, for Christmas dinner, I was over at Ryan and Jaime’s new place (we all now live in Seattle) and I remembered this “partial list.” We couldn’t remember more than a handful of figures, so I took it upon myself to refind this list.

Long gone are my days on Usenet, but Google came in quite handy. Within minutes, I was transported back to 1994 Columbus, sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair, emailing kids on the straight-edge listserv. I’m sure I posted it there (since Star Wars and straight edge go together like rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong).

I found it here. And here are some highlights…

11) Darth Vader Funeral Pyre. They couldn’t figure out how to make a
character who had been 4 inches tall and thin into a character 2.5
inches tall and fat as a slug once you removed his helmet. Also a
problem with the fact that it only worked once.

13) “Real-Guts” Tauntaun. Also referred to as “The Visible Tauntaun.”
Once you pulled off the skin, you could see all the internal organs.
Much like real tauntauns, it stank to high heaven. Other problem:
Like similar toy “The Visible Man,” Visible Tauntaun’s organs never
went back in right and you were always left with an extra organ or
two.

14) “Learn the Force At Home” Kit. Included self-hypnosis training tapes
and rocks to lift. Recalled after thousands of children with no
strong parental figure turned to the dark side, killing their parents
and saying things like “You are part of the Rebel Alliance and you
did not make me the type of sandwich that I like!” while strangling
them from across the room.

17) Pimp Lando Figure. Lando as a loc-ed out pimp daddy. Long brown
leather coat, straight razor, huge afro, gold tooth, etc. Actually
molded, packaged, and ready to be shipped when the makers of the Shaft
figures sued for copyright infringement.

20) Voices of the Dead Driving Headset. The voice of Ben Kenobi helps You
drive around town. “Watch out for the brown van, Luke!” “The light
is about to turn green, Luke!” Actually a great help for drivers,
but failed on the market due to the fact that not very many people
are named Luke, and no one likes a back seat driver.

Oh the fun! There are tons more, go see!

During this search, I also stumbled onto a similar, though more photoshoppy, idea. McMorran’s Star Wars toys that never made it.

The Smoldering Moisture Farm Playset and The Force action figure are my two favorites…

We didn’t do a tree for Christmas. Thought about it, but decided that we’d put the leg lamp in the window instead.

So here it is, front and center.

Merry Christmas!