Dear Yamuna Jivana Dasa ji My prayers and blessings for you both, may you realize your ambition. As you said, we are living in human body but our real identity is that of the soul that never perishes, never changes. So, being male or female is just a formality. We are all Param pita's children.
Regards and all the very best Sandeep On 3/8/23, Preeti Monga <preeti.mo...@silver-linings.org> wrote: > Learning is something we all must keep doing! We are very fearful of > learning but it is a great virtue to be had! > Will hope to know you and your wife better one day! > > Preeti Monga – Chief Executive Officer > > > Inspiring INCLUSION! Fostering DIGNITY! > > > Mobile : 91 9871701646 > E-mail : preeti.mo...@silver-linings.org > Website : www.silver-linings.org > Our Services: Trainings- Unique Motivation Programmes, Diversity & > Inclusion, POSH. > > Your Choice to partner with us contributes towards quality Education & > Empowerment of Visually Impaired Girls, and providing them with secure > Hostel facility at SHIKSHA (A CSR Initiative of Silver Linings) > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessindia@accessindia.org.in [mailto:accessindia@accessindia.org.in] > On Behalf Of Yamuna Jivana dasa (Yogan) > Sent: 08 March 2023 14:31 > To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in > Subject: Re: [AI] My gender clarification > > Hi, > Thank you for your kind words. > I see you are into education of visually challenged girls. One of my > aspirations is to be able to teach braille or smart-phone accessibility to > blind people here in Vrindavana. It is what I did successfully in South > Africa. But first I have to learn Hindi from scratch, so that I can function > normally here in India. Once I have some proficiency I will move forward > with that. > > Someone mentioned here earlier that Hindi is not a difficult language to > learn. Any language to be learnt from scratch that is not mutually > intelligible with one's natively spoken home language will struggle. Word > order is different, words for absolutely everything must be re-learnt, and > even the writing systems are different. > In short, I have great respect for all of you here who speak and write in > English which is not your home language. I can tell you it is not easy as I > am only now starting to learn a new language. I have to translate everything > in my head that I want to say, adjust word order, hopefully find enough of > the correct words to say it with in my limited diction, then carefully speak > something hopefully that will not come out soundind like jibberish. > > Yet all of you here write English very well. I'm ashamed! > Anyway no use in complaining, I will just continue to learn. May be in 5 > years time I will feel brave enough to actually speak something in public. > Oh when will that day be mine? > > Yamuna Jivana Dasa > -----Original Message----- > From: Preeti Monga > Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2023 2:04 PM > To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in > Subject: RE: [AI] My gender clarification > > Very lovely and very interesting life story you have! > Dreams do come true and certainly we are just around for the experience on > this earth! > Warmly > Preeti > > Preeti Monga – Chief Executive Officer > > > Inspiring INCLUSION! Fostering DIGNITY! > > > Mobile : 91 9871701646 > E-mail : preeti.mo...@silver-linings.org Website : www.silver-linings.org > Our Services: Trainings- Unique Motivation Programmes, Diversity & > Inclusion, POSH. > > Your Choice to partner with us contributes towards quality Education & > Empowerment of Visually Impaired Girls, and providing them with secure > Hostel facility at SHIKSHA (A CSR Initiative of Silver Linings) > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessindia@accessindia.org.in > [mailto:accessindia@accessindia.org.in] > On Behalf Of Yamuna Jivana dasa (Yogan) > Sent: 08 March 2023 06:36 > To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in > Subject: [AI] My gender clarification > > Dear Access India list members, > > On a few occasions on this list, people have been conjecturing whether I am > male or female, because the name Yamuna appears in my Vaishnava diksha > name. > I thought I might as well take the time to clarify. <smile> > > At my birth, my parents named me Yoganathan. My family surname is Khandoo, > (originally in India it would have been Kandu as per the name as found in > the Srimad Bhagavatam,), but when my paternal Great-grandfather arrived from > South India in the 1800s, the british slave-owners did little in spelling > our names as they should be. After all we were captured slaves so why should > they care? > > At this point I could go into the sad and painful history of how our > ancestors eventually liberated themselves from slavery and established a > thriving Indian community in South Africa, but I will resist the > temptation. > > Over time and as generations passed, they were indoctrinated into speaking > the English language of the colonizers. Still, our family kept away from > cross-race inter marriages despite 4 generations in South Africa. Little > remnants remained of the Tamil language of our ancestry, but we kept > whatever we could by way of prayers and rituals coming down from previous > generations. > > No wonder then when I was born, a South Indian priest was consulted by my > parents and he offered the name Yoganathan. So that's my birth name in my > official documents: passport, South African ID card Etc. > > When I grew up, my Grandfather always told me that I reminded him of his own > father. You see, I had developed a yearning to understand the purpose of > life, God, our purpose on earth and such existential concerns. I always > found myself disturbed to see the suffering of others, both man and animal. > So in 1997 when I first came across a Hare Krishna preacher of Vedic wisdom, > I took to the study like a hungry man takes to water in a dry desert. My > Grandfather noticed the transformation in my life, and as he watched me > perform aratis and bhoga offerings to the deity, chanting of Japa Etc, he > always remarked how I reminded him of his father who was a Brahmana captured > into slavery but who kept performing his worship and sadhana in South > Africa. > > So, when I eventually was ready for it, in 2005 my spiritual master whose > name is Partha Sarathi Dasa Goswami, gave me Diksha initiation into the > Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya. By this time we had learnt how > the body we live in is really insignificant because we are spirit souls > temporarily inhabiting different bodies, and although my spiritual master > was an English man born in England, I was impressed so much by his own > dedication to the Vaishnava life despite him being a typical English man > born from the land of our cruel colonizers, still I accepted him as my Guru > because he was a disciple of the founder of the Hare Krishna movement A.C. > Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. He had transcended his white English > male body and was now a pure Vaishnava dedicated to serving and loving the > supreme personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. > > So on that faithful day of 23 November 2005, I received Diksha initiation. > My Guru gave me the spiritual name Yamuna Jivana Dasa. > > Yamuna refers to the holy river Yamuna in Vrindavana Dhama. The word Jivana > literally means the life of. So that person who is the life of the Yamuna is > Sri Krishna. So this name Yamuna Jivana refers to Sri Krishna who is the > life of the Yamuna river. Therefore this is a masculine name referring to > Lord Krishna himself. At the end of a Vaishnava name, we always add the word > Dasa. Dasa means servant. So the full Sanskrit to English translation of my > name is that I am a servant of that person who is the life of, or very dear > to the Yamuna, namely Lord Krishna. > > Interestingly in 2008, I met my wife who has a very similar history to > share. She was born of Indian parents in South America, Guyana, but whose > ancestory are North-Indian, particularly of Bengali origin. > > She too came from a family who very closely kept their Indian culture and > traditions, but remained in search of Vedic truths. When she took initiation > also into the Hare Krishna society there in Guyana, she received the name > Kalindi Dasi. This name is interesting because even before we met on-line > across the seas, her name was linked to mine. The name Kalindi refers to the > Yamuna river, but specifically to the personality which embodies that > river. > In Vedic understanding, even the holy rivers are embodied by living > personality. Like me, she too was attracted to Sri Vrindavana Dhama where > this Yamuna river resides and personifies as Kalindi. She made me promise > that if we got married, some day I would bring her to Vrindavana to live. > > We built up some finances by me working in various sectors: Internet > Technical Support, banking Back-office support, and finally as an > accessibility traner for the blind, and on that faithful day of 11 November > 2022, we finally arrived in Sri Vrindavana Dhama which is where we now are > starting our lives. > > While both our ancestors were forced to forget their native languages, she > Bengali and I Tamil, now we are both trying to learn Hindi, which is a > dialect of the original Brajabasa language spoken by Lord Krishna here in > Sri Vraja Dhama. > > If anyone here will bless me with prayers from your heart that somehow > despite getting older, we will still manage to learn Hindi and so begin to > integrate into the local community here, this is my sincere hope and > desire. > > So to conclude after all that spicy history, yes, I am certainly living in a > male body in this lifetime. <smile> > > With kind regards, > > Yamuna Jivana dasa (Yoganathan Khandoo) > > -- > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "AccessIndia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/A5151B87A4824BEE9BE4A8274D668DE9%40GauraRecordsPC. > > -- > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "AccessIndia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/000001d95198%24cce467e0%2466ad37a0%24%40silver-linings.org. > > > -- > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "AccessIndia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/9B3C851E228849F0937B336D30A79141%40GauraRecordsPC. > > -- > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "AccessIndia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/001301d951a9%246b3cf460%2441b6dd20%24%40silver-linings.org. > -- Warm Regards Sandeep Singh -- Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list.. 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