CHINA ORDERS CHILDREN TO VISIT THEIR ELDERLY PARENTS

DON'T VISIT YOUR ELDERLY PARENTS?
IN CHINA YOU COULD GET SUED

www.katu.com - Visit your parents. That's an order. So says China, whose national legislature on Friday amended its law on the elderly to require that adult children visit their aged parents “often” - or risk being sued by them. The amendment does not specify how frequently such visits should occur. State media say the new clause will allow elderly parents who feel neglected by their children to take them to court. The move comes as reports abound of elderly parents being abandoned or ignored by their children. 
A rapidly developing China is facing increasing difficulty in caring for its aging population. Three decades of market reforms have accelerated the breakup of the traditional extended family in China, and there are few affordable alternatives, such as retirement or care homes, for the elderly or others unable to live on their own. State media reported that a grandmother in her 90s in the prosperous eastern province of Jiangsu had been forced by her son to live in a pig pen for two years. 

News outlets frequently carry stories about other parents being abused or neglected, or of children seeking control of their elderly parents' assets without their knowledge. The expansion of China's elderly population is being fueled both by an increase in life expectancy - from 41 to 73 over five decades - and by family planning policies that limit most families to a single child. Rapid aging poses serious threats to the country's social and economic stability, as the burden of supporting the growing number of elderly passes to a proportionately shrinking working population and the social safety net remains weak. The rapid pace of development in China has damaged the traditional extended family in China. 
An eighth of the population of China is over the age of 60, and more than half of them live alone. Their children often leave home to work in the major industrial centres. The dislocation of families has been exacerbated by China's one-child policy and a dramatic advance in life expectancy. China has nearly 167 million people aged over 60, and one million above 80.

China has passed a law requiring adult children to visit their elderly parents regularly or risk being sued. The law does not specify how frequently such visits should occur, but warns that neglect could risk court action. Reports suggest a growing number of elderly Chinese have been abandoned or neglected by their offspring. Newspapers are full of such stories, or of tales of children trying to seize their parents' assets, or of old people dying unnoticed in their homes. Unfortunately, in many places around the world, it has become a "nomal" behaviour that children put their parents in storage places called 'retirement homes' and take them Christmas candy or a gift for birthday once a year, while the medical and pharmaceutical system keep all the savings of the elderly.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

A father creates the illusion that when his child grows up he will cooperate, but that goes! When children reach the age of thirteen or fourteen years, they say: “my father is old; this moron does not understand anything.” The children spend their nights in clubs and the father is concerned, then the child suddenly gets all high on marijuana, all drugged and the father says, “son, what have you been doing?” And he answered: “father, get out of here, leave me alone.” And when the father says: “I am the authority here,” he says, “ well, so until then, stay you well.” They leave the house and cruelly abandon their parents ... “And now even my children have gone, they are not grateful, the last child told me why didn't you go to a nursing home and give the house to them.” ... That's the story of all men in this world and for that reason they need your compassion, they need you make them to be close to Krishna, to give them mercy; this is something worthwhile, something that can make you deserve the mercy Krishna.

Śrīla Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Mahārāja :
“Class of Sankirtan - December Marathon”
http://gurumaharaj.net/vani/clase_de_sankirtana.html
http://conferencias-virtuales.blogspot.com.ar/
http://vrindachats.blogspot.com.ar/

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/

THANKSGIVING AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

TODAY THANKSGIVING CELEBRATIONS,
FESTIVE DAY TO THANK GOD AND OTHERS

www.boldsky.com - Thanksgiving is not just the festival of America but there is more to it than it being called just a “Harvest Festival”. It is said that contentment is the greatest happiness in life so it is always right to thank all those who have been responsible for what we are today. Thanksgiving is the festival of remembering people who sacrificed their lives for our well being. It gives great pleasure to people when their work is recognized. When a person is expressed by two beautiful words “Thank You”, it will motivate him to help more and for the one who thanks others will get the satisfaction of recognizing the other person's favor. 
It is said that the two words are the top of all virtues in the world. According to the traditional significance of thanksgiving, the festival is mainly celebrated to thank God for the good harvest he has given and is praised through various hymns and prayers. Here some significances of Thanksgiving: 

Family Bonding: The main significance of Thanksgiving is that it is the festival of bondage between family members. The children are told various stories by the elders of the family. They are thought family values and respect to elders. Special recipes are prepared and are rejoiced together with dance and other amusements. Cooking meal: On the festive day, the family enjoys home cooked delicious food, in contrast with the other festivals where canned food are bought from restaurants. Family values and festive traditions: The family members dance, sing, cook, play games and do various activities together. It is the day of fun and joy as well as the day to imbibe values and festive traditions in small ones.  
Meaning of life: Thanksgiving is the day where elders in the family teach children on how to lead life and the importance of living. The elders educate their young ones on how to shape their future living. Thanking day: It is not only the day to thank the almighty but also the day to thank parents and elders who have been there in every ups and downs of life. It is important for kids to know that thanksgiving day is not just a national holiday but has so much significance added to it that makes it the most celebrated festival worldwide.

Nowadays, Thanksgiving is not just a festival of the USA but is celebrated and rejoiced all around the globe. According to Anjana, the writer of the article, the main importance of Thanksgiving is that it is the day where family members are together. The relatives who stay away also come down to meet the members of the family and celebrate the oneness with delicious food. The elders narrate their bitter experiences and hardships that they faced to get to what they presently are. It is important for kids to know the idea and significance behind the thanksgiving celebrations as they should be aware of the emotions and sensitivities related to the festival. Not only on Thanksgiving Day we celebrate life, eating and praying together as a family, but every day we should thank God for all the blessings we have received from Him.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The tendency to want to eliminate humanity’s sources of wisdom and enlightenment and to exclude them, to pretend proposing that God does not exist and that all kind of revelation simply is an invention of the human intellect mixed with lies - this shows atheism. ... Humanity’s experience teaches us that atheism is unbearable. A life without God leads to something psychopathic, to trauma and disease, depressions, chaos and total immorality. ... The suffering of your being will accompany you life after life, until you are ready to bow your head before God and thank Him for everything He has done for you, and until you before Him promise to accept that He has given you your criterion and intelligence to do something wonderful on earth, and not just to rush through the world and exploit its resources and make humanity to cry and bleed through the skimpy  purpose of an atheistic mentality.

Śrīla Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Mahārāja :
“Conscious Art”
“A culture of Divine Love”
http://bhaktipedia.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php
http://www.vrindanews.com/nectar/conscious_art.html

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/

LONDON WOMAN ARRESTED FOR RACIST RANT ON TRAIN

LONDON WOMAN CHARGED WITH A
RACIALLY AGGRAVATED PUBLIC OFFENCE

www.dailymail.co.uk - A woman has been charged with a racially aggravated public order offence, after an incident of a woman hurling racist abuse at train passengers was filmed and posted on YouTube. 
British Transport Police (BTP) launched an investigation after being made aware of a YouTube video which shows a woman taunting a group of black passengers. 
Jacqueline Williams, 47, of Slade Green, Kent, was arrested by police last night and is due to appear at Bexley Magistrates' Court this week. 
A woman, who appears to be in her 40s, is recorded saying: “Go home, go home where you belong” ... “You might have been born here, but I bet your grandparents and your great great grandparents weren’t.” ... “Yeah, go home. If yous belonged here you’d be pink-skinned, blonde-haired, blue eyes, green eyes.” ... “Go home the lot of you. You make me sick. It’s why the country’s like it f****** is.” 

And as she steps off the train at her destination, she continues her disgusting racist attack, saying: “F****** monkeys, the lot of you. Go home.” NHS worker Oliver Miller, 24, said his sister Leah, 21, was one of the victims of the rant. He said a woman got off the train at the same stop as Leah - who filmed the YouTube clip on her mobile phone - and continued to abuse her by saying she “walked like a m*****”. 
Oliver, who lives in Lewisham, south-east London with Leah, said: “My sister was working at the time - looking after a lady with learning difficulties - so was in a pretty vulnerable position. She was fuming when she phoned me up afterwards. 'You won't believe what just happened to me!' she said. She sent me the video she had filmed. She said she was on the train when an argument broke out between this woman and some other passengers, who were black.” 
“My sister was pretty upset and angry at what happened,” Oliver adds, “London is our home. Our father is Jamaican, but he's lived here since he was 14, and we were both born here.” 

London authorities have arrested a woman after video of her racially insulting Black passengers on a train was uploaded to YouTube. Jacqueline Williams, a Slade Green Kent native, has been charged with a racially-aggravated public offense order. Oliver Miller, whose sister was insulted by the woman, said “My sister got off the train at Abbey Wood - the same stop as the woman - and she said the woman continued abusing her on the platform. She said the woman kept saying: 'Look, you even walk like a monkey'. What right does this woman have to abuse my sister like that?” The 40-second film clip was posted on YouTube on October 30 and has been viewed by more than 1,100 people. If we think we are superior to others because of differences in our skin color, eyes or hair, we are showing an immeasurable ignorance in spiritual matters and reveals that our ego is drowning in the ocean of vanity and pride.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Racism is a complex of superiority and sometimes of inferiority. It is one of the great illusions of this world, because we are not this material body, ie we are not Chinese, or Germans, or even we are not men nor women, we are all subject to the same laws of the universe. ... The idea of superiority is a tremendous selfishness which souls suffer in the material world. However, the feeling of superiority over others is a reality that occurs in the same group of people, in the same race and even in the same family. To think you are superior is poison from the ego that is born of envy to God, by thinking: “I am the master”, “I am the teacher”, “I am the best.” This is the contamination of many people who often see others as objects to be exploited. The mentality of exploiting others goes against the mentality of being truly human beings. ... The language of the heart, is the most important language in the world, and besides, we just want to have relationships that are really heart to heart, and for this we must abandon pride.

Śrīla Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Mahārāja :
“Vedic Wisdom: The Language of the Heart”
“The Brotherhood of the Races”
http://bhaktipedia.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php
http://bhaktipedia.org/espanol/index.php?n=sabidurias_vedicas.el_lenguaje_del_corazon

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/

POLISH WOMAN HELD FOR KILLING 5 NEWBORNS

POLISH WOMAN IN CUSTODY
FOR ALLEGEDLY KILLING BABIES

www.dailymail.co.uk - A Polish woman has been arrested on suspicion of killing at least five of her newborn babies, and hiding the bodies on her farm. The 41-year-old woman, identified only as Beata Z, gave birth to eight babies between 1998 and 2012, but only two, aged seven and ten, remain alive, said Maria Kudyba, a prosecutor in Lomza in northeastern Poland. Four bodies have been recovered from in the attic, cellar and the stable of the farm in where Beata Z, a widow, lived with her new partner and the two living children. 
Investigators are searching the farm in Hipolitowo village, outside Lomza, for a fifth body and are trying to determine the fate of the sixth baby. Social workers alerted police this summer when they saw no baby born after Beata Z appeared to have been pregnant. The woman will be held for at least three months while an investigation is carried out. 

During the investigation, autopsies will be held to confirm that Beata Z is the mother of the four dead babies. Ms Kudyba said: “We know that between 1998 and 2012, the woman gave birth to six children, four boys and two girls. They were born alive. We have established that five of them are dead. An investigation is under way to find out what happened to the sixth.” The woman has been questioned regarding the events, but prosecutors would only confirm that she will undergo psychiatric examination. 
Investigators refused to speculate about possible motives in the case, which has been widely covered by the Polish media. The alleged crimes have shocked the predominantly Catholic nation, where terminations of pregnancies are strictly controlled. Polish anti-abortion law only allows a termination if it threatens the life of the mother, the foetus is irreparably damaged, or the pregnancy resulted from a crime.

A Polish woman, Beata Z, has been arrested on suspicion of killing at least five of her newborn babies. A prosecutor said Beata gave birth to eight babies between 1998 and 2012, but only two remain alive. Four bodies of babies have been found on the woman's farm in Hipolitowo village. Investigators are searching for a fifth body and trying to determine the fate of the sixth baby. Poland, which is predominantly Catholic, has a strict anti-abortion law. Killing the fetus in the womb of the mother or later, when the baby is just born, are terrible crimes that can be analyzed from the karmic point of view. Both the soul in the fetus / baby and the soul in the mother who aborts / kills are implicated in reaping a karmic reaction (fruit) and in initiating a karmic reaction (seed) respectively.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Friend of my soul, aborting a child is like loosing our own fortune in life; it is an invitation to misery. After abortion, a person will not be able to look at a child without remembering the creature that was denied the right to live. ... It is probable that the child that is being aborted was once involved in abortion, and that the mother who is aborting will in her next birth be aborted - “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Nature’s law of action / reaction confirms that crimes like abortion the reaction is very strong; only God can forgive it. This means we must change our life and become messengers of love, offering protection towards children and animals. First, men cruelly kill animals. Later, they start to kill children in the mother’s womb; and finally they destroy themselves on the battlefields as well. That was the view of the philosopher and poet, Tolstoy; and that's the way nature works. ... In this world we need to be an instrument of God’s love, so repeat this daily prayer to stay in contact with God’s Love: “Oh my Lord, please let me be an instrument of Your Love”.

Śrīla Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Mahārāja :
“All about Abortion”
http://vwonline.blogspot.com.ar/2006/03/vedic-wisdom-online.html
http://vwonline.blogspot.com.ar/2006/03/about-abortion.html

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/

JUNK FOODS CAN LEAD TO ADDICTION

NEW STUDY SUGGESTS JUNK FOOD IS
“AS ADDICTIVE AS HEROIN AND SMOKING”

LONDON (CBS) - Fatty foods are addictive and trigger responses in the brain similar to cocaine and heroin, according to a Nature Neuroscience study. Neuroscientists from the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida, fed rats a high-fat diet and then measured their responsiveness to reward. “We basically bought all of the stuff that people really like—Ding-Dongs, cheesecake, bacon, sausage, the stuff that you enjoy, but you really shouldn’t eat too often,” said co-author Dr Paul Kenny. The reward circuits in the brains of addicts often have dulled responses, leading them to seek more addictive substances to get their fix. Rats given greater access to the tasty foods developed binge- and compulsive-like eating behaviour and gained more weight. They also needed more stimulation to reach a certain reward threshold over time.

“The study shows evidence that drug addiction and obesity are based on the same underlying neurobiological mechanisms,” says Kenny. “The animals completely lost control over their eating behaviour, the primary hallmark of addiction.” Even when the rats were conditioned to associate a light signal with a shock to the foot, the obese rats would continue to eat despite seeing the light. Skinny rats fed standard lab chow pellets stopped eating when they saw the light. This finding helps us to understand why individuals who often express a desire to limit activities with well-known negative health impacts still struggle to control those behaviours. “This is very similar to what you’d see in humans who overindulge,” Kenny says. “It seemed that it was okay, from what we could tell, to enjoy snack foods, but if you repeatedly overindulge, that’s where the problem comes in.”


Rats eat what makes them feel good and slowly become addicts to that behaviour; once the addiction has been established, they are willing to subject themselves to extremely uncomfortable situations in order to have access to that food again. Unfortunately, people exhibit similar behaviours.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Vedic culture strongly promotes vegetarianism. The vegetarian diet has been followed since antiquity by those who have chosen the path of yoga, goodness, and purification. ... No more junk food. Only buy pure organic ingredients and prepare nice food with love to offer to God and be purified by eating sanctified food, free of Karmic reactions.No more use of artificial colors, chemical flavoring, preservatives, and the thousands of other illness producing horrors that the drug and food control agency has not yet prohibited due to their ignorance.

Śrīla Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Mahārāja :
“Ecology and Meditation”
“Body Mind and Soul in Harmony with Nature”
“The Body - We are what we eat”
http://www.vrindavan.org/English/about/VaishnavaEcology.html

TURN OUT THE LIGHTS ON SATURDAY

WORLD TO EMBRACE DARKNESS TONIGHT
GLOBAL EVENT, GO DARK FOR "EARTH HOUR

BEIJING (Xinhua) - The countdown to Earth Hour is on. This weekend, on Saturday March 27, everyone world-wide is being asked to shut off the lights for one hour at 8:30 p.m. local time, wherever they may be. People across the globe will once again embrace darkness for an hour, following the call to build a low-carbon, more environment-friendly world. The grassroots lights-off campaign, known as "Earth Hour," was launched in 2007 in Sydney, when the city switched off its lights to highlight the world's climate problems. It's part of an eco-conscious effort to draw awareness to climate-change by halting energy consumption for one hour. The annual event, which falls on the last Saturday of each March, has since then become increasingly popular as it celebrates its fourth anniversary this year. The global event has enjoyed consistent backing from non-governmental organizations worldwide and the participation of thousands of towns.

In Germany, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin will go dark after local parliamentarians, advocating environmental protection, turn off a super-size switch in front of the gate. Meanwhile, people at the site, by cycling upon special equipment, can light up a bear figure, Berlin's emblem. Last year, the lights went out at the Empire State Building, the Sydney Opera House and even the Eiffel Tower! This year organizers expect 115 countries to participate. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also adhered in support of Earth Hour emphasizing the simple message that climate change is a concern for all the inhabitants of the planet Earth. “The United Nations is once again pleased to support Earth Hour, a global awareness campaign on climate change”.


Today around the world, people turn off their lights for an hour as a show of support for taking action on climate change. It is a powerful global message about environmental awareness, but there are also many other small actions we can do to to save energy and protect the environment.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

No more unnecessary trips in cars. Let us use bikes whenever possible. Walk more. Participate actively in civic services such as planting trees in public places, provision of drinking water to passengers, cleaning of soiled areas, recycling of waste, protection against abuse of animals, etc. We should see the power of God manifested in everything, and then act with the utmost responsibility and care. Even a faucet that is leaking must be closed. We should save energy.

Śrīla Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Mahārāja :
“Ecology and Meditation”
“Body Mind and Soul in Harmony with Nature”
“The Environment”
http://www.bhaktipedia.org/espanol/