GRATEFUL NATION MOURNS FOR CORY AQUINO

CHINA MOURNS DEATH OF
FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT

BEIJING. (Xinhua) - China mourned on Saturday the death of the former Philippine president Corazon Aquino. "Mrs. Aquino is an outstanding leader of the Philippines, and she is also a good friend of the Chinese people," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a press release. "Chinese government and the Chinese people feel deeply regretted over her death," she said. Chinese President Hu Jintao has sent a message of sympathy to Philippine President Gloria Arroyo over the death of Mrs. Aquino, according to the press release. Aquino died early Saturday morning at age 76 after battling colon cancer for over a year.

Corazon Aquino's son, Senator Benigno Aquino III, confirmed that the former Philippine leader died of cardio respiratory arrest at 3:18 a.m. local time Saturday (1918 GMT Friday) at the Makati Medical Center in the country's capital Manila. In 1986, Mrs. Aquino led the military-backed mass revolt, known as " People Power" revolution, and unseated the then president Ferdinand Marcos, putting an end to his 26-year iron-fist rule. She became the country's first female president in 1987.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Every living entity is a hero in two ways. When he is a victim of the illusory energy, he works as a great hero in the material world, as a great leader, politician, businessman, industrialist, etc., and his heroic activities contribute to the material advancement of civilization. One can also become a hero by being master of the senses, a gosvami. Material activities are false heroic activities, whereas restraining the senses from material engagement is great heroism. ... Every living entity has the freedom to be attracted by material nature or to stand as a hero and resist that attraction. It is simply a question of the living entity's being attracted or not being attracted. There is no question of his being forced to come into contact with material energy. One who can keep himself steady and resist the attraction of material nature is certainly a hero and deserves to be called a gosvami. Unless one is master of the senses, he cannot become a gosvami. The living entity can take one of two positions in this world. He may become a servant of his senses, or he may become master of them. By becoming a servant of the senses, one becomes a great material hero, and by becoming master of the senses, he becomes a gosvami, or spiritual hero.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 4 - Chapter 25 - Verse 25"