In2-MeC

IBSA (ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Sadhana Asrama), Govardhana, India
24 January 2004

NASA: Spirit Rover Not Sending Data
By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Spirit rover stopped transmitting data from Mars for more than 24 hours, mission managers said Thursday, calling it an "extremely serious anomaly. "

NASA last heard from Spirit early Wednesday, its 18th day on Mars. Since then, it has only sporadically returned random, meaningless radio noise, scientists said. Initially, the scientists believed weather problems on Earth caused the glitch. They said they now believe the rover is experiencing hardware or software problems.

"This is a serious problem. This is an extremely serious anomaly," project manager Pete Theisinger said.

Spirit is one half of a $820 million mission. Its twin, Opportunity, is scheduled to land on Mars on Saturday.

NASA last heard from Spirit as it prepared to continue its work examining its first rock, just a few yards from its lander.

Since then, Spirit has transmitted just a few beeps to Earth in response to attempts to communicate with it. It also has skipped several scheduled communications opportunities, either directly with Earth or by way of two NASA satellites in orbit around Mars.

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory worked to pinpoint the yet-unknown problem.

"It's not clear there is one cause . . . that would explain the observables we're seeing," deputy project manager Richard Cook said.

Preliminary indications from the spacecraft suggest its radio is working and it continues to generate power from the sun with its solar panels, Cook said.

It was unclear if the problem was with the rover's software or hardware, Theisinger said.

NASA can fix software from Earth, beaming fixes across more than 100 million miles of space. If the problem lies with the rover's hardware, the situation would be far more grave, Theisinger said.

The six-wheeled robot had been scheduled Thursday to grind away a tiny area of the weathered face of a sharply angled rock dubbed Adirondack. Examination of the rock beneath could offer clues to Mars' geologic past. Spirit has since remained immobile, Cook said.

On Wednesday, NASA scientists said a thunderstorm near a Deep Space Network radio antenna in Canberra, Australia disrupted controllers' efforts to initiate the drilling. It has since discounted the weather as the source of the communications blackout.

Spirit landed on Mars on Jan. 3 for a three-month mission to search Gusev Crater, a rock-strewn stretch of dusty, streaked soil that scientists believe may be the bed of an ancient lake. If Mars once had surface water, it had the potential to support life.

Sketches of a Devotee's Pre-Krsna Conscious Life in India

Back in the late 1980's I tape-recorded a series of interesting stories told me by an Indian devotee, whom I shall not name to protect his privacy. These stories relate his life as a young man from a South Indian smarta brahmin family, and trace how he gradually turned away from material life to Krsna consciousness. What you will read below begins in the holy town of Deoprayag.

In late September 1974, I moved to Deoprayag, seventy-two kilometers north of Rishikesh. This ancient settlement of brahmins clings to the sides of a forked river valley through which the waters of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda gush. Where the forks join, the rivers form what is from then on called 'the Ganges. ' In these misty Himalayan forest environs I found the quiet haven that was wanting in Rishikesh and Haridwar.

I moved into a cave at the confluence. During my first week there I made friends with the local high school principal, Professor Bhagwat Prasad Khotwala. A cultured, hospitable gentlemen committed to sadhu-seva (service to sadhus), Dr. Khotwala made sure I never went hungry while in Deoprayag. For the next five months this was my base.

I used to often take walks with Dr. Khotwala, his astrologer friend, Mr. Joshi, and other members of Deoprayag's intelligensia. On one walk a large black dog joined us. The gentlemen were friendly to the dog; Dr. Khotwala fed it some badam (fried peanuts). I remarked that all the other dogs I'd seen in Deoprayag were mangy and neglected. Dr. Khotwala smiled and said, "But this dog is a sadhu, and we are sadhu-sevakas. " Everyone laughed, so I took his remark to be a joke.

The next day Dr. Khotwala took me to see a yogi-baba who lived on the side of the Bhagirathi River. We floundered our way down a slipperey embankment through thick bush to the yogi's den, an earthen hollow obscured by overgrowth. He came out to greet us with a hearty smile. His loincloth and matted locks were what I expected to see, but instead of having the typical emaciated physique of an ascetic, this yogi was as stout and muscular as an athlete. Khotwala touched his feet, I made pranams, and Khotwala introduced me as 'Madrasi Baba' (South Indian baba).

"So, Madrasi Baba," the yogi began, "why have you come up here? Why didn't you go to the Shivananda Ashram?"

"I was there. It is useless. " He laughed and bade me to enter his lair. Khotwala excused himself and left. There was barely enough room for both of us to squat inside, but I noted that it was at least shelter enough to keep out the rain. His possessions consisted of a bedroll, a cloth bag and a brass kamandalu (a sadhu's water pot).

"So, you found Shivananda's ashram useless," he continued in his friendly tone once we had settled inside. "Yes, it is useless. And you are also useless, at least as far as yoga is concerned. You don't have the body for yoga, I can see that immediately. Therefore these people tell you to attain everything through the mind. But with the mind you can neither enjoy this world nor become liberated from it. All you can do is think, either your own thoughts or another's thoughts. But thinking is nothing more than thinking.

"The Rishikesh swamis think, 'I am Brahman,' but when it gets cold, their health breaks and their disciples carry them to the hospital. They think they are liberated in this life, but if they can't even maintain their bodies properly in this life, how will they attain liberation, which is beyond the body? They can't do the lesser, so how will do the more? They sit and think, 'I am everywhere and everything is in me. ' What is in you is just three things--kapha, pittha and vayu (mucous, bile and air. )"

I asked him what his sadhana was. "I chant the name of Rama one hundred thousand times daily. I also used to do a full yoga program. I gave that up because I could not find a disciple who could learn it properly. I was taught yoga from childhood by my father, who was a great master of the Patanjala system. But yoga is useful only for a strong man who is determined to sever his link with the world of the senses. I've not found one person who is either strong enough or renounced enough to learn it. It's unpracticible. So now I just stick to Rama-nama. My father taught me this also. He said this is all that is really necessary. But either by yoga or by mantra, you have to get beyond the mind. This thinking, thinking, thinking is useless. "

"Swamiji, you are so stout and strong. How do you get your food?"

"Dogs are also eating," he said, amused.

"No, but do you go to town to get bhiksha, or does someone come here and bring you food?"

"Have a look there," he pointed in the direction of a nearby tree. Peering through the underbrush I could see the large black dog I'd noticed the day before, resting itself beneath the tree.

"You eat through the mouth of your own body," he continued. "I eat through the mouth of his body. "

I mentioned Bala Yogi and his cobra.

"Yes, he's doing the same thing. There is a method to take energy from the body of a pet animal. Then you don't have to waste your time worrying about your belly. There's nothing really remarkable about it. All Hindus make offerings to their departed forefathers by putting food out for the birds. Did you ever think about what this really means? The departed forefathers eat through the mouth of the birds, by mystical connection. Millions of Hindus believe it, but only a few yogis know the actual science behind it. It comes from the Pitriloka (the planet of the forefathers). But people like you should stick to the sadaloka (human society) for your food. "

I told him about the yogi I'd met above Nilakanda Mahadeva, and his recommendation that I go to Badrinath to find bliss. "Yes, go up there. If you do that, you'll never want to go up there again. " He laughed.

"Swamiji, have you realized bliss?" I asked him.

"I sit here, chant Rama's name and look at the river. I am counting my days until I leave this world, that's all. Mother Ganges will take me to bliss. "

The town of Badrinath. The temple can be seen in the middle.

At the end of September, I hitched a ride with a military convoy up to Badrinath in the high Himalayas. There was almost no one there--the pilgrimage season had ended, the surrounding peaks were already white with snow, and it was bitterly cold. The sun peeked over the steaming crags at 11 o'clock and was out of sight by 2:30.

Badrinath--one of Hinduism's most ancient and sacred sites--marks the threshold of Badarikashrama, a mysterious region that lies somewhere in the frozen wasteland beyond the perception of ordinary human beings. Seven hundred years ago the learned Vaishnava philosopher Madhva left his disciples in Badrinath and entered the forbidden region alone. After many days he returned with with a commentary on Bhagavad-gita that he had written in consultation with the great sage Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedic scriptures, who retired to Badarikashrama five thousand years ago. Madhva had also spoken to Nara and Narayan Rishi, two transcendental masters of yoga and renunciation. They instructed him to write a commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam. But except for a few pure souls like Madhva, Badarikashrama remains inaccessible. The pilgrims who come nowadays go only to the Badrinath temple to worship Nara-Narayana Rishi and Vyasa in their Vishnu murti forms.

The arched entrance to the Badrinarayana temple.

The garbha-griha, or inner sanctum where the murtis are situated, was constructed under the direction of Adi Sankaracarya, who visited this place with his disciple Padmapada. Before their arrival there was no temple to be seen at all. Sankaracarya had a dream in which Lord Badrinarayana revealed He was under the waters of the Narada Kunda, a pond near the Alaknanda River. The great Advaitist acarya and his disciple retrieved the Deity, who had been worshiped in very olden times in a temple long disintegrated. A small temple was built that in time has been rebuilt and expanded by various kings. At the time of the first construction, Adi Sankaracarya established the Jyotirmatha, a seat of Mayavadi learning that is presided over by a sannyasi in disciplic succession who is titled the Jyotirmath Sankaracarya.

Over a thousand years ago, Ramanujacarya came to Badrinath; five hundred years ago Lord Nityananda Prabhu visited also. The word badri is a local term for a berry that is a favorite of Goddess Laksmi. When Nara-Narayana Rishi came here to meditate, She appeared behind Him as a badri tree to give Him shade. The Badrinarayana murti sits in the yoga posture of padmasana, which makes Him a very unusual Deity, as most worshipable forms of Visnu are in a standing posture.

After visiting the temple I followed the road higher into the mountains, wondering where I would stay. I was hungry and chilled to the bones. Soon I saw a small stone house. The smoke billowing from its chimney and the smell of cooking drew me closer. An old brahmin lady answered my knock and sat me down on a straw mat inside. Within five minutes I was eating a hot South Indian-style meal of doshas (hotcakes) and coconut chutney.

Between bites I tried to tell her that I'd just arrived and needed a place to stay, but she simply dropped another dosha on my plate and said, "Eat. This is what you need now. Don't tell me about your meditation and spiritual searching and all of that. What's most important to you is on your plate. Don't let it get cold. "

After feeding me, she ate. Then she cleaned up, put coals in the stove to heat the house and wrapped me in quilted blankets. At last she sat down and said, "Now tell me what you're doing up here. "

"Well, immediately I am looking for a place to stay. And in general I am looking for a guru to teach me sadhana. "

"Where are you from?"

"From Tamil Nadu," I told her.

We'd been speaking in Hindi, but when she heard this she laughed and switched to Tamil--clearly her native tongue. "Ada pavi! You useless fellow! All this way you've come, just to waste your time. What fool told you there are gurus up here?"

"But mother, why are you up here?"

"Not for sadhana, that's for sure. I came here twenty-six years ago to get away from my family in Madras. I sold my property, came here with the money and bought this house for next to nothing. The rest of the money is in the bank, and that's what I'm living from until the end of my days.

"Now I've told you the truth about myself, which is more than you'll hear from these sadhus up here. They have also come for reasons other than sadhana. There's a naked baba up the road who came with a tourist bus from Gujarat. He was robbed by a sadhu and lost everything, including his clothes. The military people took pity on him and arranged an electrical extension for him from their outpost. He gets cashews from them too. Now he sits naked in a hut. People think, 'Such a yogi, naked in the Himalayas. ' They don't see he has an electric heater behind him, and next to that, a full tin of cashews. "

"But mother, the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath is here. You can't tell me he's not here for sadhana. "

"Fine," she said, "but if they make me Shankaracharya, I could do sadhana just as well as he. You just sit in the seat and automatically you're the guru of a few thousand people. And they come and fall at your feet. I could also sit in that seat and bless people. Why not? The Shankaracharya says we're all one, so I am the same as him. But I am too busy doing housework. "

"Ma, all I want is to learn some special tapas and to get higher knowledge of God. I want to learn from the sadhus, the real sadhus who know how to live by sadhana. "

"Look, boy, you're shivering," she hooted. "With two blankets you're cold. What special tapas are you going to do? The only sadhus you'll find up here live by the hot springs, not by sadhana. If that heat wasn't there, do you think they'd stay? From now on the climate gets so bad that you can't live longer than one hour outside unless you're fully covered. I am sixty years old and I've been here almost half my life. I haven't seen anyone like that whom you dream about. "

Seeing no further reason to stay, the next day I hopped a military truck back to Deoprayag. I gave lectures at Dr. Khotwala's school and got a following of young people. Though I basked in their acclaim, I felt like a fake. In February 1975 I got an invitation to give a lecture at a girl's school in Rourkee. I used this as a chance to leave the Himalayas.

From Rourkee I went to Kurukshetra. Some sadhu had told me I'd find what I was looking for there. But by this time I was losing all hope. My high-flown spiritual ambitions had wilted into self-serving cynicism.

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