Pasta Varieties

Pasta carbonara

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 150g thickly sliced pancetta, cut into thin matchsticks
• 500g tagliatelle
• 6 free-range egg yolks
• 100ml thickened cream
• 30g unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus extra to serve
• 2/3 cup (50g) grated pecorino
• 2/3 cup (50g) grated parmesan, plus extra to serve

Method

1. Heat oil in a large non-stick frypan over medium heat, add the pancetta and cook for 10 minutes until it starts to crisp.
2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water according to packet instructions. Drain.
3. Lightly whisk eggs and cream in a bowl.
4. Add the butter and parsley to pancetta, then add pasta and cheeses and toss well to combine. Remove the pan from the heat and quickly add the cream mixture. Toss gently to combine – the pasta's heat will cook the egg slightly and form a creamy sauce. Season, then serve with extra parmesan and parsley

Chilli chicken pasta with garlic, olives and capers

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 4 x 170g chicken breast fillets, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 long red chilli, seeds removed, chopped
• 400g penne or other short pasta
• 100g pitted kalamata olives, chopped
• 2 tbs capers, rinsed, drained
• 2 tbs chopped basil leaves, plus extra small leaves to serve

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large frypan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes until golden, then add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further 3 minutes until chicken is cooked through and garlic is soft.
2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a saucepan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions. Drain, reserving 1/3 cup (80ml) cooking water. Return the pasta to the pan.
3. Add the chicken to the pasta with the olives, capers, basil and reserved cooking water and toss to combine.
4. Divide the pasta among bowls and serve garnished with extra basil.

Pasta with tuna, chilli, lemon and Thai basil

Preparation Time

10 minutes

Cooking Time

15 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 300g dried ribbon pasta
• 125ml (1/2 cup) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 lemons
• 2 x 350g pieces yellowfin tuna (see note)
• 3 eschalots, finely chopped
• 2 long red chillies, halved lengthwise, seeded, finely chopped
• 1 bunch Thai basil, leaves picked

Method

1. Cook pasta in a saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, place oil in a large frying pan. Using a vegetable peeler, thinly peel rind from lemons over the pan. Place pan over low heat and wait for the mixture to sizzle. Cook for a further minute, then remove from the heat. Remove lemon rind from oil and chop finely. Reserve lemon oil.
3. Preheat a chargrill pan over high heat. Lightly brush tuna with a little lemon oil. Cook tuna on chargrill for 45 seconds. To give it criss-cross marks, lift tuna, turn 90 degrees and cook for a further 45 seconds. Repeat on the other side for medium–rare. Season tuna with salt and pepper. Cool slightly and slice thinly.
4. Heat the remaining lemon oil in a large pan over medium heat and cook eschalots for 5 minutes or until soft.
5. Add the lemon rind, pasta, tuna, chillies, basil and the juice of 1 lemon to the pan. Toss gently to combine and warm 

Grilled Prawn and Broccoli Skewers with Herbed Parmesan Pasta

Ingredients

8 wooden skewers (soaked in water for 30 minutes)

500g medium raw Crystal Bay prawns, tail on, shell off

3 tbsp Coles olive oil (from the pantry)

1 tbsp finely grated lemon rind plus juice of 1 lemon

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 cups small broccoli florets (about 1 medium head)

1/2 red onion, cut into thin wedges, separated

250g Coles small shell pasta

1/4 cup grated Perfect Italiano parmesan cheese

2 sprigs fresh oregano, chopped

1 Lemon cut into 4 wedges, to serve

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Method

Serves: 4 (makes 8 skewers)

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

1. Preheat a char grill, grill pan or barbecue to medium-high heat.

2. In large bowl combine 2 tablespoons oil, lemon juice and garlic. Season.

3. Skewer 3 pieces each of prawn, broccoli and red onion, alternating the 3, keeping them close to the top. Place in shallow baking dish, drizzle with marinade and toss to coat well. Keep covered and chilled until ready to cook.

4. Meanwhile cook pasta according to packet directions. Drain and place in large bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon rind, cheese and oregano.

5. Cook skewers on grill for about 4 minutes, turning once, until prawns are just cooked. To serve divide the pasta equally among 4 plates, top with 2 skewers each. Serve with lemon wedges.

Ancho Chile, Shrimp, and Pasta

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 20 minutes

If you don't have access to ancho chiles, you can steer more to the Italian side and just use 1/4 teaspoon of red chili flakes to brighten up this dish.

INGREDIENTS

• 8 ounces long, thin pasta such as spaghetti or fettucini
• Salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (grapeseed or canola)
• 3 thinly sliced cloves garlic
• 1 ounce (about 2 medium to large) dried ancho chiles, rinsed, seeded and deveined
• 1/2 pound 21-25 count raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed, the shrimp pieces cut into thirds
• Black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan
• Lime or lemon juice, fresh squeezed

METHOD

1 Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta when you start this recipe. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. While the water is coming to a boil and while the pasta is cooking, prepare the rest of the recipe as follows.

2 Heat oil in a small skillet on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add sliced garlic. Cook until lightly browned, then remove with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.

3 Thinly slice the ancho chiles (can chiffonade as you would with basil, just roll up into a cigar shape and slice crosswise). Add the sliced chiles to the hot oil and cook ONLY for 20 to 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon to the bowl with the garlic. Do not over-cook the chiles or they will get bitter.

4 Add the raw shrimp to the pan with the now chile and garlic infused oil. Increase the heat to high, cook for a couple minutes, stirring frequently, until the shrimp is just turning pink. Remove from heat. Add the shrimp and oil to the bowl with the garlic and chiles.

5 Add the drained, cooked pasta to the bowl with the shrimp, garlic, chiles, and oil. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper and toss to combine. To serve, portion out into bowls, sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan and a little lemon or lime juice.

Yield: Serves 2 as a main or 4 to 6 as a side.

Brown Butter Broccoli, Pine Nut and Basil Pasta

Serves: 4
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes

• Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.

• Add the pasta and cook according to the packet directions until al dente.

• While the pasta is cooking, place a large frying pan over medium-high heat and add the butter. Once the butter has browned, add the lemon juice and the broccoli and cook, tossing frequently until tender, for about 4 minutes.

• Drain the pasta from the pot and pour directly into the frying pan. Add the pine nuts and basil and toss a few more times. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

• Divide the pasta between 4 serving bowls, garnish with the grated parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and serve

Pumpkin, Broccoli and Cashew Pasta

Ingredients

350g large spiral pasta
2 cups thinly sliced pumpkin wedges
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
375mL can CARNATION Light & Creamy Cooking Milk
1 tbsp cornflour
2 cups broccoli florets
½ cup grated tasty cheese
½ cup roasted cashews

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Method 

Serves:  4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes



1. Cook pasta according to directions on packet, drain, keep warm.

2. Place pumpkin in boiling water, simmer 1 minute, drain.

3. Heat oil in pan, add onion, garlic and pumpkin, cook stirring 2 minutes.

4. Add combined CARNATION Light & Creamy Cookign Milk and cornflour, with broccoli, bring to boil stirring, simmer 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in cheese. Pour sauce over pasta, toss through, sprinkle with cashews.

 primavera

Cooking Time

15 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 250g dried farfalle pasta
• 2 zucchini, ends trimmed, halved lengthways, thinly sliced diagonally
• 1 bunch asparagus, woody ends trimmed, cut into 2cm pieces
• 250g snow peas, trimmed, thinly sliced lengthways
• 4 yellow squash, ends trimmed, thinly sliced
• 1 x 300ml ctn light thickened cream
• 1 tbs wholegrain mustard
• 1 tbs finely shredded lemon rind
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/4 cup finely shredded fresh basil
• Mixed salad leaves, to serve

Method

1. Cook the pasta in a saucepan of salted boiling water following packet directions or until al dente. Add the zucchini, asparagus, snow peas and squash and cook for 2 minutes or until snow peas are bright green and tender crisp. Drain and return to pan.
2. Meanwhile, combine the cream, mustard, lemon rind and garlic in a frying pan over high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring, for 2 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
3. Add the cream mixture to the pasta and toss until just combined. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper.
    

BEWARE OF BAD ADVICE: WORST FINANCIAL TIPS EVER

People who have important financial titles do not always give solid advice. Be wary of the information you believe and the financial action you take. Learn from those who have gone before you. Get some stories of the worst financial advice received and what should have been done instead here!

MSN Money shares…

What’s the worst financial advice you’ve ever received?

MainStreet posed this question to a group of average Americans and received a variety of colorful responses — from investment mistakes to real-estate blunders.

To find out what can be learned from each person’s story, we picked the brains of financial planners from around the country. Interestingly, while the advisers agreed that some advice was indeed unwise, in other cases they argued that the advice could be sound in certain situations.

Name: Janet Zinn

Hometown: New York

Age: 51

Profession: Psychotherapist

Worst advice:

“About 10 years ago an old accountant advised we cash in a substantial 401k plan to pay off credit card debt, instead of instituting a plan to pay it off over time and learn how to spend and save at the same time.”

What the experts say:

In general, touching your retirement plan before you reach retirement age is a no-no.

“When folks are under 59½ years of age, there is a 10% penalty (for cashing in your 401k) in addition to the current income taxes owed on whatever amount was cashed in,” says certified financial planner Debra L. Morrison of Trovena in Roseland, N.J.

Morrison says a better idea is to consider taking out a loan on 401k money following “a rigid, monthly repayment schedule, which requires the participant to pay off the loan, thereby maintaining the retirement funds for their original intended use.”

Of course, there are exceptions. “The advice may have been appropriate if, say, the credit card was charging 29% interest and the consumer was in the 15% bracket with a 10% penalty,” says financial adviser Fred Amrein of Amrein Financial in Wynnewood, Pa. In this instance, “your cost of the 401k redemption is 25%, saving you 4%.”

Always do your homework, and run the numbers before making any decisions to touch your retirement fund, Amrein adds.

Name: Gabrielle Lennon

Hometown: Sarasota, Fla.

Age: 46

Profession: Author

Worst advice:

“To buy an extra house, get a tenant and let the tenant’s rent pay the mortgage and all the bills. So many people and books say this, but many tenants are horrible. I’ve had great (renters), nightmare (renters) and everything in between.”

What the experts say:

“Books often promote becoming a landlord as the easy road to riches, but people have to understand that owning a rental property is just like any other business — it requires a lot of time and hard work,” says financial adviser Landon Loveall of Cumberland Wealth Planners in Thompson Station, Tenn.

Of course, if you’re prepared to put in the work, there’s no doubt that renting a property can be a promising way to build wealth, says certified financial planner Rick Kahler of Kahler Financial Group in Rapid City, S.D. “It’s important that tenants pay their rent on time, and landlords must demand that and not get big-hearted,” Kahler adds.

Morrison suggests that people consider becoming landlords only if they can set aside a “sinking fund” to cover the sum of a variety of expenses associated with managing a property.

“The proper preparation for owning a rental property is to assume that you will be turning over renters annually, incurring costs of painting, re-carpeting and repairing damage; that you will go vacant three months between renters on average; that your renters will consistently pay late without including the late fee; and that you may have to spend a couple months’ rent to evict certain tenants,” Morrison says.

Name: Ismail Humet

Hometown: Long Island, N.Y.

Age: 23

Profession: Entrepreneur

Worst advice:

“Someone told me not to invest in my own small business. My partner and I decided to ignore this advice and invested in our start-up, MyFreebeez.com, anyway. It has turned into a huge success, and we are absolutely glad we did it. We’ve already earned our investment back many times over and are still continuing to earn on that investment.”

What the experts say:

Providing advice on whether entrepreneurs should invest in their own company is a bit tricky. While Humet’s business became a success, that isn’t the case for all business owners. “I tell people to be very careful with this, since the majority of businesses don’t make it,” Kahler says.

Rather than telling entrepreneurs to steer completely clear of investing in their own business, Kahler suggests that an adviser should help the business owner think through the risks in order to make an informed decision.

Certified financial planner Laura Scharr-Bykowsky of Ascend Financial Planning in Columbia, S.C., says that it’s OK to “invest prudently” in your own business to maximize growth, but she doesn’t suggest investing exclusively in your business.

“You can diversify away risk by spreading your investments out among several noncorrelated asset classes,” Scharr-Bykowsky says. “For instance, if your business depends on overseas sales, you might want to dial down that exposure in your financial investments.”

Get the entire story at MSN Money!

Courts endangering religious freedom, academic claims

Recent cases in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg have overlooked the right to religious freedom, Professor Trigg claims.
Credit: Fred Schaerli

Studying recent cases in the UK, USA, Canada and mainland Europe, Oxford University philosopher Professor Roger Trigg has identified a trend towards curtailing religious freedom in favour of other social priorities such as equality and non-discrimination.

Professor Trigg, whose book Equality, Freedom and Religion is published by Oxford University Press and launched today, said: "Religious freedom and the right to manifest religious belief is a central part of every charter of human rights but in recent years there has been a clear trend for courts in Europe and North America to prioritize equality and non-discrimination above religion, placing the right to religious freedom in danger."

Professor Trigg, who is a member of the faculties of Theology and Philosophy and academic director of the centre for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Kellogg College, Oxford University, added: "In my book, I am calling for these rights to be balanced. There should not be a hierarchy of rights, but it should be possible to take account of all of them in some way. Reasonable accommodation’ ought to be the standard."

In his book, Professor Trigg highlighted a number of recent cases in courts in the UK, Europe, the USA and Canada. He argued that these cases illustrate religion coming under threat.

He said: "A case is before the European Court of Human Rights about a civil registrar from Islington who refused to conduct civil partnership ceremonies because of her religious beliefs. It should have been easy to find a solution here by giving these ceremonies to one of her colleagues, but the need to respect the right to equality trumped the freedom of religious convictions in this instance."

Another worrying trend, Professor Trigg added, is that courts often offer their own definitions of what is core to a religion’s belief system. He explained: "The courts seem to have taken it upon themselves to decide what is and isn’t core to belief in a particular religion. In one case to decide whether or not a British Airways employee could wear a cross with her uniform, the courts have suggested it is not a core part of Christian belief - but this decision shouldn’t be up to them. Another case saw a court trying to decide whether or not a student was sufficiently ‘Jewish’ to be accepted to a Jewish school – the UK Supreme Court overruled the school’s decision not to accept the boy, invoking the Race Relations Act."

Professor Trigg argued that by limiting the freedom of religion, courts are limiting human freedom itself because of the central role played by religion in society. In previous research work at Oxford University directed by Professor Trigg, evidence has shown that religion is firmly rooted in what it is to be human. He said: "Religion is always vulnerable as it posits a different source of authority from that of the State. No State can be a functioning democracy unless it allows its citizens to manifest their beliefs about what is most important in life."

Professor Trigg added: "The same legal battles even occur in the USA where freedom of religion is often seen as the ‘first freedom’ and religion is so important to the man on the street that it is currently influencing the Republican presidential nomination."

Provided by Oxford University

"Courts endangering religious freedom, academic claims." January 26th, 2012. http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-courts-endangering-religious-freedom-academic.html

 

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

High school whiz kids may face reading comprehension issues in university

Everyone knows a high-school high achiever who has floundered in university. Now U of A researcher and Reading Research Lab director George Georgiou may have an explanation for the problem.

Georgiou and co-researcher J. P. Das say it is likely that some of these students may have undetected reading comprehension difficulties. Using funding from a Killam Cornerstone grant, Georgiou and Das screened about 400 University of Alberta students and found that five per cent of them were experiencing difficulties. Georgiou says that, while they were reading fluently, they had trouble making sense of what they were reading. Georgiou and Das analyzed the students' cognitive skills such as working memory, attention, planning ability and processing, and found that that even though these students had good fluency skills, they experienced pronounced difficulties in working memory and simultaneous processing of information.

"When they were doing the test, I noticed some of them were highlighting, writing ideas on the margins of the page. It was obvious that they had developed a strategy to help them with the ideas," he said. "But they still had a significant difficulty looking at the full picture, as reflected in poor simultaneous processing."

Organization: Make a mental map

The journey towards better reading comprehension starts with a single paragraph; the key, says Georgiou, is organizing the ideas in the texts and keeping them in mind. Students can start with a single paragraph then move to longer and harder texts. He says getting the students to identify and write down the main idea of a paragraph as they read is helpful. While it may be time-intensive, it helps them learn to decode the meaning of the text as they read it and appreciate the fact that, in order to comprehend, one needs all the information that is available in a text, not just part of it. He says that learning to create that mental map of ideas while reading can lead to improved reading comprehension.

"The students invest most of their time on reading and they forget the meaning. They read and they decode the whole passage. So, by the time they get to the end, they forget what the first paragraph was talking about," said Georgiou. "We want to break that massive task of decoding the text into smaller, manageable steps."

Solution: Read more often

While it may seem counterintuitive for someone with reading comprehension challenges to read more, Georgiou says that reading outside a known subject area – and outside the classroom in general – is an excellent way to develop background knowledge that can be helpful in reading and decoding different texts. He says that this practice improves the basics of memory and retention as well as simultaneous processing, the skills needed to overcome comprehension problems. Further, Georgiou added that reading helps students build a much-needed content knowledge base.

"Read beyond your coursework. Get a magazine and read outside of the field of your own study," Georgiou says, adding that reading creates a background knowledge that's necessary to comprehend general ideas involved in all kind of texts.

"If you don't read, then basically you reduce the exposure to print. It's like you deprive yourself of all the background knowledge that people have about different topics."

Provided by University of Alberta

"High school whiz kids may face reading comprehension issues in university." January 25th, 2012. http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-high-school-whiz-kids-comprehension.html

 

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Spiritual Television

“The Absolute Personality of Godhead is not different from His transcendental name, form, pastimes and the sound vibrations thereof. As soon as a pure devotee engages himself in the pure devotional service of hearing, chanting and remembering the name, fame and activities of the Lord, at once He becomes visible to the transcendental eyes of the pure devotee by reflecting Himself on the mirror of the heart by spiritual television.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.6.33 Purport) As Goswami Tulsidas    so nicely notes in the opening verses of his beautiful work titled the Ramacharitamanasa   , it is less common for a person to appreciate words composed by someone else than it is for someone to love what they have written themselves. The psychology of this fact should make sense, as the analysis applied to the written word is different in the two perspectives. On the one side you are critically assessing the composition that someone else has written, deciding whether or not the premises and conclusions are valid and whether you are uplifted in some way through the association. In the case of your own work, skewering your vision is the amazement arising from the fact that you were even able to craft anything at all. “I can’t believe I wrote this. Look at how I cleverly placed that truth into there and how I brought everything together in the end. Wow, nice job.” Though in most cases this natural inclination may give the writer a false sense of prestige and an inflated ego, if the subject matter is sublime, then even the unwarranted attachment to one’s own work can be used for bringing the highest good. “You are born alone and you die alone”, is the common refrain of the person suffering through a rough patch in their relations with other human beings. If you are scorned from a relationship that was built on a strong attachment, concerns over the future will surely come up. “Will I ever find someone to make me happy? How will I live out the rest of my days if I don’t have anyone by my side?” The cure for loneliness appears to be simple enough: seek out companionship somewhere else. The wise seer, however, knows that life within a specific form is temporary, for that is the nature of both the large and small playing fields. What is the large playing field? Think of the entire world and its collection of matter. Everything we can see is composed of combinations of earth, water, fire, air and ether. Depending on the desires of the inhabiting individuals, these material elements are used for different purposes. The sandbox and playrooms of young children are there to occupy their time, but when the same children mature the activity doesn’t change all that much. The playroom may get larger and the games played may involve stocks, card tables, and large arenas, but the manipulation of matter is still present and it remains the perceived vibrant way to occupy time. The smaller playing field is the body itself. The form of the living being changes at every second, for otherwise how could hair and nails grow? We know that when we get a haircut, however, our identity does not change in the least. The subtle change may affect how others look at us and how we feel about ourselves, but our identity is not altered. The identity remains intact from the time of birth all the way up until the time of death. In this way the body is a sort of playing field, with the living being residing within considered the knower, the person in charge. “Arjuna said: O my dear Krishna, I wish to know about prakriti [nature], Purusha [the enjoyer], and the field and the knower of the field, and of knowledge and the end of knowledge. The Blessed Lord then said: This body, O son of Kunti, is called the field, and one who knows this body is called the knower of the field.” (Bhagavad-gita   , 13.1-2) As the knower inside the body is eternally situated, at least from our perspective of observation, there is an ideal companion who bears the same property. At this point, can’t we say that the relationships we form with others are also connections between two knowers? After all, other people are knowers, with their bodies changing but their identities remaining the same. But if the relationship is held together by attachment to the playing field, there is no real connection with the knower. For instance, if I am attracted to someone based on their fame, we know that the fame is attached to their localized playing field, which will either diminish in stature as time passes or be completely renounced at the time of death. This means that the relationship is limited and that there is no attachment to the knower. There is one Supreme Knower who is so amazing that there is no difference between His field of play and His identity. Indeed, He is owner of both the large and small playing fields. He resides within every single one of us and yet is untainted by the actions taken. His form never changes, though He has a body that is gigantic. He also has a body that is small, as He can take many forms if He so chooses. Connecting with Him is the ultimate cure for loneliness because His company never has to be renounced. Around the world He is spoken of through His different features and energies. Those completely attached to the temporary playing field refer to Him as nature, the almighty force for change. Those with a little inclination towards spirituality refer to Him as God, and those who are slightly more advanced call Him Brahman. Only those who truly know Him refer to Him as Bhagavan and try to connect with Him through His many spiritual manifestations, including His original form of Krishna. Lord Krishna   , the all-attractive Bhagavan, possesses the attributes of beauty, wealth, strength, fame, knowledge and renunciation simultaneously and to the fullest degree. Since He owns the playing field, these attributes never leave Him. Despite the passage of time and the travels through boundless space, Shri Krishna retains His position as Bhagavan. Since He is the most attractive, who wouldn’t want to connect with Him? Since He lives eternally in His spiritual body that is full of bliss and knowledge, why wouldn’t we want to maintain an attachment to Him? Thus we see the real purpose behind the ancient system of yoga. At its root yoga means a connection, an addition of two operands. The two entities are the living entity, who is the knower of the individual playing field, and the Supreme Lord, who is the entity to be known, He whose spirit and body are not different. How do we connect with Krishna? Is there a place we can go to find Him? If we have to travel, doesn’t that require using our playing field that is the body? Is not that body then subject to destruction? So how can we make sure that we find Krishna before we leave our body? Also, what will happen once the playing field dissipates? Will Krishna stay with us? Thankfully Shri Krishna has addressed these issues in the famous work called the Bhagavad-gita, where the science of self-realization is explained succinctly and thoroughly at the same time. Paradoxical combinations are no match for Shri Krishna, who is greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest. The best way to connect with Krishna is to hear about Him. We can only harbor an attachment for another living entity if we have somehow come in contact with them. When people read the news and hear that a famous celebrity has died, their sadness is the result of an attachment formed through prior hearing and seeing. The majority of the readers of the news have never met the celebrity in question, but they feel sad at their passing because they had a connection with them in some way. That connection was so strong that it caused pains of separation to return when it was learned that the person in question would no longer provide new outlets for connection. You can hear about Krishna by reading works like the Bhagavad-gita and Shrimad Bhagavatam   . You can also listen to those who have spent their whole lives hearing about Krishna. The latter option is considered superior because then at least the proper mood to apply in hearing about Krishna is created. No one can fully understand God, but the more that is learned about Him, the greater the chances are for harboring an attachment to Him. The playing field that is the body is temporary. Because the human form is the most advanced temporary form, the keepers of the faith, who glorify Krishna constantly, consider the human form to be the most auspicious. Despite whatever playing field we enter, the material elements will have to be renounced at some point. The lower animals also get playing fields, and the life forces within them are also the knowers. There is no potential for knowledge acquisition in the lower species though. That benefit is reserved for the human being, who thus has an obligation to make the best use of that opportunity. To find Krishna before we leave our body we have to locate a person who is speaking about Krishna in the proper way. Association with their words is the most important, for physical association can dissipate within a second. If I can speak about Krishna in a room there is a benefit for the people in the immediate vicinity. If I can speak about Krishna through published words that can travel all across the world, obviously the benefit will be larger. In the advanced technological age, there is every chance to find the association of someone who has connected with Krishna. They may not even still be on this earth, but their preaching continues through their recorded words. “The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 15.8) Though the playing field is renounced at the end of life, consciousness stays with the individual. It carries from one life to the next, so if there is an attachment in consciousness to Krishna, that association will not dissipate with the exit from the body. If our cure for loneliness is to always think about Krishna now and stay attached to Him, He’ll stay with us in this life and the next. How can we stay attached to Krishna when we have so much work to do, so many obligations to fulfill? We can hear about the Lord for a few hours a day maybe, but what do we do with the rest of our time? Thankfully the holy name is just as good as Krishna; it carries all of His glorious features. In any time period, in any situation, one can simply chant, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare   ”, and be in the Lord’s company. Regularly reciting this mantra is so powerful that it will start to automatically play within the mind even during times where other work is being performed. The devotional writer finds yet another way to keep Krishna by their side. As the tendency is for the individual to prefer their own writing to the words of others, if one can write about Krishna regularly, remembering His pastimes and describing His sweet form, the attachment to the resulting work will allow for Krishna’s association to continue. Krishna will remain with the writer during the time of composition and also during the time of reading. If the author is very proud of their work and likes to read it over and over again, they get to see Krishna every time through the descriptions found in the pages. Hearing, chanting   , remembering, talking, travelling to places important to Krishna; there are so many avenues available to cure the most acute loneliness. Every other attachment formed in life is an attempt to alleviate the pain of separation we feel from the dearly beloved Lord, the most attractive entity who also holds the most amount of love for us. Through the many processes of bhakti-yoga, or devotional service   , Krishna can be seen within the heart, a place wherefrom He never leaves. In Closing: Interest from writing of others sight, But still your own work more do you like. Use that penchant for your highest benefit, Immerse in thoughts of God before body you quit. Know that Shri Krishna is the reservoir of pleasure, That His vision within the mind is greatest treasure. Let not a moment pass by with this opportunity, From cycle of birth and death gain immunity. From those who know Krishna knowledge take, Then write yourself, a cure for loneliness make.