CHINA CRACKING DOWN ON DOOMSDAY GROUP

CHINA SEIZES OVER 500 IN
DOOMSDAY CULT CRACKDOWN

http://shanghaiist.com - China has detained over 500 members of an “evil cult” preaching the imminent end of the world, after the group allegedly attacked police and cheated multiple victims out of thousands of yuan. The latest arrests were made in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, where eight people were detained for spreading the group’s message door-to-door and in public. Meanwhile, four members of the group were also arrested in Inner Mongolia. Police were alerted by a man who said that proselytisers had convinced him and his wife to give nearly 3,000 yuan as a sacrifice to escape the coming doomsday, Xinhua reported. 
“They are telling everyone that on Friday the sun will rise in the west and then disappear for three days and then there will be 72 days of terrible natural disasters starting from January 1, 2013,” one 24-year-old former cult member whose 50-year-old mother is still an adherent told the Financial Times. 

“They’ve also told all members to withdraw their money from the bank in preparation for the end of the world,” he said. Members of the group, which calls itself the Church of Almighty God, organized a large-scale procession in Shaanxi last week, unfurling banners declaring that the coming cataclysm could only be survived by believing in Almighty God. Photos posted on a website dedicated to monitoring the group appeared to show violent clashes between believers and police, with images of battered police cars at the scene of the demonstrations. 
The group, also known as Eastern Lightning, has existed in China since the early 1990s, and by some estimates boasts over a million adherents. Incorporating many elements of Christianity, the church preaches that a Chinese-born messiah will overthrow the Communist Party and save believers from eternal damnation.

More than 500 members of Almighty God group have been arrested in China. They had been distributing apocalyptic literature and sending text messages throughout China preaching the end of the world and urging people to launch a “decisive battle” to slay the “big red dragon” of the Communist government. The Communist Party, particularly sensitive to the rise of any religious or quasi-religious organisation, launched a savage campaign against the Falun Gong spiritual movement in 1999. China has no established religion, and these rumours that the world is about to end, lays bare the Communist Party's obsession with social stability and maintaining its tight grip on power. Atheistic Communism collapsed in the Soviet countries, but is strong in China and North Korea. However, both those living in the Communist or Capitalist style of life, are still unhappy and their desire to know about God has increased.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The goal was a nation of atheists. Over three generations - seventy years - the government had an explicit, determined policy to create such a nation. As in the other Soviet Republics, atheistic propaganda permeated education and social life in Armenia. Any slight practice of devotion to God, in any religion, whether public or private, often met with swift, brutal consequences. ... Decades of government-induced atheism in the Soviet bloc simply increased people’s hunger for spiritual life. Now that a consumer culture has been introduced, people have become frustrated on both sides. They know that both communism and capitalism are cheating, because material happiness has not increased. To find lasting and expansive happiness that the soul seeks, one must go to the reservoir of pleasure, the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna.

Śrīmati Urmila devi dasi :
“Two Seeds that Grew in Iron”
March/April 2008
http://urmila.me.uk/
http://www.krishna.com/two-seeds-grew-iron

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

GOLDEN AGE COULD BEGIN IN 2012

MAYAN CALENDAR MATCHES
ANCIENT HINDU PROPHECY

http://hinduism.about.com - In the “Brahma-Vaivarta Purana” (a Hindu religious text which is divided into four parts. It is one of the major eighteen Puranas), Lord Krishna tells Ganga Devi that a Golden Age will come in the Kali Yuga - one of the four stages of development that the world goes through as part of the cycle of eras, as described in Hindu scriptures. Lord Krishna predicted that this Golden Age will start 5,000 years after the beginning of the Kali Yuga, and will last for 10,000 years. It is interesting that this prediction of the emergence of a new world is prophesied to appear about the same time that the Mayans predicted it to come!
The Mayan calendar began with the Fifth Great Cycle in 3114 BC and will end on 21 December 2012 AD. The Hindu Kali Yuga calendar began on 18 February 3102 B.C. There is only a difference of 12 years between the Hindu's beginning of the Kali Yuga and the Mayan's beginning of the Fifth Great Cycle.

The ancient Hindus mainly used lunar calendars but also used solar calendars. If an average lunar year equals 354.36 days, then this would be about 5270 lunar years from the time when the Kali Yuga started until 21 Dec 2012. This is the same year that the Mayans predict rebirth of our planet. It is also about 5113 solar years of 365.24 days per year, and is day number 1,867,817 into the Kali Yuga. By either solar or lunar years, we are over 5,000 years into the Kali Yuga and it is time for Lord Krishna's prophecy to happen according to the ancient Hindu scriptures. Lord Krishna's Golden Age could easily begin in 2012!
It is amazing that both calendars began at about the same time over 5,000 years ago and both calendars predict a totally new world and/or golden age after about 5,000 years into their calendars! We are definitely on to something with these Mayan and Hindu 2012 predictions. Historically, this is an amazing fact since these two ancient cultures did not have any contact.

According to Hindu scriptures, there are four great epochs in every cycle of creation and destruction. According to Mexican archaeologists and historians, the Mayas also had a cyclical idea of time, and the end of 2012 marks the beginning of great changes and transformation which lead the human race to evolve into a new spiritual age. Interestingly, there is also a Hindu prophecy that indicates that 2012 will be a time of great change and upheaval. The author of the article, Mr  Subhamoy Das, says that in the Fourth and last part of the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, which details the life and deeds of Sri Krishna, He tells Ganga Devi that a Golden Age will come in the Kali Yuga. More than a few Hindu saints of recent times, including Sri Yukteswar (the guru of Paramahamsa Yogananda - author of Autobiography of a Yogi), Sri Aurobindo and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (founder of Transcendental Meditation), spoke of a transition from the Kali Yuga to the Satya Yuga - from a period of lower consciousness to one of higher consciousness - in our current time period.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The following are (ten) verses from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana that were spoken by Lord Krishna to Mother Ganga just before the beginning of Kali yuga (the age of quarrel and strife). Kali yuga began approximately five thousand years ago, and it has a duration of 432,000 years, leaving us with 427,000 till the end of the present age. Within this 432,000 year period, there is a period of 10,000 years that will be a golden age. That golden age is being described below by Lord Sri Krishna. This text is taken from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana. Text 49: “Ganges said: O protector, Supreme enjoyer, on your departure for the perfect abode, Goloka, thereafter what will be my situation in the age of Kali?” Text 50: “The blessed Lord said: On the earth 5,000 years of kali will be sinful and sinners will deposit their sins in you by bathing.” ... Text 59: “For 10,000 years of kali such devotees of mine will fill the whole planet. After the departure of My devotees there will only be one varna [outcaste].” Text 60: “Devoid of My devotees, the earth will be shackled by kali. Saying this Krishna departed.”

Bhaktivedanta Ashram :
“Prophecy of the Golden Age from Brahma Vaivarta Purana”
Spiritual Articles - Written by Jahnava Nitai Das
http://www.bvashram.org/articles/prophecy-of-the-golden-age-from-brahma-vaivarta-purana.html

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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WORLD WON'T END ON DECEMBER 21: NASA SCIENTISTS

NASA SAYS WORLD WON'T END
IN 2012 DESPITE MAYAN CALENDAR

http://profit.ndtv.com - Quashing the 'doomsday' rumours, top NASA scientists have assured that the world won't end on December 21, 2012. “The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” NASA said on its website. The 'doomsday story' started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth, scientists said. 
This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 - hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012, they said. 
“Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012,” NASA said.

“This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then - just as your calendar begins again on January 1 - another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar,” NASA said. Scientists also clarified that the rumour of a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction is just an “Internet hoax”. “Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. 
There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye,” scientists said. “Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles,” they said. NASA astronomers are carrying out a study called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit.

We’re less than a month away from the so-called end of the world, but NASA says you don’t have anything to worry about. The US Space agency specified that the Mayan calendar does not end in December 2012. Just as your desk calendar ends on Dec. 31 and world keeps going on, the same goes for the Mayan calendar, NASA explained. Just before you run out of pages doesn’t mean life as we know it will cease to exist. The science experts also dispel a few other online rumours associated with the end of 2012. The planets are not going to align, there is no predicted blackout for this December and the Earth’s rotation isn’t going to change directions. According to the Vedic point of view there is still a long time for the dissolution of the universe. We are living in the Kali yuga, the present age of quarrel and hypocrisy, of which only 5,000 of 432,000 years have passed.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

There are four ages, namely Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga, which comprise a divya-yuga, one set of the four yugas. Let’s remember that Satya-yuga lasts 1,728,000 years, Treta-yuga 1,296,000 years, Dvapara-yuga 864,000 years, and Kali-yuga 432,000 years. That is a total of 4,320,000 years. A day of Brahma, called a kalpa, lasts for 1,000 of these cycles, and is thus 4,320,000,000 solar years. There are 14 Manus in each day of Brahma. Each Manu is said to exist for one manvantara, which is a period of time lasting 71 divya-yugas. Therefore, each Manu exists for roughly 306,720,000 years. Additionally, Brahma lives for 100 years, composed of 365 of such days in a year. Let’s remember also that we are talking about beings who do not live in the same dimension as we do, and are thus free from the same influences of time and matter with which we must contend.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“The Avataras of God”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com  -  http://www.stephenknapp.info/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/avataras_of_god.htm

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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RELAX, THE WORLD WON'T END NEXT MONTH: EXPERT

THE “END OF THE WORLD” MAYA STONE
RECOUNTS LIFE AND BATTLES OF A RULER

www.brisbanetimes.com.au - Relax doomsayers, the Maya people did not really mark their calendar for the end of the world on December 21, 2012. As tourists book hotels rooms in Mexico's Maya Riviera and Guatemalan resorts ahead of next month's fateful date, experts are busy debunking the doomsday myth. The apocalyptic prophecy that has inspired authors and filmmakers never appears in the tall T-shaped stone calendar that was carved by the Maya around the year 669 in southeastern Mexico. In reality, the stone recounts the life and battles of a ruler from that era, experts say. Plus, the last date on the calendar is actually December 23, 2012, not the 21st, and it merely marks the end of a cycle. 
So no need to build giant arks, because the terrible floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions depicted in the Hollywood blockbuster 2012 were not prophesied by the Mayas. “The Mayas had a cyclical idea of time. They were not preoccupied with the end of the world,” Mexican archaeologist Jose Romero said. The stone, known as Monument 6, was located in El Tortuguero, an archaeological site that was discovered in 1915. 

Broken in six pieces, the different fragments are exhibited in US and Mexican museums, including Tabasco's Carlos Pellicer Camara Anthropology Museum and New York's Metropolitan Museum. “The last inscription refers to December 23, 2012, but the central theme of Monument 6 is not the date, it's not the prophecies or the end of the world. It's the story of (then ruler) Bahlam Ajaw,” Romero said. The final date represents the end of a cycle in the Mayan long count calendar that began in the year 3114 before Christ. It is the completion of 13 baak t'uunes, a unit of time equivalent to 144,000 days. 
“It is not the end of the Mayan long count calendar, which is endless. It's the beginning of a new cycle, that's all,” said Mexican historian Erick Velasquez. Though the Maya made prophecies, they looked at events in the near future and were related to day-to-day concerns like rain, droughts, or harvests. The belief that the calendar foresees the end of the world comes from Judeo-Christian interpretations, the experts said.

The first study on the stone was published by a German researcher in 1978. Since then, various archaeologists have examined its significance and agree that it refers to the December 23 date and not December 21 as stated commercially. Mexican historian Velasquez warned against giving too much weight to Monument 6, noting that it is just one of more than 5000 stones from the Mayan culture that have been studied. The earth still has a few years left, even in eyes of the ancient Maya: Some stones refer to the year 7000. Therefore, from the point of view of Science, Astronomy, Mayan Prophecy or even the ancient Hindu Astrology and Vedantic Cosmology there appears to be little reason  to be concerned that the world will end in one month.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Vedantic cosmology describes that the universe is maintained for a specific period before it is wound up. At the beginning of each cycle of creation of the universe, Lord Brahma, the first created cosmic living being is born. A day of Brahma is called a kalpa and one kalpa consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas, or ages, called Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali. The same number comprises one night of Brahma and he lives one hundred such years and then dies. Satyayuga lasts 1,728,000 years; Tretayuga lasts 1,296,000 years; Dvaparayuga lasts 864,000 years; and Kaliyuga lasts 432,000 years. Thus one hundred years of Lord Brahma equal 311 trillion and 40 billion earth years. According to Vedantic cosmology, our universe starts with the birth of Lord Brahma and he is at present a little more than 50 Brahma-years old. Thus our present universe started about 155.522 trillion (155.522 x 10^12) years ago and will end in 155.518 trillion (155.518 x 10^12) years and just after that a new cycle of creation will begin again.

T.D. Singh, Ph.D. - Śrīla Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Mahārāja :
“Hinduism and Science”
“Universe - A Brief Overview of its Origin, Maintenance, and Dissolution”
Science and Scientist - Bhaktivedanta Institute Newsletter
January - March 2008 - scienceandscientist.org
http://www.krishnascience.com  -  http://www.bhaktisvarupadamodara.com/

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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