“NO TOBACCO DAY” TODAY

WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY  
ENCOURAGING SMOKERS TO QUIT

(Reuters) - World No Tobacco Day is observed today, May 31 with the aim to highlight health hazards associated with tobacco use and drum up support for effective policies to discourage its consumption.  However, tobacco will kill nearly six million people this year, including 600,000 non-smokers, because governments are not doing enough to persuade people to quit or protect others from second-hand smoke, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.  Since there is often a lag of many years between when people start smoking and when it affects health, the epidemic of tobacco-related disease and death has just begun, the WHO said. But by 2030, the annual death toll could reach 8 million.  The UN health body urged more governments to sign up to and implement its tobacco control treaty, warning of the terrible consequences if current trends persist.

To mark World No Tobacco Day on May 31, the World Lung Foundation (WLF) campaign group launched a website of graphic and gruesome images of the health effects of smoking that health officials can download for use as warnings on tobacco packaging.  Tobacco kills up to half its users and is described by the WHO as “one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced”. It causes lung cancer, which is often fatal, and other chronic respiratory diseases. It is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, the world’s number one killers.  If governments do not take steps to cut smoking rates, tobacco could cause up to a billion deaths in the 21st century, a dramatic rise from the 100 million deaths it caused in the previous century.

Today we celebrate World No Tobacco Day that falls on May 31st of every year.  It was established by the World Health Organisation to encourage smokers to take a 24-hour abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption, whilst highlighting the negative health effects.  The world wants you to stop smoking, but are you ready to do it?  It is difficult to be freed from conditional bondage.  When it is about any material attachment or a vice, one can not easily get rid of such material bondage. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

The camel is pleased to eat thorny plants, which destroy its nose, to enjoy the taste of his own blood without being conscious of the pain and self-mutilation. It seems that human beings act in the same way.  A cigarette after another, one package after another, looking for enjoyment, but this pleasure lasts just a short time. Different organizations warn that smoking is hazardous to health, however for the smoker, the taste is what counts!  Then he is forced to seek for another kind of pleasure.  We had obtained nothing but we anxiously try to get more of the same.  The process of Bhakti Yoga indicates that the intoxication, indiscriminate sex, gambling, eating meat, are self-destructive activities that we have to leave as soon as possible.

Śrīla Atulananda Ācārya :
“Yoga and Current Era”
Instituto Superior de Estudios Védicos - ISEV
http://www.atulanandadas.cl/
http://www.atulanandadas.cl/?option=com_content&task=view&id=50

THE BASIC STEPS OF A SPIRITUAL PATH

GENUINE SPIRITUALITY, WITH NO 
MYSTICAL BELIEFS OR DOCTRINE

http://blogs.psychcentral.com - Although psychotherapists long shied away from discussing spirituality, people suffering from depression and the clinicians who treat them are learning that symptoms diminish with spiritual practice.  Many mental health clinics now offer meditation classes along with cognitive behavioral training, and therapists have begun to ask clients about transcendent beliefs.  These developments promise to advance the struggle against depression, which until recently was treated in purely “mental” terms.  According to Will Meecham, MD, MA, by including the soul as a participant in our pursuit of mental wellness, we humanize psychiatric care.  Can those leery of mysticism and/or religion still enjoy the benefits of spiritual practice?

Fortunately, they can. At least in the context of mental health, spiritual pursuits have little to do with faith in eternal souls, higher realms, God, or scripture. Instead, the healing comes when life begins to feel meaningful.  Viktor Frankl has highlighted how we can recover from the psychological effects of trauma by making sense out of our experience: by finding meaning. More recently, the Positive Psychology movement has picked up a similar theme, encouraging people to embrace lives of purpose and high ethical standards.  In its most essential terms, spirituality is about reframing our history and realigning our priorities. One ready-made way of achieving this is to practice a religion, in which case the tradition both explains how hardship edifies, and encourages right behavior.

According to the writer, in order to further pursuit of spiritual growth, we seek ways to use our experience to help those who may not have progressed so far along the path of healing.   He thinks that building a more positive picture of the past helps us regret less and by assisting others we practice genuine spirituality, with no requirement for mystical beliefs or religious doctrine.  However, religion is not a single element with unanimous faith and uniform pathways. It is a cluster of different ways and directions adhering to a common nucleus which give the sense of transcendence to our life. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

Only a Religion can offer the high level identity of a person with his spiritual address. As religion is the only discipline dealing with soul, source, struggle and solution, without a proper religious direction, the soul will lose its dignity and become naked.  Organised religions begin with the scriptures, the message of God to the mankind, which was brought to the common level of understanding by a spiritual lineage in the form of messengers or masters. So, eventually, a person devoid of scriptural care is motherless and the one who does not have the compassionate guidance of the master from a tradition is fatherless and any independent tinsel is a spiritual orphan.  Without a caring mother, all the religious offsprings suffer under irresponsible, perfunctory, affectionless, cruel, and tyrant fathers in the forms of institutional anarchy, kleptocracy, plutocracy, foolocracy and tyranny.

Śrīla S.A.R. Prasanna Venkatachariar Chaturvedi Swamy :
Acarya of Ramanuja Sampradaya
“International Conference on Interfaith”
“Culture, Philosophy, Literature and Religion” 2009, Mumbai, India.
http://saranagathi.org/blogs/members/chaturvedi
http://www.sriramanujamissiontrust.org

BRISK WALKING HELP MEN WITH PROSTATE CANCER

BRISK WALKING MAY PREVENT
RECURRENCE OF PROSTATE CANCER

http://topnews.us - For many years, doctors and researchers have been able to show that regular physical activity, including brisk walking, may reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and many other illnesses. Some studies have also shown that exercise may positively affect the disease outcomes for people with breast and colon cancer.  Now, scientists found that men who had been previously diagnosed with prostate cancer were nearly 60% less likely to need a second round of prostate cancer treatment if they walked briskly at least three miles per hour for at least three hours per week after diagnosis.  A study of 1,455 U.S. men diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer has found a link between brisk walking and lowered risk of prostate cancer progression, according to scientists at the University of California and Harvard School of Public Health.
      
According to June Chan, the Steven and Christine Burd-Safeway Distinguished Professor at UCSF and senior author of the study, “Our work suggests that vigorous physical activity or brisk walking can have a benefit at the earlier stages of the disease”.  “The important point was the intensity of the activity the walking had to be brisk for men to experience a benefit.” “Our results provide men with prostate cancer something they can do to improve their prognosis,” said researchers.  
The findings of this study compliment previous research done by Chan that indicated that physical activity after diagnosis could reduce disease-related mortality in a distinct population of men with prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is a most common form of cancer after skin cancer among the men, particularly in the United States where more than 217,000 men are diagnosed with the lethal disease every year.  According to this new study the prostate cancer has a close association with brisk walking and marked that it significantly lowers the risk of prostate cancer progression.  In our body, destruction and construction go hand in hand.  But in Old age, the destruction overpowers the construction and the cellular functions of the body start deteriorating. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

Ayurveda is not merely a treatment path, but it is a science for a good and healthy lifestyle.  The two important aims of Ayurveda are prevention from the diseases in healthy individuals and treatment of the diseased. The first aim is given prime importance so that every individual can aim for a healthy and disease free, long life.  According to Ayurveda, the structural and functional destruction in the cells of the body leads to vitiation of vata dosha which is predominantly evidenced in old age.  That is why vata predominant disorders are profound in old age. ... Many disorders can be prevented by improving the daily routine, diet and regular walk and exercise.  Regular practice of Asanas and Pranayama improves the oxygenation of cells thus reducing its destruction.

RemedySpot.com
“Rejuvenating Mind, Body and Soul
in Old Age through Yoga and Ayurveda”
Written by Dr. Garima Bajaj - Published on 02-05-2011
http://www.remedyspot.com/articles/155-rejuvenating-mind-body-soul-old-age-through-yoga-ayurveda.html

NINE DEAD IN GERMAN E. COLI OUTBREAK

SPANISH CUCUMBERS BLAMED
FOR GERMAN E.COLI OUTBREAK

Berlin (EFE) - German health authorities traced a national outbreak of E.coli that has killed nine people and infected 274 others to imports of Spanish cucumbers.  Hamburg’s Institute for Hygiene and Health detected the bacterium in probes of cucumbers imported from Spain, the Hamburg government said on its website. Wholesalers and retailers including Metro AG (MEO) and Rewe Group have taken Spanish cucumbers off shelves, the companies said.  The European Commission said that two batches of organic cucumbers from Spain have been identified as sources of the outbreak, and a batch from the Netherlands is also being investigated.  Many cases of infection have also occurred in Sweden, Denmark, the U.K. and the Netherlands.

The European Comission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed said two companies from Andalucia may be implicated and that any product that may have been in contact with the infected batch had been removed.  German officials said they found three cucumbers from Spain with the bacterium and they were investigating whether the cucumbers were contaminated when they were shipped from southern Spain, or if they went bad during shipment or while being handled in Germany.  The regional government of Andalusia, where the Spanish producers are located, has taken measures to stop the sale of products from the lots that were identified, Spain’s Health Ministry said. The ministry also said the information it received didn’t clarify if the origin of the problem could be in the handling of the produce. It didn’t identify the companies.

Nine people have died in Germany after eating contaminated Spanish cucumber.  Almost 300 people have become sick with hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, in recent days.  This infection is associated with Escherichia Coli, a bacterium which lives in the intestines of ruminant animals, especially cattle, and it is transmitted through contaminated meat, milk and vegetables that were in contact with feces of infected animals.  Due to the effect of action and reaction, pollution caused by the meat industry also affects vegetable crops and general health. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

In “Modern Meat,” Frontline speaks with numerous scientists and industry observers who raise serious concerns about today’s meat production system.  With large numbers of animals being raised together in huge feedlots covered with feces, they say, it’s easy for bacteria to spread from one animal to another.  “Cows tend to produce feces [and] feces is primarily bacteria,” says Glen Morris, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland and a former USDA official.  When those bacteria are spread around, there’s ample opportunity for bacteria to be spread from one cow to the next.  “In the larger feedlots,” he adds, “there’s a greater chance for the passage of microorganisms back and forth.  All of that contributes to the spread of E. Coli.” ... The consequences of bacterial contamination can be deadly.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“The Dangers of Meat”
“Modern Meat: A PBS Frontline Documentary”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/the_dangers_of_meat.htm
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/vegetarian_recipes_and_resources.htm

SUDAN: MORE THAN 100,000 FLEE ABYEI CLASH

HUNGRY AND SCARED:
SUDAN VILLAGERS FLEE ABYEI

Mayen Abom, Sudan (AP) - The number of people displaced from Sudan's disputed Abyei region after its seizure by northern troops has reached more than 100,000, a southern minister says.  Days before, the first group of women and children crept out of the bush just as Sunday Mass was finishing at the small brick church.  Feet were swollen from days of walking. Some collapsed from hunger and thirst.  Over the next four days, many other displaced people have followed their footsteps to the grass-hut town of Mayen Abom, a two-day walk from the outer edge of the contested Abyei region.  Abyei, a zone about the size of Connecticut that lies between north and south Sudan, ignited in conflict a week ago and many fear it could escalate into a new civil war.  Some families were split up while fleeing and some were killed in the north’s attack.

Abyei, which has pockets of oil and abundant grass for northern tribesmen’s cattle, has long been the major source of friction between north and south.  Most of those fleeing Abyei were from the Dinka Ngok, a southern ethnic group who are the permanent residents of the region.  They were travelling off the main roads and hiding in surrounding bushes for fear of attack by northern aircraft.  The small church in Mayen Abom is now a shelter bursting full of people, many of them women and children, who have abandoned their homes and fear for their futures.  Abyei is sometimes referred to as the country’s Jerusalem because of its symbolic status and the deeply emotional debate over its control. Both Sudan’s north and south claim it as their own. 

 Highly over than 100,000 people have fled violence ravaging Sudan's contested Abyei border region and surrounding areas.  Large numbers of people continue to move on bush paths.  Women, children and elderly are fleeing in fear from brutal violence, without shelter.   Whatever happens next in Abyei and in north and South Sudan, there is no doubt the clash between the two armed forces has brought the spectre of a devastating new war considerably closer, which will not respect the most weak and vulnerable: the elderly, women and children. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

“A person who knows the principles of religion does not kill an enemy who is careless, ... Nor does he kill a boy, a woman, ... .”  An enemy who does not resist is never killed by a warrior who knows the principles of religion. Formerly battles were fought on the principles of religion and not for the sake of sense gratification. If the enemy happened to be intoxicated, asleep, etc., as above mentioned, he was never to be killed. These are some of the codes of religious war. Formerly war was never declared by the whims of selfish political leaders; it was carried out on religious principles free from all vices. Violence carried out on religious principles is far superior to so-called nonviolence.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam - Canto 1: “Creation”.
Chapter 7: “The Son of Drona Punished” - Verse 36.
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase

GROUPS SUE US OVER ANTIBIOTICS IN FARM FEED

US GROUPS SUE FDA TO STOP ADDITION
OF HUMAN ANTIBIOTICS IN LIVESTOCK FEED

New York (AFP) - A coalition of consumer groups in USA filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the US Food and Drug Administration over the use of human antibiotics in animal feed, saying it creates dangerous superbugs.  The suit alleges that the regulatory agency concluded in 1977 that the practice of feeding healthy animals low doses of penicillin and tetracycline could lead to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in people.  “However, despite this conclusion and laws requiring that the agency act on its findings, FDA failed to take any action to protect human health,” the groups said in a statement.  The lawsuit aims to “compel FDA to take action on the agency’s own safety findings, withdrawing approval for most non-therapeutic uses of penicillin and tetracyclines in animal feed.”

Groups included in the filing include the Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Animal Concerns Trust, Public Citizen, and Union of Concerned Scientists.  As farming has become more industrialized, farmers have relied more heavily on antibiotics because they help animals digest more efficiently and stay healthy in the terrible crowded conditions.  Meanwhile, the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has increased. Resistant bacteria can evolve whenever drugs are used against them because sub-strains that are less susceptible to antibiotics will survive and multiply.  Last year, the FDA authorities pressed farmers to give fewer antibiotics to livestock and poultry to reduce this kind risk.

 

Human drugs are usually added to feed or mixed into water given to cows, turkeys, chickens, pigs and other livestock.  However, they are administered at such low levels that they do not treat disease, but leave surviving bacteria stronger and more able to resist them.  Accumulating evidence shows that antibiotics are becoming less effective, while our grocery store meat is increasingly laden with drug-resistant bacteria.  Vegetables and fruits are rich in fiber and nutrients, but instead of eating them we give them to animals and we ingest the fats, cholesterol, hormones and antibiotics from the animals meat. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?   

As early as 1961, The AMA journal stated that 90+% of heart disease can be prevented with a Vegetarian diet.  There is a strong link between colon cancer and meat eating. Toxins in meat, do damage because they are not expelled as quickly they would be in carnivores.  Dioxin, one of the deadliest toxins, is concentrated in meat at levels 22 times what are safe, according to the EPA. More than 95% of all dioxin exposure comes in meat, dairy, and eggs. None comes in vegan foods (the other 5% is environmental).  Factory farming has made meat eating more dangerous. Because the animals are given tranquilizers, hormones and antibiotics, the latter often up to 30 times higher than humans consume in a lifetime. Preservatives in meat are dangerous to human health too.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Why Be a Vegan / Vegetarian?”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/why_be_a_vegan_vegetarian.htm
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/vegetarian_recipes_and_resources.htm

MILLIONS OF INDIAN BABY GIRLS ABORTED

UP TO 12 MILLION GIRLS ABORTED
IN INDIA OVER LAST 30 YEARS: STUDY

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Up to 12 million girls were aborted over the last three decades in India by parents that tended to be richer and more educated, a large study in India found, and researchers warned that the figure could rise with falling fertility rates.  The missing daughters occurred mostly in families which already had a first born daughter.  Although the preference for boys runs across Indian society, the abortions were more likely to be carried out by educated parents who were aware of ultrasound technology and who could afford abortions.  “The logic is families are saying if Nature gives us a first boy, then we don’t do anything. But if Nature gives a first girl then perhaps we would consider ultrasound testing and selective abortion for the subsequent children,” said lead author Professor Prabhat Jha at the Center for Global Health Research in Toronto, Canada.

 Jha and his colleagues, who published their study in The Lancet, said abortion of girls in India was different from the situation in China, where a one-child policy results in even abortions of the first girl.  In India there is no required one-child policy.  But the concern is that if urban women decide they only want one child, then the practice of selective abortion may increase.  
India enacted a law in 1996 to prevent the use of scanning for prenatal sex determination and selective abortion of girls but Jha said it was very difficult to enforce because of a huge unregulated private medical practice.

 

Families in India are increasingly aborting their second child if they know it to be a girl and they already have a daughter.  Selective abortion of female foetuses, usually after a firstborn girl, has increased in India over the past few decades, probably because of persistent son preference, and has contributed to a widening imbalance in the child sex ratio.  Killing unborn babies, not even asuras do that, even demons love their children.  The baby depends on your mercy.  When you were in your mother’s womb nobody aborted you.  Don’t do others what you would not like to be done to you. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

India:  Our population is our country’s strength; killing unborn fetuses will defeat us at in the end.  Abortion is becoming more and more prominent in India today due to Western influence.  Don’t destroy your future joy.  Have mercy with your kids.  Killing other humans is always a crime; no matter the age.  Every child needs protection, don’t deny it by selection.  Children are so beautiful, sweet and full of joy; how could anyone conceive a system which take their life, avoids their birth and destroys their hopes? A child being created under the heart of its mother is a separate entity, a soul like you and me; it does not belong to either the mother nor the father.  It is a gift of God, think of all she could be.   If you want to spoil your life, abort a child and pay the price.

“Dharma & Science”
“Bharat-Hindustan-India and the World”
http://bharatstopabortion.blogspot.com/
http://www.dharmascience.net  -  http://www.dharmascience.net/hindi/

SAUDI WOMAN DRIVES, GOES TO JAIL

SAUDI WOMAN ARRESTED FOR DRIVING
AND UPLOADING A VIDEO TO YOUTUBE

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Saudi authorities have re-arrested an activist who defied a ban on female drivers in the conservative kingdom, a security official said Monday. Manal al-Sherif was accused of “violating public order” and ordered held for five days while the case is investigated, the official said. Al-Sherif launched a campaign against the longtime ban last week by posting a video clip on the Internet of herself behind the wheel in the eastern city of Khobar. Through Facebook, the campaigners set June 17 as the day all women should drive their cars. The page, called “Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself,” was removed after more than 12,000 people indicated their support for the call. The campaign’s Twitter account also was deactivated. Al-Sherif was detained for several hours on Saturday by the country’s religious police and released after she signed a pledge agreeing not to drive.

A security official said al-Sherif was re-arrested Sunday at dawn. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Khobar prison chief Ayoub ben Nahit was quoted as saying in the daily Al-Watan that al-Sherif faces accusations of “violating the rules and the system by driving her car, roaming the streets of the province.” The activists argued they should have the freedom to go the store or drive to work by themselves, were cheered as whores and worse by the mutaween, the young thugs that the government allows to enforce public “morals” as interpreted in the Saudi Arabian version of Islam. Most of the women involved were banned from traveling abroad for a year as punishment.

Saudi authorities have re-arrested an activist who defied a ban on female drivers.  Hard-line clerics believe that women at the wheel create situations for sinful temptation. They argue that female drivers would be free to leave home alone and interact with male strangers, such as traffic police and mechanics.  We should not be too much concerned with material conceptions.  Am I only this body, this sex, this color, this caste?  We have to develop the transcendental eye, the divine eye, to recognize that we are all individual souls, part and parcel of the Supreme Lord Krishna. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

I am not this physical body. My own physical identification should be challenged if I am too much addicted to the physical guru parampara. “Who am l? Am I this physical body?” If I am spiritual, then in the spiritual sphere I shall have to look with spiritual eyes, and pursue whoever will come before me who is really following the path of Mahaprabhu. When the Pandavas retired to the Himalayas, Yudhisthira Maharaja was going ahead. Nobody believed they would fall. Arjuna couldn’t believe that his brothers had fallen. But even after Arjuna had fallen, a dog was going on, following Maharaja Yudhisthira. We may see many men fall down in the path of our journey towards the spiritual goal, but still we should try to reach the goal. And with the help of whoever comes along, I shall go.

Śrīla Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Mahārāja :
“Sri Guru & His Grace”
“Instructing Spiritual Masters” - “Am I This Body?”
http://bvml.org/SBRSM/SGaHG.html#10
http://bvml.org/SBRSM/index.htm - Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library

MADRID PROTESTERS VOW TO STAY ON

HUNDREDS OF PROTESTERS VOWED TO STAY
ANOTHER WEEK IN MADRID’S CENTRAL SQUARE

(Reuters) - Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square, the center of nationwide protests against mass unemployment, boiled with political passion, gawkers and families on Sunday while Spaniards voted in local elections.  Tens of thousands of protesters have packed plazas in cities throughout Spain all week in the run-up to election day, demonstrating against austerity measures and urging people not to vote for the ruling Socialists or center-right Popular Party.  At night the crowds there swell to up to 30,000 people.  Hundreds of protesters camp out overnight and occupy the plaza during the day.  The protests want to punish the Socialists over the stagnant economy and the highest unemployment rate in the European Union.  Small groups gather seated on the ground, cross-legged, in circles, listening to speakers on megaphones organizing different aspects of the protests, such as setting up neighborhood committees.

The movement, which goes under several names including “Real Democracy Now” or “M-15” for the day it started on May 15, has published a list of demands.  They include everything from shutting down all nuclear power plants to changes in foreclosure laws to allow homeowners to turn their property over to the bank and have the entire mortgage canceled.  Yesterday, the demonstrators agreed in a show-of-hands vote at a meeting in Puerta del Sol square to stay at least until May 29, when they planned another vote over the future of their makeshift camp.  “We have decided to stay at least until Sunday,” said a protest organiser.

The “outraged people's movement” goes for another week of protests in Spain. “We will continue here until there is a fair social change for most, because the revolution is here and now for the world,” the demonstrators said at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, the epicenter of the protests.  People are "outraged" by the crisis that are living and blame the government and politicians.  They may be right, but it is also necessary to look at ourselves and clean our heart to be real instruments of change. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

Real spiritual life is not necessarily about changing our position in society. It is about transforming our hearts. One can be in business, in education, a mother or father, a farmer, a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, a politician. One can even be a swami. But when we overcome selfishness and learn the beauty and art of selflessness - seva or selfless service - spirituality is meant to transform arrogance into humility, greed into generosity, vengeance into forgiveness, hate into love, criticism into appreciation, hopeless into hopefulness - it is meant to transform us into becoming instruments of the inner peace that is in our heart with God.  That is the real journey home.

Śrīla Radhanath Swami Mahārāja :
“Interview with Radhanath Swami by Joshua Greene”
http://gaurangakishore.blogspot.com/2010/07/radhanath-swami-interview-with-joshua.html
http://www.radhanath-swami.net/  -  http://radhanathswami.info/

16 DEAD IN MALAYSIA ORPHANAGE LANDSLIDE

LANDSLIDES BURY MALAYSIAN
ORPHANAGE, KILLING AT LEAST 16

KUALA LUMPUR (CNN) - Rescue workers were looking for at least a dozen children reported missing following two landslides that buried a Malaysian orphanage, killing at least 16 people and injuring nine others, the nation’s official news agency reported Sunday.  Rescue workers scoured the area for up to two dozen children believed buried in the landslides that hit the orphanage near Hulu Langat, southeast of the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, the Bernama news agency said.  It was not immediately clear how many of the 16 killed were children. Earlier reports said the bodies of at least five children, between the ages of 11 and 14, were pulled from the debris.  Eight children, between the ages of 11 and 17, and a 22-year-old adult were pulled out alive from the debris by rescue workers and villagers.  But rescue workers were still searching for dozens missing, the police said.

The landslides, which were triggered by heavy rains Saturday, struck the orphanage at about 2:30 p.m., while many of its 49 male residents, including five adults, were outside setting up tents on the hillside for an outdoor event later in the day, the police chief said.  It is believed that two landslides occurred within seconds of each other. All of them in the camp were trapped, authorities said.  
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said he “instructed relevant authorities to investigate the cause of the mishap,” and he also promised the government would rebuild the orphanage and provide payments to the victims, the news agency said.

At least 16 children died and three others were seriously injured on Saturday after registering two avalanches near an orphanage located 28 kilometers east of Kuala Lumpur.  People were attending a class when they were buried in tons of soil due to landslides after heavy rains in recent weeks.  These terrible misfortunes are due to environmental damage caused by indiscriminate deforestation, the huge amount of trees being felled to make way for cattle ranching and extensive farming. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

It’s time that humanity reverts to and values a simpler, healthier, and more natural way of life.  Only in this way may we attain true health, harmony, and prosperity.  We are part of the earth, and she is part of us.  ... The air has priceless value.  We all share the same breath - the beast, the tree, man; all breathe the same air, and it shares its essence with the life that it sustains.  The freshness of the air, the force of the waters, the mighty pine tree, every grain of sand at the beach, every drop of dew in the forest, the sap that runs through the trees, even the sound of the insects sustain and soothe the lives of humankind on this planet.  The biological wellbeing of our earth, and the future of mankind are being ruined by the materialistic vision of society.

“House of Wisdom” - “Eco conscience”
http://casadelasabiduria.org/  -  http://www.houseofwisdom.org/
http://www.houseofwisdom.org/english/services_eco_conscience1.htm

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN? WORLD AWAITS 6 PM DOOM

CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT PREPARING
TODAY, AT 6:00 PM FOR END OF DAYS

http://news.sky.com - The end is nigh - no, really - according to an American evangelist who claims the apocalypse is coming ... at 6 pm today.  Harold Camping, leader of Family Radio Worldwide, believes “beyond the shadow of a doubt” the Day of Judgment is upon us.  He is adamant the Rapture - a belief that Jesus Christ will return and take the faithful to heaven ahead of the unleashing of hell on Earth - will begin at 6pm local time in each of the world’s regions.  The 89-year-old retired civil engineer from California said he had “absolute proof” of the time and date thanks to the Bible.  “Beyond the shadow of a doubt, May 21 will be the date of the Rapture and the Day of Judgment,” he was quoted as saying in January.

“Because the year 2011 AD is exactly 7,000 years after 4990 BC when the flood began, the Bible has given us absolute proof that the year 2011 is the end of the world during the Day of Judgment,” the website of Family Radio says.  Camping claims that come 6 pm, a powerful earthquake will be felt before all the noble spirits are transported off the earth.  Everyone left behind will then suffer until October 21, when God will pull the plug on entire planet.  But radical American preachers do not have the best of reputations - and Camping is no different, having predicted the apocalypse before... in 1994.  Funnily enough, not everyone is convinced that come 6pm today they will be saying farewell to their good Christian friends.  Some of those are on the other side of the date line - as 6 pm on May 21 in Australia, New Zealand and Japan has already passed.

If Harold Camping is right, then you should probably stop reading this and go say goodbye to your family.  The 89-year-old preacher has predicted that the Christian Rapture - the return of Jesus Christ and an accompanying worldwide disaster - is set to take place today, on Saturday, May 21 at 6:00 pm.  “The Bible is a very factual book,” Camping said.  We respect the Holy Bible; but specifically at this regards, we prefer to accept as true what the Vedic Scriptures say:  This age of Kali-yuga lasts 432,000 years and up to now we have been living the first 5.0000 years, so it still remains a long time for the coming of the end of this era. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

“Maitreya said: O Vidura, the four millenniums are called the Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali yugas. The aggregate number of years of all of these combined is equal to twelve thousand years of the demigods.  The duration of the Satya millennium equals 4,800 years of the years of the demigods; the duration of the Dvāpara millennium equals 2,400 years; and that of the Kali millennium is 1,200 years of the demigods.”  As aforementioned, one year of the demigods is equal to 360 years of the human beings. The duration of the Satya-yuga is therefore 4,800 x 360, or 1,728,000 years. The duration of the Tretā-yuga is 3,600 x 360, or 1,296,000 years. The duration of the Dvāpara-yuga is 2,400 x 360, or 864,000 years. And the last, the Kali-yuga, is 1,200 x 360, or 432,000 years.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam” - Canto 3: The Status Quo
Chapter 11: Calculation of Time, from the Atom
Verses 18 and 19 - Bhaktivedanta VedaBase

PLANE CRASH KILLS 22 IN ARGENTINA’S PATAGONIA

ARGENTINA PLANE CRASH 
KILLS ALL 22 PEOPLE ON BOARD

(CNN) - All 22 people aboard a commuter plane were killed when it crashed in southern Argentina, the airline said Thursday.  The Sol Lineas Aereas plane was headed to the city of Comodoro Rivadavia from Neuquen on Wednesday night when the pilot issued a distress call, said airline spokesman David Avellaneda.  Shortly after, the plane went off the radar, he said. It had on board 18 adult passengers, a baby and three crew members.  Authorities later found the wreckage of the plane in Rio Negro province. There were no signs of survivors, the airline’s website said.  “Last night, when the emergency happened, we put in place a search and rescue operation in the area, which at the time was experiencing very bad weather conditions,” said a spokesman for the country’s National Civil Aviation Administration, according to the state-run Telam news agency.

Once the wreckage was found, federal investigators were called to the scene to determine the cause of the crash, he said.  “Unfortunately there are no survivors.  We see burnt remains, everything burned,” Ismael Ali, who directs the hospital in the nearest town of Los Menucos, told the Todo Noticias channel.  Sol is based in the northern Argentine city of Rosario and generally serves smaller cities in the provinces.  Sol said it received an emergency communication from the plane at 8:50 p.m. local time, nearly halfway into the flight from Neuquén near the Andes to Comodoro Rivadavia along the coast of Rio Negro province.

The investigation into this small plane crash in southern Argentina - which killed three crew members and 19 passengers, including a baby - will take up to three months to get accurate information about the cause of the accident, said Claudio Somoza, director of the Association of Argentine Pilots.  The Transportation Minister, Juan Schiavi, described the crash of Saab 340 plane as a “very rare accident.”  It is very sad to observe that similar accidents happen everywhere.  This material world is full of nasty surprises that happen at any time and only the Holy Name of the Lord is our refuge. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

One who is intelligent understands that there is a great and supreme authority above everything.  That great authority appears in different incarnations to save the innocent from disturbances. ... We are always in danger because at any moment death can take place.  It is not that only Gajendra, the King of the elephants, was afraid of death.  Everyone should fear death because everyone is caught by the crocodile of eternal time and may die at any moment.  The best course, therefore, is to seek shelter of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and be saved from the struggle for existence in this material world, in which one repeatedly takes birth and dies.  To reach this understanding is the ultimate goal of life.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam”
Purport in Canto 8: “Withdrawal of the Cosmic Creations”
Chapter 2: “The Elephant Gajendra’s Crisis” - Verse 33.
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003 (Folio)

JILTED BRIDE SAVED FROM DEATH PLUNGE

CHINA: SUICIDAL BRIDE RESCUED
JILTED BRIDE JUMPS OUT OF WINDOW

http://www.smh.com.au - A jilted bride-to-be tried to throw herself from a seven-storey building in China after her boyfriend called off their wedding.  The 22-year-old college student, named only as Miss Li, put on her wedding gown before stepping through the window of the residential building in Changchun, eastern China.  But before she plunged to almost certain death, care worker Guo Zhongfan caught her by the neck and held her as others rushed to help pull her to safety.  The Reuters news agency released astonishing images of the dramatic scenes as the woman dangled 25 metres above the ground, with watching neighbours leaning out of their windows.  Neighbours and a crowd in the street seven storeys below breathlessly watch the action.  The drama ends safely, bringing cheers from a watching crowd.

The young bride dumped by her fiancé was dramatically rescued as she threatened to jump from a high rise building in her wedding dress.  One man climbed out of a window below the woman and tried to support her weight with his hands, before she was hauled back inside.  Miss Li climbed on to the ledge and sobbed for an hour before police arrived.  Devastated Li-Wan sat sobbing for an hour on a window ledge 80 ft up just hours after partner Wang Lu called off the big day.  The young woman lived on the fourth floor of the building but made her way to another apartment upstairs.  After the amazing rescue, a crowd on the street applauded Mr Guo.  “I did what anyone would have done,” he said.  Miss Li was later taken to hospital.

Here you can see the dramatic rescue video:

A 22-year-old woman in a wedding gown tried to kill herself by jumping out of a seven-storey residential building in Changchun, China, after her boyfriend of four years broke up with her, just as they were making plans to get married.  But as she jumped off the ledge to certain death, local care worker Guo Zhongfan managed to catch her.  Her rescuer said: “She was very sad about the end of her romance but she knows that now she has a second chance and should make the most of it.”  He not only saved her life by also spared her of taking birth in the lower species of life or to remain as a ghost, unable to attain a gross material body. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

Just like if a man becomes disappointed and he cuts his own throat or hangs him, some way or other, eats some poison, to finish, does it mean that he is finished?  No, that is not possible. The result is, because he violated the rules of nature, he becomes a ghost.  That is his life. One who commits suicide, he becomes a ghost.  Ghost means he does not get this material body.  He remains in the subtle body, mind, and intelligence. ... But they are not happy because they have no gross body.  They want to enjoy. He’s materialist.  He has committed suicide for some material want.  So he wants fulfilling material desire.  He could not fulfill in this body; therefore commits suicide, but the desire is there.  The desire is there, and he cannot fulfill it. ... Therefore the best thing is that fix up your mind in Krishna, in Krishna Consciousness.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Lecture on Śrīmad-Bhagavatam 3.26. 27
Bombay, January 4, 1975
Complete Works of Srila Prabhupada v2.0