Modern psychology uses the term 'messianic complex' to describe the phenomenon where individuals claim self-awareness of their proclaimed role as a 'savior'. I find this tendency of lower human nature fascinating.

What makes people convinced that they are 'the chosen one'? Even more interesting are the mechanics behind what makes sometimes large numbers of people convinced that a particular person is the messiah?

This happens a lot. Psyche wards worldwide have a continual roster of 'Jesus Christs' admitted for treatment.

Here's the latest 'Jesus Christ incarnate':

By Andrew Drummond
July 04, 2008 11:44am

THE majority of Australians consider themselves religious but say faith does not play a big part in their life, according to a new survey showing few regularly pray or visit church.

The news comes less than two weeks before the world's Catholic leader, Pope Benedict XVI, heads Down Under for World Youth Day.

The survey of 21,000 people from 21 countries, which names Australia as one of the world's least religious countries, was conducted by the independent, not-for-profit, German-based Bertelsmann Foundation.

It found 28 per cent of Australian respondents are not religious, 25 per cent are "deeply religious", and 44 per cent are religious but say faith does not play a central role in their lives.

Of the 21 countries surveyed, Australia was placed 17th for religious adherence, with only Russia, France, Germany and the UK less godly.

Religion ranked as less important than family, partners, career, leisure time or politics for 50 per cent of Australian respondents, while 48 per cent said they did not partake in personal prayer and 52 per cent never or very seldom visited a church.

"This is not to say that the Pope will be landing in a religious desert on his visit to the World Youth Day in Australia," research leader Martin Rieger said in a statement of the survey results.

"On the eve of World Youth Day, it is interesting to note the strong religious vitality recorded amongst the nation's youth."

Some 72 per cent of Australian respondents aged under 30 said they believed in God or a divine power and/or life after death, the survey showed.

Catholics are Australia's largest faith group and Christian denomination, but are not the most religious, according to the survey, which shows 37 per cent are "deeply religious" and 52 per cent are "religious".

Religion was found to be strongest among the small group of free-church and Pentecostal Protestants, including charismatic movements. Fifty per cent of that group were found to be "deeply religious".

"Christianity and Catholicism in Australia are not blossoming, but equally are not in danger of losing their core roots," Dr Rieger said.

"The big polarity between religious and non-religious people is very defined here.

"Typical is the trend towards a loose, perhaps seeking, spirituality that no longer has any clear relationship to the different churches and denominations. This reveals a great potential for religions and all churches that has so far been neglected and perhaps overlooked."

"God is everywhere, but He has got a special planet, which is called Goloka Vrndavana. You can enter there and mix with the Supreme Lord just like we are here, mixing one another. I can see you, you can see me, similarly, you can go directly, see God and live with Him, dance with Him, play with Him, eat with Him. That is the perfection of life."

- Srila Prabhupada's Class on Bhagavad-gita 7.1-3 -- Paris, June 13, 1974

For western readers of this blog this song may be an acquired taste. It has a beautiful melody and rhythm though doesn't it?

Door nagari badi door nagari
Kese aaoo mein Kanai tori Gokul nagari badi door nagari....
Raatko aaoo to Kana dar mohe laage
Din ko aaoo to dekhe sari nagari.... Badi door nagari
Sakhi sang aaoo Kana sharam mohe laage
akeli aaoo to bhool jaao dagari.... Badi door nagari
Dhire dhire chaloo Kana kamar mori lachake
Jatpat chaaloo to chalke gagari.... Badi door nagari
Bai Meera kahe prabhu Giridhar na goon
Tumhare darshan beena hogai bavari.... Badi door nagari

Yes. I grew up in this kind of environment.

Now that I'm an expatriate for over a decade I can see the oddity of the Texan way. I could imagine this kind of thing being a hit on local radio there. I do agree with most of the message in this video, but rather then treat gays as if they are freaks I try to show them respect even though that may be from a distance sometimes.

I'm just posting this here for analytical purposes and because it's a little funny. I hope I don't offend anyone. Please feel free to comment even if you just want to call me a homophobic redneck. I just finished a big project and could do with some purposeful discussion.

If you look to the left here on my blog you will see the Google Reader generated .xml feed presentation of articles from ISKCON News Weekly.

Please copy the code in this file to put a block on your site and help promote this resource.

While it is normally only considered cliché that "laughter is the best medicine," specific medical theories attribute improved health, increased life expectancy, and overall improved well-being, to laughter.

A study demonstrated neuroendocrine and stress-related hormones decreased during episodes of laughter, which provides support for the claim that humour can relieve stress. In 1989, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article, wherein the author wrote that "a humor therapy program can increase the quality of life for patients with chronic problems and that laughter has an immediate symptom-relieving effect for these patients, an effect that is potentiated when laughter is induced regularly over a period".

So that's the modern science take on laughter. There is lots of evidence that laughter helps relieve stress, sharpen intellectual acumen and retention of information, and increase cardiovascular flexibility.

Although it is no substitute for chanting Hare Krishna, imagine a world without laughter.

Horrible thought isn't it?

Now watch this video and see if you can stop yourself from laughing. Good therapy.

The BBT directors and trustees have turned down the GBC's recommendation that the BBT add endnotes or appendices to explain potentially off-putting statements in Srila Prabhupada's books.

You can find the BBT's official statement here:

http://www.jswami.info

or (permanent address)

http://www.jswami.info/bbt/editing/no_notes

Thank you to all who contributed your thoughts and opinions.

--ys, js

Excerpt from The Bhagavata: Its Philosophy, Its Ethics, and Its Theology by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura

"The Bhagavata teaches us that God gives us truth as He gave it to Vyasa: when we earnestly seek for it. Truth is eternal and unexhausted. The soul receives a revelation when anxious for it. The souls of the great thinkers of the bygone ages, who now live spiritually, often approach our inquiring spirit and assist in its development. Thus Vyasa was assisted by Narada and Brahma. Our Shastras, or in other words, books of thought, do not contain all that we could get from the infinite Father. No book is without its errors. God's revelation is absolute truth, but it is scarcely received and preserved in its natural purity. We have been advised in the 14th Chapter of 11th Skandha of the Bhagavata to believe that truth when revealed is absolute, but it gets the tincture of the nature of the receiver in course of time and is converted into error by continual exchange of hands from age to age. New revelations, therefore, are continually necessary in order to keep truth in its original purity. We are thus warned to be careful in our studies of old authors, however wise they are reputed to be.

Here we have full liberty to reject the wrong idea, which is not sanctioned by the peace of conscience. Vyasa was not satisfied with what he collected in the Vedas, arranged in the Puranas and composed in the Mahabharata. The peace of his conscience did not sanction his labors. It told him from within, "No, Vyasa! You cannot rest contented with the erroneous picture of truth which was necessarily presented to you by the sages of bygone days. You must yourself knock at the door of the inexhaustible store of truth from which the former ages drew their wealth. Go, go up to the fountainhead of truth, where no pilgrim meets with disappointment of any kind." Vyasa did it and obtained what he wanted. We have been all advised to do so.

Liberty then is the principle which we must consider as the most valuable gift of God. We must not allow ourselves to be led by those who lived and thought before us. We must think for ourselves and try to get further truths which are still undiscovered. In the Bhagavata we have been advised to take the spirit of the Shastras and not the words. The Bhagavata is therefore a religion of liberty, unmixed truth and absolute love."