CHINA: MAN STABS 28 CHILDREN AT KINDERGARTEN

MAN WITH KITCHEN KNIFE SLASHES 28
CHILDREN AT CHINESE KINDERGARTEN

TAIXING, China (AP) - The screams of the 4-year-olds inside the kindergarten could be heard out in the street. When people ran in to investigate, they found what one witness said was a scene "too horrible to imagine" — blood everywhere as a knife-wielding man slashed 28 children, two teachers and a security guard Thursday in the second such school attack in China in two days. Experts called it a copycat rampage triggered by similar incidents Wednesday and last month. They said the wave of school attacks falls amid poor care for the mentally unstable and growing feelings of social injustice in the fast-changing country. Thursday's attack at the Zhongxin Kindergarten left five students hospitalized in critical condition in the eastern city of Taixing, said Zhu Guiming, an official with the municipal propaganda department. Two teachers and the security guard were also hurt. The official Xinhua News Agency identified the attacker as Xu Yuyuan, a 47-year-old unemployed man using an eight-inch (20-centimeter) knife. No motive was given.

On Wednesday, a man in the southern city of Leizhou broke into a primary school and wounded 15 students and a teacher in a knife attack. The man managed to slip into the school with a group of visiting teachers, Xinhua reported. Chen Kangbing had been a teacher himself. He suffered from mental illness and had been on sick leave since 2006. The attack left fourth and fifth graders with stab wounds on their heads, backs and arms, but none was in life-threatening condition. Wednesday's attack came the same day a man was executed for stabbing eight children to death outside their elementary school last month in the southeastern city of Nanping.


Chinese experts say the outbreaks of violence are often due to social pressures, or attributed to people with personal grudges or suffering from mental illness, but what people need is to advance spiritually under the guidance of a spiritual master who help them to awake their Krishna consciousness asleep.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Our mundane feelings of attraction and aversion for material objects light the fire of envy, egoism, and hatred so much so that it seems they have the ability to destroy this world. If even a drop of pure affection arises in our hearts for the incarnation of Mahaprabhu’s magnanimity, then no place will remain for these animal propensities like hatred, jealousy, or violence to others. ... How can any attachment or hatred for material objects find a place in the heart where attachment to the guru, the eternal associate of Srimati Radharani, has awakened? In such a heart, there is constant awareness of the absolute necessity of attaining the supreme goal of life, loving service to Sri Krishna.

Śrīla Bhakti Promode Puri Mahārāja :
“The True Spirit of Separation”
http://bvml.org/SBPPG/ttsos.html
http://www.gosai.com/krishna-talk/spirit-of-separation.html

FIGHT HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE WITH SEX

BRAZIL OFFICIAL RECOMMENDS GETTING MORE SEX
FOR HEALTHY LIVING AND PREVENT HYPERTENSION

BRASILIA (AFP) - While Michelle Obama touts the health benefits of organic vegetables and federal health officials push for less sodium in fast food lunches, Brazil's health minister has a remedy for the nation's high-blood-pressure problem: More sex. One of the best ways Brazilians can stave off chronic illness is to engage regularly in physical exercise, especially sex, Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said. “People need to be active. A weekend football game must not be the only physical activity for a Brazilian. Adults need to do exercise: walk, dance and have safe sex,” he said. The minister gave the advice as he launched a campaign to prevent high blood pressure, which afflicts a quarter of Brazil's 190-million strong population. “Dancing, having sex, keeping weight under control, changing dietary habits, doing physical exercise” all help keep blood pressure down, he said. “It's not a joke. It's serious”, he said later, “Having regular physical exercises also means sex, always with protection of course (to prevent the spread of HIV.),” he added.

According to Brazilian authorities, the problem of high blood pressure is growing among Brazilians. A study by the Health Ministry that conducted telephone interviews of 54,000 people, showed the proportion of Brazilians who say their blood pressure is 140/90 or above rose from 21.5 percent in 2006 to 24.4 percent now. That includes the country's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who in January suffered a high blood pressure attack, apparently brought on by stress. Minister Temporao added that he believed there was a health “time bomb” ticking in Brazil, which within 20 years could see a “gigantic percentage” of the population suffering chronic illnesses, high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol.


The advice of the Minister of Health of Brazil is a big mistake which will lead to further sufferings. If people are engaged in so many sexual activities, their conscience must remain completely under the control of sexual desire, and this works against the spiritual development of society as a whole.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The greatest happiness for the soul starts with complete freedom: freedom from misery, unhappiness, suffering, freedom from the dictates of desires, and, ultimately, freedom from being trapped in a material body. But what keeps us ensnared in such a condition are the desires for sensual and mental pleasures. And the hardest freedom to attain is freedom from sex desire. ... If you are still entrapped by the idea of needing your sensual, emotional, or mental desires fulfilled, then you are far from being free, mentally, intellectually, and certainly not spiritually. ... But the hardest desire to be free from is the desire for sex. Complete spiritual freedom includes freedom from sexual desire.

Stephen Knapp (Nandanandana dasa) :
“Becoming Free from Sex Desire”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/becoming_free_from_sex_desire.htm

TOO MUCH SODIUM IN FAST-FOOD LUNCH

FAST-FOOD LUNCHES PROVIDES TOO MUCH
RATION OF SODIUM FOR MIDDLE AGE & OLDERS

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most fast-food lunches sold in New York City provided a full day's allotment of sodium for the majority of adults, and then some, researchers said. The mean sodium content in 6,580 meals bought at fast-food chains by ordinary consumers in 2007 was 1,751 mg, reported Christine M. Johnson, MBA, of the New York City Health Department, and colleagues in the April 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. The recommended daily allowance of sodium is 1,500 mg for individuals with hypertension, and everyone of middle age and older, according to the CDC. “Fast food is not only a high-calorie but also a high-sodium food,” Johnson and colleagues wrote. About 57% of the meals exceeded the 1,500-mg level. Fried chicken outlets including KFC and Popeye's were the worst offenders, with 55% of the 585 meals bought at those stores surpassing 2,300 mg of sodium. Another 28% were between 1,500 and 2,300 mg.

Pizza and hamburger chains tended to put less sodium in the food, with about half of meals from these outlets containing less than 1,500 mg. To come up with their numbers, Johnson and colleagues swapped $2 transit cards for customers' receipts as they left fast-food restaurants at lunchtime. Receipts were included in the study only if the customer was at least 18 and it listed at least one “entree,” defined as an item that wasn't a drink, dessert, or side order such as fries or salad. “Our findings support the need for the fast-food industry to focus on reducing sodium levels across product lines,” Johnson and colleagues wrote. “Government, public health, and industry involvement to accelerate food reformulation will reduce blood pressure and save lives,” they asserted.


Excessive intake of salt contributes to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Most of this unnecessary sodium ingestion comes in packaged and restaurant foods, not from salt added at the table. Therefore, be careful and change the fast-food for a healthy vegetarian diet.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Vegetables and fruits are rich in fiber and nutrients, but instead of eating them we feed them to the animals and then instead ingest fats and cholesterol from the animals. Where is the logic? ... The amount of toxic waste by this industry alone is 1 billion tons per year which is about 60-80% of the total toxic waste. Global warming would be reduced considerably if meat consumption were reduced. The contribution to global warming by automobiles is insignificant compared to the use of energy for feedstock. So now there are 2 Major reasons to become a vegetarian: 1) Participate in making the world a more compassionate one. 2) For your own self- preservation and good health!

The Hare Krishna Views On Science :
“Why be a Vegan / Vegetarian?”
http://www.krishnascience.com

HOMELESS GOOD SAMARITAN LEFT TO DIE

SHAMEFUL - NEW YORK BYSTANDERS
LEAVE STABBED 'GOOD SAMARITAN' TO DIE

NEW YORK - Shocking footage of the death of Hugo Tale-Yax, a Guatemalan aged 31, was captured on CCTV cameras in the Jamaica area of Queens. The video camera then captures the attacker fleeing in the direction in which he had come, followed a few seconds later by Tale-Yax who appears to be chasing him but stumbles on the pavement and falls. He lies there; face down, in a gathering pool of blood, having been stabbed several times in the chest with a knife. Several people then walk by, looking down at Tale-Yax but failing to stop. At one point two men come out from a side building and stand around him, apparently discussing him; one of them is visible taking a picture of the victim with his mobile phone. Later, a passerby does stop and lifts Tale-Yax's head and shakes him, then lifts his arm up, as if to see if he is alive. The passerby then turns and walks away.

In the urban environment, it's not unusual to see people on the street, sleeping or under the influence of drugs or alcohol; but this man has been stabbed after intervening in a fight to help a woman. It wasn't until after the Guatemalan immigrant had been lying there for nearly an hour that emergency workers arrived, and by then, it was too late. Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax — who police said was stabbed while intervening to help a woman being attacked — had died. Tale-Yax was walking behind a man and a woman on 144th Street in the Jamaica section of Queens around 6 a.m. April 18 when the couple got into a fight that became physical, according to police. Tale-Yax was stabbed several times when he intervened to help the woman. She and the other man fled in different directions, and Tale-Yax pursued the man before collapsing. Authorities are searching for the man and woman.

More than 20 people walked past a man bleeding to death in the street. It does not matter if it was a homeless or an immigrant. Even assuming the person was drunk, there is no reason not to go to his assistance or notify authorities. Without spirituality, men remain indifferent to other people misfortunes.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

It is the function of religion to reaffirm the intuitive loyalty to life and solidarity of human nature, to lift us out of the illusion of isolation and take us back to Reality. In devotion to God equal right is given to one and all. ... The society based on religious consciousness, with simple life, slow and regular, with deep-rooted peaceful customs and unchangeable beliefs for highest happiness ... gives the subjective experience of life that discovers the nature of man, which is left out by the modern science. It brings beatitude to man, and through it the soul is known.

Śrīla Bhakti Prajnan Yati Mahārāja :
“Gita Darshan As Bhakti-Yoga”
Course III Gita: Chapter - IV
Sree Gaudiya Math - Madras

BATH WITH "BLOOD" IN BUENOS AIRES DOWNTOWN

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF LABORATORY ANIMAL
WOMAN TAKES BATH WITH BLOOD-COLORED WATER

ARGENTINA (EFE) - Argentine activists today placed a tub of "blood" in the heart of Buenos Aires to repudiate the exploitation of animals "to testing of hygienic and cosmetic products." The organization AnimaNaturalis developed a protest near the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, on the occasion of the International Day of Laboratory Animal, commemorated last Saturday. "How many animals do our hygiene products kill?" read a sign posted behind the tub full of red liquid, which pretended to be blood, in which an activist dived to take a bath, surrounded by rabbits and bottles products. "About 100 million animals are still under experimentation by the majority of cosmetic and toiletries companies, although these methods were discarded by the world's most prestigious universities," said a spokeswoman of AnimaNaturalis in Argentina, the NGO that organized the protest at the most important corner of Buenos Aires.

"In the laboratory the animal may be trapped, deprived of food, water or sleep, poisoned, ill, surgically maimed, subjected to invasive procedures such as applying skin and eye irritant, subject to psychological stress, irradiated, burned, gassed, among other things" an activist from AnimaNaturalis said. The organizers added that" it is important to note that all these procedures are performed without any anesthetic or analgesic to not interfere with the results of the experiments. As a result they died or were killed deliberately just for a post-mortem examination." So primates, guinea pigs, mice, rats, dogs, rabbits, cats, pigs and other species are slaughtered in the name of science and technology at the rate of three animals die in laboratories each second worldwide.

We must stop the horrible killing of so many animals in laboratories just for the making of cosmetics and cleaning. Activists around the world try to make people aware about this cruel industry that annually kills 100 thousand animals mercilessly.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

When you observe the problem of unconscious consumption, some measures must be taken. That's the way how the conscious consumer arises. Consider some characteristics of this ethical, healthy and ecological position. First of all, the conscious consumer avoid all products having to do with the killing of animals, including food, fashion (costumes made of fur), vanity (many laboratories experiment with thousands of animals in order to produce cosmetics and toiletries), fun (we have enough news about the shows where ridicule and torture creatures), customs and traditions (such as hunting, a bloody pastime, etc.). The conscious consumer does not use items that have been produced under the agony and exploitation of other beings.

Śrīla Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Mahārāja :
“Conscious Consumers” - “Vedic Wisdom Collection”
http://www.vedic-wisdom.org/
http://vedicwisdom.weebly.com/
http://www.sabiduriavedica.org/sv.php?id=110_81

ARMENIA MARKS 'GENOCIDE'

ARMENIANS IN LEBANON MARKED
95TH ANNIVERSARY MASS KILLINGS

BEIRUT (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Lebanese-Armenians took to the streets of Beirut and other hundreds of thousands of people on Saturday marked the 95th anniversary of the mass slaughter of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey, just days after Armenia halted a historic reconciliation deal with Turkey. The 1915 murders of hundreds of thousands of Armenians has become an insurmountable obstacle for relations between the two countries. Armenia insists that Turkey recognise the slaughter as genocide. On Saturday Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan laid flowers at a memorial for the victims in the capital Yerevan and thanked those countries which supported “our struggle for justice”. The slaughter and “annihilation of an ancient culture” was a deliberate policy of the Ottoman Turk government, Sargsyan said. Amid tight security, demonstrators including MPs of Armenian origin blocked a main highway leading into Beirut, waving Armenian flags and carrying banners.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey, was falling apart. The events are marked every year on April 24, the date in 1915 when Ottoman authorities rounded up and arrested more than 200 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Turkey fiercely rejects the genocide label, arguing instead that between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian troops. The dispute has poisoned relations between the two neighbours for decades, and reconciliation efforts launched last year remain frozen. Hundreds of thousands of Armenian Christians are believed to have fled to Lebanon after the mass killings. Lebanon today hosts the Arab world's largest Armenian community, estimated at around 140,000 people.

Turkey has always denied that those killings constituted genocide. If Turkey could acknowledge the wrongs of their ancestors and apologize for that, people could put aside their mutual hatred. Only by asking forgiveness for such atrocities, the dialogue could be restored between the two countries.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

It is best for our own personal spiritual progress to cultivate forgiveness and to remember the merciful disposition of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Thakura. We should try our best to reform our own character and know that by doing so we can have the most positive effect on those around us. Kindness and spiritual love have the power to change anyone's character over time, because they are the very things all people seek and they represent the direct intervention of God. Karmic punishment sentenced by material nature, although appropriate and just, does not have the same power. Mercy is superior to justice, which must step aside and offer respect when mercy intervenes.

Śrīla Bhakti Vedanta Tripurari Mahārāja :
“Hear and Chant About Krsna”
Śrī Caitanya Sanga - Vol. IV, No. 11 - May 27, 2002.
http://www.swami.org/pages/sanga/

UGANDA CALLS FOR 'NUCLEAR WEAPONS-FREE' WORLD

UGANDAN PRESIDENT MUSEVENI SUPPORTS
ERADICATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

UGANDA (CNN) - President Museveni last night told visiting Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Uganda does not support acquisition of nuclear weapons by new countries. The Ugandan president called for a “nuclear weapons-free world” during a visit with his Iranian counterpart to discuss bilateral issues and build stronger alliances. President Yoweri Museveni defended the right for nations to have access to nuclear technology, but for “peaceful purposes” such as medical uses. “Nuclear weapons are dangerous for humanity - even more dangerous than all the other previous weapon systems,” Museveni said at the banquet to honor Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Uganda, a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council, was one of two African nations Ahmadinejad visited this week. The other one was Zimbabwe who agreed to support Iran’s controversial nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad arrived in Uganda on Friday seeking support for his country's controversial nuclear program. He is expected to sign various trade and investment deals in oil development, agriculture, health and real estate. Museveni has said Uganda is looking for partners with technical expertise to set up a refinery. Oil-rich Iran will also fund a housing complex and a tractor assembly plant near the capital, Kampala. Museveni addressed various issues Friday, including his support for a two-state solution in the Middle East “living side by side, within internationally recognized and secure borders.” He also handed his guest a surprise gift - a black Bible tied with a silver bow. “When I was in Iran, I told you about the reference to the “'Persians and Medians”' in the Bible,” Museveni said. “To provide you with a permanent reference, I present to you a copy of the Bible.”


Ugandan President's pronouncements along with the unexpected gift of a Bible to his Iranian counterpart, clarify Uganda’s thoughts as regards Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme. That international call for nuclear weapons-free world is a courageous and wise decision. Well done!

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Everyone is trying to be happy, because that is the living entity's prerogative. He is trying to be happy in a place where there are four miserable conditions - namely birth, old age, disease, and death. The scientists are trying to be happy and make other people happy. But what scientist has stopped old age, disease, death, and rebirth? ... They have invented nuclear weapons. What good is that? Simply for killing. Have they invented something so that no more men will die? That would be to their credit. But people are dying at every moment, and the scientists have simply invented something to accelerate their death. That's all.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Journey of Self-Discovery”
Chapter IV “The Spiritual Master”
“Show-bottle Spiritualists Exposed”

TIBETAN MONKS RECEIVED ORDERS TO LEAVE

CHINA SAYS AID-GIVING MONKS
ADVISED TO LEAVE QUAKE AREA

YUSHU (Reuters) - Authorities tell Buddhist lamas in Yushu county to cease rescue and relief efforts and return to monasteries. Chinese officials have ordered some monasteries to recall monks from the western town devastated by an earthquake last week. More than 2,180 people died in the 14 April earthquake and 12,000 were injured. Buddhist lamas have played a crucial role in rescue and relief operations in Jiegu, an overwhelmingly Tibetan town in Qinghai province. Thousands have dug for survivors in the rubble, disposed of bodies and arranged food and shelter for the homeless. The Tibetan plateau has in the past been the scene of ethnic conflict. However, the state media has portrayed the response to the quake as proof of underlying ethnic harmony. The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, had asked to return to Qinghai to comfort the victims, but the chinese government has ignored his request. He was born in Qinghai province but has not set foot in China since a failed Tibetan uprising more than 50 years ago.

While the Dalai Lama is loved by China's Tibetans, he is hated by the Chinese government, which regards him as a separatist. Professor Robert Barnett, director of the modern Tibetan studies program at Columbia University, said: “China has never faced this situation before, where the monks it has demonised for 15 years as potential enemies of the state turn out to be energetic contributors to social construction and community building, the same role that the party has always claimed for itself. There is an opportunity here for the Chinese state finally to recognise the immense cultural resources that the monks can offer.”


China's communist country has been benefitted from the humility and spirit of service of the Buddhist monks and nuns, and now advised them to leave. Devotees of any spiritual path have outstanding qualities. As regards the Vaishnavas, they have all the good qualities because Sri Krishna's attributes diffuse themselves in His devotees.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Devotees are always compassionate, spiteless, truthful, equal to all, faultless, magnanimous, gentle, and pure in words, deed and thoughts. They are without any material possessions, universal benefactors; they are tranquil having mind and senses under control; they surrender to Sri Krishna. They are desireless, harmless and firm in their faith; and they are conquerors of hunger, thirst, affliction, fear, infirmity and death. Further, they are not affected by the six fold miseries. On the other hand they are temperate in diet, vigilant and cautious, respectful to others, modest, serious, tender-hearted, friendly to all, learned and discreet, clever and skilful, reticent and not given to idle or vulgar gossip.

Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Mahārāj :
“Six Goswamins” - “Sanatana Goswami - Sanatana Siksha”
Bhakti Bigyan Nityananda Book Trust
Śrī Krishna Chaitanya Mission
http://www.bvml.org/SBVPGM/